Sri Lanka: Religious freedom post-conflict

Executive summary

Sri Lanka has been riven by conflict during the past decades. With the end of the long-running civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, Sri Lanka entered a new era with fresh challenges: the most immediate are the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), a process which is currently underway, and finding a long-term political settlement (see section 6). Although the conflict was ethnic and political in nature, its end has repercussions that will shape all of Sri Lankan society.

The main driver of religious antagonism, manifested in violence, discrimination and disinformation usually carried out against Christians (see section 7), is this ideology of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, which locates mainstream Sri Lankan identity in the nexus of Sinhalese ethnicity and Theravada Buddhist culture. There have been signs of a revival of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in public discourse which, if it should become more entrenched, could pose a growing danger to ethnic and religious groups outside the Sinhala Buddhist national mainstream, including not only Tamils, but also Muslims and Christians (whether Sinhalese or Tamil by ethnicity).

Antagonism towards Christians typically centres on accusations of their conversion of Buddhists by illegitimate or unethical means. Violence, threats of violence, and discrimination are common techniques for restricting Christian activities at a local level. After a lull in the number of violent attacks from late 2008 to early 2009, there has been a marked rise since the end of the conflict; this is a trend which must be watched carefully. Institutional and localised forms of discrimination against Christians are widespread, and disinformation and hate propaganda have been widely used by extremist Buddhist nationalists to incite religious hatred and violence against Christians.

In 2004, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) put forward a private member’s bill, entitled “A Bill on Prohibition of Forcible Conversions of Religion”, which is expected to be brought for a final reading before the parliamentary elections slated for early 2010 (section 8). The bill is backed by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) which, in January 2009, launched a long-awaited report to bolster the case for such legislation, using inflammatory language to claim the existence of a plot to undermine Buddhism, and alleging that Christian groups were engaged not only in unethical conversions, but also in support of terrorism.

The main areas of concern over the bill are that its very existence would have a damaging normative effect; that it is unnecessary; that it would impose illegitimate and ill-defined restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief; and that it proposes grossly disproportionate penalties.

Several Christian groups have recognised a need to address Buddhist and Hindu concerns about methods of proselytisation employed by some Christians. They have rejected ‘anti-conversion legislation’ in its current form, on the basis that it impairs the right to freedom of religion, and proposed an alternative mechanism for discussing and tackling grievances or allegations of illegitimate and insensitive behaviour, through inter-faith dialogue and cooperation. In addition, the National Council of Churches (NCC) has developed a “Code of Ethics for Mission”, and the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) has produced a document, “Good Practices in Ministry”.

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