Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation Project Fourth Quarterly Narrative Report

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2 Table of Content Grant Details...2 Objectives...2 Actual Activities...2 Assessment...3 Capacity Building...4 Political Training... 4 Capacity Training on Human Rights and Good Governance... 4 Strengthening Grievance Redressal Mechanism and Policy Reforms...5 Legal Advice and Mobile Service... 5 Constitutional Reform...6 Evaluation...9 Project Description... 9 Methodology... 9 Evaluation Findings-Project Impact Indicator I: Increase level of agency pertaining to issues of politics and governance Indicator II: Solidarity Built Indicator III: Reconciliation Follow-up Intervention and Project Sustainability Conclusions, Lessons Learned and Recommendations Supplemental Information... I Annex I: Political Training Class Evaluation... I Annex II: Newspaper Articles regarding AFRIEL Human Rights Work... II Annex III: Newspaper Articles regarding AFRIEL Constitutional Reform Work... III Annex IV: Web Articles regarding AFRIEL RTI Work... V Annex V: Web Articles regarding AFRIEL Constitutional Reform Work... VI I

3 Grant Details Organization Name Grant Number Grant Amount $ 50,000 AFRIEL (Association for Friendship and Love) Grant Start and End Dates July 1, 2016 June 30, 2017 Project Title Reporting Period Covered April 1, 2017 June 30, 2017 Objectives Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation To increase youth participation in the political process and involvement in national reconciliation. Actual Activities Table 1: Q4 Planned Activities and Status Activities Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Note P = Planned V = In Progress C= Completed Objective 1: Enhance youth leaders political knowledge to deal with public issues independently and promote youth political participation Activity 1-1: 6-month Certificate Courses on Political Training V V V C Activity 1-2: Roundtable Discussions with Political Leaders, Professionals, Religious Leaders and Civil Society Leaders Q2 V V C Activity 1-3: NPC Monitoring P P V V Activity 1-4: Public Meetings on Political Solution and Functions of Provincial Council Q3 Q3 V C Objective 2: Enlarge networking capacity of the active youth groups with knowledge and practical experience to improve grievance redress mechanisms and to consolidate civil society activism in the country Activity 2-1: 6-month Certificate Courses on Capacity Training V V C Activity 2-2: Training on Human Rights Defenders and Advocacy for Grassroots Youth V V C Activity 2-3: GS division level Awareness Raising Programme and Formation of Citizen Watcher V V C Activity 2-4: Citizens Reconciliation Endeavor Q2 V V C Activity 2-5: Paralegal Trainings for Citizen Watchers P Q3 V C Activity 2-6: Voter Rights Training Programmes for Citizen Watchers V V C Activity 2-7: Election Monitoring Training for Citizen Watchers and Youth Volunteers P V V V Objective 3: Create understanding between youth from different ethnic communities with collaborative relationships and demands of reconciliation and political solutions in the southern society through their involvements and increase multi-ethnic supports of demilitarization of post-war Sri Lanka Activity 3-1: Inter-ethnic Internship Programme V V C Activity 3-2: Public Campaign in South P C Activity 3-3: Panel Discussions in Colombo Q3 Q3 V V 2

4 Assessment All the political training courses have been completed for 32 youth by this quarter. A total of 109 capacity trainees passed the final exam and will receive a certificate of completion. 3,360 complaints on legal document were referred to the relative authorities through a mobile service in collaboration with the Presidential Secretariat, Public Administration Ministry, Police Department, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Land, Ministry of Agriculture, Registrar General Office, Legal Aid Commission, National Housing Development Authority, and other district authorities. Nearly 1,300 have received the requested documents, including birth/death certificate, missing person certificate, national identify card, and land permit. 126 youth from 22 districts completed the Training for Facilitators for Public Discussion on Constitutional Reform Programmes and conducted 172 public meetings with the participation of 2,472 people in this quarter, including many in the north central, north western and the southern regions. The youth leaders from the north and east met 4 parliamentarians from Batticaloa and Jaffna districts, addressing people's concerns and expectations about the new constitution and urging the parliamentarians to work on improving the transparency of the constitutional reform process to ensure it meets people s expectations. 3

5 Capacity Building Political Training The political training has been completed in this quarter with 6 training sessions on gender and politics as well as advocacy and engagement (Annex I). Total 32 trainees achieved an attendance rate greater than 75% over the 6-month training period and, after participating in the Training for Facilitators for Public Discussion on Constitutional Reform Programmes, actively engaged in 57 public meetings on constitutional reform in the Northern Province starting in the mid June. During the constitutional reform campaign, these political trainees had fruitful and open discussions with youth leaders from east, upcountry, and south on public opinions towards political solutions, especially regarding power-sharing. Capacity Training on Human Rights and Good Governance AFRIEL hold a final exam in May for 113 capacity trainees. The exam questions, prepared by the lecturers of each subject area, consisted of two parts, theoretical knowledge and practical skills. 109 capacity trainees passed the exam and will receive a certificate of completion. 4

6 Strengthening Grievance Redressal Mechanism and Policy Reforms Legal Advice and Mobile Service At the end of the last quarter, AFRIEL conducted a mobile service on State land permit and illegal military land acquisition issues with nearly 5,100 people s participation in cooperation with the Presidential Secretariat, Public Administration Ministry, Vavuniya Government Agent and the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat. In this quarter, focusing on the legal documentation issue, AFRIEL worked with the above institutions as well as the Police Department, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Land, Ministry of Agriculture, Registrar General Office, Legal Aid Commission, and the National Housing Development Authority for a one-day mobile service in 4 locations, including Vavuniya Central College, Gamini College Vavuniya, Vavuniya Government Agent Office, and Saivapragasa Ladies School. 20 youth volunteers actively assisted people in logging complaints to the respective government authority throughout the process. According to the record provided by the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat, among 3,360 people who participated in the mobile service in this quarter, 601 people have received birth/death certificate and missing person certificate, 400 people received national identify card, and nearly 300 people received land permits. AFRIEL will continue follow-up the progress of the referred complaints with government officials. 5

7 Constitutional Reform Introduction of a new constitution was one of the main promises given by the present government during their election campaigns. Although some progress has been made, people are suspicious of the motives behind the action taken due to the lack of transparency in the reform processes. Falling under the influence of the joint opposition and politically-affiliated groups, the public perception toward the constitutional reforms has become more and more negative. Radicalized by Sinhala Buddhist movement, hate campaigners against ethnic and religious minorities were able to present their agenda more powerfully to bring down the constitutional reform. In the past few months, the progress of constitutional reform has been slowing down by losing support from the southern communities and the trust of minority groups. To help change this situation with the support of the young generations, AFRIEL selected 126 youth from 22 districts for 5 Training for Facilitators for Public Discussion on Constitutional Reform Programmes, cosponsored by the Internews Sri Lanka. This 6

8 facilitator team, consisting of 65 Tamils and 61 Sinhalese interns who attended the AFRIEL internship programme, journalists, civil society activists, university students, Youth Parliament Members, and National Youth Council Members, learned about fundamental principles of constitution, Evolution of the Sri Lankan Constitution, the current constitutional reform processes and strategies to increase people's support for a new constitution. During the trainings, the facilitator team practiced how to break the public rumors about constitutional reforms and to promote people's engagement in the new constitution making process. The facilitator team further developed an action plan for mobilizing the support needed for a new constitution from the general public and grassroots civil society leaders. They thereupon conducted 172 public meetings with the participation of 2,472 people within June month, including many in the north central, north western and the southern regions. During these public meetings, grassroots people extensively discussed about why and what do we need in a new constitution and they explained to the youth facilitators that the fear of politicians misusing the reforms to consolidate their power is the main reason why the public sees little interest in endorsing a new constitution. Figure 1: Number of Public Meetings on Constitutional Reform in June 2017 Figure 2: Participation of Public Meeting on Constitutional Reform in June Male Female The participants of these 172 meetings generally agreed that, if the following aspects are met, a new constitution to remove the causes of their long-standing day-to-day struggles for survival, jobs, security, and dignity. These aspects are social, economic and cultural rights as fundamental rights, strengthening the Independent Commissions, sharing of police, administration, finance and land powers, electoral reform to end corrupt politics with campaign finance regulations and mandatory quota for women and youth, and abolishing the executive presidency. In addition to the public meetings, the youth facilitators also met parliamentarians from Batticaloa and Jaffna districts, including S. Viyalanderan, S. Shritharan, G. Srineshan, and Annamalai Nadesu Sivasakthi, to exchange views on constitutional reforms. During the meetings, the youth leaders addressed people's concerns and expectations about the new constitution and learned about the issues in constitutional reform processes 7

9 from the parliament members perspectives. The government is likely to complete the constitutional reform, said the parliamentarians from parties of ethnic minorities. However, they criticized that the decision power and information about constitutional reform processes was monopolized by a few representatives of their parties. For being not answerable for the reform progress, they were not able to raise public support for the reform. In this situation, they further emphasized, if the new constitution presented by the government and a few individuals dissatisfy their voters, they will keep on challenging the reform. The youth leaders encouraged the parliamentarians to work on improving the transparency of the constitutional reform process to ensure it meets people s expectations. Beside continuing public meetings at grassroots level and roundtable discussions with parliamentarians from other districts, in the next step, the youth facilitators will work on spreading the understanding that the new constitution would help restore human rights and democracy and lead the way to a better future Sri Lanka. They will also extend the campaign to national level to push the government to escalate its efforts on constitutional reform processes with more transparency and to focus its attention on the opinions gathered from grassroots citizens. 8

10 Evaluation The overall purpose of this evaluation was to assess the extent to which the Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation (PPPNR) project has started bringing about anticipated changes, to examine which factors have proved critical in helping change and lessons learned for future programmes. The main objectives of the evaluation were to: 1. Evaluate the outcomes and impact of the PPPNR project against its objective. 2. Examine the project approach to implementation and advocacy in relation to the project s achievements. 3. The lessons that were learned and which can be applied in future project implementation. Project Description The Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation (PPPNR) project was a one-year initiative, implemented in Sri Lanka, in particular the Northern Province, between July 2016 and June The project was funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) with a grant of USD $50,000. To consolidate southern support and ensure sustainable solutions to the critical issues faced by the war-affected communities, the Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation Project works on three major areas with the continued support from NED. The first part is to expand the engagement with southern communities by establishing a multi-ethnic support team with strong commitments and personally involved in problem-solving process of the northern issues. The second component is to enlarge the networking capacity of the active youth groups with knowledge and practical experience to improve grievance redress mechanisms. And last, this project will also increase advocacy strength for reconciliation and political solutions through roundtable discussions, public meetings, panel discussion and public campaigns in the north and south with the participation of the multi-ethnic youth team. The project had 3 indicators: 1. Indication of level of agency pertaining to issues of politics and governance: assessed with mobilization of fellow youth volunteers and initiatives taken by trainees 2. Indication of solidarity built: accessed with mobilization and involvement of citizens, particularly Sinhalese. 3. Indicator of reconciliation: accessed with converging beliefs and recommendations about political reform. Methodology This evaluation was conducted from 24th to 29th July 2017 and included a desk-based document review, focus group discussions and field visit with stakeholders and beneficiaries in the north and south. 9

11 Evaluation Findings-Project Impact Indicator I: Increase level of agency pertaining to issues of politics and governance The project has successfully contributed in promoting youth action and helped build the capacity of the local youth through the implementation of trainings and community mobilization. In addition to the regular capacity and political trainings, the use of the paralegal approach and the RTI Act strengthened youth members capacity to push authorities for answers to the issues pending for decades regarding military-occupied land, documentation pertaining to ID cards and birth certificates and information on forcefully disappeared relatives in the war-affected areas. Reacting to the grim details emerged in the nearly 1,500 RTI applications that AFRIEL youth facilitated throughout the project period, the Presidential Secretariat and Public Administration, Ministry cooperated with AFRIEL and district authorities on two large-scale mobile services that benefited more than 10,000 people with land and NIC issues. Trainees of the past projects continued engaging with AFRIEL and the newcomers in advocacy work with and took up leadership roles in many initiatives, ranging from delivering speeches in public campaign, facilitating roundtable discussion with politicians, presenting in youth consultation session on reconciliation, to negotiating with higher officials over military-occupied land. Their efforts in connecting victim groups with government authorities brought them to a further level of recognition in the northern civil society. The project s capacity to engage with a broad range of mobilization, awareness-raising and advocacy approaches was attributable to the empowerment approach to youth who attended the trainings. The initiatives and mobilization taken by the trainees of capacity training and political training, multi-ethnic interns, and Citizen Watchers trained on paralegal in the project course are summarized below: Topic Reconciliation and Political Solutions Intervention Political trainees met the Chairman of the Reconciliation Task Force and the Secretary of Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms to express northern youth s opinions towards the government processes of reconciliation and transitional justice. This meeting successfully persuaded the Secretariat to launch a Youth Consultation Session on Reconciliation in August AFRIEL political trainees participated in this Youth Consultation Session to explain their suggestions in the submitted proposal regarding structures, processes and measures should be taken by the government proposed reconciliation mechanisms and the current challenges faced by the northern war-affected people. 10 political trainees reviewed the provincial consultation process on reconciliation with Journalist Associations, Bar Association, Members of the Zonal Task force, and other civil society organizations representatives at the Provincial Level Meetings: Role of the Media in Promoting National Reconciliation hosted by the Law and Society Trust (LST). 35 youth from the first and second batches political trainees hold a discussion with the PAFFREL Chairman and the National Peace Council (NPC) Executive Director Dr. Jehan Perera on reconciliation and transitional justice. Interns from the Southern Province engaged in research on public opinion on constitutional reforms with the Internews Sri Lanka. The findings of the survey provided an insight into how national level organizations should raise southern citizens awareness on the importance of constitutional reforms and further call on decision makers to stick to their commitment to introducing a new constitution. 10

12 This facilitator team consisting of 65 Tamils and 61 Sinhalese youth conducted 172 public meetings with the participation of 2,472 people within June month, including many in the north central, north western and the southern regions to discuss about the aspects needed for the constitutional reform. Human Rights and Capacity Building Youth leaders from the north and east exchanged views on the constitutional reform with 4 parliamentarians from Batticaloa and Jaffna districts and addressed people's concerns and expectations about the new constitution. The youth leaders encouraged the parliamentarians to work on improving the transparency of the constitutional reform process to ensure it meets people s expectations. The Citizen Watchers trained on paralegal assisted nearly 5,100 people from Vavuniya DS who face issues on State land permit and illegal military land acquisition in preparing supporting documents to apply for permits and ownership clearance in cooperation with the Presidential Secretariat, Public Administration Ministry, Vavuniya Government Agent and the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat. 7,798 complaints have been referred to the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat and the Land Commissioner through this effort. Multi-ethnic interns and youth forum members together with the northern youth successfully assisted 411 families from the North Central Province, 47 individuals from upcountry areas and 53 from the Uva Province in solving their land permit, public health, and labour issues through paralegal work. Youth introduced victims of political parties, land occupation and Kunchchikulam Forest Department land occupation issues, rehabilitated persons facing harassment from the TID and families of political prisoners to domestic and foreign activists, researchers, and journalists during their visits to the north. Youth also briefed activists from India, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines on the human rights situation in the north of the Maithripala Sirisena regime and shared experiences of challenges as human rights defenders in Sri Lanka. The joint public awareness-raising campaign launched by multi-ethnic interns and youth forum members were held in 12 districts, including Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Galle and Matara. 834 youth participated in the public dialogues, learning about discrimination against members of minorities, its social impact and how to overcome it through collective actions. 16 youth who completed the political training in the last project voluntarily took the facilitator role and gave public speeches during the campaign. Youth conducted a workshop titled Citizen Participation for Good Political Culture to identify the negative effects of the current Sri Lankan political culture on promoting democracy and good governance and social well-being of the citizens with nearly 70 religious leaders, government officials and representatives from CSOs and youth organizations. The 15 youth leaders conducted 53 village level voter education programmes after the Training on People s Initiative for Protecting Voter Rights. Citizen Watchers also engaged in this programme and distributed 1,500 leaflets to promote clean politics. This programme reached more than 1,000 people and improved their understanding and knowledge regarding the nature of political culture, voter rights and citizen engagement in governance through reviewing the people's daily practices. Nearly 600 people, including political parties representatives, civil society activists, and youth groups, participated in the March 12 Clean Politics Movement District conference in Vavuniya organized by the AFRIEL youth. Youth leaders who attended the event made a joint request to the political parties representatives to give nominations to corruptfree individuals and to provide adequate opportunities for women and youth. Youth conducted 3 RTI Camps in Vavuniya, Mannar and Anuradhapura districts, raising public awareness about the RTI filing procedure and the importance of access to information to empower citizens and redressal of grievance. Nearly 750 people who attended the RTI Camps filed RTI applications to the relevant authorities with the assistance of the fellow youth. 11

13 Election and Voter s Rights Youth with victim groups had a meeting with the President Secretary and obtained a letter in Sinhala and Tamil directing the Defence Ministry to immediately release and investigate into the complaint of the military occupied land in Keppapilavu and Pudukuduirippu. They also had a discussion with the Minister for National Dialogue on details of the land released and remain occupied in the north and east and were promised that this concern will be raised in a Cabinet Meeting. For promoting right to vote at age 18, political and capacity trainees, Citizen Watchers and multi-ethnic interns jointly launched the first programme under the #YouthVoteSL Campaign in Vavuniya and conducted public campaigns in Anuradhapura, Matale, Kandy and 55 villages in the Northern Province, raising 1,635 people s awareness about youth voter rights and political participation. Because of the commitment and activism AFRIEL youth have demonstrated, AFRIEL was awarded the Most Effective Campaign of the Greatest Impact in the #YouthVoteSL Campaign by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka. 40 northern youth, including the multi-ethnic interns, capacity and political trainees and selected Citizen Watchers, attended the Kite for Rights programme, a part of the #YouthVoteSL campaign, launched by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the Election Commission. During the event, the youth had a roundtable discussion with the Chairman of Election Commission to express the youth s concerns about the current electoral reform and issues of elections in the Northern Province. Youth organized the first consultation session of the Campaign All Ballots Count in Vavuniya for the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) to facilitate the voting rights of persons with disabilities and migrant workers and to report the suggestions in relation to the rights of the out of country voters to the relevant authorities including the parliamentary select committee. Invited by the IFES Sri Lanka, 25 selected political trainees, capacity trainees and Citizen Watchers had a roundtable discussion with Dr. Andrew Reynolds, Professor of Political Science and the Chair of Global Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill about the northern youth s views on the proposed Mixed-member Proportional (MMP) Representation system in Sri Lanka electoral reform. 35 youth from the AFRIEL first and second batches political trainees participated in the Training on Election Monitoring and Electoral Reform conducted by PAFFREL to learn about the Sri Lanka electoral process, new local government election law and its effects on voters, civil society proposals on campaign finance regulations, and youth responsibilities for a better political culture. Youth visited the Human Rights Commission in Colombo, lodging a complaint numbered HRC/3045/16 against the Election Commission over the issue that annually more than 400,000 young people who are above the age of 18 cannot register to vote and exercise their right secured by the Constitution of Sri Lanka. This intervention successfully resulted in the submission of an additional voter list of youth above 18 years of age to the parliament as ensured in the Chairman of Election Commission s media statement in response to this complaint. Indicator II: Solidarity Built The project provided a platform for the youth, wherein they could engage in a greater level of national movements for electoral reforms and to mobilize citizens for promoting democracy and good governance. In #YouthVoteSL Campaign, Interactive Discussion on Out of Country Voting, and the Clean Politics District Conference, Sinhalese and Tamil youth volunteers demonstrated their ability to cooperate with each other to reach wider communities, from the general public to specific groups such as foreign employees' families, politicians, government officials and civil society activists. The multi-ethnic internship programme enabled the project to build a stronger sense of support among the Sinhalese majority population. Youth from southern districts were sympathetically 12

14 aware of minority issues and showed a significant change of attitude after one-month staying with northern youth. Nearly a thousand of Sinhalese were brought together by the multi-ethnic interns and youth forum members to support the discriminated community and underprivileged groups. The project was able to sustain dialogue and interaction with Sinhalese community members on a frequent basis in support of right-based initiatives by introducing the citizen watcher concept to 31 GN divisions in southern districts. As a result of the increased cooperation between north-south community members, more than 500 Sinhalese people and families were benefited by the joint interventions of youth volunteers from the north and south on their issues on land rights, labour rights, and public health. The relationship built from the mutual help on the common issues between the northern youth and southern communities created a sentiment of solidarity and prepared a solid background for the work on the constitutional reform. Indicator III: Reconciliation The project greatly improved southern youth participation in reconciliation processes and build a sense of support among ethnic communities through the implementation of the multi-ethnic internship programmes. The intensive discussions with northern youth, professionals, and victim groups during Sinhalese interns stay in north deeply enhanced their knowledge about Sri Lanka historical context and contemporary political environment of discrimination against the ethnic minorities as well as the critical issues in the war-affected areas. These experiences motivated the southern youth to dialogue with neighborhood about what they witnessed after returning from the north that directly contributed to the cooperation of both communities on the common issues, especially with regard to land rights. The Sinhalese who involved in this process gradually realized that the reasons behind those long-term right violations are corruption, misuse of power, and biased public policies in favor of certain groups and further demonstrated their determination to find solutions to these issues through advocating for constitutional reforms. The project helped expand youth s influencer capabilities in reconciliation and transitional justice. Political trainees successfully lobbied the Reconciliation Task Force to conduct a Youth Consultation Sessions to collect youth s opinions on the measures needed for promoting reconciliation processes. The project also increased national and international media exposure on the issues of discrimination, disappearance, land issues, constitutional reforms, and the opportunity to use RTI as a method for resolving critical issues in the war-affected areas with more than 50 newspaper articles and nearly 60 web articles. The information shared from these documentations promoted awareness of the southern public and policy-makers about the postwar reality and further facilitated solution finding through the cooperation platforms in other activities of this project. Follow-up Intervention and Project Sustainability At the end of this project, the youth network has direct coordination in around 500 villages in 22 districts. This strong network, consisting of active members of political and capacity training, 13

15 Citizen Watchers and multi-ethnic interns who possess a high capability to build their own support group and a sense of community to achieve work targets, ensured the continuity of mobilization for national reconciliation, transitional justice, and constitutional reform. Regular training on politics and capacity building will help strengthen the youth activists knowledge and practical skills for future initiatives and gather more community members to frequent dialogues for solidarity. During the implementation of the project, youth volunteers had numerous opportunities to cooperate with government agencies 1, civil society organizations 2 and journalists to facilitate a large number of complaints received by them through the grassroots network. The working relationship built up over the project period helped youth activists to continue their involvement in an expanded scope of work on grievance redress and national movements for policy reforms. Conclusions, Lessons Learned and Recommendations The project enabled youth to actively intervene in community issues and they were motivated by the impact they had at local and national level. However, it was observed that youth volunteers felt the need of being active, but don t want to be in the same focus as others. AFRIEL therefore established various working groups on the selected focus areas, including anti-discrimination, anti-corruption and clean political culture, constitutional and policy reforms, as well as Citizen Watcher team for grievance redressal, allowing youth volunteers to focus on where they have strength. This arrangement kept up youth volunteers interest in working toward reconciliation with regular activities and the efforts of these specialized working groups jointly achieved the project aims. The project successfully increased youth activism and also brought a large number of complaints which tested the organizational capacity for responsiveness to the demands. Since following up the cases individually was not efficient, AFRIEL grouped similar issues together and referred to incharge authority. This process helped us to solve the majority of issues in a short period, but more frequent facilitation is necessary to help ensure that the decisions on the pending complaints are taken as rapidly as possible. AFRIEL also need to improve its internal tracking system for complaints for a better management. Though youth from the southern regions identified in this project has demonstrated continued commitment to engage with activities for national reconciliation, a longer and deeper interaction with the Sinhalese majority is needed to contend with challenges from extreme groups in the south. Rumors concerning separation and restart of war could put a halt to the budding faith on 1 Including the Presidential Secretariat, Public Administration Ministry, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Land, Ministry of Agriculture, Registrar General Office, Police Department, Department of Government Information, National Housing Development Authority, Legal Aid Commission, Human Rights Commission, Election Commission, Right to Information Commission, and other local administration bodies. 2 Including the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Sri Lanka, Internews Sri Lanka, Law and Society Trust (LST), and Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV). 14

16 coexistence in their neighborhood and destroy the growing hope of these young peacemakers. It is strongly needed to continue having deep discussions and regular interactions with the southern communities. 15

17 Supplemental Information Annex I: Political Training Class Evaluation I

18 Annex II: Newspaper Articles regarding AFRIEL Human Rights Work 31 st May 2017-Lankadeepa, Page Plus II

19 Annex III: Newspaper Articles regarding AFRIEL Constitutional Reform Work 11 th June 2017-Tamil Thanthi, Page 3 29 th June 2017-Thinakaran, Page 14 III

20 30 th June 2017-Sudar Oli, Page 2 30 th June 2017-Sudar Oli, Page 3 IV

21 Annex IV: Web Articles regarding AFRIEL RTI Work Tamil Win, வவ ன ய ப த ய ப ர ந த ந ல யம ச யற ட ல ச டர க வ ப ட க ந த ல ய டல, 21st April Kilinochchi Media, வவ ன ய ப த ய ப ர ந த ந ல யம ச டர க வ ப ட க ந த ல ய டல, E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%BE- %E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF- %E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0 %AF%81-%E0%AE%A8-2/, 21st April Samakalam, 195 ம ல ல யன ர ய ச வ ல கட டப ட ட வவ ன ய ப ர ந த ந ல யம ம டப ட ட ந ல : இல ஞர கள வ னம, E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D/195- %E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0 %AE%A9%E0%AF%8D- %E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%82%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%8D- %E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2-2/, 21st April The Catamaran, රක ෂ තයට යට ක කරන ක ච කලක ජ ව ත, %B7%92%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%BD%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%9A- %E0%B6%A2%E0%B7%93%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%AD/, 22nd May V

22 Annex V: Web Articles regarding AFRIEL Constitutional Reform Work Battinews, அன ப க க ம நட ப க க ன வ யல ப ப ன க ந த ல ய டல ச யற ட கள, 5 th June Kalmunainet, அன ப க க ம நட ப க க ன வ யல ப ப ன க ந த ல ய டல ச ய ர வ!, 5 th June Karaitivunews, அன ப க க ம நட ப க க ன வ யல ப ப ன க ந த ல ய டல ச யற ட கள, anpukkumnatpukkumanavalayamaippinkalanturaiyatalceyarpatukal, 6 th June Samakalam, க ம ப த ய அ ச ய ல ப ப ச டர ப ல ந ட ப கவ ம வ ழ ப ப ணர வ ட ட ம நடவட க லகய ல இல ஞர, ய வத கள, E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D/%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0 %AE%BF%E0%AE%AF- %E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%AE%E0 %AF%88%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%81- %E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8A%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%B0-4/, 26 th June Tamil Win, ப த ய அ ச ய ல ப ப ச டர ப ல ம வ ன இல ஞர, ய வத கள எட த த ள ம ட வ, 26 th June Karaitivu Rep, நல ட ச அ ச, ம ழ க கள க க ம ல ய ன த ர வ லன ச ற ற க சக ட க க பவண ட ம, %E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%81- %E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0 %AE%B3%E0%AF%8D/%E0%AE%A8%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BE%E0%A E%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF- %E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0 %AE%B4%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D/, 28 th June Lankarep, நல ட ச அ ச, ம ழ க கள க க ம ல ய ன த ர வ லன ச ற ற க சக ட க க பவண ட ம, %9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF- %E0%AE%85%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BF%E0 %AE%B4%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D/, 28 th June VI