Elaine Pearson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, supervises work across Asia, especially South East Asia. Based in New York, Pearson regularly briefs members of the media, government, and UN officials. She joined Human Rights Watch in 2007.

Pearson has previously lived and worked in Asia for six years including Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Kathmandu. She has specialized expertise in human trafficking and migration, and has extensively documented human rights violations in trafficking and as a consequence of misguided anti-trafficking strategies. She has worked for the International Labour Organization, the UN Development Fund for Women, and led the first trafficking program at Anti-Slavery International in London. Pearson writes frequently for numerous publications, and her articles have appeared in the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, the Age and Human Rights Quarterly. Pearson holds degrees in law and arts (English and comparative literature) from Australia’s Murdoch University.

Multimedia
Burma Free Political Prisoners
Vietnam sentences dissidents to long prison terms, WorldFocus, February 1, 2010
Malaysian immigration officials implicated in human trafficking, PBS Worldfocus, July 13, 2009
The Chin People of Burma, January 23, 2009