A Mosaic of Co-existence, Sri Lanka

Violent extremism is a major challenge to peace, sustainable development, and prosperity in the Asia region. In the last few years, the nature of violent extremism has also undergone a shift towards transnationalism, correlating with our ever increasingly digital world. In particular, groups have attempted to capitalize on local conflicts and community grievances for their own means.

Working together with organizations such as CEJ in Sri Lanka, UNDP Sri Lanka has been collaborating on initiatives created for and led by youth to help educate them about important topics such as hate speech, discrimination and how they can be change agents for inclusion and respect for diversity. CEJ carried out a range of activities under this project, including organizing a virtual debate between two youth groups on the limitations to freedom of speech and hate speech, and the production of a trilingual music video.

The music video titled ‘Mosaic of Co-existence’ was created together with a group of selected youth who contributed towards the writing of lyrics and performed the song alongside well-known Sri Lankan artist, Umaria Sinhawansa and music producer Nishan Daniel. This trilingual song aimed at evoking the feelings of co-existence and harmony, urges all Sri Lankans to stand as a united nation with respect for diversity. As reflected in the title, the song emphasizes the importance of building lives based on coexistence and mutual respect for all communities. Challenges due to COVID-19 and travel restrictions within the country, also resulted in the team creatively adapting to the situation by producing the music video in the form of a virtual choir production.

More about CEJ: https://cejsrilanka.org/

Watch the video