Jessica Dorsey studied in the US, receiving her bachelor's degree in English and her J.D. degree while concentrating on international and comparative law, before moving to Utrecht as the first American Law EuroScholar. There, she researched international child maintenance schemes. Jessica then went on to complete an LL.M. in public international law, also at Utrecht, writing her thesis on the responsibility to protect. After completing her studies, she worked on various research projects in international law as well working as a project officer for the Municipality of Utrecht on a human rights initiative. In 2011, she was a junior lecturer at the Utrecht University School of Law, where she taught general international law and comparative human rights. She also teaches international humanitarian and criminal law during a summer field studies program with Duke University in the US. 

Jessica is also the Editorial Assistant for the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, an Assistant Editor for the international law weblog Opinio Juris and is currently collaborating on a project for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism investigating the civilian impact of the use of drones. She has also made a name for herself in the use of social media in legal research. 

Ph.D. research:

Ph.D., International Humanitarian Law/International Human Rights Law, University of Amsterdam (expected 2016). Proposed topic:The Boundaries of the Battlefield: The Temporal and Geographic Limitations of the Laws of Armed Conflict

Research interests:

• International Humanitarian Law; (laws of armed conflict and their development/limitations)
• Laws related to the use of force (jus ad bellum)
• International Human Rights Law: also regional human rights systems (ECHR, IAHCR, ACHR)
• Counterterrorism: especially the role of human rights and monitoring mechanisms
• International criminal law (especially how domestic systems use ICL; DomCLIC project as well as LegalTools)
• PIL: humanitarian intervention, R2P, transitional justice, UN System (especially UNSC and Human Rights Council);

Selected Publications/Contributions:

• Forthcoming (2013): editorial contribution to textbook Facing the Past: Remedies for Historical Injustices, Peter Malcontent, ed.Intersentia.
• Forthcoming (2012) comparative law article regarding child maintenance schemes in the European Union and the United States, co-authored with Ian Curry-Sumner.
• United States Country Report in, Draagmoederschap en Illegale Opneming van Kinderen, (Surrogacy and Illegal Reception of Children), UCERF Report to the WODC (Dutch Scientific Research and Documentation Center), March 2011.
• Human Trafficking in the Netherlands, SIM Report to the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, prepared with four other researchers, April 2010.
• Resettlement in the Netherlands: Interviews with Bhutanese Refugees 2008-2009, report presented to the UNHCR, IOM and the Dutch Government on the plight of Bhutanese refugees in the Netherlands.

Email: J.L.Dorsey@uva.nl; j.dorsey@asser.nl
Phone: +31 (0)70 3420 385  

• Wrk. Gr. on Human Rights, Int. Rel.&Imp.
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• Universiteit Utrecht
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