University of Wisconsin—Madison, B.A. Harvard Law School, J.D.
Jennifer M. Green joined the faculty in the fall of 2009 from her positions as senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and adjunct professor at the International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic, City University of New York School of Law. She specializes in international and international human rights law, and in litigation in U.S. courts and the international legal systems.
Previously, she was clinical project supervisor and administrative director of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program (HRP), where she supervised summer internships and students’ clinical and research projects on human rights advocacy, wrote and edited HRP publications, and served as an adviser in the visiting fellows program and for the Harvard Human Rights Journal.
Professor Green received the Yale Law School Orville Schell Center for International Human Rights fellowship and the Mark DeWolfe Howe fellowship and served as editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal at Harvard Law School, where she completed her J.D. in 1991. She received her B.A. in political science, international relations, and women’s studies with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984.
She has worked on human rights cases in U.S. courts since 1990, including the groundbreaking Doe v. Karadzic, which found the leader of the Bosnian Serbs civilly liable for sexual violence, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Another important case, Doe v. Unocal, established the principle that U.S. corporations could be sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act for complicity in human rights violations. Other cases have included Doe v. Constant for Haitian women and successful actions against former leaders and officials from Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, and Indonesia. Recently, a case that she initiated in 1996 in her capacity with CCR, Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, was concluded with a $15.5 million settlement for the families of activists murdered in Nigeria.
She has also worked on international human rights claims, in particular, gender claims, in international fora, including amicus curiae briefs in cases before the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She has done additional advocacy work before the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, other U.N. bodies, and the Inter-American human rights system.
Professor Green has worked or volunteered with numerous organizations, including providing counseling at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, representing prisoners in the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project, and offering legal services at the Cambridge-area Refugee and Immigration Clinic and Harvard’s Mediation Project. She drafted appeals for victims of human rights abuses through the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, and wrote and spoke on human rights through the Free Legal Assistance Group and the Church Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines. She is a long-time member of Amnesty International and currently a legal advisor to the Center for Justice and Accountability.
International Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts (Martinus Nijhoff, 2nd ed., 2008) (with Beth Stephens, Judith Chomsky, Paul Hoffman & Michael Ratner)
Against War With Iraq: An Anti-war Primer (Seven Stories Press, 2003) (with Michael Ratner & Barbara Olshansky)
Guide to Human Rights Research (Harvard Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, 1994) (with Jack Tobin)
Book Chapters
Litigating International Human Rights Claims of Sexual Violence in the United States Courts: A Brief Overview of Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act, in Violence and Gender in the Globalized World: the Intimate and the Extimate (Sanja Bahun-Radunovic & V.G. Julie Rajan, eds., Ashgate, 2008)
Suing for Genocide in the United States: The Case of Jane Doe v. Radovan Karadzic, in War Crimes: The Legacy of Nuremberg (Belinda Cooper, ed., TV Books, 1999)
Journal Articles
Holding Human Rights Violators Accountable by Using International Law in U.S. Courts: Advocacy Efforts and Complementary Strategies, 19 Emory International Law Review 169 (2005) (with Sandra Coliver & Paul Hoffman)
Seeking Recourse for Human Rights Violations in Domestic Courts, 10 INTERIGHTS Bulletin 108 (1996)
Affecting the Rules for the Prosecution of Rape and Other Gender-Based Violence before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: A Feminist Proposal and Critique 5 Hastings Women's Law Journal 171 (1995) (with Rhonda Copelon, Patrick Cotter & Beth Stephens)
Litigation Update, ACLU International Civil Liberties Report (annual) (1998-2003) (with Paul Hoffman)
United States: Civil Suits Move Forward, Tribunal (Institute of War and Peace Reporting) (Jan./Feb. 1996) (with Beth Stephens)
Not Just Victims, Balkan War Report:
Bulletin of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (Sept. 1995) (with Rhonda Copelon & Felice Gaer)
A Call to Action: Governmental Failure to Investigate and Prosecute Rape: A Violation of Women's Human Rights (Center for Constitutional Rights, in collaboration with the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, revised Aug. 1995) (draft position paper highlighting case of Naimat Farhat in the Kuwaiti courts) (editor)
Memorandum Prepared by the International Women's Human Rights Clinic of CUNY Law School re: Gender Justice and the Constitution of the War Crimes Tribunal Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 808 (March 31, 1993) (submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, The United Nations Commission of Experts, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Office of Legal Counsel), reprinted in 2 An Insider's Guide to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: A Documentary History and Analysis 399 (Virginia Morris & Michael P. Scharf, eds., Transnational Publishers, 1995), and in 5 Hastings Women's Law Journal 235 (1995)
An Activist's Guide: Bringing International Human Rights Claims in the United States (Center for Constitutional Rights, 1992) (with Beth Stephens)
Attacks on Justice: The Harassment and Persecution of Judges and Lawyers, July 1989 - June 1990 (Reed Brody, ed., Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of the International Commission of Jurists, 1990) (asst. ed.)
Selected Presentations
Prosecuting International Human Rights Abuses, University of Wisconsin (Dec. 2008)
Labor Rights and International Human Rights Violations, Cornell University School of Law (Oct. 2008) (webinar)
Public Interest Reunion Plenary speaker, Harvard Law School (Spring 2008)
Alien Tort Statute Continuing Education class, Northwestern University School of Law (Feb. 2008)
Alien Tort Statute Practice, Cardozo Law School (2004-2008) (guest lecturer)
Litigation as a Human Rights Strategy: The Case of Doe v. Unocal, Harvard Law School (Nov. 5, 2007)
Legal Symposium on Possible Strategies, World Conference on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, University of California, Los Angeles (Oct. 6, 2007)
Business and Human Rights: The Alien Tort Statute, Fordham Law School (Oct. 2007)
Business and Human Rights: Current Questions Under the Alien Tort Statute, Columbia Law School (Mar. 2007)
ATS Continuing Legal Education Course, Hastings Law School (Dec. 2006) (organizer, moderator, lecturer)
The Alien Tort Statute, Continuing Legal Education Course, Columbia Law School (2006) (organizer, lecturer)
Commemoration of the Tenth Anniversary of the Execution of the Ogoni Nine in Nigeria, Columbia Law School (Nov. 9, 2005)
International Human Rights and the War on Terror, Northeastern University Law School (Oct. 2005)
The Alien Tort Statute: The Implications of Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, Congressional briefing (July 2004)
Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts and Security Issues for Clients lectures, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (Jan. 1999, Jan. 2000, Oct. 2000, Mar. 2001)
Five Years After Beijing: A Report Card on Women's Rights, American Society of International Law, Washington, D.C. (Apr. 8, 2000)
Fifteenth Anniversary of Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School (Sept. 1999)
Human Rights and Democracy in Burma, Orville Schell Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School (Dec. 3, 1998)
Stripped of Immunity: The Latest News on Sovereign, Diplomatic, and Head of State Immunity, International Law Weekend at American Branch of the International Law Association (Nov. 14, 1998)
Advocacy Across Borders: Transnational Litigation and Human Rights, at Linking the Domestic and the International: Human Rights into the 21st Century, University of Toronto Faculty of Law (Oct. 3, 1998)
Bringing International Human Rights Home, Northeastern University School of Law (July 10, 1998)
Litigation-Based Strategies, Expectations and Outcomes, InterRights (Senegal) and Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (Kampala, Uganda), Regional Workshop on Constitutional and Public Interest Law in East Africa, Entebbe, Uganda (June 16-18, 1998)
Indigenous Peoples, Development and International Human Rights Law, at Bringing It Home: Building International Human Rights Law, Advocacy and Culture, City University of New York School of Law (May 3, 1998)
War Crimes Unpunished: Rape Victims in Bosnia, Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing, U.S. House of Representatives (Mar. 25, 1998)
Enforcement Mechanisms for International Human Rights, American Bar Association Annual Meeting, Orlando, Florida (Aug. 1996)
The Way Forward: Forging a Sustainable International Coalition, AfroNet Trust (London) and Civil Liberties Organisation (Lagos, Nigeria), International NGO Conference on Nigeria, London (Apr. 10-12, 1996) (facilitated final plenary)
Inter-Communal Conflict and Violence Against Women: The Lessons of Bosnia, at Identity Politics and Collective Violence: A Workshop on Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Amherst, Massachusetts (Jan. 17, 1996) (five-college program in peace and world security studies)
Women, Violence and War, Gustav Stresemann Institut e.V., Bonn, Germany (Dec. 14-16, 1995)
Linking International Law and Political Activism, at the Conference on Political Lawyering: Conversations on Progressive Social Change, Harvard Law School (Nov. 17-18, 1995)
Bringing Beijing Home, Rutgers University School of Law (Nov. 16, 1995)
Enforcing Women's International Human Rights in National Courts, organized by the Center for Constitutional Rights; Women's Rights at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, organized by the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights; and Options for Redress for Human Rights Violations ATCA and TVPA Cases, organized by the Women Refugees Project; Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China (Sept. 1995) (panel member)
Women's Advocacy, Gender-Specific War Crimes and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Geneva (Oct. 21-22, 1994) (coordinator)
War, Militarism and Violence Against Women, Tufts University (Mar. 1, 1994)
The Use of International Law in National Courts, World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna (June 1993)
International Refugee Protection: Bringing Human Rights Violators to Justice, at Amnesty International: Global Refugee Crisis: Rethinking Policy and Methods of Empowerment, New York University School of Law (Mar. 27, 1993)
Alien Tort Claims Act Litigation, National Lawyers Guild Annual Meeting, New York (1992) (CLE unit)
