With the vision of revitalizing civil society and strengthening democracy in Sri Lanka, the Justice and Peace Unit works at promoting good governance, children's rights and offers sponsorship to Tsunami-affected and the poorest sections of the population.

We address prevailing socio, economic, political and cultural issues, stretching from the popular strata of society to the highest political sphere. In November 2005, we monitored the presidential elections and called in a pre-election forum with the two main presidential candidates, UNP candidate Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe and, now President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse.

Other activities range from advocacy to protest campaigns, via implementation of programmes on preventing alcohol, narcotics and extortion. We are also actively involved in campaigning against the anti-conversion bill and the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant.

Third Quarterly Review Meeting of the Poland Scholarship Programme:

Third Quarterly review meeting of the Poland Scholarship Programme was conducted from 13 th – 15 th of September 2006 at Awissawella, All the Scholarship Programme Coordinators of the Dioceses except Jaffna attended the meeting. As per the project proposal, there is a monitoring mechanism of conducting 4 quarterly review meetings. At this meeting the Diocesan Programme Coordinators and the National SEDEC staff sat together and shared their experiences/learning and drawbacks of the programme. Finally an action plan was proposed to implement the programme during the 4 th quarter in order to overcome the drawbacks.

The discussion began with the welcome and purpose of such a discussion at this crucial time by Rev; Fr. Damian Fernando, National Director. The main input session on International Humanitarian Law and its Relevance for Sri Lanka was delivered by Mr. Desmond Fernando, President Counsel. Mr. Jeevan Thiagaragah, the Chairman of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) spoke on Current Issues in Present Armed Conflict . At the open forum, number of questions were raised by the participants and a dialogue was conducted. At the end the participants emphasized the need for a follow up with clear action plans to take this discussion to the authorities concerned. Around 55 persons including number of Rev; Fathers, Sisters and intellectuals from civil society attended the discussion.