Gihan Indraguptha
When I began my master’s in International Human Rights Law at Oxford in 2019, I was a mid-career diplomat with what seemed like a promising future. By the time I graduated in 2021, I was an unemployed refugee. Despite those turbulent years, it was this very degree that would become the turning point in my life. The Oxford experience not only gave me formal academic credentials but also the confidence, perspective, and academic grounding to pursue meaningful work in the field of human rights law that has always been my passion.
For nearly three years now, I have served as a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. In this capacity, I have supported the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and on freedom of religion or belief. The knowledge and rigorous analytical skills I acquired at Oxford, under the guidance of some of the world’s foremost scholars and practitioners, have proved invaluable as I navigated a new organisation and career path later in life.
None of this would have been possible without the Commonwealth Scholarship, which made it possible for me to pursue my studies at Oxford. As a public servant from the global south, and subsequently as a refugee without income, the financial means to undertake graduate studies in IHRL at the University of Oxford would have been beyond my reach. The scholarship was not merely an academic opportunity; it was a lifeline that helped me to rebuild my professional career and personal identity against all odds.
I take solace in knowing that, in some small measure, I have been able to honour that debt through my work by advocating for victims of grave human rights violations and contributing to the global pursuit of justice and dignity. I remain profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have become a practitioner and advocate for human rights.
I sincerely hope that the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme continues to empower individuals like myself - those with the passion and potential to make a meaningful difference, but constrained by the circumstances of their country of origin or station in life.