World’s first human rights TV channel launched in the UK
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 18 January 2019

Bringing human rights programming to a mainstream audience, the International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR) has launched the web-based IOHRTV channel.

The IOHR guarantees that its coverage will give a voice to the voiceless with content from around the world, putting human rights into the front line of mainstream media.

Content broadcast on the IOHRTV platform is produced by a team of human rights professionals, researchers and award-winning journalists of diverse backgrounds including Trish Lynch, a former CNN and Sky News presenter who anchors the NGO’s shows and televised conferences. The channel also features human interest interviews with professionals such as UNICEF Ambassador and TV star Charley Boorman, who attended the launch in London to show his support. Other guests interviewed on IOHRTV included the families of dual-nationals imprisoned in Iran, including Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has is currently on hunger strike in an Iranian jail.

New format shows will include NGO Focus, a talk show dedicated to showcasing the work of non-governmental organisations and those who dedicate their lives to championing civil society worldwide. Episodes feature interviews in the UK with organisations such as Save the Children, Care International and women's shelter, Refuge. NGO Focus is also produced internationally with shows already filmed in Copenhagen featuring the Danish Refugee Council and Dignity an organisation running the first torture rehabilitation centre in the world.
The channel is available on the netgem.tv service, and the IOHR website as well as a mobile app.

“We’re proud to be the first organisation taking this approach in the UK,” said IOHR director Valerie Peay. “TV is a great platform to share the many incredible stories we encounter, and we aim to use that platform to make long-lasting and meaningful change.”