Patterns and Risks of Religious Violence Against Christians (October 2020 – October 2021)

Abstract

Ethno-religious violence has persisted in post-war Sri Lanka irrespective of changes to the country’s political leadership. The current study unpacks the macro-level and micro-level patterns of religious violence against Christians. For this purpose, Verité Research analysed incidents of religious violence that were recorded by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

The analysis of macro-level patterns offers insights into religious violence against Christians from January 2010 to October 2021. The findings of this analysis suggest a pattern of increasing momentum pertaining to the number of religiously motivated incidents against Christians. However, COVID-19 and national elections appear to disrupt this pattern of increasing momentum. The analysis of micro-level trends offers insights into 72 incidents of violence against Christians from October 2020 to October 2021. This analysis revealed that state officials, including the police, were responsible for most incidents of violence. The findings of this analysis suggest a worrying trend regarding the state’s negative bias towards permitting Christians to function in an environment free of violence.