Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed Harini Amarasuriya as the country's new Prime Minister on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. Amarasuriya will serve as part of a four-member cabinet under the President's leadership, tasked with shaping policy until the parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 14, 2024. Below, we provide an overview of Harini Amarasuriya and share key details about her background.
Harini Amarasuriya is a scholar, social activist, and former parliamentarian from the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, the same party as President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Born in March 1970 in Galle, a coastal town in southwestern Sri Lanka, she is the youngest of three siblings. Her father worked as a tea estate planter before the estate was nationalised by the government. The family eventually moved to Colombo, where Amarasuriya pursued her education and career.
Harini Amarasuriya graduated from Hindu College, University of Delhi, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Sociology between 1991 and 1994. She later pursued a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology in Australia. After completing her studies, Amarasuriya returned to Sri Lanka and initially worked in the international humanitarian and development sector. Following a break from this career path, she took on a new role, as reported by Indian Express.
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Harini Amarasuriya's first job was as a social health officer at a community mental health centre, where she worked closely with institutionalised women. Reflecting on this experience, Amarasuriya shared in a 2020 interview with Women for Politics that it transformed her worldview. "That experience changed the way I saw the world and opened my eyes to what was really going on in places that are not always visible to us," she said.
Before fully stepping into politics in 2021, Harini Amarasuriya, now 54, served as the Head of the Humanities and Social Sciences department at the Open University of Sri Lanka.
As Sri Lanka's newly appointed Prime Minister, Harini Amarasuriya has been entrusted with several critical portfolios that will shape her policy priorities, according to Jagran Josh:
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As a human rights advocate and former university lecturer, Amarasuriya is expected to champion progressive issues like gender equality, minority rights, and environmental protection. Her appointment signifies a commitment to addressing Sri Lanka’s pressing socio-economic challenges through a combination of legal reforms, public investments, and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
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