News

Members of the Weligama Local Inter Religious Committee (LIRC) visited Mannar on an exchange visit programme organized under NPC’s Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF) project. Participants included religious leaders, Grama Niladharis, police officers and government officials.

Under the Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE) implemented by Global Communities in partnership with NPC, community assessments were done in the Moneragala and Jaffna districts to identify issues related to social cohesion and reconciliation as well as development issues in the villages chosen for the SCORE activity.

NPC’s project, Religions to Reconcile: Strengthening Inter-Religious People-to-People Community Engagement for Reconciliation and Social Cohesion in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - the U.S. Government’s development agency - has been extended for another year.

Project orientation meetings, cohesion activities and town hall meetings were held in several districts across the country under NPC’s project, Consolidating Ongoing Multi-level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT).

Community conflict assessments were carried out in two villages in the Buttala area under NPC’s project, Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE). Community facilitators and civil society representatives trained by NPC did the assessments using Participatory Rural Appraisal tools.

A National Symposium attended by more than 250 members of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs), NGOs and civil society and trade union representatives was conducted in Colombo to discuss current political issues.

An important finding with regard to religious freedom and inter religious tolerance that came out of NPC’s research into the state of religious freedom in the country is that it already exists in substantial measure within the community. What is needed is to protect it from politically motivated intrusions from both within and more so from outside the community.

As part of its on going intervention on inter religious coexistence, NPC commissioned a survey, conducted in the 25 districts of the country, to capture the level of freedom each community enjoys to practice its religion.

Students of the Sabaragamuwa University organized a Transitional Justice (TJ) campaign to educate other students about TJ and make them a part of the process of building durable peace in Sri Lanka.

Several project orientation meetings and town hall meetings were held in districts across the country under NPC’s project, Consolidating Ongoing Multi-Level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT).

A National Symposium attended by more than 250 members of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs), NGOs and civil society and trade union representatives was conducted in Colombo to discuss current political issues. It was supported by the Civil Society and Trade Unions Collective under NPC’s project, Consolidating Ongoing Multi-level Partnership Actions for Conflict Transformation (COMPACT).

NPC organized a seven day training on Community-based Social Cohesion and Reconciliation for Community Facilitators under its project Social Cohesion and Reconciliation (SCORE) for 34 participants from the Jaffna, Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Moneragala districts.

About 42 participants, including religious leaders, took part in a two day training on the rule of law in Negombo under NPC’s project Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF).

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya praised civil society members, including three NPC staff members, for opposing the Constitutional coup of October last year when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapakse in his place, at a felicitation ceremony organized by the Puttalam District Development Foundation.

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

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.