Sarah Leah Whitson is a lawyer and author with a focus on human rights, humanitarian law, and U.S. foreign policy. She served as executive director of DAWN, an organization that seeks to reform U.S. policy in the Middle East, from 2020 - 2026 and as executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division from 2004 – 2020, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries. She currently serves on the boards of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, the Artistic Freedom Initiative, ALQST for Human Rights, Action for Hope, the International Observatory for Democracy in Armenia, and the Armenian Bar Association, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 
Whitson has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions in the MENA region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, human rights, accountability, and legal and policy reform. She has published widely in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, American Prospect, and CNN and appears regularly as a commentator in global media. Whitson’s book with Michael Omer-Man, “From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine,” was published in September 2025 by University of California Press. 
Previously, 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 and is fluent in English, Arabic and Armenian.