Julie Leftwich, J.D.

Julie Arostegui Leftwich is a passionate international human rights and gender expert with extensive experience in women, peace and security, rule of law, access to justice, combating gender-based violence, women’s political participation, refugee and asylum law, democracy and governance, and security sector reform. She has managed programs related to gender justice, women’s rights, and the rule of law in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and has advised, trained, and published extensively on gender, peace and security, women’s rights, international human rights law, gender-based violence, refugee and asylum law, and human trafficking. She has provided gender expertise to many international organizations including Freedom House, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND), U.S. Institute of Peace, Women in International Security, National Defense University, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and the International Association of Women Judges.

Julie is the Founder and Executive Director of the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she also represents women seeking asylum from gender violence, and recently joined New-Rule LLC as a gender advisor. She is adjunct faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver. Her teaching focuses on human rights, women, peace, and security, and refugee and asylum law. 

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