Sara Darehshori

Sara Darehshori served as senior counsel in the US program from January 2013 to January 2019, where she researched and advocated on issues relating to the handling of sexual assault cases in the United States. Her work in Washington, DC, where she documented DC police’s failure to properly investigate scores of sexual assault cases, helped lead to the Sexual Assault Victims Rights Amendment Act of 2014, landmark legislation improving police response to sexual assault in the District of Columbia. More recently, she authored reports on retaliation against those who report sexual assault in the military, which has helped increase protections for service members who have been sexually assaulted.

Prior to joining the US program, Darehshori was senior counsel in Human Rights Watch's International Justice program, where she worked on international justice issues relating to Darfur, Serbia, and the International Criminal Court. During her time at Human Rights Watch, Darehshori has written reports, news releases, and briefing papers on topics including Sudan's special courts for Darfur, Serbia's War Crimes Chamber, the Slobodan Milosevic trial, the Iraqi High Tribunal, and the long-term relationship between peace and justice. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Darehshori worked as a prosecutor in the first trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a corporate litigator in New York. Darehshori has also worked in South Africa and for the International Rescue Committee in Croatia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone. She is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School.

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