Binghamton grad works quietly to prevent atrocities

In 2025, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect monitored and analyzed 29 situations where populations are experiencing, or are at risk of, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing.

Julia Saltzman ’21, MPA ’22, is one of many members in the organization working to prevent and reduce these atrocities from behind the scenes.

“I often say that my work done right is silent. You’re not going to hear about it. There’s no fanfare because violations and atrocities are prevented,” Saltzman said. “In many cases, it’s hard to prove or demonstrate that what we’re doing does have an impact. But I try to imagine how much worse it may be if people or organizations like my own stopped applying the pressure.”

Saltzman (she/they) earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and law with a minor in human rights from Binghamton University before continuing for her master’s degree in public administration. While at Binghamton, she earned a certificate in genocide and mass atrocity prevention and was the recipient of the Nadia Rubaii Award for Equity, Inclusion and Atrocity Prevention in May 2022 and a Commencement speaker.

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, where Saltzman works, seeks to ensure that the principle of the Responsibility to Protect serves as a practical guide for action in the face of mass atrocities. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a global political commitment, adopted by the UN in 2005, affirming that states must protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The idea of R2P itself, however, is often misunderstood; it is often misrepresented as a justification for intervention, when it is better understood as its alternative.

“Pragmatically, R2P refers to the complete toolkit to respond to atrocities and prevent them before they occur,” Saltzman added. “It refers to what we need to do to build resilient societies; preventing limits on access to humanitarian aid; making government actors aware of how their actions can contribute to atrocity situations. It’s looking at situations and applying an intersectional lens to understand how, if left unaddressed, these things could lead to atrocity crimes.”

Saltzman has worked up to her position; she first began her professional career as a programs associate at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect before moving into her role as a research and advocacy officer. Now, they focus their work on Afghanistan, North Korea and China.

“The advocacy that we engage in looks different depending on the context,” she said. “Advocacy for North Korea doesn’t necessarily look like engaging with the country or with the population itself. It looks like convincing other actors — for example, stakeholders in the region — to take certain actions to advance our collective understanding of the human rights situation or advance certain leverage points.”

No day, however, is ever the same, she added. Staying abreast to current developments by reading new publications, researching and writing about cases across the world, and meeting with civil society and government partners are just some of what make up Saltzman’s “normal” workday.

“When I meet with diplomats representing various UN member state missions, I try to convince them to integrate the leverage points that I’ve identified into their work on specific country situations. If there is an urgent development on a situation, we’ll also have briefings, or we’ll bring a group of civil society actors together to inform emergency response,” she added. “There’s a lot that happens on a day-to-day, and I think that’s partly what makes the job so interesting!”

But deciding to work for an organization that helps others on the other side of the world in the first place came far before this position for Saltzman. In many ways, she said, it was fostered at Binghamton University’s College of Community and Public Affairs.

“A lot of my experience at CCPA was focused on genocide and mass atrocity prevention, which is such a unique program, and really gave me the foundations for what I do in my current job. The way that I view our institutions — with a lens of trying to make them work better and not just accepting them for what they are —is very foundational to CCPA,” she said.

Saltzman also identifies as Jewish and was raised with Holocaust education. They said it was personal to their lived experience, and in high school, she decided to take a class that showed her that similar atrocities affect populations all around the world, and that they are not just something that exists in history but are happening in this current moment.

With this experience, they were captivated by the PPL major at Binghamton, where they were able to use an interdisciplinary focus and personalize their major toward human rights, while still focusing primarily on philosophy. As a freshman, Saltzman was invited to join the Source Project, where she worked on her first research project and met her mentor, Bat-Ami Bar On. Altogether, these opportunities and mentorships gave her an indispensable education.

“I valued getting to know my professors and using them not just as resources or as educators, but as confidants. It was both the professional and educational guidance, but also the very personal and very human response that I was so grateful for,” she added.

Now, she aims to return that mentorship: whenever possible, she participates in Mentor Match, and she tries to engage in events with Binghamton whenever she can to meet students.

“No matter where my career takes me, I hope I can continue to mentor, because the students teach me so much. Seeing these younger versions of myself, full of these ideas about where they think their life is going to go, what they’re passionate about, is so inspiring,” she said. “I’ve learned from the best, and I just want to continue that legacy. If that’s the impact I can have, then that’s an impact that is worthwhile for me.”