From the front lines of conflict to the highest fora of global diplomacy.

Founder and Executive Director, Pushkar M. Sharma

Pushkar M. Sharma is the Founder and Executive Director of Parallax Policy, a research and policy institute that advocates for centering democracy, human rights and the United Nations in order to bolster international peace and security.

Prior to founding Parallax Policy, Pushkar led a climate-informed analysis of the rights to water and sanitation as a Human Rights Officer for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva, Switzerland). Before that Pushkar served for three and a half years in a chief of staff function to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General at the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). At UNMIK he facilitated the design and implementation of the 2018 UN Kosovo Trustbuilding Forum in Ljubljana, Slovenia an innovative grassroots peacebuilding initiative amongst over 100 local and civil society actors in Kosovo.

From 2013 to 2015 Pushkar was the Gaza Director for the UN Access Coordination Unit in support of the mandates of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and UN Humanitarian Office (OCHA). Based in Gaza City, Pushkar led negotiations for the entry of humanitarian staff and equipment with both Israelis and Palestinians. During the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas, Pushkar led the safe evacuation of 1,500 civilians out of Gaza.

Pushkar has conducted rights-based analyses and worked on humanitarian relief initiatives in Colombia, Myanmar, and Iraq for multiple UN agencies (including UN Women, UNDP, and the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate World Food Programme). In 2012 he led a Columbia University-sponsored conflict resolution research trip to Pyongyang, North Korea. He has also worked as an Associate Consultant for the Bridgespan Group in Boston and in Delhi for Pratham, India's largest education organization.

Pushkar has presented in a wide variety of contexts including the City of Chicago's Health and Human Relations Committee (Chicago), the National Committee on North Korea's Annual Conference (New York), and while training NATO soldiers on UN civil-military coordination policies at the NATO Training Center (Motta di Livenza, Italy). His work has been published by Al-Jazeera, OpenDemocracy, The Chicago Sun-Times, the International Peace Institute (GlobalObservatory), the Quincy Institute (Responsible Statecraft) and InkStick Media.

Pushkar is a Carnegie New Leader in Ethics in International Affairs and was a New Leaders Council Fellow (Chicago). He holds a MPA in Human Rights from Columbia University in the City of New York and a BA in International Studies and Drama from Washington University in St. Louis.