Nita Yawanarajah, Ph.D

Nita is a Malaysian national with diplomatic and military experience as well as over 20 years of professional experience in the field of international conflict resolution.

She was the Head of Good Offices at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London from 2009 to 2016 where she carried out preventive diplomatic missions to catalyse the democratic transitions in the Maldives and Swaziland. She served with the United Nations from 1993 to 2009. During her time at the UN, she supported peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Eretria, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. She also participated in UN peacemaking efforts for Darfur and Western Sahara.

She was a founding member of the UN's Mediation Support Unit at UN HQ, New York. In 2007, she received the UN Secretary-General's 21 Award for Knowledge Management for creating the UN's first database, 'UN Peacemaker', for peace agreements and peacemaking.

She obtained her PhD from Kings College London from the Department of International Relations and Department of War Studies, on the subject of mediating durable ceasefires and peace agreements.