Peacebuilding Context Assessment
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PEACEBUILDING CONTEXT ASSESSMENT Sri Lanka 2016 Nishan de Mel, Verité Research Rajesh Venugopal, London School of Economics and Political Science March 2016 PEACEBUILDING CONTEXT ASSESSMENT Sri Lanka 2016 March 2016 The Peacebuilding Context Assessment (PCA) is a report commissioned by the United Nations to inform the development of a peacebuilding program in Sri Lanka. The objective of the PCA is to provide a descriptive and analytical summary of the contemporary challenges and opportunities with respect to peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. It is envisioned that this report will inform the formulation of a Peacebuilding Priority Plan, and assist in evaluating Sri Lanka’s access to longer-term financial support from the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund’s Peacebuilding and Recovery Facility. The report is authored by Lead Consultant Dr. Nishan De Mel, and International Consultant Dr. Rajesh Venu- gopal. The report draws extensively on relevant information provided in UN documents, and research and data produced by the government, UN, development partners and civil society. In addition, it draws on interviews and consultations conducted across a range of actors in academia, government, administration, political parties, and civil society. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge their debt to those who have contributed to this assessment, and without whose efforts and assistance the output would have been impoverished. From Verité Research, Rehana Mohammed participated fully from inception and worked tirelessly throughout this assessment to research, write, interview, summarize, edit, format and develop this assessment at every stage. Rehana’s contribution has been at the level of a peer rather than as an assistant. Gehan Gunatilleke assisted with peer review, revisions and feedback to several sections of this report. Revathy Gnanasampanthen came to Jaffna to conduct interviews and assist with translations. The Economics Team supported this assessment with statistics and analysis. From the UN, Gita Sabharwal and Zoe Keeler advised the assessment throughout, providing regular inputs and facilitating key interviews, providing valuable feedback on the draft report and making available many of the relevant research documents produced by UN agencies. The UN Country Team in Sri Lanka as well as the senior staff of the UN agencies have been a source of rich inputs and feedback from an early stage, and have continued to engage throughout with important guidance and feedback. There have been a large number of others who contributed to this report but will remain unnamed. Members of Parliament and political parties, members of provincial councils, government admin- istrators, retired bureaucrats and military personnel, academics, researchers, journalists and civil society actors from all parts of the country have generously made time to share their observations and insights, both in Colombo and elsewhere in long interviews and conversations. ii Peacebuilding Context Assessment Sri Lanka 2016 Abbreviations APRC All Party Representative Committee BBS Bodu Bala Sena CIABOC Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption HIES Household Income and Expenditure Survey JVP Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna JHU Jathika Hela Urumaya ITAK Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi LLRC Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission LT T E Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam MEP Mahajana Eksath Peramuna OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights OISL OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka PCA Peacebuilding Context Assessment PSO Public Security Ordinance P TA Prevention of Terrorism Act RTI Right to Information SLFP Sri Lanka Freedom Party SLMC Sri Lanka Muslim Congress TNA Tamil National Alliance UNHRC United Nations Human Rights Council UNP United National Party Peacebuilding Context Assessment iii Sri Lanka 2016 iv Peacebuilding Context Assessment Sri Lanka 2016 Contents Executive Summary vii 1. Introduction 1 2. Background 3 3. Politics and Governance 7 3.1 The Political Dynamics of Peacebuilding: Opportunities and Risks 8 3.2 State Reform and a Political Resolution to the Ethnic Conflict 13 3.3 Governance Reforms as Peacebuilding 15 4. Economy 23 4.1 Economic Dimensions and Dynamics of Conflict 23 4.2. Economic Status of War Affected Areas 27 4.3 Economic Restoration and Upliftment 31 5. Security 37 5.1 Return of Land 38 5.2 De-concentration 39 5.3 De-proliferation 41 5.4 Re-orientation 42 5.5 Post-war security threats 44 6. Reconciliation 47 6.1 Addressing the underlying drivers of conflict 47 6.2 Fostering a process of closure and accountability 52 6.3 Building confidence and a resilient peace 56 Peacebuilding Context Assessment v Sri Lanka 2016 List of Abbreviations vi Peacebuilding Context Assessment Sri Lanka 2016 Executive Summary ri Lanka experienced a 26 year long civil of the peacebuilding agenda, and the negative war from 1983 to 2009 between govern- relationship that it had with key domestic and Sment forces and Tamil separatists, embedded in international stakeholders became serious lim- an ethnic political conflict between the island’s iting factors. There remains as a result, a large majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. The pro- and multi-faceted task for peacebuilding, which tracted nature of the conflict inflicted devastating requires transforming the ‘negative peace’ of the and deeply felt consequences at the human, social, early post war years, in the direction of a ‘positive physical, and institutional level. It is commonly peace’. estimated that at least a hundred thousand people were killed during the war. In addition, people The elections of 2015 have given rise to the first experienced prolonged periods of violence and political transition since the end of the war, and physical insecurity, repeated displacement, loss have empowered moderates on both the Sinhala of land and livelihoods, food insecurity, and the and Tamil sides of the ethnic divide with popu- destruction of physical infrastructure. There are lar mandates for peacebuilding and governance serious unresolved issues of psycho-social trauma, reform. The alliances formed during elections sexual violence, and the culture of impunity that transcended traditional political party rivalries, linger on past the end of the conflict and often and the present government has been formed intersect with vulnerable groups such as female- with a new cross-party political alliance: Presi- headed households, families of the disappeared, dent Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister or former child combatants. Ranil Wickremesinghe head the two largest par- ties, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and The war ended in 2009 with an outright military the United National Party (UNP) respectively. victory for the government forces, and there has The main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alli- not been a resurgence or significant threat of ance (TNA) is not part of the ruling coalition, resumption in violence since then. While there but still has a positive working relationship of have since been significant improvements in cooperation with the government. These political many areas, the early post-war period from 2009 circumstances are unprecedented and they pro- to 2014 was largely one of missed opportunities. vide an important window of opportunity - which The hostility of the government to many elements will inevitably shrink over time - to expand and Peacebuilding Context Assessment vii Sri Lanka 2016 List of Abbreviations pursue the agenda of building a positive peace. agenda. The 2015 political transition cre- ated unprecedented alignment of empowered This report describes and analyses the contempo- moderates across party and ethnic lines. rary challenges and opportunities with respect to However, the depth of support and legiti- peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, in terms of four broad macy that comes from a ‘vertical’ consensus areas: (i) politics and governance, (ii) economy, (between political elites and the people) on (iii) security, and (iv) reconciliation. vital issues of state reform and reconciliation is currently weak. This can make the hor- Politics and Governance izontal consensus shallow and vulnerable, and can undermine any political solution Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka requires a complex borne out of elite-level negotiations. This and multi-level national political consensus in disconnect is particularly evident with the order to emerge onto the agenda and sustain Sinhala-Buddhist majority community and itself. At the elite level, consensus is required both if left unaddressed, can become politically across the ethnic divide (between the Sinhalese potent. and Tamil leadership) and also at the intra-ethnic or cross-party level (between Sinhalese political • The APRC is a valuable starting point for parties, and between Tamil political leadership). deliberations on state reform. The work of Furthermore, this elite-level or ‘horizontal con- the All Party Representative Committee sensus’ at the apex needs to be complemented (APRC) of 2006-09 can serve as a useful with a ‘vertical consensus’, or support for peace- starting point and template for renewed building among the people, particularly the deliberations on state reform for two main Sinhalese, without which it will be lack legitimacy reasons. First it is the latest set of proposals, and risk being fragile. formulated by a broad spectrum of Sinhala and Muslim political parties; hence it rep- Beyond the political dynamics of consensus, resents a significant horizontal consensus. major political reform