A native of Argentina, Jesica L. Santos studied law at the University of Buenos Aires before moving to the United States in 2001. She has a BA in Political Science from Fordham University in New York, and an MA in International Affairs, with a concentration in International Law and Human Rights, from New School University, also in New York. At that university, she was the recipient of the NASDAQ Economic Policy Fellowship, and the International Affairs Departmental Scholarship.

Ms. Santos joined the ICTJ in 2008 as the Historical Memory Project Coordinator for a project undertaken in partnership with the Ford Foundation. After eight months in that position, she became the Program Assistant in the Americas Program and the New York Desk Officer for the Bogota Office. Prior to joining the ICTJ, she held positions in the legal department and constituents affairs offices of United States Senator Hillary R. Clinton, the United Nations, the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the Graduate Program in International Affairs at NSU. In addition, she has participated in two regular sessions of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court at the UN Headquarters in New York and monitored the work of the Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression, a group mandated to draft proposals on a definition of that crime for the Rome Statute of the ICC. She speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian.