Rangita De Silva-De Alwis

Rangita De Silva-De Alwis
  • Lecturer

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    600 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    3730 Walnut Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Links: https://www.law.upenn.edu/faculty/rdesilva

Overview

Rangita de Silva de Alwis is a globally recognized international women’s rights expert and a member of the treaty body to the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Women, Peace and Security Focal Point. At the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she is Associate Dean of International Affairs, she teaches International Women’s Rights; Women, Law, and Leadership; and the Policy Lab, including the Policy Lab on AI and Bias, and directs the Global Institute for Human Rights. She also leads the Advancing Inclusive Leadership (AIL) program. She taught Women, Peace and Security at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2022-2023) and Globalization and Human Rights at Wharton (2023-2024). She will be at the Oxford Bonovero Institute of human Rights in the Trinity Term 2024.

Continue Reading

Teaching

All Courses

  • LAW5470 - Bok Course

  • LAW5990 - Policy Lab

    Policy Lab

  • LAW9000 - Law Seminar

    Please consult the Course Finder.

  • LAW9990 - Independent Study Project

    Independent Study Project

  • LGST2240 - Human Rights and Globalization

    The 2000 UN Global Compact has confirmed the role of TNCs as central actors in the UN system of international human rights law, but whether their role should be voluntary or legally mandated remains in dispute. This course introduces students to how globalization has led to projects for expanding international human rights law to capture the operations of TNCs and why this development is opposed in many quarters. Competing perspectives on the pros and cons of imposing human rights responsibilities on TNCs and on the respective roles that businesses and governments should play will be examined. The Positions of various governments, businesses, international institutions, academics, and NGOs will be considered, and a number of illustrative case studies will be analyzed.

  • LGST5240 - Human Rights and Globalization

    The 2000 UN GLobal Compact has confirmed the role of TNCs as central actors in the UN system of international human rights law, but whether their role should be voluntary or legally mandated remains in dispute. This course introduces students to how globaliztion has led to projects for expanding international human rights law to capture the operations of TNCs and why this development is opposed in many quarters. Competing perspectives on the pros and cons of imposing human rights responsibilities on TNCs and on the respective roles that businesses and governments should play will be examined. The positions of various governments, businesses, international institutions, academics, and NGOs will be considered, and a number of illustrative case studies will be analyzed.

  • PSCI4999 - Honors Thesis

    This is the honors independent study portion of the PSCI honors program. Students may apply for the program in the spring of their junior year.

Knowledge at Wharton

Judgment Is the New Bottleneck

Wharton's Matthew Bidwell speaks with Ritcha Ranjan, senior vice president of product at Expedia Group, on why building effective AI systems means designing for human judgment.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 5/7/2026
When AI Transparency Backfires

New research shows that AI and machine learning models can be made to look fair and neutral in their interpretability outputs while continuing to produce biased real-world decisions.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 5/5/2026
Five Things to Know About Private Credit

As investor withdrawals and liquidity concerns rattle the $1.8 trillion market, Wharton’s Itay Goldstein explains how private credit works, why experts are uneasy, and what it could mean for your finances.…Read More

Knowledge @ Wharton - 5/5/2026