Muslim Women's Research And Action Forum – Sri Lanka – Ethnic Harmony and Peaceful Co-existence

“We were able to win the war but… but… we were not able to win the peace”

It is more than 10 years since the end of the 30 year civil war but the country is yet to recover from the aftermath of the war. There are numerous unresolved socio-economic and political issues. Hence the conflicts go on at multiple levels.

In such circumstances understanding, conflict, peace and peace-building is critical to MWRAF’s work as it is very much linked with rights, peace and justice, and touching all people’s lives, especially women’s everyday lives.

This eastern province of Sri Lanka has a unique population of all ethnicities and religions of the nation. Lying at the intersection of competing Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala nationalisms, the East has seen some of the worst of Sri Lanka’s inter-ethnic violence and remains at risk for more. Challenges with religious extremism and disrespect to ‘others’ freedom and rights exacerbated by political and business rivalries has created disharmony. MWRAF has been working in the eastern province since the early 2000s and has undertaken a number of initiatives to foster ethnic harmony and peaceful coexistence. The influence of the community and religious leaders as the key actors in building bridges amongst the communities was identified and has been a salient part of our peace building efforts.

Peoples’ solidarity Alliance and interfaith dialogues.

MWRAF has supported and facilitated the setting up of Intra-faith as well as Inter-faith alliances in the Ampara district. It initially supported the Federation of all Mosques in Ampara (FAMAD) to undertake peace building activities and facilitated the formation Religious Federations of the other religious groups and finally the setting up of the Inter- Religious Federation of Ampara District (IRFAD). Religious leaders from all faiths, academics, influential community leaders, professionals, media persons, and community members constitute the membership of this alliance. With MWRAF`s facilitation IRFAD was incorporated into Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace (SLCRP) as their district branch in 2010.

Women’s voices are prerequisite for creating lasting peace, they have a significant role to play as peace makers and peace keepers. As such MWRAF facilitated the establishment of a women’s wing in the interfaith federation. IRFAD has been a very important partner and contributed immensely to our peace building activities in the Ampara district. Their efforts have led to increasing dialogue between the communities with very encouraging results.

Understand the religion, culture and language of other communities.
Not succumb to rumours
Reduce hatred and jealousy and develop mutual understanding.
Stand in solidarity through thick and thin.
Abide by an early warning system – heed to disaster management and prompt action

Social awareness/ education dialogues

Intra and Inter faith meetings conducted to raise awareness within the Muslim community and engagement with members of other faiths, particularly Buddhist, Christian, and Hindus with the aim of removing misunderstandings about the other religions and to accept diversity. To raise awareness on religious harmony, conflict mitigation and strengthen peace building and harmonious co-existence many seminars and workshops with a multi-religious focus were conducted with local government and provincial council members, local community and leaders of all ethnic and religious groups. Dialogues were undertaken with the Government officials and law enforcement authorities in many villages resolving Temple, Mosque, Kovil and other issues.

MWRAF envisages the school as an ideal place to teach positive human relations and thus embarked on a school programme to build in the children knowledge, attitudes and values that will instill in them moral integrity, to make well grounded ethical decisions based on values to fulfill their roles as responsible citizens and contribute to a culture of peace. We provide tools for educators to work with intercultural and inter faith learning in diverse settings.

Information Centre

A comprehensive knowledge – building unit for disaster management and early warning mechanism was equipped and established at the Women`s Center in Marudumunai. Training of Trainers Programmes to proactively deal with disasters, conflicts and crisis and methods for prompt action were conducted.

Ethnic Harmony and Peaceful Co-existence.