Sunila Abeysekara, died in hospital in Colombo

Media Release

Sri Lanka's UN Human Rights Award winner Sunila Abeysekara, died in hospital in Colombo this afternoon ( 9th Sept ) after a long battle with cancer. A founder of Sri Lanka's Feminist movement, Abeysekara, 61 years, was a leading Socialist, activist for minority rights, women's, worker's and peasant rights. In recent years, she was prominent on Sri lankan human rights issues at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the 1980's as Sri Lanka's internal conflict worsened, she helped found the INFORM human rights group which built a reputation for informing the world on the Sri Lankan crisis. She also helped found the Women and Media Collective, and Mothers and Daughters of Sri Lanka. Abeysekara became a leading activist in the global Feminist, women's, gay and lesbian rights movement.