Reece Pelley is the Tolan Foreign Policy Legal Fellow at Human Rights First (HRF) in New York City. In this position, Reece participates in a variety of advocacy projects focused on ensuring that the foreign policy of the United States government respects and promotes human rights. Human Rights First is a nonprofit advocacy organization that works to push the United States government to respect human rights and the rule of law at home and abroad. Reece’s work at HRF involves documenting and reporting on U.S. obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as advocating for the adoption of a human rights-centric approach to U.S. foreign policy. Reece is the 2019 recipient of the James E. Tolan Human Rights Fellowship.

Reece holds a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Clemson University. During his time at Fordham Law, Reece was a Crowley Scholar at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice and interned with the Open Society Justice Initiative and the ACLU’s Human Rights Program. While interning at the ACLU, Reece assisted in the filing of litigation against the U.S. government concerning the U.S. Coast Guard’s detention and mistreatment of individuals captured in international waters.

Reece will discuss how HRF uses the Global Magnitsky Act to push the US government to hold human rights abusers accountable. He will provide an overview of the statutory framework, how it has been used in the past, and how HRF uses it in their accountability work.

Pizza will be served.