Erika B. Schlager serves as Counsel for International Law on the staff of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, also known as the Helsinki Commission).  The Helsinki Commission is a Congressionally-created advisory agency mandated by law to monitor compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other agreements adopted by the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

Ms. Schlager works with both the Helsinki Commission’s Congressional leadership and the Department of State on OSCE matters.  She follows a broad range of human rights concerns, with a particular focus on Central Europe, the human rights situation of the Romani minority, U.S. human rights practices raised in the OSCE context, and international legal issues. 

Among other publications, she authored "A Hard Look at Compliance with 'Soft' Law: The Case of the OSCE," in Commitment and Compliance (Dinah Shelton, ed., 2000), "The Roma—Europe’s Largest Minority," Encyclopædia Britannica’s 2006 Book of the Year (Special Report), and "Policy and Practice: A Case Study of U.S. Foreign Policy Regarding the Situation of Roma in Europe," in Realizing Roma Rights (Jacqueline Bhabha, Andrzej Mirga, and Margareta Matache, eds., 2017).

Ms. Schlager was educated at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).  She subsequently earned her A.M. degree from Harvard University in Soviet Union Area Studies and her Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the George Washington University Law School. She studied at Warsaw University as a Fulbright Fellow and received a Diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights Law in Strasbourg, France. She is a member in good standing of the Bars of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.