Harshani Dharmadasa is a Non-Resident Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. Previously, she was an Advocacy Lead working on the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies program–a platform for countries that wish to lead on delivering the 2030 Agenda SDG16+ targets for peace, justice, and inclusion.
Harshani comes to CIC most recently from BRAC USA, where she led national planning processes and designed multi-sectoral social protection and livelihoods programming for governments and civil society. She also worked with the UN Special Rapporteur for Health where she helped to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to member states with respect to human rights, as well as the Open Society Justice Initiative and UN Women to strengthen women’s rights and advance access to justice. In previous years, she worked with the UN Democracy Fund guiding the delivery of rule of law projects in developing countries, and Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Harshani holds a law and arts degree from Monash University in Australia, and a Master’s in International Law and Comparative Law from George Washington University.
