HRC51: Oral statement during ID on the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka

Item 2: ID on the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you, Mr President,

CSW thanks the OHCHR for its report.

As the report highlights, while the new president’s inaugural speech[1] to parliament on 3 August offered reassurances of repairing divides within society, including among ethnic and religious groups, and that the right to freedom of religion or belief would be upheld for all, we remain concerned by the continued constitutional commitment to give Buddhism special status, promotion, and protection.

Ethno-religious tensions have been fuelled by Buddhist nationalist groups in Sri Lanka since 2012. Crimes are committed in an environment of impunity, and the Muslim and Christian communities are discriminated against, intimidated and attacked, especially under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Facebook has become a dominant platform in the spread of religious hatred and violence.

CSW calls on the new administration to:

• Guarantee the full enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief for all in accordance with Article 18 of the ICCPR;
• Support initiatives to promote inter-group dialogue, reconciliation and social cohesion;
• and to put in place a public policy framework aimed at ending hate speech, prosecuting those responsible for propagating hate speech against religious minorities while ensuring the freedoms of opinion and expression are promoted and protected.

CSW is also concerned by the lack of progress in investigating the 2019 Easter bombings, and the delay to the publication of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. CSW calls for the inquiry’s publication, for a follow-up independent investigation, and progress towards justice for the victims and their families.

We urge the international community to support Sri Lanka in implementing these recommendations.

Thank you.

[1] Business Today, ‘Speech by President Ranil Wickremesinghe’, 3 August 2022, https://businesstoday.lk/speech-by-president-ranil-wickremesinghe/