Radhika Coomaraswamy | |
|---|---|
| United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict | |
| In office April 2006 – 13 July 2012 | |
| Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka) as a civil representative | |
| In office 10 September 2015 – 10 September 2018 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 September 1953 Colombo, Ceylon |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan |
| Parent(s) | Rajendra Coomaraswamy (father) Wijeyamani (mother) |
| Relatives | Indrajit Coomaraswamy (brother) |
| Alma mater | Yale University Harvard University Columbia University Amherst College University of Edinburgh University of Essex CUNY School of Law United Nations International School |
| Awards | Deshamanya |
Deshamanya Radhika Coomaraswamy (born 17 September 1953)[1] is a Sri Lankan lawyer, diplomat and human rights advocate who served as an Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 2006 to 2012. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her to the position in April 2006.[2] In 1994, she was appointed the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women — the first under this mandate. Her appointment marked the first time that violence against women was conceptualized as a political issue internationally.
She co-founded the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) in 1982. She was nominated to the Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka) as a civil representative on 10 September 2015.[3] In 2017, after atrocities against the Rohingya people, she was appointed a Member of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar.