Maravanpalau Peace Village in Jaffna
“Why should we be scared of the LTTE?” said Kandiah, a resident of the village, who lost his son in the war. “Here, the army will protect us and we do not have to take orders from the LTTE. The army officers do not give us orders, they make requests through the citizens’
committee.” The Marvanapalau peace village is an experiment to win hearts and minds,
We All Look Alike, But We Are Not the Same: The Root Cause of the Conflict in Sri Lanka
UPeace Asia Leaders Fellow Aingkaran analyzes the conflict in Sri Lanka within the framework of the relationship between political power and modern ethnic identities.
Localities of Peace Building: Grassroots Peacebuilding between Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhalese People
This paper is about three local peacebuilding initiatives in Sri Lanka, each focused on the personal or community level, where many Tamil and Sinhalese people share bonds of friendship and family, as well as a common love for good tea, good food, and good drama. Amarathunga uses these case studies to make a deeper point about the nature of knowledge and truth, and about the importance of local peacebuilding initiatives at the community level, rather than political or military settlement.