Maja Daruwala

Maja Daruwala is the executive director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an international NGO based in New Delhi, which works for the practical realization of human rights. Her interests lie particularly in the area of systemic reforms. She has concentrated her energies on issues of accountability, particularly promoting police reform and the right to information. Ms. Daruwala is the founder and chair of People's Watch in Tamil Nadu and sits on several charitable boards, including The Open Society Institute-Justice Initiative and the International Women's Health Coalition, both in New York. Born in India, Ms. Daruwala has lived and worked in England, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Back in India, she practiced for a short while in the Supreme Court and then went to the Ford Foundation where she worked as a program officer for South Asia.