Volume : 11

Issue : 119
E Mail : nandmana@sltnet.lk
www.humanrightsofficekandy.org

The workshop of
the Religious and Priests
for Human Rights (RPHR)
was held at St. John Mary
Vianney Retreat House -
Buluthota of Ratnapura
Diocese from the 03rd to
06th February 2020 with
30 participants present
from different parts of
the country, even from
the dioceses of Mannar
and Jaffna despite the
distance.
A general introduction to RPHR with reference to its inception, basic characteristics and the
rationale was followed by self-introductions. A brief introduction was done of the exposure
program of the following day.

The group divided into two went out for the exposure on the first day and visited the houses of the
Low Country tea plantation workers. Two sites were selected for the exposures. The living
conditions, the labour wage issues, social and educational problems were explained to the groups
by the workers during the visit.

At the debriefing by the 02 groups the following points emerged;

 Tea industry itself is facing major crisis due to low production, labour issues, increasing
competition from other tea producing countries and the demand for coffee both locally and
internationally.

 Unwilling of the owners of tea estates to pay the stipulated daily wage of one thousand
rupees.

 The current payment of seven hundred rupees is found to be insufficient for the families of
the workers.
 Housing conditions not being improved for almost a century, found to be very poor.
 Health conditions remains minimal with the
hospital being too far away, PHIs’ rarely
visiting the area.
 Schooling is rendered difficult with the
enormous distance and often the
unavailability of public transport & higher
education in estate schools.

 Despite all these difficulties, a few students

have done well in their studies and have
moved to schools in the city with a foot
hold in the estate as the parents continue
to live and work there.

 It was mentioned that the situation of the tea small holders appears to be better compared to
that of the company owned estate workers.

 Our involvement in future will have to be in the area of advocacy in matters of daily wage,
improved living conditions an d better education facilities for the children.

Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando in his presentation explained the efforts made by him to make the
modern church understood and appreciated. Further he said as the challenges are many and the
church leadership should not give meaningless comments that confuse the members of the
believing community. “Church today, following the leadership given
by the present Pope must get involved both in the work of
safeguarding the environment and human rights which certainly are
our challenges”.

Rev. Fr. Jeyabalan Croos, in his presentation emphasized the

challenges faced by the people in the north due to divisive policies
followed by the government. Case in
point was the decision to sing the
“National Anthem” in Sinhala
language only, which previously sung
in both languages Tamil and Sinhala.
He said that it is indicative of the discriminatory policies carried out
by the present government.

The other point was the over-emphasis given to Buddhism even

though in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, equality is to be accorded to
all religions while Buddhism is given pride of place. There is a strong
feeling that a pro-Buddhist philosophy propagated by the political
party and the Buddhist monks, paved the way for the victory of the
present President. Hence this has led to a general feeling among the people that it was the
Buddhist majority that voted the president to power, and that Buddhism is to be given a prominent
place disregarding the other religions. This is found not only to be discriminatory and divisive but
also enforces a drive to expand Buddhism into areas where the other religious groups are a
majority.

Mr. Ruki Fernando, made a presentation on post

presidential election challenges and said that there is
already a threat to the 19th amendment to the constitution
and if 2/3 majority is secured Rule of Law will be at
stake. Further speaking of the transitional Justice
process, he signaled the danger of the government’s
commitment with the decision to withdraw from the co-
sponsorship of the UN resolution. Finally, he requested
the participants to help sustain the campaigns of the
families of the disappeared and of the plantation
worker as many human rights activists have taken
up self-censorship, fearing threats.

Bishop Cletus Perera of the diocese of Ratnapura

joined the group for an informal discussion before
lunch and Fr. Nanndana welcomed the bishop and
in the discussion, several questions were raised by
the members regarding the present political crisis
in the country and the issues of the tea plantation
workers.

During the afternoon session Alan Keenan from

the international Crisis Group who has had enormous amount of experience in the field of
advocacy at the Human Rights Council meetings, explained
the strategies to be adopted in the years to come in the
context of the efforts by the current government to
renegotiate the Geneva resolutions taken at the end of the
war.

Time was left open for the participants to share their

experiences as they were living in various parts of the
country and it was found to be quite enriching.

To thank God for the blessings showered upon Fr. Godfrey

Fernando & Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando who completed 50 years in the priestly ministry, a
thanksgiving mass was celebrated on the 05th evening.

The next meeting was fixed for 06th to 09th July, 2020 to be held in Kandy.