• NCEASL and Verite Research report finds continued ethno-religious violence against minority faith groups including Christians

Ethno-religious violence against minority faith groups is an entrenched issue that has persisted in Sri Lanka, irrespective of the changes to Sri Lanka’s socio-political and economic context. Christians are among the groups that are being subjected to various forms of violence. Although these harassments are often viewed as an ethno-religious issue, they are created and perpetuated by a plethora of diverse factors.

In a recently released study report titled “Religious Violence against Christians: Disruptions and Distractions (November, 2021 – October, 2022)” which was produced by Verité Research based on information provided by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), it sought to identify key trends and patterns concerning religiously motivated violence directed at Christians, Muslims and Hindus between November 2021, and October 2022, and in total, it examined 75 incidents of violence directed at Christians during the said period. The findings of the study reinforce past trends and patterns that were identified in previous studies conducted by Verité Research and contributed to shedding light on new patterns discernible from the data collated by the NCEASL, as per the report.

The report pointed out that Christians continue to be targeted in incidents of religiously motivated violence, and that although the findings of this study are limited to the period of November, 2021, to October, 2022, they add to the trends and patterns of religious violence against Christians that have been explored through previous studies. A total of 75 incidents of violence aimed at Christians were identified during the time period covered by the study. This figure is a slight increase from the 72 incidents of violence that were analysed in the previous study for the period October, 2020, to October, 2021 (Verité Research).

The report identified several forms of acts of violence based on their severity. While carrying out physical violence against persons came under “most severe forms of violence’, violence involving property damage came under ‘severe forms of violence”. Among “borderline severe forms of violence” were threats, intimidation or coercion, regarding which the report said that this type of violence generally does not include physical violence or damage to property and is generally low in intensity, and that in extreme cases, this type of violence may lead to more severe forms of violence. “Least severe forms of violence” included discriminatory action or practices. The most frequent and main type of harm (violence targeting Christians) is the least severe forms of violence. Least severe forms of violence include discriminatory action or practices, which occurred in 54 instances during the period under review. There were 22 instances of borderline severe forms of violence, which include threats, intimidation and coercion. Notably, this study observed a 52% reduction in incidents that include threats, intimidation and coercion in comparison to the October, 2020 – October, 2021 period (from 46 incidents to 22 incidents). Meanwhile, as observed in the previous study (Verité Research, 2022), incidents involving the most severe forms of violence (physical violence) and severe forms of violence (property damage) remained low.

With regard to the perpetrators of the said incidents, the report explained: “Most incidents of violence were identified to have been committed by State officials, followed by other identifiable individuals (these perpetrators were all individuals that are local or can be identified, excluding State officials, members of the clergy and political figures) and then by members of the Buddhist clergy. In comparison to the previous study, there is a 43% increase in the number of instances where other identifiable individuals have been identified as key perpetrators of violence against Christians (23 incidents to 33 incidents).”

As per the statistics presented in the report, the primary targets in incidents of violence against Christians between November, 2021 and October, 2022 were predominantly members of the Christian clergy, followed by Christian places of worship. The report added that these findings remain consistent with the findings of the previous study conducted by Verité Research, and that members of the Christian clergy faced two main types of violence, i.e. borderline severe (threats, intimidation and coercion) and least severe (discriminatory action or practices) forms of violence.

“The findings of the report show that despite the overall reduction in the number of incidents that included threats, intimidation and coercion, 82% of the incidents that included this form of harm appeared to be directed at the Christian clergy. Furthermore, an assessment of the qualitative data provided by the NCEASL revealed that there were many incidents where perpetrators would threaten or coerce the Christian clergy to cease worship activities. For example, in an incident in Ranala, the Police demanded that a pastor cease all religious activities including a Christmas service. Consistent with the findings of the previous study, the findings of this analysis support the underlying assumption that threatening or coercing the religious authority (clergy) could cease and discourage Christian activities in the locality. This assumption is further supported by the fact that the Christian clergy are typically viewed as the representative authority of the Christian faith in a locality.”

Noting that there have also been many incidents where Christian clergy were targeted together with churches, an example being instances where they were questioned on the legality of their places of worship and on whether they had obtained necessary permissions to renovate or build new constructions around the church, the report said that in four incidents, the legality of the place of worship was questioned with regard to circulars. Two of these incidents involved the April, 2022 circular released by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious Affairs and Cultural Affairs. Additionally, churches alone were subject to discriminatory action, which manifested in the form of protests or petitions demanding the cessation of worship activities, according to the report. It added that as noted in the previous study, the data suggests that discriminatory acts are generally carried out against the tangible symbols of Christian presence (places of worship) in addition to the main representative authority (Christian clergy).

With regard to the monthly distribution of incidents of violence for the period covered through the study, statistics presented in the report showed that the incidents of violence rose in frequency in March, with 14 incidents. Six of these incidents were linked to an event in Amalgama, Galle, which spanned several days. The event involved around 600 people including nearly 60 Buddhist monks forcibly entering a church and threatening the pastor to cease all religious activities and shut down the church. The mob later assaulted a Christian congregant at the church premises. This single event, which spanned several days, comprised a series of incidents, each featuring an identifiable type of harm, according to the report.

Adding that despite the perceived inclusivity and national convergence of the “aragalaya” movement (2022’s protest movement that sought the resignation of the former Government led by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa), ethno-religious violence persisted even alongside the peak of the movement last year, the report added: “However, violence targeting Christians dropped drastically during the months of June and July. The drop in incidents of violence appears to suggest a connection between sporadic disruptions and distractions that occurred during this timeline and the reduction in ground level anti-Christian violence. These disruptions and distractions are characterised as sporadic in nature due to its irregular and sudden occurrence, unlike cyclic distractions such as national elections which occur periodically.”