Gissou Nia is a human rights lawyer who has dedicated her life to the protection and justice of civilians affected by war and conflict. In a lot of ways, the work she does is as close to a real-life superhero as we get and her work spans across continents around the globe. In this conversation, we speak about her work as a lawyer as well as her work as an activist, a distinction that might be hard for us all to make, but for Gissou it is very clear. All people deserve justice and human rights, but this belief hits even harder for us when we talk about the people of Iran. Gissou’s family is from Iran, and much like many Iranian children raised in the diaspora, Gissou was exposed to the injustice of corrupt governments very early on. This is one of the reasons she says human rights law spoke to her, the need to right the wrongs you see being done to those around you, in your family, or in your community. Examining nuance, championing human rights, and spreading fact-based knowledge has been Gissou’s world; let’s step into it together at a time when justice, safety, and truth have never been more important.
There is so much to say about the work of Human Rights Attorney Gissou Nia. From her work at the International Criminal Court, prosecuting war crimes, to her support of the Woman Life Freedom movement, Gissou is firm in her convictions and brings her whole-self into everything she pursues.
In our conversation, Gissou and I took time to touch on her personal activism versus her work in Human Rights Justice, at times these things might tend to overlap in our minds but the reality it, Gissou is an Activist for the Iranian cause but she is steadfast in her pursuit of justice for clients of human rights violations all over the world.
As if her work as the Director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council doesn’t keep her busy enough, Gissou has joined a group of prolific activists, human rights attorneys and others from the Middle East to create the End Gender Apartheid campaign in an effort to codify and make illegal the extreme, systematic and structural war against women from the leadership of their nations. Systems that have been designed to dehumanize and repress women of a society for purposes of entrenching power must come to an end for true equality to flourish.
Between her day job and the campaigns she supports outside of it, Gissou Nia is as close to a real life superhero as we are going to get and I am so lucky she took the time to sit and speak with me.
Watch the Episode here or listen wherever you get your podcasts!