Dandeniya Gamage Jayanthi

Dandeniya Gamage Jayanthi is a Sri Lankan political activist who focuses on the issue of forced disappearances in the 1980s and 1990s.

Background Jayanthi was one of ten children. Her father worked as a carpenter, and she and her siblings had to work throughout their childhood to earn money for their schooling and books. The pair were found dead on 27 October in Raddoluwa junction, Seeduwa; they had been shot and then their bodies burned.

Activism Jayanthi went on to organize other relatives of disappeared persons into the group Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared. The group seeks to maintain interest in pursuing justice for these cases, as well as creating a public space where [survivors] can remember the dead", allowing families to speak openly of their experiences.