In Celebration of Civil Society

Today is International Human Rights Day. This year’s theme is the importance of civil society, with the hashtag #365 signifying what civil society does for us all, day in, day out.

It’s been a difficult few months in Sri Lanka and the Maldives for civil society, so I wanted to use this blog to celebrate its positive role.

Last night, together with my German counterpart, I hosted an event that brought young people from across Sri Lanka to play a mixed nationality, mixed gender, mixed ethnicity, mixed ability (definitely mine!) football tournament. We had over 60 players from different nationalities, generations and backgrounds: Sri Lankan, Maldivian, German, British; youth, young leaders and the not-so-young; sportsmen and women; people with different abilities and talents.

This was in commemoration of the Christmas Truce – a famous moment in history, 100 years ago, when enemy combatants put their weapons aside for a few hours in recognition of their common humanity.

We wanted to commemorate that moment for two reasons.

First, it’s always good to pause and value the good things in life. That includes friendship – particularly friendship that overcomes disagreements and differences. A century ago, European disputes led most of the globe – including Ceylon, as it was then – into two world wars.

Germany and the UK still sometimes disagree, but we do so within a solid framework of cooperation, and in a way which costs money and wastes paper – not lives. And we’re far more formidable together than we ever were apart. Certainly that was true on the pitch yesterday, until a penalty shoot out relegated us to second place!

Secondly, we wanted to celebrate the work done by so many organisations across Sri Lanka to promote friendship, reconciliation and community cohesion. I met individuals yesterday who are working in support of causes as diverse as improving disabled access to buildings, enabling young people to build friendships with people who are very different from them, supporting battered wives to rebuild their confidence, observing elections and reforesting Sri Lanka.

Also at the reception were a number of people who have been supporting our #16 Days of Activism. Civil society isn’t just about practical engagement on the ground, it’s also about articulating society’s desire for a better future.

Throughout the 16 days, we partnered with civil society, all of us motivated by a common desire not to stand idly by when confronted by the statistics on violence against women. We worked with some non-governmental organisations, like the Sri Lankan Women and Media Collective and the Maldivian Hope for Women, who contributed blogs and helped spread our tweets. We engaged with schools: the young men and women of the Elizabeth Moir School asked us to broadcast images of themselves in orange, asserting their generation’s vision for the future. We partnered with brilliant individuals, like Senel Wanniarachchi, whose two blogs setting out a young man’s response to violence against women were the most widely read. We also inspired others to join together: I particularly liked the Women’s Chamber of Commerce’s orange photo in support of empowering women.

Young or old, able or disabled, what marked all these individuals out was their determination to make a personal difference. A thriving civil society fosters and enables that dedication and we should celebrate it wherever we find it.