As a teen, Leah Juliett sent nude photos to a boy who spent years requesting them. When the boy learned that Leah was gay and paying attention to other people, Leah became one of the millions of victims of revenge porn — more accurately known as nonconsensual pornography (NCP). In this episode, Hazami Barmada explores where NCP is criminalized, the lack of regulation that prevents victims from getting justice, and what (little) recourse victims have in getting their life and dignity...

Yanique Brandford had to skip school and go to the nearest shopping mart to buy herself period products. The price tag was $15, and she only had $8 in her bank account. Born from a single-parent household where money was tight, Yanique’s mom had to make sanitary pads out of cardboard, plastic, or newspaper. In this episode, Hazami Barmada tackles the “pink tax” and breaks down misconceptions around period poverty — a stigmatizing experience that happens even in the richest countries. We also...

Shon Hopwood is a serial robber who spent 11 years in federal prison. But when he walked out of prison in 2008, Shon couldn’t have predicted an incredulous twist: earning the title ‘Professor’ at Georgetown University while raising his young family. While the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, there is little evidence to show that with more people in the prison system, crime rates are significantly reduced or that public safety is ensured. In this episode, we discuss the...

In solving the world’s most profound challenges like poverty, discrimination, and inequality, are we fixing the right problems? In Season 4 of the Finding Humanity podcast, we examine the institutional, political, and legal systems that got us here. How do we reduce prison populations and move from punishment to rehabilitation? What are the biggest myths around food insecurity? How do our systems perpetuate racial injustice? Through the lens of visceral human experiences, we will explore...

Until the late 20th century, assimilation was the Brazilian government’s official indigenous policy. Native inhabitants were sometimes driven out of their communities and flown by plane to distant locations where they were dropped off; meanwhile, outsiders seized their land. In some cases, assimilation turned into extermination. There are 370 million Indigenous people around the world. Although these groups are incredibly diverse, their human rights struggle is similar, no matter where they...

Catherine Healy confronted her roommate after learning that she was a sex worker. But instead of an intervention, Catherine’s encounter revealed an industry that she would ultimately end up fighting for —   helping pass the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act, a law that makes it legal for any citizen over 18 years old to sell sexual services. As of 2021, 64 countries have decriminalized sex work with varying degree of regulations.  However, in most parts of the world, sex work continues to...

In 2004, Jonathan Hancock was assigned to the Second Battalion Fourth Marines, also known as the “Magnificent Bastards.” He was sent to Ramadi, then a stronghold for Saddam Hussein's followers and Al Qaeda leadership. Five years after deployment, Jonathan fell into a depression — a dark hole that he couldn’t get out of — and attempted to take his own life. PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder is a mental health issue developed after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event like...

Victims of coercive control might not recognize their experience as domestic abuse. In the case of Ryan Hart, his mother was left with no choice but to stay with his father — who portrayed himself as a well-respected family man in their community. Ryan says that it was their father's gendered view of the world which ultimately led him to murder his daughter and wife of 25 years. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men worldwide experience some type of abuse....

From picking a new name to burning her belongings and spying on new members, Dr. Janja Lalich did not foresee how her life would dramatically change as a budding feminist in the 70s. Like many others, the Democratic Workers Party, a cult she joined through a study group, first appealed to her political interests. Alternative religions and occult groups have been present throughout modern history. While the number of people in cults globally is unknown, experts estimate that there are up to...

In 2008, Deependra Giri was promised a decent salary as a clerk in Qatar. Needing money to support his family, he left his home country Nepal — only to work an unpaid construction job and worse, live in squalid conditions. Nearly 21 million people around the world are victims of forced labor, trapped in jobs that they are coerced to take. An estimated 600,000 victims are in the Middle East. In this episode, we explore the abusive system of forced labor. We look at global trends and factors...

Born in Vietnam, Lynelle Long felt like an outsider as the only nonwhite child in her family and community in Victoria, Australia. As an adoptee, she spent her entire adult life fighting to understand and connect with her identity and her past — a basic fundamental human right that was taken from her. While the accurate number is grossly underreported, the UN estimates that around 260,000 adoptions take place worldwide each year-- of them, roughly half are adopted into American families....

This is Part 2 of a two-part episode on extremism. Jesse Morton was a drug-dealing groupie when he became fascinated with Islam — and converted to it. But, it wasn’t until the U.S. waged the ‘War on Terror’ after 9/11 when Jesse embraced a Salafi-jihadi ideology, an approach to jihadism also taken by groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. In this episode, we take a look inside the life of a reformed Muslim extremist. Here, Jesse shares how he leveraged new technologies to grow ‘Revolution...

In 2007, Nelson Mandela founded The Elders with a mission of engaging with “global leaders and civil society at all levels to resolve conflict and address its root causes, to challenge injustice, and to promote ethical leadership and good governance”. Across our special podcast series, we've explored these very issues and considered how and why Mandela's vision remains so important to tackling some of the world's intractable challenges, from nuclear threats to lack of access to justice and...

This is Part 1 of a two-part episode on extremism. The “great replacement” is a theory that white people are being systematically replaced around the world by nonwhites through events like mass migration, intermarriage, and declining white birth rates. While this may be an ideology adopted by white supremacists around the world, this initially wasn’t the case for Arno Michaelis, then a violent, drunken teen in the late 80s. In this episode, we hear from a former white nationalist — from his...

Born in Uttar Pradesh, a slum in India, Kinsu Kumar couldn’t make friends when he was young. While kids in his neighborhood went to school, Kinsu worked as a car cleaner and domestic helper to help his family earn a living. He was only 6 years old. Worldwide 152 million are victims of child labor and almost half of them, 73 million, find themselves in hazardous working conditions. In this episode, we unravel the dangers and hidden costs of child labor. We identify factors that make child...

Alex Sanchez’s recruitment into the notorious Los Angeles-based gang MS-13 can be largely attributed to three things: isolation, music, and domestic violence. Formed by children of refugees fleeing the US-funded violence in El Salvador, MS-13 makes up less than 1 percent of gang members in the US, which have approximately grown to 1.4 million. In this episode, we dive into the dark world of gangs to better understand how politics and prison systems further fuel their violence. What are the...

Justice is a fundamental human right, and is critical in ensuring that other human rights are upheld. When women and girls do not have access to justice, it undermines progress to achieving gender equality. The Sustainable Development Goals agreed on by all countries in 2015 include specific goals to achieve gender equality and to provide access to justice for all, yet, five billion people around the world still do not have meaningful access to justice – most of whom are women and...

How does one get out of a vicious cycle of violence, hatred, or oppression? In Season 3 of Finding Humanity, we bring you stories of people trapped in environments where danger and trauma are hard to escape — and where often, self-identity is eradicated.  In each episode, we meet humans who are stuck in transit and follow their unique journeys in search of justice and freedom. Will seeking help push them deeper into a more cruel reality? How do we see ourselves in their struggle for peace...

The United Nations was created in 1945, following the devastation of World War II. The opening lines of its founding charter commit its signatories to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. However, with more than 40 active conflicts around the world today, we ask: has the United Nations failed to live up to its aim of ensuring international peace and security? In this episode, hosts Hazami Barmada and Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland, former UN High-Commissioner...

While the world grapples with COVID-19 and the climate emergency, nuclear war remains a real and present danger to the future of humanity. So why is nobody talking about it? Throughout the Cold War, nuclear confrontation was a threat that overshadowed everyone’s lives and was reflected in popular culture and debate. Today, we are confronted with the dangerous prospect of a new nuclear arms race, yet it is barely spoken about. Despite big reductions since the end of the Cold War, around...

After the shooting of African-American teen Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his murderer, George Zimmerman, Alicia Garza created a Facebook post saying: "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter." Growing up in a mixed-race household, Alicia’s understanding of race was influenced by her upbringing. In 2013, Alicia co-founded the Nobel Peace prize nominee Black Lives Matter movement, in response to incidents of police brutality and racially motivated...

COVID-19  has exposed the vulnerabilities of our inherently interconnected existence. Tens-of-millions of confirmed cases and more than 2 million COVID-19-related deaths have so far been confirmed globally – the pandemic has impacted nearly every country in the world. If the crisis has taught us anything, it is that no one is safe until everyone is safe. This is why more and more people are recognising the role Universal Health Coverage (UHC) could play in building resilient health systems...

Wai Wai Nu was born in Rakhine State, located on the western coast of Myanmar where most Rohingya reside. A predominantly Buddhist country, the Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar who have been rendered stateless since 1982. Through the lens of a young woman whose family was imprisoned and displaced to internment camps, this episode unravels the ongoing conflict in Myanmar and the military crackdown on Rohingya civilians. Ongoing violence against the Rohingya has resulted in the...

Living in a small village in Nigeria, Blessing Okoedion was promised a job in Europe as a computer engineer— only to fall into the hands of human traffickers in Italy. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide were trafficked in 2016. This crime earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers as a whole, with $99 billion coming from commercial sexual exploitation. While the majority of sexual trafficking happens in the...

Born in Pakistan, Barat Ali Batoor moved to Afghanistan as a photojournalist.  His parents fled the country in the early 70s because of the discrimination they experienced as Hazaras, an ethnic minority group in Afghanistan that has faced political, economic and social repression for more than a century. In this episode, Barat takes us on his gripping journey — one that reached its apex when he documented the injustice done to the ‘Dancing Boys’ and the practice called ‘Bacha Bazi’ a...