Yasmin Sooka is an international expert in the fields of transitional justice and international criminal law, with decades of experience working on truth commissions, international accountability mechanisms, and human rights institutions.

Her career in human rights began in South Africa, where she served as a Commissioner on the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 1996 to March 2003. Between 2002 and 2004, she was appointed by then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, as one of three independent UN Commissioners on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone. From 2000 to 2019, she served as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa – an independent non-profit organisation established in 1996 by President Nelson Mandela’s government in partnership with the European Union, aimed at addressing the legacy of apartheid and supporting the growth of a human rights culture in South Africa.

In July 2010, Ms Sooka was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to the Panel of Experts advising on accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka. In 2015, she played a leading role in several high-level international initiatives. She served as a member of the Independent Review Panel for the Central African Republic (CAR), which was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by foreign military forces and examine the UN’s response to these allegations. That same year, she contributed to the UN Global Study on Resolution 1325 and was a member of UNICEF’s Independent Advisory Review Panel, which produced a review of the organisation’s policies on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). She also served as the Inaugural Soros Chair at the School of Public Policy in Budapest during the autumn term, where she lectured on transitional justice.

Since June 2016, Ms Sooka has chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She is currently the Director of the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), which focuses on accountability for serious international crimes committed in Sri Lanka. In addition to this, she serves as Chair of the Constitutionalism Fund in South Africa and sits on the Board of Justice Rapid Response (JRR).