Prof. Rangita de Silva appointed to UN Committee | Sunday Observer

Prof. Rangita de Silva appointed to UN Committee

26 June, 2022

Prof. Rangita De Silva De Alwis was elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for the term 2023-2026 representing Sri Lanka at the elections conducted during the 22nd Meeting of the State Parties to the CEDAW Convention at the United Nations in New York.

According to a UN release, at this election, State Parties to the Convention elected 12 members out of 23 candidates, to the Committee of the Convention. Sri Lanka obtained 124 votes obtaining the fifth highest number of votes. Other countries elected are Cuba, Uganda, Nigeria, Egypt, Israel, Spain, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Trinidad and Tobago and Japan.

Sri Lanka became a State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1981. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the Convention, which consists of 23 experts on women’s rights from around the globe.

Prof. Rangita De Silva De Alwis is currently serving as the Associate Dean of International Affairs and the Academic Director of the Global Institute for Human Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, in the USA.

She was recently chosen as a Hillary Rodham Clinton Fellow on Gender Equity at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) for 2021-2022.

Dr. de Silva de Alwis’ honorary appointments have included Distinguished Advisor to the Executive Director of UN Women on global women’s rights and women’s leadership; Leader-in-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program (2019-2021); Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession; and Expert to the Access to Justice and Technology Task Force of the World Bank.

She earned her Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Colombo and her LL.M and Ph.D from Harvard Law School. She is an expert on matters coming under the purview of the CEDAW, with over 25 years of experience globally, advocating for equal representation of women in all spheres.

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