Under its project Prevention of Violent Extremism Capacity Building in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, NPC held workshops in Kurunegala, Ampara, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Mannar for 173 representatives of civil society organizations, religious leaders, youth, state sector officials and community police.
The project aims to identify and analyse the intentions of dominant narratives in the context of violent extremism in districts, identify actors creating violent extremism and responding with counter narratives.
The workshops were facilitated by Kasun Sankalpa, a social media analyst with Hashtag Generation. Participants learnt about identifying harmful narratives and distinguishing the differences among them. They were taught about freedom of expression within local and international legal frameworks and were able to develop counter narratives avoiding stereotyping and discrimination.
These stories were identified by participants as ones that could foster extremism:
- The Muslim population is increasing in the Ampara district and they will take state lands belonging to Tamils and Sinhalese
- Mannar is only for Hindus
- The Mannar economy is controlled by the Katankudi Muslims so don't allow them to do any business
- Tamil women will be harassed by Muslims