Communicating Across Disciplines: How to Make Justice Matter to All

September 12, 2025 | 10:00–11:30 a.m. (EST)

United Nations Headquarters Conference Room 11
405 E 45th St, New York, NY 10017 | Virtual via Zoom

Download the concept note

Over the past five years, the international justice and rule of law sector has built a movement centered on the principles of people-centered justice. In 2021, the movement was catalyzed by the creation of the Justice Action Coalition—a group comprising 21 countries and 21 civil society partners who are leading the international effort to close the global gap of 5.1 billion people who lack meaningful access to justice. 

This event aims to explore the next frontier of people-centered justice communications, expanding the movement into non-justice spaces through effective advocacy and messaging. Justice experts, for example, know that effective and equal access to justice for all can help reduce inequality, increase educational outcomes, ensure health, enhance peace and security, protect the most vulnerable populations from falling behind, and combat the climate crisis. However, justice experts are not always well-equipped to persuade experts in other fields or the general public about the relevance, importance, and positive effects of investing in people-centered justice/access to justice.

This event will include a panel of advocacy and communications experts who think outside the box. By design, panelists are from outside the justice sector, offering a genuine perspective on how elements of justice can resonate with diverse thematic audiences. These experts will present their approach to advocacy, messaging, audience engagement, and campaigning. They will also provide insights into how the justice sector can break out of its communication “bubble” and engage a broader audience, whether that audience comprises policy experts, diplomats, business leaders, or people outside the policy arena altogether.

This event is hosted by the Pathfinders Justice for All program at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation in its role as secretariat of the Justice Action Coalition, and in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations and the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations.

Agenda

Opening Remarks: 

• Ambassador Maritza Chan, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations
• Ambassador Bahia Tahzib, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations

Framing Remarks on People-Centered Justice 

• Fernando Marani, Program Director, Justice, Inclusion, and Equality, Pathfinders, Center on International Cooperation at New York University 

Panelists:

• Stephen Friedman, Peabody and Emmy award-winning creator of social-impact campaigns and former President of MTV; Advisor to media organizations, foundations and NGOs on the best practices in storytelling for social change;  At Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, he teaches “Storytelling & the Art of Creating Social Impact Campaigns”; Board of Directors for the Genocide Survivors Foundation, All Out, and More In Common.
• Thombas Coombes, Founder, Hope-based communications; Fmr. Head of Brand and Deputy Communications Director, Amnesty International
• Clara Blustein Lindholm, Director of Research Interpretation, Framework Institute Culture Change Project
• (TBC) Roberta Braga, Founder and Executive Director, Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas (DDIA); Fmr. Director of Counter-Disinformation Strategies at Equis Institute; Fmr. Deputy Director for Programs and Outreach at Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center; Latinas Cyber and WOMCY “Top Women in Cybersecurity Americas” 2023.
• (TBC) Liba Beyer, Principle Owner, LTB Impact; Adjunct Faculty, Columbia University SIPA; Fmr. Director of Global Campaigns, Human Rights Watch
• (TBC) Amanda Alampi, Director of Campaigns and Public Engagement, Human Rights Watch; Fmr. VP of Digital Strategy, MWWPR; Faculty, Fordham University and NYU Wagner School of Public Service

Moderator:

Nate Edwards, Program Officer, Justice for All, Pathfinders, Center on International Cooperation at New York University

Register by September 8, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. (EST) →