Speaker details

Biography

Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena began his professional career in 1999 as a prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Department of Sri Lanka. In 2003, he joined the Bench and served as a Magistrate and later as a District Court Judge in Sri Lanka for nine years. He subsequently joined the Fiji Judiciary, and during this period, he was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Fiji and later became the first Judge of the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court of Fiji. He has also sat as a Justice of Appeal in the Fiji Court of Appeal. In 2022, Justice Wimalasena joined the Nauru Court of Appeal as a Justice of Appeal and was later appointed President of the Nauru Court of Appeal, the apex court of Nauru. In October 2025, he joined the National and Supreme Courts of Papua New Guinea. Justice Wimalasena is also appointed as a Justice of Appeal in the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal of Kiribati. Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena is an Adjunct Professor at the Australian Catholic University. In 2024, Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena led an international team of Chief Justices, senior judges, and experts in drafting the Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-being, which is now regarded as a foundational global instrument on judicial well-being. The International Day for Judicial Well-being is also his brainchild, which led the United Nations General Assembly to proclaim 25 July as the International Day for Judicial Well-being, marking the first recognition of judicial well-being as a matter of universal significance. He also conceptualised and launched the Global Judicial Well-being Research Hub, an online platform designed to support judiciaries worldwide in conducting judicial well-being studies. The platform was developed in partnership with the Australian Catholic University and is supported by several Australian universities and international scholars. In addition, he currently leads a joint Australia–United Kingdom academic team conducting the first-ever judicial well-being study across Pacific Island judiciaries. He is also coordinating a global team of judges, academics, and experts to draft a Commentary to the Declaration on Judicial Well-being under the leadership of the Papua New Guinea Judiciary.