News

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.

NPC has commenced a new project entitled Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom (CERF), aimed at promoting religious freedom within the framework of pluralism and the rule of law, to be implemented in the Vavuniya, Mannar, Kandy, Badulla, Kalutara, Gampaha, Matara and Ampara districts.

Workshops on pluralism and diversity were held in Batticaloa and Trincomalee for DIRC members under NPC’s project Promoting Inter-Faith and Inter-ethnic Dialogue in Sri Lanka.

Aspects of the new Constitution were discussed and misconceptions were cleared up at a meeting organized by Kandy DIRC under NPC’s project Initiating Multi Level Partnership Action for Conflict Transformation (IMPACT). Around 100 DIRC members, religious leaders and activists, of whom 30 per cent were women, participated.

Badulla DIRC organised a peace walk through Badulla town for raising awareness on building national unity through inter religious harmony. DIRC members met several leaders of the four religions to obtain their support for the walk and to set the agenda.

About 400 people marched through Vavuniya town in support of families of the disappeared. A letter requesting information about missing people and demanding justice was handed over to TNA MP Sivashakthi Anandan, who promised to give it to the President and Prime Minister.

Puravesi Balaya (Citizens Power) brought activists together in Colombo to show solidarity with international efforts to direct the government onto the path of reform promised at the presidential and general elections held in 2015.