RESOLUTION ADOPTED AT THE CONFERENCE ON THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE PEACE BUILDING AND RECONCILIATION PROCESS HELD IN VAVUNIYA ON MARCH 7-9, 2003

Civil society actors from the north, east and south met in Vavuniya to discuss and map out the role of civil society in the peace building and reconciliation process. The conference consisted of about 80 persons jointly invited by the Sewalanka Foundation, the National Peace Council and the Japan Centre for Preventive Diplomacy. We, the participants at the conference, express our appreciation of the political vision and courage demonstrated by the leadership of the government and LTTE and of the facilitation provided by the Norwegian government in ending the war and its associated destruction. We also appreciate the concern of the international community for the restoration of peace in our country and their support for the peace process.

At the same time we express our anxiety at the troubled situation in the country in relation to the ongoing peace process and at the slow implementation of basic humanitarian measures and human rights protections to improve the lives of the war-affected people. We also express our concern at the exclusion of women from decision-making within the peace process. Women the world over have vast experience in restoring peace and justice and in healing relationships. The participants at this conference desire and call for women to play an active role in peace building so that civil society's participation at every level of public and political life is ensured.

International experience has shown that civil society support is indispensable for a sustainable solution to be the outcome of any negotiated peace process. Therefore, this conference urges the people to support the peace process. We also call on the government and LTTE to behave in a more transparent and responsible manner that yields tangible peace dividends to the people.

The conference notes that although the official peace process appears to be steady at the present time, there are a number of destabilising factors that are affecting it negatively. One of the primary sources of destabilisation is the absence of a bipartisan approach between the government and main opposition party. We believe that the inability of the two main political parties to work together on the issue is reflective of their unwillingness to make the resolution of the ethnic conflict their first priority.

A further concern of the conference is the inability of people in the north and east to enjoy their full human rights despite the passage of one year after the signing of the ceasefire agreement. We make particular reference to the plight of war-affected people, especially those displaced as a result of the war. Forcibly evicted people, whether Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese, and irrespective of the reason for their forced eviction, should be allowed to resettle in their places of original habitation as mandated by international humanitarian principles.

Another important concern of the conference is the continuing detention of prisoners without charges and without trial. For its part, the government has legalised the LTTE and permitted its members to do political work in all of the north and east. Therefore, the continued detention of LTTE suspects is without justifiable reason. By taking action to release these prisoners without delay and scaling back on security legislation, the government can demonstrate its commitment in a visible manner to the political resolution of the ethnic conflict and to using negotiations as the sole means of conflict resolution. Likewise we call on the LTTE to release the political prisoners in its custody to demonstrate its own commitment to democracy and political pluralism.

As a result of our deliberations, the participants at the conference expressed the need for an inclusive peace movement that would initiate peace activities and respond to the needs of civil society. We see an important role for civil society, in supplementing and complementing the ongoing peace process. We look forward eagerly to the national peace movements based in the south to extend their activities to the north and east and to have closer interaction with the peace loving people in those parts of the country on peace building initiatives. Accordingly we have resolved to set up an appropriate mechanism to take civil society initiatives parallel to the official processes and have proposed a steering committee to be appointed for this purpose.