#DefendingTheDefenders – Episode 7: UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite
On the 24th of January, the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, we conclude our podcast with a conversation with Margaret Satterthwaite. She is a professor of Clinical Law at New York University and was appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in October 2022.
In this season, we have been looking at the challenges and dangers lawyers and human rights defenders face in their work in many different countries. We have been talking about Poland, Belarus, Turkey, Afghanistan, Colombia and the European Union. From harassments over identifications of lawyers with their clients to media pressure, SLAPP suits, imprisonments and violent attacks, we have talked about a range of threats lawyers face particularly in countries where the rule of law is fragile or where there is democratic backsliding, but not only there.
In this conversation, Margaret Sattertwhaite offers a global perspective on the topic of our podcast, the defence of the defenders. We talk about global trends in challenges to the independence of lawyers, and we talk about structural problems that need to be addressed to defend the defenders around the globe. In addition, we circle back to Afghanistan, the country in focus of this year’s Day of the Endangered Lawyer, and the horrific situation of lawyers, in particular women, there.
Thank you for this podcast. Watching Belarus and other countries, especially since the election of 2020 Lukashenka stole to become dictator, protecting lawyers who’ve been arrested for representing innocent citizens fighting for Democracy is crucial.
This has also become. a major issue int US, even more so since election 2016 when racism was exalted. This was such an excellent podcast, but I will stop here because so much was already well covered, including horrific misogyny and the need to protect women and women’s rights around the world.