Harpinder Athwal Collacott

Harpinder Athwal Collacott "works with the London-based Oak Foundation’s International Human Rights Programme, where she handles the transitional justice, human rights defenders and human rights camapigning portfolio, covering human rights issues across the globe. She has extensive experience in international justice and human rights, previously working with the Special Court for Sierra Leone until 2006 as the Prosecutor’s Political Adviser and Special Assistant. In this position she developed and oversaw the political strategy to orchestrate the transfer of key indictee Charles Taylor (former President of Liberia) from Nigeria to Sierra Leone. She subsequently served as a consultant to the Open Society Justice Initiative, authoring a strategy document on state cooperation with international criminal tribunals.

"Harpinder spent three years in Washington, DC, first as a Research Assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars focused on Afghanistan and South Asia, a region to which she traveled in 2003 to assess post-conflict reconstruction. She then worked for Citizens for Global Solutions, a U.S. advocacy organisation, serving as their Peace and Security Programme Manager, and then as Director of Strategic Planning and Communications, taking the organisation through a five year strategic planning process. She has worked in the UK House of Commons and European Parliament with Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians as a researcher on human rights and foreign affairs issues, then going into the private sector as a public affairs consultant in London, working with Lexington Communications.

"In her spare time, Harpinder is a committed Liberal Democrat who ran as a parliamentary candidate for the party in 2001 UK General Election. She continues to camapign for the party and attend conferences and support the party during the election period. She has published several chapters and articles on international justice and human rights issues. She graduated from Cambridge University with an Honours in History and Education, and from the London School of Economics with a Masters in International Relations."


 * Associate, Democratization Policy Council