Ken Roth '77 — Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch — in Conversation

An intimate book talk with the brown alumnus who shaped a generation of human rights work

For nearly three decades, Brown alumnus Ken Roth '77 led Human Rights Watch through investigations in over 100 countries — confronting the global erosion of democratic norms and the rise of authoritarianism worldwide. Join the Brown Club of NY for an intimate evening with Ken on his new memoir Righting Wrongs, in conversation with moderator Rick Grove, followed by a book signing.

Bring your copy of Righting Wrongs for Ken to sign! Please pre-order and bring your book with you.
You could order from bookshop.org (which supports independent bookstores).

Few people have spent more time inside the world's most consequential human rights fights than Ken Roth. Across the global erosion of democratic norms and the rise of authoritarianism worldwide, Ken and Human Rights Watch were on the front lines. Over nearly thirty years as Executive Director, he grew HRW from a small advocacy group into one of the most influential human rights institutions in the world — and learned, often the hard way, what actually changes the behavior of abusive governments.

Kenneth Roth '77
A proud graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School, Kenneth Roth is a senior fellow at Yale University and also a Guardian US columnist. He served for nearly three decades as the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (1993 to 2022), which he built into a global institution operating in some 100 countries. He has conducted numerous human rights investigative and advocacy missions around the world, meeting with dozens of heads of state and countless ministers, is quoted widely in the media, and has written hundreds of articles on a wide range of human rights issues, devoting special attention to the world’s most dire situations, the conduct of war, international justice, the foreign policies of the major powers, the work of the United Nations, and the global contest between autocracy and democracy. Brown University recognized his contributions with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2011, when he delivered the Baccalaureate address. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, offers an insider’s view of the strategies developed by Human Rights Watch to put pressure on governments to respect human rights.

Rick Grove (Moderator)
Rick Grove is CEO of Rutter Associates and a former CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). A graduate of Princeton University (AB, summa cum laude, School of Public and International Affairs) and Harvard Law School (JD, magna cum laude), he is a longtime member of the IISS in London and the Atlantic Council in Washington, where he convenes briefings on geopolitical and security issues. He has moderated conversations with the Syrian Ambassador to the UN and other distinguished figures in international affairs.

Questions? Email: yingrou_zhu@alumni.brown.edu

Bring your copy of Righting Wrongs for Ken to sign! Please pre-order and bring your book with you.
You could order from bookshop.org (which supports independent bookstores).