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Dokhi Fassihian is a member of the MEI Iran Program Advisory Council. Most recently, she the U.S. executive director of Reporters Without Borders, where she led strategies to address threats to press freedom in the United States and globally. Before that, she was the director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Freedom House, where she oversaw advocacy and programs across the region. Fassihian also led the Democracy Coalition Project, where she monitored the state of democracy and human rights around the world and tracked the foreign policies of governments on international human rights priorities. She has facilitated the work of civil society coalitions on thematic, emergency, and chronic human rights situations and led successful international campaigns at the U.N. Human Rights Council and U.N. General Assembly. Ms. Fassihian’s work has focused on a broad range of human and civil rights, press freedom, elections, and national security. She has specific expertise on the Middle East and North Africa and Iran. Ms. Fassihian holds a B.A. from George Mason University and an M.A. in international relations and Middle East Studies at the John Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She is fluent in Farsi and has received advanced training in French and Arabic.
Iranians need more than condemnation in Geneva; they want recognition of their right to democracy
As the U.N. Human Rights Council convenes in Geneva this week, it may be tempting to just focus on the rights of women and girls and make demands of the regime that Tehran will inevitably ignore. But instead, the HRC members should focus on how the international community can give the protesters a much-needed psychological and political boost.
