Prof. Camena Guneratne

Senior Professor in Department of Legal Studies

Legal Studies

Professor, Department of Legal Studies

Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Environment, Human Rights, Gender women’s rights

Environment and Development, Human Rights with a focus on economic and social rights, gender issues

Programme Coordination:
Bachelor of Arts in Community and Justice Studies (Policing)

Course Coordination:
NEP1207 (Environmental Law)

Some recent  publications

Open University Teaching texts

Environmental Law (LL.B programme, 1998, 2004)
Casebook on Fundamental Rights (LL.B programme, 1998) (Co-author)
Law of Delict  (LL.B programme, 1991, 2014)
Understanding Law (B.Sc programme, 2000) (Co-author)

Books/Monographs

Genetic Resources, Equity and International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, UK, 2012) http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?id=14495

Women and Land Rights in Irrigation Settlement Schemes in Sri Lanka (Centre for Women’s Research, Colombo, 2006)

Environmental Law – Sri Lanka –International Encyclopaedia of Laws (Kluwer Law International, 2005)

International Labour Standards and Women in Sri Lanka, (Centre for Women’s Research, Colombo, 2002)

State and Community Responses to Domestic Violence in Sri Lanka, (Centre for Women’s Research, Colombo, 2002) (Co-author with Kamalini Wijayatilake)

Women, Sexual Violence and the Legal process in Sri Lanka: A Study on Rape,  (Centre for Women’s Research, Colombo, 1998) (Co-author with Savitri Goonesekere)

Book chapters and journal article

Struggles over Rights – the Women’s Movement in Sri Lanka – contribution to a book chapter by Arjun Guneratne, “Sri Lanka” in Arjun Guneratne and Anita Weiss (eds) “Pathways to Power – The Domestic Politics of South Asia (Rowman and Littlefield 2014).

Gender based violence in Sri Lanka, in “Gender Based Violence Sri Lanka” (Center for Women’s Research in association with the United Nations Population Fund, Colombo, 2007)

Child Abuse, in “Women in Focus,” Working Paper No. 13 (Centre for Women’s Research, Sri Lanka, 2000)

Further legal perspectives from Sri Lanka, in ”Trafficking in Persons in South Asia” edited by Hugh Johnston and Sona Khan (Shastri Indo Canadian Institute, 1998)

“Some aspects of the Right to Life in Indian Law” – VISTASJournal of Humanities and Social Sciences and Education, Open University of Sri Lanka, 2003-2004 No. 02.

“The Eppawela Phosphate Mining Project – Breaking New Ground in Natural Resources Management,” Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law, Volume 5, Issue 3, (2000)

“State practice of Asian countries in the field of International Law” – Contributed country reports on Sri Lanka for the Asian Yearbook of International Law (2000 – 2008)

Book Reviews:

Changing Concepts of Rights and Justice in South Asia, Edited by Michael Anderson and Sumit Guha (India: Oxford University Press, 1998) – Cambridge Law Journal, 60 (2), July 2001.

Fifty Years of the Supreme Court of India: Its Grasp and Reach, Edited by S K Verma and Kusum (India: Oxford University Press) – Cambridge Law Journal, 60 (3), November 2001.

Taking the State to Court – Public Interest and the Public Sphere in Metropolitan India, Hans Dembowski (Oxford: Oxford University Press) –Cambridge Law Journal, 60 (3), November 2001.

Compendium of Summaries of Judicial Decisions in Environmental Related Cases (with special reference to countries in South Asia) (SACEP/UNEP/NORAD Publication Series on Environmental Law and Policy No. 3) Edited by Donald Kaniaru, Lal Kurukulasuriya and Prasantha Dias Abeygunawardene  (South Asia Co-operative  Environment Programme – 1997)  – Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law Volume 3 Issue 4 (1998).

Select Laws on State Land – R K W Goonesekere, (Law and Society Trust, 2006) – The Island Newspaper, 22nd November 2006

Ongoing Research:

Women and Sustainable Development

Harvard Law School Fellowship 1989-1990

Smuts Visiting Fellowship in Commonwealth Studies 2000-2001 (Wolfson College, University of Cambridge)

Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Award 2012-2013 (University of Colorado School of Law)