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Watsala Jayamanna
- Field of study: Sustainable…
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Watsala Jayamanna's Page
Profile Information
- What motivated you (or your organization) to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?
- The gruesom ethnic conflicts in the world, especially my countr - Sri Lanka, had always pursuaded me to find solutions for ethnic conflict. If there are no solutions at all at least how to co-exist with the situation and develop the country to the maximum possibility.
- Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself or the work of your organization (no more than 3 paragraphs)
- I am a development worker with a legal background. My focus in development is on community-based development (bottom-up). I recently graduated from Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, Boston.
- Please list the countries and/or regions in which you (or your organization) have direct and significant expertise
- Sri Lanka
Central America
- What is your current country of residence (or location of your organization)?
- Sri Lanka
- What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?
- Field of study: Sustainable International Development
- What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)
- http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-1-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
- What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)
- http://www.defencewire.blogspot.com
- Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise (or the primary sectoral areas of your organization) ?
- Development, Environment
- Which are your primary skills areas(or the primary skill areas of your organization)?
- Training, Program Design, Advocacy, Research
- What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?
- Community Resource and Development Planning - a tool for participatory development in the context of protected areas and conservation;
and
Water and Sanitation
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Events
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USAID, Global Pulse 2010 is a 3-day, online collaboration event, that will bring together individual socially-engaged participants and organizations from around the world
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Nonviolence In The Context Of War Or Armed Conflict
June 18, 2010 at 6pm to July 5, 2010 at 7pm – Kurve Wustrow
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Bologna, Italy Symposium on Conflict Prevention, Resolution, and Reconciliation
June 19, 2010 to July 17, 2010 – Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center
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Training for Urban Planning Practitioners: Managing Conflicts and Urban Development in Multiethnic Communities
June 20, 2010 at 6pm to June 26, 2010 at 7pm – European Youth Center
Latest Activity
azra
thnx
i will contact him
we need to raise Rs. 100,000 for establishing a Internet children's library. International Professors Project will provide the technical expertise. Any help is welcome.
2010 MDG Development Project Management Institute in Monterey and Washington DC at Monterey, California or Washington, D.C.
May 24, 2010 at 9am to June 18, 2010 at 5pm
Interested in a career in international development or humanitarian assistance?
Consider a three-week training in development project management.
The Development Project Management Institute (DPMI) is a three-week intensive, immersive professional…
It is a welcome development.It's worthy to say that violence against women is increasing especially in the area of inheritance rights as it is common in my State-Akwa Ibom of Nigeria where women are not allow to inherit properties from their parents…
It is my desire to have a training opportunities that goes with scholarship,this will enhance my capacity building towards development work in my Country.
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Please the network lost my account, and I recreated again, reason I ask again friendship with you, please allow again to be friends
God bless you
Pastor Samuel
Point of View – The causes
After the bestowing of independence in 1948 the relative peace that prevailed in Sri Lanka in the preceding century was steadily eroded. The process began with the introduction of the “Indian and Pakistan Citizenship Act” and the State sponsored colonization of predominant Tamil areas with Sinhalese “Island Reconvicted Criminals (IRC’s)” to weaken the political strength of the Tamils in those parts of the country by the UNP government of D.S.Senanayake and later the venting out of popular Singhalese umbrage against the Tamils by electing S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike for his “Sinhala Only” (a policy of making Singhalese the sole official language) policy in 1956. The treachery of S.W.R.D with regard to the Bandaranaike-Chelvanyagam Pact of 1957 amplified increasingly strained relations between the two races. These reached a boiling point in May 1958 when riots broke out in Colombo and the provinces; the most notable implication of these pogroms, besides the greater level of antagonism between the races, was that the Tamils began to lose confidence in the Government of Sri Lanka to safeguard them and treat them as equitable citizens. The primary reason was for five days (until the Indian High Commissioner intervened) the government had stood aside and had done nothing. This perception was intensified by the riots of 1977 (where the UNP government of J.R.Jayawardene failed to protect Tamils from Singhalese gangs with the words ‘War or Peace, you decide’, the burning of the Jaffna Public Library (a symbol of Tamil culture and an important repository of original texts relating to the origins of the Tamils).
The role of standardization must not be forgotten; the Jaffna Tamils depended on education for economic advancement. The introduction of standardization in 1973 meant that Jaffna Tamils would lose their niche position in the Civil Service and private sector. In 1969, the Northern Province, which was largely populated by Tamils and comprised 7% of the population of the country, provided 27.5 percent of the entrants to science based courses in Sri Lankan universities. By 1974, this was reduced to 7% (through the ‘standardization handicap’ race). This is repeatedly cited as evidence of State discrimination against Tamils, and hence heavily contributed in undermining the Tamil’s confidence in the State.
By 1983 the Tamils were treated as second-class citizens; their language not recognized, advancement in the civil service limited, discriminated against in terms of education and not protected by their State. Furthermore, they were considered aliens in their own land. This general perception was dominant at even the highest levels of government:
“If there is discrimination in this land which is not their (Tamil) homeland, then why try to stay here. Why not go back home (India) where there would be no discrimination. There are your kovils and Gods. There you have your culture, education, universities etc. There you are masters of your own fate”
- Mr.W.J.M. Lokubandara, M.P. in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, July 1981
This can be considered with ease as a lucid breach of the social contract; the Tamils then felt it their right to rebel and restore their rights. The Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976 had firmly placed this restoration in terms of a separate sate. A guerilla movement emerged from those dissatisfied and brought the conflict into a new phase.
One of the root causes of the ethnic issue is the feeling of inequality and oppression and for the ethnic conflict to be solved these must be dealt with; however this must be done within a framework considering the mutual hate and the deep rifts created in the last 25 years.
A country deeply divided, over 100,000 dead, a generation (or two) lost, children brainwashed, hatred and above all fear. What can be done? The solution is simple yet concurrently complex. It is based on the cry of the French Revolution “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”; all ethnic groups must be treated as equals. How it is to be achieved? The solution lies in the creation of a modern liberal democratic structure that ensures the rights of all citizens are equally upheld. All citizens must be treated equally. A sense of national identity based on the principle of the nation state rather than ethnicity must be instilled and cultivated.
On a practical level this means that the government should not consider the race of a person for any purpose e.g. the indication of race on national identification is unnecessary and counterproductive. Furthermore, the use of a common non-sectarian language (such as English) should be encouraged. In addition, a culture of principle and policy, not ethnicity, politics must be encouraged. A firm independent judiciary with power to enforce its decisions must be developed. Finally, the state must be secular, in order to prevent discrimination from that direction.
For all of this to occur the legislative, constitutional, administrative and sociological change must occur. The burden lies on the average Sinhala voter (the majority) to elect a government that will ensure that all these goals are achieved. The perceptions of the Sinhala voter must be changed via education and exposure. Only when these goals are achieved and all ethnic groups feel they are equal citizens the “voice of strife” be dumb and only then will “we march to a mighty purpose”, the betterment of all our citizens, united as one.
Even though I am not agree with the point you have given about the Sri Lankan conflict thank you very much for the blog you mentioned. http://www.defencewire.blogspot.com,
Hope to share ideas about Sri Lanka issue, i think you will get some idea in a tamil person's point of view by visiting the discussion http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org/forum/topics/a-letter-i-received-urgent
Sri Lanka : The Last Round ?
Rene Wadlow
With the Sri Lankan government troops closing in to the remaining Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) stronghold, it looks as if this is the last round of a military struggle that began in 1983 but whose roots go back at least to independence in 1948. The ongoing conflict between the Sinhala and the Tamils that has ebbed and flowed derives its emotional force, in part, from competing beliefs that began during the colonial period about legitimate rule, economic wellbeing, and sacred authority.
The Office to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens has had a long-standing concern with the conflict in Sri Lanka and has made frequent calls for good-faith negotiations on the political and administrative structure of the State. I had thought that reason would win out over the irrational drive to settle complicated issues of social-political structures through armed violence. I seem to have been wrong since both the government and the LTTE gave up negotiations in exchange for a military ‘solution’. A military victory seems now possible for the government forces.
There are two short-term dangers. There are some 200,000 people trapped between the LTTE militias and the government troops. There have been appeals from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross for a cease-fire so that civilians, especially the sick and wounded, can leave the fighting area. As this is being written (11 Feb. 2009), there is no cease-fire and none seems in view.
There have been calls from the Government to the LTTE leadership to lay down their arms and end the fighting. Again, this is a logical possibility, but given past LTTE willingness to fight to the bitter end, a massive rendition seems unlikely. Thus, there may be a heavy loss of life of those caught in the cross-fire.
The second danger is revenge killings on a large scale. The Tamil-Sinhalese conflict has been extremely bitter. Many families in both communities have lost kin. Although binding up the wounds of war should be the first priority, there is always a danger that revenge killings take place. Logically, the establishment of social cohesion — that is, an ongoing process of developing a community of shared values and opportunities based on a sense of trust, hope and reciprocity — should be the prime aim of government policy. However, there are small groups of violent individuals who may be ready to kill for revenge or to get rid of rivals.
Therefore, the Office to the UN, Geneva, of the Association of World Citizens has sent a three-point appeal to the President of Sri Lanka, Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa:
1) calling for the respect of international humanitarian law as expressed in the Red Cross Geneva Conventions;
2) appealing for the protection of all civilians both during the on-going conflict and especially in the period following the end of armed conflict during which there is a danger of revenge killings. We are sure that Sri Lanka will respect universally-recognized human rights standards;
3) appealing further that serious consultations on the governmental and administrative structures of the State be undertaken so as to facilitate national unity based on the respect of individual views and aspirations.
Wide support for these three aims would be welcome. Letters could be sent to the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York:
H.E. H.M.G.S. Palikakkara
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
630 Third Ave.
New York, NY 10017, USA
Rene Wadlow, Representative to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens
Thank you to be our friend, please we welcome your service in my region, I'm the founder of PCR/D.R.Congo and need to cooperate with you if you may allow, because People in east of D.R.Congo need the service you offer.
for furthermore you may contact through my email
Pastor Samuel
peacecrp@yahoo.com
I think U intrest in peace.i'm a graduate in Peace & conflict Resolution in University of Kelaniya In Sri lanka.Then i studied in Internatioan Relations,Human Rigts,Counselling Psycology Diplomas.my last job is Youth national coordinator in anti war front in Sri Lanka.
Now i work in Human rights NGO.We help marginalized people in Sri lankan Conflict.
So we can share our peace knowledge
So I like read Ur view bbout peace.If U have any free time plz join my discussions in my page.
U R welcome
Thushara
Would like to know the status of ethnic conflicts in your place, i am very much interested, can you please share....
Regards
Madhu
Easy is to get a place is someone's address book.
Difficult is to get a place in someone's heart.
Easy is to judge the mistakes of others
Difficult is to recognize our own mistakes
Easy is to talk without thinking
Difficult is to refrain the tongue
Easy is to hurt someone who loves us.
Difficult is to heal the wound...
Easy is to forgive others
Difficult is to ask for forgiveness
Easy is to set rules.
Difficult is to follow them...
Easy is to dream every night.
Difficult is to fight for a dream...
Easy is to show victory.
Difficult is to assume defeat with dignity...
Easy is to admire a full moon.
Difficult to see the other side...
Easy is to stumble with a stone.
Difficult is to get up...
Easy is to enjoy life every day.
Difficult to give its real value...
Easy is to promise something to someone.
Difficult is to fulfill that promise...
Easy is to say we love.
Difficult is to show it every day...
Easy is to criticize others.
Difficult is to improve oneself...
Easy is to make mistakes.
Difficult is to learn from them...
Easy is to weep for a lost love.
Difficult is to take care of it so not to lose it.
Easy is to think about improving.
Difficult is to stop thinking it and put it into action...
Easy is to think bad of others
Difficult is to give them the benefit of the doubt...
Easy is to receive
Difficult is to give
Easy to read this
Difficult to follow
Easy is to keep the friendship with words
Difficult is to keep it with meanings.
Would u like to be my Penpal
I am Waheed 32 Male Lawyer , working for human rights
hope to hear from you soon
Waheed
My Messanger id
waheed2010@hotmail.com
waheed2000@yahoo.com
0092-333-4639652
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