U.N. Warns About Ethno-Religious Tensions In Sri Lanka

(NEWS ANALYSIS) Five months after the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ahmed Shaheed, visited Sri Lanka to assess the state of religious freedom in the country. During his visit, Shaheed met government officials, local authorities and representatives of ethnic and religious communities and civil society organizations.

The visit was timely, not only because of the recent attacks but also due to the growing tensions and atmosphere of mistrust in the aftermath. As a reminder, on April 21, 2019, as Christians were praying in churches, celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday, several blasts cut through Sri Lanka.

Explosions were reported in three churches (St. Anthony’s Shrine, St. Sebastian’s Church and Zion Church), in three hotels (Kingsbury hotel, Shangri-La hotel and Cinnamon Grand hotel), a guest house and a housing scheme. The attacks resulted in 259 fatalities and more than 500 injured.

At the end of August 2019, the Special Rapporteur presented the interim findings of his visit. He concluded that although the state does not appear to impede the right to freedom of religion or belief, the state may have taken an inadequate approach to address the religiously-motivated tensions and hostilities, which exist in the country.

He emphasized that:

Often, the Muslim communities and new Christian churches, in particular, faced a range of harassment and assaults… from interruption of worship, damage to places of worship, physical assaults on clergy, intimidation, mob violence towards the community or clergy, demands for registration of the church or mosque and restricting the use of places of worship, the obstruction of religious rites such as those related to burial ceremonies or access to cemeteries, incitement to violence to the community and many other acts of intolerance.”

If unaddressed, the perpetrators will continue with impunity.

The right to freedom of religion or belief is protected by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, however, the protection falls short of international standards. Among others, the right to proselytize does not receive adequate protection. The Supreme Court’s decisions from 2003 and 2017 suggest that “to propagate” one’s religion is not protected by the Constitution.

The Constitution favors Buddhism. While it should not mean that other religions are not afforded adequate protection, the empirical reality may suggest otherwise. Indeed, a 2003 Supreme Court decision ruled that “the State was constitutionally required to protect only Buddhism, as other religions were not accorded the same fundamental right of state-provided protection.” This is not what the Constitution says. This is not what international standards say.

Among the various challenges, Shaheed identified that minority religious groups have been struggling with the process of registration, a process that is not clear. Places of worship that are not registered face the risk of being closed.

Religious minority children face discrimination in access to education. Religious minority women and girls experience “ethno-religious hostility including violence, displacement and stereotyping do not receive attention nor redress.”

Shaheed further identified “the rise in intolerance towards those who observe religious dress codes, especially among the Muslim women in public institutions such as hospitals, schools and public transport. Some people stop Muslim women and girls with hijab or abaya from entering some hospitals or exam halls, or make verbal insults at workplaces.”

The U.N. Special Rapporteur heard complaints of the state’s failure in “protecting communities against violence,”  citing examples of “large mobs could openly and for several hours rampage through minority community neighborhoods without hindrance or reaction from law enforcement authorities, or that these authorities fail to make adequate provision for protection even when some of the riotings continued on for several days” and  “police failed to register and investigate complaints raised by them or that they would act in a punitive manner on complaints raised against them while failing to take similar measures when they were the target of attacks, or that generally, the police were unsure on how to act in responding to infringements of the law by Buddhist monks.”

Despite the clarity of focus following the recent attacks, Shaheed emphasized that “the ethno-religious tension must not be treated as mere sporadic incidents; the underlying unease and hostility existed long before the Easter attacks and subsequent violence.”  

Shaheed gave several recommendations for how Sri Lanka should address the issues identified. Without their implementation, the situation will only deteriorate, causing more tensions within an already fragile ethno-religious environment.

Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission.