Formulating a National Action Plan for Reparations: An Interview with the Head and Director General of the Office for Reparations

Interview

Writers-Hiruni Jayaratne and Waruni Kumarasingha- Strategic Communications Unit (Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute)

Sri Lanka is very much in the spotlight at 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2022. Last year, the Council adopted resolution 46/1 calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to show tangible progress in accountability and reconciliation. The government’s stated policy is that there are domestic mechanisms to address the concerns raised by the international community and they should be given time to show results. However, critics charge that the domestic mechanisms are one-sided and favours the Government without addressing the core issues of reconciliation.

It is therefore important to analyse these views and gain proper understanding of this mechanism. In terms of the domestic mechanisms referred to by the Government , there are six such mechanisms: The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), the Steering Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SGD16); The Presidential Commission to inquire into the findings of the previous Commissions, The Office on Missing Persons, The Office of Reparations and The Human Rights Commission.

We spoke to Dhara Wijayatilake, Attorney-at-Law, Chairperson and Nazeema Ahmed, Director General at the Office for Reparation to find out how this mechanism operates and its objectives.

The following are excerpts of the interview:

What is the mandate of your institution and the background to its creation?

The Office for Reparations is an independent body established in terms of the Office for Reparations Act, No. 34 of 2018 to manage Sri Lanka’s reparations regime and grant reparations to victims of conflict, which was passed in Parliament and came into operation on 22nd October 2018. The principle objective of the Reparations Act is to provide for a framework for the grant by Government of remedies or relief to its citizens or the intention to assist persons who have suffered loss or damage as a result of a conflict referred to, to build and restore their lives.

How do you define “Reparations”? Do you have a criteria to measure “progress” in Reparations?

“Reparations” is another term for “relief”, “remedies” or “redress” and the affected persons are referred to as “aggrieved persons”. As expressly set out in the preamble to the Act, the intention is to contribute to the promotion of reconciliation for the wellbeing and security of all Sri Lankans, including future generations. This is to be achieved through assisting all citizens of Sri Lanka who have suffered under specific circumstances listed under Section 27 of the Reparations Act to “rebuild and restore their lives, and thereby to advance the wellbeing and security of all Sri Lankans, including future generations. The huge task that the Office for Reparations faces is to help formulate a national action plan to identify the outcome oriented difficulties and to make this goal a reality.

What activities has the OR done so far such as progress, action plan, strategies etc to achieve this vision?

Office for Reparation is delivering a greater service to the society by focusing on key areas consisting of:

i. Livelihood Support

Generating livelihood support was identified as an immediate need by the OR. Throughout the period, OR has organised and completed numerous programmes to facilitate livelihood assistance to the community. For instance,

Access to water supply for irrigational/ agricultural activities to assist farmer communities;

Integrating the aggrieved persons to the numerous poverty alleviation programs carried out by the government;

Generation of livelihood avenues, and self-employment opportunities in the affected areas.

To improve the living standards of the aggrieved community, last year OR developed a knowledge and technology transfer programme enabling new startups and entrepreneurship. The first Knowledge and Technology transfer programme was conducted for female heads of households in Thellipalai Divisional Secretariat in the Jaffna district in December. One hundred and two (102) women participated in the programme which provided both lectures and practical demonstrations on new startups such as virgin coconut oil extraction, preparation of liquid soap, etc.

ii. Compensation and Financial Support

During the period, the OR processed 5,964 claims and paid Rs.399.8 million as compensation for death, injury and loss or damage to property as a result of the conflict in the North and East and seven other incidents of civil commotions that occurred between 2006 and 2019. In addition to the compensation payments, the OR also continued to implement a loan scheme that was commenced by Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties and Industries Authority (REPPIA). The financial support is provided for aggrieved persons and socially reintegrated ex-combatants for self-employment and housing.

iii. Restitution of Land Rights

OR is working on the expeditious release of land, where possible, to the rightful owners, and where release is not possible, expeditious payment of compensation or provision of alternate land to the rightful owners with the collaboration of respective government authorities.

iv. Provision of Housing

The housing loan scheme was approved by the government in 2010 to assist war affected widows and other affected persons to construct houses for their resettlement. An amount of Rs. 24,000,000.00 was paid for 96 cases in 2019 and amount of Rs.750,000.00 was paid for 03 beneficiaries in 2020 under the review by OR.

v. Development of Community Infrastructure

To develop the community infrastructure based on various damages, have been monitored and facilitated by OR during the last years. For instance, payment of compensation for the affected persons and families in Kandy incident, compensation for the affected victims of easter Sunday bomb attack who lost properties and lives in 2019, Payment of compensation for the damaged places of worship.

vi. Administrative Relief

Since many programmes have already been implemented at district level, the OR considered it necessary to engage with the district administration to identify the gaps. For this purpose, the OR met with the District Secretaries from all 25 districts in November 2021 to create awareness on the role and mandate of the OR, and to discuss the support expected of them. The OR distributed a questionnaire to collate relevant information from the District and Divisional Secretariats to identify the needs of the aggrieved community.

vii. Psychosocial Support

The OR has identified the impact of conflict on victims as a serious concern which needed to be addressed. Under this, a pilot Psychosocial Support Programme was designed and the training of 26 Case Managers was completed during last year. The pilot programme commenced during the year with the conduct of the field level engagement with 136 aggrieved persons in five Divisional Secretariat areas that were selected for the Pilot programme in Kilinochchi (Karachchi DS Division), Batticaloa (Arayampathy -Manmunai Pattu DS Division), Ampara (Navithanveli DS Division), Kurunegala (Kurunegala DS Division) and Matara (Matara Four Gravets DS Division).

viii. Measures to advance unity, reconciliation and non-recurrence of violence

Several initiatives have been identified and are being taken in collaboration with relevant stakeholders including government and civil society organizations. An initial discussion to introduce a pictorial book to promote peace and unity among primary grade students was held with the Ministry of Education. The Members of the OR initiated a joint consultation grouping titled the “Unity Cluster” which meets regularly to discuss common programmes and areas for support and thereby avoiding duplication and promoting meaningful use of resources with the joint collaboration of the Office for Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR).

Meanwhile the OR has taken other key initiatives to facilitate the society by,

Awareness creation among stakeholders

The OR made presentations to different stakeholder groups with the objective of creating awareness of the Cabinet approved Policies and Guidelines and the role of the OR in providing reparations last year. For instance, Development Partners on 8 October 2021, Butterfly Peace Garden CSO on 27 October, Meeting with the Hon. Governor and the District Secretaries of the Northern Province on 29 October 2021, Civil Society Collectives on 9 November 2021, Muslim Women Development Trust (displaced community of Puttalam district) on 25 November, Disability Action Committee of Batticaloa district on 21 December 2021.

Engagement with Civil Society Organisations

The OR organised a dialogue with CSOs on 15 October, 2021 which was attended by over 40 participants representing 30 organizations. As a follow-up to this discussion, the Secretariat had bilateral discussions with several CSOs to discuss the implementation of programs for the benefit of the aggrieved communities.

Transparency and dissemination of information

To provide appropriate and accurate information, the OR website has been revamped and all information uploaded in all three languages, subject to maintaining confidentiality with regard to details regarding aggrieved persons. In addition, a comprehensive Information Management System is being developed to enable evidence-based decision making in relation to the grant of reparations to aggrieved persons.

Sensitisation of OR staff

To empower OR’s staff on the victim centric approach that needs to be adopted in dealing with victims of conflict, various sessions have been organised during the years. For instance; the session on gender and reparations conducted by Center for Equality and Justice (CEJ), awareness session on domestic violence conducted by Women in Need (WIN), the session to mark the World Mental Health Day 2021 to understand the mentalities of the victims and the role of the OR staff in granting relief conducted by the Psychosocial support Consultant, the session on stress and coping conducted by the trained Case Managers of the OR based on their real experience, awareness session on the reparations policies and guidelines conducted by the Director General with a main focus of adopting a common and outcome-oriented approach in service delivery.

04. What do you see as the main problem or problems to reparations in this country and what are some of the ways that the Office for Reparations is addressing these problems?

After the conflict ended, restoring, rebuilding or assists persons who have suffered is the major challenge for Office for Reparations to identify the root causes and solutions to the problems. Office for Reparations has identified the areas to be addressed with immediate effect by giving psychosocial support,Knowledge Transfer programmes and technological workshops to those who interested in pursuing self- employment opportunities. Therefore, lack of internal human resources is the main issue and challenge that Office for Reparation is currently facing with.

Lack of literacy on Reparations among civilians is another challenge that the Office for Reparations is dealing with, to enhance the knowledge about Reparations to the public these above mentioned workshops by OR has given positive impact especially for the “Aggrieved Person” during the civil war.

05. Gaining international credibility for the domestic mechanisms is one of the greatest challenges faced by the government. How do you address this in regard to the Office for Reparations?

Any institution gains credibility from the service it provides to the people who receive its services, and the commitment it demonstrates to achieve its macro-goals. The Office for Reparations has been able to actively
carry out its statutory mandate over the past few years, serving aggrieved persons and restoring lives, despite several challenges, including COVID-19. The feedback we have received from our beneficiaries has been very positive. Special mention should be made to the pilot psychosocial support programme we launched last year, which received a very positive feedback from the victims and their families.

The Office for Reparations is actively engaged in consultation with the civil society organisations, organizing public awareness programmes and funding or restoring projects around the island. So far, the feedback from the international organizations, embassies and civil society is very positive, encouraging the Office to do more.