Dr. Deepika Udagama, the Head of Department of Law Faculty of University of Peradeniya has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).
Lionel Fernando, Saliya Peiris, Gazali Hussain and Ambika Satkunanathan have been appointed as Commissioners.
New members were appointed to the Bribery Commission and Public Services Commission yesterday.
Under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Constitutional Council is the responsible body to appoint members to the independent commissions such as bribery commission and election commission.
The independent commissions to be established are the Elections, Public Services, Police, Auditing, Human Rights, Finance, Demarcation of Boundaries, Bribery or Corruption, and National Procurement.
CDN
Deepika Udagama had her early legal education in Sri Lanka and went on to the University California at Berkeley for graduate studies where she earned both Masters and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees in international human rights law. On her return to Sri Lanka she played a pioneering role in introducing human rights law into legal education in Sri Lanka. She was the Founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (1989- 2007) through which human rights education was promoted both at university and school levels. She taught and served as Head of Department of Law (2002-2008) at the University of Colombo before moving to the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, Sri Lanka. She currently serves as Head of the Department of Law at Peradeniya University.
