25 April 2009 - In this edition of The State We're In: Iran - rights for women and children. The right to know the past. The right not to know. God of war and peace. A dilemma discussed.

Defending the young
Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian woman and human rights lawyer. Many of her clients are minors who are now on death row. Jonathan talks with her about the struggles and successes she faces in getting justice for young people.
 
Censorship and the author
Jonathan talks with Iranian novelist Moniro Ravanipour about the censorship she faces as an Iranian novelist - both inside and outside her home country.

Theme: The right to know the past

Uncovering the past
As digs in Turkey are underway to uncover the bodies of Kurdish disappeared, Dorian Jones reports on the efforts of grieving families to fully mourn their lost loved ones - to finally find some kind of healing.
 
Dany Mitzman talks with two men who grew up in Italy's most left-wing city, Bologna. Each of them shares his own story of coming to a political awareness and having to choose sides - often at the expense of friendship and family relationships.
 
Breaking the silence
A new play dramatizes the personal stories of both victims and perpetrators from the Cambodian genocide during the Khmer Rouge regime. The play aims to start a conversation long in coming - to bridge the silence between generations.

More...

This week's Human Rights News
 
The right not to know
South African Dr. Michéle Youngleson wanted her kids to grow up without the stain of apartheid. So she made a decision not to teach them about it and her plan worked: they grew up without any race consciousness. But now that they're young adults, history has caught up to them.

God of war and peace
Kannan Arunasalam goes on a pilgrimage with an elderly aunt to a Sri Lankan Hindu shrine. It attracts people of all faiths, but it is increasingly overtaken with Buddhist trappings, revealing the political fissures in Sri Lanka.
 
Dilemma
Jasmin Nanda talks with Jonathan about a difficult choice she had to make as a young health administrator: to please her corrupt boss and lose her integrity; or keep her integrity and lose her job.