A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Government approves historic National Recociliation Policy
(Lanka-e-News-
09.May.2017, 11.30PM) On 2 May 2017, in a historic move, the Cabinet of
Ministers of the Government of Sri Lanka approved Sri Lanka’s first
National Reconciliation Policy.
The process for developing the National Reconciliation Policy was
initiated in September 2015 by the Office for National Unity &
Reconciliation (ONUR) chaired by Former President Her Excellency Madam
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.
After a one-year comprehensive consultation process with multiple
stakeholders including Government officials, ministries, departments,
members of provincial councils, civil society, academia, and experts and
grass-roots activists, the National Reconciliation Policy was submitted
by His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena in September 2016 to
Cabinet of Ministers for discussion. In his accompanying note to the
Cabinet, His Excellency stated that the Office for National Unity and
Reconciliation (ONUR) had drafted the National Policy in a “manner that
reflects that reconciliation is a whole-of-government effort and a
multi-stakeholder endeavour.”
At this Cabinet Meeting in September 2016, Hon Minister Mano Ganeshan,
Minister of National Coexistence, Dialogue & Official Languages,
requested a few amendments to the document. Hence, the Cabinet directed
the Secretary to the President to discuss these concerns with ONUR, who
had prepared and drafted the National Policy on Reconciliation, and with
Ministers and Secretaries of relevant Ministries and present a final
version of the National Policy on Reconciliation. The Ministry of
National Coexistence, Dialogue & Official Languages sent in
amendments comprising paragraphs regards two matters, namely, language
policy and coexistence. The rest of the original document as was
prepared and drafted by ONUR was agreed to by the Ministry National
Coexistence, Dialogue & Official Languages and other relevant
Ministries.
Accordingly, ONUR prepared the final version of the National Policy on
Reconciliation and it was this final version of the document prepared by
ONUR that was adopted by the Government at the Cabinet of Ministers’
meeting held on 2 May 2016.
ONUR held further discussions and consultations with stakeholders and
the revised final version of the National Reconciliation Policy &
Coexistence was resubmitted as a joint Cabinet Memorandum by His
Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena and Hon Mano Ganeshan,
Minister of National Coexistence, Dialogue & Official Languages, to
the Cabinet of Ministers on 2 May 2017 for adoption.
The National Reconciliation Policy declares that will “serve as the
State policy on reconciliation” and “provide direction to the process of
national reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” Further, it says that it will
“provide a guiding framework to all stakeholders working on
reconciliation in order to achieve coherence in reconciliation
initiatives.”
The National Policy on Reconciliation is set to fill a long-standing
vacuum due to the absence of a consolidated National Policy on
Reconciliation. The National Policy on Reconciliation will aim to
satisfy the need of the country for an over-arching vision on
reconciliation and a broad, coherent framework to steer and direct the
process of national reconciliation. In this regard, it declares that,
“Acknowledging that while several reconciliation initiatives are
underway, there does not exist an expressed declared policy by the
Government of Sri Lanka on the subject; hence this National Policy on
Reconciliation aims to bridge this gap.”
This National Reconciliation Policy has laid down a set of “Policy
Principles” which it defines as “A set of actionable principles and
long-term goals that will form the basis for making rules and
guidelines, and to provide overall direction to planning and development
for national reconciliation. These include Equality, Human Rights,
Justice and the Rule of Law, Transitional Justice, Inclusivity and
Diversity, Sustainable Development, Civic Consciousness and others. The
National Reconciliation Policy also lays down guidelines for
stakeholders and actors implementing reconciliation programs and has
identified the following as critical to it, namely, Conflict
Sensitivity, Cross-Cultural Awareness, Victim-Centredness, Gender
Responsiveness, Foresight and Innovation, Leadership and Sustainability,
Efficiency and Effectiveness, Coordination and Complementarity and
Clear and Consistent Communication.
The National Reconciliation Policy includes an Implementation Strategy
which has stated as follows: “Mainstream the values defined in the
National Policy on Reconciliation within government institutions and
existing national initiatives through annual work plans; Develop a
National Programme and Action Plan for Reconciliation; and Launch public
awareness and education campaigns on the National Policy on
Reconciliation and the National Programme and Action Plan on
Reconciliation.”
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by (2017-05-09 20:27:13)
by (2017-05-09 20:27:13)