A/HRC/43/48/Add.2 of vulnerable persons. The common complaint of both the Bodu Bala Sena and Siva Senai is that Buddhists and Hindus are being converted to Christianity through insults to existing religious practices and material inducement by Western-funded non-governmental organizations in Sri Lanka. They assert that, during the course of the civil war, many such exploitative religious conversions took place in the conflict-affected Eastern and Northern provinces in particular.23 34. However, in 2005, the former Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief during her visit found that the allegations of “unethical” conversions had rarely been precise and had largely been overestimated (see E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.3). She also criticized the attempts to criminalize acts that were aimed at converting someone to another religion as an inappropriate response to the religious tensions (ibid.). C. Freedom of worship and places of worship 35. In Sri Lanka, there is no law requiring the registration of places of worship or any religious institution. However, on 16 October 2008, the then Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs issued a circular demanding that prior approval be obtained for the construction of all new places of worship. In the circular it is stated that, with regard to the submission of the documentary evidence required by the Ministry to prove credibility, there are exemptions for “traditional religions”, but “traditional religions” is not defined. The authorities have the discretion to grant or deny permission based on their own interpretation or biases.24 36. Law enforcement and local government officials allegedly use the circular to discriminate against religious minority groups and curtail their right to worship. It is also used retroactively to close non-mainline churches. Since 2015, at least 57 Protestant Christian churches have been instructed to obtain registration. Evangelical Christian churches in particular continue to report pressure and harassment by local authorities to close down places of worship because they were not registered, and their prayer meetings and worship activities are also routinely denied permission to take place. 25 Moreover, intimidation and attacks against clergy and church members, and the desecration of Evangelical churches and interference with religious activities are also perpetrated by local villagers and Buddhist monks.26 37. When the circular was challenged in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2017 on the basis that freedom of religion and the right to equality had been infringed upon through the use of the circular, the Supreme Court held that the circular had to be complied with and could be defined as law.27 In this case, a Supreme Court judge took into consideration the need to avoid a breach of peace when there were protests from the residents and Buddhist monks regarding the alleged construction of a mosque instead of a school. 38. However, in the north, religious minorities pointed to the fact that the State had allowed Buddhist monks to erect shrines or Buddhist statues in areas where there was little Buddhist presence or when there was strong objection from local residents. There are also competing claims to historic religious sites, such as the Kanniya case 28 and the Neeraviyadi case29. In the Neeraviyadi case, the Mullaitivu District Court ordered an interim injunction against the construction of a disputed Buddha statue in a Tamil Hindu temple. However, the Buddhist community disregarded the judgment and went ahead with the construction work allegedly with the help of the military and police. During the ongoing dispute, Buddhist monks also disrupted Thai Pongal rituals at the Hindu temple. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 8 See www.dailynews.lk/2016/11/04/features/97989. See www.worldevangelicals.org/un/pdf/HRC39%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf. Ibid. See communication LKA 4/2017. Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Application No. SCFR 92/2016, 28 June 2017. See www.eyesrilanka.com/2019/07/21/end-the-row-in-kanniya/. See www.tamilguardian.com/content/more-tensions-opening-illegal-buddha-statue-mullaitivu-rushedthrough.