The guest of our sixth episode is Marina Shupac, an award-winning journalist, self-shooting documentary filmmaker and human rights practitioner from Moldova.

Since she was a child, she wanted to be a journalist but was also already taking a stand on injustice due to her family’s commitment to a more just society in Moldova. She did not perceive it at that point as human rights but more as a political fight. As she grew up in a small town, she only learned about human rights principles when she moved to the capital for her studies.

Studying human rights gave her more self-confidence to cover those issues as a young female journalist. It also gave me a practical understanding of human rights obligations of my government and gave me more instruments to put pressure on government representatives when I interviewed them. I could ask more precise questions knowing the recommendations from human rights bodies. It made my work more credible.

She is currently working for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and considers that the challenges related to human rights are multidimensional and require people with different skills, and not only lawyers. She sees journalists as human rights defenders and worked on a human rights academy for media professionals. Most journalists are already human rights defenders even though they would not identify themselves as such. I really advocate to perceive journalists as people who also shape policies and hold authorities accountable. I really advocate to include journalists in human rights circles and human rights discussions.