News
Jaffna International Law Conference (JILC) 2025 focuses on law as a tool for change
View(s):The Jaffna International Law Conference 2025, titled ‘Law as Gentle Civiliser of Change’ was held on January 25 and 26 at the Hoover Auditorium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, in collaboration with the renowned Surana and Surana International Law Firms of India.
Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena
Organised under the theme of “Acting, Transitioning, and Persisting in the Context of Law as a Tool for Change”, Justice of the Supreme Court Preethi Padmana Surasena as Chief Guest and Ms Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Commissioner, Right to Information Commission as the Guest of Honour, addressed the audience on the opening day of the sessions. Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva as the Chief Guest and President’s Counsel Ms Chamantha Unamboowe as the Guest of Honour spoke on the second day.
Organised by the Law Department of the University of Jaffna, the conference was presided over by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, Professor S. Srisatkunarajah with the co-chairs being the Head of the Law Department of the University of Jaffna, Ms Kosaali Madan and Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Jaffna, Professor C. Raghuram.
Justice Preethi Padmana Surasena
Assistant Professor Dian Shah of the National University of Singapore (governance transition), Mr Sunil Abeyratne, Attorney-at-Law (e-transition), Mr JP Sengh, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Professor N Selvakkumaran, former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo (pedagogical transformations) and Ms Shyamala Gomez, activist (cultural transformations) delivered keynote addresses on both days. Technical papers by students of the Law Department were published in a manual of conference proceedings edited by senior lecturers Sujatha Samaradiwakara and Sanjayan Rajasingham.
President’s Counsel Chamantha Unamboowe
Two special discussions were also held, the first on ‘the People’s Constitution and its Future’ with panellists featuring former Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, V.T. Thamilmaran, Dr Jayantha de Almeida Gunaratne, President’s Counsel and Dr Kalana Senaratne, Head of the Law Department, University of Peradeniya as speakers, with Senior Researcher of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Bhavani Fonseka as moderator. The second panel discussion on ‘Transformations; Challenges and Prospects’ had as its speakers, Professor VT Thamilmaran, Professor Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri of the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo, Sanduni Wickremesinghe, Attorney-at-Law and Dr M Sarvananthan.
Justice Janak de Silva
The conference was attended by the Governor of the Northern Province, Mr N Vedanayagam, former parliamentarian M Sumanthiran, Judges of the Northern Province, lawyers, lecturers, students and senior law academics of the Universities of Jaffna, Colombo and Peradeniya.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!