GIJTR’s Long-Term Impact: Sustaining Peace in Sri Lanka
Regional or country-specific networks established through GIJTR programming prove highly beneficial when progress toward peace backslides, or violence reemerges. In Sri Lanka, for instance, where GIJTR has worked since 2015, tensions are often regional. To address these divisions, GIJTR collaborates with its long-term local partner and ICSC member, the Institute of Social Development, with whom it partnered to develop a decentralized district-based coalition of CSOs from across the country called the Truth and Reconciliation Forum (TRF) that promotes justice and violence prevention in all 25 districts of the country. TRF members work with individuals and community leaders, women and youth in all communities where they are present, across all ethnic groups. The TRF helps to bridge the gap between central authorities and communities, keeping communities informed of national justice processes, and authorities aware of community needs. In addition, the TRF has established 240 Village Solidarity Forums (VSF)—each composed of 15 representatives—to extend its reach to the grassroots level, with a particular focus on
women and youth. The TRF and VSF organize trainings with community members on timely topics like good governance, gender equality, pluralism and the Right to Information, which have helped countless individuals recognize themselves as rights bearers, devise solutions to local social challenges and form connections with individuals from other ethnic and religious backgrounds which help unite and break down stereotypes and misinformation. This ensures a locally rooted approach to advocacy that can keep pressure on the authorities in the long term. This has proven valuable in recent years as Sri Lanka experiences political backsliding and violence, including the 2019 “Easter bombings” that killed nearly 300 people. As experienced and widely trusted actors, TRF members have been able to ensure that, at least on the ground, work toward social cohesion and peace continues even when the political climate is hostile to such efforts. By creating locally based, informal processes that document human rights violations and promote reconciliation, the TRF works to offset the failures of the country’s national government.
Members of the Truth and Reconciliation Forum at a press conference in 2016.
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GIJTR’s Impact In Depth: Civil Society
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