logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2021
41m 19s

Prisoner of Hope

UNITED NATIONS, MELISSA FLEMING
About this episode

"I understand the people I speak to in my current job, because I've been in their shoes: I've been arbitrarily detained. I've experienced enforced disappearance.” Michelle Bachelet was the first female President of Chile for the Socialist Party of Chile (2006–10; 2014–18). She is now the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Michelle’s father served in the Air Force and, in 1973 after being taken prisoner during a coup that overthrew the government, he died in jail at just 50 years old. Michelle shares the harrowing stories of how she and her mother were later taken to a clandestine detention centre, her exile in Australia and East Germany, her motivations to study medicine and return to Chile and why, despite everything, she remains a prisoner of hope.

As she herself believes: “We may not be all responsible for the past, but we are responsible for the future.”

Up next
Feb 2025
Women’s rights are human rights, with Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda - ASG and Deputy Exec. Director of UN Women
Having grown up in war-torn rural Zimbabwe, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda overcame extreme hardship to pursue a career at the highest levels of the United Nations. Now UN Assistant Secretary-General, and one of two deputy executive directors of UN Women, she wants little girls everywhe ... Show More
30m 38s
Jan 2025
Protecting children in crisis, with Catherine Russell - Executive Director of UNICEF
Catherine Russell never forgets the children she meets. As Executive Director of UNICEF, she bears witness to the stories of tens of millions of children and young people suffering around the world, and shares causes for optimism and hope wherever she finds it. “Children just wan ... Show More
34m 58s
Jan 2025
The battle to protect children from online abuse, with Carmen Corbin - UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Carmen Corbin dreamt of serving with the United Nations from an early age. Now head of transnational organized crime, illicit trafficking and terrorism prevention programs at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in East Africa, she is dedicated to protecting child ... Show More
40m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2023
How did Britain's prisons go so wrong?
Host Aggie Chambre explores the crisis in Britain's prison system and asks what can be done to fix it. She goes inside a prison riddled with drugs and violence, and hears from the governor and from long-serving inmates about what's really going on. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk se ... Show More
43m 51s
Sep 2023
The parents suing over Gambia’s cough syrup scandal
Kate Adie introduces stories from The Gambia, Iran, the USA, Chile and Hungary.Dozens of bereaved families in the Gambia are taking legal action against an Indian drug manufacturer and Gambian health authorities, after more than 70 infants died after taking apparently toxic cough ... Show More
28m 42s
Apr 2023
What is hostage diplomacy and why is it on the rise?
Russia's arrest of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich for spying has shone a spotlight on what the US calls 'hostage diplomacy', a practice which involves imprisoning a foreign national, usually on spurious or exaggerated charges in order to extract concessions from that pe ... Show More
48m 59s
Sep 2021
The Conversation with Helen Clark and Michelle Bachelet
What does it take to run a country? Kim Chakanetsa is joined by two international leaders who have championed women’s health, equality and empowerment throughout their careers. They will discuss their personal journeys, the impact Covid-19 has had on the wellbeing of women around ... Show More
48m 46s
Jan 2020
Lakhdar Boumediene, ex-détenu de Guantanamo: «J'ai encore peur de voyager»
Cela fait exactement 18 ans que la prison de Guantanamo sur la base américaine à Cuba a été ouverte. Encore aujourd’hui, une quarantaine de détenus croupissent sans jugement, certains sont pourtant déclarés « libérables ». 780 hommes y ont été enfermés depuis 2002, la plupart ont ... Show More
3m 40s
Mar 2020
Yémen: Huda Al-Sarari primée pour son enquête sur les prisons secrètes émiraties
La guerre au Yémen, qui dure depuis 2015, a fait des dizaines de milliers de morts et plus de trois millions de déplacés dans le pays. Cette guerre oppose les Houthis soutenus par l'Iran, qui contrôlent la capitale, Sanaa, et le gouvernement replié dans le sud à Aden, appuyé par ... Show More
3m 38s