Vanessa Kogan

Vanessa Kogan has since 2009, been Executive Director of the Stichting Justice Initiative (SJI), a strategic litigation non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the former Soviet Union. SJI brings cases concerning fundamental rights in armed conflict and gender discrimination before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and other international tribunals.

Kogan earned a degree in comparative literature from Columbia University in 2004 and a law degree from Cambridge University in 2009. Prior to joining SJI, Kogan worked at several refugee rights organizations in France and in the Legal Office of Human Rights Watch in New York.

Research Area: Mobilizing Human Rights Strategies, International Human Rights Law, Non-Governmental Organizations, Human Rights Defenders


Selected Publications:

The Potential of Domestic and International Courts to Protect Women’s Right to Family Life in the North Caucasus. Journal of Human Rights Practice (2020) 12:1, 237–243.

Implementing the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from the North Caucasus: A Closing Window for Accountability or a Continuing Process of Transitional Justice, in Current Issues in Transitional Justice: Towards a More Holistic Approach, eds. N. Szablewska and S. Bachmann. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2015.

Protecting Human Rights Defenders in the North Caucasus: Reflections on Developments from 2009 to the Present. Journal of Human Rights Practice (2013) 5:3, 500–511.