The Guernica Accountability Podcast
The Guernica Accountability Podcast aims to bring to you, hopefully in a brief but substantial way, the voices of those who, from so many sides of the same reality, have looked after and longed for accountability. They will share their experiences and stories, they will reflect, inform, inspire us. They will tell us what accountability means to them and they will provide for the necessary dialogue to restart our lives touched, aware and changed.
Episode #012 - Mayte Carrasco
In this Episode, Guernica 37 Co-founder Toby Cadman interviewed Mayte Carrasco, documentary director and writer. Mayte comes from a world of war reporting and covered some of the most dangerous conflicts in Afghanistan, Georgia, Mali, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Iraq.
Episode #011 - Justice & Reconciliation
In this eleventh Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Yasmin Sooka and Howard Varney on the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability in South Africa 20 years after the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. To all who care about human rights and transitional justice efforts, the transition from Apartheid in South Africa and the efforts to seek truth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission remained the illustration of a paradigmatic success.
Episode #010 - Accountability through the Lens of Diversity
In this tenth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Cherie Blair CBE, QC. Cherie takes us through an extraordinary journey from her working class upbringing in Liverpool, being the first member of her family to go to university, studying law at the London School of Economics, where she graduated with a First Class Degree, qualifying as a barrister, her time at 10 Downing Street, co-founding Matrix Chambers, founding the pioneering international law firm Omnia Strategy and dedicated much of her time to charitable work with a special emphasis on working with women, children and the transformative power of education.
Episode #009 - Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War
In this ninth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Patricia Viseur Sellers, Special Advisor for Gender for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College of the University of Oxford, former Legal Advisor for Gender, Acting Head of the Legal Advisory Section and a prosecutor at the ICTY and member of Guernica 37 Advisory Council. Patty discusses her career progression as public defender in Philadelphia, to the ICTY in The Hague where she was instrumental in developing international criminal law on the interpretation of sexual violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture and enslavement.
Episode #008 - In Discussion with an Unorthodox Barrister
In this eighth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Almudena Bernabeu speaks to Toby Cadman about his unorthodox career path to the English Bar, human rights, Guernica, Bangladesh, Syria, Kung Fu and the Rolling Stones.
Episode #007 - Developments in Prosecuting Gender Crimes & Sexual Violence in Conflict
In this seventh Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Michelle Jarvis, Deputy Head of the UN IIIM and discusses her career in international criminal justice looking at her work in Australia as a young lawyer pushing for greater access to justice for gender crimes, as a prosecutor at the ICTY in The Hague and now with the IIIM on Syria in Geneva developing new strategies with Syrian civil society to tackle gender crimes and sexual violence in conflict.
Episode #006 - Establishing a Framework for Prevention
In this sixth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman discusses the four pillars of transitional justice - truth; justice; reparations; and non-recurrence - with Pablo de Greiff and tracks more than three decades of development in developing an effective strategy for change. Pablo discusses Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Syria and Yemen to name a few and sets out the framework for prevention that he developed whilst serving as the first UN Special Rapporteur for the Promotion Truth, Justice, Reparations and Non-Recurrence.
Episode #005 - The Secret Barrister
In this fifth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman discusses a broken legal system with The Secret Barrister, an anonymous figure who wears a black cape and fights crime - not Batman. The Secret Barrister discusses the legal system of England and Wales, how it is broken and how it can be fixed. The English legal system has long been the envy across the globe. When one thinks of the English legal system and its long-standing traditions, one thinks of the very concepts that are found in numerous human rights treaties that guarantee liberty, security, free speech, free association, fair trial and a host fundamental rights that are often taken for granted. However, our legal system is under attack and is now confronted with a real challenge to its very existence
The Secret Barrister - The Accidental Revolutionary
#AccountabilityMatters
Episode #004 - The Jesuit Massacre Trial – El Salvador
In this Fourth Episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast, Guernica 37 Co-founders, Toby Cadman and Almudena Bernabeu discuss the historic Jesuit Massacre Trial that is currently being heard before the Spanish National Criminal Court in Madrid. Almudena, who needs little introduction, has been involved in the case for more than a decade. She discusses the history of the civil war and the shock that the world felt on that tragic day in November 1989 when the events were so significant that they are said to have forced the end of the civil war in El Salvador and catalysed the victims’ quest for truth, justice, and accountability.
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Imperfect Conditions, Necessary Justice
#AccountabilityMatters
Episode #003 - From Guernica to Aleppo
Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman, speaks to Waad Al Kateab, the extraordinary young woman who produced the documentary For Sama with Channel 4, her husband Hamza, a surgeon from the last remaining hospital in besieged Aleppo and Catherine Marchi-Uhel, the Head of the United Nations Mechanism for Syria (IIIM).
During the past nine years of conflict the world has been a spectator to the mass human rights violations being committed with appalling frequency; from allegations of chemical attacks, to the use of indiscriminate military tactics, such as the use of barrel bombs, to the deliberate targeting of civilians, schools and medical staff, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, Tens of thousands have been imprisoned, tortured, and murdered in secret prisons.
Is Aleppo the new Guernica?
Episode #002 - The Guatemalan Genocide
Guernica 37 Co-founder, Toby Cadman, speaks to Naomi Roht-Arriaza, a distinguished Professor of Law from Hastings College at the University of California.
Naomi discusses the Guatemalan Genocide and the historic process that saw a former Head of State, put on trial in a national court for Genocide, the first time in which this has happened anywhere in the world. She discusses the courage of the victims, judges and prosecutors, battling against a culture of intimidation and impunity that changed Guatemala and the region forever.
Episode #001 - An Introduction to Guernica 37
To introduce the series, and as we hope to honestly and candidly inform, share, discuss the issues, we thought that we should begin by introducing The Guernica 37 Group, directly from the voices of those who form part of this initiative.
About The Guernica Accountability Podcast
Accountability is the essence and core of the work we do, not only reactively but as an exigence and excellence, an assumption of how things should work for all to have a better existence. In a time of deep uncertainty, there is room for reflection and further analysis on the questions that matter most. What is accountability and how should this still be a priority?
We believe that there is no better way than hearing directly from so many actors who have so much to say, but often, do not have a permanent platform from which to advocate. An open and comprehensive discussion on accountability beyond justice in legal fora and beyond the unaccomplished victims’ aspirations is long overdue.
What has been done? What should still be done? How does accountability provide for structural and necessary change? What are some of the milestones when it comes to accountability? What about its ability to impact change on societies, individuals and their communities? And finally, what are we not learning?
In order to effect real, sustainable and lasting change, particularly at a time when the whole world has been turned upside down and confronted with the challenge of daily existence, we have to be creative, we have to think differently. We have to ensure that we do not allow the entrenchment of autocracy, the foundation of impunity and the circumvention of the rule of law. Creativity is at the forefront of our response, and our need to be connected must be re-concieved. The need to identify accountability, what it means, the needs and the risks. We thought a podcast series seemed like a good beginning.
The Guernica Accountability Podcast aims to bring to you, hopefully in a brief but substantial way, the voices of those who, from so many sides of the same reality, have looked after and longed for accountability. They will share their experiences and stories, they will reflect, inform, inspire us. They will tell us what accountability means to them and they will provide for the necessary dialogue to restart our lives touched, aware and changed.
The series will be hosted by Guernica Chambers Co founder and Head Toby Cadman.
To introduce the series, and as we hope to honestly and candidly inform, share, discuss the issues, we thought that we should begin by introducing The Guernica Group, directly from the voices of those who form part of this initiative.
We hope you decide to follow us, enjoy the discussions, share our podcasts and join the conversation.
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Accountability matters!