Representatives of Journalists Unions in the Southern Province comprising of the Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts walked out of a two-day residential training programme held at a resort hotel in Kamburupitiya.
The residential workshop was organised by a non-governmental organization (NGO) to promote Sustainable Peace and National Reconciliation in Sri Lanka through Transitional Justice and Participatory Governance by Strengthening the Capacity of Provincial Journalists and Civil Activists.
Although at the inception it was agreed to give ownership of this project to Journalist Associations to spearhead all activities, the organisers opted to take control and make their own arrangements at the final stage. Thirty seven journalists and five representatives from another local NGO were invited to the workshop.
The organisers had also invited a panel of eminent civil activists as resource personnel but all except for five Journalists and the representatives of the invited NGO opted to leave at the end of the first day’s programme when it transpired that they were being used for the sustenance of the NGO rather than achieve National Reconciliation.
It is learnt that this same NGO had organised similar workshops with the participation of journalists in the Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna districts.
Add new comment