PIR Center Advisory Board Member (2022). Daily FT Columnist. In 2007–2009, served as the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. During this time, he also held the positions of the Chairman of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization and the Vice-President of the UN Human Rights Council. In 2009, coordinated the agenda item General and Complete Nuclear Disarmament at the UN Conference on Disarmament and served as the coordinator of the Asian Group at the UN Conference on Trade and Development. In 2011–2013, he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to France, accredited concurrently in Spain and Portugal, as well as the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to UNESCO in Paris. Dayan Jayatilleka also chaired the Intergovernmental Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action adopted at the UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. In 2018–2020, he served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation.
