ISHR congratulates Ishita Rahul Petkar on her new job with the International Accountability Project. Rahul Petkar is a 2017 graduate of the Human Rights Studies M.A. program with a focus on the nexus between Indigenous rights and corporate responsibility. Her thesis used a literary analysis to interrogate the differing interpretations of the Indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent held by various private sector, financial, and Indigenous stakeholders.
ISHR also congratulates Rahul Petkar on her selection as a finalist for the 2017 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Master’s SynThesis Competition.
While at Columbia, Rahul Petkar served as Editor for the blog RightsViews, conducted research on human rights education for ISHR, and acted as the Indigenous Studies Seminar Rapporteur. Rahul Petkar also had the opportunity to intern at Human Rights Watch where she focused on advocacy with international financial institutions, and at Inclusive Development International where she mapped the investment chains of companies complicit in land grabs, and contributed research to their recent report on the International Finance Corporation’s funding of financial intermediaries.
Rahul Petkar currently works as the Policy and Community Engagement Coordinator for the International Accountability Project (IAP). In her role, Rahul Petkar works to shift the approach of the development paradigm towards community-led development by reinforcing community campaigns against unwanted projects, and supporting communities in their own visions and designs for positive development
