Priya Pillai

Priya Pillai is an international lawyer with over two decades of experience, globally recognized for deep legal expertise in international law and advocacy to effect change. Priya leads the Asia Justice Coalition, focused on international justice and accountability, helming it since inception. The coalition has been key to efforts to hold the Burmese military accountable by supporting legal proceedings in international and domestic courts. Under her leadership, a new multi-year program to enhance leadership of women in international law across Asian jurisdictions has commenced, intended to dismantle systemic barriers. Previously, Priya worked at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on trials in the Balkans, and on global humanitarian issues at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.

Priya has contributed expertise to The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response; as a judge at an international peoples’ tribunal for Ukraine on the crime of aggression; a keynote at the Ljubljana-The Hague treaty negotiations, and towards a new crimes against humanity treaty. Priya co-chaired the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law and is a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. Priya is a contributing editor at the leading international law blog Opinio Juris and has been quoted by the Washington Post, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC.