Newly emerging transitional issues in post-conflict Sri Lanka

Conflict creates high pressure situations, reduced the ability of citizens to engage in
livelihoods, results in breakdown of law and governance structures and generates
violent mindsets amongst people. Coming out of a protracted war that has affected
every single citizen of the country, there are many issues that need to be addressed
in brining back normalcy to a country. While some of these issues such as rebuilding
infrastructure, encouraging investment and creating job and livelihood opportunities
are clear, there are some issues of a more transitional nature which tend to get
bypassed but which are critical for ensuring that development is effective and
citizens are content and happy. The paper outlines some of these issues and provides
a basic framework of response that can be expanded into concrete strategies and
action plans.
1. The rise of human smuggling and organized crime
The breakdown of law and order is one of the root causes of this situation arising.
Over the course of the war, there has been an increase in organized smuggling of
human beings out of the country and this has reached epidemic proportions due
to the perception that Sri Lanka did not provide citizens with the best
opportunities for life. Many of those that have embarked on such journeys have
also been turned back at various international ports of call while new illegal entry
has been recorded of Indian citizens via the coastal areas of the North and East
during the war. Additionally, there has been some internal migration of people
from the north of the country to the south in search of better opportunities and
migration of estate workers to the north during the conflict. Further, the influx of
Indian and Chinese laborers has increased significantly and there is little
monitoring of their legal status in Sri Lanka.
Criminal activities especially in the areas of vice and kidnappings have increased
with the post-conflict boom in tourism and weapons falling into the hands of the
underworld. Additionally, the existence of the Indian and Chinese labor force in
the country necessarily gives rise to an increase in prostitution and illegal
gambling etc. in areas where these groups are concentrated. This can also result
in an increase in STDs, the break up of families and community groups and act as
a destabilizing agent in efforts to develop the country.
Therefore, a clearer census of the peoples of the North and East is required and
more focused monitoring of foreign work forces that come into the country. While
tourism is good, it should be expanded within a carefully planned framework of
development that encourages working in support services and discourages
engagement in vice. For this, tourism should be developed to target a higher level
of tourist while tourist zones should be set up against strategic environment
assessments.
2. Domestic violence and gender/gay connected issues
Domestic violence has been rampant in the country in the past and the conflict
has increased the level of violence of members of both genders and this has
compounded the problem. Empowerment of women, increasing their access to
viable economic activity and revoking the idea of the householder always being
designated a male are ways through which this problem can be addressed and its
impact reduced.

The prevalence and the potential for increase of gay/lesbian activities are far
greater than acknowledged. In fact, with 89,000 war/tsunami widows in the north
and east and reduction in the male population overall in these areas has given
rise to conditions where there is a greater chance of same sex partnerships
occurring especially amongst women. From a practical perspective, this is not
essentially negative since community unity is not threatened by it and other
cultural aspects of an ethnic group can still be preserved within such sexual
orientation. It should be understood that the issue is based less on a bias towards
homosexual desires and more as a problem of not having other alternatives that
are socially acceptable. Repressing this might result in many of these women
turning to more socially damaging activities such as vice.
While there are organized groups such as Companions on a Journey where
membership is primarily from urban centers, there are many same-sex partners in
rural communities and a clear census has never been done. It is important that
these groups are given some rights to engage in such activities and Article 23 of
the Constitution which states that homosexuality is an act of sadism should be
revisited and possibly revised to pave the way for inclusion and mainstreaming of
these groups.
3. Cast/religious/Communal tension and cross-cultural conflicts
The Tamil speaking populations of Sri Lanka speak four different dialects and hail
from different parts of the country with different cultural backgrounds and
traditions. These individuals are even more biased against each other than they
are with respect to other communities. With many estate Tamil workers migrating
to the north and engaging in the war, there is a perceived threat amongst
communities hailing from the north that these individuals will be resettled in what
they perceive to be their areas and this should be avoided as much as possible.
The problem is also compounded by the influx of Indian labor force for large scale
energy projects in the area and this can muddy the already volatile caste mix of
the ethnic Tamil population of the north.
With the expansion of local tourism and the boom in overseas influx of tourists,
there is a significant chance that areas of worship will be desecrated with respect
to traditions in terms of modes of access, dress codes etc. While there are no laws
about such things, it is clear that there are traditional dress codes that are
recommended for such places of worship (white clothing that covers the body for
example)
in places like the Temple of the Tooth, the Polonnaruwa and
Anuradhapura temples and Kataragama. The same tradition should be
recommended for places of worship in the norh and east as well.
Some religious practices such as the slaughter of animals needs to be addressed
very quickly. Sri Lanka has never had a culture of cruelty to animals on a scale as
blatant and violent as the practices of some places of worship. It is therefore
recommended that these practices are stopped since a majority of the countries
citizens are not in favor of continuing these.
4. Environment and natural resources management
Carbon emissions, climate change, historical sites, forests, minerals, renewable
energy sources etc. all fall under this category of issues that need to be seriously
addressed in the transmission from instability to stability, from war to peace, from
inequity to equity. Towards this, there should be policy and legislative changes
that encourage any business or social practice that optimizes resource utilization.

This will mean increasing recycling and reused, reducing requirements and
minimizing or eradicating waste.
At present there are many laws, policies and international agreements that are in
place that ensure equitable, sustainable and environment friendly development.
Additionally, and importantly, vast sums of money have been made available by
the international community for precisely these purposes. These funding lines are
available for reducing carbon emissions, clean development mechanisms and
adaptation to climate threats. While mitigation of climate change is a global
priority, it is not that critical to Sri Lanka since we have relatively small emission
rates. In fact our emissions are 1/20 of that of a US citizen and 1/3 of an Indian.
However, the impact of global warming is very severe in Sri Lanka and therefore,
from a national perspective our focus should be less on mitigation and more on
adaptation. Sri Lanka has not, so far, been very successful in tapping into
available funding resources of emission reductions or adaptation and it is critical
that we form a highly efficient and high powered strategy formulation and
negotiation panel to obtain these funds and use them for the benefit of the
people of the country.
In addition to this, some of our existing laws and policies in environment
management and the energy sector specifically, resist optimizing resource usage.
Additionally, public access to information is very limited and this in turn has a
negative effect on the level to which they can participate in the development of
the country and the sense of ownership and inclusion that they feel. While there
is an Access to Information Act currently pending it has not yet been ratified.
Therefore, these need to be modified/changed in order to place the country on a
sustainable development footing.
5. The recommended process to address transitional issues
While legislative mechanisms and policies can be changed, what is more crucial is
that the mindset of the people of the country both as individuals with personal
aspiration and goals and as socio-economic entities working in the government,
private, civil, academic, media, livelihood sectors needs to change first. This will
necessitate moving towards a clean development mindset that works within a
clean development mechanism. For this, the following is important:
The C s Compromise, Consensus, Commitment
The D s Democracy, Defense, Development
The M s Management, Motivation, Mobilization, Monitoring
Together, the above CDM needs to be clearly outlined to move towards putting Sri
Lanka in the forefront of the most rapidly, most equitably and most sustainably
developed country in the world.