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.
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.
Field Reports
Field reports offer details and descriptions of the past and present work of the Nonviolent Peaceforce teams. Reports are produced monthly by the Country Directors and other staff on location with an NP field project.
January 2010 Sri Lanka Report
January 26th marked Sri Lanka's Presidential elections, which had been called by the Government in November of last year. After an acrimonious campaign between the two principal contenders, incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and retired General Sarath Fonseka, Mahinda Rajapaksa won by a comfortable majority. For Nonviolent Peaceforce, it was an intense month as it carried out a number of activities in the final run-up to the elections as well as providing support for our local election monitoring partner organisations during and after the elections.
December 2009 Sri Lanka Report
Following the Government of Sri Lanka's announcement in November that Presidential Polls would be held in January, almost two years ahead of schedule, the country's political parties and electoral mechanisms shifted into high gear in December. Nonviolent Peaceforce also positioned itself to assist throughout the pre- and immediate post-election period by coordinating with the country's leading election monitoring organizations as described below.
Improving the Safety and Security of Local Election Monitors and Vulnerable Communities
November 2009 Sri Lanka Report
In November 2009, in the four districts where NP teams are currently operational, the teams received more than 25 new cases of potential human rights violations, and conducted a variety of follow-up activities and advocacy on more than 20 other cases. They also traveled throughout their districts, engaging with constituents and beneficiaries on security-related issues and participated in more than 60 stakeholder meetings. At the request of local partners, they also performed a number of protective accompaniments.
October 2009 Sri Lanka Report
Throughout October, pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) continued: to fulfill its promises related to the release of Tamil populations still being held in closed camps in the North following the military defeat of the Tamil separatists last May. The pace of release began to be speeded up, but was hampered by the lack of existing infrastructure in many areas and the enormity of the mine-removal needs. Pressure also came in the form of the threatened loss of favorable economic considerations from the European Union in relation to Sri Lanka's vast garment industry.
September 2009 Sri Lanka Report
Sri Lankan authorities continued throughout September to defend the government's overall post-war strategy, which has included the ongoing confinement in welfare camps of more than a quarter million Tamils. Meticulous screening procedures continue in an attempt to weed out LTTE loyalists among the IDPs (internally displaced persons). As the annual monsoon rains threaten, there has been growing international and local pressure on the government to expedite the process and release already-screened people for resettlement or to the care of their relatives.
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.
