ARC targets the engagement of religious leaders, state officials, community policing units, integration structure of the state, and youth in 14 Local Inter-Religious Committees (LIRCs) to sustain religious freedom within the framework of pluralism and Rule of Law over a period of 40 months starting August 2021. The LIRCs targeted are Vavuniya Town in Vavuniya district, Mannar Town in Mannar district, Akurana in Kandy district, Beruwala in Kalutara district, Negombo in Gampaha district, Weligama in Matara district, Addalachenai in Ampara district, Godakawela in Ratnapura district, Kattankudy in Batticaloa district, Trincomalee Town in Trincomalee district, Panduwasnuwara in Kurunegala district Kuliyapitiya in Kurunegala district, Mawanella in Kegalle district, and Bandarawela in Badulla district.
Funded by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), this initiative builds on an existing engagement (Collective Engagement for Religious Freedom CERF), enhancing its scope both vertically and horizontally.
The main objectives of ARC seek to sustain religious freedom by utilizing multi-sector engagement strengthening the commitment to pluralism and Rule of Law and by the intervention and advocation of inter-faith platforms for the right to religious freedom facilitating religious co-existence and non-discrimination.
The targeted participants will benefit from education surrounding pluralism, measures to prevent violent extremism, actualization activities, and selected training programmes on pluralism and the Rule of Law. ARC enables all participants to maintain religious discourse in a safe space where all parties can share their learnings and motivations. Moreover, there is an optical benefit of asserting to a divided society that a group of diverse religious leaders and varied persons are committed to the idea of a shared space where rights of individuals are absolute and not relative.