News

Village level officials and DIRC members in Trincomalee and Batticaloa attended meetings to discuss early warning and early response practices to avoid ethnic and religious conflict in their areas under NPC’s project, Inter-faith and Inter-ethnic dialogue in Sri Lanka.

Three orientation meetings were carried out under NPC’s new project Consolidating Ongoing Multi-level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT) funded by Misereor and CAFOD.

Over 200 religious leaders, community leaders, persons with disabilities, local politicians, women, youth and journalists attended a National Inter Religious Symposium in Colombo under NPC’s project Religions to Reconcile.

National Inter Religious Symposium of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka (NPC) is being held at the Lotus Room of the BMICH today (January 28, 2019) from 9 am to 3 pm. This is part of the project "Religions to Reconcile" (R2R), an ongoing initiative supported by USAID.

This symposium is the culmination of a major initiative that will see the launch of a Pluralism Charter embodying the distillation of three years of consultations with multi religious and multi ethnic communities mobilized through our work at the ground level.

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).