Akila Radhakrishnan

Akila Radhakrishnan is the Strategic Legal Advisor for Gender Justice for the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project. She is an international human rights lawyer and a globally recognized expert in justice and accountability, sexual and gender-based violence, gender equality, and reproductive rights. Radhakrishnan previously served as the President and Legal Director of the Global Justice Center. She has led ground-breaking legal work on gender and international law, including abortion access in conflict situations, the role that gender plays in genocide and crimes against humanity, ensuring accountability for reproductive violence, and the codification of gender apartheid.

A prominent voice on gender issues globally, her unique expertise as a feminist international lawyer and strategist is sought by policymakers, academics, media, and grassroots actors around the world. She has briefed the United Nations Security Council, presented at the International Criminal Court, and regularly advises governments and multilateral institutions on issues of gender equality and human rights. Her expert analysis can also be seen across popular media, including in the New York Times, the Washington Post, BBC, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, CNN, and The Nation. Radhakrishnan has been the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Women’s Media Center’s Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award, the Her Hero award from the New York City Bar Association, and has been named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy by APolitical.

Sub-specialties:

Specific areas of expertise include US abortion restrictions including the Helms Amendment and the Global Gag Rule and how those restrictions are enforced and impact women on the ground.

Further areas of expertise include the genocide ISIS is committing against the Yazidi and the non-gendered crimes of genocide they are committing against Yazidi women and girls specifically rape, kidnapping and forced pregnancy.

Also working with women's rights groups on the ground in Myanmar to push for full equality under the law and constitution reform. This includes using international law mechanisms like the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).