An Interview with Morton Kjaerum, Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

In this episode, Justice Speaks turns to the field of International Human Rights, interviewing Morton Kjaerum, Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. 

At the beginning of the interview, Mr. Kjaerum discusses his Danish roots and recounts his personal journey, including how he became interested in human rights, as a profession, and the year he spent studying in Seattle, Washington.  

We then discuss the career of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, including how he saved tens of thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps and how he likely was imprisoned and killed by the Soviets.  We learn how the institute was created and the named in his honor. 

Mr. Kjaerum explains how the institute is funded and breaks the news that it is creating a new support group: the friends of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. This new support group will help the institute fund its vital missions.

The Role of the Institute

Mr. Kjaerum then talks about his role as director of the institute, including the changes he observed in field of International Human Rights.  We explore the institute’s four main focus area: Inclusion and Non-discrimination; Access to Justice; Human Rights and Business; and Human Rights and the Environment.  We discuss the broader meaning the institute applies to the term “access to justice” that is usually used differently in the United States. We also touch on the world-wide work of the institute, in over forty different countries from eight international offices. 

Mr. Kjaerum discusses his view that the increase in international corruption is one of the primary threats to expansion of human rights and the rule of law. He states that the rise of authoritarian regimes are, in part, fueling this corruption. 

We turn to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and agree this unprovoked invasion is also an attack on the rule of law.

Finally, in a lighter note, we discuss what it is like for Mr. Kjaerum to commute from his home in Denmark to his office in Sweden.  He notes it is not a bad commute and suggests that it is a small sign of greater European unity.