Malika Saada Saar

Rebecca Project for Human Rights

Malika Saada Saar, JD, is the founder and executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a national legal and policy organization that advocates for justice, dignity, and reform for vulnerable families.

The Ford Foundation recently honored The Rebecca Project for Human Rights’ achievements with the "Leadership for Changing World" award. Ms. Saada Saar and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights were also selected by Redbook Magazine for the Mothers and Shakers 2005 Award. Ms. Saada Saar is the founder of Crossing the River, a written and spoken word workshop for mothers in recovery from substance abuse, and the founder and former executive director of Family Rights and Dignity, a civil rights project for low income and homeless families in California.

Ms. Saada Saar and The Rebecca Project have been featured in Essence Magazine, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Good Morning America , USA Today, Tavis Smiley Show, and Redbook Magazine. 

Ms. Saada Saar received her B.A. from Brown University, M.A. in Education from Stanford University, and received her JD from Georgetown University in 2001.

 

In Labor and In Chains

Malika Saada Saar

Using restraints on women in prison during labor and delivery is cruel, inhumane and degrading and rarely justified on security grounds. Our video profiles a woman shackled during childbirth.

The Common Ground Honor Code

Malika Saada Saar

Despite its worthy mission, the White House common ground agenda needs some serious tweaking. There is a need to reframe the agenda in a larger discourse of honoring motherhood and honoring the sacredness of women and girls’ lives.

Giving Neda and Iran’s Women Honor

Malika Saada Saar

Malika Saada Saar writes in her reader diary, "I write these words to give honor to Neda and the other Iranian women who dare the brutality of the Basij and military forces, and fearlessly raise their voices against crushing tyranny."

A New Reproductive Rights Discourse

Malika Saada Saar

A new reproductive health movement must include language about mothering with dignity. For vulnerable mothers, mothering with dignity means opportunities to heal from sexual violence, child welfare practices, education, and alternative sentencing to maternal incarceration and sentencing reform.