Stories of Empowerment from Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka:

Accounts from Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka:

Return of Child Soldiers
The recruitment of child soldiers continues to be a serious problem in Sri Lanka. According to UNICEF, the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) recruited over 700 children under the age of 18 during 2003. The median age of LTTE casualties is 16. On August 5, 2004 a Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) team accompanied a group of mothers and a local human rights activist seeking the release of children allegedly abducted as child soldiers. NP team members provided a supportive international presence while negotiations between the mothers and the insurgency leadership continued. By nightfall of the second day, 26 children were released with their bus fares home. On their way home, the NP team met a representative of the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Batticaloa, who praised them for their role and stressed the value of rapid responses like this to improve human rights situations. He also said that he believed NP to be on “the front line” on such issues.

“Good Samaritan” in the Village
One night in a small Sri Lanka village, one man was walking on the street alone. A second man approached on a bicycle and lobbed a hand grenade at the walking man. The grenade made a loud boom, hitting the man who fell, critically injured. The bicyclist quickly rode away into the cover of darkness. Violence creates fear, and fear is the greatest silencer of a civil society. Fearful, silent people do not easily come out of their homes, especially at night, not to inquire or investigate, and not to meet or gather. No one came to the injured man’s aid. A Nonviolent Peaceforce peacekeeper heard the boom and saw a man lying alone, injured and bleeding in the street. She quickly ran to his aid, followed by a second NP peacekeeper. They comforted him and took him to the hospital. The next day, NP peacekeepers were heralded by their neighbors as heroes for showing fearlessness by helping the injured man. Inspired, the residents tried on their own fearlessness. They remembered their dignity as caring and courageous human beings. That night, residents showed their strength and came into the street to greet each other openly. That second night, the streets revealed the sights and sounds of a rebuilding civil society.

Internally Displaced Persons and Rumor Control
A Sri Lankan neighborhood was subjected to violent home searches. Additionally in the neighborhood there was the assassination and display of a family including two children. Residents fled to a neighboring village for safety. NP peacekeepers were called. NP activated “shuttle diplomacy”, meetings and gatherings. Military personnel from both armed parties and grassroots leaders from various ethnic groups met in safety. Immediate conflicts were resolved; the army withdrew some newly installed military checkpoints. These leaders held a joint community meeting, responded to families’ questions, and were able to clarify rumors and dispel fears. One thousand six-hundred people returned to their homes after being displaced.