Sakuntala Kadirgamar

Sakuntala Kadirgamar is the Executive Director of the Law and Society Trust, Sri Lanka – an organisation engaged in Human Rights Advocacy and research. She is a senior governance expert with extensive experience providing policy and technical advice on constitutions, governance reform, transitional justice, the design of electoral systems and political party reforms, and mainstreaming gender and social inclusion. She has worked in fragile states and post conflict transitions in contexts of extreme political volatility, change and uncertain transitions. Specifically, she has served as a Gender and Inclusion Advisor and as an Adviser on Constitutions and Power Sharing for the UN Mediation Support Unit. She was also an Adviser at the National Dialogue Conference of Yemen and a Senior Constitution Adviser to the UN Political Office for Somalia and to UNDP in Nepal. She was Sri Lanka Country Director of Democracy Reporting International and Senior Constitution Adviser and Head of the Asia Program at International IDEA. She began her career as a Program Officer with the Marga Institute for Development Studies (Sri Lanka). Sakuntala participated in the third Melbourne Forum in 2018.