Visaka Dharmadasa
Sri Lanka

Visaka Dharmadasa is Founder of Parents of Servicemen Missing-in-Action, Chair of the Association of War-Affected Women, and Secretary of the Kandy Association for War-Affected Families. She educates soldiers, youth, and community leaders about international standards of conduct in war and promotes the economic and social development of women across conflict lines. Ms. Dharmadasa published a booklet in English, Sinhala, and Tamil to raise awareness about the importance of combatants' identification tags and adherence to international laws addressing the proper treatment of prisoners of war, such as international humanitarian law and Articles 16 and 17 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. She also proposed guidelines to the army for the identification of soldiers' bodies, such as keeping dental records and wearing and respecting ID tags.

Ms. Dharmadasa's peace-building activities include:

• lobbying the government to reciprocate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) actions of releasing soldiers and civilians, resulting in the release of ten LTTE suspects;
• mobilizing cross-community dialogue by creating a support network in which women from each side of the conflict could come together to express grievances and share stories and strategies;
• signing a July 2002 memorandum created by a coalition of Sri Lankan women's groups calling for women's inclusion throughout all aspects of the peace process in that country;
• working as an assistant program officer for the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, where she coordinated a program on war-affected women and designed workshops on rehabilitation, re-integration, and reconciliation;
• organizing the "Mothers of Sri Lanka" petition project for the Association of War-Affected Women, which resulted in nearly 100,000 signatures on a petition calling upon both the government and the LTTE to end the prolonged war;
• coordinating a program to start the reconciliation process between mothers of missing soldiers of Jaffna and mothers of disappeared youth of the north;
• planning the launch of the "Healing Minds Dialogue Process," bringing groups from all sectors of society to discuss peace and stability;
• organizing demonstrations that call for peace and an end to violent conflict; and
• raising awareness about the war and addressing the impact of ethnic conflict on society by attending monthly meetings at women's social clubs and traveling to rural areas to speak at youth camps.

back to Building the Network

return to top