Hillary Margolis

Hillary Margolis is a senior researcher in the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. Her work focuses on violence against women and girls, including sexual violence in conflict, interpersonal and domestic violence, and protection risks for female migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. Most recently, she has conducted research on targeting of women’s rights defenders in Poland, women refugees and asylum-seekers in Greece and Italy, and on sexual violence by armed groups in the Central African Republic conflict. Her previous work at Human Rights Watch documented the impact of the Syrian conflict on women and girls, including exploitation and harassment in refugee settings, abuse of women in detention, and risks facing female activists and household heads.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Hillary led programs to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and in a refugee camp in eastern Chad, and conducted research on violations of women’s and children’s rights in Cambodian prisons.