A conversation on Human Rights with Gissou Nia, Director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council.

I hosted a great discussion with Gissou Nia, a human rights lawyer and currently the Director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council. We only had 1 hour, but I hope we will do part 2 in the future to go deeper into many of the topics we discussed.

Our conversation traverses a range of topics focused on international law, the international criminal courts, international relations frameworks, the Rome statute, human rights, and the Middle East.

Press play!

(Side note: Apologies for the audio issues (on my end only!) I am troubleshooting. I will resolve the problems, fingers crossed.)

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Additional Information on Gissou Nia:

Gissou Nia is the director of the Strategic Litigation Project, within Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council. The Strategic Litigation Project advises on the inclusion of legal tools as a part of foreign policy, with a focus on prevention and accountability efforts for atrocity crimes, human rights violations, terrorism and corruption offenses.

Nia is a human rights lawyer and non-profit leader. She serves as board chair of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center where she is helping develop and oversee the group’s human rights advocacy and legal programs, which seek to promote accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law in Iran. She previously served as the Executive Director for the group, and as the Deputy Director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Nia started her career in The Hague, where she worked on war crimes and crimes against humanity trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. She lectures and publishes widely on human rights developments in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the rule of law in post-conflict and transitional societies.

Excerpt from https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/gissou-nia/

You can find Gissou Nia on Twitter at @GissouNia or on LinkedIn.

Links below to research and commentary:

Commentary on sentencing for crimes against humanity.

Closing the Accountability Gap on Human Rights Violators in the Islamic Republic of Iran through Global Civil Litigation Strategies, by Gissou Nia

Will Iran’s New President be Held Accountable? by Gissou Nia

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