IBA podcast

From enormous political donations and influence on US government policy to dominance in shaping narratives on social media,  Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been the most prominent of a number of billionaires and companies impacting the course of democracy and the rule of law. In this podcast, Mark Stephens CBE, Co-Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute, George Havenhand, Senior Legal Researcher at Spotlight on Corruption, and Courtney Radsch, Director at the Centre for Journalism and Liberty, discuss the issues and what needs to be done to safeguard against undue influence.

Laws around beneficial ownership – identifying the ultimate owners of corporate entities - are intended to be a tool to provide transparency and to combat corruption, terrorist financing and other human rights abuses. However, such legislation and related proposals have been criticised by some as disproportionate and sometimes contradictory to other rights. Meanwhile, legal professionals must increasingly navigate growing due diligence and reporting requirements and regulatory scrutiny in this area.  In this podcast, compiled from a session at the IBA’s Annual Conference, our speakers consider the issues: Mark Stephens, Co-Chair, IBA Human Rights Institute; Babatunde Ajibade, Chair, IBA Section on Public and Professional Interest; and Greg McIntyre, former President, Law Council of Australia.

Radical changes in US policy under the presidency of Donald Trump, from foreign aid to global trade and beyond, are having a profound impact on the rest of the world. This Global Insight podcast explores the implications for the rule of law, international relations and global security. With: Mary O’Connell, Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, Indiana Heela Rasool-Ayub, Director, Planetary Politics initiative, New America think tank Kim Lane Scheppele, Laurance S Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University, New Jersey Ken Murphy, Immediate Past Chair, IBA Bar Issues Commission; former Director General, Law Society of Ireland

Afghanistan: confronting gender apartheid The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021 after the sudden withdrawal of Western forces, implementing an interpretation of strict Sharia law that has especially affected women and girls. Since then, international relations have worsened. In early 2025, the ICC sought arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over gender-based persecution, prompting Afghanistan to withdraw from the court, condemning the action as baseless and politically motivated. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to bring a case to the International Court of Justice over alleged violations of a UN anti-discrimination treaty. A Taliban spokesperson has stated that the Taliban respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and local customs. In this Global Insight podcast, our speakers consider the situation in Afghanistan, described by some as ‘gender apartheid’. With: Fawzia Amini, former Afghan Supreme Court judge, now in the UK Tamana Paryani, Afghan women’s r

The need for financial assistance for developing nations to address the effects of the climate crisis and to transition to low-carbon economies continues to grow. But the specifics on how much and how to implement this have been the subject of intense negotiation. At the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29), what’s known as the New Collective Quantified Goal was agreed on after negotiators agreed to raise $300 billion a year in climate finance – triple the original $100 billion target – by 2035. However, this figure doesn’t account for inflation, and some feel it still falls short of what is needed to tackle the severity of the crisis.   Podcast speakers: David Waskow, Director of the International Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute, Washington, DC Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, New Delhi Emily Morison, Project Lawyer, IBA Legal Policy & Research Unit

The EU’s AI Act came into force in 2024 and will regulate Artificial Intelligence systems in the European Union based on which ‘risk category’ they fit into. Its provisions will mostly become applicable over the next two years. The Act is far from the only piece of legislation or agreement covering AI in the EU, with others including the updated Product Liability Directive, a proposed AI Liability Directive and the Council of Europe Framework on Artificial Intelligence. In this Global Insight podcast, we consider the significance of the developments with: Marc Rotenberg, President of the Center for AI and Digital Policy and Chair of the IBA’s AI Task Force Susie Alegre, human rights barrister and author on the impact of AI on human rights Ed Turtle, a senior lawyer on the Products Team at Cooley, focusing on tech and AI products; also an officer on the IBA Product Law and Advertising Committee

In April 2024, a group of older Swiss women successfully argued before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that the Swiss government was failing to take sufficient action on climate change, violating their human rights as a disproportionately affected group under the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the Swiss parliament rejected the judgment in Klimaseniorinnen v Switzerland, claiming the ECtHR had overstepped its legal boundaries and engaged in ‘inappropriate judicial activism’, a stance later supported by the Swiss Federal Council, the country’s highest executive authority. Switzerland has since presented a National Action Report on climate instead, which critics argue will not adequately implement the Court’s judgment. This podcast explores the impact and fallout of the case. With: Richard Harvey, Legal Counsel at Greenpeace UK Elizabeth Stern, claimant in KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland Professor Annalisa Savaresi, Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law at the U

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election that saw Donald Trump become President offered shocking revelations. As US citizens prepare to vote in the presidential election, with Trump once more a presidential candidate, Global Insight assesses the Mueller investigation, its report and the bearing on the rule of law in the US, through to today. Featuring: Glenn Kirschner, former US Department of Justice prosecutor, Washington, DC Matt Kaiser, Kaiser law firm, Washington, DC; Senior Vice-Chair, IBA Criminal Law Committee Shan Wu, former federal prosecutor, Washington, DC    

Following a divided vote by its member states in October, the EU can now impose extra tariffs of up to 35.3% on electric vehicles – EVs – imported from China for the next five years. The vote follows moves by the US Biden administration earlier in 2024 to raise tariffs on Chinese computer chips, EVs, clean energy technologies and metals imported from China – part of an ongoing series of measures from the countries in recent years in the US-China trade war.

In mid-2024, the UK enacted a law quashing the convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters after many were wrongly prosecuted for theft and fraud due to accounting errors in the software – Horizon – used by their employer, the Post Office. This scandal, alongside other recent controversies, has placed the spotlight on IT outsourcing projects and the potential pitfalls, both for buyers and for the public.

More than 60 national elections have already taken place or will do so during 2024 – almost a third of them in Asia. Given its significant presence on the world stage, India’s election has been one of the most closely watched. The country’s lengthy voting process draws to a conclusion in early June in what’s expected to be a victory for incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party. But questions remain over the implications for human rights and the rule of law in a country of over 1.4 billion people. This podcast addresses the situation in India, Pakistan and Asia more broadly.

The Council of Europe recently voted to use seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction. The US House of Representatives has approved billions of dollars in aid to help Ukraine combat Russia's invasion, also authorising the US government to take frozen Russian central bank assets held in US jurisdictions to help rebuild the country. In April, Ukraine’s Register of Damage started taking claims relating to residential property – a first step in the international compensation mechanism, a framework established in response to recommendations by the UN.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which sits at the southern tip of the Red Sea, has become an increasingly dangerous chokepoint off the coast of Yemen, with the rebel Houthi group targeting merchant and other ships there linked to Israel, the US or UK for attack or seizure. The group’s motive is ‘retribution’ for Israel’s war in Gaza. The US and the UK and others have taken military action in response to the Houthi attacks, which have had a significant impact on global trade, as well as on delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen. Escalating conflict in the Middle East looks set to have continued impact on the Red Sea situation.

Following Vladimir Putin’s election victory for a fifth term – in a vote criticised by many international observers – Global Insight considers the significance of the result, the state of rule of law in Russia, and the major challenges now facing the international community and the Kremlin.

Despite being stretched financially, the ICC is not shying away from tackling the crimes perpetrated during conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and elsewhere. In this interview with IBA Director of Content James Lewis, Karim Khan KC speaks passionately about the significance of issuing an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin and the importance of moving at the speed of relevance.

The death of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on 19 February shocked the world.  Global leaders were quick to condemn the Russian authorities for their role in the 47-year-old’s sudden and unexplained death. In the days that followed, hundreds of Russian civilians were arrested for laying tributes to the Kremlin critic.  Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of Russian political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, spoke to Global Insight recently about what life was like behind bars for members of the opposition, and why it’s so important for Russian citizens to keep challenging the regime both from inside and outside Russia. 

Tech giants wield significant power in our daily lives. The scale at which they operate and their innovative use of technology can lead, however, to challenges in keeping their power in check on a number of fronts. This podcast assesses the ways in which governments, regulators, lawyers and the courts – as well as the tech companies themselves through self-regulation – are currently attempting to do this. 

It's clear from reactions to COP28 that although some progress was made in the form of pledges and other agreements by states and corporations, for many the pace of change is too slow and action does not go far enough.  Recognising the effect that the climate crisis is having and will continue to have on human rights, particularly in the world’s poorest countries, the UN appointed a Special Rapporteur in this area in 2022. In this Global Insight podcast, IBA Multimedia Journalist Yola Verbruggen talks to the UN Special Rapporteur on climate change and human rights, Ian Fry, about his mandate, the challenge of getting countries on board, climate refugees and potential legal routes to justice and accountability, such as climate litigation.

The legal landscape across Asia for LGBTQI+ rights is varied. Despite same-sex relationships being legal in many Asian countries – with Singapore most recently repealing Section 377A of its Penal Code, which criminalised sex between consenting males – in others they can be punishable by fines, prison and even the death penalty.   Most Asian countries do not legally recognise formal unions for same sex couples, but there have been some recent developments on this front. Certain Asian countries have either legalised or moved towards legalising same sex marriage - with Taiwan doing so in 2019, Nepal registering its first such marriage in November 2023 and Thailand currently set to vote on a same-sex marriage bill. However, an October 2023 Supreme Court ruling in India declined to recognise same sex marriage.

Diego García Sayán was the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges from 2016–2022. Prior to this he performed numerous roles within the UN, was a judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and held positions in the government of his native Peru. In this interview with the IBA’s Director of Content, James Lewis, he discusses major rule of law themes, including his involvement in peace negotiations in Latin America, reform of the UN, the importance of the 2030 sustainability agenda, and how to protect the independence of lawyers and judges.