Human Rights Watch reported on Sunday that Sri Lankan authorities are repressing Hindus and other religious minorities, urging the United Nations to renew a resolution aimed at countering the government’s oppressive actions. This call comes amidst a campaign that began under the leadership of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and continues under current President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The campaign allegedly involves redesignating Tamil Hindu temples as Buddhist sites and denying access to Hindu and Muslim properties, coupled with the destruction of religious statues and shrines, and land grabs targeting these communities.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, emphasized the necessity of international pressure to halt the promotion of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism at the expense of other religious populations. “International pressure is needed to reverse this nefarious campaign,” she said.
It has been 15 years since the end of Sri Lanka’s nearly 30-year-long civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The government announced the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, leading to increased repression of religious freedoms and surveillance of activist groups.
The Sri Lanka Accountability Project, established in 2021 under the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), has documented a steady increase in state authority requests, although the Sri Lankan government rejected this accountability mechanism. Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, expressed concerns over the suppression of freedom of expression during her recent visit to Sri Lanka.
This comes as the current mandate of the UN Human Rights Council, which includes gathering evidence for potential future prosecutions regarding the war and ongoing human rights monitoring, is set to expire in September. Human Rights Watch’s report calls for this mandate to be renewed to ensure continued oversight and accountability. As Ganguly stated, “To reduce the risk of further violations, it is crucial that the UN Human Rights Council renews its mandate on Sri Lanka for another two years.”
For more details on this developing story, read the original report on JURIST.