CHAPTER 06 RELATIONSHIPS WITH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Commonwealth Secretariat The Secretary General’s visit to Sri Lanka in September 2012 and February 2013 afforded an opportunity to explore how the Commonwealth network assists the country. The Secretary General in his Department statement identified few areas for future technical assistance to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. In 2013 Chairperson and his delegation participated in the Commonwealth Roundtable on Reconciliation (CRR) held in London. Pursuant to the HRCSL’s participation at the CRR the Commonwealth Secretariat co-convened the reconciliation roundtable in Vavuniya in the same year. The objective of this intervention was to assist the HRCSL to determine its own role in national reconciliation efforts. This roundtable included participation from civil society organizations and religious leaders engaged in reconciliation efforts in the region. In May 2014 a working session was organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat. The objective of the Secretariat partnership with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka was to develop an action plan which would complement the HRCSL work plan to play a definite role in promoting national reconciliation. The draft reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was presented to a validation meeting convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with the HRCSL held on 24 October 2014 in Colombo. Forty participants including Chairman, Commissioners, senior staff and regional staff participated this meeting. The final draft of RAP was presented to the Commonwealth Secretary General by the Chairperson of HRCSL on 28th October 2014 during the Secretary General’s meeting with the Commission in Colombo. 46