Salil Tripathi
Senior Advisor, Global Issues, IHRB
Expertise
Salil is a writer and policy adviser with experience in researching corporate activities in diverse environments and applying international human rights standards to identify human rights abuses. He believes in working with all sectors and stakeholders to build accountability and advocate positive change.
Current Work
Salil works on human rights themes such as discrimination, technology, protection of human rights defenders, and emerging issues for business and human rights. He is also engaged in researching potential impacts of investments in high-risk zones and curates a course on business and human rights at the University of Bergen, in a joint IHRB initiative with the Rafto Foundation. He conducts podcasts with human rights experts and practitioners, and writes commentaries. He has also worked on issues related to land, conflict, and the information and communication technologies. Salil also holds the position of Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).
Before IHRB
Salil was at the London-based secretariat of Amnesty International (1999-2005) where he conducted research missions to Nigeria and Bosnia, and developed organisational policies and thinking on complicity, privatisation, and corruption. He represented Amnesty International in the forming of the Global Compact, the Kimberley Process (to end trade in conflict diamonds), and the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights. At International Alert (2006-2008) he worked on projects in conflict-affected regions of Colombia, conflict risk assessment in Sao Tome and Principe, and post-conflict research in Liberia. He was part of an international team of researchers that developed the Red Flags Initiative. He is also an award-winning journalist and has reported out of Asia, based in India, Singapore, and Hong Kong till the 1990s. He is the author of four works of non-fiction, and has co-edited a volume of writings about prison. He has been anthologised, written academic papers on human rights, and chaired PEN International's Writers-in-Prison Committee for six years, ending in 2021. He is now a member of PEN International's board. Salil graduated with a Masters in Business Administration degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in the US, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in India. He is based in New York.
Contributions
Bhopal 40 years on: lessons for corporate accountability
Salil Tripathi | 3 December 2024
What guards the guardians: lessons from the Chiquita case
Salil Tripathi | 13 August 2024
Human rights is essential teaching in every business school
Salil Tripathi | 25 July 2023
Le respect des droits de l’homme en temps de pandémie Covid-19
Salil Tripathi | 16 April 2020
Panel Discussion on the State of Business and Human Rights
Salil Tripathi | 30 November 2019
Laya Vasudevan on the Progress of Transgender Rights in India
Salil Tripathi | 19 March 2018
