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Coalition of Civil society - Public Seminar in Kalmunai |
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Participants at the seminar
The public seminar held at the Wesley High School, Kalmunai in the Ampara district on September 1, 2007 was the tenth seminar organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) under the theme Coalition for Civil Society.
A total of 66 participated in the meeting which commenced at 9 am and went on till 3 pm. Gender imbalance was well visible at the seminar, where out of the total participation, four percent alone accounted for female participation.
Participants comprised 'grama niladharis' of Kalmunai D.S. Division, employees of divisional secretariats of Karaitivu, Nintavur, Samanthurai and Kalmunai, employees of National Housing Development Authority, employees of Land Registry, NGO aid workers, employees of Ceylon Electricity Board, social service officers and teachers and few lawyers from High Court, Ampara.
Suranga Bandara, attorney-at-law and N. Kandasamy, Secretary, CHRD were the resource persons at the seminar. Mr Bandara spoke on Rule of Law, Criminal Law, Fundamental Rights, PTA and its impact on Civil Society and Remedies available locally when Fundamental Rights are violated; while Mr Kandasamy touched on Human Rights, International Covenants, State Obligations, Civil society Pressure Groups and Role of Civil Society.
Under the programme Empowerment & capacity building of the civil society to promote justice and good governance through human rights based intervention (Coalition for Civil Society), public seminars have been held in Kantale, Mannar, Ampara, Hatton, Vavuniya, Nuwaraeliya, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Point Pedro and Colombo during the past four months. The programme is funded by Helvetas. Nearly 600 participants have participated in these seminars.
The objective of the Coalition for Civil Society programme is to eradicate discriminative laws from the legal system & develop confidence of ethnic minorities over the legal system. |
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CHRD holds Public Seminars in the Jaffna district
N. Kandasamy, addresses the gathering A series of seminars in the Jaffna district have been initiated by the CHRD branch office in Jaffna. Inaugural seminar took place on August 28, 2007 at the Auditorium of the Centre for Performing Arts, in Jaffna. Nearly 40 participated in the Seminar and 17 of them were female partakers. Participants comprised university students, aid workers, community based organization leaders and government servants. Resource Persons were Nadaraja Sukirtharaj from Jaffna Social Action Centre, M. Remidious, Attorney-at-Law, H. Samarasinghe, Programme Manager and N. Kandasamy, Secretary, CHRD. Mr. Kandasamy spoke on Human Rights and Evolution of Human rights while Mr. Remidious touched on Rule of Law, International Covenants, PTA and its impact as well as Impunity. Violations and remedies available was the subject Mr. Sukirtharaj spoke on and finally Mr. Samarasighe concluded the seminar by explaining the role of the Civil Society in a Conflict Situation & how to counter violations. Seminar which began at 9.30 ended at 2.30 due to the curfew imposed in the Jaffna district. Electing a Working Committee was the outcome of the Seminar. Work plan was discussed and the proposed Committee will meet monthly at the CHRD Office in Jaffna where Mr. Remidious will participate in the meetings. In addition, the Committee is to inform all violations, abductions and disappearances to CHRD Head Quarters, no sooner than they receive information. A total of 15 workshops will be held from August to November in places such as Jaffna, Point Pedro, Karavetti, Kayts, Karainakar, Velanai, Nallur, Uduvil, Sanganai, Chavakachcheri, Kopai and Sandilipay. The programme is sponsored by USAID and Helvetas.
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Coalition of Civil Society - Trincomalee
Coalition of Civil Society -
Nuwaraeliya
Muslims in the East - Discussion
Coalition of Civil Society - Batticaloa
Coalition of Civil Society - Vavuniya
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