Robinson's Podcast 259 - Kenneth Roth: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and How to Shame a Dictator
Sep 14, 2025
Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and now a visiting professor at Princeton, shares his insights on tackling human rights abuses. He discusses the effectiveness of shaming authoritarian figures like Putin and Orban. Roth also delves into the complexities of genocide and ethnic cleansing, particularly in the context of Palestine. With a focus on evidence-based approaches, he emphasizes the crucial role of reliable information and international intervention in addressing ongoing humanitarian crises.
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Family Origin Of A Human Rights Career
- Kenneth Roth's father fled Nazi Germany when he was 12, and those stories shaped Roth's drive to prevent atrocities.
- Roth moved from prosecution to human-rights work, joining Human Rights Watch when it had only two employees.
Two-Tool Strategy: Facts Plus Pressure
- Human Rights Watch uses two core tools: meticulous factual investigations and public shaming to delegitimize abusers.
- They pair shaming with pressuring influential governments to raise the political and economic cost of repression.
Push Specific, Pragmatic Demands
- When lobbying allied governments, make concrete, achievable demands rather than vague moral pleas.
- Accept pragmatic compromises when they secure broader gains, as HRW did on the child soldier treaty.
