A lawyer by training, Ms. Coomaraswamy was Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, is internationally known as a human rights advocate and did notable work as Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on violence against women (1994-2003). In her reports to the Commission, she addressed violence against women in the family, within the community and during armed conflicts as well as the problem of international trafficking. She has been a fierce advocate for women’s rights, speaking to governments around the world on behalf of women victims of violence. Ms. Coomaraswamy was appointed Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in May 2003. She also served as Director of the International Center for Ethnic Studies in Sri Lanka, where she led research projects on ethnicity, women and human rights. She taught at New York University Law School as a visiting professor. She is the author of numerous publications, including two works on constitutional law and numerous articles relating to ethnic studies and the status of women.
Numerous awards have been awarded to Ms. Coomaraswamy, including the International Law Prize of the American Bar Association, the Human Rights Prize of the International Human Rights Law Group, the Bruno Kreisky Prize (2000), the Leo Ettinger Human Rights Prize of the University of Oslo, the Cesar Romero Prize of the University of Dayton, the William J. Butler from the University of Cincinnati and the Robert S. Litvack Prize from McGill University. Ms. Coomaraswamy is a former
Student at the United Nations International School in New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, aJuris Doctor from Columbia University and a Master of Laws from Harvard University, and she is a Ph.D. for the sake of honor from Amherst, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Essex and the University of Leuven.
