{"id":60013,"date":"2016-10-23T13:56:03","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T20:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60013"},"modified":"2016-10-23T13:56:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T20:56:03","slug":"latest-un-attack-on-article-9-of-the-constitution-of-sri-lanka-which-gives-buddhism-its-rightful-place-among-religions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/10\/23\/latest-un-attack-on-article-9-of-the-constitution-of-sri-lanka-which-gives-buddhism-its-rightful-place-among-religions\/","title":{"rendered":"LATEST UN ATTACK ON ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF SRI LANKA WHICH GIVES BUDDHISM ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE AMONG RELIGIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan<\/strong> Courtesy: \u00a0Ceylon Today<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The visiting Independent Expert on Minority Issues of the Human Rights Council Rita Izsak-Ndiaye noted that despite there being a semblance of peaceful coexistence between different religious groups, there are challenges in relation to minority religious groups who face difficulties in constructing certain new places of worship and accessing cemeteries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Her statement came in specific reference to members of smaller Christian and Muslim denominations who face such challenges.<br \/>\n&#8220;Article 9 of the constitution is sometimes used to the detriment of other religions,&#8221; she noted. Construction of Buddhist temples, shrines and statues, at what is described as an alarming pace, in areas that were traditionally non-Buddhist, is being met with animosity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">She said she has been monitoring for several years, with concern, reports of attacks by Buddhist extremists especially between 2011 and 2014 notably by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) which incite violence and hatred against religious and other minorities while proclaiming the racial superiority of Sinhala Buddhists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">She said such aggressions &#8216;must not be allowed and tolerated. &#8220;It is of utmost importance that through effective prosecution of perpetrators those who incite or perpetrate hatred and violence are not allowed to succeed in deepening divisions between communities. In the course of public consultations on constitutional reforms, discussions about possible amendments to Article 9 featured prominently. Whether changes are made or otherwise, the protection and promotion of minority religious communities must be further safeguarded,&#8221; she added.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Courtesy: \u00a0Ceylon Today The visiting Independent Expert on Minority Issues of the Human Rights Council Rita Izsak-Ndiaye noted that despite there being a semblance of peaceful coexistence between different religious groups, there are challenges in relation to minority religious groups who face difficulties in constructing certain new places of worship and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}