Cambridge, MA — Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced today that Salil Shetty, the outgoing secretary-general of Amnesty International, will join the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy as a senior fellow for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Shetty will be stepping down from Amnesty International on July 8, after holding the position of secretary-general for eight years. A long-term activist on issues of poverty and justice, Shetty led the movement's international work to end human rights violations and spearheaded a significant shift of the organization’s operations to the global south.
“Salil is a dedicated leader who brings with him gravitas and a real understanding of the complex, interconnected human rights issues that our center is grappling with,” said Carr Center Faculty Director Mathias Risse. “His expansive experience and long-term commitment to the field of justice and human rights will help us spearhead new initiatives, research, and robust programming at the Carr Center, and we look forward to having him here.”
“It is a great honor to return to the Harvard University community this fall as a senior fellow," said Shetty. “This is an exciting new opportunity for me. Most of the challenges we face nationally and globally are rooted in the lack of accountable governance. I look forward to joining the Carr Center and benefit from the rich intellectual resources of Harvard Kennedy School in our collective search for solutions.”
Before joining Amnesty International, Shetty served as director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign from 2003 to 2010, and as chief executive of ActionAid.
About Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Kennedy School aims to improve public policy and public leadership in the United States and around the world through research, teaching, and direct engagement with policymakers and public leaders. Roughly 20,000 alumni of the school’s degree programs and 50,000 people who have taken executive education courses at the school work in nearly every country. In addition, faculty, staff, and students of the school are currently undertaking projects to advance knowledge and strengthen public policy and leadership in dozens of countries. Around the world, the skills and energy of the Harvard Kennedy School community are dedicated to helping make people’s lives safer, freer, and more prosperous.
About the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Since its founding in 1999 the Carr Center has developed a unique focus of expertise on the most dangerous and intractable human rights challenges of the new century, including genocide, mass atrocity, state failure, and the ethics and politics of military intervention. The Carr Center's mission is to realize global justice through theory, policy, and practice. The Center brings together theorists, policy makers, and practitioners in a vital mission: to enhance global justice. We accomplish this though research, teaching, training, and convenings focused on a more strategic and outcome-oriented human rights practice.