Shetty has been a global leader in the fight for human rights for decades. Since 2018, he has been a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, leading a seven-country study on resistance to elected authoritarian leaders. He is also affiliated with Harvard’s Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. Shetty is studying youth movements in India, the role progressive values play in helping them counter polarization, and India’s soft power on the world stage more broadly.
Previously, he served as secretary general of Amnesty International (2010–2018), the world’s largest human rights organization with more than 10 million members worldwide. In that role, he helped Amnesty broaden its footprint and convert the organization into a truly global campaigning force for rights and justice. He served as director of the UN’s Millennium Campaign from 2003–2010, helping to develop political momentum toward the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, and was chief executive of ActionAid International after leading ActionAid Kenya and ActionAid India.