The Fate Of Freedom In A Global Pandemic: A Panel Discussion with Kenneth Roth, Mubashar Hasan and Farai Gonzo

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading international human rights organizations, which operates in 100 countries. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 1987, Roth served as a federal prosecutor in New York and for the Iran-Contra investigation in Washington. A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Roth has conducted numerous human rights investigations and missions around the world. He has written extensively on a wide range of human rights abuses, devoting special attention to issues of international justice, autocratic populism, the foreign policies of the major powers, and the work of the United Nations. Follow him on Twitter @KenRoth.

Mubashar Hasan is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), University of Western Sydney, Australia and affiliated with Oslo University as a non-resident fellow. Previously, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, Norway and an Assistant Professor of Political Science in North South University, Bangladesh. He serves as a member of the Research Advisory Council of RESOLVE Network, housed at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC . Mubashar holds a PhD in International Relations from Griffith University, Australia.

Ms. Farai Gonzo is an award winning journalist and lecturer. A veteran investigative reporter, she has worked in every medium from radio to television to print with a focus on health, human rights, and gender equality issues. Working her way up to executive producer at a major media outlet in Zimbabwe, she was a powerful force in her field. Her reporting amplified the voices of Zimbabwean citizens, allowing them to express their dissatisfaction with government policies, and mobilized communities around social issues. Despite repeated attempts to silence her, she courageously continued to produce programming that challenged authorities. Ultimately, they succeeded in removing her from her position. She was arrested, interrogated, tortured, and accused of allegiance to an opposition party. Upon her release, knowing that they would come for her again, she fled to the US. She later learned that the government has placed advertisements in newspapers declaring her a traitor. She could not go home. She contacted Scholars at Risk which helped arrange successive positions at Centennial College and Massey College in Canada. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto with a thesis focusing on Social Justice in Pentecostal Churches. "Are Women in Toronto Finding Stability in Their Finances As They Remit Money To Their Churches Back in Zimbabwe?"