Joëlle Fiss

Pennoyer Fellow - Combating Hate Crimes
Fighting Discrimination Program

As a Pennoyer Fellow for the Fighting Discrimination Program, Joëlle is responsible for developing and implementing Europe-oriented advocacy strategies; fostering relationships with NGOs, governments, and intergovernmental organizations; documenting human rights abuses; preparing written materials analyzing conditions and policy and providing specific recommendations to European authorities and intergovernmental organizations.

Before joining Human Rights First, Joëlle was a policy advisor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament (2005-2008). In that position, she advised the Members of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee, working on questions related to fundamental rights and antiracism, EU immigration policies, organized crime and gender equality. Joëlle was also press officer of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs committee (2002-2005) where she informed the press on a daily basis of the European Parliament's positions on a range of foreign policy issues. Prior to her work at the European Parliament, she served as elected chairwoman of the European Union of Jewish Students (1999-2001), an organization representing 200,000 students across 34 European countries. Joëlle studied international relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.

The Fellowship celebrates the work of Bob Pennoyer, who has been a tireless advocate for the protection of human rights for more than 50 years. He continues to be a passionate defender of the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom, while he works to protect the rule of law and independent judiciaries in countries across the globe. The Pennoyer Fellowship program was created in 2005 by friends of Bob Pennoyer who have donated funds to Human Rights First for this purpose in order to honor his 80th birthday and his lifelong dedication to human rights.