The Social Justice and Sustainable Peace Unit emphasizes on work towards promoting peace processes, social cohesion and an all-inclusive society to the nation at large. In the context of the present instability in the country due to heightened tension between races and political unworthiness, reliable processes of peace and conflict mitigation is of great importance. Caritas Sri Lanka has recognized the above and has assembled vast sums of resources through 4 major projects, to be a guiding light towards empowering the people of Sri Lanka across all religions and races, to bring back human dignity, encourage human life and contribute to establish Gospel values. The Social Justice and Sustainable Peace Unit works through 1. Religious Amity 2. Healing and Reconciliation, 3. Helping People move towards Reconciliation and 4. AGIAMONDO Peace Initiatives to fortify the Unit’s goal to “create a conducive atmosphere for a just and violence free society where people will be living in peace and harmony by respecting the diverse natures of different ethnic and religious groups and their cultures”
A five day Training Programme was held at Caritas Centre in Chilaw under the ‘Expansion of Religious Amity Programme 2019 – Enhanced Youth Participation’ from 28th October to 01st November, 2019. The theme of the training programme was ‘Youth for Ethnic and Religious Harmony through Social Media’ where 58 enthusiastic youth from Chilaw, Colombo and…
Chairman of the National Election Commission of Sri Lanka has announced that the Presidential Election will be held on 16th November, 2019. Out of the total population of 22 million, 16 million are eligible to cast their vote to elect the new, 08th President of Sri Lanka. Reading the signs of the times in the…
Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director of Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC had invited a few professionals and intellectuals along with a few senior priests on 16th September, 2019 for a consultation to develop a ‘Position Paper’ to draw guidelines to the members of the Christian institutions and churches on choosing an appropriate candidate for the forthcoming…
Caritas Norway organized a pastoral solidarity visit to Sri Lanka with a delegation of 10 persons representing the Catholic Church of Oslo, Lutheran Church of Oslo, Interreligious Dialogue Forum of Oslo and Caritas Norway from 13th– 18th August 2019. The visit was jointly facilitated by Caritas Sri Lanka SEDEC and the National Christian Council of…
Mr. Aron Halfen, Programme Adviser of Caritas Norway visited Sri Lanka on 13 August 2019 to review the progress of the island-wide Religious Amity and Food Security Programmes supported by NORAD, through Caritas Norway. Mr. Aron has made a visit to Jaffna and met with the families who are beneficiaries of the “addressing causes for…
Three Pillars (Prayer, Fasting and Alms-giving) of Lenten programme is being organized in all the DCs in Sri Lanka according to the theme given by the NC, ‘Live Lent with Love’. This was given with a short prayer, to be recited during the season of Lent. Common Lenten activities in 2019: Prayer: Prayer cards and…
A few days back, I got the opportunity to participate in two visits as an observer. It was a part of the reconciliation programme conducted by the ‘Social Justice and Sustainable Peace’ unit of Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC. Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC, headed by its National Director, Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke is the social arm of the…
A seminar organized by Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC was held on the above subject, in view of the forthcoming Local Government elections today, on 08th January 2018. Mr. Rohana Hettiarachchi, the Executive Director of Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), which was formed in 1987 primarily to observe elections, presided. Civil society members, Priests,…
Caritas Jaffna-HUDEC organized a felicitation ceremony for the students who have excelled in the grade 5 scholarship examination 2017, on 15th of November 2017. Under the Caritas Korea funded project titled ‘Supporting Primary Education for Poor & Vulnerable Children’, HUDEC sponsored 202 poor students from the 12 schools in the Jaffna District. Out of sponsored…
I am Mary Anitta, 27 year old living with my parents. I have two younger sisters and a brother displaced from due to the war. We lost everything including my secondary education. When I return to Maniyamthoodam after the war, there was nothing left. With the little support given by the Government and NGOs, we…
