Violent Extremism is a major challenge to peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka, and many other countries in the Asia Pacific region in particular. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s 'Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) through promoting tolerance and respect for diversity' regional programme, seeks to address these underlying factors that drive violent extremism through longer-term, inclusive and rights-based development across the world.

In Sri Lanka, as a part of wider efforts in promoting tolerance and respect for diversity supported by the European Union, key interventions also look to develop innovative approaches to mobilize young people across the country to build social cohesion, with the aim of creating awareness and respect in moving forward, not allowing history to repeat itself.

One such intervention supported includes the development of a virtual museum on freedom of religion or belief - titled Museum of Religious Freedom - by MinorMatters, a first for Sri Lanka.

The museum is a dynamic virtual experience that engages the visitor in critical thinking by looking back at 200 years of history, with emphasis on 70 landmark events and incidents concerning freedom of religion in Sri Lanka. The events are presented in a visual narrative form with archival documents, community narratives and historical artifacts arranged around the thematic cluster.

The development of the Museum has been a long journey and began in 2019, when the proposal was submitted to the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) call for applications for innovative ideas that counter violent extremism, hatred, and prejudices and advocate for social change. The Virtual Museum integrated with an E-learning platform to trace the progression of FoRB in Sri Lanka and build religious harmony, was conceptualized building on the extensive efforts of MinorMatters in documenting religious liberty violations as well as their experience in engaging public discourse among young people from interreligious backgrounds on topics of religious freedom.

The aim of the Virtual Museum is to identify the root causes for misunderstandings between communities, by presenting history to audiences, particularly youth, in an attractive and creative way that encourages them to engage with historical narratives.