News

Under NPC’s project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-Level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT), refresher workshops on pluralism were conducted for selected District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) members from Jaffna and Vavuniya and Kegalle and Kandy.

A training programme on conflict identification, prevention and management was held for Grama Niladharis, government officials, police officers, religious leaders and NGO representatives in Weligama under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF).

NPC Board Member and former Vice Chacellor of the Eastern University, Professor M. S. Mookaiah, attended a programme in Hatton conducted by NPC under the ACE-IT intervention supported by the European Union (EU) for marginalised people living in the plantations in the area, including those with different types of disabilities.

Two new Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRCs) in Trincomalee and Rakwana were set up under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF).

Under its Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE), NPC conducted a series of dialogues on building a better future through memory in the Seruwila area.

NPC conducted a programme consisting of three workshops on the meaning of reparation funded by the UN’s International Organization on Migration (IOM). Participants came from 12 districts across the country and included victims, NGO leaders and representatives of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs).

A three day experience sharing visit was organized by NPC’s Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF) project for 120 members of the Akurana, Negombo and Vavuniya Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRCs) in Vavuniya with the support of the Social Development Services Foundation (SDSF), Sarvodaya and the Rural Development Foundation.

A series of workshops were conducted in Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa, Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Ratnapura and Hambantota on pluralism, Transitional Justice, good governance and missing persons for Local Government Agents (LGAs) in 16 districts under NPC’s project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-Level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT).

Many paintings are coming up in cities and towns across the country but most depict only Sinhala Buddhist culture.

A one day training programme was conducted for 30 local government representatives and staff of the Tellippalai Pradesiya Sabha in the Jaffna District under NPC’s Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) activity. 
Lawyer Karthikadevi Sharma of the Kilinochchi District Court facilitated the programme, which was aimed at creating awareness on the rule of law, understanding of the basics of good governance and delivering non-discriminatory and good quality of service to the people.

The Human Rights First Aid Centre in Galle held a workshop for 40 community leaders under NPC’s project Accountability Through Community Engagement and Initiatives for Transition (ACE-IT) supported by the European Union (EU) to discuss Transitional Justice and the on going reconciliation mechanisms of the government including the Human Rights Commission, Office on Missing Persons (OMP), National Police Commission, and the Right to Information Act (RTI).

Information sessions for government officers on ethics, human rights, the Right To Information (RTI) Act and the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) were held in Jaffna under the National Peace Council’s project Accountability Through Community Engagement and Initiatives for Transition (ACE-IT), funded by the European Union.

A project orientation and progress review meeting for representatives of existing and new partner organizations of NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF) was held in Colombo. Representatives of seven partner organizations who implement Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRC) activities in seven locations participated in an idea bazaar where they demonstrated their work.

Civil Society Organizations conducted two visits to Galle and Batticaloa to build solidarity among different communities and bridge the rift caused by the Easter Sunday attacks under NPC’s project Actively Countering Extremism (ACE) funded by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CLFI).

Religious leaders and coordinators of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) convened in Colombo for a National Inter Religious Committee meeting where they agreed to work with the new political leaders and use government mechanisms to promote reconciliation.

Over 540 students from 12 universities and another 400 grassroots level youth activists and leaders in 21 districts were trained on the Transitional Justice (TJ) process, enabling them to be active participants in the country’s reconciliation process under NPC’s two-year project, Youth engagement with Transitional Justice for Long-lasting peace in Sri Lanka, which concluded after two years.