M.A., Fordham University (2001, International Political Economy and Development)
B.A., Fribourg University, Switzerland (1996, Economics)
Jelena Pia-Comella is an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies. Ms. Pia-Comella a senior consultant with 25 years of experience in international relations and a deep knowledge of the United Nations system. Throughout her career, Ms. Pia-Comella has been true to her feminist principles by promoting women’s rights, strengthening women’s leadership, and supporting the work of activists in the fields of mass atrocities prevention and gender justice.
Starting her career in 1996 as a diplomat representing Andorra at the United Nations, Canada and the United States, she was part of the team that created the foreign policy of her country. Ms. Pia-Comella participated in the Conferences and negotiations that set new standards in international human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law such as the Rome Statute and the Responsibility to Protect norm. Ms. Pia-Comella was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative of Andorra to the United Nations in 2002 and served as chargé d’affaires a.i./Chief of Mission to Canada and the United States from 2001 to 2007.
Upon leaving the Andorran diplomatic service, Ms. Pia-Comella shifted her career to transfer her knowledge and skills to the service of activism. From January to June 2008, she was a consultant for the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and Women’s Environment and Development Organization to coordinate the Gender Equality Architecture Reform Campaign (GEAR) which led to the creation of UNWomen. Until July 2018, she was the Deputy Executive Director of the World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy (WFM-IGP). Ms. Pia-Comella served as adviser on gender, peace and security issues for the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie from June 2019 to August 2021.
Currently, Ms. Pia-Comella is consulting with the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC) as Managing Coordinator of GAAMAC’s Support Office and is a faculty member of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Ms. Pia-Comella has written on the role of women in preventing mass atrocity crimes and gender justice for conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.
Current courses:
ICJ 735-99 : Gender justice
HR 702-01: Human rights: international and domestic legal frameworks
HR 750-99: Advanced seminar in human rights
Previous courses
ICJ 750-01: Special interest, international crime and justice (Gender justice)
HR 702-01: Human rights: international and domestic legal frameworks
HR 750-99: Advanced seminar in human rights
HR 701-01: International human rights organizations and institutions
President of the Board of Directors of SOS-Torture/Burundi.
Board member and treasurer of Global Justice Center.
Member of the African Coordination of Human Rights for the Armed Forces (CADHA).
Member of the Women Network on the Responsibility to Protect, Peace and Security of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences of Leeds University.