Malika Saada Saar

Malika Saada Saar is a human rights lawyer and Senior Counsel on Civil and Human Rights for Google. She has dedicated her professional and personal lives to advocating for and protecting victims of sex trafficking, domestic abuse, and gender-based violence.

As Executive Director of The Rebecca Project, which she co-founded, Malika led a successful campaign urging legislators to pressure Craiglist to close its adult services section, a leading platform for child sex trafficking. She also successfully advocated for millions in federal funding for treatment services for at-risk families and ended the federal practice of shackling pregnant mothers behind bars in US prisons.

Malika is Founder and former Executive Director of the Human Rights Project for Girls (Rights4Girls), a human rights organization focused on gender-based violence against young women and girls. She also served as Special Counsel on Human Rights at The Raben Group and in 2010 had the honor of being selected by the Obama Administration to serve on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. Currently, Malika serves on the Boards of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and Essie Justice Group. For her work, she has received widespread recognition. She was awarded the Al Filipov Peace & Justice Award and named one of “150 Women Who Shake the World” by Newsweek and the Daily Beast. In addition, The Rebecca Project was honored with the Leadership for Changing World award by the The Ford Foundation.

Malika holds a BA from Brown University, an MA in Education from Stanford University, and a JD from Georgetown University. She has been honored with the Roger Williams Award, Brown University’s highest alumni award, and by Georgetown Law Center's esteemed Robert F. Drinan Award for Public Service.