We partnered with the Global Justice Center on the search for a President. Global Justice Center is an international human rights and humanitarian law organization aiming to advance gender equality by helping to implement and enforce human rights laws.

Our work resulted in the recruitment of Elise Keppler to the role.

Keppler joins the Global Justice Center from Human Rights Watch, where she was the associate international justice director and associate general counsel. She brings two decades of experience working to advance justice for serious crimes committed in violation of international law before domestic, hybrid and international courts. 

In the International Justice Program, Keppler focused on situations in Africa and strengthening prospects for credible accountability at the domestic level, including in Central African Republic, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda. 

She has worked with activists across Africa to counter backlash against the International Criminal Court. She helped lead campaigns for Darfur’s referral to the ICC and for the surrender of former Liberian president Charles Taylor to face justice. She is regularly quoted by international and African media. 

In the General Counsel’s Office, where she has worked half-time since November 2020, she concentrates on assessing and mitigating risk to support the organization carrying out its mandate effectively. 

From January to April 2012, Keppler was a visiting scholar with the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law.

Keppler holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.