Transitional justice must be communicated to the people
As befits a democratic government that governs with the consent of
the people, the government has launched two major public consultation
processes.
Civil society groups
The first of these public consultations was on constitutional reform
and ended on March 15. The second major public consultation process is
led by the National Consultation Task Force comprising civil society
members - to bring in more civil society groups into the consultation
process.
The National Peace Council(NPC) has conducted discussions on
strengthening transitional justice and reconciliation, especially at
community and grassroot level, focusing on district and community-based
organisations from Galle, Hambantota, Kalutara, Puttalam, Mannar, Jaffna,
Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Ampara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Ratnapura,
Kurunegala, Kegalle, Trincomalee and Colombo. These consultations are
intended to provide inputs to the government as it develops its
transitional justice, peace and reconciliation program.
Limited information
At the consultations on transitional justice and reconciliation
conducted with civil society representatives from all parts of the
country, two key messages are highlighted. The first is the limited
information available to the population regarding these issues. There is
an absence of strong and systematic information from the government.
Secondly, the message from Tamil-speaking participants from the North
and the East is their scepticism about the outcome of the on-going
transitional justice process.
This highlights the need for greater inclusion of such groups into
the process and for trust-building with them. The experience of the NPC
in taking this message to the people is that there is little or no
awareness of what the government framework is. This is in contrast to
the educational campaign with regard to an earlier constitutional reform
process in 1996 when the ‘devolution package’ made its appearance in
2000.
A government public communications unit was set up to take this
message to the people and was called the National Integration Programme
Unit, staffed by leading academics and activists who operated under the
government.
As a first step it is necessary for the government to carry out a
mass education campaign, so that the people who would be consulted have
a fair idea of what issues are at stake.
- NPC Governing Council
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