SL POLITICAL REPS ON CROSS LEARNING VISIT TO UK

Six young cross-party Sri Lankan parliamentarians and political representatives had visited the UK from 25th February to 5th March 2013 to explore its governance and democracy models, and continue their engagement with UK-based diaspora.

Vasantha Senanayake and Shehan Semasinghe MPs from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Hunais Farook MP from the All Ceylon Muslim Congress, Harin Fernando and Niroshan Perera MPs from the United National Party, and Mr Raghu Balachandran from the Tamil National Alliance took part in this initiative organised by International Alert with its partners the Royal Commonwealth Society and One Text Initiative.

The visit, which was funded by the British High Commission in Colombo, was the third in a series of

The visit funded by the British High Commission in Colombo, was the third in a series of dialogues and cross-learning experiences involving Sri Lankan parliamentarians and diaspora communities

dialogues and cross-learning experiences involving Sri Lankan parliamentarians and diaspora communities.

The delegates visited the Greater London Authority, the Welsh Assembly, and the Houses of Parliament and learnt about the different levels of governance in the UK and their interaction with each other, and how regional and national assemblies are adapted to the needs of their populations.

They also looked at how the governance systems were able to support inclusive peace in the UK context during meetings with British MPs in Westminster, organised through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The delegates also met Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Alistair Burt, at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

The participants continued their engagement with UK-based diaspora communities, which began in December 2011, through meetings with Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim community members from the first and second generation. They also met with religious leaders from Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities in the UK and engaged in interfaith dialogues.

The delegates shared their experience of visiting war affected areas in the North of Sri Lanka and the concerns of the diaspora with regards to post-war recovery and reconciliation processes in Sri Lanka.