Bard College Berlin News
Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Conversation with Ken Roth
Ken Roth is former executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading human rights organizations, which he led from 1993 to 2022, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors at Bard College Berlin.
His recently published book, Righting Wrongs, combines memoir and analysis to refute the skeptics who question whether it is possible to defend human rights effectively. “I deliberately took on the toughest cases—China, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rwanda, the United States—and in each of these cases, I show the way we were able to arm twist governments to behave better. We start from the premise that violating human rights is convenient: If you are a government, it is a way to stay in power, it's a way to get rid of the pesky opposition. So if we can change the cost-benefit analysis of repression—if we can make it less beneficial, more costly—we can force governments to act better,” he explains.
At a time of global instability, rising extremism, and threats to human rights, Roth explains how it is possible to move even the most powerful and despotic governments.
Watch the full conversation on YouTube, including brief presentations on the BCB’s Human Rights Initiative and Hertie’s Centre for Fundamental Rights.
Post Date: 05-20-2025