Focusing on International Peace Day as a rallying point, RCSS organized a wall painting in the town of Kantale, 46 kms South of Trincomalee.

With the ready support of the Zonal Education Office of Kantale, GPPAC-SA brought together youth from 12 schools in the area, representing Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities.  An Art Competition among schools was conducted on 7th September, 2009, through which skilled students were selected to paint the wall of the Zonal Education Office, Kantale. 

The Kantale Zonal Education Office coordinates the educational activities of 13,000 students in schools in the area and the outer wall of the office was the most appropriate nerve point where the dreams, hopes and skills of Kantale’s multi-ethnic youth could be captured as paintings on the themes, “Peace” and “Nature.” This indeed is a groundbreaking collaboration between GPPAC-SA and the educational establishment in the area. 

Among the many objectives of the project, multi ethnic interaction, nature appreciation, and focusing on common positive platforms of convergence such as the link between humanity, peace,  and nature are some of the more prominent ones. This activity was also the first in the area that brought youth of different ethnicities and religions together for over a period of six consecutive days. 

On 14th September, 2009, students and teachers from 12 schools assembled at the Cultural Centre, Kantale. There was a buzz of excitement in the room, as the students took their seats. Hugging their boxes of paint and paint brushes, the students looked on expectantly as officials conducting the day’s session walked into the room. Addressing the gathering Mr. Ranikin A.Liyanage, Deputy Education Director Aesthetic Studies, Kantale, said that celebrating International Peace Day through the togetherness of 12 schools was indeed a gigantic achievement. He commended the commitment of the school principals, teachers, and students to engage in the painting activity for a whole week.

Professor R.A. Ariyaratne, Director RCSS/GPPAC – SA, spoke on the importance of co-existence in a multi ethnic country. He appreciated the efforts of the Zonal Education Office and the Youth Service Officer, Kantale, and noted that these initiatives would bring about proper interaction among the students in the area and enhance the reconciliation efforts. Nilakshi Gunatillake, Regional Liaison Officer for GPPAC-SA, said that though 21 September is called the International Day of Peace, peace is not just a day but is a journey that needs to be undertaken with the strength of especially the youth in the country. 

On 15 September at 8.30 am, students assembled in front of the wall and were enthusiastically waiting for the painting to begin. After the briefing session and the students got down to work, it was a great pleasure to watch them at work. The front of the wall was a hive of activity and within an hour the students were busy with their creations. Some students held consultations with teachers, while some were measuring and marking the spaces allotted to them. Meticulous planning was evident within the student groups. Some were painstakingly transferring shared ideas onto the wall, while some were seen carefully mixing the required colours. It was clear that the students thrived on team work to complete the assigned tasks.

The end of the activity on 19 September, marked the beginning of new friendships  for the youth. The feelings and thoughts that were laid down on the wall through colours and strokes of brushes vividly depict the hopes of the young and old in post conflict areas of Sri Lanka.

On this occasion, the combined talents and strengths of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo and the Centre for Security Analysis of Chennai, have created an opportunity for us to engage in just such an exercise. This is not an opportunity that we should let slip from our grasp. I sincerely appreciate the invitation extended to me by the Executive Director of the RCSS, Professor Amal Jayawardane, to join you on this occasion and share with you some thoughts on the Government's vision and programmes for the future of the war-affected areas which will, in turn, affect the fortunes of the entire Sri Lankan nation,” said Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe, in the keynote address he made inaugurating the Seminar "From Winning the War to Winning Peace:  Postwar Rebuilding of the Society in Sri Lanka,”  jointly organized by the Centre for Security Analysis (CSA) in Chennai, India,  and the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Colombo.

Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology and Chairman, All Party representative Committee (APRC) of Sri Lanka, made Opening Remarks at the commencement of the Third Session of the Seminar, on “Political Accommodation.”  Outlining the action taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to prepare the final solution to the North East problem, Minister Vitharana referred to the work of the APRC and stated that the summary of the APRC proposals prepared at the conclusion of the meetings, would recommend “a home grown” solution to the concerned issues.

The two day Seminar which took place on 28 – 29 August 2009, at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo attracted leading government agencies, think tanks, experts, the media and members of the diplomatic corps and international agencies. “Voices from Across the Palk Strait” joined “Voices from Sri Lanka” to lead the deliberations of the seminar.

In his opening address at the inauguration of the seminar, Prof Amal Jayawardane, Executive Director, RCSS, acknowledged Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Keynote Speaker at the inaugural session, and Minister Tissa Vitharana, for his Opening Remarks at the commencement of the Session on Political Accomodation and welcomed the large number of participants present. He outlined the background of the seminar organised by RCSS in collaboration with CSA in Chennai and emphasised its objective to reflect on reconstruction and peace building activities in Sri Lanka that would allow the long-term social, economic and political stability to take root in the aftermath of the military defeat of the LTTE. He offered his thanks to General Raghavan for the opportunity made available to work together with CSA in staging the event and expressed the hope that it would be the beginning of a fruitful partnership with CSA.

Making introductory remarks on the Seminar Concept, Lt. Gen. V. Ragahavan, President, CSA, explained the convening of the seminar as a timely activity with the participation of friends of Sri Lanka in India, particularly those in Chennai, and introduced the themes Economic Reconstruction, Socio- Ethnic Cohesion and Political Accommodation, under which panel discussions would take place during the working sessions of the Seminar. 

The first session of the Seminar on Economic Reconstruction was chaired by Prof. W.D. Lakshman, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance and Planning & Chairman, Presidential Commission on Taxation with three experts presenting papers. A presentation was made on Strategies to Accelerate Infrastructural Development in Sri Lanka by Dr. Partha Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi; on Economic Development and Reconstruction of the North-East: Problems and Prospects by Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka; and on  Economic Freedom: The Path to Economic cum Political Empowerment of the Conflict Region by Dr Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Principal Researcher, Point Pedro Institute of Development.

Ambassador Sumith Nakandala, Additional Director General, UN & Multilateral Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs chaired the Second Session on Socio-Ethnic Cohesion with three eminent experts making presentations.  Mr. B. G. Verghese, Visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi spoke on Reconciling Ethnic Diversities; Prof.  R. A. Ariyaratne, Director, RCSS focused on Conflict-Induced Displaced Population of Sri Lanka: Challenges for the Future; and Deshabandu (Mrs) Jezima Ismail, Founder Co-ordinator, MWRAF, presented the third paper on Transformation of Conflict with a Focus on Stabilizing and Rebuilding of Relationships.

The final session on Political Accommodation was chaired by Lt. Gen. (Retd.) V.R.Raghavan, President, CSA. A paper on Some Parameters of Political Reforms in Wining Peace after the War was presented by Professor Laksiri Fernando, Professor, University of Colombo; a presentation on Postwar Rebuilding: Constitutional Recipe for Political Accommodation made by Mr. N. Selvakkumaran, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and bringing the seminar to a conclusion a paper on Testing the Waters and Testing the Will was presented by Mr. N. Sathiya Moorthy, Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter. 

The papers presented at each session led to a vibrant discussion of the respective themes and positive recommendations emerged at the end of the two-day event.

The formal launching of the new RCSS Website took place on Wednesday July 1, 2009 at the RCSS amidst the presence of a distinguished gathering. Executive Director, Professor Amal Jayawardane welcoming the members of RCSS, representatives of other organizations associated with the Centre and well-wishers explained the circumstances leading to the designing of a new website to project the vision of RCSS and its activities. He launched the new website through an innovative introductory process created for the occasion by the designer, Weblook International.

Among the striking features of the new website is the home page with a flash banner depicting the main focus of RCSS; rotating introductions to events and publications; and links to RCSS brochure and newsletter. The Projects/Workshops page contains elaborate information on RCSS activities, during the last decade, together with photographs. The Publications page brings out amongst other publications, the RCSS Policy Studies, the contents of which can be accessed in PDF format by those interested in reading them. The newly introduced Networks page provides information on the respective organizations that RCSS is networking with, and their activities. While the Research Awards page gives details of the awards made by RCSS to young scholars in the South Asia region the Alumni page lists the names of the approximately 457 persons who earned alumni membership by successfully participating in RCSS workshops and research work.

The website has been designed to meet modern web designing standards along with a prominent feature that enables RCSS to continuously update its affiliates about its activities.

Concluding the launching ceremony, RCSS Associate Director Ambassador Geetha de Silva expressed the hope that the new website being very user-friendly would encourage scholars from South Asia and beyond to visit the site and access its information on a regular and frequent basis.

The website can be accessed at http://www.rcss.org