The first of the three Youth Empowerment and Legal Awareness Programmes planned for this year by WICPER was successfully concluded in Hambantota from the 26th to the 27th of March 2011.
The objective of this programme, which was interactive, was to provide the participants with a basic knowledge of their right, duties and responsibilities within the laws governing their day to day lives such as laws relating to family matters, rights of children, labour laws, criminal litigation and fundamental rights as well as methods of dispute resolution within their respective communities. Also the participants were given a basic knowledge of the court system of Sri Lanka and the procedures in the courts.
The programme was attended by a group of 20 youth leaders from various backgrounds, disciplines and institutions who are actively involved in mediation, conflict resolution and community building in Hambantota.
The programme was resourced by experts in the field such as Mr. Kelum Wickremasinghe (Attorney at Law), Mr. Charuka Samarasekera (Project Officer of Equal Access to Justice), Mr. Chamath Fernando (Attorney at Law, TFT 2009 Alumni), Mr. Kumudu Weerawardena (TFT 2009 Alumni) and Ms Susaritha Segar (Lecturer University of Colombo).
WICPER is planning the second and third of the three such programmes in Ampara and Mannar respectively within the month of July.
