News

A NPC team visited Sabaragamuwa University to assess the progress of its forthcoming project on inclusive service delivery. NPC is planning to offer an advanced certificate course on sustainable peace through inclusive service delivery at the Ruhuna, Sabaragamuwa, Jaffna and Eastern universities as a part of a Freedom House funded project, Pluralism and Inclusive Service Delivery.

Under its Action for Religious Coexistence (ARC) project, NPC held eight training programmes on pluralism targetting 50 Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRCs) members and 373 Youth Wing members to encourage community leaders to promote pluralism and social responsibility for ensuring religious freedom.

A workshop on understanding language rights and language policies was held in the Gampaha District for government officials, journalists, religious leaders, community police officers, community organisations and Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRC) members under NPC’s Language to Reconciliation (L2R) project funded by the Canadian government.

Under NPC’s Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT) project, meetings to discuss economic discrimination, points of conflict and tension in relation to shared resources were conducted for District Inter Religious Committee (DIRCs) members in the Matara, Badulla, Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Ratnapura, Kandy and Batticaloa districts.
DIRC members were able to identify if someone running a business had faced discrimination when obtaining services and materials or when manufacturing or selling products and goods because of his or her caste, class, religion or ethnicity in each district in the forms of killing, threatening, warning not to buy or sell products and goods or damaging or destroying property based by extremism, politics, hate speech, false stories and myths. Participants discussed the negative impact of discrimination on individuals and the economy and how it affected ethnic and religious harmony and development of the country.

Fifty representatives from the Ampara, Batticaloa, Kandy, Kurunegala, Vavuniya and Mannar districts took part in an inter district review meeting to mark the end of NPC’s 30-month Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) project.

NPC is collaborating with the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) to hold a certificate course on sustainable peace through inclusive services delivery. NPC will offer the same course with the universities of Ruhuna, Sabaragamuwa and Jaffna under the Freedom House funded project, Pluralism and Inclusive Service Delivery.

The issue of language was a key dividing factor in the early years of Sri Lanka’s independence and one of the root causes of the ethnic conflict that escalated into a 30 year internal war, and continues to be a great divider.

A series of training programmes were held under NPC’s Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT) project for 259 administrative officers, planning unit officers, development officers and field officers from different government institutions to increase knowledge on right to information, pluralism, mediation, fundamental rights, conflict resolution and the duties and responsibilities of government officials.

Two training programmes on pluralism for 50 Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRCs) members and 70 youth wing members in Mawanella were held under NPC’s project Action for Religious Coexistence (ARC), which is aimed at promoting the attitudes of respect and acceptance for a multi religious society.

NPC held six training programmes for 286 youth from the Mannar, Batticaloa, Kandy, Kurunegala, Vavuniya and Ampara Districts under its Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) project. Participants included National Youth Council members, university students, youth parliamentarians and youth club members.

Ten representatives from Sri Lanka visited Bangladesh under the project Prevention of Violent Extremism Capacity Building in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, co-funded by the European Union and implemented in Sri Lanka by Helvetas Sri Lanka and NPC and in Bangladesh by Helvetas Bangladesh and Rupantar, to learn about Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) strategies, approaches and best practices of PVE intervention.

Under NPC’s project Prevention of Violent Extremism Capacity Building in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, meetings were held to develop proposals for district level campaigns in the Ampara, Batticaloa, Kandy, Kurunegala, Vavuniya and Mannar districts with the participation of 155 people from civil society organizations, religious leaders, youth, state sector officials and community police.

Four orientation meetings were conducted in Beruwela, Negombo, Weligama and Trincomalee under NPC’s project Action for Religious Coexistence (ARC), which targets the engagement of religious leaders, state officials, community policing units and youth to sustain the space for religious freedom within the framework of pluralism and rule of law. The project creates the space for strengthening sub national platforms to increase constructive community engagement in working towards pluralism based coexistence.

More than 400 estate sector people from four estates received documents such as birth certificates, death certificates, certificate of non-registration and national identity cards from two mobile clinics under NPC’s project sustaining peace through pluralism and inclusive service delivery funded by Freedom House. The marriages of several couples were also legally registered.

A series of one day workshops based on pluralism and building a pluralistic society was conducted for members of local government authorities and government officials in the Colombo, Nuwara Eliya, Moneragala, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Badulla districts under NPC’s project Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT).

The worsening economic crisis in the country is compelling out migration of people. There are long lines outside of the passport office formed by people who see their salvation in working abroad. The plantation sector has been particularly affected by the economic crisis. They suffer from the general price increases and also on account of the fertilizer shortage that has adversely affected agriculture.