Asia 21 Young Leader Bhavani Fonseka Offered a Mason Fellowship by Harvard
Bhavani Fonseka (Asia 21 Fellow, 2010) was recently offered a Mason Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School for 2013-14, and will be heading to Cambridge, Massachusetts this summer. Bhavani is a Senior Researcher with the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think tank in Sri Lanka, conducting research, documentation, national and international advocacy and litigation. She is a human rights lawyer and activist, with a focus on assisting victims and affected populations in various parts of Sri Lanka. She has worked on a range of issues including the rights of the displaced, women, children, minorities, HIV/AIDS, land and legal issues. She has also been involved in and supported several key fundamental rights cases protecting the rights of victims and affected populations in recent times in Sri Lanka. Bhavani has a LLB (Hons, UK) and LLM (in international human rights law, USA). In 2007, she was awarded ‘The Young Outstanding Persons’ (TOYP) in the category of human rights by the Junior Chamber International and HSBC Bank.