NGOs finally meet Gotabaya to discuss conflicts and ways of resolving issues
View(s):The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the National Peace Council (NPC), often blasted by government agencies as international propagandists, were among several NGOs which met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week to discuss a range of issues confronting the non formal sector.
According to a statement to the media released by the NPC, the September 4 meeting was facilitated by Lalith Chandradasa, brother-in-law of the President and who is attached to the Presidential Secretariat.
It said representatives from 11 non-governmental organisations, who were engaged with CHOGM 2013 and the associated Commonwealth People’s Forum, met with the Defence Secretary and other officials from the NGO Secretariat and Ministry of Defence. “On the positive side, this meeting revealed an opening for a dialogue to commence between the government and NGOs. The discussion between the Defence Secretary and officials present and the NGO representatives was cordial and covered the areas of interest of the NGOs that participated in the meeting as well as the concerns and perceptions of NGOs in general,” it said. In recent months, NGOs in particular the CPA and the NPC and activists like Nimalka Fernando have been facing a barrage of criticism from government sections over their role and activities. New rules making it harder for NGOs to operate have been enforced.
The NPC said there was a discussion on the issuance of the NGO Secretariat circular on the need for NGOs to work within their mandates and the Finance Ministry advertisement that the general public and government officials should check on the credentials of NGOs prior to working with them. “The discussion also extended to the government’s surveillance of NGO activities, the devolution of power, the problem of missing persons and the unwillingness of NGOs to dialogue with the government. The issue of government regulation of NGOs through the NGO Secretariat was also discussed and the need for a regular programme of meetings and consultation between the NGO Secretariat and representatives of NGOs was agreed upon,” the release said.
The Defence Secretary, according to the NPC, explained his position on each of the problems that the NGO representatives brought up. He urged the NGOs present to discuss their problems with the government rather than internationalising them. He also proposed that the NGO Secretariat’s liaison officers in the District Secretariats could be called upon to resolve any problems encountered in the field.
“Two matters for follow up were also agreed upon at the meeting. The first was to regularise meetings between the NGO Secretariat and the NGOs to collect relevant information and to iron out problems. The second area was to bring the Defence Secretary into dialogue with those NGOs that are more strongly and openly critical of the government,” the release said.
The invited NGOs apart from the CPA and the NPC were the Colombo District Business Development Co-op Society, Maternity and Child Life Development Foundation, Eco friendly Volunteers (ECO-V), Sarvodaya Movement, Seva Lanka Foundation, Vanni Cultural Fund, Oferr Ceylon, Manawa Shakthi Padanama and the Human Rights Organisation of Sri Lanka.