wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Sri Lanka's ”forgotten war”: a call for global church advocacy

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World Council of Churches - Feature

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For immediate release - 20/11/2008 15:10:18

SRI LANKA'S "FORGOTTEN WAR": A CALL FOR GLOBAL CHURCH ADVOCACY

>By Annegret Kapp (*)

In Sri Lanka, the conflict between the army and Tamil rebels has
caught the civilian population between a rock and a hard place.
Although the world turns a blind eye, Christian global advocates
say churches should insist that attention be paid to victims
caught in the violence. 

For several years, a civil war in Sri Lanka has placed in
opposition a government dominated by the Sinhalese majority
population and rebels who claim to defend the rights of the Tamil
minority. Defenders of human rights protest that this war is
being fought at the expense of the civilian population, with
displaced people detained in camps that fail to provide for their
basic needs, children abducted for recruitment as soldiers, and
other inhabitants of combat zones being used as human shields by
the rebels.

Representatives of churches, ecumenical groupings and
non-governmental organizations discussed Sri Lanka's ethnic
conflict at a session of the 4th annual United Nations Advocacy
Week sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), held in
New York City on 16-21 November. 

Rohan Edirisinha, a Sri Lankan Anglican layman, presented
prospects for a negotiated political settlement. According to
Edirisinha, who is a former chairperson of the Commission for
Justice and Peace of the National Christian Council in Sri Lanka,
the militaristic approach of the current government, focusing on
a defeat of Tamil rebel forces on the battlefield, creates doubts
regarding the actual chances for a settlement. 

The domestic political discourse, Edirisinha said, glorifies the
military and centres on the defeat of rebel forces and the
reconquest of areas controlled by them. As a constitutional law
expert, he argued that "a federal constitution with [safeguards
for] devolution of power, and which combines shared rule with
self-rule, should be the basis of a just political solution to
Sri Lanka's current war".

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik, who moderated
the session, affirmed the churches' responsibility in advocating
for a negotiated solution. Bondevik's government brokered a
ceasefire in Sri Lanka in 2002, which was completely abandoned
last January after repeated violations by both parties.
Currently, Bondevik is the moderator of the WCC Commission of the
Churches on International Affairs. 

Christians make up 9% of Sri Lanka's 19-million population. They
are the only religious community which bridges the ethnic divide
between the Sinhalese-speaking, predominantly Buddhist majority
and the predominantly Hindu Tamils. 

Church unity is of particular importance to the Christian
witness for peace in Sri Lanka. A variety of denominations
resulting from several missionary waves, some of them connected
to former colonial powers Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain,
are present in the country. If the churches fail to speak with
one voice, their testimony loses its force. 

Ecumenical solidarity in the region and beyond 

Solidarity with the Sri Lankan people was expressed at the New
York event by church representatives from all over the world. 

Jochen Motte, of the United Evangelical Mission (Germany),
shared his impressions from a recent visit to Jaffna. In the
highly militarized area in the north, civilians are suffering
because of restrictions imposed by the army, he said: "Fishermen
are lucky if they get a permit to go out fishing once or twice a
week, but even then they must stay within a two-kilometre range,
or else they may be shot by the soldiers."

Canon Grace Kaiso, of the Uganda Joint Christian Council,
advised the Sri Lankan churches to "be consistent in [their] call
for a negotiated, non-military solution. For 15 years we [in
Uganda] sang this same song, and finally we succeeded". 

Sri Lankan government measures such as special identity cards
for Tamils – which bring charges of discrimination – as well
as the underlying ideology of racial supremacy evoke terrible
memories for veterans of the struggle against apartheid. But as
South Africa has trade relations with Sri Lanka, they see this
connection as a possible opening for advocacy.

The need to report human rights violations to UN bodies and to
governments, especially in the global south, was identified as a
priority for church advocacy on behalf of Sri Lanka. While
Western countries have lost clout with the government of Sri
Lanka, criticism by countries that have gone through similar
challenges could be particularly meaningful. 

Among the advocacy objectives that came up during the
discussions were suggestions concerning appropriate
demobilization procedures for child soldiers, who currently end
up in prison when captured, and a call for the UN working group
on Sri Lanka to visit the country and get first-hand knowledge of
the situation. 

>[743 words]

(*) Annegret Kapp, WCC web editor, is a member of the
Evangelical Church in Württemberg, Germany.

>---------SIDEBAR---------

>The WCC and Sri Lanka

The WCC project "Accompanying churches in situations of crisis"
supports the Sri Lankan Christians in their efforts to build
partnerships for peace with people of other faiths, especially
Buddhist leaders, and to press for a negotiated solution to the
conflict.

The WCC executive committee expressed its concern over the
escalation of violence in Sri Lanka in a statement during its
last session in September and urged the ecumenical community to
uphold the people and churches of Sri Lanka in prayer.

Solidarity visits by an international ecumenical Living Letters
delegation in 2007 and by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr
Samuel Kobia in mid-October have given a concrete expression to
the Council's concern. 

>---------SIDEBAR ENDS---------

>WCC member churches in Sri Lanka
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4681

More on the United Nations Advocacy Week of the WCC:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/events-sections/unaw.html

WCC project "Accompanying churches in situations of crisis"
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3147

>National Christian Council of Sri Lanka
>http://www.nccsl.org

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:

Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363  media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.