Japanese Prosecutor Dr. Noguchi visits Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation

As part of the Government initiative to assist Government of Sri Lanka to implement its reconciliation agenda, the Japanese Prosecutor Dr. Motoo Noguchi visited Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation on 27 October to share knowledge, expertise and experiences on reconciliation efforts of the other countries and to obtain firsthand information on the national integration and reconciliation programs of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Noguchi shared the experiences of Congo, Uganda, South Africa and other countries and shared the international best practices. He explained that the conflict affected areas need to be provided with basic economic and social infrastructure including resettlement and rehabilitation, livelihood and economic empowerment to address disparities and need reparation support. The priority is also to provide physical rehabilitation for the disabled persons and extend psycho-social support to the affected persons including families of missing persons to overcome trauma. Further, sustainable social reintegration of ex-combatants into communities and providing economic opportunities to prevent future recurrences is vital. 

Dr. Noguchi also emphasised the peace education program for children have tremendous potential for success in terms of establishing sustainable peace. In the African region a concept of ‘Peace Caravan’ was launched to get active involvement of children in the peace building process. The war widows and those who underwent gender-based violence were supported with psycho-social support programs and small businesses, livelihood, and entrepreneurship programs. The transitional justice mechanisms of truth seeking, Office on Missing Persons (OMP), reparation, justice and accountability and non-recurrence are not only important for a particular group of affected people, but should be widely benefit the entire population said Dr. Motoo Noguchi.

Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy presented the national reconciliation and integration strategy which included integration friendly schools program, reconciliation friendly media, integration friendly university and Youth Corps, inculcating integration concepts into Sunday religious school teaching, curriculum development in school education incorporating ethics, values, virtues, and comparative religious studies. Further, the Reconciliation Focused Economic Empowerment Project (REEP), 50,000 housing program, roads project, social and economic infrastructure projects will help to reduce economic disparities and enhance trust. The Ministry Secretary Sivagnanasothy also stated that the District Reconciliation Committees (DRC) has been established with the President’s brainchild to address ethnic and religious tensions in pockets and hotspots. Considerable progress has now been made in operationalisation of OMP which comes under the purview of the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation. Dr. Noguchi commended the national integration and reconciliation initiatives undertaken by the Ministry as appropriate and relevant in the peacebuilding context. The meeting was attended by Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of Japan Koji Yagi, Political Advisor of the Embassy of Japan Mariko Yamamoto and senior officials of the Ministry with the senior officials of Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM), said Sivagnanasothy.