Heather Barr
Heather Barr is associate director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. She has researched human rights in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Korea and the US on issues including child marriage, girls’ education, women's access to health care, domestic violence, online gender-based violence, so called "moral crimes", "honor violence" and "virginity exams", the rights of refugees and prisoners, torture, civilian casualties, freedom of expression and association, and human trafficking. She was the interim/acting co-director of the Women's Rights Division from 2018-2021.
She joined Human Rights Watch in 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the Afghanistan researcher, after working for the United Nations on human rights and legal reform in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi and Jordan. After law school she litigated a class action lawsuit on behalf of imprisoned people with psychosocial disabilities in New York City and founded an alternative-to-incarceration program for people with psychosocial disabilities who had committed felonies. Before law school, she worked in a New York City shelter for homeless women. She is a graduate of London School of Economics, Columbia University School of Law, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Seattle Central Community College.
Articles Authored
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February 17, 2015
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September 3, 2014
Nato shouldn’t abandon Afghanistan’s women
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July 23, 2014
Dispatches: Girl Summit Should Lead to Action
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March 20, 2014
Women's Rights in Afghanistan Must be Steadfastly Respected
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February 19, 2014
Dispatches: Donors at Last Speak Out for Afghanistan’s Women
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January 20, 2014
EU and Afghanistan: Mission Accomplished, Women Abandoned?
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December 11, 2013
In Afghanistan, Women Betrayed
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August 9, 2013
The long arc of justice in Afghanistan
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Reports Authored
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Four Ways to Support Girls’ Access to Education in Afghanistan
Lessons for donors from Afghan students, teachers, and principals
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Afghanistan: Taliban Deprive Women of Livelihoods, Identity
Severe Restrictions, Harassment, Fear in Ghazni Province
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Afghanistan: Taliban Abuses Cause Widespread Fear
Women in City of Herat Describe Loss of Freedoms Overnight
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