It's IntLawGrrls' immense honor to welcome Felice Gaer (left) as today's guest blogger.Felice is director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, which conducts research and advocacy to strengthen international human rights protections and institutions.
She's also vice chair of the Committee Against Torture, to which she was elected in 1999 and again in 2003. She's the 1st American to serve on this body, which monitors state compliance with the U.N. Convention Against Torture. Felice has served three times as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, of which she is currently a member by appointment of President Barack Obama.
She earned her bachelor's degree, with honors, from Wellesley College. She received master of arts and master of philosophy degrees -- both in political science -- as well as a Certificate of the Russian Institute, all from Columbia University. She was appointed 2010 Regents Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Between 1993 and 1999, Felice was a public member of numerous U.S. delegations. Among them were the delegations to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, and the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. Leader of those delegations, as Felice recalls in her guest post below, was Geraldine A. Ferraro, who passed away this weekend and who today joins other IntLawGrrls foremothers in the list just below the "visiting from..." map at right.
Heartfelt welcome!
