People

Jennifer Prestholdt

Attorney Jennifer Prestholdt directs organizational operations at The Advocates and supervises the development and administration of The Advocates' International Justice Program. 

As The Advocates for Human Rights' deputy director, Jennifer Prestholdt assists in fundraising for and directing organizational operations. As the director of the organization's International Justice Program, she supervises the program's development and programming.

Prior to becoming deputy director of The Advocates for Human Rights, Prestholdt practiced asylum law for five years as the organization's director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program. Ms. Prestholdt has also taught International Human Rights Law as an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. 

She has worked on refugee and asylum issues for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland. She has also interned for the Reebok Human Rights Program and the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination Against and Protection of Minorities. 

Prestholdt has a B.A. in political science from Yale and a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she studied international human rights law and international refugee policy. She graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1996.

Other Published Work

"Refugee Participation in Peacebuilding: The case of Liberian refugee participation in the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission." The Journal for Peace & Justice Studies Volume 20, Number 2 (2010). Written by Jennifer Prestholdt and Laura A. Young 

"Fletcher Women Working to Promote and Protect Human Rights." Fletcher Women's Network Newsletter 5 (January 2009). Written by Jennifer Prestholdt

"Five Reasons to Reject the Death Penalty." Star Tribune (September 2006). Written by Jennifer Prestholdt and Laura Young

"Truth and Reconciliation in Liberia." Minnesota Public Radio - Midmorning Broadcast (17 November 2006) (Multimedia).

"Op-ed on Charles Taylor." Star Tribune (August 2003). Written by Jennifer Prestholdt

"1995 Developments at the U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities." ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 27 (1996). Written by Jennifer Prestholdt and David Weissbrodt

*Dulce Foster, Dianne Heins, Mark Kalla, Michele Garnett McKenzie, James O'Neal, Rosalyn Park, Robin Phillips, Jennifer Prestholdt, Ahmed K. Sirleaf II, Laura A. Young. A House with Two Rooms: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia Diaspora Project. St. Paul, MN: DRI Press, 2009.

Publications

• Labor Trafficking Protocol Guidelines: Identifying and Responding to Victims of Labor Trafficking 24 Years Old and Under
  January 31, 2019
• A House with Two Rooms: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia Diaspora Project
  January 1, 2009
• Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues: Adapting Traditional Human Rights Monitoring
  January 1, 2004

News

• 2013-2022: Measuring Victory One Life at a Time
  June 15, 2023