Sri Lanka - Country profile

The sudden escalation of violence between Sri Lanka’s national army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam resulted in victory for the government forces in May 2009.

Amid reports of a deepening humanitarian crisis, Church leaders became increasingly alarmed and mounted emergency aid operations. These programmes concentrated on those in the worst-affected areas in the north and the east where the government would eventually wipe out the Tamil military presence.

In March 2009, as the end of the conflict approached, Catholic Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam of Jaffna wrote to President Mahinda Rajapaksa warning that more than 100,000 people faced “total annihilation” – unless immediate evacuation got under way.

Following the conflict, many of the 300,000 made homeless by the conflict found themselves in Internal Displacement Camps. News reports suggested that conditions in the military-run camps were extremely poor, access to the camps by non-government agencies was severely limited and those in them were not allowed to leave in the months following the end of the conflict.

By late 2010, most had returned to rebuild their homes and livelihoods, but there were still more than 25,000 in displacement camps whose freedom of movement was tightly controlled. United Nations Disaster emergency monitoring teams reported that there were another 200,000 internally-displaced people in the region who had fled their homes in the period before 2006 during sporadic civil conflicts with the Tamil Tigers.

From late 2008 onwards, there were relatively few reports of anti-Christian violence, but cases increased after the war ended. This was associated with the rise of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, which sees Sri Lankan identity as inextricably linked with Sinhalese ethnicity and Theravada Buddhist culture.

Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism has caused religious tensions between Buddhists and various religious minorities, including Christians. Christians were accused of converting Buddhists by unethical means, which led to violence and discrimination at a local level. (Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

A peak was reported by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka between June and August 2009 when attacks on, and intimidation of, Christians were reported in Puttlam, Gampaha and Kurunegala districts in western Sri Lanka, central Polonnaruwa district, Mannar district in the north and Matara district in the south. These included harassment of Christians by mobs of up to 100 people. However, reports of violence declined in 2010.

The passage of “A Bill on Prohibition of Forcible Conversions of Religion” – a private members bill sponsored by political party Jathika Hela Urumaya – continued to be of concern to Christians.

The bill was backed by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress which, in January 2009, claimed there was a plot to undermine Buddhism in the country. They alleged that Christian groups were not only engaged in unethical conversions, but were supporting terrorism. (Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

The bill sought to criminalise any attempt to convert a person from one religion to another by force, fraud or allurement. Those found guilty could be imprisoned for up to seven years and/or fined up to 500,000 rupees.

Following the first reading of the bill in Parliament in August 2004, 22 petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the draft legislation. Controversially the bill included articles setting out regulations for religious conversions to be reported to the authorities with a set of punishments for failure to do so.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that this was unconstitutional and the articles concerned were dropped from the bill. (Source: CDN, 26^th January 2009)

Ahead of another reading of the bill, Asia News reported that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka proclaimed a national day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer for 3^rd April 2009.

The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka declared: “It is our gravest concern that this bill will grant legal sanction for the harassment of religious communities or individuals and offer convenient tools of harassment for settling personal disputes and grudges, totally unrelated to acts of alleged ‘forced’ conversion.”

Christians also expressed concern that key sections of the draft bill were open to subjective interpretations that could make it illegal for faith-based organisations to carry out social or welfare support work.

Key projects

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  Helping the parish of St Mary to grow

  Father Basil's parish in Seeduwa is growing rapidly – and your generosity has provided a much-needed pastoral centre to host the numerous parish programmes he runs. Father Basil writes: "It will serve a mighty purpose on behalf of the parish community. I pray that heaven may pour out its abundant blessings on you."
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  Rebuilding and recovering after civil war

  For 26 years the people of Sri Lanka endured a bloody civil war. Christians have suffered greatly in the conflict, and to this day, still find themselves the victims of extremist attacks. Thanks to you the church of Saint Anthony is being rebuilt, along with other churches that were destroyed during the fighting. The faithful will at last have their own place to worship.
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  Support for a pastoral renewal programme

  With your help, Bishop Harold Perera of Kurugenala in west Sri Lanka is nurturing a pastoral renewal of the faithful, to help them strive to "be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect." (Mt 5:48)
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Last updated: 23/03/2011