About Nicholas Bequelin

I am a human rights professional with a PhD in history and a scholarly bent. I worked about 20 years for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, most recently as Regional director for Asia.

I am currently Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, working on a project about the economic determinants of human rights violations

My interests are human rights, international relations, Asian history, and Chinese studies.

For the purpose of this podcast on the Human Rights Channel I am interested in showcasing important scholarly books in the field of human rights, at a time where there are important debates about its effects, and failures to produce effects, in the world.

There is an important stream of recent (and upcoming) books highlighting the failure of human rights to effectively address critical challenges in the world, such as poverty and inequalities, climate change, and the digital space. One issue of possible interest to the audience is the relative indifference that human practitioners show towards the scholarly literature--and the benefits of reversing this.