Project coordinator

Lawyer Jelle Klaas is the project coordinator of PILP. He identifies potential cases, investigates the possibilities of strategic litigation and creates the case files. Furthermore, he has an important executive role concerning the coordination of cases and maintaining contact with all involved parties.

As a lawyer, Jelle Klaas has gained a lot of experience in the field of human rights litigation in the Netherlands. He has been working at Fischer Advocaten, a law firm specializing in social-economic human rights, since 2004. Fischer Advocaten carries out legal proceedings in the area of ‘bed, bath and bread rights’ for the undocumented and others who have been excluded from their basic rights. In October 2013 they won an ‘immediate measure’ at the European Committee of Social Rights in the case of the Protestant church against the Netherlands. Later, the case itself was also won.

In addition, for Fischer Advocaten, Klaas has litigated some high-profile antidiscrimination cases. For example the case concerning the exclusion of Iranians from study programs and institutions, the undocumented boy who was not permitted to do an internship, and the girl from Volendam that was not allowed to wear a headscarf to school.

Jelle Klaas has been an active member of the NJCM for many years. You can follow him on twitter @AdvocaatKlaas.