News

With the local government elections to be held shortly, Kandy and Kurunegala District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) launched campaigns to canvass for clean elections free of racism, violence and corruption. Voters were urged to select representatives who opposed racism and discrimination while supporting reconciliation and coexistence.

NPC recently launched a project titled “Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF)” to ensure religious freedom of all citizens by strengthening Rule of Law and pluralistic values. The project aims to establish Local Inter Religious Committees (LIRC) in eight identified conflict prone Divisional Secretary Divisions: Akurana, Addalaichchenei, Beruwala, Mannar, Mahiyanganaya, Negombo, Vauniya and Weligama.

The introductory activity of NPC’s new project “Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF)” in the Ampara district was conducted with the Social Organizations Networking for Development (SOND) at the Social Welfare and Development (SWOAD) district head office, Addalachennai.

District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) in Trincomalee and Batticaloa discussed Constitutional reform under NPC’s project Promoting Inter-faith and Inter-ethnic Dialogue in Sri Lanka funded by the British High Commission.

A small group of war-affected women activists from the districts of Puttalam, Trincomalee and Hambantota who are working with NPC came to Colombo to meet with the government’s Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms, which has been established under the Prime Minister’s Office.

The UN Peace Building Fund, under its Gender and Youth Promotion Initiative (GYPI), has awarded a grant to NPC for a project to promote gender-responsive and youth-inclusive peace building in Sri Lanka.

One hundred and seventy religious leaders, civil society activists and community leaders gathered in Colombo for the National Inter Religious Symposium of District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) under NPC’s Initiating Multi Level Partnership Action for Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) project.

NPC organized an exposure visit by representatives of its 16 District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) to Hambantota. A total of 35 people including religious leaders and civil society members were hosted by the Hambantota DIRC.

District Inter Religious Committees (DIRCs) in the Galle and Matara districts carried out Community Cohesion activities and Mitigatory Interventions under NPC’s Religions to Reconcile project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented with a Jordan-based partner organization, Generations For Peace (GFP).

Batticaloa DIRC held a youth meeting under NPC’s project Inter-faith and Inter-ethnic dialogue in Sri Lanka with its partner organization, Human Rights Civil Committee of Batticaloa.

Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka IndrajitCoomaraswamy and Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms Mano Tittawellashared information on Sri Lanka’s journey of peacebuilding with the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission in New York.

A seminar was held in the Vavuniya district for 47 relatives of missing people to help them to understand what was being done to find their relatives and what steps they could take to engage in the process.

Batticaloa District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) had a discussion on the Constitutional reform process as one of the activities to ensure that members are aware of the current Constitutional reforms and participate in the reform process.

Monaragala District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) organized a dialogue on building trust and fellowship among a group of Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalese from different areas of the district. The event took place in Bakinigahawela village in the Monaragala district, which is a Muslim village.

The village of Divithurawatta in the Galle district is home to Tamils and Sinhalese. The Tamil people are mainly estate workers living on tea estates in the area.

DIRC Batticaloa organised a peace walk through Batticaloa town to urge the government to focus on several important issues facing the country including the abolition of the Executive Presidency, Constitutional reform, finding missing persons, releasing of political prisoners and punishment for corruption.