E/CN.4/1995/91 page 82 ’exit tax’ and leave the whole of his or her property in escrow. Furthermore, in order to ensure that such persons return, often only one person per family is authorized to travel. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that evangelist Christians are often subjected to manifestations of hostility and sometimes to violence by the local Buddhist clergy and groups opposed to activities involving the conversion of Buddhists to the Christian religion. Some newspapers are also said to have reported such attacks. The following cases have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur and are summarized as follows: (a) In 1994, an independent evangelist from a village near Colombo is reported to have had stones thrown at his house on several occasions. During an inquiry, a Buddhist monk complained of local people being converted to Christianity and threatened that he would prevent them from being buried in their village if they continued to attend Christian meetings. The monk allegedly also incited villagers to expel the evangelist from the village; (b) In 1994 in a village near Kandy, Buddhist monks are reported to have organized a procession to protest against the presence of a place of worship, an established evangelist church. Furthermore, the leaders of an evangelist prayer meeting are reported to have been insulted and threatened by a group of 5 monks and some 20 faithful." On 25 November 1994, the Government of Sri Lanka transmitted the following information to the Special Rapporteur in reply to the above allegation: "The summary of information, broadly refers to the following allegations: (i) (ii) (iii) Forced expulsion of Muslims from areas in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and the expropriation of their property by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); Restriction imposed by LTTE on the free movement of Tamils from areas under its control to other areas in the country; Acts of hostility committed by sections of Buddhist groups on evangelist Christians. At the outset, it may be noted that, of the three allegations mentioned above, (i) and (ii) refer to the activities of LTTE, a separatist militant group seeking to establish a mono-ethnic separate State for the Tamils in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, and (iii) refers to incidents involving some sections of the Sri Lankan community belonging to one faith against persons of a different faith.

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