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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January 13, 2021
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December 7, 2020
Afghan Children Need Full Access to Education
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November 30, 2020
South Korea Sentence for Online Sexual Violence a Start
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November 25, 2020
Sex Workers’ Safety in the Balance in Scotland
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October 12, 2020
South Korea Partially Recognizes Reproductive Rights
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October 12, 2020
Fresh Calls to End Afghanistan’s ‘Virginity Exams’
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September 18, 2020
Afghan Women Win Fight for Their Own Identity
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June 18, 2020
School Closures Hurt Even More in Afghanistan
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June 11, 2020
Can Multiple Husbands Solve China’s Gender Imbalance?
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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