Ida Sawyer
Ida is the director of Human Rights Watch's Crisis, Conflict, and Arms Division. Previously, from 2018 until early 2022, she served as the deputy director of the Africa division, which covers pressing human rights issues in approximately 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
From October to December 2021, she was a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C., focused on pro-democracy efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From April to September 2020, she served as Human Rights Watch’s acting Crisis and Conflict director, overseeing and supporting a team of researchers as they responded to global crises, including Russian and Syrian strikes on civilian infrastructure in northwest Syria, aid obstruction in Yemen, rights restrictions related to Covid-19 emergency measures, and police crackdowns on protests that broke out across the United States following the killing of George Floyd.
She was previously the organization’s Central Africa director, overseeing work on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Central African Republic. From 2008 to 2016, she was based in Congo with Human Rights Watch, first in Goma and later in the capital, Kinshasa. She conducted research across Congo and in areas of neighboring countries affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. In August 2016, Congolese authorities barred Ida from continuing to work in the country, following a series of Human Rights Watch publications on political repression. She was able to return to the country in 2019, after long-delayed elections.
Ida has authored numerous Human Rights Watch reports and other documents, and she has written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Foreign Policy. Ida conducts high level advocacy with African officials and other international actors as well as outreach with national human rights groups.
Ida came to Human Rights Watch from Cairo, where she had worked as a freelance journalist. Her previous experience in Africa’s Great Lakes region includes work for Care International and the Charity for Peace Foundation in northern Uganda, as well as research in Congo on the cross-border dynamics of natural resource exploitation. Ida holds a Masters in international affairs, specializing in human rights, from Columbia University.
Articles Authored
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February 2, 2017
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February 2, 2017
Congolese Mourn Death of Prominent Opposition Leader
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February 1, 2017
One Month On, Little Progress Implementing DR Congo Elections Deal
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January 27, 2017
UN Reports Dramatic Increase in DR Congo Rights Violations in 2016
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January 12, 2017
Doubts Surround Implementation of New Year’s Eve Deal
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December 22, 2016
DR Congo Death Toll Rises, Mass Arrests After Protests
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December 20, 2016
Congo’s Security Forces Crack Down on Whistling Demonstrators
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December 19, 2016
Tensions High in Congo on Last Day of Kabila’s Mandate
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December 15, 2016
The Family Fortune, and Why Congo’s Kabila May Be Clinging to Power
Reports Authored
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Gaza: Findings on October 17 al-Ahli Hospital Explosion
Evidence Points to Misfired Rocket but Full Investigation Needed
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“Special Mission”
Recruitment of M23 Rebels to Suppress Protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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Soldiers Who Rape, Commanders Who Condone
Sexual Violence and Military Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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