Ranitha Gnanarajah

Ranitha Gnanarajah is an Attorney at Law and the Head of the Legal Department at the Center for Human Rights and Development. She commenced her Legal career as an Attorney at Law at the Home for Human Rights (HHR) in 2006. Over the years, she has forged partnerships with national women activist groups to advocate violence against women (VAW), particularly conflict induced sexual violence. Her work involves conducting research on overlooked areas such as language barriers in police stations, harassment of women victims in the absence of women and children’s Desks in local police stations and evaluating the effectiveness of support services. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, she was honoured with the “International Women of Courage” award by the U.S. State Department in 2021.