Bengaluru: Ramya Jawahar Kudekallu, 32 appointed as a Chairperson of New York City Bar’s International Human Rights Committee. She was an advocate in Bengaluru Court. She is all set to take up big challenges in terms of addressing community hardships and getting “impact” in the system to ensure changes.

Speaking to the media persons, she said that I was nominated for the Committee after the background checks and I am extremely happy for being confirmed with an esteemed honorary title. The Committee did not have a woman of colour as the Chairperson all these days. They have also picked a non-white young woman. I am ready to take risks involved with this responsibility. Fighting for human rights is always challenging, whether it is in India or anywhere. New York is comparatively safer.

Her role includes leading the committee’s work, continuing the ongoing work, seeing how it can intervene with the issues of the oppressed, and how to spotlight legal analysis. She studied her school education in Ooty and Dubai and law from Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian Law College in Bengaluru. She did her masters in International Law and Human Rights at Fordham University, New York. She currently teaches at Cardozo Law School, New York.

Her mother, Dr Amitha Malaki, is a gynaecologist in Kodagu. “My father was a senior advocate from Sullia. I lost him to Covid-19 at the same time when the new assignment came through,” she said. Her appointment was made on September 18, 2021. Her association with the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) has been extremely influential. “Here I learned what ‘representation’ is. The perspective shift of placing ‘community hardship’ happened here, she said.

Presently refugees are landing in the US from Afghanistan. We need to account for their situation and contextualize their difficulties. There is resettling process and funding process is involved, she adds. Kudekallu also notes that the situation of the common man in India and the US is similar as far as inequality is concerned, though context may appear to be different.