Beyond Victims #2026 - Sri Lanka Edition
- CGAP South Asia
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
Our first edition of Beyond Victims 2026 Series brings you stories of inspiring women political leaders from Sri Lanka.
Dive in to read stories of Hemali Weerasekara, Hasara Liyanage, Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Thalatha Atukorale and Nilanthi Kottahachchi.
Hemali Weerasekara
(Deputy Chairperson of Committees & Politician)
Hemali made national history by becoming the first woman appointed as the Deputy Chairperson of Committees. In parliament, Weerasekara leverages her leadership position to enforce legislative ethics, accountability, and floor compliance. She also drives institutional oversight by steering critical investigative panels, including a special three-member parliamentary inquiry committee. Through these mechanisms, she directly executes parliamentary disciplinary protocols and enforces strict codes of conduct on the floor of the House.
- Multiple Sources
Thalatha Atukorale
(Attorney at law and former Minister for Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms of Sri Lanka)
She made national history as the first woman to be appointed as the Minister of Justice, where she concurrently managed the Ministry of Prison Reforms to oversee state legal administration and institutional rehabilitative operations. She also took a highly publicised independent stance by resigning her parliamentary seat and her position as the chairwoman of a major political women's wing to directly protest internal party decisions regarding the acceptance of unvetted political actors.
- Multiple Sources
Samanmalee Gunasinghe
(Member of Parliament & Women's Rights Activist)
Gunasinghe anchors critical legislative oversight on domestic financial regulations, social safety nets, and urban public welfare. She serves on the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Economic Development and International Relations, where she actively drives structural revisions to the Microfinance and Credit Regulatory Authority Bill to protect vulnerable borrowers and institutionalize women's representation on its board. Domestically, she leverages parliamentary debates to challenge existing macro-economic frameworks, shifting national policy focus toward addressing "hidden poverty" and systemic resource allocation within Sri Lanka's highly commercialized urban centers.
- Multiple Sources
Nilanthi Kottahachchi
(Member of Parliament)
In parliament, Kottahachchi manages a dual track of institutional accountability and rights-based legal advocacy. She initiated formal administrative action against public infrastructure delays and ecological hazards by steering a joint task force with the Ministry of Fisheries to accelerate harbor renovations across Panadura, Beruwala, and Kalutara while mandating strict local enforcement to eliminate harbor-based public health bottlenecks. As the Chairperson of the COPE Subcommittee III.4 on Institutional Plans, she systematically drives fiscal accountability across state entities by reviewing organizational frameworks and auditing structural resource management metrics. She also introduced formal legislative petitions and targeted alternative livelihood programs to empower marginalized women within coastal and agrarian communities.
- Multiple Sources
Hasara Liyanage
(Member of Parliament)
In parliament, Liyanage manages a dual track of domestic accountability and regional policy advocacy. Domestically, she initiated formal administrative action against high-level public resource mismanagement by logging an evidence-backed fraud complaint with the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry, targeting systemic procurement irregularities and substandard fuel supplies within the Ministry of Power. Transnationally, she represented the parliament at the UNESCO South Asian summit, where she led regional legislative efforts to push back against global tech monopolies and build unified, rights-based toolkits to curb coordinated disinformation across South Asian digital platforms.
- Multiple Sources
Project Manager: Riya Hira
Contributors: Riya Hira & Saloni Maharana
Edited by: Akhil Neelam
Design: Riya Hira
Template: Vida Seraphina (https://vidaseraphina.dk/)
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This year’s Beyond Victims Series will span across six editions, covering stories of inspiring women’s political leadership across South Asia. Join our mailing list to get all of them in your inbox.
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Resources & References for this Edition:
Island.lk Gampaha District MP Hemali Weerasekera elected Deputy Chairperson of Committees - Island.lk 'Her nomination was proposed by Minister Sunil Handunnetti, and was seconded by Member of Parliament Samanmalee Gunasinghe. The new Deputy Chairperson of ...'
https://www.hirunews.lk/en/388124/2024-general-election-preferential-vote-results-for-galle-district
https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Christmas-decorations-and-poverty-in-Colombo-EDITORIAL/172-297521
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