Sri Lanka -- Criminalizing Religious ConversionOn July 22, 2004, Sri Lanka's JHU Party introduced legislation that would silence religious expression and criminalize religious conversions in the country.
The Becket Fund launched a successful coalition effort to prevent the proposed legislation from passing when most people were not even aware of its existence. The Becket Fund sent two attorneys to Sri Lanka
on a fact-finding mission. Their findings, as well as those of other
NGOs and government agencies are catalogued on our dedicated website lankaliberty.org. The proposed law represents a stark culmination of a wave of religious intolerance sweeping Buddhist-controlled Sri Lanka. Violence against minority religious groups, mostly Christians, has grown at an alarming rate. In 2004 and 2005, approximately 150 churches have been attacked (many being burned to the ground), pastors were beaten, and female Christian workers have been sexually assaulted. In 2006, there have already been dozens of similar, documented, violent incidents. The violence will almost certainly escalate if the anti-conversion law passes.
Today, the proposed law is still very much alive. The Becket Fund continues to pressure the Sri Lankan government through international exposure and diplomacy to ensure that its passage never sees the light of day.
Resources
- Read The Becket Fund's Frequently Asked Questions (pdf).
- Read our talking points on tsunami aid and religious persecution.
- Read The Becket Fund's speech, given at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 60th Session, on April 8, 2004, on the plight of Christians in Sri Lanka.
- Read The Becket Fund's legal opinion letter to the Sri Lankan president and prime minister. This memo is a detailed legal analysis of the anti-proselytization and anti-conversion bills now pending before the Parliament of Sri Lanka. It concludes that the enactment of either bill would represent an egregious violation of the freedom of religion, expression, and assembly of Sri Lankan citizens under the country's various, enforceable intenational treaty obligations.
For more, visit The Becket Fund's dedicated website at Lanka Liberty.
Resources & DocumentsArticles & News Items- "Religious freedom in Sri Lanka hangs in the balance according to reports," July 25, 2004
- "Becket Fund's Sri Lanka analysis featured in The Weekly Standard," August 10, 2004
- "Members of Congress voice their concern over the state of religious freedom in Sri Lanka," November 30, 2004
- "Relief and Religion in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka, A Becket Fund Congressional Briefing," January 19, 2005
- "Sri Lanka poised to outlaw religious conversions," March 30, 2005
- "Wall Street Journal Runs Becket Fund Op-Ed on Sri Lankan Religious Liberty," December 12, 2005
- "Sri Lanka Rejects U.N. Order to Stop Religious Apartheid," September 22, 2006
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