Maha Marakkalage Ruvini Perera
2023 Asia Foundation Development Fellow
Ruvini is a human rights lawyer, activist, and development practitioner passionate about social justice, human rights, women empowerment, strengthening democracy, reconciliation, and transitional justice in Sri Lanka. She is an alumna of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, and holds a master’s degree in Law from the Pennsylvania State University, where she was the recipient of the International Peace Scholarship awarded by the Philanthropic Education Organization USA. She serves as a core team member and a policy committee member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Centenary Movement and volunteers her time on advocacy, law reform, and training aspiring youth political leaders of Sri Lanka. She has a special interest in the ethnoreligious conflicts in her country and works to build a conducive environment addressing the root causes of the ethnoreligious conflict, build empathy among different communities, and advocate for the necessary reforms to establish lasting peace.