Amanda Klasing

Amanda Klasing is a senior researcher in the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch. Her work focuses on sexual and domestic violence, reproductive rights, and economic and social rights. She is a specialist in the rights to water and sanitation. Amanda has carried out research and advocacy on a number of human rights issues including: the rights of women and girls in Haiti after the earthquake; sexual violence and other forms of violence against women displaced by conflict in Colombia; accountability for victims of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti; the relationship between women’s and girls’ human rights and access to good menstrual hygiene management; and the rights to water and sanitation in schools. Amanda has also been a contributing author on Human Rights Watch publications related to the post-2015 development agenda, calling for global goals grounded in human rights, including women’s rights and the rights to water and sanitation. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Amanda’s work included indigenous rights and development in Mexico, indigenous women’s role in transitional justice in Peru, and Dalit rights in India. She has also worked more broadly on immigrant rights in the United States and economic, social, and cultural rights, with a focus on the rights to water and food in Haiti. Amanda has been published in peer-reviewed journals on the right to water and on human rights and humanitarian response, and she is a contributing author of an academic book on health and human rights. Her op-eds have run in Jurist, The Hill, and the Huffington Post. She has made radio and TV appearances on outlets including the BBC, CCTV, and CNN Spanish. Amanda holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago, and a law degree from New York University, where she received the Vanderbilt Medal for outstanding contributions to the Law School.