Sandya Eknelygoda

{{Short description|Sri Lankan human rights activist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sandya Eknalygoda

| image = Sandya Eknelygoda IWOC 1 (cropped).png

| caption = Sandya Eknelygoda with Melania Trump at the International Women of Courage Award 2017

| native_name = சந்தியா எக்னெலிகொட

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| native_name_lang = ta

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| known_for = Human rights activist

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| spouse = Prageeth Eknaligoda

| children = two

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| nationality = Sri Lankan

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Sandya Eknalygoda (Tamil: சந்தியா எக்னெலிகொட) is a Sri Lankan human rights activist. She became an International Women of Courage Award recipient in 2017. She has been campaigning for thousands of missing persons in Sri Lanka.{{cite web | url=https://cpj.org/blog/2012/09/sandhya-eknaligoda-speaks-for-sri-lankas-disappear.php | title=Sandya Eknaligoda speaks for Sri Lanka's disappeared | publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists | work=Bob Dietz | date=4 September 2012 | accessdate=26 August 2017}} She is married to missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

Her husband had told her that he was on a hit list and that he was receiving threats that warned him to stop writing. He was investigating corruption when he was kidnapped and returned in 2009.{{cite book|author=Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)|title=Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the World's Front Lines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npaCm1i_eZ8C&pg=PT31|date=4 February 2013|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-61129-6|pages=31–}} She became actively involved after her husband and prominent journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared in 2010 when he was investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians by the Sri Lankan army in the fight against the Tamil rebels.{{cite web | url=https://www.state.gov/s/gwi/iwoc/2017/bio/index.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329032421/https://www.state.gov/s/gwi/iwoc/2017/bio/index.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=29 March 2017 | title=Biographies of the Finalists for the 2017 International Women of Courage Awards | publisher=US Department of State | accessdate=26 August 2017}}{{cite web | url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Sandya-Eknelygoda-International-Woman-of-Courage--126504.html | title=Sandya Eknelygoda: 'International Woman of Courage' | publisher=Daily Mirror | date=30 March 2017 | accessdate=26 August 2017}}{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/voices-in-danger-prageeth-is-my-courage-he-always-worked-for-peace-and-unity-8591451.html | title=Voices in Danger: 'Prageeth is my courage. He always worked for peace and unity' | publisher= The Independent |work=Evgeny Lebedev | date=28 April 2013 | accessdate=26 August 2017}}{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.com/sinhala/news/story/2011/01/110128_prageeth_galle.shtml | title=Prageeth missing due to 'chemical weapon probe' | publisher=BBC Sinhala | date=28 January 2011 | accessdate=16 November 2017}}{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/29/sri-lankas-missing-thousands-one-womans-six-year-fight-to-find-her-husband | title=Sri Lanka's missing thousands: one woman's six-year fight to find her husband | publisher=The Guardian | work=Amantha Perera | date=29 January 2016 | accessdate=16 November 2017}}