News

Father Benjamin Henry Miller passed away on December 31 as the year 2018 came to its close. This was the end of a long chapter in a single individual’s defense of human rights.

Forty five students from the University of Ruhuna participated in a training programme on Transitional Justice (TJ) with team building activities, lectures, film screenings and participatory discussions under NPC’s project Youth Engagement with Transitional Justice for Long-lasting Peace in Sri Lanka.

Members of the Beruwala Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRC) visited Ampara and shared their experiences with the LIRC members of Addalachenai under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF), in a bid to promote inter religious and inter ethnic harmony.

A six day training session on befriending for Human Rights First Aid Centres (HRFAC) volunteers under NPC’s project Accountability Through Community Engagement and Initiatives for Transition (ACE-IT) was held in Colombo to help the volunteers to become befrienders in their districts.

NPC’s District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCS) conducted several seminars and awareness raising activities around the country in the wake of the Constitutional crisis triggered by President Maithripala Sirisena’s sacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

NPC, in collaboration with local civil society organizations, held several activities to explain the current Constitutional crisis to the public and to promote democracy in the country. Initially there was a consultative meeting with 33 District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) coordinators from 21 districts.

Advanced Training programmes for District Human Rights First Aid Centres were held in Matara, Trincomalee, Hambantota and Moneragala under NPC’s project, Accountability Through Community Engagement and Initiatives for Transition (ACE-IT), in collaboration with its partner, Right to Life Human Rights Centre.

Training on Transitional Justice (TJ) for students of Peradeniya University was held under NPC’s project, Youth Engagement with Transitional Justice for Long-lasting Peace in Sri Lanka.

The District Inter Religious Committees (DIRC) in Batticoloa and Trincomalee decided to work with the business communities to promote inter faith dialogue on peace and reconciliation because the business communities had capacity to link different faith and ethnic groups in the market, place under NPC’s project Inter-faith and Inter-ethnic dialogue in Sri Lanka.

NPC has entered into a partnership to implement a new project, Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE), funded by USAID and implemented by Global Communities. The other partners are the Association of Women Affected by War (AWAW) and Shanthiham Association for Health and Counseling.

NPC’s project Religions to Reconcile won the 2018 Samsung Generations For Peace Award for impact at its annual awards ceremony in Jordan. The award was presented by Generations For Peace Founder and Chairman, Prince Feisal Al Hussein.

Two training programmes on the rule of law were conducted for members of Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRCs) in Weligama and Beruwala under NPC’s project, Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF).

An NPC-supported report on the anti-Muslim violence that occurred in Digana and Kandy in March this year, which included recommendations on how to prevent such incidents in the future, was presented to around 150 civil society leaders, government officials, academics and lawyers in Kandy.

Several leaders of civil society organisations met at the Methodist Church Headquarters in Colombo to assess their situation. Bishop Asiri Perera said the situation in the country had deteriorated since they had last met several months ago. The country’s leaders were less interested in good governance than in who should rule. There were rumours of snap elections. Those against peace and reconciliation were vociferous.

NPC, under its IMPACT project, held a seminar on Transitional Justice (TJ) mechanisms and the government’s reconciliation process for youth parliamentarians in collaboration with the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) in the Gampaha district.

An awareness raising seminar was held for 50 senior students in the Trincomalee District and 85 senior students in the Batticaloa district under NPC’s project Inter-faith and Inter-ethnic Dialogue in Sri Lanka.