Dulki Seethawaka

Dulki completed her LL.B. from the University of London and BA in Interior Design from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, both with honours. She took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2015. Her special focus on animal protection within the legislative regime began when she was pursuing her LLM degree in 2016 from the University of Colombo, in which she investigated the necessity to replace the 115 year-old laws on animal protection in Sri Lanka. Her M.Phil. in Law thesis was also based on how captive and domesticated animals can be further protected within the legal framework in Sri Lanka compared to the Indian and British legislation.

Currently, Dulki is a Senior Executive Researcher at the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She represents animal laws and policy related sectors in CELP publications, proposals and other projects. Dulki has contributed as an editor to a publication by the CELP, “A Compilation of Animal Welfare Provisions and Case Law” which is the first ever and the only compilation with all the relevant legislations and case law on animal welfare in Sri Lanka.

Dulki has participated in a number of workshops, summer-schools, conferences and webinars on animal laws and published writings on animal protection in renowned global, regional and national journals. Dulki has also written opinion columns on animal protection for “The Morning,” a national newspaper in Sri Lanka and contributed to printed and television media as a resource person. In her vicinity, Dulki engages in activities including feeding, providing medical care, fostering and adopting street dogs.

Dulki received a full scholarship by the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School to pursue her studies in the Animal Law LLM (Online) Programme. This programme provides her the perfect platform to learn from the experts in the field and widen her network among similar enthusiasts. She hopes to continue her commitment towards animal protection and aspires to become an academic researcher specializing in animal laws.