Ices annual report 2014

ANNUAL REPORT

2014

International Centre for Ethnic Studies

Published in August 2015

I n t e r n a t i o n a l C e n t r e f o r E t h n i c S t u d i e s

C O N T E N T S

Profile 1

Board of Directors 2

Vision, Goal, Mission 3

Chairman‘s Message 4-5

Dialogues and Conferences 6-9

Documentaries 10

On-Going Research and Interventions 11-17

Publications 18-19

Lectures, Discussions and Workshops 20-21

Film Screenings 22

Visiting Interns/Scholars/Researchers 23

Website/Library & Documentation Centre 24

Staff 25

Finance Colombo/Kandy 26-27


P R O F I L E

For 33 years the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) has contributed to the world of

ideas and has informed policy and practice through research, dialogue, the creative arts and other

interventions.

The ICES vision is encapsulated in a desire for a world which celebrates diversity in all its

multiple shades. The institution‘s goal is to contribute towards relevant rigorous intellectual

traditions that recognise our common humanity, promote diverse identities, and generate ideas

that inform and guide policies and institutions in order to promote justice, equity and peaceful

coexistence. The unique mission of ICES is to deepen the understanding of ethnicity, identity

politics, conflict and gender, and to foster conditions for an inclusive, just and peaceful society

nationally, regionally and globally, through research, publication, dialogue, creative expression

and knowledge transfer.

The ICES has been an important player in the areas of peace, justice, gender and human rights

and has been particularly influential in shaping policy and public imagination on issues of gender

equality, ethnic diversity and constitutional reform in Sri Lanka. The institution has contributed

to the development and promotion of minority and group rights and has previously worked

closely with the United Nations‘ Special Rapporteurs, the several Working Groups and with the

Treaty Bodies. In recent years ICES has carved a niche for itself as a centre for the study and

promotion of diversity within a framework of democracy and human rights.

The ICES has empowered national and local grass-root level organisations in over ten countries in

Asia and Africa through the development of educational material using international human

rights instruments and national mechanisms. ICES continues to work closely with a wide range of

partners and civil society organisations to provide a space for dialogue, strengthen their capacity

to collect information, channel their grievances, and question how claims for justice and rights

may be advanced in post-war Sri Lanka.

The ICES has played three broad roles: one of research, the other of policy advocacy and a third of

providing space for dialogue. It has also used the creative arts to ignite the public imagination and

promote truth, beauty and diversity. Following extensive academic, legal and political

involvement in the constitutional and policy formulation process in Sri Lanka in the 1980s and

1990s, and strong advocacy in the areas of gender and human rights, ICES has established a strong

reputation globally for its capacity to generate high quality research which is politically relevant

nationally, regionally and globally. It has also provided a space for and encouraged creative

expression as a vehicle for political and social change, through its support to documentary film

making, seminars for writers and regular film and art festivals.

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B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S

September 2013/September 2014

Daneshan Casie Chetty, Chairman (From 6 November 2014) Retired career diplomat

Tissa Jayatilaka (7 September 2013 - 1 September 2014 & re-elected on 2 September 2014)

Executive Director of the Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission

Rajan Asirwatham

Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Corporate Director and

former Senior Partner and Country Head of KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton & Company

K. M. de Silva

Founder, former Chairman and Executive Director of ICES; Retired Professor of Sri Lanka

History, University of Peradeniya

John Gooneratne

Retired Career Diplomat and former Secretary-General of the Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat

Michael Roberts (Till 1 September 2014)

Retired Professor of the Department of Anthropology, University of Adelaide, Australia

Nira Wickramasinghe

Professor of Modern South Asian Studies, Leiden University Institute for Area Studies,

School of Asian Studies, Netherlands

Sudharshan Seneviratne (Till 1 September 2014) Professor of Archaeology, University of Peradeniya

Fazeeha Azmi

Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Peradeniya

Indrajit Coomaraswamy (From 2 September 2014)

Economist and former Director, Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat

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V I S I O N

A world which celebrates diversity anchored in the fundamental unity of the human

species.

G O A L

To contribute towards relevant rigorous intellectual traditions that recognise our common

humanity and promote our diverse identities, and to generate ideas that inform and guide

policies and institutions in order to promote justice, equity and peaceful coexistence.

M I S S I O N

To deepen the understanding of ethnicity, identity politics and conflict, and to foster

conditions for an inclusive, just and peaceful society nationally, regionally and globally,

through research, publication, dialogue, creative expression and knowledge transfer.

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C H A I R M A N ‘ S M E S S A G E

Celebrating Pluralism, Social Inclusion and Promoting Justice

The visionary, the late Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam, and the doyen of Sri Lanka‘s historians Prof.

Kingsley M. de Silva established the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), 33 years ago,

in 1982.

The ICES had a baptism of fire, when the warp and woof of the social fabric was violently rent

asunder in 1983. However, despite experiencing funding constraints, this institution has remained

faithful to its founding principles and has helped influence policy-making by fostering a greater

understanding of the values and practices of the richly diverse communities that comprise Sri

Lanka.

The year 2014 was a particularly difficult year. We had to exercise due caution in formulating

research proposals and in conducting research or in organising workshops with foreign resource

persons, lest one transgressed ‗sensitive‘ guidelines imposed by wielders of power. Extremist

radical ‗religious‘ groups, professing to safeguard Buddhism and enjoying impunity, launched

attacks on minority religious establishments, on a selective basis. Mosques, certain Hindu temples

and Christian churches were targeted. The climactic conclusion of these dreadful acts was the

attacks in Aluthgama and Beruwela, where consequently business establishments were razed and

a few people killed.

During the course of the year, the Finance Ministry issued a fiat, compelling all local non-

governmental organisations and limited liability companies that were recipients of foreign

funding to register with designated bodies such as the NGO Secretariat or the External Resources

Department, so as to ensure that they were not engaging in activities prejudicial to the national

interest! Though not enforced, this regulation hung like the proverbial sword of Damocles over

our head.

Despite these constraints ICES organised a number of initiatives.

In January, a discussion was held in Jaffna on ‗Democratising the North: A Dialogue on

Governance, Development & Vulnerability‘;

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In February, a dialogue on ―Justice, Memory & Social Reconstruction‖ took place with the

former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa Albie Sachs and other academics

participating;

In June, an international conference was organised in Kandy on ―Ethnic Conflicts &

Religious Harmony in South & Southeast Asia: Twenty Five Years in Retrospect‖. This

was a sequel to the Workshop in 1998 ―Ethnic Conflict in Buddhist Societies: Sri Lanka,

Thailand & Burma‖.

Among our on-going projects are:

Building Resilient Communities (Sinhalese-Muslim Relations)

Involuntary Resettlement: A Cross-country Study (Colombo, Jaffna & Cochin) on Urban

Inequality & Poverty

Fostering Pluralistic Memories & Collective Resilience in Fragile Transitional Justice

Processes–partnered by Lausanne University

The South Asia Regional Project on Justice

Promoting Religious Harmony & Inter-Faith Dialogue

Study on Adaptation Measures & Climate Change

Identifying Post-War Growth & Economic Opportunities for Women in Sri Lanka

The ICES has been, since its inception, a magnet to which young talent has been drawn. By

providing much desired space for intellectual ferment, we have stimulated and inspired

exploration of alternative perspectives, not cabined and confined by arid officialdom. The range of

projects, listed above, would lend credence to our ability to think imaginatively and

unconventionally when the need arose for us to do so.

Our programmes, while drawing inspiration from the objectives set out at its establishment,

revolve around broad thematic ideas. Our peer-reviewed research has a bearing on national,

regional and global priorities. We focus as well on policy advocacy and in providing space for the

blossoming and cross-fertilisation of ideas.

Towards the end of 2014, our country witnessed an unexpected development when the General

Secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was nominated as the Common

Opposition Candidate to contest the incumbent President. Many were the expectations raised as a

result of the decision to hold elections to the office of President on 8 January 2015.

In conclusion, we take this opportunity to thank our colleagues on the Board, the Executive

Director, our staff in Kandy and Colombo for their dynamism and dedication and our partners

and funders for their reaffirmed faith in our vision and mission.

Tissa Jayatilaka C.D. Casie Chetty

Chairman Chairman (7 September 2013 - 1 September 2014) (From 6 November 2014)

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D I A L O G U E S a n d C O N F E R E N C E S

During 2014, the ICES engaged with a multiplicity of issues relating to democracy, equality,

gender, post-war reconciliation, displacement and disability. Dialogues and film screenings were

expanded beyond Colombo to Kandy, Jaffna, Galle and Kantale. Leading scholars including

Radhika Coomaraswamy, Tom Devine, Angela McCarthy, Neerja Gupta, Donald Horowitz and

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma led workshops or gave lectures. The two international conferences the

ICES organised, one on ―From Violent Conflict to Peaceful Co-Existence: A Dialogue on Justice,

Memory and Social Reconstruction‖ and the other on ―Buddhism Ethnic Conflicts & Religious

Harmony in South & Southeast Asia: Twenty Five Years in Retrospect‖ were among the year‘s

highlights. Several new publications were released and some previous research translated into

Sinhala.

Dialogues on Democracy, Governance and Equality

The ―Dialogues on Democracy, Governance and Equality‖ sought to generate conversations

among various stakeholders on deepening democratic politics and transitional justice mechanisms

in Sri Lanka. It sought to create a space for democratic dialogue, dissent and pluralism and to

engage in discussion and to respond to incidents and events which undermine ethnic cohesion,

minority rights, democracy and the rule of law. These dialogues took the form of panel

discussions, lectures and film screenings. Conversations among various stakeholders were

generated on post-war development and reconciliation policies, processes and practices, higher

education, electoral reform and the politics of the diaspora.

The dialogues provided a space to critically discuss some of the challenges facing post-war Sri

Lanka and fostered a stronger understanding of democratic values, equality, gender and justice

among diverse stakeholders who normally do not have the opportunity to speak and exchange

views at the same forum. In an environment where the public discourse is shaped very much by

the state and its proxies, these dialogues sought to generate critical and ‗out of the box‘

perspectives on a number of key issues pertaining to post-war Sri Lanka.

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―Democratising the North: A Dialogue on Governance, Development and Vulnerability‖

10 January 2014

Jaffna

The aim of the initiative was to discuss issues of governance, development and vulnerability, to

empower civil society groups in the North, and to enlarge the space that has emerged with the

Northern Provincial Council elections held in September 2013.

More than 80 participants representing a wide cross-section of people in the North including

Northern provincial councillors, academics, the clergy, NGOs and civil society activists, members

from the business community and journalists attended the event. The discussions highlighted the

impact that militarisation and excessive control by the central government had had on the

Provincial Council and created a deadlock between the Governor and the democratically-elected

members of the Northern Provincial Council. The participants also discussed the dilemmas

pertaining to resettlement, livelihood and infrastructure development in the North. The dialogue

looked at issues of vulnerability faced by residents in Jaffna including the human rights violations,

the sexual assaults on women and the challenges of responding to disability. The challenges in

reinvigorating the education system which were affected by war were among the themes that

were discussed. The need to rebuild schools and attend to the matters of disabled children was

highlighted.

The ICES has compiled a report on the Dialogue, so that it can be distributed to policy-makers

and civil society activists. It is currently in the process of being reviewed by the speakers and will

feed into follow-up initiatives. The report will identify a set of issues that can be addressed even

within the current challenging macro-political environment by bringing together NGOs,

academics, Provincial Council members and other stakeholders in the area. The ICES will take the

lead by networking stakeholders, facilitating joint interventions and continuing to work on

empowering civil society in the North.

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Dialogues on ―Federalism, Power-Sharing and Devolution‖

27 January 2014, Kandy (―Ethnic Power Sharing in Theory and Practice‖)

29 January 2014, Jaffna (―The Many Functions of Federalism and Devolution‖)

31 January 2014, Colombo (―The Many Functions of Federalism and Devolution‖)

The ICES organised a series of discussions and events with Professor Donald Horowitz on the

concepts of devolution, power sharing and federalism. Events were held in Kandy, Jaffna and

Colombo. The University of Peradeniya and the University of Jaffna collaborated with ICES to

organise these events. At a time when the government is not looking seriously at a political

solution to the ethnic conflict, this series of lectures was an effort to revitalise and socialise the

use of federal arrangements and power sharing as the most effective political solution for

sustaining the peace in Sri Lanka. The ICES hoped to spread this message through academia and

civil society. Participants shared important remarks of past devolution efforts and compared this

with the present socio-political context where they discussed the comparative federal

arrangements existing in other parts of the

world.

International Conference on ―From Violent

Conflict to Peaceful Coexistence: A Dialogue

on Justice, Memory and Social

Reconstruction‖

27-28 February and 1 March 2014 Colombo

One of ICES‘ aims of this international

conference was to generate a critical dialogue

on transitional justice in the Asian region as well as in Sri Lanka. Thirteen presenters spoke on

various topics related to transitional justice, including prosecutions, accountability, truth-telling,

displacement, memory and reconciliation. Eight foreign participants, including Justice Albie Sachs

from South Africa, with expertise from a range of countries including South Africa, Nepal,

Bangladesh, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Uganda also attended the conference and

contributed towards the discussion.

The conference attracted scholars, activists, donors, journalists and other interested groups from

diverse academic disciplines especially those who work in the fields of human rights, law reform,

post-war reconciliation and democracy.

Justice Albie Sachs speaking at the ICES conference

in Colombo.

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International Conference on

―25 Years in Retrospect:

Buddhism, Ethnic Conflicts

and Religious Harmony in

South and Southeast Asia‖

26-27 June 2014

Kandy

The ICES organised an

international conference on

―25 Years in Retrospect:

Buddhism, Ethnic Conflicts

and Religious Harmony in

South and Southeast Asia‖

which was held in Kandy on the 26 and 27 of June 2014. Fourteen international scholars from

Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, USA, England, Luxemburg, and India and nearly 40 local

participants, including representatives from diplomatic missions from Canada, UK and India,

participated in the conference. Twelve papers which dealt with Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar,

Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan were presented at the conference. The ICES hosted a similar

conference in 1988 and the proceedings were published in London, titled ‗Ethnic Conflict in

Buddhist Societies: Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma‘.

The conference proceedings assessed scholarship on Buddhism and its links with conflicts with

minorities in South and Southeast Asia within the last 25 years. Recent controversial

developments in the political and religious conditions in the region show signs of deterioration of

ethnic and religious relationships. The conference explored the resources within Buddhism, both

scriptural and practical, that may enable creating harmony in pluralist societies. Highlighting

ways in which both religious and ethnic conflicts could be transformed within Buddhist societies,

this conference produced a wealth of knowledge that can be easily transmitted to other countries

with similar ethnic and religious conflicts. The conference identified important ideas within

Buddhism that can not only initiate inter-religious dialogue but can set forth personal and social

transformations which could bring not just an absence of violence but holistic lifestyles that

sustain lasting peace. The ICES is planning to publish its proceedings as a monograph in the

coming months.

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D O C U M E N T A R I E S

Short Documentary

―Don‘t Think of Me as a Woman: An Election Story from the Margins‖

Scripted by Chulani Kodikara and Velayudan Jayachithra, produced by ICES, Women & Media

Collective and the Organisation for Visual Progression (2014)

In 2013, the ICES in partnership with a few other organisations launched several advocacy

initiatives in order to increase nominations for women in local government (see annual report

2013). However, it was not possible to make a substantial impact in relation to increasing

nominations. This was due to the fact that incumbency appears to be the most critical obstacle to

increasing nominations for women, as all parties follow a policy for giving nominations to sitting

members. Furthermore, the opportunities for women in nomination lists were in the youth quota

rather than the adult quota. It was harder for local groups to mobilise young women who were

willing and interested to contest these elections. There also appears to be little political will

among political parties to nurture women‘s political leadership at the grassroots level. To raise

awareness about these issues and the problems faced by women contesting at local government

elections, a short film ―Don‘t think of me as a woman‖ which documents the electoral struggle of

Aynoon Beebi, a 39-year-old Muslim woman from Kinniya in Trincomalee, at the local

government elections was produced by ICES and screened in Colombo, Kandy, Kinniya and

Batticaloa.

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O N - G O I N G R E S E A R C H A N D I N T E R V E N T I O N S

The research in 2014 focused on post-war reconciliation, development, state reform, democracy,

justice and identity politics, involuntary settlement, inter-faith harmony, domestic violence and

economic opportunities for women.

INVOLUNTARY RESETTLEMENT: A CROSS COUNTRY STUDY ON URBAN

INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

April 2013 – March 2016

Principal Researcher: Rajith Lakshman

Research Team: Dhammika Herath, Michael Collyer, W. D. Lakshman, Irudaya Rajan, K.

Amirthalingam, I. M. Lakshman, Danesh Jayatilaka, Asela Ekanayake

Inequality and poverty are mutually reinforcing phenomena and processes. Poverty creating and

reducing processes take place in interaction with markets and socio-economic conditions, and are

marked by aspects such as inclusion and exclusion. This research, in Cochin, Colombo and Jaffna,

will strive to comprehend and theorise the complex interlinks between inequality and poverty

within the context of urban resettlement. It will examine the difference that displacement makes

to the condition of urban IDPs (internally displaced persons) in contrast to the lives of urban non-

IDPs. Among other things, it will look at medium and long term inequality, impoverishment,

social and economic opportunities for the second generation (children), civic participation, and

entrepreneurial behaviour.

The research team will study low income communities in Cochin, Colombo and Jaffna where

displacement and resettlement have taken place as a result of development and conflict. Economic

and livelihood related data will be collected from samples of affected households along with data

from government institutions, universities, research organisations, developmental agencies, and

other actors.

The academic research is being done over three years (April 2013 to March 2016) in three South

Asian cities: Cochin, Colombo and Jaffna. The Centre for Development Studies (CDS) is leading

the research in Kerala and ICES is spearheading the research in Colombo and Jaffna. The study

will generate concrete recommendations to enhance the capacity of local, national and

international actors to effectively integrate the perspectives of affected and vulnerable

populations in urban development programmes and policy-making.

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BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

November 2013 – October 2016

Programme Coordinator: Kasun Pathiraja

Programme Officers: Nadine Vanniasinkam, Faslan Mohamed, Vasantha Premaratne, Dinushka

Jayawickreme

―Building Resilient Communities‖ commenced in November 2013 with the objective of promoting

inter-religious harmony between Buddhists and Muslims in the districts of Galle and Ampara.

The project involves creating a space for members of grassroots communities to share their

experiences of inter-religious tensions and coexistence through the innovative use of comics and

short films which will be used to generate dialogue between the Buddhist and Muslim

communities of Sri Lanka. The project also entails research into Buddhist and Muslim extremism

in Sri Lanka, both of which will feed into the design of intervention activities. The project seeks

to facilitate inter-community dialogue through the use of innovative media, to contribute to

dispelling prejudices held by both communities and to build resilience to external instigation to

violence.

The project commenced with mono-religious ‗context mapping workshops‘ in Colombo, Galle and

Ampara with Buddhists and Muslims to map the grievances of grassroots communities in relation

to the conflict.

The research studies that are being conducted under this project analyse present conflicts that

arose as a result of the political manipulation of religions, as well as a result of the deterioration of

the respective religious societies in the modern liberal economic context. The first study focuses

on the recent radicalisation of political Buddhism in the Sinhalese-Buddhist South of Sri Lanka.

The second study attempts to analyse the conditions informing unprecedented levels of ethno-

religious tensions between the Sinhalese, predominantly Buddhist majority and the Muslim

minority, in post-war Sri Lanka. Since a radical and ‗fundamentalist‘ orientation was becoming

clearly evident within both the Sinhalese and Muslim communities, the research seeks to examine

the dynamics shaping this radicalisation. The third study espouses the reasoning that the new

‗presence‘ of Muslims in Sri Lanka is due to an Islamic revival characterised by internal tensions

regarding the practice of Islam among Muslims of Sri Lanka. Therefore, it examines and critiques

the sectarian splitting and factionalism among Muslims of Sri Lanka and how these splits in the

form of different ideologies, religious practices and customs create problems among and for the

Muslim community in a multi-ethnic society.

The project has also been involved in training a group of individuals in Galle on the use of

grassroots comics to promote coexistence and inter-religious harmony. The advanced grassroots

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comics workshops that were designed and conducted taking into account the findings of the

mapping workshops and research studies provided insight into the attitude regarding the ‗other‘

of both Buddhist and Muslim individuals who participated. For most, this was the first time they

had participated closely with each other on such a platform, being given the opportunity to work

together regarding such a sensitive issue in which their two communities were the primary focus.

Thus, they were made to understand the importance of coexistence and also impart the

knowledge gained through pilot workshops in their respective villages. During 2014, ICES

completed six context mapping workshops, and two trainers‘ workshops on grassroots comics.

THE SOUTH ASIA REGIONAL PROJECT ON JUSTICE

October 2012 to August 2015

Principal Researchers: Neloufer de Mel & Chulani Kodikara

Neloufer de Mel and Chulani Kodikara completed the first draft of their chapter for the South

Asia wide Justice Project entitled ―The Limits of ‗Doing‘ Justice: Compensation as Reparation in

Post-War Sri Lanka‖. This chapter examines post-war justice in Sri Lanka not as a question of

‗justice simpliciter‘ – that is justice in and of itself which takes justice as a self-evident category -

but as a field of knowledge, power and practice that is, by definition, imperfect and limited by

nature. By specifically examining the issue of financial reparation for forced disappearances

within transitional justice to open up questions about sovereign practices, survivor expectations of

justice and the gap between justice and the law, the chapter highlights the challenges involved in

‗dispensing‘ justice in a context which has witnessed systematic human rights abuses and where

there is a predictable cost associated with compliance of the law. Drawing on interviews with

female war survivors and bureaucrats, literature on critical legal theory, and a scrutiny of the

death certificate as a documentary site on which contestations over justice takes place, the chapter

asks in what circumstance can ‗limited and imperfect measures‘ be yet endowed with the

‗meaning of justice‘ for war survivors.

The Justice Project brings together film-makers, researcher and activists from Bangladesh, India,

Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to tease out the multiple dimensions of justice and conflict. The

point of departure for these studies is that contests over practices of justice in constitutional

systems and publics that are placed on the margins or outside of such systems have and continue

to shape the history of the region. Especially in the last decade, the theme of justice in south Asia,

has exploded as a major point of engagement and tension for governments, researchers and the

several publics, with all three actors sorely unprepared for the speed with which the hydra-

headed theme of justice and restitution keeps emerging in different sites. While livelihood,

health, ecology, agriculture, etc. are some of the registers in which justice can be interrogated and

its domains extended, violent conflicts are the express paradigm that overwrites and underscores

all these registers. At the heart of the struggles, theorising and action on justice is the constitutive

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power of Constitutional Law in South Asia, its silences and complicity with various power

structures. In other words, the quest for justice in the South Asian context is marked by a peculiar

lacuna: social groups and collective practices emerge from the operations of law, even as they set

themselves against the ‗unjustness‘ of law. All country papers and films will be presented and

discussed at seminars to be held in Delhi, Colombo, Kathmandu and Dhaka between April and

July 2015.

PROMOTING RELIGIOUS HARMONY AND INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE

January 2014 – March 2016

Project and Research Team: Chamindry Saparamadu, Samitha Hettige, Gehan Gunatilleke and

Thashiya Nauki

Through research, dialogue, education and community interventions, the project aims to enhance

understanding between and amongst different religious groups in Sri Lanka, promote social

harmony, and foster inter-ethnic and inter-religious coexistence. The project aims, in the long

term, to contribute to reducing inter-religious tensions in Sri Lanka to generate a spirit of

tolerance and understanding, to contribute to a promotion of religious diversity, and to develop

lessons for other societies experiencing similar conflicts.

The objectives of the project are:

To capture and map the recent upsurge in inter-religious violence in Sri Lanka, identify

good practices and document positive examples of coexistence and social harmony.

To enhance the capacity of civil society organisations, including community-based

organisations, to promote inter-faith dialogue and engage in social interventions that will

foster inter-religious harmony and promote the human rights of all members of the

community.

To engage key stakeholders including policy-makers, parliamentarians, members of the

clergy, the business sector and civil society leaders in a dialogue at the national and

regional levels on strategies to foster religious harmony and promote peaceful coexistence.

Project activities will focus on communities representing the main faiths in Ampara, Colombo and

Galle districts. The project has three main components: research, capacity-building and public

education campaign.

It is being implemented in collaboration with Equitas—International Centre for Human Rights

Education in Montreal. Equitas has been engaged in human rights education for many years and

is acknowledged as an innovator in the field. Its approaches are recognised as best practices

globally. In November 2014, the first Training of Trainers (TOT) programme was held with 19

participants.

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NARRATIVES OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE IN THE COURTROOM AND

COUNSELLING CENTRES IN TWO DISTRICTS IN SRI LANKA

15 October 2013 – 14 October 2014

Principal Researcher: Chulani Kodikara

Research Team: Harshini Ranasinghe, Tharanga Gunasinha, Nadine Vanniasinkam,

K. Kuhanithi, S.Tambiah

Popular and dominant narratives about intimate partner violence against women ﴾IPVW)

circulating in Sri Lanka tend to trivialise, normalise and legitimise such violence. There is ample

evidence that such ideas are internalised by women themselves. In this context, this research

sought to determine whether ‗counselling‘ provided by non-governmental organisations and

‗court complaints‘ filed under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 2005 open up a

discursive space to talk about a survivor‘s experience of violence in a way not possible or even

imagined before. Can these institutional spaces be conceptualised as sites of resistance where

dominant discourses around IPVW can be challenged, where alternative women-friendly (if not

feminist﴿ understandings of violence can be shared, and where old experiences can be given new

meanings? Or conversely, do the discourses about IPVW in counselling centres and court houses

reflect, reinforce, reproduce and perpetuate dominant narratives of violence as well as gendered

norms of power and control.

The study which began in October 2013 and which was completed in January 2015 was based on

50 in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions in the two districts of Batticaloa and

Anuradhapura.

The following publications came out of this research:

―Balancing Acts: Counselling for Intimate Partner Violence against Women in the Two

Districts of Anuradhapura and Batticaloa‖ by Chulani Kodikara, ICES Working Paper 6,

November 2014.

―Battered Wives or Dependent Mothers? Negotiating Familial Ideology in Law‖ by Chulani

Kodikara, Draft paper for discussion. December 2014, available as a soft copy on ICES

website. See following link: http://www.ices.lk/narratives-of-intimate-partner-violence-

among-womens-organisations/

Summaries of these two papers were also translated into Sinhala and Tamil and have been

published.

Articles in Journals Two short articles on the research study (one on the theme of counselling and the other on the

theme of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act) in all three languages (English, Sinhala and

Tamil) were published in the Women and Media Collective blog. See following links:

http://womenandmedia.org/ta/the-prevention-of-domestic-violence-act-and-

implementation-problems/

http://womenandmedia.org/ta/counselling-for-intimate-partner-violence-against-women/

http://www.ices.lk/narratives-of-intimate-partner-violence-among-womens-organisations/

http://www.ices.lk/narratives-of-intimate-partner-violence-among-womens-organisations/

http://womenandmedia.org/ta/the-prevention-of-domestic-violence-act-and-implementation-problems/

http://womenandmedia.org/ta/the-prevention-of-domestic-violence-act-and-implementation-problems/

http://womenandmedia.org/ta/counselling-for-intimate-partner-violence-against-women/

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Guidelines for Counselling

The project also generated a set of guidelines for counselling from a woman-centred perspective

in consultation with experts working on the issue of intimate partner violence and

counselling. This is available in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

IDENTIFYING POST-WAR GROWTH AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

IN SRI LANKA

October 2014 – September 2017

Principal Researcher: Mario Gomez

Research Team: Danesh Jayatilaka, Ramani Gunatilaka, Suresh de Mel, Ranmini Vithanagama,

Muttukrishna Sarvananthan and Shiyana Gunasekera

The above research project commenced in October 2014 is part of the ―Growth and Economic

Opportunities for Women‖ (GrOW) initiative and supported by the International Development

Research Centre (IDRC, Ottawa), the Department for International Development (DfID, UK), and

the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (USA). It aims to generate new evidence on the nexus

between economic growth, gender equality, and economic empowerment for policy and advocacy.

The research sets out to identify the barriers women in the North of the country (in the districts

of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Mannar) face when entering and participating

in the labour market and when engaging in livelihood activities. The project aims to conduct a

mapping of livelihood interventions provided by the state, the corporate sector, donors and non-

governmental organisations and use quantitative and qualitative surveys to gather data from

women-headed households and those households where women co-exist with men. This will be

supported by in-depth interviews with vulnerable groups of women, key person interviews, and

focus group discussions. The findings of the study will inform policy and programming that are

gender sensitive while helping draw up interventions to support women‘s recovery from the war.

They will help trigger women‘s economic empowerment within Sri Lanka at the national,

provincial and local levels.

Representatives from ICES and Point Pedro Institute of Development PPID participated at the

Inception Workshop for GrOW at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK on 7-9 October

2014. Following this event an Inception Workshop was held in Vavuniya on 25 October 2014.

Quantitative and qualitative questionnaires are in the process of being developed, including a key

informant discussion guide, by the respective research teams. The quantitative and qualitative

research will commence in 2015. A dedicated literature review on dominant and emerging

theories is also being done. The mapping of ‗women focused‘ livelihood projects is underway

where information had been collected from Divisional Secretary Offices in the five districts.

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 17


Two main types of partnerships were planned for the project for civil, academic and policy

engagement: the Project Advisory Group (PAG) and the Policy Engagement Committee (PEC).

Two meetings of the PAG, consisting of eight eminent members, were held.

As capacity-building is a key objective of the project, preparations are being made to provide

training to the qualitative field researchers on theory and methodologies in social research related

to economic empowerment of women by INTRAC from Oxford, UK during the months of

March–May 2015. Training will be provided to the enumerators prior to the commencement of

the quantitative survey.

CLIMATE CHANGE March – August 2014

Researcher: Kasun Pathiraja

In 2014, ICES in partnership with Diakonia conducted a study on ―Climate Change Measures

Lacking Funding in Sri Lanka‖. This report captures the present situation of climate change and

its impact on the lives of the people in Sri Lanka. Primary and secondary data were collected to

assess effectiveness of adaptation measures that different stakeholders have used so far in the

fields of agriculture, water and infrastructure. The report gives estimated funding needs for the

most urgent and critical adaptation interventions that have to be implemented by the government

and international donor agencies. The objective of the study was to highlight that climate change

is a critical problem that Sri Lanka is facing and highlight the need for additional funding to

support further adaptation measures. A report was published based on this study and findings

were disseminated during Geneva Climate Change Conference in February 2015.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

As part of an effort to build a civil society coalition around the ‗Right to Information‘, ICES

organised several meetings and dialogues with civil society, the media and Members of

Parliament. The objective of these meetings was to revive the debate around the Right to

Information, to encourage Parliament to enact legislation on the subject, and to advocate for

greater transparency at all levels of government.

ICES also coordinated a joint civil society submission to the President of Sri Lanka requesting him to

initiate a dialogue on Right to Information at the SAARC Summit and ensure the adoption of a

Right to Information law in Sri Lanka. Fourteen civil society organisations signed the letter and this

initiative was undertaken in partnership with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)

and other groups in South Asia who made similar interventions from their respective countries.

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P U B L I C A T I O N S

The ICES has published almost 160 books, monographs and reports, which make it an important

source of information on contemporary ideas. This also includes monographs and reports of

workshops the ICES has conducted on human rights, religion, anthropology, politics, women‘s

studies, sociology, judiciary in plural societies, education and ethnicity, and periodicals, research

papers, working papers and lectures.

Publications in 2014

Human Rights Practice in Sri Lanka:

Towards a Thick Description

by Shermal Wijewardene & Vijay K. Nagaraj, 2014 (pp. 137)

War Making and State Building:

The Politics of State Reform in Sri Lanka by Sanayi Marcelline, 2014 (pp. 119)

This book traces the failure of democratic state reform in the past 30 years in Sri Lanka through a deep and well-articulated study of dominant discursive framings of the Sri Lanka Tamil insurrection as ‗terrorism‘ and political reform as illegitimate. Even more importantly this publication is an invitation to action as the end of the war and collapse of the Sri Lanka Tamil project has created an opportunity to think about alternative ways to democratise the state.

This monograph is a pioneering attempt to examine the practice of human rights through the eyes of the practitioners with critical responses from the researchers. The book brings out perspectives and evidence that are useful for developing a critical body of literature on the academically unexplored field of human rights politics in Sri Lanka. It makes an important contribution to the scholarship on human rights in Sri Lanka.

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 19


Short Think Pieces

With the objective of producing new knowledge on the post-war reconciliation and recovery

processes, ICES commissioned a series of papers on the theme of ‗Post-War Reconciliation in Sri

Lanka‘. The short think pieces seek to explore the complex and contested nature of building peace

and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, taking into account the history of the conflict and the current

socio-political and economic configurations.

In 2014 the following research and working papers were published.

Research Papers ―Contextualizing Post-War Reconciliation Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of Territorial

Control in Historical Perspective‖ by Charan Rainford, ICES Research Paper 12, June

2014.

―Competing for Victimhood Status: Northern Muslims and the Ironies of Post-War

Reconciliation, Justice and Development‖ by Farzana Haniffa, ICES Research Paper 13,

July 2014.

―Ethical Reconstruction? Primitive Accumulation in the Apparel Sector of Eastern Sri

Lanka‖ by Annelies Goger and Kanchana N. Ruwanpura, ICES Research Paper 14,

October 2014.

Working Papers

―A Quota for Women in Local Government in Sri Lanka: Questions of Equality,

Modernity and Political Leverage‖ by Chulani Kodikara, ICES Working Paper 5, July

2014.

Dissemination of ICES Research Findings at International Conferences

Asela Ekanayake presented a paper titled ―Going to School from a Relocated Urban

Community: Struggling for Education within Imposed Walls‖ at the annual conference on

‗How Do Education Systems Shape Inequalities‖ organised by Institute of Education and

Society, University of Luxembourg in July 2014.

ICES researchers Mario Gomez, Danesh Jayathilaka, Avanti Kalansooriya and Kasun

Pathiraja presented a panel on ―Framing Identities and Reclaiming Rights: Reconciliation

in Post-War Sri Lanka‖ and presented their research at the 15th International Conference

of International Association for the Study of Forced Migration held in Bogota, Colombia

(July 2014). The ICES also made a bid to host the 2018 meeting in Sri Lanka.

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L E C T U R E S , D I S C U S S I O N S a n d W O R K S H O P S

―Rethinking Encounters: Cultural Flows and Hybridity in Sri Lanka‖ by Shihan de Silva

Jayasuriya, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London on 10 January 2014

(Kandy).

Jaffna Dialogue: ―Democratizing the North: A Dialogue on Governance, Development and

Vulnerability Participants‖ by C.V. Wigneswaran, Chief Minister, Northern Province and

others on 10 January 2014.

Visit of seven East African Women Human Right Defenders and discussion on 29 January

2014 (Kandy).

―The Many Functions of Federalism and Devolution‖ by Donald L. Horowitz on 29 January

2014 (Colombo) and on 31 January 2014 (Jaffna).

―Recital of People‘s Poetry of the Nation‘s Past‖ by Gananath Obeyesekere on 6 February

2014 (Kandy).

Lecture and discussion on ―The Anglo-Scottish Union, Empire and the Referendum on the

Independence of Scotland‖ by Tom Devine and Angela McCarthy on 6 February 2014.

―Forthcoming Indian General Election‖ by N. Ram, Chairman, Hindu Group of Newspapers

on 24 February 2014.

Public Seminar, ―Accessing Information is Our Right‖ on 12 March 2014 (Kandy).

Book Launch: A Pot-pourri by Selvy Thiruchandran on 20 March 2014.

―Role of Ancient Indian Societies and Systems in Contemporary Polity‖ by Sanjeev Kumar

Sharma, Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, Chaudhary Chavan Singh,

University on Traditional Knowledge Systems in Contemporary Approaches and Neerja A.

Gupta, Principal, Bhavan‘s Arts and Commerce College on 8 April 2014.

―From Sri Lanka to Faulkner to Florida and Back Again: Reading and Writing Novels Across

Cultures‖ by Randy Boyagoda, Professor of American Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto

on 9 May 2014.

―From Colombo to Sri Jayewardenepura: The Schizoid Subjectivities of Post-Colonial

Capitals‖ by Anoma Pieris, Associate Professor, Faculty of Architecture, Building and

Planning, University of Melbourne on 21 May 2014.

A discussion on ―Time's Confluence and Other Poems‖ a collection of poems recently

published by Godfrey Gunatilleke the Chairman Emeritus of Marga Institute on 28 May

2014 (Kandy).

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 21


International Conference on ―Twenty-Five Years in Retrospect: Buddhism, Ethnic Conflicts

and Religious Harmony in South and South East Asia‖ on 26 - 27 June 2014 (Kandy).

―Sri Lankans of African Descent: Heritage, Identity and Connectivity‖ by Shihan de Silva

Jayasuriya, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

on 10 July 2014.

Visit to ICES by third year Tamil medium students of the Department of Geography,

University of Peradeniya facilitated by Faziha Azmi on 20 October 2014 (Kandy).

―Murder in the Cathedral: The Conspiracy to Assassinate Kirti Sri Rajasingha by Monks and

Aristocrats in 1760 CE‖, a talk by Gananath Obeyesekere on 29 October (Kandy).

―Religious Violence in South Asia‖ by Ram Puniyani, former Professor of Biomedical

Engineering and former Senior Medical Officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of

Technology in Mumbai on 2 December 2014.

Workshop by Chulani Kodikara, ―Narratives of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women

in Counselling Centres in Batticaloa and Auradhapura‖ on 4 December 2014 (Kandy)

―The Doomed King: In Defense of Sri Vikrama Rajasingha‖, a talk by Gananath Obeyesekere

on 17 December 2014 (Kandy).

Discussion on ―Priorities for the President: Civil Society Perspectives‖ with Radhika

Coomaraswamy, Global Professor of Law, New York University, former UN Special

Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and former

Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Udan Fernando, Senior Professional,

Communications and Policy Programme, Centre for Poverty Analysis, and Feizal Samath,

Editor, Business Times on 17 December 2014.

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F I L M S C R E E N I N G S

The ICES has a monthly film screening and also screens documentaries and conducts regular film

festivals.

The following films were screened in 2014:

Blue Jasmine - 28 March

No (Chile) - 28 April

12 Years a Slave (USA) - 27 June

The Past (Iran) - 31 July

Blue is the Warmest Color (France, Belgium, Spain) - 29 August

The Hunt (Denmark) - 29 September

The Past (Iran) - 1 October (Kandy)

Honk (Documentary) - 10 October

Russia - 29 October

Omar (Palestine) - 28 November

Film Festivals

Documentary Film ―Don't Think of Me as a Woman: An Election Story from the

Margins‖ by Chulani Kodikara and Velayudan Jayachithra on 6 March (Colombo), 20

May (Kandy)

International Women‘s Day Film Festival from 10–12 March. Films screened: Wadja

(Saudi Arabia); Desert Flower (Germany); Twin Sisters (The Netherlands)

International Women‘s Day Film Festival from 13–14 March. Films screened: Barbara

(German); About Elly (Iran) - Kandy

American Movie Classics – A Festival of Award Winning Films from 26–30 May: Films

screened: Guess Who‘s Coming to Dinner (1967); Casablanca (1942); Witness for the

Prosecution (1957); Who‘s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966); Rear Window (1954); The

Great Escape (1963); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); The Good, The Bad

and The Ugly (1966); 12 Angry Men (1957); Roman Holiday (1953)

Human Rights Day Film Festival from 8–10 December: Films screened: The Act of

Killing, Cry, the Beloved Country, Conviction

World Human Rights Day Film Festival from 10–11 December. Films screened: War

Witch (Canada); Life is Beautiful (Italy) - Kandy

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 23


V I S I T I N G I N T E R N S Shayani Jayasinghe (February 2014 – April 2014)

Thashiya Nauki (October 2014 – December 2014)

V I S I T I N G S C H O L A R S Donald Horowitz, Professor of Political Science and Law, Duke University, USA

V I S I T I N G R E S E A R C H E R S Can Sezgin, Doctoral Student, University of Tuebingen, Germany

Thea Peterson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Rianne Laan, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Rebecka Rydberg, King‘s College, London

Shiyana Gunasekara, Fulbright Scholar

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W E B S I T E

The ICES website contains information on the activities and research of the Centre. Full texts of

some ICES research material are available for download.

The current content of the website includes a 'Publication' section that lists all ICES publications,

and a section on 'Research' that highlights all the research projects, past and on-going, undertaken

by ICES. There is a video gallery that has video clips on short interviews and monologues on

issues.

The ICES web site was re-designed and re-launched in October2013 with a view to make it more

appealing and to integrate social media sites. Security was also strengthened and monthly

backups will be made to ensure data is not lost.

L I B R A R Y A N D D O C U M E N T A T I O N C E N T R E

The two libraries in Colombo and Kandy constitute the central academic facility of the Centre,

both in resources and standing as the repository of knowledge. The library specialises in social

sciences and women's studies with strong collections on ethnicity, culture and history. It also has

an excellent collection on law, religion, anthropology, transitional justice and fiction. It contains

one of the best collections on ethnicity and identity politics in the country. The library holdings

include material usually unavailable to scholars from the Asian region.

The library plays an important role in all academic activities of ICES. It is not only used by the

research staff of the Centre, but also serves scholars, academics, senior government officials,

politicians, media people, universities and other research institutes.

The catalogue is being computerised and will enable better access to the collection in the future.

Readers can also make use of the wireless internet connection in the library.

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 25


S T A F F

Executive Director

Mario Gomez

Administrative, Finance, IT and Library

Ponnudurai Thambirajah – Chief Librarian

B. M. Mowsil – PA to the Executive Director

Gallage Ayoma Shyamalee – Finance Officer

Bhagya Wijayasooriya – Accounts Executive

Dimuth Geethananda – Assistant Librarian/IT Officer

Lakmali Alwis – Assistant Librarian

Anthony Christopher – Receptionist

Kandiah Raveendran – Office Assistant

Rengasamy Arumugam – Office Assistant

Chalani Lokugamage – Finance and Administration Manager

Iranga Silva – Publications Officer and Managing Editor, IJESS - Kandy

Vasantha Premaratne – Programme Coordinator - Kandy

Niranjala Sarojini – Librarian and Documentation Officer - Kandy

Samarakoon Bandara – Administrative/Accounts Executive - Kandy

Saleeka Peiris – Secretary and Receptionist - Kandy

R. Wasantha Jayawathie – Office Assistant - Kandy

Research and Programme Staff

Chulani Kodikara – Senior Researcher

Kasun Pathiraja – Senior Project Coordinator

Chamindry Saparamadu – Senior Programme Coordinator (Left 17 November 2014) Avanthi Kalansooriya – Programme Officer (Left 31 July 2014)

Sumudhu Jayasinghe – Programme Officer (Left 31 July 2014)

Asela Ekanayake – Programme Officer

Harshini Ranasinghe – Programme Coordinator (Left 31 December 2014)

Danesh Jayatilaka, Research Fellow – (Joined 1 October 2014)

Samitha Hettige – Senior Programme Officer (Joined 15 August 2014)

Faslan Mohamed – Programme Officer - 1 January 2014

Nadine Vanniasinkam – Programme Officer - 1 January 2014

Shayani Jayasinghe – Programme Officer (Joined 19 May 2014 - left 18 August 2014) Rishan Sathasivam – Programme Officer (Joined 19 May 2014 - left 31 August 2014) Ranmini Vithanagama – Programme Officer

Emeritus Fellow

Radhika Coomaraswamy - Joined 1 August 2014

26 | A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4


F I N A N C E : K A N D Y / C O L O M B O

A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 | 27


Website: www.ices.lk

International Centre for Ethnic Studies

COLOMBO OFFICE

2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka

Tel: +94 11 2679745; +94 11 2685085

Fax: +94 11 2698048

KANDY OFFICE

554/6A, Peradeniya Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Tel: +94 81 2232381; +94 81 2234892

Fax: +94 81 2234892

web: www.ices.lk

Documents

Ices annual report 2014