SOCIAL HEALING &

RECONCILIATION IN
AMPARA DISTRICT,
SRI LANKA
Theories and Practices of Conflict Resolution (Week 10&11).
Natsumi Sato
Chihiro Arima 
Dimitra Papagiorgi
Oboue J.A Bogni
 Situation and People's needs in the
Ampara District
Guiding Principles

CONTENT Definitions
S
Project Proposal

Ethical Considerations
SITUATION IN THE
AMPARA DISTRICT
 Live in fear
 The second worst country for involuntary disappearances
 Many people have reportedly been illegally detained, tortured
or disappeared while very few perpetrators have been
arrested or changed
 Tension between Sinhala and Muslim communities due to the
rise of Buddhist nationalist groups after the war
PEOPLE'S NEEDS IN AMPARA
DISTRICT
VICTIMS PERPETRATORS
•Accountability for crimes •Forgiveness and Healing
•Truth •Security
•Acknowledgement •Psychological Support
•Restitution •Encouragement (personal
transformation)
•Healing
•Integration
•Prevention 
•Security
 •The Government of Sri Lanka (President Rajapaksa) 
KEY -lasting peace, secure society.

'STAKEHOL •Residents of Ampara District (Sinhalese, Tamils and

Muslims).
DERS' •International communities including international
organizations and foreign governments.
WHO SHOULD BE
ENGAGED AND WHY?
•NGOs and International Communities through aides and assistance
(eg. Unesco, Unicef).
• International Communities can pressure the government of SL to
implement/improve judicial mechanism and official Truth and Reconciliation
Commission Project. 
• Collaborate/cooperate with local NGO's (organizing events-financial support).
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Our aim and objectives 
• to achieve coexistence and a lasting peace in Sri Lanka
(Ampara District) based on social healing and reconciliation,
buidling a foundation for further peacebuilding activities
Strategies
• building trust between the ethnic communities.
• focusing more on working towards tolerance as a first step to
forgiveness.
Value
• equality and equity
 •Social healing is an evolving paradigm that seeks to
transcend dysfunctional polarities that hold repetitive
wounding in place

DEFINITI •It views human transgressions not as a battle

between the dualities of right and wrong or good and
ON OF bad, but as an issue of wounding and healing
•One of the processes of SH is for people to mourn
SOCIAL their disappeared loved ones. Major source of

HEALING distress is the large number of deaths, which had

occurred suddenly, violently, ambiguously, without
the opportunity for farewell and ritual
•It is also about an understanding of cause and effect,
lessons learned from the war (O'Dea 2011)
DEFINITION OF
RECONCILIATION
"Reconciliation is focused on building relationship between
antagonists, involving (1) creating a space for encounter by
the parties and (2) reframing the conflict with the goal (3)
to acknowledge the past and envision the shared future as a
means of dealing with the present" (Lederach 1997)

Four elements 

Mercy Justic
Truth Peace
  e
 Dialogue
• Story telling (organization-participants)
• Dialogue (perpetrators-victims)
Workshops
PROJECT • Social and cultural events In collaboration

PROPOSA • Conflict resolution workshops with NGOs

L Advocacy for structural justice

• Against culture of impunity
• Equality
• Human rights
ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Care about the idea of ‘do no harm’ 
 Informed consent
 Voluntary participation
 Confidentiality
 Anonymity

Risk/challenge: 1. retraumatizing victims by making them recall

their painful memories (We cannot employ counsellors) 2. safety
issues when any participants (victims or perpetrators) would like to
be open about their identification and speak up in front of people
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lederach, J.P.  (1997) Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided
Societies. Wahington: United States Institute of Peace. 
The Social Healing Project (O'Dea 2011) 
Social Healing Project Report (jamesodea.com)
Sri Lanka Update: A personal political overview of Sri Lanka at the edge (Bater
2018)