Dayan Jayatilleka (Sinhala: දයාන් ජයතිලක; born 1956) is a leftist Sri Lankan academic, diplomat, writer and politician.

Jayatilleka was born in 1956.^[1] He is the son of Mervyn de Silva and Lakshmi Sylvia Fernando.^[1] He was named after the Israeli general Moshe Dayan.^[2][3] Jayatilleka was educated at St. Joseph's College, Colombo.^[1] After school he studied at Aquinas University College, Colombo before joining the University of Sri Lanka Peradeniya campus, graduating from its successor, the University of Peradeniya, with a first class honours B.A. degree in political science.^[1] He was Fulbright Scholar at the Binghamton University between 1982 and 1983, studying for a doctorate in political sociology.^[1]

Jayatilleka had become involved in radical politics at a young age and whilst studying Advanced Level at Aquinas he was "picked up" by the Intelligence Services Division and questioned at their headquarters in Longdon Place, Colombo.^[4] At Peradeniya he was a member of two radical groups - the Lanka Samaja Adhyayana Kavaya (Lanka Social Studies Circle) and Samaja Adhyayana Kavaya.^[4] Whilst at Binghamton he was involved with solidarity movements in support of El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.^[5] He returned to Sri Lanka in 1982 to observe the presidential election but, having gotten involved in militant Sri Lankan politics, never returned to Binghamton and dropped out.^[5][6]

Jayatilleka has been married three times.^[5] He first married a Burgher woman called Margreet and then Pulsara Liyanage.^[5] He is currently married to accountant Sanja de Silva.^[1]

Jayatilleka was a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo from 1982 to 1984. After getting involved in radical politics he and others founded the Vikalpa Kandayama (Alternative Group).^[4][5] Jayatilleka had been a supporter of Tamil militancy for some time and had argued that their actions were a war of national liberation, not terrorism.^[7] Vikalpa Kandayama formed a relationship with the Tamil militant Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).^[5] Vikalpa Kandayama was banned in 1986 and Jayatilleka was indicted, in absentia, by the Colombo High Court on 14 counts including conspiracy to overthrow the state through violence.^[8] In the meantime, Jayatilleka had gone into hiding, spending two years underground in Sri Lanka and one year in India.^[2][5][9] He was then pardoned by President J. R. Jayewardene.^[6]

Jayatilleka joined the Sri Lanka People's Party after its leader Vijaya Kumaratunga was assassinated and became a member of the party's central committee.^[5][9] Jayatilleka was Minister of Planning and Youth Affairs for the North Eastern Province between 1988 and 1989 but resigned because of policy differences.^{[1][9][10][11]} Jayatilleka then abandoned his radical beliefs and became a prominent supporter of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, serving as his advisor from 1989 to 1993.^[6][8][9] He was Director of Conflict Studies at the Institute of Policy Studies (1990–94) and executive director of the Premadasa Centre (1994-2000).^[8][9] He was also editor of Lanka Guardian, the journal founded by his father, from 1996 to 1998.^[6][8][9]

Jayatilleka received a M.Phil. degree from the University of Colombo in October 2002.^[1] He was visiting senior fellow and adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University between 2005 and 2006.^[12] He was later appointed senior lecturer at the University of Colombo.^[1][11][12] He was a member of the Council of Management of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS).^[1][11] He received a PhD degree from the Griffith University in 2007 after writing a thesis titled The Moral Sierra Maestra: The Moral-Ethical Dimension of the Political Thought of Fidel Castro.^[1][13]

Jayatilleka was Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva between June 2007 and October 2009.^[12][14] During his tenure he was chairman of the International Labour Organization's governing body (2007–08); vice president of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) (2007–08); and co-ordinator of the Asian group on United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2009).^[1][12][15] Jayatilleka is credited with shielding Sri Lanka from censure by the UNHRC for alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009.^[16][17] Jayatilleka had been appointed for a two-year term but when his contract expired in June 2009 President Mahinda Rajapaksa extended his contract until June 2010.^[17] However, on 17 July 2009 the Foreign Ministry told him by fax to "relinquish [his] duties and return to Colombo on 20 August".^[16] According to Jayatilleka no reason was given for his sacking but it was suggested that Sinhalese nationalists were unhappy with support for the implementation of the 13th Amendment.^[16][17]

Jayatilleka was visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) in 2010.^[12] He was honorary senior fellow at ISAS between 2011 and 2013.^[12] He was Ambassador to France, also accredited to Portugal and Spain, and Sri Lanka’s permanent delegate to UNESCO from January 2011 to January 2013.^[12][18]

Jayatilleka has written articles and columns for several publications including the Daily Mirror, Daily News, The Island, Lakbima, Sunday Island, Sunday Observer and Weekend Express.^[19]

• Sri Lanka: The Travails of a Democracy: Unfinished War, Protracted Crisis (Vikas Publications, 1995)^[1][9][26]
• Fidel’s Ethics of Violence: The Moral Dimension of the Political Thought of Fidel Castro (Pluto Press and University of Michigan Press, 2007)^[1][26][27]
• Long War, Cold Peace: Conflict and Crisis in Sri Lanka (Vijitha Yapa, 2013)^[26][28][29]

• List of Sri Lankan non-career diplomats