As global supply chains face growing scrutiny, the textile sector is shifting toward greater responsibility. Vaude, a German outdoor company, is leading the way. Matthias Bosch (ALI ’23) speaks with CEO Antje von Dewitz on transforming supply chains and redefining responsible entrepreneurship.

How can businesses integrate human rights and sustainability into their core operations? Former German Human Rights Commissioner Markus Löning shares insights on the EU’s game-changing directive and discusses the journey towards corporate accountability in an exclusive interview by Mattias Bosch, ALI Fellow ’23.

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Cybercrime is a global threat, demanding enhanced international cooperation and protection of human rights. The UN is now negotiating a new cybercrime treaty. Lead US negotiator, Ambassador (Ret.) Deborah McCarthy, argues for the involvement of multi-stakeholders – private sector, civil society, NGOs, and academia – to help member states in crafting and implementing the treaty to more effectively combat global cybercrime while safeguarding freedoms.

As consumers, we often assume products are ethically sourced, but human rights violations persist in transnational corporations' supply chains. Caroline Rees, alongside Professor John Ruggie, championed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, laying the foundation for global legal frameworks to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations throughout their supply chains.

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Mathias Risse, Director of the Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, provides an introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the human rights movement that emerged from it, discusses some major insights about economic inequality under capitalism, argues that increasing inequality is a challenge to the human rights movement, explores the ways in which the digital revolution that unfolds all around us could be a threat to human rights, either directly or through the ways in which it enhances inequality, and warns of the human rights stakes in the 2024 presidential election.

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Ambassador Jeff Bleich and Dr. Bradley Strawser, with great insight and experience in law, public policy, technology and ethics, use autonomous vehicles as a case study of the tension between technological innovation and human rights. They conclude that only by drawing upon the lessons from past technology revolutions can we ensure our technological aspirations align with our human ones.

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Juliette Kayyem, Professor in International Security at Harvard Kennedy School, where she is also faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects, discusses her book, The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in the Age of Disasters. In this interview, Professor Kayyem discusses the importance of corporate structure in preparing for crises, the preparedness paradox, how human nature makes preparing for crises challenging, and finally how leadership skills are critical in all crises, particularly the current crisis in Ukraine.

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Matthew Smith, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights, discusses how their team of human rights defenders investigates, engages people with power, and strengthens community-based responses in the fight for human rights, focusing particularly on the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar. Smith underscores the role of Russia in supporting the military junta in Myanmar and the plight of children in the largest refugee settlement in the world -- the Rohingya camps near Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh.

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The world is aghast at the atrocities Russia is committing on the territory of Ukraine, an independent Member State of the United Nations. How effective will the World Court be in holding Russia to account for its international law breaches? Pieter Bekker discusses the question of enforceability of rulings issued by the International Court of Justice and addresses various facets of the human impact when sovereign states defy international law.

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The rights of transgender and nonbinary persons are under siege in the United States, including the right to abortion. Allison Whelan advocates for why we need an inclusive approach to reproductive justice that acknowledges the unique burdens that antiabortion laws impose on transgender and nonbinary persons, as well as other historically marginalized communities.