Panel discussion: Under threat: the challenge to human rights with the rise of nationalism and ‘extremisms’

Gita Sahgal is a writer, journalist, film-maker and rights activist. She is currently Founder and
Director of Centre for Secular Space. She was formerly Head of the Gender Unit at Amnesty
International; she was suspended in 2010 after she was quoted criticising Amnesty for its high-profile associations with an Islamist group. For many years she served on the board of Southall Black Sisters and was a founder of Women Against Fundamentalism and Awaaz: South Asia Watch.

Fred Carver is the Head of Policy for UN Association-UK, leading the organisation's policy
development. He works with the Campaigns and Outreach teams on the policy content of their
projects, and also has a particular focus on UNA's work on UN Peacekeepers. He has conducted field research in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Israel and Palestine.

John Heathershaw is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter. His research addresses conflict, security and human rights in authoritarian political environments,
especially in post-Soviet Central Asia. He convenes the Exeter Central Asian Studies (ExCAS) research network and directs its Central Asian Political Exiles (CAPE) project which tries to improve the understanding of Central Asian exile communities overseas and provide evidence to protect their right to asylum.

Irene Fernández-Molina is a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Exeter. Her
research deals with international relations of the Global South, foreign policies of dependent and/or authoritarian states, conflicts and constructivism. One of the projects she is currently working on examines the foreign policy of migration management by transit states on the EU’s southern Mediterranean borders, including the violations of human rights and international law associated to the externalisation and outsourcing of European border control and immigration policies.

Chair: Robert Lamb, Head of the Department of Politics, Associate Professor and author of Thomas Paine and the Idea of Human Rights