Inauguration - Master of Human Rights and Democratization (Local Programme) 2023/24

The Master of Human Rights and Democratisation (MHRD) Program for the academic year 2023/2024 was inaugurated on September 20, 2023, on Zoom Video Conferencing Platform. The event began with a welcome address from Mr M A M Hakeem, Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Followed by Professor (Chair) Wasantha Seneviratne, the Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights; Professor (Dr.) Nishantha Sampath Punchihewa, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Senior Professor (Chair) H.D Karunaratne, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo and was concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Academic Coordinator of MHRD Programme. This year, 30 students enrolled to follow the programme.

The local Master’s degree programme (MHRD) was introduced in 2015 parallel to the Asia Pacific programme to cater to the local student community who prefer to exhance their knowledge on human rights and democracy in Sri Lanka. It is a multidisciplinary programme of study catering to mid-career professionals from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. The degree offers students a unique opportunity to engage first-hand with regional and international human rights as well as democratisation issues and to interact with internationally acclaimed academics, practitioners and experts. The programme is linked to the APMA Programme, currently coordinated by the University of Mahidol in Thailand, and hence, students have the opportunity to interact with a group of international students from the Asia Pacific Region in the Second Semester.