Listen to the full extract on our latest episode.

From the Harvard Kennedy School, and the University of Cambridge, this is a special collaborative episode of Justice Matters and Declarations.

Do we live in a “post-truth” world? How does information shape national and international politics? Can we fact-check reliably in the social media age, and can we imagine a future where such standards can be enforced online? These are some of the questions we’ll be grappling with in this episode.

We were joined by Malachy Browne, a Senior Story Producer at The New York Times. Malachy’s led investigations from Yemen to the refugee camp known as the “Calais” jungle, and he’s a leader in using open-source digital techniques to verify social media stories -- work that gets right to the heart of today’s episode

In this episode, we are joined by Helen Jennings and Caitlin de Jode, who are organising a conference on ‘The Development of Abortion Rights in a Changing Europe’; the first of its kind in Cambridge. Helen, Caitlin, and their team, want to bring together scholars, activists and experts on the matter, to talk about how we can develop a meaningful framework through which abortion rights - amidst brexit and Ireland’s referendum on the 8th amendment - can be realized. What european, as well as global phenomena, are currently in motion that make this a particularly pressing matter now? What is the impact of conscientious objection on the provision of abortion to women in the UK? How should these competing rights be balanced? What changes - beyond the legal - are necessary, and who can help affect change?

Is Human Rights just a fable? To uncover this question, we venture down 'history' lane with Professor Samuel Moyn. What’s so special about the 1970s, and how does how we think about the emergence of human rights impact how we think of what human rights are, and what they are supposed to do? Join us and find out on this episode of Declarations.

In this episode, we talk about race, racism, borders, and human rights. What kinds of borders are erected around the rights you have - and the rights you don’t? Are human rights a language of liberation from structural oppression, or can it be an oppressive language itself? How can we decide?

We were joined by Dr Monica Moreno Figueroa, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Monica’s research interests include the lived experience of ‘race’ and racism; feminist theory and the interconnections between beauty, emotions and racism with a focus on Latin America.

In this episode, we talk about the law, politics, and human rights implications of drones and targeted killings. What can international humanitarian law tell us about the legal status of rights? Can human rights prevent drone strikes? Should they - and if so, how?

We were joined by Christof Heyns, the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Today, he serves on the U.N. Human Rights Committee and is Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Pretoria.

In this episode, we talk about occupation, refugee rights, and the status of Palestine. Are there systematic ways to remedy human rights abuses against an occupied people? How has human rights language been used to facilitate occupation? What can be done?

We were joined by Dr Ruba Salih (SOAS), expert on Transnational Migration and Gender, and Odette Murray, who is a lecturer in Law.

In this episode, we look at global economic institutions, and their role in human rights. Dr Shailaja Fennell joined us to discuss questions of whether institutions can advance, or inhibit human rights? What can we learn from failures in development, and how can lessons learned be used as a srping-board for tackling issues of gender, education and inequality?

In this episode, we discuss the weaponisation of human rights, i.e. are human rights always "good"; or are they at times used for more sinister ends? How has the use of human rights changed from the days in which they paved the way for movements around the globe, from the civil rights movement to the struggle to end apartheid, till today? Helping us delve into these murky waters, we were joined by Journalist, retired Civil Rights Lawyer, and Author of 'The Passion of Chelsea Manning', Chase Madar.

On this episode, we discussed refugee rights in international and domestic contexts. We were joined by Sociology PhD student, Rabia Nasimi, who - drawing on her own experience - talked us through the importance of people's individual backgrounds in matters of integration. The conversation also covered the role of grassroots organisations as compared to larger movements and institutions, and questioned whether integration is always benevolent. This episode emphasises that rights are only part of the issue, and that we need to start a more grounded conversation.