Sarah Saadoun

Sarah Saadoun is the Senior Advisor on Poverty and Inequality at Human Rights Watch, where she leads work on how economic policy and global economic systems shape governments’ ability to fulfill their human rights obligations. Her research examines how issues such as taxation, austerity, and elite capture affect people’s access to education, health care, social security, and other rights.

Her writing and advocacy advance the concept of a human rights economy, with domestic and international economic policies centered on human rights. She engages policymakers, multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, and UN bodies to promote reforms that align economic governance with human rights and environmental sustainability. These include promoting creation of an ambitious UN tax treaty, developing indicators of economic progress that go beyond GDP, promoting alternatives to austerity, and ensuring that climate policies advance a just transition to low-carbon economies.

Previously, she investigated business and human rights issues, including corruption; corporate accountability, particularly in situations of conflict and occupation; and environmental harm. She holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. in English from Queens College, City University of New York.