Dr Chaminda Dissanayake

Sri Lanka Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Nepal
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan security forces maintain a pervasive surveillance and repression apparatus targeting Tamil political activists, former LTTE cadres and suspected associates, journalists investigating military abuses, and opposition figures, with enforced disappearances, torture in custody, and abduction by white van remaining persistent features of the security landscape. The Tamil minority in the north and east faces ongoing militarization of civilian areas, land confiscation by security forces, and restrictions on memorialization and political assembly, while Muslims have experienced communal violence, mosque attacks, and discriminatory policies including forced cremation of COVID victims. Women face domestic violence, sexual harassment, and wartime sexual violence that has never been addressed through accountability mechanisms, and female-headed households in the north are particularly vulnerable to economic marginalization and sexual exploitation. LGBT individuals face criminal penalties under colonial-era legislation, police harassment, and severe societal stigma, and the hill-country Tamil plantation community of Indian origin faces entrenched poverty, discrimination, and barriers to citizenship documentation.

Maldives: The Maldives maintains tight restrictions on political expression, with opposition leaders, journalists, and judicial figures facing prosecution, imprisonment, and exile, and political instability has produced cycles of repression targeting the democratic opposition. The constitution mandates Islam as the state religion and citizenship is restricted to Muslims, rendering religious dissent or conversion an act punishable by loss of citizenship and criminal prosecution, while extremist recruitment and radicalization pose additional security concerns. Women face domestic violence, sexual assault, and discrimination under personal status law, and child marriage persists despite legal reforms. LGBT individuals face criminal penalties under Sharia-based provisions and extreme societal hostility, and migrant workers — particularly from Bangladesh and India — are subjected to exploitation, debt bondage, and trafficking.

Nepal: Despite a progressive constitutional framework, Nepal's political environment remains unstable, with transitional justice for civil war-era violations remaining unresolved and human rights defenders, journalists, and political activists facing threats and violence from both state and non-state actors. Caste-based discrimination against Dalits persists in access to temples, water sources, land, and intermarriage, with caste-motivated violence often going unprosecuted. Women face endemic domestic violence, dowry-related abuse, witchcraft accusations, chhaupadi (menstrual exile), and trafficking for sexual exploitation, particularly affecting women and girls from marginalized ethnic groups. LGBT individuals, despite some legal recognition, face societal discrimination and violence, and ethnic minorities including Madheshi, Tharu, and Janajati communities face barriers to citizenship, political representation, and equal access to government services.

Experience

• Provided expert witness reports and testimony in over 70 asylum proceedings before UK immigration tribunals and US immigration courts, covering political persecution, ethnic discrimination, and gender-based claims from Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Nepal.
• Submitted expert evidence to the Upper Tribunal and the Board of Immigration Appeals on the treatment of Tamil political activists, journalists, and suspected LTTE affiliates in Sri Lanka, and on the situation of religious dissidents and political opposition in the Maldives.
• Authored country condition reports on the security landscape, transitional justice processes, and the treatment of minorities in the region for legal aid practitioners and international protection organisations.
• Served as Senior Lecturer in Conflict Studies and Human Rights at the University of Peradeniya, conducting field research on post-war reconciliation, militarization, and minority rights in Sri Lanka and the wider South Asian region.
• Collaborated with international non-governmental organisations to document enforced disappearances, torture in custody, and sexual violence by security forces in Sri Lanka, and to monitor democratic governance in the Maldives and Nepal. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Sinhala (Native)
• Tamil (Professional proficiency)
• English (Fluent)
• Dhivehi (Reading proficiency)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com