Hello everyone, my name is Mia and welcome to the Human Rights Hub, where human rights

meet real life.

Today I will be your host to this special podcast brought to you by masters and PhD

students at the FAO who are also awardees of the President's Welcome Award and who

are also passionate about making human rights accessible, relevant and real.

This podcast is for everyone.

So not only lawyers, policymakers or human rights defenders, but actually anyone who

cares about fairness, dignity and equal rights.

You don't have to be an expert to care about human rights because they affect all of us

in the way how we live, how we work and how we treat each other.

So if you care about creating a more just and humane world, I think you're in the

right place.

In today's episode, we will unpack what human rights really are, trace their roots

from Nuremberg to today's biggest challenges, explore some global stories and also

educational gaps and finally share some ways in which you can take action.

But before we begin, I would like to invite my fellow colleagues to quickly introduce

themselves. So only your name, where are you from and your academic background.

Thank you, Mia. My name is Sharmin Shami Machul.

I'm from Bangladesh. I have completed my bachelor's and master's in law from my home

country in Bangladesh and at FAO, I'm a master's of human rights candidate.

What?

Hello, everyone. Hello, the audience.

My name is Alejandro Gomez Lopez.

I am from Mexico and I'm also studying the master's degree in human rights at FAO.

Hello, everyone. I'm Daniela Vallejo.

I'm from Ecuador and I'm also a master's student.

I'm also doing human rights and I'm very happy to be here.

Hi, everyone. I'm Shukro De.

I'm from Bangladesh.

I'm also currently pursuing PhD at the FAU.

I'm pursuing PhD as part of an international doctorate program in business and human rights.

Hi, I'm Iklavi Vasudev.

I'm a lawyer from India.

I'm also pursuing a PhD at FAU in the same program as Shukro and my research is on climate

litigation.

OK, thank you, everyone, for your introductions.

As I've already mentioned, my name is Mia.

I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina and I have bachelor's in law.

So before we get into any deeper conversations, let's clear up some common misunderstandings.

So, Sharmin, can you explain to us some common misconceptions about the term human rights

that people usually have?

Sure. The moment we heard about the word human rights, the first thing that came into our

mind is that it's something technical, legal, and it's often led by experts.

But in reality, it's well embedded in our day to day life, how we work, how we live,

how we interact with each other in our everyday life, everyday interactions.

It's very much involved in that.

So the first myth was that and the second myth, which is very much involved with that,

that human rights is only dealt by the international NGOs or lawyers or like courts and

tribunals. But in reality, human rights defender can be anyone.

It can be a school teacher.