Dr. Agnès Callamard has been a leader in the human rights sector for decades, and since 2021 has worked in the role of Secretary General for Amnesty International. She joins the show to discuss doing human rights work at this difficult historical moment, the future of international law, Canada’s role on the world stage, the question of genocide, and some of the lessons that can be drawn from the world’s most precarious frontiers. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]
Front Burner Transcript for May 6, 2025
Host: Jayme Poisson
[Music: Theme]
ALLIE JAYNES: Hi, I’m Allie Jaynes, I am a producer on Front Burner filling in for Jayme. Today our guest is Agnès Callamard, she is the Secretary General of Amnesty International and she spoke to us yesterday from Ottawa where she was visiting Parliament Hill. Given the attacks on human rights and rule of law we’re seeing all over the world right now, not least from and within the United States, we felt it was a particularly appropriate time to speak to her. We talked about everything from human rights in Canada to the U.S.’s threats of annexation to the legitimacy of international law, as well as why Amnesty has made a determination of genocide in Gaza, but not, for example, in the Ethiopian region of Tigray, and how, after decades of bearing witness to some of the worst human atrocities, she finds the strength to keep doing this work. Here’s our conversation. Read more…