Malika Saada Saar is the Executive Director of Rights4Girls.  As a human rights lawyer and advocate, Malika led the effort to shut down Craigslist sex ads that served as the leading site for the trafficking of children for sex, ended the federal practice of shackling pregnant mothers behind bars in U.S. prisons, and successfully advocated for millions in federal funding for treatment services for at-risk families.  Newsweek and the Daily Beast have named Malika as one of “150 Women Who Shake the World.”  The Obama White House selected Ms. Saada Saar to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.

Malika has been featured in the Daily Beast, Huffington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Newsweek, Politico, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Elle, Redbook Magazine, Essence, Tavis Smiley Show, BBC, ABC News, Good Morning America, CNN, and National Public Radio.  She has also been honored by Brown University’s highest alumni award, the Roger Williams award, and by Georgetown Law Center’s esteemed Robert Drinan Award for Public Service.

Ms. Saada Saar holds a B.A. from Brown University, M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Yasmin directs the policy strategy and legislative agenda of Rights4Girls.  As a human rights attorney and advocate, Yasmin develops and analyzes federal legislation, produces policy recommendations and briefs, and advises lawmakers throughout the legislative process on issues affecting vulnerable young women and girls in the U.S.  Yasmin has been dedicated to working with and advocating on behalf of vulnerable populations since 2003 when she began working for Amnesty International Australia, where she led the organization’s advocacy efforts on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees and worked to shift national policy with respect to the mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers in the region.  Prior to her work at Rights4Girls, Yasmin practiced law at a major law firm in Miami, Florida.

Yasmin’s work and advocacy has spanned the areas of international human rights law, gender-based violence, child welfare, sex trafficking, asylum and detention, and conditions of confinement for women and girls in custody.  She has co-authored a number of articles and speaks widely on domestic child sex trafficking in the U.S.

Yasmin received her B.A. from Boston University and earned her J.D. from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law,  She is a member of the Florida and District of Columbia Bars.

Shakira is currently a consultant at Rights4Girls. Over the past twenty year, Shakira has combined community organizing, program development, and behavioral research to address the social, economic, and political inequities faced by marginalized communities. Her most recent work has focused on the needs of girls and young women who have experienced violence and sexual exploitation that are entrenched in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Ms. Washington’s work has included drafting federal juvenile justice policy recommendations, organizing federal hearings and briefings, conducting empowerment trainings for system involved girls and young women, and managing a national alliance of organizations focused on addressing the needs of disconnected girls and young women. Shakira is an active participant/alumni of the Novo Foundation’s Move to End Violence Initiative (MEV), a ten year initiative focused on ending violence against women and girls; an advisory committee member for Re:Gender (formerly National Council for Research on Women), a national organization focused on ending gender inequity and discrimination against girls and women; and the Coordinator for the Office Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Girls Initiative.

Ms. Washington received her bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from San Francisco State University, her master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Maheen is an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Toyota Motor Corporation and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She has extensive experience working with system-involved youth and their families, with a particular focus on sexually exploited youth. Maheen served as the first-responder for Alameda County’s pilot program for Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth/Safe Place Alternative initiative, where she worked with over 350 CSEC victims. As a Public Interest Fellow at Georgetown Law, she received both academic and service awards among other accomplishments. Maheen’s work with youth includes teaching, crisis intervention and response, legal representation, and organizing. She has worked on a number of youth issues including ending the practice of trying youth as adults, stopping school push-out, and addressing the educational needs of formerly incarcerated youth.

Maheen was a Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellow at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. She is currently a Youth Justice Leadership Institute Fellow with the National Juvenile Justice Network. Maheen holds a B.S.F.S. in International Politics from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.