In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Hilary Rantisi speaks with Gina Romero, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, about the many human rights – including freedom of expression, assembly, association, and the right to education – that have been both invoked and repressed as part of the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza on college campuses in many countries and the reactions to them. Gina Romero authored a comprehensive report that covers these protests, human rights, and campus repression, and includes recommendations for the protection of students, rights, and democracy itself. The report is entitled:”Recommendations for universities worldwide for the second semester of 2024: Safeguarding the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association on campuses in the context of international solidarity with the Palestinian people and victims.”
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Recorded on April 1, 2025
Gina Romero, national of Colombia, was appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association and started her mandate in May 2024. Since 2005 she has been engage in the promotion and defence of human rights, governance, civic space, and civic and political participation, specially focused in marginalized groups, gender and youth. She is expert in dialogue, mediation and building and managing networks. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Romero led several initiatives for the promotion and defense of democracy and rule of law. She is one of the founders and served for nearly 10 years as Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy, Redlad. In this position she also served as Secretariat of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies. In these capacities, she has had direct relation with multiple stakeholders (including governments, civil society, academia and private sector representatives) in 19 countries in the American Continent, and at least 35 in Europe, Africa and Asia. In her expert capacity, Ms. Romero was involved several actions at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, including the request of public hearings on specific regional trends and HHRR violations, the submission of inputs collectively built for reporting backslides in rights protections in specific countries and specific rights. Also, she coordinated actions to bring voices and inputs of Latin American social actors (including CSO, social movements and indigenous and afro descendant communities) to several UN mechanisms and mandate holders. Besides, Ms. Romero has been an advocate to the increase and improvement of citizen participation and engagement in intergovernmental organizations such as the Organization of Americas States (OAS). In the past 15 years M. Romero has oversaw the presentation of 9 reports for the Universal Periodic Review, 450 reports on violations of civic space associated rights, a Latin American report on police repression during Covid-19 Pandemic, and over 100 Alerts on civic space shrinking and democracy backsliding in LAC and other regions. Ms. Romero has been an international consultant in governance issues including anticorruption, access to information, youth participation. Also, she has been guest professor in Columbia University and Externado University. Ms. Romero has a degree in Government and International Relations from Externado University in Colombia, and a Masters Diploma in Analysis of contemporary political, economic and international affairs from the Institut des Hautes Études d’Amérique Latine -IHEAL (Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3) and Externado University.
Hilary Rantisi grew up in Palestine and has been involved with education and advocacy on the Middle East since her move to the US. She is currently the Associate Director of the Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative (RCPI) and co-instructor of Learning in Context: Narratives of Displacement and Belonging in Israel/Palestine at Harvard Divinity School. She has over two decades of experience in institution building at Harvard, having been the Director of the Middle East Initiative (MEI) at Harvard Kennedy School of Government prior to her current role. She has a BA in Political Science/International Studies from Aurora University and a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Before moving to the US, Hilary worked at Birzeit University and at the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. There, she co-edited a photo essay book Our Story: The Palestinians with the Rev. Naim Ateek. She has been involved with community leadership efforts and served on many boards to build multifaceted support for Palestinian rights and a more nuanced understanding of people’s lives in the Middle East region. Among them are The Gaza Mental Health Foundation, LE.O Foundation, Friends of Mada al-Carmel, Tawassul Palestinian Art and Culture Society, Friends of Sabeel North America, Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and Research and Education Collaborative with Al-Quds University. She has also served as a Board Trustee at Aurora University.