Nisha Varia joined Human Rights Watch's women's rights division in 2003. Her current work focuses on human rights in the context of foreign investments in coal mining in Mozambique. Varia has also conducted extensive research, published several reports, and carried out advocacy campaigns on migrant domestic workers’ rights across Asia and the Middle East, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. She co-led Human Rights Watch’s involvement in the development of the International Labour Organization's Domestic Workers Convention adopted in 2011. Varia's other work has included investigating women’s rights in Afghanistan and Nepal and she is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
 
Before joining Human Rights Watch, Varia worked at the International Center for Research on Women and was a Fulbright scholar to India. Varia received a master's degree specializing in economic and political development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and earned a bachelor's degree in economics and anthropology from Stanford University.