Sri Lanka’s government should immediately withdraw an order that allows two-years of detention without trial for causing “religious, racial, or communal disharmony,” Human Rights Watch said today. The Prevention of Terrorism (De-radicalization from holding violent extremist religious ideology) Regulations No. 01 of 2021, issued on March 9, 2021, expands the draconian and abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
The regulation will allow the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to more easily target religious and racial minorities, in violation of their basic rights. The United Nations Human Rights Council is considering a resolution to strengthen monitoring and promote accountability for human rights violations in Sri Lanka, after the UN high commissioner on human rights identified “clear early warning signs … of future violations.”
“The Sri Lankan government has added a new weapon to its arsenal of abusive laws, putting religious and racial minorities at greater risk of torture and prolonged detention without trial,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of addressing the UN’s concerns by repealing the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Rajapaksa administration is embracing it with a vengeance.”
The regulation broadly allows the authorities to detain and “rehabilitate” anyone who “by words either spoken or intended to be read or by signs or by visible representations” causes the commission of violence or “religious, racial or communal disharmony or feelings of ill will or hostility between different communities or racial or religious groups.” Instead of being tried, the suspect faces detention in a “reintegration center” for up to one year. The defense minister, currently President Rajapaksa, is empowered to extend the detention for a second year.
Sri Lanka’s relatively small Christian community has also been targeted. “You can’t even write anything on Facebook,” a Christian activist told Human Rights Watch. “Anything could happen. We don’t feel safe to express ourselves. They could lock you up under any pretext.”
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva is considering a resolution that would strengthen monitoring of Sri Lanka’s deteriorating human rights situation and create a mechanism to collect and analyze evidence of violations for use in future prosecutions. Several senior members of the current government are implicated in alleged war crimes and other grave abuses during Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/16/sri-lanka-religious-disharmony-order-threatens-minorities
More: Read Stephen Kinnocks speech in the UK House of Commons, March 20th 2021 which raises a number of concerns surrounding the Sri Lanka government’s law-making and alleged ‘militarisation of the government’:
https://www.ukpol.co.uk/stephen-kinnock-2021-speech-on-sri-lanka/
Pray: that the Sri Lankan government will revoke this regulation and preserve and respect the rights of its people to practice their religion freely.
Pray: for those who seek to broker reconciliation of the ‘wounds’ from civil war and ethnic & cultural differences.
Pray: for the Church in Sri Lanka, that it will continue to grow and flourish despite the persecution.
Open Doors - Easter Prayers for the persecuted church. These are pertinent, just 2 years on from the 2019 church and hotel attacks: http://media.opendoorsuk.org/document/pdf/Easter-Prayers.pdf?_ga=2.241067648.2088753248.1586161764-492872149.1560337581
More Prayer: Operation World | Joshua Project | PrayerCast Video | Gospel for Asia
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This course is run via Zoom where participants will learn through online lectures, breakout group discussions, and corporate worship and intercession times. Hours of engagement include a two and a half session in the mornings (9:30am - 12 noon, UK Time), followed by another hour and a half session in the afternoons (2:30pm - 4pm, UK Time) from Monday through to the Friday. On Saturday, 24th April, there is the “Prayer Ignite” seminar for the month of April that has been integrated into this week-long course.
Topics covered for the week include:
The Character and Ways of God in Intercession
Listening to God in Corporate Intercession
Engaging in Prayer for our Covid-Plagued World
Biblical Worldview in Prayer & Missions
Worship, Prayer & Missions in the Global South
Prayer Ignite: History Belongs to the Intercessors
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World Vision reaches 59 million
18 Mar 2021
More than a year has passed since the coronavirus pandemic was declared. World Vision, a leading evangelical interdenominational aid organisation, has partnered with tens of thousands of faith leaders and communities worldwide to reach 59 million people through relief and virus prevention efforts. As the world was shutting down, World Vision kept working, fulfilling the purpose God has bestowed on the organisation and its staff. ‘Covid-19 has been our largest domestic and international response that we’ve ever organised. It’s been a remarkable amount of work and just a wonderful opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this really, really challenging time’, said a World Vision representative.
Duke of Edinburgh leaves hospital
18 Mar 2021
The 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh is said to be in good spirits after a month-long stay in hospital being treated for an infection and a pre-existing heart condition. He left through a side entrance of the hospital in a wheelchair, and was helped into the rear passenger seat of a waiting car. A statement said, ‘His Royal Highness wishes to thank all the medical staff who looked after him ... and everyone who has sent their good wishes.’
Nazanin update
18 Mar 2021
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe appeared in court again on 14 March, accused of participating in a demonstration outside London’s Iranian embassy twelve years ago and giving an interview to the BBC Persian service. Her lawyer said the atmosphere in court was calm and he hoped she would be acquitted because she has already served five years on a more serious charge. The judge told her to expect a verdict by 21 March. 20 March begins the festival of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, which celebrates hope, new life and fresh possibilities. May Nowruz in Iran bring about Nazanin’s acquittal. Along with several other dual nationals from a range of countries, she is caught up in the middle of complicated geopolitics. Please pray for her acquittal on or before 21 March. See also the Iran article in the world section.
UK exports and imports
18 Mar 2021
UK exports to the EU fell 40.7% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), while imports tumbled 28.8% and the economy shrank by 2.9% amid the third lockdown. The figures, the first since new trading rules between the UK and the EU came into force, show the biggest drop since records began. The ONS said temporary factors were likely to be behind many of the falls. KPMG Accountancy said Brexit caused the plunge in trade between the UK and the EU. In contrast, the UK's trade with non-EU countries grew by 1.7% in January.
Church response to Sarah Everard murder
18 Mar 2021
The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote on social media, ‘I am heartbroken for the family, partner and friends of Sarah Everard, and all those whose lives she touched. They are in my prayers. May they know the suffering God alongside them in this unimaginable pain.’ He also said that testimonies from women over recent days show us what we have ignored: ‘the profound impact of male violence, intimidation, harassment, sexism and abuse carried out against women. The culture that perpetuates and condones these sins need our urgent repentance, fervent prayer, and men’s resolute action.’ Ms Everard came from York. A message from York Minster encouraged people who are laying flowers outside the cathedral to express their feelings ‘to observe the ongoing safety regulations’. A video of Oxford Cathedral’s bell being tolled once for each year of Ms Everard’s life has been viewed 13,000+ times.