Civil Society Emperor CEPA Has No Clothes

By Jolly Somasundram –June 7, 2016

Jolly Somasundram

“Community Mediation: A Just Alternative? Expectations and Experiences of Community Mediation Boards in the Northern Province” – By Mohamed Munas and Gayathri Lokuge. – Published by “The Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA)” – (46pgs). 31 March 2016. – (CEPA Working Paper Series No 21- 2016)
Reviewed By: Jolly Somasundram

Civil Society Emperor, CEPA, Has No Clothes  (Parturiunt CEPA nascetur ridiculus mus: CEPA laboured forth and produced a ridiculous mouse.)

“Two disputants agreed to visit the village sage, seeking mediation on their bitter dispute. He listened patiently to both. At the end, addressing one, the mediator said the disputant was right. Turning to the other, the mediator said that he too was right. The watching wife asked how, both could be right at the same time. The mediator answered, ‘you too are right’ ”.

Mediation is a voluntary process in which an individual or group, helps people in conflict, to negotiate tangible and mutually acceptable agreements which resolve their differences. The first mediator in Sri Lanka was The Buddha, who visited her on three occasions, to successfully mediate three separate disputes. Community Mediation Boards (CMBs), dealing with community (group) based alternative dispute resolution mechanisms- as against judge (individual) based dispute resolution mechanisms- were set up in 1988. After Independence, governments addressed the same social issue. In 1958, it got enacted the Reconciliation Boards Act No 10 with amending Act 12 of 1963, under which Sama Mandalayas were created by the Minister of Justice. They did not measure upto expectations, and, in 1971, The Peoples Committees Act No 12 was enacted. Its Committees (called Janatha Committees) became so notorious that they were quickly abolished in 1978, to be followed by the Debt Conciliation Board. This Board lasted till 1988 when the Act to set up CMBs was enacted. The next product development for CMBs (following on the Tsunami Mediation Boards), is the setting up of special mediation boards to deal with residual land issues in the N-E Province, a recommendation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee(LLRC) and part of the reconciliation process initiated by Government. (The first two offices, in this institution building effort, were opened on 27. May. 2016. They will be followed by Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Batticoloa, and Amparai). CMBs, in the quarter century of their existence, had gained international recognition. High level delegations from Bangla Desh, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal and Timor Leste have visited Sri Lanka to study their operations.

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