Sri Lanka

Women, Peace & Security

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for incorporating a gender perspective in peace agreements, protecting women and girls from gender-based violence, and including women in the decision-making level of peace processes primarily to ensure protection and full participation of women and girls in the process. Thus, it is crucial to consider women as key players in the transition to peace. SFCG Sri Lanka places  a strategic priority women’s issues, considering them an at-risk group. . We believe working for the protection, empowerment, inclusion and advancement of women in post-conflict reconstruction processes and socio-political developments is essential to achieving long-term reconciliation and sustainable peace to complement the increased stability in the regions affected by the conflict.

N-Peace

A multi-country network, N-Peace (Engage for Peace, Equality, Access, Community and Empowerment) is an initiative started by the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre in partnership with SFCG, Institute of Inclusive Security and funded by AusAid. N-Peace primarily supports strengthening the role of women in leading community, recovery and in building and restoring peace networking. SFCG is partnering with the UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre and Sri Lanka country office, to create a comprehensive education, communication and community outreach strategy that supports and strengthens the role of women as community leaders and peacebuilders; engage men to advocate towards equality and work on Women, Peace and Security issues.

 In 2011, Shreen Abdul from Sri Lanka won the N-Peace Award for her outstanding work in peacebuilding.  A documentary was produced to give visibility to her work and as N-Peace Award winner. SFCG also supported the organising of the event, entitled Stree Mela, by a broad coalition of women's groups and senior female politicians. Striving to create better social cohesion by uniting women from different ethnic, religious, linguistic, and ideological backgrounds, the occasion was the culmination of a larger effort to find common ground amongst these groups as well as raise public and political awareness on female empowerment-related issues. In 2012, a radio campaign called ‘Women’s Voice’ was aired in national radio station in local languages, Sinhala and Tamil, to give voice to alternative opinions on women and peace in Sri Lanka.

We advocate for the government not only to mainstream gender in their National Action Plans and institutional changes, but to include women in the change making processes. Learning from other post-conflict societies, in Sri Lanka we promote the best practices, measurable progress and leadership goals achieved by women and women’s groups since SFCG believe one key aspect in the conflict transformation and enhancing social cohesion, is women’s inclusion in the decision-making processes and their effective participation in national legislative bodies.