Human Rights Defender (1927-1991) and the first Secretary General of Amnesty International

'I have known Kumar Rupesinghe since 1984, when we met in the context of consultation between international NG0 development and human rights groups concerned with the internal conflicts in Sri Lanka. Since that time we have worked together on a variety of programmes combining academic experience and practical implementation of measures designed to contribute to conflict resolution.'

Learned Peace Activist since the World War II and initiated the Peace Studies Programme at Dartmouth College

'I came to know Kumar through his activities as convener of International Peace Research Association’s Internal Conflicts Study Group, for the 25th anniversary conference of which he convened an extraordinary series of sessions bringing scholars from a number of Third World countries experiencing intense ethnic conflict and also from the Soviet Union.'

Director of the Forum for Early Warning and Early Response (FEWER)

'Kumar Rupesinghe is among the most influential thinkers in the conflict prevention field today. But he is also one of the few who transforms thought to action and realises visions.'

Ghanaian founder of Black History Mouth UK and the Young Pioneer Movement

'“Give me the cost of a tank and I will use it to stop a war.” If they had listened to us eight years ago, more lives would have been saved and less property destroyed in a conflict that has embroiled the whole of West Africa and is now taxing the preventive diplomatic skills of the UN and ECOWAS.'

Distinguished Civil Servant of Sri Lanka and Director General of the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1967

'There are hardly any intellectuals that I know of, who while being domiciled abroad for over twenty years, have succeeded in maintaining such a presence and profile in Sri Lankan politics, as has Dr Kumar Rupesinghe.'

Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)

'Kumar Rupesinghe looms large in the field of conflict resolution. He is a respected academic, policy formulator and practitioner in early warning and conflict resolution. Most importantly he acted as a sponsor and mentor for an entire generation of scholars and practitioners, including myself, who entered the field in the early 1990’s.'

MA(Cantab), MBBChir(Cantab), MD(Lond), FRCP(Lond), FRACP , Consultant Physician - Brisbane, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine - University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

'He is, like me, a Sinhalese, from the majority community in Sri Lanka, not from the brutalised Tamil community. We have both campaigned for Peace with Justice in Sri Lanka. The difference is that while Kumar has had the guts to return to Sri Lanka and put his life in undoubted danger at the hands of a range of hoodlums, many with the backing of the Sri Lankan Government, I have not had the courage to even visit the country since 1984.'

Senior Fellow of the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, which he founded and served as Director of for eleven years. He is a long standing member of the UN Sub-commission

'I have known Kumar for nearly 18 years. During these years our life trajectories have intersected in many ways and on many occasions. For me, the interaction with him has always been a source of inspiration and encouragement. In spite of the fact that we came from entirely different cultures and different parts of the world, we have shared the same basic concerns with social justice and the search for peaceful accommodation between groups. For him, it has been an even more urgent and pressing concern, since he comes from a country torn by a tragic-conflict and where the average income is low.'

Convener of the Conflict Early Warning Systems Research Programme of the International Social Science Council, and John A. McCone Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California

'My first memory of Kumar goes back to the early 1990s, just before he came to International Alert. It was at a “Conflict Resolution” training course, where his preventive orientation to internal conflicts seemed both autobiographically and sociologically informed, as well as in advance of most policy-oriented thinking on the subject.'

Assistant Director General for Emergency Assistance and NGO’s SIDA Sweden

'During the last few years my duties as head of Sida’s Department for Humanitarian Assistance have taken me to a number of different places around the world: Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Bosnia, Guatemala to name a few. These countries all have one thing in common they have gone through long periods of internal unrest and war. For me many of these places are associated with the work of Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe and International Alert.'