Heather Barr

Heather Barr is a senior researcher on women’s rights at Human Rights Watch. She has done recent research in Afghanistan, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, and Burma, and has written about topics including child marriage, domestic violence, "honor killing," contraception and abortion, moral crimes, virginity exams, and the role of women in peace talks. She was previously the Human Rights Watch Afghanistan researcher, and spent six years in Afghanistan, managing human rights and justice programs for the UN before joining Human Rights Watch. She also worked for the UN in Burundi, plus brief stints in Jordan and Bangladesh. Heather began her legal career in New York representing people with psychosocial disabilities in the criminal justice system, including a class action lawsuit that compelled New York City to provide discharge planning for people who receive mental health care in jail. She graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Columbia Law School, and the London School of Economics, which she attended on a Fulbright.