Mr de Silva PC, the Chairman of the Commission is a former Attorney General and Solicitor General of Sri Lanka. He has been a member of the Sri Lanka delegation to many international bodies including the Afro-Asian Legal Consultative Committee; UN Human Rights Council; UN Human Rights Committee; UN Convention against Torture Committee; and the UN Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Mr Chandirapal Chanmugam

Mr Chanmugam is former Secretary to the Treasury and former member of the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka. Mr Chanmugam has held many positions of distinction in Sri Lanka and abroad. He was the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka. He has held advisory positions in both the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

Professor Karunaratne Hangawatte

Professor Hangawatte is a Professor of criminal justice in the United States. He was one of the experts who worked on the United Nations declaration on the victims of crime and abuse of power and violation of human rights. Professor Hangawatte has previously been an Assistant Secretary of Justice in Sri Lanka.

Professor Mohamed Thahir Mohamed Jiffry

Professor Jiffry, is a well-respected academic in Sri Lanka. He has been active in the building of inter-ethnic understanding and has been engaged in the advance of education in Sri Lanka to serve the needs of all ethnic communities.

Mr Maxwell Paranagama

Mr Maxwell Paranagama is a former High Court Judge. He had a distinguished career in the legal profession before elevation to the bench of the High Court.

Mr HMGS Palihakkara

Mr Palihakkara was former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. He has served on the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. He retired as the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka in December 2006 after 38 years of civil and diplomatic service. Since the 1990s, he has served on a number of assignments to the United Nations in Geneva and New York. Mr Palihakkara served as Acting Director-General and Deputy Director-General of Sri Lanka’s Peace Secretariat (SCOPP), which serviced the Norwegian-facilitated peace talks (2002) and subsequent ceasefire (2003). Among other positions, he was Director-General of Multilateral Affairs at Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, covering work related to preventative diplomacy, peace-building, arms control and non-proliferation.

Dr Amrith Rohan Perera PC

Dr Perera has over thirty years experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was until recently the Department’s Legal Adviser. He also served as a member of the group of legal advisors to the All Party Representatives Committee on Constitutional Reform to improve ethnic unity in Sri Lanka. Dr. Perera was elected to the International Law Commission by the UN General Assembly in New York securing one of the seven seats allocated to the Asian region. He has also been appointed Chairman of the ad-hoc UN Committee on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism.

Mrs Mano Ramanathan

Mrs Ramanathan, had a long and distinguished career in the legal profession. She has been active in the reform of law to strengthen the rights of women and children, and has been associated with work involving women’s empowerment.