Former President Kumaratunga was addressing the press as the Head of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena.
She also said "Accountability especially seems to be an important part of ONUR goals. The previous Government's lack of accountability made us lose face with the international community, and said the accountability process would be four-pronged, to include a Missing Persons Office, a Special Court for investigation of cases of war crimes, a compensatory instrument, and a mandate to ensure non-recurrence.
She further said "About 100,000 people lost their lives during the Sri Lankan civil war, while thousands were displaced. The war that lasted almost three decades produced ripples that lasted years after the previous Government defeated the LTTE terrorists," she said.
"A lot more has to be done than end a war on a military level. The root causes of the conflict need to be addressed," the former President added.
"The plans of ONUR, broadly titled "the Road Map to National Unity", moves beyond what the LLRC has done, and assigns its own committees and policies which will contribute to peace and stability in the country. Examples of the new policies that will be passed by ONUR are: the formation of the Grievance Unit for empowering women, especially war widows and female breadwinners,tri-language and cultural enlightenment in the education sector, and the issuance of a formal 'Certificate of Absence' for families of missing persons," the former President said.
A few pivotal sections of the plans laid out by ONUR, highlighted for their novelty, include the mandatory introduction of the celebration of eight festivals in schools, two from every main Sri Lankan religion, the training and securing of trilingual resource persons in public institutions, and systematized psychosocial support for war-affected traumatized people in the North and East. ONUR also plans to take on comprehensive district development in regions of the country that have been neglected: "There will be a lot of development activity, in terms of infrastructure, education and so on, in former war affected areas by mid 2016," the former President reiterated
"ONUR will also instate Women For Reconciliation, a solace for war affected women and women-headed households. Women in the North are still marginalized and sexually abused in the post-war context," she said.
She further said that ONUR will focus directly on the issues of women at a disadvantage from the effects of war, through Women For Reconciliation.
"ONUR also plans on conducting extensive programmes "for conflict resolution and peace building." The programmes will pilot in three districts in June 2016, and will involve the participation of development officers and religious leaders. The programmes are an endeavour by ONUR with the assistance of the Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation," she said.
-Daily News
