Sanjula Pietersz is a young lawyer from Sri Lanka and is currently working as the project coordinator of the Social Justice Commission of Alliance Development Trust, a leading NGO in Sri Lanka which works in the areas of human rights, governance and peace. Her role is primarily associated with mobilizing and empowering grassroot level youth on democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. Sanjula completed a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) degree at The Faculty of Law, University of Colombo in 2018. 

In 2016, Sanjula received an award as ‘The best young reviewer’ from an alternative newspaper in Sri Lanka. She was the representative of ‘Families of the disappeared’  (FOD) at United Nations Sri Lanka in making the report on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 “Youth, Peace and Security”, in 2017. She contributed as an author for a collection of Tamil language articles published on the 10th anniversary of the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, in 2019.  

Sanjula is working very closely with the war affected people in the North and East of Sri Lanka, particularly with families of the disappeared and supporting their struggle towards seeking truth and justice. She actively engages with social movements against enforced disappearances, land grabbing, political prisoners, militarization etc. in Sri Lanka. She has contributed towards addressing the issue through speaking in public platforms as a freelance writer, photographer and a translator.  

Sanjula studied photography at ‘Hegoda’, School of Photography. She used her passion and skill on photography to bring out the hidden stories of war victims. She has contributed to photography exhibitions, published photo-stories and her photographs have also been used for other articles. Sanjula was one of the contributors of the “My Sri Lanka, y Future” photography exhibition organized by the United Nations Sri Lanka” in 2014. She was also on of the contributors for the “Unframed” photography exhibition organized by Vikalpa.org (http://unframedsl.org/about-unframed/) in 2018, which highlighted the realities of the post war context in Sri Lanka.  

Sanjula is the editor of a Sinhala language E-magazine – Sahurdhaspandhana (Pulsation of Solidarity) – which consists of Tamil literature and art, and strives to signify the unavoidable need for justice through publishing victim’s literature and art in majority language. Such a magazine has not been published for over 20 years in Sri Lanka. She is also a translator who tries to create political consciousness by translating poems and other literary products on conflict written by Tamils into Sinhala. Sanjula is an influencer on social media. She shares information on the national question in Sri Lanka and opinions by re-reading the distorted history of the country, which enlightens the public. In 2020, she and three of her friends started an initiative on social media based on Sinhala and Tamil literature to develop a political dialogue on the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka that aims to reformulate the established social myths regarding minority people’s rights (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1302974290054251). 

Participant in:

January/February 2022 Fellowship: Peacebuilding and Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peacebuilding Processes

August 2022 Fellowship: The Arts as a Tool for Peacebuilding