Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Capital Colombo Population 21.5 million Language Sinhala 74% Tamil 18% other 8% Adult literacy rate* Male 92.3% Female 89.1% Access to adequate sanitation Urban 89% Rural 86% Access to improved drinking water Urban 98% Rural 79% Urbanisation 15% Life expectancy Male 73.22 years Female 77.47 years Religion Buddhist 69.1% Muslim 7.6% Hindu 7.1% Christian 6.2% Infant mortality rate** 18.14/1000 GNI per capita*** $1790 No. Living with HIV/AIDS 3800 Percentage living on less than US$1.25 per day 23%
*Literacy rate – Percentage of persons aged 15 and over who can read and write. ** Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly one year of age expressed per 1000 live births. ***GNI per capita – Gross national income (GNI) divided by mid-year population. GNI per capita in US dollars.
Fast Facts: The name Sri Lanka means “resplendent island”. The Sri Lankan stock market gained over 100 per cent during the economic crisis in 2009, one of the best performing markets in the world. A major tsunami hit Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004, killing over 30,000 people.
From May to August the Yala monsoon brings rain to the island’s south-western half, while the dry season lasts from December to March.
Current Issues Long-term civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led to some 460,000 Tamils and non-Tamils becoming refugees and internally displaced. Killings, assaults, kidnappings and disappearances were also common even after the cease-fire statement was signed in 2002. In January 2008 the Sri Lankan government officially pulled out of the cease-fire agreement, signalling a single-minded dedication to ending the 25-year-old civil conflict by military means. After intense military action and loss of life—the United Nations’ suspected up to 7000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final five months of the war—the Sri Lankan military captured the last of the LTTE figures in May 2009.
Sri Lanka is still recovering from the 2004 tsunami, which killed over 30,000 people, injured 20,000, destroyed 100,000 homes and displaced more than half a million people. The tsunami caused extensive damage to infrastructure, with the rebuilding still ongoing in many areas throughout the country. Sri Lanka is also a source and destination country for men, women and children who are trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Many Sri Lankan men and women migrate to the Persian Gulf, Middle East and East Asia with the intention of working as construction workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers, but instead find themselves victims of trafficking and involuntary servitude when faced with restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical or sexual abuse and debt bondage.
“I will treat you with such kindness that your nation will grow strong, and I will also keep my promises to you.” – Leviticus 26:9
Compassion in Sri Lanka Compassion International's work in Sri Lanka will begin in 2010, with local churches reaching out to more than 1,000 babies and their mothers through partnership with Compassion's Child Survival Program. This program is designed to rescue and nurture children from the time of conception to age four who would otherwise have a very low chance of survival or healthy development. This partnership will provide Sri Lankan children and their mothers the opportunity to survive and thrive to become all God has created them to be.
Background The island nation of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, comprises of two primary ethnic groups—the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The first Sinhalese arrived on the island probably from northern India in the late sixth century B.C. The Tamils, from the Tamil region of India, arrived sometime later around the third century B.C. Until colonial powers controlled Ceylon, Sinhalese and Tamil rulers fought for dominance over the island. This strife effectively divided the island into two parts. In the north, the primarily Hindu Tamils claimed control, while the south was predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese. The first colonial power to arrive on the island was the Portuguese in 1505. The Dutch India Company later took possession from 1658 to 1796. Then the British took control, and in 1802 Ceylon became an English Crown colony. The British developed coffee, tea and rubber as primary island exports for nearly one and a half centuries. However, on 4 February 1948, after pressure from Ceylonese nationalist leaders (which briefly unified previously warring factions), Ceylon became a self-governing dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became the prime minister of Ceylon in 1956 and promoted Sinhalese nationalism by making Sinhala the country's only official language and giving state support to Buddhism. This marginalised the Tamil minority, and in 1959, Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. His widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, became the world's first female prime minister in 1960. Soon after Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka ("resplendent island") in 1972, tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists began to escalate further, and war erupted in 1983. After President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated at a May Day political rally in 1993, the next president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, promised to restore peace to the country but was herself injured
in a terrorist attack. By early 2000, nearly 64,000 lives, mostly civilians, were claimed in the 18-year war. Following a tenuous cease-fire in February 2002 between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), violence again intensified in 2006. In 2007, the government regained control of the Eastern Province. Then in May 2009, the government announced the defeat of the LTTE and that its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, had been killed.
Education: Sri Lanka has always valued the importance of learning, and since the country gained independence in 1948, the government has made education one of its highest priorities. Over the past two decades, primary enrolment for both boys and girls has been well over 90 per cent. This high rate of enrolment has been possible due to a well-developed network of public schools. Due in part to the success of high enrolment across the country, Sri Lanka is, academically speaking, one of the best performing countries in South Asia. Some schools are still recovering and rebuilding as a result of the 2004 tsunami that destroyed schools and damaged the educational infrastructure in affected areas. Sri Lanka also struggles with overcrowded classrooms, a short supply of teachers and schools that lack basic facilities like water and sanitation.
Religion: Although not a state religion, the constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place" and commits the government to protecting it. The constitution also protects the rights of other minority religious groups to practice their beliefs freely. At present, 69.1 per cent of the population is Buddhist, 7.6 per cent is Muslim, 7.1 per cent is Hindu, 6.2 per cent is Christian and 10 per cent is unspecified.
Source: CIA, World Fact Book 2009, UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children, 2009
Capital Colombo Population 21.5 million Language Sinhala 74% Tamil 18% other 8% Adult literacy rate* Male 92.3% Female 89.1% Access to adequate sanitation Urban 89% Rural 86% Access to improved drinking water Urban 98% Rural 79% Urbanisation 15% Life expectancy Male 73.22 years Female 77.47 years Religion Buddhist 69.1% Muslim 7.6% Hindu 7.1% Christian 6.2% Infant mortality rate** 18.14/1000 GNI per capita*** $1790 No. Living with HIV/AIDS 3800 Percentage living on less than US$1.25 per day 23%
*Literacy rate – Percentage of persons aged 15 and over who can read and write. ** Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly one year of age expressed per 1000 live births. ***GNI per capita – Gross national income (GNI) divided by mid-year population. GNI per capita in US dollars.
Fast Facts: The name Sri Lanka means “resplendent island”. The Sri Lankan stock market gained over 100 per cent during the economic crisis in 2009, one of the best performing markets in the world. A major tsunami hit Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004, killing over 30,000 people.
From May to August the Yala monsoon brings rain to the island’s south-western half, while the dry season lasts from December to March.
Current Issues Long-term civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led to some 460,000 Tamils and non-Tamils becoming refugees and internally displaced. Killings, assaults, kidnappings and disappearances were also common even after the cease-fire statement was signed in 2002. In January 2008 the Sri Lankan government officially pulled out of the cease-fire agreement, signalling a single-minded dedication to ending the 25-year-old civil conflict by military means. After intense military action and loss of life—the United Nations’ suspected up to 7000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final five months of the war—the Sri Lankan military captured the last of the LTTE figures in May 2009.
Sri Lanka is still recovering from the 2004 tsunami, which killed over 30,000 people, injured 20,000, destroyed 100,000 homes and displaced more than half a million people. The tsunami caused extensive damage to infrastructure, with the rebuilding still ongoing in many areas throughout the country. Sri Lanka is also a source and destination country for men, women and children who are trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Many Sri Lankan men and women migrate to the Persian Gulf, Middle East and East Asia with the intention of working as construction workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers, but instead find themselves victims of trafficking and involuntary servitude when faced with restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical or sexual abuse and debt bondage.
“I will treat you with such kindness that your nation will grow strong, and I will also keep my promises to you.” – Leviticus 26:9
Compassion in Sri Lanka Compassion International's work in Sri Lanka will begin in 2010, with local churches reaching out to more than 1,000 babies and their mothers through partnership with Compassion's Child Survival Program. This program is designed to rescue and nurture children from the time of conception to age four who would otherwise have a very low chance of survival or healthy development. This partnership will provide Sri Lankan children and their mothers the opportunity to survive and thrive to become all God has created them to be.
Background The island nation of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, comprises of two primary ethnic groups—the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The first Sinhalese arrived on the island probably from northern India in the late sixth century B.C. The Tamils, from the Tamil region of India, arrived sometime later around the third century B.C. Until colonial powers controlled Ceylon, Sinhalese and Tamil rulers fought for dominance over the island. This strife effectively divided the island into two parts. In the north, the primarily Hindu Tamils claimed control, while the south was predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese. The first colonial power to arrive on the island was the Portuguese in 1505. The Dutch India Company later took possession from 1658 to 1796. Then the British took control, and in 1802 Ceylon became an English Crown colony. The British developed coffee, tea and rubber as primary island exports for nearly one and a half centuries. However, on 4 February 1948, after pressure from Ceylonese nationalist leaders (which briefly unified previously warring factions), Ceylon became a self-governing dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike became the prime minister of Ceylon in 1956 and promoted Sinhalese nationalism by making Sinhala the country's only official language and giving state support to Buddhism. This marginalised the Tamil minority, and in 1959, Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. His widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, became the world's first female prime minister in 1960. Soon after Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka ("resplendent island") in 1972, tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists began to escalate further, and war erupted in 1983. After President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated at a May Day political rally in 1993, the next president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, promised to restore peace to the country but was herself injured
in a terrorist attack. By early 2000, nearly 64,000 lives, mostly civilians, were claimed in the 18-year war. Following a tenuous cease-fire in February 2002 between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), violence again intensified in 2006. In 2007, the government regained control of the Eastern Province. Then in May 2009, the government announced the defeat of the LTTE and that its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, had been killed.
Education: Sri Lanka has always valued the importance of learning, and since the country gained independence in 1948, the government has made education one of its highest priorities. Over the past two decades, primary enrolment for both boys and girls has been well over 90 per cent. This high rate of enrolment has been possible due to a well-developed network of public schools. Due in part to the success of high enrolment across the country, Sri Lanka is, academically speaking, one of the best performing countries in South Asia. Some schools are still recovering and rebuilding as a result of the 2004 tsunami that destroyed schools and damaged the educational infrastructure in affected areas. Sri Lanka also struggles with overcrowded classrooms, a short supply of teachers and schools that lack basic facilities like water and sanitation.
Religion: Although not a state religion, the constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place" and commits the government to protecting it. The constitution also protects the rights of other minority religious groups to practice their beliefs freely. At present, 69.1 per cent of the population is Buddhist, 7.6 per cent is Muslim, 7.1 per cent is Hindu, 6.2 per cent is Christian and 10 per cent is unspecified.
Source: CIA, World Fact Book 2009, UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children, 2009
