Browsing by Author "Fernando, H.S.G."

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National Non-Governmental Organization’s Influence on Policy Making: Special Reference to Sri Lanka in Post-War Period
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Fernando, H.S.G.
Non-governmental organizations have become influential actors in the world of politics. NGOs are basically defined as “a non-profit entity whose members are citizens or associations of citizens of one or more countries and whose activities are determined by the collective will of its members in response to the members of the one or more communities with which the NGO cooperate”. As there are several classifications of NGOs, they can be classified as international NGOs, national NGOs, humanitarian NGOs, human rights NGOs, advocacy NGOs, regional NGOs and etc. Most of the time, national NGOs have become critical non-state actors in each and every country. According to realist theorists, nation states always strategically think to maintain their sovereignty for their survival and largely ignore those non-government actors which having no real power in international politics. Constructivists and institutionalists have spawned a variety of theories that have explanative power with regard to NGO roles in international relations which will be considered more fully. The emergence of NGOs in Sri Lanka basically started due to the causes of civil war in North. The increased refugee flows, conflict resolution and poor food and health care services encouraged humanitarian NGOs to function in Sri Lanka. Not only the international NGOs, but also the national NGOs also contributed largely for the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. After the eradication of the conflict in Sri Lanka, national NGOs take part in influencing the policy making mechanisms to strengthen the post-war harmony. Therefore this research is mainly examine what kind of influence the national NGOs impose on the policy making process in Sri Lanka in post-war period. The main objective of this study is to find the impact of national NGOs in policy making and what kind of fields that have been influenced by NGOs to prosper better policy making mechanisms. The study has been conducted using both primary and secondary data and used qualitative data analysis techniques. Secondary data have been collected from books, journals, reports, and academic publications. Primary data have collected by interviewing diplomats, government officers, and NGO staff members through unstructured questionnaire method through convenience sampling method. The study has identified that national NGOs influence in policy making in strengthening good governance, transparency and accountability, justice, and collaborative for projects of Sri Lanka. Through different strategies they make the public aware of information and promoting essential polices to be implemented in the country.
Non-governmental organization’s influence on contemporary nation states: With special reference to selected humanitarian NGOs in Sri Lanka in post-war era
(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Fernando, H.S.G.; Abesinghe, C.
Non-governmental organizations have become influential actors in the international arena in 21st century. With the emergence of Civil War in Sri Lanka handful of international and local NGOs have operated wide spectrum of activities in Sri Lanka. After the end of the Civil War in 2009, Sri Lankan Government, security forces and LTTE have criticized by leading NGOs like Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, ICRC, and Amnesty International for human rights violations and war crimes, especially during the last few months of the armed conflict. In turn an anti-NGO movement and Sri Lankan Government adoption of new laws to supervise NGOs badly damaged the state-NGO relation. The researcher took efforts to study what kind of influence the humanitarian NGOs imposed on the state behavior of Sri Lanka in post war era. The main objective of the research is to examine the impact of NGOs on Sri Lanka‟s state behavior and state policies from 2009 to 2015and whether it became a threat to state sovereignty. Further more this research examined what are the strategies that NGOs use to influence Sri Lanka and the international challenges that Sri Lanka had to face and whether NGOs fulfilled the interests of their donor countries. The study has been conducted using both primary and secondary data and the study is a qualitative data analysis. Secondary data have been collected from books, journals, reports, and academic publications. Primary data have collected by interviewing diplomats, government officers, military officers, scholars and NGO staff through unstructured questionnaire method.The study has identified various strategies used by NGOs and main international challenges which Sri Lanka had to face in post war era. Mobilizing public opinion, interact with international community and publishing reports regarding human rights violations and war crimes led to the UN investigation on Sri Lanka and withdrawal of GSP+ concession. These influences have impacted on state behavior of Sri Lanka in post-war era.
Relevance of Development Assistance to the Economy and Its Impact after Sri Lanka’s Elevation to Upper Middle Income Status
(Sri Lanka Forum of University Economists (SLFUE), Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, 2016) Fernando, H.S.G.
Using International Norms to Understand the Responsibility to Protect and Humanitarian Intervention: Case studies from Kenya and Libya
(In: Proceedings of the International Postgraduate Research Conference 2017 (IPRC – 2017), Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Fernando, H.S.G.
The norm Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has gained greater awareness and attention in the field of international relations due to humanitarian interventions, human rights violations, massive genocide and ethnic cleansing. The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty coined the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect and it was further strengthened by the world summit in 2005. At present, Responsibility to Protect has explored the ways in which transforming the negatively perceived concept of right to intervene into a responsibility to react. The main objective of this study is to examine whether the nature of humanitarian intervention is replaced by the concept of responsibility to protect and whether the fulfillment of the three pillars of responsibility to protect functions properly. Furthermore the main objective was classified into several objectives examining the involvement of United Nations in responsibility to protect norm and the practice of responsibility to protect in contemporary world order. The study has been primarily conducted using secondary data and the study is a qualitative data analysis. Secondary data has been collected through books, journal articles, reports and academic publications. Two hypotheses have been constructed to examine the main purpose of the study; whether responsibility to protect norm is indirectly enhancing humanitarian intervention and whether the three pillars of responsibility to protect are fulfilled in contemporary world. Kenya and Libya have been selected as the case studies of the study. The findings of the study stipulates that humanitarian intervention has not been replaced by the establishment of responsibility to protect norm, but it functions under the limits of responsibility to protect due to international community assumes humanitarian intervention as a moral duty as long as it has no legal norm. Moreover, according to Kenya case the conflict situation was controlled through the second pillar in which the international community has the responsibility to assist the states in meeting the responsibility. The case of Libya has attracted severe criticisms in defining the RtoP. The involvement of United Nations on RtoP in contemporary world has also attracted successes and failures while practices of RtoP should be more transparent.