Sarah Holewinski
Adjunct Assistant Professor - Center for Security Studies (CSS)
Sarah (Holewinski) Yager is Washington director of Human Rights Watch.
Sarah was senior advisor in The Joint Staff to the Chairman’s Advisory Group and the Transregional Threats Coordination Cell. Prior, she was deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations under Ambassador Samantha Power. For nearly a decade Sarah was executive director of Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), leading efforts to advise warring parties on civilian protection and responsible use of force. In that role, she worked extensively with the U.S. military and its allies and in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, CAR, Burma, and elsewhere.
Sarah was named in Top 100 Most Influential People in Armed Violence Reduction by Action on Armed Violence and received the Truman National Security Project’s award for Extraordinary Impact. She was a member of the (Bill) Clinton Administration’s White House AIDS Policy team, a senior associate at West Wing Writers, and consulted for Human Rights Watch, Ford Foundation, the William J. Clinton Foundation, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Sarah holds degrees from Georgetown and Columbia Universities, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior fellow at New America, and a board director at Center for Civilians in Conflict. She also has the most adorable 4 year old on the planet.