News

Mannar and Vavuniya Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRC) members intervened to settle a dispute between two villages in their districts and prevented religious differences from turning into violent conflict while minimising the possibility of conflicts recurring over religious issues. The initiatives were taken under NPC’s project Action for Religious Coexistence (ARC).

NPC crossed a milestone in its peace building efforts with the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) when it launched an advanced certificate course, Sustainable Peace through Pluralism and Inclusive Service Delivery, funded by Freedom House. The inauguration ceremony was held at the Centre for External Degree and Extension Courses (CEDEC) in Batticaloa. The Eastern University has accepted 35 applications from the district and divisional level public service officers and will bring in another seven from the university administrative staff who are front line officers serving a multi-ethnic student body.

The dialogue between the government and CSOs on the issue of a new law for NGOs is taking place regularly. NPC is part of the core group of the CSO-NGO Collective that is engaging in negotiations with the government, which is seeking the development of a new and all-encompassing NGO law to replace the present one.

NPC members had a meeting with members of the Puttalam District Inter Religious Committee to discuss the upcoming local government elections.

NPC will launch a new 15 month project to empower women in the districts of Gampaha, Kandy, Kegalle, Matara, Monaragala, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.

An orientation programme for NPC’s Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) supported project was held for 84 district partners and master trainers from 12 districts. Discussions included sharing experiences on the current political situation, the role of civil activists and research about protecting civic space.

Two activities were organized by Puttalam District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) to raise awareness on the effects of drug use and the importance of inter-ethnic harmony. A training session on making palmyra leaf handicrafts was also held under NPC’s Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT).

Recent religious violent extremism in the country arose as a result of mistrust among different ethnoreligious groups. The lack of mechanisms to identify and address conflict stressors that can lead to violence is a long standing issue. Civil society groups and community leaders have a greater responsibility to dispel mistrust and misconceptions and to rebuild relations among religious groups.

NPC board members met officials of the Jaffna University to speed up the implementation of the advanced certificate course, sustainable peace through pluralism and inclusive service delivery, funded by Freedom House.

A residential workshop on pluralism and inclusion was held for 54 senior officials of the NGO Secretariat and the NGO Coordinators in 25 District Secretariats, attended by the Director General of the NGO Secretariat Sanjeewa Wimalagunarathna and other senior officials, NGO coordinators and micro finance officials under NPC’s Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT) project.

Participants in two second language courses in the Gampaha and Trincomalee Districts under NPC’s project Language to Reconcile conducted by the National Institute of Language Education Training (NILET) were awarded their certificates. Each of the courses comprised 90 hours of class sessions.

The certificate awarding ceremony for 43 participants who completed a Sinhala language course was held in Batticaloa under NPC’s Language to Reconciliation project funded by the Canadian government through the National Languages Equality Advancement Project (NLEAP). Ninety hour second language courses have been held in the Batticaloa, Gampaha and Trincomalee districts.

Two residential workshops on pluralism and inclusion were held in Kandy and Galle for senior officials of the Kegalle and Galle District Secretariats and the Divisional Secretaries under NPC’s project Plural Action for Conflict Transformation (PACT). The Kegalle and Galle District Secretaries, Additional District Secretaries, Assistant District Secretaries, Divisional Secretaries, Director of Planning, Director of Development and the Chief Accountant participated in the workshops. There were 75 participants at each workshop, which were organised by the Kegalle and Galle District Inter Religious Committees and NGO coordinators of the districts.

Religious conflicts in Sri Lanka have seen a steady increase with extremist parties spreading misconceptions to create divisions among communities to gain political advantages. Community leaders, religious leaders and state officials have a greater responsibility in mitigating existing conflict stressors to strengthen unity in their areas. In sustaining religious freedom within the framework of pluralism and the rule of law, it is necessary to empower these community leaders to carry out citizen driven initiatives. Carrying out need assessments for Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRCs) was a crucial effort that was taken by NPC’s Action for Religious Coexistence (ARC) team to identify the needs of areas subjected to recent religious conflicts.

NPC signed an agreement with the Sabaragamuwa University to establish an advanced certificate course on sustainable peace through inclusive services delivery. An agreement with the Eastern University has already been signed for the course under the Freedom House project on pluralism and inclusive service delivery.

Since the end of the civil war, hate narratives and extremist ideologies spread by nationalistic groups and politicians have gradually changed the mindset of citizens to suspect other ethno religious groups. Trust among communities had been lost and furthered eroded by the Easter Sunday attacks, undermining religious coexistence. The tendency of youth to accept hate narratives has grown in recent years as a result of social media.