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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July 20, 2016
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April 29, 2016
Time to Ban Child Marriage in Malaysia
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March 21, 2016
Dispatches: Nepal Girl Summit Must Lead to Real Change
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February 29, 2016
Dispatches: Sexual Assault in the Name of Science in Afghanistan
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February 17, 2016
Dispatches: No ‘Honor’ in Murder in Pakistan
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January 20, 2016
Dispatches: A Law Ignored and Another Horror in Afghanistan
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January 18, 2016
Dispatches: Protecting Pakistan’s Girls Isn’t ‘Blasphemy’
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November 12, 2015
2 Years Later, Papua New Guinea's Domestic Safety Law MIA
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November 3, 2015
Interview: Domestic violence ignored in Papua New Guinea
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October 21, 2015
Dispatches: Going Backwards on Child Marriage in Bangladesh
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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