COLOMBO :
Sri Lanka’s candidate Professor Rangita De Silva De Alwis was re-elected to the UN
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
for a second consecutive term, 2027-2030, at the elections conducted during the 24th Meeting
of the State Parties to the CEDAW Convention at the United Nations in New York on 26
June .
State Parties to the Convention elected 12 members out of 20 candidates to the Committee of
the Convention. Sri Lanka secured the highest number of votes: 144 votes of 187 member
states that participated in the elections. Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Canada, Cuba,
Egypt, Estonia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Spain and Uganda were the other elected
members to the Committee. Professor Rangita De Silva De Alwis is the first Sri Lankan
candidate to be elected for a second term of the CEDAW.
Sri Lanka became a State Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women in 1981. CEDAW is an independent body of 23 experts on
women’s rights from around the globe that monitor implementation of the Convention.
Professor Rangita De Silva De Alwis is a current member of the CEDAW following her
election as one of the twelve candidates for the term, 2023-2026. Professor De Silva De Alwis
serves as the Associate Dean of International Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania Law
School and the Academic Director of the Global Institute for Human Rights, in the USA. She
earned her Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Colombo and her LL.M and Ph D
from Harvard Law School. She is an expert on international women’s human rights and
matters coming under the purview of the CEDAW, with over 30 years of experience
internationally, advocating for equal representation and rights of women.
Three Sri Lankan experts have served in the CEDAW since its inception. Professor Savitri
Goonesekere served in the CEDAW committee from 1999-2002, and Ms. Vinitha Jayasinghe
from 1982-1986. Professor Rangita De Silva De Alwis’s re-election is a further recognition of
her expertise and competence, and reflects Sri Lanka’s strong commitment to the
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, and promoting and protecting women’s rights.
