News

The Zonal Task Force for the Western Province, which invited submissions from civil society organisations and members of the public, received submissions from NPC members on August 15. An NPC team obtained a meeting with the Task Force at the Divisional Secretariat Office in Colombo. The idea of a Compassionate Council consisting of religious clergy that was mooted by the government delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2015, as a part of the Truth Commission, was supported by the NPC members.

Through its work at the grass roots level, NPC was able to gather opinions from religious and community leaders, civil society and the public on what sort of transitional justice mechanisms they felt would be best for Sri Lanka to adopt in its quest for reconciliation and a lasting peace.

Sri Lanka submitted a State report and a shadow report to the committee of the Convention on the Elimination on all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The 66th Pre-Sessional Working Group committee (PSWG) meeting for the CEDAW was held in July at the United Nations in Geneva.

The third phase of the Reconciling Inter Religious Differences project (RIID), supported by USAID, was introduced to members of the District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCS) of Batticaloa, Ampara, Kandy and Mannar.

The third phase of Write to Reconcile, inaugurated in 2012 by international award winning author ShyamSelvadurai, commenced with a residential training programme in Anuradhupura.

Two orientation and TJ awareness meetings were held in Jaffna and one each in Ratnapura, Galle and Matara under NPC’s Reconciling Inter Religious and Inter Ethnic Differences (RIID) project Phase II.

Under NPC’s Reconciling Inter Religious and Inter Ethnic Differences (RIID) project Phase II, an orientation meeting was conducted at NPC for its partners and District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) leaders.

The Citizens Peace Award for 2015 was posthumously granted to the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero for his fearless approach to minority rights and inter religious coexistence, and for providing skillful leadership in promoting humane values and democratic governance.

Fifty war affected women from five districts got together in Matara for two days to share experiences, exchange ideas and understand the process of healing under NPC’s project Post Conflict Healing: A Women's Manifesto, funded by FOKUS.

NPC and its partners visited Timor Leste to learn from the experiments of Transitional Justice (TJ) there. Timor Leste, then known as East Timor, was invaded by the Indonesian army who ruled from 1975 to 1999.

An introductory meeting was held in Polonnaruwa for the establishment of a new District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) under the Initiating Multi-level Partnership Action for Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) project supported by Misereor.

As part of its project Promoting Accountability and Preventing Torture by Strengthening Survivors of Torture in Asia, NPC and its partners Right to Life (R2L), Committee for Investigation of Disappeared (CID) and Human Rights Office Kandy (HRO Kandy) participated in a workshop, regional conference and exchange visit in Indonesia.

NPC initiated a discussion with civil society organisations from several districts of the country on strengthening the Transitional Justice (TJ) and reconciliation process, especially at the community and grassroots level focusing on district and community-based organisations.

Under NPC’s project Initiating Multi-level Partnership Action for Conflict Transformation (IMPACT), introductory meetings were held in Kalutara, Ratnapura and Kurunegala for religious leaders and civil society leaders to explain the concept of Transitional Justice (TJ).

Under its project Post Conflict Healing: A Women's Manifesto funded by FOKUS, NPC organised a two day exchange visit for women from Hambantota and Galle to visit others in Trincomalee and Ampara.

NPC made three submissions to the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms. The Committee was mandated to seek oral and written submissions from the public on constitutional reforms. The process of public consultations began on January 18 and ended on March 15. The Committee will now prepare a report based on the public submissions and propose recommendations to be considered by the Cabinet Sub Committee on Constitutional Reforms.