It’s our great pleasure to welcome Christie Edwards as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Christie has worked on international human rights, international humanitarian law, international development policy, and gender issues for several D.C. organizations, including Vital Voices Global Partnership, Women Thrive Worldwide, and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.  As the Director of the International Humanitarian Law team at the American Red Cross, Christie leads the organization’s public outreach efforts on IHL.

She received her J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, specializing in international human rights law. In addition to her private practice of asylum representation for political refugees, she became an Adjunct Professor and Pro Bono Fellow at TJSL in 2007, teaching an international human rights course and coaching students to compete in an international moot court competition. Christie also completed her LL.M. degree at AU’s Washington College of Law, specializing in international human rights and gender.

In 2010, she received a Helton Fellowship from the American Society of International Law, which allowed her to work in Casablanca, Morocco, with local NGOs on an advocacy campaign for greater legal rights for single mothers. She has published law review articles on the cultural context of sex trafficking in China, the use of gender budget analysis to achieve educational parity for women and girls, and legal advocacy strategies for women’s rights in Morocco. As the Co-Chair of the ASIL Women in International Law Interest Group, Christie also leads the Women in International Law Mentoring Program and organizes public events on women and international law.

Heartfelt welcome!