Peace in Sri Lanka

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies is holding an International Conference on Countering Terrorism (ICCT) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo from 18th October to 20th October 2007. The theme of this conference will be ‘Terrorism: A challenge to Democratically Elected Governments’.

It will highlight the challenges posed to democratically elected governments by terrorist movements and discuss strategies required to counter such threats. The Conference will discuss attendant issues such as terrorist found raising, threats post by terrorist networks, socio –economic cost of terrorism, international regional responses to terrorism, the domestic dimension of terrorism, the role of the media and civil society, and prospects of transformation of terrorists, with in the ambit of adherence to democracy and human rights.

Within the framework laid down by the UN task force on terrorism, the conference will pursue the following objectives. To share the experience in counter terrorism measures adopted by democratic countries, to strengthen the long-term structural stability of democratic nation states engaged in conflict with terrorist groups, to promote public policies aimed at growth in development and protection of human rights while combating terrorism and to evaluate strategies that are aimed at dissuading disenchanted groups from resorting to terrorism to achieve political goals and explore ways and means of transforming terrorist to embrace non violent methods in seeking political end and to enter mainstream democratic society

The Conference (ICCT) will have eminent personalities in their respective fields lead eight thematic sessions. They are: Dr. Gerard Chaliand, Former Director, European Center for the Study of Conflicts from France (The threat posed by International Terrorist Networks), Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, Anti-Terrorism Judge of France. (International Responses to Terrorism), Gen. V. P. Malik, Former Commander of the Indian Army (Regional Responses to Terrorism), Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Singapore (Domestic Dimension of Terrorism), Mr. David Leppan, Founder & CEO, World-Check and Mr. Shanaka Jayasekara, Researcher, Centre for Policing, Intelligence & Counter Terrorism, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (Combating Terrorist Fund Raising), Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka. (Socio-Economic Costs of Terrorism), Mr. Shyam Tekwani, Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Terrorism and the Role of the Media and Civil Society) and Mr. V. Anandasangaree, Leader TULF (Transforming ‘Terrorists’ – Lessons for Sri Lanka). A concluding panel discussion on the conference theme will be chaired by Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.