Volume : 12

Issue : 127
E Mail : nandmana@gmail.com
www.humanrightsofficekandy.org

With COVID 19 health restrictions and

guidelines, the workshop of
the Religious and Priests for Human
Rights (RPHR) was held at Fatima
Retreat House, Lewella – Kandy from
the 09th - 12th February 2021 with 28
participants from different parts of the
country.

Usually the February workshop is held

outside Kandy, however due to COVID
19 pandemic, the workshop was held at
Lewella - Kandy.

2021 Human Rights workshop for Religious & Priests was inaugurated with a short memorial service for
the late Sr. Alexander Molligoda (sisters of charity) who was an active member of RPHR. As an
appreciation to her dedicated services, a visual presentation was made about her life and ministry,
illustrating her work with prisoners both in Galle & Boossa.

Welcoming the participants to the workshop Dr. Philip Setunga explained

the purpose of the gathering and the rationale from its inception that was
followed the introductions by the participants and their work. A brief
introduction was made regarding the exposure program scheduled for the
following day.

The participants set out to Hewahata for the exposure on the 10th February.
The Tea plantation workers and the local farmer community at Hewaheta,
explained issues they faced such as the unhealthy living conditions, the
labour wage issues, social and educational challenges of the tea plantation workers of 03 different
estates while the local farmers pointed out that their product go waste without a market and given away
to a very low price due to the COVID 19 pandemic travel and health restrictions.
Rev. Fr. Sathgunaraj, the Parish Priest of Hewaheta explained the difficulties and
challenges in the field of education the children are faced with. He further said
that he goes out of his way to encourage the children of the plantation community
to somehow aim for higher education.

On the 11th February Fr. Jeyabalan Croos made a presentation during the first
session on “Challenges for the
people in the North” and he
explained about the 10 key demands that were made
in the “P2P” Walk for Justice which was organized
by the North and East Civil Society Organizations to
draw attention to the key issues faced by the Tamil
community, Tea Plantation workers and Muslim
Communities.

Mr. Ruki Fernando made a presentation on the 20th Amendment and its consequences. He explained the
differences of the amendments made in the constitution regarding the executive powers and checks and
balances. This was followed by a discussion and the
participants said that the religious leaders and the civil
society members should be made aware of the present
situation. Further he raised awareness on the ongoing
issues and campaigns: such as the protest launched by
the farmers in Hambanthota, Forced Cremations,
struggle for daily wages of the tea plantation workers,
denial of memorialization in the North and the P2P Walk
for Justice.

Fr. Nishantha Cooray TOR, made

a very challenging scriptural
presentation on the theme “Our
mission for the voiceless with
shrinking democratic space" He
explained how the people of God
had to struggle for freedom,

equality and democracy. “Pilate was carried away by the public opinion
when he had to decide on Jesus and often we too are carried away by the
public opinion”. He stressed the need for the priests and religious to be
prophetic. “Sri Lanka needs convinced, caring and creative people”.
 Mr. Charaka Dharmasiri &
Mr. Suren D. Perera, the
legal counselors of HRO
explained what contempt of
court means, sighting
examples of recent
incidents. Further, they
explained how the Sri
Lankan Government has
limited the democratic space
of the people by using the ICPPR Act to curtail the freedom of expression. There were several questions
raised by the participants that led to a lively discussion.

The workshop was concluded with a thanksgiving mass on the evening of the 11 th February. On behalf of
the organizing committee, Fr. Nandana thanked all the participants who joined the workshop from
different parts of the country, making an extra effort despite of the current COVID 19 situation. Further,
it was proposed that the next workshop also to be held in Kandy in July 2021.