California High School students visit Lankan Embassy in US

Monday, 21 February 2011 00:33 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A group of 18 high school students visited with Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya last Thursday as they prepared to represent Sri Lanka during a four-day high school Model UN programme at Georgetown University.

The students, juniors and seniors at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Palos Verdes, Calif., asked questions about the conflict with the LTTE, Sri Lanka’s juvenile court laws, its efforts to resettle displaced people, the rehabilitation of both former LTTE militants and child soldiers and aid programmes for the poor in Sri Lanka.

The group will use the information on working committees at the Model UN, which replicates real-world situations among UN member nations over a four-day period.

During their visit, students watched a film produced by the embassy, ‘Sri Lanka – The Wonder of Asia,’ and received information packets on Sri Lanka’s Government, economy and the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission.

The students were particularly interested in the LLRC and its efforts to examine the conflict. Thanuja Usliyanage, a Diplomat and Political Officer at the embassy, discussed the history of ethnic relations within Sri Lanka.

Ambassador Wickramasuriya spoke briefly with the students and invited them to visit Sri Lanka to explore their topics of interest further.

The students spent two days touring Washington, DC before the UN sessions began.

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