Professor Kapila is an Indian born and British national. He was a whistle blower during the early stages of the Darfur Genocide. While stationed in Sudan, he was outspoken in his condemnation of the human rights abuses being committed in the western region of Darfur. His activism began after a Darfuri woman came to his office to tell him how she, her daughter and 200 other women in the village of Tawilla had been gang-raped and mostly murdered by government soldiers and paramilitaries.
Professor Kapila has extensive experience in the policy and practice of international development, humanitarian affairs, human rights and diplomacy, with particular expertise in tackling crimes against humanity, disaster and conflict management, and in global public health. His memoir “Against a Tide of Evil”, published in 2013, was nominated for the Best Nonfiction Book of that year. He is also Professor of Global Health and Humanitarian Affairs at the University of Manchester.
Professor Kaplia is also a Special Representative of the Aegis Trust for the prevention of crimes against humanity, and Chair of the Minority Rights Group International. While he was Under Secretary General at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, he served the United Nations in different roles as Special Adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and then Special Adviser at the UN Mission in Afghanistan.