Ronnate D. Asirwatham has worked in journalism, advocacy, and as a campaigner for human rights and the application of humanitarian principles in post‐conflict and post‐disaster societies. She has been with Oxfam International in Sri Lanka, South Sudan and the United States. As a journalist, she worked at the Daily Mirror newspaper in Sri Lanka and Reuters. After her husband, journalist J.S Tissainayagam, was arrested in March 2008, she spearheaded an international campaign to secure his release. As a result, she received death threats and fled Sri Lanka. She is studying for a master’s degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.