About Me
Joelle studied international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Swiss and British, she has over twenty years of work experience on human rights and foreign policy—both in the public sector and non-governmental organisations. She is currently a researcher and human rights analyst as well as an elected member of the Geneva Parliament and sits on three parliamentary committees: Human Rights, Judiciary and Police and Petitions. Joelle’s has worked with a range of intergovernmental organisations, parliaments, governments, non-governmental organisations as well as human rights defenders, academics, lawyers, think tanks, law-enforcement officials, businesses, faith leaders and journalists.
After 15 years abroad, back in Geneva since 2014
As a consultant, Joelle’s work has often lied at the intersection between research, academia and policy advocacy. She has notably consulted for two U.N. Special Rapporteurs on freedom of religion or belief, the NGO FELM on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and the bipartisan U.S. federal agency U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has also published for the U.S. think tanks, such as The Brookings Institution. Many of these projects required research, drafting, publication of a report, press promotion and advocacy at international events. Joelle has also taught classes at the University of Geneva (Religions et Governance globale) and supervised students in two University clinics—Cardozo Law school (New York) and Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights. Joelle has also been a member of the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
She has worked on a range of policy issues, including: business and human rights, religion and the rule of law, human rights principles and analysis, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of opinion and speech, internet freedom, anti-blasphemy laws across the world, incitement to hatred and intolerance and countering violent extremism. Joelle has published on allegations of blasphemy, which often target political dissidents, religious minorities, academics and freethinkers. Finally, Joelle has guest-lectured and participated in many debates on questions linked to violence committed in the name of religion and different legal cultures around freedom of expression worldwide.
1999-2014: Working in New York and Brussels
Before moving back to Geneva, Joelle worked several years for Human Rights First (based in New York/Washington DC) as well as for the political party Alliance of Liberals and Democrats/Renew as a policy advisor and press officer in the European Parliament (Brussels, Strasbourg). She remains connected to the human rights and foreign policy ecosystems—whether within the OSCE, the UN, the US and the EU policy circles.
In addition to her professional collaborations, she has also published in many papers including The Economist, The Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution, The World Affairs Journal, The European Voice, EU Observer, The Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, The Budapest Times, Le Monde, Libération, La Règle du Jeu, Le Temps, La Tribune de Genève and ProChoix.