Rights & Wrongs

When anti-Rohingya sentiment turned into gunshots in Myanmar in 2017, 16-year-old Maung Sawyeddollah was forced to flee. But what do you do when you’re forced to leave your home? Where do you go? This week on The Great Unrooting, host Ngofeen Mputubwele asks how migrants get from here to there. What happens if you need medicine while you’re traveling or are living with disabilities that make traveling difficult? What challenges do migrants face as they make these strenuous journeys? This week, we hear from people around the world who have faced these questions. We hear about Maung’s mom, who fled while pregnant. Her story, alongside accounts from HRW researchers, paints a picture of resilience and bravery of the migrants who risk everything in pursuit of safety. Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya Muslim Nadia Hardman: Researcher, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Emina Ćerimović: Associate Director, Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Lindsay Mputubwele: Doula and child-birth educator Chinda Precious: Nigerian refugee Hanaa Rahimi: Former Afghan policewoman sharing her story under alias

Maung Sawyeddollah grew up in a small town in Myanmar where, for years, life felt ordinary. That was before the rumors began. Social media fueled sectarian division, communities turned against each other. Then the soldiers arrived. It was a balmy night in August 2017 when Maung first heard the sound of gunfire. His family was forced to make an impossible choice: stay in the home they love or embark on a perilous journey to Bangladesh. They grabbed a few belongings and fled.Through Maung’s extraordinary story—from fleeing for his life in Myanmar to attending the prestigious New York University—this episode explores the moment Maung’s family made the fateful decision to abandon their home, and the heart-wrenching decisions millions of people face when the world they know becomes unlivable.The Great Unrooting begins with one life, and opens onto a global story of displacement, resilience, and hope.Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya MuslimMausi Segun: Executive Director of the Africa Division at Human Rights WatchNadia Hardman: Researcher, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights WatchKyle Knight: Associate Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights WatchBelkis Wille: Associate Director of Crisis & Conflict division at Human Rights Watch.

Welcome to The Great Unrooting, a five-episode narrative podcast special season of Rights & Wrongs that explores what it means to lose home — and what it takes to start again. Anchored in the story of Maung, a Rohingya refugee now living in New York, the series traces his journey of flight, survival, and rebuilding and explores displacement at a moment when more people are forcible displaced than at any point since World War II.Excerpt from forthcoming poem, "The Rusted Key" by Kumar M. Tiku.

The rights of LGBT people are on the chopping block across the world, with new countries criminalizing same-sex practices and banning representation of queer relationships in 2025. However, the landscape for LGBT rights has also shifted tremendously towards progress over the past decades. What gives? This week, we explore the texture of progress for LGBT rights. As Indonesia prepares for a new Criminal Code that will outlaw same-sex relations, prominent local advocate Dédé Oetomo charts the trajectory of LGBT rights from cultural openness to increasing repression. Indonesia’s path illustrates a pattern of both forward movement and backtracking on the rights of LGBT people across the globe.   Dédé Oetomo: Scholar and activist Kyle Knight: Associate Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch Phillip Ayoub: Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy at University College London 

Since April 2023, more than a half-million people have been displaced in Sudan due to fighting between two armed forces who were once aligned. The story of how the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces turned on each other, with devastating consequences for Sudan’s civilians, can be traced back to 2013 when a group of dissidents were told by their interrogators to ride a bicycle drawn with chalk on the wall of a Sudanese jail.  Detained for providing legal support to torture survivors, Human Rights Watch researcher Mohamed “Mo” Osman was introduced to the power structures that have shaped today’s conflict. In “The Chalk Bicycle,” host Ngofeen Mputubwele takes listeners through a decade that began with conflict, then saw the ousting of a dictator and great hopes for democracy only to be plunged back into conflict again.  Mohamed Osman: Researcher, Africa Division at Human Rights Watch Christopher Tounsel: Associate Professor of History, Director of Graduate Studies and Director of African Studies Program at the University of Washington 

In the early aughts, a campaign to “Save Sudan” became the bipartisan issue of the time. Celebrities and politicians alike implored a global audience to pay attention to and advocate against Suan’s human rights crisis.  As interventions waned, so did the attention of many global onlookers. But, since the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began fighting in April 2023, over 500,000 Sudanese civilians have been displaced. What has happened in Sudan since the world stopped paying attention?  It’s been a year since our first episodes on Sudan. Since then, it has been the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. And things are only getting worse. Yet despite the scale of the onslaught on civilians, global mobilization has been missing.  Mohamed Osman: Researcher, Africa Division at Human Rights Watch  Christopher Tounsel: Associate Professor of History, Director of Graduate Studies and Director of African Studies Program at the University of Washington 

When Harpinder Chauhan walked into his probation officer’s office in Florida, he thought it was just another check-in. Minutes later, he was in handcuffs and detained by ICE. In this episode of Rights and Wrongs, host Ngofeen Mputubwele talks to Harpinder about what it’s really like inside U.S. immigration detention— his days spent shackled, sleeping on concrete, and pleading for basic medical care. And he also speaks to an immigration lawyer about the profits and policies that are the driving force behind this cruel and inhumane system.  Harpinder Chauhan: ICE detainee Katie Blankenship: Co-founder of Sanctuary of the South 

In 1977, American Nazis fought for the right to march in Skokie, Illinois—a town filled with Holocaust survivors—and won. Nearly fifty years later, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended for jokes the government says went too far. What connects these moments? Host Ngofeen Mputubwele talks with Aryeh Neier—Holocaust survivor, former ACLU director, and Human Rights Watch co-founder—about why he once defended Nazis’ right to march, and what that case reveals about protecting free speech and democracy today.  Aryeh Neier: Co-founder of Human Rights Watch 

What’s the scariest sound in a war zone? In Kherson, Ukraine, it isn’t artillery or fighter jets—it’s the faint buzz of a $200 quadcopter drone. In this episode of Rights & Wrongs, host Ngofeen Mputubwele takes us inside Russia’s use of drones to stalk and attack civilians on the front line. Survivors describe the terror of being hunted from above, and Human Rights Watch’s Belkis Wille explains how drones are being misused to commit war crimes, what it could mean for civilians in future conflicts —and why we should be responding now. Belkis Wille: Associate Director of Crisis & Conflict division at Human Rights Watch. 

Roger and Daniela arrived in the U.S. in January, conditionally approved as refugees. Hours later, she was deported. Roger  vanished. When Rights & Wrongs first aired this story in May, it traced how a Venezuelan millennial with no criminal record ended up detained in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act—a centuries-old wartime law now repurposed for mass deportations. In a stunning twist two months later, the Trump administration brokered a deal: 10 Americans held in Venezuela were exchanged for 252 Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador, including Roger. In this update, host Ngofeen Mputubwele recaps Roger’s journey and  speaks with him about what really happened inside El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.  Roger Eduardo Molina Acevedo : Venezuelan citizen expelled to El Salvador Juan Pappier: Deputy Director of Americas at Human Rights Watch  

In 2012, a Ugandan TV host asked trans activist Pepe Julian Onziema a now-infamous question: “Why are you gay?” The clip went viral, spawning internet fodder around the world – but behind the memes lies a chilling reality. In this episode of Rights & Wrongs, host Ngofeen Mputubwele looks at Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, a 2023 law that punishes same-sex intimacy with life in prison or even death. He speaks with “Emmanuel,” a young man in Kampala whose Grindr date turned into a violent police sting. Human Rights Watch researcher Oryem Nyeko explains how the law has fueled mob violence, extortion, and fear. But amid the repression, mothers of queer children are speaking up, leading the resistance in one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBT climates. Oryem Nyeko: Senior researcher in the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch 

Last year, we told the story of how President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and arbitrarily detained tens of thousands of people, including children. El Salvador now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.   This year, the story took a darker turn. The Trump administration deported over 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they were locked up in a maximum-security prison with no way to challenge their detention. We’re re-airing this episode with a chilling update on the dangerous deal between Trump and Bukele— and how it signals Trump’s growing alliance with authoritarian leaders to advance his hardline agenda. Juanita Goebertus Estrada: Director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas Division   José Miguel Cruz: Director of Research at Florida International University's Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center 

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office with a vow to eliminate illegal drugs. His “war on drugs” resulted in the brutal killing of between 12,000 and 30,000 people. Despite the international outcry and extensive media coverage of the deaths and their impact, Duterte remained popular—and untouchable – until recently.  In March, he was arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant for crimes against humanity and is now sitting in a jail cell in The Hague. Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa, whose fearless reporting helped expose Duterte’s brutal drug war, was targeted by Duterte – accused of everything from tax evasion to libel. In this episode of Rights & Wrongs, host Ngofeen Mputubwele speaks with Ressa and Human Rights Watch researchers about Duterte’s bloody legacy, the importance of standing up to dictators, and what his arrest means for other leaders indicted by the ICC.  Maria Ressa: CEO of Rappler and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carlos Conde: Senior researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch Maria Elena Vignoli: Senior counsel in the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch 

You’ve probably heard that authoritarianism is on the rise across the globe. Increasingly, countries are adopting policies that undermine democracy, reduce accountability, and erode civil liberties and human rights. But why is authoritarianism on the rise, and how do authoritarian leaders come to power?   Lauded by Donald Trump and condemned by rights-defenders, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban provides a useful case study for those hoping to better understand the authoritarians’ playbook.  This week, host Ngofeen Mputubwele speaks to a Hungarian journalist and civil liberties strategist to map Orban’s journey to autocracy, and how his lurch towards authoritarianism has decimated civil liberties and allowed him to exert a stranglehold on Hungarian politics for more than 15 years.    Stefania Kopronczay: Former director of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union; visiting scholar at Columbia University   Viktória Serdült: Journalist at HVG.HU 

Roger and his partner Daniela arrived in the U.S. in January,  conditionally approved as refugees by a US State Department-run program called the Safe Mobility Initiative. Hours later, she was deported. He was detained and then, he vanished. In this episode of Rights & Wrongs, host Ngofeen Mputubwele looks at what happened to Roger—and also examines the fate of 137 Venezuelans swept up under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 18th-century law has only ever been used in times of war.  What began with border agents at the Houston airport questioning Roger about his tattoos turned into ICE detention and a secret transfer to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Roger, who has no criminal record, hasn’t been heard from since. Human Rights Watch’s Akshaya Kumar explains how an obscure law once used to detain Germans during both World Wars is now being deployed in peacetime for mass deportations. And Roger’s uncle, desperate for answers, shares how he watched helplessly as his nephew disappeared into a system where due process has collapsed—and fear has taken its place.  Akshaya Kumar: Director of Crisis Advocacy at Human Rights Watch  Noel Guape: Uncle of Roger Eduardo Molina Acevedo  Juan Pappier: Deputy Director of Americas at Human Rights Watch  

They’re chained to trees. Locked in sheds. Confined and forgotten — because they have a mental health condition. Across the globe, people with mental health conditions are shackled — hidden away, dehumanized, and neglected in overcrowded, filthy rooms, sheds, cages, even animal shelters. This week, host Ngofeen Mputubwele talks to Human Rights Watch researchers who are fighting to end this cruel practice — and to survivors who show that with the right support, healing and dignity are possible.  Elizabeth Kamundia: Director,Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Kriti Sharma: Associate Director, Disability Rights Division 

 Shipbreaking Updated: The Most Dangerous Job in the World In mid 2024, students in Bangladesh organized mass protests and brought down the repressive government of Sheikh Hasana.  The country is now under a caretaker government of Muhammed Yunus, a Nobel Laureate who is attempting reforms. Months before this Monsoon Revolution, we told you about shipbreaking, the waste management of industrial ships sent to Bangladesh that has been dubbed “the most dangerous job in the world.”  Guest Rizwana Hasan was then the country’s only environmental lawyer and fierce advocate against the shipbreaking industry. Today, she is the new government’s Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.  What has changed for shipbreakers under this new government. This week, host Ngofeen Mputubwele revisits last year’s episode and catches up with Human Rights Watch researcher Julia Bleckner to understand this new moment in Bangladesh, and how it will impact shipbreaking.   Julia Bleckner: Senior Researcher for the Asia Division and Global Health Initiative at Human Rights Watch Rizwana Hasan: Adviser for Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Bangladesh