Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

New York, NY

Jillian Margulies Rafferty graduated in May 2020 with a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. While in graduate school, Jillian’s studies focused primarily on issues related to international human rights law, international humanitarian law, disarmament, gender-based violence, and the protection of civilians during conflict. Much of Jillian’s time was spent working under the supervision of Harvard’s International Human Rights Clinic, through which she contributed to treaty negotiations, published novel interpretations of international law, and developed and led training events to help states understand and comply with their international legal obligations. In addition to her work with the Clinic, Jillian contributed to numerous research projects in the Human Rights Program, the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, and served as co-editor-in-chief of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Journal.

During graduate school, Jillian spent her summers pursuing these same interests. She completed internships at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Center for Civilians in Conflict. At the end of her first year of graduate school, she earned funding to conduct her own research project on how the Spanish justice system addresses terrorism—a project whose write-up was ultimately published in the Kennedy School Review.

Prior to graduate school, Jillian worked for three years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. While at CSIS, Jillian contributed to the work of the Americas Program and the Human Rights Initiative, including helping to coordinate and manage CSIS’s Commission on Countering Violent Extremism.

Jillian graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with distinction, minoring in Economic Policy and Political Science. At Penn, she was also the editor-in-chief of the Sigma Iota Rho Journal of International Relations and the inaugural recipient of the Erik Arnetz Integrating Knowledge Award.