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Fritz Streiff, human rights lawyer and founder of the podcast , spoke with Julie Fraser about his career since graduating with three degrees from Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and experience in podcasting. Below is their Q&A interaction. 

Q: Fritz, we studied together at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ over a decade ago, doing the LLM specialising in International Human Rights and Criminal Justice. What else did you study at UU?

A: At UCU, I took advantage of the liberal arts concept by combining philosophy and religious studies with mathematics and political theory, and eventually chosing a track in social sciences with a focus on international relations, international and human rights law, and social and cultural anthropology. I wrote my thesis on the role of France in the Rwandan genocide. After a year of internships with Human Rights Watch in Berlin and the UN Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, I went back to the Netherlands to live in Amsterdam and study law in Utrecht. I combined the bachelor in Dutch law with the masters in International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice. An internship with the defense team of Radovan Karadzic inspired me to write my thesis on political defense strategies in international criminal trials.

Q: After graduating from Utrecht, I know that you practised law with the firm Allen&Overy in Amsterdam and qualified as a Dutch lawyer. How did you transition to working in international human rights law after working in commercial law for three years?

A: It doesn’t seem immediately obvious but with my previous background in human rights and international criminal justice my time in corporate law prepared me quite well for where I am now. It’s where I 'learned the ropes’: appeared in court for the first time; learned to have that lawyer eye for detail in contracts and crafting arguments; diving into deep networks of data and managing large international projects. I later learned that these skills gave me an edge when I applied for a position in strategic human rights litigation at Open Society Justice Initiative. I still benefit a lot from this. 

Q: I have listened to and loved your podcast Branch 251. I like to think I was one of your first listeners. It has given me such good insights into the groundbreaking criminal cases in Koblenz, Germany where they are prosecuting former Syrian regime officials for torture - a world first. Once you had the idea to create this podcast, what were the first steps you took to set it all up?

A: In 2017, before I started working for the Open Society Justice Initiative in New York, I took advantage of the fact that I was waiting for my US work permit by taking a course at NYU in podcasting. I’ve always been a podcast lover. And at NYU I learned how to make one. Ever since I waited for the right topic to come along: the Koblenz trial that my podcast ‘Branch 251’ follows seemed like the perfect hook. The only problem was: this only dawned on me about two weeks before the start of the trial. So I didn’t have much time for concept development, searching for funding, pre-producing episodes or distribution strategy. It was a shoestring side project. We really just started recording and uploading to a hosting platform, from where it gets spread to all known podcast channels. Much of the underlying work that is now in place only came after the start of the trial and the beginning of podcast. 

Q: The podcast is now a huge success, and has grown to include a number of staff. Why do you think it was so successful?

A: While broadcasting the first season and between the first and second season we successfully managed to raise funds to professionalize the project quite a bit. We now offer the podcast in English and Arabic. Our team consist of five professionals who research and write for, produce, edit, mix and present the episodes. We complement each other well, as we come from different backgrounds and bring a variety of skill sets to the team and the production. This has allowed us to help fill a gap in the outreach and communication aspects of the trial, especially towards the Syrian community in the diaspora. I think this mixture is what makes our project so unique and and allowed it to find a niche. 

Thanks Fritz! 

Further Listening 

Check out Fritz's podcast Branch 251 here:  

Further recommended listening is: