PARLIAMENT

The “Diyawanna Declaration” was launched at the Special All-Faith and All-Party Conference convened at Parliament by the Select Committee of Parliament to study and report to Parliament its recommendations to ensure Communal and Religious Harmony in Sri Lanka on 26-04-2019.

Diyawanna Declaration

01. Recommending the need for all party leaders including the President, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to work in cooperation with each other regardless of narrow political, religious or party differences in order to ensure all citizens are able to exist without fear or suspicion and to ensure the security of the motherland and all her people.

02. Emphasizing the need for the three arms of government, i.e., the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary to work smoothly with mutual understanding.

03. Taking relevant decisions by means of discussion and common agreement in the event there are deficiencies in the Constitution and the 19th amendment, which require remedies. Until such time to provide space to move ahead under the prevailing law. However, such action should not pose a hindrance to the functioning of the independent commissions.

04. Ensuring that the National Security Council is met regularly and the President, the Prime Minister and the State Minister for Defence attend those meetings.

05. In keeping with the practices followed by other countries with respect to the Police, bringing the administration of the Police under a full-time Minister to function as line Ministry.

06. In consideration of the fact that continuous discourse which was carried out among religious leaders and political and civil society leaders under the patronage of the Parliamentary Select Committee for National and Religious Co-existence in Sri Lanka which was established in March 2018 consequent to the incidents that took place in Digana, Kandy were highly instrumental in minimizing communal clashes in the wake of the unfortunate events which unfolded on the last 21st, organizing more such conferences in different parts of the island. Next conference will be held in Vavuniya.

07. Re-establishing the community police service and maintaining a strong network of coordination between the Police and the general public.

08. Taking immediate steps to prevent the spread of false rumours causing negative impacts on the public life and disrupting work in offices and to establish a mechanism which can provide true and accurate news to the public.

09. Requesting from the state and private media, to be responsible in the use of media and refrain from expressing political opinions which fuel discord.

10. It is the view of the Select Committee of Parliament for National and Religious Harmony that the main objective of the attack on 21 April was to fuel disharmony among different communities and reach their extremist goals hence the society should be educated further, regarding the need to work in harmony and brotherhood without succumbing to their tactics.