The motivation for the foundation of the association rests primarily on one project:

- In March 2003, the Sri Lanka peace conference "Federalism and Peace Talks as a Solution for the Conflict in Sri Lanka" was held in Munich. It was organised by the Sri Lanka Freundeskreis e.V. of Munich and the Sri Lanka Kreis Berlin e.V., which are both organisations of diaspora Sri Lankans with Singhalese, Tamil, Muslim and German members. At the conference, diaspora Sri Lankans from 8 European countries discussed possibilities for advancing the peace process in Sri Lanka with representatives of various parties from Sri Lanka and federalism experts. In the end, a resolution was passed by all participants which was, most notably, reprinted in the Sri Lankan media.[RJ1]

Due to the great resonance and the good reception of this event, some organisers and participants founded, in April 2003, the Gesellschaft für Konfliktprävention, Demokratie und Minderheitenrechte e. V. (GEKODEM)  with the goal, captured in its charter, of promoting international understanding.

The founding members have engaged in peace projects for many years, such as international solidarity projects, and the Sri-Lanka-Arbeit (Work for Sri Lanka).