Podcast host Imogen Foulkes is joined in this episode by human rights defenders and investigators.
Human rights advocates bring their testimonies of atrocities to the UN \u2013 often at great risk to themselves \u2013 because it often is their last and only hope.
\u201cI survived, I was able to finally leave the country, but if I hadn\u2019t been able to do that, I would have ended up in jail, or tortured in prison,\u201d says Khin Ohmar, a human rights defender from Myanmar.
\u201cThe feeling is always there, that sense of risk. We\u2019ve had journalists, trade union leaders, human rights defenders, currently in prison,\u201d says Feliciano Reyna, a human rights advocate from Venezuela.
\u201cMy only son was murdered by Dallas policemen, he was only 25 years old, he was unarmed, and shot seven times,\u201d says Collette Flanagan, founder and CEO of Mothers Against Police Brutality.
UN investigators collect evidence that national or international courts can use to convict rights offenders. They too, have to face disturbing situations.
\u201cI still know that the Myanmar butchers who are responsible for what happened may never individually be brought to justice,\u201d says Chris Sidoti, an international human rights consultant.
\u201cIs this possible? How can human beings do such horrible things to other human beings,\u201d says Ilaria Ciarla, a UN human rights officer on the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
\u201cThe idea that somebody has listened to your story, and you have taken your case to the United Nations is incredibly important,\u201d says Andrew Clapham, a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
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