Profile of the Minister
Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Member of Parliament, is the Cabinet Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights. He was the former Minister of Employment and Labour, and the Chief Government Whip. He has also held the position of Chief Opposition Whip of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
He holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
Attached to the Sri Lanka Overseas Service, he served in the capacity of First Secretary to the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Australia and as Counselor for the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka at the United Nations, Geneva. While serving in the latter position he represented Sri Lanka at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
While working at the Sri Lanka Mission in Geneva, he represented Sri Lanka at almost all of the Governing Body meetings of the ILO in 1986 and 1987, as well as the International Labour Conference (ILC) from 1985 – 1987. At the end of the 1987 ILC, he successfully presented a draft resolution on ‘Workers Housing,' which was adopted at the conference.
Mr. Samarasinghe entered active politics in 1988, when he was elected to the Provincial Council of the Western Province, where he served as the Leader of the House of the Provincial Assembly and the Minister of Health and Economic Infrastructure.
He entered national politics in 1994, when he was elected as a Member of Parliament, and was re-elected in subsequent elections held in 2000, 2001 and 2004. During the period of 1994 – 2001, while in the opposition, he was the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip. He also served in the Parliamentary Consultative Committees of the Ministries of Trade and Commerce, Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Industries.
Mr.Samarasinghe's election to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has given him the opportunity of playing an active role in international politics. He represents Sri Lanka as the Executive Committee Member of the IPU.
At the IPU, he first served as an Elected Substitute Member of the Human Rights Committee from 1996 – 1999. He was subsequently elected for the period of 1999 – 2004 as a Titular Member of the same committee and held office of Vice President and President of the Committee for Human Rights of Parliamentarians, IPU, Geneva.
Mr. Samarasinghe is a prominent Human Rights activist and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Human Rights Task Force of Sri Lanka. He is an Executive Member of the Parliamentary Group for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights and was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the functions of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Samarasinghe is at present the President of the Sri Lanka – Australia Parliamentary Association, President of the Sri Lanka – Swiss Parliamentary Association, Secretary of the Sri Lanka - India Parliamentary Association, Secretary of the Sri Lanka – Korea Parliamentary Association, Secretary of Sri Lanka the Thai Parliamentary Association. He was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Natural Disasters in the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami.
He has also taken a keen interest in constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka, especially in relation to helping to arrive at a negotiated political solution to the ongoing conflict in the North and East of the country. Whilst being a member of the United National Party (UNP), he was a member of the six-member delegation of the Constitutional Affairs Committee which participated in a six-month continuous dialogue with the President of Sri Lanka in 1999. He continues to play an active role in constitutional reforms.
Mr. Samarasinghe is married and has three children.
