SPRING 2016 HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Special Workshop Title: Dissecting the Democratic Moment in Egypt

Special Event: 'The Morsy Administration’s One Year in Power: What Went Wrong and Who's to Blame?' A Panel Discussion with Amr Darrag, Former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, 2012-2013; founding member and Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Freedom and Justice Party; Secretary General of the 2012 Constituent Assembly; Chairman, Egyptian Institute for Political and Strategic Studies 2014- date; Mohamed Almohandes, Member of the Supreme Council of the Egypt Strong Party, headed by presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh; served as spokesman of the party and participated in the National Dialogue, and Saif Abdel Fattah, Former senior adviser to President Mohamed Morsi, and former Professor of political science, Cairo University.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division, oversees the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. She has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and political rights. She has published widely on human rights issues in the Middle East in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN. She appears regularly on Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, and CNN. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Whitson worked in New York for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School. Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She speaks Armenian and Arabic.