Rebecca Schleifer is the advocacy director for the Health and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. She has authored reports and advocacy documents on HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America, focusing on the human rights of people living with and at highest risk of HIV/AIDS. Her research and advocacy has covered the role of criminal law in addressing (or impeding) the response to HIV/AIDS, government restrictions on HIV/AIDS information to youth, and to HIV and harm reduction services to injection drug users and to prisoners. She also specialized in access to HIV prevention and post-rape services for survivors of sexual violence, and abuses against people living with, or at high risk of, HIV/AIDS in the United States, Bangladesh, South Africa, Jamaica, Ukraine, India, and Thailand.

Rebecca's work at HRW has also focused on the development of a human rights based approach to drug policy at the international level. This included raising the profile of drug policies with UN human rights bodies and raising awareness of human rights issues with the UN drug control agencies. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Rebecca worked with migrant farm workers in Florida and Washington, where she litigated cases on wages and working conditions, and conducting advocacy regarding pesticide issues. Rebecca has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College, and a law degree and a masters in public health from the University of California, Berkeley.