H.E. Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka presented his credentials as Permanent Representative of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland on 6 June 2007. He is also the Consul General of Sri Lanka in Switzerland.  

Dr. Jayatilleka was appointed Chairman of the Governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in June 2007.  He was elected a Vice President of the Human Rights Council (HRC) soon after the June 2007 sessions of the HRC. In August 2007, Dr. Jayatilleka was invited to serve on the jury committee of Time for Peace Film and Music Awards for 2007-2008.

In January 2008, he was elected by unanimous acclamation the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. In late January 2008, he was also appointed the Coordinator for the “Comprehensive Programme of Disarmament” of the Conference on Disarmament (CD). In his capacity as Vice President of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Dr. Jayatilleka presided at the 18^th plenary meeting of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) during the 8^th Session of the HRC in June 2008. In the same month, the Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Havana awarded a diploma to Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka in appreciation of his “long-standing friendship and support” to Cuba. In August 2008, in view of the 2009 Durban Review Conference, the Asian Group of the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Dr. Jayatilleka as the facilitator to negotiate an outcome document of the Asian Region. Following the successful facilitation of this regional outcome document, Ambassador Jayatilleka was unanimously nominated by the Asian Group, in October 2008, to represent the Asian Region as Facilitator for negotiations of the Durban Review Conference to be held in April 2009.

In March this year, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka was unanimously chosen as the Coordinator of the Asian Group of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka who is a well known political analyst is Senior Lecturer in political science at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is also a member of the Council of Management of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) and the editorial board of its journal, and is a regular commentator in the media. He served as Minister of Planning & Youth Affairs in the North-East Provincial Council in 1988-89.  Ambassador Jayatilleka who holds a First Class Honours degree in Political Science from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, obtained his PhD from the Department of Politics and Public Policy, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia and his MPhil from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

He was also a Fulbright Scholar in 1982-83.  He was educated at St. Josephs College Colombo, Aquinas University College Colombo, Peradeniya University, at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. 

Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka who has a distinguished academic record is also author of numerous publications including Sri Lanka: The Travails of a Democracy: Unfinished War, Protracted Crisis (1995).  His most recent publication is titled Fidel's Ethics of Violence: The Moral Dimension of the Political Thought of Fidel Castro published in November 2007 by Pluto Press (London) and the University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbour).  

Ambassador Jayatilleka is the son of the late Mervyn and Lakshmi de Silva.  He was born in 1956 and is married to Sanja de Silva, an accountant and chartered secretary.