The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended that the US State Department adds Sri Lanka to a special watchlist for "severe violations of religious freedom" in its latest report.
The report states that in recent years, the Sri Lankan government has implemented discriminatory policies against religious minorities, and societal actors have increased violent attacks against religious minorities across the country. The findings of the report are based on a visit by the USCIRF delegation who travelled to Sri Lanka in October 2023 to assess religious freedom. This update in the report arises from their observations of the current precarious religious freedom conditions in Sri Lanka. Key observations from USCIRF’s trip include: religiously motivated land disputes, registration challenges, and the use of discriminatory legislation to target and detain religious minorities. The commission previously noted that the Sri Lankan government implemented and enforced policies that disproportionately targeted religious minorities, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, and the Online Safety Bill.
Land disputes
The report highlights ongoing land disputes in the North-East where the Sri Lankan military continue to occupy large swathes of land as well as the expropriation of Tamil and Muslim sites by Sri Lanka's archeology department to construct Buddhist temples. The report states that Sri Lankan "authorities have restricted access to places of worship, claiming ongoing 'archeological research'.
The USCIRF features Kurunthurmalai, where the Athi Aiyanar temple, a native place of worship of Tamils in Mullaitivu, has been targeted by intense landgrab efforts by Sinhala Buddhist monks over recent years. Although a court order in 2018 stated that no changes should be made to the site, Sinhala Buddhist monks aided by Sri Lanka's archeology department and the military have illegally constructed a Buddhist temple.
Places of worship
The report goes on to detail how religious minorities "continue to face challenges in registering their places of worship". In 2022, a circular issued by the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs states that new places fo worship or any establishment engaging in collective worship must register. However, the report states that although the circular applies to new places of worship, "local authorities have attempted to retroactively enforce the circular to existing places of worship."
Hindu nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment
In the report, the USCIRF note that that there has been a rise in Hindu and Sinhala Buddhist nationalist sentiment which has affected Christian and Muslim communities. There has been a rise in anti-Christian and anti-Muslim, particularly on social media. The report also highlights that anti-Muslim sentiment has been "proliferated by Buddhist nationalist groups".
The report highlighted that a racist Sinhala Buddhist monk, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara who is the General Secretary of the extremist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) was sentenced to four years of imprisonment over his anti-Muslim remarks he made in 2016.
The Sinhala chauvinist monk has a history of racist rhetoric against Muslims and Tamils. In 2014, before the anti-Muslim riots, he told a cheering Sinhala nationalist crowd in Aluthgama that “if one marakkalaya ( Muslim) lays a hand on a Sinhalese that will be the end of all of them”. The resulting violence killed four people and left 80 injured, with hundreds left homeless. Amongst the sites attacked were mosques, Muslim homes, businesses, and even a nursery.
Gnanasara has vehemently opposed Tamil’s rights to self-determination, threatening in 2020 of a “river of blood”. “We will not allow the Tamils to find a solution through devolution," he said. "If they demand a separate state again, a river of blood will flow in the North and East.”
Anti-terrorism bill
For years, the international community have been calling on Sri Lanka to replace the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which has been used to detain Tamils and Muslims and supress civil society on the island.
In 2023, Sri Lanka proposed the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which expanded on the provisions under the PTA. The international community and civil society expressed their concerns over the proposed legislation as it included broad definitions of terrorism. The report states such broad definitions "allow for wide interpretation of who can be accused of terrorism and subjected to arrest."
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has also been used on the island to "has been used to target religious minorities for the peaceful expression of their views or beliefs."
The report also details the arrest of four Tamils in Trincomalee in May 2024, under the ICCPR Act, for distributing Mullivaikkal kanji as a form of remembrance during Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week.
Surveillance of Religious Minorities and Advocates
The Sri Lankan government published the Online Safety Bill in 2023 which has been slammed by rights groups as it contains vaguely defined terms and defintiions of offences that could lead to arbitrary and subjective interpretation. The international community and rights groups have expressed concern over the legislation as it could criminalise nearly all forms of legitimate expression.
The USCIRF concluded that in the absence of policy change, pending legislation such as the Online Safety Bill and the ATA, "risk further marginalising and targeting" religious minorities.
See the full report here.
