Category: National Report

Ms. Yamini Ravidran – Director of Religious Liberty and Social Justice of NCEASL, Executive Director of the Religious Liberty Commission

Mr. Godfrey Yogarajah – Deputy CEO of WEA, General Secretary of NCEASL

Ms Yamini Ravindran and Mr. Godfrey Yogarajah attended the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom (July 16–18, 2019) organised by the US State Department.

The Ministerial brings together leaders, civil society actors and other stakeholders from around the world to discuss challenges facing religious freedom, identify means to address religious persecution and discrimination worldwide, and promote greater respect and preservation of religious liberty for all.

Ms Ravindran addressed the gathering on the opening day, speaking on behalf of the Evangelical Christian community in Sri Lanka in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks. She relayed the story of 06-year-old Debby, a victim of the attack on the Zion Church in Batticaloa and detailed her slow and painful recovery. She further voiced concerns relating to incidents of violence following the attacks.

While at the Ministerial, Ms Ravindran met and liaised with Secretary Mike Pompeo and highlighted a number of pressing concerns facing the Sri Lankan Evangelical Christian community. She emphasised the need for the official recognition of Evangelicals and the introduction of a special desk within the Department of Christian Religious Affairs to probe the issues facing Evangelicals.  She further highlighted the need to revoke the circular issued by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) in 2008, which regulations registration constructions of places of worship.

She also met with representatives of the State Department; the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback; and President Donald Trump.

Furthermore, Ms Ravindran and Mr Godfrey Yogarajah met with Christina James, the Foreign Affairs Officer at the Office of South and Central Asia of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, to discuss trends in religious persecution in Sri Lanka and Asia. They also met with Lucius Thompson, the Director for Security at the McLean Bible Church, to discuss physical security considerations for Sri Lankan churches. As a result of this meeting, Mr Thompson agreed to travel to Sri Lanka and conduct a training of trainers on physical security measures and important consideration which should be adopted by vulnerable churches.

Other Advocacy Activities by Religious Liberty Commission:

1. Written submissions to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHR) on the 39^th, 40^th and 41^st Regular Sessions of the UNHRC during the reporting period. 
2. In partnership with WEA RLC, conducted national training to over 40 pastors, women, lawyers and youth in Vietnam on the importance of advocacy for religious freedom, biblical basis for human rights, and the use of social media for advocacy.  
3. Met with the UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed on August 16, 2019 during his official visit to assess the religious freedom landscape. The Executive Director raised issues of religious violence, discrimination, legal restrictions, the lack of recognition for Evangelical Christians.

Sri Lanka is currently facing an unprecedented constitutional and political crisis. On 26^th October, the former president Mahinda Rajapakse was appointed as the Prime Minister in a unconstitutional and unprecedent manner. This has led to an immense sense of unrest and instability in our country. At the moment, both Prime Ministers take the view that they are effective and both constitutional.

This unfortunate state of affairs has led to a great sense of instability and unrest in Sri Lanka. The political climate present, is very uncertain with rival political parties both attempting to gain power.

Some of the unfortunate incidents have occurred with most concerning is that of a pastor (from the western province) who was abducted, physically assaulted and severely beaten, he was later dropped off in a rural area– presently he is hospitalized. The information we received concerning this incident is that he was abducted because he was building a church in the area he was residing.

Please uphold Sri Lanka’s political crisis and the church in prayers:

1. For the position of Prime Minister to be filled in accordance to the divine will of God.
2. For the prevalence of peace and unity in Sri Lanka.
3. For democracy, constitutional principles and the rule of law to be upheld.
4. For further violence and panic to not grip the country or its citizens.
5. For strength for the Sri Lankan Church to carry out its ministry unhindered during this time of political turmoil.
6. For strength for the NCEASL to carry out its work during this time of political turmoil.

Please find attached document with a summary of the series of incidents and the legal argument for and against it.

Blessings and warmest regards,

Yamini Ravindran (Attorney-at-Law, LL.B)
Head, Legal & Advocacy 
Religious Liberty & Social Justice Commission
National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka