Webinar on “Challenges Faced by Urban Vulnerable Communities During COVID-19

In commemoration of the International Human Rights Day 2020, Centre for the Study of Human Rights (CSHR), Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka has organized a webinar on the topic of “Challenges Faced by Urban Vulnerable Communities During COVID-19” on 17^th December 2020 at 2.00 pm onwards.

Centre for the Study of Human Rights, University of Colombo is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Webinar on “Challenges Faced by Urban Vulnerable Communities During COVID-19”

Time: Dec 17, 2020 02:00 PM India

Join Zoom Meeting
https://learn.zoom.us/j/68504631306?pwd=OWJWbURXblIxbDIwRXhId2ovaUgwdz09

Meeting ID: 685 0463 1306
Passcode: Webinar@17  

Let’s recover better from this difficult time of COVID 19 and Stand up for Human Rights.

Speaker Profiles

Professor Wasantha Seneviratne, Head, Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo

Professor Wasantha Seneviratne is the Head of the Department of Public and International Law, Professor in the Department of Public and International Law in the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has been teaching, researching and publishing in International Law, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law for about 25 years. Currently, she teaches Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in many law teaching institutions in Sri Lanka. She has authored and published book chapters, a number of research articles in local and international journals and presented several research papers at a number of international and local research conferences. Theories of Public International Law, humanitarian interventions and use of force, concept of responsibility to protect and its application in current situations, continued relevance of humanitarian law in post conflict situations, transitional justice and human rights application in armed conflicts are some of the areas of her research. Currently, she serves as the editor in chief of Sri Lanka Journal of International Law published by University of Colombo.  She has done her postgraduate research studies in law in International Law with special reference to ‘Conflict related displacement and the role of international organizations’. Wasantha Seneviratne is the Director of the Centre or the Study of Human Rights (CSHR), a research institute affiliated to University of Colombo. She is the coordinator of Masters in Human Rights programmes (MHR) in the Faculty of Graduate Studies in University of Colombo. She engages in dissemination of knowledge in the community and in particular to members of the armed forces and the Police. She is a member of the National Steering Committee of Police Reforms.

Dr. M. T. M. Mahees, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo. President/Arts Council of University of Colombo.

Dr. M. T. M Mahees is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer Gr 1 in Sociology, University of Colombo. He earned his B.A. Hons in Sociology from University of Peradeniya (1999), M.A. Research Degree in Environmental Sociology from University of Colombo (2007), PhD in Water Resource Management from Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya in affiliation with Crossing Boundaries project of Netherlands (2011). Postgraduate Diploma in Counseling (2018) from Faculty of Education university of Colombo.

Dr. Mahees was the former Coordinator for Master of Arts in Sociology and Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Sociology. He is the president of Art Council of University of Colombo. He was the former Senior Student Counselor for University of Colombo and Academic Affaires Board Member of National Institute of Education

His key research interest areas are environmental sociology, water resources management, solid waste disposal, disaster politics, human wildlife conflicts, volunteerism, and students counseling.

Dr. Gehan Gunatilleke, Visiting Fellow, Harvard Law School, USA

Gehan Gunatilleke is a researcher focusing on state authority to restrict the freedom of religion or belief, and the freedom of expression under international human rights law. He is also a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School where he is pursuing a book project on religious violence and constitutionalism in Sri Lanka.

Gehan has a DPhil in Law, and an MSt in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford. He is a former Commonwealth Scholar, and a recipient of the Mr. and Mrs. Kenny Lam Scholarship in Law at St Catherine’s College. Gehan also has an LL.M from Harvard Law School, where he was a Fulbright Scholar and a Dean’s Scholar in International Human Rights.

Gehan is a former advisor to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry (2015-2018), where he specialised in international treaty compliance, and negotiation. He has served on legislative drafting committees that have drafted key human rights laws in Sri Lanka including the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act. His advocacy work in Sri Lanka has focused primarily on combating ethno-religious violence and state regulation of mainstream and social media. He is also a founding partner at LexAG, a law firm specialising in Sri Lankan civil and public law.

Gehan has taught post-graduate courses on human rights, democratisation and development offered by the University of Colombo, University of Sydney and Open University of Sri Lanka. He is currently a graduate tutor in human rights law at St. Catherine’s College. He has authored several publications, including ‘The Chronic and the Entrenched: Ethno-religious Violence in Sri Lanka’ (2018), and ‘Confronting the Complexity of Loss: Perspectives on Truth, Memory and Justice in Sri Lanka’ (2015).