COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – A group of UN experts has criticized Sri Lanka’s demand that those who die of COVID-19 be cremated, even if it goes against a family’s religious beliefs, and warned that decisions based on “discrimination and aggressive nationalism” could incite hatred and violence.
The experts, who are part of the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures, said in a statement on Monday that the rule amounts to a violation of human rights.
“We deplore the implementation of such public health decisions based on discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, resulting in persecution of Muslims and other minorities in the country,” said the experts. “This hostility towards minorities exacerbates existing prejudices, intercommunity tensions and religious intolerance, sowing fear and distrust while inciting more hatred and violence.”
Sri Lanka introduced the rule in March, saying there was a risk that bodies with the coronavirus could contaminate the water table if they were buried. The WHO, as well as medical groups in Sri Lanka, said the burial of those who died of COVID-19 is safe.
More than 70% of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, a faith in which cremation is common. But 9% of people in Sri Lanka are Muslim and many say that cremation goes against their religious beliefs.
“While we must be alert to the serious public health challenges posed by the pandemic, COVID-19’s measures must respect and protect the dignity of the dead, their cultural and religious traditions or beliefs and their families,” said the experts.
After Muslims protested the new rule, the government appointed a committee to look into the matter, but also said cremation was the best option. The country’s highest court rejected petitions seeking to overturn the rule.
The furor over the need for cremation comes amid growing anti-Muslim sentiment in this island nation in the Indian Ocean. Muslim shops and homes were attacked after bomb attacks on Easter Sunday 2019 against churches and hotels by a Muslim group that swore allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Later that year, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power with a promise to protect the interests of the country’s Sri Lankan Buddhist majority.
In response to the UN statement, government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the cremation rule was not designed to discriminate against any group.
“They can’t point a finger at us and say that. We reject it. We do things only based on expert guidance and we cannot make ad hoc decisions, ”he said.
Sri Lanka saw 283 coronavirus deaths in more than 59,000 reported infections.