The election of a new Government in Sri Lanka in January 2015 that had campaigned on a platform of national reconciliation and unity has significantly decreased the number of incidents of religious violence.
The new Government has also allowed much greater space for dialogue and new initiatives from government and civil society organizations to promote interfaith and inter-ethnic harmony.
However, while the situation has undoubtedly improved, religious radicalism linger and can easily be mobilized in moments of crisis.
Through research and capacity-building activities, the project aims to equip community and national level actors to develop appropriate mechanisms and education interventions to strengthen community resilience, reduce tensions connected to religious/ethnic differences and promote a greater spirit of unity and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
“Religion shouldn’t be a weapon to destroy human rights and the values in society.”
– Young Buddhist Monk and Equitas community participant, Venerable Weliwitiya Dhamminda.
What we do
Addressing these challenges through human rights education, Equitas is committed to:
- equip community and national level actors to develop mechanisms and education interventions that:
– strengthen community resilience;
– reduce tensions connected to religious and ethnic differences;
– and promote a greater spirit of unity and reconciliation;
- engage with key ‘drivers of resilience’, including religious and community leaders, educators and youth, to enhance their capacity to withstand violent triggers;
- engage and support efforts by the Government of Sri Lanka to promote dialogue, national unity and reconciliation;
- disseminate good practices, lessons learned, research findings and capacity-building tools on a regional and national level through forums and dialogues.
Our impact
Through our work in Sri Lanka:
- More than 13,000 people have been reached to reduce ethno-religious tensions, generate a spirit of understanding, contribute to the promotion of religious diversity, and develop lessons for other societies experiencing similar conflict.
“For the first time in my life entered a temple, learnt about the Bible, got to know about different religious festivals. For the first time in my life, I sat with people belonging to all four religions”
– Participant from Galle
“This workshop [for religious school teachers] gave us the opportunity to share our thoughts, beliefs and express ourselves with people from different faiths. We hope we can bring this to a national level to bring about peace. The human rights values are important. They are the pillars for building the nation.”
– Hindu Sunday School Principal, Colombo
- Community Action Projects: participants (from civil society organizations and government) to our capacity-building workshops came up with community action projects to put their learning into practice.
Below are examples:
“I was able to establish a fisheries society including Muslim and Tamil fisherman and make sure that everyone benefits from the profits.”
– Participant from Mulaithivu
“We were able to visit a Muslim mosque with 25 women from both Muslim and Sinhala societies and build relationships”
– Participant from Ampara
“In village level meetings I was able to conduct activities related to peace and harmony. I started volunteer activities in cleaning public places, religious places, in various religious festivals and was able to engage other communities and youth in these events.”
– Participant from Trincomalee
“With the involvement of the Human Rights commission, religious leaders and others, i was able to conduct a discussion for ensuring the rights of minorities in Kandy District after the violence in Kandy”
– Participant from Colombo