Sarnata Reynolds
Director
sarnata[AT]trategyforhumanity.org
Sarnata is an international human rights lawyer and an expert on refugee and migrants' rights, statelessness and the right to nationality, and humanitarian response in displacement and crisis situations. Between 2011 and 2016, Sarnata served as both the Senior Advisor on Human Rights and the Program Manager for Statelessness at Refugees International, where she was responsible for leading the organization's analysis of international humanitarian responses from a human rights perspective. Sarnata conducted field research and produced reports on humanitarian needs and human rights concerns in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, South Sudan, and Turkey, among other countries.
Sarnata spent the previous four years as Amnesty International USA's Director for Refugee and Migrants' Rights, serving as a lead researcher on two groundbreaking reports and spearheading AIUSA's policy and advocacy strategies in these areas. Concurrently, she taught courses at Georgetown University Law Center, including a full year experiential learning course focused on the rights of mentally disabled individuals during and after the process of deportation. Earlier in her career, Sarnata represented hundreds of asylum seekers and immigrants pursuing legal status and relief from deportation before the Federal Courts of Appeals and the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Sarnata is frequently sought out by the U.S. Congress, and she represented the NGO community on the anniversaries of the 1951 Refugee and 1961 Statelessness Conventions before The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. She has served as an expert and presented her findings at international conferences in Colombia, El Salvador, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland, among other locations. She also served as the Vice-Chair of Refugee Council USA and held leadership positions for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's San Francisco chapter.
Sarnata is a frequent author and her publications include Deterring and Preventing Rape and Sexual Slavery During Periods of Armed Conflict (Spring 1999), Pursuing Protection From Organized Criminal Groups in the Americas (December 2015), and A Case Study on NGO Advocacy to Venerate Nationality Rights (January 2014). She also authored the iBook, Who Is Dayani Cristal: An Examination of Modern-Day Migration (May 2014).
Sarnata has been a guest on PBS NewsHour, NPR News, CNN International, ABC News, Univision, the Canadian Broadcasting Channel's As It Happens, and NPR's Latino USA. Print media including The Guardian, The Hill, CNN, and UN Dispatch have published opinion pieces by Sarnata, and she has been quoted in dozens of media outlets such as The New York Times, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, and The Nation.
Sarnata spent the previous four years as Amnesty International USA's Director for Refugee and Migrants' Rights, serving as a lead researcher on two groundbreaking reports and spearheading AIUSA's policy and advocacy strategies in these areas. Concurrently, she taught courses at Georgetown University Law Center, including a full year experiential learning course focused on the rights of mentally disabled individuals during and after the process of deportation. Earlier in her career, Sarnata represented hundreds of asylum seekers and immigrants pursuing legal status and relief from deportation before the Federal Courts of Appeals and the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Sarnata is frequently sought out by the U.S. Congress, and she represented the NGO community on the anniversaries of the 1951 Refugee and 1961 Statelessness Conventions before The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. She has served as an expert and presented her findings at international conferences in Colombia, El Salvador, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland, among other locations. She also served as the Vice-Chair of Refugee Council USA and held leadership positions for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's San Francisco chapter.
Sarnata is a frequent author and her publications include Deterring and Preventing Rape and Sexual Slavery During Periods of Armed Conflict (Spring 1999), Pursuing Protection From Organized Criminal Groups in the Americas (December 2015), and A Case Study on NGO Advocacy to Venerate Nationality Rights (January 2014). She also authored the iBook, Who Is Dayani Cristal: An Examination of Modern-Day Migration (May 2014).
Sarnata has been a guest on PBS NewsHour, NPR News, CNN International, ABC News, Univision, the Canadian Broadcasting Channel's As It Happens, and NPR's Latino USA. Print media including The Guardian, The Hill, CNN, and UN Dispatch have published opinion pieces by Sarnata, and she has been quoted in dozens of media outlets such as The New York Times, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, and The Nation.
