Sujeewa Lal Dahanayake inducted as 44th President of OPA

Attorney-at-Law 

Sujeewa Lal Dahanayake

Attorney-at-Law Sujeewa Lal Dahanayake was sworn in as 44th President of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) for the year 2024/2025, at its Annual General Meeting on 30 October 2024. 

The 50th anniversary celebrations of the OPA will take place in 2025, under his Presidency.

The OPA is the Apex body of 51 professional associations including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), The Institute of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) and many other leading professional associations in Sri Lanka. The OPA has over 60,000 members, drawn from 34 diverse disciplines.

Before being elected President, Dahanayake held several positions at the OPA as General Secretary, Vice President (two consecutive years), and Assistant Secretary. His involvement with the OPA stretches back over a decade, during which he served as Chairman in several committees, ensuring that the organisation was able to fulfil its mission in key areas such as, national security, law and order, national issues, career guidance and skills development, health and nutrition, construction industry, development policies and education. These committees helped to address some of the burning issues in the country, especially during the COVID pandemic and economic crisis.

He also chaired the 37th Annual Conference Committee, which was responsible for organising the Annual Conference in October 2024. This event, attended by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe as Chief Guest, was held at the Shangri-La Hotel and focused on the theme “Towards Sri Lanka’s Sustained Economic Growth”.

As a representative of the OPA, he has worked with the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on the Charter of Patient rights and Responsibilities, and also participated in discussions on the Anti-Corruption Bill with the Justice Minister. He has also been a TVEC steering committee member, where he contributed to the formulation of a five-year master plan for career guidance for the country. Furthermore, he was involved in discussions to include new professions in the proposed national platform together with other TVEC members, KOICA representatives and delegates from OPA member associations. Dahanayake has served as the Deputy Chairman/Acting Chairman/Director of the Tourist Board (Western Province) from 2016 to 2019. Presently, he is a Member of the Committee on Business and Human Rights of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

An Attorney-at-Law who practices in the areas of Civil and Commercial Laws, Dahanayake is a past student of Ananda College, Colombo, and has a Masters in Law (LL.M) degree in International Business and Commercial Law from the University of West London as well as a Masters in Human Rights from the University of Colombo. He is a visiting Lecturer, who lectures on the subjects of Criminal Law and Business Law. He has also served as Feature Editor and in several other Editorial Boards of leading newspapers in Sri Lanka.

As a Human Rights Lawyer, Dahanayake has represented Sri Lanka in several international fora on matters relating to Human Rights and Migrants Rights, held in Germany. Thailand, Malaysia, Lebanon, Philippines, Nepal, Morocco, India, UAE, Bangladesh, Turkey, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Maldives, South Korea, Kuwait and Qatar. He was a member of the Law Reforms Committee of the National Child Protection Authority of Sri Lanka (NCPA). Dahanayake has provided legal assistance to Sri Lankan labour migrants to mitigate issues that they face in the destination countries.

Dahanayake has attended six consecutive Global Forums on Migration and Development (GFMD) from 2015 - 2020 which were held in Turkey, Bangladesh, Germany, Morocco, Ecuador and UAE. He was also part of the Inter-Governmental Conference held in Morocco in 2018, where the adoption of the UN Global Compact on Migration (GCM) took place in the presence of 64 Heads of States led by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. Due to his diligent work in different spheres, Dahanayake has received many international accolades, including the highest prestigious “Humanity & Patriotism Award 2020” for frontline activists against COVID-19 from Access to Human Rights International, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and an award from the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal for the protection of rights of migrant workers in 2019 at a conference held in Kathmandu, Nepal.