Priscilla Hayner has received degrees from Earlham College

Earlham College

Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...

 and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

.

She is best known for her expertise on truth commissions and transitional justice

Transitional justice

Transitional justice generally refers to a range of approaches that states may use to address past human rights violations and includes both judicial and non-judicial approaches. They include series of actions or policies and their resulting institutions, which may be enacted at a point of...

, and has focused her work on official truth-seeking measures in political transitions around the world.

Hayner has worked as a consultant at the Ford Foundation and the Office of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also served as a program officer for the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, where she focused on international human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and global security.

In 2001, she co-founded the International Center for Transitional Justice

International Center for Transitional Justice

The International Center for Transitional Justice was founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for mass atrocity and human rights abuse through transitional justice mechanisms.-Mission statement:...

 (ICTJ), an international human rights NGO. She directed this organization’s work on Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, and a number of other countries.

Hayner has written widely on the subject of truth-seeking

Truth-seeking

Truth-seeking processes allow societies to examine and come to grips with past crimes and atrocities and prevent their future repetition. Truth-seeking often occurs in societies emerging from a period of prolonged conflict or authoritarian rule...

. In 2001 she published the book Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity, examining the work of over 20 truth commissions worldwide.

She has further shared her expertise on multiple broadcasts, including BBC Northern Ireland Radio, BBC World Service, NPR, SABC in South Africa, and STAR Radio and UNMIL Radio in Liberia.