Deborah Isser
Senior Program Officer, Rule of Law Program
Human Rights | Peacekeeping | Post-Conflict Activities | Rule of Law | Balkans
Phone: (202) 429-3879
E-mail: disser@usip.org
Deborah Isser joined the Rule of Law program, one of the Institute’s Centers of Innovation, in August 2004. She directsprojects on the role of nonstate justice systems in post-conflict societies and on addressing property claims in the wake of conflict. Previously, she was senior policy adviser at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she focused on economic reform and efforts to address serious crime and corruption. In 2000–2001, she served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations as special adviser, for which she received the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award for her work on UN peacekeeping reform in the context of the Brahimi Report.
She was also a member of the team responsible for settling U.S. arrears to the United Nations. From 1998 to 2000, Isser practiced law with the firm of Morrison and Foerster in New York. During that period she also cofounded the International Legal Assistance Network, which linked human rights lawyers overseas with U.S. law firms providing pro bono assistance. From 1996 to 1998, she served as judicial clerk to the Honorable Dalia Dorner of the Supreme Court of Israel. A recipient of several human rights fellowships,
Isser worked at human rights organizations in Geneva, Cambodia, and Washington, D.C. She earlier taught English and American history at a university in Kunming, China.
Isser received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an A.B. from Columbia University.
Publications:
