Tirana Hassan had to take shelter to escape the fighting in Libya during the waning days of Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship. She drove through militia-controlled areas of northern Iraq and was asked to leave Indonesia while investigating sectarian violence for allegedly conducting research without permission. A trained social worker and law graduate, she helped create an organization that provided legal services to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran held in Australia’s infamous desert detention center.
These experiences have come into sharp focus as she succeeded Kenneth Roth in March as executive director of Human Rights Watch, or HRW, a sprawling group that operates in more than 90 countries and has over 500 staff members.
“I literally started my career at Human Rights Watch, I remember, with my laptop connected to a car battery because I was living in Senegal and at the time we had long power cuts,” Hassan told Devex in an interview. “Now, leading the organization and the same committed people who I had been working with those many years ago and many new staff is a real privilege.”