Erica Gaston

Erica Gaston is a Senior Program Officer with the Rule of Law Center where she works on rule of law issues regarding Afghanistan.

Prior to joining USIP, Erica worked at the Open Society Institute (OSI) where she has been since 2009 as a Program Officer for the Regional Policy Initiative. At OSI, she developed a new regional unit on conflict-related law and policy issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan, conducted extensive field and academic research on protection of civilians and conflict-related detentions, and coordinated to develop and support civil society efforts on these issues. Prior to that, she was the Afghanistan researcher for CIVIC Worldwide, whose mission is to encourage warring parties to provide compensation, victim assistance, recognition or other redress to victims of conflict. Erica also worked with an Afghan organization, WADAN, on a range of grassroots education and training initiatives.

In addition, Gaston has published articles related to the accountability of private security companies, issues, and problems inherent in humanitariam projects, property damage awards in international claims courts, and the improvement of emergency preparedness for homeland security and counter-terrorism purposes. Her most recent publications, The Laws of War and 21st Century Conflict and Ethics of 21st Century Military Conflict, are a series of article compendiums designed to introduce those new to the subject to the ethical and legal dilemmas that have arisen in the context of post-September 11 conflicts. She graduated with a B.A. in international relations, with a specialization in international security, from Stanford University. Erica received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Stanford University.