Sri Lanka Project
Overview
In 2002, the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) signed a ceasefire agreement and peace negotiations facilitated by Norway began. This was an opening for Nonviolent Peaceforce to enter the country in 2003 with a mandate to support the peace process at a grassroots level and provide unarmed protection to people coming out of 25 years of war.
Over the next three years peace negotiations broke down, with an official resumption of the war and abrogation of the ceasefire agreement in January 2008. A split in the LTTE, tensions between Muslims and Tamils, and issues around the distribution of aid after the December 2004 tsunami contributed to a volatile political climate. During this period NP's peacekeeping role came to the fore. The work of NP shifted again.
NP continues its presence and work in Sri Lanka, after the end of the civil war
declared in May 2009. There is still much to do to meet the needs of human rights defenders, journalists, community activists and vulnerable communities facing increasing threats and attacks from armed groups and individuals seeking to impose their own ideology and culture on this multi-ethnic and diverse island.
Strategy
Nonviolent Peaceforce Sri Lanka (NPSL) has divided its work into the following programmatic areas:
• Confidence Building and Stabilization: Working to build confidence of people formerly under LTTE control to use the mechanisms and institutions available to them for addressing their grievances and protection issues, while at the same time working to strengthen those institutions and hold them accountable for meeting the needs of these people.
• Community Capacity Building: Building the capacity of community based structures in Sri Lanka to undertake their own unarmed civilian peacekeeping and prevent the escalation of conflicts at the community level.
• Human Rights Defenders: Protecting and building the confidence of human rights defenders, both individuals and organizations, so they are able to carry out their legitimate work for the promotion and protection of human rights in Sri Lanka.
• Election Support: Supporting and protecting local election monitors from threats and intimidation so they are able to carry out their role of ensuring that Sri Lankan elections are free and fair and accessible to all.
• Deterring Child Recruitment: Protecting children and their families at risk of recruitment or re-recruitment by armed groups and helping to eliminate the practice of child recruitment from Sri Lanka.
Field News
Field reports offer details and descriptions of the work of the Nonviolent Peaceforce teams. Reports are produced monthly by the Country Directors and other staff on location with in a field project.
June 2010 Sri Lanka Report
On the 18th June, the Sri Lankan government (GoSL) held a victory parade in Colombo to mark the first anniversary of the end of the civil war in May 2009. President Mahinda Rajapaksa took the salute attended by thousands of troops drawn from units that had led the final assault against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE). The military show, which was attended by diplomats and high-ranking government officials, was originally planned to be held last month but heavy monsoon rains forced its postponement. Read more »
Interview with Zahra Ismail, NP Sri Lanka Capacity-Building Project Coordinator
The interview, which was conducted by Irene Hunter, Co-Chair of the Edmonton Chapter of CDPI (Canadian Department of Peace Initiative), originally appeared in CDPI’s May/June 2010 newsletter. Read more »
Regarding cancellations of NP visas in Sri Lanka
On June 24th, a fax was received at the Colombo office of Nonviolent Peaceforce – Sri Lanka (NPSL), from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, advising the project that visas for Ms. Tiffany Easthom (Country Director, NPSL) and Mr. Ali Palh (Coordinator Human Rights Defenders Project, NPSL) were being cancelled and that they would have to leave the country on or before July 1st. Read more »
May 2010 Sri Lanka Report
May marked the first anniversary since the end of the 26-year long civil war in Sri Lanka. One year ago, in May 2009, the Sri Lankan government (GoSL) achieved an overwhelming military victory against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Remembrance services were held around the country but military parades that were due to take place in Colombo had to be postponed due to heavy monsoon rains. Read more »
April 2010 Sri Lanka Report
Sri Lanka’s election period finally came to a close with the holding of the Parliamentary elections on the 8th April. The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which is led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, won by a comfortable majority. The UPFA was only six seats short of attaining the two-thirds majority needed to change Sri Lanka’s Constitution. In contrast to the Presidential elections that were held towards the end of January, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) commented on the low turnout of voters for the Parliamentary elections around the country. Read more »
Background
Sri Lanka is an island nation that includes multiple religious, linguistic, and ethnic groups. The Sinhalese, at approximately 75 percent of the population, form the largest group. The majority of Sinhalese live in the south, central, and western portions of the island, speak Sinhala and identify with Buddhist belief and tradition. Tamils, the second largest ethnic group, are primarily concentrated in the north and east, with additional significant populations in the central and western provinces, primarily identify with Hindu belief and practice, and make up approximately 14 percent of the island's population. Smaller percentages self-identify as Moorish/Islamic, Catholic, and Protestant Christian.
The Sri Lankan civil war was an insurgency by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) against the government of Sri Lanka with the stated aim of creating an independent Tamil state in the northeast of the island.
The war began in July 1983 and ended in May 2009, with over 80,000 people officially listed as killed and over a quarter million displaced.
Outcome
Following the end of major armed conflict in May 2009, NPSL's ongoing work in Sri Lanka includes the following:
• Working at the grassroots level and in partnership with local NGOs to build relationships in communities affected by violent conflict and to identify their ongoing safety and security needs.
• Working to strengthen existing structures and mechanisms at the community level which can provide protection to civilians.
• Engaging directly with governments, armed forces, police and other armed actors to help them identify and stop abuses, threats, attacks and other illegal activity directed against unarmed civilians.
• Monitoring the impact on civilian populations of violent conflict, evaluating the options available to communities for ensuring their safety and security in such conditions and linking those communities to the resources and opportunities that could help them to improve their safety and security.
• Maintaining a visible international presence in areas or at events where the risk of renewed violence is high.
• Providing protective accompaniment to individuals facing direct threats or justified fear of attack. This includes working in conjunction with people when this can increase their confidence, accompanying them to do their own work at times or places where they may be particularly vulnerable or when under immediate threat.
• Providing safe and neutral spaces for individuals and groups to meet when it is otherwise difficult or impossible for them.
• Working with specific vulnerable groups such as children, internally displaced persons and promoters of rights and welfare facing direct threats to their life.
