[JPRT 110-32]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
110th Congress 1st
Session JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT S. Prt.
110-32
_______________________________________________________________________
ANNUAL REPORT ON
INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2006
----------
R E P O R T
SUBMITTED TO THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
OF THE
U.S. SENATE
AND THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
OF THE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 102 OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
ACT OF 1998
Available via World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
38-274 WASHINGTON DC: 2007
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
BARBARA BOXER, California BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
JIM WEBB, Virginia DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
Antony J. Blinken, Staff Director
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
TOM LANTOS, California, Chairman
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DAN BURTON, Indiana
Samoa ELTON GALLEGLY, California
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas
DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
ADAM SMITH, Washington JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
GENE GREEN, Texas JOE WILSON, South Carolina
LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas CONNIE MACK, Florida
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
DAVID WU, Oregon MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina TED POE, Texas
LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia LUIS G. FORTUNO, Puerto Rico
JIM COSTA, California
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Robert R. King, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Letter of Transmittal............................................ vii
Preface.......................................................... ix
Introduction..................................................... xi
Executive Summary................................................ xiii
REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2006
country index
Africa:
Angola....................................................... 1
Benin........................................................ 3
Botswana..................................................... 5
Burkina Faso................................................. 6
Burundi...................................................... 9
Cameroon..................................................... 10
Cape Verde................................................... 14
Central African Republic..................................... 15
Chad......................................................... 18
Comoros, Union of............................................ 22
Congo, Democratic Republic of the............................ 24
Congo, Republic of........................................... 26
Cote d'Ivoire................................................ 27
Djibouti..................................................... 33
Equatorial Guinea............................................ 34
Eritrea...................................................... 37
Ethiopia..................................................... 42
Gabon........................................................ 47
Gambia, The.................................................. 49
Ghana........................................................ 50
Guinea....................................................... 56
Guinea-Bissau................................................ 59
Kenya........................................................ 60
Lesotho...................................................... 63
Liberia...................................................... 65
Madagascar................................................... 67
Malawi....................................................... 69
Mali......................................................... 71
Mauritania................................................... 73
Mauritius.................................................... 75
Mozambique................................................... 77
Namibia...................................................... 81
Niger........................................................ 82
Nigeria...................................................... 84
Rwanda....................................................... 90
Sao Tome and Principe........................................ 94
Senegal...................................................... 95
Seychelles................................................... 97
Sierra Leone................................................. 98
Somalia...................................................... 100
South Africa................................................. 102
Sudan........................................................ 105
Swaziland.................................................... 113
Tanzania..................................................... 115
Togo......................................................... 121
Uganda....................................................... 123
Zambia....................................................... 126
Zimbabwe..................................................... 128
East Asia and the Pacific:
Australia.................................................... 133
Brunei....................................................... 135
Burma........................................................ 139
Cambodia..................................................... 148
China (includes Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet)................. 150
Hong Kong................................................ 165
Macau.................................................... 168
Tibet.................................................... 170
China (includes Taiwan only)................................. 177
East Timor................................................... 179
Fiji......................................................... 182
Indonesia.................................................... 183
Japan........................................................ 195
Kiribati..................................................... 196
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of....................... 197
Korea, Republic of........................................... 203
Laos......................................................... 204
Malaysia..................................................... 213
Marshall Islands............................................. 217
Micronesia, Federated States of.............................. 218
Mongolia..................................................... 219
Nauru........................................................ 221
New Zealand.................................................. 223
Palau........................................................ 225
Papua New Guinea............................................. 226
Philippines.................................................. 228
Samoa........................................................ 232
Singapore.................................................... 234
Solomon Islands.............................................. 237
Thailand..................................................... 238
Tonga........................................................ 243
Tuvalu....................................................... 244
Vanuatu...................................................... 246
Vietnam...................................................... 247
Europe and Eurasia:
Albania...................................................... 265
Andorra...................................................... 269
Armenia...................................................... 270
Austria...................................................... 274
Azerbaijan................................................... 279
Belarus...................................................... 284
Belgium...................................................... 297
Bosnia and Herzegovina....................................... 302
Bulgaria..................................................... 310
Croatia...................................................... 314
Cyprus....................................................... 322
Czech Republic............................................... 326
Denmark...................................................... 331
Estonia...................................................... 334
Finland...................................................... 337
France....................................................... 340
Georgia...................................................... 351
Germany...................................................... 357
Greece....................................................... 363
Hungary...................................................... 371
Iceland...................................................... 375
Ireland...................................................... 379
Italy........................................................ 381
Latvia....................................................... 385
Liechtenstein................................................ 389
Lithuania.................................................... 391
Luxembourg................................................... 399
Macedonia.................................................... 400
Malta........................................................ 405
Moldova...................................................... 407
Monaco....................................................... 412
Netherlands, The............................................. 413
Norway....................................................... 418
Poland....................................................... 421
Portugal..................................................... 426
Romania...................................................... 429
Russia....................................................... 448
San Marino................................................... 478
Serbia and Montenegro........................................ 480
Kosovo................................................... 485
Slovak Republic.............................................. 493
Slovenia..................................................... 499
Spain........................................................ 501
Sweden....................................................... 506
Switzerland.................................................. 510
Turkey....................................................... 518
Ukraine...................................................... 526
United Kingdom............................................... 535
Near East and North Africa:
Algeria...................................................... 543
Bahrain...................................................... 548
Egypt........................................................ 552
Iran......................................................... 564
Iraq......................................................... 575
Israel....................................................... 584
Occupied Territories, the................................ 597
Jordan....................................................... 605
Kuwait....................................................... 611
Lebanon...................................................... 619
Libya........................................................ 623
Morocco...................................................... 626
Western Sahara........................................... 630
Oman......................................................... 630
Qatar........................................................ 633
Saudi Arabia................................................. 635
Syria........................................................ 646
Tunisia...................................................... 650
United Arab Emirates......................................... 655
Yemen........................................................ 660
South Asia:
Afghanistan.................................................. 665
Bangladesh................................................... 673
Bhutan....................................................... 681
India........................................................ 685
Kazakhstan................................................... 711
Kyrgyz Republic.............................................. 718
Maldives..................................................... 723
Nepal........................................................ 726
Pakistan..................................................... 730
Sri Lanka.................................................... 749
Tajikistan................................................... 757
Turkmenistan................................................. 762
Uzbekistan................................................... 772
Western Hemisphere:
Antigua and Barbuda.......................................... 789
Argentina.................................................... 790
Bahamas...................................................... 792
Barbados..................................................... 793
Belize....................................................... 795
Bolivia...................................................... 796
Brazil....................................................... 798
Canada....................................................... 800
Chile........................................................ 804
Colombia..................................................... 806
Costa Rica................................................... 811
Cuba......................................................... 813
Dominica..................................................... 818
Dominican Republic........................................... 819
Ecuador...................................................... 821
El Salvador.................................................. 822
Grenada...................................................... 824
Guatemala.................................................... 825
Guyana....................................................... 827
Haiti........................................................ 828
Honduras..................................................... 831
Jamaica...................................................... 832
Mexico....................................................... 834
Nicaragua.................................................... 838
Panama....................................................... 840
Paraguay..................................................... 842
Peru......................................................... 843
Saint Kitts and Nevis........................................ 847
Saint Lucia.................................................. 848
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines............................. 849
Suriname..................................................... 850
Trinidad and Tobago.......................................... 852
Uruguay...................................................... 854
Venezuela.................................................... 855
Appendices
A. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights..................... 859
B. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance
and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief................. 863
C. Training at the Foreign Service Institute Related to the
International Religious Freedom Act............................ 877
D. Department of Homeland Security and the International
Religious Freedom Act.......................................... 881
E. Overview of U.S. Refugee Policy............................... 883
?
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
U.S. Department of State,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Richard G. Lugar,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: On behalf of Secretary Rice, we are
pleased to transmit the 2006 Annual Report on International
Religious Freedom. This report is submitted in compliance with
Sec. 102 of P.L. 105-292, the International Religious Freedom
Act of 1998, which calls for a report to describe and assess
the nature and extent of violations of religious freedom in
each country, to describe U.S. actions and policies in support
of religious freedom, and to provide specified information on a
variety of topics related to religious freedom.
The report reviews the status of religious freedom in 197
countries or areas, and provides an overview of U.S. policy on
religious freedom and information about U.S. actions taken to
address religious freedom issues in each country. The report is
available on the Department of State web page at www.state.gov.
We hope you find this information helpful. Please let us
know if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey T. Bergner,
Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.
(vii)
PREFACE
----------
2006 REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Why the Reports are Prepared
This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State
in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious
Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that the secretary of
state, with the assistance of the ambassador at large for international
religious freedom, shall transmit to Congress ``an Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom supplementing the most recent Human
Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with
respect to matters involving international religious freedom.''
How the Reports are Prepared
U.S. embassies prepare the initial drafts of these reports,
gathering information from a variety of sources, including government
and religious officials, nongovernmental organizations, journalists,
human rights monitors, religious groups, and academics. This
information-gathering can be hazardous, and U.S. foreign service
officers regularly go to great lengths, under trying and sometimes
dangerous conditions, to investigate reports of human rights abuse, to
monitor elections, and to come to the aid of individuals at risk
because of their religious beliefs.
The Office of International Religious Freedom collaborated in
collecting and analyzing information for the country reports, drawing
on the expertise of other Department of State offices, religious
organizations, other non-governmental organizations, foreign government
officials, representatives from the United Nations and other
international and regional organizations and institutions, and experts
from academia and the media. In compiling and editing the country
reports, the Office of International Religious Freedom consulted with
experts on issues of religious discrimination and persecution,
religious leaders from a wide variety of faiths, and experts on legal
matters. The office's guiding principle was to ensure that all relevant
information was assessed as objectively, thoroughly, and fairly as
possible.
The report will be used by a wide range of U.S. government
departments, agencies, and offices to shape policy; conduct diplomacy;
inform assistance, training, and other resource allocations; and help
determine which countries have engaged in or tolerated ``particularly
severe violations'' of religious freedom, otherwise known as Countries
of Particular Concern.
This document, like several other State Department reports, uses
the Chicago Manual of Style format. For that reason, it uses a style of
capitalization in which, in general, only full proper names are
capitalized. In this style, for example, ``Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice'' is capitalized, but ``secretary of state'' is not.
No disrespect is meant to foreign or domestic leaders through this
style of capitalization.
A Word on Usage
When the International Religious Freedom Report states that a
country ``generally respected'' the right of religious freedom over the
reporting period, this phrase signifies that the country attempted to
protect religious freedom in the fullest sense. ``Generally respected''
is thus the highest level of respect for religious freedom assigned by
this report. The phrase ``generally respected'' is used because the
protection and promotion of religious freedom is a dynamic endeavor; it
cannot be stated categorically that any government fully respected this
right over the reporting year, even in the best of circumstances.
Acknowledgements
The 2006 report covers the period from July 1, 2005, to June 30,
2006, and reflects a year of dedicated effort by hundreds of foreign
service and civil service officers in the Department of State and U.S.
missions abroad. We thank the many foreign service officers at our
embassies and consulates abroad for monitoring and promoting religious
freedom, and for chronicling in detail the status of religious liberty.
In addition to their efforts, we acknowledge the diligent labor and
tireless commitment to religious freedom of those within the Office of
International Religious Freedom whose work made this report possible:
Clarissa Adamson, Patricia Aguilo, Philip Barth, Donna Brutkoski,
Warren Cofsky, Doug Dearborn, Karen DeBolt, Lisa DeBolt, Sarah Drake,
Kenneth Durkin, Maureen Gaffney, Nancy Hewett, Jeremy Howard, Victor
Huser, Shellette Jackson, Anthony Jones, Emilie Kao, Patrick Kelly,
Stephen Liston, Kathryn Lurie, Mary Maher, Michael Mates, Safia
Mohamoud, Joannella Morales, Aaron Pina, and Deborah Schneider. The
work of all of these individuals advances the cause of freedom, ensures
accuracy in our reporting, and brings hope to repressed people around
the world.
INTRODUCTION
----------
Faith as a personal choice and an essential freedom is a
cornerstone of the American character, rooted in the vision of our
founding fathers. Freedom of religion has been one of our foremost
liberties from the birth of our nation to this day, and the resolve of
Americans to champion that freedom--not only at home, but also around
the world--has remained steadfast. As Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has stated, ``There is no more fundamental issue for the United
States than freedom of religion and religious conscience. This country
was founded on that basis, and it is at the heart of democracy.''
Religious liberty is America's ``first freedom,'' enshrined in the
First Amendment of our Bill of Rights. In the same way, freedom of
religion is a cornerstone of universal human rights, for it encompasses
freedom of speech, assembly, and conscience, which together form the
foundation for democratic governance and respect for the individual.
For this reason the growth of democracy we are witnessing today has
gone hand in hand with a growth in religious freedom and other human
rights. Freedom House, which annually categorizes each nation as
``free,'' ``partly free,'' or ``not free'' based on a wide range of
criteria, including religious freedom, estimated that 44 countries were
``free'' in 1972, the first year that it released its country ratings.
By last year, that number had risen to 89 countries. The number of
``not free'' countries, in turn, has fallen from 68 in 1972 to 45
today.
Yet, while democracy and respect for basic freedoms have gained
ground throughout the world, many governments still pay no more than
lip service to their responsibilities under the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other international agreements. In too many
countries, governments refuse to recognize and protect religious
freedom. A number of governments actively work against this
foundational right. And in some nations today, violent extremists,
exploiting religion in the service of an ideology of intolerance and
hate, direct their attacks against those who seek only to worship
according to the dictates of their conscience. Even as we stand
together with those who rightly demand religious freedom, we stand
firmly against those who, whether acting on behalf of governments or on
behalf of organizations that manipulate faith for violent purposes,
impede human liberty and democracy.
The Annual Report on International Religious Freedom was
established as a means to help promote and protect this universal
right. The report seeks to shed light in those parts of the world where
religious persecution is perpetrated, and by that light to impede its
progress. The very process underlying the report, of investigating,
documenting, and protesting abuses, can help mitigate the violations.
That so many endure beatings, torture, and imprisonment, yet remain
committed to their beliefs, sometimes even to the point of death, is a
testament to the strength and resilience of their faith. The Annual
Report on International Religious Freedom testifies to this strength,
speaking for the many millions who continue to suffer on the basis of
their religious identity, belief, or practice.
This report is a natural outgrowth of our country's history. That
which is precious to us, we urge others to protect and preserve as
well. Our own record as a nation on this and other freedoms is not
perfect. However, our imperfections cannot serve as an excuse to
retreat from the challenge of working to make this universal right a
reality for all humankind.
As the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom,
with responsibility to both the President and the Secretary of State as
principal advisor on advancing religious freedom worldwide, it is my
mission and that of my office to stand with those who seek and promote
religious freedom, and against those who would stifle it. Under my
direction, the Office of International Religious Freedom undertakes a
wide range of activities aimed at implementing U.S. policy on religious
freedom, working closely with colleagues in the Department of State and
U.S. embassies overseas in order to bring the full set of diplomatic
tools to bear on the issue. Through formal and informal bilateral
negotiations with foreign governments, participation in multilateral
fora such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, cooperation with human rights and faith-based
NGOs, and meetings with victims of abuse, we develop and carry out
strategies to address persecution wherever it is found.
As we present to Congress and the public this eighth edition of the
Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, I wish to express my
gratitude for the strong and vigilant leadership of President Bush and
Secretary of State Rice on this issue, as well as for the bipartisan
support which Congress has provided. We all owe a debt of gratitude, as
well, to so many who work in non-governmental organizations on behalf
of the oppressed.
The good news, as the Freedom House ranking of countries shows, is
that together we are making progress. But clearly, enormous challenges
remain. ``As the United States advances the cause of liberty,''
President Bush has said, ``we remember that freedom is not America's
gift to the world, but God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
This truth drives our efforts to help people everywhere achieve freedom
of religion and establish a better, brighter and more peaceful future
for all.''
It is to the courageous men, women, and children around the world
who suffer because of their faith that we dedicate this annual report.
May it provide some measure of encouragement to their aspirations and
some hope that their story is not untold, nor their plight forgotten in
the press of world affairs.
John V. Hanford III,
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
----------
The Annual Report
The purpose of this report is to document the actions of
governments--those that repress religious expression, persecute
innocent believers, or tolerate violence against religious minorities,
as well as those that respect, protect, and promote religious freedom.
We strive to report equally on abuses against adherents of all
religious traditions and beliefs. The governments we report on range
from those that provided a high level of protection for religious
freedom in the broadest sense (those that ``generally respected''
religious freedom) to totalitarian regimes that sought to control
religious thought and expression and regarded some or all religious
groups as threats.
The promotion of religious freedom is a core objective of U.S.
foreign policy and is part of the U.S. Department of State's mission.
The commitment of the United States to religious freedom and to
international human rights standards is also articulated in such
documents as Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which clearly states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion. As an expression of our deep national
commitment to these freedoms, the department monitors religious
persecution and discrimination worldwide, recommends and implements
policies directed toward regions and countries, and develops programs
to promote religious freedom. Through transformational diplomacy, the
United States seeks to promote freedom of religion and conscience
throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of
stability for all countries. In so doing, it strives to assist newly
formed democracies in implementing freedom of religion and conscience,
assist religious and human rights NGOs in promoting religious freedom,
and identify and promote changes in the policies and actions of regimes
that severely persecute their citizens or others on the basis of
religious belief.
The large majority of the world's people have religious beliefs,
which they hold dear. It is because religion is viewed by people as
having such a central place in their lives that many regard religious
freedom as the most important right. At the same time, global trends,
regional distinctions, local preferences, and personal histories often
lead to significant overlap between religious identity and ethnicity,
class, language group, or political affiliation. The right to religious
freedom can be abused in many ways both blatant and subtle. The
following typology, although far from exhaustive, represents the major
types of abuses identified in this report, and may serve as a helpful
guide to assessing trends in religious freedom: totalitarian/
authoritarian regimes, state hostility toward minority religions, state
neglect of societal discrimination, discriminatory legislation that
favors majority religions, and denunciation of certain religions as
cults.
The first and most stark category of abuses is seen in totalitarian
and authoritarian regimes, which seek to control religious thought and
expression. Such regimes regard some or all religious groups as enemies
of the state because of their religious beliefs or their independence
from central authority. Some governments are hostile and repressive
towards particular groups, often identifying them as ``security
threats.'' It is important to distinguish between groups of religious
believers who express legitimate political grievances, and those that
misuse religion to advocate violence against other religious groups or
the state. This report documents it as an abuse when a government
broadly represses religious expression among a peacefully practicing
population on the grounds of security concerns. For example, the war on
terror must not be used as an excuse to repress peaceful worship. The
report also notes those countries and situations in which authorities'
over-zealous actions taken against observant believers suspected of
extremism have had the principal effect of restricting religious
freedom. In some countries, for example, many are afraid to attend
mosque frequently lest the government characterize them as religious
extremists.
A second category of abuses occurs with state hostility toward
minority or non-approved religions. These governments implement
policies designed to demand that adherents recant their faith, cause
religious group members to flee the country, or intimidate and harass
certain religious groups. This report notes, for example, when state
repression of religious groups was linked to ethnic identity because a
government dominated by a majority ethnic group suppressed the faith of
a minority group. Also detailed in this report are instances where
governments used an individual's religious devotion as a proxy for
determining his or her political ideology, which resulted in the
intimidation and harassment of certain religious groups.
Yet a third kind of abuse stems from a state's failure to address
either societal discrimination or societal abuses against religious
groups. In these countries, legislation may discourage religious
discrimination and persecution, but officials fail to prevent
conflicts, harassment, or other harmful acts against minority religious
groups. Protecting religious freedom is not just a matter of having
good laws in writing. It requires active work by a government at all
levels to prevent abuses by governmental or private actors, to bring
abusers to justice, and to provide redress to victims, when
appropriate. Governments have the responsibility to ensure that their
agents do not commit abuses of religious freedom, and to protect
religious freedom by rule of law in a way that ensures that private
actors obey. In addition, governments must foster an environment of
respect and tolerance for all people. This report documents cases in
which a government has failed to prevent violations of religious
freedom, or has not responded with consistency and vigor to violations
of religious freedom by private actors, nongovernmental entities, or
local law enforcement officials.
In a fourth category are abuses that occur when governments have
enacted discriminatory legislation or policies that favor majority
religions and disadvantage minority religions. This often results from
historical dominance by the majority religion and a bias against new or
minority religions. In a number of these countries, governments have
acted on a widely held ideology that links national identity with a
particular religion by enacting legislation that favors the majority
religion and discriminates against minority religions. Though the
majority of the population in such a country may worship without
harassment, such a situation cannot be characterized as true freedom to
choose one's faith and worship freely. Furthermore, government backing
of a religion can result in restrictions even on worshippers in the
majority when the state enforces only one interpretation of that
religion.
Finally, the practice of discriminating against certain religions
by identifying them as dangerous cults or sects is a common type of
abuse, even in countries where religious freedom is otherwise
respected. For example, this report discusses denunciations against
Shi'ite Muslims in Sunni-majority countries, and vice versa, especially
where governments have taken it upon themselves to regulate religious
belief and practice according to one of these faith traditions.
Between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, the period covered by this
report, wide-ranging events had implications for religious freedom. One
trend was a significant increase in international media attention to
religious freedom issues and controversies. Such events included an
international backlash in February 2006 against the republication of a
series of twelve cartoons depicting satirical images of Mohammed,
originally published in September 2005 by the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten. In choosing to publish them, the European media cited
freedom of expression. However, many observers, especially in Europe's
minority Muslim communities, interpreted this as a direct attack on or
demonstration of intolerance toward the Islamic faith.
The remainder of this Executive Summary consists of two parts. Part
I summarizes, on a country-by-country basis, actions the U.S.
Government has taken to advance international religious freedom in the
nations designated ``Countries of Particular Concern'' for particularly
severe violations of religious freedom. Part II provides a summary of
conditions in those countries where religious freedom is of significant
interest, including in Countries of Particular Concern. For each
country, this section notes the legal situation and relevant policies,
and gives examples of particular government abuses or positive steps
governments have taken to promote or protect religious freedom. In most
cases, these countries exhibit one or more of the abuses outlined
above.
Part I: U.S. Actions in Countries of Particular Concern
The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRF Act) requires
an annual review of the status of religious freedom worldwide and the
designation of countries that have ``engaged in or tolerated
particularly severe violations of religious freedom'' during the
reporting period as ``Countries of Particular Concern'' (CPCs).
Following the designation, a period of negotiation may ensue, in which
the United States seeks to work with a designated country to bring
about change. Subsequently, depending upon the results of these
discussions, one or more actions are chosen by the secretary of state,
as required by the IRF Act. These actions range from sanctions to an
agreement to a waiver. In countries where U.S. sanctions are currently
in force, the Secretary may designate one or more of these sanctions
jointly to fulfill the requirements of the IRF Act and other U.S. law.
The ambassador at large for international religious freedom and his
office take actions to promote religious freedom in each CPC throughout
the year. This section highlights actions by other U.S. Government
officials to promote religious freedom and to encourage the governments
to take positive steps to increase religious freedom. In November 2005,
the Secretary re-designated Burma, China, North Korea, Iran, Sudan,
Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam as CPCs. Further details on U.S.
actions in CPCs and other countries may be found in each individual
country report.
Burma
Every year since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated Burma
as a CPC. In 2005 the Secretary continued the designation of a
sanction, consisting of a prohibition on exports or other transfers of
defense articles and defense services pursuant to the Arms Export
Control Act, as the action under the IRF Act. The U.S. Government has a
wide array of financial and trade sanctions in place against Burma for
its violations of human rights. The U.S. Government advocated religious
freedom with all facets of society, including with government
officials, religious leaders, private citizens, and scholars, foreign
diplomats, and international business and media representatives.
Through outreach and travel, when not blocked by regime officials,
embassy representatives offered support to and exchanged information
with many otherwise isolated local nongovernmental organizations and
religious leaders.
China
The Secretary of State has designated the People's Republic of
China a CPC every year since 1999. In 2005, the secretary continued the
designation of a sanction, consisting of the restriction of exports of
crime control and detection instruments and equipment pursuant to the
Foreign Relations Authorization Act, as the action under the IRF Act.
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and the
Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang made a
concerted effort to encourage greater religious freedom in China,
condemning abuses while supporting positive trends. In public and in
private, U.S. officials repeatedly urged the P.R.C. Government to
respect citizens' constitutional and internationally recognized rights
to exercise religious freedom and to release all those serving prison
sentences for religious activities. President Bush regularly raised
religious freedom in his meetings with government leaders, including in
his April 2006 and November and September 2005 meetings with President
Hu Jintao. Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Barry Lowenkron held talks on religious freedom during a February 2006
visit to Beijing. The U.S. ambassador to China highlighted problems of
religious freedom and cases of individual religious prisoners of
conscience in his public speeches and in his private diplomacy with
Chinese officials.
Eritrea
The Secretary of State first designated Eritrea as a CPC in 2004.
As the action under the IRF Act, in 2005 the Secretary of State ordered
the denial of commercial export to Eritrea of any defense articles and
services controlled under the Arms Export Control Act, excluding
certain items such as those used for peacekeeping and anti-terrorism
efforts. U.S. embassy officials meet regularly with leaders of the
religious community. The U.S. ambassador and other embassy officers
have raised the cases of detention and restrictions on unregistered
religious groups with officials in the President's Office, the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the leaders of the
sole legal political party, the People's Front for Democracy and
Justice.
Iran
Every year since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated Iran
as a CPC. In 2005, the Secretary continued the designation of a
sanction, consisting of restrictions on U.S. security assistance
pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act, as the action under the IRF
Act. The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran, and thus
it cannot raise directly the restrictions that the Iranian Government
places on religious freedom and other abuses the government commits
against adherents of minority religious groups. The U.S. Government has
expressed strongly its objections to the government's harsh and
oppressive treatment of religious minorities through public statements,
support for relevant UN and nongovernmental organization (NGO) efforts,
and diplomatic initiatives toward states concerned about religious
freedom in Iran. The United States calls on other countries with
bilateral relations with Iran to use those ties to press Iran on
religious freedoms and human rights. For example, at the fall 2005
session of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, the United
States co-sponsored a successful resolution against Iran, which
specifically addressed religious freedom issues among other violations
of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The United States has
publicly condemned the treatment of the Baha'is in UN resolutions. On
numerous occasions, the U.S. State Department has addressed publicly
the situation of the Baha'i and Jewish communities in the country, and
the U.S. Government has encouraged other governments to make similar
statements.
North Korea
Every year since 2001, the Secretary of State has designated the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) as a CPC. In 2005, the
Secretary continued the designation of a sanction, consisting of
restrictions on normal trade relations and other trade benefits
pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974 and the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, as
the action under the IRF Act. The U.S. Government does not have
diplomatic relations with the D.P.R.K., and raises its concerns about
the deplorable state of human rights in the country with other
countries and in multilateral fora. For example, the U.S. cosponsored a
successful resolution that addressed restrictions on religious freedom
at the UN General Assembly in fall 2005. Assistant Secretary of State
for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill has publicly stated
that dialogue on the D.P.R.K.'s human rights record will be a part of
any future normalization process between the D.P.R.K. and the United
States. In April 2005, several State Department officials testified
before the House International Relations Committee on the D.P.R.K.'s
human rights record and U.S. Government efforts to implement the 2004
North Korean Human Rights Act (NKHRA). They and the U.S. ambassador at
large for international religious freedom have repeatedly raised
awareness of the deplorable human rights conditions in the D.P.R.K.
through speeches before U.S. audiences. In August 2005, the president
appointed Jay Lefkowitz as Special Envoy for Human Rights in North
Korea, in keeping with one provision of the NKHRA. Since his
appointment, Special Envoy Lefkowitz has urged other countries,
including the Republic of Korea and Japan, to join the growing
international campaign urging the D.P.R.K. to address its human rights
conditions and abuses of religious freedom. Also in 2005, the U.S.
Department of State provided a grant of $496,000 to the National
Endowment for Democracy to improve and expand monitoring and reporting
on human rights conditions in the D.P.R.K., as well as a grant to
Freedom House for a series of conferences and other activities
dedicated to urging the regime to end its abuses. Radio Free Asia and
Voice of America also provide regular Korean-language broadcasting.
U.S. Government policy allows U.S. citizens to travel to the country,
and a number of churches and religious groups have organized efforts to
alleviate suffering caused by shortages of food and medicine.
Saudi Arabia
The Secretary of State first designated Saudi Arabia as a CPC in
2004. Senior U.S. officials and embassy officers met with senior Saudi
Government and religious leaders regarding religious freedom, and the
U.S. ambassador also raised specific cases of violations with senior
officials. U.S. Government officials also met with the Saudi Government
to raise their concerns over the dissemination of intolerant literature
and an extremist ideology, and discussed the need for the Saudi
Government to honor consistently its public commitment to permit
private religious worship by non-Muslims, eliminate discrimination
against minorities, promote tolerance toward non-Muslims, and respect
the rights of Muslims who do not follow the conservative Hanbali
tradition of Sunni Islam. These discussions made it possible to
identify and confirm a number of key policies that the government is
pursuing and will continue to pursue for the purposes of promoting
greater freedom for religious practice and increased tolerance for
religious groups. These include policies designed to halt the
dissemination of intolerant literature and extremist ideology, both
within Saudi Arabia and around the world, to protect the right to
private worship, and to curb harassment of religious practice. For
example, the Saudi Government is conducting a comprehensive revision of
textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging remarks
toward religious groups, a process that will take one to two more
years. The Saudi Government is also retraining teachers and the
religious police to ensure that the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims
are protected and to promote tolerance and combat extremism. The Saudi
Government has also created a Human Rights Commission to address the
full range of human rights complaints. In view of these developments,
the Secretary issued a waiver of sanctions ``to further the purposes of
the Act.''
Sudan
Every year since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated Sudan
a CPC. Among the numerous U.S. sanctions against Sudan, in 2005 the
Secretary continued the designation of one sanction consisting of the
use of the voice and vote of the U.S. to abstain on or oppose loans or
other uses of the funds of the international financial institutions to
or for Sudan, pursuant to the International Financial Institutions Act,
as the action under the IRF Act. The U.S. Government encouraged the
Government of National Unity (GNU) to fulfill the promises of religious
freedom made in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Interim
National Constitution, and made clear that restrictions on religious
freedom impede improved relations between the United States and Sudan.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick hosted an interfaith forum
with Christian and Muslim leaders in Khartoum during his November 2005
visit. Embassy officials frequently met with leaders of different
religious groups. The U.S. embassy has developed working relationships
with a number of Muslim and Christian leaders, and U.S. officials met
on a regular basis with such leaders in Khartoum, Juba, and on trips
outside the capital.
Vietnam
During the period covered by this report, significant improvements
occurred in the status of religious freedom in Vietnam (see Part II).
First designated a CPC in 2004, the United States and Vietnam worked
closely together in the months that ensued, resulting in an exchange of
letters in May 2005 that covered the following issues: full
implementation of the new laws on religious activities; instruction of
local authorities to strictly and completely adhere to the new
legislation and ensure their compliance; facilitation of the process by
which religious congregations are able to open houses of worship; and
special consideration to prisoners and cases of concern raised by the
United States during the granting of prisoner amnesties. This exchange
of letters mitigated other actions under the IRF Act. The U.S. Embassy
in Hanoi and the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City maintain an
active and regular dialogue with senior and working-level government
officials to advocate greater religious freedom. U.S. officials also
meet and communicate regularly with religious leaders of the Buddhist,
Catholic, Protestant, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Muslim communities,
including religious activists under government scrutiny. When traveling
outside of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, embassy and consulate general
officers regularly met with provincial Religious Affairs Committees,
village elders, local clergy, and believers. The U.S. ambassador and
other U.S. officials, including the ambassador at large for
international religious freedom, raised concerns about the registration
and recognition difficulties faced by religious organizations; the
detention and arrest of religious figures; the difficulties Protestants
face in the Central Highlands and northern Vietnam, including the
Northwest Highlands; and other restrictions on religious freedom with
the prime minister, deputy prime minister, government cabinet
ministers, Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) leaders, provincial
officials, and others. The ambassador at large for international
religious freedom and his staff traveled to various regions of the
country on six occasions between 2003 and 2006 to meet religious
leaders and government authorities. The U.S. Government has regularly
worked for the release of prisoners deemed to be detained primarily for
religious reasons. The government during the period covered by this
report freed four individuals viewed by various sources as having been
imprisoned in connection with religious activities.
Part II: Country-Specific Conditions of International Religious Freedom
This section provides a summary of conditions in a number of
countries where religious freedom is of significant interest. For each
country, this section notes the legal situation and relevant policies,
and gives examples of particular government abuses or positive steps
governments have taken in the reporting period to promote or protect
religious freedom.
Afghanistan
The Afghan constitution states that ``followers of other religions
are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites
within the limits of the provisions of law.'' However, it also states
that Islam is the ``religion of the state'' and that ``no law can be
contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of
Islam.'' While the government generally respected the right to
religious freedom, decades of war and years of Taliban rule and weak
democratic institutions, including an unreformed judiciary, have
contributed to a conservative culture of intolerance, which at times
manifested in acts of harassment and violence against reform-minded
Muslims and religious minorities. Widespread condemnations that arose
during a case of conversion, and a case of censorship, increased
concerns about the ability of Afghans to freely practice their
religion. Due to societal pressure, some minority religious believers
hide their religion and the Afghan Sikh and Hindu populations faced a
number of problems. Relations among the different sects of Islam in the
country continued to be difficult. Historically, the minority Shi'a
have faced discrimination from the majority Sunni population. Despite
these problems, the government took some positive steps during the
reporting period to increase religious freedom. The Ministries of
Women's Affairs and Religious Affairs worked together to provide women
with greater access to mosques. The government also responded
positively to international approaches on religious freedom and worked
effectively on high-profile legal cases such as the blasphemy charges
against journalist Mohaqeq Nasab and the apostasy charges against
Christian convert Abdul Rahman.
Brunei
Despite constitutional provisions providing for the full and
unconstrained exercise of religious freedom, the Government of Brunei
used a range of laws to restrict the expansion of religions other than
official Islam. Brunei's various religious groups coexist peacefully,
but ecumenical interaction is hampered by the dominant Islamic
religious ethos, which discourages Muslims from learning about other
faiths and forbids persons of other faiths from proselytizing. At the
same time, Islamic authorities organize a range of activities to
explain and propagate Islam, and they also offer financial incentives,
housing, and new mosques for converts to Islam.
Burma
The Burmese Government's repressive, authoritarian military regime
imposed restrictions on certain religious activities and frequently
committed abuses of the right to freedom of religion. Most adherents of
registered religions were permitted to worship as they chose, but the
government continued to infiltrate and monitor activities of virtually
all organizations, including religious organizations. It also
systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human
rights and political freedom. The government actively promoted
Theravada Buddhism, particularly among minority ethnic groups, and
adherence to Buddhism remains generally a prerequisite for promotion to
senior government and military ranks. Anti-Muslim violence continued,
as did the close monitoring of Muslims' activities. Restrictions on
worship of other non-Buddhist minority groups also continued throughout
the country.
China
The Chinese constitution provides for freedom of religious belief;
however, the government's respect for freedom of religion and freedom
of conscience remained poor. There was little evidence that new
regulations on religious affairs, which took effect in 2005, improved
the situation of religious freedom; they continued to define only
government-approved practices and faiths as normal or legitimate. In
most areas of the country, religious believers could worship without
difficulty in officially approved venues. However, in some areas there
were significant restrictions. Officials in the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region tightly controlled religious activity. In one case in
August 2005, Uighur teacher Aminan Momixi and 30 students were detained
after Momixi held Qur'an study sessions in her home during summer
vacation. In apparent retaliation for the international human rights
and religious freedom activism of Uighur Muslim Rebiya Kadeer, the
Chinese Government detained and reportedly abused her three adult sons,
charging them with financial crimes related to her business ventures in
Xinjiang. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, including in the Inner
Mongolian Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas of China, faced
restrictions on their religious practice and ability to organize.
Repression of unregistered Protestant church networks and ``house''
churches continued to be widely reported. House church leaders
sometimes faced detention, formal arrest and sentences of reeducation
or imprisonment. Government officials continued to scrutinize closely
contacts between citizens and foreigners involved in religion,
detaining some citizens for providing religious information to
foreigners and preventing some religious figures from traveling abroad,
including church historian Zhang Yinan, whom authorities placed under
house arrest and refused to issue a passport. In June 2006, Henan
Province Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang, was sentenced to 7 \1/2\
years in prison for obtaining a passport through fraud and illegal
border crossing. ``Underground'' Catholic bishops also faced
repression, in large part due to their loyalty to the Vatican, which
the government accused of interfering in China's internal affairs. The
government showed some signs of willingness to improve relations with
the Vatican after the appointment of Pope Benedict XVI but Beijing and
the Vatican clashed in April 2006 over control of the process of
ordaining bishops. The government continued its repression of groups
that it categorized as ``cults'' in general and of small Christian-
based groups and the Falun Gong in particular. In June 2006 Pastor Xu
Shuangfu and five other members of the ``Three Grades of Servants''
church, which China considers a cult, were sentenced to death in a
murder case involving conflict between the church and the Eastern
Lightning group, which China also considers a cult. Scores of Three
Grades of Servants church members were tried during the period covered
by this report. Falun Gong practitioners continued to face arrest,
detention, and imprisonment, and there have been credible reports of
deaths due to torture and abuse. Practitioners who refuse to recant
their beliefs are sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons,
and reeducation through labor camps and extra-judicial ``legal
education'' centers.
Cuba
The Cuban constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess
and practice any religious belief within the framework of respect for
the law; however, in law and in practice the government continued to
place restrictions on freedom of religion.
Some religious figures who criticized the Cuban Government's
totalitarian system in sermons were subjected to intense harassment. In
general, unregistered religious groups continued to experience varying
degrees of official interference, harassment, and repression. The
government maintained its policy of permitting apolitical religious
activity to take place in government-approved sites. However, citizens
worshipping in officially sanctioned churches were subject to
surveillance by state security forces, and the government's efforts to
maintain a strong degree of control over religion continued. The Cuban
Government implemented new regulations that restricted the operation of
house churches but eased its policy on issuing work permits to foreign
Catholic clergy.
Egypt
The Egyptian constitution provides for freedom of belief and the
practice of religious rites, although the government places
restrictions on these rights in practice. Religious practices that
conflict with the government's interpretation of Shari'a, or Islamic
law, are prohibited. Members of the non-Muslim religious minorities
officially recognized by the Egyptian Government generally worship
without harassment; however, tradition and some aspects of the law
discriminated against religious minorities, including Christians and
particularly Baha'is, which are not recognized legally. The government
continued to deny civil documents, including identity cards, birth
certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Baha'i
community, which numbers 500 to 2,000 persons. It appealed an April 4
decision by the administrative court, that supported the right of
Baha'i citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with
religion noted on the documents. Many churches continued to encounter
difficulty with obtaining permits for church repair and rebuilding,
despite a presidential decree in December 2005 stating that such
permits, previously requiring his approval, could be granted by
provincial governors. In the past, the government did not provide a
legal means for converts from Islam to Christianity to amend their
civil records to reflect their new religious status. Over the past 2
years, approximately 32 Muslims who had converted from Christianity
have been issued verdicts allowing them to recover their original
Christian identities. Metwalli Ibrahim Metwalli Saleh, arrested by the
State Security Intelligence Service (SSIS) in May 2003, apparently for
his views on Islam, including support of the right to convert, was
released on April 23 after receiving eight separate rulings from the
Supreme State Security Emergency Court in his favor and an official
statement from the state security prosecutor ordering his release.
Eritrea
Religious freedom did not improve overall, and in some areas
deteriorated further. The Eritrean Government severely restricts
freedom of religion for groups that it has not registered, and
infringes upon the independence of some registered groups. Following a
2002 decree that religious groups must register, the Government closed
all religious facilities not belonging to the country's four principal
religious institutions: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman
Catholic Church, the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Eritrea, and
Islam. The government continued to harass, arrest, and detain members
of independent Evangelical groups (including Pentecostals), Jehovah's
Witnesses, and a reform movement within the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
The government also intervened in procedural and administrative
decisions of the Eritrean Orthodox Church by displacing the patriarch
in favor of its own candidate. The government failed to register any of
the four religious groups who applied in 2002 for registration, and it
restricted religious meetings and arrested individuals during religious
ceremonies, gatherings, and prayer meetings. There were also reports of
forced recantations. Some religious detainees were held in harsh
conditions that included extreme temperature fluctuations with limited
or no access to family.
India
The Indian constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
government generally respects this right in practice. While the
national government took positive steps in key areas to improve
religious freedom, the status of religious freedom generally remained
the same during the period covered by this report. The United
Progressive Alliance government continued to implement a platform based
on respect for secular government and religious tolerance. The vast
majority of Indians of every religious faith lived in peaceful
coexistence. However, some extremists continued to perceive ineffective
prosecution of attacks on religious minorities, particularly at the
state and local level, as a signal that they could commit such violence
with impunity. Religious conversion remained a highly contentious issue
and terrorists continued deadly violence against religious targets. The
national government reacted in a swift manner to rein in Hindu
extremists, prevent revenge attacks and reprisal, and assure the Muslim
community of its safety. In March 2006, the government of Rajasthan
passed an anti-conversion bill, but it had not been approved by the
governor by the end of the period covered by this report, and awaited
presidential review. In August 2005, the Nanavati commission, tasked
with conducting a re-inquiry into the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, released
its report, citing several prominent Congress Party leaders for
complicity in the violence, implicating law enforcement personnel in
the deaths, and setting up committees to dispense compensation for
victims' families. In response to a supreme court mandate, in February
2006, the Gujarat police stated that it would reinvestigate 1600 of the
approximately 2,000 cases that were filed and closed in 2002.
Iran
There was a further deterioration of the extremely poor status of
respect for religious freedom during the reporting period. Government
actions and rhetoric created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all
who do not practice Ja'fari (Twelver) Shi'a Islam. Government-
controlled media, including broadcasting and print, intensified
negative campaigns against religious minorities, particularly the
Baha'is, following the June 2005 election of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. There were reports of imprisonment, harassment,
intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs.
Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only legally recognized
religious minorities; however, even members of these groups have
reported imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination
based on their religious beliefs. On November 22, 2005, unidentified
persons killed a man who had converted to Christianity more than 10
years earlier. Reportedly, his death was followed by repression of and
threats to other Christians, including arrests of 10 Christians. The
Iranian Government regards the Baha'i faith as a heretical Islamic
group with a political orientation that is antagonistic to the
country's Islamic revolution, and continued to prohibit Baha'is from
teaching and practicing their faith. (Baha'is view themselves not as
Muslims, but as an independent religion with origins in the Shi'a
Islamic tradition.) Government restrictions on Sufi Muslim groups and
houses of worship also became more pronounced during the year covered
by this report, and Sufis reported the constant harassment and
intimidation of prominent Sufi leaders by the intelligence and security
services. Although laws governing Sufi practice are ambiguous, there
are reports that the government called for a full ban on the practice
of Sufism.
Israel and Occupied Territories
Israeli law provides for freedom of worship, and the Israeli
Government generally respects this right. In response to terrorist
attacks in the Occupied Territories, Israel's strict closure policies
frequently had the effect of restricting the ability of Palestinians to
reach places of worship and practice their religions. The violence that
has persisted since the beginning of the second Intifada, or uprising,
in 2000 has significantly curtailed religious practice in many areas of
the Occupied Territories and caused damage to places of worship and
religious shrines there. The construction of a separation barrier by
the Government of Israel also limited access to sacred sites, and
seriously impeded the work of religious organizations that provide
humanitarian relief and social services to Palestinians. Such
impediments were not exclusive to religious believers or to religious
organizations, and at times the government made efforts to lessen the
impact on religious communities. The Government of Israel confiscated
land (usually offering limited compensation, which churches did not
accept) belonging to several religious institutions to build the
barrier. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (PA),
took steps to eliminate religious incitement, although incidents of
such incitement still occurred. The Basic Law approved by the PA states
that the principles of Shari'a (Islamic law) are ``the main source of
legislation.'' The strong correlation between religion, ethnicity, and
politics in the Occupied Territories at times imbues the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict with a religious dimension. Rhetoric by
Palestinian terrorist groups included expressions of anti-Semitism.
Some Muslim religious leaders preached sermons on the official PA
television station that also included expressions of anti-Semitism.
However, on October 28, 2005, Israeli media quoted PLO Chief Negotiator
Sa'eb Erekat's statement that the Iranian president's declaration that
Israel should be wiped off the map was ``unacceptable.'' In the midst
of growing chaos and lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, there
were credible reports in previous years that PA security forces and
judicial officials colluded with members of gangs to seize land from
Christians. While there were no reports of Christians being targeted
for extortion or abuse during the period covered by this report, the PA
did not take action to investigate past injustices allegedly
perpetrated by PA officials. Within Israel, problems continued to exist
stemming primarily from the unequal treatment of religious minorities,
and from the state's recognition of only Orthodox Jewish religious
authorities in personal and some civil status matters concerning Jews.
Relations among religious groups--between Jews and non-Jews, Muslims
and Christians, secular and religious Jews, and among the different
streams of Judaism--often were strained, and institutional, legal, and
societal discrimination persisted against the country's Arab citizens.
Laos
In some areas, authorities continued to display intolerance for
minority religious practice, especially by evangelical Christians.
Christians were detained and arrested, or told to renounce their faith
on threat of arrest or forceful eviction from their villages. In early
2006, a village chief in Oudomsai Province confiscated the land of
several Christian families. A Christian in Salavan Province has been
under house arrest since April 1, 2006, for refusing to renounce his
faith. A group of displaced ethnic Hmong minors, sent over the border
by Thai authorities, has been detained in Bolikhamsai Province since
December 2005; some sources indicated that the Hmong were Christians
and may have been detained in Laos in part due to their religious
affiliation. Also in late 2005, village officials burned a Lao
Evangelical Church (LEC) in Bokeo Province and six church leaders were
arrested; five of the six were later released, but the other died after
being transferred from jail to a military hospital. Conflicts between
ethnic groups sometimes exacerbated religious tensions.
North Korea
Although the constitution provides for ``freedom of religious
belief,'' genuine religious freedom does not exist, and there was no
change in the extremely poor level of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. The government severely restricts
religious freedom, including organized religious activity, except that
which is supervised tightly by officially recognized groups linked to
the government. Some foreigners who have visited the country stated
that church services appeared staged and contained political content
supportive of the regime. Outsiders have limited ability to ascertain
the level of government control over these groups, but it is generally
assumed they are monitored closely. Defector reports continued to
allege that they witnessed the arrests and execution of members of
underground Christian churches by the regime in prior years. There is
no reliable information on the number of religious detainees or
prisoners, but there are unconfirmed reports that many people are
detained for their religious beliefs and activities. Prison conditions
are harsh; starvation and forced labor are common.
Pakistan
The country is an Islamic Republic. Islam is the state religion and
the constitution requires that laws be consistent with it. The
government took some steps to improve the treatment of religious
minorities during the period covered by this report, but serious
problems remained. Discriminatory legislation and the government's
failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who
practice a different faith fostered religious intolerance and acts of
violence and intimidation against religious minorities. The Ahmadiyya
community continued to face legal bars to the practice of its faith.
Anti-blasphemy laws provide the death penalty for defiling Islam or its
prophets; life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the
Qur'an; and 10 years' imprisonment for insulting the religious feelings
of any citizen. These laws are often used to intimidate reform-minded
Muslims, sectarian opponents and religious minorities, or to settle
personal scores. ``Hudood Ordinances'' impose elements of Qur'anic law
on both Muslims and non-Muslims and different legal standards for men
and women. Religious leaders, representing the country's six major
Shi'a and Sunni groups, issued a religious injunction in May 2005
banning sectarian violence and the killing of non-Muslims. However,
except for the Federally Administered Northern Areas, the sectarian
violence situation remained unchanged, which led to more than 110
deaths during the reporting period. Under government pressure, many of
the leaders of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, a coalition of Islamist
political parties that leads the opposition in the national assembly,
joined various interfaith efforts to promote religious tolerance. Anti-
Ahmadi and anti-Semitic rhetoric continued unabated, although rhetoric
against Ismaili followers of the Aga Khan was largely abandoned. The
government worked with moderate religious leaders to organize programs
on sectarian harmony and inter-faith understanding, maintained its ban
on and actively attempted to curb the activities of sectarian and
terrorist organizations, implemented a registration program for Islamic
religious schools known as madrassahs, and continued with reform of the
public education curriculum designed to end the teaching of religious
intolerance. On July 1, 2006, President Musharraf instructed the
Council on Islamic Ideology (CII) to prepare a revised Hudood Ordinance
that eliminates discriminatory treatment of women and minorities not
later than August 2006. In addition, the president ordered the release
of all women detained under the current ordinance; according to local
NGOs, approximately 700 women have been released.
Russia
The practice of religion was generally free for a significant
majority of the population. However, some federal officials have taken
actions that raise concerns about the Russian Government's consistency
and vigilance in protecting religious freedom. In addition, some local
and regional authorities have relied on provisions of the complex 1997
Law on Religion to restrict several minority religious groups. A 2004
court decision banning Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow continued to have
significant negative ramifications for the activities of Jehovah's
Witnesses during the reporting period. There were indications that the
security services, including the Federal Security Service (FSB),
increasingly treated the leadership of some minority religious groups
as security threats. Popular attitudes toward traditionally Muslim
ethnic groups are negative in many regions, and there are
manifestations of anti-Semitism as well as hostility toward Roman
Catholics and other non-Orthodox Christian denominations. Some
observant Muslims claimed harassment because of their faith. Instances
of religiously motivated violence continued, although it often was
difficult to determine whether xenophobic, religious, or ethnic
prejudices were the primary motivation behind violent attacks. Some
Russian Orthodox Church clergy have stated publicly their opposition to
any expansion of the presence of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and
other non-Orthodox denominations. The Russian president and Government
reacted quickly in condemning a January 2006 attack on a Moscow
synagogue.
Saudi Arabia
Islam is the official religion, and the law requires that all
citizens be Muslims. The government does not provide legal recognition
or protection for freedom of religion, and it is severely restricted in
practice. The public practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited. As
a matter of policy, the government confirmed that it guarantees and
protects the right to private worship for all, including non-Muslims
who gather in homes for religious practice; however, this right is not
always respected in practice and is not defined in law. During the
reporting period, the government identified and confirmed its policies
with regard to religious practice and tolerance in a number of key
areas. The government continued a campaign against religious extremism,
and top officials, including the king, continued to call for the
promotion of tolerance. There were reports that some imams in their
Friday sermons called for all citizens to show respect for other
religious faiths, but denunciations from government-sanctioned pulpits
of non-Muslim religions and the Shi'a branch of Islam were also
reported. The government enforces a strictly conservative
interpretation of Sunni Islam, and Muslims who do not adhere to it can
face significant societal discrimination and serious repercussions at
the hands of mutawwa'in (religious police, officially known as the
Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice). Reports of harassment
of non-Muslims and non-Sunni Muslims by mutawwa'in continued, including
raids of private residences and detentions of non-Muslims for religious
violations, such as possession of non-Muslim literature or holding non-
Muslim worship services; however, there were fewer reports than last
year. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there was a decrease in both
long-term and short-term detentions, and in arrests and deportations,
of non-Muslims. However, there were also reports that mutawwa'in
targeted several non-Muslim religious leaders and active members of
non-Muslim religious groups for arrest and deportation. Many non-
Muslims continued to worship in fear of harassment and in such a manner
as to avoid discovery by police or mutawwa'in. Members of the Shi'a
minority continued to face political, economic, legal, social, and
religious discrimination, including discrimination in employment,
little representation in official institutions, and restrictions on the
practice of their faith and on the building of mosques and community
centers. However, the government made efforts to improve the climate of
tolerance toward other religions and within Islam. In December 2005,
King Abdullah hosted a ministerial summit of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC), inaugurating it with a call for moderation,
tolerance, rejection of extremist violence, and reform of educational
programs (including textbooks and curricula). The government clarified
that it will continue to revise educational materials to remove
disparaging references to other religious traditions, and to retrain or
remove imams whose preaching promotes extremist religious thought.
Sri Lanka
The constitution accords Buddhism the ``foremost place,'' but it is
not recognized as the state religion. While the government publicly
endorses the right of members of other faiths to freely practice their
religion, in practice, there were problems in some areas. Anti-
conversion legislation first introduced in 2004 remained under
consideration. Despite generally amicable relations among persons of
different faiths, there has been ongoing violent resistance by some
Buddhists to Christian church activity, in particular that conducted by
evangelical groups. There were sporadic attacks on Christian churches
by Buddhist extremists and some societal tension due to ongoing
allegations of forced conversions and debate on anti-conversion
legislation.
Sudan
The 2005 Interim National Constitution provides for freedom of
religion throughout the entire country, and there was some improvement
in the status of respect for religious freedom in the period covered by
this report. However, regional distinctions in the constitution,
negotiated as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), have
resulted in disparities in the treatment of religious minorities in the
North and the South. The Interim National Constitution preserved
Shari'a as a source of legislation in states outside southern Sudan,
but recognized ``popular consensus'' and ``the values and the customs
of the people of Sudan, including their traditions and religious
beliefs,'' as sources of legislation in the South. The Government of
Southern Sudan generally respected the rights of Christians and Muslims
in the 10 states of the south as provided for in its separate interim
constitution, signed on December 5, 2005, but the new Government of
National Unity (GNU) continued to place restrictions on Christians in
the North, particularly by denying building permits for new churches.
The national government required that all students in the North study
Islam in school, regardless of whether they were Muslim, and even if
enrolled in private, Christian schools. The Interim National
Constitution calls for the establishment of a Commission for the Rights
of Non-Muslims in the capital, Khartoum, to ensure that non-Muslims are
not adversely affected by the application of Shari'a law there, but
that had not taken place by the end of the period covered by this
report. Relations among religious groups improved during the reporting
period. Dialogue between Christian and Muslim groups continued under
the auspices of the Sudan Inter-Religious Council (SIRC), a
nongovernmental organization supported by the Government of National
Unity, and the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), comprising Catholic,
Orthodox, and Protestant groups. The SIRC supported peace and
reconciliation efforts between Christians and Muslims, sponsoring a
conference on the role of religious leaders in peace building with the
U.S. Institute of Peace in July 2005.
Turkmenistan
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and does not
establish a state religion, but in practice the government continued to
monitor all forms of religious expression. However, the status of
government respect for religious freedom improved during the period
covered by this report. The government's Council for Religious Affairs
(CRA) was more willing to assist minority religious groups in resolving
conflicts with other government agencies. On October 20, 2005, several
government agencies hosted a roundtable discussion with leaders of
registered religious groups to discuss registration procedures for
branch religious groups and other related concerns. During the
reporting period, the Government of Turkmenistan introduced a temporary
procedure for registering branches of registered religious groups
located outside of the capital, Ashgabat. However, the procedure was
not clear and the implementation by government officials was not
consistent. The Government of Turkmenistan limited the activities of
unregistered religious congregations by prohibiting them from gathering
publicly, proselytizing, and disseminating religious materials.
Government officials outside the capital often interpreted the law more
strictly than those in Ashgabat. Although the level of harassment
continued to decrease for registered religious groups, most
unregistered groups continued to experience official harassment,
including detention, arrest, confiscation of religious literature and
materials, pressure to abandon religious beliefs, and threats of
eviction and job loss. There were reports of abuse for religious belief
or observance, and there were several accounts of persons being
detained for questioning in connection with practicing their faith. To
better facilitate government control of mosques, the Turkmen Government
replaced a number of Sunni Muslim imams with individuals believed to be
less independent in their interpretations of Islam.
Uzbekistan
There was a decline in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report. The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the government continued to restrict these rights in
practice. The government permits the operation of approved Muslim
groups, Jewish groups, the Russian Orthodox Church, and various other
Christian denominations, such as Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and
Baptists. The law prohibits or severely restricts activities such as
proselytizing, importing and disseminating religious literature, and
offering private religious instruction. A number of minority religious
groups, including congregations of a variety of Christian
denominations, had difficulty satisfying the strict registration
requirements set out by the law. There were several reports that
Christian congregations were denied registration on spurious technical
grounds. As in previous years, Protestant groups with ethnic Uzbek
members reported operating in a climate of harassment and fear. Law
enforcement officials raided and harassed some registered groups,
several of which were de-registered and closed. The government
continued its campaign against unauthorized Islamic groups suspected of
extremist sentiments or activities, arresting numerous alleged members
of these groups and sentencing them to lengthy jail terms. Many of
these were suspected members of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), a banned extremist
Islamic political movement. Many others were conservative Muslims whose
beliefs or teachings differed from those of state-sanctioned clerics.
The government pressured the banned Islamic group Akromiya
(Akromiylar), especially in Tashkent and Andijon, with those actions
spilling over into violence and deaths in Andijon in May 2005. A small
but growing number of ``underground'' mosques operated under the close
scrutiny of religious authorities and the security services. Mosques
operating without registration are technically illegal and only operate
with the indulgence of the local government.
Vietnam
Overall, respect for religious freedom in Vietnam improved during
the period covered by this report. Both the constitution and law
provide for freedom of worship; however, the government continued to
restrict organized activities of religious groups that it declared to
be at variance with State laws and policies. The government attempts to
regulate religious practice through a legal framework, the foundation
of which is the 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief, which requires
that the government officially sanction the organization and activities
of all religious denominations. A number of positive legal reforms
adopted in recent years remained in the early stages of implementation.
The 2005 implementation decree for the Ordinance delineates established
guidelines for religious denominations to register their activities and
seek official recognition. The 2005 ``Instruction on Protestantism''
promulgated by the prime minister directs officials to assist
unrecognized Protestant denominations in registering their activities
so that they can practice openly. The Instruction also calls on the
Vietnamese Government to facilitate gathering for worship during the
registration process. Protestant believers in the Central Highlands
reported significant improvements in their situation. Furthermore, the
government began to promote registration of Protestant house churches
in northern Vietnam and the Northwest Highlands region, but progress
was slow and the Vietnamese Government stated that only six previously
unregistered northern congregations were allowed to legally register
their activities during the reporting period. Despite several confirmed
reports of police harassment and beatings of unregistered believers,
Protestants across the north reported improvement in most officials'
attitudes towards religious practice, and in general Protestants were
allowed to gather for worship without significant harassment.
Restrictions on the hierarchies and clergy of some religious groups
remained in place, and the Vietnamese Government maintained a prominent
role in supervising recognized religions. Religious leaders encountered
greatest restrictions when they engaged in activities that the
government perceived as political activism or a challenge to its rule.
The Government of Vietnam continued to ban and actively discourage
participation in one unrecognized faction of the Hoa Hao Buddhists. The
government also actively restricted the leadership of the unrecognized
United Buddhist Church of Vietnam and maintained that it will not
recognize this organization under its current leadership. The Catholic
Church reported that the government continued to ease restrictions on
church assignment of new clergy but indicated that it would like to
open additional seminaries in the North. During the period covered by
this report, the government released four prominent prisoners viewed by
various sources as having been imprisoned in connection with religious
activities.
AFRICA
----------
ANGOLA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 481,351 square miles, and its
population was approximately 13 million. Christianity was the religion
of the vast majority of the population, with Roman Catholicism as the
largest single denomination. The Catholic Church claimed five million
adherents, but this figure could not be verified. The major Protestant
denominations also were present, along with a number of Brazilian and
indigenous African Christian denominations. The largest Protestant
denominations, which included Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists
(United Church of Christ), and Assemblies of God, claimed to have three
to five million adherents. The largest syncretic religious group was
the Kimbanguist Church, whose followers believe that mid-twentieth
century Congolese pastor Joseph Kimbangu was a prophet. A small portion
of the rural population practiced animism or traditional indigenous
religions. There was also a small Islamic community, less than 1
percent of the population, mainly composed of migrants from West Africa
and families of Lebanese extraction. There were few declared atheists
in the country.
Foreign-based missionaries operated freely throughout the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government requires religious groups to petition for legal
status with the Ministries of Justice and Culture. Legal status gives
religious groups the right to act as juridical persons in the court
system and secures their standing as officially registered
denominations. Groups must provide general background information to
register. In March 2004 the national assembly unanimously approved a
law establishing stricter criteria for the registration of religious
organizations. According to the new law, a religious group must have at
least 100,000 adult adherents to qualify for registration. All eighty-
five previously registered groups retained their registration and legal
status, regardless of the number of members. At the end of the period
covered by this report, more than 800 groups had pending applications.
The Government did not shut down any religious groups with legal status
during the period covered by this report, and no adverse action had
been taken against groups with pending applications.
The Ministries of Justice and Culture recognize eighty-five
denominations. There reportedly were more than 800 other religious
organizations, many of which are Congolese- or Brazilian-based
Christian evangelical groups that have not had action taken on their
registration applications and were unlikely to meet the membership
requirement of at least 100,000 members to receive legal status.
Colonial-era statutes banned all non-Christian religious groups from
the country; although those statutes have not been repealed, they are
no longer enforced. Religious groups have the right to civil
registration.
The Christian holy days of Christmas and Good Friday are national
holidays with no negative impact on other religious groups.
Public schools in Angola do not require religious instruction. The
Government permits religious organizations and missions to establish
and operate schools. In 2004 some members of the small Lebanese Muslim
community in Luanda complained that they had been thwarted in efforts
to establish an Islamic community school.
The country's religious leaders have taken an active role in
promoting the peace and national reconciliation process, and President
dos Santos has consulted with them on constitutional and electoral
issues as well as social and development issues. In June 2005 the
ecumenical Inter-Church Committee for Peace in Angola and the Ministry
of External Relations cosponsored a conference on peace and
reconciliation. This conference was widely attended by government,
religious, and civil society leaders and was an important interfaith
effort between the Government and religious leaders to support national
reconciliation.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. In March 2004 the Minister of Justice again
publicly warned that the colonial-era law banning non-Christian
religions, while not regularly enforced, remained the law and could be
enforced against any radical religious groups advocating terrorism or
public disturbances.
Members of the clergy regularly use their pulpits to criticize
government policies. In 2003 government officials sharply criticized
Catholic Church-owned Radio Ecclesia's call-in programs in which
participants criticized the Government. However, Radio Ecclesia
continued to broadcast these programs. In May 2004 President dos Santos
stated publicly that Radio Ecclesia could operate nationwide. In April
2005 Radio Ecclesia's operators began taking steps to broadcast from
five provincial capitals in addition to Luanda in order to meet the
requirements of the new press law. The law, promulgated in May 2006,
requires nonpublic radio networks to have provincial radio stations in
order to broadcast nation-wide.
Seventeen religious groups remained banned in Cabinda on charges of
practicing harmful exorcism rituals on adults and children accused of
witchcraft, illegally holding religious services in residences, and not
being registered. Members of these groups were not harassed, but two
leaders were arrested for child abuse.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There is a vibrant ecumenical
movement, particularly in support of post-conflict peace and
reconciliation efforts. Groups involved include the ecumenical Inter-
Church Committee for Peace in Angola, the Council of Christian Churches
in Angola, and the Catholic Pro-Peace movement.
In March 2005 several lay members of the Catholic Church in Cabinda
displayed banners protesting the nomination of a non-Cabindan as bishop
during an Easter season Mass celebrated by the archbishop of Luanda.
Police did not interfere with the protest but stepped in to protect the
archbishop when protesters threw rocks at him as he left the cathedral
in Cabinda. In August 2005 individuals in Cabinda continuing protests
against the nomination of the new bishop assaulted a priest who had
recently been appointed apostolic administrator for Cabinda. Following
the detention of two priests in connection with the assault, Catholic
priests in Cabinda stopped holding mass throughout the province.
Services resumed in December 2005, and the new bishop of Cabinda
peacefully assumed office in June 2006.
In February 2006 three mosques were closed for holding services
that authorities claimed disrupted public order by impeding the flow of
traffic. By the end of the reporting period, one of the three mosques
had been reopened. Public attitudes toward Islam were generally
negative, and these sentiments were evident in statements by government
officials that opposed Muslim proselytizing and in public commentaries
by citizens in the media. While religious intolerance could have been
an aspect of these attitudes, many citizens cited cultural differences
as the basis for their negative views toward Islam. Muslim leaders
submitted a second request for legal status in March 2006, since the
first application submitted in 2004 was improperly prepared.
Governmental agencies and civil society organizations continued
campaigns against traditional religions that involve shamans, employ
animal sacrifices, or are identified as practicing witchcraft. There
have been periodic reports of children being accused of witchcraft in
some poor, rural areas and smaller cities. In some instances these
accusations led to exorcism rituals that included willful neglect and
physical abuse. In some cases deaths have been reported. Established
church groups have organized education campaigns to combat these
practices. Current cases remained under investigation; however, in the
past authorities have arrested and prosecuted those who have abused,
injured, or reportedly killed others accused of witchcraft.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials and official visitors from the United States
routinely meet with the country's religious leaders in the context of
peacekeeping, democratization, development, and humanitarian relief
efforts. Church groups are key members of the country's civil society.
Embassy officials, including the ambassador, maintained an ongoing
dialogue with the leadership of the country's religious denominations.
The ambassador gave interviews to newspapers and radio in which she
specifically called for recognition of Muslims' right to worship in the
country.
The U.S. government provided financial support to Radio Ecclesia to
increase its public affairs and news programming as an independent
alternative source of information for citizens. In addition, the
embassy funded dissemination of human and civil rights information
through an ecumenical newsletter network.
__________
BENIN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 43,483 square miles and a population of
approximately 6.8 million. According to the 2002 census, 27.1 percent
of the population was Roman Catholic, 24.4 percent Muslim, 17.3 percent
Vodun, 5 percent Celestial Christian, 3.2 percent Methodist, 7.5
percent other Christian, 6 percent other traditional religions, 1.9
percent other religions, and 6.5 percent claimed no religious
affiliation.
Many individuals who nominally identified themselves as Christian
or Muslim also practiced traditional indigenous religions. Among the
most commonly practiced was the animist Vodun system of belief, also
commonly known as voodoo, which originated in this area of Africa.
There were few atheists.
More than half of all Christians were Roman Catholic. Other
religious groups, both Christian and non-Christian, included Baptists,
Methodists, Assemblies of God, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's
Witnesses, Celestial Christians, Rosicrucians, the Unification Church,
Eckankar, and Baha'is. Nearly all Muslims adhered to the Sunni branch
of Islam. The few Shi'a Muslims were primarily Middle Eastern
expatriates.
There were Christians, Muslims, and adherents of traditional
indigenous religions throughout the country. However, most adherents of
the traditional Yoruba religion were in the south, while other
indigenous faiths were followed in the north. Muslims were represented
most heavily in the north and in the southeast. Christians were
prevalent in the south, particularly in Cotonou, the economic capital.
It was not unusual for members of the same family to practice
Christianity, Islam, traditional indigenous religions, or a combination
of all of these.
Foreign missionary groups known to be operating in the country
included the Watchtower Society, Mormons, Assemblies of God,
Mennonites, Church of the Nazarene, Seventh-day Adventists, Society in
Mission, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Baptists.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state-
sponsored religion.
The constitutional court has ruled in several cases that it is
unconstitutional to block the access of any group to its religious
services. In November 2004, the court ruled that religious groups could
not deny access to public properties or facilities to other groups
because such denial of access violated the constitutional principle of
secularism. In this case, the chief priest of a Vodun group had tried
to claim possession of a lake as religious property and refused other
groups, including evangelical Christians, access to it.
In 2003, the constitutional court upheld a Defense Ministry
decision permitting its gendarmes to intervene in conflicts between
religious groups only as a neutral peacekeeping force. Any intervention
needed to be neutral to comply with the principle of state neutrality
in the management of religious affairs while ensuring public order and
social peace.
In 2003, the constitutional court ruled that simple discussions on
religion, even when they turn into mockery, cannot be deemed to be
violations of religious freedom, because of the right to free speech.
Persons who wish to form a religious group must register with the
Ministry of the Interior. Registration requirements are the same for
all religious groups, and there were no reports that any group was
refused permission to register or subjected to unusual delays or
obstacles in the registration process. Religious groups are free from
taxation.
Government officials accorded respect to prominent religious
leaders of all faiths by attending their induction ceremonies,
funerals, and other religious celebrations. The president regularly
received religious leaders of all faiths, and police forces were
assigned to provide security to any religious event upon request.
Missionary groups operated freely throughout the country.
In accordance with Article 2 of the constitution, which provides
for a secular state, public schools are not authorized to provide
religious instruction. Religious groups are permitted to establish
private schools.
National holidays include the Christian holy days of Easter Monday,
Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, and
Christmas; the Islamic holy days of Ramadan, Tabaski, and the Birth of
the Prophet Muhammad; and the indigenous celebration of Traditional
Religions holiday. State-operated television features coverage of the
celebration of religious holidays and special events in the lives of
prominent religious leaders, including ordination anniversaries and
funerals.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed
from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Due to the diversity of
religious affiliations within families and communities, religious
tolerance was widespread at all levels of society and in all regions.
Interfaith dialogue occurred regularly, and citizens respected
different religious traditions and practices, including syncretistic
beliefs. Many Vodun followers also were Christian and Muslim and
tolerant of other religions.
Ecumenical Day has been celebrated every first Wednesday of May for
the past thirty-seven years and traditionally includes a large
celebration of interreligious cooperation in the historic town of
Ouidah. Individual religious leaders make an effort to bridge the
divide between Christians and Muslims and preach a message of
tolerance.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and other embassy representatives regularly attend
ceremonies associated with various faiths, often attended by government
representatives as well, and stress in their public remarks the value
and importance of interfaith dialogue and cooperation. The embassy sent
two religious scholars to the United States as participants in the
International Visitor's Program ``United States Political Process for
Emerging Muslim Leaders.''
__________
BOTSWANA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 224,710 square miles, and its population
is approximately 1.76 million. An estimated 70 percent of the country's
citizens identified themselves as Christians. Anglicans, Methodists,
and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, formerly the
London Missionary Society, claimed the majority of Christians. There
were also congregations of Lutherans, Roman Catholics, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Seventh-day Adventists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, the Dutch Reformed Church, Mennonites,
and other Christian denominations. In recent years, the number of new
religious groups, some of West African origin, increased; these
churches have begun holding services and drawing substantial crowds
with a charismatic blend of Christianity and traditional indigenous
religions. According to the most recent census (2001), the country's
Muslim community, primarily of South Asian origin, numbered just over
5,000. The 2001 census also listed approximately 3,000 Hindus and 700
Baha'is. Members of each community estimated that these figures
significantly understated their respective numbers. Approximately 20
percent of citizens espoused no religion.
Religious services were well attended in both rural and urban
areas.
Foreign missionary groups operated in the country, including
Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Quakers, Baptists, Lutherans, Roman
Catholics, Mennonites, and a number of independent evangelical and
charismatic Christian groups.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion. Although it is common for government meetings to begin with a
Christian prayer, members of other religions are not excluded from
leading non-Christian prayers at such occasions. The constitution also
provides for the protection of the rights and freedoms of other
persons, including the right to observe and practice any religion
without the unsolicited intervention of members of any other religion.
All organizations, including religious groups, must register with
the Government. To register, a group submits its constitution to the
Registrar of Societies within the Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs.
After a generally simple but slow bureaucratic process, the
organization is registered. There are no legal benefits for registered
organizations, although an organization must be registered before it
can conduct business, sign contracts, or open an account in a local
bank. Any person who holds an official position in, manages, or assists
in the management of an unregistered organization is liable to a fine
of up to $188 (P1,000) and/or up to seven years in prison. Any member
of an unregistered society is liable to penalties including fines up to
$94 (P500) and/or up to three years in prison. Ninety-four religious
organizations registered from July 2005 to May 2006. No religious
organization was deregistered during that period. In this time frame,
114 religious groups started the process of registration, but their
applications were terminated after they failed to submit the required
application forms, constitution, and fees within ninety days.
Religious education, with a primary emphasis on Christianity but
that also addresses other religions in the country, is part of the
curriculum in public schools. The constitution provides that every
religious community may establish places for religious instruction at
the community's expense. The constitution prohibits forced religious
instruction, forced participation in religious ceremonies, or taking
oaths that run counter to an individual's religious beliefs.
There are no laws against proselytizism.
Only Christian holy days are recognized as public holidays. These
include Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, and Christmas Day.
However, members of other religious groups are allowed to commemorate
their religious holidays without government interference.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The constitution provides for the suspension of religious freedom
in the interests of national defense, public safety, public order,
public morality, or public health. However, any suspension of religious
freedom by the Government must be deemed ``reasonably justifiable in a
democratic society.''
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. An interfaith council exists,
which includes representatives of Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Baha'i
organizations.
Unlike in the previous reporting period, there were no indications
of tension between Muslim and other religious communities.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives maintain regular contact with leaders and
members of all religious communities in the country.
__________
BURKINA FASO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 105,689 square miles, and its population
is approximately 13.1 million. While exact statistics on religious
affiliation were not available and varied widely according to a source,
the Government estimated in its most recent census (1996) that
approximately 60 percent of the population practiced Islam, the
majority of whom belonged to the Sunni branch of Islam, while remaining
minorities adhered to the Shi'a, Tidjania, or Wahhabi branches. The
Government also estimated that 16.6 percent of the population practiced
Roman Catholicism, approximately 3 percent were members of various
Protestant denominations, and 23.7 percent exclusively or principally
maintained traditional indigenous beliefs.
Statistics on religious affiliation were approximate because
syncretistic beliefs and practices were widespread among both
Christians and Muslims, many of whom incorporated indigenous beliefs
and traditions into their practices. Additionally, the majority of
citizens practiced traditional indigenous religions to varying degrees,
and strict adherence to Christian and Muslim beliefs was often nominal.
Almost all citizens were believers in a supernatural order, making
atheism virtually nonexistent.
Muslims were concentrated largely around the northern, eastern, and
western borders, while Christians were concentrated in the center of
the country. Traditional religious practices were commonly found
throughout the country, especially in rural communities. Ouagadougou,
the capital, had a mixed Muslim and Christian population; however,
Bobo-Dioulasso, the country's second largest city, was mostly Muslim.
Small Syrian and Lebanese immigrant communities, found in the two main
cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, were overwhelmingly (more
than 90 percent) Christian.
There were more than sixty different ethnicities in the country.
Members of the dominant ethnic group, the Mossi, belonged to all three
major religious groups (Christian, Muslim, and animist), while Fulani
and Dioula communities were overwhelmingly Muslim. Smaller groups, such
as the Lobi, were religiously heterogeneous as well.
Generally, there was little correlation between religion and
political affiliation or economic status. Government officials belonged
to all of the major religions, and religious affiliation appeared
unrelated to membership in the ruling party, the Congress for Democracy
and Progress, or any other political party.
Christian missionary groups were active in the country and included
the Assemblies of God, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Christian and
Missionary Alliance, Baptists, the Wycliffe Bible Translators, the
Mennonite Central Committee, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Pentecostal Church of
Canada, the World Evangelical Crusade, the Society for International
Missions, Seventh-day Adventists, and numerous Catholic organizations.
Islamic missionary groups were also active in the country and included
the African Muslim Agency, the World Movement for the Call to Islam,
the World Islamic League, and Ahmadiyya.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. Islam,
Christianity, and traditional indigenous religions were practiced
freely without government interference.
There is no official state religion, and the Government neither
subsidized nor favored any particular religion. The practice of a
particular faith was not known to confer any advantage or disadvantage
in the political arena, the civil service, the military, or the private
sector.
The Government has established the following religious holy days as
national holidays: Eid al-Adha, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, the Birth
of the Prophet Muhammad, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, Ramadan, and
Christmas Day. There was no evidence that these holidays had a negative
effect on any religious group.
All organizations, religious or otherwise, were required to
register with the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Registration
confers legal status, but it entails no specific controls or benefits.
According to article 45 of the Freedom of Association Code, failure to
register may result in a fine of approximately $97 to $292 (50,000 CFA
to 150,000 CFA). All religious groups were given equal access to
registration, which the Government routinely approved. Religious groups
are taxed only if they engage in commercial activities, such as farming
and dairy production.
The constitution provides freedom of expression in publications and
broadcasts, including those by religious groups, unless the judicial
system determines that such expression is harming public order or
committing slander; this has never occurred. The Government did not
deny a publishing or broadcasting license to any religious group that
requested one during the period covered by this report.
Religious organizations operated under the same regulatory
framework for publishing and broadcasting rights as other entities.
Once a broadcast license is granted, for example, the Government
regulates the operation of religious radio stations in accordance with
the same rules that apply to commercial and state-run stations. The
Ministry of Security has the right to request samples of proposed
publications and broadcasts to verify that they are in accordance with
the stated nature of the religious group; however, there were no
reports that religious broadcasters experienced difficulties with this
regulation. Additionally, there were no special tax preferences granted
to religious organizations operating print or broadcast media.
Foreign missionary groups also operated freely and faced few, if
any, restrictions. The Government neither forbade missionaries from
entering the country nor restricted their activities; however,
missionary groups occasionally faced complicated bureaucratic
procedures in pursuit of particular activities.
Religious instruction was not offered in public schools; rather, it
was limited to private schools and to the home. Muslim, Catholic, and
Protestant groups operated primary and secondary schools. A total of 18
percent of elementary school students attended religious schools in the
2005-06 academic year, while 13 percent of secondary school students
attended religious schools during the same period. Although school
officials had to submit the names of their directors to the Government
and register their schools, religious or otherwise, the Government was
never involved in appointing or approving these officials.
The Government did not fund any religious schools. Unlike other
private schools, religious schools were not required to pay taxes
unless they conducted for-profit activities. The Government reviewed
the curriculum of such schools to ensure that religiously oriented
schools offered the full standard academic curriculum found in all
other schools. The Government, however, did not interfere with the
curriculum of supplemental classes offered by private schools, such as
classes on the Bible or the Qur'an.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. In contrast with the previous report, there were
no new reports that individuals were imprisoned or detained for
refusing to allow their children to be inoculated against polio and
measles on the grounds of religion. Residents of the village of Dar el
Assane who had been arrested for resisting a national vaccination
campaign in 2004 were released in early 2005 by law enforcement
authorities. The Government did not follow through on the threat to
charge them with child endangerment.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious tolerance is
widespread as members of the same family often practice different
religions.
The Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity maintained a
shelter in Ouagadougou for women forced to flee their villages because
they were accused of being witches. Similar shelters financed by
nongovernmental and religious organizations were also located in
Ouagadougou.
During the period covered by this report, the World Health
Organization and the National Committee for the Fight Against Excision
reported that some persons in the country were performing female
genital mutilation (FGM) on young girls in violation of the 1996 anti-
FGM law forbidding the practice, which was considered by some Muslims
to be a religious activity. Sometimes those persons used baptismal
ceremonies as a cover for the mutilation because the baby was expected
to cry during the ceremony.
Tensions existed between and within some Muslims groups due to
leadership disputes; however, unlike in previous years, those tensions
did not result in violent clashes within sectors of the Muslim
community during the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy and different Islamic organizations co-sponsored a
number of workshops and public events discussing religious tolerance in
the United States and promoting its continued practice locally.
Activities also included a summer camp focusing on tolerance for
children attending Qur'anic schools and discussions between Muslim-
American employees of the embassy and local Muslim groups on the topic
of religious diversity in the United States. The embassy also sent two
young Muslim leaders to the United States on an International Visitor
Program focusing on Muslim life in a democracy and provided
scholarships to sixty Muslims students to learn English at the American
Language Center. The embassy maintained contacts with representatives
of all the major religious organizations.
__________
BURUNDI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 10,747 square miles and its population
is approximately 7.2 million. Although reliable statistics on the
number of followers of various religions were not available, a Roman
Catholic official estimated that 60 percent of the population was
Catholic, with the largest concentration of adherents located in the
center and south of the country. A Muslim leader estimated that up to
10 percent of the population was Muslim, the majority of whom lived in
urban areas. The remainder of the population belonged to other
Christian churches, practiced traditional indigenous religions, or had
no religious affiliation. There were a number of small indigenous
groups not affiliated with any major religion, some of which have won
adherents by promising miracle cures for HIV/AIDS and other ailments.
Foreign missionary groups of many faiths were active in the
country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution, promulgated on March 18, 2005, provides for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The Government at all levels sought to protect this right
in full and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or
private actors. Discrimination on the basis of religious conviction is
prohibited. A 1992 law covering nonprofit organizations, including
religious groups, is the basis for the recognition and registration of
religious bodies.
There is no state religion. The Catholic Church, which represents
approximately 60 percent of the population, is predominant.
The Government requires religious groups to register with the
Ministry of the Interior. Each association with a religious nature must
file the following with the ministry: the denomination or affiliation
of the religious institution, a copy of its statutes, the address of
its headquarters in the country, an address abroad if the local
religious institution is a subsidiary, and information about the
association's governing body and legal representative. If an
association with a religious character fails to register with the
ministry, its representative is reminded of the requirement to do so.
If the representative does not comply, the place of worship or
association is instructed to close down. If it does not close down when
ordered to do so, the representative of the religious institution or
association can be jailed for six months to five years.
The Government requires that religious groups maintain a
headquarters in the country.
While there is no law that accords tax exemptions to religious
groups, the Government often waives taxes on imported religious
articles used by religious institutions and also often waives taxes on
the importation by religious institutions of goods destined for social
development purposes. These exemptions are negotiated with the Finance
Ministry on a case-by-case basis, and there is no indication of
religious bias in the awarding of such exemptions.
The heads of major religious organizations are accorded diplomatic
status. Foreign missionary groups openly promote their religious
beliefs. The Government has welcomed their development assistance.
The Government recognizes Catholic holy days, including the
Assumption, the Ascension, All Saints' Day, and Christmas. In 2005 the
Government also officially recognized the Muslim holy day Eid al-Fitr.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
There were no known abuses of religious freedom by the Government
during the period covered by this report.
On June 16, 2005 members of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL killed five
civilians taking part in a religious service in Bujumbura Rural
Province, and at least ten persons were wounded by grenades and
gunfire.
In October 2004 in Makamba Province, armed assailants shot and
killed Catholic priest Gerard Nzeyimana. According to press reports,
Nzeyimana was specifically targeted; the killers reportedly verified
his identity before killing him. Catholic World News reported that
Nzeyimana was killed for his stance against human rights abuses; a news
report from the Fides Agency quoted sources that identified the killers
as PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebels.
In August 2004 the PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebels reportedly captured a
twenty-member delegation headed by Anglican Bishop Pie Ntukamazina in
Kabezi Commune, Bujumbura Rural Province. Government forces rescued the
delegation the same day. The motive for the capture was not known.
In July 2004 Dieudonne Hakizimana, a Party for the Liberation of
the Hutu People-National Liberation Force (PALIPEHUTU-FNL) rebel who
reportedly admitted to taking part in the December 2003 killing of
Papal Nuncio Michael Courtney, died in government custody, reportedly
from wounds sustained prior to his capture on February 1, 2004.
In December 2003 unknown assailants killed Papal Nuncio Michael
Courtney near Minago, Bujumbura Rural Province. The motive for the
attack is unknown; there is no indication that the attack was motivated
by the religious affiliation of the victim.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials also maintain regular contact with leaders and
members of various religious communities. The embassy has supported
Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant groups in the fields of health,
education, and conflict resolution. It appears that the program has
been instrumental in resolving disputes within religious communities,
the latest illustration being elections to choose the Burundian Muslim
spiritual leader. In addition, the embassy funded a range of human
rights and democracy programs supporting religious and civil society
organizations.
__________
CAMEROON
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The overall amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there were a few incidents
of religious discrimination by private actors. In addition, some
religious groups face societal pressure and discrimination within their
regions. This reflects ethnic more than religious differences. In
general, persons of different religions cohabitate peacefully in the
country. The country is characterized by a high degree of religious
tolerance.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 183,568 square miles, and its
population is approximately 16.5 million. Muslim centers and Christian
churches of various denominations operated freely throughout the
country. Approximately 40 percent of the population was at least
nominally Christian, approximately 20 percent was at least nominally
Muslim, and approximately 40 percent practiced traditional indigenous
religions or no religion. The Christian population was divided
approximately equally between Catholic and Protestant denominations.
Christians were concentrated chiefly in the southern and western
provinces; however, Muslims were found in large numbers in every
province, and there was significant internal migration within the
country. Large cities had significant populations of every religion,
with mosques and churches often located near each other. The two
Anglophone provinces of the western region largely were Protestant; the
francophone provinces of the southern and western regions largely were
Catholic. In the northern provinces, the locally dominant Fulani (or
Peuhl) ethnic group was mostly Muslim, but the overall population was
fairly evenly mixed between Muslims, Christians, and animists, each
often living in their own communities. The Bamoun ethnic group of the
West Province was largely Muslim. Traditional indigenous religions were
practiced in rural areas throughout the country but rarely were
practiced publicly in cities, in part because many indigenous religions
were intrinsically local in character.
Missionary groups were present throughout the country, including
Roman Catholic, Muslim, the Baha'i Faith, Baptist, Presbyterian,
evangelical Protestants, Methodist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unification
Church, Seventh-day Adventists, New Church of God, Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Pentecostal groups.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no
official state religion.
Christian and Muslim religious holidays are celebrated as national
holidays. These include Good Friday (Christian), Ascension Day
(Christian), Assumption Day (Christian), Christmas Day (Christian), the
Feast of the Lamb (Muslim), and the End of Ramadan (Muslim).
The Law on Religious Congregations governs relations between the
Government and religious groups. Religious groups must be approved by
and registered with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and
Decentralization (MINAT) to function legally. There were no reports
that the Government refused to register any group; however, the process
can take a number of years. It is illegal for a religious group to
operate without official recognition, but the law prescribes no
specific penalties. This is evidenced by the proliferation within the
major cities of what persons call sects, but which their leaders claim
are subgroups of some Protestant denominations. Few of those are
registered, and all of them operate freely. Although official
recognition confers no general tax benefits, it allows religious groups
to receive real estate as tax-free gifts and legacies for the conduct
of their activities.
To register, a religious denomination must fulfill the legal
requirement to qualify as a religious congregation. This definition
includes ``any group of natural persons or corporate bodies whose
vocation is divine worship'' or ``any group of persons living in
community in accordance with a religious doctrine.'' The denomination
then submits a file to the MINAT. The file must include a request for
authorization, a copy of the group's charter describing planned
activities, and the names and respective functions of the group's
officials. The minister reviews the file and sends it to the presidency
with a recommendation for a positive or negative decision. The
president generally follows the recommendation of the minister, and
authorization is granted by a presidential decree. The approval process
may take up to several years, due primarily to administrative delays.
The only religious groups known to be registered are Christian and
Muslim groups and the Baha'i Faith. According to MINAT statistics
released in 2002, there are 38 officially registered denominations,
most of which are Christian. There also are numerous unregistered small
religious groups that operate illegally but freely. The Government does
not register traditional religious groups, stating that the practice of
traditional religion is a private concern observed by members of a
particular ethnic or kinship group or the residents of a particular
locality.
Disputes between or within registered religious groups about
control of places of worship, schools, real estate, or financial assets
are resolved primarily by the MINAT rather than by the judiciary.
Missionary groups are present in the country and operate without
impediment. The licensing requirements for foreign groups are the same
as those for domestic religious denominations.
Several religious denominations operate primary and secondary
schools. Although post-secondary education continues to be dominated by
state institutions, private schools affiliated with religious
denominations, including Catholic, Protestant, and Qur'anic schools,
have been among the country's best schools at the primary and secondary
levels for many years. The Ministry of Education is charged by law with
ensuring that private schools run by religious groups meet the same
standards as state-operated schools in terms of curriculum,
infrastructure, and teacher training. For schools affiliated with
religious groups, the Sub-Department of Confessional Education of the
Ministry's Department of Private Education performs this oversight
function. School attendance--public, private, or parochial--is
mandatory through junior high school. The campuses of the Central
Africa Catholic University and the International Adventist University
are located in the country.
The Catholic Church operates two of the country's few modern
private printing presses (one in Yaounde and one in Douala) and
publishes a weekly newspaper, L'Effort Camerounais.
A 2000 government decree requires potential commercial radio
broadcasters to submit a licensing application, pay a fee when the
application is approved, and pay an annual licensing fee. The
Government has been slow in granting authorization; consequently, there
are many illegal radio stations operating in the country. Two private
religious radio stations that had been broadcasting illegally--the
Pentecostal Radio Bonne Nouvelle and Radio Reine, the latter managed by
a Catholic priest although not officially sponsored by the Catholic
Church--continued to broadcast while awaiting official authorization.
Radio Veritas has temporary authorization to broadcast and has been
broadcasting without incident.
The state-sponsored television station, CRTV, carries two hours of
Christian programming on Sunday mornings, normally an hour of Catholic
Mass and an hour from a Protestant church. There is also one broadcast
hour dedicated to Islam on Friday evenings. State-sponsored radio
broadcasts Christian and Muslim religious services on a regular basis,
and both the radio and television stations periodically broadcast
religious ceremonies on national holidays or during other national
events.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In the past government officials have disapproved of and questioned
criticism of the Government by religious institutions and leaders;
however, there were no reports that government officials used force to
suppress such criticism.
The practice of witchcraft is a criminal offense under the national
penal code; however, persons generally are prosecuted for this offense
only in conjunction with some other offense, such as murder. Witchcraft
traditionally has been a common explanation for diseases of unknown
origin.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States. In addition, the Government responded promptly to
assist the U.S. embassy in the case of the forced conversion of
American citizens by a private actor. In January 2004 the embassy
assisted an American citizen in securing physical custody over her two
American citizen children, who were being held by their Cameroonian-
born father on a family compound and forced to worship a family elder
and perform invasive purification rituals. Following the embassy's
intervention in cooperation with law enforcement officials, the mother
and children were repatriated to the United States. The religious
leader of the group was detained pending formal charges but later
released for lack of sufficient evidence. At the end of the period
covered by this report, the compound was locked and no outside
observers were admitted.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some religious
groups faced societal pressures within their regions. In the northern
provinces, especially in rural areas, societal discrimination by
Muslims against Christians and persons who practice traditional
indigenous religions continued.
In May 2004 a group of Muslim radicals circulated anti-Christian
tracts in the North, Far North, and Adamaoua provinces. Both Muslim and
Christian religious leaders in the area reacted quickly to identify the
source of the tracts and encourage their congregations to respect
religious diversity and promote religious tolerance. In April 2005 the
Garoua assistant subdivisional officer reported that a meeting with all
the religious groups had been held the week before to discuss extremism
in the area. The group reiterated their previous statement, asserting
that it was nonresidents who circulated the extremist pamphlets. In
early 2006 the Garoua subdivisional officer stated that the Government
could not identify the source of the pamphlets, thus confirming primary
perception that it was nonresident activists who disseminated them.
In 2003 a Catholic Church official in the Far North Province
reported that Muslim ``fundamentalists'' who trained in Pakistan and
Sudan were jeopardizing the usually good relationship between Muslims
and Christians in the region. According to the official, these
fundamentalists were gaining support, particularly among the youth,
because of the high levels of poverty and unemployment in the northern
provinces. While the official did not believe that fundamentalism had
caused serious problems in the region, he recognized that relations
between religious groups could deteriorate if the economic situation
remains poor. The official also mentioned that some Christian groups
were aggressively working to convert Muslims in the region. There was
no reported deterioration of relations between religious groups.
In May 2004 Pastor Alombah Godlove was reportedly beaten and fined
by the traditional ruler, or Fon, of his village for providing a
Christian burial for a village elder in accordance with the deceased's
will. The Fon believed that the elder, who was also a member of a
traditional religious secret society, should have been buried with
traditional rites. At the end of the period covered by this report, the
case was under investigation by the National Commission on Human
Rights. There was no further development in this case, as Pastor
Alombah Godlove did not sue his traditional ruler.
Michel Atanga Effa and Gervais Balla, charged with the 2003 killing
of German missionary Anton Probst, remained under preventive detention,
pending trial, at the end of the period covered by this report.
From time to time, the northern region suffers from ethnic tensions
between the Fulani, an ethnic (or multiethnic) Muslim group that
conquered most of the region 200 years ago, and the Kirdi, the
descendents of groups that practiced traditional indigenous religions.
The Fulani conquered or displaced many Kirdi as part of a westward
expansion of Islam in Africa. Although some Kirdi subsequently adopted
Islam, the Kirdi have remained socially, educationally, and
economically disadvantaged relative to the Fulani. The slavery still
practiced in parts of the north is reported to be largely enslavement
of Kirdi (both Muslim and non-Muslim) by Fulani.
The multiplication of new unaffiliated religious groups, most of
which are Protestant, has led established churches to vigorously
denounce what they label ``sects'' or ``cults.'' Leaders of established
religious organizations characterize and denounce these ``sects'' as
detrimental to societal peace and harmony. Some religious leaders
reportedly warn congregations during major celebrations to beware of
such groups.
Religious affiliation may influence political choice. In April 2005
an administration official from the North (Garoua) declared that some
members of one of the leading political parties of the region openly
stated that they could not vote for a Christian.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
2004 the U.S. embassy organized a panel discussion on ``Islam and
Religious Tolerance,'' excerpts of which were aired during two editions
of the weekly television program ``Understanding Islam.'' Approximately
500 copies of the pamphlet ``Muslim Life in America'' were distributed
to Muslim leaders throughout the country. The embassy also provided
regular assistance to the American missionary community and consular
repatriation services to American citizens in a case of forced
religious conversion. Additionally, the ambassador and other staff
members reached out to the Rain Forest International School (RFIS), a
Yaounde school predominately serving the Protestant missionary
community.
Another grant was given to support the creation of the Federation
of Muslim Women in Cameroon that enabled the organization to host a
nation-wide conference that brought together Muslim women from all ten
of the provinces. The embassy worked closely with the local imams to
ensure they had an opportunity to take advantage of Voice of America's
new Islamic channel.
Embassy officials met on several occasions with the Catholic
archbishop of Douala, Christian Cardinal Tumi, to discuss various
issues including religious freedom, human rights, freedom of the press,
and the democratization process. Embassy officials also met with the
imam of the Central Mosque in Yaounde, the bishop of Maroua, the
archbishop of Yaounde, and various missionary groups active throughout
the country to discuss religious freedom and human rights. In addition,
during their regular trips within the ten provinces, embassy officials
continued to meet with local religious officials to discuss any
problems with government officials or individuals belonging to other
faiths and denominations.
__________
CAPE VERDE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
Cape Verde is an archipelago consisting of ten islands, nine of
which are inhabited. It has an area of 1,557 square miles, and its
population is approximately 458,000, according to the National
Statistics Institute. More than 85 percent of the population was at
least nominally Roman Catholic, according to an informal poll taken by
local churches. The largest Protestant denomination was the Church of
the Nazarene. Other groups included the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the
Assemblies of God, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and
various other Pentecostal and evangelical groups. There also were small
Muslim and Baha'i communities. The number of atheists in the country
was estimated at less than 1 percent of the population.
There was no association between religious differences and ethnic
or political affiliations; however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy was
sympathetic to the Movement for Democracy (MPD) party, which ruled the
country from 1991 to 2001. While many Catholics once were hostile
toward the MPD party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV), which
again became the governing party in 2001, some have become supporters
of the PAICV due to conflict within the MPD party and dissatisfaction
over the latter's performance.
There were foreign missionary groups operating in the country,
including evangelical groups from Brazil and the United States.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The new penal code, which entered into force in July 2004, states
that violations of religious freedom are a crime subject to a penalty
of between three months' and three years' imprisonment.
There is no state religion. The constitution provides for the
separation of church and state and prohibits the state from imposing
any religious beliefs and practices.
The Catholic Church enjoys a privileged status in national life.
For example, the Government provides the Catholic Church with free
television broadcast time for religious services. Also, the Government
observes the Christian holy days, of Ash Wednesday, Good Friday,
Easter, All Saints' Day, and Christmas, as official holidays.
Furthermore, each municipality has a holiday to honor its patron saint.
The Government does not observe any other religious holidays.
The constitution provides for freedom of association. All
associations, whether religious or secular, must register with the
Ministry of Justice to be recognized as legal entities.
Registration is mandatory under the constitution and the law of
associations. There are no special incentives for registering and
failure to do so has not resulted in penalty or prosecution. One
disadvantage of not registering is the inability of unregistered groups
to apply for government or private loans and benefits as an
association.
To register, a religious group must submit a copy of its charter
and statutes, signed by the members of the group, to the minister of
justice. The constitution sets forth the criteria for all associations,
including religious ones, and states that the association may not be
military or armed; may not be aimed at promoting violence, racism,
xenophobia, or dictatorship; and may not be in violation of the penal
law. Failure to register with the Ministry of Justice does not result
in any restriction on religious belief or practice.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The case before the Supreme Court of four Seventh-day Adventists
who were accused of desecrating a Catholic church on Boa Vista Island
was pending at the end of the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. This
dialogue focused on the importance of religious freedom in an open
society and the need to maintain the present levels of religious
tolerance.
__________
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, although it
prohibits what the Government considers to be religious fundamentalism
or intolerance and establishes fixed legal conditions based on group
registration with the Ministry of Interior. The Government generally
respected the right to religious freedom in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, certain groups
adhering to traditional practices continued to be targets for societal
violence.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 242,000 square miles and a
population of approximately 4 million, of which an estimated 690,000
live in the capital, Bangui. An estimated 50 percent of the population
was Christian, and approximately 20 percent was Muslim. The remainder
of the population, approximately 30 percent, practiced traditional
indigenous religions or no religion at all.
The Government does not keep data on the number of nontraditional
religious groups in the country, and there was no data available on
active participation in formal religious services or rituals; however,
most Christians were believed to practice some aspects of traditional
indigenous religions. Additionally, there was anecdotal evidence which
suggested an increase in conversions to Islam by younger persons.
In general, immigrants and foreign nationals in the country who
practiced a particular religion characterized themselves as Catholic,
Protestant, or Muslim.
There were many missionary groups operating in the country,
including the Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, Grace Brethren, and
Jehovah's Witnesses. While these missionaries were predominantly from
the Unites States, France, Italy, and Spain, many also came from
Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other African
countries. Many missionaries who left the country due to fighting
between rebel and government forces in 2002 and 2003 returned to the
country and resumed their activities during the reporting period.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The November 2004 constitution provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally permitted adherents of all religions to
worship without interference; however, the constitution prohibits what
the Government considers to be religious fundamentalism or intolerance.
The constitutional provision prohibiting religious fundamentalism was
widely perceived as targeting Muslims however, it was not supported by
any additional legislation.
There is no state religion, and there was no indication that the
Government favored any particular religion. Religious organizations and
missionary groups were free to proselytize and worship throughout the
country; however, the practice of witchcraft or sorcery continued to be
a criminal offense.
Witchcraft or sorcery is a criminal offense under the penal code,
punishable by execution. Although no one accused of witchcraft received
the death penalty during the reporting period, numerous individuals
were arrested for these practices throughout the year--often in
conjunction with some other offense, such as murder. Authorities stated
that police often arrested and detained persons accused of witchcraft
or sorcery to protect them from societal violence aimed against them
within their communities.
Most individuals convicted of sorcery received sentences of one to
five years in prison; they can also be fined up to $1,500 (817,836 CFA
francs). During a typical trial of someone accused of sorcery,
traditional doctors were called to give their opinion of the suspect's
ties to sorcery. ``Truth herbs'' were used to make a suspect
``confess.'' Neighbors were called as witnesses, and because spells
were believed to involve burying bits of clothing, sample cuttings of
clothes were brought before the jury as evidence. Police and gendarmes
conducted investigations into witchcraft, and according to the minister
of justice, investigations into allegations of sorcery were difficult.
Bangui prison officials estimated that 50 to 60 percent of women
detainees were arrested in connection with charges of sorcery or
witchcraft. On September 20, 2005, for example, Bangui's Bimbo prison
for women held forty-four women. The general prosecutor later reported
that approximately twenty-three of the women, in addition to fourteen
men in the Ngaragba men's prison, were arrested and detained for
offenses in connection to witchcraft; of these, five men and four women
were sentenced, and the others were liberated for lack of evidence of
their crime.
In 2005 a sixty-year old man was arrested for the killing of a
twenty-four-year old man, whom he accused of having an affair with his
wife, after the victim's family pressed charges against him. According
to the criminal court, the plaintiff used sorcery to commit the killing
and consequently was found guilty of a criminal offense. He was
sentenced to ten years in jail after pleading guilty to his crime.
The Government celebrated several Christian holy days as national
holidays including Christmas, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, the Monday
after Pentecost, and All Saints' Day. The Government did not officially
celebrate Islamic holy days; however, Muslims were allowed to take
these days off from work.
Religious groups (except for traditional indigenous religious
groups) were required by law to register with the Ministry of Interior.
Registration is free and confers official recognition and certain
limited benefits such as customs duty exemption for the importation of
vehicles or equipment. The administrative police of the Ministry of
Interior monitored groups which failed to register; however, the police
did not attempt to impose any penalty on such groups.
Religious organizations and missionary groups were free to
proselytize and worship throughout the country.
According to the Government and nongovernmental organizations,
participation in religious education was not forced or required of
students and students were free to attend any religious program of
their choosing. Although the Government did not explicitly prohibit
religious instruction in public schools, such instruction was not part
of the overall public school curriculum; nor was it common. Religious
instruction was permitted without government interference in private
schools. Private Catholic schools, of which there were twelve in
Bangui, generally included one hour of religious education per week.
The Government granted religious groups one day each week, of their
choosing, to make free broadcasts on the official radio station. All
religious representatives that wished to broadcast on public airwaves
were required to pay a fee when covering certain activities or making
religious advertisements. There were three religious broadcasting
stations--two protestant and one Catholic.
The Government continued to take positive steps to promote
religious freedom, such as the organizing of interfaith services, for
the purpose of promoting peace and interfaith dialogue. President
Francois Bozize continued to be involved in religious activities and
maintained close ties with a range of religious leaders in the country.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
While government policy and practice contributed to the generally
free practice of religion, any religious or nonreligious group that the
Government considered subversive, a term not specifically defined by
the Government, was subject to sanctions by the Ministry of Interior.
When imposing sanctions, the Ministry of Interior may decline to
register, suspend the operations of, or ban any organization that it
deems offensive to public morals or likely to disturb the peace. For
example, the Government continued to ban the Unification Church,
claiming that it is a subversive organization likely to disturb the
peace because of its alleged training of younger church members as
paramilitaries. The Ministry of Interior may also intervene in
religious organizations to resolve internal conflicts about property,
finances, or leadership within religious groups. Under this framework,
the Ministry of the Interior indefinitely closed a Protestant church in
Bangui at the end of March 2006 after authorities were notified that
two factions within the church were planning to fight each other with
knives. Government authorities declared the closure was necessary to
prevent violence until tensions subsided. Police made no arrests, and
the church remained closed at the end of the reporting period. The
Government imposed no other sanctions on any religious groups during
the period covered by this report.
Unlike in previous years, the Government did not attempt to suspend
or interfere with the activities of religious institutions operating
within its legal framework; however, it maintained legal requirements
which restricted the activities of some groups. According to the
Ministry of Territorial Administration, several of the thirty-four
Protestant churches whose activities were suspended by the Government
in 2003 (for supposedly being created without regard for official rules
and regulations) had fulfilled government requirements to reopen and
had resumed their activities by the end of the reporting period. To
reopen, these religious institutions had to prove they had a minimum of
one thousand members. Additionally, church leaders had to present
evidence that they graduated from what the Government considered high
caliber religious schools and provide documentation proving that the
church was created with respect to local law. A few of these churches
did not reopen for failure to meet these requirements. Some observers
perceived this decree as an attempt by the Government to regulate the
proliferation of places of worship, which had become a trend in the
country and a source of concern for the Government over recent years.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, the killing and injuring of
suspected sorcerers or witches continued.
Witchcraft is widely understood to encompass attempts to harm
others not only by magic but also by covert means of established
efficacy such as poisons. Although many traditional indigenous
religions include or accommodate belief in the efficacy of witchcraft,
they generally only approve of harmful witchcraft for defensive or
retaliatory purposes. It has traditionally been used as a common
explanation for diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, for which the causes were
unknown.
In June 2005 seven residents of Bangui's Miskine suburb killed a
woman they accused of being a witch. No additional information
regarding this case was available at the end of the reporting period.
Although courts have tried, convicted, and sentenced some persons for
crimes committed against suspected witches in the past, violence
against these individuals continued.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
response to political and military unrest in the country, the embassy
suspended its operations from November 2002 through December 2004. It
partially reopened in January 2005 with the arrival of a charge
d'affaires and resumed the monitoring of political and human rights
developments in the country, despite having only a limited diplomatic
presence in the country.
__________
CHAD
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, at
times, the Government limited this right for certain groups.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Government policy continued
to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The different religious communities generally coexisted without
problems, although some tensions across different Muslim groups and
between Muslims and Christians were reported.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 495,755 square miles and a population of
approximately 9 million. Of the total population, more than half were
Muslim, approximately one-third were Christian, and the remainder
practiced traditional indigenous religions or no religion at all. Most
northerners practiced Islam, and many southerners practiced
Christianity or a traditional indigenous religion; however, population
patterns were becoming more complex, especially in urban areas, and
anecdotal evidence indicated that Muslim conversion was on the rise in
areas that were previously Christian or animist. Many citizens, despite
having stated religious affiliations, did not practice their religion
regularly.
The vast majority of Muslims were adherents of a moderate branch of
mystical Islam (Sufism) known locally as Tijaniyah, which incorporates
some local African religious elements. A small minority of the
country's Muslims (5 to 10 percent) held more fundamentalist practices,
which, in some cases, may be associated with Saudi-oriented belief
systems such as Wahhabism or Salafism.
Roman Catholics represented the largest Christian denomination in
the country. Most Protestants, including the Nigeria-based ``Winners
Chapel,'' were affiliated with various evangelical Christian groups.
Members of the Baha'i and Jehovah's Witnesses religious communities
also were present in the country. Both faiths were introduced after
independence in 1960 and therefore were considered to be ``new''
religions in the country.
There were foreign missionaries representing both Christian and
Islamic groups. Itinerant Muslim preachers primarily from Sudan, Saudi
Arabia, and Pakistan, also visited. Saudi Arabian funding generally
supported social and educational projects and extensive mosque
construction.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for religious freedom; however, at times
government practices limited this right. The constitution also provides
that the country shall be a secular state; however, a large portion of
senior government officials were Muslim, and some policies favor Islam
in practice. For example, under a recent decree, a government
commission was made responsible for organizing the Hajj and the Umra.
The Hajj is organized by a committee composed of members of the
High Council for Islamic Affairs, headed by the Grand Imam, and the
Directorate of Religious Affairs, in the Ministry of the Interior.
Through these channels, the Government and High Council for Islamic
Affairs have direct and close contacts with Saudi officials throughout
the organizing period each year. Additionally, government journalists
are often sponsored by the Government to cover the event in Mecca.
In addition to organizing the Hajj and the Umra, the Government
annually sponsors Hajj trips to Mecca for certain officials. In
February 2006 the Association of Evangelical Churches sent a memorandum
to the Government criticizing this and other practices as eroding the
traditionally secular stance of the country; however, the Government
did not respond to the memorandum.
While the Government is legally obligated to treat all faiths or
denominations equally, Islamic congregations continued to be viewed as
having preferential status, particularly when requesting official
clearance or permission for certain activities.
Non-Muslim religious leaders also claimed that Muslim officials and
organizations received greater support from the Government. In the
past, the Government reportedly accorded public lands to Muslim leaders
for the purpose of building mosques, while representatives of other
faiths were required to purchase land at market rates to build places
of worship.
Religious matters are overseen by the director of religious and
traditional affairs. Working under the minister of the interior, the
director of religious and traditional affairs is responsible for
arbitrating inter-communal conflicts and ensuring religious freedom.
The director also monitors religious practices within the secular
state. An independent religious organization, the High Council for
Islamic Affairs, oversees all Islamic religious activities in the
country, including the supervision of Arabic language schools and
higher institutions, the representation of the country in international
Islamic meetings, and coordination of the Hajj.
The High Council for Islamic Affairs, in coordination with the
country's president, also has the responsibility of appointing the
grand imam--a spiritual leader for all Muslims in the country who
oversees each region's high imam (a regional Muslim leader) and serves
as head of the council.
When President Deby came to power in 1990, he dissolved the former
High Council for Islamic Affairs, formed a new council, and appointed
the current grand imam, Sheikh Hassan Hissein Abakar, a representative
of the generally moderate Sufi (Tijaniyah) branch of Islam. In
principle, the grand imam has the authority to restrict proselytizing
by other Islamic groups throughout the country, regulate the content of
mosque sermons, and exert control over activities of Islamic charities
operating in the country. Viewed as a generally moderate, pro-Western
religious figure, Grand Imam Abakar has had his authority challenged by
followers of other sects of Islam who adhere to more fundamentalist
teachings derived from eastern and northern Africa and the Middle East.
In addition to religious matters, religious leaders are also
involved in managing the country's wealth. A representative of the
religious community sits on the Revenue Management College, the body
that oversees the allocation of oil revenues. The seat rotates between
Muslim and Christian leaders every three years. In 2004 the Muslim
representative handed responsibilities over to a Catholic priest
designated by the Christian community.
The Government requires religious groups, including both foreign
missionary groups and domestic religious groups, to register with the
Ministry of the Interior's Department of Religious Affairs. Since 2004
registration has taken place without discrimination and been
interpreted as official recognition. Despite popular perceptions to the
contrary, registration is not intended to confer tax preferences or
other benefits to religious groups.
Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant missionaries continued to
proselytize in the country. Generally, foreign missionaries did not
face restrictions; however, they must register and receive
authorization from the Ministry of Interior to circulate within the
country, as do other foreigners traveling and operating throughout the
country. There were no reports that authorization was withheld from any
group.
Religious instruction is prohibited in public schools; however, all
religious groups were permitted to operate private schools without
restriction. The poor quality of Chad's educational system has prompted
many Muslim families to look to Islamic schools as an opportunity for
educating children who would otherwise have little or no access to
formal schooling. Most large towns have at least one or two private
religious schools. Although the Government does not publish official
records on school funding, many Islamic schools were commonly believed
to be financed by Arab donors (governments, NGOs, and individuals),
particularly from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. Egypt
also provided a number of Egyptian teachers for Islamic educational
institutions operating at the high school and university level in
N'djamena and Abeche. Libya was also known to financially support
teachers at Qur'anic and Arab-language schools throughout the country.
Among the numerous private radio stations, several stations
broadcasting throughout the country were owned by religious
organizations (six Christian and two Islamic). Radio stations run by
both nonprofit and commercial groups were subject to close official
scrutiny.
The Government celebrates both Christian and Islamic holy days as
national holidays. Islamic national holidays include Eid al-Adha, the
Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Eid al-Fitr. Christian holidays
include Easter Monday, All Saints' Day, and Christmas Day.
While most interfaith dialogue takes place on a voluntary basis and
not through government intervention, the Government was generally
supportive of these initiatives.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Al Faid al-Djaria (also spelled Al Faydal Djaria), a Sufi group
that adheres to a mystical form of Islam and is found in the Kanem,
Lake Chad, and Chari Baguirimi areas, continued to be banned during the
period covered by this report. The group arrived in the country from
Nigeria and Senegal and incorporates singing and dancing into its
religious ceremonies and activities. Male and female members of the
group freely interact with one another during religious gatherings. The
director of religious and traditional affairs, the High Council for
Islamic Affairs, and certain Ulema (Muslim religious authorities)
objected to some of Al Faid al-Djaria's customs, such as the
incorporation of singing, dancing, and the intermixing of sexes during
religious ceremonies, which they deemed un-Islamic. The minister of
interior banned the group in 1998 and again in 2001. The 2001 ban
(which was implemented on the technical grounds that the group did not
have by-laws or basic statutes) denied the group's registration request
and led to Al Faid al-Djaria's filing of a case against the Government.
During this reporting period, the ban on Al Faid al-Djaria continued as
the group's case continued in court, and the group carried out
activities in the Chari Baguirmi region of the country.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Several human rights organizations reported on the problem of the
mahadjirin children. Qur'anic teachers force these children, who
attended certain Islamic schools, to beg for food and money. There were
no credible estimates as to the number of mahadjirin children; however,
UNICEF included these children in its child protection efforts. In
September 2005 French television broadcast a program on the situation
of the mahadjirin children, who testified in one case that they were
chained and beaten. After this broadcast, the High Council for Islamic
Affairs appealed for an immediate end to such practices, and the
Government called for the closure of such schools. Despite these
attempted reforms, the schools remained open during the reporting
period.
The Government also remained concerned about some Islamic
organizations, such as the Wahhabist group Ansar al Sunna, which were
well funded by Arab donors and able to use money and other material
incentives to encourage adherence to their more austere interpretation
of Islam.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Although the different religious communities generally coexisted
without problems, there was occasional tension between Christians and
Muslims as well as between more fundamentalist and more moderate
Muslims. During the year there were regular meetings between key
religious leaders to discuss peaceful collaboration among their groups.
The publication of Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad had a
particularly negative impact on Muslim-Christian relations in the
country. On February 11, 2006, the president of the High Council for
Islamic Affairs led a demonstration of several thousand Muslims to
protest the publication, by a Danish newspaper, of caricatures of
Muhammad perceived as derogatory and blasphemous. While the
demonstration was intended to be peaceful, some demonstrators damaged a
school and bookstore belonging to a Catholic Church, attacked an
expatriate evangelical missionary, and burned her vehicle. The Catholic
Church and Association of Evangelical Churches sent official protests
to the Government for their failure to respond to the situation;
however, they received no official response.
Muslim citizens appealed to the Government, asking it to ban all
newspapers and press releases insulting Islam and Mohammed. Some
Muslims also recommended sanctions against Denmark. By the end of the
reporting period, the Government had not offered a response to Muslims'
requests or made a public statement regarding its stance on the issue.
The marketplace violence in the southern town of Bebedja between
Christians and Muslims that resulted in twelve dead and twenty-one
wounded in 2004 remained a source of tension among the local populace.
At the end of the reporting period, some of the twenty suspects
originally detained were still in prison awaiting trial. Some victims
contacted by human rights groups have accused the Government of failing
to investigate the cases thoroughly and conduct proper trials.
There were reports of tensions within the Muslim community between
the High Council for Islamic Affairs and radical elements within the
community. Such tensions arose from differences between the leading
Tijaniyahs and more fundamentalist groups regarding interpretations of
proper practices, preaching, and the leading of prayers. Each group
considered its interpretation of the Qur'an to be correct in terms of
Islamic practices and teachings and contested other interpretations of
Islam.
Most interfaith dialogues that attempted to address Christian-
Muslim and Muslim-Muslim tensions were facilitated by the groups
themselves and not through government intervention. During the
reporting period, religious groups met regularly to try and resolve
sources of tension and promote greater collaboration. During these
encounters, leaders discussed problems of peaceful cohabitation,
tolerance, and respect for religious freedom. While these dialogues
were usually initiated by the Commission for Peace and Justice, a
Catholic organization, both Christian and non-Christian groups
participated.
During the reporting period, there were no reports of tension
between Christians and Muslims in reaction to proselytizing by
evangelical Christians.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
the period covered by this report, the ambassador met regularly with
senior representatives of the Muslim and Christian faiths. In May 2006,
for example, the ambassador traveled to Eastern Chad where he visited
the high imam of Abeche and the sultan of Ouaddai, two of the most
prominent and recently vested Muslim leaders in the country. During his
visit, the ambassador described the embassy's outreach programs to the
country's Muslims as a means for facilitating greater collaboration
with the Muslim community. Additionally, the ambassador discussed the
ongoing political instability in the region and requested the leaders'
interpretation of the situation while emphasizing the U.S. government's
desire to find a lasting peace for Sudan and its neighbors.
Embassy officers also meet with various religious leaders and
groups during travel outside of the capital. Embassy officials, for
example, attended the closing ceremony of a five-day training seminar
on human rights for local imams and marabouts, personal spiritual
leaders who often preside over small-scale religious ceremonies. Funded
by the embassy, the seminar was organized by the Islamic Association
for Justice, a local nongovernmental organization, and trained
approximately thirty religious leaders on topics such as religious
freedom, women's rights, educational equality, and the rule of law.
In addition to meeting with religious and community leaders, the
embassy also sponsored the visit of an U.S. Muslim leader who met with
numerous religious, civil society, and academic groups. His visit gave
an appreciation of the role religious freedom plays in providing peace
and stability in diverse communities such as the United States.
Embassy relations with Muslim communities were also strengthened by
the participation of Muslim leaders in the U.S. government's
International Visitor Program. While focused on understanding U.S.
societal, cultural, and political processes, this program also
highlights the role of religion and religious tolerance in U.S.
politics and society. Participants in the program included prominent
Muslims such as the sultan of Abeche, the director of Radio Al Qur'an
(a Muslim radio station owned by the High Council of Islamic affairs),
and the principal of Ibnu Cina High School, a well-known Muslim school
in the country.
__________
UNION OF COMOROS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government continued to infringe upon this right.
There was no change in the status of the respect for religious
freedom, which is sometimes limited, during the period covered by this
report. Approximately 99 percent of the population was Muslim, and an
overwhelming majority were Sunni. There was no sharp divide between
Sunni and Shi'a, and most Muslims respected the doctrinal differences
between the two branches of Islam. Government authorities continued to
prohibit Christians from proselytizing; however, there were no known
instances where the local authorities and population restricted the
right of Christians to practice other aspects of their faith.
There is widespread societal discrimination against Christians in
all sectors of society.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 838 square miles, and its population is
approximately 635,000. An overwhelming majority--approximately 99
percent--of the population was Sunni Muslim. Foreigners living on the
islands numbered several hundred, and included Hindus, Jehovah's
Witnesses, or members of various Christian, Catholics, and Protestants.
A few foreign religious groups maintained humanitarian programs in the
country, but by agreement with the Government, they did not engage in
proselytizing.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The 2002 constitution, reincorporates Ndzuwani (Anjouan), Ngazidja
(Grand Comore), and Moheli into a new federation that grants the
islands greater autonomy. It specifically provides for freedom of
religion; however, the constitution states that citizens will draw
principles and rules that will govern the country from Muslim religious
tenets. While the constitution does not proclaim Islam as the official
religion, government authorities continued to prohibit Christians from
proselytizing.
A law dating from the early 1980s states ``whoever divulges,
promotes, or teaches Muslims a religion other than Islam will be
punished with a three-month prison sentence and a fine of 50,000 to
500,000 Comoran Francs.''
The grand mufti is part of the Government and manages a department
that handles issues concerning religion and religious administration.
The grand mufti's position is attached to the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs, and he counsels the Government on matters of Islamic faith and
ensures that Islamic laws are respected. The grand mufti is nominated
by the president. The grand mufti periodically consulted with a group
of elders to assess whether the principles of Islam were respected, and
he regularly addressed the nation on the radio regarding social and
religious issues such as marriage, divorce, and education.
The tenets of Islam are taught in conjunction with the Arabic
language in public schools at the middle school level. There are no
separate provisions made for religious minorities in public schools.
There are at least two private schools on the island of Ngazidja (Grand
Comore) that cost approximately $27 (15,000 Comorian francs) per month.
Almost all children between the ages of four and seven also attend
schools to learn to recite and understand the Qur'an, although
attendance is not compulsory for religious minorities.
Several Islamic holy days, including the Islamic New Year, the
Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Eid al-Fitr, are national holidays.
The Government does not require religious groups to be licensed,
registered, or officially recognized.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There are two Roman Catholic churches, one in Moroni, on the island
of Ngazidja (Grand Comore), and one in Mutsamudu, on the island of
Ndzuwani (Anjouan). There is a Protestant church in Moroni. Many
Christians practiced their faith in private residences. Foreigners were
allowed to practice their faith, but they were not allowed to
proselytize. If caught proselytizing for religions other than Islam,
foreigners are deported. Citizens who proselytize are afforded an open
trial and are subject to imprisonment.
On May 29, 2006, four men were convicted to three months in prison
for ``evangelizing Muslims.'' One woman was also convicted but received
a three-month suspended sentence. They had been arrested one week
earlier for hosting Christian religious debates in a private residence.
In February 2006 the International Church of Moroni received
permission to distribute gift boxes of toys for Comoran children. After
promising the boxes would not contain any Bibles or religious
literature, the church distributed boxes in four villages, two schools,
and two hospitals. On March 27, the minister of education demanded to
meet with the pastor of the International Church. During the meeting
the minister revealed that a children's Bible storybook and two
necklaces with crosses were found during the toy distribution. The
minister demanded that the church stop all gift distribution; the
church complied. On April 1, one of the church leaders was arrested for
his involvement in toy distribution. He spent one night in prison, and
his house was searched. Other church leaders were similarly detained,
and their houses were searched. On April 3, the ministers of interior
and education met with the pastor and threatened to have him expelled
from the country. The school directors that gave permission for the
boxes to be distributed were suspended and village leaders were
questioned.
Unlike in previous years, there were no known cases where local
authorities and religious leaders harassed Christians on Ndzuwani
(Anjouan).
Officials in Moheli reportedly stopped a group traveling from Grand
Comore to Anjouan via Moheli to attend a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting.
Bans on alcohol and immodest dress are enforced sporadically,
usually during religious months, such as Ramadan. Alcohol can be
imported and sold with a permit from the Government.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
In 2004 the island government of Ndzuwani (Anjouan) arrested and
shaved the beards of several participants who had participated in an
unauthorized gathering of several hundred followers of the Djawula
interpretation of Islam. They were then released.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There is widespread societal discrimination against Christians in
some sectors of society. On Ngazidja (Grand Comore), there are no legal
restrictions that prevent Christians from attending church, and
noncitizen Christians are allowed to practice their faith without
government intervention as long as they do not attempt to convert
citizens. Societal pressure and intimidation continued to restrict the
use of the country's three churches to noncitizens.
There is concern that Islamic fundamentalism is increasing as young
citizens return to the country after Islamic theological studies abroad
and seek to impose a stricter adherence to Islamic religious law on
their family members and associates. The Union Government has
established a university, and government representatives stated that an
important goal of the university is to give young citizens the option
of pursuing university studies in the country instead of overseas where
they might absorb more radical ideas. There were 2,450 students
enrolled in the university, which provides classes in basic sciences
and languages.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. An
officer from the U.S. embassy in Madagascar met with religious leaders
on the islands of Ndzuwani (Anjouan) and Ngazidja (Grand Comore) to
discuss religious tolerance. A U.S. presidential delegation emphasized
tolerance and nonviolence during a May 27, 2006, meeting with the newly
elected president. In public and private, the new president professed
moderate Islam and decried radicalism.
__________
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The new constitution, approved in a national referendum in December
2005 and formally adopted February 18, 2006, provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice, provided that worshipers did not disturb public order or
contradict commonly held morals.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there continued to
be credible reports that a number of children and elderly persons were
accused of witchcraft and abandoned or abused by their families.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 905,000 square miles, and its population
is approximately sixty million. Approximately 55 percent of the
population was Roman Catholic, 30 percent was Protestant, and less than
5 percent each Kimbanguist and Muslim. The remainder largely practiced
traditional indigenous religions. There were no statistics available on
the percentage of atheists. Minority religious groups included, among
others, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), and Coptic (Orthodox) Christians.
Most religious groups were scattered throughout the country and
were widely represented in cities and large towns. Muslims were mainly
concentrated in the provinces of Maniema and Kinshasa. Members of the
syncretistic religion Bunda dia Kongo resided predominately in Bas
Congo.
Foreign missionaries operated freely within the country. Missionary
groups included Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelical
Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslims, and Coptic
(Orthodox) Christians.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Article 26 of the transitional constitution provides for religious
freedom, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
During the period covered by this report, a new constitution that
provides for the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
was passed by national referendum. There is no state religion.
The establishment and operation of religious institutions is
provided for and regulated through a statutory order on the Regulation
of Nonprofit Associations and Public Utility Institutions. Requirements
for the establishment of a religious organization are simple and
generally are not subject to abuse. Exemption from taxation is among
the benefits granted to religious organizations. A law regulating
religious organizations grants civil servants the power to recognize,
suspend recognition of, or dissolve religious groups; however, this law
was not invoked in the period covered by this report. Although the law
restricts the process of recognition, officially recognized religions
are free to establish places of worship and train clergy.
A 2001 decree allows nonprofit organizations, including religious
organizations, to operate without restriction provided they register
with the Government by submitting a copy of their bylaws and
constitution. The Government requires practicing religious groups to be
registered; however, in practice unregistered religious groups operated
unhindered.
Although the Government requires foreign religious groups to obtain
the approval of the president through the minister of justice, foreign
religious groups generally operate without restriction once they
receive approval from the Government. Many recognized churches have
external ties, and foreign missionaries generally are allowed to
proselytize. The Government generally did not interfere with foreign
missionaries.
Public schools permit religious instruction, and many public
schools are operated by religious groups. Religious education is
required for all students in religious schools. Parents may choose to
send their children to any school, religious or nonreligious.
The Government promoted interfaith understanding by supporting and
consulting with the country's five major religious groups (Catholic,
Protestant, Orthodox, Islamic, and Kimbanguist). The Consortium of
Traditional Religious Leaders serves as an informal forum for religious
leaders to gather and discuss issues of concern.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. While the Government generally did not interfere
with foreign missionaries, they were not exempt from general
restrictions on freedom of movement imposed on all persons by security
force members who erected and manned roadblocks, at which they often
solicited bribes. These groups were also not exempt from general
restrictions or violent crimes committed by security forces. For
example, on May 7, 2005, men in military uniform shot and killed a
seventy-one-year-old Belgian Jesuit priest while robbing a grocery
store. In early June 2005, police arrested and charged five Congolese
Armed Forces deserters with the crime. During the period covered by
this report, they were sentenced to lengthy jail terms. The victim was
in a high crime area, and there was no evidence the man was targeted
because he was a priest.
Bundu Dia Kongo, an ethnically based spiritual and political
movement that called for the establishment of an ``ethnically pure''
kingdom from the Bakongo tribe, remained outlawed for its separatist,
political goals.
During 2005, the Government banned all religious radio and
television stations from broadcasting political and news programs.
On April 27, 2005, the High Media Authority (HAM) suspended
religious television station Radio Tele Message de Vie for one month.
The suspension followed the station's refusal to give the Government
tape recordings of a call-in program broadcast between April 9 and 11
that allegedly ``incited violence and rebellion.'' This particular
program edition featured a taped message by Reverend Fernand Kuthino,
the station's owner, who stated that the transitional government should
transfer power to the citizenry on June 30, 2005.
This ban was revoked shortly after June 30, 2005, and religious
radio and television stations operated normally. HAM may suspend
stations, religious or secular, for hate speech and calls for ethnic
violence.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
In eastern areas of the country, where significant numbers of armed
groups remained active, religious freedom was not abused. However, as
part of the general population, religious individuals and institutions
were attacked by armed groups, as were nonreligious individuals and
institutions. There was no evidence that religion was the motivating
factor in any attacks during the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, many children and
elderly persons were accused of practicing witchcraft and driven from
their homes by their families.
During the period covered by this report, there continued to be
reports of incidents in which persons suspected of witchcraft were
attacked, tortured, killed, or driven from their homes. There is a
common belief in the region that some persons have the power to cast
spells on others; this fear sometimes rises to mass hysteria. During
the period covered by this report, there was an increase in reports
that certain leaders of revival churches, or small evangelical
Protestant churches, exploited the people's fear of witchcraft by
either encouraging families to drive accused witches from their homes
or performing costly and painful exorcisms in which victims may be
locked in boxes for long periods of time, starved for several days, or
receive other harsh treatment. Reliable estimates by international
nongovernmental organizations working in the country suggest that up to
70 percent of homeless children were accused witches. No one was
charged, prosecuted, or punished for such crimes reported in previous
years or for crimes reported during the period covered by this report.
Leaders of major religions consult with one another through the
Consortium of Traditional Religious Leaders.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials regularly meet with religious leaders throughout the
country.
__________
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
While the generally amicable relations among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, the close link between
certain self-proclaimed messianic groups and opposition political
movements was a source of tension during the civil war period from 1997
to 2001. In 2003 the Government and the last armed opposition group,
the Ninjas, signed a peace accord that greatly reduced these tensions.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 132,000 square miles, and its population
is approximately 4 million. Approximately half of its citizens were
Christian; of these approximately 90 percent were Roman Catholic. Other
denominations included Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's
Witnesses. There was a growing Muslim community in the country,
estimated at 2 percent of the population. In fact, 2005 saw the
construction of large new mosque in Brazzaville. Most workers in the
urban centers were immigrants from West Africa and Lebanon, with some
also from North Africa. The West African immigrants arrived mostly from
Mali, Benin, Togo, Mauritania, and Senegal. The Lebanese were primarily
Sunni Muslims. There was also a large Chadian Muslim population.
The remainder of the population was made up of practitioners of
traditional indigenous religions, those who belonged to various
messianic groups, and those who practiced no religion at all. A small
minority of the Christian community practiced Kimbanguism, a
syncretistic movement that originated in the neighboring Democratic
Republic of the Congo. While retaining many elements of Christianity,
Kimbanguism also recognizes its founder (Simon Kimbangu) as a prophet
and incorporates African traditional beliefs, such as ancestor worship.
Mystical or messianic practices (particularly among the ethnic Lari
population in the Pool region) have been associated with opposition
political movements, including some elements of the armed insurrection
in the southern part of the country from 1997 to 2001. While the
association persisted, its influence has diminished considerably since
2003.
Several Western Christian missionary groups were active in the
country, including the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Salvation Army, the
Christian and Missionary Alliance, and several Catholic religious
orders.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no
official state religion, and the constitution specifically forbids
discrimination on the basis of religion.
All organizations, including religious organizations, businesses,
unions, and charitable or nonprofit societies, are required to register
with and be approved by the Government. There were no reports of
discrimination against religious groups in this process, although all
admit that it is time-consuming and lengthy. Penalties for failure to
register involve fines and potential confiscation of goods,
invalidation of contracts, and deportation for foreigners, but no
criminal penalties are applicable.
The Government recognizes the Christian holy days of Christmas,
Easter Monday, Ascension, Pentecost, and All Saints' Day as national
holidays. Muslim holy days are not nationally observed; however, they
are respected. For example, employers grant leave for those who wish to
observe holy days not on the national calendar.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In 2003 the Government and the Ninja rebel militia group, led by
self-proclaimed prophet Frederic Bistangou (also known as Pasteur
Ntumi), signed a peace accord. Subsequently, there have been no reports
of abuse or desecration of churches as alleged in previous years.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom. Although uncommon, interreligious
marriage was generally socially acceptable. Children of majority and
minority religions usually sat side-by-side in school. In practice,
religion was generally kept separate from public education. Religious
tolerance was greater in urban areas than in the rural areas. In some
forest communities where there are pygmy populations, there is some
discrimination against them in education and employment as well as
intolerance for their social practices, including at times their
animist religious practices.
All organized religious groups are represented in a joint
ecumenical council, which meets yearly during February.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. These
discussions include highlighting the importance of religious freedom
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the presidency, nongovernmental
organizations, and members of the national assembly. The U.S. embassy
also has implemented programs with key civil society groups that
address these issues. The embassy supported four human rights
organizations whose goals include strengthening recognition of
religious diversity, including animism. U.S. government funding also
assisted the local branch of CARITAS, which is affiliated with Catholic
Relief Services and local church organizations, and implemented several
grassroots projects.
__________
COTE D'IVOIRE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice, although ethnic
discrimination paralleling differences in religious affiliation and
resulting from the ongoing political conflict continued.
The Government continued to experience political instability as a
result of the failed coup attempt of 2002 that led to a de facto
division between the northern and southern regions of the country.
Since 2003 numerous peace accords, including the Linas-Marcoussis
Accord, have been signed between the major parties involved in the
conflict, but none has resulted in sustained peace or reconciliation.
Although the country's political conflict lay along ethnic rather
than religious lines, political and religious affiliations tended to
follow ethnic lines; consequently, some religious groups have been
especially impacted by the conflict. Many ethnic northerners, for
example, were Muslim. As a result, many Muslims were assumed to be and
were targeted as suspected rebels and rebel sympathizers by the
Government during the reporting period.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion
although, relations among the various religious groups were at times
strained as a consequence of the continuing political crisis. Strong
efforts by religious and civil society groups helped prevent the
political crisis from turning into a religious conflict; however, there
continued to be some societal discrimination against Muslims and
followers of traditional indigenous religions.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
government officials also meet regularly with religious leaders, both
individually and as a group, and have engaged them in projects to
advance religious tolerance and conciliation.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 124,500 square miles and a population of
approximately 18 million. An estimated 35 to 40 percent of the country
was Christian or syncretistic, practicing a mixture of Christian and
indigenous religions. Approximately 35 percent of the population was
Muslim, while an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the population practiced
traditional indigenous religions. Many persons who were nominally
Christians or Muslims also practiced some aspects of traditional
indigenous religions, particularly as economic or political conditions
worsened.
Christian sub groups found in the country included the Roman
Catholic Church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, the Southern Baptist Church, the Coptics, and the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). The largest Protestant
church was the Protestant Methodist Church of Cote d'Ivoire.
Evangelical groups such as the Shekinah Glory Ministries and the
Assemblies of God also were active. Syncretistic churches included the
Harrist Church (an African Protestant denomination founded in the
country in 1913 by a Liberian preacher named William Wade Harris), the
Primitive Protestant Church, God's Soldiers (founded by an Ivoirian
woman), and the Messianic Church. Bossonism, a traditional religious
practice from the Akan ethnic group, was also practiced.
Other religions with a presence in the country included Buddhism,
the Baha'i Faith, and the International Association for the Conscience
of Krishna. Additionally, many religious groups in the country were
associated with religious groups in the United States.
Approximately 70 percent of foreigners living in the country were
Muslim and 20 percent were Christian, with small percentages practicing
other religions, including Judaism.
There has been an increase in the membership of evangelical
churches. Missionary work, urbanization, immigration, and higher
education levels were also believed to have contributed to a decline in
the percentage of practitioners of traditional religions. Generally,
practitioners of traditional religions have followed a trend of
conversion to Christianity and Islam.
Muslims were found in the greatest numbers in the northern half of
the country, however, they were becoming increasingly numerous in the
cities throughout the country due to immigration, migration, and
interethnic marriages. According to the most recent census (1998),
Muslims composed 45.5 percent of the total urban population and 33.5
percent of the total rural population.
Both Catholics and Protestants were found in the southern and
central regions. Additionally, Catholics were concentrated in the east,
while Protestants were also found in the southwest. Practitioners of
traditional indigenous religions were concentrated in rural areas of
the country. Generally, the north was associated with Islam and the
south with Christianity and other traditional religions.
Political and religious affiliations tended to follow ethnic lines.
For example, the Mende and Voltaic groups, which included the Malinke
and Senufo people, were largely Muslim. The Akan ethnic group, which
included the Baoule and Agni people, tended to be Catholic. There was
also some correlation between religion and political affiliations and
socio-economic class. For example, most Muslims favored the opposition
Rally of Republicans (RDR) party; additionally, the merchant class was
mostly Muslim.
Immigrants from other parts of Africa were at least nominally
Muslim or Christian.
Missionaries were active in the country and were primarily from the
United States and Europe--the most prevalent missionaries being from
the Baptist Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Although there
is no state religion, the Government informally favors Christianity for
historical and ethnic reasons.
In the past, the Government informally favored the Roman Catholic
Church and, consequently, gave Catholic Church leaders a much stronger
voice in government affairs than their Islamic counterparts. Such
preferential treatment led to feelings of disenfranchisement among some
Muslims.
Muslims continued to be underrepresented in the legislature,
largely because the RDR political party, dominated by Muslims,
boycotted the last legislative elections in 2000. During the reporting
period, Muslims represented nine out of thirty-one ministers in the
transitional government's cabinet. In the previous government of
National Reconciliation, formed after the January 2003 Linas-Marcoussis
peace accords, Muslims made up twelve of forty ministers.
In addition to the legislature, Muslims continued to be
disproportionately underrepresented in media outlets, such as radio and
television, as well. Of the approximately eighty-eight radio
frequencies in the government-controlled zone, for example, there were
seven Catholic frequencies, one evangelical, and one Muslim. The Muslim
community tried to apply for more radio frequencies in the early 1990s
but were unsuccessful in their attempt.
The armed forces were dominated by southerners, few of whom were
Muslim. Christian members of the military are offered access to
chaplains, and Muslim members are allowed time to pray. Since many of
the leaders of the 2002 attempted coup were Muslim northerners, Muslims
in the military generally kept a low profile. Although the position of
Muslim military chaplain was created in 1967, it was only in 2003 that
a Muslim military chaplain was designated. During the reporting period,
seven active-duty Muslim soldiers went on pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Government observes major Muslim and Christian religious
holidays. The recognized Muslim holy days are Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha
(Tabaski Day), Layla tul-Qadr (Night of Destiny), and Maulid al-Nabi
(the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad) The recognized Christian holy days
are Christmas, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Pentecost Monday, and All
Saints' Day.
In the past the Government paid for the construction of a Catholic
cathedral. The Plateau Mosque in central Abidjan, a project started in
1994 under the direction of the Government, remained unfinished. No
progress on the mosque occurred since shortly after the outbreak of the
rebellion in 2002, due to a withdrawal of financial support from
Islamic Arab governments concerned over the country's decreased
stability.
The law requires religious groups to register with the Government.
In accordance with the 1960 law governing associations, all religious
groups wishing to operate in the country must submit a file including
the group's by-laws, names of the founding members, date of founding
(or the date on which the founder received the revelation of his or her
calling), general assembly minutes, the names of members of the
administrative board, and other information to the Ministry of
Territorial Administration. The Ministry of Territorial Administration
investigates through the Ministry of Security the backgrounds of the
founding members to ensure that the group has no politically subversive
members or purpose. Despite this thorough registration process, no
religious group had complained of arbitrary registration procedures or
problems with gaining government recognition. Traditional indigenous
religious groups were less formally organized, and none had applied for
registration or recognition. There is no evidence that indigenous
groups would be denied if they were to apply.
The Government grants no tax or other benefits to religious groups;
however, some religious groups gained favors through individual
negotiations. Examples include reductions in the cost of resident alien
registration, customs exemptions on certain religious items, diplomatic
passports for major religious chiefs, and, in some cases, privileges
similar to those of diplomats. No particular religion has been favored
consistently in this manner.
Foreign missionaries must meet the same requirements for residency
as any foreigner, including registering as resident aliens and
obtaining national identification cards. There were no reports that
foreign missionaries were denied such registration arbitrarily.
The Government recognizes and oversees all schools, regardless of
religion, that meet certain nationally established curriculum
requirements. The national curriculum was the minimum standard of
teaching in sciences and liberal arts; schools operated by religious
groups were free to also teach and regulate their own religion courses.
Religious instruction is permitted in public schools and is usually
offered outside of normal class hours by established Islamic, Catholic,
and Protestant groups, including evangelical churches. The Government
did not interfere with Muslim, Catholic or Protestant groups that
wished to provide religious instruction in public schools during
students' vacation breaks.
Religious instruction in private schools varied. Some private
schools included religious instruction in their curriculum, some
allowed religious groups to teach religion during students' vacation
breaks, and some did not allow any religious instruction. In theory,
the Government subsidizes private secondary schools, although arrears
have been accumulating for several years. Some of these subsidized
schools are run by Christian groups. Muslim groups operate only primary
schools, although a Muslim school in Daloa is trying to build a
secondary school.
The Government recognized several Muslim schools as official
schools whose curriculum would be overseen by the State for the first
time. One such school, Iqra, was founded in 2003 by the Islamic
National Council (CNI) for kindergarten and primary school children in
Abidjan. The school is the largest of its kind and enrolled
approximately 300 Muslim children in 2005. Students followed the
state's official curriculum with the addition of prayer and instruction
in traditional Muslim values. During the reporting period, Iqra
received books, computers, and teaching materials from western
embassies, including the U.S. and Canadian embassies. The school was
built entirely with funds from the Islamic Development Bank received
through the CNI.
Unlike in the past, the Government did not give any money to
religious associations other than schools during the reporting period.
During the period covered by this report, the Government took positive
steps to promote interfaith understanding. Government officials,
including the president and his religious advisers, appeared at major
religious celebrations and events organized by a wide variety of faiths
and religious groups. The Government often invited leaders of various
religious communities, including the Mediation Committee for National
Reconciliation, the Forum of Religious Confessions, and the Collective
of Religious Confessions for National Reconciliation and Peace to
attend official ceremonies and to sit on deliberative and advisory
committees. In July 2005 the minister of religion held a debate among
various religious groups on the convergence of religion, civilization,
and culture.
During the period covered by this report, President Gbagbo
continued to meet with Muslims leaders to discuss their particular
concerns. For example, on March 17, 2006, the president received
members of the Higher Council of Imams and the National Islamic Council
(CNI), who presented a memorandum of their proposed solutions to the
political crisis, which was rooted in questions of citizenship and
which has negatively impacted many Muslims. These proposals condemned
discrimination against Muslims on the basis of their ethnic origins and
sought to promote tolerance. Despite their intentions, the discussions
resulted in few changes and were, ultimately, unsuccessful in
alleviating the country's deep political and ethnic divisions.
As with Muslim groups, President Gbagbo continued to meet
frequently with traditional chiefs to listen to their concerns;
however, such meetings were also unsuccessful in bridging the deep
political and ethnic divisions and promoting greater social inclusion
of all religions.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the Government
monitored minority religious groups for what it considered to be
subversive political activity.
Beginning with the 2001 Forum for National Reconciliation, the
Government initiated several programs aimed at improving relations
between the Government and religious groups; however, many Muslims
continued to believe that they were targets of discrimination by the
Government, since they were often perceived as being rebel
sympathizers. The perception of discrimination amongst Muslims lessened
with the creation of the power sharing Government of National
Reconciliation in 2003 and appointment of Muslims to key government
positions including the prime ministry, high chancellorship, national
assembly presidency, and various ministerial positions; however, these
appointments did not end the social or political exclusion of certain
groups.
Many northern Muslims continued to feel discriminated against when
applying for identity cards which document their citizenship. As
northern citizens, they complained that, when applying for passports,
they were asked to provide more documents than applicants from southern
ethnic groups which are predominantly non-Muslim. Additionally, there
were reports that police officers confiscated or destroyed identity
cards belonging to northern citizens, telling them they should apply as
foreigners for a resident permit (carte de sejour). Government security
forces were also reportedly more likely to extort payments at
checkpoints from northerners and foreigners than from southern
citizens. Although discrimination in the distribution of identity cards
was based on regional and ethnic backgrounds rather than religious
ones, the fact that many northerners were Muslims while many
southerners were non-Muslim resulted in government actions that
disadvantaged Muslims in this process. While lack of an identification
card was not an obstacle to obtaining employment, those without the
cards were unable to vote; consequently, many Muslims from the north
who were denied identity cards were excluded politically.
In contrast to their relationship with the Government, many
northern Muslims believed that the rebel New Forces group supported
their efforts against discrimination by making the issuance of
identification cards, once again, a key demand in the peace process.
The new prime minister, in place since December 2005, made the
implementation of a national identification process one of his top
priorities. While the prime minister's goal was to have this process
completed in time for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary
elections, which have been postponed since 2005 and were scheduled
before the conclusion of 2006, this process had barely begun by the end
of the period covered by this report.
Another point of friction between the Government and Muslim groups
were Hajj trips. Each year President Gbagbo used state funds to pay for
a small, politically selected group of Muslims to make the Hajj
pilgrimage. Private Islamic organizations also organized groups to make
the Hajj, under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior to protect
the pilgrims from problems that occurred in the past with fraudulent
travel agencies. The Government's requirements were somewhat stricter
than those of the Saudi government. For example, it required a minimum
of one hundred pilgrims per group, whereas the Saudis require fifty
pilgrims per incoming group, in addition to a doctor, nurse, and
religious leader. The Government also required any group seeking to
organize Hajj pilgrims to have been in existence for three to four
years.
Some Muslim organizations continued to view the Government's
additional organizational requirements for Hajj pilgrimages to Saudi
Arabia as unnecessary and unwarranted interference in religious
affairs, considering that Christian churches organize several Christian
pilgrimages throughout the year without government supervision. In 2003
the Islamic Umma Front and the National Trade Union of Couriers asked
the Government to liberalize the Hajj process so that pilgrims could
organize the trips more easily without government involvement. A
Ministry of Religion official responded to this request by stating that
the Government must be involved in the organization of the Hajj since
it involved 3,000 to 4,000 citizens leaving the country each year.
During the reporting period, the prime minister's office supported Hajj
travelers by chartering a plane to send 485 pilgrims to Mecca after
they were defrauded by an unreliable travel agency.
Like some Muslims, practitioners of traditional indigenous
religions also experienced political exclusion. Although there is no
generally accepted system for classifying the country's diverse
traditional religious practices, which vary by ethnic group, village,
family, gender, and age group, members of the country's largely
Christian and Islamic urban elite that were heavily influence the
state, generally appeared disinclined to allow traditional indigenous
religions the social status accorded to Christianity and Islam. Despite
the resistance to traditional religions, at the beginning of important
ceremonies, traditional chiefs were often invited to participate in
traditional libation ceremonies aimed at recognizing ancestors at the
beginning of important ceremonies.
There were no reports on restrictions of religious freedom in the
rebel-controlled northern 60 percent of the country.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
There were no arrests in a 2004 incident in which someone shot at
five imams of the executive committee of the High Council of Imams.
In March 2006 officials from the district of Abidjan attempted to
destroy a mosque built on public space in the area of Marcory, a mixed
faith community, in order to allow a private citizen to build a
supermarket. The local imam presented a document signed by the Marcory
police superintendent in 1990 authorizing the construction of the
mosque. The mayor of Marcory intervened, and although the imam's house
was destroyed, the mosque itself was spared.
Conditions for Christian religious groups in rebel-controlled areas
of the north and west remained the same. Unlike in previous years,
there were no reports of Christians being unable to practice as they
wished.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among the various religious groups became strained after
the outbreak of the 2002 national crisis. Some societal discrimination
against Muslims and followers of traditional indigenous religions
continued during the reporting period.
Northerners, many of whom are Muslim, frequently experienced
discrimination on the basis of their ethnic or regional origin. Based
on these factors, many were presumed to support the presidential
candidacy of former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim.
Followers of traditional indigenous religions were also subject to
societal discrimination. Some Christians and Muslims refused to
associate with practitioners of traditional indigenous religions. Many
Christian or Islamic leaders disparaged practitioners of traditional
indigenous religions as ``pagans'' or practitioners of ``black magic,''
even though many indigenous religions discourage such practices.
Despite these hostile attitudes towards indigenous religions, many
practitioners of traditional indigenous religions were unaware of or
did not consider themselves victims of societal discrimination, nor did
they complain about their treatment.
Prior to the 2002 crisis, there were examples of long-standing
cooperation amongst religious groups, evidenced by interfaith prayer
vigils, services, and events. Since the start of the conflict,
religious leaders from diverse groups have assembled on their own
initiative to mediate tensions. Interfaith activities saw a decrease in
activity during the past year due to a lack of funding. While religious
leaders continued to attend each other's main religious celebrations as
symbolic acts of reconciliation, few if any, leaders of traditional
indigenous religious groups have been included in these interfaith
initiatives.
The Forum of Religious Confessions (The Forum) is an interfaith
organization that endeavors to promote dialogue, increase
understanding, and improve relationships among religious leaders and
groups. It is headed by the leader of the Celestial Christian Church.
The Research Group in Democracy and Social and Economic Development of
Cote d'Ivoire (GERDDES-CI) created the forum, which engages leaders of
many of the country's religious groups, including Catholics, Muslims,
various Protestant groups, several syncretist groups, the Association
of Traditional Priests, and the Bossonists, an association of
indigenous Akan religious priests. Previously the Ministry of Religion
cooperated closely and regularly with the Forum; however, this ministry
was absorbed into the Ministry of Interior when Prime Minister Banny's
government was formed in January 2006. The new Department of Religion
within the Ministry of Interior was less involved with the Forum.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. Since
the onset of the political crisis in 2002, when rebel forces seized
control of the northern 60 percent of the country, the U.S. embassy
assisted efforts by the Government and nongovernmental organizations to
mitigate religious tensions in the country. To assist in this way, the
U.S. ambassador and other U.S. government officials regularly met with
religious leaders. For example, on March 16, 2006, the embassy hosted
an interfaith women's round-table discussion entitled ``Women of Faith:
Agents of Peace, Reconciliation, and Tolerance.'' Fifty Muslim,
Catholic, and Protestant women discussed ways to promote religious and
political tolerance.
This event followed an earlier roundtable discussion organized by
the embassy on October 22, 2005. The discussion involved fifty Muslim
women of various backgrounds, including journalists, politicians,
professors, students, and professional women of various descriptions,
and was entitled ``Muslim Women: What Is Their Role in the
Reconciliation Process?'' The discussion was wide-ranging and
emphasized the importance of promoting tolerance, educating communities
about how to avoid discrimination and prejudice, making efforts to get
to know women from other faith communities, and making peaceful
overtures to all.
During the reporting period, three religious leaders from Cote
d'Ivoire--an imam, a priest, and a pastor--traveled to the United
States on a program called ``Religion and the Community.'' Participants
explored religious diversity by meeting with American Muslims,
Catholics, and Protestants, in addition to adherents of smaller
American religious groups, to discuss how their communities address
tolerance and religious freedom issues. They also met with the largest
faith-based cable network in the United States to learn more about
religious diversity in the media.
On February 27, 2006, the embassy hosted a digital videoconference
entitled ``Martin Luther King: A Model of Religious Non-Violence and
Reconciliation Efforts.'' The discussion focused on King's legacy as a
role model for tolerance. Thirty-five guests, including imams, priests,
pastors, a Muslim member of the National Assembly, leaders of women's
religious groups, and faithful laypersons engaged in an exchange with
the speaker, a former U.S. diplomat. The speaker highlighted America's
efforts to promote ethnic and religious tolerance. Following the
presentation, the participants discussed the tenets of King's teachings
relevant to the country's crisis. Those in attendance agreed to work on
strengthening the protection of minorities, renouncing violence,
promoting interfaith cooperation, and teaching tolerance and acceptance
from an early age, in each of their communities.
Embassy officials met with a broad range of nongovernmental
organizations that work on religious freedom and tolerance issues
throughout the reporting period.
__________
DJIBOUTI
The constitution, while declaring Islam to be the state religion,
provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice; however, proselytizing is
discouraged.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in the
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 8,450 square miles and a
population of approximately 700,000. More than 99 percent of the
population was Sunni Muslim. There were a small number of Roman
Catholics, Protestants, Copts, and followers of the Baha'i Faith,
together accounting for less than 1 percent of the population. There
were no known practitioners of traditional indigenous religions.
Because all citizens officially are considered Muslims if they do not
adhere to another faith, there were no figures available on the number
of atheists in the country.
The sizable foreign community supported Roman Catholic, Protestant,
Greek Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.
A small number of foreign Christian missionary groups operated in
the country, including the Eastern Mennonite Mission, Red Sea Team
International, and Life International.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution, while declaring Islam to be the state religion,
provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice; however, proselytizing is
discouraged. The Government at all levels sought to protect this right
in full, and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or
private actors.
Although Islam is the state religion, the Government imposes no
sanctions on those who choose to ignore Islamic teachings or to
practice other faiths. The Government maintains diplomatic relations
with the Vatican.
The Shari'a Court has been replaced by the Family Court, which was
almost completely implemented in February 2004. This court uses laws
from both the Family Code and Shari'a to rule on matters related to the
family such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
The Government requires that religious groups register with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs by submitting an application to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, along with the Ministry of
Interior, investigates the group. Once approved, the group signs an
initial two-year bilateral agreement detailing the scope of the group's
activities. Unlike in previous years, Baha'i members reported no
incidents of discrimination but did not confirm whether the
organization submitted a request for registration during the period
covered by this report. In previous years, such requests have been
refused.
Foreign clergy and missionaries are permitted to perform charitable
works and to sell religious books. These groups, which focus on
humanitarian services in the education and health sectors, reportedly
faced no harassment during the period covered by this report. Foreign
missionary groups are licensed by the Government to operate schools.
Religion is not taught in public schools.
The country observes the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-
Adha, the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic New Year, and the
Ascension of the Prophet as national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There is no legal prohibition against proselytizing; however,
proselytizing is discouraged for non-Muslims.
Islamic law based on the Qur'an is used only with regard to family
matters and is administered by the family court judges. Civil marriage
is permitted only for non-Muslim foreigners. Muslims are required to
marry in a religious ceremony, and a non-Muslim man may marry a Muslim
woman only after converting to Islam.
The Ministry of Muslim Affairs monitors the activities of Muslims,
but it does not restrict their religious practices. The ministry has
authority in all Islamic matters, including mosques, private religious
schools (along with the Ministry of Education), religious events, as
well as general Islamic guidelines of the state. The High Islamic
Council, officially established within the ministry in October 2004, is
mandated to give advice on all religious issues and concerns. It also
is in charge of coordinating all Islamic nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) in the country.
The president is required to take a religious oath at inauguration;
however, other Government employees are not required to do so.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, representatives of
the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches as well
as some NGOs noted an increase in animosity towards non-Muslims in
recent years. Moderate Muslim clerics attribute the rise in Islamic
fundamentalism in part to the international media, Saudi Wahhabi
schools, the growing number of Islamic groups, and graduates of Saudi
Arabian or Yemeni Islamic schools.
French Catholics and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have been part
of Djibouti society for almost a century and are an example of the
considerable familiarity with and tolerance of other faiths by the
Muslim majority. There are no legal repercussions for conversion from
Islam to another religion or for marrying outside of Islam; however,
converts may face negative societal, tribal, and familial attitudes
towards their decision.
Approximately 60 percent of the population is ethnically Somali. In
the ethnic Somali community, clan membership has more influence over a
person's life than does religion. Ethnic Somalis who are Christians
often are buried according to Islamic traditions by relatives who do
not recognize their non-Muslim faith.
There is no formal interfaith dialogue. The Roman Catholic Church
organizes an annual celebration with all the other Christian churches.
The Qadi has received Ramadan greetings from the Pope. He meets with
the heads of other faiths only at government-organized ceremonies.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives periodically meet with leaders and members of
religious communities and with U.S. NGOs with a missionary component.
The embassy has engaged several of its English Language Discussion
Groups in discussions of religious freedom and tolerance. The
ambassador uses representational events to promote discussions on
religious tolerance and attitudes towards religious differences, with
use of the Arabic language encouraged wherever appropriate.
__________
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Because of perceived
government sensitivity and possible repercussions, religious groups
practice self-censorship regarding criticism of the Government.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 10,827 square miles, and the Government
estimated the population is approximately one million (other sources
estimate the population to be approximately 586,000). Christians
accounted for approximately 93 percent of the population, and 5 percent
of the population practiced traditional indigenous religions. Muslims,
members of the Baha'i Faith, practitioners of other religions, and
atheists each comprised less than 1 percent of the population. Roman
Catholicism was the principal religion, dating to the Spanish colonial
period when almost the entire population was baptized into the faith
and until recently was the primary way to register a birth. Catholics
comprised approximately 87 percent of the population, and an estimated
6 percent belonged to Protestant and independent denominations. Many
Catholics reportedly also followed traditional beliefs. Although in the
past there was little organized Christian worship in remote rural
areas, both Catholic and Protestant churches have expanded into
interior regions, and new roads have made worship centers accessible to
practically all areas.
Foreign missionaries operated both on Bioko Island and the
mainland. These included Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Seventh-
day Adventists, Assemblies of God, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Nondenominational evangelical Christian groups were also present,
including those who translate the Bible into indigenous languages.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. However, the
Government remains sensitive to any criticism, and church leaders
usually avoid discussions that could be construed as critical of the
Government or government officials.
The Government generally allows preaching, religious teaching,
education, and practice by believers. The Government requires
permission for any activities outside the confines of places of
worship; however, in practice this requirement does not appear to
hinder organized religious groups from holding retreats and other
meetings. Door-to-door evangelism was not observed.
A 1992 presidential decree regulates the exercise of religious
freedom. This decree maintains an official preference for the Roman
Catholic Church and the Reform Church of Equatorial Guinea, due to
their traditional roots and pervasive influence in the social and
cultural life of the populace. While the decree does not hinder the
practice of other religions, its effects can be observed in many events
throughout the country; for example, Catholic Masses serve as a normal
part of any major ceremonial function, such as the October 12 National
Day. In addition, Catholic and Reform church officials are exempt from
airport entry and exit taxes.
The decree regulates the registration of religious groups. To
register, churches must submit a written application to the Ministry of
Justice, Worship, and Penitentiary Institutions. The director general
in the Ministry of oversees compliance with the decree and the
registration process. This application was not required of the Catholic
and Reform churches.
The application and approval process may take several years, but
such delay appears to be the result of bureaucratic inefficiency and
not of a policy designed to impede any religious group. Groups that
include beneficial social programs, such as health projects or schools,
reportedly are approved more quickly. Enforcement of registration
requirements is inconsistent. Unregistered groups operating in the
country can be fined. Such fines are rarely applied, but the Government
announced over the radio that any unregistered church was subject to
fines or closure and should regulate its status as soon as possible. No
permanent closures were observed, although there were isolated
instances of temporary closures on dubious legal grounds that some have
linked to efforts at influence peddling.
The exact number of registered denominations was not publicly
available.
Religious study is required in schools and is usually, but not
exclusively, Catholic.
Religious leaders indicated that they knew of no steps by the
Government to promote an interfaith dialogue between different
religious groups. However, Protestant churches reported a positive
dialogue and generally good relations between the various Protestant
denominations.
Foreign missionaries worked throughout the country, generally
without impediment.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In the past, the Government and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo's ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) reacted
defensively to any criticism by the clergy. The Government continued
unofficially to restrict freedom of expression of the clergy by
emphasizing that the role of religion is spiritual, not political.
Permission had been granted for a new radio station to operate, but
only to broadcast religious programs.
Government agents, including the president, occasionally make
official and unofficial visits to observe church services or request a
timetable of church activities. The Government requires permission for
any religious or faith-based social assistance activity outside the
confines of places of worship.
The Government did not arrest and detain foreign missionaries,
although one pastor received such serious threats that he felt
compelled to return to his West African country. In another case, a
major U.S. evangelical figure was brought to the country to conduct an
outreach, and attendees were forced out as the church was locked up by
a squad of armed police. The evangelist left the country and was told
by security officers he should not return.
While there was no reported workplace discrimination targeted
against a particular faith, some non-Catholic pastors who also worked
for the Government as civil servants maintained a low profile in the
workplace with regard to their religious affiliation. Some reported
that supervisors informed them of the requirement to participate in
religious activities related to their government positions, including
attending religious events such as Catholic Masses at government
functions.
In 2004, during legislative and municipal elections, security
forces and the former mayor of Malabo threatened to jail a missionary
pastor who had removed party campaign posters of the ruling party from
the walls of his church. No action was taken against the missionary and
the mayor was later replaced, reportedly for a pattern of decisions
that did not reflect well on the Government.
The country's fundamental law on religion states that each person
is free to study his or her own religion and should not be forced to
study another faith. Children of all faiths are allowed to enroll in
schools where Catholicism is taught; however, they are expected to
participate in daily Catholic religious lessons and prayers. In
practice, for non-Catholics, access to study in one's own faith in
these schools generally is not possible. Some Protestant denominations
have their own schools and are allowed to operate freely.
Catholic missionaries reportedly receive residence permits shortly
after their arrival; other persons receive permits after a delay of two
to three months.
In 2003 religious leaders reported a positive relationship with the
new supervising director general at the Ministry of Justice, Worship,
and Penitentiary Institutions.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who were abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom. However, some non-Catholic religious
groups believed that they faced societal pressures within their
regions. Such concerns may reflect ethnic or individual differences as
much as religious differences.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy in Malabo reopened in late 2003. Together with the U.S.
embassy based in Yaounde, Cameroon, and the U.S. consular agent based
in the mainland city of Bata, the embassy in Malabo maintains contact
with religious groups and monitors religious initiatives.
During the period covered by this report, embassy representatives
met with various church and missionary leaders, as well as with
government officials in the Ministry of Justice, Worship, and
Penitentiary Institutions.
__________
ERITREA
The Government severely restricts freedom of religion for groups
that it has not registered, and infringes upon the independence of some
registered groups. The constitution, written in 1997, provides for
religious freedom; however, the constitution has not been implemented.
Following a 2002 government decree that religious groups must register,
the Government closed all religious facilities not belonging to the
country's four principal religious institutions--the Eritrean Orthodox
Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of
Eritrea, and Islam. The membership of these four religious groups
comprises a significant majority of the population.
During the reporting period, the Government's record on religious
freedom did not improve overall, and in some areas deteriorated
further. The Government continued to harass, arrest, and detain members
of independent Evangelical groups (including Pentecostals), Jehovah's
Witnesses, and a reform movement within the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
The Government also intervened in procedural and administrative
decisions of the Eritrean Orthodox Church by displacing the patriarch
in favor of its own candidate. The Government failed to register any of
the four religious groups who applied in 2002 for registration, and it
restricted religious meetings and arrested individuals during religious
ceremonies, gatherings, and prayer meetings. There were also reports of
forced recantations. While there were no reports of torture of
religious detainees during the reporting period, some religious
detainees were held in harsh conditions that included extreme
temperature fluctuations with limited or no access to family.
Citizens generally were tolerant of one another in the practice of
their religion, with the exception of societal attitudes toward
Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostal groups. The Government requires
citizens to perform national service in the military or face
incarceration, but it had no programs for alternative national service
that would permit Jehovah's Witnesses and others, whose faith precludes
military service, to satisfy the requirement. Some individuals who
viewed failure to perform military service as a sign of disloyalty
encouraged harassment of these religious groups and reported their
activities to the Government.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
Government regularly dismissed U.S. government concerns, citing the
absence of conflict between Christians and Muslims within the country
and its concerns about disruptive practices of some religious groups
which it feared would disrupt the country's ``social harmony.'' The
Government further maintained that upon demarcation of the border with
Ethiopia, it would implement the constitution and fully respect human
rights. In November 2005 the U.S. secretary of state again designated
Eritrea as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International
Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious
freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 48,489 square miles, and a population of
approximately 3.6 million. Although reliable statistics were not
available, it was estimated that 60 percent of the population was Sunni
and 30 percent was Orthodox Christian. The population also included a
small number of Roman Catholics (about 5 percent), Protestants (about 2
percent), smaller numbers of Seventh-day Adventists, and fewer than
1,500 Jehovah's Witnesses. Approximately 2 percent practiced
traditional indigenous religions. Also present in very small numbers
were practicing Buddhists, Hindus, and Baha'is (less than 1 percent).
The population in the eastern and western lowlands was predominantly
Muslim and in the highlands was predominantly Christian. There were
very few atheists. Religious participation was high among all ethnic
groups.
Within geographic and ethnic groups, the majority of the Tigrinya
was Orthodox Christian, with the exception of the Djiberti Tigrinya,
who were Muslim. Most members of the Tigre, Saho, Nara, Afar, Rashaida,
Beja, and Blen ethnic groups were Muslim. Approximately 40 percent of
the Blen are Christian, the majority being Roman Catholic. More than
half of the Kunama were Catholic, with a large minority of Muslims and
some who practiced traditional indigenous religions. The central and
southern highlands, which were generally more developed than the
lowlands, were populated predominantly by Christian Tigrinyas as well
as some Muslim Djiberti Tigrinya and Saho. The Afar and Rashaida, as
well as some Saho and Tigre, lived in the eastern lowlands. The Blen
lived on the border between the western lowlands and the central
highlands and are concentrated in the Keren area, which also included a
significant minority of Tigre and Tigrinya speakers. The Beja, Kunama,
Nara, and most Tigre lived in the western lowlands.
Foreign missionaries operated, including representatives of the
Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim faiths. Some missionaries and
representatives of the restricted unregistered religious groups were
present but kept an extremely low profile for fear of abuse of their
congregations. In some instances, the Government restricted missionary
visas, and in one case, imprisoned a foreign missionary. Several
international faith-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) provide
humanitarian aid, including Caritas, Norwegian Church Aid, Lutheran
World Federation, Samaritan's Purse, Catholic Relief Services, and the
Islamic Mufti's Relief Organization. The Government asked Mercy Corps
and several secular NGOs to cease operations during the reporting
period.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Government drafted and approved a constitution in 1997 that
provides the freedom to practice any religion; however, the Government
had not implemented its provisions by the end of the reporting period.
The Government severely restricted this right in the case of numerous
small Protestant churches, the Baha'is, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
In 2002, the minister of information issued a decree that all
religions except for the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Islam, the Roman
Catholic Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church must fill out
registration applications and cease religious activities and services
until the applications were approved. Registration requirements include
a description of the history of the religious group in the country,
explanation of the ``uniqueness'' or benefit that the group offers
compared with other religious groups already present, names and
personal information of religious leaders, detailed information on
assets and property owned by the group, and sources of funding from
abroad. A government committee reviews the applications, which in
theory are to be approved only if they conform to local culture.
The Government approved no registrations during the period covered
by this report, despite the fact that four religious groups fully
complied with registration requirements more than four years ago and
continued to inquire with the concerned government offices. Several
religious groups have complied partially with the registration
requirements, and some have chosen not to submit any documentation. In
April 2005 the Government's representative at the U.N.'s Commission on
Human Rights stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church's
registration application would be ``finalized in the near future'';
however, to date the Church's application had not been approved.
The four government-registered religious groups were not required
to fill out the same registration forms as other groups, and their
services and activities were allowed to continue. They have been
requested to provide the Government with an accounting of their
financial sources, as well as lists of personnel and real property, and
have reportedly done so. However, the Government increased its
involvement in the four major groups by appointing a lay administrator
to run the Orthodox Church and instructing the Evangelical (Lutheran)
Church to take over the administration and liturgy of the Evangelical
Episcopalian congregation.
A presidential decree declaring that Jehovah's Witnesses had
``forsaken their nationality'' by refusing to vote or perform required
military service continued to result in economic, employment, and
travel difficulties for many members of the group, especially former
civil servants and merchants.
Any religious organization that seeks facilities for worship other
than private homes must obtain government approval to build such
facilities.
Religious organizations, including faith-based NGOs, do not receive
duty-free privileges, although they sometimes are allowed to import
items under the reduced duty structure used for companies.
The following holy days are recognized as official holidays by the
Government: Christmas (both Orthodox and non-Orthodox), Epiphany
(Christian), Eid al-Adha (Muslim), Good Friday (Christian), Easter
(Christian), the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Muslim), New Year
(Orthodox), Meskel (Orthodox), and Eid al-Fitr (Muslim).
Education is predominantly secular.
The Government made little effort to promote interfaith
understanding or to coordinate interfaith dialogue.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Islam and Christianity were practiced widely and were for the most
part tolerated, with persons allowed to worship freely. Christianity
and Islam have a centuries-old history of tolerance and peaceful
coexistence between them. Following the 2002 government decree that
certain religious groups must register or cease all religious
activities, religious facilities not belonging to the four government-
approved religious groups were forced to close. Authorities in the
Office of Religious Affairs told religious groups that home prayer
meetings would be permitted, but the Government did not fully respect
this guidance. They were also informed that a standing law would be
used to prevent unregistered religious groups from holding political or
other gatherings in private homes of more than three to five persons.
In practice, authorities arbitrarily enforced this law.
Authorities generally have not hindered the four groups that filled
out their registration applications in 2002--the Orthodox Presbyterian
Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Faith Mission Church, and
the Baha'i Faith--in holding home prayer or private study meetings,
although like other unregistered groups their houses of worship remain
closed and they are not permitted to meet in public settings. Religious
groups such as the Kale Hiwot (Baptists), Full Gospel Church, and
Meserete Kristos (Mennonite) Church have complied with some, but not
all, of the registration requirements. Treatment of these and other
unregistered religious groups often varied depending on the locale.
Some local authorities allowed unregistered groups to worship in homes
or rented spaces whereas others did not allow them to meet at all.
The Government closely monitored the activities and movements of
unregistered religious groups and members, including nonreligious
social functions attended by members. In 2004 the Government also
closed down an Orthodox congregation known as Medhane Alem, whose
religious beliefs or services it did not approve of, and continued to
harass its members, placing some in prolonged detention. In October
2004 three men that the Government considered to be organizers were
jailed without charges and remained in detention at the end of the
reporting period. In early 2006 the Government threatened more than
sixty members of this congregation if they did not withdraw support for
a petition protesting the Government's intervention in the Orthodox
Church.
In 2003 the Government denied visa applications for representatives
of Jehovah's Witnesses who applied to travel to the country to meet
with their congregations or discuss religious freedom issues with
government officials.
A 1995 proclamation bans religious organizations from involvement
in politics and restricts the right of religious media to comment on
political matters. No religious groups--registered or unregistered--
were allowed to produce religious periodicals. The Office of Religious
Affairs within the Office of the Presidency monitors compliance with
these proscriptions.
All religious entities must receive authorization from the Office
of Religious Affairs to print and distribute documents. The Office of
Religious Affairs routinely approved requests for authorization from
registered groups and four unregistered churches; however, in the past
other unregistered churches were unable to obtain authorization to
print documents for distribution within their congregations.
Faith-based organizations are permitted to fund, but not to
initiate or implement, development projects; however, this proclamation
was not enforced in practice. Several religious organizations executed
small-scale development projects without government interference. The
proclamation also set out rules governing relations between religious
organizations and foreign sponsors.
The military has no chaplains. Military personnel were free to
worship at nearby houses of worship for the four registered religions.
Military members reportedly were sometimes allowed to possess certain
religious books to pray privately although not in groups. This rule is
inconsistently enforced. Several members of unregistered religious
groups reportedly were detained for violating this rule.
The Government also forbids what it deems to be radical forms of
Islam. Most foreign Muslim preachers were not allowed to proselytize,
and funding of Islamic missionary or religious activities is
controlled.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
There were numerous credible reports that several hundred members
of unregistered religious groups were detained or imprisoned at various
times since 2002. During the reporting period, there were reliable
reports that authorities detained at least 450 members of unregistered
religious groups without charges. Some were released after detentions
of several days or less, while others spent longer periods in
confinement without charges and without access to legal counsel.
Government restrictions make it difficult to determine the precise
number of religious prisoners at any one time, and releases sometimes
go unreported; however, the number of long-term prisoners continued to
grow. Some NGOs reported as many as 1,700 prisoners of conscience in
detention.
The Government reportedly holds individuals who are jailed for
their religious affiliation at various locations, including facilities
administered by the military, such as at Mai Serwa outside the capital
and the more distant Sawa and Gelalo as well as police stations inside
Asmara and other cities. Often, detainees were not formally charged,
accorded due process, or allowed access to their families. While many
were ostensibly jailed for evasion of military conscription,
significant numbers were being held solely for their religious beliefs,
and some were held in harsh conditions that include extreme temperature
fluctuations. Many were asked to recant their religious beliefs as a
precondition of release.
The Government did not excuse individuals who objected to military
conscription for religious reasons or reasons of conscience, nor did it
provide for alternative national service. Based on their religious
beliefs, most members of Jehovah's Witnesses refused to participate in
national military service or to vote. Some Muslims also objected to
universal national service because of the requirement that Muslim women
must perform military duty. Some religious practitioners in the
Catholic Church also objected.
Although members of several religious groups, including Muslims,
reportedly were imprisoned in past years for failure to participate in
national military service, the Government singled out Jehovah's
Witnesses for harsher treatment than that received by followers of
other faiths for similar actions. Jehovah's Witnesses who did not
participate in national military service were subject to dismissal from
the civil service, revocation of their business licenses, eviction from
government-owned housing, and denial of passports, identity cards, and
exit visas. They were also prohibited from having their marriages
legalized by the civil authorities.
In conducting searches for national military service evaders,
security forces targeted gatherings of unregistered religious groups
with a frequency not characteristic of its treatment of other groups'
social gatherings or religious services, including those of the four
government-approved religions.
Arrests of individuals, ostensibly for noncompliance with national
service requirements, yet apparently targeting certain religious
groups, continued throughout the year. Individuals arrested were often
detained for extended periods of time without due process. On occasion,
charges were levied; however, generally individuals were held without
charges.
Of the 218 individuals reported as detained during the previous
reporting period, 122 remained incarcerated. Many of them were held in
military prisons for not having performed required national military
service, and many belonged to unregistered religious groups. Several
pastors and dozens of women were among the imprisoned. Many have
refused to recant their faith and continued to be detained in civilian
and military detention facilities across the country. Several were
released after recanting their faith. At least three received a legal
sentence for violation of the government restriction on belonging to an
unregistered religious group and were serving two-year prison terms.
One was released after he was declared medically unfit for military
service.
The Government singled out Jehovah's Witnesses for particularly
harsh treatment. According to credible sources, a total of thirty-one
Jehovah's Witnesses were being held without charges or trial. More than
a dozen were being detained at Sawa, eight for allegedly failing to
perform national military service. Detainees above the cut-off age for
national service eligibility (forty for men and twenty-seven for women)
were reportedly held for attending religious meetings, preaching, or
visiting families of escapees.
Jehovah's Witnesses were jailed in harsh conditions for varying
periods, at least three individuals were detained for more than eleven
years, reportedly for evading compulsory military service. However, the
maximum legal penalty for refusing to perform national service is two
years. In the past, Ministry of Justice officials have denied that any
Jehovah's Witnesses were in detention without charge, although they
acknowledged that some of them and a number of Muslims were jailed for
evading national service.
There were no reports that the security forces tortured those
detained for their religious beliefs during this reporting period;
however, in June 2005 there were credible reports that nineteen members
of unregistered churches died at the Wia military camp after
authorities bound them by the hands and feet and left them outside in
extremely hot conditions. Detention conditions continued to be harsh.
In June 2006 there were reports that at least five of fifteen detainees
died from exposure after escaping from a detention facility in the
southern part of the country.
There were credible reports that some detainees were required to
sign statements as a condition of release renouncing or agreeing not to
practice their faith or, in a small number of cases, to ``return to the
faith of their fathers,'' which some detainees understood to mean
becoming a member of the Orthodox Church. In some cases in which
detainees refused to sign such documents, relatives were asked to do so
on their behalf.
On July 8, 2005, police arrested eighteen students and a professor
from Halhale College, approximately twenty miles from Asmara, as they
finished their exams. At the end of the reporting period their status
remained unknown.
On August 21, 2005, police arrested a bridal couple and eighteen
wedding guests from an unregistered church at the private wedding
ceremony at the bride's home. At the end of the reporting period their
status remained unknown.
During September 2005 there were reports of the arrest of more than
200 evangelical Christians and members of unregistered churches,
including 20 members of the Hallelujah and Philadelphia churches, for
organizing a wedding party in Asmara. While the members of the
Hallelujah and Philadelphia churches were reportedly released one month
later, it was not known how many of the others were released or
subjected to further detention.
In October 2005 the Government ordered the long-time pastor of the
Evangelical Episcopalian church to depart the country.
Over the Christmas holiday, seventy-eight individuals were detained
after raids on businesses owned by Evangelical Christians, Pentecostals
and other members of unregistered churches. Two individuals were
released after signing pledges not to practice their faith and paying a
bail of $10,000 (150,000 nakfa). During the raid several church members
managed to escape and depart the country or go into hiding. Authorities
threatened the family members who remained in the country with arrest
and detention if they did not turn in those who had escaped or gone
into hiding.
In January 2006 a member of one of the unregistered churches was
arrested and detained in Asmara. Several weeks later his wife was also
detained in a separate facility. Both reportedly were still being held
at the end of the reporting period.
In February 2006 thirteen members of the Kale Hiwot church were
arrested in Mendefera in the home of a church member. They reportedly
remained detained at the end of the reporting period.
Also in February 2006 a canon of the Evangelical Episcopalian
Church, who was on a temporary visit from the United Kingdom, was
ordered to leave.
While participating in short-term retraining at the Sawa military
training facility, seventy-five Christians were detained and punished
for reading the Bible. They continued to be held at Sawa.
In spring 2006 the BBC reported that a British missionary was
detained for several days, and subsequently expelled, for distributing
Bibles.
In May 2006 there were reports that fifty evangelical Christian
students enrolled and boarding at Mai Nefhiy Educational Institution
were allegedly subjected to severe punishment by authorities,
ostensibly for refusing to participate in events surrounding Eritrean
Liberation Day. At the end of the reporting period, they continued to
be detained at Mai Nefhiy.
There were reports that authorities detained three members of an
unregistered church in Nefasit. One church member, who had been forced
to leave behind an extremely sick child who later died, was released on
bail.
In June 2006 there were reports in the North Red Sea region that
authorities detained six members of an unregistered church. They were
held in a military camp and released after four days.
Throughout the reporting period there were reports of the detention
of Muslims who oppose the mufti appointed by the Government more than
ten years ago. Sources reported that approximately seventy Muslims
continued to be detained.
During the reporting period there were significant changes
orchestrated by the Government with the leadership of the Eritrean
Orthodox Church that raised concerns regarding the independence and
freedom of religious practice permitted within the Church by the
Government. In August 2005 the Government appointed a lay administrator
to manage and oversee church operations, in contravention to the
Orthodox Church constitution. Shortly after this appointment, the Holy
Synod voted to remove church Patriarch Abune Antonios on putative
charges that he had committed heresy and was no longer following church
doctrine. A new patriarch was selected by the synod. The deposed
patriarch continued to be able to serve as a priest; however, he was
forbidden to conduct church services. He remained essentially under
house arrest. According to church officials, Dioscoros was the new
patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Following the deposal of Patriarch Antonios by the Synod, more than
sixty members of a fellowship of the Orthodox Church were told to
withdraw their signatures from a petition protesting the closure of
their fellowship and to confess that the church leaders, namely the
deposed patriarch, were heretics. There were reports that these sixty
members were excommunicated from the Church by the new patriarch and
that at least three of them were arrested by authorities.
In January 2005 the deposed patriarch objected to his removal
through a letter sent, and made public, to the Holy Synod. In the
letter, he denied the charges against him and excommunicated several
synod members, as well as the lay administrator, stating that their
actions, and those of the Government, violated the constitution and
bylaws of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were reports that police forced some adherents of
unregistered religious groups to sign statements to abandon their
faiths as a precondition of their release.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
Section III. Societal Abuse and Discrimination
Citizens generally were tolerant of one another in the practice of
their religion, particularly among the four government registered
religious groups. Mosques and the principal Christian churches
coexisted throughout the country, although Islam tended to predominate
in the lowlands and Christianity in the highlands. In Asmara, Christian
and Muslim holidays were respected by all religions. Some holidays were
celebrated jointly.
Societal attitudes toward Jehovah's Witnesses and some Pentecostal
groups were an exception to this general tolerance. Jehovah's Witnesses
generally were disliked and faced some societal discrimination because
of their refusal to participate in the 1993 independence referendum and
to perform national military service, a refusal that was widely judged
as unpatriotic. There was also some social prejudice against other
unregistered religious groups. Some persons reportedly cooperated with
government authorities by reporting on and harassing members of those
groups.
Leaders of the four principal religions met routinely, enjoyed
excellent interfaith relations, and engaged in efforts to foster
cooperation and understanding among their followers. Few religious
leaders in the country took a strong public stance in defense of
freedom of conscience for all faiths.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials met regularly with leaders of the religious
community.
The U.S. Ambassador and other embassy officers raised the cases of
detention and restrictions on unregistered religious groups with
officials in the President's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Ministry of Justice, and the leaders of the sole legal political
party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.
In September 2004 the U.S. secretary of state designated Eritrea as
a ``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International Religious
Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
The secretary renewed the designation the following year and applied
sanctions under the Arms Export Control Act that prohibited the
commercial sale of certain defense articles and services.
__________
ETHIOPIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, on
occasion local authorities infringed on this right.
There was little change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report, although some
Protestant and Muslim groups continued to complain that local officials
discriminated against them when seeking land for churches, mosques, and
cemeteries.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society continued to contribute to religious freedom. In general, there
was a slight increase in interreligious conflict and clashes.
Government criticism of some Muslim elements continued. There was
reported tension between traditionalist Muslims and followers of the
Wahhabi sect, an interpretation of Islam that reportedly receives
support from Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 472,000 square miles, and its population
was approximately 74 million. An estimated 40 to 45 percent of the
population belonged to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC). The EOC was
predominant in the northern regions of Tigray and Amhara.
Approximately 45 percent of the population was Sunni Muslim. Islam
was most prevalent in the eastern Somali and Afar regions, as well as
in all the major parts of Oromia in the east and south.
Christian evangelical and Pentecostal groups continued to be the
fastest growing faiths and constituted an estimated 10 percent of the
population. Established Protestant churches such as Mekane Yesus and
the Kale Hiwot were strongest in the Southern Nations, Nationalities,
and People's Regional State (SNNPR), western and central Oromia, and in
urban areas. In Gambella in the west, Mekane Yesus followers
represented 60 percent of the population. The Evangelical Church
Fellowship claimed 23 denominations under its religious umbrella.
Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Roman Catholics numbered more than
500,000. There were reportedly more than 7,500 Jehovah's Witnesses
adherents and 105 Kingdom Halls in the country. Jews, animists, and
other practitioners of traditional indigenous religions made up most of
the remaining population. In Addis Ababa and north Gondar, in the
Amhara region, some claimed that their ancestors were forced to convert
from Judaism to Ethiopian Orthodoxy (Feles Mora) many centuries ago.
There were very few atheists. Although precise data was not available,
active participation in religious services was generally high
throughout the country.
A large number of foreign missionary groups operated in the
country. Protestant organizations that sponsored or supported
missionary work included the Baptist Bible Fellowship, the New Covenant
Baptist Church, the Baptist Evangelical Association, Mekane Yesus
Church (associated with the Lutheran Church), Kale Hiwot Church
(associated with Service in Mission), Hiwot Berhan Church (associated
with the Swedish Philadelphia Church), Genet Church (associated with
the Finnish Mission), Lutheran-Presbyterian Church of Ethiopia, Emnet
Christos, Muluwongel (Full Gospel) Church, and Messerete Kristos
(associated with the Mennonite Mission). Pentecostals, Jehovah's
Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) also had active missionary operations.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, on
occasion local government authorities infringed on this right. The
constitution requires the separation of state and religion and
prohibits a state religion, and the Government generally respected
these provisions in practice. In 2003, the Federal Government
interfered in the internal affairs of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs
Supreme Council (EIASC) by orchestrating the installation of EIASC
officials following an internal power struggle.
The Government requires that religious groups be registered.
Religious institutions and churches, as with nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), must renew their registration with the Ministry
of Justice every three years. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council
(EHRCO) stated that this registration requirement reflects a lack of
progress or improvement in the Government's treatment of ``newer
religions,'' specifically Protestant churches.
The EOC never registered with the Government and has never faced
repercussions. The EIASC, after registering nine years ago, never re-
registered. Protests from other religious groups over these exceptions
did not result in equal treatment from the Government. The Apostolic
Nuncio in the country wrote repeatedly to the Prime Minister's Office
seeking equal treatment before the law. Mekane Yesus, the Evangelical
Fellowship, and Roman Catholic Church believed that churches should be
placed in a ``different status than NGOs.'' However, there was no
change in the government policy during the period covered by this
report.
Under the law, any religious organization that undertakes
development activities must register its development wing separately as
an NGO with the Ministry of Justice. To register, each religious
organization must complete an application form and submit a copy of its
bylaws, curriculum vitae of the organization's leader, and a copy of
the leader's identity card. A group's failure to register resulted in a
denial of legal standing, which would prevent it from opening a bank
account or fully participating in any court proceeding.
Religious groups are not accorded duty-free status. Religious
groups are given the free use of government land for churches, schools,
hospitals, and cemeteries; however, religious schools and hospitals,
regardless of length of operation, are subject to government closure
and land forfeiture at any time. Religious groups, like private
individuals or businesses, must apply to regional and local governments
for land allocation. An interfaith effort to promote revision of the
law for religious organizations to obtain duty-free status continued.
After complaints that mosques built by squatters had been
demolished in 2003, the Addis Ababa Municipality suspended plans to
demolish other mosques built illegally by squatters.
In most interreligious disputes, the Government maintained
neutrality and tried to be an impartial arbitrator. Some religious
leaders requested the establishment of a federal institution to deal
with religious groups; however, no action was taken to establish such a
federal institution by the end of the period covered by this report.
The Government interpreted the constitutional provision for
separation of religion and state to mean that religious instruction was
not permitted in schools, whether public or private. Schools owned and
operated by Catholic, Orthodox, evangelical, and Muslim groups were not
allowed to teach religion as a course of study. The Government
Education Bureau in Addis Ababa complained that the morals courses most
private schools taught as part of their curriculum were not free of
religious influence. Churches were permitted to have Sunday schools,
the Qur'an was taught at mosques, and public schools permitted the
formation of clubs, including those of a religious nature.
The Government officially recognizes both Christian and Muslim
holidays and continues to mandate a two-hour lunch break on Fridays to
allow Muslims to go to a mosque to pray. Recognized government holidays
include the Christian holy days of Christmas, Epiphany, Good Friday,
Easter, and Meskel, as well as the Muslim holy days of Eid al-Adha
(Arefa), the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Eid al-Fitr (Ramadan).
The Government also agreed to a request from Muslim students at Addis
Ababa Commercial College to delay the start of afternoon classes until
1:30 p.m., to permit them to perform afternoon prayers at a nearby
mosque.
The Government took steps to promote interfaith understanding by
including religious leaders in major societal campaigns. All principal
religious leaders were present at the launching of the National
Partnership Forum against HIV/AIDS and at the 2004 national rollout of
antiretroviral treatment. No interreligious exchanges were conducted
during the period covered by this report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government bans the formation of political parties based on
religion. There were no religious political parties in the country, and
the ban was not tested in practice.
The Government did not issue work visas to foreign religious
workers unless they are associated with the development wing of a
religious organization licensed by the Government. However, this policy
was not consistently enforced for Muslims or Orthodox Christians. The
Government issued licenses for religious organizations' development
activities in the period covered by this report but not for their
religious activities. Licenses are required for all religious groups,
domestic and foreign. The Ministry of Justice denied a license to at
least one traditional Oromo religious organization, Wakafeta, for
unspecified reasons.
The EIASC oversees the activities of foreign imams and screens out
perceived Wahhabi influence.
Under the press law, it is a crime to incite one religion against
another. The press law also allows defamation claims involving
religious leaders to be prosecuted as criminal cases. There were no
further developments nor were there likely to be any developments in
the Government's defamation case against two journalists in 2001. The
EHRCO reported that no journalists were detained or charged during the
reporting period with inciting religious groups or with defamation of
religious leaders.
Evangelical leaders complained that, in general, regulations on the
importation of Bibles were too strict and that customs duty on Bibles
and other religious articles were excessive; however, Bibles and
religious articles were subject to the same customs duties as all
imported books, donated or otherwise. Continuing discussions between
the Government and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus
yielded progress on this issue. In 2005, parliament passed a
proclamation lifting taxation on imported books and printed materials,
effectively addressing this issue.
In contrast to previous years, there were no reported incidents
relating to wearing headscarves. However, the case of a Muslim nursing
student who refused to change her hijab while attending patients
required local religious leaders to successfully mediate the dispute,
which resulted in the student wearing a headscarf instead.
Minority religious groups complained of discrimination in the
allocation of government land for religious sites. Protestant groups
occasionally complained of discrimination by local officials when
seeking land for churches and cemeteries. Evangelical leaders
complained that because they are perceived as ``newcomers,'' they
remained disadvantaged in the allocation of land compared with the EOC
and the EIASC.
The EIASC complained that it has more difficulty than the EOC
obtaining land from the Government; others believed that the EIASC was
favored for mosque locations. Local authorities in the northern town of
Axum, a holy city for the EOC, continued to deny Muslim leaders'
repeated requests to allocate land for the construction of a mosque,
even though the constitution provides for freedom to establish
institutions of religious education and administration. Tigray regional
government officials chose not to interpret this provision liberally in
the town of Axum, and the Federal Government did not overrule them.
Muslims have had access to land since the country became a republic in
1995. In 2003, a group of Muslims attempted to build a mosque in Axum,
but it was torn down by a local mob because it was built without
permission from the regional government. Local officials ordered the
Muslim community not to resume construction.
Providing adequate space for churches within Addis Ababa continued
to be a major issue among Protestant groups. These groups noted that
the Orthodox Church built at least twenty churches between September
2003 and July 2005, but no other groups were authorized to construct
new edifices.
The EIASC also raised concerns about the equitable celebration of
religious holidays in the country, noting Orthodox Christian holidays
such as Meskel and Epiphany are celebrated in Meskel Square and Jan
Meda, two large public squares in Addis Ababa, while the celebration of
Eid al-Fitr had been relegated to the less prominent Addis Ababa
stadium. The EIASC's request to the Addis Ababa City Council for land
to build a venue for this celebration was pending at the end of the
period covered by this report.
Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses continued to lease their own
plots of land in the capital and throughout the country, due to lack of
suitable properties available from the Government. However, in Oromia
some plots were provided free of charge to some religious groups to
build places of worship.
The Meserte Kristos/Mennonite Church, Mekane Yesus Church, Seventh-
day Adventist Church, and the EIASC made little progress at securing
the return of property confiscated by the Government under the Derg
regime.
Although the Meserte Kristos/Mennonite Church was able to reclaim
its place of worship after the Derg fell from power, the Government
seized it again in 2003. The Government defended its action under
existing legal mechanisms for seizing property.
The Government did not return properties to the Mekane Yesus Church
that were also seized under the Derg regime, including three student
hostels and two schools. The Mekane Yesus leadership stated that these
issues were still unresolved.
The Seventh-day Adventists also did not make progress in obtaining
the properties taken by the Derg regime, including two hospitals. The
Supreme Islamic Council continued to try to obtain properties outside
of the capital that were similarly confiscated. In Addis Ababa and
Oromia, structures have been returned under federal provisions;
however, edifices under regional statutes have yet to be returned.
There was a precedent and a perception that the Government favored the
EOC, yet government officials stated that there was no discrimination.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Two men charged with the 2002 killing of Full Gospel Church leader
Pastor Demtew remained in prison while their trials continued. The
pastor was allegedly killed when a mob led by EOC priests forcibly
entered his home. The case was pending at the conclusion of the
reporting period.
In another instance, while apparently not religiously motivated,
the killing of a Muslim man by a Protestant, whom authorities have
prosecuted for the murder, was reported as ``martyrdom'' on a few
websites.
In March 2006 an individual believed to be a Christian and mentally
unstable drew demeaning cartoons of Muhammad in the town of Kemisse in
the Amhara region. Local Muslims, allegedly considered to be Islamic
extremists, organized a protest and caused a riot in Kemisse town,
which injured several persons, destroyed four evangelical churches, and
caused an estimated $160,000 (1.4 million Birr) in property damage.
Perpetrators of the riot were detained and under investigation at the
end of the reporting period.
On April 15, 2006, unidentified groups of individuals suspected to
be Muslims from the local community threw a hand grenade at Emanuel
United Church of Ethiopia in Jijiga, injuring several worshippers.
Police were searching for the perpetrators at the end of the reporting
period.
The desecration of the Qur'an by a Christian student at the
Southern University on April 17, 2006, angered Muslims throughout the
country. Police investigated the case and detained the alleged
perpetrator. The case was pending at the end of the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some minor conflicts
between religious groups continued. These occurred most noticeably
between Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and evangelical Protestants,
between evangelical Protestants and Muslims, as well as between
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and Muslims. In addition, there continued
to be pockets of interreligious tension and criticism between other
religious groups.
Members of newer faiths, such as Pentecostals, requested police
protection against overt public opposition. There were several reports
of low-level physical and verbal harassment targeted at religious
officials and church members that led victims to seek protection from
the local authorities. Ethiopian Orthodox leaders reported that
sometimes Protestants failed to respect Orthodox holy days and customs.
Muslims reported that some Pentecostal preachers disparaged Islam in
their services. Some Muslim and Protestant leaders complained that the
EOC's desire to show its dominance caused irritation in the religious
community.
In most regions, Orthodox Christians and Muslims generally
respected each other's religious observances, and there was tolerance
for intermarriage and conversion in certain areas. In Addis Ababa,
persons of different faiths lived side-by-side. Most urban areas
reflected a mixture of all religious faiths. The Roman Catholic Church
and evangelical Protestant denominations provided social services such
as health care and education to nonmembers as well as to members.
The EIASC continued to express concern over increasing external
Wahhabi influence within the Muslim community. The EIASC alleged that
money flowed into the country through Saudi-funded entities, raising
concern over external non-Ethiopian Islamic influences.
In 2004, the EIASC struggled with Wahhabist fundamentalism within
its ranks and replaced all executive members with staunch anti-
Wahhabists. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative attended the
election sessions to demonstrate the Government's interest in the
issue. Additionally, the EIASC expressed concern over the prospect of
Wahhabists gaining seats on the council.
In May 2005, religious institutions deployed 1,554 members
throughout the country to observe the national election. The EIASC
deployed 558 observers, Protestant denominations deployed 607, the EOC
deployed 359, and the Catholic Church deployed 30. On June 9, 2005,
leaders of religious organizations, including the EOC, EIASC,
Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus, and the Catholic Church, made a
call for peace following demonstrations in Addis Ababa.
Leaders of the EIASC in collaboration with local EOC leaders
diffused tension created by the politically motivated killing of
members of the community in Kofele District of Oromia region in July
2005. Following a pair of religiously motivated killings and reports of
harassment of Christians by the Muslim majority in this area, religious
leaders worked closely together to bring an end to the increasing
violence. Upon hearing reports that local imams provided shelter and
protection for EOC priests after they were reportedly targeted by local
renegade Muslim individuals, religious leaders of both faiths from
Addis Ababa came to the region to broker a peace. They convinced local
community leaders to work with the population to remind them of the
long history of cohabitation that has occurred in the area and that
through tolerance they would be building a better community.
Evangelicals claimed that they were not able to bury their dead in
cemeteries given to them by the Government because Muslims and Orthodox
prevented it. In November 2003, in the Buta Jira area, a Protestant
family buried a child in a local cemetery. Muslims reportedly dug up
the body at night and dumped it in town. The family reported the
incident to the local police and zonal administration, but reportedly
authorities took little action to resolve the case. In Harar,
evangelicals also were not able to bury their dead in the same
cemeteries used by Orthodox and Muslims. Local and regional governments
assign burial plots to various faiths. However, isolated incidents
occur and in such instances, local government officials generally
address the problem.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. embassy encouraged the Government to ensure that no
religious groups were channeling funds through the country to finance
terrorist goals. Embassy officials also made an active effort to visit
all of the religious groups and faith-based NGOs during the period
covered by this report. The embassy paid close attention to attempts by
Wahhabist elements to exert their influence over the EIASC and
discussed the matter with government officials. On the same day, the
embassy invited twenty-eight members of local Muslim Youth Councils for
a wide-ranging discussion with visiting American imam Daryl Wainwright.
The Defense Department's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa
(CJTF-HOA) projects sought to propagate positive images of the United
States in the Muslim community in Somali Region.
In December 2005, the embassy awarded a $26,500 grant for the
preservation of the Sheikh Hussein shrine, a historic Muslim pilgrimage
site located in Oromia and established in the thirteenth century. The
ambassador continued to hold regular meetings with religious leaders
around the country.
__________
GABON
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 103,347 square miles, and its population
is approximately 1.5 million. Major religions practiced in the country
included Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism), Islam, and
traditional indigenous religions. Many persons practiced both elements
of Christianity and elements of traditional indigenous religions. It
was estimated that approximately 73 percent of the total population,
including noncitizens, practiced at least some elements of
Christianity; approximately 12 percent practiced Islam (of which 80 to
90 percent are foreigners); approximately 10 percent practiced
traditional indigenous religions exclusively; and approximately 5
percent practiced no religion or were atheists. The country's president
was a member of the Muslim minority.
Foreign Christian missionaries were present and active in the
country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. A 1970 decree
banning Jehovah's Witnesses remained in effect; however, the Government
did not enforce the ban.
The Ministry of the Interior maintains an official registry of some
religious groups; however, it does not register small, indigenous
religious groups. The Government does not require religious groups to
register but recommends that they do so to receive full constitutional
protection. No financial or tax benefit is conferred by registration,
but religious groups are not taxed, can import duty-free items, and are
exempted from land use and construction permit fees.
Islamic, Catholic, and Protestant denominations operate primary and
secondary schools in the country. These schools are required to
register with the Ministry of Education, which is charged with ensuring
that these religious schools meet the same standards required for
public schools. The Government does not contribute funds to private
schools, whether religious or secular.
Both Catholic and Protestant radio stations broadcast in the
country.
The Government promotes interfaith relations by facilitating
meetings of leaders of major religions. Such meetings are held
periodically, and informal discussions among religious leaders are
routine.
The Government celebrates some Christian and Muslim holy days as
national holidays; these include Easter Sunday and Monday, Ascension
Day, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, Christmas, Eid al-Kebir, and Eid
al-Fitr.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government has refused to register approximately ten religious
groups, nine of which were small, indigenous groups. A government
decision on the registration of Jehovah's Witnesses has been pending
for several years without resolution. In practice, the Government
allows Jehovah's Witnesses to assemble and practice their religion. In
addition, the Government has permitted Jehovah's Witnesses to
proselytize.
The government television stations accorded free transmission time
to the Catholic Church, some Protestant congregations, and Islamic
mosques. Some Protestant denominations alleged that the government
television station does not accord free airtime to minority religious
groups. Protestants have alleged in the past that the armed forces
favor Catholics and Muslims in hiring and promotion. Some Protestant
pastors complain that local officials discriminated against them by
making it difficult to obtain building permits to construct churches,
charging visa fees on volunteer medical and religious workers not
imposed on other denominations, and demanding customs fees for aid
materials. Missionaries expressed concern that foreigners holding valid
visas that describe their profession as ``pastor'' have been denied
entry unless they have an additional entry permit issued in advance by
immigration. However, there were no reports that any applicant was
denied a permit.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. There were no reports of
interreligious violence or intrareligious incidents during the period
covered by this report.
Practitioners of some traditional indigenous religions inflicted
bodily harm on other persons during the period covered by the report.
Two adolescent boys found murdered in February 2005 were widely
believed to have been the victims of ritual killings. Parents and
newspaper articles alleged that seven other males may have been the
victims of ritual killings in 2005. Three were reported killed in
March, one each in May and July, and two more in December. No
information was made public on the investigation, if any, into the
circumstances of these crimes or possible suspects. The Ministry of the
Interior stated that violence and bodily harm to others in the practice
of a traditional religion is a criminal offense and is prosecuted
vigorously; however, no information about such prosecutions or their
results was available.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials meet regularly with leaders of the Catholic Church,
the Islamic Superior Council, and Protestant churches. The embassy
maintains contacts with the Ministry of Interior and the minister of
human rights to discuss the general state of religion in the country.
The embassy also maintains close contacts with various Christian
missionary groups in the country.
__________
THE GAMBIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 4,361 square miles, and its population
is approximately 1,641,600. Sunni Muslims constituted more than 90
percent of the population. The vast majority were Malikite Sufis, of
which the main orders represented were Tijaniyah, Qadiriyah, Muridiyah,
and Ahmadiyah. Except for the Ahmadiyah, all Sufi orders prayed
together at common mosques. A small percentage of Muslims,
predominantly immigrants from South Asia, did not ascribe to any
traditional Islamic school of thought.
An estimated 9 percent of the population was Christian, and less
than 1 percent practiced indigenous animist religions. The Christian
community, situated mostly in the west and south of the country, was
predominantly Roman Catholic; there were also several Protestant
denominations including Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, Seventh-day
Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and various small Protestant
evangelical denominations. There was a small group of followers of the
Baha'i Faith and no significant Jewish population.
Intermarriage between Muslims and Christians was common. In some
areas, Islam and Christianity were syncretized with animism. There were
few atheists in the country.
Foreign missionary groups, representing mostly small denominations
from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
The constitution establishes Cadi courts in such places as the
chief justice determines. The two Cadi courts sit in Banjul and
Kanifing. Their jurisdiction applies only to matters of marriage,
divorce, and inheritance that involve Muslims. The Cadi courts apply
classical Maliki fiqh (Islamic law).
The Government considered the following religious holidays as
national holidays: Tobaski (Eid al-Adha), Yaomul Ashura (the Muslim New
Year), Maulid al-Nabi (the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad), Koriteh (Eid
al-Fitr), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Assumption Day, and Christmas
Day. Religious holidays did not affect negatively any religious group.
The Government does not require religious groups to register.
Religiously based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are subject to
the same registration and licensing requirements as other NGOs.
The Government permits and does not limit religious instruction in
schools. Biblical and Qur'anic studies are provided in both public and
private schools throughout the country without government restriction
or interference. Religious instruction in public schools is provided at
government expense but is not mandatory.
Government meetings and events typically commenced with two
prayers, one Islamic and one Christian. Senior officials of both
religious groups were often invited to open major government events.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In several interviews, Catholic and Anglican bishops praised the
Government and people of the country for the friendly protection and
accommodation of the Christian minority. The Gambian Christian Council,
an organization consisting of clerical leaders of the Catholic,
Anglican, Methodist, and Baptist churches, discussed matters of
importance to Christians in the country.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Intermarriage between members
of different religious groups is legal and socially acceptable.
The Inter-Faith Group for Dialogue and Peace, comprising
representatives of the Christian, Muslim, and Baha'i communities, met
regularly to discuss matters of mutual concern.
Practitioners of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country
firmly believed that Islam mandates the practice and its surrounding
rites. Although government programs to promote girls' education and
development quietly worked to reduce the prevalence of FGM by changing
societal attitudes, the Government's official stance was that female
circumcision is a cultural issue that the Government cannot forbid. In
June 2005 the National Assembly passed the Children's Bill, aimed at
curbing violence against children, that outlaws ``social and cultural
practices that affect the welfare, dignity, normal growth and
development of the child and in particular, those customs and practices
that are (1) prejudicial to the health and life of the child and; (2)
discriminatory to the child on the grounds of sex or other status.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
particular, the U.S. embassy sought opportunities to send religious
leaders to the United States on International Visitor Programs.
__________
GHANA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, tensions sometimes
arose between different branches of the same faith, as well as between
Christian and traditional faiths. A number of governmental and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) promoted interfaith and intrafaith
understanding.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 238,538 square miles and
an estimated population of approximately 21 million. According to the
2000 government census approximately 69 percent of the population is
Christian, 15.6 percent is Muslim, and 15.4 percent adheres to
traditional indigenous religions or other faiths. The Muslim community
has protested these figures, asserting that the Muslim population is
closer to 30 percent. Pentecostal and charismatic churches are reported
to be the fastest growing denominations in Ghana. Approximately 6.2
percent of the population does not affiliate itself with a particular
religion.
Other religious groups included the Baha'i faith, Buddhism,
Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Ninchiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai, Sri Sathya
Sai Baba Sera, Sat Sang, Eckankar, the Divine Light Mission, Hare
Krishna, and Rastafarianism. There were also some separatist or
spiritual churches that included elements of Christianity and
traditional beliefs such as magic and divination. Zetahil, a practice
unique to Ghana, combines elements of Christianity and Islam. There
were no statistics available for the percentage of atheists.
There was no significant tension between traditional and mainstream
religion, rather, there was some degree of overlap in religious
practice as traditional religion still had a strong hold on society and
in many cases coexisted with formal religions. Many Christians and
Muslims, for example, held traditional religious beliefs while also
adhering to mainstream religious doctrine or practice. Similarly, many
Catholics and Protestants also attended Pentecostal or charismatic
church services.
Christian subgroups include Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican,
Mennonite, Evangelical Presbyterian, Presbyterian, African Methodist
Episcopal Zionist, Christian Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, F'eden,
numerous charismatic faiths, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostals, Baptist, and the
Society of Friends (Quakers). Christianity often includes an overlay of
traditional beliefs.
Traditional indigenous religions include a belief in a Supreme
Being, referred to by the Akan ethnic group as Nyame or by the Ewe
ethnic group as Mawu, and lesser gods who act as intermediaries between
the Supreme Being and human beings. Veneration of ancestors also is
characteristic of traditional indigenous religions, because ancestors
provide a link between the Supreme Being and the living and at times
may be reincarnated. Religious leaders of these traditional groups are
commonly referred to as priests and are trained in the arts of healing
and divination. The priests typically operate shrines to the Supreme
Deity or to one of the lesser gods, and they rely upon the donations of
the public to maintain the shrines and for their own maintenance.
Afrikania, also known as the Afrikan Renaissance Mission, actively
supports traditional religious practices. Afrikania often criticizes
the Government, foreign diplomatic missions, and NGOs, contending that
they corrupt traditional values and impose foreign religious beliefs.
Afrikania leaders claimed the movement had more than four million
followers; however, no independent confirmation of the claim was
available.
Three dominant Islamic traditions were present in the country:
Tijanis (a Sufi sect found in West Africa), Wahhabi-oriented Ahlussuna
(made up of the Ahlussuna Wal-Jam-A and the less conservative Ahlussuna
Majilis), and the Ahmadis. A small number of Shi'a were also present.
There was not a significant link between ethnicity and religion;
however, geography was often associated with religious identity. The
majority of the Muslim population was concentrated in northern areas as
well as in the urban centers of Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi,
Tamale, and Wa, while the majority of the followers of traditional
indigenous religions resided in rural areas. Christians lived
throughout the country.
Foreign missionaries, including Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian,
Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Muslim, and Mormon groups, operated
freely in the country. Catholic missionaries were most numerous
followed by Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Methodist and Presbyterian
missionaries. In addition to proselytizing, missionaries were active in
health, education, skills/vocational training and social activities.
Of the foreign missionaries present in the country, Saudi Arabian
missionaries were the most numerous. They were followed by Iranian,
Kuwaiti and Algerian missionaries. They practiced Dawah or evangelism
and were active in education, cultural, health and agricultural
practices.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Government employees, including the president, are required to
swear an oath upon taking office; however, this oath can be either
religious or secular, depending on the preference of the individual.
The Government recognizes Christian, Muslim, and secular holidays.
There is no government body that regulates or oversees religious
affairs as all religious bodies are independent institutions; however,
religious institutions that wished to have formal government
recognition were required to register with the Registrar General's
Department. The registration requirement for religious bodies at the
Office of the Registrar General was the same for any NGO. The
organization paid approximately $0.56 (five thousand cedis) for the
application form, approximately $4 (thirty five thousand cedis) for the
registration form, and approximately $69 (610 thousand cedis) for the
registration. Applicants were required to renew their registration
annually for approximately $17 (150 thousand cedis) Registration was
only a formality, and there were no reports that the Government denied
registration to any group. Most traditional religions, with the
exception of the Afrikania Mission, did not register.
The Government did not provide financial support for any religious
organization. Formally registered religions were exempt from paying
taxes on ecclesiastical, charitable, and educational activities that do
not generate income; however, religious organizations were required to
pay progressive taxes, on a pay-as-you-earn basis, on business
activities that generate income. No discriminatory tax treatment
towards religious groups was reported during the reporting period.
Schools in Ghana were first established by Christian and Muslim
missionaries. When the Government became a stakeholder in education,
mission-run schools partnered with the Government to establish a
standard education. Missionaries relinquished some control of the
schools through this partners; however, the head position of many
schools continued to be reserved for a member of the same faith as the
school. Additionally, the majority of a school's management team was
usually comprised of members who adhere to the same faith as that of
the school. All denominations designated education management units to
monitor activities in each of their schools.
Public schools could be either day schools or boarding schools and
were supported by the Government through the disbursement of grants,
paying salaries of employees of these schools and providing learning as
well as teaching materials. Christian students attending government-
administered boarding schools were required to attend a
nondenominational service on Sundays. Muslim students in these boarding
schools were exempted from the service and were permitted to practice
daily prayers. Most schools accommodated special meal arrangements for
fasting Muslim students during Ramadan. Private schools were run by
individuals, communities and, in some cases, NGOs.
Religious and Moral Education is a compulsory subject for every
child in both public and private schools at the basic or primary level.
At this level, religious instruction was general and did not focus on
any single religion. At the secondary level, religious studies was an
optional subject and differed from the Religious and Moral education
classes taken at the primary level. Students could choose between
Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Religious Studies, or Traditional
African Religion regardless of whether they attend a private or public
school. Such options were not influenced by government funding as the
Government did not discriminate in its allocation of resources for any
of these courses. There were nine other private, secular schools and
five public universities already functioning in the country. The
country's first Catholic university opened in 2004.
The Government often took steps to promote interfaith
understanding. At government meetings and receptions, there was usually
a multi-denominational invocation led by religious leaders from various
faiths. In April 2006, President John A. Kufuor met with a visiting
delegation from the International Religious Liberty Association, which
held its second Pan-African, International Religious Liberty Congress
(IRLC) in Accra during that time. The minister of fisheries opened the
conference. President Kufuor met the delegation and expressed his
government's commitment to ensuring religious freedom.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Ministry of Education regulations prohibited
authorities of public schools from compelling students of minority
faiths to worship with the majority religious groups in school. The
minister of education also continued to direct schools to respect the
religious rights of all students. Religious freedom was generally
respected in schools and was not seen as being a function of the type
of school.
Muslim students generally experienced significant religious freedom
in public schools, in comparison to previous years. In a few cases
reported by the Director of the Islamic Education Unit in the Greater
Accra Region, some school authorities made special efforts to ensure
the freedom of Muslim students to practice their religious beliefs by
providing, for instance, areas for Muslim worship.
Despite official policies promoting free religious practice in
schools, Muslim and Seventh-day Adventist students complained of
occasional insensitivity towards religious obligations by some school
administrators. For example, some school administrations reportedly did
not accommodate religious practices when regulating school attire or
when scheduling examinations on their holy days of obligation (Fridays
for Muslims and Saturdays for Seventh-day). Also, there were isolated
instances in which bans on female head-scarves were introduced into
some schools. Some Muslim students felt discriminated against by these
policies, since they noted that the same restriction was not placed on
Catholic nuns who dressed in accordance with their religious order.
In November 2005, 149 students of The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA)
Church at the University of Ghana, Legon, took legal action in the
Accra Fast Track High Court. The legal action was an attempt to
restrain the university from requiring the students to take
examinations on Saturdays. Although the SDA students noted that the
university provided accommodations for student athletes scheduled to
take exams on Saturdays, the High Court threw out their ex-parte motion
on the grounds that, if granted, it could affect a larger number of
other students beyond those requesting these accommodations. The court
also highlighted that, in addition to the two-thirds of the student
body who took exams on weekends, Muslims took exams on Fridays.
Concluding that the university had not shown discrimination or
favoritism to a particular group, and noting that SDA students had not
established irreparable loss as a definitive consequence of taking
Saturday exams, the court sided with the university and denied the
students' request to reschedule Saturday exams. While various
individuals and organizations, including the World Headquarters for
Seventh-day Adventists, Ghana Union of Seventh-day Adventists, and the
U.S embassy intervened on the students' behalf, the university has not
yet agreed to make any additional accommodations or compromise and
future action appears unlikely. At the end of the period covered by
this report, school officials had the discretion regarding whether and
how to accommodate holy days or obligation of any religious group when
scheduling exams.
Because of increasing concerns about vandalism and cheating in
schools, school administrators attempted to target sources of
``misbehavior'' among students during the reporting period. Some
administrators attributed acts of misbehavior to occultism and
attempted to regulate student behavior in this regard. By the end of
the reporting period, there was no official government policy targeting
students perceived as partaking in occultism.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III: Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations between the various religious communities were generally
amicable and spokespersons for these communities often advocate
tolerance towards different religions; however, there was occasional
tension among some religious groups.
Public discussion continued over religious worship versus
traditional practices and respect for the rights and customs of others
in a diverse society. While some religious leaders actively discouraged
religiously motivated violence, discrimination, or harassment; others,
particularly lay persons associated with evangelical groups, continued
to preach intolerance for other religions such as Islam and traditional
religions. In an address during the first quarter of 2006, the
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana,
Reverend Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso, described the practice whereby
Christian leaders who honor the programs and share the same platforms
with non-Christians and practitioners of other religions as dangerous.
In June 2006 the media reported physical tensions between the
Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and Ga traditional authority, a
chieftaincy group for ethnic Gas in the Accra area, when members from
each group physically confronted each other. This incident developed
when the CAC violated the annual monthly ban on drumming imposed by
traditional authorities in Accra. For years CAC's use of drumming and
other musical instruments in their services was a source of tension
between this group and the Ga traditional authority and in 2001
resulted in violence.
In December 2005 the Volta Regional Police Command banned the
annual convention of the Apostles Revelation Society at Tadzewu, the
headquarters of the Apostles Revelation Society church. The police took
this step to deter a possible outbreak of violence expected to erupt
between factions within the group. After the natural death of its
founder, the group has been beset by a series of conflicts between
factions, leading to court suits, threats, and skirmishes. This is the
second year the convention has been banned. In December 2004, the Volta
Regional Security Council (REGSEC) banned the 2004 annual convention
for the same reasons.
Some Muslims continued to feel a sense of political and social
exclusion as Christianity continued to pervade many aspects of society.
Factors such as the token representation of Muslims in national
leadership positions, the deferral to only Christian-oriented prayers
in public settings, and the ubiquity of Christian slogans contributed
to this perception of marginalization and discrimination within the
Muslim community.
In addition to Islam, some religious practices deriving from
indigenous customs also faced discrimination. Trokosi, a religious
practice indigenous to the southern Volta region, involves pledging
family members, most commonly teenagers but sometimes children under
the age of ten, to extended service at a shrine to atone for another
family member's sins. Trokosis (the pledged family member) help with
the upkeep of these shrines and pour libations during prayers. Trokosis
sometimes live near shrines, often with extended family members, during
their period of service, which lasts from a few months to three years.
Reports on the number of women and girls bound to various Trokosi
shrines varied; however, a shrine rarely had more than four Trokosis
serving their atonements at any one time. According to credible reports
from international observers and local leaders, there were no more than
fifty girls serving at Trokosi shrines throughout the Volta Region.
Reports by local leaders, district authorities, shrine priests, elders,
and human rights activists indicated that the incidence of Trokosi was
declining considerably.
According to human rights groups, the practice decreased in recent
years because other belief systems gained followers, and fetish priests
who died were not replaced. Adherents of Trokosi described it as a
practice based on traditional African religious beliefs; however, the
Government did not recognize it as a religion.
Although local officials portray Trokosis as a traditional practice
that was not abusive, some NGOs maintained that Trokosis were subject
to sexual exploitation and forced labor. Meanwhile, supporters of
traditional African religions, such as the Afrikania Renaissance
Mission, said that these NGOs misrepresent their beliefs and regarded
their campaigns against Trokosi as religious persecution. Government
agencies, such as CHRAJ, had at times actively campaigned against it.
Belief in witchcraft remained strong in many areas. Rural women
continued to be banished by traditional village authorities or their
families for suspected witchcraft. Most accused witches were older
women, often widows, who were identified by fellow villagers as the
cause of difficulties, such as illness, crop failure, or financial
misfortune. Many of these banished women were sent to live in ``witch
camps,'' villages in the north of the country populated by suspected
witches. The women did not face formal legal sanction if they return
home; however, most feared that they would be beaten or lynched if they
returned to their villages. Fearing violence against them, many women
accused of being witches did not pursue legal action to challenge
charges against them and return to their community.
This practice was prevalent mainly in the Northern, Upper East, and
Upper West regions of the country. While there were no official figures
on the number of accused women living in ``witch camps,'' NGOs
conducting sensitization workshops in the North, estimate this number
to be near 3,000. Even though the number of named witches present in
the camps was quite high, the numbers had stabilized over the past few
years and were slowly decreasing. Outreach and community sensitization
by various NGOs have made considerable progress in rehabilitating the
accused women back into their communities and preventing acts of
violence against them.
There were several cases of lynching and assault of accused witches
although the law provides protection for alleged witches. The
Government, under the auspices of the Domestic Violence Victim Support
Unit, continued to prosecute persons who committed acts of violence
against suspected witches and also refrained from charging anyone
solely on the basis of witchcraft. In September Yendi police arrested a
Tamabo farmer for allegedly cudgeling to death a woman suspected of
being a witch. In August 2004 the court sentenced a man to death for
killing his wife, who he believed was a witch. Both cases remained
opened at the end of the period covered by this reporting period.
Human rights activists continued to express concerns about prayer
camps in which individuals believed to be possessed by evil spirits are
chained for weeks, physically assaulted, and denied food and water. In
2003, Youth Alert Network found that 80 percent of the fifty Volta
Region prayer camps it surveyed engaged in such practices. Among the
victims were family members who were blamed for misfortunes and the
mentally ill, some reportedly as young as six years old. Families sent
these victims to be exorcised of evil spirits. The victims were held at
the camps until they were considered healed. Media reports indicate
that these abusive practices extend to the Greater Accra, Eastern,
Central, Western, Ashanti, and Brong Ahafo regions. CHRAJ, the
Department of Social Welfare, and the National Commission for Civic
Education agreed to investigate, but were hindered by a lack of
resources and staff. At the end of the period covered by this report,
no investigations were initiated.
As in the past, there were several cases of parents who denied
minors medical treatment and polio immunization because medical
assistance was incompatible with their religious beliefs. In April
2005, health personnel and volunteers were unable to vaccinate children
for polio whose parents belonged to the Jesus Christ Apostolic Faith
Church, at Agona Asafo in the Central Region, a church which has
persistently refused to allow its children to be immunized. During the
same month, government authorities took a 14-year-old girl from parents
who belonged to this denomination when they would not allow their
daughter to have an operation to remove a potentially fatal tumor.
Following a court order secured by the Department of Social Welfare for
her custody, a successful surgery was performed on the girl. She was
being cared for by the Shelter for Abused Children at Osu. The shelter
is under the supervision of the Department of Social Welfare and
receives funding from philanthropists.
Unlike in previous years when anti-Semitic statements were
expressed in two of the country's weekly newspapers, no anti-Semitic
statements were known to be reported throughout the country.
Relations across different Muslim groups continued to improve
during the reporting period, particularly between the Tijanniya and
Ahlussuna Muslim groups. In the past, relations between these two
groups were contentious due to their doctrinal differences. Recently
formed NGOs, such as the Coalition of Muslim Organizations and Ghana
Congress of Religions and Peace, contributed to these improved
relations by coordinating dialogues and collaborations amongst
different Muslim groups.
The Coalition of Muslim Organizations(COMOG), an umbrella group for
various Muslim organizations, was formed in 2001 to help strengthen
relations and coordination amongst different Muslim groups. In 2005
COMOG held a National conference on public concerns regarding the
handling of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage. COMOG held two
conferences during the reporting period on Muslim leadership and later
held press events in connection with the Danish cartoon of Mohammed.
Improved relations between religious groups were also aided by the
creation of the Ghana Congress of Religions and Peace (GCRP) in July
2005. Modeled after the World Congress of Religion and Peace, it is
composed of Christian and Muslim leaders and aims to foster tolerance
between these two religious groups. As part of its activities, the GCRP
lobbied government on issues of religious freedom, family planning and
anti-abortion laws, and campaigned for compassion for those afflicted
with HIV/AIDS. As evidenced by the President's attendance of GCRP's
inauguration ceremony, the GCRP is recognized by the Ghanaian
government and enjoyed good relations with the Government during the
reporting period.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officers continued to meet regularly with government and
NGO contacts. In addition to mediating the case of SDA students at the
University of Ghana, embassy officials worked with these contacts to
promote and monitor religious freedom throughout the country. In June
2006, for example, an embassy official visited a ``witch camp'' in
Gambaga in Northern Ghana as part of a religious freedom outreach
effort.
Outreach to the Muslim community, which suffers from poor economic
and social conditions for reasons independent of their religion, has
been a focal point of the U.S. embassy's activities since 2002.
In late 2005, the embassy organized several iftar programs
throughout the country, including dinners and food donations, in which
embassy officials spoke about the importance of religious tolerance and
encouraged collaboration between religious groups both within and
across different denominations. Under this framework, the ambassador
hosted a large Iftar at her residence to which representatives from all
Muslim sects were invited. In a symbolic act of tolerance and
acceptance, the Ambassador met with Muslim members of the mainstream
Tijaniya group as well as with members of the Amadias, who are often
shunned by Tijaniyas, during another iftar in Wa. In Tamale, a Catholic
priest also spoke publicly about promoting good Muslim-Christian
relations during another embassy-sponsored iftar.
Since 2002, outreach to the Muslim community, which suffers from
poor economic and social conditions for reasons independent of their
religious beliefs and practice, has been a focal point of the embassy's
activities. Under this framework, embassy officers attended Muslim
functions and hosted several events with Muslims leaders in the Accra,
Kumasi, and Tamale regions. These events served to promote interfaith
dialogue and raise awareness of potential programming opportunities
with the United States that would benefit Muslims in their communities.
Among the programs discussed and implemented was the International
Visitors program--a U.S State Department initiative which sponsored the
travel of several Muslims to the United States. Through the program,
participants were exposed to forms of promoting religious tolerance
within diverse communities. Under its Democracy and Governance program,
USAID also worked in collaboration with the embassy, Muslim leaders,
and communities in Kumasi to improve their capacity to work effectively
with local government officials on key development issues affecting
local Muslim populations.
__________
GUINEA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
However, the Government reportedly favored Muslims over non-Muslims.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 94,926 square miles, and its population
is an estimated 9.2 million. Islam is demographically, socially, and
culturally the dominant religion. According to credible estimates,
approximately 85 percent of the population adhered to Islam, 10 percent
followed various Christian faiths, and 5 percent held traditional
indigenous beliefs. Muslims generally adhered to the Sunni branch of
Islam; there were relatively few adherents of the Shi'a branch,
although they were increasing in number. Among the Christian groups,
there were Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Seventh-day Adventists, and other Christian evangelical groups active
in the country and recognized by the Government. There was a small
Baha'i community. There were small numbers of Hindus, Buddhists, and
practitioners of traditional Chinese religions among the expatriate
community. Few citizens, if any, professed atheism.
Although there were no known organized heterogeneous or
syncretistic religious communities, followers of Islam and Christianity
have incorporated syncretistic tendencies into the practice of both,
reflecting the continuing influence and acceptability of traditional
indigenous beliefs and rituals.
Demographically, Muslims were a majority in all four major regions
of the country. Christians were most numerous in Conakry, in the
southern part of the country, and in the eastern forest region.
Christians were also found in all large towns except those in the Fouta
Djalon region in the middle of the country, where the deep cultural
entrenchment of Islam in Pular (or Fulani or Peuhl) society made it
difficult to establish other religious communities. Traditional
indigenous religions were most prevalent in the forest region.
No data were available regarding active participation in formal
religious services or rituals, although involvement was high as
traditional cultural rituals were often closely tied to religious
practices. The Ministry of the National Islamic League estimated that
more than 70 percent of Muslims practiced their faith regularly.
The country's large immigrant and refugee populations generally
practiced the same faiths as citizens, although those from neighboring
Liberia and Sierra Leone had higher percentages of Christians and
adherents of traditional indigenous religions.
Foreign missionary groups were active in the country and included
Catholic, Philafricaine, Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and many
U.S. missionary societies.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion; however, some believed the Government
favors Muslims over non-Muslims through its support of the Ministry of
the National Islamic League.
Both Muslim and Christian holy days are recognized by the
Government and celebrated by the population. Holy days celebrated as
national holidays include Easter, Assumption Day, Christmas, Tabaski,
the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Ramadan.
The Government-controlled official press, which includes the Horoya
newspaper and the Guinean Radio and TV network, reports on religious
events involving Islamic and Christian groups. On August 20, 2005,
President Conte signed the decree authorizing private radio and
television broadcasting but prohibiting ownership by religious groups
or political parties. The Ministry of Information confirmed, however,
that religious and political broadcasting would be permitted on
privately owned, commercial radio. The Government allocated seventy-
five minutes per week for both Muslim and Christian programming on
state-owned, national television.
All religious groups newly operating in the country are required to
register with the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Only one
religious group, suspected to be linked to an extremist network, was
denied recognition. Registration entitles religious organizations to
value-added tax (VAT) exemptions on incoming shipments and some energy
subsidies. Unregistered religious groups continued to operate in the
country; however, they are not entitled to VAT exemptions and other
benefits available to registered groups. Also, unregistered religious
groups are subject to government expulsion, a penalty with limited
opportunity for legal appeal. In practice, no groups have been
expelled.
Islamic organizations are also required to register with the
Ministry of the National Islamic League. The ministry reported that it
denied only one of the applications, from a U.K.-based group,
prohibiting the organization to practice in the country. This was the
same group denied recognition by the Ministry of Territorial
Administration.
The small Baha'i community practiced its faith openly and freely,
although it was not officially recognized. It was unknown whether the
community had asked for official recognition.
Like other religious groups seeking government recognition,
missionary groups are required to apply and declare their aims and
activities to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Most new
missionary groups join the Association of Churches and Missions in
Guinea (AEMEG) and receive assistance in fulfilling the administrative
requirements of the recognition process.
With rare exceptions, foreign missionary groups and church-
affiliated relief agencies operated freely in the country.
During the period covered by this report, the Government continued
to require foreign members of missionary and church groups, without
diplomatic status, to pay a visa fee. The past policy of waiving visa
fees for members of church groups no longer applied.
All private schools are required to register with the Ministry of
Pre-University and Civic Education. The Service for Statistics and
Planning, which is part of the Ministry of Pre-University and Civic
Education, officially monitors all secular and religious private
schools to ensure they follow the standard national curriculum. Due to
the high demand for education and the inadequate supply of teachers and
schools in urban areas, the number of unregistered private schools
grew. Because of limited government resources, unregistered schools
were not closed but rather were either neglected or ignored by
government authorities. However, students at unregistered schools may
graduate without any recognized credentials or certificates. While
there were some government-financed ``Franco-Arab'' schools, all of
which included religious instruction in their curriculum, the vast
majority of students attended secular public schools.
There is a general tradition of Qur'anic schools throughout the
country. Qur'anic schools are particularly strong in the Fouta Djalon
region, which was ruled as an Islamic theocracy during the eighteenth
century.
There are a few scattered madrassahs across the country, schools
usually associated with a mosque. Private radical Islamic groups
sponsored some of these schools with foreign funds. The madrassahs were
not formally linked with the public school system; however, some of
these schools offered a comparable curriculum for primary education. In
general, they were not recognized by the Government. As with other
private schools, madrassahs may be closed arbitrarily, since they do
not have official recognition.
Missionaries also operate their own schools with no interference
from the Government. Catholic and Protestant schools are located
primarily in Conakry, but there are some throughout the rest of country
as well. Christian missionary schools teach the national curriculum
(which is not influenced by religion) and include a special education
component for Christians.
The Government did not have a specific program to promote
interfaith understanding. The former government Inter-Religious
Council, composed of members from Anglican, Catholic, and Protestant
churches and the Ministry of the National Islamic League, suspended its
activities. However, the Government invited all religious groups to
participate in its civic education efforts and included different
religious groups in its national prayers for peace.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Ministry of the National Islamic League represents the
country's Sunni Muslim majority. The ministry's stated policy is to
promote better relations with other religious denominations and
dialogue aimed at ameliorating interethnic and interreligious tensions.
The Government has spoken out against the proliferation of Shi'a
fundamentalist groups on the grounds that they ``generate confusion and
deviation'' within the country's Islamic family. At the end of the
period covered by this report, the foreign-funded Shi'a Islamic school
to which the Government denied permission to open in 2004 remained
closed; otherwise, the religious activities of Shi'a groups were not
restricted. There were Shi'a officials represented in the Ministry of
the National Islamic League.
Government support of Islam through the Ministry of the National
Islamic League led some non-Muslims to claim the Government uses its
influence to favor Muslims over non-Muslims. The Government sometimes
provides assistance such as vehicles and lodging for events involving
other faith groups, and it has approved funding for members of the
Association of Churches and Evangelic Missions in Guinea. However, some
were dissatisfied that no official governmental entity existed for non-
Muslim religions. Non-Muslims were represented in the cabinet,
administrative bureaucracy, and armed forces; however, the Government
refrained from appointing non-Muslims to important administrative
positions in certain parts of the country, in deference to the strong
social dominance of Islam in these regions.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among the various religious groups generally were
amicable; however, in some parts of the country, Islam's dominance was
such that there was strong social pressure that discouraged conversion
from Islam. There were reports that this pressure sometimes limited or
retarded efforts to acquire land for religious use by other faiths.
In October 2005 there was religiously motivated violence between
the predominantly Muslim Koniankes and the predominantly Christian
Guerzes in N'Zerekore in the Forest Region. During Ramadan, violence
erupted after the Koniankes complained that music from a Guerze baptism
disturbed prayers at a nearby mosque. Several persons were injured and
property destroyed, and police detained approximately fifty persons.
Some of the detainees were held for approximately two weeks and charged
with disorderly conduct. All were released, some only after repair
costs were reimbursed, and some had legal cases pending.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintains contact with clergy and religious leaders from
all major religious communities and monitors developments affecting
religious freedom. The mission initiated a partnership with the
Ministry of the National Islamic League and representatives from both
organizations meet regularly to discuss issues and develop programs of
mutual concern.
The embassy sponsored lectures and seminars that provided
information on the religious diversity found in American society. The
embassy regularly includes members of the Islamic League in public
outreach programming because mosques play an important role in
disseminating information in local communities. The embassy distributed
remaining copies of the U.S. government-sponsored Arabic language
magazine Hi to imams and mosques and a former International Visitor
Program grantee moderated a program to introduce Hi Magazine to
community leaders and students. The director of the Islamic Center in
Kankan gave an interview to Rural Radio and a lecture in Malinke
language about his very positive experience on an International Visitor
program on leadership in the Muslim community. A particularly intense
debate on ways to foster mutual understanding was launched within the
forum of an embassy-sponsored book discussion.
The ambassador and other U.S. officials raised religious freedom
concerns with the Minister of the National Islamic League, the senior
imam of Conakry, and religious leaders outside the capital.
__________
GUINEA-BISSAU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was little change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
However, in March 2005, the Government prohibited Ahmadiyya activity in
the country.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. In 2005 a dispute between
local Muslims and Ahmadis in the city of Gabu resulted in injuries to
four Ahmadis. There has been no violence since.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 13,948 square miles, and its population
is approximately 1.5 million. An estimated 38 to 45 percent of the
population was Muslim; and between 5 and 13 percent was Christian. The
remainder of the population followed traditional indigenous or animist
religious practices. There were few atheists.
Christians belonged to a number of groups, including the Roman
Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations. Christians were
concentrated in Bissau and other large towns. Islam was practiced most
widely by the Fula and Mandinka ethnic groups, and Muslims generally
lived in the north and northeast. Practitioners of traditional
religions inhabited the remainder of the country. Virtually all Muslims
were Sunni. The Ahmadiyya were not confined to any particular
geographic region. Their numbers were extremely small; there were no
reliable data on number of adherents. With the 2005 banning of
Ahmadiyya activities, followers had mostly returned to practicing the
same form of Sunni Islam that other Muslims in the country practice.
Missionaries from numerous Christian denominations operated in the
country without restriction.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion. Members of all major faiths were
represented in the national assembly.
Christmas is the only holy day considered a national holiday.
The Government requires that religious groups be licensed and
reportedly has not refused any applications. There were no reports that
new applications were made during the period covered by this report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, in March 2005, following a dispute in
the previous month between Muslims and members of the Ahmadiyya faith
in the eastern city of Gabu, the Government prohibited Ahmadi activity,
contending that Ahmadi activities, including the group's practice of
paying locals to attend services, were disruptive.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. Society was generally tolerant on
religious matters; however, a high illiteracy rate leaves many easily
susceptible to misinformation and manipulation by local leaders and
others.
In February 2005 a dispute between local Muslims and Ahmadis in the
city of Gabu resulted in injuries to four Ahmadis before police
intervened.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. Since
there is no U.S. embassy in Bissau, the capital, the U.S. embassy in
Dakar, Senegal, handled all official contact with the country.
The embassy maintained relations with leaders of major religious
organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and missionary groups in
the country, including the National Islamic Council and the Catholic
bishops. Two Qur'anic schoolteachers have participated in the embassy's
English Language Program and a third was scheduled for the summer of
2006. The embassy continued to seek opportunities to further the
understanding of religious freedom in the United States through public
diplomacy programs, such as the International Visitors Program and
dissemination of publications promoting tolerance.
__________
KENYA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion;
however, some Muslim leaders continued to charge that the Government is
hostile toward Muslims.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, although some Muslims
perceived themselves to be treated as second-class citizens in a
predominantly Christian country. There were some interfaith movements,
but the Ufungamano Initiative, which previously grouped Muslims and
Christians, included only Christians.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 225,000 square miles and a
population of 34.7 million; approximately 88 percent lived in rural
areas. Protestants were the largest religious group, representing
approximately 45 percent of the population. Roman Catholics represented
33 percent of the population. Ten percent of the population practiced
Islam, 1 percent practiced Hinduism, and the remainder followed various
traditional indigenous religions or offshoots of Christian religions.
There were very few atheists. Some sources disputed these figures;
Muslim groups often claimed to represent 15 to 20 percent of the
population, sometimes even more. Other sources also considered the 10
percent figure too low.
Most religious groups were active throughout the country, but
certain groups dominated particular regions. For example, North Eastern
Province, where the population was chiefly Somali, was mostly Muslim.
Muslims also predominated in Coast Province, except for its western
areas, which mostly were Christian. Eastern Province was approximately
50 percent Muslim (primarily in the north) and 50 percent Christian
(primarily in the south). The rest of the country was largely
Christian, with some persons practicing traditional indigenous
religions.
Many foreign missionary groups operated, the largest of which were
the African Inland Mission (evangelical Protestant), the Southern
Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Assembly of Kenya, and the Church
Missionary Society of Britain (Anglican). The Government generally
permitted these missionary groups to assist the poor and to operate
schools and hospitals. Missionaries openly promoted their religious
beliefs and encountered little resistance.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. However, Muslim
and Christian groups remained engaged in a long-standing debate over
whether special Islamic courts should be recognized in the country's
constitution, which was under review at the end of the period covered
by this report. Muslim groups have also voiced concerns regarding a
proposed antiterrorism bill and government assistance to Islamic
schools.
The constitution and the Kadhis' Courts Act of 1967 established a
venue to have certain types of civil cases adjudicated based on Islamic
law. The constitution provides for the establishment of Kadhis' courts
where ``all the parties profess the Muslim religion'' in suits
addressing ``questions of Muslim law relating to personal status,
marriage, divorce, or inheritance.'' Kadhis' courts, however, are
``subordinate'' courts, meaning that the secular High Court has
jurisdiction to supervise any civil or criminal proceedings, and any
party involved in the proceedings may refer a question involving
interpretation to the High Court.
The Kadhis' courts issue continued to generate controversy. A
proposed draft constitution, defeated during the November 2005
referendum, retained Kadhis' courts as subordinate courts with
essentially the same jurisdictions as are included in the current
constitution. The referendum debate included heated discussion of this
issue with the Anglican Church of Kenya in June 2005 specifically
announcing its opposition to Kadhis' courts, arguing that including
Kadhis' courts in the constitution would give preferential treatment to
Muslims.
Muslim groups argued that other religious groups could establish
their own courts if necessary. They further contended that the
recognition of Kadhis' courts was a condition for the integration of
the coastal strip at the time of independence and question why
opponents now object to this system. By the end of the period covered
by this report, the effort to adopt a new constitution remained
stalemated, but the controversy over the Kadhis' courts continued to
reveal latent animosities between Christians and Muslims.
In 2003 the Government published the Suppression of Terrorism Bill.
Many observers, including the National Council of Churches of Kenya,
found the bill objectionable on human rights grounds, arguing that it
contained provisions that violate the constitution. Muslim leaders
argued that the bill specifically targets their community. In June 2004
the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, referring to the arrest of
thirty Muslims on terrorism charges, accused the Government of
targeting Muslims and applying the bill as if it were law. A new bill
was drafted in May 2006, but Muslims and human rights activists
continued to argue that the bill would inevitably discriminate against
Muslims.
The Government requires new religious organizations to register
with the Registrar of Societies, which reports to the Office of the
Attorney General. The Government allows traditional indigenous
religious organizations to register, although many choose not to do so.
Once registered, religious organizations may apply for tax-exempt
status, including exemption from paying duty on imported goods.
Although some religious organizations disagree, the Government does not
use tax laws to favor one religious group over another. Religious
organizations generally received equal treatment from the Government;
however, some small splinter groups found it difficult to register when
the Government viewed them as an offshoot of a larger religious
organization.
In areas that are largely Christian, there are morning prayers in
public schools. All children participate in the assembly but are not
punished if they remain silent during prayers. Often churches provide
the land and the buildings for the schools, while the Government
provides the teachers. This has led to disputes over school management
and occasionally to the closing of schools. In its 2003 report on
religious freedom in public schools, the Standing Committee on Human
Rights found that the Africa Inland Church (AIC) infringed on students'
freedom of worship. The AIC sponsors a number of schools, some of which
are public. The report found that the AIC compelled all students
admitted to its schools to adhere to its beliefs, which contradicts the
constitution.
Islamic and Hindu institutions sponsor a few public schools that
the Government supports through payment of teachers' salaries and the
provision of equipment. Some Muslims have expressed concern that the
lack of a university in Coast Province, which has a large Muslim
population, hinders educational opportunities for Muslims; however,
higher education is available to Muslim students in other regions. In
the past some Muslims voiced opposition to a government program,
financed in part by the U.S. government, which works with Islamic
schools to improve the quality and efficiency of primary education.
They charged that the aim of this program is to dilute the teaching of
``true'' Islam.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has approved
regional radio and television broadcast licenses for several Muslim and
Christian groups. The petition of the Catholic Church for a national
frequency was not resolved by the end of the period covered by this
report. To date no media organization except the government-owned Kenya
Broadcasting Corporation has been granted a national frequency;
however, some organizations--both secular and religious--have been
assigned a series of regional broadcasting frequencies to give their
broadcasts national reach.
The Government celebrates several holy days as national holidays,
including Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid
al-Adha.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, some Muslim leaders charged that the
Government is hostile toward Muslims. The leaders claimed that, since
the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, the 2002 terrorist
attacks in Mombasa, and terrorist attacks elsewhere, government
discrimination against their community has worsened, especially demands
for identity documents. According to these leaders, authorities more
rigorously scrutinize the identification cards of persons with Muslim
surnames and sometimes require additional documentation of citizenship,
such as birth certificates of parents and even grandparents. The
Government stated that this heightened scrutiny is an attempt to deter
illegal immigration rather than to discriminate against religious
affiliation.
Practicing witchcraft is a criminal offense under colonial-era
laws; however, persons generally were prosecuted for this offense only
in conjunction with some other charge, such as murder. The practice of
witchcraft is understood widely to encompass attempts to harm others
not only by magic but also by covert means such as poisons. Although
many traditional indigenous religions include or accommodate belief in
the efficacy of witchcraft, they generally approve of harmful
witchcraft only for defensive or retaliatory purposes and purport to
offer protection against it.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
A public opinion poll carried out in late 2004 asked respondents
which human rights they thought were abused in the country. Only 7
percent included freedom of worship as a problem, with this right
ranking twenty-second out of the twenty-six rights listed. However, in
the heavily Muslim Coast Province, 31 percent believed respect for
freedom of religion was a problem.
Prominent local Muslims continued to charge the Government with
arbitrarily harassing Muslims in the guise of combating terrorism. In
2004 a Somali-Kenyan Member of Parliament wrote a letter to a leading
newspaper citing several cases of what he alleged were arbitrary
arrests and deportation of Muslims.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There generally is a great level of tolerance among religious
groups, although some Muslims perceive themselves to be treated as
second-class citizens in a predominantly Christian country.
Intermarriage between members of Christian denominations is common, and
interfaith prayer services occur frequently. Intermarriage between
Muslims and Christians, although less frequent, also is socially
acceptable.
For years Muslims and Christians have held an open debate over
their respective places in society, at times undermining mutual trust.
Each group claims to have a larger number of adherents than is
plausible, and some Muslim groups believe that the Government and
business communities deliberately impede development in predominantly
Muslim areas.
On May 13, 2006, masked gunmen stormed Hope FM, a radio station
headquartered at Nairobi Pentecostal Church, killing one person,
shooting three others, and setting the property on fire. At the end of
the period covered by this report, officials had not concluded whether
the attack was motivated by religious intolerance. The investigation
was ongoing.
An April 7, 2006, media report indicated that three AIC
missionaries had been expelled from Wajir, a predominantly Muslim area
in the North Eastern Province, for proselytizing and allegedly
converting thirty persons to Christianity. There were no further
developments in this case at the end of the period covered by this
report.
In April 2004 a mob killed a man in Mt. Elgon whom they accused of
practicing witchcraft. Villagers claimed they had found witchcraft
paraphernalia in the man's house and blamed him for the death of 810
persons. In June 2005 a couple was arrested in Western Kenya under the
Witchcraft Act for allegedly possessing charms. Unlike similar cases in
past years, no one alleged that these incidents were politically
motivated. No further action was reported in either of these cases.
In December 2005 two persons appeared in court for the alleged
murder in early November of two family members whom they suspected of
practicing witchcraft. The case was pending at the end of the reporting
period.
There were no further developments in the May 2004 case in which
police arrested a Nigerian pastor, a prominent doctor, and six other
members of Winners Chapel International in the Western Province town of
Kitale and charged them with torturing a church member. Local
newspapers alleged that the man was tortured to force him to give up
his child as a human sacrifice.
There have been reports of intolerance, sometimes degenerating into
physical assaults, among refugee groups in the country. Some instances
have been sparked by perceived violations of Somali traditions on
marriage and dress.
There have been efforts to bridge religious divides drawing
supporters from a broad spectrum of Christian, Hindu, and Muslim
groups. The focus of these programs has been to promote interfaith
dialogue, reduce ethnic conflict, and mitigate other societal problems
such as female genital mutilation.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy has made a concerted effort to bridge the gaps that exist
between Muslims and Christians. Embassy officials maintain regular
contact with all religious communities. Recognizing the key role of
religious leaders and organizations during the constitutional
referendum debate, the ambassador hosted a meeting with religious
leaders to discuss issues affecting their communities.
The ambassador and embassy officials routinely travel throughout
the country to meet with religious and community leaders to facilitate
dialogue on religious freedom. The U.S. government also provides grants
to many communities that, for historical and religious reasons,
perceive themselves to have been marginalized by previous governments.
These grants include support for civic action programs that build and
repair schools in Muslim and other marginalized areas.
__________
LESOTHO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 11,720 square miles, and the Government
reported that its population was 1.8 million.
Christianity was the dominant religion. The Christian Council of
Lesotho, made up of representatives of all major Christian churches in
the country, estimated that approximately 90 percent of the population
was Christian. Roman Catholics represented 45 percent of the
population, Lesotho Evangelical 26 percent, and Anglican and other
Christian denominations an additional 19 percent. Muslims, Hindus,
Buddhists, and members of traditional indigenous religions comprised
the remaining 10 percent of the population.
While Christians could be found throughout the country, Muslims
lived mainly in the northeast. Most practitioners of Islam were of
Asian origin, while the majority of Christians were the indigenous
Basotho. Many Christians practiced their traditional cultural beliefs
and rituals along with Christianity. The Catholic Church has fused some
aspects of local culture into its services; for example, the singing of
hymns during services has developed into a traditional call and
response in Sesotho--the indigenous language--as well as English. In
addition, priests dressed in traditional local attire during services.
The pre-Christian indigenous religion, whose priesthood is called
Songoma, influenced all religious practices.
The Muslim community had seven small mosques. With the assistance
of the Libyan embassy, the community tried to build a larger mosque,
training center, and madrassah; however, the community claimed it was
hindered by bureaucratic delays.
Missionaries active in the country represented evangelical and
traditional Protestant and Catholic churches from North America,
Europe, and South Africa; Muslim groups from the subcontinent; and
Buddhist groups from East Asia.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion and no evidence that the Government favors any particular
religion.
There are four religious holy days that are also national holidays:
Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, and Christmas.
The Government has no established requirements for religious group
recognition. Generally, the Government does not provide benefits to
religious groups. Any religious group may apply for a waiver of taxes
on charitable donations from outside the country; however, in practice
few, if any, waivers are given. Under the Societies Act, any group may
register with the Government, regardless of the purpose of the
organization. The only requirements are a constitution and a leadership
committee. Unregistered groups are not eligible for any government
benefits, such as duty-free import permits for donated items or tax
relief on donated funds. There are no penalties for not registering,
and it is common for informal church groups not to register.
According to immigration and labor officials, they scrutinize visas
for Nigerian missionaries coming to work in the country due to reports
of past questionable business dealings by some Nigerian missionaries.
The strong Catholic presence led to the establishment of Catholic
schools in the last century, and to their influence over education
policy. However, the influence of the Catholic Church has decreased in
recent years, and it now owns less than 40 percent of all primary and
secondary schools. The Ministry of Education pays and certifies all
teachers, and it requires a standard curriculum for both secular and
parochial schools. Parents are free to send their children to parochial
schools of their choice; however, in practice this choice is
constrained in many parts of the country by a lack of schools.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Mutual understanding and
cooperation between Christians and Muslims is the norm. There were
ecumenical efforts to promote tolerance and cooperation on social
matters.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy and local religious leaders discussed their roles in
maintaining political peace and assisting with the consolidation of
democracy.
__________
LIBERIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The period of
this report covers two governments: The National Transitional
Government of Liberia (NTGL), an interim administration composed of
members of previously warring factions that served from October 2003 to
December 2006, and the democratically elected government installed on
January 16, 2006.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Despite frequent interaction
among religious groups, some tension remained evident. Some in the
Muslim minority complained that Christian holy days are observed by the
Government as public holidays but Muslim holy days are not. Some
Muslims were dissatisfied with the Government's decision to keep shops
and markets closed on Sundays. Land disputes between Mandingos and
other ethnic groups in Lofa, Nimba, and Bong counties were being
resolved; and no violence erupted surrounding any of these problems.
The October 2004 three-day rioting, in which several mosques and
churches were destroyed, was not repeated. A commission was established
to investigate the October incident, and while the report was not made
public, the proximate cause of the rioting was believed to be a land
dispute, not a religiously motivated attack. No rioting since October
2004 resulted in the destruction of churches or mosques.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. government promotes religious freedom by participating in and
hosting interfaith events and by meeting regularly with prominent
members of various religious communities.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 43,000 square miles, and its population
is estimated at 3.4 million. As much as 40 percent of the population
practiced either Christianity or Christianity combined with elements of
traditional indigenous religions. Approximately 40 percent exclusively
practiced traditional indigenous religions. Approximately 20 percent of
the population practiced Islam, which continued to gain adherents. A
small percentage was Baha'i, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, or atheist.
Christian denominations included the Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal,
Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, African Methodist
Episcopal (AME) and AME Zion denominations, Seventh-day Adventists, and
a variety of Pentecostal churches. Some of the Pentecostal movements
were affiliated with churches outside the country, while others were
independent.
The Muslim population was mainly from the Mandingo and Vai ethnic
groups, which were found predominantly in the west. Ethnic groups
throughout the country participated in the traditional religious
practices of the Poro and Sande secret societies. Christians lived
throughout the country.
A large number of foreign missionary groups worked in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
sought at all levels to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion. Government ceremonies open and close
with prayers and may include the singing of hymns. The prayers and
hymns are usually Christian but occasionally are Islamic. There were
several Muslim deputies and assistant ministers and approximately ten
Muslim members in the legislature.
Major Christian holy days, including Fast and Prayer Day, Easter,
Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas, are observed as national holidays,
while Islamic holy days are not. The Government mandates that public
businesses and markets, including Muslim businesses and shops, remain
closed on Sundays and major Christian holy days, an issue that Muslim
leaders have brought to the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional for the Government
to allow market closures on Sundays on the grounds that markets needed
to be cleaned once a week. There is no legal requirement to excuse
Muslims from employment or classes for Friday prayers, although some
employers do so.
All organizations, including religious groups, must register their
articles of incorporation with the Government, along with a statement
of the purpose of the organization. Registration is routine, and there
were no reports that the registration process was burdensome or
discriminatory. Traditional indigenous religious groups are not
required to register and generally do not.
The Government permits, but does not require, religious instruction
in public schools. Religious education, particularly Christian
education, is taught in public schools but is not mandatory. Students
can opt out of religious instruction, and parents may enroll their
children in private schools for religious reasons.
The Government has not specifically dedicated material resources to
anti-bias and religious tolerance education. However, it is supportive
of efforts to promote interfaith understanding.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Although some Muslims hold senior government positions, many
Muslims believed that there is need for greater representation within
the Government. Some Muslim leaders felt that certain Muslim holidays
should be celebrated by the Government, since many Christian holidays
are celebrated.
High-level government officials were required to take oaths when
assuming their new office. Christians kissed the Bible, and Muslims
kissed the Qu'ran.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions contributed to
religious freedom. The Inter-Religious Council promotes dialogue among
various religious communities.
In October 2004 a property dispute escalated into widespread
violence between Mandingos, who are predominantly Muslim, and other
predominantly Christian ethnic groups. The violence broke out in
Monrovia and spread to Kakata and other nearby towns and villages. At
least twenty-five persons were killed, and several mosques and churches
were looted and burned. The United Nations Peacekeepers (UNMIL) brought
the situation under control after three days. The violence was widely
regarded as a reflection of a land dispute with ethnic overtones rather
than religious tensions.
The country's civil war, which ended in 2003, had a religious
undertone in that the LURD rebels were mostly Muslim Mandingos while
government troops were mostly animists and Christians. Ethnic tensions
persisted between the Mandingo and several other ethnic groups.
Ritual killings, in which killers remove body parts from their
victims for use in traditional rituals, reportedly occurred during the
reporting period. There was little reliable information available about
traditional religions associated with ritual killings, and the number
of such killings was difficult to ascertain. Many believe that
practitioners of traditional indigenous religions among the Grebo and
Krahn, who are concentrated in the southeast, engage in ritual
killings. Body parts of a person believed to be powerful are considered
the most effective for ritual purposes. In some cases, the rituals
reportedly involve eating body parts to gain special powers. Fighters
on all sides of the civil war reportedly engaged in such practices.
Most reports of ritual killings came from Southeastern counties.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and other embassy officers hosted events for Christian
and Muslim leaders to discuss religious freedom issues. The ambassador
and other embassy officers participated in religious ceremonies and
spoke at interfaith meetings to show support for religious freedom and
interfaith dialogue.
__________
MADAGASCAR
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 228,880 square miles, and its population
is approximately 17.5 million. Although precise official figures were
unavailable, approximately half of the population was Christian. There
were four main Christian denominations. The Roman Catholic Church was
the largest denomination, followed by the Reformed Protestant Church of
Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM). President Ravalomanana was re-
elected to a second term as lay vice-president of the FJKM in August
2004. The Lutheran and Anglican Churches accounted for most of the
remainder of the country's Christians. Most other citizens followed
traditional indigenous religions. Muslims constituted slightly less
than 10 percent of the population, with strong concentrations in the
north and the northwest. Aboriginal and ethnic Indians and Pakistanis
who immigrated over the past century made up the majority of the
Muslims in the country. There was a small number of Hindus among the
ethnic Indians. The country had a very small Jewish population.
There were several foreign missionary groups that operated freely.
Most of these were Christian and include Catholics, Seventh-day
Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Several faith-based organizations, some
with international affiliations, were involved in health and social
services, development projects, schools, and higher education.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion. President Ravalomanana has occasionally expressed a
desire to transform the country into ``a Christian state''; however,
there has been no attempt to establish a state religion, and most
believe his comments indicated a desire to enshrine Christian
principles in the day-to-day life of the country.
The law mandates that religious organizations register with the
Ministry of Interior. By registering, religious organizations acquire
the legal status necessary to receive direct bequests and other gifts.
To qualify as a religious association, groups must consist of at least
one hundred members, with an elected administrative council of no more
than nine members, each of whom must be a Malagasy citizen. If the
group's leadership and faithful are foreign (as is the case with the
majority of the country's Muslims), they have the right to form an
association ``reputed to be foreign.'' Once the association's
membership expands to one thousand members, the administrative council
may apply to be recognized as a church. The state officially recognizes
nine churches and 104 religious organizations.
Religious organizations that fail to meet the Ministry of
Interior's registration requirements are free to register as simple
associations. Simple associations do not have the right to receive
gifts or hold religious services. In 2004, ministry officials estimated
there were more than one thousand religious organizations in the
country operating without official state recognition, including both
simple associations and unregistered organizations.
The Malagasy Council of Christian Churches (FFKM) is the umbrella
organization for the country's four principal Christian denominations.
The FFKM is composed of the Roman Catholic, FJKM, Lutheran, and
Anglican Churches, and is a key player in a broad range of issues. The
FFKM is a traditional leader in education. Recently its role has
expanded to include coordinating a national campaign against HIV/AIDS
and monitoring elections. In the political arena, the FFKM has
generally served as a mediator, bringing together antagonistic
factions; however, it has occasionally taken an overt position on
political issues. During the 2001 presidential campaign and the ensuing
political crisis, it supported Marc Ravalomanana, then mayor of
Antananarivo, in his ultimately successful bid for the presidency.
President Ravalomanana's position as a lay vice-president of FJKM still
generates some allegations that church and state interests are not kept
entirely separate. In April 2005 President Ravalomanana was criticized
on these grounds following his keynote speech at a three-day World
Bank-sponsored FJKM colloquium on the role of church leaders in the
country's development.
Christian holy days such as Easter, Ascension, Pentecost,
Assumption, All Saints' Day, and Christmas are celebrated as national
holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Numerous religious organizations operate freely in all regions of
the country, often disseminating their message through public and
private media. Religious organizations are granted free access to
state-run media provided that their use constitutes a public service.
During the month of Ramadan, for example, the national television
station broadcast a daily fifteen-minute program that included the call
to prayer. During the period covered by this report, there were no
reports of any religious organizations that were denied free access to
state-run media.
On September 16, 2005 the Government banned the New Protestant
Church in Madagascar (FPVM), led by Pastor Randrianatoandro, for
illegally occupying churches assigned to the mainstream Reformed
Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM); the ban was
implemented in November. The FPVM broke away from the FJKM church in
2002 and took approximately 300,000 worshippers with it. The FPVM
claimed the owners offered the buildings, most of which were wood and
thatch huts, to the church. The FPVM challenged the ban in court, which
refused to rule on the ban, charging that only President Ravalomanana
could overturn the decision to ban a church. President Ravalomanana was
a lay vice president in the FJKM, and some observers charged that the
closure of the church was politically motivated. The FPVM appealed, and
on April 19, 2006, the Supreme Court issued an order requiring the
Government to provide proof of the basis for the ban by May 19, 2006.
As of June 15, 2006, the Government had not replied to the Supreme
Court's order.
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (EURD), banned on
January 11, 2005, for failure to properly register, was not permitted
to reopen. The Government expelled all foreign EURD pastors. Soon after
the church was banned, the Ministry of Interior confirmed receipt of
several petitions from former EURD congregations to form a new official
religious organization. The ministry stated that as long as the
applications fulfilled the legal requirement of having Malagasy
leadership, they would likely be approved. Former members of banned
organizations face higher scrutiny when petitioning for recognition as
an official religious organization. Nonetheless, the ministry approved
six new religious organizations since the abolition of the EURD in
2005.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationships among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Ethnic Malagasy occasionally
express resentment toward members of the predominantly Muslim Indo-
Pakistani (``Karana'') community. This attitude derives from the
relative economic prosperity of the Karana and is not based on their
religious affiliation. Some members of the Muslim community state that
the President's failure to invite them to events featuring religious
leaders marginalizes the community.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Representatives of the embassy regularly meet with leaders of religious
communities, including minority groups. In April 2006 representatives
of the embassy met with leaders of the Muslim community to discuss
their concerns about inclusion in Malagasy political life. The embassy
provided materials to a small library at a major mosque in
Antananarivo.
__________
MALAWI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there was some
tension between Christians and Muslims during the period covered by
this report.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 45,747 square miles, and its population
is approximately eleven million. More than 70 percent of the population
was Christian. Among the Christian denominations, the largest were the
Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian
(CCAP), with smaller numbers of Anglicans, Baptists, evangelicals, and
Seventh-day Adventists. There was a substantial Muslim minority
totaling approximately 20 percent of the population. The vast majority
of Muslims were Sunni, adhering to either the Qadriya or Sukkutu
groups. There were also Hindus, Baha'is, a small number of
Rastafarians, and followers of traditional indigenous religions. There
were few atheists.
Foreign missionary groups were present in the country, including
Protestants, Catholics, Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Islamic
aid organizations.
Regional voting trends and political affiliation sometimes
reflected the concentration of faiths in certain regions of the
country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect the constitutional right to freedom of
religion and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or
private actors. There is no state religion.
There are no separate requirements for the recognition of
religions, but religious groups must register with the Government. A
religious group must submit documentation detailing the structure and
mission of its organization along with a nominal fee for review by the
Ministry of Justice. Once approved, a religious group registers
formally with the Registrar General's Office in Blantyre. During the
period covered by this report, there were no reports that the
Government refused to register any religious groups.
The Government observes both Christian and Muslim holy days. Public
holidays in the country include Eid al-Fitr, Good Friday, Easter
Monday, and Christmas.
Foreign missionaries experienced occasional delays in renewing
employment permits. This appeared to be the result of bureaucratic
inefficiency rather than a deliberate government policy against foreign
missionaries. Missionaries and charitable workers paid lower fees for
employment permits than did other professionals.
The president, Bingu wa Mutharika, is Catholic, and the vice
president is Muslim. Several cabinet members and parliamentarians are
Muslim. President Mutharika regularly sends official regards to members
of all faiths in the country on appropriate religious holidays.
As a result of previous debate, many public schools offer a course
entitled ``Bible Knowledge,'' which is Christian oriented, and another
entitled ``Moral and Religious Education,'' which includes Muslim,
Hindu, Baha'i, and Christian material. Both courses are voluntary.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In May 2005 the Government and Rastafarian leaders came into
conflict over an unofficial ban on long hair in public schools.
Although there is no law relating to hair length, some schools
prohibited long hair as part of their dress code. Students who do not
comply risk suspension. The Rastafarian community, citing long
dreadlocks as an expression of religion, called the ban discriminatory
and threatened legal action. Government officials declared the
prohibition was against long hair, not dreadlocks, and was not intended
to infringe upon any religious rights.
Religious leaders were free to speak publicly on political and
social matters.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed
from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were
occasional tensions between Christians and Muslims that appeared to be
fueled largely by politics. Although there were no significant
conflicts, these minor tensions were especially evident following the
presidential and parliamentary elections in May 2004 and again in 2006
following an attempt by the country's Christian president to remove the
Muslim vice president from office. Christians and Muslims generally
coexisted peacefully, often participating in business or civil service
organizations together. A small Hindu minority also participated in
business and civil society.
In November 2004 a dispute between Muslims and Christians erupted
over the proper burial rites for mixed-religion families. Following the
death of a child whose Christian parents hailed from a Muslim-dominated
community, religious leaders and relatives on both sides advocated for
their views on burial rites. The dispute allegedly resulted in violence
and vandalism after a series of inflammatory remarks. A Christian
preacher was allegedly assaulted in the incident, and in May 2005
several suspects were in custody awaiting trial for assault and
malicious damage. No further action was taken in the case. The trial
had not been scheduled. The case remained unresolved at the end of the
reporting period.
During the 2004 presidential and parliamentary campaign, some
prominent Christian religious leaders frequently spoke about
corruption, the electoral process, and the candidates. The church
leaders were often openly critical of the ruling political party, and
candidates and officials took issue with the churches' statements. The
Government did not attempt to restrict remarks of religious leaders;
however, it declared that such statements deviated from the proper role
of religious leaders. Churches continued to be a significant source of
political influence, particularly in rural areas.
In 2004 a group of Muslims in Blantyre allegedly beat a Christian
preacher for refusing to hand over a copy of the Qur'an. The preacher
did not suffer serious injuries. No arrests were reported, and no
further action was taken.
At the end of the period covered by this report, the key
instigators of the 2003 riots following the deportation of five alleged
Al-Qa'ida members had not gone to trial, although the cases were turned
over to the Director of Public Prosecution. Tensions have since
decreased and no further conflict has occurred, although some Muslim
groups have continued to criticize publicly the Government's actions.
Political and community leaders have made active efforts to foster
cooperation among religious groups. For example, in 2004 presidential
and parliamentary candidates of various religious backgrounds attended
a series of ``Presidential Prayer Breakfasts'' organized by a Christian
group. Other invited guests included Muslim leaders, the diplomatic
community, and civil society leaders. In January 2006 the Government
held a national symposium to promote religious tolerance and dialogue.
The Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a nonprofit and politically
unaligned local organization, was involved prominently in promoting
religious tolerance, civic education, and human rights, and was also
active in monitoring the 2004 electoral process. PAC included
representatives of various churches and mosques. In 2005 PAC launched a
national program to sensitize religious leaders on the importance of
religious tolerance and unity among persons of all faiths.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials maintained frequent contact with leaders and members
of all religious communities in the country.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy continued to
promote religious tolerance through grants, meetings, exchange
programs, and the distribution of reading materials. In July 2005 USAID
provided funding for an eighteen-month project to introduce and
reinforce messages of interfaith tolerance and appreciation through
radio dramas, talk shows, and associated listener clubs and journalism
awards. This activity, which targeted divisions between Christian and
Muslim communities, built on the experience of a previous successful
USAID project focused on civic education. In 2004 the embassy sponsored
a local Muslim group's project to encourage interfaith civic education
and participation among rural persons of all faiths.
On several occasions, embassy officials appeared on local radio
programs, including a Radio Islam program, to discuss issues of
religious freedom and tolerance. Two Muslim journalists from Radio
Islam and The Daily Times newspaper traveled to the United States in
2004 on a U.S. government-sponsored reporting tour concerning religious
freedom in America. Upon returning to the country, the two published
positive accounts of their experiences.
American Imam Darryl Wainwright participated in a ten-day speaker
program in October 2005 that reached a large portion of the Muslim
community. He delivered important messages about religious tolerance,
education, and self-reliance that were well received.
__________
MALI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 474,764 square miles, and its population
is approximately 11.5 million. Muslims made up an estimated 90 percent
of the population; the vast majority of Muslims were Sunni.
Approximately 5 percent of the population was Christian, and the
Christian community was roughly two-thirds Catholic and one-third
Protestant. The remaining 5 percent practiced traditional indigenous
religions or no religion. Atheism and agnosticism were rare. Most
immigrants came from neighboring countries and either practiced the
majority Muslim faith or belonged to a Christian denomination. The
majority of citizens practiced their religion daily.
Christian communities tended to be located in and around urban
areas, generally in the southern regions. Groups that practiced
traditional indigenous religions were located throughout the country,
but they were most active in rural areas.
Foreign Islamic preachers operated in the north, while mosques
associated with Dawa (an Islamic fundamentalist group) were located in
Kidal, Mopti, and Bamako. Dawa has gained some adherents among
unemployed youth living in poorer neighborhoods. However, the Dawa
group's influence in Kidal was less evident than in the previous years.
The Wahhabi movement has grown in Timbuktu and Sikasso. In general, the
country's traditional approach to Islam was peaceful and moderate.
Foreign missionary groups operated in the country. The most
numerous were Christian groups based in Europe that engaged in
development work, primarily the provision of health care and education.
A number of U.S.-based Christian missionary groups also were present.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
sought at all levels to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion. The constitution defines the country as a secular state and
allows for religious practices that do not pose a threat to social
stability and peace.
The Government requires the registration of all public
associations, including religious associations; however, registration
confers no tax preference or other legal benefits, and failure to
register is not penalized in practice. The registration process is
routine and not burdensome. Traditional indigenous religions are not
required to register.
Foreign missionary groups operated without government interference,
and they did not link the benefits of their development activities to
conversion. Members of various religious groups were allowed to
proselytize freely.
Laws pertaining to marriage and divorce are based on French legal
models. Inheritance laws reflect a mixture of local, French, and
Islamic influences.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The minister of Territorial Administration and Local Collectivities
may prohibit religious publications that defame another religion;
however, there were no reports of instances of such prohibitions during
the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Adherents of different faiths
may be found within the same family. Followers of one religion attend
religious ceremonies of other religious groups, especially weddings,
baptisms, and funerals.
Prior to making important decisions on potentially controversial
national issues, the Government consults with a ``Committee of Wise
Men'' that includes the Catholic archbishop and Protestant and Muslim
leaders.
Non-Muslim missionary communities live and work in the country
without difficulty. Christian missionaries, particularly rural-based
development workers, enjoy good relations with their communities.
Islam as practiced in the country is generally tolerant and adapted
to local conditions.
In May 2005 eleven Muslims were convicted of resisting authority,
disobedience, and rebellion, and sentenced to jail terms ranging from
six months to three years for refusing to allow their children to
receive polio vaccinations. The group to which they belonged was
gaining adherents in the region and was viewed as a serious threat to
the polio eradication program since its members are taught to believe
that matters pertaining to health should remain in God's hands.
In August 2003 in the village of Yerere, traditional Sunni
practitioners attacked Wahhabi Sunnis who were building an authorized
mosque. Nine persons died and two were seriously wounded. The
Government viewed the case as a serious breach of religious freedom. On
April 11, 2005, a criminal court sentenced five of ninety-six
defendants to death. Although courts can sentence individuals to death,
the Government does not carry out death sentences in practice. Ten
defendants were sentenced to life in prison, ten others received
sentences ranging from two to ten years, and eighteen female defendants
received eight months' to two years' imprisonment. Forty-one others
received suspended sentences, and twelve persons were acquitted.
In November 2003 an individual vandalized a statue of the Virgin
Mary, shortly before the annual Catholic pilgrimage to the town of
Kita. Local authorities quickly responded to the incident, and the
responsible individual was arrested and prosecuted. Investigations
revealed that he acted independently. The court sentenced him to three
years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officers meet regularly with religious authorities and
government officials who deal with these issues. Embassy officials
expanded dialogue with Muslim groups to promote religious freedom,
mutual understanding, and the continued secularism of the Government.
The embassy maintains contact with the foreign missionary community and
works with government officials and societal leaders to promote
religious freedom.
__________
MAURITANIA
The constitution establishes the country as an Islamic republic and
recognizes Islam as the religion of its citizens and the state.
However, a military junta took power on August 3, 2005, overthrew the
elected president, dissolved parliament, suspended parts of the
constitution, and formed a transitional government. The transitional
government maintained laws regarding human rights and religious freedom
and made some advances in both areas. Both the former and transitional
governments limited freedom of religion by prohibiting the distribution
of non-Islamic religious materials and the proselytization of Muslims.
There were some changes in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 419,212 square miles, and its population
is approximately 3 million. Almost the entire population practiced
Sunni Islam. There was a very small number of non-Muslims and Roman
Catholic or denominational Christian churches in Nouakchott, Atar,
Zouerate, Nouadhibou, and Rosso. Although there were no synagogues, a
very small number of expatriates practiced Judaism.
There were several foreign faith-based nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) active in humanitarian and developmental work in
the country. The largest was World Vision, involved in food and other
aid projects. Other NGOs included World Advocates and Caritas, each
providing various services including the provision of medical care,
feeding centers, micro-finance and water treatment.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution establishes the country as an Islamic republic and
recognizes Islam as the religion of its citizens and the state. Both
the former and transitional governments limited freedom of religion by
prohibiting the distribution of non-Islamic religious materials and the
proselytization of Muslims; however, non-Muslim resident expatriates
and a few non-Muslim citizens generally practiced their religions
openly and freely.
Both the former and transitional governments and citizenry consider
Islam to be the essential cohesive element unifying the country's
various ethnic groups. There is a cabinet-level Ministry of Literacy
Programs, Islamic Orientation, and Traditional Education. The High
Council of Islam, consisting of six imams, advised the former and
transitional governments on the conformance of legislation to Islamic
precepts. Although the former and transitional governments provided a
small stipend to the imam of the Central Mosque in the capital, mosques
and Qur'anic schools were normally supported by their members and other
donors.
The former and transitional governments did not register religious
groups; however, secular NGOs, including humanitarian and development
NGOs affiliated with religious groups, must register with the Ministry
of the Interior. Nonprofit organizations, including both religious
groups and secular NGOs, generally are not subject to taxation. The
judiciary consists of a single system of courts with a modernized legal
system that conforms with the principles of Shari'a (Islamic law).
The former and transitional governments observed Muslim holy days
as national holidays, but this practice did not negatively affect other
religious groups. A magistrate of Shari'a, who heads a separate
government commission, determines the lunar dates for observing
religious holidays and addresses the nation on these days.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The implementation of Islamic law has created some limited
restrictions on religious freedom. Shari'a, proclaimed the law of the
land under a previous government in 1983, includes the Qur'anic
prohibition against apostasy or conversion to a religion other than
Islam; however, this prohibition had never been codified in civil law
or enforced. The small number of known converts from Islam suffered no
social ostracism, and there were no reports of societal or governmental
attempts to punish them during the period covered by this report.
Although there is no specific legal prohibition against
proselytizing by non-Muslims, in practice the former government
prohibited such activity through the use of Article 11 of the Press
Act. The act bans the publication of any material that is against,
contradicts, or otherwise threatens Islamic principles. The former
government viewed any attempts by practitioners of other religions to
convert Muslims as undermining society. The transitional government
effectively suspended Article 11 in April 2006 as part of its effort to
liberalize the press. However, the article's suspension was not seen as
a move to increase religious freedoms, and the transitional government
continued to prohibit the distribution of non-Islamic religious
materials and the proselytization of Muslims. Foreign faith-based NGOs
limit their activities to humanitarian and development assistance.
Under Article 11, the former government could restrict the
importation, printing, or public distribution of Bibles or other non-
Islamic religious literature. In practice, Bibles were neither printed
nor publicly sold in the country; however, the possession of Bibles and
other non-Islamic religious materials in private homes was not illegal,
and Bibles and other religious publications were available among the
small non-Islamic communities.
Except for the president, the members of the five-person
Constitutional Council, and the ten-person High Council of Magistrates
over which the president presides, government employees or members of
the ruling political party are not required to take a religious oath.
The Constitutional Council and the High Council of Magistrates advise
the president in matters of law and the constitution. The oath of
office includes a promise to God to uphold the law of the land in
conformity with Islamic precepts. However, since the August 2005 coup,
the country has not had a president or an active Constitutional
Council. Instead, the Military Council for Justice and Democracy,
headed by Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed Fal, has held power. In April 2006
the council approved certain constitutional amendments that were
overwhelmingly approved by voters in a national constitutional
referendum held June 25. One amendment established a presidential oath
of office taken in the name of God.
Both the privately run Qur'anic schools and the Government's public
schools include classes on religion. These classes teach the history
and principles of Islam and the classical Arabic of the Qur'an.
Although attendance at these religious classes is ostensibly required,
many students, the great majority of whom were Muslims, decline to
attend them for diverse ethnolinguistic and religious reasons. Since
these classes determine a disproportionately small percentage of the
overall grade, students are able to advance in school and graduate with
diplomas, provided they compensate for their failure to attend the
religion classes by their performance in other classes.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Following the 2003 crackdown on Islamic activists, the former
government closed a number of Saudi-funded and Gulf-funded Islamic
schools and charities. These organizations remained closed at the end
of the period covered by this report. The former government also closed
an Islamic charity association in 2003 for its alleged connections to
local Islamic activists. The government-funded Institute for Islamic
Science, Studies, and Research (ISERI), remained open and fully funded.
From March to July of 2005, the former government detained
approximately eighty Islamists, including Islamist leaders Cheikh
Mohamed El Hacen Ould Dedew and Moctar Ould Mohamed Moussa, who it
claimed were tied to terrorism. On May 28, 2005, the former government
charged thirty-seven with membership in unrecognized groups or for
inciting violence and making harmful political statements at mosques.
The former government released fourteen others, leaving sixty-six in
prison (thirty-seven of whom had been charged). A majority of the
arrests appeared to be based on alleged political activities rather
than religious beliefs. The transitional government released twenty-one
of the sixty-six Islamists soon after assuming power, and on September
2, 2005, released an additional twenty-four for lack of evidence,
leaving twenty-one in prison. Three prisoners escaped April 27, 2006,
leaving eighteen in prison. The transitional government stated that it
had sufficient evidence to hold the remaining eighteen for terrorist
activities and was preparing its case against them at the end of the
reporting period.
Unlike in the previous reporting period, there were no reports of
former or transitional government officials searching mosques, seizing
Qur'anic texts or arresting mosque officials. As in the previous
reporting period, both the former and transitional governments
restricted the use of mosque loudspeakers exclusively for the call to
prayer and Friday service, in accordance with a 2003 law that prohibits
the use of mosques for any form of political activity, including the
distribution of propaganda and incitement to violence.
In late 2005 a western citizen was arrested and detained for forty-
eight hours by transitional government authorities for distributing
non-Islamic religious materials to citizens. Several weeks after his
release the individual was rearrested for continued possession of non-
Islamic religious materials and was expelled from the country.
As in the previous reporting period, after police told four small
Protestant groups to stop meeting in members' homes until they received
official recognition, the transitional government continued to restrict
such meetings.
There were some instances where persons were detained for
questioning in connection with an investigation into proselytizing, but
they were released within days without charges.
No non-Islamic groups have ever been recognized, including the
Catholic Church, which operates openly in its facility in Nouakchott.
Shari'a law provides the legal principles upon which the country's
law and legal procedure are based. The testimony of two women is
necessary to equal that of one man. In addition, in awarding an
indemnity to the family of a woman who has been killed, the courts
grant only half the amount that they would award for a man's death. For
commercial and other issues not addressed specifically by Shari'a, the
law and courts treat women and men equally.
Excluding the Islamists previously mentioned, there were no
additional reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. There were no reported incidents of
interreligious violence during this period. Unlike in the previous
reporting period, there were no reports of public protests conducted
against the Government's continued recognition of Israel. However, such
protests were planned for July 2 and 4, 2006.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discussed religious freedom issues with the
former and transitional governments as part of its overall policy to
promote human rights.
The U.S. embassy monitors developments affecting religious freedom
and maintains contact with imams and the leaders of other religious
groups. These contacts include the Minister of Islamic Orientation,
Literacy Programs, and Traditional Education.
The U.S. ambassador actively engages prominent religious leaders in
a dialogue to broaden mutual understanding of religious freedom
principles and to explain the freedom with which Muslims practice their
religion in America.
As part of its continuing efforts to promote religious tolerance,
the embassy brought an American imam to the country for a week-long
visit in January and February 2006. During his visit the imam met with
several civil and religious leaders to discuss how Islam is practiced
freely in the United States. As part of his visit, the imam was invited
to participate as a keynote speaker at a conference to promote dialogue
and understanding within the Islamic community. The ambassador
continues to meet frequently with many different Islamic leaders to
promote dialogue. The embassy also has expanded its outreach efforts to
Qur'anic schools.
__________
MAURITIUS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
Occasional tensions between the Hindu majority and Christian and
Muslim minorities persisted; however, members of each group worshipped
without hindrance.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 718 square miles, and its population was
approximately 1.2 million. In the 2000 census, an estimated 50 percent
of the population claimed to be Hindu, 32 percent Christian, and 17
percent Muslim. Less than 1 percent claimed to be atheist, agnostic, or
of another faith. There were no official figures for those who actively
practiced their faith, but there were estimates that the figure was
approximately 60 percent for all religious groups.
Approximately 73 percent of Christians were Roman Catholic. The
remaining 27 percent were members of the following subgroups: Seventh-
day Adventist, Assembly of God, Christian Tamil, Church of England,
Pentecostal, Presbyterian, evangelical, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Sunnis accounted
for more than 90 percent of Muslims; there were some Shi'a Muslims.
Many Buddhists were also practicing Catholics, and many citizens of
Chinese ancestry sent their children to the Loreto Convent primary
schools in the major towns, which were managed by the Catholic diocese.
The north was more Hindu, and the south was more Catholic. There
also were large populations of Muslims and Catholics in the main cities
of Port Louis, Quatre Bornes, and Curepipe. Most mosques and churches
were concentrated in these areas. The offshore island of Rodrigues,
with a population of approximately 36,000, was 92 percent Catholic.
The country is a small island nation, and its ethnic groups, known
as ``communal groups,'' are tightly knit. Intermarriage was not common,
although the most recent census indicated that it was increasing. An
individual's name usually identified his or her ethnic and religious
background. There was a strong correlation between religious
affiliation and ethnicity. Citizens of Indian ethnicity usually were
Hindus or Muslims. Those of Chinese ancestry generally practiced both
Buddhism and Catholicism. Creoles and citizens of European descent
usually were Catholic.
Foreign missionary groups, including the Baptist Church, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness, operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
Religious organizations that were present prior to independence,
such as the Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Presbyterian
Church, the Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and Muslims, are recognized
in a parliamentary decree. These groups also receive an annual lump-sum
payment from the Ministry of Finance based upon the number of adherents
as determined by the census. Newer religious organizations (which must
have a minimum of seven members) were registered by the Registrar of
Associations and were recognized as legal entities with tax-exempt
privileges. The Government was not known to have refused registration
to any group.
Foreign missionary groups were allowed to operate on a case-by-case
basis. Although there are no government regulations restricting their
presence or limiting their proselytizing activities, groups must obtain
both a resident permit and a work permit for each missionary. The prime
minister's office is the final authority on issuance of these required
documents to missionaries. While there are no limits on the ability of
missionaries to operate in the country, there are limits on the number
of missionaries permitted to obtain the requisite visas and work
permits. During the reporting period, the Government refused to grant
work and residency permits to two Mormon missionaries. However, at
least one other Mormon missionary received a work and residency permit.
National holidays are representative of the country's
multireligious, multiethnic population. Hindu (Maha Shivratree, Ganesh
Chathurthi, and Divvali), Tamil (Thaipoosam Cavadee, and Ougadi),
Christian (Christmas and All Saints' Day), and Muslim (Eid al-Fitr)
holy days are national holidays.
The Ministry of Arts and Culture is responsible for promoting
cultural interaction among different cultural components within the
country and sponsored daylong events aimed at fostering cultural
programs that included religious components. For the third consecutive
year, the Ministry held daylong activities for Divali and Eid al-Fitr.
The ministry also held a daylong celebration of Christmas.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Due to the predominance of Hindu citizens in the upper echelons of
the civil service, some minorities, usually Creoles and Muslims,
alleged that they were prevented from reaching the highest levels of
government. Despite this sentiment, a member of the Franco-Mauritian
minority, Paul Raymond Berenger, became prime minister through a
prearranged agreement between the parties of the governing coalition in
2003, making him the first Christian prime minister of the country.
Prime Minister Ramgoolam's first deputy prime minister was Muslim, the
highest elected office ever held by a Muslim in the country.
While some Creole political groups alleged that Christian Creoles
received unjust treatment from the police, there was no evidence that
this was based on religious differences. Observers believed that such
incidents likely were a result largely of ethnic differences, since the
police force was predominantly Indo-Mauritian and the fact that Creoles
tended to live in poorer areas, where crime was more prevalent.
Foreign missionaries sometimes were prohibited from residing in the
country beyond five years (which would permit them to seek
citizenship). Religious organizations were permitted to send new
missionaries to replace them; however, groups sometimes encountered
bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining work permits and residence visas
for replacements. This occasionally prevented such organizations from
replacing departing missionaries in a timely fashion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In 2004 the Supreme Court ruled that religious beliefs should not
be taken into account when pupils were admitted to publicly funded
Catholic schools. As a result, the Catholic diocese, which administers
the schools, no longer had a seat allocation policy giving preference
to Catholic students.
The Council of Religions of Mauritius, consisting of religious
leaders from each of the major religions, met several times during the
period covered by this report to discuss interreligious harmony. The
committee set as its goal the development of a greater understanding
between religious groups. Following the July 2005 elections, the
members of the council signed a document urging political parties to
refrain from using religious platforms. In January 2005 the Council of
Religions held a meeting to establish a plan of action against HIV/
AIDS.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Occasional tensions between the Hindu majority and Christian and
Muslim minorities persisted; however, no violent confrontations
occurred during the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the reporting period, the U.S. embassy conducted programs with
several Muslim communities, including a visit from an American imam on
nonviolence and Muslim life in America.
__________
MOZAMBIQUE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion;
however, the constitution bans religious faith-based political parties
as threats to national unity.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 308,642 square miles, and its population
is approximately 19.4 million. According to the most recent census
conducted by the National Institute of Statistics in 1997, half of the
population did not profess to practice a religion or creed; however,
religious leaders believed that the census scheduled for 2007 would
show that virtually all of these persons recognized or practiced some
form of traditional indigenous religion. Of the approximately eight
million persons who professed a recognized religion in the 1997
national survey, 24 percent were Roman Catholic, 22 percent were
Protestant, and 20 percent were Muslim. Many Muslim leaders disagreed
with this statistic, claiming that since Islam is the major religion
practiced in the most populous provinces of the country, at least 50
percent of the country's population must be Muslim.
Religious communities were dispersed throughout the country. The
northern provinces were most strongly Muslim, particularly along the
coastal strip, but some areas of the northern interior were strongly
Protestant or Catholic. Protestants and Catholics were more numerous in
the southern and central regions, but Muslim minority populations could
be found in these areas as well. Government sources stated that
evangelical Christians represented the fastest growing religious group.
Generally, religious communities tended to draw members from across
ethnic, political, economic, and racial lines; however, the increasing
immigrant population of South Asian origin was predominantly Muslim and
followed the Hanafi school of Islamic Jurisprudence.
There were 722 religious denominations and 124 religious
organizations registered with the Department of Religious Affairs of
the Ministry of Justice. In the period covered by this report, fifty-
one denominations and three religious organizations were registered.
Major Christian denominations included Roman Catholic, Anglican,
Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, Seventh-day
Adventist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Nazarene, and Jehovah's
Witnesses, as well as many other evangelical, apostolic, and
pentecostal churches. Many small, independent Protestant and Catholic
churches that have split from mainstream denominations fuse African
traditional beliefs and practices within a Christian framework. The
Brazilian Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, established in
Mozambique in 1993, has continued to make significant inroads in the
expansion of its countrywide missionary network in addition to
financial holdings. The Universal Church owns the Rede Miramar radio
and television stations and various real estate holdings throughout the
country.
The Government reported that no subgroups were registered under
Islam; however, the vast majority of Muslims were Sunni, with the small
Shi'a minority being principally of South Asian origin. The three
principal Islamic organizations were the Mohammedan Community, Islamic
Congress, and Islamic Council. The Kuwaiti-funded and Sudanese-managed
NGO African Muslim Agency conducted humanitarian work as did the Muslim
development agency Aga Khan. Muslim journalists reported that the
distinction between Sunni and Shi'a was not particularly important for
many local Muslims, and Muslims were much more likely to identify
themselves by the local religious leader they followed than as Sunni or
Shi'a. The country's Muslim population represented the four schools of
thought in Islamic Law: Hanafi, Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali.
Jewish, Hindu, and Baha'i groups were registered and constituted a
very small percentage of the population.
The country's leading mosques and the Roman Catholic Church have
gradually eliminated many traditional indigenous practices from their
places of worship, instituting practices that reflect a stricter
interpretation of sacred texts; however, some Christian and Muslim
adherents continue to incorporate traditional practices and rituals,
and religious authorities have generally been permissive of such
practices. For example, members of these faiths commonly travel to
ancestors' graves to say special prayers for rain. Christians and
Muslims continue to practice a ritual of preparation or inauguration at
the time of important events (for example, before a first job, a school
examination, or a swearing-in) by offering prayers and spilling
beverages on the ground to please ancestors. Some Christians and
Muslims consult curandeiros, traditional healers or spiritualists, some
of whom themselves are nominal Christians or Muslims, in search of good
luck, healing, and solutions to problems. Curandeiros are not
recognized by the Ministry of Justice's Department of Religious Affairs
as representing a distinct religious following.
Dozens of foreign missionary groups operated freely. Most were
Protestant evangelical groups, but Islamic and Catholic missionaries
were strongly represented as well. Protestant missionary presence was
strongest in the south, but missionary groups such as the Nampula-based
Sociedade Internacional de Linguistica (International Linguistic
Society), supported by the Christian Council of Mozambique, were
expanding Bible translation projects in the north. Muslim missionaries
from Egypt, Pakistan, and South Africa have established Islamic
schools, known as madrassahs, in many cities and towns in the northern
provinces, and provided scholarships for students from the south to
study in their respective countries. Indian Muslim groups have also
developed a significant missionary presence in recent years.
Two prominent Christian figures, Reverend Jamisse Taimo and
Reverend Arao Litsure, have chaired the last three National Elections
Commissions, in 1999, 2003, and 2004. In 2004 religious leaders also
served as chairmen of provincial election commissions in many areas.
While President Guebuza is Presbyterian, most prominent figures in the
Government are Catholic; only two members of President Guebuza's
cabinet are Muslim. However, all major religions and denominations are
strongly represented in the National Assembly and in various government
ministries.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
In name and practice, the Government does not favor a particular
religion, nor is there a state or dominant religion; however, Islamic
leaders and journalists objected to what they say is silent
discrimination against the Muslim community. They cite the example of
the National Family Day, a holiday that is observed on December 25.
Officially, there are no national holidays that are religious in
nature, but some members of the Muslim community insist that Ide should
be made a national holiday if Christmas is observed de facto under the
guise of family unification. In December 2005 President Guebuza swore
into office the members of the newly created Council of State, an
advisory body comprising well-known citizens representing various
professions and organizations. As prescribed by law, in addition to the
standing members, the president appointed four ``personalities of
recognized merit,'' and the Parliament elected seven more. The absence
of any prominent Muslim leader on the council caused great controversy
in the Islamic community, which believed that their contributions to
the country's development warranted a place on the council. After the
appointment of Catholic Cardinal Alexandre dos Santos, Muslim leaders
complained that the Islamic community was being marginalized and
favoritism was being demonstrated toward Christians.
The 1989 Law on Religious Freedom requires religious institutions
and missionary organizations to register with the Ministry of Justice,
reveal their principal source of funding, and provide the names of at
least 500 followers in good standing. No particular benefits or
privileges are associated with the registration process, and there were
no reports that the Government refused to register any religious group
during the period covered by this report. The Christian Council
reported that not all religious groups register, but unregistered
groups worship unhindered by the Government.
The Government routinely grants visas and residence permits to
foreign missionaries. Like all foreign residents, missionaries face a
somewhat burdensome process in obtaining legal residency; however, they
generally conduct their activities without government interference.
The constitution gives religious groups the right to acquire and
own assets, and these institutions are allowed by law to own and
operate schools, which are increasing in numbers. In 2003 and 2004,
Islamic primary and secondary schools were established in the cities of
Matola, Xai-Xai, Nampula, Nacala, and Pemba, many with financing from
the African Muslim Agency or from prominent local Muslims, many of
South Asian descent. Several other Islamic schools are under
construction or rehabilitation in other cities. Many Protestant
organizations have also opened primary and secondary schools in recent
years, primarily in the central and northern provinces. On the
university level, the Muslim community has financed the establishment
of Mussa Bin Bique University in Nampula, which opened in 2002 and
expanded in 2005. The Catholic University has educational facilities in
Beira, Nampula, Cuamba, and Pemba. Religious instruction is a primary
focus of the new primary and secondary schools, but the universities
associated with religious denominations do not emphasize or even offer
religious studies. In fact, many students at Catholic University
branches are Muslim, particularly in Pemba. During this reporting
period, the cardinal of Maputo inaugurated the new Sao Tomas
University, and the Catholic Church reported that enrollment is not
faith-based. Religious instruction in public schools is strictly
prohibited.
A conference of bishops meets regularly and sends pastoral letters
documenting issues of national consequence to the president of the
republic. Throughout the period covered by this report, Catholic and
other Christian groups freely held seminars and participated in
government health programs, such as vaccination and cholera awareness
campaigns. In February 2006 President Guebuza presided over the four-
day launch of his Presidential Initiative on the Fight Against HIV/
AIDS. As part of the launch, he invited more than 100 religious leaders
representing all faiths to talk about approaches to stem the growing
pandemic. This marked the country's first government-initiated
interfaith dialogue on an issue of national interest.
Religious activities and positions were reported in the press
without restriction; however, some Muslim journalists complained that
the press gave more coverage to Christian holidays than Islamic days of
cultural and religious importance.
In August 2004 the Government enacted a new Family Law, which
replaced the colonial-era civil code and brought the law into
compliance with equality provisions of the constitution. The new law
raised the marriage age to eighteen for males and females, eliminated
the husband's de facto status as head of the family, and legalized
civil, religious, and common-law unions. The passage of the law was of
particular consequence to the country's major religious faiths as it
provided for state recognition of religious weddings for the first time
in more than eighty years.
The law does not legally recognize polygyny; however, women in
polygamous marriages are granted full marital and inheritance rights.
In May 2006 the Mohammedan Community constructed 150 houses for
donation to families displaced by the devastating floods of 2000 and
2001. The $300,000 housing project based in Maputo province won
widespread public praise for the scope of its charitable vision and did
not exclude non-Muslims from receiving aid. The community planned to
construct an additional 250 homes as well as a mosque, primary school,
vocational school, orphanage, clinic, pharmacy, and well.
The Catholic Church continues to encourage the evolution of the
country's political system principally on the provincial level. The
Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM), established in 1948, plays a
role in politics. After the Rome Peace Agreement that ended the
country's sixteen-year civil war, the CCM's Peace and Reconciliation
Committee began collecting and destroying hundreds of armaments and
explosives in exchange for agricultural implements and construction
materials. During the reporting period the CCM collected fifteen
weapons and explosives in the southern region. The CCM also
participates in the civil society organization Electoral Observatory,
and takes part in key policy debates such as the National Poverty
Alleviation Plan.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, the law governing political parties
specifically forbids religious parties from organizing and any party
from sponsoring religious propaganda.
Most places of worship nationalized by the Government in 1977 have
been returned to their respective religious organizations; however, the
Catholic Church and a few Muslim communities maintain that other
properties, including schools, health centers, and private residences,
continue to remain unjustly in state hands. The groups continued to
press for their return. The issue of restitution is complex, as many of
these buildings continue to be used for government-administered schools
and clinics; moreover, while the final responsibility for establishing
a process for property restitution lies with the provincial government,
it is the Directorate for Religious Affairs that is mandated to address
the general issue of the restitution of church properties. Return of
the properties often is delayed due to construction of new facilities,
particularly schools and health clinics. The Papal Nunciature reported
that the Government continued to occupy properties in Inhambane,
Maputo, Niassa, and Zambezia provinces that were used for schools,
seminaries, and residences, and that the Vatican had entered into
negotiations with the Government for their restitution. Because of the
complexity of the restitution issue and seeming contradictions within
the law, the return of property is seen by the Catholic Church as less
a recourse to the judicial system than a process of collaboration.
In June 2004 fourteen American Protestant evangelical missionaries
were expelled from the northern city of Montepuez; however, the reason
for their expulsion was not religious, and they were able to
reestablish missionary activities in other areas of the north.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among religious groups generally are amicable, especially
at the grassroots level. No religiously inspired altercations between
members of different faiths were reported during this period. Within
the Islamic community, the black and South Asian communities tend to
remain separate, with each group generally attending different mosques
and schools. While relations between blacks and established Mozambicans
of South Asian origin are generally good, cultural conflict between
black communities and South Asian immigrants has led to increasing
tensions.
In February 2006 a Maputo newspaper reprinted eight of the Danish
cartoons that had sparked world controversy and widespread condemnation
by Islamic groups. A protest staged largely by Muslims of South Asian
ancestry turned violent in front of the newspaper's office building,
and a Muslim journalist reported that the mob attacked black Muslims
advocating for peaceful demonstrations and dialogue. While the Muslim
community unified to boycott the paper for two months, black Muslims
said that the facade of harmony hides the underlying tension and
perception they were strong-armed into action. The Government issued a
statement condemning the paper's decision to reprint the contentious
cartoons and underscored the state's commitment to secular principles
and religious freedom, but it did not comment on the violent protest.
Some black Muslims said that the Government's perceived inaction
was part of a pattern of political favors being purchased by the
wealthy Muslim community mostly comprising South Asians. Black Muslims
also see as an indication of favoritism the Government's official
acknowledgement of the date of the Ide Muslim festival recognized by
the South Asians over the date recognized by the black Muslim
leadership.
In October 2005 President Guebuza attended the inauguration
ceremony of the country's second oldest mosque, the Mesquita Central da
Baixa, originally constructed in 1903. Controversy surrounding the
opening ceremony highlighted the growing rift between Muslims of South
Asian ancestry, who generally frequent the mosque, and the black Muslim
population, which boycotted the ceremony due to the perception that the
financial backer of the rehabilitation project was using his wealth in
exchange for political favors for South Asians.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
NAMIBIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 320,827 square miles, and its population
was approximately two million. More than 90 percent of citizens
identified themselves as Christian. The two largest denominations were
the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, while smaller numbers were
affiliated with the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). There were also
a number of Zionist Churches (a mixture of traditional African beliefs
and Pentecostal Christianity), especially in urban areas. The Afrikaner
ethnic group was the predominant patron of the Dutch Reformed Church of
Namibia. The Himba, an ethnic group that constitutes less than 1
percent of the population, practiced a traditional indigenous religion
oriented toward their natural environment in the desert northwest. The
San people, who constitute less than 3 percent of the population, also
practiced a traditional indigenous religion. Other religions included
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and the Baha'i Faith. Practitioners of these
religions predominantly were immigrants, descendents of immigrants, or
recent converts. They resided primarily in urban areas. There were few
atheists in the country. Muslims, almost exclusively Sunni and
comprising both citizens and foreign nationals, represented less than 1
percent of the population.
Foreign missionary groups, including Lutherans, Catholics,
Baptists, Mormons, and Baha'is, operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion, nor does the Government subsidize any particular
denomination.
The Government does not formally recognize any religion. Unlike in
the past, the Government and senior ruling party officials no longer
emphasize the role of three Christian denominations--Anglican,
Lutheran, and Roman Catholic--in mobilizing political support. Since
his election, President Pohamba has conferred with religious leaders of
all persuasions, including the predominantly Afrikaner Dutch Reformed
Church.
There are no registration requirements for religious organizations.
The Government recognizes the holy days of Good Friday, Easter
Monday, Ascension Day, and Christmas Day as national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Council of Churches has
as its general secretary a member of the United Congregational Church
of Southern Africa. There are two private religious radio stations and
one free-to-air television channel. A widely available satellite
television service offers four exclusively religious channels,
including one serving the Muslim community. There were two reported
cases of villagers in the north beating individuals suspected of
witchcraft. Police arrested and charged five individuals, including one
police officer, in one case; investigations continued in the second
incident.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives had frequent contact with citizens and foreign
visitors from a wide variety of religious faiths. The embassy continued
to support activities that encourage respect for all aspects of human
rights, including religious tolerance, through the Democracy and Human
Rights Fund.
__________
NIGER
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice, as long as
persons respected public order, social peace, and national unity.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 490,000 square miles, and its population
is approximately 13.95 million. Islam was the dominant religion and was
practiced by more than 90 percent of the population. Approximately 95
percent of the Muslim population was Sunni, while the remaining 5
percent was Shi'a. There were also small communities of Christians and
Baha'is. Christians, both Roman Catholics and Protestants, accounted
for less than 5 percent of the population but were present particularly
in the regions of Maradi, Dogondoutchi, Niamey, and other urban centers
with expatriate populations. Christianity was the religion of French
colonial institutions, and its followers included many local believers
from the educated, the elite, and colonial families, as well as African
immigrants from neighboring coastal countries, particularly Benin,
Togo, and Ghana. Numbering only a few thousand, the Baha'i were located
primarily in Niamey and in communities on the west side of the Niger
River, bordering Burkina Faso. A small percentage of the population
practiced traditional indigenous religions. There was no information
available regarding the number of atheists.
Active Christian missionary organizations included the Southern
Baptists, evangelical Baptists, Catholics, Assemblies of God, Seventh-
day Adventists, Service in Mission (SIM), and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice, as long as
persons respected public order, social peace, and national unity. The
Government at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did
not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
No religious group was subsidized; however, the Islamic
Association, which acts as an official advisory committee on religious
matters to the Government, conducted biweekly broadcasts on the
government-controlled television station. Christian programming was
broadcast on private and government radio stations, although the
government stations would typically broadcast it only on Sundays and on
special occasions, such as Christmas and Easter.
Religious organizations must register with the Interior Ministry.
This registration is a formality, and there is no evidence that the
Government favors any religion over another or that it ever has refused
to register a religious organization. Approval is based on submission
of required legal documents and the vetting of organization leaders.
The Government must also authorize construction of any place of
worship; however, there were no reports that the Government refused
construction permits during the period covered by this report.
Foreign missionaries work freely, but their organizations must be
registered officially as associations. In addition to proselytizing,
most missionary groups generally offered development or humanitarian
assistance. The Christian community in Galmi, Tahoua region, benefited
from a hospital and health center run by SIM missionaries. The hospital
and health center have been in operation for more than forty years.
The Government does not permit religious instruction in public
schools.
Christmas, Easter Monday, Eid el-Adha, Muharram, Maulid al-Nabi
(the Prophet Muhammad's birthday), Lailatoul-Quadr, and Eid al-Fitr are
recognized as national holidays. It is not uncommon for Muslims and
Christians to attend each other's festivities during these holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The constitution forbids political parties from having a doctrine
based on any religious ideology.
The Government does not impose religious speech restrictions as
long as there is no intent to disrespect public order, social peace,
and national unity. Some senior-level government employees are required
to take religious oaths. The constitution specifies that the president
of the republic, the prime minister, the president of the National
Assembly, and the president of the Constitutional Court must take an
oath on a holy book of their own choosing. Members of the
Constitutional Court, Independent National Election Commission, and
High Council for Communications must do the same.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed
from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
On February 10, 2006, the Government, in conjunction with the
country's Islamic organizations, established the Niger Islamic Council.
Composed of ten leaders drawn from various Islamic associations and
NGOs and ten representatives of government agencies, the council would
advise the Government on issues of concern to Muslims, including
preaching, mosque construction, and zakat. The council was also charged
with promoting a culture of tolerance and social peace. During the
installation of the council, the prime minister noted that the
organization was also intended ``to address behaviors and practices
inspired by foreign countries.'' This remark was broadly interpreted to
mean that the council would promote the practice of the moderate,
tolerant Islam that the country has known for centuries, while
countering extremist interpretations imported from, or influenced by,
other Islamic countries. The minister of the interior also announced
that a Christian council would be established in the near future.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There were no further
developments in the March 2005 protest incident at an American
missionary church compound in the city of Maradi. Of the sixty
protestors arrested in this incident, the majority were minors who were
released shortly thereafter. Fifteen adult protestors were held in
custody for three days before being released as part of a general,
nation-wide agreement between the Government and the civil society
group that had organized the anti-tax protests. Likewise, there were no
further reports of violence or tensions between mainstream Sunni Muslim
youth and members of the Wahhabist Izalay sect.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy regularly emphasizes the importance of tolerance in its
public statements and in meetings with government officials and members
of civil society.
Embassy officers maintained regular contact with Muslim religious
leaders, community members, and students. The embassy maintains good
relationships with evangelical Christian religious groups, most of
which are staffed by long-term resident missionaries and well-known
members of the American community. Embassy officials also have contact
with the Catholic diocese, the Baha'i community, and Islamic
organizations.
__________
NIGERIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, including
freedom to change one's religion or belief, and freedom to manifest and
propagate one's religion or belief through worship, teaching, practice,
and observance. While the Federal Government generally respected
religious freedom, there were some instances in which limits were
placed on religious activity to address security and public safety
concerns.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report.
Interreligious tension between Christians and Muslims remained high
in some areas, and there were several violent economic, ethnic, and
political conflicts that took on religious overtones. A government
census was held in March, the first since 1991. Census results were not
scheduled to be released until at least November 2006. The census had
been expected to settle the question of whether Christians or Muslims
make up the majority in the country. However, the religious issue
proved so divisive that questions related to it were eventually removed
from the census form. While members of Jehovah's Witnesses freely
practiced their religion and were generally accepted in society, there
were isolated cases of societal abuse of Witnesses who chose not to
participate in local age-grade associations for religious reasons.
The U.S. government broached and actively pursued several religious
freedom-related issues, and this was an important part of the U.S.
embassy's program. The ambassador and the embassy have taken an active
role in discussing and advocating these issues with government,
religious and community leaders, and are involved in these issues
countrywide. The embassy has also devoted substantial funding to
projects and outreach with a religious freedom component.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 356,700 square miles, and its population
is estimated at 140 to 150 million. There were no accepted figures for
the proportion of citizens who practiced Islam or Christianity; it was
generally assumed the numbers were roughly equal and that there were a
substantial number who practiced traditional indigenous religions
alongside Christianity or Islam. The predominant form of Islam in the
country was Sunni. The Christian population included Roman Catholics,
Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and a growing number of
evangelical and Pentecostal Christians and members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).
There was a strong correlation between religious differences and
ethnic and regional diversity. The north, dominated by the large Hausa
and Fulani ethnic groups, was predominantly Muslim with significant
numbers of Christians. Both Muslims and Christians were found in large
numbers in the Middle Belt. In the southwest, where the large Yoruba
ethnic group was the majority, there was no dominant religion. Most
Yorubas practiced either Christianity or Islam, while others continued
to practice the traditional Yoruba religion, which includes a belief in
a supreme deity and the worship of lesser deities that serve as the
supreme deity's agents in aspects of daily life. In the east, where the
large Igbo ethnic group was dominant, Catholics, Anglicans, and
Methodists were the majority, although many Igbos continued to observe
traditional rites and ceremonies in tandem with Christianity.
The Government conducted a nationwide census in March 2006. There
was a great deal of controversy over whether to count religion and
ethnicity during the census exercise. The final decision was to leave
questions of ethnicity and religion off the census form. Therefore, no
precise data was gathered about the relative numbers of adherents to
various faiths in the country.
Christian missionaries from many denominations operated freely.
Rough estimates put the number of foreign Christian missionaries at
more than one thousand, with many residing in the area around Jos in
the Middle Belt's Plateau State. Many Christian missionaries have been
present for a decade or longer. There were fewer foreign Muslim
missionaries, and they generally stayed for shorter periods of time
than their Christian counterparts.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, including
freedom to change one's religion or belief, and freedom to manifest and
propagate one's religion or belief through worship, teaching, practice,
and observance. While the Federal Government generally respected
religious freedom, there were some instances in which limits were
placed on religious activity to address security and public safety
concerns.
The Government remained a member of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference during the period covered by this report. However, there is
no state religion.
Each year the Government observes the following Islamic and
Christian holy days as national holidays: Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr,
Good Friday, Easter Monday, the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad,
Christmas, and Boxing Day.
There are thirty-six states; governors have substantial autonomy in
all decision making but derive the vast majority of their resources
from the Federal Government. The constitution prohibits state and local
governments from adopting an official religion; however, some
Christians have alleged that Islam has been adopted as a de facto state
religion in several northern states, citing the reintroduction of
criminal law aspects of Shari'a (Islamic law) and the continued use of
state resources to fund the construction of mosques, the teaching of
Kadis (Shari'a judges), and pilgrimages to Mecca (Hajj). However,
several states, including northern states, used government revenues to
fund Christian activities, including pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In
general, state governments, whether dominated by Christians or Muslims,
tended to lean toward the faith practiced by the majority of residents.
The constitution provides that states may elect to use Shari'a laws
and courts. There are twelve northern states that have adopted at least
parts of Shari'a--Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa,
Yobe, Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara, and Gombe. Adherence to Shari'a
provisions is compulsory for Muslims in some states and optional in
others. Non-Muslims are not required in any state to submit to Shari'a
jurisdiction. In some states non-Muslims have the option of submitting
to Shari'a jurisdiction when the penalty under Shari'a is less severe,
such as paying a fine rather than a jail sentence under secular law.
Defendants have the right to challenge the constitutionality of Shari'a
criminal statutes through the secular courts. As in the previous
reporting period, no challenges with adequate legal standing reached
the secular appellate system. The constitution also provides for the
Federal Government to establish a federal Shari'a court of appeal and a
final court of appeal; however, the Government has not yet established
such courts.
Christian and Islamic groups planning to build new churches or
mosques are required by law to register with the Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC). The CAC did not deny registration to any religious
group during the period covered by this report. Many nascent churches
and Islamic congregations ignored the registration requirement, and a
small number, most notably those in Abuja, had their places of worship
shut down or demolished when the zoning laws were enforced.
Both federal and state governments were involved in the regulation
of mandatory religious instruction in public schools.
Some state governors actively encouraged interfaith and interethnic
discussions and took steps to prevent further violence and tension. The
Government encouraged the activities of nongovernmental organizations
such as the Kano-based Inter-Ethnic Forum, the Kaduna-based Inter-Faith
Mediation Center, and the Muslim/Christian Dialogue Forum. At the
national level, the Government established an Inter-Religious Council,
consisting of prominent Muslim and Christian leaders.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government requires permits for outdoor public functions;
government authorities and those assembling often ignored this
requirement. In June 2005 an Abuja High Court ruled that long-standing
legal provisions of the Public Order Act banning gatherings whose
political, ethnic, or religious content might lead to unrest were
unconstitutional. While it is not specific to religious gatherings, the
act has nonetheless allowed authorities wide latitude in dispersing
gatherings in which they have a ``reasonable ground to fear a breach of
the peace.''
Despite the court ruling, several state governments continued to
ban public mass-rally proselytizing to avoid ethno-religious violence.
Some proselytizing groups remained active even before the court ruling,
but since the ban was ruled unconstitutional in 2005, large outdoor
religious gatherings were less likely to be restricted. Some state
governments continued to impose bans inconsistent with the court
ruling.
In 2003 the National Broadcasting Commission ruled that
televangelists who broadcast religious miracles would be required to
provide evidence to prove the authenticity of the alleged miracles. The
Lagos High Court ordered a suspension of the ruling pending its hearing
of a lawsuit contesting the policy. The suit was not heard during the
reporting period, and some evangelists continued to reference miracles
in their broadcasts.
Although distribution of religious publications was generally
unrestricted, the Government sporadically enforced a ban against
broadcasting religious advertisements on state-owned radio and
television stations.
In Zamfara State, all criminal cases involving Muslims must be
heard by a Shari'a court. Other states utilizing Shari'a law permit
Muslims to choose secular courts for criminal cases; however, societal
pressure compelled most Muslims to use the Shari'a court system. Some
kadis (Shari'a judges) apply harsher penalties in adultery and
fornication cases against women than in such cases against men and
require stronger evidence to convict men than to convict women. While
this legal standard still existed, there was less controversy
surrounding specific Shari'a cases in the reporting period than during
previous periods. No specific cases of adultery or fornication were
known to have been prosecuted during the reporting period.
There are no laws barring women or any groups from testifying in
secular court or that give less weight to their testimony; however, the
testimony of women and non-Muslims usually is accorded less weight in
Shari'a courts.
In the north there is a long tradition of separating schoolchildren
according to gender. Some form of gender segregation occurred in many
secondary schools in the north. In December 2004 the Kano State
Commissioner of Education announced that public and private school
pupils should observe ``decent standards of dress,'' although non-
Muslim girls would not be required to wear the headscarf.
The Government continued to ban religious organizations from
primary school campuses, although individual students retained the
right to practice their religions in registered places of worship. The
constitution does not require students to receive instruction in a
religion other than their own; however, the Ministry of Education
requires public school students to undergo either Islamic or Christian
religious instruction. State authorities claim that students are
permitted not to attend classes taught in a religion other than their
own and that students may request a teacher of their own religion to
provide alternative instruction. However, there were often no teachers
of ``Christian Religious Knowledge'' in many northern schools, and of
``Muslim Religious Knowledge'' in some southern schools.
Christians in the predominantly Muslim northern states continued to
allege that local government officials used zoning regulations to stop
or slow the establishment of new churches. Muslims continued to
complain that they were denied permission to build mosques in
predominantly Christian southern states. Officials responded that many
of these proposed new churches and mosques were being planned for
residential neighborhoods not zoned for religious purposes. State
officials also stated that the certification boards were dealing with a
large backlog of cases for all applicants regardless of religious
faith.
Although the expanded Shari'a laws technically do not apply to non-
Muslims, the non-Muslim minority has been affected by certain social
provisions associated with Shari'a, such as the separation of the sexes
in public schools, and health and transportation services. Many social
provisions associated with Shari'a have roots in the country's pre-
Islamic societies and were in practice before the states adopted
Shari'a. For example, schoolchildren were separated by sex in most
northern states prior to the recent implementation of Shari'a law.
Although most states have not criminalized alcohol consumption by
non-Muslims, in May 2004 Kano State announced that non-Muslims would be
fined approximately $380 (50,000 naira) or up to a year in prison for
drinking or selling alcohol in certain public places; however there
were no reports of non-Muslims being penalized during the reporting
period. In some northern states, the sale and public consumption of
alcohol have been restricted, except on federal government
installations, such as military and police barracks. Additionally,
alcohol was available in Kano in spite of the ban, and while
restrictions against it were not enforced, it was generally available
only in international hotels or within small communities of Christians.
Kano State announced in May 2005 that commercial motorcycle taxis
could no longer take women as passengers because, it claimed, the
transport of women on motorcycles was contrary to Shari'a. The state
government did not cite any specific Qur'anic references in announcing
the ban. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women were affected by the ban.
Zamfara State continued to enforce gender-segregated public
transportation such as minibuses and motorcycle taxis. The bans on
mixed gender transportation did not appear to extend to private
vehicles.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The constitution permits capital punishment; although several
Shari'a courts, as well as secular courts, sentenced persons to death,
no Shari'a death sentences were implemented during the period covered
by this report.
In September 2004 in Bauchi State, Daso Adamu, a nursing mother,
was sentenced to death by stoning when she initially admitted to having
sex with her first husband after her second husband absconded. The man
was freed for lack of evidence. In October 2004 she was released on
bail on the grounds that she was breastfeeding. In December 2004 a
Shari'a appeals court vacated the conviction and sentence, ruling that
her pregnancy was insufficient evidence to convict her.
In October 2004 in Bauchi State, Hajara Ibrahim was sentenced to
death by stoning for adultery after becoming pregnant outside of
wedlock. According to the Shari'a court that convicted her, she
confessed to having sex with a man who had promised to marry her. The
man denied meeting her and was released for lack of evidence. The
defendant appealed the sentence, stating that she should have been
charged with the lesser crime of fornication, rather than adultery. In
November 2005 a Shari'a appeals court overturned the conviction and
sentence, ruling that she had never consummated an arranged marriage
and therefore should never have been charged with adultery. It appeared
that the prosecution in the case had not pursued the fornication charge
subsequent to the court's ruling.
The Nigeria Legal Aid Council agreed to appeal thirty Shari'a
convictions and death sentences in Bauchi State. In one case from
September 2004, an eighteen-year-old man, Saleh Dabo, alleged that
police told him he could plead guilty to rape and he would be released;
instead, a court sentenced him to death by stoning for adultery, even
though he was not married. At the end of the period covered by this
report, the appeal had not been heard, and the sentence had not been
carried out.
Muslims convicted of crimes under Shari'a were sentenced to public
caning for minor offenses, such as petty theft, public consumption of
alcohol, and prostitution. Unlike in the past, there were no reports
that states administered amputations or canings pursuant to Shari'a
during the period covered by this report. There were numerous Shari'a
cases pending appeal or implementation of sentence, including pending
amputation and stoning sentences in Jigawa, Bauchi, Niger, Kano, and
Zamfara States. Many of these cases were delayed continuously for
various reasons.
In May 2005 a Shari'a appeals court in Kaduna overturned amputation
sentences that had been passed in 2003 against six Zaria men who had
been accused of stealing a cow and a motorcycle. The appeals court
ruled that the lower court had erred in convicting the men solely on
the basis of police testimony, without allowing the men to defend
themselves. The men also had not had access to legal representation, as
required by the Kaduna State Shari'a code.
Human rights groups reported that many indigent persons convicted
of Shari'a offenses claimed they had not known they were entitled to
legal representation.
A number of states with expanded Shari'a laws have sanctioned
private Shari'a enforcement vigilante groups (known as Hisbah). In some
cases these groups had authority to make arrests, but generally the
groups were empowered only to ``advise'' possible Shari'a offenders.
The Hisbah groups were not very active during the period covered by
this report.
There was no further information on the imam detained by the
Government in 2003, and who continued to be held despite a 2003 Kaduna
state court order for his release.
There were instances of violence by security forces. In October
2004, during Ramadan, police killed two persons and injured three or
four others in Gusau, the capital of mostly Muslim Zamfara State in the
northwest. A crowd had approached the state government's building to
demand traditional Ramadan alms from the Zamfara State governor. Police
at the gates stopped the crowd from advancing, a scuffle ensued, and
police opened fire. No further investigation was expected in the
incident.
The Adamawa state governor dethroned the ethnic Bachama traditional
ruler for his role in inciting violence between ethnic Bachama
Christians and ethnic Hausa Muslims in Numan in June 2004. Later the
governor named a new traditional leader for the Bachama. In early
February 2005 police killed at least two persons and arrested at least
thirty others who were protesting the appointment of the new ruler,
claiming that he had no mandate to rule over them. It was believed that
those arrested were later released.
There were no other reports of religious prisoners or detainees in
the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Interreligious tension between Christians and Muslims remained high
in some areas, and there were several violent economic, ethnic, and
political conflicts that took on religious overtones.
Religious differences often mirror regional and ethnic differences.
For example, persons in the North and in parts of the Middle Belt are
overwhelmingly Muslim and from the large Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups
that tend to dominate these areas. Many southern ethnic groups are
predominantly Christian. In many areas of the Middle Belt, Muslim
Fulani tend to be pastoralists, while the Muslim Hausa and most
Christian ethnic groups tend to be farmers or work in urban areas.
Consequently ethnic, regional, economic, and land use competition often
correlate with religious differences between the competing groups.
It is not unusual for different ethnic groups with a long history
of conflict to have adopted different religions with the effect of
exacerbating existing tensions. Communal conflicts in Plateau and Kano
States in 2004 led to the deaths of thousands and a several-month-long
states of emergency in Plateau State. There have been incidents of
violence in Plateau State since, but not on the scale of the previous
reporting period. For example, in April 2006 at least twenty-five
persons were killed and hundreds fled their homes during fighting
between the Pan and Gomai people of Plateau state over land ownership.
There were also instances of violence primarily based on religious
issues or because of their religious affiliations.
As many as 50,000 persons were displaced and approximately 150
killed in a wave of sectarian violence across various states at the end
of February, sparked by protests over caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad, according to the Nigerian Red Cross. The majority of deaths
occurred in the mainly Christian southeast city of Onitsha, where
groups of armed youths attacked Muslim Hausa-speakers from the north in
revenge for Christian Igbos killed some days earlier in the north of
the country. Spiraling violence spread across at least six states, with
thousands of persons taking refuge mainly in police and army barracks
or churches, although many later returned to their homes. Widespread
destruction of property took place, with numerous churches, mosques,
and houses burned down. State governments in the affected areas
dispatched police and army reinforcements and imposed curfews in an
attempt to contain the situation. The curfews were later lifted.
In September 2005 a student quarrel occurred at the University of
Minna over respect for the generally observed Shari'a dress code in
which two female non-Muslim students and several males were reportedly
injured. Details of how the conflict started were not available.
In February 2005 in Sokoto aState, at least three persons were
killed and dozens injured in fighting between groups of Sunni and Shi'a
Muslims during a public commemoration of Ashura. To restore order, a
curfew was imposed for approximately one month.
Also in February students at a secondary school in Bauchi Sate
reportedly threatened a Christian teacher for handling the Qur'an, and
in a subsequent demonstration that turned violent, two churches were
burned and approximately twenty Christians were killed. The teacher
came in contact with a copy of the Qur'an while taking it from a
student who was reading it while class was in session. While
approximately twenty-five arrests were believed to have been made, the
case was being handled as a state security matter with little
information publicly available. Some of the defendants may have been
taken to Jos and were believed to have been granted bail, and some of
the defendants were believed to have been taken to Abuja. Christian
religious leaders in Bauchi were unable to make contact with the
teacher, Florence Chuckwu.
A Christian female student from a nursing school in Sokoto was
threatened after she was accused of having made inappropriate remarks
about Islam. The school was closed for a few weeks for security
reasons. A police investigation did not locate the perpetrators. The
case arose when the student's Christian mother converted to Islam and
married a Muslim man. The student refused to convert, and her fellow
students asked her why she had not done so while using inflammatory
language denigrating Jesus Christ. The student responded with
inflammatory language denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, and a riot
ensued. She was spirited away from the scene by a Muslim instructor
who, according to credible reports, later faced reprisals for helping.
The student was given refuge at the local police station. Shortly
before a crowd threatened the station, she was moved to a different
town and then to another state for her safety. She reportedly planned
to attend school elsewhere.
In December 2004 at a major university in Bauchi state, a group of
Muslim students abducted and killed the head of a Christian campus
organization in retaliation for what they considered to be insults to
Islam by Christian students. To alleviate tensions and escalating
violence against property, authorities closed the university and
another nearby school, but both later reopened after an interfaith
dialogue had been established. No arrests or prosecutions in the case
were reported.
No further action was taken, nor was further action likely, in
connection with the church and mosque burnings in Kebbi, Kaduna,
Ebonyi, and Jigawa States in 2004. No one remained in detention from
these incidents, nor was further action likely in relation to the 2003
unrest in Jigawa and Plateau States.
The law prohibits religious discrimination in employment and other
practices; however, private businesses frequently discriminated on the
basis of religion or ethnicity in their hiring practices and purchasing
patterns. In nearly all states, ethnic rivalries between ``indigene''
groups and ``settlers'' led to some societal discrimination against
minority ethnic and religious groups.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses were generally respected; however
there were isolated instances of societal abuse and discrimination when
a Witnesses chose not to join local age-grade associations or women's
associations for religious reasons.
On September 6, 2005, in Imo state, a female Witness was assaulted
by a mob of women who pulled off her dress for refusing to be a member
of their association. Several other Witnesses were assaulted in other
incidents and had property looted for not paying a women's association
levy. Although in some instances police were able to broker an
agreement, no arrests were made.
In Abia state, Witnesses who chose not to participate in local age-
grade associations for religious reasons were in some instances
ostracized by the community, denied the right to sell goods in the
public market, and denied water from the public tap.
According to several eyewitnesses, on November 11, 2005, members of
the Eleghawa Age-Grade Association of Asafa Ohafia looted the home of a
Jehovah's Witnesses husband and wife, taking all their belongings.
Although the perpetrators were identified, police made no arrests.
On June 21, 2005, villagers in Isiugwu Ohafia Community in Abia
state reportedly destroyed the Kingdom Hall, and attacked the homes of
twenty-four Jehovah's Witnesses families. More than seventy persons
remain displaced from their homes. Despite formal petitions by the
families for an investigation and the prosecution of the perpetrators,
police made no arrests.
Although many non-Muslims feared that implementation of Shari'a
would change their way of life, there has been little or no change in
the daily lives of most non-Muslims. While some state and local
governments interpreted the new Shari'a laws stringently, the majority
of states and local governments interpreted and implemented their laws
less stringently. There also was a trend developing among some segments
of the Muslim community to shift focus away from the criminal law
aspects of Shari'a law to its tenets of social justice and charity for
the poor. Islamic scholars and many Muslim lawyers have begun educating
the poor and the less well informed about their procedural rights under
Shari'a. Several lawyers offered free services to the indigent in cases
with potentially severe punishments.
In many areas, girls are discriminated against in their access to
education for social and economic reasons; religious beliefs sometimes
are a factor. Girls living in the more traditional rural areas, both in
the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south,
are disadvantaged more than their urban counterparts.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. mission regularly raised religious freedom issues with
various federal, state, and local officials, and with prominent
citizens. The U.S. government, through the U.S. mission and in
statements from officials in Washington, sought to encourage a peaceful
resolution of the debate concerning Shari'a criminal penalties in a way
that would be compatible with recognized international human rights
norms and urged that human rights and religious freedom be respected in
all instances.
The U.S. mission made an especially strong effort to promote
religious reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. Mission
officers traveled extensively to the individual states to meet with
Christian and Muslim leaders throughout the year and further that
outreach.
The U.S. mission reached out to Muslim communities in several
programs, including the International Visitor Program, the American
Speaker Program, the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program, and the Humphrey
Fellowship Program. The U.S. mission also continued publishing its
informational magazine in Hausa, the language of the predominantly
Muslim north.
__________
RWANDA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There were a
small number of cases of local government officials reacting to belief-
based actions of Jehovah's Witnesses.
There was an improvement in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report, and there were fewer
reports of local authorities harassing and detaining members of
Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses continued to experience
difficulty in obtaining permission to build Kingdom Halls (places of
worship) in some localities, and there were some cases of detention and
expulsion of children from school. Relations between the Government and
the Roman Catholic Church continued to improve, and Muslims continued
to enjoy greater freedom of worship than under the previous government.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officers met regularly with religious leaders.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 10,169 square miles and a population of
approximately 8.3 million. A 2001 study conducted by a foreign
university reported that 49.6 percent of the population was Roman
Catholic, 43.9 percent Protestant, 4.6 percent Muslim, 1.7 claimed no
religious affiliation, and 0.1 percent practiced traditional indigenous
beliefs. This study indicated a 19.9 percent increase in the number of
Protestants, a 7.6 percent drop in the number of Catholics, and a 3.5
percent increase in the number of Muslims from the 1996 U.N. Population
Fund survey. The figures for Protestants include the growing number of
members of Jehovah's Witnesses and evangelical Protestant groups. There
also was a small population of Baha'is. There has been a proliferation
of small, usually Christian-linked schismatic religious groups since
the 1994 genocide.
Foreign missionaries and church-linked nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) of various faiths operated in the country,
including Trocaire, Catholic Relief Services, Lutheran World
Federation, World Vision, World Relief, Adventist Development and
Relief Agency, Norwegian Church Aid, Salvation Army, Direct Aid
(formerly the African Muslim Agency), Jesuit Relief Society, Christian
Aid, Christian Direct Outreach, Christian Reformed World Relief
Committee, African Evangelical Enterprise, and Jesus Alive Ministries.
Foreign missionaries openly promoted their religious beliefs, and the
Government has welcomed their development assistance. There was no
indication that religious belief is linked directly to membership in
any political party.
An Australian Christian church-based initiative called Hope Rwanda
involved approximately 500 volunteers visiting the country in the
spring and summer of 2006. The initiative, planned to coincide with the
one-hundred-day national period of mourning genocide victims, included
humanitarian assistance and religious services and training. Hope
Rwanda received strong support from the Government, including a speech
by President Kagame during the opening ceremony.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There were fewer
reports of local authorities restricting religious freedom. The
constitution prohibits the formation of political organizations that
are based on race, ethnic group, tribe, clan, region, sex, religion, or
any other division that may give rise to discrimination. There is no
state religion; however, the constitution does include a provision for
a ceremonial oath of office for high-level government officials that
makes reference to God.
The penal code, Articles 293 to 296, provides for small fines and
imprisonment of up to six months for anyone who interferes with a
religious ceremony or with a religious minister in the exercise of his
or her professional duties. The law regulates public meetings and calls
for fines or imprisonment for those who violate these regulations.
In 2001 the Government promulgated a law giving it more influence
over NGOs as well as religious institutions and organizations.
Subsequently, after consulting with civil society and NGOs, the
Government decided to draft separate laws governing local NGOs,
international NGOs, and religious organizations. These laws were being
developed in collaboration with church officials but have not been
promulgated. The existing 2001 law requires NGOs to present their
objectives and plan of action to local authorities for ``provisional
agreement'' and then to apply to the Ministry of Justice for legal
recognition. Since the law was implemented, the Ministry of Justice has
registered 116 new religious groups; no new religious groups were
registered during the period covered by this report. The ministry did
not deny any new applications; however, the Government continued the
2003 suspension of two local splinter organizations, the ``Eglise
Methodiste Unie au Rwanda'' (the United Methodist Church of Rwanda) led
by Jupa Kaberuka and the ``Communaute Methodiste Union Internationale''
(the International Union Methodist Community) led by Louis Bwanakweli.
Both attempted to register as the primary Methodist group in the
country and claimed to be the regional representative of the World
Methodist Church, which includes the Rwandan, Kenyan, and Ugandan
Methodist Churches.
The dispute between the two organizations was before the High Court
at the end of the reporting period. However, in general no group's
religious activities were curtailed as a result of difficulties or
delays in the registration process.
There were reports that numerous religious organizations operated
without legal recognition because the process was arduous, which
government officials confirmed. Members of unregistered groups were
vulnerable to censorship and possible detention.
The Government permits religious instruction in public schools. In
some cases, students were given a choice between instruction in
``religion'' or ``morals.'' In the past, missionaries established
schools that were operated by the Government. In those schools,
religious instruction tended to reflect the denomination of the
founders, either Catholic or Protestant. Muslim private schools
operated as well.
The Government observes six holy days as official holidays:
Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Eid-al-Fitr, All Saints' Day, and
Assumption. The Government's recognition of these holy days does not
negatively affect any religious groups.
Relations between the Government and the Catholic Church continued
to improve because of collaboration and dialogue in the areas of
education and reconciliation. In addition, Muslims continued to enjoy
greater freedom of worship than under the previous government. Sheikh
Abdoul Karim Harerimana, a key Muslim figure, publicly stated at a
ceremony at the National University of Rwanda on May 10, 2005, that
Muslims enjoy freedom of worship without oppression, unlike during
previous regimes.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government requires religious groups to provide advance
notification of religious meetings held at night. Religious leaders
reportedly cooperated with the Government in limiting nighttime
religious meetings and did not view this restriction as an infringement
on their religious freedom. The Government continued to require
religious groups to hold services at their established places of
worship and to ban the use of private homes for this purpose. Some
small religious groups that met in private homes were forced to move to
new locations.
In 2004 the Government suspended the registration of two
Pentecostal churches led by American pastors, presumably for alleged
irregularities in a pastor's visa application as well as an ongoing
dispute over the naming of his church. Further action on the case was
pending promulgation of a new law on religious organizations.
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of General Counsel in
New York, two Jehovah's Witnesses were detained, released, and forced
to pay a fine for not participating in the national anthem. The Office
of General Counsel also reported that between February and May 2006,
forty-eight members of the Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in the
Kibungo province for not participating in the armed night patrols. As
of June 9, 2006, six remained in prison.
All but eleven of the ninety-three Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned
or detained in 2005 for failure to participate in night patrols were
released without charges in the same year. The eleven whose cases went
to court were sentenced from three to six months in prison. Another
member of the Jehovah's Witnesses who did not participate in the armed
night patrols was accused of rebellion and sentenced in August 2005 to
six months in prison. He was released from prison on January 14, 2006.
During the reporting period, following the citing of religious
figures and groups in the 2004 parliamentary report on genocide
ideology, there were a few reports that religious groups had changed
their location or tailored their activities to avoid confrontation with
authorities.
Government officials presiding over wedding ceremonies generally
required couples to take an oath while touching the national flag, a
practice that Jehovah's Witnesses object to on religious grounds. This
practice made it difficult for church members to marry, since they had
to find officials willing to perform the ceremony without the flag
requirement. In 2006 two couples in Bugarsera District were denied
marriage certificates due to their refusal to take the marriage oath
while touching the national flag.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Local leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses leadership reported a
significantly better relationship between their church and the
Government. During the period covered by this report, Jehovah's
Witnesses officials successfully engaged the Government at the national
and local levels on both specific cases and general issues of
contention. They reported receiving greatly improved support from the
national government and the majority of local government officials.
On January 1, 2006, the Government consolidated the country's
territorial administrative structure into 4 provinces, 30 districts,
and 416 sectors. The subsequent change in leadership at the district
and sector levels required the church leadership to address with new
officials issues which were previously resolved with the outgoing
leaders. While decisions regarding the church at the ministerial level
have been positive, church leadership reported a lack of communication
between the national government and some local leaders.
However, there were problems with some local leaders at the sector
and district level, including the continued policy of not allowing new
Kingdom Halls to be built in Kigali and Muhanaga Districts, the
expulsion of six primary students in Nyange District for refusing to
attend Christian services in their school, and the detention of forty-
eight members in five districts for refusing to participate in
community night patrols. In 2006 forty-seven were held for periods of
one to six days and released. Two members, who were detained in Huye
district, were reportedly beaten by prison guards and released without
a trial on May 9, 2006. One member was still in detention at the end of
the reporting period. Another member, detained on May 23, 2006, in
Kibungo District, was severely beaten by the Executive Secretary of
Kirehe-Kigarame Sector and released on May 30, 2006.
In several other districts, local officials agreed to alternative
services rather than night patrols for members of Jehovah's Witnesses,
such as community-building projects. Local officials were not always
aware of alternative services available; however, representatives of
the Jehovah's Witnesses and government officials often mediated to
resolve this issue successfully.
In May 2005 two Jehovah's Witnesses in Ngoma District, Eastern
Province, were charged with disrespect of public order for refusing to
sing the national anthem during a public meeting. A sentence of two
months imprisonment was recommended. The verdict was announced by the
end of the reporting period and the sentence had not been carried out.
A family of Jehovah's Witnesses was arrested and jailed in September
for refusing to sing the national anthem during a gacaca proceeding.
The mother and child were released after two days, the father after
four days.
Pastors Stanislas Ntawurikura and Denis Serugendo, who were
arrested in March 2005 in Kibungo Province on charges of ``rebellion,''
were tried, found not guilty, and released in June 2005 along with the
other sixteen prisoners.
The eight members of a dissident Catholic congregation (``Mouvement
Marial'') in Gisenyi Province accused of ``subversive activities'' and
arrested in February 2004 were released without trial on April 13,
2006.
Pentecostal Church leaders detained in February 2003 for meeting at
night and conducting a religious service outside their church were
released in August 2005 without formal charge.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There were numerous
associations and interfaith groups, such as the Ecumenical Council of
Churches and the Protestant Council of Rwanda, that contribute to
understanding and tolerance among the various religions.
The Interfaith Commission for Rwanda (launched by Muslims,
Protestant and Evangelical churches in 2003) promotes unity and
reconciliation by supporting activities such as aid programs aimed at
reconciling genocide survivors, released genocide prisoners, and
genocide detainees' families. Under the leadership the Anglican
Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini and Mufti Saleh Habimana, the leader of the
country's Muslim community, the Interfaith Commission hosted the
Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa (IAPA), an international event
attended by a broad cross-section of the religious community, including
representatives of Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and traditional
African religious groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officers maintain regular contact with leaders and members of
religious communities.
Embassy officers held numerous meetings with members of the
Catholic and Anglican Churches, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, leaders of the Muslim community, and small, evangelical
Protestant groups to promote interfaith dialogue and discuss religious
freedom. In addition, embassy officers regularly met with local and
international NGOs involved in peace, justice, and reconciliation
efforts that focus on religious tolerance and freedom. As part of its
ongoing dialogue with the Government, the U.S. government addressed and
followed individual cases of concern.
__________
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 386 square miles, and its population is
approximately 160,400 (2004 estimate). The population was predominantly
Roman Catholic. No official statistics were available; however, it was
estimated that approximately 80 percent of the population was Roman
Catholic, 15 percent was Protestant, 3 percent was Muslim, and 2
percent was atheist. Protestantism has grown considerably in recent
years due to the success of Protestant missionaries in the country. The
number of Muslims has increased due to an influx of illegal immigrants
from Nigeria and Cameroon, but no statistics were available.
Traditional indigenous religions did not exist. Although witchcraft was
practiced, it was not considered to be a religion. Practitioners of
witchcraft most often were members of a major religion.
There were Catholic and Protestant missionaries in the country.
Missionaries of other religions also operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
Religious organizations are required to register with the
Government; however, there were no reports that any groups were denied
registration or that the activities of unregistered groups were
restricted.
There are no restrictions on the activities of foreign clergy, and
missionaries in the country operated unhindered.
The Government celebrates some holy days as national holidays.
These include Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, All Souls' Day, and
Christmas.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy, based in Libreville, Gabon, discusses religious
freedom issues with the Government in the context of its overall policy
to promote human rights. In addition, embassy officials regularly meet
with the country's Catholic bishop, Protestant church leaders, and
nongovernmental organizations. Following the 2003 coup attempt, the
U.S. government also encouraged a formal process of national
reconciliation that included leaders of various religious
organizations. The final result of the process was the ``National
Forum'' held in July 2004 that included the participation of most
secular and religious leaders in Sao Tome and was chaired by an
ordained Protestant minister.
__________
SENEGAL
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 76,000 square miles, and its population
is estimated at ten million. According to current government
demographic data, Islam was the predominant religion, practiced by
approximately 94 percent of the country's population. Most citizens
practiced a syncretic form of Islam, combining formal religious
practices with traditional cultural beliefs and values. There also was
an active Christian community (4 percent of the population) that
included Roman Catholics, Protestant denominations, and syncretic
Christian-animist groups. The remainder of the population, an estimated
2 percent, practiced exclusively traditional indigenous religions or no
religion.
The country was ethnically and religiously diverse. Although there
was significant integration of all groups, there were geographic
concentrations of some religious groups. The Christian minority was
concentrated in the western and southern regions, while groups that
practiced traditional religions were mainly in the eastern and southern
regions. Immigrants practiced the same faiths as native-born citizens.
A wide variety of foreign missionary groups operated in the
country, including Catholics, Protestants, independent missionaries,
and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion; the constitution specifically defines
the country as a secular state and provides for the free practice of
religious beliefs, provided that public order is maintained.
The importance of religion in the country often resulted in the
Government giving direct financial and material assistance to religious
organizations. There is no official system of distribution for these
grants, which are often provided to assist religious groups to maintain
or rehabilitate their places of worship or undertake special events.
All religions have access to these funds, although there is often
competition among religious groups to gain them. During the period
covered by this report, the Government provided funds and technical
assistance to rehabilitate churches throughout the country, including
Dakar's national cathedral, for which the Government donated $1.2
million (CFA 600 million) in 2005. The Government provided security
personnel and enhanced public services to support national religious
pilgrimages, both Christian and Muslim.
The Government observes a number of Muslim and Christian holy days.
Islamic holy days observed are Tabaski, Tamkharit, the Birth of the
Prophet Muhammad, and Korite. Christian holy days observed are Easter
Monday, Ascension, Pentecost, Feast of the Assumption, All Saints' Day,
and Christmas.
Religious organizations are independent of the Government and
administer their affairs without government interference; however, the
civil and commercial code requires any group, religious or otherwise,
to register with the minister of the interior to acquire legal status
as an association. Registration enabled an association to conduct
business, own property, establish a bank account, and receive financial
contributions from private sources. Registered religious groups,
including all registered nonprofit organizations, are exempt from many
forms of taxation. Registration generally is granted and the minister
of interior must have a legal basis for refusing registration.
Missionaries, like other long-term visitors, must obtain residence
visas from the Ministry of Interior. Christian and Islamic groups often
established a presence as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Religious NGOs obtained permission to operate from the Ministry of
Women, Family and Social Development. There were no reports that the
Government refused visas or permission to operate to any group.
Religious NGOs are very active in providing social services and
administering economic development assistance programs.
In 2002 the Government passed a law that allows public schools to
offer two hours of religious education, both Islamic and Christian, per
school week through a pilot program. Religious teaching is an optional
part of the curriculum, and students are not required to participate.
This program continues to prosper. In less than three years, sixty-six
schools and 10,500 students, who follow studies in French, Arabic and
Islamic religious studies, have joined the program, which is designed
to attract children to public rather than Qur'anic schools that often
teach only the Qur'an and Arabic. Privately owned schools are free to
provide religious education. The Ministry of Education provides funds
to schools operated by religious institutions that meet national
education standards. Christian schools, which have a long and
successful experience in education, receive the largest share of this
government funding. The majority of students attending Christian
schools are Muslims. Religious charities also received government
support.
The Government encourages and assists Muslim participation in the
Hajj every year. It also provides similar assistance for an annual
Catholic pilgrimage to the Vatican. During the period covered by this
report, the Government provided hundreds of free plane tickets to
Muslim and Christian citizens to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca or
to Rome and the Holy Land. After Pope John Paul II's death, the
Government sent a delegation to attend his funeral that included senior
government officials and leaders in the Christian community.
While there is no specific government-sponsored institution to
promote interfaith dialogue, the Government generally seeks to promote
religious harmony by maintaining relations with the larger religious
groups. Senior government officials regularly consulted with religious
leaders, and the Government generally was represented at all major
religious festivals or events. In April 2005 the Government held a
summit to prepare for the Islamic-Christian Dialogue. President Wade,
Prime Minister Macky Sall, and other government leaders attended the
preparatory meeting, along with delegations from several foreign
countries, including the United States. President Wade spoke about the
peaceful coexistence of religions in the country, a source of national
pride.
The Government actively promoted religious tolerance among its
citizens.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Majority and minority religious leaders conducted
their activities and spoke out on social and political issues, such as
political violence and HIV/AIDS, without fear of government sanction.
Religious groups, including both Muslims and Christians, had wide
access to public media to promote religious activities, such as
preaching and religious education. The Government monitored foreign
missionary groups and religious NGOs to ensure that their activities
coincide with their stated objectives.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Religion played an important role in the lives of most citizens,
and society generally was very open to and tolerant of different
religious faiths. The country had a long tradition of amicable and
tolerant coexistence between the Muslim majority and Christian,
traditional indigenous, and other religious minorities. Interfaith
marriage was relatively common. Within certain families, other
religious faiths, such as Christianity or a traditional indigenous
religion, were practiced alongside Islam. There were a number of
interfaith events throughout the year that celebrate the important role
of religion in everyday life.
Islamic communities generally were organized around one of several
brotherhoods, headed by a Khalif, who was a direct descendant of the
group's founder. The two largest and most prominent of these
brotherhoods were the Tidjanes, based in the city of Tivaouane, and the
Mourides, based in the city of Touba. At times there were disputes
within the different brotherhoods over questions of succession or
general authority; however, relations generally were peaceful and
cooperative. In recent years, a National Committee to Coordinate
Sightings of the Moon, and hence the designation of Islamic holy days,
was formed at the suggestion of the Government and attempted to
increase cooperation among the Islamic subgroups.
While the brotherhoods were not involved directly in politics or
government affairs, these groups exert considerable influence in
society and maintain a dialogue with political leaders. Close
association with a brotherhood, as with any influential community
leader, religious or secular, could afford certain political and
economic protections and advantages that were not conferred by law.
Christian and Islamic leaders have long maintained a public
dialogue with one another. During the period covered by this report,
Protestant groups became more active throughout Senegal, a sign,
according to one prominent local NGO, of the religious tolerance
practiced in the country.
When anonymous death threats were made against members of the
Catholic clergy in early 2004, the Government quickly denounced the
threats and assured the protection of Christian leaders. Although an
investigation did not identify the perpetrators, there were no further
threats against the clergy.
Unlike in the past, there were no cases of interfaith violence
during the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights and
maintains relations with all major religious groups, including the
Mouride, Tidiane, Layanne, and Qadriyya Islamic brotherhoods and
Christian groups. During the period covered by this report, the U.S.
ambassador and other embassy staff met with religious leaders or their
representatives to discuss social and political issues and demonstrate
American interest in forging positive relationships with Muslim
communities. Embassy staff spent Ramadan engaged in outreach to the
major Islamic brotherhoods. The embassy also invited religious leaders
to attend its July Fourth celebration and other events. The embassy
maintained contacts with several faith-based NGOs, foreign missionary
groups, and human rights organizations and activists to monitor issues
of religious freedom. The ambassador or his representative regularly
attended major annual religious festivals or gatherings to promote an
open dialogue with various religious groups.
The embassy has an active program of presenting information about
religious diversity and tolerance in the United States. The embassy has
translated, published, and distributed the ``Muslim Life in America''
brochure in the two major national languages (Wolof and Pulaar). The
embassy routinely released to the local press, posted on its website
and published through a monthly magazine, information on Islam in the
United States, including statements from the president and the
secretary of state celebrating Ramadan and other Islamic holidays. The
embassy trained Islamic English teachers and donated Arabic language
books to Islamic institutes, schools, and libraries, as well as
English-language books on language learning and American Studies.
__________
SEYCHELLES
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 444 square miles, and its population is
approximately 82,500. According to a 2006 government estimate, about 90
percent of the population is Roman Catholic and 7 percent is Anglican.
There are other Christian churches, including Baptists, Seventh-day
Adventists, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Church, the
Pentecostal Assembly, the Nazarites, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Hinduism,
Islam, and the Baha'i Faith also are practiced.
A few foreign missionary groups practice in the country, including
the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious society.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. At all levels,
the Government sought to protect this right in full and did not
tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is
no state religion.
The Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Seventh-day Adventist churches,
Islamic mosques, and Baha'i local spiritual assembly have individual
acts of incorporation. Other churches that are not corporate bodies are
registered as associations with the Registrar General and are entitled
to tax-free privileges, similar to a charity. All religious
organizations must register to be entitled to tax-free privileges. If
an organization does not want tax-free privileges, it is not required
to register.
The Government tends to remain uninvolved with religious matters,
but it provides program time to different religious organizations on
the national radio broadcasting service. On alternate Sunday mornings,
the national radio service airs Catholic Mass and Anglican services,
which last from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. The
Islam and Hindu faiths are allowed 15-minute broadcasts every Friday
afternoon, and the Baha'i and Seventh-day Adventist faiths are allowed
15-minute broadcasts every Saturday afternoon.
Government employees of all faiths can request paid leave on any of
their holy days, and such leave generally is granted. The Islamic
Society of Seychelles generally submits requests to the Department of
Public Administration for Muslim employees to receive leave on Islamic
festival days. The majority of government ministers are Catholic.
The Roman Catholic holy days of Good Friday, Easter, Corpus
Christi, Assumption of Mary, All Saints' Day, Immaculate Conception
Day, and Christmas are national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In the past, the Government did not demonstrate favoritism toward
one religion over another; however, in 2004, the Baie Sainte Anne
Church, a Catholic church, was awarded $200,000 (1 million Seychelles
rupees) for major renovation works.
According to the Government, a portion of the national budget is
periodically allocated to provide assistance to faiths that request
financial support at the beginning of each year. In the past, Baha'i
and Hindu groups have benefited from these grants, which are awarded on
a case-by-case basis and based on the availability of budgeted funds.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
SIERRA LEONE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there were two known
incidents of religious intolerance during the period covered by this
report.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 29,925 square miles, and its population
is approximately 4.9 million. The Inter-Religious Council (IRC)
estimated that the population was 60 to 70 percent Muslim, 20 to 30
percent Christian, and 5 to 10 percent indigenous and other faiths.
There were small numbers of Baha'is, Hindus, and Jews. There was no
information concerning the number of atheists in the country.
Many syncretistic practices reportedly existed, and many citizens
practiced a mixture of Islam and traditional indigenous religions or
Christianity and traditional indigenous religions.
Historically, most Muslims have been concentrated in the northern
areas of the country, and Christians have been located in the south;
however, the eleven-year civil war, which officially was declared over
in 2002, resulted in movement by major segments of the population.
There were a number of foreign missionary groups operating in the
country, including Roman Catholic, Ahmadiyya, Wesleyan, Mormon,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christian, and others.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
Holy days celebrated as national holidays include the Muslim Eid
al-Adha, the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, Eid al-Fitr holidays, and
the Christian Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas holidays.
The Government has no requirements for recognizing, registering, or
regulating religious groups.
The Government permits religious instruction in public schools.
Students are allowed to choose whether to attend Muslim- or Christian-
oriented classes.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In January 2005 the Immigration Department revised its annual
registration fees for businessmen, teachers, missionaries, and other
groups of foreign residents. Fees for missionaries increased from
approximately $3 (10,000 leones) to approximately $70 (200,000 leones).
Some foreign missionaries complained that the increased immigration
registration fee was a restriction.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
U.S. minor citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
In February 2006 a self-proclaimed rabbi reported that a Muslim man
threatened him while he was proselytizing near a mosque in Freetown.
The rabbi said that he departed the area and did not report the
incident to the police.
Persons commonly use homes and schools as places of worship.
Landlords often permit such activity even if they do not share the same
religious beliefs as their tenants. In December 2005 a rabbi reported
that he was evicted from his residence in Makeni because he was hosting
religious services in his home for approximately 150 persons.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom, and interfaith marriage is common.
The IRC, composed of Christian and Muslim leaders, plays a vital role
in civil society and actively participates in efforts to further the
peace process in the country and the subregion. Christian and Muslim
leaders worked together with the National Accountability Group and the
Anti-Corruption Commission to address the problem of corruption in
society. The IRC reported that membership applications from Baha'i and
Jewish representatives were pending.
In April 2005 on a Muslim public holiday, a group of Muslims in
Rokupr burned the igbala (hut or shrine) where the local hunting
society stored its traditional hunting masks so that the group could
not stage its traditional parade. A local newspaper reported and police
confirmed that the Muslims burned the masks because they believed that
the pagan tradition was a desecration of Muhammad's birthday. Police
arrested several persons, but the local chief brought the two groups
together and resolved the case out of court.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discussed religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy continued to maintain frequent contact with the IRC and
its individual members.
__________
SOMALIA
There is no constitution and no legal provision for the protection
of religious freedom; there were limits on religious freedom. There was
no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during the
period covered by this report.
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which grew out of individual
courts' efforts to establish a degree of order in Mogadishu, took
control of the Somali capital on June 4, 2006, following a military
confrontation with a loose coalition of Somali warlords. The UIC is
heterogeneous and serves as an umbrella coordination mechanism between
individual Shari'a courts, with individual courts reflecting a moderate
interpretation of Islam and others espousing an extremist form of Islam
that has proven intolerant to traditional Somali societal and cultural
practices. The UIC was subsequently renamed the Supreme of Islamic
Courts Council (SICC) on June 24.
There is strong societal pressure to respect Islamic traditions,
especially in enclaves still influenced, and in some instances
controlled by, radical Islamists in the Lower Juba region.
The U.S. government does not maintain an official presence in the
country. The lack of diplomatic representation has limited the ability
of the U.S. government to take action to promote religious freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 246,200 square miles, and its population
was approximately 8.3 million; however, population figures were
difficult to estimate due to the instability of the country. Citizens
were overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims of a Sufi tradition. There also was a
small, extremely low-profile Christian community, in addition to small
numbers of followers of other religions. The number of adherents to
strains of conservative Islam and the number of Islamic schools funded
by religiously conservative sources continued to grow.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
There is no constitution and no legal provision for the protection
of religious freedom. There were limits on religious freedom imposed by
self-appointed officials and authorities and through societal attitude.
Somalia's nascent central government was able to exercise control
over very limited territory. A Transitional Federal Government (TFG)
was created in October 2004 following the Somalia National
Reconciliation Conference in Mbagathi, Kenya. That government formally
established temporary operations in Baidoa in February 2006. The TFG
adopted a Transitional Federal Charter in 2004 but was able to begin
implementation only in 2006. Deep divisions within the transitional
institutions continued to hamper progress on governance, but regular
meetings of parliament and a portion of the cabinet began to take
place. Following the June takeover of Mogadishu by the UIC, the TFG met
with representatives of the courts to discuss the current situation in
the country. This meeting resulted in an agreement that included
provisions to cease antagonistic propaganda and hostilities and to
continue discussions on security, politics, and impediments to peace.
The TFG charter establishes Islam as the national religion. Several
sheikhs have announced that the TFG must reflect a commitment to
Islamic governance and morals. Some local administrations, including
the self-declared ``Republic of Somaliland'' and the semi-autonomous
region of Puntland, have made Islam the official religion in their
regions; however, regional authorities generally do not espouse
rhetoric against non-Muslims. Puntland security forces monitored
religious activities very closely.
The judiciary in most regions relies on some combination of
Shari'a, traditional and customary law (Xeer), and the penal code of
the pre-1991 Siad Barre government. Shari'a courts throughout Mogadishu
were asserting their authority, attracting support from businessmen,
and sometimes, at least superficially, working across clan lines that
traditionally form the primary basis for identity and loyalty.
In Somaliland, religious schools and places of worship are required
to obtain the Ministry of Religion's permission to operate. The
ministry must approve entry visas for religious groups, and certain
unspecified doctrines are prohibited. Religious schools and places of
worship in Puntland must receive permission to operate from the
Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Proselytizing for any religion except Islam is prohibited in
Puntland and Somaliland and effectively blocked by informal social
consensus elsewhere in the country. Christian-based international
relief organizations generally operated without interference, provided
that they refrain from proselytizing.
In April 2004 thousands of citizens marched through the streets in
Mogadishu and in the southern coastal town of Merca to protest what
they believed was an attempt by aid agencies to spread Christianity.
Muslim scholars organized the protest following reports that
schoolchildren received gifts with Christian emblems alongside
charitable aid. The protesters set ablaze hundreds of cartons
containing goods, some marked only as gifts from the ``Swiss Church.''
The protesters warned the aid agencies against using relief items to
evangelize.
In March 2004 Mohamed Omar Habeb, also known as Mohamed Dheere, who
controlled the Middle Shabbelle region, countered the general Islamic
trend in the country by banning women from wearing veils. He
subsequently jailed at least seventeen women who had violated his
decree, claming that veils made it difficult to distinguish women from
men who might be concealing weapons. Habeb was quoted as saying that he
was committed to curbing violent attacks by extremists, but he later
released the women following an outcry from many Islamic scholars
throughout the country, particularly in Mogadishu.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Article 6.3 of the Puntland Charter prohibits torture ``unless
sentenced by Islamic Shari'a Courts in accordance with Islamic Shari'a
law.'' Islamic courts continued to operate throughout the country in
the absence of a national judicial system operated by a central
government. In May 2006 a sixteen-year-old boy stabbed to death his
father's killer in a public execution ordered by an Islamic court. In
June a court sentenced five suspected rapists to death by stoning.
In January 2005 a group of violent extremists desecrated the
Italian colonial cemetery in Mogadishu. While the excavation of the
cemetery served a political and economic function, the act had
religious overtones, as those in control of the site stated that they
planned to build a mosque there and erected a makeshift sheet-metal
shelter as a first step. The group, although espousing Islamist
rhetoric, was widely condemned by mainstream Sufi Muslims and some
Salafist groups.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
In 2004 there were several fatal attacks against non-Muslim
international relief and charity workers throughout the country and in
the region of Somaliland. In addition, recent threats have targeted
non-Muslim Westerners in the country, including in Somaliland.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Non-Sunni Muslims often were viewed with suspicion by members of
the Sunni majority.
The BBC reported that in March 2005, local Muslim cleric Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys, an influential figure in the UIC and former leader
of Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI), called for a violent jihad against any
peacekeeping force that anticipated accompanying the TFG's return to
the country that year.
The activities of the Islamic courts appeared to be largely
welcomed by Mogadishu because the courts have brought a degree of order
to what was long a lawless city. Some, however, have objected to strict
interpretations of Islamic law that forbid the viewing of movies or
soccer matches. In one instance, a Shari'a court reportedly ordered
that one group of youths have their heads shaved and be whipped for
protesting a ban on public broadcasts of World Cup soccer matches.
There is strong societal pressure to respect Islamic traditions,
especially in enclaves still influenced but not controlled by Islamists
espousing violent political agendas in Doble, Ras Kaambooni, and
Kolbiyow in the Lower Juba region. Organized Islamic groups whose goal
is the establishment of an Islamic state include Al-Islah, a generally
nonviolent political movement that operates primarily in Mogadishu, and
AIAI, a militant Islamic organization. AIAI committed terrorist acts in
Somalia and Ethiopia in the mid-1990s and remains on the U.S.
government's Terrorist Exclusion List. Although individuals continued
to claim to be adherents to its precepts, AIAI remained heavily
factionalized and its membership decentralized. Unlike AIAI, Al-Islah
is a generally nonviolent and modernizing Islamic movement that
emphasizes the reformation and revival of Islam to meet the challenges
of the modern world.
There are a significant number of externally funded Qur'anic
schools throughout the country. These schools provide inexpensive basic
education but may require young girls to wear veils and participate in
other conservative Islamic practices not generally found in the local
culture. Mogadishu University, the University of East Africa in
Bosasso, Puntland, and many secondary schools in Mogadishu are
externally funded and administered through organizations affiliated
with the conservative Islamic organization Al-Islah.
Christians, as well as other non-Muslims who proclaim their
religion, faced occasional societal harassment.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government does not maintain a diplomatic presence, and
travel to the country by U.S. government officials is seriously
proscribed. The central government remains too weak to adequately
engage on issues of religious freedom; regional and self-proclaimed
authorities are unresponsive due to the lack of U.S. diplomatic
recognition of or representation to them. These restraints have limited
the U.S. government's ability to take action to promote religious
freedom in the country.
__________
SOUTH AFRICA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 470,693 square miles, and its population
was approximately 46.9 million. According to figures on religious
demography from the 2001 census, approximately 80 percent of the
population belonged to the Christian faith, and 4 percent to other
religions, including Hinduism (1.2 percent), Islam (1.5 percent),
Judaism (0.2 percent), and traditional African beliefs (0.3 percent).
Approximately 15 percent of the population indicated that it belonged
to no particular religion or declined to indicate an affiliation.
The African Independent Churches were the largest group of
Christian churches. There were more than 4,000 of these churches, with
a total membership of more than ten million. Although these churches
originally were founded as breakaways from various mission churches
(the so-called Ethiopian churches), the African Independent Churches
consisted mostly of Zionist or Apostolic churches and also included
some Pentecostal branches. The Zionist Christian Church was the largest
African Independent Church with 11.1 percent of the population. The
African Independent Churches attracted persons in rural and urban
areas.
Other Christian churches included the Dutch Reformed family of
churches, which consisted of approximately 6.7 percent of the
population, and the Roman Catholic Church, which consisted of
approximately 7.1 percent. Protestant denominations include the
Methodist (6.8 percent), Anglican (3.8 percent), Lutheran (2.5
percent), Presbyterian (1.9 percent), Baptist (1.5 percent), and
Congregational (1.1 percent) churches. The largest traditional
Pentecostal churches were the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies
of God, and the Full Gospel Church. A number of charismatic churches
have been established in recent years. Their subsidiary churches,
together with those of the Hatfield Christian Church in Pretoria, were
grouped in the International Fellowship of Christian Churches. The
Greek Orthodox and Seventh-day Adventist churches also were active.
Approximately 15 percent of the population claimed no affiliation
with any formal religious organization. It was believed that many of
these persons adhered to traditional indigenous religions. Followers of
traditional indigenous religions believed that certain practitioners
may manipulate the power of the spirits using herbs, therapeutic
techniques, or supernatural powers. Some practitioners were considered
witches and engender fear. Many persons combined Christian and
traditional indigenous religious practices.
According to the latest available statistics from the 2001 census,
an estimated 80 percent of Black Africans, who constitute the majority
of the population, were Christian. Approximately 87 percent of whites
were Christian and almost 1.4 percent Jewish. Nearly half (47.3
percent) of Indians were Hindu, 49 percent were either Muslim (24.6
percent) or Christian (24.4 percent), and 3.7 percent fell into other
categories. The majority of Muslims were either of Indian origin,
largely located in KwaZulu-Natal, or belonged to the multiethnic
community in the Western Cape.
A number of Christian organizations, including the Salvation Army,
Promise Keepers, Operation Mobilization, Campus Crusade, and the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), operated in the country
doing missionary work, giving aid, and providing training. The Muslim
World League also was active, as was the Zionist International
Federation.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
government generally respected this right in practice. The government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Bill of Rights prohibits the government from unfairly
discriminating directly or indirectly against anyone based on religion,
and it states that persons belonging to a religious community may not
be denied the right to practice their religion and to form, join, and
maintain religious associations with other members of that community.
Cases of discrimination against a person on the grounds of religious
freedom may be taken to the constitutional court.
While Christianity is the dominant religion, the law does not
recognize a state religion. Leading government officials and ruling
party members adhere to a variety of faiths, including various
Christian denominations, Islam, and Judaism.
Only Christian holy days, such as Christmas and Good Friday, are
recognized as national religious holidays; however, members of other
religious groups are allowed to celebrate their religious holidays
without government interference. A proposed review of public holidays
suggested by the former minister of home affairs did not take place.
The government allows, but does not require, ``religion education''
in public schools; however, ``religious instruction,'' or the
advocating of tenets of a particular faith, is not permitted in public
schools.
The government does not require religious groups to be licensed or
registered.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There was no change in the
status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by
this report.
There are many ecumenical contacts among the various churches. The
largest of these is the South African Council of Churches, which
represents the Methodist Church, the Church of the Province of South
Africa (Anglican), various Lutheran and Presbyterian churches, and the
Congregational Church, among others. The major traditional indigenous
religions, most of the Afrikaans-language churches, and the Pentecostal
and charismatic churches are not members of the SACC and usually have
their own coordinating and liaison bodies. The Catholic Church's
relationship with other churches continued to become more open, and it
worked closely with other churches on the socio-political front.
There were reports of killings allegedly linked to the continued
targeting of purported practitioners of witchcraft, particularly in
Limpopo Province. In August 2005 an elderly couple in Umlazi (KwaZulu-
Natal province) suspected of practicing witchcraft were beaten,
stabbed, and burned to death. Six persons were arrested and charged
with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and arson. The trial was
ongoing at the end of the period covered by this report. Two men
accused of the April 2005 killing of their grandmother in Ritavi,
Limpopo, were convicted and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in
April 2006.
In February 2006 a mob of approximately ninety youths set alight
thirty-nine houses in four villages in Limpopo, accusing the occupants
of being witches. Thirteen suspected ringleaders were charged and were
due to appear in court in August. In March 2006 a group of boys burned
the house of a sixty-six-year-old woman accused of witchcraft. The
investigation was ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
There were no reports of killings linked to the practice of
Satanism. The government does not keep records on cases of reported
witchcraft and satanic killings. These cases are investigated and
prosecuted as homicide by law enforcement officials.
While there were occasional reports of desecration and vandalism or
verbal or written abuse, no violent incidents were reported during the
reporting period.
Concerns about Islamic extremism have subsided since a 2002 bombing
in the Western Cape that police attributed to the People Against
Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD). PAGAD is an Islamic-oriented
organization opposed to crime, gangsterism, and drugs, but it has been
known for violent vigilantism and acts of terrorism. The case remained
under investigation, but further progress was not likely. The police
have not attributed any terrorist attacks to PAGAD since the 2002
bombing.
Qibla, which traditionally has espoused Iranian Shi'ite extremist
philosophies and vowed a political Jihad, is an ally of PAGAD and has
an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel stance. Qibla's Shi'ite radicalism sharply
contrasts with the generally conservative and apolitical Muslim
community (mainly Sunni) in Cape Town. No Qibla activities were
reported in the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
government and civil society as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights.
During the period covered by this report, the U.S. embassy
sponsored several visitors to the United States on programs related to
promoting religious tolerance. Two Fulbright scholars did Islamic
Studies research in the United States. The Embassy's political
counselor attended the seventh International Conference on Global
Spirituality Today, held at the Muslim Rasooli Centre in Centurion. The
U.S. consul general in Cape Town gave an hour-long interview to Channel
Islam International, a Johannesburg-based, Islam-oriented radio service
that reaches an audience of up to sixty million in Africa and the
Islamic world, on the history of Islam and Muslims in the United
States. The consul general hosted three iftars that targeted not only
segments of Cape Town's Muslim community but also significant
participation by the interfaith community. The consulate general also
facilitated visiting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
Karen Hughes' interactions on matters of faith, tolerance, and U.S.
policies with leaders of the Western Cape's Islamic community. In
addition, the consul general met with a variety of local religious
leaders throughout the reporting period to promote religious tolerance.
The consulate general facilitated Western Cape Premier Rasool's visit
with the Islamic Center during his visit to Washington, D.C. in May
2006.
Officers from the Consulate General in Durban visited the Orient
Islamic Educational Institute, the largest of the seven private Islamic
schools in Durban, and discussed a Fulbright Secondary Teacher Exchange
program with a U.S. school. The Consulate General hosted Dr. Walter E.
Fluker, Professor of Religion at Morehouse College, who addressed more
than thirty leaders of various religious denominations at the Diakonia
Council of Churches on ``Spirituality, Ethics and Morality.'' Consulate
General officers also met with numerous religious leaders based in
Durban throughout the year, including the Anglican bishop of Natal and
the Catholic cardinal and archbishop of Natal.
The Consulate General in Johannesburg sponsored an International
Visitor's Program for a radio journalist with the Muslim Community
Broadcasting Trust. The Consulate General also hosted two digital
videoconferences on Muslim/Islamic life in the United States for local
students, journalists, and Muslim organizations.
__________
SUDAN
The July 9, 2005, Interim National Constitution provides for
freedom of religion throughout the entire country, and there was some
improvement in the status of respect for religious freedom in the
period covered by this report. However, regional distinctions in the
constitution, negotiated as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) have resulted in disparities in the treatment of religious
minorities in the North and South. Whereas the Government of Southern
Sudan generally respected the rights of Christians and Muslims in the
ten states of the south as provided for in its separate constitution,
signed on December 5, 2005, the new Government of National Unity (GNU)
continued to place restrictions on Christians in the North.
The National Congress Party (NCP) originally came to power in 1989
as the National Islamic Front (NIF); it embraces Islam as the state
religion and regards Shari'a as the basis for the country's laws,
institutions, and policies. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM) resisted these and earlier efforts to Islamicize the country as
part of a broader war for southern autonomy through the Government of
Southern Sudan, which includes several minority parties. Under the CPA,
these two parties entered into a coalition Government of National Unity
at the national level, with the SPLM acting as the main governing party
in the South. The country remained in a state of political transition,
with national elections scheduled for the July 2008 to July 2009 period
and a referendum on independence for the South scheduled for 2011.
The new Interim National Constitution preserved Shari'a as a source
of legislation in states outside southern Sudan, and recognized
``popular consensus'' and ``the values and the customs of the people of
Sudan, including their traditions and religious beliefs,'' as sources
of legislation in the south. The constitution also recognized the
national capital of Khartoum as ``a symbol of national unity that
reflects the diversity of Sudan.'' According to the constitution, the
presidency shall establish the Commission for the Rights of Non-Muslims
in the national capital to ensure that non-Muslims are not adversely
affected by the application of Shari'a law in Khartoum. The
constitution of Southern Sudan also establishes ``the traditional laws,
religious beliefs, values, and customary practices of the people'' as a
source of legislation in the south.
The GNU continued to discriminate against Christians in the North,
particularly by denying building permits for new churches. The national
government required that all students in the North study Islam in
school, whether or not they were Muslim, and even if enrolled in
private, Christian schools. By the end of the period covered by this
report, the presidency had not appointed the Commission for the Rights
of Non-Muslims in the national capital.
Relations among religious groups improved during the period covered
by this report. Dialogue between Christian and Muslim groups continued
under the auspices of the Sudan Inter-Religious Council (SIRC), a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) supported by the Government of
National Unity, and the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), comprising
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant groups. The SIRC supported peace and
reconciliation efforts between Christians and Muslims, sponsoring a
conference on the role of religious leaders in peace building with the
U.S. Institute of Peace in July 2005 and hosting an interfaith prayer
service during the archbishop of Canterbury's visit to the country in
February 2006.
The United States government promoted religious freedom and human
rights in Sudan in its discussions with government officials and in its
public diplomacy. The United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) also funded efforts to promote inter-religious
dialogue and understanding. The United States government encouraged the
GNU to fulfill the promises of religious freedom made in the CPA and
the Interim National Constitution, and made clear that restrictions on
religious freedom impede improved relations between the two countries.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick hosted an interfaith forum
with Christian and Muslim leaders in Khartoum during his November 2005
visit. Embassy officials frequently met with leaders of different
religious groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
Sudan has an estimated population of 41 million and an area of
967,500 square miles. Exact population and demographic data were
unavailable due to the long civil war, and there were no recent census
figures. An estimated two-thirds to three-fourths of the population
lived in the fifteen states of the North and were generally from
Arabic-speaking Semitic groups. The remaining one-fourth to one-third
of the population lived in the South and were mostly Nilotic peoples,
some of whom have adopted English as a common language. More than four
million internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled from the South to the
North during the long civil war. Although several hundred thousand
returned to the South after the CPA, many more still lived in and
around northern cities.
Precise religious data were not available; self-reported membership
totals in particular religious groups could not be confirmed, and
outdated census figures may not be accurate. In general Islam
predominated in the North, while traditional indigenous beliefs
(animism) and Christianity were prevalent in the South. Some Muslim
leaders estimated the country's Muslim population to be more than
thirty-two million, or above 80 percent of the total population; almost
all Muslims in the country were Sunni, with a small Shi'a community,
although there were significant distinctions between followers of
different Islamic traditions. The most significant divisions within the
Sunni community occurred along the lines of the Sufi brotherhoods. Two
popular brotherhoods, the Ansar and the Khatmia, were associated with
the opposition Umma and Democratic Unionist Parties, respectively.
Traditionalists were believed to be the second largest religious
group in the country, although there were reports that many had
converted to Christianity or followed a syncretic form of these two
faiths. Christians were generally considered the third largest group.
The Roman Catholic Church estimated the number of baptized Catholics at
six million, including small Melkite and Maronite communities in the
north. Anglicans estimated five million followers in the Episcopal
Church of Sudan and the dissident Reformed Episcopal Church. There were
small but long established groups of Orthodox Christians in Khartoum
and other northern cities, including several thousand Coptic Orthodox
and a few hundred Greek Orthodox Christians. There were significant
Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox communities in Khartoum and Eastern
Sudan, largely drawn from refugees and migrants. Other Christian groups
with smaller followings in the country included the Africa Inland
Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Sudan Church of Christ, the
Sudan Interior Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Sudan Pentecostal
Church, the Sudan Evangelical Presbyterian Church (in the North), the
Presbyterian Church of the Sudan (in the South), and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church of Sudan. The size of the country's Jewish community
decreased drastically over the past twenty years, when mass emigration
led to the closure of the synagogue in Khartoum; however, a small group
of Jews still lived in the capital.
The country's traditional division between the Muslim north and the
Christian south reflected the social policies of the Anglo-Egyptian
colonial administration (1898-1956), under which Christian missionary
activity was encouraged in the South but restricted in the North, while
the spread of Islam was tolerated in the North but prohibited in the
South. Though these policies were no longer in effect, they continue to
influence the country's religious demography. The GNU officially
permits foreign missionary groups in both North and South, although in
practice Christian missionaries were largely confined to the South or
to existing Christian communities in the North, due to Shari'a (Islamic
law), strong social pressure against proselytizing, and existing laws
against apostasy.
With the exception of displaced Southerners, most Christians in the
North were descended from remnants of pre-Islamic era communities or
trading families that immigrated from Egypt or the Near East before
independence (1956); at the same time, many Muslims in the South were
shopkeepers or small business owners who sought economic opportunities
during the civil war. These tensions have created not only a sense of
ethnic and religious marginalization among the minority religious group
in each region but also a feeling among the majority that a minority
group controlled a disproportionate share of the wealth.
Religion also played a role in the country's political system.
Northern Muslims have dominated the country's political and economic
system since independence. The National Congress Party (NCP) drew much
of its support from Islamists, Wahhabis, and other conservative Arab
Muslims in the north; the Umma Party traditionally attracted Arab
followers of the Ansar Sect of Sufism as well as non-Arab Muslims from
Darfur and Kordofan. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) included both
Arab and non-Arab Muslims in the North and East, especially those
followers of the Khatmia Sect of Sufism, as well as some northern
Arabic-speaking Christians. Southern Christians generally supported the
SPLM or one of the smaller southern parties.
The ongoing conflict in Darfur between the government-backed Arab
Muslim militias (janjaweed) and non-Arab Muslim rebels did not center
on religious differences but rather on political, economic, and ethnic
issues.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Religious groups are required by law to register with the
government as non-governmental organizations, although this requirement
did not appear to be enforced. Religious organizations that do not
register as non-governmental, non-profit organizations, cannot legally
claim exemption from taxes and import duties. Some of the largest
Christian religious groups have historically refused to register out of
fear of government interference. Religious groups that have opted to
register, such as the Coptic Church, have been exempt from property
taxes.
The April 2006 Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act requires all
foreign NGOs, including religious groups, to register with the
Government. It ostensibly applies to both Christian and Muslim groups,
but there has been insufficient time to see how it is applied in
practice. In prior years, the SCC had complained that a similar act,
which this one supersedes, was unfairly applied.
The new Interim National Constitution that took effect on July 9,
2005, provides for freedom of worship throughout the entire country;
the constitution of Southern Sudan, signed on December 5, 2005, also
provides for freedom of worship in the ten states of the South.
Although the GNU did not directly interfere in the right of citizens to
practice the religion of their choice, it restricted to some extent
when, where, and how Christians in the North were permitted to worship.
The Government of Southern Sudan generally respected the rights of
southerners to practice the religion of their choice.
The country's legal and policy framework affecting religious
freedom changed dramatically following the CPA. Although the Interim
National Constitution applies to the entire country, it has in effect
created separate legal systems in the North and the South.
Shari'a is a source of legislation in the fifteen states of the
North. Conversion from Islam to another religion is considered
apostasy. Under the CPA, non-Muslims in Khartoum are exempt from
penalties prescribed by Shari'a but not from national and state laws
based on Shari'a. In addition, the rights of non-Muslims in the capital
are to be guaranteed by a special presidential commission, which is
expected to assist the government in advising courts on how to apply
Shari'a law to non-Muslims. On January 3, 2006, the president announced
his intention to create the Commission for the Rights of Non-Muslims in
the National Capital; however, by the end of the period covered by this
report there had been no presidential decree to create this Commission.
Shari'a is no longer a source of legislation in the ten states of
the South under the Interim National Constitution and the constitution
of Southern Sudan. The region's legal and regulatory framework remains
a combination of inherited national law, laws adopted by the Government
of Southern Sudan, traditional practice, and provisional decisions.
The Government of Southern Sudan has established a special court in
Juba, the Southern capital, for prosecuting crimes committed for
religious reasons, particularly by Christians seeking revenge against
Muslims. There were reports that the court has tried several cases, and
the Muslim leaders in Juba stated that it appeared to offer adequate
protection to Muslims. There was no equivalent institution in the
North.
Under the Interim National Constitution, Sudan is a ``multi-
religious state'' and ``an all embracing homeland wherein religions
exist in harmony''; moreover, the constitution is based on the
principle that the country's ``religions, beliefs, customs, and
traditions are a source of moral strength and inspiration for the
Sudanese people.'' However, because the constitution preserves the role
of Shari'a in the north, it effectively establishes Islam as the state
religion in that region. Neither the Interim National Constitution nor
the constitution of Southern Sudan establish a state religion in the
South, although traditionalism and Christianity are dominant. All
courts in the South are secular.
National government offices and businesses in the north follow the
Islamic workweek, with Friday as a day of prayer. Employers are
required by law to give their Christian employees two hours before
10:00 a.m. on Sunday for religious purposes, but many employers did
not, and there was no legal remedy. Public schools are in session on
Sunday and Christian students are not excused from classes. Most
Christians instead worship on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evenings.
Government of Southern Sudan offices and businesses in the south
follow the western workweek, with Sunday as a day of religious
observance. Employers in the South generally do not give their Muslim
employees two hours on Friday for religious purposes as required under
national law practiced in the North. Schools in the South are in
session on Friday, and Muslim students are not excused from class.
The Government recognizes Eid al-Adha, Islamic New Year, the Birth
of the Prophet Muhammad, Orthodox Easter, Sham El Naseem/Easter Monday,
Israa Wal Mi'Raaj, Eid al-Fitr, and Christmas as public holidays
throughout the country. In the South, Islamic holy days were generally
not observed by government offices.
There are no restrictions on religious groups' ability to acquire
property, but all groups are required to obtain permits from the
national Ministry of Guidance and Endowments, the state Ministry of
Construction and Planning, and the local planning office before
constructing new houses of worship. However, this requirement did not
appear to be enforced in the South. Enforcement in the North was
sporadic and not as strict as it was several years ago. Permits for new
mosques in the North are generally issued, although Muslim leaders
complained the process was cumbersome and time-consuming. Moreover,
according to Christian leaders, permits for new churches have been
either denied outright or delayed for years. However, according to the
SIRC, the Khartoum State Ministry of Planning and Public Utilities
issued a permit for a new Episcopal church at Al Hazari, Khartoum, on
July 23, 2005, and a permit for a new Church of Christ place of worship
at Al Thawra, Omdurman, on May 24, 2006; these appeared to be the first
permits issued for a new church since 1975. The ministry was also
reported to be in the process of approving other permits, including one
for a Catholic church at Al Bakara, Khartoum. However, other obstacles
remained, including a group of squatters preventing work on the new
Episcopal church site at Al Hazari, and many Christian leaders remained
skeptical that the Government would allow new churches to be built.
Foreign missionary groups are required to register with the
government, although Christian leaders charged that foreign Muslim
groups are routinely exempt from this regulation.
Under the state-mandated curriculum, all schools in the North--
including private schools operated by Christian groups--are required to
teach Islamic education classes from preschool through university. In
addition, all classes must be taught in Arabic, although English may be
taught as a foreign language. Some public schools excuse non-Muslims
from Islamic education classes, but others do not. Private schools must
hire a special teacher for teaching Islamic education, although public
schools are not required to provide any religious instruction to non-
Muslims.
The educational system in the South suffered from the effects of
the civil war. There were few public schools; most instruction was
provided by Christian religious groups, although there were two Islamic
colleges. The University of Juba, which relocated to Khartoum during
the North-South Civil War, remained in the capital, although a majority
of its students came from the South. The Government of National Unity
has promised to return the University to Juba in time, although there
has been little progress to date.
The Government of National Unity has supported interfaith dialogue
through the SIRC. Though the SIRC is officially an NGO, the government
provides much of its funding. In July 2005 the SIRC together with the
U.S. Institute of Peace sponsored a conference on the role of religious
leaders in peacekeeping. It also hosted an interfaith prayer service in
February 2006 in honor of the archbishop of Canterbury's visit to
Khartoum, which was attended by senior government officials.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The GNU restricted where Christians in the North were permitted to
worship and how they were permitted to practice. Obtaining permits to
build new churches remained a long and tortuous process, despite recent
improvements. There were still several outstanding requests from
previous years, and it was not clear whether any new permits were
requested during the reporting period. In addition, according to some
Christian leaders, the GNU had pressured existing churches in central
Khartoum to move to less conspicuous locations on the outskirts of the
capital, and it preferred to keep new Christian facilities outside the
city center. Some Christians believed this approach to be a less
public, less confrontational alternative to the previous government's
practice of confiscating church property.
The GNU promoted the spread of Islam through mandatory Islamic
education for all students in the North, even non-Muslims enrolled in
private, Christian schools. Christian leaders believed that these
requirements not only exacerbated problems in the relationship between
the Muslim majority and the Christian minority but further marginalized
the place of Christianity in northern society. The Catholic Church in
particular faced a shortage of priests, which it attributed to a lack
of Christian religious education. At the same time, the Government
continued to restrict conversions from Islam to other faiths, which is
officially considered apostasy. On May 14, 2006, an Episcopal priest
and three other Christians were arrested after meeting with a Muslim
woman who wanted to convert to Christianity. They were released after
several days.
The Government of Southern Sudan pursued policies that contributed
to the free practice of religion during the period covered by this
report, although some Muslims leaders in the south expressed concerns
about the Government's treatment of Muslims. In January 2006 the
government of Upper Nile State banned the use of public loudspeakers at
mosques in Malakal and Nasir for announcing the call to prayer,
claiming that they disturbed the public. The state government has
reclaimed the property of the Nasir Islamic Qur'an Institute, which was
seized by the national government several years ago from a Christian
group; the government of Central Equatoria State took a similar action
in March 2006 against Qur'an al-Kariim University, formerly Juba Girls'
Secondary School. The Upper Nile State Ministry of Finance has closed
Islamic banks in Malakal, citing the CPA's provisions for the
establishment of a conventional banking system in the South.
Although the GNU has not banned any specific religious group, it
favored Islam over Christianity in the North. Many southern Christians
living in the North suffered from social, educational, and job
discrimination, although religion was only one of the many factors
leading to discrimination. Muslim religious organizations affiliated
with opposition political parties, such as the Al-Ansar and its
political wing, the Umma National Party, also claimed to suffer
discrimination by Islamists in the governing National Congress Party,
although it was unclear whether the alleged discrimination was due to
religious or political affiliation. Some Muslims in the North also
complained that the GNU was attempting to curry favor with the West by
placing Christian leaders, including a dissident Episcopal bishop and a
prominent Coptic Orthodox priest, in high positions of power within the
government. According to these allegations, these Christian officials
used their power to reward their followers by directing government
contracts and other business to their followers' companies.
Muslims in the South complained of economic discrimination and
boycotts by Christians, although such actions did not appear to be
supported by the Government of Southern Sudan. During the August 1,
2005, riots, after the death of First Vice President John Garang,
Muslim-owned businesses were burned down in Juba. Muslims in Juba were
intimated, threatened, and harassed to leave Juba. The SPLM issued
statements against violence towards Muslims in Juba. Tensions remained
in Juba with many Muslims believing they were unwanted there despite
their long presence in the area that predated independence. The most
common complaint from Muslims in the South was late-night threats and
racial epithets from inebriated Christian southerners who equated Islam
with northern oppression during the long civil war.
The Government continued to refuse to act on many applications to
build new churches in the North, although it issued two permits for new
churches in suburban Khartoum during the period covered by this report.
The need for new church facilities is particularly great in IDP camps
on the outskirts of Khartoum, where southern Christians fled during the
civil war. Most existing churches in the capital date from the colonial
era and are located near the city center. As a result, relatively few
Christians have the time or means to travel over twenty miles to church
during their two hours of ``religious time'' on Sunday mornings. This
policy not only discourages Christians from practicing their faith, but
also enables the government to publicly claim that new churches are not
needed because the existing ones are under-utilized.
Some Christians living in IDP camps have established their own
congregations and built ``prayer houses'' without obtaining permits,
though these facilities have been subject to Government condemnation
and destruction in the past. The Catholic Church routinely builds
``activity centers'' near IDP camps which function as churches, though
without official permits.
Though the Government has issued two permits for new churches in
suburban Khartoum, some Christian leaders believe the GNU has continued
the previous regime's attempts to drive churches and other Christian
institutions out of the capital's center. Previous governments
routinely confiscated church property in the city, most notably the
former All Saints Episcopal Cathedral (1971) and the Catholic Club
(1998). Episcopal Church of Sudan officials alleged that the NCP
government prompted the 2004 sale of the Church's Khartoum headquarters
and guesthouse by a dissident Episcopal bishop. According to Episcopal
and Catholic officials, the Government has yet to provide adequate
compensation for all confiscated church property, though the Sudan
Inter-Religious Council has helped both churches reclaim some
properties in Omdurman and suburban Khartoum.
In 2006, some churches in the South received appropriate
compensation from the Government of Southern Sudan for property seized
by earlier governments. In March 2006, the Archbishop of Canterbury
consecrated a new Episcopal cathedral in Renk, replacing an earlier
building that had been confiscated to build a new road. Other Christian
groups in the South are expected to regain properties currently
occupied by the Sudan Armed Forces, the Sudan People's Liberation Army,
or various Islamic groups.
Some Christian leaders have accused the GNU of pressuring churches
to sell their older properties in central Khartoum by offering them a
high sales price, but denying the churches permission to redevelop the
properties themselves and take advantage of the booming real estate
market. Other church officials allege that once a church has bought
land in a particular residential area for possible future construction,
the Government will re-zone the area for industrial or commercial use,
or plan to build a road through the church's property. These officials
see such tactics as the new government's less public, less
confrontational alternative to confiscating church property.
Although there is no penalty for converting from another religion
to Islam, converting from Islam to another religion is considered
apostasy under Shari'a, and is punishable by death in the North. In
practice, however, this penalty was rarely carried out. The last case
of apostasy was prosecuted in 1985, and involved a Muslim who
questioned Muslim beliefs but did not attempt to convert to another
religion. Muslims in the North who do attempt to convert to another
faith, however, were generally regarded as outcasts by their families
and face severe social pressure to recant.
The Interim National Constitution and the constitution of Southern
Sudan specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion for
candidates for the National Civil Service, though Muslims have
traditionally been chosen for these positions over Christians. However,
with the creation of the GNU in July 2005, Christians are represented
in the Vice Presidential and Cabinet level of the national government
for the first time since independence. There has also been a marked
increase in the number of Christian members in the National Assembly
and the Council of States. There are many Christian lawyers in the
North, and several Christian judges for civil law cases involving non-
Muslims.
The Interim National Constitution and the constitution of southern
Sudan also deny recognition to any political party that discriminates
on the basis of religion.
The National Intelligence and Security Service routinely monitored
religious activities at mosques and churches throughout the country,
often posing as members of the congregations. Christian leaders
acknowledge that they usually refrain from preaching on political or
other sensitive topics to avoid harassment by the authorities. Some
Muslim imams prefer to avoid political topics in their preaching as
well though others seem to show less restraint.
Proselytizing by any religious group in the country is not
prohibited, though strong Muslim social pressures in the north against
proselytizing and Shari'a penalties for apostasy that are part of the
North's legal code, effectively limit Christian missionary activities
in the region. Some foreign missionary groups operated in the North,
though their work is officially limited to education or services to
southern Christian IDPs. Missionaries also continued to operate in the
South, running relief operations, medical clinics, and churches. Many
Christian religious workers experienced delays in getting visas, though
this is common for almost all visa applicants from Western countries.
The government also controls travel to certain areas in the North by
requiring all foreigners to have travel permits.
There are no formal prohibitions on the local publication,
importation, or dissemination of religious texts, and copies of the
Qur'an and Bible are commonly available throughout the country, both
North and South. Newspapers commonly print sermons and other articles
religious, and the Episcopal Church of Sudan operates a religious
bookstore in central Khartoum. However, newspaper editors admitted to
self-censorship regarding articles on certain controversial topics.
On May 4, 2005, Mohamed Taha, the Shi'a editor-in-chief of Al Wafaq
daily newspaper, faced criminal charges of defaming religion when he
republished an article with contentious assertions regarding the
origins of the Prophet Muhammad. He was detained for a few hours,
returned to his job, and was later acquitted. Al Wafaq, which was shut
down for a few days, resumed operations.
Public preaching and processions are allowed throughout the
country. Muslim sermons are commonly broadcast over loudspeakers in the
north, and can be heard well outside the walls of mosques. However,
Christian leaders say that they were cautious about preaching outside
of their churches, or leading public processions; they usually limit
these activities to Christmas and Easter celebrations.
There was little Christian programming in the North, and little
local broadcasting of any kind in the South.
Religious symbols are permitted throughout the country. Mosques may
announce a call to prayer, though some mosques in the South were no
longer allowed to use loudspeakers. Churches could erect crosses on
their property and ring bells to announce the beginning of services.
Public schools in the North officially permit Christian students to
wear a cross. Although the social pressure for women to wear
headscarves in public has decreased, pressure remained for women in
universities, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to wear headscarves to
classes.
Wine was always used at Catholic Mass in the South; however, it was
used infrequently at Mass in the North due to the prohibition on the
consumption or sale of alcohol.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
In May 2006, there were reports that four Christian leaders,
including an Episcopal priest and a Catholic priest, were arrested
after meeting with a Muslim woman who wanted to convert to
Christianity. All four were denied access to legal counsel for two
days; three were beaten by officers of the National Intelligence and
Security Service before being released. The woman was not charged with
apostasy, but was returned to her family despite some concerns that
they would beat her.
Muslims in the North, who express an interest in Christianity, or
convert to Christianity, face severe social pressure to recant. Muslim
converts to Christianity are typically regarded as outcasts by their
families, and are sometimes forced to flee the country. Some Christian
converts fear their Muslim families will beat them or report them to
authorities for prosecution, though others note that many Muslim
families were too embarrassed to draw public attention to the matter.
Forced Religious Conversion
Although there is no evidence of forced conversions in the period
covered by this report, there is considerable social pressure for non-
Muslims in the North to convert to Islam. The President of the Republic
frequently ended his public speeches with a call for victory over the
``infidels,'' and state media outlets routinely referred to Christians
as ``non-believers.'' Christian parents reported that their children
enrolled in public school were commonly asked why they are not Muslims.
There were reports that Sudanese Armed Forces in the South were
rewarding Southerners who convert to Islam and inducing non-Muslims in
the military to convert to Islam in advance of the 2011 referendum on
Southern independence,
Sudanese law makes a distinction between ``orphans'' and ``children
of unknown parents.'' If a child's parents have died or are no longer
able to take care of the child, the child is considered to be of the
same religion as his parents. However, if a child's parents are
unknown, the child is generally treated as a Muslim, at least in the
North. There have been rare cases where Christian families were allowed
to adopt Muslim children of unknown parentage, but Christian families
must generally adopt children whose parents were known to be Christian.
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion of minor
U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
There was some improvement in respect for religious freedom in the
period covered by this report. The adoption of the Interim National
Constitution and the constitution of Southern Sudan removed Shari'a as
a source of legislation in the South. The Interim National Constitution
also stated that non-Muslims would not be adversely affected by the
application of Shari'a law in the North.
Some church property confiscated by previous governments has been
returned to it original owners, though many claims remain outstanding.
In 2005, the GNU, working through the Sudan Inter-Religious Council,
returned St. Catherine's Hospital in Omdurman to the Episcopal Church
of Sudan, and gave three plots of land in Khartoum to the Roman
Catholic Church as partial compensation for the seizure of the Catholic
Club in 1998. The Government has also issued two permits for new
churches in suburban Khartoum during the period covered by this report,
and is in the process of issuing a third.
In 2006, the Government of Southern Sudan donated land to the
Episcopal Church for a new cathedral in Renk, to replace a church that
was demolished several years earlier to make way for a new road. The
Government of Southern Sudan also prepared to return property seized
and used as Islamic colleges in Nasir and Juba to their original
Christian owners.
The SPLM also announced in May 2006 that it would press the GNU to
act on claims for all outstanding church property issues, including
that of the former All Saints Episcopal Cathedral and the Catholic Club
in Khartoum.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Religion is an important factor in society, though it often
overlaps with other racial, ethnic, and linguistic factors.
Nevertheless, relations between individuals of different religious
backgrounds were often good on a personal level, though government
policy in the past had frequently undermined an atmosphere of religious
tolerance. The signing of the CPA and the adoption of the Interim
National Constitution marked a change in these policies and contributed
to improved relations between Muslims and Christians.
The SIRC played an active role in promoting inter-religious
dialogue and understanding. Though the SIRC was officially a NGO, it
received much of its funding from the GNU. It includes a forty-six-
member General Assembly, with an equal number of Muslims and
Christians, which in turn elects a twelve-member Executive Board, also
with equal numbers of Muslims and Christians.
The SCC includes twelve Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches
in Northern and Southern Sudan. The SCC generally cooperated with the
SIRC, though some SCC members have expressed concerns that the SIRC is
too close to the government.
Other Christian leaders have expressed reservations about the power
of the SIRC to help regain church property, noting that it has had only
limited success to date. Some have also expressed concerns with the
SCC, complaining that it is prone to corruption and infighting.
Some Muslim leaders are also skeptical that the SIRC truly
represents the Muslims of the country, because most Muslim members of
the SIRC avoid politics or refrain from criticizing the National
Islamic Front and National Congress Party.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The United States government encouraged respect for religious
freedom in is discussions with the GNU, and urged it to fulfill the
promise of religious freedom made in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
and the Interim National Constitution. The United States government
made clear that continuing restrictions on religious freedom are an
impediment to improved relations between the two countries.
U.S. embassy officials met on a regular basis with leaders from
many Muslim and Christian groups in Khartoum, Juba, and on trips
outside the capital, noting the importance of religious tolerance and
the extent of U.S. interest and concern. In addition to this report,
the embassy also provided regular updates to the Department of State
and other agencies on the state of religious groups in the country, and
on the challenges they face.
The embassy's Public Diplomacy section has developed working
relationships with a number of Muslim and Christian leaders. A visiting
``Islam in America'' speaker in late October 2005 expanded contacts
with Muslim institutions, and the embassy sponsored a leading Sufi
Muslim cleric for the International Visitor Program.
On the occasion of the Deputy Secretary Zoellick's visit in
November, the Public Diplomacy section organized a seminal roundtable
that brought together leading Muslim and Christian leaders. The embassy
also maintains contact with key figures in the country's religious
communities through occasional individual meetings and mailings of
articles and reports relating to religious freedom.
USAID's Office of Transitional Issues (OTI) provided a grant to the
SIRC in 2005 to assist with publication of a booklet on ``Religion and
the CPA.'' OTI also provided funding for a dozen seminars that brought
together Christian and Muslim leaders to discuss the CPA.
From 1999-2005, the Secretary of State has designated Sudan a
Country of Particular Concern annually under the International
Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious
freedom. Economic measures in effect against Sudan under the
International Religious Freedom Act relate to the use of the voice and
vote of the United States to abstain on or oppose loans or other use of
the funds of International Financial Institutions to or for Sudan
(International Financial Institutions Act).
__________
SWAZILAND
The country's first constitution in more than thirty years, which
went into effect on February 8, 2006, provides for freedom of religion.
The Government generally respected freedom of religion in practice,
although authorities on occasion disrupted or cancelled prayer meetings
that they believed to have political implications. The original draft
of the constitution declared Christianity the country's official
religion, but during final debates the provision was dropped.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 6,700 square miles and a
population of 1.1 million. Christianity was the dominant religion.
Zionism, a blend of Christianity and indigenous ancestral worship, was
the predominant religion in rural areas. A large Roman Catholic
presence, including churches, schools, and other infrastructure,
continued to flourish. The population was approximately 35 percent
Protestant, 30 percent Zionist, 25 percent Catholic, and 1 percent
Muslim. The remaining 9 percent of the population was divided among the
Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, the Baha'i Faith, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Judaism, and other
religious groups. Followers of Islam and the Baha'i Faith generally
were located in urban areas. There were few atheists.
Missionaries inspired much of the country's early development and
continued to play a role in rural development. A majority of
missionaries were western Christians, including Baptists, Mormons,
evangelical groups, and other Christian faiths. The Baha'i Faith was
one of the most active non-Christian groups in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Article 23 of the constitution states that individuals have a right
to ``freedom of thought, conscience, or religion.'' The original draft
of the constitution declared Christianity the country's official
religion, but during the final debate that provision was dropped. The
country had not had a constitution since 1973. Religious and other
civil society groups have frequently denounced the drafting process for
allowing input only from individuals and not from groups. The
constitution protects the right to practice by guaranteeing ``[the]
freedom [to] worship either alone or in community with others.''
Apart from the constitution, there is no law, statute, or
regulation that protects the right of religious freedom or provides
effective remedies for the violation of that right.
Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday, and Ascension Day
are all national holidays. The monarchy (and by extension the
Government) supports many Christian activities. The royal family
occasionally attended various evangelical programs, including Good
Friday and Ascension worship services at the national stadium in the
Ezulwini Valley, hosted by participating churches of the local
evangelical movement. King Mswati III used the Easter Weekend service
to call for the construction of a national church and pledged $57,400
(E350,000) of his own money towards its construction.
There is no legislation in the country describing the
organizational requirements of a religious group; however, new
religious groups or churches are expected to register with the
Government upon organizing. To be considered organized, a religious
group must demonstrate possession of either substantial cash reserves
or financial support from foreign religious groups with established
ties to western or eastern religions. For indigenous religious groups,
authorities consider demonstration of a proper building, a pastor or
religious leader, and a congregation as sufficient to grant organized
status. These organized religious groups are exempt from paying taxes,
although they are not considered tax-deductible charities.
Portions of the capital city are zoned specifically for places of
worship of all denominations. Government permission is required for the
construction of new religious buildings in urban areas, and permission
is required from chiefs in rural areas. Those religious groups that
wish to construct new buildings may purchase a plot of land and apply
for the required building permits. The Government has not restricted
any religion with financial means from building a place of worship;
however, non-Christian groups sometimes experience minor delays in
obtaining permits from the Government to build residences for clergy.
The Government allows religious instruction, primarily Christian,
in public schools. Voluntary school clubs conducted daily prayer
services in many public schools.
The Government neither restricts nor formally promotes interfaith
dialogue, and it does not provide formal mechanisms for religions to
reconcile differences. Religious groups have access to the courts as
private entities.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Followers of all religious faiths generally were
free to worship without government interference or restriction,
although there were exceptions.
Authorities on occasion disrupted or cancelled prayer meetings that
were considered to have political implications. In 2004 police and
security forces disrupted a prayer vigil held by local residents
commemorating the four year anniversary of the Macetjeni/KaMkhweli
evictions. Residents of KaMkhweli and Macetjeni were evicted in 2000
for refusing to transfer their allegiance from their traditional chiefs
to Prince Maguga, a brother of the king.
Local, traditional leaders sometimes discriminated against members
of Jehovah's Witnesses, although such actions were often reversed by
higher judicial institutions. On May 7, 2005, traditional leaders fined
the family of a member of Jehovah's Witnesses one cow because the woman
refused to wear mourning clothes after her husband's death.
The three primary school children of Jehovah's Witnesses who were
expelled in 2004 for refusing to pray during school assemblies were
reinstated by court order on September 2, 2005. The court order has
allowed members of Jehovah's Witnesses to refrain from praying during
school assemblies, but no formal government policy exists. On November
11, 2005, the Court of Appeal ordered a chief to return five cows
seized in 2003 from a member of Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to
allow his daughters to wear the virginity tassels as ordered by the
king.
On June 23, 2005, the Court of Appeal ruled that the University of
Swaziland's failure to accommodate a student's religious obligation was
an infringement of his freedom of religion. In May 2004 the first year
university law student, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
failed his course because he refused to take his final exam because it
was offered on a Saturday, and Seventh-day Adventists refrain from
secular work, including academic activities, from sunset Friday to
sunset Saturday, the day they observe as the Sabbath.
The government-owned television and radio stations did not permit
non-Christian religious groups to broadcast messages. Christian
programming was available on both of the parastatal broadcast outlets,
Swazi Broadcasting and Information Service and Swazi Television. The
local satellite television service, DSTV (cable service is not
available), carried at least one religious channel. Church groups owned
several newsletters and magazines.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. For example, five different
denominations peacefully maintain adjoining properties in Mbabane.
There was no public conflict among religious groups during the period
covered by this report.
Christian churches were well organized and were divided into three
groups: the Council of Churches, the League of Churches, and the
Conference of Churches. Each group was open to members of all
denominations. However, Zionists and all African traditional churches
belonged to the League of Churches; most evangelical churches
associated with the Conference of Churches; and Anglican, Catholic,
United Christian, Mennonite, Episcopal, and Methodist churches
generally belonged to the Council of Churches. These groups primarily
produced common statements on political matters, facilitated the
sharing of radio production facilities, or became involved with common
rural development and missionary strategies. Although the groups
sometimes strongly disagreed with one another, they have found common
ground on topics of concern, such as support for a constitutional
amendment to allow for freedom of religion.
Several very conservative clergymen urged the Government to declare
the country uniquely Christian.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintains contact and good relations with the various
religious organizations.
__________
TANZANIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
The status of respect for religious freedom improved during the
later half of the reporting period. Improvements in the respect for
freedom of religion and the dissipation of religious tensions during
the reporting period where facilitated by the appointment of Muslims to
key administrative positions following the December 2005 general
elections.
Although the perception of discrimination shifted from some Muslims
under the previous administration to some Christians under the new
administration, the perceived favoritism towards certain religious
groups did not negatively impact the practice of religion in either
circumstance. Despite the increased representation of Muslims in the
Government, the generally amicable relations among religions in society
still experienced some tension between Muslims and Christians and, in a
few cases, between secular and fundamentalist Muslims. In Zanzibar,
some Muslims remained concerned that the 2001 Mufti Law, which allows
the Zanzibari government to appoint a mufti for the purposes of
overseeing Muslim organizations and acting as a liaison with the
Government, continued to permit undue government control of religious
affairs.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 364,900 square miles and a population of
approximately 36 million, of which an estimated 35 million live on the
mainland and 1 million on the Zanzibar archipelago. Current statistics
on religious demography were unavailable, because the Government does
not track the religious affiliation of its citizens, and religious
surveys were eliminated from all government census reports after 1967.
Religious leaders and sociologists generally estimated that the
Christian and Muslim populations were approximately equal, each
accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the population, with the remainder
consisting of atheists and practitioners of other faiths and indigenous
religions.
The Muslim population was most heavily concentrated on the Zanzibar
archipelago, which was estimated to be 99 percent Muslim. On the
mainland, Muslim communities were concentrated in the coastal areas,
with some large Muslim minorities in inland urban areas.
Between 80 and 90 percent of the country's Muslim population was
Sunni; the remainder consisted of several Shi'a groups, mostly of Asian
descent. The Christian population was composed of Roman Catholics,
Protestants, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and members of
Jehovah's Witnesses.
Foreign missionaries, including Assemblies of God, Catholic,
Lutheran, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, Mormon, Anglican, and Muslim
groups, operated in the country. Catholic groups primarily engaged in
social services, while Muslim missionaries focused on teaching in
mosques and local schools. Assemblies of God increasingly engaged in
building churches, particularly in rural and remote areas.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution does not establish any official state religion and
recognizes eight days as religious holidays, four Christian and four
Muslim.
Following the unwritten rule that the presidency would alternate
between a Christian and a Muslim, on May 4, 2005, the ruling party
nominated Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete, a Muslim, to succeed
President Mkapa, who is Catholic. Although perceived religious
favoritism was not a campaign issue, there was increasing public
discussion of balancing government benefits among the country's
religious communities. Despite these discussions, on April 23, 2006, a
front-page newspaper article, prompted by the appointment of a Muslim
to the post of Inspector General, criticized the Government for
allowing elements of religious bias to creep into the Government of
President Kikwete.
Historically, some urban Muslim groups have perceived
discrimination in government hiring and law enforcement practices. This
perceived discrimination amongst Muslims prompted the new Union
administration, led by President Jakaya Kikwete, to appoint Muslims to
sensitive government positions including the vice presidency,
ambassadorships, and ministerial positions in the Ministries of
Defense, Finance, and Foreign Affairs. These appointments were met with
approval by Muslims and with resentment by some Christians. A June 28,
2006, article in the Guardian newspaper quoted the Catholic archbishop
as urging President Kikwete to review the system used in recruiting
civil servants in the public security organizations.
A semi-autonomous archipelago, Zanzibar elects its own president to
serve as the head of government for matters internal to Zanzibar, and a
parliament that can approve legislation pertaining to local affairs.
The 2001 Mufti Law authorizes the president of Zanzibar to appoint an
Islamic leader, or mufti, to serve as a public employee of the
Zanzibari Government. The mufti possesses the authority to settle all
religious disputes involving Muslims, approve all Islamic activities
and gatherings on Zanzibar, supervise all Zanzibari mosques, and
approve religious lectures by foreign clergy and the importation of
Islamic literature from outside of Zanzibar.
The Mufti Law continued to be controversial during the reporting
period because some Muslim groups viewed it as giving the Zanzibari
government undue influence in religious affairs. The Zanzibari Ministry
of Good Governance declared in 2004 that it would establish a review
committee to consider possible revisions to the Mufti Law; however, no
such committee had been formed by the close of this reporting period.
According to Zanzibari authorities, the modalities of the committee's
formation were still in the process of being developed during the
period covered by this report. The Zanzibar Attorney General's Office
reported that it was seeking input from various Muslim nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), including some that have objected to the Mufti
Law, before the review committee begins to function. For example, in a
departure from previous policy, the Office of the Mufti quietly engaged
in a dialogue with Saudi-line Muslim groups such as Uamsho, a
fundamentalist organization that does not recognize Zanzibar's Mufti
Law and serves as an umbrella for other Islamic groups. Following these
discussions, Uamsho reported that they held twelve religious rallies,
all without undue interference from government agencies.
On the mainland, mosques belonging to the National Muslim Council
of Tanzania (BAKWATA) elect a mufti of their own who, unlike in
Zanzibar, is not a public servant. BAKWATA serves as an NGO; however,
when it was first established in 1968, BAKWATA was widely considered to
be an unofficial arm of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and
public opinion still associated BAKWATA with the ruling CCM party.
During the reporting period, several Muslim organizations continued to
criticize both Zanzibar's Mufti Law and the mainland's practice of
selecting a mufti through BAKWATA, perceiving them as efforts by the
Government to institutionalize government oversight of Islamic
organizations.
The Government requires religious organizations to register with
the Registrar of Societies at the Ministry of Home Affairs on the
mainland and with the Chief Government Registrar on Zanzibar. To
register, religious organizations must have at least ten followers and
provide a constitution, the resumes of their leaders, and a letter of
recommendation from their district commissioner. In addition, groups
registering on Zanzibar must provide a letter of approval from the
mufti. Some Muslim groups on the mainland claimed that they were also
required to submit a letter of recommendation from BAKWATA; however,
such groups did not report any difficulties in obtaining one. There
were no reports that the Government refused the registration of any
group.
The law requires all NGOs, including those that are religiously
affiliated, to register with the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NGO law
does not impose any new obligations on the parent organizations of
religiously affiliated NGOs. Under the 2001 Mufti Law, Zanzibar's mufti
is able to recommend that the Chief Government Registrar approve or
deny the registration of any Islamic society. In 2006 the mufti
recommended approval of at least one group (which sends Muslims to
Mecca for the Hajj) and recommended denial of registration for two
groups associated with the Baha'i faith and the Ahmadiyya, claiming
that there were contradictions between the beliefs of these groups and
the Islamic faith. The Ahmadiyya filed suit against the office of the
mufti because of this recommendation; the case was pending at the end
of the reporting period.
Customary and statutory law governs Christians in both criminal and
civil cases. Muslims are also governed by customary and statutory law
in criminal cases; however, in civil cases involving family matters
such as marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance, Islamic law
is applied if both parties are Muslims.
Some Christian judges on the mainland continued to administer
Islamic law for civil cases involving family law where all the parties
involved were Muslims. Some Muslim groups continued to consider this
inappropriate and reported it as a grievance against the legal system.
Zanzibar's court system generally parallels the mainland's legal
system, and all cases tried in Zanzibari courts, except those involving
constitutional issues and Islamic law, can be appealed to the Court of
Appeals of the Union. There was occasional debate during the reporting
period about the establishment of Shari'a (Islamic law) in Zanzibar,
but the number of advocates remained small.
Muslims held a number of influential positions in the legal and
political systems. The majority of judges on Zanzibar were Muslim. On
the mainland a Muslim continued to serve as Principal Judge and, in
this capacity, oversaw the work of other judges. Another Muslim judge
was appointed as permanent representative to the mission of the United
Nations.
Religious organizations occasionally appealed to the secular civil
authorities for assistance in resolving quasi-religious disputes over
the ownership of places of worship or the leadership of religious
organizations. For example, in late 2004 the Tanzanian Lutheran
Confederation (KKT) replaced its secretary general. The deposed
secretary general brought a lawsuit seeking his reinstatement. During
the reporting period, the court case concluded with the secretary
general not being reinstated, and the plaintiff was ordered to pay
damages to the defendants.
Missionaries were permitted to enter the country freely. This was
particularly true on Zanzibar if proselytizing was ancillary to other
religious activities. Citizens were permitted to leave the country for
pilgrimages and other religious practices.
Many schools and universities were associated with missionaries,
particularly since 2005 when the Government returned schools to the
Catholic Church that were nationalized during the socialist era.
The country's first Muslim university opened in Morogoro in April
2006, two years after former president Benjamin Mkapa transferred
government-owned office buildings to the Muslim Development Foundation
for this purpose.
Religion may be taught in public schools in the form of a class on
religion, but it is not part of the national curriculum. Such classes
are common, although they are generally taught on an ad hoc basis by
parents or other volunteers. Classes must be approved by the school's
administration and/or parent and teacher association. Unlike in public
schools, some private schools make religious classes compulsory for all
their students.
In 2005 BAKWATA proposed that the Government pay the salaries of
Islamic religion teachers and develop a curriculum that addressed
sexual behavior, HIV/AIDS, and drug abuse. The Government initially
agreed but said it would leave to BAKWATA the authority to approve
Islamic religion teachers. Fundamental Islamic clerics opposed
BAKWATA's authority over teacher selection and the development of the
proposed curriculum. The Government then decided not to implement the
policies proposed by BAKWATA, and the tension over religious education
partially abated.
The Government made some efforts to reduce the tensions between
Muslim and Christian communities, which had been escalating in the
lead-up to the elections in October 2005. Tensions stemmed from
historical disparities between economic and educational opportunities
available to Muslims and Christians and were exacerbated by some public
rallies at which religious debate resulted in physical altercations.
To promote religious tolerance, President Jakaya Kikwete and Vice
President Ali Mohamed Shein, both Muslims, participated regularly in
Christian events such as inaugurations and fundraising activities of
churches. Government officials frequently participated in
interdenominational events sponsored by NGOs. In an address to the
Union parliament on December 30, 2005, President Kikwete also said that
he wanted to see close cooperation between the Government and political
and religious leaders.
The president of Zanzibar, Amani Abeid Karume, also supported
interfaith initiatives. On May 3, 2006, President Karume inaugurated a
one-day seminar for Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Zanzibar,
asking them to participate actively in peace-building programs. Two
days later, a newspaper article reported the progress of these efforts,
adding that religious leaders from forty-three Christian and Muslim
groups had met for a joint prayer service and discussion of how
religious institutions could work together for peace.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
All religious organizations are banned from involvement in
politics, and politicians are restricted from using language intended
to incite one religious group against another or to encourage religious
groups to vote for certain political parties. The law imposes fines and
jail time on political parties that campaign in houses of worship or
educational facilities. None of these penalties were imposed during the
reporting period, including during the general election period between
October and December 2005, although laws may have been infringed. The
lack of enforcement was a result of the Government and politicians not
wanting to create additional tension between religious groups and
political parties during an election year.
The law also prohibits preaching or distributing material that is
considered inflammatory and represents a threat to public order.
Government officials occasionally denied permits to religious
organizations requesting to hold public gatherings if they believed
that that the gathering could become confrontational or inflame
religious tensions. For example, in May 2005 district authorities in
Mbeya denied a permit to the Salvation Pentecost of Tanzania
International after they claimed that the group's recent evangelical
public meetings had turned into abusive campaigns against Islam.
In May 2005 Zanzibar authorities also prevented Islamic activist
Sheikh Kurwa Shauri, a mainlander, from entering Zanzibar on the
grounds that his preaching was considered a threat to the peace. Shauri
had previously been arrested, released, and forced to return to Dar Es
Salaam in 2004 after being charged with violating a 1993 order on
disrupting the peace and fomenting interreligious conflict. These
charges came after Shauri had advocated the use of violence against
Zanzibar officials and tourists to the islands and distributed tapes of
his teachings that were considered seditious material. As no one on
Zanzibar would testify against Shauri, the authorities deported him to
the mainland.
The Government does not designate religion on passports or records
of vital statistics; however, it requires an individual's religion to
be stated on police reports, school registration forms, and
applications for medical care. The Government reportedly requires
individuals to indicate their religion in police reports in case
individuals are later asked to give sworn testimony for which they
would need to swear in court according to their religion. The
Government requires children to indicate their religion on school
registration forms so that children can be assigned to the appropriate
religion class if the school offers religious instruction.
Government policy forbids discrimination against individuals on the
basis of religious beliefs or practices; however, individual government
and business officials were believed to favor conducting business with
persons who shared the same religion. Such favoritism was based on the
perceived loyalty that a shared religion was believed to bring to a
professional setting.
Unlike in the previous year, the Muslim community did not claim to
be disadvantaged in terms of its representation in the government,
civil service, or other parastatal institutions.
Despite improvements in their political representation, Muslim
leaders continued to complain that the number of Muslim students chosen
to enroll in government-run schools was not equal to the number of
Christians. Christian leaders continued to agree that the Muslim
student population in institutions of higher learning was
disproportionately low; however, they attributed this condition to
historical circumstances (the legacy of colonial and early post-
independence government policies that did not recognize the credentials
of traditional Muslim schools) and low daily school attendance rates by
Muslims, rather than discrimination. Many Christians and Muslims also
attributed the educational disparity between Muslim and Christians to
the disproportional emphasis that Islamic schools continued to place on
religion at the expense of other academic subjects.
Some Christian groups accused the current administration of
religious bias against Christians during the reporting period, citing
the rapid appointment of Muslims to many important positions. For
example, Christian pastors complained that it was sometimes difficult
to get permits for outdoor rallies because most local government
leaders in Dar Es Salaam were Muslims. Some Christians also attributed
religious discrimination against Christians to what they understood to
be the lingering effects of undue favoritism accorded to Muslims in
appointments, jobs, and scholarships by former president Ali Hassan
Mwinyi, a Muslim.
On Zanzibar, the 2001 Mufti Act gives the mufti the authority to
determine the date of major religious observances. The Saudi-oriented
group, Answaru Sunna, has been involved in a long-running dispute with
the Zanzibar government over which Muslim leaders had the authority to
determine annual religious observances. In past years, Zanzibari police
have broken up public gatherings of Answaru Sunna and arrested the
participants because they were observing Muslim holidays on the
``wrong'' day. In November 2005, however, Answaru Sunna publicly
observed Eid al-Fitr on a day other than that designated by the mufti
without incident and without interference.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On February 12, 2006, a newspaper reported that a church in the
Kigamboni Temeke district of Dar Es Salaam was burnt to the ground a
few days after robbers had ransacked it. A week later, BAKWATA
officials issued a statement denouncing the church's petrol bombing,
which was being attributed to certain sections of the Muslim community.
The March 12 edition of the same paper reported that a government
official working at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism was
behind the petrol-bomb destruction of the church in February. On May 7,
another weekly newspaper reported that the local government told the
church to stop its services pending investigations. On May 14, a third
newspaper reported that the church had appealed to the State House,
accusing the Temeke Municipal Council of interfering with their right
to worship and alleging that certain government officials wanted to
make Temeke district a Muslim bastion. The Government did not provide a
response to these allegations, and no arrests were made in connection
with these incidents.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination Muslim-Christian
relations remained stable in rural areas; however, some tension
persisted in urban centers due to perceptions by some Muslim or
Christian groups that the Government favored the other community in its
hiring or law enforcement practices. Tensions between moderate Muslims
and Muslim fundamentalists were eased following the October 2005
elections as the latter expressed satisfaction with appointments of
Muslims to key government positions. During the elections,
interdenominational dialogues and initiatives existing at the national
and community levels without formal government sponsorship helped to
prevent religion from becoming a political fault line on which to
justify societal violence. Muslim-Christian relations, in particular,
benefited from these initiatives. An interdenominational religious
council, composed of Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim representatives,
continued to meet periodically, on an ad-hoc basis, to discuss issues
of mutual concern. Between January and June 2006 the council met three
times and discussed topics including: factors that contributed or could
contribute to societal breaches of the peace, how political parties
behaved during the 2005 elections, and whether political parties could
have contributed to the disruption of national unity. These discussions
followed an earlier meeting in Tanga on May 10, 2005, during which the
council issued a five-point statement urging religious and political
leaders to behave ethically and take concrete steps to promote social
peace during the October election campaign. Early in 2006 the council
also formed a committee to develop a framework for promoting a
religious union between Muslim groups and the three major Christian
denominations (Protestant, Catholic, and Pentecostal). Multifaith
collaborations were also evidenced by a news report on January 8, 2006,
which stated that BAKWATA met with Catholic and Lutheran churches to
discuss how best to create vocational training institutes, schools, and
higher learning institutions for the good of the community.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of fundamentalists
criticizing moderate Muslim organizations, such as BAKWATA, for
reaching out to other religions. In 2006, for example, the Mufti's
Office sponsored three seminars for Christian and Muslim clerics, the
theme of which was tolerance. In March representatives from 43 Muslim
and Christian denominations met to have a special thanksgiving prayer
service to celebrate and give thanks for the peaceful beginning of the
first 200 days of the administration of President Kikwete.
Despite generally improved relations between religious groups,
there were sporadic reports of religious-based violence and unease.
Tensions between different Muslim groups reemerged on May 12, 2006,
when Muslim sheikhs were quoted in a newspaper as strongly criticizing
the office of the Zanzibar mufti for remaining silent when both Mufti
officials and local Muslims were viewed as compromising the Islamic
faith by being more concerned with secular pursuits, such as monetary
gain, rather than the promotion of Islam. The sheikhs also criticized
the Mufti's Office for not making a statement condemning Danish
cartoons that were perceived as mocking Mohammed.
There was a significant increase in reported killings of elderly
individuals suspected of being witches. On February 27, 2006, the
brutal axing of a woman suspected of being a witch was reported in a
newspaper. On May 11, 2006, a newspaper reported that a man was killed
after he was accused of being a witch. There was no additional
information regarding the status of investigations into these cases
available at the close of the reporting period; however, the Government
strongly condemned the killing of witches and prosecuted offenders. The
Government held seminars for local government officials and attended
workshops run by NGOs in an effort to sensitize the public on the evils
of killing suspected witches. During the reporting period, there were
articles in newspapers and the electronic media condemning the
practice.
Investigations into the September 2005 beatings of a Christian
pastor and deacon, and the attack by Muslim youths on a group of
primary school religion teachers for teaching Muslim students about
Christianity, both in Dar Es Salaam, were pending at the close of the
reporting period. Also pending at the end of the reporting period was
an investigation into the burning of a Catholic church in Morogoro
region in April 2005.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. As
part of this strategy, the U.S. government encouraged continued
economic reform as a means to alleviate poverty, which has been
identified as a contributing factor in the growth of religious
intolerance.
Embassy representatives often extended their contacts and
encouraged dialogue among a wide range of religious leaders during the
reporting period. For example, in April 2006 embassy representatives
attended the opening of a Muslim university in Morogoro. The embassy
established an American Corner at the Zanzibar State University.
In addition to its outreach outside of the embassy, the embassy
hosted several groups of Muslim high school students at the Information
Resource Center as part of a series of outreach programs to Muslim
groups living on the Swahili Coast. Students engaged with speakers,
watched a film on Islam in America, and were given materials that
explained the role of religious freedom and diversity in America.
The embassy organized a speaker program in Dar Es Salaam and
Zanzibar on Islam in the United States that featured a renowned female
Islamic scholar. At these events, U.S. State Department-produced
posters and pamphlets highlighting the role of religious freedom in the
United States were distributed.
In March 2006 the embassy organized a youth leadership speaker
program that featured an American imam who spoke to youth at locations
in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar on the importance of sound leadership and
the role of the youths in national development. He noted self-reliance,
problem solving, and networking as key aspects of progress, and he
highlighted the country as an example of the harmonious relationships
that can exist between different faiths. He added that the youth needed
to ensure that this harmony continued so that the country continued to
be a model for other nations in this respect.
In 2005 the embassy sponsored a series of civic education seminars
for Christian and Muslim clergy and young persons who were active in
their churches and mosques. One seminar, conducted in April by the
interdenominational Global Network for Religions and Children, brought
together religious activists from throughout Dar Es Salaam for
discussions on the need for the peaceful and democratic conduct of the
upcoming elections. During that year, the Global Network for Religions
and Children also organized two major peace camps, one of which was
held in conjunction with the Zanzibar Film Festival.
In the months leading up to the general election, embassy officials
were especially proactive in encouraging dialogue among religious
groups on Zanzibar.
On December 22, 2005, U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary
for African Affairs Dr. Jendayi Frazer met with Muslim leaders on the
Zanzibar island of Pemba. This was the first visit in memory of an
assistant secretary-level U.S. official to this remote, predominantly
Muslim island. The round table, organized in coordination with the
Mufti's Office of Zanzibar, brought together eighteen Muslim leaders
representing youth groups, NGOs, and mosques to discuss issues of their
choosing with the assistant secretary. Issues discussed included job
creation and a request of Muslim clerics for industries to be
established in Pemba, new economic projects and funding for existing
projects, help to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria on
Zanzibar, and access to education for the majority of Zanzibaris and
their children. On the same visit, Assistant Secretary Frazer
officially opened the Pemba Museum, which was funded ($23,500) through
the State Department's Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation.
On September 28, 2005, the embassy hosted a digital videoconference
with senior U.S. government officials for Muslim leaders, primarily
from Zanzibar.
In June 2005 the embassy sent two key community leaders to the
United States on an International Visitor program entitled
``Multiculturalism in U.S. Society,'' which exposed the participants to
issues of religious freedom and tolerance. One participant was an
editor for one of the largest Kiswahili daily newspapers, whose
readership is predominantly Muslim. The other participant was the
secretary general of a large Christian organization that publishes a
daily newspaper and has its own radio station.
__________
TOGO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 21,925 square miles, and its population
is estimated officially at 5.2 million. The most recent available
statistics, published by the Demographic Research Unit of the
University of Lome in 2004, stated that the population was
approximately 33 percent traditional animist, 27.8 percent Catholic,
13.7 percent Sunni Muslim, and 9.5 percent Protestant. The remaining 16
percent of the population consisted of various Christian (9.8 percent)
and non-Christian groups (1.2 percent), and persons not affiliated with
any religious group (4.9 percent). Many converts to the more widespread
faiths continued to perform rituals that originated in traditional
indigenous religions. The number of atheists in the country was unknown
but estimated to be small.
Most Muslims lived in the central and northern regions of the
country. Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other Christians lived
mostly in the southern regions.
Missionaries were active in the country and represent Assembly of
God, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormon), and Muslim groups.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. For instance, the
Government voted in favor of the 2004 UN General Assembly Resolution on
the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance, which reaffirmed
that freedom of religion is an inherent human right. There is no state
religion.
The Government recognizes seven Christian and two Islamic holy days
as national holidays, including New Year, Easter Monday, Ascension,
Pentecost Monday, Assumption, All Saints' Day, Christmas, Tabaski, and
Eid al-Fitr (Ramadan).
The Government recognizes three main faiths as state religions:
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Other religions were
required to register as associations. Official recognition as an
association affords a group the same rights as the official religions.
Officially recognized religious groups that conduct humanitarian and
development projects receive tax benefits on imports but must request
such benefits through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Applications for registration must be submitted to the Ministry of
Interior's Division of Civil Security. A religious organization must
submit its statutes, a statement of doctrine, bylaws, the names and
addresses of executive board members, the pastor's diploma, a contract,
a site map, and a description of its financial situation. The criteria
for recognition are the authenticity of the pastor's diploma and, most
importantly, the ethical behavior of the group, which must not cause a
breach of public order.
The Government rejected the applications of a few religious groups
based on activities deemed illegal or immoral. For example, the
Government rejected the application of one Muslim group that it said
was involved in supplying arms to northern Ghana. In another instance,
the Government rejected the application of a Christian organization
whose founders were accused of sexual harassment and embezzlement.
Members of groups that were not officially recognized could practice
their religion but did not have legal standing.
The Civil Security Division also has enforcement responsibilities
when there are problems or complaints associated with a religious
organization. For example, the Civil Security Division handles noise
complaints made against religious organizations, particularly noise
complaints related to religious celebrations at night. The Ministry of
Interior sends security forces to address the complaints.
The Government has recognized more than 685 religious groups over
the past fifteen years; although it is unknown how many of them still
exist. Most new groups are small Protestant and Muslim congregations.
The Ministry of Interior issues a receipt that serves as temporary
recognition to applicant religious groups and associations and allows
them to practice their religion, pending investigations and issuance of
written authorization, which usually takes several years.
The Muslim Union of Togo reported that since 1991, sixty-four
Islamic groups had registered with the Ministry of Interior and the
Muslim Union of Togo, including Islamic development nongovernmental
organizations and Islamic radio and television enterprises.
Foreign missionary groups are subject to the same registration
requirements as other groups.
Religion classes are not part of the curriculum at public schools.
Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic schools are common; however, they do
not receive funding from the Government.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The constitution
prohibits the establishment of political parties based on religion and
states explicitly that ``no political party should identify itself with
a region, an ethnic group, or a religion.'' There were no other laws or
statutes that specifically restrict religious freedoms. Catholics,
Protestants, and Muslims occupy positions of authority in the local and
national Governments.
Religious organizations must request permission to conduct large
nighttime celebrations, particularly those involving loud ceremonies in
residential areas or that block off city streets. The requests were
granted routinely during the period covered by this report.
Religious groups are generally left alone if they refrain from
political activities and human rights issues, unless their opinions
support the regime. Radio Maria, a popular station operated by a
Catholic priest, has run afoul of the Government several times for
airing criticism of the Government. The Government prevented Radio
Maria from broadcasting for one month beginning April 25 because it
erroneously reported the institution of a citywide curfew in Lome.
Apparently in response to Radio Maria's repeated political commentary,
the government-controlled media regulatory body, High Authority for
Radio-Television and Communication, or HAAC (l'Haute Autorite de
l'Audio-Visuel et de la Communication) issued a decree at the end of
2005 banning all political programs on community and religious radio
and television stations. HAAC shut down the broadcast of a Radio Maria
show featuring live political debate, and commission officials
periodically warn the station when its programs stray too close to
criticism of the regime.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Members of different faiths
regularly invited one another to their respective ceremonies.
Intermarriage between persons of different religions was common.
The Christian Council addressed common issues among Protestant
denominations. The council comprises the Assemblies of God, Protestant
Methodist, the Baptist Convention, Pentecostal churches, Seventh-day
Adventist, Lutheran, and Evangelical Presbyterian denominations. The
council continued to debate whether to expand its membership to include
other Protestant organizations. Catholics and Protestants frequently
collaborated through the Biblical Alliance.
Unlike his predecessor, the Catholic archbishop of Lome continued
to refrain from delivering political sermons in praise of President
Eyadema. In January 2006 the archbishop presided over a government-
sponsored service to honor the country's first president, overthrown by
Eyadema. The holiday, falling for the first time after Eyadema's death,
marks the date of the coup that began the Eyadema regime. During the
service, the archbishop promoted reconciliation and peace, urging both
sides to move toward a new chapter.
Since 2002 the Catholic Bishops' Conference has spoken on the need
for credible, transparent elections, and it has criticized the
Government for amending the constitution and electoral code and
manipulating the National Election Commission. On April 17, 2005, just
before the presidential election, the interim president met with
several religious leaders. Among them was the archbishop of Lome, who
said in a press conference after the meeting that he and his colleagues
had urged the Government to ensure a fair and transparent electoral
process.
The former archbishop of Lome was the chairman of a panel designed
to rewrite the country's rocky political history. Following its release
in late 2005, the public generally praised the final report, and it
survived dissent from progovernment members of the panel.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy organized activities to inform the public about religious
diversity, values, and culture in the United States. The embassy also
hosted a dinner for Muslim leaders and distributed thousands of
publications on U.S. society that included key portions on religious
freedom.
The embassy included religious leaders, particularly Muslim
leaders, in the International Visitor's Program and continued an
English language study scholarship program for eighty underprivileged
students, whose main beneficiaries were students of the Muslim faith.
The two-year English language program contains regular segments on
aspects of life in the United States, including religious tolerance.
__________
UGANDA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, in
practice the Government imposed some minor restrictions.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion;
however, bans imposed by local authorities against nighttime religious
meetings for security and noise abatement reasons were still in effect
in residential areas of several districts.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some members of the
more traditional denominations accused certain evangelical groups of
practicing ``witchcraft.''
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights; it is
also active in sponsoring efforts to promote dialogue and harmony among
religious groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 93,070 square miles, and its population
is approximately 26.7 million. Christians constituted approximately 85
percent of the population. Muslims comprised approximately 12 percent
of the population. A variety of other religions, including traditional
indigenous religions, Hinduism, the Baha'i Faith, and Judaism, were
practiced freely and combined represented an estimated 2 percent of the
population. Among Christian groups, the Roman Catholic Church had the
largest number of followers with 42 percent; the Anglican Church
claimed 36 percent. Evangelical and Pentecostal churches were active,
and their membership was growing. Muslims were mainly Sunni, although
there are Shi'a followers of the Aga Khan among the Asian community.
Several branches of Hinduism also were represented among the Asian
community. There were few atheists.
In many areas, particularly in rural settings, some religions
tended to be syncretistic. Deeply held indigenous beliefs were blended
into or observed alongside the rites of other religions, particularly
in areas that were predominantly Christian.
Missionary groups of several denominations were active, including
the Pentecostal Church, the Baptist Church, the Church of Uganda (part
of the Anglican Communion), the Church of Christ, and the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, in
practice the Government imposed some minor restrictions.
All new nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including religious
organizations, must register with the NGO Board, a division of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs that regulates and oversees NGO services.
The law governing NGO registration was amended by Parliament on April
7, 2006. The amendments include updating fines imposed on violators and
providing the NGO board with discretion over the duration and
conditions of the permit. A broad coalition of NGOs pushed for more
liberalizing reforms and petitioned the president to reject
Parliament's amendment act. The NGO coalition argued that the continued
presence of security agencies on the NGO board and the powers to limit
the duration of permits provide the executive too much power to control
NGO operations.
In practice, most religious organizations were granted permits.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not refuse registration
to any religious groups.
Community-based organizations that operate in only one subcounty
were not required to register with the NGO board. Instead, they must
register with the district government. Some local governments closed
down community churches for failure to register. For example, on March
29, 2006, police in Wakiso District closed Entebbe Holy Fire Ministries
Church for failure to register.
Missionary groups faced no restrictions on their activities.
Foreign missionary groups, like foreign NGOs, must register with the
Government. There were no reports that the Government refused to grant
registration to any foreign missionary groups.
At the end of the period covered by this report, the Uganda Revenue
Authority had not implemented its decision to tax religious
institutions' surplus income that were not put to the common use of
their congregations or to the good of society. Religious organizations
are required by law to pay taxes on any properties that earn income.
Permits were necessary for the construction of facilities,
including those of a religious nature. Religious facilities were also
required to meet building safety codes. On April 20, 2006, Kampala City
Council sued the Cavalry Temple Church for failing to secure building
approval and because its structure built largely of papyrus did not
meet the building code.
Private Qur'anic and Christian schools were common. In public
schools, religious instruction was optional, and the curriculum covered
academic study of world religions rather than instruction in one
particular faith. There were also many private schools sponsored by
religious groups that offer religious instruction. These schools were
open to students of other faiths, but they usually did not offer
minority religious instruction.
Prisoners were given the opportunity to pray on days devoted to
their faith. Muslim prisoners usually were released from work duties
during the month of Ramadan.
Religious holy days celebrated as national holidays include Eid al-
Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that local
government took any new actions to restrict operation of religious
organizations for reasons of security; however, bans against nighttime
prayers in some local communities for noise abatement reasons remained
in effect. National government policy did not include restrictions.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
There were no reports that authorities arrested persons due to
their membership in religious groups during the period covered by this
report. In 2005, however, police in Gulu arrested Severino Lukoya, the
father of former rebel leader Alice Lakwena, and three other pastors
for operating the unregistered New Melta Jerusalem Church. The
Government refused to register the organization for security reasons.
On February 28, 2005, police released the four pastors with a warning.
Also, on May 1, 2005, police in Mubende District arrested Prophet Ssali
Kilimba Mwaka for conducting an illegal society, practicing witchcraft,
and being in possession of articles used in witchcraft; Mwaka was later
released on bail. On September 21, 2005, a court acquitted Mwaka on all
charges.
In March 2004 armed gunmen at the Evangelical School of Technology
in Yumbe District killed an American missionary couple, Donna and
Warren Pett, and a Ugandan student, Isaac Juruga. Police initially
arrested five persons suspected of participation in the killings. The
motive for the killings was unknown but may have been related to theft,
local hostility to evangelical activity in a predominantly Muslim area,
or a rivalry between two local clans. In 2005 six suspects were charged
with murder and imprisoned in Arua District. On February 25, 2006, the
six suspects escaped from prison and were suspected by police to have
crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eleven prison warders in
charge of the prison were arrested and charged by the Arua Magistrate's
Court with negligence. At the end of this reporting period, the warders
had been released on bond and were awaiting trial; the suspects
remained at large.
There were no new developments in the case of eight Tabliq Muslims
arrested in 2004 for attacking an evangelical Christian outreach in
Masaka District and for assaulting antiriot police that resulted in one
civilian death and several injuries.
The rebel organization Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was responsible
for killing tens of thousands of persons in the past twenty years,
kidnapping more than 20,000 children, attacking religious leaders and
property, and causing more than 1.5 million persons to flee their homes
and move to makeshift camps. During the period covered by this report,
the Government continued its efforts to stop the LRA insurgency through
a combination of military action against the LRA, attempted
negotiations for a peace settlement, and provision of amnesty for
rebels wishing to surrender.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
During the period covered by this report, several religious
alliances, including the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative,
Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, Religious Efforts for Teso and
Karamoja, and the Inter-Religious Program, continued efforts to ease
religious tensions and find lasting solutions to civil unrest and the
insurgency in the northern part of the country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights; it is
also active in sponsoring efforts to promote dialogue and harmony among
religious groups.
During the period covered by this report, the ambassador and other
U.S. government and embassy officials met with leaders of various
religious institutions, including representatives from the Uganda
Muslim Supreme Council; the Church of Uganda; the Roman Catholic
Church; the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches of Uganda; the
Inter-Religious Council of Uganda; and the Uganda Joint Christian
Council.
The U.S. embassy sponsored several events to promote interfaith
dialogue, forge interfaith coalitions to support peace building in
conflict areas, and allow the Muslim population to voice its opinions
on issues of bilateral interest. International visitor grants allowed
influential Muslim leaders to travel to the United States, where they
shared their experiences with fellow Muslims. The U.S. government
worked with and through faith-based organizations to promote peace and
reconciliation in conflict areas.
__________
ZAMBIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 290,586 square miles, and its population
is approximately ten million. According to a 2000 census, approximately
87 percent of the population was Christian; 1 percent was Muslim or
Hindu; 7 percent adhered to other faiths, including indigenous faiths;
and 5 percent did not report their religion.
The majority of indigenous persons were either Roman Catholic or
Protestant; however, many Christians held some traditional beliefs as
well. In recent years, there has been an upsurge of new Pentecostal
churches, commonly known as evangelical churches, which have attracted
many young persons into their ranks.
Muslims were concentrated in areas where citizens of Asian origin
have settled, primarily along the railroad line from Lusaka to
Livingstone, in Chipata, and in other parts of Eastern Province. Many
Asian-origin citizens were Muslim, although Hindus constituted a
sizable percentage of this group as well. A small minority of
indigenous persons was also Muslim.
Foreign missionary groups present included Catholic, Anglican,
other mainstream and evangelical churches, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. Article 19 of the
constitution provides freedom of thought and religion to all citizens,
freedom to change religion or belief, and freedom to manifest and
propagate religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice, and
observance. Statutes provide effective remedies for the violation of
religious freedom. These provisions are enforced in a rigorous and
nondiscriminatory fashion.
The Oasis Forum--composed of the Law Association of Zambia, the
Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Coordinating Committee, the Zambia
Episcopal Conference, the Christian Council of Zambia, and the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia--continued to be active during the
period covered by this report. The Government criticized the Oasis
Forum over its stance on the constitutional review process and the mode
of adoption of a new constitution. In spite of rebukes by government
officials of church leaders for taking a stand on political issues,
churches continued to freely and vocally criticize the Government,
organize activities, and mobilize public opinion.
Although a 1996 amendment to the constitution declared the country
a Christian nation, the Government generally respects the right of all
faiths to worship freely. In its final report on constitutional reform
released on December 29, 2005, the Constitution Review Commission
recommended that the constitution retain the declaration that Zambia is
a Christian nation, subject to approval by a constituent assembly and
national referendum. Religious instruction is provided for Christians
in public schools but not for Muslims.
The following holy days are considered national holidays: Good
Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas.
There are governmental controls that require the registration of
religious groups. The Government approves without discrimination all
applications for registration from religious groups. There were no
reports that the Government rejected any religious groups that
attempted to register. To be eligible for registration, groups must
have a unique name, possess a constitution consistent with the
country's laws, and display compatibility with the peace, welfare, and
good order of the country. Unregistered religious groups are not
allowed to operate. Violators can face a fine and imprisonment for up
to seven years.
Although the Government routinely allows religious groups to
register, in March 2006, Foreign Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha stated
publicly that the Government would begin the practice of consulting
with the Council of Churches in Zambia before it registers church
groups. The foreign minister's statement came in the wake of a
controversy involving the Universal Church of God, which the Government
deregistered in December after Lusaka residents rioted in response to
allegations that church members were engaged in satanic practices. In
January 2006 the High Court overturned the Government's deregistration
order, allowing the Church to continue operations pending judicial
review. The Government nevertheless deported the Church's two Brazilian
pastors in February, citing security concerns. The Church continues to
operate in the country and has petitioned the High Court to find the
Government in contempt for violating the order staying proceedings
against the church. At the end of the period covered by this report,
the High Court had not ruled on the Church's petition.
There were no reports that foreign missionary groups faced any
special requirements or restrictions beyond those imposed on other
foreigners.
The Government requires religious instruction in public schools.
Such instruction is conducted in both the Catholic and Protestant
traditions, and students from other faiths are usually excused from
religious instruction. Instruction in Islam and other faiths is not
available in public schools; however, it is conducted in private
schools owned and controlled by those faiths. Parents can also
homeschool their children.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
Leaders of various ecumenical movements, such as the Zambia
Episcopal Conference, the Christian Council of Zambia, and the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, hold regular meetings to promote
mutual understanding and interfaith dialogue and to discuss national
issues.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officials met with a wide spectrum of religious
representatives to promote interreligious dialogue and collaboration on
several issues. The mission supported interdenominational efforts to
increase HIV/AIDS awareness. The U.S. government hosted a religious
pastor for a three-week International Visitor program on religion and
the community. The mission focused on outreach to the Muslim community,
meeting with groups of Muslim women, providing Internet training, and
hosting interactive discussions between American and Zambian Muslims,
including a digital video conference between Zambian Muslim women and a
well-known American Muslim woman writer and speaker. Mission staff also
visited a Muslim girls orphanage and school to conduct outreach and
discuss future programs.
__________
ZIMBABWE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
While the Government has historically had good relations with the
majority of religious groups (primarily Christian), it continued to
criticize, harass, and intimidate religious leaders who were critical
of government policies or who spoke out against human rights abuses
committed by the government. Unlike in previous years, there were no
reported instances of violence against religious leaders who were
critical of government policies; however, church leaders and members
who criticized the Government faced arrest, temporary detention, and,
in the case of foreigners, possible deportation.
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. An interfaith council, formed in
2004, continued to work towards creating closer ties between different
religious groups.
The U.S. government expressed its position on religious freedom
through its publication and dissemination of various human rights
documents, including the annual reports on International Religious
Freedom, the Human Rights Report and various other statements. It
continued to condemn the Government's generally poor human rights
record and expressed its position on religious freedom publicly.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 150,760 square miles and a population of
approximately 12.2 million. It is estimated that between 70 and 80
percent of the population belonged to the mainstream Christian
denominations such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist
churches; however, over the years a variety of local churches and
groups have emerged from these mainstream denominations. Evangelical
denominations, primarily Pentecostal churches and apostolic groups,
were the fastest growing during the reporting period.
While the country is overwhelmingly Christian, the majority of
persons continued to believe, to varying degrees, in traditional
indigenous religions as well. For example, individuals may have
worshiped in a westernized Christian church but also consulted with
traditional healers.
Traditional healers were very common in both rural and urban areas.
They are licensed and regulated by the Zimbabwe National African
Traditional Healers' Association (ZINATHA), which has approximately
55,000 members. ZINATHA officials estimated that 80 percent of the
population consulted traditional healers during the year. Religious
leaders also reported an increase in adherence to traditional religion
and healers as the economic situation worsened in the country.
Islam accounted for 1 percent of the population and also continued
to see growth, particularly in rural areas where Muslim-led
humanitarian efforts were often organized. The remainder of the
population included practitioners of Greek Orthodoxy, Judaism, and
traditional indigenous religions. There were also a small number of
Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'is, and atheists.
While political elites tended to be associated with one of the
established Christian churches, there was no correlation between
membership in any religious group and political or ethnic affiliation.
Although there were no official statistics on the prevalence of
foreign missionaries in the country, Christian and Muslim missionaries
from other parts of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States were
generally known to operate in the country. Most often, these
missionaries ran schools, hospitals, and humanitarian aid
organizations. As with humanitarian groups in general, some
missionaries were considered by the Government as being potentially
political and, consequently, viewed with some suspicion. Missions
generally operated without government interference, although they
occasionally experienced delays in having their work permits issued.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right.
There is no state religion, and the Government showed no favoritism
to any group based on religious affiliation although the majority of
political elites adhered to mainstream Christian denominations.
Generally, the practice of a particular faith was not known to confer
any advantage or disadvantage in the political arena, the civil
service, the military, or the private sector.
Christmas and Easter are national holidays. There were no reports
of non-Christians experiencing discrimination when celebrating other
religious holidays.
Unlike in previous years, the Government recognized all religious
groups and reached out more to religious leaders, including indigenous
ones which it had previously excluded. For example, President Mugabe
and other government officials met with indigenous religious leaders
throughout the reporting period and included these leaders in the
planning for a 2006 National Day of Prayer.
The Government also appeared to be more inclusive of indigenous
religions, of which it has traditionally been suspicious, and tolerant
of supposed witchcraft practices, which it had previously attempted to
restrict. Unlike in previous years, President Mugabe made no negative
statements about evangelical or indigenous churches, and he also met
with leaders from these groups.
In April 2006 President Mugabe signed an amendment to the
previously criticized Witchcraft Suppression Act (WSA). The amendment,
which was to take effect on July 1, 2006, identifies witchcraft
practices as ``those commonly associated with witchcraft'' and
criminalizes those practices only if intended to cause harm. Under this
new framework, spoken words alone would no longer be considered a
witchcraft practice or evidence of illegal activity. The amendment
would also criminalize witch hunts, impose criminal penalties for
falsely accusing others of witchcraft, and reject killing of a witch as
a defense for murder.
Proponents of the WSA amendment applauded it for recognizing
certain elements of witchcraft as a part of traditional culture and
regarded it as a positive step in recognizing indigenous religions.
ZINATHA, for example, welcomed the amendment for differentiating
negative witchcraft from traditional beliefs and enabling traditional
healers to operate more openly, without fear of either witch hunters or
prosecution. ZINATHA also stated that the amendment would facilitate
the prosecution of unlicensed traditional healers.
The Government does not require religious groups to be registered;
however, religious organizations that operate schools or medical
facilities were required to register those specific institutions with
the appropriate ministry regulating their activities. Religious
institutions were allowed to apply for tax-exempt status and duty-free
privileges with the Customs Department. These requests were generally
granted.
Curricula at public primary and secondary schools are set by the
Ministry of Education. In public institutions of higher education, they
are set by curriculum boards that usually include Ministry of Education
officials. Many public secondary schools also included a religious
education course that focuses on Christian religions but also covers
other religions and emphasizes the need for religious tolerance. Most
public universities included degrees in religious education which
primarily focus on Christian doctrine.
The country has a long history of Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist
primary and secondary schools. The Government permitted, and did not
regulate, religious education in these private schools. Since
independence, there has been a proliferation of evangelical basic
education schools. Christian schools, the majority of which are
Catholic, constitute one-third of the schools in the country. Islamic,
Hindu, and Hebrew primary and secondary schools were also found in the
major urban areas such as Harare and Bulawayo. Additionally, several
private institutions of higher education included religious studies as
a core component of the curriculum.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government maintained a monopoly on television broadcasting
through the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). As in recent
years, the Government permitted limited religious radio and television
broadcasting on ZBC and advertising in the Government-controlled press
by all, rather than selected religious groups. The Government generally
followed the recommendations of the Religious Advisory Board, an
umbrella group of Christian denominations, on appropriate religious
material to broadcast. Although only Christian groups were represented
on this board, religious programming, which included statements by
religious leaders, radio broadcasts of prayers, and a regular
television show about religion, was representative of non-Christian
groups and was not exclusive in this regard. The television show
``Traditional Voices,'' for example, included a religious program aimed
at Muslims. It was directed by a local Muslim leader, who was invited
by the Government to put on the program twice a month.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, church leaders and
members who criticized the Government continued to face intimidation,
arrest, and detention by government officials. President Mugabe made
speeches denouncing church leaders who purportedly ``support the
opposition'' and frequently called on these leaders to avoid political
activity. Church leaders who participated in demonstrations or public
events criticizing the Government sometimes faced harassment and
temporary detention under the Public Order and Security Act. Under this
act police notification is required to hold public gatherings.
On June 25, 2006, President Mugabe spoke for the first time at the
annual National Day of Prayer ceremonies. The ceremony was reportedly
rescheduled twice to allow Mugabe to attend. Buses from the state-owned
bus company transported individuals from gathering spots where ruling
party supporters often congregated to the ceremonies. The Zimbabwe
Council of Churches (ZCC), which has publicly criticized the regime's
human rights abuses and organized past National Days of Prayer,
cooperated with the Government in planning the event. The ZCC reported
that Mugabe was reaching out more to religious groups. The Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, which has also been critical of the Government,
also participated in the organization of the 2006 event. In contrast to
these collaborations, the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) criticized
the Government for taking over the event and other church groups for
collaborating. Despite official government support, turnout for the
event was poor.
Religious groups continued to be challenged by the Government's
restrictive laws regarding freedoms of assembly, expression, and
association. Although not specifically aimed at religious activities,
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) continued to be used to
interfere with groups organizing public prayers. In May 2006, for
example, the ZCA planned a prayer procession in the city of Bulawayo to
commemorate the anniversary of the Government's 2005 ``Operation
Restore Order.'' The group applied for and received police clearance
for the march; however, police revoked the clearance days before the
march was to take place. The group held the march, as originally
scheduled, on May 20 after successfully challenging the police in
court. Police directed the marchers down a different, less populated
route than the one planned but otherwise did not interfere. There were
no reports that police disturbed any of the other commemoration events
planned at churches. According to the ZCA, other religious and secular
nongovernmental organizations cancelled or postponed their
commemorations of Operation Restore Order under ``official pressure.''
In 2004 POSA was also used to detain nine women belonging to WOZA on
charges of ``praying in public,'' an act that allegedly violated
Section 19 of the act. According to Amnesty International, some of the
women were assaulted during their interrogations; all were eventually
released in October of that year.
Operation Restore Order mandated the destruction of purportedly
illegal structures. During the reporting period, some places of worship
and charities run by religious organizations continued to be destroyed.
On July 26, 2005, for example, police destroyed a church and a mosque
at the high-density settlement of Porta Farm. In late June, news
sources also reported that two church buildings belonging to the
Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (Zaoga) in Chitungwiza were
demolished in late June 2005 for the alleged illegal occupation of
land. Several church leaders, particularly Zimbabwean Catholic bishops,
criticized the Government's actions. There were no updates to any of
these or other cases involving the destruction of places of worship
covered in the previous reporting period.
The Government also limited religious groups' activities when it
attempted to block efforts by religious and humanitarian organizations
that provided relief to the victims of Operation Restore Order. In July
2005, for example, police raided churches in Bulawayo and forcibly
removed displaced persons who were taking shelter at the churches. On
July 20 of that same year, police detained three clergymen when they
went to a police station to inquire about the forced removals. Police
arrested a fourth clergyman the same day while he was filming forced
removals. Police released all four men without charges the next day.
One of the clergymen, Reverend Ray Motsi, claimed that the arrests had
been retribution against the churches for assisting victims. The
Zimbabwean National Pastor's Conference (ZNPC) released a statement
three days later criticizing the Government's actions during the
operations and harassment of church groups attempting to provide
humanitarian assistance to the victims.
During the period covered by this report, there were no further
developments in the cases involving members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise!
who were detained during a prayer vigil in April 2005 while awaiting
election results. Additionally, no investigation into the burning of a
church building by supporters of a ruling party parliamentary candidate
in March 2005 was begun. Rev. Noel Scott, who went to trial in November
2004 for holding a street prayer in 2002, was no longer in detention.
The magistrate responsible for the case failed to issue a judgment
scheduled for January 2006, and further action appeared unlikely.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed
from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom, although divisions between mainstream
Christian religions and practitioners of traditional religions
continued. Unlike in previous years, there were no reported cases of
discrimination against Muslims in private work places, although embassy
contacts in the religious community believed isolated incidents of this
type continued to occur. The Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Baha'i, and
Buddhist religious communities were relatively small and, generally,
were not in open competition with Christian denominations for converts.
The interfaith council formed in 2004 continued to work towards
bringing together practitioners of various faiths and establishing
points of collaboration.
At least five umbrella religious organizations continued to operate
during the reporting period. These groups included: The ZCC, the Heads
of Denominations, an association of Christian denominations created to
enable collaboration among Christian groups and the Government in the
operation of religious schools and hospitals, Fambidzano, a group of
indigenous churches, ZINATHA, an organization that represents
traditional healers, and the Islamic Council, an umbrella organization
for Muslim groups in the country.
The ZCC served as the umbrella organization of all Protestant
ecumenical Christian missionary churches, except for evangelical
organizations. A total of seventy-two evangelical churches applied for
membership to the Council during the previous reporting period;
however, the ZCC turned down all the applications because the applicant
churches allow polygamy.
While practitioners of traditional indigenous religions experienced
improved relations with the Government, there were continuing reports
of tensions between these groups and mainstream Christian churches.
Some indigenous churches' acceptance of polygamy and avoidance of
modern medicine were common sources of these tensions. In addition,
some Christian church leaders' opposition to the previously mentioned
WSA amendment also strained relations between the two communities.
Leaders discussed these issues productively in meetings of the
interfaith council and suggested possible areas of cooperation, such as
HIV/AIDS; notably; however, the head of the Apostolic church renounced
polygamy--a practice it previously considered to be legitimate.
Reports of possible ritual killings and mutilations continued to be
cited by newspapers and women and children's rights groups throughout
the period covered by this report. Police usually investigated these
killings; however, limited resources prevented police from conducting
many investigations or identifying perpetrators.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government had regular dialogue with and supported civil
society organizations that advocated and monitored respect for human
rights, including freedom of religion.
In support of religious freedom, the U.S. embassy widely
disseminated relevant reports on religious rights, and U.S. government
officials privately and publicly emphasized concern regarding
intimidation and harassment of religious officials who criticized the
Government. The embassy supported efforts by religious leaders to
highlight the Government's human rights abuses and flawed economic
policies. It also encouraged these leaders' attempts to initiate and
sustain a dialogue with government officials on approaches to improving
the political situation.
EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
----------
AUSTRALIA
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 2.9 million square miles and a
population of 20.5 million. According to the 2001 census, 67 percent of
citizens considered themselves to be Christian, including 26 percent
Roman Catholic and 20 percent Anglican. Buddhists constituted 1.9
percent of the population, Muslims 1.5 percent, Hindus 0.5 percent,
Jews 0.4 percent, and all others professing a religion 0.5 percent.
At the time of European settlement, aboriginal inhabitants followed
religions that were animistic, involving belief in spirits behind the
forces of nature and the influence of ancestral spirit beings.
According to the 2001 census, 5,244 persons or less than 0.03 percent
of respondents reported practicing aboriginal traditional religions,
down from 7,359 in 1996. The 1996 census reported that almost 72
percent of Aborigines practiced some form of Christianity, and 16
percent listed no religion. The 2001 census contained no comparable
updated data.
During the first census, in 1911, 96 percent of citizens identified
themselves as Christian. Since the 1950s traditional Christian
denominations have seen their total number and proportion of affiliates
stagnate or decrease significantly, although from 1996 to 2001 the
total number of Christians increased 1.5 percent. Over the past decade,
increased immigration from Southeast Asia and the Middle East
considerably expanded the numbers of citizens who identified themselves
as Buddhists and Muslims, and it expanded the ethnic diversity of
existing Christian denominations. Between 1996 and 2001, the number of
Buddhists increased from 199,812 to 357,813 persons, Muslims from
200,885 to 281,578, Jews from 79,800 to 84,000, and Hindus from 67,300
to 95,500. In 2001 approximately 15 percent of citizens considered
themselves to have no religion, a 1.5 percent decrease from 1996.
According to a 2002 survey, 23 percent of adults participated in church
or religious activities during the three months prior to these
interviews. A 2001 report listed 810 foreign Protestant, Anglican, and
Independent Christian missionaries to the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Government at all
levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution bars the Federal Government from making a law that
imposes a state religion or religious observance, prohibits the free
exercise of religion, or sets a religious test for a federal public
office. However, these federal constitutional prohibitions do not
restrict the legislative powers of the states.
Public holidays include the Christian holy days of Good Friday,
Easter Monday, and Christmas Day. Although the Government is secular,
each session of Parliament begins with a joint recitation of the Lord's
Prayer.
Religious adherents who have suffered religious discrimination may
have recourse under federal discrimination laws or through the court
system. However, a 1998 review by the independent federal Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) found that federal laws did
not adequately meet the country's obligations under the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and recommended that the
Government enact a federal religious freedom act. In 2002 the
Government stated that it would not do so.
During the period covered by this report, the HREOC did not report
to Parliament on any religious discrimination cases involving a
government agency. Under the provisions of the Federal Racial
Discrimination Act, the HREOC mediates a complaint when a plaintiff's
religious affiliation is considered tantamount to membership in an
ethnic group. During the twelve-month period ending June 30, 2005, the
commission received sixteen employment-related complaints alleging
discrimination on religious grounds. Another federal law, the Workplace
Relations Act, prohibits termination of employment on the basis of
religion.
The State of Tasmania is the only state or territory whose
constitution specifically provides citizens with the right to profess
and practice their religion. However, seven of the eight states and
territories have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a
person's religion or ethno-religious background. South Australia is the
only jurisdiction that does not explicitly prohibit discrimination on
the grounds of religion. All jurisdictions, apart from South Australia,
have established independent agencies to mediate allegations of
religious discrimination.
Minority religious groups and communities were generally given
equal rights to land, status, and the building of places of worship.
However, in the past a number of small city councils refused their
local Muslim and Buddhist communities planning permits to construct
places of worship. Those religious communities successfully appealed
the councils' decisions to the courts. For instance, in November 2004
more than 200 Muslims gathered to celebrate the opening of a western
Sydney Islamic prayer center, which had been subject to a construction
delay because the local council in 2003 had refused the developers a
planning permit, reportedly deeming the center to be incompatible with
local community beliefs.
In June 2005 the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered
two Christian pastors to make a public apology, via newspaper
statements, for comments that the court held had vilified Muslims. It
was estimated that the newspaper advertisements would cost $52,900
(A$68,690). The tribunal also ordered the pastors not to repeat the
comments anywhere in the country. In August 2005 the court of appeal
granted a stay on the order for an apology but left in place the order
that the pastors not repeat the comments. The pastors appealed the
court of appeal's decision to the Victoria Supreme Court; the appeal
was scheduled to be heard on August 21-22, 2006. In 2003 the Islamic
Council of Victoria (ICV) had filed a complaint under Victoria's Racial
and Religious Tolerance Act against the pastors and their ministry
organization. The act makes illegal ``conduct that incites hatred
against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of, that
other person or class of persons'' on the grounds of religious belief.
In August 2005 a coalition of international religious freedom
organizations wrote to the attorney general alleging that the act
violates Article 18 of the ICCPR, which protects religious speech.
Religious groups are not required to register.
The Government permits religious education in public schools,
generally taught by volunteers using approved curriculum, with the
option for parents to have their child not attend.
The Government has put in place extensive programs to promote
public acceptance of diversity and cultural pluralism, as well as
funding for a variety of interfaith forums, including sponsorship of
the International Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no religious prisoners or detainees in the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Several nongovernmental
organizations promoted tolerance and better understanding among
religions in the country, both indigenous and nonindigenous. These
groups included the Columbian Center for Christian-Muslim Relations,
the National Council of Churches in Australia and its affiliated
Aboriginal and Islander Commission, and the Australian Council of
Christians and Jews.
In 2003, in response to an increase in anti-Islamic sentiment, the
HREOC undertook a project involving national consultations on
eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim citizens. As part of the
consultations, the commission considered whether Muslim citizens shared
an ethnic origin or race, as well as a religion, which would entitle
them to comprehensive protection under the Federal Race Discrimination
Act. The commission's report, made public in June 2004, contained no
findings on the racial status of Arab and Muslim citizens. However, it
called on the Government to extend the coverage of antidiscrimination
legislation to encompass religion.
In the 12 month period ending September 30, 2005, the Executive
Council of Australian Jewry recorded 332 anti-Semitic incidents, which
ranged from physical violence and property damage (11 reports) to
harassment and offensive written and electronic media messages,
compared to a total of 425 incidents in 2004. Although this was a
significant decrease, it was still higher than the annual average of
301 incidents since reports were first compiled in 1989. (Such
incidents increased from September 1990 to a high in September 2002;
since then, they have decreased each year.)
In January 2005 the leader of the neo-Nazi Australian Nationalist
Movement pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal damage and
conspiracy to cause arson in connection with incidents in 2004 in which
several Asian-owned businesses and a synagogue in Perth were firebombed
or sprayed with racist graffiti. His trial, scheduled for March 2006,
was cancelled when he skipped bail in February 2006, and the case was
adjourned. He was rearrested in April 2006. At a status conference on
June 20, 2006, his trial was scheduled for February 5, 2007.
On December 11, 2005, there was a riot in the Sydney suburb of
Cronulla, sparked by suspicions that a group of Lebanese-Australian
youths had assaulted two lifeguards. Demonstrators against the assault
displayed anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slogans. When the gathering turned
violent, bystanders perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin or Muslim
were attacked. At least thirty persons were injured in the fighting.
The following day, retaliatory vandalism and other assaults were
reported around Sydney.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its policy to promote human rights.
__________
BRUNEI
The constitution states, ``The religion of Brunei Darussalam shall
be the Muslim religion according to the Shafeite sect of that religion:
Provided that all other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony
by the person professing them in any part of Brunei Darussalam.''
However, the Government imposed many restrictions on non-Shafeite and
non-Islamic religious practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Practitioners of non-Muslim
faiths are not allowed to proselytize. Christian schools are required
under the Education Order of 2003 to give Islamic instruction to Muslim
students, and all post-secondary students are required to attend
courses on the national religious ideology. Schools are not allowed to
teach Christianity. The Government uses a range of municipal and
planning laws and other legislation to restrict the expansion of
religions other than official Islam.
The Government sponsored a multi-faith delegation to the
International Conference on Faith and Service, in Manila in March 2006,
and to the East Asian Religious Leaders Forum held in Jakarta in
February 2006 with officials from various religions.
The country's various religious groups coexisted peacefully. The
law discouraged Muslims from learning about other faiths and forbid
persons of other faiths from proselytizing. At the same time, Islamic
authorities organize a range of activities to explain and propagate
Islam, and they also offer financial incentives, housing, and new
mosques for converts to Islam.
During the period covered by this report, the U.S. embassy
supported religious freedom through a number of programs, including the
Fulbright exchange program, visits to places of worship, and dialogue
with government officials.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 2,200 square miles, and a population of
380,000. According to Government statistics of Bruneian citizens, there
were 162,542 Muslims; 8543 Buddhists; 3703 Christians; 124 Hindus; 20
Atheists; 19 Taoists; and 18 Sikhs; as well as 69 individuals of other
faiths and 10,392 who did not state their faith. Among permanent
residents, according to the same statistics, there were 12,941 Muslims;
8801 Buddhists; 3204 Christians; 91 Hindus; 18 Taoists; 15 Sikhs; 10
Atheists; 70 of other faiths and 7,615 who did not state their faith.
These statistics did not cover a large expatriate population of
temporary residents that included Muslims, Christians, and Hindus.
There were 107 mosques and prayer halls, 7 Christian churches,
several Chinese temples, and 2 Hindu temples in the country.
Proselytizing by faiths other than the officially sanctioned branch
of Islam is not permitted. There were no missionaries working in the
country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution states, ``The religion of Brunei Darussalam shall
be the Muslim religion according to the Shafeite sect of that religion:
Provided that all other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony
by the person professing them in any part of Brunei Darussalam.''
However, the Government imposes many restrictions on non-Islamic
religions and non-Shafeite practitioners.
The Government describes the country as a Malay Islamic monarchy,
and actively promotes adherence by its Muslim residents to Islamic
values and traditions. The Ministry of Religious Affairs deals solely
with Islam and Islamic laws, which exist alongside secular laws and
apply only to Muslims.
In January 2005 the Government introduced legislation under the
Societies Order that replaced the Societies Act. As did the act, the
order compels all organizations, including religious groups not
specifically mentioned in the constitution to register. The order also
requires organizations to name all members. An organization that fails
to register can face charges of unlawful assembly and be fined.
Individuals who participate in or influence others to join unregistered
organizations can be fined, arrested, and imprisoned. Approval to
register is at the discretion of the Registrar of Societies or
Commissioner of Police and may be refused for any reason.
The Government continued to use zoning laws that prohibit the use
of private homes as places of worship. While the country had several
Chinese temples, only the temple in the capital was registered
officially. The other temples did not face charges for failing to
register, but they were not allowed to organize functions and
celebrations.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Since the early 1990s, the Government has reinforced the legitimacy
of the hereditary monarchy and the observance of traditional and Muslim
values by asserting a national ideology known as the Melayu Islam
Beraja (MIB), or Malay Islamic Monarchy, the genesis of which
reportedly dates from the fifteenth century. MIB principles have been
adopted as the basis for government, and all meetings and ceremonies
commence with a Muslim prayer. At citizenship ceremonies, non-Muslims
must wear national dress, which includes Muslim head coverings for men
and women.
Despite constitutional provisions providing for the full and
unconstrained exercise of religious freedom, the Government restricted
the practice of non-Muslim religions by prohibiting proselytizing of
Muslims. The Government has also in previous years occasionally denied
entry to foreign clergy or particular priests, bishops, or ministers;
banned the importation of religious teaching materials or scriptures
such as the Bible; and refused permission to establish, expand, repair,
or build churches, temples, or shrines. The Government allows only the
practice of the official Shafeite school of Islam. It has banned
several other religious groups that it considers deviant, including the
radical Islamic Al-Arqam movement and the Baha'i Faith; however, the
Government did not ban any new groups during the period covered by this
report. Citizens deemed to have been influenced by the teachings of
such groups (usually students returning from overseas study) have been
``shown the error of their ways'' in study seminars organized by
mainstream Islamic religious leaders. The Government readily
investigated and took proscriptive action against purveyors of radical
Islam or ``deviationist'' Islamic groups. The Government periodically
warned the population about ``outsiders'' preaching radical Islamic
fundamentalist or unorthodox beliefs and warned Muslims against
Christian evangelists, most recently in May 2005 during a sermon at the
national mosque.
A 1964 fatwa issued by the State Mufti strongly discourages Muslims
from assisting non-Muslim organizations in perpetuating their faiths,
and it reportedly has been used by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to
influence other government authorities either to deny non-Muslim
religious organizations permission for a range of religious and
administration activities or to fail to respond to applications from
these groups. Nonetheless, Christian churches and their associated
schools have been allowed for safety reasons, to repair, expand, and
renovate buildings on their sites and to carry out minor building
works. In 2006 the Government approved a request from Anglican St.
Andrews Church to undertake a major refurbishment of its buildings, a
significant development.
The sole official Chinese temple must obtain permission for
seasonal religious events and could not organize processions outside
the bounds of its half-acre site. However, in 2005 the Government
permitted Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations outside the grounds of
the Chinese temple. The Government does not impose any restriction for
the Chinese temple to celebrate seasonal religious events provided that
the committee obtains permission from relevant authorities. Christian
organizations are subjected to the same restrictions on processions.
The Government routinely censors magazine articles on other faiths,
blacking out or removing photographs of crucifixes and other Christian
religious symbols. Government officials also guard against the
distribution and sale of items that feature photographs of undesirable
or religious symbols.
The Government requires residents to carry an identity card that
states the bearer's religion. The Government also asks visitors to
identify their religion on their landing cards, although many people do
not comply and have not been challenged.
Authorities continued to arrest persons for offenses under Shari'a,
such as ``khalwat'' (close proximity between the sexes) and consumption
of alcohol. According to statistics released by religious authorities,
389 ``khalwat'' cases were reported during the period of July 2005 to
April 2006. The arresting forces in these crackdowns were comprised of
civilian and religious police. Most of those arrested or detained for a
first offense were fined and released, although in the past, some
persons were imprisoned for up to four months for repeated offenses of
khalwat. Under Bruneian law, men are liable to a $634 (B$1000) and
women to a $317 (B$500) fine if convicted of khalwat.
Religious authorities regularly participated in raids to confiscate
alcoholic beverages and nonhalal meats. They also monitored restaurants
and supermarkets to ensure conformity with halal practice. Restaurants
and service employees that served a Muslim in daylight hours during the
fasting month were subjected to fines.
The Ministry of Education requires courses on Islam and the MIB in
all schools. Most school textbooks were illustrated to promote Islam as
the norm, with all women and girls shown wearing the Muslim head
covering. There were no depictions of practices of other religions in
textbooks. The ministry prohibits the teaching of other religions and
comparative religious studies. Private mission schools are required to
give instruction about Islam to Muslim students and are not allowed to
give Christian instruction, although at one such school Christian
students have been allowed to attend church during those periods when
Muslim students receive instruction about Islam. The ministry requires
that all students learn the Jawi (Arabic script in Malay language). The
International School of Brunei, the Jerudong International School, and
the Panaga School are the only schools exempt from this regulation;
however, these private institutions are required to teach MIB. In
January 2004, under its integrated education plan to combine religious
and academic education, the ministry introduced a pilot program in
thirty-eight government primary schools that requires the compulsory
study of Arabic by all students; this plan was abolished in January
2006. In December 2005 the Institute of Tahfiz al-Quran, previously run
by His Majesty the Sultan's Foundation, was handed over to the Ministry
of Religious Affairs where the institute's education, curriculum and
courses would come under the ministry's jurisdiction.
The Government did not prohibit or restrict parents from giving
religious instruction to children in their own homes.
Religious authorities encouraged Muslim women to wear the tudong, a
traditional head covering, and many women did so. In government schools
and at higher institutes of learning, Muslim and non-Muslim female
students must wear Muslim attire, including a head covering as a part
of their ``uniform.'' Muslim male students are expected to wear the
songkok (hat). There also were reports that non-Muslim women teachers
at public schools are sometimes pressured by government officials or
colleagues to wear Muslim attire. In March 2006 a Government-approved
Friday sermon called for women to cease playing soccer. According to
the sermon, ``it is a grievous sin for women to behave like men on the
playing field. They should not resemble males in terms of their garb,
conversation or action.'' The Government took no action along the line
of this Friday sermon, and women continued to play soccer.
In accordance with the Government's interpretation of Qur'anic
precepts, women are denied equal status with men in a number of
important areas such as divorce, inheritance, and custody of children.
A 2002 amendment to the Brunei Nationality Act allows citizenship to be
transmitted through the mother as well as through the father.
Marriage between Muslims and those of other faiths is not
permitted, and non-Muslims must convert to Islam if they wish to marry
a Muslim. Muslims who wish to convert to another religion face such
official and societal pressure not to leave Islam that conversion is
extremely difficult if not impossible in practice. Permission from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs must be obtained to convert from Islam,
and there were no reports of anyone requesting such permission during
the reporting period. There were instances during the period covered by
this report of persons, often foreign women, who converted to Islam as
a prelude to marrying Muslims. If the marriages took place, these women
faced intense official pressure not to return to their former religions
or faced extraordinary delays in obtaining permission to do so. There
also were known cases of divorced Muslim converts who, because of
official and societal pressure, remained Muslim although they preferred
to revert to their former faiths.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Those adhering to faiths other than Islam are allowed to practice
their beliefs, provided that they exercise restraint and do not
proselytize. Non-Muslims who proselytized have in the past been
arrested or detained and sometimes held without charges for extended
periods of time; however, no such arrests or detentions occurred during
the period covered by this report. There have been reports in the past
that agents of the Internal Security Department monitored religious
services at Christian churches and that senior church members believed
that they were under intermittent surveillance.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States. However, it is an accepted practice for the
children of parents converting to Islam to be converted to Islam as
well. There were reports in the past of teenage children who refused
such conversion despite family and official pressure.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In February 2006 the sultan attended a Chinese New Year's
celebration sponsored by the Chinese community in. The Government
sponsored a delegation to the International Conference on Faith and
Service held in Manila in March 2006. This concession to interfaith
dialogue was not reported on state-run television. The local press
reported on officials attending the East Asian Religious Leaders Forum
held in Jakarta in February 2006, with officials from various
religions. A former ambassador represented the Government at the
funeral of Pope John Paul II, and the then deputy minister of foreign
affairs signed a condolence book at the Brunei Catholic diocese. In
June 2005 Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Secretary for the Holy See's
Relations with States, traveled to the country where he met with senior
Government officials.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The country's various religious groups coexist peacefully, but
ecumenical interaction is hampered by the dominant Islamic religious
ethos, which discourages Muslims from learning about other faiths. At
the same time, Islamic authorities organize a range of ``dakwah'' or
proselytizing activities and incentives to explain and propagate Islam.
Among the incentives to converts, especially those from the indigenous
communities in rural areas, are monthly financial assistance, new
homes, electric generators, and water pumps. The religious authority
also builds mosques and prayer halls for converts in these areas but
will not allow the construction of churches or other non-Muslim houses
of worship.
The country's national philosophy, the MIB concept, discourages
open-mindedness to religions other than Islam, and there are no
programs to promote understanding of other religions. The country's
indigenous people generally convert either to Islam or Christianity but
rarely to Buddhism. Consequently, Muslim officials view Christianity as
the main rival to Islam.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy has increased contacts and dialogue with
Government officials and representatives of all religious
organizations. In 2005 the embassy selected a Fulbright grant recipient
to undertake a graduate program in Islamic Studies and Comparative
Religions in the United States. In 2006, the embassy, as part of its
outreach program, distributed ``Islam in America'' publications to
higher educational institutes during a public exhibition. Embassy
officials have met with members of minority faiths. Embassy
representatives continued to press the Government to adhere to the
spirit of its constitution and its declarations on human rights.
__________
BURMA
Highly repressive, authoritarian military regimes have ruled the
country since 1962. Constitutional support for religious freedom has
not existed since 1988 after the armed forces brutally suppressed
massive prodemocracy demonstrations and abrogated the constitution. In
1990 prodemocracy parties won a majority of seats in a free and fair
election, but the junta of senior military officers refused to
recognize the results and has ruled the country by decree and without a
legislature ever since. The authorities generally permitted most
adherents of registered religions to worship as they choose; however,
the Government imposes restrictions on certain religious activities and
frequently abuses the right to freedom of religion.
There was no change in the limited respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government continued to
infiltrate and covertly and overtly monitor meetings and activities of
virtually all organizations, including religious organizations. The
Government systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to
promote human rights and political freedom and discouraged and
prohibited minority religions from constructing new places of worship.
The Government also actively promoted Theravada Buddhism over other
religions, particularly among members of minority ethnic groups.
Christian and Islamic groups continued to have trouble obtaining
permission to repair existing places of worship or build new ones in
most regions. Anti-Muslim violence continued, as did the close
monitoring of Muslims activities. Restrictions on worship of other non-
Buddhist minority groups also continued throughout the country. There
were no reports of forced conversions of non-Buddhists. Adherence or
conversion to Buddhism, however, is generally a prerequisite for
promotion to senior government and military ranks.
During the period covered by this report there were persistent
social tensions between the Buddhist majority and the Christian and
Muslim minorities. Widespread prejudice existed against citizens of
South Asian origin, many of whom are Muslims.
The U.S. Government advocated religious freedom with all facets of
society, including with government officials, religious leaders,
private citizens, and scholars, diplomats of other governments, and
international business and media representatives. Embassy
representatives offered support to local nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and religious leaders, and acted as a conduit for information
exchanges with otherwise isolated human rights NGOs and religious
leaders. Since 1999, the U.S. Secretary of State has designated the
country as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International
Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious
freedom. The U.S. Government has a wide array of sanctions in place
against the country for its violations of human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 261,970 square miles and a
population of more than 54 million. The majority followed Theravada
Buddhism, although in practice popular Burmese Buddhism coexisted with
astrology, numerology, fortune telling, and veneration of indigenous
pre-Buddhist era deities called ``nats.'' Buddhist monks, including
novices, numbered more than 400 thousand and depended on the laity for
their material needs, including clothing and daily donations of food.
The country had a much smaller number of Buddhist nuns. Christian
groups (Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, and an array of other
Protestant denominations), Muslims (mostly Sunni), Hindus, and
practitioners of traditional Chinese and indigenous religions
represented the principal minority faiths. According to official
statistics, almost 90 percent of the population practiced Buddhism, 6
percent practiced Christianity, and 4 percent practiced Islam. These
statistics almost certainly underestimated the non-Buddhist proportion
of the population, which could be as high as 30 percent. Muslim leaders
estimated that approximately 20 percent of the population was Muslim. A
tiny Jewish community in Rangoon had a synagogue but no resident rabbi
to conduct services.
The country was ethnically diverse, with some correlation between
ethnicity and religion. Theravada Buddhism was the dominant religion
among the majority Burman ethnic group and among the Shan, Arakanese,
and Mon ethnic minorities of the eastern, western, and southern
regions. Christianity was the dominant religion among the Kachin ethnic
group of the northern region and the Chin and Naga ethnic groups of the
western region, some of whom continued to practice traditional
indigenous religions. Protestant groups reported recent rapid growth
among animist communities in Chin State. Christianity was also
practiced widely among the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups of the
southern and eastern regions, although many Karen and Karenni were
Buddhist. In addition, some ethnic Indians were Christian. Hinduism was
practiced chiefly by Burmese of Indian origin, who were concentrated in
major cities and in the south-central region. Islam was practiced
widely in Rakhine State, where it was the dominant religion of the
Rohingya minority, and in Rangoon, Ayeyarwady, and Mandalay divisions.
Some Burmans, Indians, and ethnic Bengalis also practiced Islam.
Chinese ethnic minorities generally practiced traditional Chinese
religions. Traditional indigenous religions were practiced widely among
smaller ethnic groups in the highland regions. Practices drawn from
those indigenous religions persisted widely in popular Buddhist
rituals, especially in rural areas.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Highly authoritarian military regimes have ruled the country since
1962. The current military government, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), has governed without a constitution or legislature
since 1988. Most adherents of religions that registered with the
authorities generally enjoyed the right to worship as they chose;
however, the Government imposed restrictions on certain religious
activities and frequently abused the right to religious freedom.
Since independence in 1948, many of the ethnic minority areas have
served as bases for armed resistance against the Government. Although
the Government has negotiated cease-fire agreements with most armed
ethnic groups since 1989, active Shan, Karen, and Karenni insurgencies
continued during the period covered by this report. Periodic fighting
between the army and the leading Karen insurgent group, the Karen
National Union (KNU), and multiple army attacks on Karen villages
occurred. Successive civilian and military governments have tended to
view religious freedom in the context of whether it threatens national
unity or central authority.
Since independence, successive governments, civilian and military,
have supported and associated themselves conspicuously with Buddhism.
The country has no official state religion. In 1961, the Government's
push to make Buddhism the state religion failed due to national
protests by religious minorities. However, in practice the Government
continued to show a preference for Theravada Buddhism through its
official propaganda and state-sponsored activities, including
government donations to monasteries and support for Buddhist missionary
activities. Promotions within the military and the civil service were
generally contingent on the candidates being followers of Buddhism. The
Ministry of Religious Affairs included the powerful Department for the
Promotion and Propagation of Sasana (Buddhist teaching).
Virtually all organizations, religious or otherwise, must register
with the Government. A government directive exempts ``genuine''
religious organizations from official registration; however, in
practice only registered organizations can buy or sell property or open
bank accounts. These requirements lead most religious organizations to
seek registration. Religious organizations register with the Ministry
of Home Affairs with the endorsement of the Ministry for Religious
Affairs. Leaders of registered religious groups have more freedom to
travel than leaders of unrecognized organizations and members of their
congregations.
Buddhist doctrine remained part of the state-mandated curriculum in
all government-run elementary schools. Students could opt out of
instruction in Buddhism and sometimes did. All students of government-
run schools are required to recite a Buddhist prayer daily. Some Muslim
students are allowed to leave the room during this act, while at some
schools non-Buddhists are forced to recite the prayer. The Government
continued to fund two state Sangha universities in Rangoon and Mandalay
to train Buddhist monks under the control of the state-sponsored State
Monk Coordination Committee (``Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee'' or SMNC).
The Government also funded one university intended to teach noncitizens
about Theravada Buddhism.
Official public holidays include numerous Buddhist holy days, as
well as a few Christian, Hindu, and Islamic holy days.
The Government made some nominal efforts to promote mutual
understanding among practitioners of different religions and maintained
multi-religion monuments in Rangoon and other major cities.
In November 2005, the minister of religious affairs called a
meeting of leaders of the four main religions in the country. The
minister used the meeting to denounce the 2005 State Department
International Religious Freedom Report and requested each leader write
a letter stating that their religious communities may practice their
faith freely in the country, which the ministry would display on its
official website. During a discussion that followed, the representative
of the Islamic Religious Affairs Council (IRAC) said that while there
had been progress on some religious issues, there was room for further
improvement. The minister reportedly stopped further discussion and
adjourned the meeting abruptly.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government continued to show preference for Theravada Buddhism
while controlling the organization and restricting the activities and
expression of the Buddhist clergy (Sangha), although some monks have
resisted such control. Based on the 1990 Sangha Organization Law, the
Government banned any organization of Buddhist monks other than the
nine state-recognized monastic orders. These nine orders submit to the
authority of the SMNC, which monks indirectly elect. Violations of this
law are punishable by immediate public defrocking, and often by
criminal penalties.
Authorities defrocked and arrested a group of twenty-six monks in
2003 and sentenced them in 2004 to jail terms of seven years (eighteen
years for the leader) for refusing to accept government donations of
robes and other items. The authorities released these monks from prison
on July 6, 2005. Monks serving sentences of life in prison reportedly
included the Venerable U Thondara of Myingyan (arrested during the 1988
antigovernment demonstrations). The exile-based Assistance Association
for Political Prisoners (AAPP) estimated that there were eighty-four
monks in prison for various charges. The AAPP estimate could not be
verified. The number of non-Buddhists in prison for their religious
beliefs was unknown.
In 2004, the regime hosted a three-day World Buddhist Summit,
despite international criticism and the last-minute withdrawal of the
summit's original Japanese sponsors due to political and security
concerns following the October 2004 ousting of Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt. The summit drew approximately 1,600 attendees from around the
world (although most were from within the country). The prime ministers
of Thailand and Laos also attended.
State-controlled news media frequently depicted or described
government officials paying homage to Buddhist monks making donations
at pagodas throughout the country, officiating at ceremonies to open,
improve, restore, or maintain pagodas, and organizing ostensibly
voluntary ``people's donations'' of money, food, and uncompensated
labor to build or refurbish Buddhist religious shrines throughout the
country. State-owned newspapers routinely featured front-page banner
slogans quoting from Buddhist scriptures. The Government has published
books of Buddhist religious instruction. The Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA), a government-sponsored mass
organization in which participation often is compulsory, organized
courses in Buddhist culture attended by millions of persons, according
to state-owned media reports. It was not possible to verify this claim
independently.
The Department for the Perpetuation and Propagation of the Sasana
handles the Government's relations with Buddhist monks and Buddhist
schools. The Government-funded International Theravada Buddhist
Missionary University (ITBMU) in Rangoon, which opened in 1998, has as
its stated purpose ``to share the country's knowledge of Buddhism with
the people of the world.'' The main language of instruction is English.
There are reports that the ITBMU, while in principle open to the
public, accepted only candidates who were approved by government
authorities or recommended by a senior, progovernment abbot.
The Government infiltrated or monitored the meetings and activities
of virtually all organizations, including religious organizations.
Religious activities and organizations of all faiths also were subject
to broad government restrictions on freedom of expression and
association. The Government subjected all media, including religious
publications, and on occasion sermons, to control and censorship.
Authorities refused to approve requests for gatherings to celebrate
traditional Christian and Islamic holidays and restricted the number of
Muslims that could gather in one place. For instance, after repeatedly
postponing the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Islamic
Religious Affairs Council and its sixteenth Islam Religious Assembly in
Myitkyina, Kachin State, local authorities agreed to allow the
convocation from May 30 to 31. On May 29, the authorities asked IRAC
leaders to postpone the meeting again, but later the Kachin PDC
chairman agreed to allow the nearly 400 delegates who had gathered in
Myitkyina after traveling from all over the country to meet for just
one and a half hours on May 31. The Muslim delegates found this
unacceptable and returned home without convening. In April 2006,
Mandalay authorities refused permission for area churches to hold a
joint Easter program. When permission was granted to hold a general
meeting, Christian leaders reported that authorities often required
them to submit details in advance of the meeting, including the name of
the pianist and what songs they would play. Islamic groups reported
that authorities authorized only remote sites for their annual Eid al-
Adha sacrifices within Rangoon. Muslims had to travel long distances to
participate. Muslims also reported that the Eid al-Adha ceremonies were
restricted to three hours in length. Some Buddhists complained that the
animal sacrifices during Islamic religious festivals offended their
sensitivities. In 2004, the Government revoked permission at the last
moment for the Methodist Church of Lower Burma to hold its one hundred
twenty-fifth anniversary gala event.
In 1995, the Government prohibited any opposition political party
member from being ordained as a monk or religious leader. Although this
measure remained in effect, it was not strictly enforced.
The Government continued to discriminate against members of
minority religions, restricting their educational, proselytizing, and
church-building activities.
In June 2005, authorities forced a Muslim private tutor in Rangoon
to close down his school. Although he was teaching only the public
school curriculum, authorities accused him of trying to convert
children to Islam because he was offering free courses.
In June 2005, authorities in Shwepyitha Township, Rangoon Division,
arrested eight Muslims, including the imam of the community, and
charged them with holding group prayers at the imam's house.
Authorities also arrested a Muslim cleric in South Dagon Township,
Rangoon Division, for holding private Qur'an courses for Muslim
children at his house.
In October 2005, a proregime Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)
group from Kawkareik District, Karen State, reportedly detained three
members of the local IRAC, including the chairman, and kept them in an
underground cell. A senior DKBA officer intervened and gained their
release after three days. In December 2005, authorities at Three Pagoda
Township in the same district reportedly ordered Muslim leaders to stop
holding prayers at the local worship hall they had used for many years,
located on land owned by the IRAC.
Government authorities continued to prohibit Christian clergy from
proselytizing in some areas. Christian groups reported that several
times during the period covered by this report, local authorities
denied applications for residency permits of known Christian ministers
attempting to move into a new township. The groups indicated this was
not a widespread practice, but depended on the individual community and
local authority. In some instances, local authorities reportedly
confiscated National Identity Cards of new converts to Christianity.
Despite this, Christian groups reported that church membership grew,
even in predominately Buddhist regions of the country.
In general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign
religious missions to operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when
it expelled nearly all foreign missionaries and nationalized all
private schools and hospitals, which were extensive and affiliated
mostly with Christian religious organizations. The Government is not
known to have paid any compensation in connection with these extensive
confiscations. Christian groups, including Catholics and Protestants,
have brought in foreign clergy and religious workers for visits as
tourists, but they have been careful to ensure that the Government did
not perceive their activities as proselytizing. Some Christian
theological seminaries also continued to operate, as did several Bible
schools and madrassahs. The Government has allowed some members of
foreign religious groups, such as the Mormons, to enter the country to
provide humanitarian assistance or English language training to
government officials. Some of these groups did not register with the
Myanmar Council of Churches, but were able to conduct religious
services without government interference.
Christian groups continued to have trouble obtaining permission to
buy land or build new churches in most regions. Sometimes the
authorities refused because they claimed the churches did not possess
proper property deeds, but access to official land titles was extremely
difficult due to the country's complex land laws and government title
to most land. In some areas, permission to repair existing places of
worship was easier to acquire. During the period of this report,
authorities in Mandalay arrested three pastors for building new
churches and charged them with land law violations, not for violating
any religious regulations. Muslims reported that they essentially were
banned from constructing new mosques anywhere in the country, and they
had great difficulty obtaining permission to repair or expand their
existing structures. Some authorities reportedly destroyed informal
houses of worship or unauthorized religious construction they
discovered. Buddhist groups have not experienced similar difficulties
in obtaining permission to build new pagodas, monasteries, or community
religious halls.
Some Christians in Chin State claimed that authorities have not
authorized the construction of any new churches since 1997. In some
parts of the state, however, recently built churches are evident. In
March 2006, Lt. Col. Hla Maw Oo, director of the Border Trade
Department, ordered Kachin Baptists to remove a church from its current
location in Mong Yu in northeastern Shan State by April 20 to make way
for an economic development zone along the Chinese border. The official
reportedly offered $7,000 (8.7 million kyats) compensation for the
church that Christian businessmen built for $12,070 (15 million kyats)
in 2002. The official threatened to involve the military if the members
did not comply. This case was still pending at the end of the reporting
period. In Chin State, authorities jailed three persons for
constructing new churches. In Rangoon, Mandalay, and elsewhere,
authorities allowed construction of new community centers by various
Christian groups if the groups agreed not to hold services there or
erect any Christian signs.
The Religious Affairs Ministry has stipulated in the past that
permission to construct new religious buildings ``depends upon the
population of the location.'' However, there appeared to be no
correlation between the construction of pagodas and the demand for
additional places of Buddhist worship. In most regions of the country,
Christian and Islamic groups that sought to build small places of
worship on side streets or other inconspicuous locations were able to
do so only with informal approval from local authorities. However,
informal approval from local authorities creates a tenuous legal
situation. When local authorities or conditions have changed, informal
approvals for construction have been rescinded abruptly and
construction halted. In some cases, authorities demolished existing
church buildings.
Since the 1960s, Christian and Islamic groups have had difficulty
importing religious literature into the country. All publications,
religious and secular, remained subjected to control and censorship. It
was illegal to import translations of the Bible in indigenous
languages. Officials have occasionally allowed local printing or
photocopying of limited copies of other religious material (with the
notation that they were for internal use only) in indigenous languages
without prior approval by government censors.
During the period covered by this report, individuals continued to
smuggle Bibles and Qur'ans into the country in small quantities. Some
were intercepted at the border and confiscated, frequently ending up
for sale on the black market.
State censorship authorities continued to enforce special
restrictions on local publication of the Bible, the Qur'an, and
Christian and Islamic publications in general. The most onerous
restriction was a list of over one hundred prohibited words that the
censors would not allow in Christian or Islamic literature because they
are ``indigenous terms'' or derived from the Pali language long used in
Buddhist literature. Many of these words have been used and accepted by
some of the country's Christian and Islamic groups since the colonial
period. Organizations that translate and publish non-Buddhist religious
texts were appealing these restrictions. In addition, censors have
sometimes objected to passages of the Old Testament and the Qur'an that
they believe approve the use of violence against nonbelievers. There
have been no reports of arrests or prosecutions for possession of any
traditional religious literature in recent years.
The Government allowed members of all religious groups to establish
and maintain links with coreligionists in other countries and to travel
abroad for religious purposes, subject to the country's restrictive
passport and visa-issuance practices, foreign exchange controls, and
government monitoring, which extended to all international activities
by all citizens regardless of religion. The Government sometimes
expedited its burdensome passport issuance procedures for Muslims
making the Hajj or Buddhists going on pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, India,
although it limited the number of pilgrims. In 2005, authorities
allowed only 300 Muslims to participate officially in the Hajj.
Consequently, as many as 3 thousand Muslims made their own
arrangements, and many more from Rakhine State reportedly crossed over
to Bangladesh to obtain Bangladeshi passports in order to participate
in the Hajj. During the period covered by this report, immigration and
passport office officials continued to use the occasion of the Hajj to
extort bribes from would-be travelers. As a result, the cost to
official pilgrims was reportedly more expensive than for pilgrims who
made their own private arrangements.
Religious affiliation is indicated on government-issued
identification cards that citizens and permanent residents of the
country are required to carry at all times. Having the term ``Muslim''
on the cards often led to harassment by police or immigration
authorities. Citizens were also required to indicate their religion on
official application forms, such as passports.
Non-Buddhists continued to experience employment discrimination at
upper levels of the public sector. Few have ever been promoted to the
level of director general or higher. There were no non-Buddhists who
held flag rank in the armed forces, although a very few Christians
reportedly achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Central
Executive Committee of the largest opposition group--the National
League for Democracy--included no non-Buddhists, although individual
members from most religions in the country supported the party. The
Government discouraged Muslims from enlisting in the military, and
Christian or Muslim military officers who aspired for promotion beyond
the rank of major were encouraged by their superiors to convert to
Buddhism. Some Muslims who wished to join the military reportedly had
to list ``Buddhist'' as their religion on their application, though
they were required to convert. In one instance in 2005, superiors
informed a Buddhist officer that his Christian wife must convert to
Buddhism or else he would have to resign from the army.
Religious discrimination also occurred in education and cultural
activities. In 2005, a high school student named Alexander reached the
division level in an intramural sports competition. Mandalay division
authorities assumed by his name that he was a Christian and
disqualified him. In addition, when a Christian tried to hold a
birthday celebration in a Mandalay hotel in 2005, local authorities
banned it, claiming it was a religious event that should be held in a
church.
Muslims in Rakhine State, on the western coast, and particularly
those of the Rohingya minority group, continued to experience the
severest forms of legal, economic, educational, and social
discrimination. The Government denies citizenship status to Rohingyans
because their ancestors allegedly did not reside in the country at the
start of British colonial rule, as required by the country's
citizenship law. The Muslims assert that their presence in the area
predates the British arrival by several centuries. Rohingya Muslims,
although essentially treated as illegal foreigners, were not issued
Foreigner Registration Cards. Instead, the Government gave some of them
``Temporary Registration Cards'' (TRC). UNHCR estimates that only 50
percent of the approximately 700 thousand Rohingyas possessed TRCs.
Authorities have insisted that Muslim men applying for TRCs submit
photos without beards. The authorities did not allow government
employees of the Islamic faith, including village headmen, to grow
beards, and dismissed some who already had beards. The authorities also
did not consider many non-Rohingya Muslims to be citizens. In order for
these Muslims to receive National Registration Cards and passports,
they must pay large bribes. Ethnic Burman Muslims pay less than Muslims
from ethnic minority groups (primary those of Indian or Bengali
descent).
In 1988, the Government permitted only three marriages per year per
village in the primarily Rohingya townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung
in northern Rakhine State, and required the approval of the Regional
Military Commander. In 2005, the Government extended this edict to
Kyauk Pyu and Ramree Townships in central Rakhine State. Following the
ouster of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in October 2004 and the demise of
his military intelligence apparatus, marriage restrictions were
temporarily lifted but were reportedly reinstated in 2005. After a
backlog accumulated of nearly 3 thousand unapproved marriage
applications, the Regional Military Commander reportedly agreed to
allow some Rohingya Muslims who possessed TRCs to marry.
Muslims in the country had difficulty obtaining birth certificates.
A local official in Sittwe, Rakhine State, reportedly issued a verbal
order in 2005 prohibiting the issuance of birth certificates to Muslim
babies born in the area. In Rangoon, Muslims can usually obtain birth
certificates for newborns, but local authorities refused to allow them
to place the names of the babies on their household registers.
Muslims across the country, as well as some other ethnic minority
groups such as Chinese and Indians, were required to obtain advance
permission from the township authorities whenever they wished to leave
their hometowns. Authorities generally do not grant permission to
Rohingya or Muslim Arakanese to travel from their hometowns for any
purpose. However, permission sometimes can be obtained through bribery.
Non-Arakanese Muslims are given more freedom to travel; however, they
must also seek permission, which is usually granted after a bribe is
paid. Muslims residing in Rangoon can visit beach resort areas in
Ngapali, Rakhine State, but cannot return to Rangoon without the
signature of the Regional Military Commander. Those with money are able
to bribe local officials to return. Muslims residing outside of Rakhine
State often are barred from return travel to their homes if they visit
other parts of Rakhine State.
The Government reserves secondary education for citizens only.
Rohingyas do not have access to state-run schools beyond primary
education and are unable to obtain employment in any civil service
positions. Muslim students from Rakhine State who completed high school
were not granted permits to travel outside the state to attend college
or university.
Many of the approximately 21,000 Rohingya Muslims remaining in
refugee camps in Bangladesh refused to return because they fear human
rights abuses, including religious persecution.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Military forces have killed religious figures on some occasions.
However, during the period covered by this report, there were no
reports of such killings. A Karen source reported that Burmese soldiers
allowed a Christian pastor near Thandaung, Karen State, to hold a
religious ceremony in his village on condition that there was no
involvement by the KNU. When fighting broke out between KNU forces and
the Burmese Army near the pastor's village, the Burmese soldiers
arrested him and released him only after he paid $400 (500,000 kyats).
Local civilian and military authorities continued to take actions
against Christian groups: Arresting clergy, closing home churches, and
prohibiting religious services. During the period covered by this
report, authorities in the Rangoon area closed several house churches
because they did not have proper authorization to hold religious
meetings. Other Rangoon home churches remained operational only after
paying bribes to local officials. At the same time, the authorities
made it difficult, although not impossible, to obtain approval for the
construction of ``authorized'' churches. In September 2005, officials
in Kyauktada Township, Rangoon, ordered the Full Gospel Assembly church
to cease its worship services, as it was located in a residential
building. The church had been operating from that location for many
years and was listed in the 1999 Rangoon Church Directory.
In early 2005, local authorities in the Chin State capital of Haka
notified Baptist leaders that they would be forced to relocate an
active, historic cemetery from church property to a remote location
outside of town. Religious leaders reported that authorities continued
to forcefully relocate cemeteries in many parts of the country.
In September 2005, local authorities of Pabedan Township, Rangoon,
ordered Grace Baptist Church and Theology Seminary to close or face
confiscation of their land. The church and seminary continued to
operate throughout the period of this report. Evangelists in South
Dagon and Hlaing Thayar townships near Rangoon were accused of
proselytizing and were threatened in 2003 with arrest if they opened
house churches and kindergartens.
In November 2005, authorities in Insein Township, Rangoon,
pressured evangelical Christians of the twenty-year-old Phawkkan
Evangelical church to sign ``no worship'' agreements. Some signed the
agreements out of fear, but others refused. In February 2006, the
authorities issued an order banning worship at the church. In February
2006, Insein Township authorities ordered a Chin evangelist to stop
holding worship services in his house church in Aung San ward.
In February 2006, police at Hpa-an, Karen State, arrested Yeh Zaw,
a member of the Phawkkan Evangelical Church. Yeh Zaw had earlier
written a letter to the regime leader urging him to end the persecution
of his church which Rangoon authorities closed in early 2006, banning
members from worshipping there. Police charged him with traveling
without an identity card.
During the period covered by this report, there were no reports of
authorities destroying mosques or of Muslims constructing new mosques.
It remained extremely difficult for Muslims to get permission to repair
existing mosques, although internal renovations were allowed in some
cases. In some parts of Rakhine State, authorities cordoned off mosques
and forbade Muslims to worship in them. In 2004, local authorities
confiscated a Muslim cemetery in Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Division,
and closed the adjacent mosque. Three Muslims were reportedly
imprisoned for a month for violating this closure order. In 2004,
authorities in three suburbs of Rangoon ordered the closure of informal
``religious community houses'' used by local Muslims in lieu of mosques
(which have not been built in these townships). After Muslim leaders in
Rangoon complained, community houses in two of the three suburbs were
allowed to reopen.
In August 2005, authorities in Sittwe, Rakhine State, ordered an
Islamic madrassah to close. The school management complied with the
order and sent all the students home.
Authorities have attempted to prevent Chin Christians from
practicing their religion. In January 2005, the military commander in
Matupi Township, Chin State, ordered the destruction of a thirty-foot
cross raised on a hillside with government permission in 1999.
Reportedly, a more senior military official subsequently told local
church authorities that they could get permission to reconstruct the
cross. However, the local pastors have thus far refused to ask for such
authorization. In the past, these crosses often have been replaced with
pagodas, sometimes built with forced labor.
In Kachin State, authorities have constructed Buddhist shrines in
Christian communities where few or no Buddhists reside and have tried
to coerce Christians into forced labor to carry bricks and other
supplies for the shrine's construction. In northern Rakhine State,
authorities frequently forced Rohingyas to help construct Buddhist
shrines, even though Buddhists there account for approximately 2
percent of the population.
SPDC authorities continued to ``dilute'' ethnic minority
populations by encouraging, or even forcing, Buddhist Burmans to
relocate to ethnic areas. In predominantly Muslim northern Rakhine
State, authorities established ``model villages'' to relocate released
ethnic Burman criminals from other parts of the country. In January
2006, Muslim Rohingyas from at least ten surrounding villages claimed
the military forced them to carry building supplies for three model
villages at Padauk Myin, Mala Myin and Thaza Myin in Rathidaung
Township. Certain townships in the Rakhine State, such as Thandwe, Gwa,
and Taung-gut, were declared ``Muslim-free zones'' by government decree
in 1983. There were still original-resident Muslims living in Thandwe,
but newcomers who are Muslim are not allowed to buy property or reside
in the township. Muslims were no longer are permitted to live in Gwa
and Taung-gut.
In February 2006, violent clashes broke out between Muslims and
Buddhists in Magway Division. Responding to rumors that Muslim men had
raped a Burman woman near Sinbyukyun town, ethnic Burmans attacked and
torched Muslim and ethnic Indian homes, shops, and mosques. Rioting and
looting spread to surrounding towns, including Chauk and Salin. Local
security forces did not intervene at first, but as violence spread
authorities imposed a strict curfew in several towns to prevent the
violence from spreading further. Reliable sources said the authorities
arrested seventeen people in Sinbyukyun and another fifty-five persons
in Chauk, mostly Muslims. Unofficial sources claimed that three people
died and another ten were injured in the riots. Three mosques in
Yenangyaung, Chauk, and Saku were reportedly destroyed in the violence.
Authorities sealed off the mosques and did not permit Muslims to
rebuild them by the end of the period of this report, nor did
authorities conduct inquiries into the attacks. Christians reported
that an entire Muslim village fled to the monastery of a trusted
Buddhist abbot near Shwe Settaw to seek refuge during the riots.
These recent attacks follow earlier communal violence in Kyauk Pyu,
Arakan State, in January 2005. During several days of violence, two
Muslims were killed and one Buddhist monk was severely injured. Some
Islamic groups blamed the Government for trying to increase tensions
between Buddhists and Muslims as part of a ``divide and rule''
strategy. In 2004, local Buddhist villagers in Kyun Su Township,
Tanintharyi Division, attacked and destroyed the properties of fourteen
Muslim families. Despite a complaint from Muslim leaders, the
Government has taken no action.
In 2003, there were several violent incidents involving Muslims and
Buddhists. There were unverified reports that USDA members incited
anti-Muslim violence in Ayeyarwady Division. Authorities had not
investigated the incidents by the end of the reporting period.
In the aftermath of these 2003 attacks, the authorities paid some
compensation to the affected Muslims and gave permission to the Kyaukse
Muslims to rebuild the two mosques destroyed in the violence. The
reconstruction had not occurred because most Muslims had not returned
to their previous neighborhoods. In addition, the Government arrested
and defrocked forty-four monks and twenty-six other Buddhists suspected
of participation in the Kyaukse and Rangoon violence. There were
unverified reports that one senior monk received a death sentence; it
was not known what sentences the other monks received. These measures
caused some tension between the Government and the usually favored
Buddhist monkhood, leading to some localized demonstrations inside
Rangoon monasteries. Seventy Muslims were arrested and thirty-one
Kyaukse Muslims were sentenced in December 2003 (one received the death
penalty) for their involvement in the violence, including the alleged
murder of a senior Buddhist monk. Muslim leaders called the trials a
mockery of justice, but they did not address the veracity of the
charges.
There were no known arrests of Buddhist monks during the period
covered by this report. A Buddhist nun, Daw Thissawarddy, got into a
dispute with the SMNC when she tried to use the honorific title
``bikku'' for nuns. Authorities detained her in May 2005, but
reportedly released her when she agreed to exile in a foreign country.
In 2003, troops reportedly fired on monks protesting the arrest of a
local abbot and killed two of them.
Muslim leaders reported that military intelligence officials
arrested several Muslim religious teachers in Maungdaw Township,
Rakhine State, in 2004 following a fatwa issued against individuals who
had allegedly raped a Muslim girl. One of the teachers reportedly was
tortured to death in detention. The others were subsequently released.
There continued to be credible reports from diverse regions of the
country that government officials compelled persons, Buddhists and non-
Buddhists alike, especially in rural areas, to contribute money, food,
or materials to state-sponsored projects to build, renovate, or
maintain Buddhist religious shrines or monuments. The Government denied
that it used coercion and called these contributions ``voluntary
donations'' consistent with Buddhist ideas of meritmaking. In April
2006, authorities in Lashio reportedly tried to coerce merchants to
contribute large sums to construct a Buddhist shrine. Christian
merchants refused to participate and the funds raised were well below
the authorities' target.
In the past, pagodas or government buildings often have been built
on confiscated Muslim land. In 2003, authorities in Kyun Su Township,
Tanintharyi division, seized Muslim religious land on which they
planned to build a pagoda. Despite complaints by Muslim leaders to the
Ministry of Religious Affairs and the regional military commander, the
Government took no action in this case.
Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD), has been in prison or house arrest since forces allied
with the Government attacked her and her convoy, which included several
NLD-allied monks, while traveling in Sagaing Division in the
northwestern region of the country in 2003. The Government reportedly
used criminals dressed in monks' robes in the ambush.
Forced Religious Conversion
Muslim and Christian community leaders reported that during the
period covered by this report, authorities had moved away from a
campaign of forced conversion to Buddhism and instead focused on
enticing non-Buddhists to convert to Buddhism by offering charity or
bribery. Conversion of non-Buddhists, coerced or otherwise, is part of
a longstanding government campaign to ``Burmanize'' ethnic minority
regions. This campaign has coincided with increased military presence
and pressure. In 2004, in northwestern Shan State, a local government-
backed abbot reportedly pressured local Christians to convert to
Buddhism, using threats and bribery. Also during the period, there was
a single, unverified report of forced conversions at gunpoint in Chin
State. However, Christian groups reported that these types of violent
cases were less frequent than in earlier years.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to return to the
United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Preferential treatment for Buddhists and widespread prejudice
against ethnic Indians, particularly ethnic Rohingya Muslims were key
sources of social tensions between the Buddhist majority and Christian
and Muslim minorities.
Since 1994, when Buddhist members split away from the KNU to
organize the progovernment Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), there
have been armed conflicts between the DKBA and the predominately
Christian antigovernment KNU. Although the DKBA reportedly includes
some Christians and there are some Buddhists in the KNU, the armed
conflict between the two Karen groups has had strong religious
overtones. In 2004, according to a reliable report, DKBA authorities
forced villagers near Hpa-an, Karen State, to provide ``volunteer''
labor and money to build Buddhist pagodas. Despite a complaint by the
local pastor, senior government authorities refused to take any action.
There were also unverified reports that DKBA authorities continued to
expel villagers who converted to Christianity. In 2003, there was an
unverified report that local DKBA commanders forced the local Sangha
council to order the demolition of six monasteries in Myawaddy whose
abbots had been critical of the DKBA.
According to Shan Herald Agency for News, in April 2006 a local
warlord in the Wa Special Region of eastern Shan State detained thirty-
eight local Christians in the town of Mong Mai. He charged them with
preaching sermons and distributing religious pamphlets without official
permission. The Wa authorities sent them to work in labor camps.
Subsequently, they released nineteen young people, but the rest
reportedly remained in custody at the end of this reporting period.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
Government restrictions on speech, press, assembly, and movement,
including diplomatic travel, made it difficult to obtain timely and
accurate information on human rights in the country, including on
freedom of religion. Information about abuses often becomes available
only months or years after the events and frequently is difficult or
impossible to verify. Officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
while criticizing the U.S. Government in 2004 for its ``lack of basic
knowledge and misperceptions regarding the situation and concept of
religions'' in the country, have declined to meet with U.S. embassy
officials to discuss the content of the previous year's report.
The U.S. Government continued to promote religious freedom in its
contacts with all sectors of society, as part of its overall policy to
promote human rights. During the period covered by this report, embassy
officials discussed the importance of improved religious freedom with
government and military officials, private citizens, scholars,
representatives of other governments, and international business and
media representatives. Embassy representatives met regularly with
leaders of Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic religious groups, including
ethnic minority religious leaders, members of the faculties of schools
of theology, and other religiously-affiliated organizations and NGOs.
The Charge d'Affaires hosted members of Catholic, Protestant, and
Islamic organizations at her residence.
Through outreach and traveling, when not blocked by regime
officials, embassy representatives offered support to local NGOs and
religious leaders and exchanged information with many otherwise
isolated human rights NGOs and religious leaders. Representatives of
the Rohingya minority participated in English language and current
events studies at the embassy's American Center. The American Center
regularly translated statements and reports by the U.S. Government and
various NGOs on violations of religious freedom in the country and
distributed them via its frequently visited library. In addition, the
embassy worked closely with Islamic and Christian NGOs involved in
teacher training.
Since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated the country as a
``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International Religious
Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
Because of the country's poor human rights situation, including its
abuses of religious freedom, the United States imposed extensive
sanctions on the regime. These sanctions include a ban on imports from
the country, a ban on the export of financial services to the country,
a ban on bilateral aid to the Government, a ban on the export of arms
to the country, and a suspension of General System of Preferences (GSP)
benefits and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the
U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) financial services in support of U.S.
investment and exports to the country. The U.S. Government also ended
active promotion of trade with the country, limited the issuance of
visas to high-ranking government and military officials and their
immediate family members, and froze SPDC assets in the United States.
It also has opposed all assistance to the Government by international
financial institutions and urged the Governments of other countries to
take similar actions. New investment in the country by U.S. citizens
has been prohibited since May 1997.
__________
CAMBODIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Buddhism is the
state religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 67,000 square miles, and its population
was approximately 13.8 million. An estimated 93 percent of the
population was Hinayana, or Theravada, Buddhist. The Hinayana Buddhist
tradition was widespread and strong in all provinces, with an estimated
4,100 pagodas found throughout the country. Since the vast majority of
ethnic Khmer Cambodians were Buddhist, there is a close association
between Buddhism, Khmer cultural traditions, and daily life. Adherence
to Buddhism generally is considered intrinsic to the country's ethnic
and cultural identity. The Mahayana branch of Buddhism is practiced by
approximately 150,000 followers and had 63 temples throughout the
country.
There were approximately 500,000 to 700,000 Muslims (an estimated 4
percent to 8 percent of the population), predominantly ethnic Chams,
who generally were found in towns and rural fishing villages on the
banks of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers and in Kampot Province. There
were four branches of Islam represented: The Malay-influenced Shafi
branch, practiced by 88 percent of Cham Muslims; the Saudi-Kuwaiti-
influenced Salafi (sometimes called ``Wahhabi'') branch, which claims 6
percent of the Muslim population; the traditional Iman-San branch,
practiced by 3 percent; and the Kadiani branch, which also contributed
3 percent. There were 200 to 300 mosques of the 4 main branches and 200
to 300 small Surav mosques, which had congregations of up to 40 persons
and did not have a min-bar from which Friday sermons are given. The
small, although growing, Christian community constituted approximately
2 percent of the population. There were an estimated 100 Christian
organizations or denominations that operated freely throughout the
country and include approximately 2,400 churches. However, only 900 of
these churches were officially registered. Other religious
organizations with small followings included the Vietnamese Cao Dai
religion and the Baha'i Faith, each with an estimated 2,000 practicing
members.
Foreign missionary groups, including the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses, operated freely.
They faced no barriers, except for a ban on door-to-door proselytizing
during the daily lunch hours of noon to 2:00 p.m.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
does not tolerate abuse of religious freedom, either by governmental or
private actors. However, Buddhism is the state religion. The Government
promotes national Buddhist holidays, provides Buddhist training and
education to monks and others in pagodas, and modestly supports an
institute that performs research and publishes materials on Khmer
culture and Buddhist traditions. The constitution prohibits
discrimination based on religion.
The law requires all religious groups, including Buddhist ones, to
submit applications to the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs if
they wish to construct places of worship and conduct religious
activities. In their applications, groups must state clearly their
religious purposes and activities, which must comply with provisions
forbidding religious groups from insulting other religious groups,
creating disputes, or undermining national security. However, there is
no penalty for failing to register, and in practice some groups do not.
In April 2005 an Islamic conference, which drew approximately
twenty-thousand Muslims from throughout the country and from other
countries, was held in Kampong Cham Province without obtaining
permission from the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs. Organizers
obtained permission only from the district level for the conference.
Local and national authorities did not interfere with or sanction the
organizers. Religious groups have not encountered significant
difficulties in obtaining approval for construction of places of
worship. No significant constraints on religious assembly were reported
during the period covered by this report.
The Directive on Controlling External Religions requires
registration of places of worship and religious schools, in addition to
government approval prior to constructing new places of worship. Places
of worship must be located at least two kilometers from each other and
may not be used for political purposes or to house criminals or
fugitives from the law. The distance limitation has begun to be
enforced but applies only to new construction of places of worship and
not to offices of religious organizations. The order requires that
religious teachings respect other religions.
Government officials continued to organize annual meetings for
representatives of all religious groups to discuss religious
developments and to address issues of concern.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Foreign missionary groups generally operated
freely throughout the country and did not encounter significant
difficulties in performing their work. Government officials expressed
appreciation for the work of many foreign religious groups in providing
much needed assistance in education, rural development, and training.
However, officials also expressed some concern that foreign groups used
the guise of religion to become involved in illegal or political
affairs. During the reporting period, the Government did not close any
Islamic schools (madrasas) as it had in the past. On December 29, 2004,
a court convicted three persons connected with the school of assisting
in a planned terrorist attack on the embassy of a Western country.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Minority religious groups experienced little or no societal
discrimination during the period covered by this report; however,
Muslims and Christians reported a few minor conflicts.
Occasional tensions were reported among the branches of Islam that
receive monetary support from groups in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia,
or Indonesia, depending on the tenets of the branch. Some Buddhists
also expressed concern about the Cham Muslim community receiving
financial assistance from foreign countries. However, in general, Cham
Muslims were well integrated into society, enjoyed positions of
prominence in business and the Government, and faced no reported acts
of discrimination or abuse during the period covered by this report.
There are ecumenical and interfaith organizations, which often are
supported by funding from foreign public or private groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy representatives met with religious leaders on these issues and
contacted representatives of religious nongovernmental organizations
and other groups representing the Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian
faiths. In 2005 the embassy expanded its Muslim outreach program, which
provides for additional channels of information on the status of
religious freedom in the country among the Muslim population while also
providing material assistance. Through this program, the U.S.
Government gave assistance to four Islamic organizations that actively
conducted human rights and democracy training in Phnom Penh, and the
provinces of Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Battambang, Kampot, Siem Riep,
Kratie, and Kampong Cham to increase awareness of human rights within
the Muslim community. In 2005 the embassy continued to provide
financial support to an additional Muslim group for the Cham Muslim
radio hour. The embassy's outreach program distributed Khmer-language
versions of the booklet ``Muslim Life in America'' throughout ten
provinces around the country, particularly during the embassy's Ramadan
outreach programs and representation events.
Similarly, the embassy has worked to maintain close contacts with
the Buddhist religious community through visits to wats and pagodas.
The highest profile visit of 2005 occurred in December when the
ambassador and nearly 200 embassy personnel visited Phnom Penh's most
venerated Buddhist shrine, Wat Phnom, located adjacent to the new
embassy compound. Additionally, two Buddhist organizations received
U.S. Government grants to support their human rights and cultural
preservation activities. The first grant went to the Khmer Buddhist
Society in Cambodia (KBSC) to fund a series of workshops entitled
``Buddhist Response to Community Dispute Resolution'' in Preah Vihear
Province. The second went to the Buddhist Institute to support the
preservation of thirty oral folktales collected from elderly Buddhists
throughout the country. These projects afforded embassy officers the
opportunity to meet with Buddhist religious figures on numerous
occasions and assess the operating environment for the dominant
religion in the country.
__________
CHINA
Reports on Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibetan areas of China are
appended at the end of this report.
The constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and the
freedom not to believe; however, the Government seeks to restrict
religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and
registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of
activities of religious groups. The Government tries to control and
regulate religion to prevent the rise of groups that could constitute
sources of authority outside of the control of the Government and the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Nonetheless, membership in many faiths
is growing rapidly.
During the period covered by this report, the Government's respect
for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience remained poor,
especially for religious groups and spiritual movements that are not
registered with the Government. Unregistered religious groups continued
to experience varying degrees of official interference and harassment.
Members of some unregistered religious groups were subjected to
restrictions, including intimidation, harassment, and detention.
Unregistered religious groups were pressured to register with
government organs and government-sanctioned ``patriotic'' religious
associations linked to the five main religions--Buddhism, Islam,
Taoism, Catholicism, and Protestantism.
Religious practice and worship in officially sanctioned and
unregistered places of worship continued to grow throughout the
country, as did the number of religious believers. The extent of
religious freedom varied widely within the country. For example,
officials in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) tightly
controlled religious activity, while elsewhere in the country, Muslims
enjoyed greater religious freedom. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism,
including in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas of
the country (see separate appendix), also faced more restrictions on
their religious practice and ability to organize than Buddhists in
other parts of the country. In most areas of the country, religious
believers could worship without difficulty in officially approved
venues. The Government in some locations built new places of worship to
accommodate increasing numbers of religious believers.
Repression of unregistered Protestant church networks and ``house''
churches continued to be widely reported. Central Government officials
stated that friends and family holding prayer meetings at home need not
register with the Government, but China's regulations on religious
affairs (RRA) state that formal worship should take place only in
government-approved venues. Sources in many locations continued to
report that police and officials of local Religious Affairs Bureaus
(RABs) interfered with house church meetings, often accusing the house
church of disturbing neighbors or disrupting social order. House church
leaders asserted that police routinely used noise complaints as a
pretext for raiding their meetings. When police disrupted meetings,
they sometimes detained worshippers attending such services for hours
or days and prevented further house worship in the venues. Leaders
sometimes faced harsher treatment, including detention, formal arrest
and sentencing to reeducation or imprisonment. Again, treatment of
unregistered groups varied regionally. For example, some local
officials in Henan Province often mistreated unregistered Protestants,
and some local officials in Hebei Province tightly controlled Roman
Catholics loyal to the Vatican. In many localities, however, officials
worked closely with registered religious groups to accomplish religious
and social goals.
Government officials continued to scrutinize closely contacts
between citizens and foreigners involved in religion. The Government
detained some citizens for providing religious information to
foreigners and prevented some religious figures from traveling abroad,
including Henan Province Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang, who remained
jailed, and Beijing church historian Zhang Yinan, whom authorities
placed under house arrest and refused to issue a passport. In June
2006, Pastor Zhang Rongliang was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in
prison for obtaining a passport through fraud and illegal border
crossing. ``Underground'' Catholic bishops also faced repression, in
large part due to their loyalty to the Vatican, which the Government
accused of interfering in the country's internal affairs. The
Government showed some signs of willingness to improve relations with
the Vatican after the appointment of Pope Benedict XVI, but Beijing and
the Vatican clashed in April 2006 over control of the process of
ordaining bishops.
Despite government statements that minors are free to receive
religious training that does not interfere with their secular
education, there were ongoing reports of minors being prevented from
receiving religious education. In August 2005 Uighur teacher Aminan
Momixi and thirty students were detained after Momixi held Qur'an study
sessions in her home during summer vacation.
There was little evidence that the RRA, which took effect in 2005,
improved the situation of religious freedom. While the regulations
brought regulatory activities governing religious affairs within a
legal framework, they continued to define only government-approved
practices and faiths as normal or legitimate.
The Government continued its repression of groups that it
categorized as ``cults'' in general and of small Christian-based groups
and the Falun Gong in particular. In June 2006 Pastor Xu Shuangfu and
five other members of the Three Grades of Servants church, which the
Government also considers a cult, were sentenced to death in a murder
case involving conflict between the church and the Eastern Lightning
group, which China also considers a cult. Scores of Three Grades of
Servants church members were tried during the period covered by this
report. Falun Gong practitioners continued to face arrest, detention,
and imprisonment, and there have been credible reports of deaths due to
torture and abuse. Practitioners who refuse to recant their beliefs are
sometimes subjected to harsh treatment in prisons, reeducation through
labor camps, and extra-judicial ``legal education'' centers, while some
who recanted returned from detention. Reports of abuse were difficult
to confirm within the country and the group engaged in almost no public
activity within the country. Overseas Falun Gong practitioners claimed
this was a result of the harsh government campaign, which began with
the 1999 crackdown against the group. There were continuing revelations
about the extra-legal activities of the Government's ``610 office''
including torture and forced confessions, a state security agency
implicated in most alleged abuses of Falun Gong practitioners.
Some social tension existed between religious believers and
nonbelievers. Religious communities generally coexist without
significant friction.
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and the
consulates general in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang made a
concerted effort to encourage greater religious freedom in the country.
U.S. officials condemned abuses while supporting positive trends within
the country. President Bush regularly raised religious freedom in his
meetings with government leaders, including in his April 2006 and
November and September 2005 meetings with President Hu Jintao.
President Bush discussed religious freedom and attended a church
service during his November 2005 visit to Beijing. At the White House
in May 2006 President Bush met with three Christian intellectuals who
are leaders in the house church movement: Yu Jie, Li Baiguang, and Wang
Yi at the White House in May 2006. Senior U.S. officials called on the
Government to halt the abusive treatment of religious adherents and to
respect religious freedom. Assistant secretary for Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor Barry Lowenkron held talks on religious freedom
during a February 2006 visit to Beijing. U.S. ambassador Clark T.
Randt, Jr. highlighted problems of religious freedom and cases of
individual religious prisoners of conscience in his public speeches and
in his private diplomacy with Chinese officials. Since 1999, the
Secretary of State has designated China a ``Country of Particular
Concern'' under the International Religious Freedom Act for
particularly severe violations of religious freedom. In Washington and
in Beijing, in public and in private, U.S. officials repeatedly urged
the Government to respect citizens' constitutional and internationally
recognized rights to exercise religious freedom and to release all
those serving sentences for religious activities. U.S. officials
protested the imprisonment of and asked for further information about
numerous individual religious prisoners.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 3.5 million square miles, and its
population is approximately 1.3 billion. According to an April 2005
Government White Paper, there were ``more than 100 million religious
adherents,'' representing a great variety of beliefs and practices.
According to this official publication, the country had more than
85,000 sites for religious activities, 300,000 clergy, and more than
3,000 religious organizations. These same official statistics have been
used unchanged since 1997, when the State Council Information Office
published a White Paper on Freedom of Religious Belief. Given the
growth in religion since 1997, unpublished estimates suggest the
country had over 200 million believers and 100,000 sites for religious
activities.
The country has five main religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam,
Catholicism, and Protestantism. While these are the primary religions,
the 2005 religious affairs regulations did not identify ``official''
religions. The Russian Orthodox Church also operated in some regions,
and other religions existed in the country's expatriate community. Most
of the country's population did not formally practice any religion.
Approximately 8 percent of the population was Buddhist, approximately
1.5 percent was Muslim, an estimated 0.4 percent belonged to the
official Catholic Church, an estimated 0.4 to 0.6 percent belonged to
the unofficial Vatican-affiliated Catholic Church, an estimated 1.2 to
1.5 percent was registered as Protestant, and perhaps 2.5 percent
worshipped in Protestant house churches that were independent of
government control.
Religious officials offered no official estimate of the number of
Taoists, but academics placed the number at several hundred thousand.
According to the Taoist Association, there were more than 25,000 Taoist
monks and nuns and more than 1,500 Taoist temples.
Traditional folk religions (worship of local gods, heroes, and
ancestors) have been revived, are practiced by hundreds of millions of
citizens, and are tolerated to varying degrees as loose affiliates of
Taoism, Buddhism, or ethnic minority cultural practices. During the
year, the national religious affairs ministry known as SARA (the State
Administration for Religious Affairs) set up a new unit to supervise
folk religions as well as religions outside the main five, including
religions practiced by foreigners.
The Government estimated that there are more than 100 million
Buddhists, making Buddhism the organized religion with the largest body
of followers. However, it was difficult to estimate accurately the
number of Buddhists because they did not have congregational
memberships and often did not participate in public ceremonies. The
Government reported that there were 16,000 Buddhist temples and
monasteries and more than 200,000 nuns and monks. Most believers,
including most ethnic Han Buddhists, practiced Mahayana Buddhism. Most
Tibetans and ethnic Mongolians practiced Tibetan Buddhism, a Mahayana
adaptation. Some ethnic minorities in southwest Yunnan Province
practiced Theravada Buddhism, the dominant tradition in neighboring
Southeast Asia.
According to government figures, there were 20 million Muslims,
more than 40,000 Islamic places of worship (more than half of which are
in Xinjiang), and more than 45,000 imams nationwide. The country had 10
predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, the largest of which were the Hui,
estimated to number nearly 10 million. Hui are centered in Ningxia Hui
Autonomous Region, but there were significant concentrations of Hui
throughout the country, including in Gansu, Henan, Qinghai, Yunnan,
Hebei, and Xinjiang Provinces. Hui slightly outnumbered Uighur Muslims,
who lived primarily in Xinjiang. According to an official 2005 report,
the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region had 23,788 mosques and 26,000
clerics at the end of 2003, but observers noted that fewer than half of
the mosques were authorized to hold Friday prayer and holiday services.
The country also had more than 1 million Kazakh Muslims and thousands
of Dongxiang, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajik, Uzbek, Baoan, and Tatar Muslims.
Approximately 8 to 10 million Catholics lived in the country,
according to Chinese Catholics, although precise figures were difficult
to determine. These included both the 4.5 million persons registered
with the official Catholic Patriotic Association and an equal or
greater number who worship in unregistered Catholic churches affiliated
with the Vatican. According to official figures, the government-
approved Catholic Patriotic Association had 67 bishops, 5,000 priests
and nuns, and more than 6,000 churches and meetinghouses. There were
thought to be approximately forty bishops operating ``underground,''
some of who were likely in prison or under house arrest.
The Government maintained that the country had more than 16 million
Protestants, more than 55,000 registered churches and other places of
worship, and 18 theological schools. Officials from the Three-Self
Patriotic Movement (the state-approved Protestant religious
organization) had estimated that at least 20 million Chinese worship in
official churches. One local academic put the number of Protestants
between 50 and 60 million, including both officially approved and
unregistered churches. Foreign sources estimated that there were
between 80-100 million Protestants worshipping in unregistered
churches. A 2004 nongovernmental survey in Beijing tallied over 100,000
unregistered Protestants, far more than the 30,000 registered with
authorities. Domestic and foreign experts agreed that the number of
Protestants was growing rapidly. According to state-run media reports
in August 2004, the number of Protestants was increasing by up to
600,000 annually. While it is difficult to arrive at an exact estimate,
Christian groups outside China believe that the number of Chinese
attending unregistered churches is expanding at a much faster rate.
Falun Gong blends aspects of Taoism, Buddhism, and the meditation
techniques and physical exercises of qigong (a traditional Chinese
exercise discipline) with the teachings of Falun Gong leader Li
Hongzhi. Despite the spiritual content of some of Li's teachings, Falun
Gong does not consider itself a religion and has no clergy or places of
worship. Estimates of the number of Falun Gong (or Wheel of the Law,
also known as Falun Dafa) practitioners varied widely; the Government
claimed that prior to its harsh crackdown on the Falun Gong beginning
in 1999, there might have been as many as 2.1 million adherents of
Falun Gong in the country. Some estimated that the true number of Falun
Gong adherents in the country before the crackdown was much higher. The
number has declined as a result of the crackdown, but there were still
hundreds of thousands of practitioners in the country, according to
reliable estimates.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and the
freedom not to believe; however, the Government seeks to manage
religious affairs by restricting religious practice to government-
sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to
control the growth and scope of activities of religious groups to
prevent the rise of possible competing sources of authority outside of
the control of the Government.
The criminal law states that government officials who deprive
citizens of religious freedom may, in serious cases, be sentenced to up
to two years in prison; however, there were no known cases of persons
being punished under this statute.
The state reserves itself the right to register and thus to allow
particular religious groups and spiritual movements to operate. For
each of the five main religions, there is a government-affiliated
association that monitors and supervises its activities and with which
religious groups must affiliate. SARA is responsible for monitoring and
judging the legitimacy of religious activity. SARA and the CCP United
Front Work Department (UFWD) provide policy ``guidance and
supervision'' on the implementation of government regulations regarding
religious activity, including the role of foreigners in religious
activity. Employees of SARA and the UFWD are rarely religious adherents
and often are party members. Communist Party members are directed by
party doctrine to be atheists and their family members are discouraged
from public participation in religious ceremonies.
Public security forces maintain designated units charged with
monitoring religious behavior that violates law or regulation. Such
police monitor unregistered facilities, check to see that religious
activities do not disrupt public order, and combat illegal cults.
In March 2005 the Government enacted the RRA, replacing previous
1994 regulations governing religious sites. The regulations regularize
management of religious affairs within a legal framework and codify
pre-existing administrative practice and regulation. Unlike the 1994
regulations, the RRA protect the rights of registered religious groups,
under certain conditions, to possess property, publish literature,
train and approve clergy, and collect donations. Comprehensive
implementing regulations had not been issued by the end of the period
covered by this report. There was little evidence that the new
regulations improved religious freedom.
Like the 1994 law, the RRA require religious groups to register
places of worship. Spiritual activities in places of worship that have
not registered may be considered illegal, and participants can be
punished. There are five requirements for the registration of ``sites
for religious activities:'' First, establishment of the site must be
consistent with the overall purpose of the RRA and must not be used to
``disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens, or interfere
with the educational system of the state'' and must not be ``subject to
any foreign domination.'' Second, local religious citizens must have a
need to carry out collective religious activities frequently. Third,
there must be religious personnel qualified to preside over the
activities. Fourth, the site must have ``necessary funds.'' Fifth, the
site must be ``rationally located'' so as not to interfere with normal
production and neighboring residents. Government officials claim that
registration requirements are simple and places of worship are not
required to affiliate with one of the five official ``patriotic''
religious organizations that correspond to the five main faiths.
However, according to the Government's April 2005 policy statement
Measures for the Approval of Religious Activities, only pre-existing
local, provincial or national-level religious organizations are
authorized to apply for approval of a new religious venue and approval
is granted only after an inspection by the local Religious Affairs
Bureau.
Under the RRA, clergy need not be approved by the Government but
must be reported to the Government after being selected pursuant to the
rules of the relevant religious association.
Nearly all local RAB officials require Protestant churches to
affiliate with the (Protestant) Three-Self Patriotic Movement/Chinese
Christian Council (TSPM/CCC). Credentialing procedures effectively
required clergy to affiliate with the TSPM/CCC, a practice that
appeared unchanged since adoption of the new regulations. Many
unregistered evangelical Protestant groups refuse to affiliate with the
TSPM/CCC because they have theological differences with the TSPM/CCC.
Some groups disagree with the TSPM/CCC teachings that all Protestant
beliefs are compatible and that differences between Protestant
denominations are irrelevant. In a few regions, Protestant groups have
registered without affiliating with the TSPM/CCC. These exceptions
include the Local Assemblies Protestant churches in Zhejiang Province,
where no significant TSPM/CCC community exists, and the (Korean)
Chaoyang Church in Jilin Province, both of which operate openly without
affiliating with the TSPM/CCC. Additionally, the (Russian) Orthodox
Church has been able to operate without affiliating with a government
organization in a few parts of the country. In other regions,
officially ``post-denominational'' Protestant churches informally
aligned themselves with Protestant denominations. Some pastors in
official churches said that denominational affiliation was an important
way of drawing parishioners.
Some groups register voluntarily, some register under pressure, and
authorities refuse to register others. Some religious groups have
declined to register out of principled opposition to state control of
religion. Others do not register due to fear of adverse consequences if
they reveal, as required, the names and addresses of church leaders or
members. Unregistered groups also frequently refuse to register for
fear that doing so would require theological compromises, curtail
doctrinal freedom, or allow government authorities to control sermon
content. Some groups claimed that authorities refused them registration
without explanation or detained group members who met with officials to
attempt to register. The Government contended that these refusals
mainly were the result of these groups' lack of adequate facilities or
failure to meet other legal requirements.
The Government has banned all groups that it has determined to be
``cults,'' including the ``Shouters'' (founded in the United States in
1962), Eastern Lightning, the Society of Disciples (Mentu Hui), the
Full Scope Church, the Spirit Sect, the New Testament Church, the Guan
Yin (also known as Guanyin Famin, or the Way of the Goddess of Mercy),
the Three Grades of Servants (also known as San Ba Pu Ren), the
Association of Disciples, the Lord God Sect, the Established King
Church, the Unification Church, the Family of Love, the South China
Church, the Falun Gong, and the Zhong Gong movements. (Zhong Gong is a
qigong exercise discipline with some mystical tenets.)
After the revised criminal law came into effect in 1997, offenses
related to membership in unapproved cults and religious groups were
classified as crimes of disturbing the social order. A ban on cults,
including the Falun Gong spiritual movement, was enacted in 1999. Under
Article 300 of the criminal law, ``cult'' members who ``disrupt public
order'' or distribute publications may be sentenced to three to seven
years in prison, while ``cult'' leaders and recruiters may be sentenced
to seven years or more in prison. Under the new Public Security
Administrative Punishment Law, which took effect March 1, 2006. Falun
Gong adherents could face five to fifteen days of administrative
detention and fines of up to $125 (1,000 RMB) for using superstitious
cults or qigong activities to disrupt public order or harm public
health. Public security officials said the law would be used against
Falun Gong.
Government sensitivity to Muslim communities varied widely. In some
predominantly Muslim areas where ethnic unrest has occurred, especially
in Xinjiang among the Uighurs, officials continued to restrict or
tightly control religious expression and teaching. Police cracked down
on Muslim religious activity and places of worship accused by the
Government of supporting separatism. The Government permits, and in
some cases subsidizes, Muslim citizens who make the Hajj to Mecca. More
than 10 thousand Chinese Muslims made the Hajj journey in 2006, and
some 6,900 traveled in groups sponsored by the China Islamic
Association.
In past years local officials destroyed several unregistered places
of worship, although there were no reports of widespread razing of
churches or shrines during the period covered by this report. The
Government has restored or rebuilt churches, temples, mosques, and
monasteries damaged or destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and
allowed the reopening of some seminaries, although the pace and scope
of restoration activity has varied from locality to locality. There is
far greater interest in religion and a far greater number of religious
adherents today than at any time since the 1949 establishment of the
People's Republic. Nonetheless, there remained a shortage of temples,
churches, and mosques and many of those that existed are overcrowded
and in poor condition.
In January 2005 the Government organized a national meeting on
religion. The meeting addressed similar themes to a series of
conferences on religion in January 2004 that advised officials to guard
against Christian-influenced ``cults'' and avoid ``foreign infiltration
under cover of religion.'' In early 2005 five government training
sessions were held across the country for approximately 3,000 religious
affairs officials to educate them about the RRA.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, the Government's respect
for religious freedom and freedom of conscience remained poor,
especially for members of many unregistered religious groups and for
groups, such as the Falun Gong, which the Government considered
``cults.'' The Government tends to perceive unregulated religious
gatherings or groups as a potential challenge to its authority, and it
attempts to control and regulate religious groups to prevent the rise
of sources of authority outside the control of the Government and the
CCP.
Some local authorities continued a selective crackdown on
unregistered religious groups, and the Central Government did not
oppose this crackdown. Police closed unregistered mosques and temples,
as well as some Catholic churches and Protestant ``house churches,''
many with significant memberships, properties, financial resources, and
networks. Several unregistered church leaders reported continuing
pressure from local authorities. Despite these efforts at control,
official sources, religious professionals, and members of both
officially sanctioned and unregistered places of worship all reported
that the number of religious adherents in the country continued to
grow.
The Government makes political demands on the clergy or leadership
of registered groups. For example, authorities have required clergy to
publicly endorse government policies or denounce Falun Gong. In other
areas, including Xinjiang and the Tibetan Autonomous Region,
authorities require clergy to participate in patriotic education. The
Government continued its harsh repression of the Falun Gong spiritual
movement and of ``cults'' in general. As in past years, local
authorities moved against houses of worship outside their control that
grew too large or espoused beliefs considered threatening to ``state
security.'' Overall, the basic policy of permitting religious activity
to take place relatively unfettered in government-approved sites and
under government control remained unchanged.
Official tolerance for Buddhism and Taoism has been greater than
that for Christianity, and these religions often face fewer
restrictions. However, as these non-Western religions have grown
rapidly in recent years, there were signs of greater government concern
and new restrictions, especially on groups that blend tenets from a
number of religious beliefs. The Government also sought to regulate
closely the financial affairs of Buddhist and Taoist temples.
During the period covered by this report, government repression of
the Falun Gong spiritual movement continued. Membership in the Falun
Gong and other groups considered cults was illegal. Distributing Falun
Gong literature or encouraging others to join the spiritual movement
was punishable by criminal and administrative sanctions, including
reeducation. As in past years, foreigners who distributed Falun Gong
materials were expelled from the country, including an Australian
expelled in October 2005 after attempting to distribute the book Nine
Commentaries on the Communist Party. In January 2006 the Government
released U.S. citizen Charles Lee after three years of imprisonment for
Falun Gong-related activities. The authorities also continued to oppose
other groups the Government considered ``cults,'' such as the Xiang
Gong, Guo Gong, and Zhong Gong qigong groups.
The Government has labeled folk religions as ``feudal
superstition,'' and followers sometimes were subject to harassment and
repression.
Despite the new religious affairs regulations, officials in many
locations continued to pressure religious groups to register with
government religious affairs authorities. There was a great deal of
variation in how local authorities handled unregistered religious
groups. In certain regions, government supervision of religious
activity was minimal, and registered and unregistered churches existed
openly side-by-side and were treated similarly by the authorities. In
such areas, many congregants worshipped in both types of churches. In
other regions, local officials supervise religion more strictly, and
authorities cracked down on unregistered churches and their members.
Local regulations, provincial work reports, and other government and
party documents continued to exhort officials to enforce vigorously
government policy regarding unregistered churches.
In some areas, despite the rapidly growing religious population, it
remained difficult to register new places of worship, even for
officially recognized churches and mosques.
Local officials have great discretion in determining whether
``house churches'' violate regulations. The term ``house church'' is
used to describe both unregistered churches and gatherings in homes or
businesses of groups of Christians to conduct small, private worship
services. SARA officials confirmed during the year that unregistered
churches are illegal, but said prayer meetings and Bible study groups
held among friends and family in homes are legal and need not register.
In some parts of the country, unregistered house churches with hundreds
of members meet openly with the full knowledge of local authorities,
who characterize the meetings as informal gatherings to pray, sing, and
study the Bible. In other areas, house church meetings of more than a
handful of family members and friends are not permitted. House churches
often encounter difficulties when their membership grows, when they
arrange for the regular use of facilities for the specific purpose of
conducting religious activities, or when they forge links with other
unregistered groups or with coreligionists overseas. Urban house
churches are generally limited to meetings of a few dozen members or
less, while meetings of unregistered Protestants in small cities and
rural areas may number in the hundreds.
Both official and unofficial Christian churches have problems
training adequate numbers of clergy to meet the needs of their growing
congregations. Due to restrictions and prohibitions on religion between
1955 and 1985, no priests or other clergy in the official churches were
ordained during that period; most priests and pastors were trained
either before 1955 or after 1985, resulting in a shortage of trained
clerics between the ages of forty and seventy. Thus, as senior clerics
retire, there are relatively few experienced clerics to replace them.
The Government states that the official Catholic Church has trained
more than 900 priests in the past 10 years. The Government permits
registered religions to train clergy and allows limited numbers of
Catholic and Protestant seminarians, Muslim clerics, and Buddhist
clergy to go abroad for additional religious studies, but some
religious students have had difficulty obtaining approval to study
abroad. In most cases, foreign organizations provide funding for such
training programs. In the past, some Catholic clerics had complained
that they were forced to bribe local officials before being allowed to
enter seminaries. Due to government prohibitions, unofficial or
unregistered churches have particularly significant problems training
clergy, and many clergy receive only limited and inadequate
preparation.
The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public
office; however, party membership is required for almost all high-level
positions in Government, state-owned businesses, and many official
organizations. Communist Party officials confirmed during the period
covered by this report that party membership and religious belief were
incompatible. The CCP reportedly has issued two circulars since 1995
ordering party members not to hold religious beliefs and ordering the
expulsion of party members who belong to religious organizations,
whether open or clandestine. Muslims allegedly have been fired from
government posts for praying during working hours. The ``Routine
Service Regulations'' of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) state
explicitly that servicemen ``may not take part in religious or
superstitious activities.'' Party and PLA military personnel have been
expelled for adhering to the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
In past years, government sources reported that up to 25 percent of
Communist Party officials in certain localities engage in some kind of
religious activity. Most officials who practice a religion are
Buddhists or practice a form of folk religion. Some religious figures,
while not members of the CCP, are included in national and local
government organizations, usually to represent their constituency on
cultural and educational matters. The National People's Congress (NPC)
includes several religious leaders. Two of the NPC Standing Committee's
vice chairmen are Fu Tieshan, a bishop and vice-chairman of the Chinese
Catholic Patriotic Association, and Phagpalha Geleg Namgyal, a Tibetan
``living Buddha.'' Religious groups also are represented in the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory forum that is
led by the CCP and consults with social groups outside the Party.
The Roman Catholic Church forbids abortions and the use of
artificial contraception. Some Chinese Catholics consider the
Government's birth limitation laws and policies a violation of their
religious freedom. In many parts of the country, women are required to
use contraception and to have an abortion if the pregnancy violates
government population control regulations.
The Government does not allow the government-authorized Chinese
Catholic Patriotic Association and its clergy to recognize the
authority of the pope in some matters, which remained a significant
reason for the persistence of a large unregistered Catholic church that
remained unaffiliated with the Government and Patriotic Association.
Pressure by the Patriotic Association on unregistered Catholic bishops
to join the official Church continued, and unregistered priests and
bishops were often detained. Despite some efforts toward rapprochement
between the Government and the Vatican, the Government has not
established diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and there was no
Vatican representative on the Mainland. The Vatican's diplomatic
recognition of Taiwan and differences over selection of bishops
remained the primary obstacles to improved relations. After the death
of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Government and religious officials made
conciliatory statements and welcomed Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican
invited four Chinese bishops, including one not recognized by the
Government, to an October 2005 synod in Rome, but the Patriotic
Association declined the invitations.
In March 2006 a dispute erupted between the Patriotic Association
and the Vatican after the Vatican elevated prodemocracy Hong Kong
Bishop Joseph Zen to cardinal. In April and May, the Patriotic
Association ignored a Vatican request to delay the ordinations of
Bishops Ma Yingling of Kunming, Yunnan Province, and Liu Xinhong of
Wuhu, Anhui Province. The Vatican criticized the ordinations as illicit
and referred to the possibility of excommunication of those ordained or
conducting an ordination without papal approval. The Patriotic
Association and SARA responded that the bishops had been democratically
elected by priests of their dioceses and that the Vatican was
interfering in the country's internal affairs. The disagreement
disrupted a period of more than two years during which several Bishops
were appointed with both Government's and Vatican approval, including
auxiliary bishops in Shanghai and Xian. Other bishops, however, were
ordained with both government and Vatican approval before and after the
dispute began. An increasing number of priests and bishops publicly
acknowledged that the Vatican had approved their appointment. They
suffered no punishment for this public stance, although the Government
denied that the Vatican played any role in approving the country's
clergy.
In fact, most bishops recognized by the Patriotic Association have
been recognized by the Vatican either before or after their appointment
by the Government. In a few cases, the bishop named by the government-
affiliated church conflicted directly with the bishop recognized by the
Vatican, a situation that contributed significantly to tension between
the Patriotic Association and the unregistered Catholic church and to
tension between the Vatican and the Government. The Patriotic
Association said more than forty of China's nearly one hundred dioceses
had no bishop in place.
There were large Muslim populations in many areas, but government
sensitivity to these communities varied widely. Generally speaking, the
country's Hui Muslims, who were ethnically Han Chinese and lived in Han
communities throughout the country had greater religious freedom than
Turkic Muslims such as the Uighurs, who were concentrated in the
western part of the country. In areas where ethnic unrest has occurred,
especially among the Uighurs in Xinjiang, regulations restricting
Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and places of worship continued
to be implemented forcefully. In Xinjiang officials continued to
restrict the building of mosques and the training of clergy and
prohibited the teaching of Islam to children. In addition to the
restrictions on practicing religion placed on party members and
government officials throughout the country, Muslim teachers,
professors, and university students in Xinjiang are not allowed to
attend mosque services or practice religion openly. Female university
students and professors are discouraged from wearing headscarves or
skirts. Some ethnic Tajiks in Xinjiang cannot attend mosque until over
age 30. However, in other areas, particularly in areas populated by the
Hui ethnic group, there was substantial mosque construction and
renovation and also apparent freedom to worship. Xinjiang authorities
continued to use counter terrorism as a pretext for religious
repression of Uighur Muslims, according to human rights nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). Because the Xinjiang Government regularly fails
to distinguish carefully among those involved in peaceful activities in
support of independence, ``illegal'' religious activities, and violent
terrorism, it is often difficult to determine whether particular raids,
detentions, arrests, or judicial punishments targeted those seeking to
worship, those peacefully seeking political goals, or those engaged in
violence. As a result, Xinjiang authorities often charge religious
believers with committing the ``three evils'' of terrorism, separatism,
and Muslim extremism. While targeted at Muslims, this tight control of
religion in Xinjiang affected followers of other religions as well.
Xinjiang provincial-level Communist Party and government officials
repeatedly called for stronger management of religious affairs and for
the separation of religion from administrative matters.
Xinjiang officials told foreign observers that children under
eighteen are not permitted to attend religious services in mosques in
Xinjiang. However, children were observed attending prayer services at
mosques in Beijing and other parts of the country. Fundamentalist
Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment. In 2000 the
authorities began conducting monthly political study sessions for
religious personnel; the program reportedly continued during the period
covered by this report. In August 2005 the Government reportedly banned
the Sala movement of Islam and detained more than 150 followers in
Xinjiang. Moreover, security authorities were authorized to ``strike
hard'' against groups believed to have plans to disrupt celebrations of
the fiftieth anniversary of the Government's rule in Xinjiang in
October 2005. This included restrictions on a movement of Islam called
Salafism due to concerns followers supported extremism. No disruptions
were reported, but scores were reportedly harassed and detained in the
run-up to the anniversary. Because of government control of information
coming from Xinjiang, many reported restrictions were difficult to
confirm.
In a growing number of areas, authorities have displayed increasing
tolerance of religious practice by foreigners, provided their religious
observance does not involve nationals. Weekly services of the foreign
Jewish community in Beijing have been held uninterrupted since 1995,
and High Holy Day observances have been allowed for more than fifteen
years. Both Reform and Orthodox Jewish services were held weekly during
the period covered by this report. The Shanghai Jewish community has
received permission from authorities to hold a few services each year
in a historic Shanghai synagogue that was converted into a government
office. However, officials gave a former synagogue in Harbin to the
Russian Orthodox community, causing some tension between the local
Russian Orthodox and expatriate Jewish groups. Expatriate members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church or Mormons)
met regularly in a number of cities. The LDS Church had permission to
hold services in a Beijing facility reserved for its use. A group
consisting of citizens who joined the LDS Church while overseas also
regularly used the same facility, although not at the same time as
expatriates. Bah'ai representatives reportedly approached the
Government about gaining greater freedom of religion as well. The
Government stated it was willing to consider approving new religious
organizations outside the five main faiths but had not yet done so at
the end of the reporting period.
Regulations enacted in 1994 and expanded in 2000 codified many
existing rules involving foreigners, including a ban on proselytizing.
However, for the most part, authorities allowed foreign nationals to
preach to other foreigners, bring in religious materials for personal
use, and preach to citizens at churches, mosques, and temples at the
invitation of registered religious organizations. Foreigners could and
often did attend worship services at registered churches, mosques, and
temples in major cities, where many local houses of worship offered
services in languages other than Chinese. Foreigners legally are barred
from conducting missionary activities; however, foreign Christians
teaching on college campuses openly profess their faith with minimum
interference from the authorities, provided their proselytizing remains
discreet. Many registered Christian groups throughout the country have
developed close ties with local officials, in some cases operating
schools and homes for the care of the aged. In addition Buddhist-run
private schools and orphanages in the central part of the country also
offer training to teenagers and young adults.
Some foreign church organizations came under pressure to register
with government authorities, and some foreign missionaries whose
activities extended beyond the expatriate community were expelled or
asked to leave the country. In 2003, the Government banned the
documentary film ``The Cross'' and the book ``Jesus in Beijing.''
The increase in the number of Christians in the country has
resulted in a corresponding increase in the demand for Bibles. Bibles
can be purchased at many bookstores and at most officially recognized
churches. Many house church members buy their Bibles at such places
without incident. A Bible is affordable for most citizens. The supply
of Bibles is adequate in most parts of the country, but members of
unregistered churches complained that the supply and distribution of
Bibles in some places, especially rural locations, was inadequate.
Individuals cannot order Bibles directly from publishing houses, and
house church Christians reported that purchase of large numbers of
Bibles could bring unfavorable attention to the purchaser. Customs
officials continued to monitor for the ``smuggling'' of Bibles and
other religious materials into the country. Authorities sometimes
confiscate Bibles in raids on house churches.
Bibles, like all other literature, can only be published by state-
approved publishing houses. The Amity Publishing House in Nanjing has
printed more than forty million Bibles in the past twenty-five years.
However, as part of a campaign against illegal publishing, religious
texts published without authorization, including Bibles and Qur'ans,
were often confiscated and the unauthorized publishing houses were
often closed. Religious adherents were arrested and jailed on charges
of illegal publishing.
The Government teaches atheism in schools. However, university-
level study of religion is expanding. Some universities mandated a
course on religion for students in certain disciplines during the
period covered by this report.
Senior government officials claim that the country has no
restrictions against minors practicing religious beliefs. However, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Education noted after her 2003
visit that students lack basic internationally recognized rights to
religious education. Moreover, some local officials, especially in
Xinjiang, prevented children from attending worship services, and some
places of worship have signs prohibiting persons younger than eighteen
from entering. Nongovernmental organizations reported that Christian
and Muslim children in Xinjiang were prevented from receiving religious
education. In one case, local officials denied a Christian group
permission to operate a Sunday school in Urumqi, Xinjiang. To support
their rejection of the Sunday school, the officials claimed it would be
unfair to local Muslims to allow Christians but not Muslims to educate
their youth. In some Muslim areas, minors attend religious schools in
addition to state-run schools. In some areas, large numbers of young
persons attend religious services at both registered and unregistered
places of worship.
There were at least seventy-six Government-recognized training
institutions for clergy in the five main religions, including fifty-
four Catholic and Protestant seminaries, ten institutes to train imams
and Islamic scholars, and dozens of institutes to train Buddhist monks.
Students who attend these institutes must demonstrate ``political
reliability,'' and all graduates must pass an examination on their
theological and political knowledge to qualify for the clergy. Official
religious organizations also administered local Bible schools,
monastery-run schools, and other types of training centers. The number
of secular universities with a center for the study of theology doubled
from seventeen in 2002 to thirty-four in 2005.
The Government has stated that there are ten colleges conducting
Islamic higher education and two other Islamic schools in Xinjiang
operating with government support. In addition, provincial and local
Islamic communities have established numerous Arabic schools and mosque
schools. The former concentrates on Arabic language study, while the
latter often serve as a stepping-stone to apprenticeship as an
assistant to an imam or other Muslim religious worker. Some young
Muslims study outside of the country in Muslim religious schools.
Religious schools and training institutions for religious leaders
other than the officially recognized ones also exist but cannot
register as legal institutions. The quality of education at
unregistered institutions varies. Some such institutions are closed
when they come to the attention of local authorities.
Officials sometimes refused to issue passports to religious
figures, especially those from unregistered groups. Zhang Yinan, a
house church historian released from reeducation in 2005, was denied a
passport on such grounds during the period covered by this report.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, unapproved religious and
spiritual groups remained under scrutiny, and in some cases officials
harassed members of such groups. In some areas, unregistered Protestant
and Catholic groups, Muslim Uighurs, Tibetan Buddhists, and members of
groups that the Government determined to be ``cults,'' especially the
Falun Gong spiritual movement, were subject to government pressure and
sometimes suffered abuse.
Offenses related to membership in unapproved religious groups are
often classified as crimes of disturbing the social order. According to
the Law Yearbook of China, 8,119 cases of disturbing the social order
or cheating by the use of superstition were filed in 2004, of which
7,751 resulted in formal charges, criminal, or administrative
punishment. The number was approximately the same as in the previous
year. Government officials said that no persons were prosecuted for
their religious belief or activity. However, religious leaders and
worshippers faced criminal and administrative punishment on a wide
range of charges, including those related to the Government's refusal
to allow members of unregistered groups to assemble, travel, and
publish freely or in connection with its ban on proselytizing. The
Government's restrictions on unregistered religious groups increased in
1999 in response to large public protests by the Falun Gong in
sensitive locations including Tiananmen Square and the Zhongnanhai
Communist Party leadership compound.
Religious adherents were beaten, and some died in police custody
after being detained in connection with their religious belief or
practice. In June 2004, the government-run Legal Daily newspaper
reported that Jiang Zongxiu had died in police custody in Zunyi,
Guizhou Province, after being arrested for distributing Bibles. A Legal
Daily editorial comment condemned local officials for mistreating
Jiang. In 2004, Gu Xianggao, allegedly a member of the Three Grades of
Servants Church that the Goverrnment considers a cult (discussed
below), was beaten to death in a Heilongjiang Province security
facility. Public security officials paid compensation to Gu's family.
In September 2005 government agents reportedly broke bones of Christian
businessman Tong Qimiao at a police station in Kashgar, Xinjiang, while
he was being interrogated about the activities of local house churches.
In November 2005 hired thugs beat sixteen nuns, one of whom was blinded
and another partially paralyzed, when the nuns protested demolition of
a Catholic school in Xian. Hundreds of Catholics marched on Government
offices in protest, and the Vatican publicly protested the incident.
There were credible reports of torture and deaths in custody of
Falun Gong practitioners in past years and overseas Falun Gong groups
claimed that such incidents continued. In April 2006 overseas Falun
Gong groups claimed that a hospital in Sujiatun, Shenyang, had been the
site of a ``concentration camp'' and of mass organ harvesting,
including from live prisoners. In response to the allegations, the
Government opened the facility in question to diplomatic observers and
foreign journalists. Observers found nothing inconsistent with the
operation of a hospital.
In December 2005 a Beijing attorney sent an open letter to
President Hu Jintao highlighting abuses of Falun Gong practitioners.
The letter described the electric shock torture of Zhang Zhikui, a
Falun Gong practitioner arrested for repeated petitioning in Beijing,
and the October beating death in Changchun, Jilin Province of Liu
Boyang and his mother Wang Shouhui. The letter, and a similar open
letter sent by the attorney in 2004, referred to the extra-legal
activities of the 610 office, reportedly involved in many of the abuses
of Falun Gong. In 2005 the Government revoked the attorney's license to
practice law, and the attorney has claimed repeated government
harassment, including an automobile accident that he publicly described
as an ``assassination attempt.'' Foreigners attempting to meet with the
attorney have been detained and harassed.
According to Falun Gong practitioners in the United States, since
1999 more than 100,000 practitioners have been detained for engaging in
Falun Gong practices, admitting that they adhere to the teachings of
Falun Gong, or refusing to criticize the organization or its founder.
The organization reported that its members have been subject to
excessive force, abuse, rape, detention, and torture, and that some of
its members, including children, have died in custody. NGOs not
affiliated with the Falun Gong documented nearly 500 cases of Falun
Gong members detained, prosecuted, or sentenced to reeducation during
the period covered by this report. Credible estimates suggested the
actual number was much higher. In November 2005 police at the
Dongchengfang Police Station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province,
reportedly raped two Falun Gong practitioners. Reliable sources
indicated that Zheng Ruihuan and Liu Yinglan were detained in Shandong
Province in July 2005 for practicing Falun Gong. In May 2006, Yuan Yuju
and Liang Jinhui, relatives of a Hong Kong journalist who works for a
television station supportive of Falun Gong, were sentenced to
reeducation for using an illegal cult to organize and obstruct justice,
relating to their distribution of Falun Gong materials. Some foreign
observers estimated that at least half of the 250,000 officially
recorded inmates in the country's reeducation-through-labor camps were
Falun Gong adherents. Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number
even higher. Hundreds of Falun Gong adherents were also incarcerated in
legal education centers, a form of administrative detention, upon
completion of their reeducation-through-labor sentences. Government
officials denied the existence of such ``legal education'' centers.
According to the Falun Gong, hundreds of its practitioners have been
confined to psychiatric institutions and forced to take medications or
undergo electric shock treatment against their will.
In July 2005 six members of the group Way of the Goddess of Mercy
(Guanyin Famen), which the Government considers a ``cult,'' were
sentenced to two to four years in prison for using a cult organization
resulting in the first criminal conviction of members of the group in
Xinjiang. According to state-run media, Liu Shuming, Yang Huiqin, Li
Yanxin, Liu Wangpeng, Wang Cahojun, and Wang Dexiu, all of Urumqi,
Xinjiang, produced material about Guanyin Famen that they intended to
circulate.
Many religious leaders and adherents, including those in official
churches, have been detained, arrested, or sentenced to prison terms
for activities they claimed related to their religious practice,
although the Government denied jailing anyone solely because of his or
her religion. Local authorities used an administrative process to
punish members of unregistered religious groups. Citizens may be
sentenced by a nonjudicial panel of police and local authorities to up
to three years in reeducation-through-labor camps. Many religious
detainees and prisoners were held in such facilities during the period
covered by this report. In some areas, security authorities used
threats, demolition of unregistered property, extortion, interrogation,
detention, and at times beatings and torture to harass leaders of
unauthorized groups and their followers. Unregistered religious groups
that preach beliefs outside the bounds of officially approved doctrine
(such as the imminent coming of the Apocalypse or holy war or groups
that have charismatic leaders) often are singled out for particularly
severe harassment. Some observers have attributed the unorthodox
beliefs of some of these groups to poorly trained clergy and lack of
access to religious texts.
In Xinjiang, Uighur Muslim Aminan Momixi was detained in August
2005 after teaching the Qur'an to more than thirty students in her
home. Provincial officials stated that she was released after a period
of education and training, but the Government refused to clarify her
whereabouts.
On May 28, 2006, Rebiya Kadeer, a Uighur Muslim activist, was
elected president of the Uyghur American Association, an NGO which
advocates for the human rights, including religious freedom, of the
Uighur people. The following day Xinjiang police arrested three of her
adult sons and placed two of her other family members under house
arrest. Government officials reportedly beat Kadeer's sons and charged
them with financial crimes related to their mother's business ventures
before she was released to the United States.
Protestant Christians who worshipped outside of government-approved
venues or in their homes continued to face detention and abuse,
especially for attempting to meet in large groups, traveling within and
outside of the country for religious meetings, and otherwise holding
peaceful religious assemblies in unregistered venues. U.S. legal
permanent resident Wu Hao was detained by security officials in
February 2006 after filming house church services in Beijing for a
documentary film. As of the end of the reporting period, he had not
been charged, and the Government refused to clarify his whereabouts.
Henan Province house Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang was convicted in
June 2006 of obtaining a passport through fraud and illegal border
crossing. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. In
August 2004 in Zhejiang Province, the Government convicted Beijing-
based house church Christians Liu Fenggang, Xu Yonghai and Zhang
Shengqi on charges of disclosing state secrets after they provided an
overseas Chinese magazine information about abuse of Christians in the
country. Xu and Zhang were released at the expiry of their sentences,
but Liu's three-year sentence had not yet expired. In May 2006 after
President Bush met with Christian intellectuals in the White House,
security officials harassed relatives of at least one of the meeting's
participants.
Police and other security officials disrupted Protestant religious
retreats and large meetings on many occasions. In July 2005 the
Government reportedly detained one hundred Sunday school students in
Hebei Province. In August 2005 police reportedly raided a training
class in Jiangxi Province for Sunday school teachers. On Christmas Day
2005, police reportedly raided an unregistered church in Manasu County,
Xinjiang, destroying property and detained several worshippers. The
U.S.-based China Aid Association said more than 200 were detained,
including Pastor Guo Xianyao. In February 2006, Lou Yuanqi was
reportedly detained for holding unauthorized church services in
Xinjiang. In April Li Huimin was reportedly sentenced to reeducation in
Henan Province for holding house church meetings at his home. In May
several house church activists were detained in Henan Province's Fugou
County. At least three remained detained at the end of the period
covered by this report.
The Government continued its tight monitoring of religious
publications. In July 2005 several Uighur Muslims were reportedly
detained for possession of an illegal religious book called the
Mishkat-ul Misabih and other illegal religious activities in Xinjiang.
In November 2005 the Government convicted Beijing-based house Christian
pastor Cai Zhuohua and two relatives of operating an illegal business
based on his work publishing Christian literature. More than 200,000
copies of the Bible and other religious texts were reportedly
confiscated from Cai. Despite international appeals on his behalf, he
remained jailed on a three-year sentence. In April 2006 Shandong
Province pastor Liu Yuhua was detained in Linchu County on similar
charges of operating an illegal business after he was found
distributing religious texts. In May Anhui Province house church pastor
Wang Zaiqing was formally arrested. U.S.-based NGOs said the arrest was
in connection with his work publishing Bibles and religious materials.
Gong Shengliang and several other leaders of the unregistered South
China Church, which the Government considered to be a cult, reportedly
continued to suffer abuse in prison during the period covered by this
report. Sentenced to death in 2001 on criminal charges including rape,
arson, and assault, Gong Shengliang, Xiu Fuming, and Hu Yong had their
sentences reduced to life in prison on retrial in 2002. Li Ying and
Gong Bang Kun had their sentences reduced from death to fifteen years
in prison. Four female church members who signed statements accusing
Gong of sexual crimes were rearrested in 2002 and sentenced to three
years' reeducation-through-labor, reportedly for recanting their
accusations against Gong. There were reports that Gong suffered
physical abuse in prison, in part for refusing to abandon his religious
beliefs. Elderly church member Chen Jingmao reportedly was abused in a
Chongqing prison for attempting to convert inmates to Christianity.
Authorities prevented lawyers for both men from meeting with their
clients in jail and from filing appeals on behalf of both men.
Following a 2004 crackdown, more than seventeen members of the
Three Grades of Servants Church, which the Government labels a
``cult,'' went on trial for murder and other crimes in late 2005 and
early 2006. The alleged murders resulted from a conflict between the
church and the Eastern Lightning group, which the Government considers
a cult. Xu Shuangfu, leader of the Three Grades of Servants, was
convicted of murder in June and, along with church members Li Maoxing
and Wang Jun, was sentenced to death. Zhang Min, Zhu Lixing, and Ben
Zhonghai received suspended death sentences, and eleven other church
members were sentenced to jail terms of three to fifteen years. Even
before the verdict in Xu's case had been announced, Xu's conviction was
introduced as evidence in the trials of several other group members,
according to reliable reports. Many detained or charged with membership
in the cult did not use the name Three Grades of Servants Church in
describing what they viewed as their own unaffiliated house church.
A number of Catholic priests and lay leaders were beaten or
otherwise abused during the reporting period prompting Vatican
officials to make formal protests. In some locations, local authorities
reportedly have forced unregistered priests and believers to choose
between joining the official Church and facing punishment such as
fines, job loss, periodic detentions, and having their children barred
from school. Some Catholic officials were forced into hiding. Ongoing
harassment of unregistered bishops and priests was reported in recent
years, including government surveillance and repeated short detentions.
Many of those harassed and detained were more than seventy years old.
Numerous detentions of unofficial Catholic clergy were reported, in
particular in Hebei Province, traditionally home to many unregistered
Catholics. The Government detained unregistered Bishop Jia Zhiguo of
Zhengding, Hebei, for the eighth time since 2004 and held him for five
months. Security authorities detained more than a dozen other priests
and seminarians the same month in Zhengding, including Father Yang
Jianwei, who remained detained. On September 2 2005, officials
reportedly detained two priests from Qingyuan County, Hebei. In
November more than a dozen unregistered priests and seminarians were
detained across Hebei Province. In January 2006 Father Huo Junlong was
reportedly released but kept under house arrest. There was no new
information about unregistered Bishop Su Zhimin, who has been
unaccounted for since his reported detention in 1997. Reliable reports
suggested that he had been held in a government-run guesthouse or an
old-age home near Baoding, Hebei Province. The Government continued to
deny taking coercive measures against him. In June 2006, an unverified
press report circulated that Bishop Su had died in custody. The
Government had not responded to requests to clarify his status by the
end of the reporting period. Reliable sources also reported that Bishop
An Shuxin, Bishop Zhang Weizhu, Father Cui Xing, and Father Wang
Quanjun remained detained in Hebei Province. According to reliable
reports, Bishop An, Bishop Su's auxiliary bishop, was last seen four
years ago. According to the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, the
whereabouts of Bishops Yao Liang and Zhao Zhendong, detained in past
years, remained unknown, while Bishops Fan Zhongliang and Liu Guandong
remained under strict surveillance.
Some unregistered Catholic and Protestant leaders reported that the
Government organized campaigns to compel them to register, resulting in
continued and, in some cases, increased pressure to register their
congregations. Officials organizing registration campaigns collected
the names, addresses, and sometimes the fingerprints of church leaders
and worshippers. On some occasions, church officials were detained when
they arrived for meetings called by authorities to discuss
registration.
The whereabouts of Buddhist leader Yu Tianjian remained unknown
after his August 2004 detention near Tongliao, Inner Mongolia.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts against the few citizens
who consider themselves Jewish or against the foreign Jewish community.
The Government does not recognize Judaism as an ethnicity or religion.
Past restrictions on public display of artifacts by the local Jewish
community in Kaifeng have ended, and several academic institutes opened
centers for Jewish study in the country.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, the number of believers
of all religions continued to grow. The Government authorized funding
to build new places of worship, and the first new churches built in
Beijing since 1949 opened.
The Government responded to many diplomatic requests for greater
engagement with the international community on religious freedom
issues. As noted above, in 2005, it made public statements that family
and friends are free to hold prayer meetings in their own homes,
although the Government stated that it would require that formal
worship take place in a registered venue.
In April 2006, the Government and the Patriotic Buddhist
Association hosted the First World Buddhist Forum in Hangzhou, billed
as the first international religious conference in the country since
the 1949 Communist Revolution. More than 1,200 Buddhists, mostly ethnic
Chinese, from 34 countries attended the session, which aimed to outline
Buddhism's response to social challenges of modern society. The
Government-approved Panchen Lama spoke, but the Dalai Lama and his
chosen Panchen Lama were not invited to attend (see appendix on Tibetan
areas). In 2006 the Government also supported an exhibition of the
Government-approved Bible, which toured internationally, including to
the United States.
Tibetan nun Phuntsog Nyidrol, who had been detained in 1989 for
marching in support of the Dalai Lama and had her sentence extended
after recording pro-Dalai Lama songs in prison, was permitted to travel
to the United States to receive medical care in March 2006. She had
been released from prison in February 2004 and her parole expired in
February 2005, but she was not permitted to travel freely, participate
in religious life, or receive medical care (see appendix on Tibetan
areas).
On April 19 2006, unregistered Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding,
Hebei, was released from custody and allowed to return home, but
remained under twenty-four hour police supervision.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The communities of the five main religions--Buddhism, Islam,
Taoism, Catholicism, and Protestantism--coexisted without significant
friction. The Government preached religious harmony as part of its
efforts to build a ``harmonious society.'' However, in some parts of
the country, there was a tense relationship between registered and
unregistered Christian churches and, according to press reports,
between some members of unregistered church groups. There were reports
of divisions within both the official Protestant church and the house
church movement over issues of doctrine; in both the registered and
unregistered Protestant churches, there are conservative and more
liberal groups. In other areas, the two groups coexisted without
problems. In some provinces, including Hebei, unregistered and official
Catholic communities sometimes had a tense relationship. Tensions also
existed between domestic Muslim groups and groups following teachings
imported from the Middle East. In the past, Muslims and Tibetan
Buddhists have complained about the presence of Christian missionaries
in their communities. Christian officials reported some friction in
rural areas between adherents of folk religions and Christians who view
some folk religion practices as idol worship. In general, the majority
of the population shows little interest in religious activities beyond
visiting temples during festivals or churches on Christmas Eve or
Easter. Religious and ethnic minority groups, such as Tibetans and
Uighurs, experienced societal discrimination not only because of their
religious beliefs but also because of their status as ethnic minorities
with languages and cultures different from the typically wealthier Han
Chinese. There was also occasional tension between the Han and the Hui,
a Muslim ethnic group.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and the
consulates general in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang made a
concerted effort to encourage greater religious freedom in the country,
focusing attention on abuses and supporting positive trends within the
country. President Bush regularly raised religious freedom in his
meetings with leaders, including in his November 2005 visit to Beijing
and his April 2006 meeting with President Hu Jintao in Washington.
While in Beijing, President Bush attended a worship service at a
registered church. In May 2006 President Bush met with three Christian
intellectuals who are leaders in the house church movement. Secretary
of State Rice discussed religious freedom and attended a worship
service at a registered church during her March 2005 visit to Beijing.
In exchanges with the Government, including with religious affairs
officials, diplomatic personnel consistently urged both central and
local authorities to respect citizens' rights to religious freedom and
release all those serving prison sentences for religious activities.
U.S. officials protested vigorously whenever there were credible
reports of religious harassment or discrimination in violation of
international laws and standards, and they requested information in
cases of alleged mistreatment in which the facts were incomplete or
contradictory. At the same time, U.S. officials argued to the country's
leaders that freedom of religion would strengthen, not harm, the
country.
The U.S. embassy and consulates also collected information about
abuses and maintained contacts with a wide spectrum of religious
leaders within the country's religious communities, including bishops,
priests, and ministers of the official Christian and Catholic churches,
as well as Taoist, Muslim, and Buddhist leaders. U.S. officials also
met with leaders and members of the unofficial Christian churches. The
U.S. Department of State's nongovernmental contacts included experts on
religion in the country, human rights organizations, and religious
groups in the United States.
The Department of State brought a number of religious leaders and
scholars to the United States on international visitor programs to see
firsthand the role that religion plays in U.S. society. The embassy
also brought experts on religion from the United States to the country
to speak about the role of religion in American life and public policy.
During the period covered by this report, the official U.S.-China
Human Rights Dialogue, which had included religious freedom as a major
agenda item, remained suspended. The most recent dialogue session took
place in December 2002.
During the period covered by this report, Assistant Secretary of
State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Barry Lowenkron traveled
to the country to discuss human rights and religious freedom issues
with the Government. Ambassador Clark T. Randt, Jr. highlighted
problems of religious freedom and cases of individual religious
prisoners of conscience in his public speeches and in his private
diplomacy with officials. East Asian and Pacific Affairs Assistant
Secretary Christopher Hill also raised religious freedom issues,
including cases of concern, with officials. Staff members of the Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, including of the Office for
International Religious Freedom, also traveled to the country to
discuss religious freedom issues. They met with government officials
responsible for religion and with clergy or practitioners in official
and unofficial religious groups.
In June 2006 in Washington, Assistant Secretary Lowenkron met with
Uighur Muslim activist Rebiya Kadeer, and Ambassador at large for
International Religious Freedom John V. Hanford III met with Tibetan
Buddhist nun Phuntsog Nyidrol.
U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing continued to protest
individual incidents of abuse. On numerous occasions, the U.S.
Department of State, the embassy, and the four consulates in the
country protested government actions to curb freedom of religion and
freedom of conscience, including the arrests of Falun Gong followers,
Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, and Catholic and
Protestant clergy and believers. The embassy routinely raised reported
cases of detention and abuse of religious practitioners with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Administration of Religious
Affairs.
Since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated the country as a
``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International Religious
Freedom Act (IRFA) for particularly severe violations of religious
freedom. Economic measures in effect against the country under the IRFA
relate to restriction of exports of crime control and detection
instruments and equipment (Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal
Years 1990 and 1991, P.L. 101-246).
HONG KONG
The Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution, provides for freedom of
religion, and its Ordinance prohibits religious discrimination. The
Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to support the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Six of the largest religious
groups have long collaborated in a collegium on community affairs and
make up a joint conference of religious leaders.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Hong Kong Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) occupies 422
square miles on more than 200 islands and the mainland and its
population was an estimated 6.9 million. Approximately 43 percent of
the population participated in some form of religious practice. The two
largest religions were Buddhism and Taoism, which were often celebrated
together in the same temple. Hong Kong was home to approximately 700
thousand Buddhists or Taoists, 320 thousand Protestant Christians, 240
thousand Roman Catholics, and 100 thousand Muslims. There were small
numbers of Hindus, Sikhs, and approximately 4 thousand practicing Jews.
Many persons also held Confucian beliefs, although few practiced it as
a formal religion. Representatives of the spiritual movement Falun Gong
stated that their practitioners numbered approximately 500; however,
HKSAR government officials claimed the number was lower.
Hong Kong's Protestants had 1,350 congregations representing 50
denominations. The largest Protestant denomination was the Baptist
Church, followed by the Lutheran Church. Other major denominations
included Seventh-day Adventists, Anglicans, Christian and Missionary
Alliance groups, the Church of Christ in China, Methodists, and
Pentecostals. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
was also present.
There were approximately 600 Buddhist and Taoist temples, an
estimated 800 Christian churches and chapels, 5 mosques, 1 Hindu
temple, 1 Sikh temple, and 3 synagogues. Catholics were served by 1
cardinal (appointed in 2006), 1 bishop, 299 priests, 66 monks, and 529
nuns, all of whom maintained traditional links to the Vatican. The
assistant secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops'
Conference had his office in Hong Kong. Along with its apostolic work,
the Catholic Church was engaged in a broad array of social service
activities. It operated 317 schools and kindergartens that enrolled
more than 264 thousand children. In addition it operated six hospitals,
fifteen clinics, twelve social centers, nineteen hostels, thirteen
homes for the aged, and nineteen rehabilitation centers. Protestant
churches were also deeply involved in education, health care, and
social welfare. They ran 3 colleges, 703 schools and nurseries, 7
hospitals, 18 clinics, 35 homes for the elderly, 47 centers for the
disabled, and scores of youth and day care centers. Various Muslim
organizations also offered medical care, education, and financial aid
to the needy. Some religious leaders and communities maintained active
contacts with their mainland and international counterparts. Catholic
and Protestant clergy were invited to give seminars on the mainland,
teach classes there, and develop two-way student exchanges on an
ongoing basis. Numerous foreign missionary groups operated in and out
of the HKSAR.
A wide range of faiths was represented in the Government, the
judiciary, and the civil service. A large number of influential non-
Christians have been educated in Christian schools.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Basic Law provides for freedom of religion, and the Bill of
Rights Ordinance prohibits religious discrimination by the HKSAR
Government. The Government does not tolerate the abuse of religious
freedom, either by governmental or private actors. Hong Kong has been a
part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since July 1, 1997, but
according to the Basic Law, the HKSAR enjoys a high degree of autonomy
in the area of religious freedom under the ``one country, two systems''
concept. The Government does not recognize a state religion, and a wide
range of faiths are represented in the Government, the judiciary, and
the civil service.
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government
and are exempted specifically from the Societies Ordinance, which
requires the registration of nongovernmental organizations. Catholics
in the HKSAR recognize the pope as the head of the Roman Catholic
Church.
Religious groups wishing to purchase a site to construct a school
or hospital initiate their request with the Lands Department. Church-
affiliated schools make their request to the Education and Manpower
Bureau. Church-affiliated hospitals do so with the Health and Welfare
Bureau. For other matters, the Home Affairs Bureau functions as a
liaison between religious groups and the Government. During the
reporting period, a Muslim group comprised primarily of residents of
South Asian ethnicity complained that the Government had unfairly
levied a $1.3 million (HK$10 million) land use fee on the construction
of a new mosque. They argued that a similar-sized project by an ethnic
Chinese charity was charged a fee of only $130 (HK$1,000). The
Government denied that it had acted unfairly and said the two projects
fell into different zoning categories. The Government argued that
zoning regulations did not discriminate based on religion or ethnicity.
The Muslim group provided no further reaction following the
Government's explanation. Although not alleging discrimination, a
Jewish group complained that the Government was insensitive to its
attempts to find a location in the expensive central district to build
a new synagogue.
The Election Committee Ordinance stipulates that the six largest
religious groups in Hong Kong (Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, Roman
Catholic, Muslim, and Anglican) hold forty seats on the eight hundred-
member Election Committee, which chooses the HKSAR's chief executive.
These forty representatives are chosen by the leaders of the various
religious groups.
The Government grants public holidays to mark special religious
days on the traditional Chinese and Christian calendars, including
Christmas and Buddha's Birthday.
Religious groups have a long history of cooperating with the
Government on social welfare projects. For example, the Government
often funds the operating costs of schools and hospitals built by
religious groups. The Catholic Church complained that an education bill
passed in 2004 limited its control over Catholic schools. The law
requires each school that receives government funding to establish a
management board and mandates that 40 percent of the board's members be
elected by teacher and parent groups. The sponsoring body can appoint
the remaining 60 percent. The Catholic Church argued that this
interfered with its ability to manage the schools and set curriculum.
The Falun Gong, which considers itself a spiritual movement and not
a religion, is registered under the Societies Ordinance. Falun Gong
practitioners were able to stage public demonstrations and practice
freely. Falun Gong practitioners regularly conducted public protests
against the crackdown on fellow practitioners in the PRC. In May 2005
the Court of Final Appeal overturned convictions of eight Falun Gong
practitioners who had been charged with obstructing and assaulting
police officers during a sit-in protest in 2002. The ruling was widely
viewed by observers as an important affirmation of Hong Kong's
fundamental freedom of assembly, demonstration, and expression under
the basic law. As of May 2006 the Court of Final Appeal had not issued
a ruling on the complaint by four Falun Gong members (and the Falun
Gong branch of Hong Kong) who were denied entry into the HKSAR for
``security reasons'' in 2004. The four were trying to attend Falun
Gong's annual conference. The HKSAR denied entry to 41 practitioners,
but permitted approximately 350 other practitioners to enter the HKSAR
and attend the conference. Other spiritual exercise groups, including
Xiang Gong and Yan Xin Qigong, were also registered and practiced
freely in the HKSAR.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Under the Basic Law, the PRC Government does not have jurisdiction
over religious practices in the HKSAR.
The Basic Law calls for ties between Hong Kong religious
organizations and their mainland counterparts to be based on
``nonsubordination, noninterference, and mutual respect.''
In March 2006 the Vatican appointed then Bishop Joseph Zen, the
head of Hong Kong's Catholic Diocese, to the post of cardinal. The PRC
Government responded by warning Cardinal Zen to refrain from commenting
on Hong Kong political matters. Despite this, Cardinal Zen remained an
outspoken critic of both mainland and HKSAR policies and a strong
advocate of religious freedom. When the Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association appointed two bishops on the mainland against the wishes of
the Vatican in April and May 2006, Cardinal Zen responded that in
``China there is only one Catholic Church, and everyone wants to be led
by the pope.''
Falun Gong is generally free to practice, organize, conduct public
demonstrations, and attract public attention for its movement. The
number of Falun Gong practitioners in the HKSAR was reported to have
dropped from approximately 1,000 to an estimated 500 since the
crackdown on the mainland began in mid-1999, although government
officials claimed that the number was lower for both periods. During
the period covered by this report, Falun Gong regularly conducted
public protests against the repression of fellow practitioners in the
PRC near the Hong Kong offices of the PRC Government.
Unlike in previous years, during the reporting period there were no
reports that Falun Gong members were denied entry into Hong Kong.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Two ecumenical bodies facilitate cooperative work among the
Protestant churches and encourage local Christians to play an active
part in society. Six of the largest religious groups (Buddhist, Taoist,
Confucian, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Muslim) long have collaborated
in a collegium on community affairs and make up the joint conference of
religious leaders.
While Falun Gong practitioners freely and openly practiced their
beliefs, they were occasionally subjected to more subtle forms of
discrimination from private businesses in Hong Kong. In September 2005
the Falun Gong's daily newspaper Epoch Times reported that an
international hotel chain canceled its conference room booking due to a
water leak. The newspaper had booked the room for a forum on the future
of China. A Falun Gong spokesperson said that once it became widely
known that the Falun Gong had sponsored the conference, a replacement
facility could not be found. The group later held the forum in a public
park. This is the second time in three years that an international
hotel chain canceled a Falun Gong conference room booking. In 2004 a
private hotel canceled a Falun Gong banquet room booking because of the
group's ``terrorist risk,'' according to Falun Gong representatives.
Falun Gong successfully sued the hotel in small claims court.
In February 2006 four men used sledgehammers to break into the Hong
Kong office of the Falun Gong-owned newspaper Epoch Times and destroyed
an expensive piece of machinery in the paper's print shop. Police
investigated the incident but made no arrests. Falun Gong claimed the
attack was part of a worldwide campaign against the group by the
Chinese Communist Party. The Hong Kong Journalists Association, the
International Federation of Journalists, and several Hong Kong
legislators condemned the break-in. After brief initial reports in
local daily newspapers, the incident received no follow-up media
coverage.
Falun Gong had opened the print shop only two weeks prior to the
break-in after experiencing difficulties in finding a local company
willing to print their paper. In May 2005 the private printing company
the paper had been using refused to renew its contract. Falun Gong
alleged the company feared business reprisals from its mainland
clients. Falun Gong quickly found another printing company, although
the company refused to sign a written contract, and orders had to be
placed orally each day. According to Falun Gong representatives, at
least ten other printing companies refused to print the paper.
Following the February 2006 break-in, which disabled the print shop,
Falun Gong was able to hire a printing company to continue publication
of its paper, although orders again had to be placed on a day-to-day
basis.
On May 12, 2006, Yu Jie, Li Baiguang, and Wang Yi, three Christian
intellectuals, met with President Bush at the White House. The
following day, Yu and Li received e-mails from the China Graduate
School of Theology (CGST) stating that their scheduled study program
had become ``unsuitable'' due to a certain event that had attracted
international attention. On May 15 the Government stated that it had no
role in CGST's decision to rescind the invitation to Yu and Li. Yu Jie
subsequently visited Hong Kong and participated in public activities
while there.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
HKSAR Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Consulate general officers have made clear U.S. Government interest in
the full protection and maintenance of freedom of religion, conscience,
expression, and association. Consulate general officers at all levels,
including the consul general, meet regularly with religious leaders and
community representatives.
MACAU
The Basic Law, which is the constitution of the Macau Special
Administrative Region (Macau SAR), and the Religious Freedom Ordinance
provide for freedom of religion and prohibit discrimination on the
basis of religious practice, and the Macau SAR Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and Macau SAR Government
policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of
religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The Macau SAR has a total area of thirteen square miles, and its
population is approximately 453 thousand. According to 1996 census
figures on religious affiliation, which are the latest available, of
the more than 355 thousand persons surveyed, 60.9 percent had no
religious affiliation, 16.8 percent were Buddhist, 13.9 percent were
``other'' (followers of combinations of Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian
beliefs), 6.7 percent were Roman Catholic, and 1.7 percent were
Protestant. The number of active Falun Gong practitioners declined from
approximately one hundred persons to an estimated twenty after the
movement was banned in mainland China in 1999. There were approximately
one hundred Muslims. The SAR had an estimated fifty Buddhist and Taoist
temples, sixty Christian churches (of which sixteen are Catholic), and
one mosque.
Missionaries were active in Macau and represented a wide range of
faiths, although the majority was Catholic.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Basic Law, the Macau SAR's constitution, provides for freedom
of conscience, freedom of religious belief, freedom to preach, and
freedom to conduct and participate in religious activities. The
Religious Freedom Ordinance, which remained in effect after the 1999
handover of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China (PRC),
provides for freedom of religion, privacy of religious belief, freedom
of religious assembly, freedom to hold religious processions, and
freedom of religious education. The Government generally respected
these rights in practice.
There is no state religion.
The Religious Freedom Ordinance requires religious organizations to
register with the Identification Services Office. There were no reports
of discrimination in the registration process.
Missionaries were free to conduct missionary activities. Nearly
forty thousand children are enrolled in Macau's thirty Catholic
schools, and a large number of influential non-Christians have been
educated in Christian schools. Religious entities can apply to use
electronic media to preach, and such applications are generally
approved.
The Religious Freedom Ordinance stipulates that religious groups
may maintain and develop relations with religious groups abroad. The
Catholic Church in Macau recognizes the Pope as the head of the church.
In 2003 the Holy See appointed the current coadjutor bishop for the
Macau diocese.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Under the Basic Law, the PRC Government does not govern religious
practices in the Macau SAR. The Basic Law states, ``The Government of
the Macau Special Administrative Region, consistent with the principle
of religious freedom, shall not interfere in the internal affairs of
religious organizations or in the efforts of religious organizations
and believers in Macau to maintain and develop relations with their
counterparts outside Macau, or restrict religious activities which do
not contravene the laws of the region.''
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government
and are exempt specifically from the Societies Ordinance, which
requires the registration of all other nongovernmental organizations.
However, the Falun Gong, although it considers itself a spiritual
movement and not a religion, is not registered under the Societies
Ordinance. Neither is Falun Gong registered with the Identification
Services Office, which has issued no instructions regarding the Falun
Gong. Nevertheless, senior SAR Government officials have stated that,
despite this lack of registration under the Religious Freedom
Ordinance, Falun Gong practitioners may continue their legal activities
without government interference. Falun Gong practitioners continued
their daily exercises in public parks, where the police observed them
once or twice a month and checked identification, according to Falun
Gong followers.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports during the
reporting period of Falun Gong members being denied entry into the SAR.
Falun Gong representatives had previously claimed that they were denied
entry into Macau, especially during sensitive political periods. For
example, in January 2005 Macau immigration officials refused to allow a
prominent Falun Gong representative from Hong Kong to enter Macau
following the death of former PRC Communist Party General Secretary
Zhao Ziyang.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among the various religious communities were very good.
Citizens generally were very tolerant of others' religious views and
practices. Public ceremonies and dedications often included prayers by
both Christian and Buddhist groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Officers from the U.S. consulate general in Hong Kong met regularly
with leaders of all religious groups and spiritual organizations in
Macau.
TIBET
The United States recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and
Tibetan autonomous counties and prefectures in other provinces to be a
part of the People's Republic of China. The Department of State follows
these designations in its reporting. The preservation and development
of the Tibetan people's unique religious, cultural, and linguistic
heritage and the protection of their fundamental human rights continue
to be of concern.
The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for
freedom of religious belief, and the Government's 2005 White Paper on
``Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China'' states, ``Organs
of self-government in autonomous areas, in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution and relevant laws, respect and guarantee
the freedom of religious belief of ethnic minorities, and safeguard all
legal and normal religious activities of people of ethnic minorities.''
However, the Government maintained tight controls on religious
practices and places of worship in Tibetan areas. Although the
authorities permitted many traditional religious practices and public
manifestations of belief, they promptly and forcibly suppressed
activities they viewed as vehicles for political dissent or advocacy of
Tibetan independence, such as religious activities venerating the Dalai
Lama (which the Government described as ``splittist'').
Overall, the level of repression in Tibetan areas remained high and
the Government's record of respect for religious freedom remained poor
during the period covered by this report; however, the atmosphere for
religious freedom varied from region to region. Conditions were
generally more relaxed in Tibetan autonomous areas outside the TAR,
with the exception of parts of Sichuan's Kardze Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture. Envoys of the Dalai Lama made visits to China for
discussions with Government officials in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and
2006 and met with Government officials in Switzerland in 2005. There
was a report of the death of a monk from Drepung Monastery in October
2005 following a heated dispute with the monastery's ``work team'' over
his refusal to denounce the Dalai Lama. Although in the past there were
reports of the deaths of monks and nuns due to maltreatment in prison,
there were no known reports during the period covered by this report.
Buddhist leaders such as Gendun Choekyi Nyima and Tenzin Delek remained
in detention or prison, and the most important figures in Tibetan
Buddhism such as the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa Lama remained in exile.
Dozens of monks and nuns continued to serve prison terms for their
resistance to ``patriotic'' or political education. The Government
refused free access to Tibetan areas for international observers,
tightly controlled observers who were granted access, and tightly
controlled publication of information about conditions in Tibet. These
restrictions made it impossible to determine accurately the scope of
religious freedom violations.
While there was some friction between Tibetan Buddhists and the
growing Muslim Hui population in cities of the Tibetan areas, it was
attributable more to economic competition and cultural differences than
to religious tensions. The Christian population in the TAR was
extremely small. Some converts to Christianity may have encountered
societal pressure.
The U.S. Government continued to encourage greater religious
freedom in Tibetan areas by urging the Central Government and local
authorities to respect religious freedom and preserve religious
traditions. The U.S. Government protested credible reports of religious
persecution and discrimination, discussed specific cases with the
authorities, and requested further information about specific
incidents.
Section I. Religious Demography
The Tibetan areas of China have an area of 871,649 square miles.
According to the 2000 census, the Tibetan population of those areas was
5,354,540; the Tibetan population within the TAR was 2.4 million, while
in autonomous prefectures and counties outside the TAR the Tibetan
population was 2.9 million. Most Tibetans practiced Tibetan Buddhism
and, to a lesser extent, the traditional Tibetan Bon religion. This
held true for many Tibetan Government officials and Communist Party
members. Bon includes beliefs and ceremonies that practitioners believe
predate the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet in the seventh century. Other
residents of Tibetan areas who were religious believers included Han
Chinese, who practiced Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and traditional
folk religions; Hui Muslims; Tibetan Muslims; and Christians. There are
four mosques in the TAR with approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Muslim
adherents, as well as a Catholic church with 560 parishioners, which is
located in the traditionally Catholic community of Yanjing in the
eastern TAR. There were a small number of Falun Gong adherents in
Tibet.
The Government's 2005 White Paper stated that, by the end of 2003,
there were 1,700 sites in the TAR for Buddhists to conduct religious
activities, and approximately 46,000 resident monks and nuns. This
figure has been cited since 1996, although the numbers of monks and
nuns dropped at many sites as a result of the patriotic education and
the expulsion from monasteries and nunneries of many monks and nuns who
refused to denounce the Dalai Lama or who were found to be
``politically unqualified.''
These numbers represented only the TAR, where the number of monks
and nuns was very strictly controlled. According to statistics
collected by the China Center for Tibetan Studies, a government
research institution, there were 1,535 monasteries in Tibetan areas
outside the TAR. Informed observers estimated that a total of 60,000
Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns lived in Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for
freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe; however,
the Government sought to restrict religious practice to government-
sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to
control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. The
Government remained wary of Tibetan Buddhism in general and its links
to the Dalai Lama, and it maintained tight controls on religious
practices and places of worship in Tibetan areas. Although authorities
permitted many traditional religious practices and public
manifestations of belief, they promptly and forcibly suppressed any
activities, which they viewed as vehicles for political dissent. This
included religious activities that officials perceived as supporting
the Dalai Lama or Tibetan independence.
In 2005 the State Council introduced new religious affairs
regulations that superseded the Government's 1994 regulations on the
management of religious sites. The regulations' preamble stated that
the provisions aim to protect freedom of religious belief, maintain
harmony between different religions and society, and regulate religious
affairs throughout the country. On January 17, 2005, according to a
Chinese Government website, TAR Vice Chairman Jagra Lobsang Tenzin told
a meeting of TAR officials that the regulations provided ``a legal
weapon to resist foreign forces' taking advantage of religion to
infiltrate our country.'' In January 2006 the official website of
Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province announced that
it would strengthen the management of religious work by inspecting
monasteries to look for elements of instability, enforce controls and
collect data on monks and nuns who illegally enter and exit the region,
destroy 853 illegal houses and dismiss 1,100 monks and nuns from Yachen
Monastery, and destroy 74 illegal houses in Serthar Larang Gar
Monastery. An April 2006 report on the same website reiterated that
people who illegally exit and reenter and the region would be required
to register with the authorities.
Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy, and several other
representatives met with Chinese authorities in Bern, Switzerland, in
June 2005 and visited Guilin City, China, in February 2006. On previous
visits in 2002, 2003, and 2004, Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai
Lama's envoy, traveled to Beijing, Lhasa, Shanghai, and Tibetan areas
of Yunnan Province. The Government asserted that the door to dialogue
and negotiation was open, provided that the Dalai Lama publicly
affirmed that Tibet and Taiwan were inseparable parts of China.
Since the establishment of the TAR in 1965, the Government asserted
that it has spent more than $74 million (RMB 600 million) for
restoration of the TAR's Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, many of which
were destroyed before and during the Cultural Revolution. In 2005-06,
the Government largely completed projects it undertook in 2002 to
restore the TAR's three most prominent cultural sites: The Potala
Palace, the Norbulingka (another former residence of the Dalai Lama in
Lhasa), and Sakya Monastery (the seat of the Sakya sect of Tibetan
Buddhism in rural southern TAR).
Despite these and other efforts, many monasteries destroyed during
the Cultural Revolution have not been rebuilt or repaired, and others
remained only partially repaired. The Government stated that funding
restoration efforts was done to support the practice of religion, but
it also was done in part to promote the development of tourism in
Tibetan areas. Most recent restoration efforts were funded privately,
although a few religious sites also were receiving government support
for reconstruction projects at the end of the period covered by this
report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government officials closely associated Buddhist monasteries with
proindependence activism in Tibetan areas of China. Spiritual leaders
encountered difficulty re-establishing historical monasteries due to
lack of funds, general limitations on monastic education, and denials
of government permission to build and operate religious institutions,
which officials in some areas contended were a drain on local resources
and a conduit for political infiltration by the Tibetan exile
community. The Government stated that there were no limits on the
number of monks in major monasteries, and that each monastery's
Democratic Management Committee (DMC) decided independently how many
monks the monastery could support. Many of these committees were
government-controlled, and in practice the Government imposed strict
limits on the number of monks in major monasteries, particularly in the
TAR. The Government had the right to disapprove any individual's
application to take up religious orders; however, the Government did
not necessarily exercise this right in practice during the year.
Authorities curtailed the traditional practice of sending young boys to
monasteries for religious training by means of regulations that forbade
monasteries from accepting individuals under the age of eighteen.
Nevertheless, some monasteries continued to admit younger boys, often
delaying their formal registration until the age of eighteen.
The Government continued to oversee the daily operations of major
monasteries. The Government, which did not contribute to the
monasteries' operating funds, retained management control of
monasteries through the DMCs and local religious affairs bureaus.
Regulations restricted leadership of many DMCs to ``patriotic and
devoted'' monks and nuns and specified that the Government must approve
all members of the committees. At some monasteries, government
officials were members of the committees.
The quality and availability of high-level religious teachers in
the TAR and other Tibetan areas remained inadequate; many teachers were
in exile, older teachers were not being replaced, and those remaining
in Tibetan areas outside the TAR had difficulty securing permission to
teach in the TAR. In recent years, DMCs at several large monasteries
began to use funds generated by the sales of entrance tickets or
donated by pilgrims for purposes other than the support of monks
engaged in full-time religious study. As a result, some ``scholar
monks'' who had formerly been fully supported had to engage in income-
generating activities. Some experts were concerned that, as a result,
fewer monks would be qualified to serve as teachers in the future.
While local government officials' attempts to attract tourists to
religious sites provided some monasteries with extra income, they also
deflected time and energy from religious instruction. There were
reports of disagreements between monastic leaders and government
officials over visitors, vehicle traffic, and culturally inappropriate
construction near monastic sites. In July 2004 authorities permitted
resumption of the Geshe Lharampa examinations, the highest religious
examination in the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, at Lhasa's Jokhang
Temple for the first time in sixteen years. According to officials in
the TAR, six monks in the TAR passed the Geshe Lharampa exam in 2004
and seven passed in 2005.
Government officials have stated that the patriotic education
campaign, which began in 1996 and often consisted of intensive, weeks-
long sessions conducted by outside work teams, ended in 2000. However,
officials stated openly that monks and nuns undergo political education
on a regular basis, generally less than four times a year, but
occasionally more frequently, at their religious sites. Since primary
responsibility for conducting political education shifted from
government officials to monastery leaders, the form, content, and
frequency of training at each monastery appeared to vary widely;
however, conducting such training remained a requirement and had become
a routine part of monastic management.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reported that 3,395 Tibetan new arrivals approached UNHCR in Nepal
during the year; 3,352 Tibetans departed for India, of whom 2,340
received UNHCR transit assistance, and 1,012 Tibetans left for India by
their own means. Many Tibetans, particularly those from rural areas,
continued to report difficulties obtaining passports. The application
process was not transparent, and residents of different Tibetan areas
reported obstacles ranging from bureaucratic inefficiency and
corruption to denials based on the applicant's political activities or
beliefs. Police in China have stated that passport regulations permit
them to deny passports to those whose travel will ``harm the national
security and national interests.''
Due in part to the difficulties faced by many Tibetans in obtaining
passports, and in part to the difficulty many Chinese citizens of
Tibetan ethnicity encountered obtaining entry visas for India, it was
difficult for Tibetans to travel to India for religious purposes. The
Government placed restrictions on the movement of Tibetans during
sensitive anniversaries and events and increased controls over border
areas at these times. There were reports of arbitrary detention that
lasted several months, although in most cases no formal charges were
brought. There were also reports of the torture of persons,
particularly monks, returning from Nepal and India. There were also
reports that Government officials asked family members for bribes in
exchange for the release of tortured returnees. Returned exiles
reported that authorities pressured them not to discuss issues that the
Government characterized as politically sensitive, such as the Dalai
Lama.
In September 2005 Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Chinese
border forces opened fire on a group of fifty-one Tibetan asylum-
seekers trying to travel to Nepal by way of Dhingri, in Shigatse
Prefecture. All but three were taken into custody and their whereabouts
remained unknown. The group included six children between the ages of
ten and eleven, two nuns, and one monk. In November 2005 the Tibet
Information Network (TIN) reported the detention in the TAR of fourteen
Tibetans from Amdo who were attempting to travel to India via Nepal.
Nevertheless, many Tibetans, including monks and nuns, visited India
via third countries and returned to China after temporary stays. In
2006, there was a considerable increase in the number of Tibetans
traveling from China to the Dalai Lama's Kolachakara ceremony in India.
There were reports that Tibetans returning to China from the
Kolachakara celebration were being monitored closely by authorities and
indications that monks and nuns in some Tibetan areas in Sichuan were
required to register upon their return.
During the Kolachakara ceremony the Dalai Lama appealed to Tibetans
to protect wildlife by giving up traditional animal-skin-lined
clothing. In response to and as a show of support for the Dalai Lama,
groups of Tibetans in Eastern Tibetan areas, including Sichuan, Qinghai
and Gansu Provinces, held large ceremonies to burn animal pelts.
Chinese authorities subsequently prohibited the public burnings and
detained some participants, who were later released. Press reports
noted that authorities in some areas pressured Tibetans in high-profile
positions to continue wearing fur-trimmed traditional clothing.
In June 2006 authorities in Sichuan's Ganzi Prefecture reportedly
initiated a political reeducation campaign for school children.
Soldiers in uniform entered a school and said that Tibetans were not
permitted to burn animal skins. They reportedly asked students whether
they supported the Dalai Lama. Those who said they did not were
encouraged to trample a picture of the Dalai Lama. TIN reported that
seventeen students were detained for showing respect to the Dalai Lama.
The Karmapa Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kagyu sect and
one of the most influential religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism,
remained in exile following his 1999 flight to India. The Karmapa Lama
stated that he fled because of the Government's controls on his
movements and its refusal either to allow him to go to India to be
trained by his spiritual mentors or to allow his teachers to come to
him. Visitors to Tsurphu Monastery, the seat of the Karmapa Lama, noted
that the population of monks remained small and the atmosphere was
subdued.
The Government routinely asserted control over the process of
identifying and educating reincarnated lamas. For example, the
Government authorities closely supervised the current Reting Rinpoche,
who is seven years old, and his education differed significantly from
that of his predecessors.
The Government also strictly restricted contacts between
reincarnate lamas and the outside world. For example, young incarnate
lama Pawo Rinpoche, who was recognized by the Karmapa Lama in 1994,
lived under government supervision at Nenang Monastery. Foreign
delegations have been refused permission to visit him.
Government officials maintained that possessing or displaying
pictures of the Dalai Lama was not illegal and that most TAR residents
chose not to display his picture. Nevertheless, authorities appeared to
view possession of such photos as evidence of separatist sentiment when
detaining individuals on political charges. Pictures of the Dalai Lama
were not openly displayed in major monasteries and could not be
purchased openly in the TAR. In Tibetan areas outside the TAR, visitors
to several monasteries saw pictures of the Dalai Lama openly displayed.
The Government continued to ban pictures of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the
boy recognized by the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama. Photos of the
``official'' Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, were not publicly displayed
in most places, most likely because most Tibetans refuse to recognize
him as the Panchen Lama.
Many Tibetan Buddhist religious figures held positions in local
People's Congresses and committees of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference. Nevertheless, the Government continued to
insist that Communist Party members and senior employees adhere to the
Party's code of atheism, and routine political training for cadres
continued to promote atheism. Government officials confirmed that some
Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) officers were members of the Communist
Party and that religious belief was incompatible with Party membership.
This prohibition notwithstanding, some lower-level RAB officials
practiced Buddhism.
Security was intensified during the Dalai Lama's birthday,
sensitive anniversaries, and festival days in the TAR and in some other
Tibetan areas. The prohibition on celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday
on July 6 continued. The Government reportedly altered traditional
dates of Tibetan festivals such as the Drepunb Shodon Festival, and in
June, there were press reports that authorities in Amdo (Gansu
Province) cancelled the Kalachakara religious ceremony that was
scheduled to be held there on July 6. Tibetans in Amdo had reportedly
received permission in 2005 to hold the ceremony in 2006. In June, some
Tibetans were ordered not to visit temples and monasteries during the
Saka Dawa Festival. Some government employees were told that they would
lose their jobs or have their wages reduced if they disobeyed this
order.
Travel restrictions for foreign visitors to and within the TAR were
reported during the period covered by this report. The Government
tightly controlled visits by foreign officials to religious sites in
the TAR, and official foreign delegations had few opportunities to meet
monks and nuns in Tibetan areas that were not previously approved by
the local authorities.
In 2004 the Government also restricted access to the Serthar
Buddhist Study Institute in Western Sichuan after the death of
charismatic Tibetan leader, Jigme Phuntsog. Authorities also pressured
monastic leaders to delay the search for Jigme Phuntsog's
reincarnation. Also in 2004, Tibetan and Chinese intellectuals
successfully petitioned to stop Han Chinese sportsman Zhang Jian from
swimming across Lake Namtso in the TAR, a lake believed by many Tibetan
Buddhists to be sacred.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government strictly controlled access to and information about
Tibetan areas, particularly the TAR, and it was difficult to determine
accurately the scope of religious freedom violations. While the
atmosphere for lay religious practice was less restrictive than in the
recent past, the level of repression in Tibetan areas remained high,
and the Government's record of respect for religious freedom remained
poor during the period covered by this report.
In early October 2005 Ngawang Jangchub, a twenty-eight-year-old
Tibetan monk, was found dead in his room at the Drepung Monastery in
Lhasa. According to reports, Ngawang Jangchub's death followed a heated
dispute with the monastery's ``work team'' over his refusal to denounce
the Dalai Lama. Government officials claimed Ngawang Jangchub's death
was due to natural causes.
The Panchen Lama is Tibetan Buddhism's second most prominent
figure, after the Dalai Lama. The Government continued to insist that
Gyaltsen Norbu, sixteen, the boy it selected in 1995, was the Panchen
Lama's eleventh reincarnation. The Government continued to refuse to
allow access to Gendun Choekyi Nyima, seventeen, the boy recognized as
the eleventh Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama in 1995 (when the boy was
six years old), and his whereabouts were unknown. Government officials
claimed that the boy was under government supervision, at an
undisclosed location, for his own protection and attends classes as a
``normal schoolboy.'' All requests from the international community for
access to the boy to confirm his well-being have been refused.
Gyaltsen Norbu traveled to Lhasa and Ganden Monastery in October
2005 and gave head-touching blessings to monks. In December 2005, the
Government celebrated the tenth anniversary of Gyaltsen Norbu's
enthronement in his seat, the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse
Prefecture in the TAR. During that ceremony, Gyaltsen Norbu performed a
head-touching blessing for people in the monastery. Gyaltsen Norbu
spoke before 1,000 international participants at the April 2006 World
Buddhist Forum held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and called for
national unity and patriotism, according to official press reports.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of Tibetan Buddhists continued
to recognize Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen Lama.
Lama Chadrel Rinpoche, released in 2002 after six years and six
months in prison for leaking information about the selection of the
Panchen Lama, was reportedly still under house arrest near Lhasa.
Government officials did not confirm his whereabouts and continued to
refuse requests from the international community to meet with him.
Authorities in Sichuan's Kardze Prefecture continued to ignore
international calls for an inquiry into the death of monk Nyima Dragpa,
who allegedly died from severe beatings while in government custody in
October 2003. Officials did not provide any new information on Champa
Chung, former assistant of Chadrel Rinpoche who was reportedly still
held in custody after the expiration of his prison term in 1999.
In March 2005 the World Tibet Network News (WTN) reported that
local authorities extended Tibetan Buddhist monk Jigme Gyatso's prison
term from fifteen to seventeen years. He was arrested in Lhasa in 1996
for alleged ``political activities.''
In May 2005 according to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign,
authorities in the Gansu Province detained three Tibetan nuns and two
monks. Nuns Yonten Drolma, Tadrin Tsomo, and Choekyi Drolma and monks
Jamyang Samdrub and Dargye Gyatso were reportedly arrested for
distributing letters calling for Tibetan independence at a local
monastery, market, and other areas. The Congressional Executive
Commission on China Political Prisoner Database (CECC PPD) also listed
monk Sherab detained as part of this group.
In mid-2005, Tibetan Buddhist monks Dzokar and Topden and layman
Lobsang Tsering were reportedly released after serving a portion of a
three-year jail term for putting up proindependence posters. They were
arrested in September 2004 in Sichuan's Kardze Prefecture. Monks Dzokar
and Topden reportedly returned to Chogri Monastery.
RFA reported in June 2005 that local authorities detained Jigme
Dasang, a Tibetan monk from Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai Province. No
charges were reported during the period covered by this report.
A number of former political prisoners and other suspected
activists were reportedly detained in the period prior to the 40th
anniversary of the founding of the TAR on September 1, 2005. According
to Human Rights Watch, Sonam, a monk from the Potala Palace, was
detained by security forces in August 2005; officials claimed no action
had been taken against him. In another case of apparent preventative
detention, state security detained a tailor, Sonam Gyalpo, in August
2005 on suspicion of endangering national security. In September 2005
Sonam Gyalpo was officially arrested on charges of separating the
country and destroying national unity.
According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
(TCHRD), authorities arrested five monks who refused to take part in
patriotic education that began in October 2005 at the Drepung Monastery
in Lhasa. The monks, who were identified as Ngawang Namdrol, Ngawang
Nyingpo, Ngawang Thupten, Ngawang Phelgey, and Phuntsok Thupwang
reportedly refused to denounce the Dalai Lama and recognize Tibet as
part of China. TAR officials said that the monks were not detained but
rather expelled from the monastery. The officials acknowledged that
hundreds of monks gathered to petition for their return.
In June 2006 RFA reported that authorities detained five Tibetans,
including two Buddhist nuns from Kardze Prefecture, for allegedly
handing out leaflets promoting Tibetan independence. In Lhasa, Yiga, a
nun and two other women, Sonam Choetso and Jampa Yangtso, were
reportedly detained on the first day of the Saga Dawa religious period
on May 28. Kayi Doega and Sonam Lhamo, a nun, were reportedly detained
in Kardze Prefecture on June 1 and June 2, respectively, on suspicion
of organizing the leafleting.
Limited access to information about prisoners and prisons made it
difficult to ascertain the number of Tibetan political prisoners or to
assess the extent and severity of abuses. According to the
Congressional Executive Commission on China Political Prisoner Database
(CECC PPD), there were ninety-six Tibetan political prisoners and
seventy-one of them monks and nuns. The CECC reported that the number
of political prisoners declined to less than one-fifth the number ten
years ago.
Approximately fifteen political prisoners remained in TAR Prison
(also known as Drapchi Prison) in Lhasa, most serving sentences on the
charge of ``counterrevolution,'' which was dropped from the criminal
law in 1997. Authorities have stated that acts previously prosecuted as
counterrevolutionary crimes continue to be considered crimes under
state security laws. According to the CECC PPD, almost half of Tibetan
political prisoners were incarcerated in Lhasa and western Sichuan
Province.
Prison authorities continued to subject imprisoned monks and nuns
to torture. After her release to the United States in March 2006 on
medical parole, Tibetan Buddhist nun Phuntsog Nyidrol, who was detained
at Gutsa detention center upon arrest 1989 and then imprisoned in TAR
Prison until 2004, reported that she was tortured by government
authorities. Phuntsog Nyidrol had received a nine-year sentence for
taking part in peaceful demonstrations supporting the Dalai Lama in
1989. In 1993 her sentence was extended to seventeen years after she
and other nuns recorded songs about their devotion to Tibet and the
Dalai Lama.
Phuntsog Nyidrol also stated that religious prisoners are not
allowed to meet with other religious prisoners, use their religious
names in prison or recite prayers in prison. Nyidrol also stated that
prison administrators deny family visits to religious prisoners as
punishment.
Although Tibetan Buddhists in Tibetan areas outside of the TAR
enjoy relatively greater freedom of worship than their coreligionists
within the TAR, religious expression by Tibetan Buddhists outside the
TAR has also at times resulted in detention and arrest.
In January 2005 the Government commuted the death sentence of
Tenzin Delek to life in prison. In 2002 Tenzin Delek, a prominent lama
from Kardze, was arrested for his alleged connection with a series of
bombings in Sichuan Province. On January 26, 2003, Tenzin Delek and his
associate, Lobsang Dondrub were sentenced to death for their alleged
role in the bombings. The Government executed Lobsang Dondrub on the
same day despite reportedly giving assurances to senior diplomatic
officials that both would be afforded due process and that their
sentences would be reviewed by the national-level Supreme People's
Court. Tenzin Delek was being held in Tuandong Prison in Sichuan
Province.
TIN reported in April 2006 that Gendun, a Tibetan monk and teacher
of traditional monastic dance from Yulung Monastery in Qinghai was
sentenced in January 2006 to four years in prison after he gave talks
about Tibetan culture and history. Charges are unknown. Twenty other
monks, students, and teachers were reportedly detained with Gendun in
February 2005, but they were released soon afterwards.
The status of the following persons arrested from 2003 to 2005
remained unconfirmed at year's end: Five monks who were arrested in
2003 in Ngaba Prefecture in Sichuan Province and charged with alleged
separatist activities; three monks from Kirti Monastery in Sichuan
Province who were arrested in 2003 for posting pro-independence
posters; two monks from Sichuan's Kardze Prefecture who were arrested
in 2004 for displaying the Tibetan national flag; Choeden Rinzen, who
was arrested in 2004 for possessing a Tibetan national flag and a
picture of the Dalai Lama; Phutnsok Tsering in Magar Dhargyeling
Monastery, who was arrested in 2005 for possessing a portrait of the
Dalai Lama and writings on Tibetan nationalism; monk Sonam Phuntsog who
was detained in 2004 in Sichuan Province on suspicion of being a Free
Tibet activist; and five monks from Dakar Treldzong Monastery in
Qinghai Province reportedly arrested in 2005 for publishing politically
sensitive poems.
The Government did not provide any new information on the following
reports: The whereabouts of Seopa Nagur, chief patron of the Kirti
Monastic School that authorities closed in July 2003; the report that
police in Qinghai's Golog Prefecture shot and killed Tibetan Buddhist
religious leader Shetsul in October 2004 after he and other monks
demanded police pay for medical treatment for injuries suffered while
in custody. The Government released some prisoners before the end of
their sentences.
In January 2005, authorities released Tibetan monk Tashi Phuntsog,
who served two years and nine months of his seven-year sentence. Tashi
Phuntsog was detained in 2002 following the arrest of Tenzin Delek.
Lhasa orphanage owners Bangri Chogtrul Rinpoche (Jigme Tenzin
Nyima) and Nyima Choedron, convicted in 2002 of ``espionage and
endangering state security,'' were given sentence reductions in March
2006. Bangri Chogrul's life sentence was commuted to a fixed term of
nineteen years and then reduced by one year; his sentence was due to
expire in 2021. Nyima Choedron's ten year sentence for splittism was
reduced twice and was set to end in February 2007. She was released
early on February 26, 2006.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to
be returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Most Tibetans practice Tibetan Buddhism. The Christian population
in Tibetan areas of China is extremely small. Some converts to
Christianity may have encountered societal pressure.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and the
U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu made a concerted effort to encourage
greater religious freedom in Tibetan areas, using both focused external
pressure regarding abuses and support for positive trends within the
country. In regular exchanges with the Government, including with
religious affairs officials, U.S. diplomatic personnel consistently
urged both Central Government and local authorities to respect
religious freedom in Tibetan areas.
Prior to the March 2006 departure of nun Phuntsog Nyidrol, who was
jailed for fifteen 15 years, numerous high-level U.S. officials
including the ambassador and the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor raised concerns about her case in
meetings with Chinese officials.
In November 2005 the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Torture visited
Lhasa to meet with officials and visit two prisons.
Embassy and consulate officials protested and sought further
information on cases whenever there were credible reports of religious
persecution or discrimination. U.S. officials in Washington, Beijing,
and Chengdu pressed for specific information on Ngawang Jangchub, a
twenty-eight-year-old Tibetan monk who was found dead in his room at
the Drepung Monastery in early October 2005; and Sonam, a monk from the
Potala Palace in Lhasa who was taken from the palace on August 21, 2005
in what NGOs alleged was a politically motivated detention. Officials
asked for and were denied a meeting in Lhasa with Chadrel Rinpoche,
reportedly under house arrest since 2002.
Tibetan Buddhist prisoners advocated for international access to
Gendun Choekyi Nyima and urged the Chinese Government to pursue
dialogue with the Dalai Lama and his representatives.
U.S. diplomatic personnel stationed in the country maintained
contacts with a wide range of religious leaders and practitioners in
the Tibetan areas, and they traveled regularly to the TAR and other
Tibetan areas to monitor the status of religious freedom.
U.S. development and exchange programs aim to strengthen Tibetan
communities in China and preserve their environmental and cultural
heritage. Both are inextricably linked to Tibet's Buddhist religious
tradition. The U.S. diplomatic mission in China has also promoted
religious dialogue through its exchange visitor program, which financed
the travel of several prominent scholars of traditional Tibetan culture
and religion to the United States.
__________
TAIWAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
authorities generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and official policy continued
to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) discusses religious freedom
issues with the authorities as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
Taiwan has an area of approximately 13,800 square miles and an
estimated population of twenty-three million. While the authorities do
not collect or independently verify statistics on religious
affiliation, they maintain registration statistics voluntarily reported
by religious organizations.
In April 2006 the Ministry of Interior (MOI) Religious Affairs
Section reported that 35 percent of the people of Taiwan considered
themselves Buddhist, 33 percent Taoist, 3.5 percent I Kuan Tao, 2.6
percent Protestant, 1.3 percent Roman Catholic, 1 percent Mi Le Da Dao,
and 0.2 percent Sunni Muslim. Approximately 4 percent of the population
followed traditional Chinese religions such as Tien Te Chiao (Heaven
Virtue Religion), Tien Ti Chiao (Heaven Emperor Religion), and Hsuan
Yuan Chiao (Yellow Emperor Religion). There also was a small number of
Jews.
In addition, Confucian groups reported 26,700 members; Church of
Scientology twenty thousand; Baha'i Faith 16 thousand; Hsuan Men Tsung
5 thousand; Zhonghua Sheng Chiao (Chinese Holy Religion) 3,200;
Maitreya Emperor Religion 3 thousand; Ta I Chiao (Great Changes
Religion) 1 thousand; Mahikari Religion 1 thousand; and Huang Chung
(Yellow Middle) 1 thousand. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), Secret Sect of Tibetan Lamaism (Mizong Buddhism), and
the Unification Church were also registered but did not provide
membership statistics. No new religious groups registered during the
reporting period. Other Christian denominations included:
Presbyterians, True Jesus, Baptists, Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists,
Episcopalians, and Jehovah's Witnesses. More than 70 percent of the
nearly half-million indigenous persons (aborigines) were Christian.
While the overwhelming majority of religious adherents were either
Buddhist or Taoist, many people considered themselves to be both.
Approximately 50 percent of the population regularly participated in
some form of organized religious practice, and 81 percent adhered to
some form of organized religion. According to the Religious Affairs
Section of the MOI, an estimated 18 percent of the population was
thought to be atheist.
In addition to practicing organized religion, many persons also
followed a collection of beliefs deeply ingrained in Chinese culture
that can be termed ``traditional Chinese folk religion.'' These beliefs
included, but were not limited to, shamanism, ancestor worship, magic,
ghosts and other spirits, and aspects of animism. Researchers have
estimated that as much as 80 percent of the population believed in some
form of traditional folk religion. Such folk religions may overlap with
an individual's belief in Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or other
traditional Chinese religions. The open, syncretistic nature of
religion in Taiwan is such that many Buddhist and Taoist temples
include Christian icons, including statues of Jesus and Mary, in the
display of altar deities. There also may be an overlap between
practitioners of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism with those of Falun
Gong, which is registered as a civic rather than religious
organization. Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa as it is sometimes called in
Taiwan, is considered a spiritual movement and not a religion. The
Chairman of the Taiwan Falun Dafa Society said membership in Taiwan had
grown rapidly in recent years to approximately 500 thousand and
continued to increase.
Religious beliefs cross political and geographic lines. Members of
the political leadership practice various faiths. Regardless of
political affiliation, every year tens of thousands of Buddhists and
Taoists from Taiwan go to the People's Republic of China (PRC) on
temple pilgrimages. Their mainland Chinese counterparts were also
invited to participate in religious activities held in Taiwan, such as
the annual festival of the Goddess of the Sea held during the third
month of the lunar calendar. However, the number of mainland Chinese
participants remained small because of travel restrictions between
Taiwan and the PRC. After The PRC passed the Anti-Secession Law in
March 2005, Taiwan's Executive Yuan asked local government officials,
such as mayors and magistrates, to refrain from leading religious
pilgrimages to the PRC. There were frequent cross-Strait religious
exchanges over the past year but no reports of local officials leading
such pilgrimages to the PRC.
Foreign missionary groups, including Mormons and Jehovah's
Witnesses, were active in Taiwan.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
authorities generally respected this right in practice. Authorities at
all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by official or private actors.
Although registration is not mandatory, twenty-six religious
organizations have registered with the MOI Religious Affairs Section.
Religious organizations may register with the central authorities
through their island-wide associations under the temple management law,
the civic organizations law, or the chapter of the civil code that
governs foundations and associations. While individual places of
worship may register with local authorities, many choose not to do so
and operate as the personal property of their leaders. Registered
organizations operate on a tax-free basis and are required to submit
annual reports of their financial operations. In the past, concern over
abuse of tax-free privileges or other financial misdeeds occasionally
prompted the authorities to deny registration to new religious groups
whose doctrines were not clear; however, there were no reports that the
authorities sought to deny registration to new groups during the period
covered by this report. The only ramification for nonregistration is
the forfeiture of the tax advantages that are available for registered
religious organizations.
In 2001 the cabinet submitted a bill to consolidate existing laws
governing religious organizations. The bill has been pending in the
Legislative Yuan for five years. It would enable religious groups to
obtain official recognition if able to meet certain donation or
membership thresholds. Some lawmakers have questioned whether a
consolidated law is necessary and whether the proposed threshold
requirements would hamper the interests of smaller religious groups.
Religious instruction is not permitted in public or private
elementary, middle, or high schools accredited by the Ministry of
Education. Religious organizations are permitted to operate schools,
but religious instruction is not permitted in those schools. Schools
not accredited by the ministry may provide religious instruction. High
schools may provide general courses in religious studies, and
universities and research institutions have religious studies
departments. Theological seminaries are operated by religious
organizations.
The MOI promotes interfaith understanding among religious groups by
sponsoring symposiums or by helping to defray the expenses of privately
sponsored symposiums on religious issues. The MOI also publishes and
updates an introduction to major religious beliefs and groups based on
material provided by the groups. This introduction is also available on
the Internet. In addition, the MOI holds annual ceremonies to honor
religious groups that have made contributions to public service, social
welfare, and to other activities promoting social harmony and serving
the underprivileged.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Official policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in
Taiwan.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among the various religious communities were generally
amicable. The Taiwan Council for Religion and Peace, the China
Religious Believers Association, and the Taiwan Religious Association
are private organizations that promote greater understanding and
tolerance among adherents of different religions. These associations
and various religious groups occasionally sponsor symposiums to promote
mutual understanding. The Taiwan Conference on Religion and Peace
sponsors summer seminars every year to help college students understand
the practice of major religions in Taiwan. The 2005 seminar was held at
the I Kuan Tao temple in Kaohsiung County, and more than 200 college
students attended. The 2006 seminar was planned for September at a Tian
Di Jiao temple in Taichung County.
Some religious groups had a tendency to take political positions.
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was active in politics, particularly
in support of the pro-independence movement, and maintained contact
with some elements of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) discusses religious freedom
issues with the authorities as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights. AIT was in frequent contact with representatives of human
rights organizations and regularly meets with leaders of various
religious communities.
__________
EAST TIMOR
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 5,406 square miles and shares the island
of Timor with Indonesia's Nusa Tenggara Timur Province. According to
the most recent statistics available from the World Bank, the
population of the territory was approximately 1,040,900. An
overwhelming majority of the population was Catholic, and the Catholic
Church was the dominant religious institution. Attitudes toward the
small Protestant and Muslim communities were generally tolerant.
In a United Nations-administered consultation vote in 1999, an
overwhelming majority of East Timorese voted against autonomy and, in
effect, for independence from Indonesia. As a result, Indonesian forces
began a violent withdrawal from East Timor that forced approximately
200 thousand persons to flee across the border to West Timor. The
United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET)
subsequently governed the country from October 1999 until independence
in May 2002.
According to a 2005 report from the World Bank, 98 percent of the
population was Catholic, 1 percent Protestant, and 1 percent Muslim.
Most citizens also retained some vestiges of animistic beliefs and
practices, which they have come to regard as more cultural than
religious. The number of Protestants and Muslims has declined
significantly since September 1999 because these groups were
disproportionately represented among supporters of integration with
Indonesia and among the Indonesian civil servants assigned to work in
the province from other parts of Indonesia, many of whom left the
country in 1999.
The Indonesian military forces formerly stationed in the country
included a significant number of Protestants, who played a major role
in establishing Protestant churches in the territory. Fewer than half
of those congregations still existed after September 1999, and many
Protestants were among those who remained in West Timor. The Assemblies
of God was the largest and most active of the Protestant denominations.
The country had a significant Muslim population during the Indonesian
occupation, composed mostly of ethnic Malay immigrants from Indonesian
islands. There also were a few ethnic Timorese converts to Islam, as
well as a small number descended from Arab Muslims living in the
country while it was under Portuguese authority. The latter group was
well integrated into society, but ethnic Malay Muslims often were not.
Only a few hundred of the latter remained in the country.
Domestic and foreign Catholic and Protestant missionary groups
operated freely. Missionaries and other religious officials of all
religions who come for religious purposes are exempt from paying visa
fees.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Although the constitution became effective in 2002, the Government
continued to enforce some Indonesian laws and UNTAET regulations not
yet superseded by the constitution or national legislation. The
Constitution provides for freedom of conscience, religion, and worship
for all persons and stipulates that no one shall be persecuted or
discriminated against on the basis of religious convictions. The
government generally protected this right, although there were reports
of cases where the police force and legal system were either
unresponsive or slow to respond to allegations of criminal acts against
members of minority religious groups. Police cadets receive training in
equal enforcement of the law and nondiscrimination, including religious
nondiscrimination.
In October 2003 a law on immigration and asylum went into effect
that includes two articles concerning religion. The first requires
religious associations to register with the minister of interior if
most or all members are foreigners; registration entails submitting
documents setting forth objectives, statutes, or bylaws, and a
membership list. The second provision states that ``foreigners cannot
provide religious assistance to the Defense and Security Forces, except
in cases of absolute need and urgency.'' Based in part upon this law,
immigration authorities established residence and visa fees for
foreigners residing in the country. Missionaries and religious figures
have been exempted.
There is no official state religion, although Catholicism remains
dominant. Most designated public holidays are Catholic holy days,
including Good Friday, Assumption Day, All Saints' Day, the Feast of
the Immaculate Conception, and Christmas.
The question of religious education in public schools led to one of
the most vigorous public debates since independence. In February 2005
the Government shifted religious education from the core curriculum and
made it an after-school elective without state funding. Two Catholic
bishops issued a pastoral note in response, stating that religious
education should be part of the core curriculum, although parents
should be able to exempt their children from such instruction. The note
also asked the Government not to make major decisions on issues
important to the Catholic Church without prior consultation. Government
leaders responded that they would engage in dialogue with the church on
religious education only after the new curriculum had been implemented.
The bishops responded by organizing a mass demonstration that lasted
almost three weeks and had approximately ten thousand participants, the
largest public protest since independence. The standoff ended when the
church and the Government signed an accord reinserting religious
education into the core curriculum. The agreement also established a
consultative body consisting of members of the Government and religious
organizations. In June 2005 the council held its first meeting to
establish the framework for future consultations. Members of other
religious groups were welcomed, and representatives of the Catholic,
Protestant, and Muslim communities attended.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, incidents of violence against certain
religious groups continued to occur during the period covered by this
report.
The strong and pervasive influence of the Catholic Church may
sometimes affect the decisions of government officials. However,
members of Protestant churches and the Islamic community also have some
political influence and held high positions in the executive branch of
government, the military, and the National Parliament.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The Catholic Church is the dominant religious institution, and its
priests and bishops are accorded the highest respect in local society.
Attitudes toward the small Protestant and Muslim communities generally
are friendly in the capital of Dili, despite the past association of
these groups with the occupying Indonesian forces. Outside of the
capital, non-Catholic religious groups sometimes have been viewed with
suspicion.
Some Muslim groups at times have been victims of harassment. In
November and December 2004 about 300 ethnic Malay Muslims, who had been
residing in Dili's main mosque, were deported for violation of
immigration laws. Members of this group had been given several
opportunities to relocate and normalize their residency status, but
mosque leaders refused. The group was deported to Indonesian West Timor
and reports indicated that many of them returned to their traditional
homes in Java and Sumatra. These ethnic Malay Muslims feared
integration into the community at large. Their occupation of the Dili
mosque created tensions with Muslims of Arab descent. Despite some
press reports to the contrary, religion was not at the core of the
dispute. Rather, it stemmed chiefly from disagreements within the
Muslim community about property rights and from the disputed
citizenship claims of ethnic Malay residents.
At times non-Catholic Christian groups also have been harassed.
According to Protestant leaders, individuals converting from
Catholicism to Protestantism often were subject to harassment by family
members and neighbors, and in some cases clergy and missionaries were
threatened or assaulted. In several instances village leaders refused
to allow missionaries to proselytize in their villages, and in at least
one case a Protestant group was unable to build a chapel because of
stiff opposition from neighbors and local officials. Most Protestant
leaders reported that Catholic Church officials and government
authorities have been helpful in resolving disputes and conflicts when
they occur.
During 2004, in the Maubara region, local residents reportedly
became angry due to the number of persons Brazilian Protestant
evangelists had converted from Catholicism. Individuals in the area
complained that these evangelists had provided monetary loans and
material goods to those who joined their church.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government
as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S.
Government regularly expresses support to government leaders for
consolidation of constitutional democracy, including respect for basic
human rights such as religious freedom.
In addition the U.S. Government maintained a dialogue with members
of Parliament during their deliberations on legislation affecting
religious freedom. The U.S. Government supported the justice sector to
encourage the development of judicial institutions that would promote
the rule of law and ensure respect for religious freedom as guaranteed
in the constitution.
__________
FIJI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country consists of more than three hundred islands,
approximately 110 of which were inhabited; most of the population is
concentrated on the main island of Viti Levu. The country has an area
of 6,800 miles, and a population of 840,000. Estimates of religious
affiliation were as follows: 58 percent of the population was
Christian, 30 percent Hindu, and 7 percent Muslim. The largest
Christian denomination was the Methodist Church, which claimed
approximately 218,000 members. Other Protestant denominations and the
Roman Catholic Church also had significant followings. The Methodist
Church was supported by the majority of the country's chiefs and
remained influential in the ethnic Fijian community, particularly in
rural areas. There also were a small number of active nondenominational
Christian groups.
Religion ran largely along ethnic lines. Most indigenous Fijians,
who constituted approximately 54 percent of the population, were
Christian. Most Indo-Fijians, who accounted for an estimated 38
percent, practiced Hinduism, while approximately 20 percent of this
community followed Islam. In addition an estimated 6 percent of Indo-
Fijians were Christian. Other ethnic communities include Chinese,
Rotumans, Europeans, and other Pacific Islanders. Approximately 60
percent of the Chinese community practiced Christianity, and
approximately 4 percent adhered to Confucianism. The European community
was predominantly Christian.
Hindu and Muslim communities maintained a number of active
religious and cultural organizations.
Numerous Christian missionary organizations were nationally and
regionally active in social welfare, health, and education. Many major
Christian denominations, most notably the Methodist Church, had
missionaries in the country. The missionaries operated numerous
religious schools, including colleges, not subsidized by the
Government.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Citizens have the right, either individually or collectively, both
in public and private, to manifest their religion or beliefs in
worship, observance, practice, or teaching. There is no state religion.
Religious groups are not required to register. The Government did not
restrict foreign clergy, domestic or foreign missionary activity, or
other activities of religious organizations.
Citizens celebrated major observances of the three predominant
religions as national holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Diwali,
and the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Government partly sponsored an annual ecumenical prayer
festival.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, the role of religion continued to be a
political issue. Some Methodist Church authorities and allied political
groups continued to advocate for the establishment of a Christian
state, but the new leadership of the Methodist Church somewhat
moderated the expression of strong nationalist sympathies endorsed by
the previous leadership.
In December 2005 the Government refused entry to the leader of the
Unification Church, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, following opposition
expressed by religious organizations including the Fiji Council of
Churches, an umbrella organization of nine mainstream Christian
denominations, and others. A Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration
spokesperson said Moon's doctrines were ``misleading, repugnant, and
divisive and would affect the peace, good order, public safety, and
public morality of the Fiji Islands.'' The refusal to permit Moon's
entry contrasted with the Government's welcoming attitude during the
same period toward an American televangelist, over the protests of some
religious denominations.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. However, in 2005 incidents of
sacrilege increased for the third year in a row. Of the fifty incidents
reported, most (72 percent) consisted of unidentified persons robbing
and desecrating Hindu temples. There were ten acts of desecration of
churches and four of mosques. Police surmised that these attacks had
more to do with theft than with religious intolerance. Several Hindu
members of Parliament alleged that the increasing attacks on Hindu
temples were examples of a lack of societal respect for the Hindu
religion. They called on law enforcement authorities to take more
stringent action to prevent attacks and to identify and punish
perpetrators.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy disseminated materials related to political and religious
freedom across a wide spectrum of society. The embassy continued to
make religious freedom an important part of its effort to promote
democracy and human rights.
__________
INDONESIA
The constitution provides for ``all persons the right to worship
according to his or her own religion or belief'' and states that ``the
nation is based upon belief in one supreme God.'' While the Government
generally respected freedom of religion, restrictions continued on some
types of religious activity and on unrecognized religions. The
Government sometimes tolerated discrimination against and the abuse of
religious groups by private actors, and often failed to punish
perpetrators.
There was little change in respect for religious freedom during the
period covered by the report. Most of the population enjoyed a high
degree of religious freedom. Confucians enjoyed a higher degree of
religious freedom after concerned government offices recognized
Confucianism as an official religion in early 2006; however, with the
addition of Confucianism, the Government recognizes only six major
religions. Atheists or persons of nonrecognized faiths frequently
experienced official discrimination, often in the context of civil
registration of marriages and births or the issuance of identity cards.
The public generally respected religious freedom; however,
extremist groups used violence and intimidation to force thirty-four
small unlicensed churches and at least seven Ahmadiyya complexes to
close in separate incidents over the course of the reporting period.
Some government officials and mass Muslim organizations rejected the
Ahmadiyya interpretation of Islam resulting in the discrimination and
abuse of its followers. Religiously-motivated violence and vigilante
acts in Maluku and North Maluku declined significantly, although, as in
past years, Central Sulawesi experienced sporadic bombings, shootings,
and other violence despite efforts to restore security and promote
reconciliation. Government officials worked with Muslim and Christian
community leaders to diffuse tensions in conflict areas, particularly
in Central Sulawesi and the Moluccas. While Aceh remained the only
province authorized to implement Islamic law, or Shari'a, regencies
(local districts) outside of Aceh promulgated local laws implementing
elements of Shari'a.
In July 2005 the Council of Ulemas (MUI) issued eleven new fatwas
(religious decrees) including one that renewed a 1980 fatwa that banned
Ahmadiyya. The Government formed the MUI in 1975 as the state's highest
Islamic authority. Although the Government also funds and appoints
MUI's members, MUI is not a government body. It's edicts, or fatwas,
are designed to be moral guiding principles for Muslims and, although
they are not legally binding, society and the Government seriously
consider MUI opinions when making decisions or drafting legislation.
The July 2005 fatwas influenced some societal discrimination during the
reporting period.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy promoted religious freedom and tolerance through exchanges and
civil society development.
Section I. Religious Demography
An archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, the country covers an
area of approximately 1.8 million square miles (0.7 million square
miles landmass) and had a population estimated at 241 million.
The Indonesian Central Statistic Bureau (BPS) conducts a census
every ten years. The latest data available, from 2000, drew on
201,241,999 survey responses; the BPS estimated that the census missed
4.6 million persons. According to the BPS report, 88.2 percent of the
population described themselves as Muslim, 5.9 percent Protestant, 3.1
percent Catholic, 1.8 percent Hindu, 0.8 percent Buddhist, and 0.2
percent ``other,'' including traditional indigenous religions, other
Christian groups, and Jewish. The country's religious composition
remained a politically charged issue, and some Christians, Hindus, and
members of other minority faiths argued that the census undercounted
non-Muslims. The Government does not recognize atheism.
Most Muslims in the country follow the Sunni interpretation of
Islam: The Shi'a headquarters in Jakarta estimated there were one to
three million Shi'a practitioners nationwide. In general the mainstream
Muslim community follows two orientations: ``Modernists,'' who closely
adhere to scriptural orthodox theology while embracing modern learning
and modern concepts; and predominantly Javanese ``traditionalists,''
who often follow charismatic religious scholars and organize around
Islamic boarding schools. The leading ``modernist'' social
organization, Muhammadiyah, claimed approximately thirty million
followers, while the largest ``traditionalist'' social organization,
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), claimed forty million.
Smaller Islamic organizations covered a broad range of doctrinal
orientations. At one end of the ideological spectrum lay the Liberal
Islam Network, which promotes an individual interpretation of doctrine.
At the other end existed groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI),
which advocates a pan-Islamic caliphate, and the Indonesian Mujahidin
Council (MMI), which advocates implementation of Shari'a as a precursor
to an Islamic state. Many other organizations fell between these poles,
including multimillion member Islamic organizations such as the
Sulawesi-based al-Khairaat.
Separate from the country's dominant Sunni Islam population, a
small minority of people subscribed to the Ahmadiyya interpretation of
Islam. There were 242 Ahmadiyya branches throughout the country.
Small numbers of other messianic Islamic groups exist, including
the Malaysian-affiliated Darul Arqam, the syncretist Indonesian Jamaah
Salamulla (also called the Salamulla Congregation), and the Indonesian
Islamic Propagation Institute (LDII).
Internal migration altered the demographic makeup over the past
three decades, increasing the percentage of Muslims in eastern parts of
the country that were formerly predominantly Christian. Although in
previous years the government-sponsored transmigration from heavily
populated Java and Madura to less populated areas contributed to the
increase in the Muslim population in resettlement areas, most recent
Muslim migration was apparently spontaneous. The economic and political
consequences of such migration contributed to religious conflicts in
Maluku and Central Sulawesi and to a lesser extent in Papua.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs estimated 6,501,680 Hindus lived
in the country. The Hindu association Parishada Hindu Dharma Indonesia
(PHDI) claimed the Hindu population is much larger. Hindus accounted
for almost 90 percent of the population in Bali. Balinese Hinduism
developed various local characteristics that distinguish it from
Hinduism as practiced on the Indian subcontinent. Hindu minorities
(called ``Keharingan'') also reside in Central and East Kalimantan, the
city of Medan (North Sumatra), South and Central Sulawesi, and Lombok
(West Nusa Tenggara). Some of these Hindus left Bali as part of the
Government's transmigration program. Hindu groups such as Hare Krishna
and followers of the Indian spiritual leader Sai Baba also are present,
although in small numbers.
Some indigenous faiths, including the ``Naurus'' on Seram Island in
Maluku Province, incorporated Hindu beliefs. The Naurus combine Hindu
and animist beliefs, and many also adopted some Protestant principles.
The Tamil community in Medan represented another important
concentration of Hindus. North Sumatra had a Sikh population of more
than ten thousand, most residing in Pematang Siantar or Medan. The
population formed part of the North Sumatra Punjabi community,
otherwise primarily Hindu. Eight Sikh gurdwaras (temples) are located
in North Sumatra. Sikhs, however, were not allowed to identify
themselves as such on their identity cards or birth or marriage
certificates, and therefore most registered as ``Hindu.''
Among Buddhists, approximately 60 percent followed the Mahayana
school, Theravada followers accounted for 30 percent, and the remaining
10 percent belonged to the Tantrayana, Tridharma, Kasogatan, Nichiren,
and Maitreya schools. According to the Young Generation of Indonesian
Buddhists (GMBI), most adherents lived in Java, Bali, Lampung, West
Kalimantan, the Riau islands, and Jakarta; ethnic Chinese made up an
estimated 60 percent of the country's Buddhists. Two major Buddhist
social organizations exist, the Indonesian Great Sangha Conference
(KASI) and the Indonesian Buddhist Council (WALUBI), and many adherents
associate themselves with one or the other.
The number of adherents of Confucianism remained unclear because at
the time of the national census in 2000 respondents were not allowed to
identify themselves as Confucian. The percentage of practicing
Confucians may have increased after the Government lifted restrictions
related to the faith in 2000, such as the right to celebrate publicly
the Chinese New Year. The Supreme Council for Confucian Religion in
Indonesia (MATAKIN) estimated that ethnic Chinese made up 95 percent of
Confucians with the balance mostly indigenous Javanese. Many Confucians
also practiced Buddhism and Christianity. MATAKIN urged the Government
to again include Confucian as a census category.
An estimated twenty million people in Java, Kalimantan, and Papua
practiced animism and other types of traditional belief systems termed
``Aliran Kepercayaan.'' Many of those who practice Kepercayaan
described it as more of a meditation-based spiritual path than a
religion. Some animists combined their beliefs with one of the
government-recognized religions.
Descendants of Iraqi and Armenian Jews, who came to the country
more than a century ago to trade spices, still practiced their faith in
Surabaya. They have a small inactive synagogue. A small Jewish
community also existed in Jakarta.
The Baha'i community reported that it had thousands of members in
the country, but there were no reliable figures available.
Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong) representatives claimed the
group, which considers itself a spiritual organization instead of a
religion, has two thousand to three thousand followers in the country,
nearly half of whom lived in Yogyakarta, Bali, and Medan.
No data existed on the religious affiliations of foreign nationals
and immigrants.
Approximately 175 foreign missionaries, primarily Christian,
operated in the country. Many worked in Papua, Kalimantan, and other
areas with large numbers of animists.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides ``all persons the right to worship
according to their own religion or belief'' and states that ``the
nation is based upon belief in one supreme God.'' Despite its
overwhelming Muslim majority, Indonesia is not an Islamic state. Over
the past fifty years, many Islamic groups sporadically sought to
establish an Islamic state, but the country's mainstream Muslim
community has rejected the idea. An Islamic state is also incompatible
with the country's founding ideology, Pancasila. The Government
generally respected religious freedom; however, some restrictions
existed on certain types of religious activity and on unrecognized
religions. The Government sometimes tolerated extremist groups that
used violence and intimidation against religious groups, and it often
failed to punish perpetrators of such violence.
The Government requires officially recognized religions to comply
with Ministry of Religious Affairs and other ministerial directives,
such as the Revised Regulation on Building Houses of Worship (2006),
Overseas Aid to Religious Institutions in Indonesia (1978), and the
Guidelines for the Propagation of Religion (1978).
The Government, in consultation with major religious groups,
revised the 1969 Joint Ministerial Decree on the Construction of Houses
of Worship in 2006 in response to militant groups' use of the 1969
decree to force the closure of unregistered churches. The stated goal
of the revision was to make it easier to open new houses of worship.
The revised decree requires religious groups that want to build a new
house of worship to obtain the signatures of at least ninety
congregation members and sixty persons of other faiths in the community
that support the establishment and approval from the local religious
affairs office. Some religious groups complained that the revised
decree made it too difficult to establish a house of worship, while
others argued that the increased clarity of the new decree would
improve the situation by diminishing conflicting interpretations of the
1969 decree. The Guidelines for Overseas Aid to Religious Institutions
requires domestic religious organizations to obtain approval from the
Ministry of Religion for funding received from overseas donors. The
Guidelines for Propagation of Religion ban proselytizing under most
circumstances.
The Child Protection Act of 2002 makes attempting to convert minors
to a religion other than their own through ``tricks'' and/or ``lies'' a
crime punishable by up to five years in prison. This act was used to
convict three Christian women who were convicted of trying to convert
Muslim children.
Article 156 of the criminal code makes spreading hatred, heresy,
and blasphemy punishable up to five years in jail. Although the law
applies to all officially recognized religions, it is most often
applied to cases involving Islam. This law was used in a number of
cases during the reporting period.
The question of implementing Shari'a generated controversy and
concern during the period covered by this report. Aceh remained the
only province within the country in which the central Government
specifically authorized Shari'a; however, Parliament reviewed a highly
controversial draft antipornography bill that would outlaw displaying
``sensual body parts,'' kissing in public, and any writings, art,
recordings, or broadcasts with sexually explicit content, all of which
is broadly defined. The draft bill sparked a heated national debate and
led to large demonstrations (both for and against).Opponents of the
bill said that it was an attempt by proponents of Shari'a law to
implement Shari'a through the ``back door.'' At the end of the
reporting period, the bill was still under review.
The Government's jurisdiction over religious matters did not
prevent approximately thirty regencies and municipalities across the
country from promulgating Shari'a-inspired regulations at the local
level. Fifty-six parliament members signed a petition requesting a
national review of Shari'a-based local laws to test their accordance
with the constitution but later dropped their petition. Press reports
quoted Muhammad Ma'ruf, minister of home affairs, as stating governors
should be responsible for reviewing local laws; however, at the end of
the reporting period, neither the central Government nor local
governments had not reviewed any Shari'a-inspired regulations.
In 2003 Presidential Decree 11/2003 formally established Shari'a
courts in Aceh by renaming the existing religious courts while
retaining their infrastructure, jurisdiction, and staff. The judges of
these new Shari'a courts stated that they would focus on cases related
to the ``performance of Islamic duties in daily life.'' Sofyan Saleh,
head of the Islamic Law Supreme Court, reported that immediately after
the December 2004 tsunami, Aceh's Shari'a courts had a docket of
approximately six thousand cases, two-thirds of which dealt with
inheritance or other property-related matters. Family law cases
dramatically decreased, but the focus on property matters continued
during the reporting period.
According to press reports, during the reporting period, the
Government caned at least eighty-four persons in Aceh for violation of
Shari'a: Thirteen for being alone with persons of the opposite sex who
were not blood relatives, seventeen for consuming alcohol, and fifty-
four for gambling. Public canings sometimes drew crowds in the
thousands. The Government sentenced some persons to up to forty
lashings; some persons subsequently required hospitalization. Unlike
during the last reporting period, those the Government caned did not
have to serve an additional common law sentence.
Also in Aceh, efforts to educate the public about Shari'a included
a high-profile public education campaign in the weeks leading up to the
fasting month of Ramadan (October 2005). Shopkeepers faced the
possibility of six lashes if they did not close their businesses for
midday prayers during Ramadan. The program lasted only a few weeks and
applied only to Muslims. Aceh Province deployed hundreds of Shari'a
police to enforce Shari'a. They worked jointly with the civil police to
investigate and prosecute cases of Shari'a law violation. At times the
Shari'a police detained persons for ``public education'' if caught
wearing improper Islamic dress or dating without an escort, but police
generally did not arrest or charge them with crimes. The city of Banda
Aceh no longer operated a ``Mosque Brigade'' to ensure appropriate
Muslim dress. When popular bands Radja and Ratu played a joint concert
in the city of Banda Aceh in March 2006, the Government erected
partitions to separate male and female concertgoers but did not punish
fans who ignored the barriers.
Between 2002 and 2005 Bulukumba Regency in South Sulawesi
promulgated four local laws implementing elements of Shari'a for all
Muslims in the regency. The local laws enforced Islamic dress,
antialcohol and narcotics measures, with caning as a form of
punishment. The Bulukumba regent claimed that 100 percent of Muslim
women wore headscarves. In Padang, West Sumatra, the mayor instructed
all Muslim women to wear a headscarf; local authorities enforced this
requirement. The regulations did not apply to non-Muslims, nor were
they enforced in the beach area frequented by international tourists.
The Madura Regency of Pamekasan established a local Shari'a
implementation committee in 2003 calling for the wearing of Muslim
attire by Muslim civil servants and the cessation of both public and
work activities during the call to prayer. On December 31, 2005, Maros
Regency in South Sulawesi, also passed three local laws similar to
those in Bulukumba Regency. In 2006 the mayor of Tangerang in Banten
Province passed a ban on public displays of affection, alcohol, and
prostitution. These bans apply to both Muslims and non-Muslims. The
controversial antiprostitution clause vaguely defines a prostitute as
anyone drawing suspicion based on her attitude, behavior, or dress and
places the burden on suspected women to prove their innocence.
Tangerang tried thirty-one women as prostitutes, including a married
mother of two found waiting at a bus stop during the early evening.
Advocacy groups challenged the constitutionality of Tangerang's
regulation.
Divorce remained a legal option available to members of all
religions, but Muslims who wished to seek divorce generally had to turn
to the Islam-based family court system, while non-Muslims obtained a
divorce through the national court system. Marriage law for Muslims
draws from Shari'a and allows a man to have up to four wives, provided
that he can provide equally for each of the wives. For a man to take a
second, third, or fourth wife, he must obtain court permission and the
consent of the first wife, conditions not always met in practice. Women
reportedly found it difficult to refuse, and Islamic women's groups
divided over whether the system needed revision. In divorce cases,
women often bore a heavier evidentiary burden than men, especially in
the Islam-based family court system. The law requires courts to oblige
the former husband to provide alimony or its equivalent, but no
enforcement mechanism existed, and divorced women rarely received such
support. No discussion took place during the reporting period of an
Islamic family law draft that aimed to enhance the legal rights of
Muslim women in many aspects of marriage and divorce law. Minister of
Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni shelved the draft in 2004.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs extends official status to six
faiths: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and as
of January 2006, Confucianism. In previous years, the ministry did not
offer services to Confucianism. Religious organizations other than the
six recognized faiths can register with the Government, but only with
the Ministry for Culture and Tourism and only as social organizations.
This restricts certain religious activities. Unregistered religious
groups do not have the right to establish a house of worship and have
administrative difficulties with identity cards and registering
marriages and births.
The Government permits the practice of the indigenous belief system
of Kepercayaan, as a cultural manifestation, not a religion. Followers
of ``Aliran Kepercayaan'' must register with the Ministry of
Education's Department of Education. Some religious minorities whose
activities the Government had banned in the past, such as those of the
Rosicrucians, were allowed to operate openly. The national Government
did not formally ban Ahmadiyya activities, but some local governments
did. Despite the central Government's jurisdiction over religious
affairs, the administration did not take a clear position on the bans.
Some Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist holy days are national
holidays. Muslim holy days celebrated include the Ascension of the
Prophet, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, the Muslim New Year, and the Birth
of the Prophet Muhammad. National Christian holy days are Christmas,
Good Friday, and the Ascension of Christ. Three other national holidays
are the Hindu holiday Nyepi, the Buddhist holiday Waisak, and Chinese
New Year, celebrated by Confucians and other Chinese. In Bali all Hindu
holy days are regional holidays, and public servants and others do not
work on Saraswati Day, Galungan, and Kuningan.
As in previous years, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,
many local governments ordered either the closure or a reduction in
operating hours of various types of entertainment establishments. A
Jakarta decree ordered the month-long closure of nonhotel bars, discos,
nightclubs, sauna spas, massage parlors, and venues for live music.
Billiard parlors, karaoke bars, hotel bars, and discos operated for up
to four hours per night. Some members of minority faiths, as well as
some Muslims, felt these orders infringed on their rights. Enforcement
varied.
The Government did not take any steps to implement controversial
provisions of the 2003 education law that required private elementary
and secondary schools to provide students with religious instruction in
their own faith. Under preceding laws, students had to choose religious
instruction from five types of classes, representing only Islam,
Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
During the period covered by this report, a number of government
officials and prominent religious and political leaders interacted with
interfaith groups, including the Society for Inter-religious Dialog
(MADIA), the Indonesian Anti-Discrimination Movement (GANDI), the
Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), the Indonesian
Committee on Religion and Peace (also ICRP), the Institute for
Interfaith Dialog (Interfidei), and National People's Solidarity
(Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa).
The Government of the province of North Sumatra sponsored an
organization named FORKALA that united representatives of all
recognized religious faiths. The organization sought interfaith
dialogue as a way of avoiding antireligious conflict and violence.
FORKALA sent out interfaith teams to speak to all parties when it
received a complaint.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Certain policies, laws, and official actions restricted religious
freedom, and the Government sometimes tolerated discrimination against
and the abuse of religious groups by private actors.
In 1980 the Indonesian Council of Ulamas (MUI) issued a ``fatwa''
(a nonlegal, nonbinding but influential opinion issued by Islamic
religious leaders) declaring that Ahmadiyya did not form a legitimate
part of Islam. Influenced by the fatwa, in 1984 the Religious Affairs
Ministry issued a circular banning the Ahmadiyya from disseminating
their teachings in Indonesia. In 2003 the Home Affairs Ministry
affirmed Ahmadiyya's legal recognition. However, on July 28, 2005, the
MUI renewed the 1980 fatwa. The press quoted the Minister of Religion
M. Maftuh Basyuni in February as stating that Ahmadiyya members should
either form a new religion or come back into the fold of mainstream
Islam.
Some local governments banned Ahmadiyya activities after militant
groups attacked Ahmadiyya mosques, homes, and other private property.
In July 2005 the Bogor regency issued a decree prohibiting Ahmadiyya's
activities. In September, following mob attacks on an Ahmadiyya
compound, the CirnjurCianjur Regency formally banned all Ahmadiyya
activities. In October 2005 the regional representative office of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs in West Nusa Tenggara issued a ban on
Ahmadiyya. This action followed existing bans in West Lombok (2001) and
East Lombok (1983). Local governments claimed such bans sought to keep
the peace or protect Ahmadiyya from further violence, but Ahmadiyya and
their supporters argued that the local governments punished the victims
and rewarded the perpetrators. The central Government condemned the use
of violence; however, despite its jurisdiction over religious matters,
the central Government did not speak out against or formally review the
bans.
The civil registration system continued to restrict religious
freedom of persons who did not belong to the six recognized faiths;
animists, Baha'is, and members of other small minority faiths found it
impossible to register marriages or births. Couples prevented from
registering their marriage or the birth of their child in accordance
with their faiths had to either convert to one of the recognized faiths
or misrepresent themselves as belonging to one of the six. Those who
chose not to register their marriages or births risked future
difficulties: A child without a birth certificate cannot enroll in
school and may not qualify for scholarships. Individuals without birth
certificates do not qualify for government jobs.
The first tenet of the country's national ideology, Pancasila,
declares belief in one supreme God. The Government does not recognize
atheism.
Religious groups and social organizations must obtain permits to
hold religious concerts or other public events. The Government usually
granted the permits in an unbiased manner unless a concern existed that
the activity could anger members of another faith in the area.
The Government bans proselytizing, arguing that such activity,
especially in areas heavily dominated by members of another religion,
could prove disruptive. The Ministries of Religion and Home Affairs in
1979 issued a joint decree prohibiting members of one religion from
trying to convert members of other faiths. During this reporting
period, the Child Protection Law was used to prosecute individuals
accused of attempting to convert Muslim children to Christianity.
Foreign religious organizations must obtain permission from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs to provide any type of assistance (in-
kind, personnel, and financial) to religious groups in the country.
Although the Government generally did not enforce this requirement,
some Christian groups stated that the Government applied it more
frequently to minority groups than to mainstream Muslim groups.
Foreign missionaries must obtain religious worker visas, which some
described as difficult to obtain or extend. The administrative
requirements for religious worker visas prove more onerous than for
other visa categories. They require not only approval from each office
of the Department of Religion from the local to the national level but
also statistical information on the number of followers of the religion
in the community and a statement confirming that the applicant will
work no more than two years in the country before replacement by a
local citizen. Foreign missionaries granted such visas worked
relatively unimpeded. Many missionaries with a primary focus on
development work successfully registered for social visas with the
Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education.
Religious speeches can take place if delivered to coreligionists
and are not intended to convert persons of other faiths. Televised
religious programming remained unrestricted, and viewers could watch
religious programs offered by any of the recognized faiths. At times,
the Government restricted religious speech.
No restrictions exist on the publication of religious materials or
the use of religious symbols; however, the Government bans
dissemination of these materials to persons of other faiths.
The Government had a monopoly on organizing the Hajj pilgrimage to
Mecca.
The Government requires all adult citizens to carry a National
Identity Card (KTP), which identifies, among other things, the holder's
religion. Members of faiths not recognized by the Government generally
cannot obtain KTPs unless they incorrectly identify themselves as a
member of a recognized religion. During the period covered by this
report, some Civil Registry officials rejected applications submitted
by members of unrecognized faiths, while others accepted applications
but issued KTPs that inaccurately reflected the applicants' religion.
Some animists received KTPs that listed their religion as Islam. Many
Sikhs register as Hindu because the Government does not officially
recognize their religion. Until February 2006 when the Government began
providing administrative services to Confucians, some Confucians
received Buddhist KTPs. Even some Protestants and Catholics received
KTPs listing them as Muslims. It appears that Civil Registry staff used
Islam as the ``default'' category for many members of unrecognized
faiths. Islam remained the only recognized religion that could be
claimed without proof and was administratively the least burdensome.
Some citizens without a KTP had difficulty finding work. Several
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and religious advocacy groups
continued to urge the Government to delete the religion category from
KTPs.
Government employees must swear allegiance to the nation and to the
national ideology, Pancasila, which includes belief in one supreme God.
The law does not discriminate against any religious group in
employment, education, housing, or health care; however, some
Christians and members of other religious minority groups believed they
often were excluded from prime civil service postings and graduate
student positions at public universities.
Men and women of different religions faced serious obstacles to
marrying and officially registering their marriages. Such couples had
difficulty finding a religious official willing to perform an
interfaith marriage ceremony; a religious ceremony is required before a
marriage can be registered. As a result, some persons converted in
order to marry. Others traveled overseas, where they wed and then
registered the marriage at an Indonesian embassy. Despite being among
the officially recognized faiths, Hindus stated that they frequently
had to travel long distances to have their marriages registered,
because in many rural areas the local government could not or would not
perform the registration.
The armed forces provide religious facilities and programs,
including services and prayer meetings, at all major housing complexes
for servicemen and servicewomen who practice one of the major
officially recognized religions. Although every military housing
complex must provide a mosque, a Catholic church, a Protestant church,
and worship centers or temples for Buddhists and Hindus, smaller
compounds rarely offer facilities for all five religions.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During this reporting period certain policies, laws, and official
actions restricted the religious freedom of the Ahmadiyya community.
While mass Islamic organizations condemned the use of violence, the
Government implicitly tolerated discrimination and abuse by some
societal members toward the Ahmadiyya by remaining silent on both their
legal status and local bans.
Despite a heavy police presence during two separate attacks on an
Ahmadiyya Congregation in West Java in July 2005, police made no
arrests. A local ban was subsequently passed against the Ahmadiyya, and
they were prevented from using their complex. Following two separate
incidents in February and March 2006 in which mobs burned or destroyed
dozens of Ahmadiyya homes in Lombok, 182 residents began living in
government-provided barracks with no viable plan for their return or
resettlement.
After the Government promulgated the Regulation on Building Houses
of Worship in 2006, a revision of the 1969 decree, militant groups
forcibly closed two churches without police intervention despite a two-
year grace period contained in the revised regulation for houses of
worship to obtain permits per the new requirements. At the end of the
reporting period, these churches remained closed. Another twenty
churches, closed under pressure from militant groups the promulgation
of the revised decree, also remain closed. Though often present, police
almost never acted to prevent forced church closings and sometimes
assisted militant groups in the closure.
In early June 2006 the central Government announced its intentions
to crack down on vigilantism by militant groups, but at the end of the
reporting period, there were no specific reports of action.
During this reporting period, the Government also continued to
explicitly and implicitly restrict the religious freedom of groups
associated with forms of Islam viewed as outside the mainstream.
In October 2005 the regional representative office of the Ministry
of Religious Affairs in West Nusa Tenggara issued a ban on thirteen
religious sects, including Ahmadiyya, Jehovah's Witness, Hari Krishna,
and nine forms of traditional beliefs (aliran kepercayaan), as being
deviations of Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.
On December 28, 2005, police arrested Lia Eden, leader of Jamaah
Alamulla, and evacuated twenty of her followers to avoid violence
during a riot demanding closure of the small sect. On June 29, 2006, a
Jakarta district court sentenced Eden to two years in prison for
denigrating a religion. The few adherents of Jamaah Alamulla believe
that the angel Gabriel speaks through Eden and combine elements of
Christianity and Islam. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an
edict in 1997, in which Lia Eden's sect was declared deviant.
Followers of a small sect loosely based on Islam clashed with
police in October 2005 in a remote village outside Palu, Central
Sulawesi. Police made several attempts to negotiate with the
charismatic leader of the group, known by his followers as ``Madi,'' to
come to the police station and respond to complaints that he threatened
local villagers and prevented some from fasting and praying during
Ramadan. Three policemen and two sect members died in the clash; sect
members reportedly held two police officers hostage but later released
them. Prosecutors in January 2006 called for the death penalty for five
sect members being tried by local courts.
Police arrested three women from the Christian Church of Camp David
(GKKD) in Indramayu, West Java, and in September 2005 the court
sentenced them to three years in jail under the Child Protection Law
for allegedly attempting to convert Muslim children to Christianity.
Prosecutors charged the women after community members complained the
women used Christian youth recreation programs to proselytize Muslim
children. The women claimed that family members gave permission for
their children to attend the event. Witnesses failed to support the
women during the trial, however, because of alleged intimidation from
the community. At the time of this report the defendants' case remained
on appeal at the Supreme Court.
In November 2005 local police detained a foreign citizen and an
Indonesian associated with a Christian working on a humanitarian dam
building project in a known conservative Muslim area on the island of
Madura. Police acted after local religious leaders alleged that the two
engaged in proselytizing. The allegations appeared to be sparked by ire
on the part of leaders and their communities that had not received
similar projects. Prosecutors charged the foreign citizen with
immigration violations, and the court sentenced him to five months in
prison; prosecutors charged the Indonesian citizen, who continued to
publicly profess a nontraditional version of Islam, with denigrating a
religion and the court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.
During this reporting period, there were incidents in which the
Government arrested and charged individuals with heresy, blasphemy, and
insulting Islam
In August 2005 East Java's Malang District Court sentenced Muhammad
Yusman Roy to two years in jail for reciting Muslim prayers in the
Indonesian language, which MUI said tarnished the purity of Arabic-
based Islam.
In September 2005 an East Java court sentenced each of six drug and
cancer treatment counselors to five years in jail and another to three
years in jail for violating key precepts of Islam. A local MUI edict
characterized their rehabilitation center's teachings as heretical.
Police arrested the counselors while they tried to defend themselves
from hundreds of persons who raided the center's headquarters.
In January 2006 the Government charged Sumardi Tappaya, a Muslim
high school religious teacher on Sulawesi Island, for heresy, a crime
punishable by up to five years in prison. Police jailed Tappay after a
relative accussed him of whistling during prayers. The local MUI
declared the whistling as deviant. On June 28 the Polewali State Court
sentenced Sumardi to six months in jail.
The Government restricted religious speech by arresting individuals
accused of criticizing Islam or Muslims.
In June 2005, 2,000 persons protested against an opinion article,
entitled ``Islam, A Failed Religion,'' written by a lecturer at the
Muhammadiyah University in Palu. The article, among other things,
highlighted the spread of corruption in the country. Police criminally
charged the writer for heresy and held him for 5 days before placing
him on house arrest.
In August 2005 police dropped the case against a cartoonist and a
newspaper editor in Medan, North Sumatra, for lack of evidence. Police
initially arrested them in October 2004 for running a caricature
suggesting Muslims habitually support corrupt political candidates.
On March 6 and 7, 2006, Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong)
members staged a two-day hunger strike in front of the Chinese embassy
in protest of an attack against a Falun Dafa journalist. On April 12,
2006, police in Banyuwangi, East Java, arrested five Falun Dafa
activists, two of them foreigners, for distributing circulars to local
residents. Police later claimed they arrested the five because the
circulars contained information about the Chinese Communist party, not
because the activists were Falun Dafa members; distribution of
Communist literature remains illegal. On April 26, 2006, unknown
persons physically attacked a Falun Dafa member in Jakarta who sought
to start a demonstration together with a fellow member. Police did not
investigate the attack.
The press reported that in May 2006 the Banyuwangi Regional
Legislature voted to oust Banyuwangi Regent Ratna Ani Lestari from
office. Those in favor of the ouster accused Ratna, a Muslim by birth,
of blaspheming Islam for allegedly practicing a different religion from
the one stated on her identity card. They also accused her of
underfunding Islamic boarding schools in the area, improperly using
Quranic verses in election materials, and including the price of pork
in the regional budget. Ratna's supporters said she was the target of a
religiously motivated smear campaign because of her marriage to a
Hindu.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to return to
the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Sabili, a widely read Islamic magazine, published articles with
anti-Semitic statements and themes. It made assertions suggesting the
existence of covert conspiratorial ``Zionist'' activities ongoing in
the country. A CD produced by Trustco Multimedia, a commercial entity,
containing political material on the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS),
which holds 8 percent of the country's parliamentary seats, also
contained an anti-Semitic game entitled ``Shoot the Jews.'' PKS
subsequently asked Trustco Multimedia to pull the CD from consumer
shelves.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
Religiously motivated terrorists active in the region carried out
one major attack in the country during the period covered by this
report. On October 1, 2005, three suicide bombers from the Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) terror group killed twenty-two persons and injured more
than one hundred in the tourist areas of Kuta and Jimbaran in Bali. The
death penalty trials of suspects Mohamad Cholili (alias Yahya), Abdul
Aziz (alias Jafar), Dwi Widianto (alias Wiwid), and Anif Solchanudin
(alias Pendek) were ongoing at the end of this reporting period.
Some Muslims criticized the arrest and prosecution of Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, the head of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group, who
was found guilty and sentenced to thirty months in jail for involvement
in the 2002 Bali bombings and acquitted of more serious terrorism
charges. During his imprisonment, the Government, in accordance with
national law, granted Ba'asyir one remission for good behavior. On June
14, 2006, he was released from prison after serving twenty-six months.
The Government successfully prosecuted more than fifty-two
religiously motivated terrorists and their associates during the period
covered by this report. Those prosecuted not only included members of
JI but also other groups of terrorists and religious extremists. The
Government successfully prosecuted six persons for the September 2004
suicide attack on the Australian Embassy that killed ten persons and
injured more than one hundred. The court sentenced Rois and Ahmad Hasan
to death, Saipul Bahri to ten years in jail, and the three other
participants to between three and seven years in jail. Local courts in
Maluku continued to aggressively try cases of those allegedly
responsible for violence in the province. During the reporting period,
the Maluku courts convicted thirty-two persons under the antiterrorism
law for involvement in extremist violence in the province. Sentences
ranged from five years to life in prison.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In a 2006 speech celebrating Chinese New Year, the President
promised that the Government would now provide services to Confucians
as a member of an officially recognized religion, and in early 2006 he
instructed the Religious Affairs and Home Affairs ministries to carry
out his promise. As a result, Confucians could obtain identity cards
that reflected their religious affiliation and register Confucian
marriages and births.
The Government organized and facilitated an international and
interfaith dialogue in the Philippines on March 14, 2006.
Representatives from the ten member states of the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended as well as representatives from
Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor.
Local police in Central Sulawesi were more active in punishing
those allegedly involved in violence that may be related to
interreligious strife. In June 2005 police arrested eighteen suspects
in the May 28, 2005, Tentena bombing. The head of Poso prison, Hasman,
was also arrested, but police subsequently released Hasman and all
other suspects for lack of evidence. In Central Sulawesi, police
arrested Papa Siti, suspected in the 2004 shooting of prosecutor Ferry
Silalahi, on July 17, 2005, in Malino village of Tojo Una-Una Regency.
On March 15, 2006, Central Sulawesi police detained Andi Makasau, the
alleged mastermind of a series of armed robberies, fatal shootings, and
bombings in the province, along with six other persons allegedly
involved in violence there. The case remained ongoing. On May 7, 2006,
police arrested five men in connection with acts of terrorism and other
violent crimes in Central Sulawesi.
Local police in Central Sulawesi continued to protect local
churches and other prayer houses during religious services.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
In general Muslims remained tolerant and had a pluralistic outlook;
however, in January 2006 the Indonesia Survey Institute (LSI) concluded
that conservatism was on the rise. In a nationwide survey, 40 percent
approved of stoning to death adulterers, 34 percent did not want
another female president, and 40 percent found polygamy acceptable.
Economic tensions between local or native peoples, predominantly
non-Muslim, and more recent migrants, predominantly Muslim, played a
significant role in incidents of interreligious and interethnic
violence in Central Sulawesi, Papua, and Kalimantan.
In Central Sulawesi, political and economic tensions between
approximately equal populations of Christians and Muslims continued to
cause sporadic violent episodes resulting in deaths during the
reporting period. It remained unclear whether these incidents arose
from interreligious conflict, criminal motives, or a combination of the
two. On October 29, 2005, unidentified attackers ambushed and beheaded
three Christian schoolgirls near Poso, Central Sulawesi; police
investigation into the killings was ongoing. Days after the beheading,
unidentified individuals shot and killed two teenage girls, one Muslim
and one Christian, at a bus stop in Poso, in what may have been a
revenge attack. That same week, attackers shot and injured a Palu-area
university professor and his wife. On December 31, unknown perpetrators
bombed a Palu Market selling pork, killing seven persons and injuring
more than fifty. Police arrested one suspect but later released him due
to lack of evidence. On May 7, 2006, the press reported that police
arrested five men for alleged connections with terrorism and violence
in the region, including the beheadings and the fatal 2004 shooting of
Reverend Susianti.
On October 21, 2005, in Central Sulawesi, a man on a motorcycle
fired at a house used for prayer meetings by a Christian congregation,
injuring the owner.
A small bomb exploded outside a Hindu temple in a village near
Poso, Central Sulawesi, in March 2006, seriously wounding a man who was
guarding the compound.
In Maluku Province the number of those killed in possibly sectarian
incidents continued to fall significantly during the period covered by
this report. Maluku remained relatively calm since riots surrounding
the commemoration of a separatist group in April 2004 killed dozens of
Ambon residents; however, on August 24, 2005, a homemade bomb exploded
from inside a pedicab in the Mardika market in Ambon City, injuring
nine persons and damaging motorcycles and cars parked nearby. Police
made five arrests; but continued to search for the suspected mastermind
of the bombing.
A significant number of houses of worship were attacked,
vandalized, forced to shut down, or prevented from being established as
a result of militant groups and mobs throughout the country.
According to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum (FKKI),
militant groups forced the closing of at least thirty-four churches:
Twenty-five in West Java, six in Banten, two in Central Java, and 1 in
South Sulawesi during the reporting period. Some churches were attacked
while services were in session. The Islam Defenders Group (FPI) and the
Alliance for Anti-Apostates (AGAP) backed by local Muslim communities
orchestrated most of the church closings. Some church leaders reported
those groups threatened them with sticks and similar weapons to close
down their church, although there were no reports of actual physical
injuries. AGAP and FPI said they targeted churches that operated
without the required permission of the local government and the
surrounding community as required by the 1969 Joint Ministerial Decree
on Houses of Worship. Many of the targeted churches operated out of
private homes and storefronts. Although often present, police almost
never acted to prevent forced church closings and sometimes assisted
militant groups in the closure.
Muslims routinely reported difficulties in establishing mosques in
Muslim-minority areas of Papua, North Sulawesi, and elsewhere.
During the reporting period, police concluded that a mentally ill
man, Mangku Laper, was responsible for the January 2005 vandalism of at
least six Hindu temples in Legian, Tuban, Kuta, and Kedoganan, Bali.
Conflict continued over the Sang Timur Catholic School near
Jakarta. In 2004 a local Muslim community group, the Karang Tengah
Islam Community Foundation (KTICF), with help from members of FPI,
erected a wall that blocked access to the Sang Timur Catholic School.
Local government workers later knocked the wall down, but in November
2005 local residents again blocked the main access to the school to
prevent the school from rebuilding the access road. The incident
reportedly did not disrupt the daily activities of the school.
On February 5, 2006, hundreds of persons closed down a luxurious
house used as a Hindu temple called Guedwara Dharma Kalsa Temple in
Karang Tengah District, Tangerang City, Banten Province. The residents
in the neighborhood objected to the use of the house as a temple,
arguing that no Hindus lived in the area.
Mobs attacked and vandalized at least seven Ahmadiyya mosques in
West Java and two Ahmadiyya mosques in South Sulawesi during the
reporting period.
On July 15, 2005, despite a heavy police presence, the Islam
Defenders Group (FPI) led a mob in attacking the Ahmadiyya Indonesia
Congregation (JAI) headquarters in Bogor, West Java. Armed with stones
and batons, the assailants damaged Ahmadiyya buildings and set fire to
a women's dormitory. The attack followed an aborted July 9 attack on
the same Ahmadiyya property by individuals associated with the FPI.
Police made no arrests in either attack. On July 20, 2005, the Bogor
regency Consultative Leadership Council in West Java regency issued a
decree prohibiting Ahmadiyya's activities in the area. The perpetrators
of the attacks justified their actions by referring to the 1980 fatwa
that declared Ahmadiyya to be ``deviant'' from Islam.
On September 19, 2005, in Cianjur, West Java, a mob reportedly
attacked and vandalized an Ahmadiyya mosque and private homes and cars
belonging to Ahmadiyya members; however, unlike the July attacks, the
police reportedly arrested forty-five suspects and pursued criminal
charges against twelve alleged ringleaders. Cianjur Regency formally
banned all Ahmadiyya activities on September 28, 2005, purportedly to
protect Ahmadiyya members from further attacks. The Ahmadiyya compound
remained closed through the Idul Fitri holiday, an event that 500 to
700 followers normally attend, and remained closed at the end of this
reporting period.
In two separate incidents in February and March 2006, mobs
attacked, burned, or otherwise destroyed dozens of homes in Lombok,
forcing 182 residents to evacuate and live in government provided
barracks. At the end of the reporting period there was no viable plan
for their resettlement.
On June 16, 2006, dozens of community members forced approximately
fifty followers of Jamaah Salafi out of their village, Beroro, in West
Nusa Tenggara. Attackers dragged the Salafi leader out of the village
mosque to force him to sign an agreement stating the Salafi members
would not return to their homes. Residents claimed they repeatedly
warned Salafi members that the loud preaching emanating from the Jamaah
Salafi's mosque on Fridays was offensive. Police were on the scene to
prevent further physical violence but arrested no one in connection
with the incident. After seeking shelter at the police station, members
safely returned home after community dialogues.
At times hard-line religious groups used pressure, intimidation, or
violence against those whose message they found offensive. Despite
continued criticism from Islamic hardliners, the Liberal Islam Network
(JIL) maintained public appeals for individual interpretation of
Islamic doctrine and religious tolerance. JIL confronted hardliners in
public forums, including seminars. On August 5, 2005, approximately 200
members of the FPI and the Islamic Umat Forum (FUI) gathered to attack
JIL offices with the aim of forcing them out of Jakarta. Police blocked
the access road to JIL, effectively forcing the mob to disband.
Militants purporting to uphold public morality sometimes attacked
cafes and nightclubs that they considered venues for prostitution or
that had not made payments to extremist groups. On October 16, 2005,
during the holy month of Ramadan, 200 members of FPI attacked a known
area of prostitution, clashing with tens of local residents. Police
broke up the fight but made no arrests.
On some occasions, publications with controversial religious themes
provoked outrage. In December 2005 the World Hindu Youth Organization
(WHYO) protested the short film, ``Shinta Obong,'' a film based on a
story in ``Ramayana,'' a holy Hindu book, for deviating from the
original story. The filmmaker, Garin Nugroho, met with the Hindu
community in Bali in January 2006 to apologize.
Unforced conversions between faiths occurred, as allowed by law,
but they remained a source of controversy. Some converted to marry a
person of another faith; others converted in response to religious
outreach or social activities organized by religious groups. Some
Muslims accused Christian missionaries of using food and microcredit
programs to lure poor Muslims to conversion. Some of those who
converted felt compelled not to publicize the event for family and
social reasons.
Faith-based social organizations at times reportedly extracted
financial contributions from non-Muslim merchants, particularly before
major Islamic holidays. Most commonly, these actions relied on social
pressure from Muslim-majority communities. Many of those targeted were
ethnic Chinese, who generally practiced Buddhism, Christianity, or
Confucianism.
In late July 2005 MUI issued fatwas denouncing pluralism,
secularism, and liberal forms of Islam, along with interfaith marriage
and interfaith prayer. While the fatwas generated heated debates and
served as a factor behind subsequent militant actions, it produced no
perceptible substantive impact on the law.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. mission in Indonesia, including the U.S. embassy in
Jakarta, the consulate general in Surabaya, and the Medan office,
regularly engaged government officials on specific religious freedom
issues and also encouraged officials from other embassies to discuss
the subject with the Government. Embassy staff at all levels met
frequently with religious leaders and human rights advocates to promote
respect for religious freedom. Embassy staff met regularly with NU and
Muhammadiyah officials to clarify U.S. policy and discuss religious
tolerance and other issues.
Mission outreach emphasized the importance of religious freedom and
tolerance in a democratic society. During the period covered by this
report, the mission promoted pluralism and tolerance through exchanges
and civil society programs.
More than 220 Indonesians visited the United States on short-term
programs examining the role of religion in U.S. society and politics.
The program allowed these persons to see first hand how religious
pluralism, interfaith dialogue, and multiculturalism are integral to a
democratic society. Ten Fulbright scholars from the country went to the
United States to study degrees directly related to religion in a
democratic society. Six U.S. scholars came to the country to teach and
conduct research on similar topics.
One notable visit during the period featured a speaking tour by
Diana Eck in conjunction with the launch of the embassy-produced
translation of her book, ``A New Religious America''; programs like
this (twenty-five in all) contributed balance and academic rigor to
current discourse in the country about the place of religion in
society.
The U.S. mission reached millions through the production of media
programs critical to providing in-depth coverage on religious freedom
issues from an American perspective. The mission cosponsored a radio
show featuring perspectives on religious difference, tolerance, and
pluralism from the perspective of the country's high school and college
students living in the United States. A press tour and a jointly
produced documentary series generated positive coverage of civic
society and volunteerism in America, highlighting how faith-based
groups are part of the diverse mix that define positive citizen action
in America. The mission contributed a 1,000 sets of video compact discs
based on another jointly produced television documentary series, ``The
Colors of Democracy,'' highlighting the positive impact of religious
pluralism and interfaith activities in schools and libraries.
The mission supported the ``Religion and Tolerance'' call-in weekly
talk show that is one of the most widely heard radio talk shows in
Asia, promoting democracy, gender equality, and religious pluralism.
Listeners from Aceh to Papua responded enthusiastically to the radio
program.
Beginning March 2006 the United States, through the Centre for
Religious and Cultural Studies at Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta,
started a biweekly-televised talk show simultaneously broadcasted on
fifty-eight radio stations throughout the country. The program provided
an estimated three million listeners the opportunity to listen to and
actively engage in public debates on religious tolerance, human rights,
and democracy. The biweekly publication of talk-show transcripts and
articles in the newspaper further ensured public access to the debates.
__________
JAPAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 145,884 square miles and a population of
128 million. It was difficult to accurately determine the number of
adherents of different religious groups. While academics estimated that
20 to 30 percent of adults actively practiced a faith, the Agency for
Cultural Affairs reported in 2004 that 213,826,661 citizens claimed a
religion. That number, which is nearly twice Japan's population,
reflected many citizens' affiliation with multiple religions,
particularly Shintoism and Buddhism. Many citizens practiced both
Buddhist and Shinto rites. Furthermore, membership statistics kept by
the agency were based on self-reports from various religious
organizations.
Of citizens who claimed a faith, 51 percent were Shinto, 44 percent
were Buddhist and 1 percent was Christian. Shintoism and Buddhism are
not mutually exclusive and most Shinto and Buddhist believers follow
both faiths. Approximately 5 percent of the population belonged to
other religious groups, including the Unification Church, Tenrikyo,
Seichounoie, Sekai Kyusei Kyo, and Perfect Liberty. According to the
Japan Muslim Association, there were approximately one-hundred thousand
Muslims in the country; an estimated 7 to 10 percent were Japanese
citizens. There was also a small Jewish population. Most were foreign
born.
As of March 2004, under the 1951 Religious Corporation Law, the
Government recognized 157 schools of Buddhism. The six major schools of
Buddhism are Tendai, Shingon, Jodo, Zen (Soto and Rinzai sects),
Nichiren, and Nara. In addition to traditional Buddhist schools, there
are a number of Buddhist lay organizations; Soka Gakkai, which reported
a membership of eight million, is the largest. The two main schools of
Shintoism are Jinjashinto and Kyohashinto. Roman Catholic and
Protestant denominations had modest followings.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution (law) provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
In the wake of the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system
by the cult Aum Shinrikyo, the Religious Corporation Law was amended in
1996 to provide the Government with increased authority for oversight
of religious groups. The amended law also required greater disclosure
of financial assets by religious corporations.
As of December 2004 there were 182,237 groups registered as
religious corporations, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
The Government does not require religious groups to register or be
licensed; however, registered religious corporations receive tax
benefits and other advantages. In practice, almost all religious groups
register.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Allegations by the Unification Church that the Government was
unresponsive to claims that its members were being confined and
deprogrammed decreased. Unification Church leadership reported that the
number of abductions declined due to the Government's increasing
willingness to prosecute deprogrammers. However, church leaders
continued to express concern over the Government's unwillingness to
prosecute abductors. According to church officials, police often
refused to intercede because abductions often involved family members
abducting other family members.
According to a spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses, members were free
to practice their religion without restriction. There was only one
alleged forced confinement in January 2005, which was reported to the
police. Since 2003 there have been no reported deprogramming cases
involving members of Jehovah's Witnesses.
There were no religious prisoners or detainees in the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There is widespread respect
for religious freedom in the society.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights,
including the promotion of religious freedom internationally. The U.S.
embassy maintains periodic contact with representatives of religious
organizations.
__________
KIRIBATI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, an island state of 265 square miles, had a population
of approximately ninety thousand. Missionaries introduced Christianity
into the area in the mid-19th century. According to 2002 government
statistics, major religious groups included: The Roman Catholic Church
(55 percent); Kiribati Protestant Church (KPC), formerly the
Congregational Church (37 percent); Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (Mormons) (3 percent); Seventh-day Adventists (2 percent);
and the Baha'i Faith (2 percent). Several of the smaller Christian
churches claimed to have higher percentages of adherents now, but there
was no independent confirmation. Persons with no religious preference
accounted for an estimated 5 percent of the population. Members of the
Catholic faith were concentrated in the northern islands of the Gilbert
Islands group, while Protestants were the majority in the southern
Gilbert Islands.
The Mormons, Council of World Missions, Jehovah's Witnesses, and
Seventh-day Adventists all had missionaries in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full, and did not
tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion. The Government does not favor a
particular religion, nor were there separate legal categories for
different religions.
Christmas, Easter, and National Gospel Day are official religious
holidays.
There are no provisions for registering religious groups, nor are
there consequences for not registering.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Christianity, the religion of more than 90 percent of the
population, remained a dominant social and cultural force, but
relations were amicable among the country's religious groups.
Nonbelievers, who constituted a small percentage of residents, did
not suffer discrimination. Most governmental and social functions begin
and end with an interdenominational Christian prayer delivered by an
ordained minister, cleric, or other church official.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
The constitution provides for ``freedom of religious belief'';
however, in practice the Government severely restricted religious
freedom, including organized religious activity, except that which is
supervised tightly by officially recognized groups linked to the
Government. Genuine religious freedom does not exist.
There was no change in the extremely poor level of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report. The regime
continued to repress unauthorized religious groups. Recent defector,
missionary, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) reports indicate
that religious persons engaging in proselytizing in the country, those
who have ties to overseas evangelical groups operating across the
border in the People's Republic of China (China), and specifically,
those repatriated from China and found to have been in contact with
foreigners or missionaries outside the country, have been arrested and
subjected to harsh penalties. Defectors continued to allege that they
witnessed the arrests and execution of members of underground Christian
churches by the regime in prior years. Due to the inaccessibility and
inability to gain timely information, the continuation of this activity
during the time period covered by this report remained difficult to
verify. The Government allowed foreigners to attend government-
sponsored religious services.
No information was available on societal attitudes toward religious
freedom.
The U.S. Government did not have diplomatic relations with the
country. Since 2001 the Secretary has designated the country a
``Country of Particular Concern'' (CPC) under the International
Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious
freedom. The U.S. Government raised its concerns about the deplorable
state of human rights in the country with other countries and in
multilateral fora.
The Government does not allow representatives of foreign
governments, journalists, or other invited guests freedom of movement
that would enable them to fully assess human rights conditions or
confirm reported abuses. This report is based on information from
interviews, press reports, nongovernmental organization reports,
missionary and refugee testimony obtained over the past decade, and
supplemented where possible by information drawn from more recent
reports from visitors to the country and representatives of
nongovernmental organizations working on the Chinese border. Refugee
testimony is often dated because of the time lapse between refugee
departures from the country and contact with NGOs able to document
human rights conditions. The report cites specific sources and time
frames wherever possible, and reports are corroborated to the extent
possible. While limited in detail, the information in this report is
indicative of the situation with regard to religious freedom in the
country in recent years.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 47,000 square miles, and
its population is estimated at 22.7 million. The number of religious
believers was unknown but was estimated by the Government to be ten
thousand Protestants, ten thousand Buddhists, and four thousand
Catholics. Estimates by South Korean church-related groups were
considerably higher. In addition, the Chondogyo Young Friends Party, a
government-approved group based on a traditional religious movement,
had approximately forty thousand practitioners. According to a South
Korean press report, in 2002 the chairman of the Association of North
Korean Catholics stated that the Catholic community in the country had
no priests but held weekly prayer services at the Changchung Catholic
Church in Pyongyang. According to state-controlled media reports,
following the death of Pope John Paul II in April 2005, a memorial
service was held at this church, and services were also held at family
worship places across the country.
In Pyongyang, there were reportedly three Christian churches: Two
Protestant churches under lay leadership--the Pongsu and Chilgok
churches--and the Changchung Roman Catholic Church. The three churches
have reportedly been open since 1988. However, these churches are
tightly controlled by the state. One of the Protestant churches is
dedicated to the memory of former leader Kim Il Sung's mother, Kang Pan
Sok, who was a Presbyterian deaconess. The Korean Presbyterian Church,
under an agreement with the North Korean Christian League, has
reportedly been building a new church in Pyongyang.
In its July 2002 report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, the
country reported the existence of 500 ``family worship centers.'' The
country did not define the term; however, observers stated that
``family worship centers'' were part of the state-controlled Korean
Christian Federation, while ``underground churches'' were not part of
the officially recognized church structure and were not recognized by
the Government. NGOs estimated that there may be between 500 and 1,000
underground churches. The regime has not allowed outsiders the access
necessary to confirm such claims. Some older citizens who were
religious believers before 1953 reportedly have maintained their faith
in secret over the years.
There were an estimated 300 Buddhist temples. Most were regarded as
cultural relics, but religious activity was permitted in some. A few
Buddhist temples and relics have been renovated or restored in recent
years under a broad effort aimed at ``preserving the Korean nation's
cultural heritage.'' In October 2005, tourists from the Republic of
Korea and other international tourists were permitted to view the
reconstruction of the Shingye or Singyesa (or Holy Valley) Temple,
which was destroyed during the Korean War of 1950-53. The
reconstruction was funded by the ROK Government and foreign tourists.
It was expected to be completed in 2007. A South Korean monk, the first
to permanently reside in North Korea, has lived at the temple since
2004, but was expected to serve primarily as a guide for visiting
tourists rather than a pastor caring for Buddhists living in the area.
According to the country's media accounts, renovation of the Ryongthong
temple in Kaesong was completed in early 2005. A restoration ceremony
was held in October 2005 with participants from North and South Korea
and Japan. Foreign diplomats resident in Pyongyang who visited the site
and were told that the two monks living there may soon be joined by
more. State-controlled press reported on several occasions that
Buddhist ceremonies had been carried out in various locations. Official
reporting also linked descriptions of such ceremonies with the broader
theme of Korean unification.
The Russian Orthodox Church continued to build an edifice in
Pyongyang, reportedly commissioned by Kim Jong-Il after he visited an
Orthodox cathedral in Russia in 2002. The building, the first of its
kind in the country, is scheduled to open by August 2006. According to
a Russian press report, a Russian priest served the cathedral.
Several foreigners residing in Pyongyang attended Korean-language
services at the Christian churches on a regular basis. Some foreigners
who had visited the country stated that church services appeared staged
and contained political content supportive of the regime, in addition
to religious themes. Foreign legislators attending services in
Pyongyang in previous years noted that congregations arrived at and
departed services as groups on tour buses.
Outsiders had limited ability to ascertain the level of government
control over these groups, but was generally assumed they are monitored
closely.
According to the 2006 Korean Institute for National Unifications
(KINU) White Paper, there was no evidence that any of the central
religious organizations maintained branches in the provinces.
Prior to 2003, many foreign religious leaders visited the country.
However, after the Government expelled U.N. inspectors from the country
in 2003, the number of religious visitors appeared to decrease.
In April 2006, the Catholic archdiocese of Seoul sent a sixty-one
member delegation to the country, led by Mgr. Thomas Aquinas Choi
Chang-hwa, the director of the National Reconciliation Committee.
During the visit, the Catholic Association of North Korea proposed a
joint visit to the Vatican with the Seoul archdiocese, which the
association said it hoped would lead to an audience with the pope.
In spring 2006, Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik of the ROK Taejon
diocese also visited the and established an agreement that all Catholic
humanitarian aid to the North would be directed through South Korean
Caritas and discussed through inter-Korean cooperation channels.
In June 2005 Venerable Beop Jang, head of the largest ROK Buddhist
group and at the time the chair of the national council on religious
leaders in that country, traveled to Pyongyang to mark the fifth
anniversary of the Inter-Korean summit.
Evangelical Episcopal pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-
Driven Life, announced in July 2006 that he had been invited by the
Government to preach to an audience of fifteen thousand Christians in
the country in March 2007. Warren was to visit the country in July to
plan the 2007 preaching trip, but the planning trip was postponed
following the Government's July 4-5 missile launches.
In October 2005, a delegation from the DPRK Christian Federation
attended an international solidarity meeting in Frankfurt, Germany,
sponsored by the German Evangelical Church, according to a Government
media report.
In December 2005 citizens who were expected to staff Pyongyang's
Russian Orthodox Cathedral when it opens traveled to Vladivostok for
training in ordination and other rituals.
Foreign religious activity frequently is connected with
humanitarian relief, and overseas religious relief organizations have
been active in responding to the country's food crisis. An overseas
Buddhist group, Join Together Society, continued to operate a factory
in the Rajin-Sonbong Free Trade Zone to produce food for preschool
children, which it has done since 1998. A noodle factory established by
contributions from Catholics of the Seoul archdiocese opened in 2001.
The Unification Church, which had business ventures in the country, was
believed to be constructing an interfaith religious facility in
Pyongyang.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for ``freedom of religious belief'';
however, in practice the Government severely restricted religious
freedom, including discouraging organized religious activities except
those controlled by officially recognized groups. Genuine religious
freedom does not exist. The constitution also stipulates that religion
``should not be used for purposes of dragging in foreign powers or
endangering public security.'' Ownership of Bibles or other religious
materials is reportedly illegal and may be punished by imprisonment or
execution.
The cult of personality of Kim Jong Il and his father remained
important ideological underpinnings of the regime, at times seeming to
resemble tenets of a state religion. Faced with famine and the
succession process in the mid-1990s, Kim Jong Il's regime increasingly
emphasized a ``military first'' policy to gradually replace juche
(often described as extreme self-reliance) as the de facto ruling
logic. However, juche remained an important ideological concept.
Indoctrination was intended to ensure loyalty to the system and the
leadership, as well as conformity to the state's ideology and
authority. Refusal on religious or other grounds to accept the leader
as the supreme authority, exemplifying the state and society's needs,
is regarded as opposition to the national interest and may result in
severe punishment.
Although the country's first constitution guaranteed freedom of
religion, the Government identified large numbers of religiously active
persons as ``counterrevolutionaries,'' both during and immediately
after the Korean War. Many of these individuals were subsequently
killed or imprisoned in concentration camps.
The Government later codified the oppression of religion in the
early 1970s through a constitutional revision on ``freedom of
antireligious activity.'' The Government began to moderate its
religious discrimination policies in the late 1980s, when it launched a
campaign highlighting Kim Il Sung's ``benevolent politics.'' As part of
this campaign, the regime allowed the formation of several government-
sponsored religious organizations. Foreigners who have met with
representatives of these organizations believe that some members are
genuinely religious but note that others appear to know little about
religious dogma or teaching. According to NGOs, these religious
organizations have been organized primarily as counterparts to foreign
religious organizations or international aid agencies, rather than as
instruments to guarantee and support free religious activities. A
constitutional change in 1992 authorized religious gatherings, provided
for ``the right to build buildings for religious use,'' and deleted the
clause regarding freedom of antireligious propaganda.
Civic groups and religious organizations in the ROK continued to be
active in efforts to promote inter-Korean reconciliation. During the
reporting period, Buddhist and Christian groups from the ROK traveled
to the country for discussions and cultural exchanges with their
counterparts in the country and ended the meetings in joint prayer
sessions for unification. These exchanges generally received favorable
coverage in the state-controlled media; however, their true effect on
religious freedom in the country was unclear.
Several schools for religious education exist in the country. There
are three-year colleges for training Protestant and Buddhist clergy. A
religious studies program also was established at Kim Il Sung
University in 1989; its graduates usually worked in the foreign trade
sector. In 2000 a Protestant seminary was reopened with assistance from
foreign missionary groups. Critics, including at least one foreign
sponsor, charged that the Government opened the seminary only to
facilitate reception of assistance funds from foreign faith-based NGOs.
The Federation of Chosun Christianity, a religious group believed to be
controlled by the Government, contributed to the curriculum used by the
seminary. In September 2003 construction reportedly was completed of
the Pyongyang Theological Academy, a graduate institution that trains
pastors and evangelists.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The KINU 2006 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea indicated
that the regime utilizes authorized religious entities for external
propaganda and political purposes and that citizens are strictly barred
from entering their places of worship. Ordinary citizens consider such
sites to be primarily ``sightseeing spots for foreigners.'' KINU also
concluded that the lack of churches or religious facilities in the
provinces indicates that ordinary citizens still do not enjoy religious
freedom.
Little is known about the day-to-day life of religious persons in
the country. Members of government-controlled religious groups did not
appear to suffer discrimination. In fact, some reports claimed, and
circumstantial evidence suggested, that many, if not most, have been
organized by the regime for propaganda and political purposes,
including meeting with foreign religious visitors. There have also been
reports that funds and goods which are given to government-approved
churches were channeled to the Korean Workers Party (the only party in
the country). There are unconfirmed reports that nonreligious children
of religious believers may be employed at midlevels of the Government.
In the past, such individuals suffered broad discrimination with
sometimes severe penalties or even imprisonment. Members of underground
churches connected to border missionary activity were regarded as
subversive elements.
In 2001 the U.N. Human Rights Committee noted ``with regret'' that
the Government was unable to provide up-to-date information about
religious freedom in the country. The committee also noted its concern
regarding the authorities' practices with respect to religious freedom,
``in the light of information available to the committee that religious
practice is repressed or strongly discouraged.'' The committee
requested that the Government provide up-to-date information regarding
the number of citizens belonging to religious communities and the
number of places of worship, as well as ``practical measures taken by
the authorities to guarantee freedom of exercise of religious
practice'' by the religious communities in the country. In 2002, the
country submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee. In the
report, the country claimed that there were few religious adherents in
the country because ``Many of them were killed during the three-year-
long Korean War. Old people died of age and young people seldom believe
in religion.''
The KINU 2006 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea concluded,
``North Korea utilizes religious activities only for political and
economic goals; namely, to improve its international image, to secure
humanitarian assistance from overseas, and to earn foreign currency.''
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government deals harshly with all opponents, including those
who engage in religious practices deemed unacceptable to the regime.
Religious and human rights groups outside of the country have provided
numerous, usually unconfirmed, reports that members of underground
churches have been beaten, arrested, tortured, or killed because of
their religious beliefs in prior years. In recent years, defectors who
had been in prison stated that prisoners held on the basis of their
religious beliefs generally were treated worse than other inmates. A
refugee who arrived in South Korea in 2001 claimed that he was tortured
for his Christian beliefs after a Bible was discovered in his
belongings.
Over the years, there have been unconfirmed reports from a few
defectors alleging the testing on human subjects of a variety of
chemical and biological agents up through the early 1990s. Some
accounts have alleged that political or religious detainees were
specifically selected for this testing. The Government effectively bars
outside observers from investigating such reports.
NGOs, defectors, and refugees have reported that the Government
executed opponents of the regime in recent years. Executed individuals
reportedly included some targeted for religious activities such as
proselytism and contact with missionaries while in China.
Defector reports indicated that the regime has increased repression
and persecution of unauthorized religious groups in recent years, but
access to information on current conditions was limited. Despite these
restrictions, reports indicated that contacts with religious personnel
both inside the country and across the border in China appeared to be
increasing. Reports from NGOs, defectors, and missionaries indicated
that persons engaging in religious proselytizing, those who had ties to
overseas evangelical groups operating across the border in China, and,
specifically, those repatriated and found to have contacted Christian
missionaries outside the country have been arrested and subjected to
harsh punishment.
During the reporting period, ROK media reports, including testimony
from a 2003 defector, indicated that citizens who received help from
churches inside China were considered political criminals and received
harsher treatment. This included imprisonment, prolonged detention
without charge, torture, or execution. The Government reportedly was
concerned that faith-based South Korean relief and refugee assistance
efforts along the northeast border of China had both humanitarian and
political goals, including overthrow of the regime, and alleged that
these groups were involved in intelligence gathering. The official
Korean Workers Party newspaper criticized ``imperialists and
reactionaries'' for trying to use ideological and cultural
infiltration, including religion, to destroy socialism from within.
In March 2006, the Government reportedly sentenced Son Jong Nam to
death for working as a spy for the ROK. However, NGOs claimed that the
Government issued the sentence against Son Jong Nam on the basis of his
contacts with Christian groups in China, his proselytizing activities
in the country and alleged sharing of information with his brother in
the ROK. Because the country effectively bars outside observers from
investigating such reports, it was not possible to verify the country's
claims about Son Jong Nam's activities or determine whether he had been
executed.
In April 2006 a ROK court sentenced alleged agent Yoo Young-hwa to
ten years of imprisonment for his role in the abduction of Kim Dong
Shik. Kim, a missionary who worked with North Korean refugees in China,
disappeared from his home near the China-DPRK border in 2000. He
allegedly was kidnapped by North Korean agents for assisting in the
resettlement of DPRK refugees in the ROK. Because the country
effectively bars outside observers from investigating such reports, it
was not possible to determine Kim's whereabouts.
NGOs reported as recently as 2001 that the Government conducts
``education sessions'' to identify Christian leaders so that they could
be apprehended in periodic crackdowns.
News reports in recent years indicated that the Government has
increased the reward for information on any person doing missionary
work in the Chinese border region.
There was no reliable information on the number of religious
detainees or prisoners, but there were unconfirmed reports that many
people were detained for their religious beliefs and activities. Prison
conditions were harsh; starvation and forced labor were common. In the
past, visitors to the country observed prisoners being marched in leg
irons, metal collars, or shackles. Sanitation was poor, and prisoners
reported having no change of clothing during months of detention.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There was no information available on societal attitudes toward
religious freedom. The regime does not allow representatives of foreign
governments, journalists, or other visitors the freedom of movement
that would enable them to assess fully religious freedom in the
country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government did not have diplomatic relations with the
country and has no official presence there. Since 2001 the Secretary
has designated the country a ``Country of Particular Concern'' under
the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe
violations of religious freedom.
The U.S. Government regularly raises religious freedom concerns
about the country in multilateral fora and bilaterally with other
governments, particularly those with diplomatic relations with the
country. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs Christopher Hill publicly stated that dialogue on the country's
human rights record will be a part of any future normalization process
between the country and the U.S. Government. In April 2005 several U.S.
State Department officials testified before the House International
Relations Committee on the country's human rights record and U.S.
Government efforts to implement the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act
(NKHRA). They and the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International
Religious Freedom have repeatedly raised awareness of the deplorable
human rights conditions in the country through speeches before U.S.
audiences.
In response to serious concerns over the country's human rights
record, Congress enacted the 2004 NKHRA. In August 2005 the president
appointed Jay Lefkowitz as Special Envoy for Human Rights in North
Korea in keeping with one provision of the NKHRA. Since his
appointment, Special Envoy Lefkowitz has urged other countries,
including the Republic of Korea and Japan, to join the growing
international campaign urging the country to address its human rights
conditions and abuses of religious freedom.
In April 2005, for the third consecutive year, the U.S. Government
worked with other concerned governments to win passage of a resolution
condemning the country's deplorable human rights record at the 61st
Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The resolution
expressed ``deep concern about reports of systemic, widespread and
grave violations of human rights'' and note(d) with regret that the
authorities ``have not created the necessary conditions to permit the
international community to verify these reports.'' The resolution also
called on the Government to fulfill its obligations under human rights
instruments to which it is a party and ensure that humanitarian
organizations and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human
Rights in the DPRK have free access to the country. In November 2005,
the U.S. co-sponsored a similar resolution before the U.N. General
Assembly that condemned the country's human rights record, marking the
first time the General Assembly passed such a resolution.
In 2005 the U.S. Department of State provided the National
Endowment for Democracy with a $496,000 grant to improve and expand
monitoring and reporting on human rights conditions in the country. The
U.S. Department of State also provided a grant to Freedom House for a
series of conferences and other activities dedicated to pressuring the
regime to end its abuses. Radio Free Asia and Voice of America also
provides regular Korean-language broadcasting. U.S. Government policy
allows U.S. citizens to travel to the country, and a number of churches
and religious groups have organized efforts to alleviate suffering
caused by shortages of food and medicine.
The country remains subject to the economic restrictions of the
1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment on international trade. Following CPC
designation in 2001, these restrictions were also tied to the country's
status under the International Religious Freedom Act.
__________
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 38,023 square miles, and its population
is approximately forty-eight million. According to a 2005 government
survey, when the population stood at 47,041,000, the number of
adherents of the predominant religions were: Buddhism, 10,726,000;
Protestantism, 8,616,000; Roman Catholicism, 5,146,000; Confucianism,
105 thousand; Won Buddhism, 130 thousand; and other religions, 247
thousand. A total of 22,071,000 citizens did not practice any religion.
The percentage of adherents of each faith has remained approximately
the same in recent years.
No official figures were available on the membership of other
religious groups in the country, which included Jehovah's Witnesses,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Seventh-day
Adventist Church, Daesun Jinrihoe, and Islam.
Buddhism has approximately twenty-seven orders. The Catholic Church
had sixteen dioceses. The Christian Council of Korea reported that
there were an estimated fifteen Protestant denominations, including the
Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Anglican churches, and
the Korean Gospel Church Assembly. Within these Protestant
denominations there were approximately 121 Protestant subgroups, an
estimated 80 percent of which were Presbyterian subdivisions.
According to Gallup Korea's 2004 survey on the state of religion in
the country, 36.0 percent of those who practiced a faith reported that
they attended religious services or rituals at a church or temple more
than once a week, 10.6 percent attended two to three times per month,
20.6 percent attended once or twice a year, and 4.9 percent did not
attend services.
Of those who attended religious services more than once a week,
Protestants had the highest attendance rate with 71 percent, Catholics
42.9 percent, and Buddhists 3.5 percent.
Foreign-based missionary groups operated freely. Protestant groups
included: Overseas Mission; Overseas Missionary Fellowship; Campus
Crusade for Christ, Youth Mission; Global Mission Bible Translator;
World Wide Evangelization for Christ; and Serving in Mission for
Christ. Catholic groups included: Missionaries of Guadeloupe; Maryknoll
Fathers; Little Brothers of Jesus; Claretian Missionaries; Consolate
Missionaries; Divine Word Missionaries; and Missionaries of Charity
Brothers. In 2005 the country sent more than fourteen thousand
missionaries abroad, making it the second largest source of
missionaries after the United States.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion, and the Government does not subsidize
or favor a particular religion.
There are no government-established requirements for religious
recognition. The Traditional Temples Preservation Law protects cultural
properties including Buddhist temples, which receive some subsidies
from the Government for their preservation and upkeep. Buddha's
Birthday and Christmas are the only national holidays that are
religious in nature. Recognition of these two days does not negatively
impact other religious groups.
The Government does not require or permit religious instruction in
public schools. Private schools are free to conduct religious
activities.
The Religious Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
takes the lead in organizing groups such as the Korea Religious Council
and the Council for Peaceful Religions to promote interfaith dialogue
and understanding. The bureau also is responsible for planning regular
events such as the Religion and Art Festival, the Seminar for Religious
Leaders, and the Symposium for Religious Newspapers and Journalists.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The Government provides no exemption or alternative civilian
service for those who have a religious objection to service in the
armed forces. According to the Ministry of National Defense, in 2005
Jehovah's Witnesses accounted for 818 of the 828 men who rejected
military service. Of the total, 598 had pending trials. Of the 225
convicted in 2005, 220 were given eighteen to twenty-four month prison
sentences. They were allowed to conduct their own religious services in
prison. During the period covered by this report, the issue of
conscientious objectors continued to be discussed by the public,
politicians, Government, and in the courts. The proposed revisions
regarding conscientious objectors to the National Military Service Law
were pending in the National Assembly's National Defense Committee. In
December 2005 the National Human Rights Commission recommended the
Government recognize an individual's right, based on religious
conviction, to refuse compulsory military service, and called for an
alternative form of service. In April 2006 the Ministry of National
Defense established a seventeen-member committee, made up of scholars,
lawyers, journalists, religious leaders, civic activists, and military
officials, to study ways to introduce and to establish the standards
for such alternative service.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. In June 2004 angry citizens
demonstrated at the mosque in Seoul for about a month following the
beheading of Korean hostage Kim Sun-il in Iraq. The Government provided
security and protection to the mosque but did not interfere with the
demonstrations, since they were legal assemblies. According to the
Institute for Middle East Studies, once the anger over the beheading
subsided, Muslims in the country returned to their normal routines and
worshipped freely.
Religious leaders regularly met both privately and under government
auspices to promote mutual understanding and tolerance. These meetings
were given wide and favorable coverage by the media.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials also met regularly with members of various religious
communities to discuss issues related to human rights.
__________
LAOS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. Some government officials
committed abuses of citizens' religious freedom.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. In most parts of the country,
officials generally respected the constitutionally guaranteed rights of
members of most faiths to worship, but within constraints imposed by
the Government. Authorities in some areas continued to display
intolerance for minority religious practice, especially by evangelical
Christians. The Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), the popular
front organization for the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), was
responsible for oversight of religious practice. The prime minister's
decree on religious practice (Decree 92) was the principal legal
instrument defining rules for religious practice. Although this decree
has contributed to greater religious tolerance since it was
promulgated, authorities used its many conditions to restrict some
aspects of religious practice. Decree 92 institutionalized the
Government's role as the final arbiter of permissible religious
activities.
During the period covered by this report, some local officials
pressured minority Christians to renounce their faith on threat of
arrest or forceful eviction from their villages. Such cases occurred in
Bokeo, Oudomsai, and Salavan provinces. Arrests and detention of
Christians occurred in Bokeo, Bolikhamsai, Salavan, and Vientiane
Municipality. In December 2005 authorities in Bolikhamsai province
detained a group of twenty-seven ethnic Hmong. The group--all minors
but one--were residents at the Petchaboon displaced persons settlement
in northern Thailand, and were irregularly sent into the country by
Thai authorities who believed they were illegal immigrants. Some
sources indicated that the group was Christian, and may have been
detained in the country in part due to its religious affiliation. These
twenty-seven Hmong were still in detention at the end of the reporting
period. Additionally, a Lao Evangelical Church (LEC) in Bokeo Province
was burned by village officials and six church leaders were arrested in
late 2005. Five of the six leaders were later released, but one church
leader died after being transferred from jail to a military hospital.
In early 2006 a village chief in Oudomsai Province confiscated the land
of several Christian families.
Moreover, a Christian in Salavan Province has been under house
arrest since April 1, 2006 for refusing to renounce his faith. At the
end of the period covered by this report, there were thirty known
religious prisoners, all members of the LEC, with the exception of the
twenty-seven ethnic Hmong that were deported from Thailand.
There were generally amicable relations among the various religious
groups, although differences in religious beliefs among villagers led
to tensions. Conflicts between ethnic groups sometimes exacerbated
religious tensions. The efforts of some Protestant congregations to
establish churches independent of the LEC continued to cause strains
within the Protestant community.
U.S. embassy officials and visiting U.S. Government representatives
discussed the need for greater religious freedom at all levels of the
Government. The embassy sought to encourage religious tolerance through
dialogue. The embassy maintained frequent contact with religious
leaders, and official visitors from the U.S. Government, including the
Deputy Secretary of State, have repeatedly encouraged greater religious
freedom in the country.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately eighty-five thousand
square miles and an estimated population of 5.8 million. Almost all
ethnic or ``lowland'' Lao are followers of Theravada Buddhism; however,
lowland Lao constituted only about 40-50 percent of the population. The
remainder of the population belonged to at least forty-seven distinct
ethnic minority groups. Most of these ethnic minorities were
practitioners of animism, with beliefs that varied greatly between
groups. Animism predominated among some Sino-Thai groups, such as the
Thai Dam and Thai Daeng, as well as among Mon-Khmer and Burmo-Tibetan
groups. Even among lowland Lao, many pre-Buddhist animistic religious
beliefs had been incorporated into Theravada Buddhist practice.
Catholics and Protestants constituted approximately 2 percent of the
population. Other minority religious groups included the Baha'i Faith,
Islam, Mahayana Buddhism, and Confucianism. A very small number of
citizens followed no religion.
Theravada Buddhism was by far the most prominent organized religion
in the country, with nearly five thousand temples serving as the focus
of religious practice and faith as well as the center of community life
in rural areas. In most lowland Lao villages, religious tradition
remained strong. Most Buddhist men spend some part of their lives as
monks in a temple, even if only for a few days. There were
approximately twenty-two thousand monks in the country, nearly nine
thousand of whom have attained the rank of ``senior monk,'' indicating
years of study in a temple. In addition there were approximately 450
nuns, generally older women who were widowed, residing in temples
throughout the country. The Buddhist Church was under the direction of
a supreme patriarch who resided in Vientiane and supervised the
activities of the church's central office, the Ho Thammasapha.
Although officially incorporated into the dominant Mahanikai school
of Buddhist practice after 1975, the Thammayudh sect of Buddhism still
maintained a following in the country. Abbots and monks of several
temples, particularly in Vientiane, reportedly were followers of the
Thammayudh School, which placed greater emphasis on meditation and
discipline.
In Vientiane there were four Mahayana Buddhist pagodas, two serving
the ethnic Vietnamese community and two serving the ethnic Chinese
community. Buddhist monks from Vietnam, China, and India have visited
these pagodas freely to conduct services and minister to worshippers.
There were at least four large Mahayana Buddhist pagodas in other urban
centers and smaller Mahayana pagodas in villages near the borders of
Vietnam and China.
The Roman Catholic Church had approximately forty thousand
adherents, many of whom were ethnic Vietnamese, concentrated in major
urban centers and surrounding areas along the Mekong River in the
central and southern regions of the country. The Catholic Church had an
established presence in five of the most populous central and southern
provinces, where Catholics were able to worship openly. The Catholic
Church's activities were more circumscribed in the north, although
there were signs the Government was permitting a revival of the
Catholic community there. Three bishops, located in Vientiane, Thakhek,
and Pakse, were able to visit Rome to confer with church officials. The
Government did not permit a fourth bishop, assigned to the northern
part of the country, to take up his post in Luang Prabang, but did
permit him to travel to the north periodically to visit church
congregations. The Church's property there was seized after 1975 and
there was no longer a parsonage in that city; the bishop remains in
residence in Vientiane. An informal Catholic training center in Thakhek
prepared a small number of priests to serve the Catholic community.
Several foreign nuns have served temporarily in the Vientiane diocese.
Approximately 300 Protestant congregations conducted services
throughout the country for a community that has grown rapidly in the
past decade. Church officials estimated Protestants to number as many
as one-hundred thousand, although actual numbers were probably closer
to half this figure. The LFNC recognized two Protestant groups: The
LEC, which is the umbrella Protestant church, and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. The LFNC required all Protestant groups except
Adventists to operate under the LEC's overall direction. Many
Protestants were members of ethnic Mon-Khmer groups, especially the
Khmu in the north and the Brou in the central provinces. Protestants
also have expanded rapidly in the Hmong and Yao communities. In urban
areas, the LEC has attracted many lowland Lao followers. Most LEC
members are concentrated in the Vientiane municipality, in the
provinces of Vientiane, Sayaboury, Luang Prabang, Xieng Khouang,
Bolikhamsai, Savannakhet, Champassak, Attapeu, and in the former
Saisomboun Special Zone, but smaller congregations were found
throughout the country.
The Seventh-day Adventist congregation numbered fewer than one
thousand followers in Vientiane City, Bokeo Province, and one small
Hmong community in Xieng Khouang province.
All approved Christian religious faiths owned properties in
Vientiane City, although some of their properties have not been
officially recognized by the Government. In addition the LEC maintained
properties in Savannakhet and Pakse. Two informal churches, one
English-speaking and one Korean-speaking, served Vientiane's foreign
Protestant community.
Within the LEC, some congregations have sought greater independence
and have forged their own connections with Protestant groups abroad. As
the LEC has grown, an increased diversity of views has emerged among
adherents and pastors, and one or two groups quietly have sought to
register with the LFNC as separate denominations. Two of the more
active of these ``underground'' denominations are Methodists and
Jehovah's Witnesses, both of which have unsuccessfully sought official
government approval for their activities. Other denominations that have
some following in the country include the Church of Christ, Assemblies
of God, Lutherans, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), and Baptists. Although the prime minister's Decree on
Religious Practice established procedures for new denominations to
register, the Government's desire to consolidate religious practice for
purposes of control has effectively blocked new registrations. In early
2006 the Methodists once again requested to register with the
Government as a religious group separate and apart from the LEC.
New guidelines issued by the LFNC in early 2004 required all other
Protestant denominations wishing to establish congregations in the
country to do so under the aegis of the LEC. In theory denominations
not registered with the LFNC were not allowed to practice their faith.
These unregistered ``independent'' churches expressed concern about
being forced to cease activities. Authorities in several provinces
insisted that independent church congregations return to the LEC, but
in other areas authorities allowed independent churches to conduct
services without hindrance.
There were approximately 400 adherents of Islam in the country, the
vast majority of whom were foreign permanent residents of South Asian
and Cambodian (Cham) origin. There were two active mosques in Vientiane
that ministered to the Sunni branch of Islam, but both were open to
visits by Shiite worshippers as well.
The Baha'i Faith had approximately eight thousand adherents and
four centers: Two in Vientiane Municipality, one in Vientiane Province,
and one in Savannakhet. A small number of Baha'is also lived in
Khammouane Province and in Pakse City. The land on which the four
Baha'i centers were located was approved by the Lao Government this
year for use by the Baha'is. Additionally, the Government has given
official approval for Baha'is to use land where they already have a
cemetery. The Baha'is were planning to construct new spiritual centers
in Savannkhet's Dong Bang Village and in Lat Khouay Village in
Vientiane Municipality. They have received both village and district
level approval to use the land, but were awaiting the official land
deeds from the District Land Offices. Small groups of followers of
Confucianism and Taoism practiced their beliefs in the larger cities.
Although the Government prohibited foreigners from proselytizing,
some resident foreigners associated with private businesses or
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) quietly engage in missionary
activity.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, local
authorities in particular sometimes violated this right. Article 30 of
the constitution provides for freedom of religion, a fact frequently
cited by officials in reference to religious tolerance. Article 9 of
the constitution, however, discouraged all acts that create divisions
among religions and persons. The Government interpreted this clause
restrictively, and cites it as a reason for placing constraints on
religious practice, especially those of minority religions. Although
official pronouncements accept the existence of different religions,
they emphasize religion's potential to divide, distract, or
destabilize. Local and central government officials widely referenced
Article 9 as justification for prohibiting such religious activities as
proselytizing.
A person arrested or convicted for religious offenses had little
protection under the law. Persons detained may be held for lengthy
periods without trial. Court judges, not juries, decided guilt or
innocence in court cases, and accused person's defense rights were
limited. All religious groups, including Buddhists, practice their
faith in an atmosphere in which application of the law was arbitrary.
Certain actions interpreted by officials as threatening could bring
harsh punishment. Religious practice is ``free'' only if practitioners
stay within tacitly understood guidelines of what was acceptable to the
Government.
The Government typically refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing on
the part of its officials, even in egregious cases of religious
persecution. Blame was inevitably attributed to the victims rather than
the persecuting officials. In some cases, officials concocted patently
unbelievable explanations for events in order to exonerate local
officials.
In twenty articles, Decree 92 establishes guidelines for religious
activities in a broad range of areas. While the decree provides that
the Government ``respects and protects legitimate activities of
believers,'' it also seeks to ensure that religious practice ``conforms
to the laws and regulations.'' Decree 92 reserves for the LFNC the
``right and duty to manage and promote'' religious practice, requiring
that nearly all aspects of religious practice receive the approval of
the LFNC office having responsibility for the village or district where
the activity occurs.
The rules legitimized many activities that were previously regarded
as illegal, such as proselytizing, printing religious material, owning
and building houses of worship, and maintaining contact with overseas
religious groups. However, in practice the Government was able to
impose restrictions on religious activities through the required LFNC
approval. The Government required several religious groups, apparently
with the exception of the Buddhists, to report periodically to the
Religious Affairs Department of the LFNC. According to some religious
leaders, the Government's request for such reports had recently become
more frequent, indicating that in the past reports were due annually,
then every six months, and recently requested after four months. There
was also a restriction against publication of religious materials that
applies to most religious groups, with the exception of Buddhists.
Both the constitution and Decree 92 asserted that religious
practice should serve national interests by promoting development and
education and instructing believers to be good citizens. The Government
presumes both a right and a duty to oversee religious practice at all
levels to ensure such practice fills this role in society. In effect
this has led the Government to intervene in the activities of minority
religious groups, particularly Christians, on the grounds that their
practices did not promote national interests, or demonstrated
disloyalty to the Government.
Although the state was secular in name and practice, members of
governmental institutions are by and large followers of Theravada
Buddhism, the religion of the majority of the ethnic Lao population.
The Government's exemption of Buddhism from many of the Decree 92
restrictions imposed on other organized religions and its promotion of
Buddhism as an element of the country's cultural and spiritual identity
give Theravada Buddhism the status of an unofficial national religion.
Many persons regard Buddhism as both an integral part of the national
culture and a way of life. The increasing incorporation of Buddhist
ritual and ceremony in state functions reflected the elevated status of
Buddhism in society.
In some areas where animism predominates among ethnic minority
groups, local authorities have actively encouraged those groups to
adopt Buddhism and abandon their ``backward'' beliefs in magic and
spirits. The Government discouraged animist practices that it regards
as outdated, unhealthy, or illegal, such as the practice in some tribes
of killing children born with defects or of burying the bodies of
deceased relatives under one's home. Aspects of nontraditional
religious beliefs have penetrated Protestant congregations in some
areas. In Xieng Khouang Province, a Hmong Christian congregation
adopted millenarian practices in its worship service. According to
provincial authorities, these beliefs led a senior church member to
kill his wife late in 2003, predicting her resurrection in three days.
Officials from the LFNC later asked the Seventh-day Adventist Church to
incorporate this Hmong congregation into its community to bring its
doctrines into line with those of an approved denomination.
Although the Government did not maintain diplomatic relations with
the Holy See, the Papal Nuncio visits from Thailand and coordinates
with the Government on assistance programs, especially for lepers and
persons with disabilities.
Muslims in the small Islamic community were able to practice their
faith openly and attend the two active mosques. Daily prayers and the
weekly Jumaat prayer on Fridays proceeded unobstructed, and all Islamic
celebrations were allowed. Muslims were permitted to go on the Hajj.
Groups that conduct Tabligh teachings for the faithful came from
Thailand once or twice per year. Since 2001 the Government has more
closely scrutinized the activities of the small Muslim population but
has not interfered with the community's religious activities. In 2005
and 2006 a local Muslim leader represented the Government, along with
members of other religious groups, at an Interfaith Conference on
Religion in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The small Seventh-day Adventist Church, confined to a handful of
congregations in Vientiane and in Bokeo Province, reported no
government interference in its activities in recent years, and its
members appeared to be free to practice their faith.
The Baha'i spiritual assemblies in Vientiane and Savannakhet cities
practiced freely, but smaller communities in Khammouane and Savannakhet
provinces have periodically faced restrictions by local authorities.
The Baha'i assembly previously encountered difficulties establishing
its ownership of the Baha'i center in Vientiane; however, in 2005
authorities granted approval for use of the property by the Baha'is.
Baha'i local spiritual assemblies and the national spiritual assembly
routinely held Baha'i nineteen-day feasts and celebrated all holy days.
The National Spiritual Assembly in Vientiane met regularly and has sent
delegations to the Universal House of Justice in Mount Carmel, in
Haifa, Israel.
The Government observes two religious holidays Boun That Luang (the
end of Buddhist Lent) and the Buddhist New Year in April. It recognized
the popularity and cultural significance of Buddhist festivals, and
most senior officials openly attended them. The Government generally
allowed major religious festivals of all established congregations
without hindrance. In the past, local officials in some areas
obstructed Christian congregations' observance of religious holidays
such as Christmas. Some church officials indicated that Christmas
activities in 2005 were more restricted than in past years,
particularly in Vientiane Municipality.
Authorities required new denominations to join other religious
groups with similar historical antecedents despite clear differences
between the groups' beliefs. In March 2004 the LFNC's Order Number 1
required all Protestant groups to become a part of the LEC or the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. The order states that no other
denominations will be permitted to register, a measure to prevent
``disharmony'' in the religious community.
There was no religious instruction in public schools nor were there
any parochial or religiously affiliated schools operating in the
country. Several private pre-schools and English language schools
received support from religious groups abroad, however. In practice
many boys spent some time in Buddhist temples, where they received
instruction in religion as well as in academics. Temples traditionally
have filled the role of schools and continued to play this role in
smaller communities where formal education was limited or unavailable.
Christian denominations, particularly the LEC, Seventh-day Adventists,
and the Catholic Church, operated Sunday schools for children and young
persons. Baha'i spiritual assemblies conduct religious training for
children as well as for adult members.
The Government required and routinely granted permission for formal
links with coreligionists in other countries. In practice the line
between formal and informal links was blurred, and relations generally
were established without much difficulty.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government's tolerance of religion varied by region and by
religion; evangelical Protestants associated with the LEC, and other
Protestant groups that would have liked to be recognized as separate
from the LEC, continued to be the target of most restrictions. Although
not subjected to harassment, the Government observed the Buddhist
hierarchy closely. The Buddhist Supreme Patriarch, or Sangkarat,
maintained close links to the Government. As a result of the
Government's decentralization policy that diffused power to provinces
and districts, central government control over the behavior of local
officials was weak. Local officials were often unaware of government
policies on issues such as religious tolerance due to the absence of
rule of law, coupled with the incomplete dissemination and application
of existing laws and regulations. The LFNC at times visited areas where
religious persecution had taken place in order to instruct local
officials on government policy and regulation. More often, the LFNC's
Religious Affairs Department encouraged local or provincial governments
to resolve conflicts on their own and in accordance with Decree 92.
The larger urban areas such as Vientiane, Thakhek, Pakse, and
Savannakhet cities experienced little or no overt religious abuse,
according to religious leaders in those areas. The large Protestant and
Catholic communities of several provinces, including Xieng Khouang,
Khammouane, and Champassak, reported no difficulties with authorities.
Relations between officials and Christians in these areas were
generally cordial. Throughout the country, however, religious practice
reportedly was restrained by official rules and policies that allowed
properly registered religious groups to practice their faith only under
circumscribed conditions.
Between 1999 and 2001 local authorities closed approximately twenty
of Vientiane Province's sixty LEC churches, primarily in Hin Hoep,
Feuang, and Vang Vieng Districts, and approximately sixty-five LEC
churches in Savannakhet and Luang Prabang provinces. With a more
relaxed policy of religious tolerance beginning in 2002, most of these
churches were allowed to reopen, particularly in Vientiane and Luang
Prabang provinces. However, officials in several districts of
Savannakhet Province did not allow local congregations to reopen five
or six of Savannakhet's approximately forty churches and they remained
closed at the end of the reporting period. Officials in Khamsan Village
continued to refuse permission to the village's LEC congregation to
reopen its church, which was closed in 2003. Officials in Muang Feuang
district of Vientiane Province granted permission for LEC members to
reconstruct a destroyed church in Phone Ngam village in 2005 and the
church has since reopened.
During the reporting period, there were no reported LEC church
closures apart from one church that was burned by village officials in
Houaysay Noi Village in Bokeo Province. Six church leaders were
subsequently arrested and imprisoned in late 2005. One of the church
leaders, Som Sack, a former district governor, became ill while in
prison and was moved to a military hospital where he died in November.
Some religious figures noted that the Government had stopped paying Som
Sack his retirement pay after he had converted to Christianity a few
years earlier. Two arrestees were reportedly released in early December
2005 and the remaining three in late December.
In 2004 the Government quietly allowed a handful of new churches to
be constructed, including the first Catholic Church built in northern
Laos since 1975, a Catholic church in Bolikhamsai Province, and four
new LEC churches in the former Saisomboun Special Zone and Bolikhamsai
Province. Vientiane Province authorities also permitted LEC Christians
to rebuild a destroyed church in Phone Ngam Village. In contrast to the
past policy of denying all such requests, several provinces also
permitted some Christian congregations to expand or renovate long-
standing churches.
As many as 200 of the LEC's nearly 400 congregations do not have
permanent church structures and conduct worship services in members'
homes. Since the promulgation of Decree 92, officials from the LFNC's
Religious Affairs Department have said that home churches should be
replaced with designated church structures whenever possible. At the
same time, village and district-level LFNC offices often refused
permission to construct new churches, and home churches remained the
only viable place of worship for many LEC congregations. The LEC
encountered difficulties registering new congregations and receiving
permission to establish new places of worship or repair existing
facilities, particularly in Luang Prabang City, Attapeu, Luang Namtha,
and Savannakhet provinces.
In addition authorities required new denominations to join other
religious groups with similar historical antecedents despite clear
differences between the groups' beliefs. In at least two provinces,
Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang, authorities used threats of arrest of
senior church leaders to force ``independent'' churches loosely
affiliated with the U.S.-based United Methodist Church to return to the
LEC. In other areas of the country, however, independent churches have
generally been allowed to conduct services without hindrance by local
authorities. As of early 2006, however, some village and district
officials appear to be taking a stronger stance against unauthorized
Methodist congregations.
The authorities remained suspicious of patrons of religious
communities other than Buddhism, especially evangelical Christian
groups, in part because these faiths do not share the high degree of
direction and incorporation into the Government structure that
Theravada Buddhism does. Some authorities criticized Christianity as a
Western or imperialist ``import'' into the country. In the past decade,
the LEC suffered the brunt of local-level efforts to close churches,
arrest church leaders, and force members to renounce their faith. The
LEC's rapid growth over the last decade, its contacts with religious
groups abroad, the active proselytizing on the part of some of its
members, and its independence of government control contributed to
government suspicion of the church's activities. Some authorities also
interpreted Christian teachings of obedience to God as signifying
disloyalty to the Government and ruling party. There was also strong
evidence that the Communist Party leadership viewed Christianity as a
tool of western countries to undermine the Communist political system.
In view of this, the Government's hostility to organized Christianity
can be seen as the defensive measure of a regime bent on securing its
power against all potential threats. The LEC membership was comprised
mostly of ethnic Mon-Khmer tribes and the Hmong, two groups that
historically have resisted central Government control, which
contributed to the Government's distrust of the LEC.
During the period covered by this report there were no reports of
official interference with or denial of permission to hold religious
celebrations in churches, but there were reports that Christians in
villages were not allowed to hold Christian celebrations in their
homes, thus restricting Christian activities to church buildings only.
There were no reports of security forces stopping vehicles during
Sunday worship hours to prevent villagers from traveling to attend
worship services.
Longstanding restrictions on the Catholic Church's operations in
the north left only a handful of small congregations in Sayaboury,
Bokeo, and Luang Namtha; however, there were signs during the reporting
period that the Government was easing its control over the Catholic
community in the north. The Government permitted more frequent visits
by the Bishop of Luang Prabang to the north to conduct services for the
scattered Catholic community there, but it continued to restrict his
travel. There were no ordained Catholic priests operating in the north.
Several church properties, including a school in Vientiane, were seized
by the Government after 1975 and have not been returned, nor has the
Government provided restitution. In early 2005 authorities allowed
Catholics in Ban Pong Vang of Sayaboury Province to construct a new
church with assistance from the Papal Nuncio Office in Bangkok. This
was the first Catholic Church built in the north since the creation of
the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975. In the central and
southern parts of the country, Catholic congregations practiced their
religion relatively freely.
In late 2005 the Catholic Church planned to conduct an ordination
in Bolilkhamsai Province. The Government initially blocked the
ordination, which would have been the first Catholic ordination in the
country since 1975; however, in June 2006 the ordination was allowed to
proceed in Vientiane Municipality along with the ordination of a deacon
in Champassak Province.
The Government prohibited foreigners from proselytizing, although
it permitted foreign NGOs with religious affiliations to work in the
country. Foreigners caught distributing religious materials could have
been arrested or deported. Decree 92 specifically authorized
proselytizing by local citizens, providing the LFNC approves the
activity. In practice the authorities interpreted proselytizing as an
illegal activity that creates divisiveness in society. Authorities
sometimes seized religious tracts and teaching materials from local
Christians entering the country from abroad and arrested and expelled
foreigners attempting to proselytize. In early 2006 two South Koreans
were reportedly arrested for proselytizing in Bokeo Province and were
expelled.
Although Decree 92 authorized the printing of non-Buddhist
religious texts and allowed religious materials to be imported from
abroad, it also required permission for such activities from the LFNC.
The LFNC did not authorize Christian or Baha'i denominations to print
their own religious materials, although both groups had been seeking
permission to do so for several years. Some believers bring religious
materials into the country; however, these persons face possible
arrest. Because of these restrictions, some approved Christian
congregations complained of difficulties in obtaining Bibles and other
religious materials. During the reporting period, several Christians
were arrested at the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge for attempting to bring
Bibles into the country. They were generally detained for a few days.
Several non-Christian groups indicated that they have not been
restricted in bringing religious materials into the country.
The Government generally did not interfere with citizens wishing to
travel abroad for short-term religious training; however, it required
that such travelers notify authorities of the purpose of their travel
and obtain permission in advance. In practice many persons of all
faiths traveled abroad informally for religious training without
obtaining advance permission or without informing authorities of the
purpose of their travel. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs usually
granted exit visas, but on occasion it refused travel permission to
persons going abroad for what it regarded as suspect activities.
Identity cards did not specify religion, nor did family ``household
registers'' or passports, two other important forms of identification.
On occasion authorities withheld new ID cards or household registers
from Christians because of their religious beliefs or threatened to
withhold official documentation unless they renounced their faith.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Authorities continued to arrest or detain persons for their
religious activities. Most detentions that occurred during the period
covered by this report were short, varying from a few days to a few
weeks. At least five Christians were detained for several days after
attempting to bring Bibles into the country at the Lao-Thai Friendship
Bridge. At the end of the period covered by this report, there were
thirty religious prisoners: Two in Oudomsai Province, one under house
arrest in Salavan Province, and twenty-seven in Bolikhamsai Province.
Conditions in prisons were harsh; like other prisoners, religious
detainees suffered from inadequate food rations, lack of medical care,
and cramped quarters.
In 1999 authorities arrested two members of the Lao Evangelical
Church in Oudomsai Province, Nyoht and Thongchanh, and charged them
with treason and sedition, although their arrests appeared to have been
for proselytizing. Nyoht was sentenced to twelve years in prison and
Thongchanh to fifteen years. The men remained in detention at the end
of the period covered by this report despite appeals that their case be
reviewed.
In July and August 2004 authorities in Kasi District, Vientiane
Province, detained four LEC Christians for several months. The LEC
maintained that they were detained because of their religious
activities. In late 2004 authorities arrested two ethnic Yao Christians
in Long San District of Vientiane Province for proselytizing, according
to LEC sources.
In early 2005 authorities in Muang Phin District of Savannakhet
Province detained twenty-four ethnic Brou Christians associated with
the LEC at the district police office for several days in order to
force their renunciation of faith. All but two of the men recanted
their faith. These two men were imprisoned for approximately one year,
but were reportedly released in early 2006. Officials in Sayaboury
arrested an LEC pastor in June 2005, claiming that he had criticized
members of the provincial administration. According to the LEC, he was
released in late 2005.
In December 2005 authorities in Bolikhamsai Province detained a
group of twenty-seven ethnic Hmong. The group--all minors but one--were
residents at the Petchaboon displaced persons settlement in northern
Thailand, and were irregularly sent into the country by Thai
authorities who believed they were illegal immigrants. Some sources
indicated that the group was Christian, and may have been detained in
Laos in part due to its religious affiliation. These twenty-seven Hmong
were still in detention at the end of the reporting period.
Complicating this case, the Government refused to acknowledge it was
holding the group.
Forced Religious Conversion
Efforts by local officials to force Christians to renounce their
faith continued in some areas. In some cases, officials threatened
religious minorities with arrest or expulsion from their villages if
they did not comply, and on a number of occasions acted on these
threats.
In October 2004 officials in Ban Phiengsavat Village of the former
Saisomboun Special Zone reportedly expelled a group of nearly seventy
Khmu Christians after the Christians refused to give up their beliefs.
In February 2005 a second expulsion took place in Ban Kok Pho Village
of Bolikhamsai Province only a short distance from Ban Phiengsavat.
In April 2006 district officials in Salavan Province reportedly
arrested an LEC member, Mr. Adern, who refused the village chief's
order to recant his faith. His was reportedly one of four Christian
families that had lived in the village, two of which had been forced to
leave by the time of his arrest. Mr. Adern was under house arrest at
the end of the reporting period. During the first ten days of house
arrest he was reportedly bound with wrist and ankle shackles, but was
then unshackled and allowed to move freely in his home.
Lands belonging to several Christian families in Ban Huang Village
of Oudomsai Province were reportedly confiscated by the village chief
and redistributed to other villagers in early 2006. Some other
Christians who previously lived in the village were said to have moved
to Phongsaly Province after being pressured by the village chief.
According to Lao officials and the LEC, the land confiscation issue was
resolved, but there was no clear explanation regarding what was done to
resolve the situation.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government's record of respect for religious freedom,
particularly that of Christian minorities, continued to be marred by
problems at the local level, with incidents of persecution occurring in
many provinces.
In its official pronouncements in recent years, the Government
called for conciliation and equality between religious faiths. The LFNC
continued to instruct local officials on religious tolerance. Officials
from the LFNC traveled with representatives of the LEC to several
provinces to promote better understanding between LEC congregations and
local officials.
The LEC continued to conduct an active program of public service
during this reporting period, providing developmental assistance and
organizing social welfare projects in several areas that had previously
experienced religious intolerance. In conjunction with the LFNC, the
LEC conducted meetings with officials and Christians in some villages
where there had been religious tensions.
Although initially delayed by several months, the fact that the
Government allowed Catholics to ordain a priest and a deacon in June
2006 was a positive development.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
For the most part, the various religious communities coexist
amicably. Society places importance on harmonious relations, and the
dominant Buddhist faith generally is tolerant of other religious
practices. There was no ecumenical movement to date. Local cultural
mores generally instill respect for longstanding, well-known
differences in belief. However, interreligious tensions arose on rare
occasions within some minority ethnic groups, particularly in response
to proselytizing or disagreements over rights to village resources.
Efforts of some congregations to establish churches independent of the
LEC or associated with denominations based abroad led to some tensions
within the Protestant community. Frictions also have arisen over the
refusal of some members of minority religious groups, particularly
evangelical Christians, to participate in Buddhist or animist religious
ceremonies.
In December 2005 an LEC pastor, Mr. Aroun Varaphong, was murdered
in Bolikhamsai Province after preaching at a pre-Christmas service. At
the time of this report, there was reportedly no progress in the murder
investigation.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. ambassador cited the promotion of religious freedom as one
of her priorities after her arrival in Vientiane. She raised the issue
of religious freedom in calls on all major figures in the Government.
The ambassador also spoke directly about religious freedom with
provincial governors in her visits to the provinces. Other embassy
officers discussed religious freedom with a range of central and
provincial officials.
The embassy maintained an ongoing dialogue with the Department of
Religious Affairs in the LFNC. The embassy informed the LFNC of
specific cases of arrest or harassment. The LFNC in turn used this
information to intercede with local officials. Embassy representatives
met with all major religious leaders in the country during the period
covered by this report. Embassy officials actively encouraged religious
freedom despite an environment restricted by government-owned and
controlled media.
The embassy actively encouraged high-level visits as the most
effective tool for eliciting greater respect for religious freedom from
the Government. The embassy also posted on its website material
relevant to religious freedom in the country. In March 2006 a foreign
affairs officer from the Department of State's Office of International
Religious Freedom visited the country and met with the LFNC to
encourage greater religious freedom, registration of the Methodists as
a recognized religious group, permission for the Catholic Church to
proceed with a planned ordination, and the release of five religious
prisoners. Moreover, both Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Eric John visited the country during the reporting period and
encouraged greater religious freedom during their meetings with the
prime minister and foreign minister. John also discussed religious
freedom issues with the foreign minister during another visit in April
2006.
__________
MALAYSIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government places some restrictions on this right. Islam is recognized
in the constitution as ``the religion of the Federation,'' but the
practice of non-Sunni Islamic beliefs was significantly restricted, and
those deviating from accepted Sunni beliefs could be subjected to
``rehabilitation.'' Non-Muslims were free to practice their religious
beliefs with few restrictions.
There was no material change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report.
The generally tolerant relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 127 thousand square miles,
and its population was estimated at 25.6 million. According to 2000
census figures, approximately 60 percent of the population practiced
Islam; 19 percent Buddhism; 9 percent Christianity; 6 percent Hinduism;
and 3 percent Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese
religions. The remainder was accounted for by other faiths, including
animism, Sikhism, and the Baha'i Faith. Ethnic Malays, accounting for
approximately 55 percent of the population, are legally classified as
Muslims at birth.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, but it also
recognizes Islam as the country's religion. In practice the Government
significantly restricts the observance of Islamic beliefs other than
Sunni Islam. The Government provides financial support to an Islamic
religious establishment composed of a variety of governmental, quasi-
governmental, and other institutions, and it indirectly provides more
limited funds to non-Islamic communities. State governments impose
Islamic religious law on Muslims in some cultural and social matters
but generally do not interfere with the religious practices of non-
Muslim communities. Prime Minister Abdullah is a proponent of moderate,
progressive ``Islam Hadhari'' (literally ``civilizational Islam'').
Some observers believe support for this policy contributed to his 2004
election victory over the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS),
which advocated a stricter Islamic agenda.
Several holy days are recognized as official holidays, including
Hari Raya Puasa (Muslim), Hari Raya Qurban (Muslim), the Birth of the
Prophet Muhammad (Muslim), Wesak Day (Buddhist), Deepavali (Hindu),
Christmas (Christian), and, in East Malaysia, Good Friday (Christian).
The Registrar of Societies, under the Ministry of Home Affairs,
determines whether a religious organization may be registered and
thereby qualify for government grants and other benefits. Various
religious groups were not recognized as such by the Government, and
they sometimes registered themselves under the Companies Act to operate
legally. In June 2005 nine Falun Gong practitioners were fined for
committing technical violations of the Companies Act, such as failure
to provide minutes of the organization's meetings within the required
time frame.
Public schools generally offered Islamic religious instruction,
which is compulsory for Muslim children. Non-Muslim students are
required to take nonreligious morals/ethics courses. Private schools
are free to offer a non-Islamic religious curriculum as an option for
non-Muslims. There are no restrictions on home instruction. The
Government offered grants only to privately run Muslim religious
schools that agreed to allow government supervision and adopted a
government-approved curriculum.
In February 2005 the Malaysian Bar Council organized a forum to
discuss the creation of an interfaith commission aimed at promoting
better understanding and mutual respect among the country's religious
groups. Several groups claiming to represent mainstream Islam refused
to participate in the forum on the grounds that an interfaith
commission would ``weaken Islam.'' The Government subsequently
announced that an interfaith commission was not necessary but stated
that interfaith dialogue should be encouraged.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In practice Muslims are not permitted to convert to another
religion. In several recent rulings secular courts ceded jurisdiction
to Shari'a courts in matters involving conversion to or from Islam. In
July 2004 the Federal Court, the country's highest court, upheld a 2002
lower court ruling that only the Shari'a courts were qualified to
determine whether a Muslim has become an apostate. In September 2005
the country's second-highest court, the Court of Appeal, denied the
request of a Muslim who had converted to Christianity to change the
religion designated on her national identity card. The Court of Appeal
ruled that a Shari'a court must first approve a request by a Muslim
citizen to convert to another religion. In practice Shari'a courts
routinely denied such requests. Citing the case as ``a matter of
general public interest,'' the Federal Court agreed in April 2006 to
hear the woman's appeal and address the degree to which Shari'a courts
have jurisdiction over determinations of Muslim apostasy.
In December 2005 a trial court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction
over Shari'a court decisions on matters that concerned Islamic family
law. The case involved the disposition of the remains of a Hindu man
who was alleged to have converted to Islam before his death. The man's
Hindu wife, claiming that there was no clear evidence that he had
converted to Islam, struggled with Islamic authorities over which
religion's rites should govern his burial. A Shari'a court ruled that
the Hindu man was a Muslim and ordered his burial according to Muslim
rites. As a non-Muslim, the wife took her case to the secular High
Court, but the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case
because it involved a Muslim. She then filed an appeal, which was
pending as of June 30, 2006. In January 2006, following the death of an
eighty-nine-year-old ethnic Malay woman who had practiced Buddhism her
entire adult life, Islamic religious authorities requested a Shari'a
court to rule whether the woman's Buddhist family could be allowed to
bury her according to Buddhist rites. The Shari'a court ruled in favor
of the woman's family.
In January 2006 the non-Muslim members of the cabinet presented a
memorandum to the prime minister calling for a review of constitutional
provisions affecting the legal rights of non-Muslims. Following
protests from several Muslim leaders within the governing coalition and
a commitment by the prime minister to address the non-Muslim ministers'
concerns in future cabinet meetings, the ministers withdrew their
memorandum. The prime minister stated publicly that the country's
constitution provides sufficient protection of religious freedom and
should therefore not be reviewed or amended in that regard.
Control of mosques is exercised at the state level rather than by
the federal government; state religious authorities appoint imams to
mosques and provide guidance on the content of sermons. While practices
vary from state to state, both the Government and the opposition PAS
have attempted to use mosques in the states they control to deliver
politically oriented messages. In recent years, several states
controlled by the governing coalition announced measures including
banning opposition-affiliated imams from speaking at mosques, more
vigorously enforcing existing restrictions on the content of sermons,
replacing mosque leaders and governing committees thought to be
sympathetic to the opposition, and threatening to close down
unauthorized mosques with ties to the opposition. Similarly the state
government of Kelantan, controlled by the PAS, reportedly restricts
imams affiliated with the Barisan Nasional (the ruling coalition) from
speaking in mosques.
The Government opposed what it considered ``deviant''
interpretations of Islam, maintaining that allegedly deviant groups'
views endanger national security. According to the Government's Islamic
Development Department's (IDD) website, fifty-six deviant teachings had
been identified and prohibited to Muslims as of June 2006. They
included Shi'a, transcendental meditation, and Baha'i teachings, among
others. The Government asserted that ``deviationist'' teachings could
cause divisions among Muslims. The IDD has established written
guidelines concerning what constitutes ``deviationist'' behavior or
belief. State religious authorities, in making their determinations on
these matters, have generally followed the federal guidelines. Members
of groups deemed ``deviationist'' may be arrested and detained, with
the consent of a Shari'a court, in order to be ``rehabilitated'' and
returned to the ``true path of Islam.'' In June 2005 the religious
affairs minister told parliament that 22 ``deviant'' religious groups
with an estimated 2,820 followers had been identified in the country.
Neither the Government nor religious authorities provided data on the
number of such persons who have been subjected to ``rehabilitation.''
The Government continued to monitor the activities of the Shi'a
minority.
Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is strictly
prohibited, although proselytizing of non-Muslims faces no similar
obstacles. In April 2005 two foreign Christian missionaries were
arrested after distributing religious materials in front of a mosque.
They were charged with ``disturbing the peace in a religious manner.''
After ten days the Government dismissed the charges against the two men
and released them.
The Government restricts the distribution in peninsular Malaysia of
Malay-language translations of the Bible, Christian tapes, and other
printed materials. In April 2005 the prime minister declared that
copies of the Malay-language Bible must have the words ``Not for
Muslims'' printed on the front and could be distributed only in
churches and Christian bookshops. The distribution of Malay-language
Christian materials faces few restrictions in East Malaysia. According
to the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus,
and Sikhs (MCCBCHS), the Government restricted visas for foreign clergy
under the age of forty to inhibit ``militant clergy'' from entering the
country. While representatives of non-Muslim groups did not sit on the
immigration committee that approved visa requests, the MCCBCHS was
asked for its recommendations. In August 2005 the Selangor state
religious authorities announced their decision to withhold support for
visa applications by foreign Muslim imams and religious teachers. Local
media reported that the decision was largely targeted at the ethnic
Indian Muslim community, in an effort to increase the number of
``homegrown'' imams. Ethnic Indian religious leaders expressed concern
that some mosques and religious schools might need to be closed.
The Government prohibits publications that it alleges might incite
racial or religious disharmony. In 2004 it prohibited Muslims from
viewing the movie ``The Passion of the Christ'' but allowed non-Muslims
to view the film at private screenings.
The Government continued to require all Muslim civil servants to
attend government-approved religion classes.
State governments have authority over the building of non-Muslim
places of worship and the allocation of land for non-Muslim cemeteries.
Approvals for building permits sometimes were granted very slowly. Some
religious groups complained that state policies and local decisions
restrict the construction of non-Muslim places of worship. Muslim
residents of a neighborhood in Kajang objected to the building of a
church in a residential area that was predominantly Muslim. In May 2005
the local municipal council determined that the proposed site was
designated for residential building and rejected the church's
application. A Roman Catholic church delayed for more than fourteen
years by the state government of Selangor was officially opened in
September 2005. Church officials publicly accused state and local
officials of intentionally delaying construction of the church by
demanding relocation of proposed building sites and revoking previously
approved building plans and designs.
Unregistered religious statues and houses of worship may be
demolished by the state. Several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
complained about the demolition of unregistered Hindu temples and
shrines located on state and local lands. These structures were often
constructed on privately owned plantations prior to the country's
independence in 1957. Around that time, plantation lands containing
many Hindu shrines and temples were transferred to government
ownership. In March 2006 state officials in Negeri Sembilan announced
their intention to demolish an unregistered Hindu temple believed to be
150 years old. The temple sits on state-owned land that was zoned for
road construction in 1956. Approximately 300 worshippers regularly use
the temple. In May 2006 the temple sought a court injunction against
the pending demolition. The court case remained open as of June 30,
2006.
In family and religious matters, all Muslims are subject to Shari'a
law. Some women's rights advocates asserted that women faced
discriminatory treatment in Shari'a courts due to prejudicial
interpretation of Islamic family law and the lack of uniformity in the
implementation of such laws among the various states.
Government-controlled bodies exerted pressure upon non-Muslim women
to wear headscarves. In November 2005 the minister of higher education
stated that non-Muslim women students at the International Islamic
University of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur must wear headscarves when
attending lectures and during graduation ceremonies. In March 2006 the
leader of the Royal Malaysian Police stated that all female police
officers, including non-Muslims, should wear headscarves during public
ceremonies.
Since the defeat of the PAS in Terengganu in March 2004 elections,
state and local officials in that state have significantly reduced
enforcement of dress codes for women. In Kelantan, the PAS also lost
ground in 2004 but remained in control of the state legislature by a
narrow margin. Many observers interpreted the result as a rejection by
voters of the call by the PAS for the establishment of an Islamic state
and of the strict form of Islam that it promoted. The PAS-led state
government in Kelantan continued its ban on traditional Malay dance
theaters, prohibited advertisements depicting women not fully covered
by clothing, enforced wearing of headscarves by Muslim women, and
imposed fines for violators during the reporting period. However, state
authorities reversed several previously enacted Islamic law-related
prohibitions. The PAS-led government allowed operation of gender
segregated cinemas and concert venues, fashion shows limited to female
attendees, and billiard/snooker centers for men only.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
According to the Government, no individuals were detained under the
Internal Security Act (ISA) for religious reasons during the period
covered by this report.
The Government is concerned that ``deviationist'' teachings could
cause divisions among Muslims. Members of ``deviationist'' groups can
be arrested and detained, with the consent of a Shari'a court, to be
``rehabilitated'' and returned to the ``true path of Islam.'' In July
2004 the Federal Court dismissed an appeal by four followers of Ayah
Pin, leader of a nonviolent religious group in Terengganu known as the
Sky Kingdom. The appeal by the four former Muslims sought a statutory
declaration that Sky Kingdom followers have the right to practice the
religion of their choice. The Federal Court held that their attempt to
renounce Islam did not free them from the jurisdiction of the state
Shari'a court. In July 2005 seventy Sky Kingdom members were arrested
at the sect's main compound in Terengganu. In August 2005 all
nonresidential buildings on the compound were destroyed on the
instruction of state officials, who asserted that nonfarming structures
had been built on property zoned exclusively for agricultural use. The
remaining individuals living on the compound were ordered to vacate
their residences. No Shari'a law-qualified attorneys initially agreed
to defend the Sky Kingdom followers, forcing postponement of their
hearings. Ayah Pin and one of his four wives remained at large as of
June 30, 2006, and were sought by religious authorities for supporting
``deviant'' religious practices. One of the seventy arrested Sky
Kingdom followers agreed to undergo religious rehabilitation; the cases
against the other Ayah Pin followers were pending at the end of the
reporting period.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally tolerant relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Non-Muslim ecumenical and interfaith organizations in the country
include the MCCBCHS, the Malaysian Council of Churches, and the
Christian Federation of Malaysia. Muslim organizations generally do not
participate in ecumenical bodies. In 2005 several Muslim NGOs boycotted
and condemned the proposed formation of an interfaith council on the
claimed grounds that ``matters concerning Islam could only be discussed
by Muslims.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy representatives maintained an active dialogue with leaders
and representatives of various religious groups, including those not
officially recognized by the Government. The embassy coordinated
funding for a Fulbright scholar who addressed interfaith issues while
in residence as a lecturer at a public university. The embassy
sponsored visits by American Islamic scholars; it also funded civil
society grants and exchange grants for representatives of NGOs working
to promote greater religious tolerance, respect for diversity, and
human rights and openness in the country.
__________
MARSHALL ISLANDS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 70 square miles, and the
estimated population in 2005 was 56,417. Major religious groups
included the United Church of Christ (formerly Congregational), with
54.8 percent of the population; the Assemblies of God, 25.8 percent;
and the Roman Catholic Church, 8.4 percent. Bukot Non Jesus (known as
Assembly of God Part Two), 2.8 percent; the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 2.1 percent; Seventh-day Adventists, 0.9
percent; Full Gospel, 0.7 percent; and the Baha'i Faith, 0.6 percent.
Persons without any religious affiliation accounted for 1.5 percent of
the population, and another 1.4 percent belonged to religious groups
not named in the 1999 census, but which local religious leaders
believed to consist of Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, and the
Salvation Army.
There were foreign missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, Roman Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventists, the
Baptist Church, and other groups. Only Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
proselytized through home visits. Religious schools were operated by
the Roman Catholic Church, United Church of Christ, Assemblies of God,
Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Baptist Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
Good Friday, Gospel Day, and Christmas are official religious
holidays.
There are no prerequisites for registering religious groups and
there are no penalties for not registering. Missionary groups are
allowed to operate freely.
There is no religious education in public schools, and there are no
opening or closing prayers during the school day. However, most
extracurricular school events begin and end with a nondenominational
Christian prayer.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Christianity was a dominant
social and cultural force. Governmental and social functions typically
opened and closed with an interdenominational Christian prayer
delivered by an ordained minister, cleric, or church official.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately two hundred and sixty
square miles, and its population is an estimated one hundred thousand,
according to the 2000 census. The country consists of 607 islands
spread over a two thousand mile long swath of ocean; diverse languages
and cultures exist within each of the country's four states. Several
Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, were
present in every state. Most Protestant groups trace their roots to
American Congregationalist missionaries. On the island of Kosrae, the
population was approximately 7,800; 95 percent were Protestants. On
Pohnpei, the population of thirty-five thousand was evenly divided
between Protestants and Catholics. On Chuuk and Yap, an estimated 60
percent were Catholic and 40 percent were Protestant. Baptists,
Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Salvation Army, Assemblies
of God, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and
the Baha'i Faith also were represented. There was a small group of
Buddhists on Pohnpei. Attendance at religious services was generally
high; churches were well supported by their congregations and played a
significant role in civil society.
Most immigrants were Filipino Catholics who have joined local
Catholic churches. The Filipino Iglesia Ni Cristo also had a church in
Pohnpei.
In the 1890s, on the island of Pohnpei, intermissionary conflicts
and the conversion of clan leaders resulted in religious divisions
along clan lines, which persist today. More Protestants live on the
western side of the island, while more Catholics live on the eastern
side.
Missionaries of many faiths worked within the country, including
Catholics, Baptists, and Mormons.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Bill of Rights
forbids the establishment of a state religion and governmental
restrictions on freedom of religion. There is no state religion.
Christmas and Good Friday are national religious days.
Foreign missionary groups operated without hindrance in all four
states. There were numerous church-sponsored schools, and religious
groups operated radio stations broadcasting religious programming on
Pohnpei and Yap.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom. Churches have formed an Inter-
Denominational Council to address social problems within the country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its policy to promote human rights.
Representatives of the U.S. embassy regularly meet with the leaders of
religious communities. The embassy also worked closely with church-
related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in its efforts to promote
good governance.
In 2005 church-related NGOs implemented two Pacific Island Fund
grants. In addition a church-owned radio station was installing a Voice
of America-provided satellite receiver so that it could relay VOA
programming. An embassy nomination enabled a local cleric to visit the
United States as part of an educational exchange that focused on the
relationship between religion and community.
__________
MONGOLIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the law
limits proselytizing, and some religious groups faced bureaucratic
harassment or were denied registration.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 604,247 square miles, and its population
is approximately 2.83 million. Buddhism and the country's traditions
are tied closely, and almost all ethnic Mongolians (93 percent of the
population) practiced some form of Buddhism. Lamaist Buddhism of the
Tibetan variety is the traditional and dominant religion.
When socialist controls on religion and on the country's traditions
ended in 1990, active interest in the practice of Buddhism grew. The
Buddhist community was not homogeneous, and there were several
competing schools.
Kazakhs, most of whom are Muslim, were the largest ethnic minority,
constituting approximately 4 percent of the population nationwide and
85 percent in the western province, Bayan-Olgiy. Kazakhs operated
Islamic schools for their children. They sometimes received financial
assistance from religious organizations in Kazakhstan and Turkey.
Although nationwide statistics were lacking, there was a small
number of Christians, including Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodox, and
Protestants. In the capital, Ulaanbaatar, approximately thirty thousand
citizens, or 3 percent of the registered population of the city,
practiced Christianity.
Some citizens practiced shamanism, but there were no reliable
statistics on their number.
Foreign missionary groups included Roman Catholics, Lutherans,
Presbyterians, evangelical Protestants, Mormons (the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints), Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day
Adventists, and Baha'is.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the law
limits proselytizing, and some religious groups that seek to register
faced burdensome bureaucratic requirements and lengthy delays. The
constitution explicitly recognizes the separation of church and state.
Although there is no state religion, ethnic Mongolian
traditionalists believe that Buddhism is the ``natural religion'' of
the country. The Government contributed to the restoration of several
Buddhist sites that are important religious, historical, and cultural
centers. The Government otherwise did not subsidize Buddhist or any
other religious groups.
A religious group must register with the Ministry of Justice and
Home Affairs, a decentralized and bureaucratic process, in order to
legally function as an organization. Religious institutions must
reregister annually. The law allows the Government to supervise and
limit the number of places of worship and number of clergy. The
Government used the registration process as a mechanism to limit the
number of places for religious worship; however, there were no reports
that it limited the number of clergy during the reporting period.
Groups must provide the following documentation when registering: A
letter to the ministry requesting registration, a letter from the city
council or other local authority granting approval to conduct religious
services, a brief description of the organization, its charter,
documentation of the founding of the local group, a list of leaders or
officers, brief biographic information on the person wishing to conduct
religious services, and the expected number of worshippers. The
Ulaanbaatar City Council and other local legislative bodies require
similar documentation prior to granting approval to conduct religious
services. While the ministry possesses the ultimate authority to
approve an organization's application, this appears to be largely pro
forma. In practice local assemblies assess the applications.
The registration process is decentralized with several layers of
bureaucracy and, under the best of circumstances, can take months to
complete. Registration with the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs in
the capital may not be sufficient if a group intends to work in the
countryside where local registration is also necessary. There were 357
registered places of worship, including 206 Buddhist, 127 Christian, 5
Baha'i, and 5 Muslim. During the period covered by this report, twelve
new Christian churches and two Buddhist temples were registered in
Ulaanbaatar.
Contacts with coreligionists outside the country are allowed. In
1993 the Government abolished legal restrictions on such contacts, and
human rights sources stated that there were no de facto efforts to
restrict normal contacts and interchange.
Religious instruction is not permitted in public schools. There is
a school to train Buddhist lamas in Ulaanbaatar.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
While the law does not prohibit proselytizing by registered
religious groups, it limits such activity by forbidding the use of
material incentives, pressure, or deceptive methods to introduce
religion. A Ministry of Education directive bans mixing foreign
language or other training with religious teaching or instruction.
Monitoring of the ban, particularly in the capital area, is strict.
There were no reported violations of the ban in recent years. Religious
groups that violate the law may not receive an extension of their
registration. If individuals violate the law, the Government may ask
their employers to terminate their employment.
Registration and reregistration are burdensome for all religious
groups. The length and documentation requirements of the process
discourage some organizations from applying. Others can take years to
win approval. Some Christian groups stated that local officials
believed there were ``too many'' churches, or that there should at
least be parity in the registration of new Buddhist temples and new
Christian churches. One church, approved in May 2006, had been pursuing
registration since 2003. City authorities approved twelve churches in
May 2006. No churches were known to have been refused registration in
Ulaanbaatar during the reporting period. Although a nongovernmental
organization (NGO) previously reported that government officials had
stated that sixty Christian churches registered in Ulaanbaatar were
sufficient, there were no similar reported statements during the
reporting period.
Christian groups previously reported that authorities in Tov aimag
(province), near Ulaanbaatar, routinely denied registration to
churches. In December 2005 the aimag legislative body denied
registration to eight churches on the same day it approved two Buddhist
temples. No churches were registered in the aimag.
Unregistered religious institutions are often able to function in
practice but potentially face difficulties with authorities and are
unable to sponsor foreign clergy for visas. In March 2006 government
officials warned three unregistered churches in Tov aimag and one in
Selenge aimag to cease their activities. Visa problems especially
affect Christian churches, many of which depend on foreign clergy.
During the registration process in Ulaanbaatar, in past years some
groups encountered demands by midlevel city officials for money or
charitable activities in their district; however, no such demands were
reported in recent years.
Ulaanbaatar authorities were reportedly helpful in assisting the
Muslim community in the capital in its efforts to construct a mosque,
including donating a piece of land for the site.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Citizens generally were
tolerant of the beliefs of others, and there were no reports of
religiously motivated violence; however, because in the past
humanitarian assistance was accompanied by proselytizing activity,
there was some friction between Christian missionary groups and
citizens. Some conservatives have criticized foreign influences on
youth and children, including foreign religions and the alleged use of
material incentives to attract believers.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials discussed with authorities registration difficulties
encountered by Christian groups. These discussions focused attention on
U.S. concern for religious freedom and opposition to corruption; the
discussions resulted in a clarification of the requirements for
registration. Embassy officials also continued to discuss registration
requirements with faith-based NGOs.
The U.S. embassy maintains regular contact with Buddhist, Muslim,
Protestant, Catholic, and Mormon religious groups. In addition the
embassy met with representatives of U.S.-based religious and
humanitarian organizations. The embassy maintains contact with the
local offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
U.N. Development Program to discuss religious freedom and other human
rights issues.
__________
NAURU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in some circumstances.
There was no significant change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report. The
Government placed some restrictions on the practice of religious and
missionary work by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses. Most adherents of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were foreign workers previously
employed by the government-owned Nauru Phosphate Corporation (NPC) and
were stranded in the country awaiting repatriation. The Jehovah's
Witnesses say that most of their few followers are native Nauruans.
There were no indications of general societal discrimination
against particular religious denominations; however, there has been
resistance by some elements of the Nauru Protestant Church (the
country's dominant religious group) to denominations perceived as
foreign, in particular to the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately eight square miles, and
its population is an estimated ten thousand, including the unemployed
foreign workers. Christianity was the primary religion. According to
the 2002 census, approximately two-thirds of Christians are Protestant,
and the remainder was Roman Catholic. Some of the ethnic Chinese on the
island, approximately 8 percent of the population, may be Confucian,
Buddhist or Taoist.
Foreign missionaries introduced Christianity in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. There were a few active Christian
missionary organizations, including representatives of the Anglican,
Methodist, and Catholic faiths.
Approximately two-thirds of the foreign workers formerly employed
in the phosphate industry practiced different faiths from those of
native-born citizens, although the majority was thought to be
Christian. Both the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have won converts
among such workers, some of whom held religious services in their
company-supplied housing. The Jehovah's Witnesses said they also had
followers among the native population. Both faiths had only small
numbers of adherents on the Island, and there was no missionary work in
recent years.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in some circumstances. Under the
constitution, the rights to freedom of conscience, expression,
assembly, and association may be restricted by any law that ``makes
provision which is reasonably required...in the interests of defense,
public safety, public order, public morality or public health.'' The
Government has cited this provision as a basis for preventing foreign
churches from proselytizing native-born citizens.
There is no state religion.
Officials of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons have been informed
that, under the provisions of the Birth, Death, and Marriage Ordinance,
their churches must register with the Government to operate in an
official capacity, which includes proselytizing, building churches,
holding religious services in the NPC housing facilities, and otherwise
practicing their religion. Only two long-standing Protestant
denominations and the Roman Catholic Church are officially registered
to operate. A third, small, breakaway Protestant congregation, catering
principally to expatriate workers, is not registered. The legal counsel
for the Mormons asserted that, while the ordinance in question permits
the Government to recognize a religious denomination, it only requires
such recognition if a denomination's ministers wish to solemnize
marriages. The Church reported that it submitted a registration request
in 1999; however, the Government has not responded either to the
original request or to follow-up inquiries. Officials of Jehovah's
Witnesses have not submitted a request for registration.
Christmas and Easter are official religious holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government prevented Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormon officials
from visiting in their official capacities and on occasion prevented
them from visiting at all. Although adherents could practice their
religious beliefs privately, they were discouraged from any form of
missionary work among native-born citizens. As a justification for such
restrictions, the Government cited concerns that outside churches might
break up families through their proselytizing activities.
Since 2000, visiting ministers or missionaries from the Jehovah's
Witnesses have not been permitted to enter the country. Mormon
officials were similarly refused entry. The president of the Suva Fiji
Mission, who is responsible for ministering to the Nauru community,
said the Government discouraged him from applying for a visa. A Mormon
missionary in Kiribati formally applied for a visa to enter the country
to minister to the community but received no response.
There was a multidenominational religious facility for foreign
phosphate workers in the NPC housing area; however, Mormons and
Jehovah's Witnesses were not permitted to use this facility for
religious services or meetings.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
No evidence existed of general societal discrimination against
specific religious denominations. Mormons who visited the country said
they experienced no social hostility. However, economic problems
resulting from sharply declining income from the country's phosphate
mining industry have led to some social strains, and there has been
resistance by some elements of the Nauru Protestant Church to religions
perceived as foreign, in particular to the Mormons and Jehovah's
Witnesses.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
Although the U.S. Government does not maintain an embassy in the
country, the U.S. ambassador to Fiji is also accredited to the
Government of Nauru. Representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji,
discussed religious freedom issues, including restrictions on religious
freedom, with representatives of the Government in Suva.
The embassy actively supports efforts to improve and expand
governmental and societal awareness and protection of human rights,
including the right to freedom of religion. Embassy officials have
discussed the importance of religious freedom with ministers in the
reformist Scotty Government since its return to office in 2004.
__________
NEW ZEALAND
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is an island nation with an area of approximately
99,000 thousand square miles, and its population is an estimated
4,140,000. The country is predominantly Christian but was becoming more
religiously diverse. According to the 2001 census, approximately 55
percent of citizens identified themselves as Christian or members of
individual Christian denominations. Three major Christian
denominations: Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist experienced a
decline in membership between 1996 and 2001, while the Roman Catholic
Church showed a slight increase. The Maori Christian churches, which
integrate Christian tenets with precolonial Maori beliefs and include
Ratana and Ringatu, experienced significant growth. The number of
Pentecostals declined by an estimated 19 percent between 1996 and 2001
to less than 1 percent of the population. During the same period non-
Christian religions continued to show strong growth rates, driven
primarily by immigration.
According to 2001 census data, percentages of religious affiliation
were: Anglican, 15.2 percent; Roman Catholic, 12.7 percent;
Presbyterian, 10.9 percent; Christian (no more specific
identification), 5 percent; Methodist, 3.1 percent; Baptist, 1.3
percent; Ratana (a Maori/Christian group with services in the Maori
language), 1.3 percent; Buddhist, 1.1 percent; Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 1 percent; and Hindu, 1 percent. There
were also more than ninety religious groups that each constituted less
than 1 percent of the population. In addition 26.8 percent stated that
they had no religious affiliation, 6.2 percent objected to answering
the survey question, and 5.5 percent did not state affiliation.
The indigenous Maori (estimated at 15 percent of the population)
tended to be followers of Presbyterianism, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), or Maori Christian faiths such as
Ratana and Ringatu. The Auckland statistical area, which accounts for
approximately 30 percent of the country's population, exhibited the
greatest religious diversity. Farther south on the North Island, and on
the South Island, the percentage of citizens who identified themselves
with Christian faiths increased, while those affiliated with non-
Christian religions decreased.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Government at all
levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Education Act of 1964 specifies in its ``secular clause'' that
teaching within public primary schools ``shall be entirely of a secular
character''; however, it also permits religious instruction and
observances in state primary schools within certain parameters. If the
school committee in consultation with the principal or head teacher so
determines, any class may be closed at any time of the school day
within specified limits for the purposes of religious instruction given
by voluntary instructors. However, attendance at religious instruction
or observances is not compulsory. According to the Legal Division of
the Ministry of Education, public secondary schools also may permit
religious instruction at the discretion of individual school boards.
The ministry does not keep centralized data on how many schools permit
religious instruction or observances; however, the curriculum division
stated that religious instruction, if provided at a school, usually was
scheduled after normal school hours.
Under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act of 1975, the
Government, in response to its burgeoning general primary school role
and to financial difficulties experienced by a large group of Catholic
parochial schools, permitted the incorporation of private schools into
the public school system. Designated as ``integrated schools,'' they
were deemed to be of a ``unique character'' and were permitted to
receive public funding provided that they also enrolled nonpreference
students (students who did not fit within the ``unique character'' of
the school; for example, non-Catholic students who attended a Catholic
school). A total of 326 of the 2,607 schools of all levels were
integrated schools with this designation. As of July 2005 there were
238 Catholic schools, 75 schools with other religious affiliation, and
13 schools with no religious affiliation integrated into the public
school system. A student cannot be required to attend an integrated
school; admission to such a school is based on a student's request.
In 2003, the Office of Human Rights Proceedings (an independent
component of the Human Rights Commission) settled a case in which the
employer of a complainant (a member of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church) breached the Human Rights Act of 1993 by requiring the latter
to work on his Saturday Sabbath. The employer acknowledged breaching
the act, paid a fine of $25,000 (NZD 40,000), awarded a one-time six-
week leave benefit, and agreed to an alternative roster so that the
complainant would not be required to work on Saturdays.
For the year ended June 30, 2005, the Human Rights Commission
received 1,862 complaints having an element of unlawful discrimination
under the Human Rights Act. 4.3 percent of these complaints were
classified as unlawful discrimination on grounds of religious belief.
Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Easter are official holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, some businesses were fined if they
attempted to operate on the official holidays of Christmas Day, Good
Friday, or Easter Sunday. (Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) day
is the only nonreligious holiday that carries similar fines.) The small
but growing non-Christian communities have called for the Government to
take into account the country's increasingly diverse religious makeup
and offer greater holiday flexibility. In response the Government
removed some constraints on trade associated with the Christian faith.
In 2001, it enacted legislation that permits several types of
businesses to remain open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. These
businesses included those providing essential supplies, convenience
items, and food and drink.
The Government does not require licensing or registration before it
will recognize a religious group. However, if a religious group desires
to collect money for the promotion of religion or charitable causes and
wishes to be recognized by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to
obtain tax benefits, then it must register with the IRD as a charitable
trust. There is no fee for this registration.
The country has two registered Christian-associated political
parties. There are no other religiously affiliated parties, although
the law does not prevent the registration of parties based on other
religions.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Incidents of religiously
motivated violence were extremely rare. Due to the infrequency of their
occurrence and difficulty in establishing such motivation, the police
do not attempt to maintain data on crimes that may have been motivated
by religion.
In November 2005, a man was convicted and sentenced to fifteen
months' imprisonment for abuse directed at Muslims at a bus stop and on
a bus in South Dunedin. Also in November 2005, a court sentenced two
former members of the National Front, a white supremacist group, to
twelve months' imprisonment for vandalizing mosques in Auckland
following the July 2005 subway bombings in London. In July 2005, the
person charged in 2004 for sending racist letters to members of
Wellington's Somali community and other Muslims was convicted of
harassment, and in September 2005 he was sentenced to six months'
imprisonment.
The government-funded Human Rights Commission actively promoted
tolerance on the issue of religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintains contacts with representatives of the country's
various religious communities, and includes them at its sponsored
events.
__________
PALAU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
An archipelago of more than three hundred islands in the western
Pacific Ocean, the country has an area of 188 square miles, and its
population is approximately twenty-thousand persons; 70 percent live in
the temporary capital, Koror. There were nineteen Christian
denominations. Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion;
approximately 65 percent of the population was members. Estimates of
other religious groups with a sizable membership included the
Evangelical Church, two thousand; Seventh-day Adventists, one thousand;
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), three hundred;
and Jehovah's Witnesses, ninety. Modekngei, which embraces both animist
and Christian beliefs and is unique to the country, had approximately
eight-hundred adherents. There also was a small group of Bangladeshi
Muslims and a primarily Catholic Filipino labor force (approximately
five-thousand persons). A large percentage of citizens did not actively
practice their faith.
Since the arrival of Jesuit priests in the early nineteenth
century, foreign missionaries have been active; some have been in the
country for many years. A number of groups had missionaries in the
country on proselytizing or teaching assignments, including the
Apostolic Foundation, Baha'i Faith, Roman Catholic Church, Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Evangelical Church, High Adventure
Ministries, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Jehovah's Witnesses, Korean Church,
Korea Presbyterian Church, Pacific Missionary Aviation, Palau Assembly
of God, and Seventh-day Adventists. The Seventh-day Adventist and
Evangelical churches had missionaries teaching in their respective
elementary and high schools.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and does not
tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government does not promote or restrain religious activities;
however, the Government regulates the establishment of religious
organizations by requiring them to obtain charters as nonprofit
organizations from the Office of the Attorney General. This
registration process is not protracted, and the Government did not deny
registration to any group during the period covered by this report. As
nonprofit organizations, churches and missions are exempt from paying
taxes.
Foreign missionaries are required to obtain a missionary permit at
the Office of Immigration; however, there were no reports that the
Government denied these permits to any persons during the period
covered by this report.
The Government does not permit religious instruction in public
schools. There is government financial support for religious schools
that may be requested by representatives of any religion. The
Government also provides small-scale financial assistance to cultural
organizations.
The Government recognizes Christmas as a national religious
holiday. There is active participation by the majority of the country's
religious groups in Easter and Christmas services. Even though the
Government does not sponsor religious groups or promote religious
activities, activities such as national and state events or public and
private graduations are always conducted with a prayer to open the
ceremonies.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, there is a ban on work permits for
citizens of Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. The ban stemmed from a
1998 decision by the Division of Labor to deny work permits to
Bangladeshi citizens following complaints from employers that workers'
religious practices interfered with activities in the workplace and in
living arrangements of employing families. A similar ban went into
effect in 2001 for citizens of India and Sri Lanka. Workers from these
countries present in the country at the time of the decision were not
expelled, and there were no impediments to their practice of religion
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The various religious
organizations maintained cordial relations with each other.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials also maintain regular contacts with the various
religious communities.
__________
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is an island nation with an area of 280,773 square
miles, and its population is approximately 5,930,400. According to the
2000 census, the churches with the largest number of members were Roman
Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, United, and Seventh-day Adventist
churches. At that time, 96 percent of citizens identified themselves as
members of a Christian church. Minority religions included the Baha'i
Faith and Islam; there were approximately forty thousand Baha'is,
according to Baha'i leadership, and one to two thousand Muslims. Many
citizens combined their Christian faith with some traditional
indigenous practices.
Traditional Christian churches proselytized on the island in the
nineteenth century. Colonial governments initially assigned different
missions to different geographic areas. Since territory in the country
is aligned strongly with language group and ethnicity, this colonial
policy led to the identification of certain churches with certain
ethnic groups. However, churches of all denominations are now found in
all parts of the country. The Muslim community has a mosque in the
capital of Port Moresby.
Nontraditional Christian and non-Christian religious groups were
active throughout the country. According to the Papua New Guinea
Council of Churches, both Muslim and Confucian missionaries have become
active, and foreign missionary activity in general was high.
Pentecostal churches in particular have found converts within the
congregations of the more established churches, and many movements and
faiths that proselytize had representatives in the country. New Tribes
Mission was the largest single missionary group, with approximately 450
missionaries in the country. The Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)
celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the country during the reporting
period. SIL partnered with the Department of Education and communities
in linguistic research, literacy, Bible translation, Scripture use, and
training. SIL has produced New Testaments and one complete Bible in 157
of the languages of the country.
The Roman Catholic Church was the only traditional church that
still relied to a large extent on foreign clergy.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full, and did not
tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution's provisions for freedom of conscience, thought,
and religion consistently have been interpreted to mean that any
religion may be practiced or propagated as long as it does not
interfere with the freedom of others. The predominance of Christianity
is recognized in the preamble of the constitution, which refers to
``our noble traditions and the Christian principles that are ours'';
however, there is no state religion.
During the period covered by this report, government officials,
including the governor-general and the prime minister, attended rallies
held by visiting Christian evangelists.
In general, the Government does not subsidize the practice of
religion. The Department of Family and Church Affairs has a nominal
policymaking role that largely has been confined to reiterating the
Government's respect for church autonomy.
Churches continue to run most of the country's schools and many of
its health services, and the Government provides support for those
institutions. At independence, the Government recognized that it had
neither the funds nor the personnel with which to take over these
institutions and agreed to subsidize their operations on a per pupil or
per patient basis. The Government also pays the salaries of national
teachers and health staff. Although the education and health
infrastructures continue to rely heavily on church-run institutions,
some schools and clinics have closed periodically because they did not
receive the promised government support. These problems are due in part
to endemic financial management issues in the Government.
Immigrants and noncitizens are free to practice their religion, and
foreign missionary groups are permitted to proselytize and engage in
other missionary activities.
Religious holidays include Good Friday, Easter Monday, and
Christmas Day.
It is the policy of the Department of Education to set aside one
hour per week for religious instruction in the public schools.
Representatives of Christian churches teach the lessons and the
students attend the class that is operated by the church of their
parents' choice. Children whose parents do not wish them to attend the
classes are excused. Members of non-Christian religious groups were not
prevalent in the country, and it was not known if non-Christian
religious groups had representatives to teach lessons.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
As new missionary movements proliferated, representatives and
individuals of some established churches questioned publicly whether
such activity was desirable. However, the courts and government
practice have upheld the constitutional right to freedom of speech,
thought, and belief, and no legislation to curb those rights has been
adopted.
In the past there were incidents of discrimination against recently
arrived Muslim immigrants, but there were no reports of such incidents
during the period covered by this report.
The Council of Churches made the only known effort at interfaith
dialogue. The council members included the Anglican, Gutnius and Union
Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, and United churches, and the Salvation
Army. In addition fifteen parareligious organizations, including the
Young Women's Christian Association, participated in its activities;
however, the self-financing council has only Christian affiliates. The
ecumenical work of the Council of Churches is confined primarily to
cooperation among churches on social welfare projects.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador continued discussions with the Council of Churches and
individual church leaders. The ambassador and embassy officials met
with religious leaders to discuss their role in social issues and
continued to meet regularly with U.S. citizen missionaries of many
denominations.
__________
PHILIPPINES
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The
armed insurgent Muslim group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
continued to seek greater autonomy. At the end of the period covered by
this report, the Government and the MILF maintained a cease-fire and
continued their peace dialogue, brokered by the Government of Malaysia.
An eventual settlement could include special recognition of Islamic
education and expanded recognition of Islamic law, among other
provisions sought by some Muslims.
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there is some ethnic,
religious, and cultural discrimination against Muslims by Christians.
This, combined with economic disparities, contributed to persistent
conflict in certain provinces.
The U.S. embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy actively encouraged the peace process between the Government
and MILF, while the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) provided some
technical assistance.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 115,831 square miles, and its population
is approximately eighty-five million.
Roman Catholics, the largest religious group, were estimated to
comprise 80 to 85 percent of the total population. El Shaddai, a local
charismatic lay movement affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, was
headquartered in Manila and claims a domestic membership of six
million.
The largest minority religion was Islam. The most recent census,
conducted in 2000, estimated that the Muslim population was between 5
percent and 9 percent of the total population. Muslims resided
principally on Mindanao and nearby islands. Most belonged to the Sunni
branch of Islam. A very small number of Shi'a believers lived in the
provinces of Lanao del Sur and Zamboanga del Sur on Mindanao.
Among the numerous Protestant and other Christian denominations
were Seventh-day Adventists, United Church of Christ, United Methodist,
the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Assemblies of God, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Philippine
(Southern) Baptist denominations. In addition there were three churches
established by local religious leaders: The Philippine Independent
Church or ``Aglipayan,'' the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), and
the Ang Dating Daan (an offshoot of Iglesia ni Cristo).
A majority of indigenous peoples, estimated to number between
twelve million and sixteen million, reportedly were Christian (Roman
Catholic and Protestant). However, many indigenous groups mixed
elements of their native religions with Christian beliefs and
practices.
Christian missionaries worked actively throughout the country,
including within Muslim communities in most parts of western Mindanao.
Conversion of Christians to Islam was most typical among workers who
have lived and worked in an Islamic country, largely because converting
brings social and economic benefits while abroad. Many of these
``converts of convenience'' remained Muslims upon their return to the
country and are known collectively as ``Balik Islam'' (``return to
Islam'').
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion, and the constitution provides for the separation of
church and state. The Government does not restrict adherents of other
religions in practicing their faith.
The law requires organized religions to register with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and with the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) to establish tax-exempt status. The law does not
specify penalties for failure to register with the SEC. There were no
reports of discrimination in the registration system during the period
covered by this report.
The Government does not provide direct subsidies to institutions
for religious purposes, even for the extensive school systems
maintained by religious orders and church groups.
The Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) generally limits its activities
to fostering Islamic religious practices, although it also has the
authority to coordinate economic growth and livelihood projects in
predominantly Muslim areas. The OMA's Bureau of Pilgrimage and
Endowment helps coordinate the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi
Arabia; supervises endowment (auqaf) properties and institutions; and
conducts activities for the establishment and maintenance of Islamic
centers and auqaf projects. The presidential assistant for Muslim
affairs helps coordinate relations with countries that have large
Islamic populations and that have contributed to Mindanao's economic
development and to the peace process.
The Government worked with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
leaders on a variety of development programs to reintegrate former MNLF
fighters through jobs and business opportunities. The integration of
approximately 7,500 ex-MNLF fighters into the armed forces and police
has helped reduce suspicion between Christians and Muslims.
In March 2004 peace advocates, military troops, and government
officials declared Jolo Municipality in Sulu Province a zone of peace
under the UN Multi-Donor Program (UNMDP). In addition to Jolo, other
towns in North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Zamboanga del Norte provinces
have been declared peace zones. During the reporting period, the peace
zones in these areas--with the exception of Sulu--have experienced a
dramatic decline in the number of armed encounters between government
forces and Muslim insurgents. The reduction of hostilities reduced
tensions between Christians and Muslims in these areas.
The Government permits religious instruction in public schools with
the written consent of parents, provided there is no cost to the
Government. Based on a traditional policy of promoting moral education,
local public schools give church groups the opportunity to teach moral
values during school hours. Attendance is not mandatory, and various
churches share classroom space. The Government also allows interested
groups to distribute religious literature in public schools.
By law, public schools must ensure that the religious rights of
students are protected. Muslim students are allowed to wear their head
coverings (hijab), and Muslim girls are not required to wear shorts
during physical education classes.
In many parts of Mindanao, Muslim students routinely attend
Catholic schools from elementary to university level; however, these
students are not required to receive Catholic religious instruction.
In November 2005 the University of the Philippines (UP) agreed to
the construction of a mussalah (prayer room) and a dormitory for Muslim
students inside the campus.
Approximately 14 percent of the school population in Mindanao
attended Islamic schools. Estimates of the number of madrassahs
(Islamic schools) across the country varied widely; government
officials estimated the number at more than two thousand. Of these,
more than half were located in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM). A total of 1,140 madrassahs seeking financial assistance from
local and foreign donors were registered with the OMA, while only 40
are registered with the Department of Education. Most madrassahs did
not meet the department's accreditation standards for curricula and
adequate facilities. The Madrasa Development Coordinating Committee
manages financial assistance to the madrassah system from local and
international sources.
In September 2005, the Government began implementation of its
unified curriculum, designed to integrate madrassahs into the national
education system. Several private madrassahs began training educators
to teach math, science, English, and Filipino, in addition to sectarian
subjects. The Government hoped to certify Islamic schools that offer a
full range of courses in the coming years, allowing their graduates to
enter public high schools or colleges. In addition, public elementary
schools that had at least twenty-five Muslim students were ordered to
begin offering Arabic language instruction and classes on Islamic
values.
In line with the Government's antiterrorism campaign, in April 2004
the president ordered the creation of a special Muslim police unit
tasked to handle cases involving the arrest and investigation of
Muslims. Some Muslims disagreed with the creation of the police group
and branded it as a ploy to pit Muslims against Muslims, but the
Government claimed it would ensure that the rights of Muslims are
protected.
The Government's National Ecumenical Consultative Committee
(NECCOM) fosters interfaith dialogue among major religious groups,
including the Roman Catholic Church, Islam, Iglesia ni Cristo, the
Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan), and Protestant
denominations. The Protestant organizations represented in the NECCOM
are the National Council of Churches of the Philippines and the
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. Members of the NECCOM meet
periodically with the president to discuss social and political issues.
Officially recognized holy days include Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, Easter, All Saints' Day, and Christmas Day. Each year since
2002, the President has issued a proclamation declaring the feast of
the end of Ramadan, known as Eid al-Fitr, a special nonworking holiday
nationwide.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government does not ban or discourage specific religions or
religious factions. However, Muslims--who are concentrated in many of
the most impoverished provinces--complain that the Government has not
made sufficient efforts to promote their economic development. Some
Muslim religious leaders asserted that Muslims suffered from economic
discrimination. Predominantly Muslim provinces in Mindanao lagged far
behind the rest of the country in most aspects of socioeconomic
development. Poverty levels in the ARMM were almost twice as high as
the national average, with per capita income of $285 (P15,760) per
year.
Intermittent government efforts to better integrate Muslims into
the political and economic mainstream have achieved limited success.
Many Muslims claimed that they continued to be underrepresented in
senior civilian and military positions, and they cited the lack of
proportional Muslim representation in national government institutions.
There were currently 10 Muslim district representatives and 2 Muslim
party list representatives in the House of Representatives out of a
total of 236 members.
The Code of Muslim Personal Laws recognizes the Shari'a (Islamic
law) civil law system as part of national law; however, it does not
apply in criminal matters, and it applies only to Muslims. Some Muslim
community leaders (ulamas) argued that the Government should allow
Islamic courts to extend their jurisdiction to criminal law cases, and
some supported the MILF's goal of forming an autonomous region governed
in accordance with Islamic law. As in other parts of the judicial
system, the Shari'a courts suffered from a large number of unfilled
positions.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On February 2, 2006, gunmen attacked Christian families on the
southern island of Jolo, leaving six dead. One of the injured reported
that men had knocked on their door in the early morning hours to
inquire if the family was Christian or Muslim. Shortly thereafter, the
men returned and opened fire on three homes. No arrests were made.
On February 13, 2006, Muslim residents of Isabela City, Basilan,
staged a rally protesting a government order to demolish a mosque in
the city and replace it with a commercial center. The mayor who ordered
the demolition was shot and killed less than a month later, but it
remained unclear if his death was connected to the destruction of the
mosque.
On May 7, 2006, eleven inmates--including four Abu Sayyaf Group
(ASG) members--were injured at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig during a riot
sparked by an argument between a Muslim and a Christian inmate. Two
prisoners were critically wounded.
Some progress was made since the last reporting period. On February
28, 2006, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) released the results of
the investigation into the March 2005 Camp Bagong Diwa jailbreak
attempt, which ended in the deaths of twenty-two inmates, including
several notorious regional commanders of the ASG. The CHR found the
prison authorities used excessive force against the inmates. Some
inmates who did not participate in the hostage-taking were summarily
executed, and inmates were maltreated after the police assault. The CHR
recommended that the Department of Justice create a committee to
investigate the criminal liability of the assaulting police units.
On January 7, 2005, following the creation in 2004 of special
Muslim police units, members of the unit in the Western Police District
raided the Islamic Information Center in Manila and detained seventeen
suspected militants, including three women. However, police released
fifteen of the suspects shortly after their arrest.
In April 2004, following a series of illegal raids on Muslim
communities and arrests reportedly made without warrants, an estimated
four thousand Muslims held a prayer vigil and protested in Metro Manila
and accused the Government of targeting Muslim communities in its hunt
for terrorists.
According to March 2004 press reports, the national security
adviser claimed that Christians who had converted to Islam were the
vanguard of terrorist activities in Metro Manila, Mindanao, and other
areas and had links with the ASG and Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesia-
based terrorist group. Afterwards, the president issued a statement
that the campaign against terrorism should be carried out without any
ethnic or religious bias.
Perceived religious discrimination sometimes leads to violence. In
February 2005 a Moro rights advocate, his wife, and their son were
killed in Sulu, allegedly by members of the AFP conducting counter-
insurgency operations. Afterwards, the MNLF attacked the military camp
in Sulu in retaliation for the deaths, setting off several weeks of
intense fighting in the region, which displaced at least twenty-six
thousand civilians.
There were no reports of religious detainees or prisoners in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
The ASG claimed to seek the immediate establishment of an
independent Islamic state in the southwestern region. This terrorist
group is primarily a loose collection of criminal-terrorist and kidnap-
for-ransom gangs, and mainstream Muslim leaders rejected its claimed
religious affiliation, strongly criticizing its actions as ``un-
Islamic.'' Most Muslims denounced terrorism as a means of achieving a
satisfactory level of autonomy.
Attacks attributed to the ASG (estimated to have between 300 and
400 members) were numerous:
In August 10, 2005, two bombings wounded twenty-four persons in
Zamboanga City, Mindanao. A third bomb was disarmed by police before it
could detonate. In August 28, 2005, the bombing of a ferry at Lamitan,
Basilan, left at least thirty wounded, including children.
In February 18, 2006, an explosion in a karaoke bar near an army
camp in Jolo City, Sulu, killed one person and wounded twenty.
In March 27, 2006, the Sulu Consumers Cooperative store in Jolo
City, Sulu, was bombed, leaving nine dead and more than twenty wounded.
In February 7, 2005, approximately 500 followers of jailed former
MNLF leader Nur Misuari, reportedly in coordination with elements of
ASG, attacked government forces in Jolo and other towns of Sulu.
The Government made some progress in response to the attacks. On
October 28, 2005, a Makati City trial court sentenced to death an
Indonesian and two other ASG members for their involvement in the
February 14, 2005, Makati bus bombing, which killed 4 persons and
injured 103.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there was some
ethnic, religious, and cultural discrimination against Muslims by
Christians.
Historically, Muslims have been alienated socially from the
Christian majority, and some ethnic and cultural discrimination against
Muslims has been recorded. The national culture often creates informal
barriers whereby access to jobs or resources is provided first to those
of one's own family or group. Some employers have a biased expectation
that Muslims will have lower education levels. Muslims reported that
they had difficulty renting rooms in boarding houses or being hired for
retail work if they use their real names or wear distinctive Muslim
dress, and thus resorted to the use of Christian pseudonyms and Western
clothing.
Over the past sixty years, efforts by the dominant Christian
population to resettle in traditionally Muslim areas such as Mindanao
have fostered resentment among many Muslim residents. Many Muslims
viewed Christian proselytizing as another form of resettlement, with
the intention of depriving Muslims of their homeland and cultural
identity, including their religion.
A Social Weather Station survey conducted from August to September
2005 found that such attitudes may be shifting. The survey showed that
63 percent of Filipinos viewed Islam and Muslims favorably, an increase
from past years. The survey also found that 67 percent of Filipinos
believe Islam was a peaceful religion, and 44 percent agreed that
Muslims were as trustworthy as any other Filipinos.
Amicable ties among religious communities are common, and many
participate in interdenominational efforts to alleviate poverty. The
Interfaith Group, which is registered as a nongovernmental organization
(NGO), includes Roman Catholic, Islamic, and Protestant representatives
joined together in an effort to support the Mindanao peace process.
Leadership of human rights groups, trade union confederations, and
industry associations typically represents many religious persuasions.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officers met with representatives of all major faiths to
discuss their concerns. In addition, the U.S. Government actively
supported the Government's peace process with Muslim insurgents in
Mindanao, which has the potential to contribute to peace and a better
climate for interfaith cooperation.
The embassy also maintained active outreach with NGOs. The embassy
hosted meetings of political and opinion leaders from the Muslim
community to discuss the U.S. role in Mindanao. The Embassy continued
to engage communities outside Manila.
For fiscal year 2005, 60 percent of United States Agency for
International Development's (USAID) $85 million budget for the country
went to programs in Mindanao, mostly to the ARMM. USAID programs were
instrumental in supporting the peace process, and helped foster an
environment for greater religious tolerance. One example of such an
effort was when a USAID program helped twenty-eight thousand former
MNLF members make the transition from fighters to productive farmers.
In an effort to promote religious education choices, the U.S
Government funded a September 2005 NGO program that sent twenty-seven
educators from private madrassahs in Mindanao to the United States to
learn school administration and teaching methods for academic classes.
Upon their return to Mindanao, these educators were given minigrants to
implement small development projects in their respective madrassahs.
The embassy also sought to help religious leaders broaden their
horizons. During the period covered in this report, the embassy sent
both Muslim and Christian leaders to the United States on International
Visitor Program grants.
__________
SAMOA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, which is comprised of two relatively large islands,
has a land area of 2,935 square kilometers, and its population was
approximately 184,955. Most persons lived on the island of Upolu, where
the capital, Apia, is located. Nearly 100 percent of the population was
Christian. The 2001 population and housing census revealed the
following religious distribution: Congregational Christian, 34.8
percent; Roman Catholic, 19.6 percent; Methodist, 15 percent; the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 12.7 percent;
Assemblies of God, 6.6 percent; and Seventh-day Adventist, 3.5 percent.
These statistics reflected continual growth in the number and size of
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Assemblies of God
congregations and a relative decline in the membership of the
historically larger denominations. There were small congregations of
other Protestant denominations such as Nazarene and Baptist. There were
also members of the Baha'i Faith--the country hosts one of only seven
Baha'i Houses of Worship in the world--and a few adherents of Islam.
There were small congregations such as Jehovah's Witness with 0.8
percent of the population, Worship Centre 1.3 percent, Voice of Christ
0.4 percent, Full Gospel 0.8 percent, and Baptist Church 0.2 percent of
the population. There were four theological colleges and Rhema, a Bible
study school that was also growing in popularity. There were no reports
of avowed atheists. The distribution of church membership was reflected
throughout the country, but individual villages, particularly small
ones, were only one or two of the major churches represented.
Foreign nationals and immigrants practice the same religions as
native-born (Western) Samoans. There were no sizable foreign national
or immigrant groups, with the exception of U.S. nationals from American
Samoa. The major denominations that were present all had missionaries,
as did the Baha'i Faith.
There was little or no correlation between religious differences
and ethnic or political differences. Religious groups included citizens
of various social and economic strata.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
provides for the right to practice the religion of one's choice, and
the Government observes and enforces these provisions. Legal
protections cover discrimination or persecution by private as well as
government actors, and laws are applied and enforced in a
nondiscriminatory manner. Judicial remedies are accessible and
effective.
The preamble to the constitution describes the country as, ``An
independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and
traditions.'' Although Christianity is favored constitutionally, there
is no official state religion.
There are no requirements for the recognition of a religious group
or for licenses or registration. Missionaries operate freely, either as
part of one of the established churches, or in conducting independent
revival meetings.
The constitution provides freedom from unwanted religious
indoctrination in schools but gives each denomination or religion the
right to establish its own schools; these provisions are adhered to in
practice. There are both religious and public schools; the latter do
not have religious instruction as part of their curriculum. Pastoral
schools in most villages provide religious instruction following school
hours.
Good Friday, Easter Monday, White Monday, and Christmas are
considered national religious holidays.
The Government takes steps to promote interfaith understanding by
rotating ministers from various denominations who assist at government
functions. Most government functions include a prayer at the opening.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The constitution grants each person the right to change religion or
belief and to worship or teach religion alone or with others; however,
in practice the matai (village chiefs) often choose the religious
denomination of the aiga (extended family). Since 2000 there have been
no reports that villages banished persons due to their practicing a
religion different from that practiced by the village majority.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
There is strong societal pressure at the village and local level to
attend church, participate in church services and other activities, and
financially support church leaders and projects. In some denominations,
such financial contributions often total more than 30 percent of family
income.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy also maintains contacts with representatives of the
country's various religious communities.
__________
SINGAPORE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in some circumstances.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government has banned the
Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church. The Government does not
tolerate speech or actions that it deems could adversely affect racial
or religious harmony.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 270 square miles, and its total
population is approximately 4.2 million, of whom 3.5 million are
citizens or permanent residents. According to a 2000 government survey,
85 percent of citizens and permanent residents professed some religious
faith or belief. Of this group, 51 percent practiced Buddhism, Taoism,
ancestor worship, or other faiths traditionally associated with the
ethnic Chinese population. Approximately 15 percent of the population
was Muslim, an estimated 15 percent Christian, and an estimated 4
percent Hindu. The remainder was composed of adherents of other
religions, agnostics, and atheists. Among Christians, the majority of
whom were ethnic Chinese; Protestants outnumbered Roman Catholics by
slightly more than a two-to-one ratio. There were also small Sikh,
Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Jain communities.
Approximately 77 percent of the population was ethnic Chinese, 14
percent ethnic Malay, and 8 percent ethnic Indian. Nearly all ethnic
Malays were Muslim, and most ethnic Indians Hindu. The ethnic Chinese
population was divided among Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, or was
agnostic or atheist.
Foreign missionaries were active in the country and include Roman
Catholics, Mormons, and Baptists.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in some circumstances. The
constitution provides that every citizen or person in the country has a
constitutional right to profess, practice, or propagate his or her
religious belief so long as such activities do not breach any other
laws relating to public order, public health, or morality. There is no
state religion.
All religious groups are subject to government scrutiny and must be
registered legally under the Societies Act. The Government deregistered
the Singapore congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972 and the
Unification Church in 1982, making them unlawful societies. Such a
designation makes it impossible to maintain a legal identity as a
religious group, with consequences relating to owning property,
conducting financial transactions, or holding public meetings.
The Government plays an active but limited role in religious
affairs. For example, the Government seeks to ensure that citizens,
most of whom live in publicly subsidized housing, have ready access to
religious organizations traditionally associated with their ethnic
groups by helping such institutions find space in these housing
complexes. The Government maintains a semiofficial relationship with
the Muslim community through the Islamic Religious Council (MUIS),
which was set up under the Administration of Muslim Law Act. The MUIS
advises the Government on concerns of the Muslim community, drafts the
approved weekly sermon, regulates some Muslim religious matters, and
oversees a mosque-building fund financed by voluntary payroll
deductions. The constitution acknowledges Malay/Muslims to be ``the
indigenous people of Singapore'' and charges the Government
specifically to promote their political, educational, religious,
economic, social, cultural, and language interests.
The 1961 Women's Charter gives women, among other rights, the right
to own property, conduct trade, and receive divorce settlements. Muslim
women enjoy most of the rights and protections of the Women's Charter;
however, for the most part, Muslim marriage law falls under the
administration of the Muslim Law Act, which empowers the Shari'a court
to oversee such matters. The act also allows Muslim men to practice
polygamy. Requests to take additional wives may be refused by the
Registry of Muslim Marriages, which solicits the views of existing
wives and reviews the financial capability of the husband. From 2003 to
2005, there were 142 applications for polygamous marriage, and 50
applications were approved.
The Presidential Council on Minority Rights examines all pending
bills to ensure that they do not disadvantage a particular group. It
also reports to the Government on matters affecting any racial or
religious community and investigates complaints.
The Government does not permit religious instruction in public
schools.
There are one or more official religious holy days for each major
religion in the country: Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Puasa for
Muslims, Christmas and Good Friday for Christians, Deepavali for
Hindus, and Vesak Day for Buddhists.
The Government generally promotes interfaith understanding
indirectly by sponsoring activities to promote interethnic harmony.
Because the primary ethnic minorities each are predominantly of one
faith, government programs to promote ethnic harmony have implications
for interfaith relations. On February 9, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
unveiled plans for a Community Engagement Program (CEP). The CEP's
purpose would be to promote multiracial and interreligious harmony so
that a strong foundation would be in place should a terrorist attack
occur in Singapore. The CEP planned to include not only racial and
religious groups, but also schools, businesses, and unions.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government restricts certain religious groups by application of
the Societies Act. In 1982 the minister for home affairs dissolved the
Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, also
known as the Unification Church. In 1972 the Government deregistered
and banned the Singapore Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses on the
grounds that its existence was prejudicial to public welfare and order
because its members refuse to perform military service (obligatory for
all male citizens), salute the flag, or swear oaths of allegiance to
the state. At the time, there were approximately 200 Jehovah's
Witnesses in the country; at the end of the period covered by this
report there were approximately two thousand. Although the Court of
Appeals in 1996 upheld the rights of members of Jehovah's Witnesses to
profess, practice, and propagate their religious belief, and the
Government does not arrest members for being believers, the result of
deregistration has been to make public meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses
illegal. Nevertheless, since the 1996 ruling, no charges have been
brought against persons attending or holding Jehovah's Witness meetings
in private homes.
The Government can also influence religious practice through the
Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. The act was passed in 1990 and
revised in 2001, in response to actions that the Government viewed as
threats to religious harmony. This includes aggressive and
``insensitive'' proselytizing and ``the mixing of religion and
politics.'' The act established the Presidential Council on Religious
Harmony, which reports to the minister of home affairs and is empowered
to issue restraining orders against leaders and members of religious
groups to prevent them from carrying out political activities,
``exciting disaffection against'' the Government, creating ``ill will''
between religious groups, or carrying out subversive activities. These
orders place individuals on notice that they should not repeat such
acts; contravening a restraining order can result in fines of up to
$5,984 (S ten thousand) and up to two years' imprisonment for a first
offense. The act also prohibits judicial review of its enforcement or
of any possible denial of rights arising from it.
In April 2005 two Falun Gong adherents were found guilty of illegal
assembly and distribution of video compact disks that had not been
certified by the Board of Film Censors, and in October 2005 the High
Court upheld their convictions, dismissing their appeals. The two women
chose to serve prison sentences rather than pay fines of $12,092 (S
twenty thousand) and $14,510 (S twenty-four thousand), respectively.
They were released after a week once their families had paid the fines.
The offenses were alleged to have taken place between November 2002 and
March 2003. The law mandates police permits for outdoor assemblies of
five or more persons and prohibits the distribution of films, including
videodiscs, without a license.
Missionaries, with the exception of members of Jehovah's Witnesses
and representatives of the Unification Church, are permitted to work
and to publish and distribute religious texts. However, while the
Government does not prohibit evangelical activities, in practice it
discourages activities that might upset the balance of intercommunal
relations. Authorities did not detain any Jehovah's Witnesses for
proselytizing during the period covered by this report or the previous
twelve-month period.
The Government has banned all written materials published by the
International Bible Students Association and the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society, both publishing arms of the Jehovah's Witnesses. In
practice this has led to confiscation of Bibles published by the
groups, although the Bible itself has not been outlawed. A person in
possession of banned literature can be fined up to $1,176 (S two
thousand) and jailed up to twelve months for a first conviction.
There were two government seizures of Jehovah's Witnesses
literature during the period covered by this report. Four individuals
were questioned by police and their literature was confiscated, but no
charges were filed. There were no government seizures of Jehovah's
Witnesses literature during the previous twelve-month period. In 2004
eleven individuals were detained briefly for attempting to bring
Jehovah's Witnesses publications into the country from Malaysia. In
each instance, the literature was confiscated but no charges were
filed.
Three Jehovah's Witnesses students were suspended from school for
refusing to sing the national anthem or participate in the flag
ceremony during the period covered by this report. There were no such
suspensions during the previous twelve-month period.
In response to concern from the Malay/Muslim community regarding
the fate of madrassahs (Islamic religious schools), the Government
temporarily exempted madrassah students from compulsory school
attendance. If a madrassah does not meet minimum academic standards by
2008, its students would have to transfer either to a madrassah that
does or to a national school, according to local press reports.
At the end of the period covered by this report, there were fifteen
members of Jehovah's Witnesses incarcerated in the armed forces
detention barracks because they refused to carry out the legal
obligation for all male citizens to serve in the armed forces. Of
these, four began their sentence during the period covered by this
report. There were no known conscientious objectors other than members
of Jehovah's Witnesses during the period covered by this report. The
initial sentence for failure to comply with the military service
requirement is fifteen months' imprisonment, to which twenty-four
months are added upon a second refusal. Failure to perform annual
military reserve duty, which is required of all those who have
completed their initial two-year obligation, results in forty-day
sentences; a twelve-month sentence is usual after four such refusals.
All of the Jehovah's Witnesses in detention were incarcerated for
failing to perform their initial National Service obligations and
expect to serve a total of thirty-nine months.
There were no religious prisoners or detainees in the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. Nearly all ethnic Malay citizens are
Muslim, and ethnic Malays constituted the great majority of the
country's Muslim community. Attitudes held by the Malay and non-Malay
communities regarding one another are based on both ethnicity and
religion, which in effect are impossible to separate.
The Government enforced ethnic ratios for publicly subsidized
housing, where the majority of citizens live and own their own units.
The policy was designed to prevent ethnic/racial ghettos. When a
housing development is at or near the limit for a particular ethnic
group, the policy sometimes compels owners to sell their apartments to
persons of underrepresented groups. This limits the number of potential
buyers and affects the price of the property.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintains contacts with the various religious communities
in the country.
__________
SOLOMON ISLANDS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respects this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 10,985 square miles and its population
was approximately 538 thousand. Most citizens were members of the
following Christian churches: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Evangelical,
Methodist, and Seventh-day Adventist. Traditional indigenous religious
believers, consisting primarily of the Kwaio community on the island of
Malaita, accounted for an estimated 5 percent of the population. Other
groups, such as the Baha'i Faith, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Unification Church, and
indigenous churches that have broken away from traditional Christian
churches, comprised 2 percent. There were believed to be members of
other religious groups within the foreign community who were free to
practice their religions, but they were not known to proselytize or
hold public religious ceremonies. According to the most recent reports,
there were over 200 Muslims in the country.
Christianity was brought to the country in the 19th and early 20th
centuries by missionaries representing several Western churches: The
Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the South Seas Evangelical
Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the London Missionary
Society (which became the United Church). Some foreign missionaries
continued to work in the country. Except for the Roman Catholic Church,
whose clergy was approximately 50 percent foreign, the clergy of the
traditional churches was nearly entirely indigenous, including the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, United Church (Methodist), South Seas
Evangelical Church, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Department of Home and Cultural Affairs has a nominal
policymaking role concerning religion. It characterized this role, on
one hand, as keeping a balance between constitutionally protected
rights of religious freedom, free speech, and free expression and, on
the other hand, maintaining public order. All religious institutions
were required to register with the Government; however, there were no
reports that registration was denied to any group.
In general the Government did not subsidize religion. However,
several schools and health services in the country were built and
continue to be operated by religious organizations. There were schools
sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Melanesia, the
United Church (Methodist), the South Seas Evangelical Church, and the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. Upon independence, the Government
recognized that it had neither the funds nor the personnel to take over
these institutions and agreed instead to subsidize their operations.
The public school curriculum included thirty minutes of daily
religious instruction, the content of which is agreed upon by the
Christian churches; students whose parents do not wish them to attend
the class are excused. The Government subsidized church schools only if
they aligned their curriculums with governmental criteria. Although
non-Christian religions may be taught in the schools, there was no such
instruction at present. However, the administrations of the Government
primary and secondary schools in Auki, the provincial capital of
Malaita, recently requested multifaith instruction from the Baha'i
community. Customarily, government oaths of office were taken on the
Bible; however, religious oaths were forbidden by the constitution and
cannot be required.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Joint religious activities,
such as religious representation at national events, were organized
through the Solomon Islands Christian Association, which is composed of
the five traditional churches of the country. Occasionally individual
citizens object to the activities of nontraditional denominations and
suggest that they be curtailed. However, society in general was
tolerant of different religious beliefs and activities.
During 2003, Guadalcanal militants abducted a number of members of
an Anglican religious order and killed seven of them. In June 2003
militant leader Harold Keke was arrested for these and other killings.
In March 2005 Keke was convicted of the murder of Father Augustine Geve
and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The United States Government does not have a permanent presence in
the country; however, the U.S. embassy in Port Moresby, Papua New
Guinea, discusses religious freedom issues with the Government as part
of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
THAILAND
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice; however, it does not
register new religious groups that have not been accepted into one of
the existing religious governing bodies on doctrinal or other grounds.
In practice, unregistered religious organizations operated freely, and
the Government's practice of not recognizing any new religious faiths
has not restricted the activities of unregistered religious groups. The
Government officially limits the number of foreign missionaries that
may work in the country, although unregistered missionaries were
present in large numbers and were allowed to live and work freely.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. While separatist violence in
the southernmost provinces continued to result in localized tensions
between Buddhist and Muslim communities, religious practices were not
significantly inhibited.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 198 thousand square miles,
and its population is an estimated 64 million. According to the
Government's National Statistics Office, approximately 94 percent of
the population was Buddhist and 5 percent was Muslim; however,
estimates by nongovernmental organizations, academics, and religious
groups stated that approximately 85 to 90 percent of the population was
Theravada Buddhist and up to 10 percent of the population was Muslim.
There were small animist, Christian, Confucian, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh,
and Taoist populations. According to the Religious Affairs Department
(RAD), the numbers of atheists or persons who did not profess a
religious faith made up less than 1 percent of the population.
The dominant religion was Theravada Buddhism. The Buddhist clergy,
or Sangha, consists of two main schools, which are governed by the same
ecclesiastical hierarchy. Monks belonging to the older Mahanikaya
school far outnumbered those of the Dhammayuttika school, an order that
grew out of a nineteenth-century reform movement led by King Mongkut
(Rama IV).
Islam was the dominant religion in four of the five southernmost
provinces, which border Malaysia. The majority of Muslims were ethnic
Malay, but the Muslim population encompassed groups of diverse ethnic
and national origin, including descendants of immigrants from South
Asia, China, Cambodia, and Indonesia. The RAD reported that there were
3,524 registered mosques in 64 provinces, of which 2,255 were located
in the 5 southernmost provinces. According to the RAD, 99 percent of
these mosques were associated with the Sunni branch of Islam. Shi'a
mosques made up the remaining 1 percent.
According to RAD statistics, there are an estimated 438,600
Christians in the country, constituting 0.7 percent of the population.
There were several Protestant denominations, and most belong to one of
four umbrella organizations. The oldest of these groupings, the Church
of Christ in Thailand, was formed in the mid-1930s. The largest was the
Evangelical Foundation of Thailand. Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists
were recognized by authorities as separate Protestant denominations and
were organized under similar umbrella groups.
There were nine tribal groups (chao khao) recognized by the
Government, with an estimated population of approximately 920 thousand
persons. Syncretistic practices drawn from Buddhism, Christianity,
Taoism, and spirit worship were common. The Sikh Council of Thailand
estimated the Sikh community to have a population of approximately 70
thousand persons, most of which resided in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Nakhon
Ratchasima, Pattaya, and Phuket. There were currently nineteen Sikh
temples in the country. According to government statistics, there were
an estimated 2,900 Hindus in the country, although Hindu organizations
estimated the population to be closer to 10 thousand persons.
The ethnic Chinese minority (Sino-Thai) has retained some popular
religious traditions from China, including adherence to popular Taoist
beliefs. Members of the Mien hill tribe followed a form of Taoism.
Mahayana Buddhism was practiced primarily by small groups of
Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants. There were more than 675 Chinese and
Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist shrines and temples throughout the
country.
Citizens proselytized freely. Monks working as Buddhist
missionaries (Dhammaduta) have been active since the end of World War
II, particularly in border areas among the country's tribal
populations. As of May 2006, there were 8,079 Dhammaduta working in the
country. In addition, during the period covered by this report, the
Government sponsored the international travel of another 1,038 Buddhist
monks sent by their temples to disseminate religious information to 27
countries. Muslim organizations reported having small numbers of
citizens working as missionaries in the country and abroad. Christian
organizations reported much larger numbers of missionaries, both
foreign and Thai, operating in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice; however, it restricted the
activities of some groups. The constitution requires that the monarch
be a Buddhist. The state religion in effect is Theravada Buddhism;
however, it is not officially designated as such.
The constitution states that discrimination against a person on the
grounds of ``a difference in religious belief'' shall not be permitted.
There was no significant pattern of religious discrimination during the
period covered by this report. The Government maintained longstanding
policies designed to integrate southern Muslim communities into society
through developmental efforts and expanded educational opportunities,
as well as policies designed to increase the number of appointments to
local and provincial positions where Muslims traditionally have been
underrepresented.
The constitution provides for, and citizens generally enjoyed, a
large measure of freedom of speech; however, laws prohibiting speech
likely to insult Buddhism remain in place. The 1962 Sangha Act
specifically prohibits the defamation or insult of Buddhism and the
Buddhist clergy. The Penal Code prohibits the insult or disturbance of
religious places or services of all officially recognized religions.
The Government plays an active role in religious affairs. The RAD,
which is located in the Ministry of Culture, registers religious
organizations. Under the provisions of the Religious Organizations Act,
the RAD recognizes a new religion if a national census shows that it
has at least five thousand adherents, has a uniquely recognizable
theology, and is not politically active. A religious organization also
must be accepted into an officially recognized ecclesiastical group
before the RAD will grant registration. During the period covered by
this report, there were five such groups: The Buddhist community, the
Muslim community, the Brahmin-Hindu community, the Sikh community, and
the Catholic community, which includes four Protestant subgroups.
Government registration confers some benefits, including access to
state subsidies, tax-exempt status, and preferential allocation of
resident visas for organization officials. However, since 1984 the
Government has not recognized any new religious faiths. In practice,
unregistered religious organizations operate freely, and the
Government's practice of not recognizing any new religious faiths has
not restricted the activities of unregistered religious groups.
The constitution requires the Government ``to patronize and protect
Buddhism and other religions.'' The State subsidizes activities of the
three largest religious communities (Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian).
The Government allocated approximately $56.5 million (2.2 billion baht)
during fiscal year 2006 to support the National Buddhism Bureau, which
was established in 2002 as an independent state agency. The office
oversees the Buddhist clergy and approved the curricula of Buddhist
teachings for all Buddhist temples of educational institutions. In
addition, the bureau promotes the Buddhist faith by sponsoring
educational and public relations materials on the faith and practice in
daily life.
For fiscal year 2005, the Government, through the RAD, allocated
$1.03 million for Islamic organizations, $56,600 for Christian,
Brahman-Hindu, and Sikh organizations. Also in 2006 RAD received, for
the first time, a rotating budget of approximately $51.3 million (200
million baht) to be used to offer loans for Hajj-related travel.
The budgets for Buddhist and Muslim organizations included funds to
support Buddhist and Muslim institutes of higher education, fund
religious education programs in public and private schools, provide
daily allowances for monks and Muslim clerics who hold administrative
and senior ecclesiastical posts, and subsidize travel and health care
for monks and Muslim clerics. This figure also included an annual
budget for the renovation and repair of Buddhist temples and Muslim
mosques, the maintenance of historic Buddhist sites, and the daily
upkeep of the central mosque in Pattani. Catholic and Protestant groups
can request government support for renovation and repair work but do
not receive a regular budget to maintain church buildings, nor do they
receive government assistance to support their clergy. In 2006 the
Government provided approximately $36,000 for restoration of Christian
churches. Private donations to registered religious organizations are
tax deductible.
Religious instruction is required in public schools at both the
primary, (grades one through six, and secondary, grades seven through
twelve, education levels. The Ministry of Education has formulated a
course called ``Social, Religion, and Culture Studies,'' which students
in each grade study for one to two hours each week. The course contains
information about all of the recognized religions in the country.
Students who wish to pursue in-depth studies of other religions or of
their belief may study at the religious schools and can transfer
credits to the public school. Schools, working in conjunction with
their local school administrative board, are authorized to arrange
additional religious studies courses. The Supreme Sangha Council and
the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand have created special
curriculums for Buddhist and Islamic studies.
There are a variety of Islamic education opportunities for
children. Tadika is an after-school religious course for children in
grades one through six, which is under the supervision of the RAD and
generally takes place in a mosque. There are currently 1,612 registered
Islamic Religious and Moral Education centers teaching Tadika, with
approximately 173 thousand students and more than 4 thousand teachers.
For secondary school children, the Ministry of Education allows two
separate curricula for private Islamic studies schools. The first type
teaches only Islamic religious courses. As of April 2006, there were 92
schools nationwide with 5,684 students and 423 teachers using this
curriculum. The government registers but does not certify these
schools, and students from these schools cannot continue to any higher
education within the country. The number of this type of school was in
decline as students opted to attend schools that afford alternatives
for higher education. The second curriculum teaches both Islamic
religious courses and traditional state education coursework.
Approximately 132 schools nationwide with 100,684 students use this
curriculum. The Government recognizes these private schools, and
graduating students can continue to higher education within the
country. A third type of Islamic education available, mostly in the
southern part of the country, is traditional pondok schools. During the
period covered by this report, there were 372 registered pondok schools
primarily in Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces. Previously, these
religious schools were not required to register with the Government and
received no Government oversight or funding. The registration effort
began in April 2004 following an attack on a military post and arms
depot in Narathiwat in January 2004. Government investigations into
that incident led the authorities to pursue suspects associated with
pondok schools. The total number of pondoks is still unknown. Sources
believed that there could be as many as one thousand.
The Government actively sponsors interfaith dialogue in accordance
with the constitution, which requires the State to ``promote good
understanding and harmony among followers of all religions.'' The
Government funds regular meetings and public education programs. These
programs included the RAD annual interfaith meeting for representatives
and members of all religious groups certified by RAD. The programs also
included monthly meetings of the seventeen-member Subcommittee on
Religious Relations, located within the prime minister's National
Identity Promotion Office (the subcommittee is composed of one
representative from the Buddhist, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Hindu, and
Sikh communities in addition to civil servants from several government
agencies). In March 2006 the RAD organized an interfaith convention in
Bangkok, which had 1,600 participants and a major international
interfaith event is planned for June 2006 during the sixtieth
anniversary celebration of the king's coronation. The RAD sponsored a
public relations campaign promoting interreligious understanding and
harmony, including prime-time television announcements. However, a
continuing separatist insurgency by militant ethnic Malay Muslims in
the southernmost provinces led to concerns that the violence may be
contributing to increased tensions between the local Buddhist and
Muslim communities.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In the past, government officials, at the request of Chinese
Government officials, have reportedly monitored Falun Gong members.
During the period covered by this report, the Government denied the
application submitted by the local Falun Gong to register as an
association with the Office of the National Cultural Commission. The
organization was currently challenging this decision through the court
system. No action was announced on a second petition submitted to the
police department to print and distribute a weekly Falun Gong magazine.
The group was able to print and distribute religious materials both in
Thai and Chinese on a small, informal basis for free distribution.
Falun Gong maintained a website that advertises daily gatherings in
Bangkok and periodic gatherings in Songkhla.
The Government does not recognize religious faiths other than the
five existing groupings. However, unregistered religious organizations
operated freely.
Although unregistered missionaries were present in large numbers,
the number of foreign missionaries registered with the Government is
limited to a quota that originally was established by the RAD in 1982.
The quota is divided along both religious and denominational lines.
During the period covered by this report, there were close to 1,500
registered foreign missionaries in the country, most of them Christian.
In addition to these formal quotas, far more missionaries, while not
registered were able to live and work in the country without government
interference. While registration conferred some benefits, such as
longer terms for visa stays, being unregistered was not a significant
barrier to foreign missionary activity. Many foreign missionaries
entered the country using tourist visas and proselytized or
disseminated religious literature without the acknowledgment of the
RAD. There were no reports that foreign missionaries were deported or
harassed for working without registration. Muslim professors and
clerics, particularly in the far south, continue to face additional
scrutiny because of continued government concern about the resurgence
of Muslim separatist activities. However, this did not appear to
interfere with their activities or their ability to practice their
faith.
Muslim female civil servants were not permitted to wear headscarves
when dressed in civil servant uniforms. However, in practice most
female civil servants were permitted by their superiors to wear
headscarves if they wished, particularly in the country's southernmost
provinces. Muslim female civil servants not required to wear uniforms
were allowed to wear headscarves.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Violent acts committed by suspected Islamic militants in the
provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla, and Yala affected the
ability of some Buddhists in this predominantly Muslim region to
undertake the full range of their traditional religious practices.
During the period covered by this report, one Buddhist monk and two
novices were killed in an attack on a Buddhist temple in Pattani
Province. The incident occurred in the early morning hours of October
16, 2005, when approximately twenty assailants attacked a temple in
Ponare District, Pattani. The attackers fired guns into temple
dwellings, killing two teenage novices, and stabbed a seventy-six year
old monk to death, nearly severing his head. The attackers then set
fire to several structures and destroyed Buddha images. At the end of
the period covered by this report, no one had been arrested or charged
in these attacks.
On September 2, 2005, a monk was injured by a bomb in Narathiwat
Province. Four others were injured in separate incidents between March
and June 2005 in Yala Province. The monks were performing the morning
ritual of receiving donations of food and were guarded by armed
soldiers. In June 2005, eight civilians were beheaded in six separate
incidents. Some observers in the south, including some Muslim leaders,
described these incidents as reprisal killings for the arrest and/or
killing of suspected Muslim militants by authorities. At the end of the
period covered by this report, no one had been arrested for the 2004
murder of three Buddhist monks and the beheading of one civilian
Buddhist rubber tapper or for the 2004 attacks on Buddhist temples and
one Chinese shrine in the southern provinces of the country. The
Government continued to investigate these incidents in the context of
security operations involving the ongoing separatist violence in the
South. Buddhist monks continued to report that they were fearful and
thus no longer able to travel freely through southern communities to
receive alms. They also claimed that laypersons sometimes declined to
assist them in their daily activities out of fear of being targeted by
militants.
There were almost daily attacks by suspected separatist militants
in Thailand's southernmost provinces on both government officials and
Buddhists and Muslim civilians. The violence contributed to an
atmosphere of fear and suspicion in the southern provinces. However,
while the level of tension between local Islamic and Buddhist
communities was heightened, it did not result in open communal
conflict.
In response to the killings, the Government stationed troops to
protect the religious practitioners and structures of all faiths in
communities where the potential for violence existed, and provided
armed escort for Buddhist monks, where necessary, for their daily
rounds to receive alms. The Government offered compensation to the
families of 106 Islamic militants slain while attacking security forces
on April 28, 2004, and many of the families accepted. The Government
allocated $218,000 for the restoration of the Krue Se Mosque, which
soldiers damaged during the fighting. During the period covered by this
report, the restoration was completed and an additional $40,000 was
allocated for supplementary improvements.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversions, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious groups closely
associated with ethnic minorities, such as Muslims, experienced some
societal economic discrimination; however, such discrimination appeared
to be linked more to ethnicity than to religion. Continued violence in
the far southern regions of the country contributed to negative
stereotypes of Muslims held by persons from other geographic areas of
the country. Murders clearly targeted at Buddhists increased ethnic
tensions between Muslim and Buddhist communities in the far south.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officers regularly visit Muslim religious leaders, academics,
and elected officials as part of the embassy's goal of understanding
the complex ethnic and religious issues at play in society.
During the fiscal year 2005, five Muslims from a broad range of
professions participated in the International Visitor Leadership
Program, which is the flagship professional exchange program of the
Department of State and serves to introduce young professionals from a
wide variety of fields to the United States at an early stage in their
professional development.
__________
TONGA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 288 square miles and its population is
approximately 112,400. According to the last official census, in 1996,
membership by percentage of population of major denominations was: Free
Wesleyan Church of Tonga, 41 percent; Roman Catholic, 16 percent;
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 14 percent; and
Free Church of Tonga, 12 percent. More recently, many faiths have said
the figures were no longer accurate. The Mormon Church claimed its
members comprised at least 32 percent of the population, while the
Baha'is stated they accounted for nearly 5 percent. The Free Wesleyan
Church stated its community numbered an estimated 30,000. None of these
newer estimates could be independently confirmed. Members of the
Tokaikolo (a local offshoot of the Methodist Church), Seventh-day
Adventist, Assemblies of God, and Anglican churches were present in
much smaller numbers. There were also Muslim and Hindu communities,
each comprising negligible numbers. There were no reports of
acknowledged atheists.
Western missionaries, particularly Mormons and other Christian
denominations and organizations, were active in the country and
reported being welcomed and respected in local society.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion. Registration of religious groups is
recommended by the Government for tax purposes, but it is not required.
All religious groups are permitted duty-free entry of goods intended
for religious purposes, but no religious group is subsidized or granted
tax-exempt status.
Missionaries operated without special restrictions. There were a
number of schools operated by Mormons, the Wesleyan Free Church, and
Roman Catholics. The Baha'i Faith, Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies
of God, and the Anglican Church also reported supporting their own
schools.
Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day are
official holy days.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The constitution states that Sunday, the Sabbath day, is to be
``kept holy'' and that no business can be conducted ``except according
to law.'' Although an exception is made for hotels and resorts that are
part of the tourism industry, the Sabbath day business prohibition is
enforced strictly for all businesses, regardless of the business
owners' religion.
The Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) maintained policy
guidelines regarding the broadcast of religious programming on Radio
Tonga. The TBC guidelines stated that in view of ``the character of the
listening public,'' those who preach on Radio Tonga must confine their
preaching ``within the limits of the mainstream Christian tradition.''
This policy applied to all faiths. Religious leaders from all faiths
were permitted to host programs, but the TBC policy did not, for
example, permit the Baha'is to discuss the tenets of their religion or
mention its founder, Baha'u'llah, by name. Similarly, the TBC did not
allow Mormons to discuss their founder, Joseph Smith, or the Book of
Mormon by name. Mormons used Radio Tonga for the announcement of church
activities. Other faiths also utilized Radio Tonga. Members of the
Baha'i Faith used a privately owned radio station for program
activities and the announcement of functions. The TBC insisted its
guidelines were nondiscriminatory, but it was considering revising them
to avoid the appearance of discrimination.
A government-owned newspaper occasionally carried news articles
about Baha'i activities or events, as well as about those of other
faiths.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Tonga National Council of
Churches (TNCC) is a nongovernment organization of seven member
churches and engages various Christian denominations in ecumenical
dialogue. The most active members are the Free Wesleyan, Roman
Catholic, and Anglican churches. The Mormons do not participate. The
TNCC has no formal relationship with the Government, and there were no
reports of any government interference with the TNCC's mission.
Religious leaders contacted did not report any overt or latent
discriminatory treatment. All religious organizations contacted said
religion plays an important part in local society, and there were no
reports of religious differences resulting in societal or political
hostilities.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government does not maintain an embassy in the country;
the U.S. ambassador in Suva, Fiji, was accredited to the Government of
Tonga. The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Officials from the U.S. embassy in Fiji met with religious officials
and nongovernmental organizations during visits to the country.
__________
TUVALU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
National government policy continued to contribute to the generally
free practice of religion. However, in the case of a charismatic
Christian church banned by an island council of elders, the country's
chief justice upheld the right of such traditional island councils to
restrict the constitutional right to freedom of religion in cases where
they contended it could threaten traditional mores and practices. In
January 2006 a second traditional island council, on the main island of
Funafuti, issued a resolution aimed at the same church that prohibited
the establishment or practice of ``any new religion.'' The High Court
issued temporary injunctions prohibiting any further action against the
church and its missionary work on both islands.
The success of some new Christian churches in winning followers
away from the predominant Church of Tuvalu weakened the generally
amicable relationship among religions in society. The High Court's
decision to uphold the rights of traditional councils to restrict the
activities of new faiths presented a challenge to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is composed of nine island groups with an area of
approximately ten square miles and an estimated population of 9,500.
The Church of Tuvalu, which has historic ties to the Congregational
Church and other churches in Samoa, had the largest number of
followers. Government estimates of religious affiliation as a
percentage of population included: Church of Tuvalu, 91 percent;
Seventh-day Adventist, 3 percent; Baha'i, 3 percent; Jehovah's
Witnesses, 2 percent; and Catholic, 1 percent. There were also smaller
numbers of Muslims, Baptists, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and atheists. The Brethren Church, subject
of the high court case on religious freedom, was said to have as many
as three hundred adherents, some 3 percent of the population, but this
could not be confirmed by independent sources.
All nine island groups had traditional chiefs who were members of
the Church of Tuvalu. Most followers of other religions or
denominations were found in Funafuti, the capital, with the exception
of the relatively large proportion of followers of the Baha'i Faith on
Nanumea Island.
There were active Christian missionary organizations in the country
representing some of the above-mentioned religious faiths.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion, and the constitution provides for separation of church
and state. However, in practice government ceremonies at the national
and island council levels, such as the opening of Parliament, often
include Christian prayers, clergy, and perspectives. By law, any new
religious group with more than fifty members must register; failure to
register could result in prosecution. The preamble of the constitution
states: ``And whereas the people of Tuvalu desire to constitute
themselves as an independent State based on Christian principles, the
Rule of Law, and Tuvaluan custom and tradition.''
Missionaries practiced without restriction.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, in 2003 the island council of Nanumanga
banned the newly formed Tuvalu Brethren Church. In May 2005 the head of
the Tuvalu Brethren Church filed a complaint against the island
council, and the case was heard. In October 2005, the country's chief
justice, citing the constitution, upheld the right of traditional
island councils of elders to restrict the right to freedom of religion
in cases where they contend it may threaten traditional mores and
practices. The Brethren Church immediately appealed the verdict. In
April the Nanumanga council of elders passed another resolution that
banned all other new churches and threatened local civil servants with
dismissal if they worshipped with the Brethren Church. Despite a High
Court injunction against such action, in June the council dismissed
without proper notice five council workers who were members of the
Brethren Church.
In January 2006 the council of elders on the main island of
Funafuti issued a similar resolution prohibiting the establishment or
practice of ``any new religion.'' The ban was aimed at the Brethren
Church, which was reported to be approximately 300-strong on Funafuti.
The ban forbids meetings and worshipping by members of the Brethren
Church and specifically prohibits the construction of a new Brethren
church. It also extends to all religions not already established on the
island. However, the country's high court has issued a temporary
injunction prohibiting any further actions against the Brethren Church
and its missionary work. The matter was expected to come to trial in
late 2006.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, there was a degree of social
intolerance for non-Church of Tuvalu activities, particularly on some
outer islands.
Members of the Church of Tuvalu dominated most aspects of social
and political life in the country, in view of the fact that they
comprised approximately 90 percent of the population.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
Although the U.S. Government does not maintain a resident embassy
in the country, the U.S. ambassador to Fiji is also accredited to the
Government. Representatives of the U.S. embassy in Fiji visited the
country periodically and discussed religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of the overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officials spoke with the chief justice and expressed their
concern about his October decision upholding the right of traditional
authorities to restrict freedom of religion in certain circumstances.
Embassy officials also met with representatives of religious
communities and nongovernmental organizations that have an interest in
religious freedom. The embassy actively supported efforts to improve
and expand governmental and societal awareness of and protection for
human rights, including the right to freedom of religion.
__________
VANUATU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by the report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some churches and
individuals objected to the missionary activities of nontraditional
denominations and continued to suggest that they be curtailed.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is an island nation, covering 4,707 square miles, and
its population is approximately 208,900. The great majority belonged to
Christian churches, although many combined their Christian faith with
cultural practices in place prior to the arrival of Christianity.
Church membership primarily was Presbyterian (approximately 32
percent), Roman Catholic (13 percent), Anglican (13 percent), and
Seventh-day Adventist (11 percent). Another 14 percent were members of
the Church of Christ, the Apostolic Church, the Assemblies of God, and
other Christian denominations. The John Frum Movement, a political
party that also is an indigenous religious movement, was centered on
the island of Tanna and included about 5 percent of the population. The
Bahai Faith, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) also were active. There were
believed to be members of other religions within the foreign community;
they were free to practice their religions, but they were not known to
proselytize or hold public religious ceremonies.
Missionaries representing several western churches brought
Christianity to the country in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Some foreign missionaries continue this work; however, the
clergy of the established churches are now primarily indigenous.
Missionaries represented the Church of Christ, Presbyterian, Seventh-
day Adventist, Anglican, and Roman Catholic churches. The Summer
Institute of Linguistics, which translates the New Testament into
indigenous languages, also was present.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The preamble of the constitution refers to a commitment to
traditional values and Christian principles; however, the constitution
also provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice. The Government did not tolerate the
abuse of religious freedom, either by governmental or private actors.
Religious organizations are required to register with the
Government; however, this law is not enforced.
The Government interacts with churches through the Ministry of Home
Affairs and the Vanuatu Christian Council. Customarily, government
oaths of office are taken on the Bible. The Government provides some
financial help for the construction of churches for Vanuatu Christian
Council members, provides grants to church-operated schools, and pays
teachers' salaries at church-operated schools that have been in
existence since the country's independence in 1980. These benefits are
not available to non-Christian religious organizations. Government
schools also schedule time each week for religious education conducted
by representatives of council churches, using materials designed by
those churches. Students whose parents do not wish them to attend the
classes are excused. Non-Christian groups are not permitted to teach
their religions in public schools.
Aside from the activities of the Ministry of Home Affairs, use of
government resources to support religious activities is not condoned
(although there is no law prohibiting such support). If a formal
request is given to the Government and permission is granted,
governmental resources may be used.
The Government does not attempt to control missionary activity.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some churches and
individuals objected to the missionary activities of nontraditional
denominations and continued to suggest that they be curtailed.
In rural areas, traditional Melanesian communal decision-making
predominates. If a member of a community proposes to introduce a
significant change within the community, such as the establishment of a
new church, the chief and the rest of the community must agree. If a
new church is established without approval, the community views the
action as a gesture of defiance by those who join the new church, and
as a threat to community solidarity. However, subsequent friction
generally has been resolved through appeals from traditional leaders to
uphold individual rights.
Religious representation at national events is organized through
the Vanuatu Christian Council. Ecumenical activities of the council are
limited to the interaction of its members.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
VIETNAM
Both the Constitution and law provide for freedom of worship;
however, the Government continued to restrict organized activities of
religious groups that it declared to be at variance with State laws and
policies. The Government attempts to regulate religious practice
through a legal framework, which requires that the Government
officially sanction the organization and activities of all religious
denominations.
Overall respect for religious freedom improved during the period
covered by this report as Vietnam continues its transition from a
socialist command economy to an open, market-oriented society; however,
a number of positive legal reforms adopted in previous years remained
in the early stages of implementation. The 2004 Ordinance on Religion
and Belief serves as the primary legal framework governing religious
practice. The 2005 implementation decree (number 22) for the ordinance
delineates established guidelines for religious denominations to
register their activities and seek official recognition. The 2005
``Instruction on Protestantism'' promulgated by the prime minister
directs officials to assist unrecognized Protestant denominations in
registering their activities so that they can practice openly. Under
the 2004 ordinance, participation in religious activities throughout
the country continued to grow, and Protestant believers in the Central
Highlands reported significant improvements in their situation.
Furthermore, the Government began to promote registration of Protestant
house churches in the Northwest Highlands region, but progress was slow
and the Government stated that only six previously unregistered
northern congregations were allowed to register their activities during
the reporting period.
Despite several confirmed reports of police harassment and beatings
of unregistered believers belonging to unrecognized religions,
Protestants across the north reported improvement in most officials'
attitude towards their religion, and in general Protestants were
allowed to gather for worship without significant harassment.
Restrictions on the hierarchies and clergy of religious groups also
remained in place, and the Government maintained a prominent role
supervising recognized religions. Religious leaders encountered
greatest restrictions when they engaged in activities that the
Government perceived as political activism or a challenge to its rule.
The Government continued to ban and actively discourage participation
in one unrecognized faction of the Hoa Hao Buddhists. The Government
also actively restricted the leadership of the unrecognized United
Buddhist Church of Vietnam and maintained that it will not recognize
this organization under its current leadership. The Catholic Church
reported that the Government continued to ease restrictions on church
assignment of new clergy but indicated that it would like to open
additional seminaries in the North.
During the period covered by this report, the Government released
four prominent religious prisoners.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. embassy in Hanoi and the U.S. consulate general in Ho Chi
Minh City maintain an active and regular dialogue with senior and
working-level government officials to advocate greater religious
freedom. U.S. officials also meet and communicate regularly with
religious leaders, including religious activists under government
scrutiny. The U.S. ambassador and other U.S. officials, including the
ambassador at large for international religious freedom, raise concerns
about the registration and recognition difficulties faced by religious
organizations, the detention and arrest of religious figures, the
difficulties Protestants face in the Central and Northwest Highlands,
and other restrictions on religious freedom with the prime minister,
deputy prime minister, government cabinet ministers, Communist Party of
Vietnam (CPV) leaders, provincial officials, and others.
In September 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell designated
Vietnam a ``Country of Particular Concern'' (CPC) under the
International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations
of religious freedom. In November 2005 Secretary of State Rice renewed
Vietnam's CPC status but noted significant positive changes in
religious freedom during the year. Changes included a May 2005 exchange
of letters with the United States in which the Government set forth a
number of commitments to advance and protect religious freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 127,000 square miles, and
its population is approximately 83.5 million. The Government officially
recognizes one Buddhist organization (Buddhists made up approximately
50 percent of the population), the Roman Catholic Church (8 to 10
percent of the population), several Cao Dai organizations (1.5 to 3
percent of the population), one Hoa Hao organization (1.5 to 4 percent
of the population), two Protestant organizations (.5 to 2 percent of
the population), and one Muslim organization (less than 0.1 percent of
the population). Other believers belonged to organizations that are not
officially recognized by the Government. Most other Vietnamese citizens
considered themselves non-religious, although many practiced
traditional beliefs such as veneration of ancestors and national
heroes.
Buddhism is the dominant religious belief. Many Buddhists practiced
an amalgam of Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucian traditions that
sometimes is called the country's ``triple religion.'' Some estimates
suggested that more than half of the population was at least nominally
Buddhist. The Committee for Religious Affairs used a much lower
estimate of 12 percent (10 million) practicing Buddhists Mahayana
Buddhists, most of whom were part of the ethnic Kinh majority and found
throughout the country, especially in the populous areas of the
northern and southern delta regions. There were proportionately fewer
Buddhists in certain highland areas, although migration of Kinh to
these areas was changing this distribution. A Khmer ethnic minority in
the south practices Theravada Buddhism. Numbering just over 1 million
persons, they lived almost exclusively in the Mekong Delta.
There were an estimated 6 to 8 million Roman Catholics in the
country, although official government statistics put the number at
5,570,000. Catholics lived throughout the country, but the largest
concentrations remained in the southern provinces around Ho Chi Minh
City, in parts of the Central Highlands and in the provinces southeast
of Hanoi. Catholicism has revived in many areas, with newly rebuilt or
renovated churches in recent years and growing numbers of persons who
want to be religious workers.
The Cao Dai religion was founded in 1926 in the southern part of
the country. Official government statistics put the number of Cao Dai
at 2.4 million, although Cao Dai officials routinely claimed as many as
four million adherents. Cao Dai groups are most active in Tay Ninh
Province, where the Cao Dai ``Holy See'' is located, and in Ho Chi Minh
City and the Mekong Delta. There were thirteen separate groups within
the Cao Dai religion; the largest was the Tay Ninh sect, which
represented more than half of all Cao Dai believers. The Cao Dai
religion is syncretistic, combining elements of many faiths. A small
Cao Dai organization, the Thien Tien branch, was formally recognized in
1995. The Tay Ninh Cao Dai branch was granted legal recognition in
1997.
The Hoa Hao branch of Buddhism was founded in the southern part of
the country in 1939. According to the Government, there were 1.6
million Hoa Hao followers; affiliated expatriate groups estimated that
there may be up to three million followers. Hoa Hao followers were
concentrated in the Mekong Delta, particularly in provinces such as An
Giang and Dong Thap, where the Hoa Hao were dominant as a social,
political and military force before 1975. The government-recognized Hoa
Hao Administrative Committee was organized in 1999. Some Hoa Hao
followed other sects that do not have official recognition.
Estimates of the number of Protestants in the country ranged from
the official government figure of 500,000 to claims by churches of
1,600,000 or more. The two officially recognized Protestant churches
are the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV), recognized in
2001, and the smaller Evangelical Church of Vietnam North (ECVN),
recognized since 1963. The SECV had affiliated churches in all of the
southern provinces of the country. There were estimates that the growth
of Protestant believers has been as much as 600 percent over the past
decade, despite government restrictions on proselytizing activities.
Some of these new converts belonged to unregistered evangelical house
churches. Based on believers' estimates, two-thirds of Protestants were
members of ethnic minorities, including H'mong, Dzao, Thai, and other
minority groups in the Northwest Highlands, and members of ethnic
minority groups of the Central Highlands (Ede, Jarai, Bahnar, and Koho,
among others).
Mosques serving the country's small Muslim population, estimated at
between 50,000 to 80,000 persons, operated in western An Giang
Province, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and provinces in the southern
coastal part of the country. The Muslim community was composed mainly
of ethnic Cham, although in Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang Province it
included some ethnic Vietnamese and migrants originally from Malaysia,
Indonesia, and India. Approximately half of the Muslims in the country
were Sunnis. Sunni Muslims are concentrated in five locations around
the country. An estimated 15,000 live in Tan Chau district of western
An Giang Province, which borders Cambodia. Nearly 3,000 live in western
Tay Ninh Province, which also borders Cambodia. More than 5,000 reside
in Ho Chi Minh City, with 2,000 residing in neighboring Dong Nai
Province. Another 5,000 live in the south central coastal provinces of
Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. The other half of Muslims practices Bani
Islam, a type of Islam unique to the ethnic Cham who live on the
central coast of the country. Both groups appear to be on cordial terms
with the Government and are able to practice their faith freely. They
have limited contact with Muslims in foreign countries.
There were several smaller religious communities not recognized by
the Government, the largest of which is the Hindu community.
Approximately 50,000 ethnic Cham in the south-central coastal area
practiced a devotional form of Hinduism. Another 4,000 Hindus lived in
Ho Chi Minh City; some were ethnic Cham but most were Indian or of
mixed Indian-Vietnamese descent.
There were an estimated 6,000 members of the Baha'i Faith, largely
concentrated in the south. Prior to 1975, there were an estimated
200,000 believers, according to Baha'i officials. Open Baha'i practice
was banned from 1975 to 1992, and the number of believers dropped
sharply during this time. Since 1992, the Baha'i have met in unofficial
meeting halls. Community leaders said they had good relations with
authorities and appeared to be able to practice their faith without
significant harassment. At the end of the reporting period, the Baha'i
were preparing to apply for registration and recognition under the new
legal framework.
There are several hundred members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) who were spread throughout the country but
lived primarily in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The Mormon Church HCMC
was also preparing to apply for registration under the new legal
framework on religion at the end of the reporting period.
At least ten active but unofficially unrecognized congregations of
Jehovah's Witnesses were present in the country, each with several
hundred members. Most of the congregations were in the south, with five
in Ho Chi Minh City. Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City also applied for registration under the new legal
framework during the reporting period.
Fourteen million citizens comprising seventeen percent or more of
the population reportedly did not practice any organized religion. Some
sources strictly define citizens who are considered to be practicing
Buddhists, excluding those whose activities are limited to visiting
pagodas on ceremonial holidays. Using this definition, the number of
nonreligious persons would be much higher, perhaps reaching as many as
fifty million. No statistics were available on the level of
participation in formal religious services, but it was generally
acknowledged that this number continued to increase from the early
1990s.
Ethnic minorities constituted approximately 14 percent of the
overall population. Ethnic minorities historically have practiced
different traditional beliefs than those of the ethnic majority Kinh.
Many ethnic minorities, particularly the H'mong, Dzao and Jarai groups,
have converted to Catholicism or Protestantism.
Foreign missionaries legally are not permitted to proselytize or
perform religious activities. Undeclared missionaries from several
countries were active in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution, legal code, and a 2003 Communist Party Central
Committee resolution on religion provide for freedom of belief and
worship, as well as nonbelief; however, the Government required the
registration of all activities by religious groups and used this
requirement to restrict activities in certain cases. Further, the
Government continued to restrict significantly the organized activities
of independent religious groups and those individuals who were regarded
as a threat to party authority.
The new Ordinance on Religion and Belief came into effect on
November 15, 2004. The Ordinance serves as the primary document
governing religious practice. It reiterates citizens' rights to freedom
of belief, religion, and freedom not to follow a religion, and it
states that violations of these freedoms are prohibited. However, it
advises that ``abuse'' of freedom of belief or religion ``to undermine
the country's peace, independence, and unity'' is illegal and warns
that religious activities must be suspended if they negatively affect
the cultural traditions of the nation. The ordinance continues the
practice of government control and oversight of religious
organizations. Under its provisions, religious denominations must be
officially recognized or registered, and the activities and leadership
of individual religious congregations must be approved by the
appropriate lower-level authorities. The establishment of seminaries
and the organization of and enrollment in classes must also be approved
by appropriate authorities. The naming of priests or other religious
officials requires the approval of authorities only when a ``foreign
element,'' such as the Vatican, is involved. The ordinance also
liberalizes government oversight of religion to some extent. For
example, religious organizations are only required to inform
appropriate authorities of their annual activities or the investiture
and transfer of clerics, while in the past this required explicit
official approval. Further, the ordinance encourages religious groups
to carry out charitable activities in healthcare and education, which
was limited in the past.
In February 2005 the prime minister issued the ``Instruction on
Some Tasks Regarding Protestantism.'' The instruction calls upon
authorities to facilitate the requests of recognized Protestant
denominations to construct churches and train and appoint pastors.
Further, the instruction directs authorities to help unrecognized
denominations register their congregations so that they can worship
openly and move towards fulfilling the criteria required for full
recognition. Addressing the Central and Northwest Highlands, the
instruction directs authorities to help groups of Protestant believers
register their religious activities and practice in homes or ``suitable
locations,'' even if they do not meet the criteria to establish an
official congregation. The instruction also directs local officials to
allow unregistered ``house churches'' to operate so long as they are
``committed to follow regulations'' and are not affiliated with
separatist political movements.
In March 2005 the Government issued an implementing decree (Decree
22) that provided further guidance on the Ordinance on Religion and
Belief. As in the ordinance, the decree explicitly bans forced
renunciations of faith. It also delineates specific procedures by which
an unrecognized religious organization can register its places of
worship, its clerics, and its activities and thus operate openly. It
further provides procedures for these groups to apply for official
recognition from the Government to gain additional rights. The decree
specifies that a religious organization must have twenty years of
``stable religious operation'' in the country in order to be recognized
by the Government. It also states that past operation in the country,
even prior to registration, can be counted toward the twenty-year
requirement. The decree further sets out specific time periods for the
Government to consider requests from religious organizations and
requires officials to give organizations an explanation in writing for
any application that is rejected.
The national-level Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA) is charged
with disseminating information about the new legal framework to
provincial-, district-, commune-, and village-level authorities and
assuring its uniform compliance. Implementation of the new legal
framework at lowermost levels of the Government continued to be mixed.
However, during the reporting period, national- and provincial-level
authorities held a number of training courses for lower-level officials
about the new laws to ensure their understanding and compliance with
the legal framework. Authorities in some areas actively engaged
religious leaders in efforts to implement the changes, particularly the
registration of Protestant groups and the reopening of closed churches
in the Central Highlands region. Authorities in other areas,
particularly in the Northwest Highlands provinces, were less proactive
in enforcing the legal changes mandated by the Central Government,
although conditions for Protestants in the region generally improved
during the reporting period.
The constitutional right of freedom of belief and religion
continued to be interpreted and enforced unevenly. In some areas, local
officials allowed relatively wide latitude to believers; in other
provinces, members of unrecognized religious groups sometimes underwent
significant harassment. This was true particularly for Protestants in
the Northwest Highlands and in certain rural communities in southern
and central regions, including parts of the Central Highlands. During
the reporting period, local and provincial authorities in the Northwest
Highlands were engaged in discussions with religious leaders and with
the central government about registering house churches or recognizing
new official congregations; however, only six new Protestant
congregations were registered according to the Government, and no new
religions were recognized during this reporting cycle.
National security and national solidarity provisions in the
constitution override many laws providing for religious freedom, and
these provisions reportedly have been used to impede religious
gatherings and the spread of religion to certain ethnic groups. The
penal code, as amended in 1997, established penalties for offenses that
are defined only vaguely, including ``attempting to undermine national
unity'' by promoting ``division between religious believers and
nonbelievers.'' In some cases authorities used Article 258 of the penal
code to charge persons with practicing religion illegally. This article
allowed for jail terms of up to three years for ``abus[ing] the rights
to freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of belief, religion,
assembly, association and other democratic freedoms to infringe upon
the interests of the State.'' Examples of such cases were found among
the H'mong Protestants in the Northwest Highlands, ethnic minority
Protestants in the Central Highlands (sometimes referred to as
Montagnard Protestants), and Hoa Hao adherents. In the case of the
Central Highlands, officials continued to be concerned that groups
inside and outside the country were encouraging the spread of a form of
Protestantism that promotes ethnic minority exclusivism and separatism.
Decree 31, a 1997 directive on administrative probation, gives
national and local security officials broad powers to detain and
monitor citizens and control where they live and work for up to two
years if they are believed to be threatening ``national security.'' The
authorities in some instances have used administrative probation to
impose significant restrictions on the freedom of movement as a means
of controlling persons whom they believe hold independent and
potentially subversive opinions. In October 2003 at least four United
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) leaders apparently were placed under
administrative probation for two-year terms. During the current
reporting period, their movement was restricted. For example, in 2006
UBCV General Secretary Thich Quang Do was prevented from traveling from
Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Dinh province to visit the ailing UBCV
Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang.
The Government does not favor a particular religion, and virtually
all senior government and CPV officials, as well as the vast majority
of national assembly delegates, are formally ``without religion.''
However, many openly practice traditional ancestor worship, and some
visit Buddhist pagodas. The prominent traditional position of Buddhism
does not affect religious freedom for others adversely, including those
who wish not to practice a religion.
The Government requires all religious groups to register. It uses
this process to monitor and sometimes attempt to control religious
organizations, as it does with all social organizations.
The Government officially recognizes Buddhist, Roman Catholic,
Protestant, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Muslim religious organizations.
Individual congregations within each of these religious groups must be
registered as well. Some leaders of alternative Buddhist, Protestant,
Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai organizations and believers of these religions do
not participate in the government-approved associations.
Implementing Decree 22 clarifies the procedures through which
religious organizations and individual religious congregations can seek
official recognition. The decree further specifies that the appropriate
authorities provide a written response to such request within HCMC:
Thirty, forty-five, sixty, or ninety days, depending on the scope of
the request. In the case of a refusal, a specific reason must be
included in the written response. However, there is no specific
mechanism for appeal given in the ordinance, nor are the reasons for
denying a request delimited in any way.
Early in the reporting period, some unrecognized Protestant
denominations sought registration under the new legal system governing
religion. According to Decree 22, however, a one-year period was
required after November 15, 2004 (the effective date of the ordinance)
before any new denomination that otherwise fulfills the appropriate
criteria could be recognized and these applications were delayed. To
obtain official recognition, a denomination must receive government
approval of its leadership, its structure, and the overall scope of its
activities. Recognized religious denominations, in principle, are
allowed to open, operate, and refurbish places of worship, train
religious leaders, and obtain permission for the publication of
materials.
Registration requires a congregation to file with relevant
provincial authorities information about its structure, leadership, and
activities. Authorities then have forty-five days to raise questions or
concerns. National-level registrations have a sixty-day consideration
period. The CRA must issue a license before an organization is
considered registered. The Seventh-day Adventists, Grace Baptist
Church, and Mennonite Church of Pastor Nguyen Trung have registered in
Ho Chi Minh City under these legal provisions. Additional registrations
for the United World Mission Church, the Mormon Church, the Jehovah's
Witnesses, the Vietnam Pentecostal Church, and the Presbyterian Relief
Organization were pending. More than 500 ECVN congregations out of a
reported total of 1,072 unrecognized congregations in the Northwest
Highlands applied to register during the reporting period, but only six
were granted permission to do so by the end of the reporting period,
according to the Government. These six were part of a CRA pilot project
to begin registrations in the border provinces of Lai Chau, Lao Cai and
Ha Giang. The CRA claimed limited resources forced them to focus on
only these three provinces in the initial round of registrations.
Except in limited parts of the Central Highlands and the Northwest
Highlands, officially recognized religious organizations were able to
operate openly, and followers of these religions were able to worship
without harassment. Officially registered and recognized organizations
must register their annual activities and the transfer and promotion of
clerics with authorities. Holding religious conferences or congresses,
opening seminaries, enrolling classes in seminaries, collecting
donations from believers, constructing or renovating religious
facilities, and participating in religious training courses abroad
require the explicit approval of authorities. The naming of new clerics
and the promotion of religious dignitaries, such as bishops, require
registration with authorities. However when a ``foreign element'' like
the Vatican is involved, official approval is required in advance.
Because of the lack of due process in the legal system and
inconsistent high-level oversight, the actions of religious adherents
can be subject to the discretion of local officials in their respective
jurisdictions. For example, in certain cases recognized and
unrecognized Protestant groups have been able to overcome local
harassment or overturn negative local decisions when they have appealed
to higher-level authorities. In other cases, this informal appeals
process has proven ineffective. In some cases local officials
reportedly have told church leaders that national-level laws do not
apply to their jurisdictions. There were no reports of punishment of
government officials who do not follow laws protecting religious
practice, although a resolution on the victims of miscarriages of
justice, issued by the National Assembly in 2003, provides channels for
citizens to seek official compensation for some abuses.
There are no religious national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government practices placed restrictions on religious freedom,
although in many areas Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Hoa Hao, Cao
Dai, and the Government itself reported an increase in religious
activity and observance. Officially recognized religious groups faced
limitations in obtaining teaching materials, expanding training
facilities, publishing religious materials, and expanding the number of
clergy in religious training in response to increased demand from
congregations. However, the Government continued to ease limitations
compared to previous years.
The Government continued to ban and actively discourage
participation in certain unrecognized religious groups, including the
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and some Protestant, Hoa Hao,
and Cao Dai groups. Organizational activities by many of these groups
are illegal although enforcement of this ban varied widely.
The Government requires all Buddhist monks to be approved by and
work under the officially recognized Buddhist organization, the Vietnam
Buddhist Sangha (VBS). The Government influenced the selection of the
leadership of the VBS, excluding some leaders of the pre-1981 UBCV
organization. The number of Buddhist seminarians is controlled and
limited by the Office of Religious Affairs, although the number of
Buddhist academies at the local and provincial levels has increased in
recent years in addition to several university-equivalent academies.
The Government continued to oppose efforts by the unrecognized UBCV
to operate independently. In 2003 senior monks of the UBCV held an
organizational meeting without government permission at a monastery in
Binh Dinh Province. Subsequent to the meeting, four leading monks of
the church were detained and sentenced without trial to two years'
``administrative detention'' in their respective pagodas. Authorities
have not provided them with a written decision of their administrative
detention, despite the legal requirement to do so. Many other leading
UBCV members have been placed under conditions similar to
administrative probation and, in some cases, effectively under ``house
arrest,'' despite the lack of any charges against them. Patriarch Thich
Huyen Quang and deputy leader Thich Quang Do have been placed under
similar restrictions, although the Government did not appear to be
investigating its allegations of ``possession of state secrets''
against them. Since October 2003 Thich Quang Do has repeatedly
attempted to travel to Quy Nhon Province to visit Thich Huyen Quang.
Using various pretexts, government authorities physically prevented
Thich Quang Do from doing so and returned him to his pagoda in Ho Chi
Minh City under police escort. However, Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen
Quang were able to receive visits from foreign diplomats. Thich Quang
Do was able to see other UBCV members on occasion during the period
covered by this report. Thich Quang Do and some other UBCV leaders also
have been able to maintain contact with associates overseas.
The Government technically maintains veto power over Vatican
appointments of bishops; however, in practice it has cooperated with
the Catholic Church in nominations for appointment. The Church operates
six seminaries in the country with more than 800 students enrolled, as
well as a new special training program for ``older'' students. All
students must be approved by local authorities for enrolling in
seminary and again prior to their ordination as priests. The Church
believed that the number of students being ordained was insufficient to
support the growing Catholic population and has indicated it would like
to open additional seminaries and enroll new classes more frequently.
The Church has had an application pending for five years to open a new
seminary in Dong Nai Province, but approval remained pending.
The practice of Protestantism remained a sensitive issue in the
Central Highlands provinces. The Government is concerned that some
ethnic minority groups operating in this region have been operating a
self-styled ``Dega Church,'' which reportedly mixes religious practice
with political activism and calls for ethnic minority separatism.
Despite improved conditions over the reporting period, SECV and
house churches in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai,
Kon Tum, and Dak Nong continue to be under close government scrutiny.
In 2001 the Government ordered all Protestant congregations affiliated
with the SECV--numbering at least one thousand--to close. Most of these
have been allowed to reopen and operate. However, at least one third of
SECV congregations closed in 2001 in the province of Dak Lak were
unable to operate and worshipers ordered to pray at home in private. A
number of unrecognized Protestant house church organizations including
the Baptists, Presbyterians, and United World Mission Church also
operated in the Central Highlands. These groups reported substantially
improved conditions for their congregations, although some incidents of
local police harassment continued to occur.
The Government continued its close oversight and with varying
degrees of success, exerted control over religious hierarchies,
organized religious activities, and other activities of religious
groups through Committees for Religious Affairs at the national and
provincial levels. While the committees are tasked with protecting the
rights of recognized religious bodies, in practice there are few
effective legal remedies for violations of religious freedom committed
by government officials.
There are more than 120,000 Protestants in the northern part of the
country and the Northwest Highlands region. The prime minister's
Instruction on Protestantism noted the existence of believers in the
Northwest Highlands and instructed officials to guide them in finding
``suitable places'' to practice their religion. More than 500 ECVN
congregations applied to register during the reporting period; however,
most applications were either rejected outright, ignored or returned
unopened. The Government asserts that six pilot registrations were
allowed in June and July in Lai Chau, Lao Cai, and Ha Giang Provinces,
but this could not be independently confirmed.
The Hoa Hao have faced some restrictions on their religious and
political activities since 1975, in part because of their previous
armed opposition to the communist forces dating back to French colonial
rule. After 1975 all administrative offices, places of worship, and
social and cultural institutions connected to the Hoa Hao faith were
closed. Believers continued to practice their religion at home, but the
lack of access to public gathering places contributed to the Hoa Hao
community's isolation and fragmentation. In 1999 a new official Hoa Hao
body, the Hoa Hao Administrative Council, was formed. In the spring of
2005, the Hoa Hao Administrative Council was expanded and renamed the
Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism. Several leaders of the Hoa Hao
community, including several pre-1975 leaders, openly criticized the
Committee. They claimed that the committee was subservient to the
Government and demanded official recognition instead of their own Hoa
Hao body, the Hoa Hao Central Buddhist Church (HHCBC). Although still
unregistered, on May 4, 2005, the HHCBC held an organizational meeting
that was attended by 126 delegates from across the southern part of the
country. However, its members faced significant official pressure. Two
members of the HHCBC, Tran Van Thang and Tran Van Hoang, were arrested
on February 25, 2005, and sentenced to six and nine months'
imprisonment respectively for unauthorized distribution of audio
cassettes and DVDs containing teachings of HHCBC leaders. A June 2005
commemoration of Foundation Day led to clashes between police and
activists who were protesting Government control of the Hoa Hao faith.
Some Hoa Hao activists continued to encourage self-immolation of their
followers to protest government repression. In September 2005 two Hoa
Hao activists self-immolated when police attempted to arrest them for
their involvement in the June clashes, resulting in the death of one
activist. Seven activists were arrested, tried, and given prison terms
ranging from four to seven years. In August 2005 a Hoa Hao activist
attempted to self-immolate in front of the U.S. consulate general in Ho
Chi Minh City but was stopped by consulate guards and local police.
Frictions between some Hoa Hao activists and government officials in
the Mekong Delta continued to flare throughout the reporting period.
There are six different officially recognized branches of the Cao
Dai Church in the southern part of the country, as well as several
others that remain unrecognized. These sects generally divide along
geographic lines. The largest Cao Dai sect is based in Tay Ninh
Province, where the religion was founded in 1926 and where the seat of
Cao Dai authority is located. The Executive Council of the Tay Ninh
Province Cao Dai received official government recognition in 1997.
Independent Cao Dai groups allege that government interference has
undermined the independence of the Tay Ninh group, and it no longer
faithfully upholds Cao Dai principles and traditions. Religious
training takes place at individual Cao Dai temples rather than at
centralized schools; Cao Dai officials have indicated that they do not
wish to open a seminary.
There are no formal prohibitions on changing one's religion. Many
converts may find the procedures overly cumbersome or fear government
retribution. Formal conversions appear to be relatively rare, apart
from non-Catholics marrying Catholics. There have been some reports
that some local officials in rural communities continue to discourage
conversion to Protestantism by threatening converts that they will lose
education and social welfare allowances.
The Government controls and monitors all forms of public assembly,
including assembly for religious activities; however, during the
reporting period, some large religious gatherings were allowed.
Article 35 of Decree 22 requires government approval for foreign
missionary groups to proselytize. Such activities should take place
under the sponsorship of a national or local religious organization. It
discourages public proselytizing outside of recognized worship centers,
including by citizens. Some missionaries visited the country despite
this official prohibition and carried on informal proselytizing
activities.
The HCMC-based New Life Fellowship Church (NLF), which catered to
both foreigners and citizens and is headed by a foreign missionary, was
prevented from gathering in HCMC hotels in August 2005 after it
launched a separate service for local citizens in contravention to the
law. Since then, foreigners in the NLF have been able to gather in
small groups at home. In April 2006 the NLF was able to hold its first
large prayer meeting for foreigners on the grounds of a HCMC hotel for
foreigners since August 2005. The NLF remained in discussion with city-
and national-level officials to find a permanent, legal solution to its
status.
Government policy does not permit persons who belong to unofficial
religious groups to speak publicly about their beliefs, but some
continued to conduct religious training and services without
harassment. Members of registered religious organizations in theory are
permitted to speak about their beliefs and attempt to persuade others
to adopt their religions, at least in recognized places of worship, but
are discouraged from doing so elsewhere. For example, Baptists in Bac
Giang Province near Hanoi were prevented from proselytizing within
their community by local officials during the reporting period, despite
the apparent legality of their organization, because the religion was
introduced to the province by pastors from the south.
The Government requires all religious publishing to be done by the
Religious Publishing House, which is a part of the Office of Religious
Affairs, or by other government-approved publishing houses after the
Government first approves the proposed items. A range of Buddhist
sacred scriptures, Bibles, and other religious texts and publications
are printed by these organizations and are distributed openly. The
Religious Publishing House has printed 250,000 copies of parts of the
Hoa Hao sacred scriptures, along with 100,000 volumes featuring the
founder's teachings and prophesies; however, Hoa Hao believers reported
that the Government continued to restrict the distribution of the full
scriptures, specifically the poetry of the founder. The official Hoa
Hao Representative Committee cited a lack of funds, not government
restrictions, as the reason why the Hoa Hao scriptures had not been
published in full. The Muslim Association reportedly was able to print
enough copies of the Qur'an in 2000 to distribute one to each Muslim
believer in the country. The Christian Bible is printed in Vietnamese,
Chinese, and English, but not in ethnic minority languages. Some
Protestant house church groups have had Bibles or other religious
materials that were printed abroad seized by authorities on the grounds
that any ``foreign language'' material that has not been explicitly
authorized by the Government is illegal. CRA officials could not
confirm if any ethnic minority texts published abroad have been so
authorized. Seizures of ethnic language bibles are particularly acute
among ethnic minority church groups in some Northwest Highlands
provinces.
The Government allows travel for religious purposes, but the
approval of authorities is required for participation in religious
conferences and training courses abroad. Muslims are able to undertake
the Hajj, and Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant officials have
generally been able to travel abroad for study and for conferences.
Some Protestant house church leaders have alleged that they are unable
to obtain passports for international travel. For example, one
Protestant house church leader had his passport seized by government
authorities in 2004. However, other unofficial leaders travel
internationally on a regular basis. Religious persons who traveled
abroad in the past were sometimes questioned about their activities
upon their return and required to surrender their passports; however,
this practice appeared to be becoming more infrequent.
Religious affiliation is indicated on citizens' national
identification cards and in ``family books,'' which are household
identification documents. In practice, many citizens who consider
themselves religious do not indicate this on their identification
cards, and government statistics list them as nonreligious. While it is
possible to change the entry for religion on national identification
cards, many converts may find the procedures overly cumbersome or fear
government retribution. The Government does not designate persons'
religions on passports.
The Government allows, and in some cases encourages, links between
officially recognized religious bodies and coreligionists in other
countries; however, the Government actively discourages contacts
between the UBCV and its foreign Buddhist supporters.
Contacts between some unregistered Protestant organizations and
their foreign supporters are discouraged but occur regularly, including
training and the provision of financial support and religious
materials. The Government is particularly concerned about contact
between separatist ``Dega'' Protestants in the Central Highlands and
overseas supporters. The Government regards Dega Protestants as a group
that uses religion as a rallying point to encourage ethnic minority
separatism, political unrest, and the establishment of an independent
ethnic minority state.
Adherence to a religious faith generally does not disadvantage
persons in nongovernment civil, economic, and secular life, although it
likely would prevent advancement to higher CPV, government, and
military ranks. The military does not have a chaplaincy. Avowed
religious practice was formerly a bar to membership in the CPV, but now
the CPV claims that tens of thousands of the 3.1 million Communist
Party members are religious believers. A 2003 CPV Central Committee
resolution on religion called for recruiting and advancing more
religious believers into the CPV's ranks. Clergy and believers of
various faiths serve in local and provincial government positions and
are represented on the National Assembly. CPV and Government officials
routinely visit pagodas, temples, and churches, making a special point
to visit Protestant churches in the Central Highlands over Christmas.
The Implementing Decree for the Ordinance on Religion and Belief
stipulates that local religious affairs committees must approve the
construction of new religious facilities. The renovation of religious
facilities requires notification of authorities, a relaxation on
previous regulations.
The Government does not permit religious instruction in public
schools; however, it permits clergy to teach at universities in
subjects in which they are qualified. Buddhist monks have lectured at
the Ho Chi Minh Political Academy, the main CPV school. Several
Catholic nuns and at least one Catholic priest teach at Ho Chi Minh
City universities. They are not allowed to wear religious dress when
they teach or to identify themselves as clergy. Catholic, Protestant,
Muslim, and Buddhist groups are allowed to provide religious education
to children. Catholic religious education, on weekends or evenings, is
permitted in most areas and has increased in recent years in churches
throughout the country. Khmer Theravada Buddhists and Cham Muslims
regularly hold religious and language classes outside of normal
classroom hours in their respective pagodas and mosques. Religious
groups are not permitted to operate independent schools beyond
preschool and kindergarten.
Religious organizations have no legal claim to lands or properties
taken over by the state following the end of the 1954 war against
French rule and following the reunification of the country in 1975.
Despite this blanket prohibition, authorities, mostly at the provincial
level, have returned a limited number of confiscated church properties
and remain in discussion on other properties. One of the vice-chairmen
of the Government-recognized VBS has stated that approximately 30
percent of Buddhist properties confiscated in Ho Chi Minh City have
been returned, and from 5 to 10 percent of all Buddhist properties
confiscated in the south have been returned. The Catholic and
recognized Protestant organizations have obtained a small number of
previously confiscated properties but had ongoing disputes with
officials over others. Some properties have been returned to the Hoa
Hao Administrative Council, but few Cao Dai properties have been
returned, according to church leaders. Many of the properties seized in
the past were religious schools and hospitals that were incorporated
into the state system.
Although the new Ordinance on Religion and Belief encourages
religious organizations to conduct charitable activities in education
and healthcare, the degree of government oversight of these activities
varied greatly among localities. In some areas, especially in the
south, Catholic priests and nuns operated kindergartens, orphanages,
vocational training centers, and clinics and engaged in a variety of
other humanitarian projects. In Ho Chi Minh City and Hue, the Catholic
Church was involved in supporting HIV/AIDS hospices and treatment
centers and providing counseling to young persons. Buddhist groups also
were involved in HIV/AIDS and other charitable work across the country.
The Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese ran the HIV/AIDS clinic at the Trong
Diem drug rehabilitation center on behalf of the city government. The
city government and the Catholic Church were in discussion about how to
officially sanction new initiatives, such as a walk-in clinic for
possible HIV/AIDS victims, although it allowed the Church to pursue
these initiatives quietly. Charitable activities by the Catholic Church
were much more restricted in northern Vietnam.
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha engaged in humanitarian activities,
including antidrug programs, in many parts of the country. The
officially recognized Hoa Hao organization reported that it engaged in
numerous charitable activities and local development projects.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Reports of abuses of religious freedom diminished during the period
covered by this report; however, some religious believers continued to
experience harassment or repression because they operated without legal
sanction. Local officials repressed Protestant believers in some parts
of the Central and Northwest Highlands and other areas by forcing
church gatherings to cease, closing house churches, and pressuring
individuals to renounce their religious beliefs, often unsuccessfully.
In one instance, in June 2006 in Thanh Hoa Province two Protestants
were beaten by local police. However, the number of credible reports of
such incidents was lower compared with previous years and largely
seemed to reflect individual bias at the local level rather than
official policy in most cases. Restrictions on UBCV leaders remained in
place, with much of the leadership's freedom of movement, expression,
and assembly limited. There were fewer credible reports that officials
arbitrarily detained, physically intimidated, and harassed some persons
based, at least in part, on their religious beliefs and practice,
particularly in mountainous ethnic minority areas.
The international nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch
reported that security forces in Kontum Province demolished the chapel
of Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh in January and September 2004.
Pastor Chinh is affiliated with the Mennonite church of Pastor Quang.
Authorities reportedly based their actions on the fact that Chinh had
purchased under a false name the land on which the chapel was built.
Some observers noted that another unregistered Protestant church
operated a short distance away from Chinh's but suffered no harassment.
Chinh has reportedly complained that he has been refused issuance of an
identity card, which is required for household registration and
ownership of property.
Pastor and house church leader Nguyen Hong Quang imprisoned in 2004
and sentenced to a three-year prison term, was released in September
2005 in an amnesty. Five of his followers were sentenced to between
nine months and two years in prison. Quang and his followers were
convicted as a result of an incident in March 2004 in which he and
several of his followers confronted and scuffled with two individuals
believed to be plain clothed police officers monitoring his residence;
however, some observers connected Quang's arrest to his broader social
activism. Ho Chi Minh City police regularly targeted Pastor Quang's
Mennonite house church for harassment when the church was led by his
wife Le Thi Phu Dzung during the period of Pastor Quang's imprisonment.
Police called Mrs. Dzung in for questioning on several occasions,
disrupted church services, and detained groups of followers for short
periods. In May 2006, Pastor Quang and some followers were detained for
nearly twenty-four hours following a confrontation with local police
over new construction at Pastor Quang's house, which also served as a
local house church. However, the Government's claim that Pastor Quang
willfully ignored zoning regulations and local officials' orders to
comply with zoning regulations was supported by some evidence.
Baptist pastor Than Van Truong was released in September 2005 after
spending one year involuntarily committed to a mental asylum by
authorities in Dong Nai Province as punishment for his religious and
political beliefs. He was reportedly released on the condition that he
sign a document certifying his mental illness, making him subject to
readmission to a mental institution should he ``relapse.'' Pastor
Truong continued to be closely monitored by local officials. There were
confirmed reports that he continued to be harassed and his religious
activities curtailed in Dong Nai and in his home village in Bac Giang
Province in northern Vietnam where he has helped organize a small
church. In June 2006 diplomats were permitted by the Government to
visit the Bac Giang church and to investigate allegations of harassment
with local officials.
In May 2005, Protestant House Church preacher Nguyen Van Cam told a
reporter that local authorities in Dong Lam Commune of Tien Hai
District, Thai Binh Province, had tried on several occasions to
convince him to sign documents committing him to stop holding house
church services. There were unconfirmed reports that a Methodist church
in Xuan Lanh Commune, Dong Xuan District, Phu Yen Province, and a
Nazarene Church in Phu Ly Commune, Vinh Cuu District, Dong Nai
Province, were harassed by local authorities for holding ``illegal
gatherings.'' According to religious leaders, a house church in Tra
Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta was prevented from holding Easter
services in 2006. Bibles and other religious materials were
confiscated. In December 2005 police interrupted Christmas services of
some house churches in Can Tho, Long An and Vinh Long provinces, also
in the Mekong Delta. In Kien Giang in January 2006, police banned the
gathering of a house church affiliated with the Methodist community and
confiscated the identification of a visiting pastor.
In August 2005 there were credible reports that local officials
attempted to force an SECV lay preacher to renounce his faith and stop
his ministry in the ethnic minority Hre village in Quang Ngai Province.
Unidentified parties reportedly burned his house down in retaliation.
The small Protestant community continued to face harassment through May
2006.
During the reporting period there were fewer reports of leaders of
nonregistered churches in the Northwest Highlands being harassed or
detained and pressured to renounce their faith.
House churches are frequently tolerated in some places, although
their unofficial status often leaves them at the whim of local
authorities. For example, in February 2005, government border guards in
Gap Trung village, Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province, reportedly
intimidated local Protestants and blocked them from gathering to hold
services in an unofficial house church. At least four house churches in
Muong Nha Commune and Pu Nhi Commune of Dien Bien Province were
reportedly unable to meet and hold religious services.
The dissemination of laws regarding the Ordinance on Religion and
Belief, the Implementing Decree for the Ordinance on Religion and
Belief, and the prime minister's Instruction on Protestantism have
remained a slow process, and through the end of the period covered by
this report, many leaders of places of worship reported that police and
other authorities had not implemented fully these legal codes. However,
central- and provincial-level authorities have conducted at least some
training sessions to educate local officials on the legal framework.
Implementation of the new legal framework has been particularly slow in
the Northern and Northwest Highlands provinces, particularly with
regard to Protestants, and local officials often used legal pretexts to
harass church members and leaders. This harassment diminished somewhat
over the course of the reporting period, particularly after January
2006.
Protestants in Bao Thang District of Lao Cai Province have not been
allowed to celebrate Christmas since 1990. In 2005 they were required
to seek permission from local authorities for their Christmas
celebrations, but just before the holiday, local authorities ordered
the congregation to take down all decorations. Around the same time,
two deacons in Bat Xat District of Lao Cai who traveled to Hanoi were
given significant fines as were two deacons from Phung Phong Hai Town
in the same district who acquired application forms from the ECVN. The
two were arrested on their return from Hanoi and held for sixteen days.
Credible reports indicated that officials in Bac Ha District of Lao
Cai Province refused to forward the local congregation's registration
application to higher officials. The officials have also encouraged
non-Protestant relatives to harass believers until they give up their
religion. In one case, police refused to intervene when the brother of
a Protestant woman repeatedly beat her husband, hinting that, ``since
you are Protestant, it is okay for him to beat your husband until he
and you renounce your faith.'' A house church deacon in Muon Nghe
District in Dien Bien was arrested in November 2005 after he returned
to the district from Hanoi carrying ECVN documents. Officials of the
Border Protection Force (BPF) justified his arrest by saying that ``he
was not allowed to travel that far to get documents from the ECVN''
even if he asked permission first. Since this event, a special task
force of BPF personnel has been living in Protestant villages to watch
villager activities and to confiscate all H'mong language bibles they
find. In August 2005, district-level government in the province of Phu
Yen turned down the registration application of a Baptist congregation,
claiming that the house church is ``Vietnamese-American'' and did not
meet legal requirements. It was unclear whether the decision was
appealed.
In January 2006 in Xin Man District of Ha Giang, district-level
authorities told an unregistered congregation that, ``if five or more
of your members gather together, we will prosecute you.'' The group
submitted an application to register but has not received any official
response to their request. In March 2006 in Vi Xuyen District of Ha
Giang Province, local authorities fined a house church pastor $32 (VND
500,000), or more than half of his monthly salary, for traveling to
Hanoi to pick up registration forms from the ECVN. In addition, lay
deacons of the church were fined VND $6 (VND 100,000) each for ``being
Protestant'' and for signing documents requesting registration for
their group.
There were reports from parts of the Northwest Highlands that local
officials told believers the new laws did not apply to the Northwest.
Although reportedly 535 house churches in the Northwest Highlands
applied to register, only 6 were allowed to do so by the end of the
reporting period according to the Government.
Despite significant improvements in the Central Highlands, at least
one third of SECV congregations in Dak Lak faced significant
restrictions on operations. Conditions appeared even more restrictive
in Sa Thay district in Kontum Province, where senior district-level
officials in early 2006 argued that there was ``no religion'' in the
area. There were some anecdotal reports that in some areas local police
officials were rebuked for harassing house churches in contravention of
the prime minister's Instruction on Protestantism. In a few incidents
in the Mekong Delta and in central regions, local authorities
reportedly increased harassment of groups that submitted applications
to register.
The repression of Protestantism in the Central Highlands is
complicated by the presence of ``Dega'' separatists, who advocate an
autonomous or independent homeland for the indigenous persons who live
in the area, particularly in Gia Lai, Dak Nong and Dak Lak provinces.
These separatists reportedly have links to political advocacy groups
residing in the United States. The relationship between the Dega
movement and Protestant believers belonging to the SECV is tense in
some parts of the Central Highlands. Dega activists reportedly have
threatened that SECV pastors would not be allowed to serve in a ``Dega
State'' unless they abandon the SECV. Other Protestant pastors have
accused the Dega movement of manipulating religion for political
purposes. We cannot estimate the extent of support in the Central
Highlands for the Dega Church, but it remained an issue of significant
concern for central and provincial governments.
On April 10, 2004, several thousand ethnic minority citizens
protested against authorities in several districts in the Central
Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and Dak Nong. Authorities
suppressed the protests, including beating or killing some of the
protestors. A number of the protestors reportedly resorted to violence
as well. Individuals supporting the Dega movement from abroad claimed
that restrictions on religious freedom were a significant factor in the
protests. The Government, as well as many official and unofficial
religious leaders, depicted the protests as being motivated by disputes
over land or other socio-economic grievances. Since April 2004 there
have been no new large-scale protests in the Central Highlands and the
Government has taken some additional steps in an attempt to improve
socioeconomic and religious freedom conditions for the ethnic minority
community.
It was difficult to determine the exact number of religious
detainees and religious prisoners because there was little transparency
in the justice system, and it was very difficult to obtain confirmation
of when persons were detained, imprisoned, tried, or released. The
Government claimed that it did not hold any religious prisoners; such
persons were usually convicted of violating national security laws or
general criminal laws. Some observers estimate a high number of
religious prisoners, generally as a result of including individuals
arrested for participation in ``Dega'' groups or in the clashes between
police and ethnic minority protestors in February 2001 and April 2004.
In August 2005 Vo Van Thanh Liem, Nguyen Phi Long, Nguyen Van Dien,
Mai Thi Dung, Vo Van Buu, Tran Thanh Phong, Nguyen Thi Ha, Mai Van
Thung and To Van Man were arrested in coordinated raids across the
Mekong Delta. Vo Van Buu attempted self-immolation but survived. His
colleague Tan Van Ut committed self-immolation and died during the
police raid. Police accused the ten individuals of playing key roles in
a June 2005 protest and clash with police following a religious event
organized by the HHCBC. In trials in the Mekong Delta, seven of the
nine received sentences ranging from four to seven years. It appeared
that Nguyen Phi Long and Mai Van Thung were not tried or convicted.
Ma Van Bay, a Protestant church leader, was sentenced to six years
imprisonment in April 2004. He was charged with theft after collecting
voluntary donations for church use.
In February 2005 police in An Giang Province detained Hoa Hao
believers Tran Van Hoang and Tran Van Thanh for distributing
unauthorized audio cassettes and DVDs with religious teachings on them.
On April 27, authorities sentenced them to nine and six months'
imprisonment, respectively. While the two were convicted of illegal
distribution of recordings, the extreme rarity with which this
regulation is enforced in Vietnam led observers to believe they were
targeted as a result of their adherence to the unrecognized HHCBC. The
two individuals reportedly were released at the expiry of their prison
terms.
In August 2004 authorities arrested Hong Thien Hanh, leader of the
small To Dinh Tan Chieu Minh Cao Dai sect in Tien Giang Province. The
Government claimed that Hanh had engaged in illegal religious
activities, printed and distributed religious information without
permission, and defrauded believers. Some independent Cao Dai confirmed
the Government's allegations against Hanh.
At least fifteen individuals, including UBCV monks Thich Huyen
Quang, Thich Quang Do and Catholic priest Pham Van Loi, were held in
conditions resembling house arrest for reasons related to the
expression of their religious beliefs or attempts to form nonauthorized
religious organizations, despite the apparent lack of any official
charges against them. A number of other UBCV, Cao Dai, Catholic, Hoa
Hao, and Protestant dignitaries and believers had their movements
restricted or were watched and followed by police.
Forced Religious Conversion
The Implementing Decree of the Ordinance on Religion and Belief,
states that, ``Acts to force citizens to follow a religion or renounce
their faith...are not allowed.'' The Prime Minister's Instruction on
Some Tasks Regarding Protestantism contains a similarly worded
statement. While government officials said that forced conversions or
renunciation of faith had always been illegal, these were the first
legal documents to state so explicitly. Religious contacts from the
Central and Northwest Highlands reported that attempted forced
renunciations continued to decrease. Nonetheless, several incidents
were reported during the period covered by this report.
According to a number of credible sources, on several occasions,
local officials in several northwestern villages attempted to convince
or force H'mong Protestants to recant their faith. Local authorities
also encouraged clan elders to pressure members of their extended
families to cease practicing Christianity and to return to traditional
practices. For example, in July and August 2004, authorities reportedly
detained without charge more than 100 H'mong Protestants--choosing 1
member from each Protestant family--in at least 5 different communes in
Sapa District, Lao Cai Province. The authorities attempted to force the
detainees to renounce Protestantism, releasing them only when they
promised to do so. During the reporting period there were no credible
reports of such attempted forced renunciations in the Sapa area,
although some believers claimed that local authorities attempted to
revoke land title from Protestants who refused to renounce their faith.
Four H'mong Protestants from Gap Trung Village, Hoang Su Phi District,
Ha Giang Province, were reportedly pressured unsuccessfully by
Government border guards to sign documents renouncing their faith in
April 2005. Similarly, in May 2006, authorities in Cha Cang Commune,
Muong Lay District, Dien Bien Province, reportedly pressured believers
from several Protestant house churches to construct traditional altars
in their homes, and to sign documents renouncing Protestantism.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The status of respect for religious freedom improved during the
period covered by this report. The Government continued to ease
limitations on restrictions placed upon Buddhists, Catholics,
Protestants, Hoa Hoa, and Cao Dai compared to previous years. Much of
the change came from implementation of significant revisions to the
legal framework governing religion instituted in 2004 and 2005 and a
lessening of government pressure on Protestant groups. At the end of
this reporting period, the legal reforms remained in the early stages
of implementation. Nevertheless, many recognized and unrecognized
religious groups, especially Protestant groups in the Central and
Northwest Highlands regions, reported that they believed the situation
for their practitioners continued to improve overall.
The Prime Minister's Instruction on Protestantism also instructed
officials in the Central Highlands to continue to recognize new
chapters of the SECV. During the period covered by this report, the
SECV and house churches generally reported improved conditions in the
Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Dak Nong.
At least fifteen new Protestant SECV congregations in the Central
Highlands have been recognized in the period covered by this report.
Most SECV congregations and meeting places in the Central Highlands
were able to register their activities with local officials and allowed
to operate without significant harassment. For example, hundreds of
places of worship were allowed to operate in Gia Lai, effectively
legalizing operations for 75,000 believers in the province. The SECV
also opened a number of new churches in Gia Lai, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong
Provinces. In addition, the SECV continued to conduct Bible classes in
these provinces to provide training to some house church preachers in
the region, allowing them to receive formal recognition as pastors.
Ordination of new pastors is a key step in the formal recognition of
additional SECV churches. During the reporting period, Gia Lai Province
also permitted the SECV to open a Bible training school for
unrecognized preachers, which could potentially lead to an even more
rapid expansion of the number of new pastors in that province and hence
open the way for further registrations. Gia Lai authorities also
facilitated the construction of a new SECV church in Chu Se District.
In May 2006, 266 leaders attended a session in Hue conducted by the CRA
that explained the registration process, and another 300 attended a
similar conference in Ho Chi Minh City.
Unlike in previous years, officials in most of the northern
provinces acknowledged the presence of Protestants, and said that, in
keeping with the Government's instructions, they planned to expedite
registration of some congregations. ECVN contacts in the Northwest
confirmed that most unregistered congregations were generally allowed
to worship in their homes and to meet openly and during the daytime,
with the full knowledge of authorities. In general, provincial
authorities suggested that Protestants would be allowed to organize and
gather in small groups for the time being without receiving legal
registration. For example, in Quang Ninh Province, officials tolerated
the activities of local Protestants so long as they did not gather in
large groups and indicated that if the local congregation ``continues
to behave'' for one year's time, the provincial authorities would grant
them permission to register.
Police and other government officials in the Northwest Highlands
worked with house church leaders in some areas to inform them of the
new regulations and six previously unregistered ECVN house churches--
two in Lai Chau Province and four in Lao Cai province--were officially
registered according to the CRA. The CRA conducted training sessions
across the north to educate provincial and district officials about the
new religious regulations so that they would ``implement these policies
in an orderly fashion.'' More than 300 local officials attended these
training classes in Hanoi and Hue. The CRA also conducted training
seminars for religious leaders. In April 2006, 247 clergy participants
from various religious groups attended a seminar in Hanoi conducted by
the CRA that explained the registration process.
Many pastors of Protestant denominations such as the Seventh-day
Adventists, Mennonites, Baptists, and Assemblies of God do not wish to
join the SECV or ECVN because of doctrinal differences. In many parts
of Vietnam, particularly in urban areas, these and other unrecognized
Protestant organizations reported that they were able to practice
openly and with the knowledge of local officials. While there were
notable exceptions, such as with the Ho Chi Minh City Mennonite church
led by Pastor Le Hong Quang, as a rule the level of official harassment
of unrecognized house churches from non-SECV and ECVN denominations
continued to decline across the country. The Government held
discussions about registration and recognition with leaders of at least
four Protestant denominations and the Jehovah's Witnesses. At the end
of the reporting period, one subgroup each of the Mennonite church, the
Seventh-day Adventists, and the Grace Baptist Church had been
registered in Ho Chi Minh City. National registration for these groups,
as well as the United World Mission Church based in Danang, has been
pending since September 2005.
Attendance at religious services continued to increase during the
period covered by this report. The number of Buddhist monks and
Catholic priests also continued to increase, and restrictions on church
services for Protestants continued to diminish. Catholics across
Vietnam were allowed to celebrate Christmas and Easter without
significant difficulties. Some Protestants in the Central Highlands and
in the north had difficulty celebrating at Christmastime but reported
that they were allowed to celebrate Easter without much difficulty.
The Catholic Church reported continued easing of government control
over church assignment of new clergy, and, during the reporting period,
many new priests were ordained, including fifty-seven ordained in a
ceremony conducted by a visiting Vatican Cardinal in November 2005.
Most of these new priests took up their assignments in provincial
benefices by the end of the reporting period. All bishoprics remained
filled, and in late 2005, the Government facilitated a request to
create a new diocese in the South and to consecrate a new bishop.
Contact between Vatican authorities and the country's Catholics
remained routine, and the Government maintained its regular, active
dialogue with the Vatican on a range of issues, including Church
leadership, organizational activities, and the prospect of establishing
diplomatic relations. Negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic
ties between the Vatican and the Government continued to increase in
intensity during the reporting period.
Official harassment against Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang's Mennonite
church in Ho Chu Minh City subsided substantially following the
pastor's amnesty and release from prison in September 2005. In late May
2006 Pastor Quang was invited to a first-ever government seminar for
house church organizations on the new legal framework on religion.
The HCMC-based New Life Fellowship Church, which catered to both
foreigners and local Vietnamese, was prevented from gathering in HCMC
hotels in August 2005 after it launched a separate service for citizens
in contravention to the law. Since then, foreigners in the NLF have
been able to gather in small groups at home. In April 2006 the NLF was
able to hold its first large prayer meeting for foreigners on the
grounds of a HCMC hotel for foreigners since August 2005. The NLF
remains in discussion with city- and national-level officials to find a
permanent, legal solution to its status.
Adherents of the Muslim Association of Vietnam continued to be able
to practice their faith, including reciting daily prayers, fasting
during the month of Ramadan, and teaching the Qur'an. Several Muslims
undertake the Hajj every year, most of them using assistance provided
by foreign sponsors. During the period covered by this report, several
Muslim students were studying abroad at the invitation of foreign
governments. The Muslim community did not report any problems or
difficulties with the Government.
France-based Buddhist leader Thich Nhat Hanh was permitted to
return to the country in January 2005 for a ten-week trip, his first
after thirty-nine years of exile. Thich Nhat Hanh traveled widely
through the country, met with large groups of Buddhist adherents, and
spoke to intellectuals and political leaders, including Prime Minister
Phan Van Khai. Many of Thich Nhat Hanh's comments were critical of the
situation for Buddhist believers, and he called for an end to the
practice of Buddhist monks holding public offices and for
reconciliation between Buddhist groups. Thich Nhat Hanh was able to
meet with UBCV leaders in Hue but not in Ho Chi Minh City.
During the reporting period, some religious groups were also
allowed to convene large religious gatherings, such as the Catholic
celebrations at La Vang, traditional pilgrimage events such as the Hung
Kings' Festival, and the Hoa Hao Founding Day and commemoration of the
founder's death, each with attendance estimated in the hundreds of
thousands. House church Protestants were able to gather in large groups
for special worship services in Ho Chi Minh City and elsewhere. In
April 2006 the HCMC Government officially sanctioned the first large
revival meeting for the Baptist house church community since 1975.
Other house church leaders and government officials also attended the
revival.
A number of religious prisoners were amnestied or otherwise
released from prison during the period covered by this report. For
instance, Brother Nguyen Thien Phung, a member of the Order of the
Mother Co-Redemptrix, Tran Van Hoang, Tran Van Thanh, and Than Van
Truong were amnestied September 2, 2005.
Catholic and Protestant groups reported that the Government
continued to restore some previously owned properties, although
progress on outstanding claims was generally very slow. For example, in
January 2006 an ECVN congregation (one of fifteen legal congregations
in the North registered since the mid-1960s) was given title to a
church property in Thanh Hoa that had stood derelict for several
decades. The congregation was also given permission to remodel the
church and build a house for their pastor.
The Government continued to publicize its new policy of religious
tolerance through the organs of the state. For example, in May 2006 the
CRA trained more than 600 provincial propaganda cadres from Northwest
Highlands provinces to disseminate information on religion to the
common people to reduce societal tensions arising between followers of
traditional ethnic minority beliefs and Protestant converts.
In all, during the reporting period, the Government continued to
address many concerns raised by the United States and other nations
concerning religious freedom. Uneven approaches to implementation at
the local level appeared to be the largest difficulty faced by the
Government in enforcing its new religious regulations, though the CRA
took steps to improve local officials' understanding of the laws on
Protestant registration and other new policies.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
In general, there are amicable relations among the various
religious groups and there were no known instances of societal
discrimination or violence based on religion during the period covered
by this report. In Ho Chi Minh City and Hue, there were some ecumenical
dialogues among leaders of disparate religious communities. Buddhists,
Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai reportedly sometimes cooperate on some social and
charitable projects.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
In September 2004 the Secretary of State designated Vietnam a
``Country of Particular Concern'' (CPC) for the first time for
particularly severe violations of religious freedom. Subsequent to
this, the ambassador at large for international religious freedom,
together with the United States diplomatic mission in Vietnam,
conducted multiple discussions with the Government to urge improvements
in religious freedom. Senior U.S. officials and the Government worked
closely together, resulting in an exchange of letters in May 2005 that
covered the following issues: Full implementation of the new laws on
religious activities; instruction of local authorities to strictly and
completely adhere to the new legislation and ensure it compliance;
facilitation of the process by which religious congregations are able
to open houses of worship; and special consideration to prisoners and
cases of concern raised by the United States during the granting of
prisoner amnesties.
On June 21, 2005, the president of the United States and the prime
minister of Vietnam discussed the status of religious freedom in the
country.
In November 2005 the Secretary of State renewed Vietnam's CPC
status but noted significant improvement in religious freedom during
the year.
In February 2006 the U.S. Department of State's Assistant Secretary
of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Ambassador at
Large for International Religious Freedom traveled to Hanoi to resume
the bilateral U.S./Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue.
The embassy in Hanoi and the consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City
actively and regularly raised U.S. concerns about religious freedom
with a wide variety of CPV leaders and government officials, including
authorities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Religious
Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, and other offices in Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City, and the provinces. The mission also maintained
regular contact with religious leaders and dissidents.
The ambassador at large for international religious freedom and
staff traveled to various regions of the country on six occasions
between 2003 and 2006 to meet religious leaders and government
authorities. During an extended visit to Hanoi in February 2006 on the
margins of the bilateral Human Rights Dialogue, the ambassador at large
for international religious freedom, together with officials of the
United States Mission in Vietnam, met with senior government officials
from four ministries for continued discussions on a variety of
religious freedom issues.
The U.S. ambassador, the consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, and
other embassy and consulate officers have raised religious freedom
issues with senior cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, the
two deputy prime ministers, the foreign minister, other senior
government officials, the head of the Office of Religious Affairs,
deputy ministers of foreign affairs and public security, officials of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' External Relations Office in Ho Chi
Minh City, chairpersons of Provincial People's Committees around the
country, and other officials, particularly in the Central and Northwest
Highlands. Embassy and consulate general officials maintained regular
contact with the key government offices responsible for respect for
human rights. Embassy and consulate general officers repeatedly
informed government officials that a lack of progress on religious
freedom and human rights was a significant impediment to an improved
bilateral relationship.
The ambassador and other mission officers urged recognition of a
broad spectrum of religious groups, including members of the UBCV, the
Protestant house churches, and dissenting Hoa Hao and Cao Dai groups.
They urged greater freedom for recognized religious groups. The
ambassador and other mission officers repeatedly advocated ending
restrictions on Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, among others. The
ambassador also requested that the Government investigate alleged
abuses of religious believers and punish any officials found to be
responsible. They, along with the Ambassador at Large for International
Religious Freedom and the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor, continued to urge an end to forced
renunciations and the punishment of officials involved, ask for the
release of religious and political prisoners, and call for the
registration and re-opening of house churches that had been closed.
Representatives of the embassy and the consulate general have
frequent contact with leaders of major religious communities, including
Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, and Muslims. In
November 2004 the ambassador met with UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang
and in December, he met with UBCV monk Thich Quang Do. Consulate
general officers maintained regular contact with these and other UBCV
Buddhist monks. Embassy and consulate general officers met with the
cardinal of Ho Chi Minh City, the Catholic archbishops of Hue and
Hanoi, and the bishops of Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and Kontum, Can Tho, Lang
Son, Buon Ma Thuot, and Haiphong as well as other members of the
Episcopal Conference. Embassy and consulate general officers also met
repeatedly with leaders of various Protestant house churches and with
leaders of the Muslim community. When traveling outside of Hanoi and Ho
Chi Minh City, Embassy and consulate general officers regularly met
with provincial religious affairs committees, village elders, local
clergy, and believers.
EUROPE AND EURASIA
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ALBANIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 11,100 square miles, and a population of
approximately 3.6 million. It had a largely homogeneous ethnic
population, consisting of Ghegs in the north and Tosks in the south.
The ethnic Greek communities, the largest minority group in the
country, were located in the south. Other minorities included the Roma,
the Egyptian community (an ethnic group similar to the Roma that does
not speak the Roma language), Vlachs, and Macedonians.
The majority of citizens were secular in orientation after decades
of rigidly enforced atheism under the communist regime, which ended in
1990. No reliable data were available on active participation in formal
religious services, but estimates ranged from 25 to 40 percent. Despite
such secularism, most citizens associated themselves with a traditional
religious group. Citizens of Muslim background made up the largest
traditional religious group (estimated at 65 to 70 percent of the
population) and were divided into two major communities: Those
associated with a moderate form of Sunni Islam and those associated
with the Bektashi school (a particularly liberal form of Shi'a Sufism).
Bektashis were estimated to represent approximately one-quarter of the
country's Muslim population. In 1925, after the revolution of Ataturk
and the Bektashis' expulsion from Turkey, the country became the world
center of Bektashism, although it has not been recognized as such by
the Government. In 2005, the Muslim community, historically known as
the Albanian Muslim Community, resumed using the name ``Albanian
Islamic Community.''
The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (referred to as
Orthodox) and the Roman Catholic Church were the other large
denominations. An estimated 20 to 25 percent of the population belonged
to communities that are traditionally Albanian Orthodox and
approximately 10 percent to the Roman Catholic communities. The
Orthodox Church became independent from Constantinople's authority in
1929 but was not recognized as autocephalous (independent) until 1937.
Muslims were found throughout the country but were concentrated
mostly in the middle of the country and to a lesser extent in the
south. The Orthodox lived mainly in the south and Roman Catholics in
the north of the country; this division was not strict, however,
particularly in the case of many urban centers, which had mixed
populations. The Greek minority, concentrated in the south, belonged
almost exclusively to the Orthodox Church. In addition to the four
traditional religious groups, the country had substantial numbers of
Protestants, Baha'is, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and other
smaller religions. All reported that they freely carried out their
religious activities.
According to the State Committee on Cults, during the period
covered by this report, there were a total of 245 religious groups,
organizations, and foundations other than the 4 traditional faiths
active in the country. This number included 34 different Islamic
organizations and 189 Protestant (Christian) organizations. The largest
foreign missionary groups were American, Western European, and Middle
Eastern.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. According to the
1998 Constitution, there is no official religion and all religions are
equal; however, the predominant religious communities (Sunni Muslim,
Bektashi, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic) enjoy a greater degree of
official recognition (e.g., national holidays) and social status based
on their historical presence in the country. All registered religious
groups have the right to hold bank accounts and to own property and
buildings. Official holidays include religious holy days from all four
predominant faiths. Religious movements may acquire the official status
of a juridical person by registering with the Tirana District Court
under the Law on Nonprofit Organizations, which recognizes the status
of a nonprofit association regardless of whether the organization has a
cultural, recreational, religious, or humanitarian character. The
Government does not require registration or licensing of religious
groups; however, the State Committee on Cults maintains records and
statistics on foreign religious organizations that contact it for
assistance. No groups reported difficulties registering during the
period covered by this report. All religious communities have
criticized the Government for its unwillingness to grant them tax-
exempt status. Since 2003, foreign religious missionaries have been
exempted from the residence permit tax.
The State Committee on Cults is charged with regulating the
relations between the Government and all religious communities, large
and small. Following parliamentary elections in July 2005, a new
government came to power in September 2005. In the previous government
the chairman of the Cults Committee had the status of a deputy minister
and reported directly to the prime minister. In the current government,
the Cults Committee has been moved within the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. The Cults Committee
recognizes the equality of religious communities and respects their
independence. The Cults Committee is charged with working to protect
freedom of religion and to promote inter-religious cooperation and
understanding. The Cults Committee claims that its records on religious
organizations facilitate the granting of residence permits by police to
foreign employees of various religious organizations. No organization
claimed any difficulty in obtaining residency permits during the period
covered by this report. However, as a general rule, foreign religious
missionaries were issued only one-year residency permits and not five-
year permits, as allowed under law for residents who have been in the
country more than two years. The new government promised to issue
longer period permits but had not yet begun to do so. No single
religious organization has been singled out; all have been treated
equally. In 2004, the State Committee on Cults assisted 1,084 foreign
missionaries in obtaining residency permits.
There is no law or regulation forcing religious organizations to
notify the Cults Committee of their activities; however, Article 10 of
the constitution calls for separate bilateral agreements to regulate
relations between the Government and religious communities. At the end
of the period covered by this report, only the Roman Catholic Church
has finalized such an agreement with the Government; this agreement
entered into force in March 2005. The State Committee on Cults had a
clear mandate to negotiate agreements with the three remaining groups
by the end of August 2006 and convened a working group in late May for
this purpose. The Albanian Evangelical Alliance (VUSH), a Protestant
umbrella organization, approached the Cults Committee and also asked to
negotiate a bilateral agreement, but had not received a response to its
request by the end of the period covered by this report.
Additionally, the State Committee on Cults drafted a law on
religion to deal with all religious communities according to a common
standard; however, no action had been taken on the draft by the end of
the period covered by this report.
According to official figures, religious communities, organizations
and foundations managed 101 educational institutions, out of which 15
were officially religious-affiliated schools, with more than 2,600
students. Under law, the Ministry of Education must license such
schools, and the curricula must comply with national education
standards. Both the Roman Catholic and Muslim groups operated numerous
state-licensed schools and have reported no problems in obtaining new
licenses for new schools. During the reporting period, VUSH reported
that it was unable to obtain the necessary licenses, despite guarantees
that they would teach the state curricula and employ only state-
accredited instructors. The Orthodox Church and the Bektashis operate
only strictly religious educational centers for the training of
clerics.
The Orthodox Church's 1954 statute states that its archbishop must
have Albanian citizenship; however, the archbishop during the reporting
period was a Greek citizen who was still seeking Albanian citizenship.
The Government had not taken action on his citizenship application by
the end of the period covered by this report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. The Government is secular. The Ministry of
Education states that public schools in the country are secular and
that the law prohibits ideological and religious indoctrination.
Religion is not taught in public schools. No restriction is imposed on
families regarding the way they raise their children with respect to
religious practices.
In 1967, the former communist government banned all religious
practices and expropriated the property of the established Islamic,
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and other churches. The Government has not
returned all the properties and religious objects under its control
that were confiscated during the communist regime. Property restitution
remained one of the greatest challenges facing the religious
communities. All four major traditional communities had substantial
property claims that remained unresolved. In cases in which religious
buildings were returned, the Government often failed to return the land
that surrounds the buildings, sometimes because of redevelopment claims
by private individuals who began farming it or using it for other
purposes.
In July 2004, Parliament approved a law on the restitution and
compensation of properties confiscated during the communist regime.
According to this law, religious communities have the same rights as
private individuals in matters of property restitution or compensation.
However, the religious communities question the law's limitation on
property restitution to 150 acres. The Cults Committee recently
announced that the new government intended to establish a fund for
monetary compensation. Moreover, the Government announced plans to
remove bureaucratic and legalistic hurdles that have hindered the
return of confiscated properties. Specifically, the Government will no
longer require that religious organizations produce titles and deeds
proving original ownership before making restitution.
The Orthodox Church began construction of a new cathedral on a
parcel of land that it was given as compensation for other land seized
by the communist government. Despite this progress, the Orthodox Church
claimed a lack of action on a number of other property claims
throughout the country, as well as difficulty in recovering some
religious icons and precious manuscripts. Additionally, both the
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church were still trying to
regain possession of their archives that were seized by the communist
government and continued to be held in the national archives.
Although the Roman Catholic Church had substantial outstanding
property claims, it indicated that it was not actively pursuing these
and had decided to focus its efforts in other areas. Nevertheless, if
compensation is eventually paid out it expects to receive compensation
as well. The Islamic Community and the Bektashis also requested that
the Government return a number of properties. The Islamic Community
succeeded in obtaining the title to a large parcel of land located
across from the parliament building in the center of Tirana on which a
mosque once stood. However, it was not issued the necessary building
permit to allow construction of a new mosque. Under the new Urban
Regulatory Plan for Tirana, another parcel of land in central Tirana,
also owned by the Islamic Community, has been set aside for this
purpose. The Islamic Community has rejected this location, however, in
favor of the other site. The Bektashi community is also seeking
compensation from the Government for victims of religious maltreatment
during the communist regime.
Over the reporting period, VUSH has continued its efforts to expand
its relationship with the country's various public institutions,
including the Cults Committee, state-controlled media, and
universities.
Media coverage of the Jehovah's Witnesses improved since the
previous reporting period, during which the organization was the
subject of false media accounts of youth members committing suicide.
Over the reporting period there was only one such article published.
The organization reported that in this instance the Government acted
cooperatively and responsibly in helping to quell false rumors. The
organization reported that they have faced no other hindrance in their
ability to carry out their programs in the country.
There were approximately six hundred Jews in the country before
World War II. During the war, many Jews from other countries found
shelter in the country, but almost all remaining Jews immigrated to
Israel after 1991. There were believed to be fewer than one hundred
Jews left in the country, and there were no reports of synagogues or
Jewish community centers functioning in the country. The Archaeology
Institute of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, together with
archaeologists from the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology, was
excavating an ancient synagogue in the southern city of Saranda during
the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Society is largely secular.
Intermarriage among members of different religions is extremely common.
Citizens take pride in the tolerance and understanding that prevail
among them.
In contrast to past years, representatives of the Orthodox Church
reported that there were no acts of vandalism carried out against its
churches or property. The Catholic Church, however, reported that there
were two cases in which public crosses were destroyed, both in the
Shkodra region. That city was also the location of a controversy
regarding the public placement of a statue of Mother Theresa (an ethnic
Albanian born in Macedonia). A leader of the Islamic community of
Shkodra initially objected, claiming that Mother Theresa was a Catholic
figure and therefore her statue should not be placed on public
property. The national leadership of the Albanian Islamic Community,
however, announced that it supported erection of the statue on the
ground that Mother Theresa was a national figure. Ultimately the
Shkodra Islamic community rescinded its objections, stating that it,
too, recognized that Mother Theresa was a national symbol.
The investigation into the 2003 killing of Sali Tivari, the former
General Secretary of the Islamic Community, remained open at the end of
the reporting period.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Government has employed numerous initiatives to further religious
freedom and tolerance. The U.S. Embassy continues to urge the
Government to address outstanding religious property claims and to
return buildings, land, and other property to the denominations that
lost them under communist rule. Embassy officers, including the chief
of mission, meet frequently (both in formal office calls and at
representational events) with the heads of the major religious
communities in the country.
The embassy has been active in urging tolerance and moderation as a
continued hallmark of society. The embassy has provided grants to local
organizations to promote interfaith tolerance and understanding and to
support the teaching of civic affairs and religious tolerance in
secondary schools, including schools operated by faith-based
organizations. The embassy has also sponsored events at its American
Corners geared towards high school and university students to promote
interfaith understanding, including a photo exhibit and discussion on
``Muslim Life in America.'' The embassy supported other projects that
support and strengthen civic education in religious-affiliated schools
to help ensure that tradition is preserved as new forms of religious
practice appear in the country.
During the reporting period, using an embassy grant, the Civic and
Faith-based Education Project expanded its activities throughout the
country, bringing together local authorities, teachers, students,
religious leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss ways of
cultivating values that can contribute to a more democratic, diverse
and tolerant society.
The project also extended cooperation with the Education Department
of the Albanian Islamic Community, which, as a result, introduced
constructive, cooperative civic education curricula into Muslim-
affiliated schools in Tirana. The project replicated this experience in
other Muslim-affiliated schools throughout the country.
This project also provided in-service training for teachers in
faith-based nonpublic schools, which have agreed to teach civic
education. The training offered knowledge and skills for effective
civic education in their schools, which could help to further
strengthen the relations between civic and faith-based education,
provide students in such schools with civic knowledge and skills, and
also improve the climate for further cooperation between public schools
and faith-based nonpublic schools.
Through a USAID project entitled ``Fostering Religious Harmony in
Albania,'' the U.S. Government supported the peaceful coexistence of
different religious groups and fostered greater understanding among
persons of different faiths. This project seeks to establish dialogue
and cooperation among members of the different religions present in the
country at all levels of the organizations.
__________
ANDORRA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion; however, the constitution acknowledges a special
relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, which receives some
privileges not available to other religious groups.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 180.7 square miles and a population of
78,549 (December 2005 figure). Very few official statistics were
available relative to religion; however, traditionally, approximately
90 percent of the population is Catholic. The population consisted
largely of immigrants from Spain, Portugal, and France, with full
citizens representing less than 30 percent of the total. The immigrants
were also generally Catholic. It was estimated that, of the Catholic
population, approximately half were active church attendees. Other
religious groups included Muslims (who primarily were represented among
the approximately two thousand North African immigrants and were split
between two groups, one more fundamentalist); Hinduism; the New
Apostolic Church; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons); several Protestant denominations, including the Anglican
Church; the Reunification Church; Jehovah's Witnesses, and Jews.
An estimated one hundred Jews lived in the country. Eight years
ago, the Jewish community opened a synagogue and a cultural center. The
group suffered no discrimination and was well integrated into the
overall society.
Foreign missionaries were active and operated without restriction.
For example, the Mormons and members of Jehovah's Witnesses
proselytized from door to door.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution acknowledges a special relationship with the
Catholic Church ``in accordance with Andorran tradition'' and
recognizes the ``full legal capacity'' of the bodies of the Catholic
Church, granting them legal status ``in accordance with their own
rules.'' One of the two constitutionally designated princes of the
country (who serves equally as joint head of state with the president
of France) is Bishop Joan Enric Vives i Sicilia of the Spanish town of
La Seu d'Urgell. The Catholic religious celebration on September 8 of
the ``Verge de Meritxell'' (Virgin of Meritxell) is also a national
holiday. The celebration does not negatively affect any religious
group.
There is no law that clearly requires legal registration and
approval of religious groups and religious worship. The law of
associations is very general and does not mention specifically
religious affairs. A consolidated register of associations records all
types of associations, including religious groups. Registration is not
compulsory; however, groups must register or reregister in order to be
considered for the support that the Government provides to
nongovernmental organizations. To register or reregister, groups must
provide the association statutes, the foundation agreement, a statement
certifying the names of persons appointed to official or board
positions in the organization, and a patrimony declaration that
identifies the inheritance or endowment of the organization. There were
no known reports of rejected applications.
The authorities reportedly expressed some concern as to what
treatment groups, whose actions may be considered injurious to public
health, safety, morals, or order, should receive. The law does not
limit any such groups, although it does contain a provision that no one
may be ``forced to join or remain in an association against his/her
will.''
In spite of negotiations between the Muslim community and the
Government, no mosque had been built. However, the Muslim community
practiced its religion without restriction in places of worship
scattered throughout the country.
Instruction in the tenets of the Catholic faith is available in
public schools on an optional basis, outside of both regular school
hours and the time frame set aside for elective school activities, such
as civics or ethics. The Catholic Church provides teachers for religion
classes, and the Government pays their salaries. The Islamic Cultural
Center provided approximately fifty students with Arabic lessons. The
Government and the Moroccan community had not yet agreed upon a system
that would allow children to receive Arabic classes in school outside
of the regular school day.
The Government has been responsive to certain needs of the Muslim
community. On occasion the Government has made public facilities
available to various religious organizations for religious activities.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such persons to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In early 2005, under the sponsorship of the foreign minister, a
group of persons attended a meeting organized for the first time among
Catholics, Buddhist, Hindus, and Muslims which was presided over by the
Bishop of Seu d'Urgell Joan Enric Vives i Sicilia.
In 2004, UNESCO opened an interreligious dialogue in the country.
The project consisted of various meetings to promote peace and
reconciliation among members of different religious groups.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Societal attitudes between
and among different religious groups appeared to be amicable and
tolerant. For example, the Catholic Church of la Massana lends its
sanctuary twice per month to the Anglican community, so that visiting
Anglican clergy can conduct services for the English-speaking
community. Although those who practiced religions other than
Catholicism tended to be immigrants and otherwise not integrated fully
into the local community, there appeared to be little or no obstacle to
their practicing their own religions.
There were no significant ecumenical movements or activities to
promote greater mutual understanding among adherents of different
religions.
According to a report of the European Commission on Andorra, the
country had no problems related to discrimination but the society had
racial prejudices, an issue that could be exacerbated if the economic
situation worsens.
An opinion poll published in 2003 by the Institute of Andorran
Studies on the ``values and traditions of the Andorran Society''
indicated that 52 percent saw themselves as ``very religious people.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights and
religious freedom. Both the U.S. Ambassador, resident in Madrid, and
the Consul General, resident in Barcelona, have met with Bishop Joan
Enric Vives i Sicilia, the leader of the Catholic community, to discuss
religious toleration. The U.S. Consul General specifically discussed
with and urged the foreign minister to take a more proactive stance in
integrating the Muslim community into society.
__________
ARMENIA
The constitution, as amended December 8, 2005, provides for freedom
of religion; however, the law places some restrictions on the religious
freedom of adherents of minority faiths, and there were some
restrictions in practice. The Armenian Apostolic Church, which has
formal legal status as the national church, enjoys some privileges not
available to other religious groups.
There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report. Some denominations
reported occasional acts of discrimination by mid- or low-level
government officials and isolated incidents of police harassment. An
amendment to the 2004 law on alternative military service took effect
on January 26, 2006, criminalizing evasion of alternative labor
service. Conscientious objectors maintained, however, that military
control of the alternative labor service amounted to unacceptable
military service.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, societal attitudes
toward some minority religious groups were ambivalent.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During these discussions, the U.S. Government emphasizes to authorities
that continued eligibility for the $235 million Millennium Challenge
Compact remains contingent upon the Government's performance in meeting
good governance indicators, which include standards of respect for
religious freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 11,500 square miles and a population of
3 million.
The country is ethnically homogeneous; approximately 98 percent of
the population was ethnically Armenian. Many Azeris left the country
during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994, increasing
the country's religious and ethnic homogeneity. Religious observance
was strongly discouraged in the Soviet era, leading to a sharp decline
in the number of active churches and priests, the closure of virtually
all monasteries, and the nearly complete absence of religious
education. As a result, the number of active religious practitioners
was relatively low. For many citizens, Christian identity was an ethnic
trait, with only a loose connection to religious belief. An estimated
90 percent of citizens nominally belonged to the Armenian Apostolic
Church, an Eastern Christian denomination with its spiritual center at
the Etchmiadzin cathedral and monastery. The head of the church,
Catholicos Garegin II (alternate spelling Karekin), was elected in 1999
at Etchmiadzin with the participation of Armenian delegates from around
the world.
There were comparatively small communities of other religious
groups. There was no reliable census data on religious minorities, and
reports from congregants themselves varied significantly. The
Government does not provide official figures for numbers of religious
adherents, but congregants offered the following unconfirmed estimates:
Catholic, both Roman and Mekhitarist (Armenian Uniate) (120,000);
Yezidi, an ethnically Kurdish cultural group whose religion includes
elements derived from Zoroastrianism, Islam, and animism (40,000
nominal adherents); unspecified ``charismatic'' Christian (10,000);
Jehovah's Witnesses (8,750); Armenian Evangelical Church (8,000);
Molokan, an ethnically Russian pacifist Christian group that split from
the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century (5,000); Baptist
(2,000); the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
(2,000); Greek Orthodox (1,200); Seventh-day Adventist (950);
Pentecostal (700); Jewish (600); and Baha'i (200). There was no
estimate of the number of atheists.
Yezidis were concentrated primarily in agricultural areas around
Mount Aragats, northwest of the capital, Yerevan. Armenian Catholic and
Greek Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the northern region,
while most Jews, Mormons, and Baha'is were located in Yerevan. In
Yerevan there was also a small community of Muslims, including Kurds,
Iranians, Indians, and temporary residents from the Middle East.
Several minority religious groups sponsor missionary programs in
the country, including both expatriate and local participants. Levels
of membership in minority religious groups remained relatively
unchanged.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution, as amended on December 8, 2005, provides for
freedom of religion and ``the exclusive mission of the Armenian
Apostolic Holy Church as a national church in the spiritual life,
development of the national culture and preservation of the national
identity of the people of Armenia.'' The law stipulates some
restrictions on the religious freedom of adherents of faiths other than
the Armenian Apostolic Church. The constitution also provides for
freedom of conscience, including the right either to believe or to
adhere to atheism. The 1991 Law on Freedom of Conscience, amended in
1997 and again in 2001, establishes the separation of church and state
but grants the Armenian Apostolic Church official status as the
national church.
Extended negotiations between the Government and the Armenian
Apostolic Church resulted in a 2000 memorandum providing a framework
for the two sides to negotiate a concordat. Although they had not
concluded negotiations by the end of the period covered by this report,
the Government and the church used the memorandum as a basis for
dispute resolution and policy agreements.
The law requires all religious denominations and organizations to
register in order to operate without restrictions. There were no
reports of the Government refusing registration to religious groups
that were qualified for registration under the law. The Department of
Religious Affairs and National Minorities, which replaced the former
Council on Religious Affairs (CRA), oversees religious affairs and
coordinates activities with the cabinet's chief of staff. A high-
ranking official from the former CRA serves as the prime minister's
advisor on religious affairs. The Office of the State Registrar
registers religious entities, and the Department of Religious Affairs
and National Minorities performs a consultative role in the
registration process. To qualify for registration, petitioning
organizations must ``be free from materialism and of a purely spiritual
nature,'' and must subscribe to a doctrine based on ``historically
recognized holy scriptures.'' A religious organization must have at
least 200 adult members. Religious groups are not required to register,
but unregistered religious organizations may not publish newspapers or
magazines, rent meeting places, broadcast programs on television or
radio, or officially sponsor the visas of visitors. By the end of the
period covered by this report, the Government had registered fifty-six
religious organizations, some of which were individual congregations
within the same denomination.
Yerevan's one surviving eighteenth-century mosque, which was
restored with Iranian funding, was open for regular Friday prayers.
Although not registered as a religious facility, the Government did not
restrict Muslims from praying there.
The law permits religious education in state schools. Only
personnel authorized and trained by the Government may teach in
schools. The history of the Armenian Apostolic Church forms the basis
of this curriculum; many schools cover global religions in elementary
school and the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church in middle
school. Students may choose not to attend religious education classes.
Religious groups are not allowed to provide religious instruction in
schools, although registered groups may do so in private homes to
children of their members. On occasion, priests from the Armenian
Apostolic Church teach classes in religious history; however, the use
of public school buildings for religious ``indoctrination'' is illegal.
The military employs Armenian Apostolic chaplains for each
division, but no other religious groups are represented in the
chaplaincy.
The Government's human rights ombudsman and the head of the
Department of Religious Affairs and National Minorities met with many
minority religious organizations during the period covered by this
report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, most registered religious
groups reported no serious legal impediments to their activities.
However, the 1991 freedom of conscience law prohibits ``proselytizing''
(undefined in the law) and restricts unregistered groups from
publishing, broadcasting, or inviting official visitors to the country.
The prohibition on proselytizing applies to all groups, including the
Armenian Apostolic Church; however, the term used for proselytizing
implies that someone has been taken away from a ``true'' faith, and the
prohibition effectively restricts only minority religious groups.
According to the head of the Department of Religious Affairs and
National Minorities, some minority religious groups, including the
Molokans and some Yezidi groups, have not sought registration.
Although the law prohibits foreign funding of foreign-based
denominations, the Government has not enforced the ban and considers it
unenforceable. A 1991 law required all religious organizations, except
the Armenian Apostolic Church, to obtain prior permission to engage in
public religious activities, travel abroad, or invite foreign guests to
the country. In 2001 this law was rescinded by presidential order and,
in practice, no travel restrictions were imposed on any religious
denomination.
On July 13, 2005, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormon) officials reported that police officers briefly detained,
harassed, and threatened two foreign missionaries. The missionaries
said that one of the officers, after warning them to leave the country,
placed the barrel of his unloaded gun against one missionary's head and
pulled the trigger. Church officials filed a police report, and the
Government opened an investigation. According to the Department of
Religious Affairs and National Minorities, Armenian Apostolic Church
officials filed a counter-complaint against the Mormons within a week
of the incident, alleging the missionaries were illegally proselytizing
on church grounds. Police officials claimed the officers questioned the
missionaries and asked them to stay away from the church but denied
that the questioning constituted harassment. On October 4, 2005, a
police inspector sent Mormon representatives a letter informing members
that the national police intended to drop the investigation and leave
the incident unresolved. Other religious groups reported isolated
events involving police officials questioning missionaries and their
acquaintances about their activities.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The law on alternative military service took effect in 2004 and
allowed conscientious objectors, subject to government panel approval,
to perform either noncombatant military or civil service duties rather
than serve as conscripted military personnel. The law was applied to
subsequent draftees and those serving prison terms for draft evasion.
Conscientious objectors maintained, however, that military control of
the alternative labor service amounted to unacceptable military
service. An amendment to the law, which took effect on January 26,
2006, criminalized evasion of alternative labor service.
According to leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses in Yerevan, twenty-five
members of their religious group remained in prison for refusal, on
conscientious and religious grounds, to perform military service or
alternative labor service. An additional eighteen members signed
statements saying they would not leave the country pending the
completion of preliminary investigations, and six more were assigned
conditional punishment ranging from one to three years. Representatives
of the Jehovah's Witnesses stated that all of the prisoners were given
the opportunity to serve an alternative to military service rather than
prison time, but that all refused because the military retained
administrative control of alternative service. Twelve of those in
prison reportedly received two-year sentences.
There were reports that hazing of new conscripts was more severe
for minority group members such as Yezidis and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Some Yezidi leaders reported that police and local authorities
subjected their religious community to discrimination. Other Yezidi
leaders denied the allegations.
There was no officially sponsored violence reported against
minority religious groups during the period covered by this report.
Other than Jehovah's Witnesses who were conscientious objectors, there
were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, societal attitudes
toward some minority religious groups were ambivalent.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is a member of the World Council of
Churches and, despite doctrinal differences, has friendly official
relations with major Christian denominations, including the Eastern
Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and
some Protestant churches.
Suppressed through seventy years of Soviet rule, the Armenian
Apostolic Church has trained priests and committed material resources
to fill the spiritual void created by the demise of communist ideology.
Nontraditional religious organizations are viewed with suspicion.
Representatives of foreignbased denominations frequently cited
as evidence statements including ``one God, one country, one church,''
noting they had been warned against ``stealing souls'' from the
Armenian Apostolic Church.
Societal attitudes toward most minority religious groups were
ambivalent. Many citizens were not religiously observant, but the link
between religion and Armenian ethnicity is strong.
According to some observers, the general population expressed
negative attitudes about Jehovah's Witnesses, because the latter
refused to serve in the military, engaged in little understood
proselytizing practices, and because of a widespread but
unsubstantiated belief that they pay the desperately poor to convert.
Jehovah's Witnesses continued to be targets of hostile sermons by some
Armenian Apostolic Church clerics and experienced occasional societal
discrimination. The press reported a number of complaints for allegedly
illegal proselytizing lodged by citizens against members of Jehovah's
Witnesses.
Some members of the press stoked suspicion of nontraditional
religious organizations. On April 4, 2006, an opposition newspaper
published a short editorial alleging that ``a top police official'' had
information that ``religious sects'' including Mormons and Pentecostals
had enlisted well-known criminals to protect the ``sects''' interests
against the Government. The paper's publishers claimed the unnamed
source of the article was ``credible'' and that the allegations were
factual, but despite repeated requests, they declined to elaborate on
them.
On April 5, 2006, a pro-government tabloid published a short
editorial entitled, ``Is the American University of Armenia being
Mormonized?'' The writer claimed that the newspaper had learned from
sources that ``a Mormon'' would be appointed vice rector of the
American University. According to the authors, if the rumors were true,
the country would have taken a serious step, negative in the tabloid's
view, toward ``Mormonization.''
Flanked by Armenian Apostolic priests during an April 19, 2006,
press conference, Armenian Center for Rehabilitation and Assistance to
Victims of Destructive Cults Director Alexander Amaryan continued his
public assertions that the presence of nontraditional religious
institutions ``threatens the spiritual life of Armenia.'' Armenian
Apostolic priests alleged ``religious sects,'' which they identified as
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, ``conquered members of our flock'' by
``abducting children and church members, and criticizing national
traditions.''
Unlike in previous years, the Jewish community reported no
incidents of verbal harassment during the period covered by this
report. On March 18, 2005, a court issued a three-year suspended
sentence to the leader of the Union of Armenian Aryans, in response to
his conviction on charges of public hostility for calling for the
country to be ``purified'' of Jews and Yezidis.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and embassy officials maintain close contact with the
Catholicos at Etchmiadzin and with leaders of other religious and
ecumenical groups in the country. During the period covered by this
report, U.S. officials consistently raised the issue of alternatives to
military service with government officials. The embassy also maintained
regular contact with resident and visiting regional representatives of
foreign-based religious groups such as the Mormons and raised their
concerns with the Government. Embassy officials closely monitor trials
related to issues of religious freedom and take an active role in
policy fora and nongovernmental organization roundtables regarding
religious freedom.
The U.S. embassy hosted several roundtable meetings and receptions
in honor of U.S. representatives of religious organizations. Leaders of
local minority religious groups were regularly welcomed at these
events.
__________
AUSTRIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there was some
societal mistrust and discrimination against members of some
nonrecognized religious groups, particularly those referred to as
``sects.'' There was no marked deterioration in the atmosphere of
religious tolerance in the country during the period covered by this
report.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 32,369 square miles, and its population
was an estimated 8.2 million. The largest minority groups were
Croatian, Slovene, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Roma. In the past
several years, the country experienced a rise in immigration from
countries such as Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which increased the
number of Muslims in the country.
According to the 2001 census, membership in major religions was as
follows: Roman Catholic Church, 74.0 percent; Lutheran and Presbyterian
churches (Evangelical Church--Augsburger and Helvetic confessions), 4.7
percent; Islamic community, 4.2 percent; Jewish community, 0.1 percent;
Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian),
2.2 percent; other Christian churches, 0.9 percent; and other non-
Christian religious groups, 0.2 percent. Atheists accounted for 12
percent, and 2 percent did not indicate a religious affiliation.
The vast majority of groups termed ``sects'' by the Government were
small organizations with fewer than 100 members. Among the larger
groups was the Church of Scientology, with between 5,000 and 6,000
members, and the Unification Church, with approximately 700 adherents
throughout the country. Other groups found in the country included
Divine Light Mission, Eckankar, Hare Krishna, the Holosophic community,
the Osho movement, Sahaja Yoga, Sai Baba, Sri Chinmoy, Transcendental
Meditation, the Center for Experimental Society Formation, Fiat Lux,
Universal Life, and The Family.
The provinces of Carinthia and Burgenland had somewhat higher
percentages of Protestants than the national average. The number of
Muslims was higher than the national average in Vienna and the province
of Vorarlberg, where industry drew a disproportionately higher number
of guest workers from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia.
According to a poll by FESSEL-GfK, 78 percent of respondents said
that they belonged to a church or religious group. Of that number, 2
percent attended services more than once a week, 15 percent attended
weekly, 17 percent attended a minimum of once a month, 34 percent
attended several times a year (on special occasions), and 32 percent
never attended.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Government is secular. The Roman Catholic Church is the
predominant religion; many Roman Catholic holidays are also government
holidays.
The status of religious organizations is governed by the 1874 Law
on Recognition of Churches and by the 1998 Law on the Status of
Religious Confessional Communities, which establishes the status of
``confessional communities.'' Religious organizations are divided into
three legal categories (listed in descending order of status):
Officially recognized religious societies, religious confessional
communities, and associations. Each category of organizations possesses
a distinct set of rights, privileges, and responsibilities.
Recognition as a religious society under the 1874 law has wide-
ranging implications, such as the authority to participate in the
mandatory church contributions program, to provide religious
instruction in public schools, and to bring religious workers into the
country to act as ministers, missionaries, or teachers. Under the 1874
law, religious societies have ``public corporation'' status. This
status permits religious societies to engage in a number of public or
quasi-public activities that are denied to confessional communities and
associations. The Government provides financial support for religious
teachers at both public and private schools to religious societies but
not to other religious organizations. The Government provides financial
support to private schools run by any of the thirteen officially
recognized religious societies.
The Government recognizes thirteen religious bodies as religious
societies: The Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant churches (Lutheran
and Presbyterian, called ``Augsburger'' and ``Helvetic'' confessions),
the Islamic community, the Old Catholic Church, the Jewish community,
the Eastern Orthodox Church (Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romanian, and
Bulgarian), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
the New Apostolic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Armenian
Apostolic Church, the Methodist Church of Austria, the Buddhist
community, and the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The 1998 Law on the Status of Religious Confessional Communities
imposed new criteria on religious groups to achieve religious society
status, although it allowed previously recognized societies to retain
their status. New criteria included a twenty-year period of existence
(at least ten of which must be as a group organized as a confessional
community under the 1998 law) and membership equaling at least two one-
thousandths of the country's population (approximately 16,000 persons).
Only four of the thirteen recognized religious (Catholic, Protestant,
Islamic Community, and Eastern Orthodox) groups would meet this
membership requirement. Of the unrecognized religious groups, only the
Jehovah's Witnesses would meet this latter membership requirement.
The 1998 law allows nonrecognized religious groups to seek official
status as ``confessional communities'' without the fiscal and
educational privileges available to recognized religions. To apply,
groups must have at least 300 members and submit to the Government
their written statutes describing the goals, rights, and obligations of
members, as well as membership regulations, officials, and financing.
Groups also must submit a written version of their religious doctrine,
which must differ from that of any religious society recognized under
the 1874 law or any confessional community established under the 1998
law. The Ministry of Education then examines the doctrine for a
determination that the group's basic beliefs do not violate public
security, public order, health and morals, or the rights and freedoms
of citizens.
Once the Government recognizes them, religious confessional
communities have juridical standing, which permits them to engage in
such activities as purchasing real estate in their own names and
contracting for goods and services. A religious group that seeks to
obtain this new status is subject to a six-month waiting period from
the time of application to the Ministry of Education and Culture.
According to the ministry, as of May 2006, thirteen groups had applied
for the status of religious confessional community, and ten were
granted the new status. The Church of Scientology and the Hindu Mandir
Association withdrew their applications. The Hindu Mandir Association
reapplied under the name Hindu Religious Community and was granted the
new status. The ministry rejected the application of the Sahaja Yoga
group in 1998. Since then, its decision has been upheld in the
Constitutional Court and Administrative Court.
The ten religious groups that constitute confessional communities
according to the law are the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baha'i Faith, the
Baptists, the Evangelical Alliance, the Movement for Religious Renewal,
the Free Christian Community (Pentecostalists), the Pentecostal
Community of God, the Seventh-day Adventists, the Hindu Religious
Community, and the Mennonites.
Religious groups that do not qualify for either religious society
or confessional community status may apply to become associations under
the Law of Associations. Associations are corporations under law and
have many of the same rights as confessional communities, including the
right to own real estate. Some groups have organized as associations,
even while applying for recognition as religious societies.
There are no restrictions on missionary activities. Historically,
unrecognized religious groups had problems obtaining resident permits
for foreign religious workers. Unlike visas for religious workers of
recognized religions, religious workers who are members of unrecognized
religions are subject to a numerical cap. Administrative procedures
adopted in 1997 for certain unrecognized groups, which exempted these
workers from having to obtain governmental permission to work, helped
to address this problem in part. These procedures allowed for
application under an immigrant visa category that is neither employment
or family-based. New visa laws that became effective in January 2006
will change the implementation of these procedures, possibly resulting
in an increased difficulty for members of this group to obtain resident
permits.
In 2003, the Government opened the first Buddhist cemetery in
Europe within Vienna's Central Cemetery. As of May 2006, construction
continued on the new Islamic Cemetery in Vienna's Liesing district.
This construction site was the target of an arson attack in April 2006.
Despite the attack, the Islamic Community hoped that the cemetery would
be in operation by the end of 2006.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, several religious groups that the
Government did not recognize under the 1998 law, as well as some
religious law experts, dismiss the benefits of obtaining status under
the 1998 law and have complained that the law's additional criteria for
recognition as a religious society obstruct claims to recognition, and
formalize a second-class status for nonrecognized groups. Some experts
have questioned the 1998 law's constitutionality.
Although the Ministry of Education granted Jehovah's Witnesses the
status of a confessional community in 1998, they were denied
recognition as a religious society under the 1874 law in 1997. A
complaint filed by the Jehovah's Witnesses with the European Court for
Human Rights (ECHR) in 1998, arguing that the group had not yet been
granted full status as a religious entity in the country under the law
despite a two-decade struggle, remained pending at the end of the
period covered by this report. On July 5, 2005, the ECHR ruled that the
case was admissible. This was one of three applications that the
Religious Community of Jehovah's Witnesses filed against the Government
at the ECHR. Three other applications were filed by individuals and
dealt with the denial of exemption for the ministers of Jehovah's
Witnesses from both military and alternative service. On February 1,
2005, the ECHR ruled that two of the cases dealing with military
exemption were admissible as possible violations of the European
Convention on Human Rights regarding freedom of religion and
discrimination.
The State of Lower Austria and the City of Vienna funded a
counseling center of a controversial nongovernmental organization
(NGO), GSK, which actively works against sects and cults. GSK
distributes information to schools and the general public and runs a
counseling center for those who believe they have been negatively
affected by cults or sects. Several provinces funded offices that
provided information on sects and cults.
The Federal Office of Sect Issues continued to function as a
counseling center for those who have questions about sects and cults.
Under the law, this office has independent status, but the minister for
social security and generations appoints and supervises its head.
The conservative People's Party (OVP) position regarding membership
in a ``sect'' remained in force during the period covered by this
report. The Party's stated position is that party membership is
incompatible with membership in a ``sect'' if the sect holds a
fundamentally different view of man from what the Party believes,
advocates opinions irreconcilable with the ethical principles of the
party, or rejects the basic rights granted by progressively minded
constitutional states and an open society. In 1998, the OVP passed a
resolution banning members of ``sects'' from being members of the
party. This resolution was passed to target a native Scientologist who
was at the time a respected member of his local party organization and
his local community. There were no known reports of members of other
sects being denied membership in the party.
Prisoners who belong to nonrecognized religious groups are entitled
to pastoral care. Some groups have reported experiencing problems with
access to pastoral care in isolated instances; however, there were no
allegations of widespread problems.
The Government provides funding for religious instruction in public
schools and places of worship for children belonging to any of the
thirteen officially recognized religious societies. The Government does
not offer such funding to nonrecognized religious groups. A minimum of
three children is required to form a class. In some cases, religious
societies decide that the administrative cost of providing religious
instruction is too great to warrant providing such courses in all
schools. Attendance in religious instruction is mandatory unless
students formally withdraw at the beginning of the academic year;
students under the age of fourteen need parental permission to withdraw
from instruction.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
The NGO Forum against Anti-Semitism reported 143 anti-Semitic
incidents in 2005, including 4 physical attacks. The incidents included
name-calling, graffiti/defacement, threatening letters, anti-Semitic
Internet postings, property damage, vilifying letters and telephone
calls, and physical attacks. The European Union's Monitoring Center on
Racism and Xenophobia has declared in the past that anti-Semitism in
the country was typically characterized by diffuse and traditional
anti-Semitic stereotypes rather than by acts of physical aggression.
The Anti-Defamation League's May 2005 report measured attitudes and
opinions toward Jews in twelve European countries, including Austria.
More than a third of Austrian respondents believed that Jews were more
loyal to Israel than to Austria, and 46 percent of Austrian respondents
believed that Jews talked too much about what happened to them in the
Holocaust. However, these figures were down from the 2004 survey in
which 46 percent answered affirmatively to the first question, and 54
percent to the second.
The Government strictly enforces its anti-neo-Nazi legislation,
which prohibits neo-Nazi acts, including incitement to neo-Nazi
activity and the glorification of National Socialism. In November 2005,
British historian David Irving was arrested on a 1989 warrant in which
he was charged with denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
On February 20, 2006, he was found guilty and sentenced to three years
in prison.
The Government also provides police protection for Jewish community
institutions.
On April 26, 2005, the Vienna Criminal Court convicted a former
member of the Upper House of Parliament to a suspended one-year prison
sentence on grounds of violating neo-Nazi law. In public interviews in
2005, the former parliamentarian had said that the questions on whether
gas chambers existed during the Third Reich should be ``examined.''
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Relations among the thirteen
officially recognized religious societies were generally amicable.
Fourteen Christian churches, among them the Roman Catholic Church,
various Protestant confessions, and eight Orthodox and old-oriental
churches, were engaged in a dialogue in the framework of the Ecumenical
Council of Austrian Churches. The Baptists and the Salvation Army had
observer status in the Council. The international Catholic organization
Pro Oriente, which promotes a dialogue with the Orthodox churches, was
also active in the country. In early 2006, a new interreligious
platform for tolerance was founded. Billed as an ``initiative for a
cooperative future in Austria,'' the group ``Christian and Muslim''
seeks to promote tolerance and respect by encouraging Christians and
Muslims to learn more about each other's faiths and each other.
Subsequently, Jewish representatives also joined the platform.
Holocaust education was generally taught as part of history
instruction, but also was featured in other subjects under the heading
``political education (civics).'' Religious education classes were
another forum for teaching the tenets of different religions and
overall tolerance. Special teacher training seminars were available on
the subject of Holocaust education. The Education Ministry also ran a
program through which Holocaust survivors talked to school classes
about National Socialism and the Holocaust.
There were no reports of violence or vigilante action against
members of religious minorities. However, some societal mistrust and
discrimination continued against members of some nonrecognized
religious groups, particularly against those considered to be members
of sects. A large portion of the public perceived such groups as
exploiting the vulnerable for monetary gain, recruiting and
brainwashing youth, promoting antidemocratic ideologies, and denying
the legitimacy of government authority. Some observers believed the
existence of and the activities of the Federal Office of Sect Issues
and similar offices at the state level fostered societal discrimination
against minority religious groups.
Members of sects continued to complain that the Government lacks an
objective stance when dealing with or representing groups they consider
to be ``sects.'' The sects claimed that the Government relies too
heavily on isolated cases of persons who have had negative experiences
with a group, rather than speaking directly to the vast majority of
members who make no complaint.
The Church of Scientology has reported that individual
Scientologists have experienced discrimination in hiring.
Muslims complained about incidents of societal discrimination and
verbal harassment. Muslim women reported difficulties in the job market
when potential employers learned they wear a headscarf. Victims can
benefit from the Equal Treatment Bill, which implemented the EU Anti-
Discrimination and Anti-Racism Guidelines and took effect on July 1,
2004, to take action in court. Women who wear the headscarf also
reported that they experienced harassment in public areas. From March
to December 2005, there were eleven cases of discrimination based on
religion brought before the Equal Rights Commissioner.
The Muslim cemetery being constructed in Vienna's Liesing district
was the target of an arson attack in April 2006.
Compulsory school curricula provide for anti-bias and tolerance
education as part of the civics education and as a focus across various
subjects, including history and German classes. The Ministry of
Education also conducts training projects with the Anti-Defamation
League in this context.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. Embassy monitors the Government's adherence to religious
tolerance and freedom of expression as part of its evaluation of the
Government's policies and commitments to freedom of expression. The
ambassador and other embassy officers regularly met with religious and
political leaders to reinforce the U.S. Government's commitment to
religious freedom and tolerance, and discussed the concerns of NGOs and
religious communities regarding the Government's policies towards
religion.
Embassy officials regularly met with government officials, NGOs,
and leaders of religious organizations to discuss the status of
religious freedom in the country. American representatives repeatedly
voiced their concerns to the Government on the strict requirements for
religious recognition in the country.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy maintained an
active dialogue with members of the Jewish and Muslim Communities, the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Scientology, and other religious
groups.
The embassy highlighted religious freedom and tolerance in its
programs. In 2006, two Muslims participated in the International
Visitor Program: One in an individual program on women's issues,
immigration, and religion, and the other in a group program entitled
``Project for Young Muslim Leaders on U.S. Political, Social and
Educational Issues.''
__________
AZERBAIJAN
The constitution provides that persons of all faiths may choose and
practice their religion without restrictions; however, there were some
abuses and restrictions.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. Some religious groups reported delays in
and denials of registration while others indicated that they either
received or expect to receive their registration. There continued to be
some limitations upon the ability of groups to import religious
literature than in previous years. Most religious groups met without
government interference. However, local authorities monitored religious
services, and officials at times harassed nontraditional religious
groups.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there was popular
prejudice against Muslims who convert to non-Islamic faiths and
hostility towards groups that proselytize, particularly evangelical
Christian and missionary groups.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy is engaged actively in monitoring religious freedom and
maintains contact with the Government and a wide range of religious
groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
According to official figures, the country has a total area of
33,774 square miles, and its population was approximately 7.9 million.
There were no reliable statistics on memberships in various religious
groups; however, according to official figures approximately 96 percent
of the population was Muslim. The rest of the population adhered to
other faiths or consisted of nonbelievers. Among the Muslim majority,
religious observance was relatively low, and Muslim identity tended to
be based more on culture and ethnicity than religion. According to the
State Committee on Work with Religious Associations (SCWRA), the Muslim
population was approximately 65 percent Shi'a and 35 percent Sunni;
differences traditionally have not been defined sharply.
The vast majority of Christians were Russian Orthodox whose
identity, like that of Muslims, tended to be based as much on culture
and ethnicity as religion. Christians were concentrated in the urban
areas of Baku and Sumgayit.
An estimated 15,000 Jews, constituting the vast majority of the
country's Jewish community, lived in Baku. Smaller communities also
existed in and around Guba and elsewhere. Most of the country's Jews
belonged to one of two groups: The ``Mountain Jews,'' descendents of
Jews who sought refuge in the northern part of the country more than
two thousand years ago, and a smaller group of ``Ashkenazi'' Jews,
descendents of European Jews who migrated to the country during Russian
and Soviet rule.
These four groups (Shi'a, Sunni, Russian Orthodoxy, and Jews) were
considered traditional religious groups. There also have been small
congregations of Evangelical Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Baptists,
Molokans (Russian Orthodox Old-Believers), Seventh-day Adventists, and
Baha'is in the country for more than one hundred years. In the last ten
years, a number of new religious groups considered foreign or
nontraditional have been established, including ``Wahhabi'' Muslims,
Pentecostal and evangelical Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Hare
Krishnas.
There were fairly sizeable expatriate Christian and Muslim
communities in the capital city of Baku; authorities generally
permitted these groups to worship freely.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides that persons of all faiths may choose and
practice their religion without restriction; however, there were some
abuses and restrictions. Under the constitution, each person has the
right to choose and change his or her own religious affiliation and
belief including atheism, to join or form the religious group of his or
her choice, and to practice his or her religion. The law on religious
freedom expressly prohibits the Government from interfering in the
religious activities of any individual or group; however, there are
exceptions, including cases where the activity of a religious group
``threatens public order and stability.'' In January 2006 the
Government announced its intention to amend the law on religious
freedom to restrict the political activities of religious groups.
A number of legal provisions enable the Government to regulate
religious groups, including a requirement in the law on religious
freedom that religious organizations be registered by the Government.
The State Committee for Work with Religious Associations (SCWRA), which
replaced the Department of Religious Affairs in 2001, assumed
responsibility for the registration of religious groups from the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ). Government authorities gave the SCWRA and
its chairman broad powers over registration; control over the
publication, import, and distribution of religious literature; and the
ability to suspend the activities of religious groups violating the
law. In addition, Muslim religious groups must receive a letter of
approval from the Caucasus Muslim Board (CMB) before they can be
registered by the SCWRA. On June 27, 2006, the president of the country
dismissed the chairman of the SCWRA. No public reason was given for the
dismissal; at the end of the reporting period the Government had not
announced a new SCWRA chairman.
Registration enables a religious organization to maintain a bank
account, rent property, and generally act as a legal entity.
Unregistered organizations are exposed to allegations that they are
illegal and find it difficult, but not impossible, to function.
Unregistered groups were more vulnerable to attacks and closures by
local authorities. In 2001 religious groups were called upon to re-
register with the SCWRA; however, the registration process is
burdensome, and there are frequent, sometimes lengthy delays in
obtaining registration
To register, religious groups must complete a seven-step
application process that is arbitrary and restrictive. In 2004 groups
reported that SCWRA employees charged with handling registration-
related paperwork repeatedly argued over the language in statutes and
also instructed some groups on how to organize themselves. Religious
groups are permitted to appeal registration denials to the courts.
However, appellate court records for the period of this report cannot
verify whether any appeals were adjudicated.
During the reporting period, the Government registered twenty-seven
religious groups and rejected the applications of six religious groups,
five of which the SCWRA identified as non-Muslim applicant groups.
Since the call for re-registration, 347 groups have successfully
registered, compared with 406 that were registered under the previous
law. The majority of the registered groups were Muslim. The SCWRA
estimated that two thousand religious groups are in operation; many
have not filed for registration or re-registration. One of the minority
religious communities that has faced re-registration problems in the
past is the Baptist denomination. Of its five main churches, three have
successfully re-registered; however, in 2005 the SCWRA again rejected
the applications of the Baptist churches in Aliabad and Neftchala,
which remained unregistered.
Under the law on religious freedom, political parties cannot engage
in religious activity, and religious leaders are forbidden from seeking
public office. Religious facilities may not be used for political
purposes. In the aftermath of the November 2005 parliamentary
elections, the SCWRA announced plans to amend the law on religious
freedom to further tighten restrictions the political activities of
religious leaders. The drafting of the amendments remained in its
preliminary stage as of the end of the reporting period.
The law on religious freedom, which the Government enforces,
prohibits foreigners from proselytizing. In July 2005 the Government
did not renew the visa of the Swedish pastor of the Cathedral of Praise
church in Baku, although there were no other reported visa denials
during the reporting period. The law permits the production and
dissemination of religious literature with the approval of the SCWRA;
however, the authorities also appeared to selectively restrict
individuals from importing and distributing religious materials. The
procedure for obtaining permission to import religious literature
remained burdensome, but religious organizations reported that the
process had improved in the past year and that the SCWRA appeared to be
handling requests more effectively.
Registered Muslim organizations are subordinate to the CMB, a
Soviet-era Muftiate, which appoints Muslim clerics to mosques,
periodically monitors sermons, and organizes annual pilgrimages to
Mecca for the Hajj. Although it remains the first point of control for
Muslim groups wanting to register with the SCWRA according to the law
on religious freedom, it also has been subject to interference by the
SCWRA. It has attempted to share control with the CMB over the
appointment and certification of clerics and internal financial control
of the country's mosques. Some Muslim religious leaders objected to
interference from both the CMB and SCWRA.
Religious instruction is not mandatory in public schools. State
education is separate from religion, but there is no restriction on
teaching religion in schools
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government restricted some religious freedoms during the
reporting period. The SCWRA continued to delay or deny registration to
a number of Protestant Christian groups but registered one Baptist
church whose application was previously denied or delayed.
In addition, in 2005 the Justice Ministry denied registration to a
religious nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Azerbaijan Centre for
Religion and Democracy. Human rights activists alleged that the
ministry denied the registration of this group because of its criticism
of the official religious structures and to obstruct its activities.
Unregistered religious groups continued to function, and there were
fewer incidents than in previous years of official harassment, break-
ups of religious services, or police intimidation and fines. Unlike in
previous years, there were no reports of beatings during police raids.
For example, on April 16, 2006, Baku police interrupted the Easter
services of the Protestant Community of Greater Grace purportedly to
ascertain the legality of the group's religious activities. However,
when the group complained to the Government, local officials apologized
for the incident.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported that local authorities,
particularly outside of Baku, occasionally interfered with their
ability to rent public halls for religious assemblies and fined or
detained overnight some of the group's members for meeting in private
homes. For example, on June 12, 2005, police raided a gathering of
approximately 200 Jehovah's Witnesses in Baku, detaining 29 members of
the group and then releasing them after several hours in police
custody.
Authorities raided Baku's Mehebet Baptist Church summer camp in
July 2005 in the town of Gakh, and in November 2005 they raided the
Baptist congregation in Ali-Bayramli.
In 2004, police reportedly harassed and occasionally raided the
meetings of other religious minorities including Seventh day Adventists
in Ganja.
MOJ officials and police forcibly evicted the Juma Mosque community
from its premises in 2004, following protracted litigation. The mosque
remained closed as of the end of the reporting period.
Government officials cited the political activity of the mosque's
imam, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu as one reason for seeking the eviction of the
Juma Mosque community. Ibrahimoglu supported the opposition political
party leader Isa Gambar's 2003 election movement, and in 2005 he
campaigned on behalf of opposition party parliamentary candidates in
the November parliamentary election.
Since his 2004 conviction for participating in post election
demonstrations in 2003, Ibrahimoglu has not been allowed to travel
outside the country, including to several meetings of the UN and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he was to be
an official NGO participant.
On June 30, 2005, the first anniversary of the Juma community's
eviction from the mosque, police briefly detained and released
Ibrahimoglu for leading a group of worshippers into the Juma Mosque to
conduct prayers, although the mosque remained officially closed.
Local law enforcement authorities occasionally monitored religious
services, and some observant Christians and Muslims were penalized for
their religious affiliations. The law on religious freedom expressly
prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners, and this was enforced
strictly. Government authorities have deported several Iranian and
other foreign clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim
community for alleged violations of the law. The Government was
concerned about Islamic missionary groups (predominately Iranian and
Wahhabis) that operated in the country, whose activities have been
restricted in recent years. In May 2005 the Government closed a Saudi
Arabian-sponsored Sunni mosque in the city of Sumgayit.
Various religious groups previously reported some restrictions and
delays in the import of religious literature by some government
ministries. However, the SCWRA has also facilitated the import of such
literature, and few religious groups reported difficulty importing
literature through the SCWRA.
The Government regulates travel for the purpose of religious
training. Prospective travelers must obtain permission from, or
register with the SCWRA or the Ministry of Education in order to go
abroad for religious studies.
No religious identification is required in passports or other
identity documents. In 1999 a court decided in favor of a group of
Muslim women who sued for the right to wear headscarves in passport
photos; however, the Center for Protection of Conscience and Religious
Persuasion Freedom (DEVAMM) reported that authorities prohibited Muslim
women from wearing headscarves in passport photos. In 2004 a group of
women appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to protest
the ban.
Some local officials continued to discourage Muslim women from
wearing headscarves in schools. However, in June 2005, a court in
Sumgayit upheld a school teacher's right to wear a headscarf while
teaching and ordered the school to pay her back wages for the two
months she was not allowed to teach.
Following months of repeated refusals, local officials in the
Zaqatala region finally issued a birth certificate to Baptist parents
who wished to give their son a Christian name. Members of the ethnic
Georgian minority reported that difficulty in registering children with
non-Azeri names was particularly acute in this region.
On April 28, 2006, police arrested Mushfiq Mammedov, a member of
Jehovah's Witnesses, for refusing to fulfill the country's mandatory
military service requirement, due to his religious beliefs. Mammedov
appealed his arrest in court on grounds that he had a constitutional
right to alternative military service as a conscientious objector.
Mammedov remained in pretrial detention. In a previous case, the
Supreme Court ruled that a member of a religious minority must fulfill
compulsory military service despite his constitutional entitlement to
alternative military service because of his religious beliefs. After
seven months of litigation in the lower courts, the Supreme Court held
that while the country remained in a ``state of war'' with Armenia, the
military's service requirement superseded the individual's alternative
service right. The court further agreed with the military's argument
that absent implementing regulations, the military was not obligated to
provide any alternative service option. The individual and his family
subsequently left the country.
The Baptist community reported that the authorities have not
returned a building of historic significance previously confiscated
under the Soviet regime that is used as a central Baku cinema. The
Baha'i community reported that the Government has not responded to its
August 2005 request that the authorities return a Baku house of
historic value to the community. The Government claimed that the
country does not have a law on the restitution of seized property,
rendering it impossible to return the buildings.
Press reports indicate that in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh
region, a predominantly ethnic Armenian area over which the authorities
have no control, the Armenian Apostolic Church enjoys a special status.
The largely Muslim ethnic Azeri population in Nagorno-Karabakh and the
seven occupied territories, which fled the region during the conflict
with Armenia in the 1990s, was not able to return to these areas.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Sporadic violations of religious freedom by some officials
continued. In many instances, abuses reflected the popular antipathy
towards ethnic Azeri converts to non-Russian Orthodox Christianity and
other nontraditional religious groups.
In March 2005 the head of the CMB appeared in a television expose
describing nontraditional religious groups as subversive sects. The
chairman of the SCWRA spoke on television claiming that Adventists used
financial bribes to recruit new adherents. On June 21, 2006, a
representative of the SCWRA criticized Adventists and other
nontraditional religious groups in an expose aired on a leading
television channel. In the same broadcast representatives of the Ganja
orthodox church described nontraditional religious groups as
``brainwashing'' their members.
Nontraditional religious groups faced particularly acute problems
operating in remote regions of the country, including the exclave of
Nakhchivan. For example, in December 2004 the leader of the small
Baha'i community in Nakhchivan was briefly detained and released,
reportedly because of his religious activity and teachings.
Government authorities took various actions to restrict what they
claimed were political and terrorist activities by Iranian and other
clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim community. The
Government outlawed several Islamic humanitarian organizations because
of credible reports about connections to terrorist activities. The
Government also deported foreign Muslim clerics it suspected of
engaging in political activities. There also were reports that the
Government harassed Muslim groups due to security concerns. For
example, the Human Rights Resource Center in Khachmaz reported that
Wahhabis in Khachmaz were harassed because the authorities suspect that
all Wahhabists have links to terrorism. On April 18, 2006, the
authorities announced the conviction of a Wahabbist group called the
Jammat-al-Mujahiddin on charges of plotting terrorist actions.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country. Sunni Imam Kazim Aliyev, who appealed his 2002 arrest in Ganja
to the ECHR, was released from prison in January 2006 by presidential
pardon. In the northern city of Khachmaz, community members reported
that on several occasions, police harassed and detained some Muslims
who had disrupted public order. The police allegedly shaved the
detainee's' beards; however, police officials denied detaining anyone
for religious reasons.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements in Respect for Religious Freedom
Some religious groups in the country report improvements in their
ability to function freely. Several churches indicated that they either
received or expected to receive their registration, they were able to
import religious literature, and they met without government
interference.
When minority religious communities outside of Baku reported that
local authorities illegally denied their registration, the SCWRA
intervened on their behalf and rectified the situation. In previous
years, the SCWRA had taken a particularly strict approach to the
registration of minority religious communities and had failed to
prevent local authorities from banning such communities.
During the reporting period, the Government worked actively to
promote interfaith understanding. SCWRA convened leaders of various
religious communities on several occasions to resolve disputes in
private, and has provided forums for visiting officials to discuss
religious issues with religious figures. During the reporting period
the SCWRA organized several seminars, conferences, and regional
meetings on religious freedom and tolerance.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there is popular
prejudice against Muslims who convert to non-Islamic faiths and
hostility towards groups that proselytize, particularly evangelical
Christian and missionary groups. This has been accentuated by the
unresolved conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
As in previous reporting periods, newspapers and television
broadcasts depicted small, vulnerable religious groups as a threat to
the identity of the nation and undermining the country's traditions of
interfaith harmony, which led to local harassment. In addition, the
head of the SCWRA has made remarks at times during these broadcasts,
which contributed to the climate of hostility these broadcasts
generate.
During the reporting period, articles critical of Wahhabism and
Christian missionaries appeared in many newspapers and one television
channel aired ``exposes'' of Christian church services. Religious
proselytizing by foreigners is against the law, and there is vocal
opposition to it.
Hostility also existed toward foreign (mostly Iranian and
Wahhabist) Muslim missionary activity, which was viewed in part as
seeking to spread political Islam, and therefore as a threat to
stability and peace. The media targeted some Muslim communities that
the Government claimed were involved in illegal activities.
Hostility between Armenians and Azeris, intensified by the
unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, remained strong. In those
areas of the country controlled by Armenians, all ethnic Azeris have
fled, and the mosques that have not been destroyed are not functioning.
Animosity toward ethnic Armenians elsewhere in the country forced most
of them to depart between 1988 and 1990, and all Armenian churches,
many of which were damaged in ethnic riots that took place more than a
decade ago, remained closed. As a consequence, the estimated ten
thousand to thirty thousand ethnic Armenians who remained were unable
to attend services in their traditional places of worship.
There were few cases of prejudice and discrimination against Jews
in the country, and in the few instances of anti-Semitic activity, the
Government was quick to respond. Jewish community leaders consistently
remarked on the positive relationship they have with the Government and
leaders of other religious communities. In 2004, a new Jewish community
center was opened in Baku with high-level government participation.
Authorities also reserved one wing of a Baku school for secular and
religious classes for 200 Jewish students.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the reporting period, embassy officers conveyed U.S. concerns
about the registration process and the overall attitude towards
nontraditional religious groups to the chairman of the SCWRA. Embassy
officers also expressed concerns about the Government's commitment to
religious freedom with other members of the Government and publicly in
the press. The U.S. embassy repeatedly conveyed objections to the
censorship of religious literature, and concern that proposed
amendments to the law on religious freedom respect the rights of
religious believers.
The ambassador and embassy officers maintain close contacts with
leading Muslim, Russian Orthodox, and Jewish religious officials, and
regularly meet with members of nonofficial religious groups in order to
monitor religious freedom. The ambassador and embassy officers also
maintain close contact with NGOs that address issues of religious
freedom.
__________
BELARUS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice.
Respect for religious freedom continued to be uneven during the
period covered by this report, although some improvements occurred. The
Government continued to restrict religious freedom in accordance with
the provisions of a 2002 law on religion and a 2003 concordat with the
Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC), a branch of the Russian Orthodox
Church (ROC) and the only officially recognized Orthodox denomination.
Although there is no state religion, the concordat grants the BOC
privileged status. Authorities imprisoned a clergyman and a lay
activist and harassed and fined members of certain religious groups,
especially those that the authorities appeared to regard as bearers of
foreign cultural influence or as having a political agenda. Protestants
in particular attracted negative attention, presumably for their
perceived links with the United States. A 2002 law requiring all
religious groups to reregister continued to cause problems for some
minority religious groups that the authorities refused to reregister.
Nevertheless, the situation improved somewhat during the period covered
by this report for a few minority religious groups, including Roman
Catholics.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups and a
widely held ethic of tolerance in society contributed to religious
freedom; however, several acts of vandalism of religious sites and
memorials occurred during the period covered by this report.
Additionally, hostile or intolerant attitudes in some parts of the
press encouraged negative attitudes toward some minority religious
groups. However, the BOC took some steps to counter propaganda that
discriminated against other religious groups.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights;
however, officials turned down requests by U.S. Government
representatives to discuss religious issues.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 80,154 square miles and a population of
9,750,200.
The country historically has been an area of both interaction and
conflict between Belarusian Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, although
relations between the two groups improved during the period covered by
this report. According to polls, approximately 50 percent of
Belarusians considered themselves religious. The Government claimed
that of all persons who profess a religious faith, approximately 80
percent belonged to the BOC, 14 percent were either practicing Roman
Catholics or identified themselves with the Roman Catholic Church, 4
percent were members of eastern religious groups, including Hare
Krishnas, Muslims and Baha'i, and 2 percent were Protestant. Government
census polling placed the Jewish community at 0.4 percent of the
population (approximately forty thousand persons), but Jewish groups
claimed that between fifty thousand and seventy thousand persons
identified themselves as Jewish. There were also adherents of the Greek
Catholic Church and of Orthodox religions other than the BOC. Minority
religious groups included Hare Krishnas, Hindus, Baha'is, Seventh-day
Adventists, Old Believers, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Apostolic
Christians, Calvinists, and Lutherans.
According to the Committee of Religious and Nationality Affairs
(CRNA), as of January 1, 2006, there were 3,030 religious
organizations, including 2,886 registered religious communities, 144
confessional organizations (monasteries, brotherhoods, missionairies,
etc.), and 25 religious confessions and denominations. This included
1,349 Belarusian Orthodox parishes; 972 Protestant, 438 Roman Catholic,
45 Jewish, 24 Muslim, and 33 Old Believer, 13 Greek Catholic, 5 Hare
Krishnas, and 5 Baha'i communities; and one Armenian Apostolic and one
Latin Catholic Church. Exact numbers for registered evangelical
Christian, Baptist, and Seventh-day Adventist communities were not
available.
The country was designated an Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox
Church in 1989, creating the BOC under Patriarchal Exarch Metropolitan
Filaret. The number of parishes throughout the country was
approximately 1,349 at the end of the period covered by this report.
Other Orthodox confessions also existed but suffered strong
discrimination. Unable to register without the consent of the BOC, they
were effectively banned. These included the Belarusian Autonomous
Orthodox Church (BAOC), the Catacomb Orthodox Church, the True Orthodox
Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
There were 438 Roman Catholic parishes, and the Church's situation
has improved in recent years. On February 8, 2005, President Aleksandr
Lukashenko and Cardinal Swiatek met and committed themselves to
improving the relationship between the Government and the Catholic
Church. After a second meeting in December 2005, Lukashenko
acknowledged the significant role of the Catholic Church in the country
and vowed to support it.
There were approximately 120 thousand citizens who identified
themselves as Jewish near the end of the Soviet period in 1989,
compared to between 40 thousand and 70 thousand at the end of the
period covered by this report. At least half of the present Jewish
population was thought to live in or near Minsk. The vast majority of
the Jewish population was not religiously active. Of those Jews who
were religiously active, most were believed to be either Reform or
Conservative. There were also small but active Chabad Lubavitch
communities.
Protestant groups, while relatively few in number, continued to
increase. Since 1990, the number of Protestant congregations,
registered and unregistered, more than doubled. The two largest
Protestant groups were registered under separate Pentecostal and
Baptist unions.
There were a number of congregations of the Greek Catholic Church,
which once comprised approximately three quarters of the population but
suffered severe persecution under tsarist and Soviet rule. Following
the 1991 reestablishment of independence, the attempt to revive the
Church, which maintains Orthodox rituals but is in communion with the
Vatican, has had only limited success due to determined opposition by
the BOC.
The Belarusian Muslim Religious Association was the main
organizational body of the estimated thirty thousand Muslims in the
country. The Spiritual Board of Muslims, which split from the
association in 2002, claimed an estimated 200 members. Some members of
a community of approximately ten thousand ethnic Tatars, with roots
dating back to the eleventh century, practiced Sunni Islam.
Foreign missionaries and clergy representing western and eastern
religious groups operated in the country, but lack of standardized
guidance for government officials on how to properly implement recent
changes in the visa laws resulted in officials issuing visas based on
their discretion, rather than on uniform regulations.
Section II. Status of Freedom of Religion
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. Although the 1996 amended
constitution reaffirms the equality of religions and denominations
before the law, it also contains restrictive language that stipulates
that cooperation between the state and religious organizations ``is
regulated with regard for their influence on the formation of
spiritual, cultural, and state traditions of the Belarusian people.''
The CRNA regulates all religious matters in the country.
In 2002, President Lukashenko signed a religion law, despite
protests from human rights organizations, the European Union, and
domestic religious groups. The law recognizes the ``determining role of
the Orthodox Church in the historical formation and development of
spiritual, cultural, and state traditions of the Belarusian people'' as
well as the historical importance of Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and
Evangelical Lutheranism, groups commonly referred to as ``traditional
faiths'' in society. However, key omissions indicate present interests
influenced the list. The ``traditional faiths'' mentioned by the law do
not include religious groups such as the Priestless Old Believers and
Calvinist churches that have historical roots in the country dating to
the seventeenth century.
Despite the law's stated intention to guarantee religious freedom,
it contains a number of restrictive elements that increase the
Government's control of the activities of religious groups. The law
requires all religious groups to receive prior governmental approval to
import and distribute literature, prevents foreigners from leading
religious organizations, and denies religious communities the right to
establish schools to train their own clergy. In addition, the law
confines the activity of religious communities to areas where they
register and establishes complex registration requirements that some
religious communities, both traditional and nontraditional, have
difficulty fulfilling. The law also required all previously registered
groups to reregister by November 17, 2004, and bans all religious
activity by unregistered religious groups.
Domestic religious groups continued to call for revocation of at
least part of the 2002 law. In 2004, Protestant groups sent petitions
to President Lukashenko, the National Assembly, the council of
ministers, and the constitutional court calling for revision of the
most restrictive elements of the law. They declared that the law was
inconsistent with the constitution and international standards. They
criticized parts restricting activity to the area where a group was
registered, the difficulty of obtaining permission to worship in a
public place, and the preamble identifying the BOC as having a defining
role and influence in the country. The authorities provided ambiguous
replies to these petitions but did not revise the law.
The 2002 law established three tiers of religious groups: Religious
communities, religious associations, and republican religious
associations. Religious communities, or local individual religious
organizations, must include at least twenty persons over the age of
eighteen who live in neighboring areas. Religious associations must
include at least ten communities, one of which must have been active in
the country for at least twenty years, and may be constituted only by a
republican (national level) religious association. Republican religious
associations are formed only when there are active religious
communities in the majority of the country's six regions. All
applications to establish associations and republican associations must
be submitted to the CRNA.
The CRNA allowed reregistration of some religious associations that
existed before the 2002 law was passed but that could not meet the
twenty-year rule. To register, associations must provide a list of
members of the managing body with biographical information, proof of
permission for the association to be at its designated location, and
minutes from its founding congress. By law, associations have the
exclusive right to establish religious educational institutions, invite
foreigners to work with religious groups, and organize cloistered and
monastic communities.
Previously registered religious communities were able to reregister
with the former minimum requirement of ten members, instead of the
twenty stipulated in the 2002 law. To register, a community must submit
a list of founders' names, places of residence, citizenship,
signatures, copies of its founding statutes, minutes of its founding
meeting, and permission confirming the community's right to occupy or
use any property indicated in its founding statutes. For those
communities practicing religions not previously known to the
Government, information about their faith must also be submitted. The
regional executive committees (for those groups outside of Minsk) or
the Minsk City Executive Committee handle all applications from
religious communities.
While the law denies communities the right to establish
institutions to train religious clergy, it permits them to operate
Sunday schools. Furthermore, authorities generally accommodate members
with special requirements for observing holy days.
On December 1, 2005, the president issued an edict exempting all
registered religious groups from taxes on land allotted for buildings
and property used for worship.
The 2003 concordat between the BOC and the Government guarantees
the BOC autonomy in its internal affairs, freedom to perform religious
rites and other activities, and a special relationship with the state.
The concordat recognizes the BOC's ``influence on the formulation of
spiritual, cultural, and national traditions of the Belarusian
people.'' The concordat calls for the Government and the BOC to
cooperate in implementing policy in various fields, including
education, development and protection of cultural legacies, and
security. Although it states that the agreement would not limit the
religious freedoms of other religious groups, the concordat calls for
the Government and the BOC to combat unnamed ``pseudoreligious
structures that present a danger to individuals and society.'' Despite
a series of cooperation agreements signed over the past few years by
the BOC and various government ministries, BOC involvement in state
institutions was reportedly minimal. Nevertheless, in 2004 President
Lukashenko emphasized the continued importance of the BOC: ``I very
much want the Orthodox Church to stay within the framework of our
state. I want the Orthodox Church to be an institution of our state and
one of its main supporters.''
In 2004 the National Intellectual Property Center granted the BOC
the exclusive right to use the word ``Orthodox'' in its title and to
use the image of the Cross of Euphrosynia, the patroness saint of the
country, as its symbol. These moves were seen as further actions to
solidify the standing of the BOC as the only permitted Orthodox faith.
The Government refers to groups that it does not consider to be
traditional religious groups as ``nontraditional,'' and government
officials and state media also widely use the term ``sect'' when
referring to nontraditional religious groups, although it is not an
official designation.
Western and Orthodox Easter and Christmas are all national
holidays; however they do not appear to negatively impact any religious
groups.
In 2004 the CRNA reported that of the 2,780 religious communities
subject to the reregistration requirement, 2,676 had successfully
reregistered. Of the 140 religious associations and republican
religious associations required to reregister, 128 had done so. The
CRNA stated that the twelve religious associations not reregistered
self-liquidated for lack of members and activity. Of the 104 religious
communities not reregistered, 83 self-liquidated. Several religious
groups reported that the CRNA offered significant assistance throughout
the process. The remaining twenty ``did not manage to complete
reregistration due to irregularities of critical importance,''
according to the CRNA. The twenty denied reregistration were all
religious groups the Government considered ``nontraditional.''
Contrary to the expectations of many, the CRNA reported that
regional executive committees and the Minsk executive committee
reregistered 99.3 percent of those religious communities that did not
self-liquidate, and the Government did not use reregistration for
massive religious repression as had been expected. Even so,
reregistration alone did not guarantee religious freedom, and the CRNA
continued to deny reregistration to certain groups. The reasons for
denial were based on the law, but its apparently arbitrary application
resulted in the restriction of religious freedom.
On September 21, 2005, Minsk city court judge Alla Karpikova
annulled the registration of the Belarusian Evangelical Church's only
community in the country for lack of a legal address and for having
less than the mandatory twenty members necessary for registration.
Pastor Ernest Sabilo appealed the decision and refused to take steps to
close the church, including paying the necessary legal fees for its
closing. In addition on August 22, 2005, and June 27, 2006, the Minsk
City Court deregistered the Belarusian Evangelical Reformed Union
Church and Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church, respectively, for
lack of legal addresses.
On November 9, 2005, authorities refused to register a Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad village parish after its recent conflict with
the local Moscow patriarchate diocese. Orthodox communities not based
in Moscow can receive state registration only with the approval of the
local Moscow patriarchate bishop, who told the village parish to
worship instead at the local Moscow patriarchate church. The village
parish refused and in 2005 was fined for conducting worship in private
homes.
In 2004 the Jewish human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO)
Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry (UCSJ) was denied reregistration for
submitting some documents late. UCSJ appealed the denial to the Supreme
Court, but for technical reasons the Court declined to take the case.
This left UCSJ with no option but to close. However, government actions
prevented UCSJ from being able to do so. Following the reregistration
denial, the authorities blocked UCSJ's bank account, preventing the
organization from paying its lease and taxes or providing severance pay
to employees. In mid-June 2005 UCSJ was able to access its bank
accounts and pay its rent and salaries. UCSJ did not reapply for
registration following its closure and remained unregistered at the end
of the period covered by this report.
Under regulations issued in 2001, the Government requires an
organization inviting foreign clergy to make a written request to CRNA,
including the dates and reason for the visit. Even if the visit is for
nonreligious purposes such as charitable activities, representatives
must obtain a visa and permission from the CRNA. The CRNA has twenty
days in which to respond, and there is no provision for appeal of its
decision. Legislation prohibits ``subversive activities'' by foreign
organizations and prohibits the establishment of offices of foreign
organizations whose activities incite ``national, religious, and racial
enmity'' or could ``have negative effects on the physical and mental
health of the people.''
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Religious freedom was restricted both actively and passively by the
Government. The Government passed laws that limit freedom of worship,
speech, and assembly. The Government also failed to regularly condemn
acts of religious insensitivity or intolerance. Some of the 2,886
registered religious communities were registered only on a local basis,
which provided limited rights. With or without official registration,
some religious groups encountered difficulty renting or purchasing
property to establish places of worship, building churches (e.g., the
Greek Catholics and Protestant groups), or openly training clergy.
Many religious groups encountered problems converting residential
property for religious use. According to the Government, the law
permits residential property to be used for religious services only
after it has been converted from residential use. The housing code
permits the use of such property for nonresidential purposes with the
permission of local executive and administrative bodies. As a result,
several Protestant churches and other nontraditional groups were caught
in a closed loop: Denied permission to convert their properties for
religious uses because they were not registered religious groups, but
unable to register due to the lack of a legal address. Such groups
often were forced to meet illegally or in the homes of individual
members.
The New Life Church in Minsk, a member of the Union of Full Gospel
Churches, faced closure because authorities refused to register the
congregation at the cow barn it owned and wisheed to use for worship.
Known as the ``cowshed church,'' the New Life Church bought the barn
and surrounding property four years ago. The church began to meet there
after being denied permission to rent elsewhere. Local authorities,
however, refused to allow New Life to convert the building, change how
the cowshed was registered, or allow the church to meet in the building
as is. Therefore, the church had no legal place to worship and no place
to register, making all its activities illegal. The pastor and other
leaders received large fines for holding illegal services, technically
violating laws on assembly. At the same time, authorities permitted a
BOC community to meet without hindrance in a converted railcar less
than a mile away.
On August 30, 2005, authorities ordered the New Life Church to
vacate the barn and sell it to the local government. New Life appealed
the decision, but the courts rejected the appeal and issued the church
two more official warnings. On November 17, 2005, New Life filed its
third application for registration at the address of the former cow
barn using a new ``technical passport'' (registration document) that it
received from local authorities reclassifying the cow barn as a
``building specializing in religious purposes.'' One week later,
however, local authorities rejected New Life's application, annulled
the new passport, and subsequently fired the employee who issued it to
New Life ``for issuing the passport illegally.'' On June 22, 2006, the
New Life Church appealed the city authorities' case to force the sale
of its cow barn. At the end of the period covered by this report, the
case was pending.
The one thousand-member Minsk Community of Krishna Consciousness
(the Hare Krishnas) also faced closure for meeting at, and attempting
to register, a property it already owned. Local authorities refused to
register the Hare Krishnas at a building they purchased in 1990 and had
used as a place of worship since that time, claiming the building was
zoned only for residential use. Since 2004 the Hare Krishnas had
received six warnings from local authorities for meeting at a building
where it was not registered. The Minsk community appealed to the UN
Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), thus hindering the local
government's ability to close the community. In August 2005 UNCHR
recommended that the authorities ``restore rights'' to the community
within ninety days. At the end of the period covered by this report,
the authorities had not complied with UNCHR's recommendation.
Although the New Generation Church in Baranovichi managed to
reregister, it experienced problems finding a place to worship,
according to the Forum 18 online news source. In 1997 the church bought
a warehouse to turn into a church, but the authorities refused to allow
it to convert the building, change how the warehouse was registered, or
give the church the rights to the land under the building.
During the period covered by this report, many traditional and
nontraditional religious groups continued to experience problems
obtaining property or registering property they already own, due to
apparent government efforts to restrict the ability of these groups to
establish houses of worship.
The Minsk Community of Krishna Consciousness found several legal
addresses to rent, but the landlords rescinded their offers after they
were pressured by authorities. The community found another legal
address and submitted the registration documents, but the authorities
denied registration.
The Protestant Light to the World Church, which reregistered in
2004, continued to experience difficulty finding a state-approved
nonresidential place to worship. It had lost its premises four times
since 2002. After its lease expired in October 2005, the church rented
a room in another office building. A few days later the owner annulled
the lease due to pressure from the authorities.
A government decree specifies measures to ensure public order and
safety during general public gatherings. Some meeting hall officials
have cited the decree as a basis for canceling or refusing to extend
agreements with religious groups for the use of their facilities.
During the period covered by this report, it was practically impossible
for a religious group to rent and meet in a public facility.
On March 31, 2006, the Minsk city administration refused to allow
the local Hassidic Jewish community to hold its Passover celebration at
the state-owned Palace for Children and Youth, according to Forum 18.
The administration claimed that a religious event could not be allowed
at a venue frequented by children. The community was forced to hold the
celebration at its cafeteria, which could only accommodate
approximately 10 percent of the invited guests.
According to Forum 18, in 2004 Minsk authorities rejected a request
by the Calvinist Reformed Church to conduct an international conference
devoted to the 450th anniversary of the Church's founding in the
country. Officials reportedly informed the Church that it had no right
to conduct an international conference, since the organization was not
registered as a republican religious association, despite the fact that
the religion law allows religious organizations to invite foreigners to
participate in meetings, pilgrimages, and other activities.
During the period covered by this report, there were no reports of
fines on Protestant groups for failure to pay taxes on the assistance
provided to destitute families and individuals.
During the period covered by this report, the Government monitored
peaceful minority religious groups, with particular attention to those
that could be perceived as ``foreign'' or ``cults.'' On June 27, 2005,
the chairman of the Gomel regional CRNA informed the press that
district authorities had formed commissions to monitor religious
communities. The commissions, made up of local executive government,
law enforcement, tax officials, and public representatives, were to
enforce laws on religion, assist traditional denominations, and counter
illegal missionary activity. The primary objective was to ensure that
all denominations, including the BOC, followed the laws on religion.
According to online news source Interfax, the Iosif Volotski
Orthodox Center had been gathering information for the past five years
on various ``sects'' operating in the country. The center had a library
of sect literature, recordings of sermons, a collection of films on
sects, and a list of mass media that regularly disseminated sect
literature.
According to Forum 18, in 2003 Vladimir Lameko, vice chairman of
CRNA, ordered local officials to increase monitoring of religious
organizations, carry out regular visits during worship services and
meetings with religious leaders, and conduct regular checks on
unregistered religious groups with the aim of terminating their
activities. Lameko cited ``crude violations'' of the law in Nesvizh
``predominantly by Protestant communities'' and the need to improve
local officials' ability to ``regulate the ethnic-confessional
situation.'' In addition, Lameko ordered local officials to prevent the
country's main Polish minority organization from using property owned
by the Catholic Church. He also ordered officials to conduct
``systematic work'' with local Catholic leaders to ensure that foreign
Catholic religious workers used Belarusian or Russian in their sermons.
Following Lameko's order, representatives from the Union Evangelical
Faith Christians and Baptist communities reported that teachers
questioned children who belonged to these churches about their
attendance at religious ceremonies to determine which students were
attending Protestant ceremonies. During the period covered by this
report, this questioning reportedly continued, although to a lesser
degree.
In 2004 President Lukashenko made a statement that encouraged
protection of the status quo against ``foreign'' religions: ``Some
members of the opposition, instigated by foreign minions, make
provocative suggestions about narrowing the sphere of activities of
traditional religions, primarily the Orthodox Church, for the benefit
of various sects and religions that are nontraditional in this
country.''
Forum 18 reported that on May 19, 2006, authorities pressured
Pentecostal pastor Oksana Gavrilenko to resign from her job as a school
teacher after she complained about a lecture given to students by an
Orthodox priest on the dangers of ``sects,'' including Baptists and
Pentecostals. According to the report, authorities did not reinstate
Gavrilenko but asked the priest to refrain from slandering Protestant
churches.
During the period covered by this report, the Government took steps
to advise the public on new religious groups that might be perceived as
``foreign'' or ``cults'' and discouraged their growth. On November 9,
2005, CRNA chairman Stanislav Buko announced that authorities would not
register destructive religious sects banned by law. He affirmed there
were no such sects operating in the country during the period covered
by this report, but persons who were participating in activities
possessing characteristics of such sects were closely monitored. This
announcement followed a November 3, 2005, meeting between the BOC, the
Ministry of Education, and the CRNA to discuss safeguarding youth
against the influence of ``those destructive pseudo-religions.'' In
March 2005 Vladimir Makarov, chief of the Defense Ministry's
Information Directorate, called on Belarusian Orthodox clergy to fight
the spread of ``destructive sects'' and to spread Orthodoxy.
On May 20, 2005, authorities claimed that the number of sects and
separatists was decreasing as citizens lost interest in nontraditional
faiths. Authorities, including law enforcement bodies, took measures to
prevent the spread of the many ``destructive cults'' that began work in
the country from 1992 to 1996. The Ministry of Justice outlawed twenty-
four religious organizations operating under the status of public
associations, but groups such as the Moon Church and Scientologists
were still functioning in the country. Authorities claimed these
groups, especially the Scientologists, spread religious propaganda via
workshops and lectures, used manipulative methods similar to those
employed by psychotherapists and psychiatrists, and were to be regarded
as ``commercial'' cults or profit-driven marketing systems.
Citizens theoretically are not prohibited from proselytizing and
may speak freely about their religious beliefs; however, authorities
often interfered with or punished individuals who proselytized on
behalf of some registered and unregistered religious groups.
Authorities regulated every aspect of proselytizing and literature
distribution: Who may participate, what may be done, when groups may
participate, and where groups may be active. The Government continued
to enforce a 1995 Council of Ministers decree that regulates the
activities of religious workers, as well as a 1997 council of ministers
directive that permits the teaching of religion at youth camps held by
registered religious groups.
Authorities previously harassed, fined, and detained Hare Krishnas
for illegally distributing religious literature. Since Minsk city
authorities repeatedly denied requests by Hare Krishnas for permission
to distribute religious materials in the city, the group decided to
stop distribution during the period covered by this report. On November
15, 2005, authorities seized religious literature, including copies of
the New Testament, from a street library run by unregistered Council of
Churches Baptists in Bobruisk.
Foreign missionaries are not permitted to engage in religious
activities outside of the institutions that invited them. The law
requires one-year, multiple-entry ``spiritual activities'' visas for
foreign missionaries. Religious workers continued to experience
difficulties in obtaining visas, even those that had a long history in
the country. Often, even missionaries operating legitimately with a
missionary visa experienced harassment from authorities, particularly
if they came from the West. Observers expressed concern that lack of
standardized government guidance for officials on how to properly
implement recent changes to visa laws could affect the ability of these
missionaries to be present and work in the country.
Although there were no reports of visa denials or revocations for
western missionaries, authorities reportedly made some wait until the
last minute for their visa renewals or forced them to incur the
additional expense of going to Lithuania for short-term visas while
waiting for their missionary visa renewals. At least one Protestant
missionary and the local citizens who worked with him were repeatedly
summoned and questioned about the sources and use of his funding,
despite the fact that he had been in the country for more than five
years and had not been charged with visa violations or other legal
problems.
Approval for visits by foreign religious workers often involves a
lengthy bureaucratic process. Internal affairs agencies may compel the
departure of foreign clergymen by not extending their registrations or
by denying them temporary stay permits. These authorities may make
decisions on expulsion on their own or based on recommendations from
religious affairs councils, regional executive committees, or the
religious affairs department of the executive committee of the city of
Minsk.
On December 22, 2005, authorities refused to renew the visas of two
Catholic priests from Poland and demanded that they leave the country.
Father Robert Krzywicki, who had worked in Borisov for more than ten
years, was expelled for participation in ``nonreligious'' activities.
Appeals to CRNA resulted in a statement from the agency head that the
Catholic Church assigns priests to parishes and the ``state does not
interfere in the activity of religious organizations.''
An article in a 2004 issue of Znamya Novosti stated that the
Unification Church, the ``Church of Christ,'' and the Church of
Scientology were among the most dangerous ``sects'' in the country. A
2004 article in the state-owned newspaper Minski Kurie criticized
adherents of the Unification Church and Hare Krishnas. The article
claimed that in 1997 Hare Krishnas were designated a ``destructive
totalitarian sect.'' According to a representative of the Hare Krishna
community, authorities never made such a designation. After being
confronted by the Hare Krishnas, the journalist responsible for the
article admitted that this false information was provided by the State
Committee for Security (BKGB), which the BKGB later confirmed.
The Ministry of Education continued to use the textbook Man,
Society, and State, which labels Protestants and Hare Krishnas as
``sects,'' even after the protests of religious groups. After
conducting an examination of the book, the CRNA and the Ministry of
Education stated that the word ``sect'' was a ``scientific'' word and
did not label Hare Krishnas or Protestants as antisocial.
Leaders of Protestant communities criticized language in the
textbook Basics on Home and Personal Security as deliberately
discriminatory against Protestants, particularly the chapter entitled
``Beware of the Sects.'' The chapter includes a paragraph informing
students of such ``sects'' as Seventh-day Adventists, the Church of
Maria, White Brotherhood, and the Jehovah's Witnesses. In January 2005
Protestant leaders sent a letter of protest to the president, national
assembly leaders, the CRNA, and the Ministry of Education. The CRNA
reviewed the request and declared the section did not infringe upon the
rights of Protestants.
While the Government took no visible steps to stop the sale of
xenophobic literature at Pravoslavnaya Kniga or other locations, it
condemned an independent newspaper for reprinting cartoons depicting
the prophet of Islam that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in
2005. The Government used this incident as grounds on which to close
the opposition newspaper and to launch criminal charges against its
editor.
In 2004 BOC clergy reportedly made several anti-Catholic statements
during a nationally televised religious ceremony marking Orthodox
Easter. The Roman Catholic Church also expressed concern about the sale
of anti-Catholic literature at events and stores linked with the BOC.
Limited restitution of religious property occurred during the
period covered by this report. There was no legal basis for restitution
of property that was seized during the Soviet and Nazi occupations, and
the law restricts the restitution of property being used for cultural
or educational purposes. Furthermore, the Government did not return
buildings if it had nowhere to move the current occupants. Many former
synagogues in Minsk were used as theaters, museums, sports complexes,
and a beer hall; most of the Jewish community's requests to have these
synagogues returned were refused. During the period covered by this
report, Jewish communities did not request the return of buildings or
other real estate. Jewish communities sought the return of Jewish
cultural artifacts, books, and particularly Torahs from museums but did
not receive any items. Some officials privately expressed to Jewish
leaders that they shared their concern and supported the initiative.
A Catholic community requested the return of a centuries-old church
and monastery in central Minsk. The building housed the state archives.
The Government expressed its willingness to return the church and
monastery, but only after a suitable new place and funds for moving the
archives were found; according to independent news source Belapan, CRNA
chairman Leonid Gulyako told the church members in February 2006 that
since the Government did not have funds to construct new buildings to
house the archives, the church and monastery could not be handed back
to its members. In Grodno, authorities returned fourteen monastery
buildings to the Roman Catholic Church.
In 2004, by order of the Ministry of Education, Belarusian State
University (BSU) closed the International Humanities Institute, which
had been an independent educational entity affiliated with BSU and the
only higher educational organization offering Judaica studies. The
Judaica program continued to exist as an autonomous institute in BSU's
curriculum until it was absorbed by the International Relations
Department in September 2005.
The CRNA reported that it regularly responded to all public
expressions of xenophobia by notifying government agencies responsible
for pursuing legal action against the perpetrators; however, no known
prosecutions or convictions occurred during the period covered by this
report.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, the Government frequently
abused the religious freedom of several religious groups.
Some abuses of freedom of religion arose from broader laws that
circumscribe basic freedoms. The CRNA defended the Government's past
measures against religious groups in its response to the U.S. State
Department's 2005 International Religious Freedom Report: ``Sanctions
against representatives of religious associations are applied for
breaching the law and are not aimed at limiting religious freedom.''
The most common charge against religious leaders was organizing or
hosting an unauthorized meeting, a charge that arises from a law
circumscribing freedom of assembly. According to Forum 18, however, for
the first time in twenty years, authorities imprisoned a person for
holding religious worship. On March 3, 2006, a Minsk district judge
sentenced the pastor of Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church
Gregory Vyazorsky to ten days in jail for having held unsanctioned
services on February 5, 2006. On November 25, 2005, authorities had
issued a warning to him for allegedly conducting illegal worship in a
private Minsk residence. In addition the church received three warnings
for failing to register a ``legal address.'' Pentecostal bishop Sergei
Tsvor faced similar charges, but according to the pastor, the charges
were dropped due to technical errors made by the police when filing
them.
On March 24, 2006, authorities sentenced human rights lawyer Sergey
Shavtsov to ten days in prison for conducting an unsanctioned
interdenominational seminar in a private cafe. On the last day of the
three-day seminar, police stormed the cafe and detained him because the
event allegedly violated the law.
According to Forum 18, in June 2005 authorities warned Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad priest Leonid Plyats that he would receive jail
time or a heavy fine if he conducted ``illegal religious activity.''
Since the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad was not registered, any
activity other than a small gathering in a home would be construed as
``illegal religious activity.''
Protestant and non-BOC Orthodox religious communities were fined
for illegally conducting and hosting religious services and carrying
out unsanctioned religious activities. According to the CRNA,
convictions for such offenses were based on charges of either
disturbing public order or illegally gathering without prior
permission. The law allows persons to gather to pray in private homes;
however, it imposes restrictions on holding rituals, rites, or
ceremonies in such locations and requires prior permission from local
authorities.
Forum 18 reported that on June 1, 2006, authorities warned three
evangelical Christians for participating in a twenty-four-hour vigil of
silently reading a Bible in Brest's central square to express
solidarity with victims of political repression in the country.
According to the authorities, the three protesters needed prior
permission from the authorities for organizing and conducting religious
events outside of designated worship areas.
On May 19, 2006, local authorities fined Protestant pastor Illya
Radkevich $70 (150 thousand Belarusian rubles) for failing to register
his Full Gospel Christian community and leading an unsanctioned
religious service.
On April 6, 2006, authorities fined political opposition activist
Boris Khamaida $2,600 (5.6 million Belarusian rubles) for demonstrating
with a sign that contained the Gospel of Matthew quotation, ``The one
who endures to the end will be saved.'' Police had detained Khamaida
for three hours on March 20, 2006, for displaying the sign and accused
him of breaking demonstration laws.
According to Forum 18, authorities repeatedly fined members of a
Baptist family for conducting unsanctioned religious meetings in their
home. On November 21, 2005, a Bobruisk court fined pastor Yermalitsky
$67 (145 thousand Belarusian rubles) for holding an unlawful religious
service in his home. On November 25, 2005, however, the case was
dismissed. Authorities repeatedly inspected the Yermalitsky home or
summoned Yermalitsky to the local executive committee offices and
reportedly warned him of serious consequences if he and his group did
not stop holding such meetings. On December 12, 2005, Yermalitsky was
fined $13 (28 thousand Belarusian rubles) for remodeling his home to be
used as a place of worship without prior government approval. On
December 27, 2005, authorities fined Yermalitsky's wife $270 (580
thousand Belarusian rubles) for hosting an unsanctioned religious
gathering.
Between December 2004 and the end of the reporting period,
authorities charged New Life Church administrator Vasily Yurevich with
holding unsanctioned religious services three times and fined him a
total of approximately $5,800 (12.5 million Belarusian rubles). On
March 22, 2005, the court fined New Life Church's pastor, Vyacheslav
Goncharenko, $334 (714 thousand Belarusian rubles), also for allegedly
hosting an unsanctioned gathering. In 2005 the Minsk executive
committee issued five warnings to the church. The law requires only two
warnings before a church may be closed. In addition, on June 5, 2006,
authorities filed a protocol against Goncharenko for holding
unsanctioned religious services in a building they deemed unsuitable
for worship.
On June 9, 2005, authorities fined Council of Churches Baptist
pastor Valery Ryzhuk $24 (fifty-one thousand Belarusian rubles) for
leading an unlawful religious service. When he refused to pay, two
court executors seized an oil heater from his house worth twice the
amount of the fine.
In the first half of 2005, authorities fined leaders of a village
parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in the Brest region for
organizing unsanctioned religious meetings and events in their homes.
Father Ioann Grudnitsky, the head of the unregistered parish, received
two fines totaling $1,835 (4.8 million Belarusian rubles). According to
Forum 18, a Brest CRNA representative justified the local authorities
``lawful measures to curtail the unsanctioned activities'' of
Grudnitsky's parish and encouraged his parishioners to attend the
Moscow Patriarchate church instead where ``normal conditions have been
created for the performance of religious rites by all who wish.'' Local
administrative authorities fined parishioner Liliya Yukhnovskaya $32
(seventy-two thousand Belarusian rubles) for ``making her home
available for an unsanctioned religious event.'' The Government
harassed the BAOC, which has given up attempting to register.
In 2005 authorities confiscated the former Orthodox church in the
town of Semkov Gorodok that the local community had repaired for the
BAOC on the grounds that the reconstruction had not been authorized.
Authorities stated that they intended to rebuild the church and restore
it to the BOC, which they claimed was its rightful owner. The BOC
reportedly planned to relocate the BOC community that had been meeting
in a converted railcar. BAOC head Leonid Akalovich, who had been fined
by the court for unauthorized construction as well as for leading an
unregistered religious organization, was fired in the fall of 2005
under the pretext of ``redundancies.''
In early December 2005 police in Vitebsk raided the homes of local
Muslims on the pretext of looking for suspects connected to two
September bombings, even though authorities had previously arrested two
brothers, who had no known connection to Islam, for the bombings.
Police detained several of the Muslims for questioning and seized
religious literature.
In 2004 the courts fined the pastor of the registered Light to the
World Full Gospel Church for allegedly holding an unauthorized
religious meeting in his home. They also fined three members of the
unregistered International Union of Baptist Churches (IUBC) for an
unauthorized hospital visit during a religious holiday. Earlier that
year, an IUBC pastor was warned against conducting religious services
in the town of Soligorsk, and his group was warned to cease all illegal
religious activity.
Following government pressure and harassment of their respective
religious organizations, BAOC priest Yan Spasyuk and the Light of
Kaylasa leaders Sergei Akadanav and Tatyana Akadanava left the country
in 2003. Several other Light of Kaylasa members also left following
continued government pressure, and the group remained inactive during
the reporting period.
In 2003 Yuri Denischik, a missionary of the Novogrudok Association
of Baptists, was fined for illegally leading a prayer service in a
private home registered to the association.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
While individual instances of anti-Semitism occurred during the
period covered by this report, anti-Semitism was not officially
encouraged by the state. State-owned periodicals continued to attack
nontraditional and Jewish religious groups. In January 2006 Mogilev
newspapers wrote a series of anti-Semitic articles after a new type of
kosher bread was produced in the city. The state-owned Mogilev Register
claimed that the blood of sacrificed animals was used in kosher rituals
and warned Orthodox believers to ``keep away from kosher products in
the same way they keep away from idol sacrifice.'' The Evening Mogilev
reported that the act of making something kosher is ``sacrilegious and
anti-Christian.''
The sale and distribution of anti-Semitic literature through state
press distributors, government agencies, and stores affiliated with the
BOC continued. In past years anti-Semitic literature was openly sold
during several Orthodox book fairs in Minsk and at the House of Mercy,
a BOC-established hospice in the capital. The Roman Catholic Church
reported that anti-Catholic literature was also sold at locations
linked to the BOC.
Anti-Semitic and Russian ultranationalist newspapers and literature
continued to be sold at Pravoslavnaya Kniga (Orthodox Bookstore), which
sells Orthodox literature and religious paraphernalia. The store was
part of the company Pravoslavnaya Initsiativa, whose general director
often wrote xenophobic articles. During the period covered by this
report, anti-Semitic videocassettes and DVDs were available for
purchase at Pravoslavnaya Kniga. In addition, the store gave away
pamphlets alleging that sacrificial blood was used in the production of
kosher food. Despite a 2003 order by the prosecutor general and the
Ministry of Information to remove the anti-Semitic and xenophobic
newspaper Russkiy Vestnik, distribution continued. Pravoslavnaya Kniga
employees stated that they were only selling off current stock and not
new copies. The book, The Enemies of Russia and the Slavic World Who
are against Belarus and President Lukashenko, was also for sale. This
ultranationalist and xenophobic book includes a chapter by Vladimir
Chertovich, general director of Pravoslavnaya Initsiativa, the Minsk-
based company known for publishing hate literature directed at Jews,
Muslims, and other minorities. It was published in Russia but was
distributed in the country at Pravoslavnaya Kniga. According to
Evangelical Bishop Ivan Pashkevich, Pravoslavnaya Initsiativa published
the anti-Semitic book entitled, A Verdict to Those Killing Russia,
aimed at inciting racial and ethnic hatred and discrimination based on
religion.
In response to an appeal by a Jewish group to prosecute
Pravoslavnaya Kniga, in 2004 the prosecutor general launched an
investigation into the incident to determine whether or not
Pravoslavnaya Kniga had illegally distributed literature that promoted
intolerance. The general prosecutor's office then transferred the case
to the Minsk city prosecutor's office. The latter declared there was no
basis for a criminal case. The CRNA asserted that the publication of
such literature in the country was illegal, but that nothing could be
done regarding privately imported Russian publications.
On April 17, 2006, authorities issued an official warning to
preschool teacher Lyudmila Izakson-Bolotovskaya for the ``intentional
inculcation of religious doctrines in small children.'' Izakson-
Bolotovskaya and her children's Jewish musical group were shown on
local television celebrating a Jewish holiday. Authorities claimed that
she violated the law by holding a religious celebration in a government
building and illegally propogated Judaism via the television coverage
of the event. The authorities forced Izakson-Bolotovskaya to remove
Jewish symbols from the classroom and threatened her with future
prosecution if she continued these activities.
During the period covered by this report, excavation and
reconstruction work was finished at the site of a 1950s sports stadium
in Grodno built on the site of a former Jewish cemetery. The excavation
uncovered human remains, which authorities promised to remove from the
site for future reburial. Instead, photographs taken by the Jewish
community revealed human remains mixed with earth in dump trucks being
used to resurface a road. A 2004 visit by U.S. embassy staff found
skulls and other bones scattered around the area.
After intense international pressure, regional authorities signed
an agreement in 2003 with a national Jewish leader to cease excavation
during construction and to rebury the uncovered remains in a different
Jewish cemetery. In 2006 the Jewish community received permission from
authorities to put up a plaque noting that the stadium sits on a former
Jewish cemetery. Local Jewish leaders believed the situation reflected
insensitivity more than anti-Semitism. The authorities were also known
to have dug up portions of a veterans cemetery and an Orthodox cemetery
during other construction projects.
In contrast to previous reporting periods, officials did not make
public anti-Semitic statements. In December 2005 author Eduard
Skobelev, who edited the presidential administration's bulletin,
released his book entitled Stalin's Will with a note that the book was
published with support of the presidential administration. The book
contained a number of anti-Semitic statements and far-fetched
accusations. In a 2003 Associated Press article, Sergei Kostyan, deputy
chairman of the international affairs committee of the lower house of
parliament, rejected criticism of the installation of a gas pipeline
near the site of a former Jewish cemetery in Mozyr, accusing Jews of
sowing ``ethnic discord.'' During a 2003 press conference Information
Minister Vladimir Rusakevich was quoted as stating that the country
needed to live with Russia like brothers but to bargain with Russia
``like a Yid.''
Leaders in the Jewish community believed fewer cases of vandalism
occurred than just a few years ago, due to international pressure as
well as to stepped-up efforts by local authorities to protect religious
sites. In addition, local authorities and citizens often restored
damaged memorials and graves at personal expense. According to the
CRNA, regional authorities nationwide continued to take measures to
prevent vandalism, including erecting fences around cemeteries,
conducting regular police patrols of cemeteries, and collecting and
reporting incidents of vandalism.
Several Jewish religious sites, however, were vandalized during the
period covered by this report. In November 2005 a Jewish cemetery in
the Gomel region was vandalized and a number of gravestones broken. On
August 17, 2005, vandals defaced the ``Yama'' memorial to Jewish
victims of the Nazi Holocaust, burning plastic flowers and scattering
gravestones. Authorities did not apprehend those who were responsible
in either case. In 2004, vandals set fire to wreaths, scattered
flowers, and damaged the Star of David at a Holocaust memorial in
central Brest. The memorial had been vandalized five times since it was
unveiled. Police have not fined or jailed anyone for the crimes. On
April 26, 2005, vandals again damaged a memorial erected in Lida to
commemorate Jews who perished there during World War II. The Jewish
community did not report the act to the police, since the Lida memorial
had been vandalized every spring and no one had ever been arrested. At
the beginning of May 2005, unidentified vandals smashed twenty
gravestones in the town of Mikashevich. Local Jews criticized police
for failing to respond to the crime or arrest any suspects, pointing
out that the cemetery was located just a few meters from a police
station.
The Jewish community was concerned by the concept of a ``greater
Slavic union'' popular among nationalist organizations active in the
country, including the Russian National Union (RNU), which still
existed despite officially dissolving in 2000, and the National
Bolshevik Party, another pro-Russian Belarusian extremist organization.
In 2004 RNU members in Gomel distributed anti-Semitic literature on
city buses, and Jewish community centers in Gomel and Polotsk were
vandalized with RNU graffiti. Investigations into these acts of
vandalism did not result in the arrest of those responsible.
While the website of the Jewish Orthodox Skinheads (JOSH), an
organization supposedly made up of Jewish youths to combat anti-
Semitism and xenophobia, could still be accessed during the period
covered by this report, it did not appear to have been updated. Despite
the ``organization's'' stated goals, the website called upon Jews to
commit provocative acts against the Government to support their cause
and included language defaming non-Jewish citizens and prominent local
Jewish leaders. Several Jewish leaders, all of whom considered the
website to be offensive and provocative, denounced the website and
expressed their concerns to authorities. The website included a link to
another website purported to be run by Hare Krishna skinheads.
The official BOC prayer calendar, printed in Minsk, continued to
mark May 20 as the anniversary of the 1690 death of Gavriil
Belostoksky, a young child who was alleged to have been murdered by
Jews near Grodno. The May 20 prayer for Belostoksky made reference to
Jewish persons as ``real beasts'' who allegedly kidnapped and murdered
Belostoksky for religious purposes. Additionally, a link on the BOC
website listed Belostoksky as one of its saints and martyrs.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
On December 1, 2005, the president issued an edict exempting all
registered religious groups from taxes on land allotted for buildings
and property used for worship.
During the reporting period, the Government funded renovations of
an Orthodox monastery in Slonim and the Catholic Blessed Virgin Mary
Cathedral in Minsk. It also provided $14 thousand (30 million
Belarusian rubles) and $258 thousand (554 million Belarusian rubles) to
restore frescoes in an Orthodox church in Polotsk and in the Catholic
arch-cathedral in Minsk, respectively. In May 2006, the president ruled
to return a former cathedral and its property to a Roman Catholic
parish in Minsk.
In December 2005 the president acknowledged the important role the
Roman Catholic Church played in the country and vowed to support it.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups and a
widespread ethic of tolerance in society contributed to religious
freedom; however, anti-Semitism and negative attitudes toward minority
religious groups persisted. In April 2006 NOVAK, an independent polling
organization, conducted a poll, which included the question, ``How much
do you trust the state and social institutions and organizations?''
According to the poll, the BOC was the most trusted institution in the
country, with 70 percent of respondents expressing trust, while 45.2
percent trusted the Roman Catholic Church and 15.4 percent trusted
Protestant churches. The level of distrust of Protestant churches
jumped from 36 percent of respondents in 2005 to 58.5 percent, and the
level of distrust of the Roman Catholic Church increased from 20
percent in 2005 to 35 percent in 2006.
As in previous years, unknown vandals destroyed crosses, both
Orthodox and non-Orthodox, erected at Kurapaty, an area used by the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) to murder more than
300,000 persons in the 1930s. During the week of November 27, 2005,
approximately twelve crosses at Kurapaty were damaged. Vandals also
carved a swastika into the face of an icon on a cross near the
entrance. Witnesses reported that a memorial plaque disappeared and a
number of photographs of victims were destroyed. Police denied
vandalism had occurred and blamed the damage on the weather. On the
weekend of December 3, 2005, other memorials, including the Jewish
memorial stone and a Russian Orthodox icon, had red swastikas and Nazi
SS symbols painted on them. In response, authorities agreed to provide
round the clock surveillance for the memorial site. It was not known if
the authorities did so, but the graffiti was removed.
On January 9, 2006, independent Internet news source BelaPan
reported that several dozen skinheads marched through Grodno shouting
obscenities and Nazi slogans and attacking pedestrians. One victim told
reporters that thirty skinheads marched through the city's central
square and beat him up after he tried to stop them. The marchers
dispersed when police arrived. According to witnesses it was the first
skinhead march Grodno had seen in five years. The authorities claimed
they were not aware of any such march.
On March 15, 2005, the head of the BOC announced that it withdrew
its shares from the Minsk-based publishing company, Pravoslavnaya
Initsiativa, which is notorious for selling anti-Semitic literature.
The church head accused the company of disseminating ideas aimed at
causing rifts in society, which is inconsistent with Orthodox values.
The head of the church stated that further cooperation with the
publisher violated Orthodox canons and ordered all Orthodox parishes to
shun its books and to refrain from interacting with the company. In
addition, on June 27, 2006, the BOC informed Pravoslavnaya Initsiativa
(currently ``Khristianskaya Initsiativa''--Christian Initiative) that
it could no longer use Orthodox symbols and language.
There was no indication that the BOC had changed its view that it
would cooperate only with religious groups that had ``historical
roots'' in the country. On September 12, 2005, the head of the BOC
praised the increased cooperation between the BOC and the Roman
Catholic Church and proposed that ``Roman Catholics could help Orthodox
Christians deal with new Western-style secularism.''
On April 5, 2006, the BOC decided that political documentaries by
Belarusian State Television Radio Company deputy head Yury Azaryonok
should not be shown at the BOC's Easter festival. The original
exhibition schedule included a meeting with Azaryonok, who is a
notorious state propagandist, as well as a screening of his politicized
documentaries, ``The Spiritual War.'' However, the BOC decided that the
program should be changed after it received a letter of protest from
young believers who opposed showing the films because they might
discredit the BOC and its leadership.
In 2004 thieves stole twelve icons and a bronze cross from a BOC
church in the Brest region. Police opened an investigation. Earlier,
Brest regional police and Minsk city police captured two icon thieves
and recovered two of three icons they had stolen in 2001.
On September 12, 2005, police charged a man with hooliganism after
he smashed two statues at the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral in Minsk.
In 2004 local authorities in Brest oblast refused to initiate a
criminal investigation into the burglary of an evangelical Christian
church in the town of Khotislav. The church had reportedly been
vandalized six times prior to that incident. In 2004 the BAOC claimed
that BOC clergy, accompanied by Minsk Oblast officials, visited several
towns in Minsk oblast and called upon local villagers not to
participate in BAOC religious services.
In 2004 the Civil Initiative for Religious Freedom published the
second installment of the White Book, a collection of documents that
detailed the Government's many abuses of religious freedom, information
about the religion law, and copies of various reports about the
religious freedom situation in the country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy staff maintained regular contact with representatives of
religious groups and government officials responsible for religious
affairs, and met with resident and visiting U.S. citizens of various
religious groups to discuss religious freedom issues in the country.
During meetings with government officials and ministers in the fall
of 2005, embassy staff raised such concerns as the 2002 religion law
and registration denials of certain religious communities. In 2006
embassy officials attempted to discuss subsequent religious freedom
matters with the new CRNA head, Leonid Gulyako, but requests for
meetings were not granted. Embassy staff also requested a separate
meeting to discuss the case of imprisoned Protestant pastor Georgy
Vyazorsky, although the Government twice denied the request.
The embassy monitored the continued sale of anti-Semitic and
xenophobic literature at stores and events linked with the BOC and
state media distributors. During the period covered by this report,
embassy staff visited the site of the Jewish cemetery in Grodno and met
with local officials and community leaders to discuss the situation.
Embassy staff, including the ambassador, attended several events hosted
by religious groups. Embassy officials also discussed religious issues
with representatives of foreign diplomatic missions in the country.
__________
BELGIUM
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
However, the government organization mandated to act as a clearinghouse
for nonrecognized religions and sectarian organizations continued to
attract much attention from the groups they monitored and researched.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Some Muslim community leaders
and spokespersons for nonrecognized religions cited instances of
perceived discrimination by government organizations and officials.
There were also isolated instances of discrimination by private
individuals.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, the United States urged
government officials to intensify their efforts to fight anti-Semitism
and racism, and to promote religious freedom, and has cooperated with
the Government on Muslim outreach programs.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 11,780 square miles and a population of
approximately 10.3 million.
The population was predominantly Roman Catholic. According to the
2001 Survey and Study of Religion, jointly conducted by a number of the
country's universities and based on self-identification, approximately
47 percent of the population (4.8 million persons) identified
themselves as belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. This survey
described the Muslim population as approximately 400,000, with an
estimated 328 mosques in the country. Protestants numbered between
125,000 and 140,000. The Greek and Russian Orthodox churches had
approximately 70,000 adherents. Jews numbered between 45,000 and
55,000. The Anglican Church had 10,800 members. The larger
nonrecognized religions included Jehovah's Witnesses (25,000 baptized,
50,000 church goers). Estimates for other bodies included the
independent Protestant congregations, 10,000; Buddhists, 10,000;
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
4,000; Seventh-day Adventists, 2,000; Hindus, 5,000; Sikhs, 3,000; Hare
Krishna, 1,500; and the Church of Scientology, 1,000.
Estimates indicated that approximately 18 percent of the population
did not identify with any religion, approximately 7.4 percent of the
population described itself as ``secular'' (members of nonconfessional
philosophical organizations), and 1.1 percent belonged to organized
laity that received funding for their programs.
A 2005 Free University of Brussels (ULB) document estimated that 15
percent of the Roman Catholic population attended weekly religious
services, and 10 percent of the Muslim population was ``practicing
Muslims.'' However, religion continued to play a role in major life
events. Within the Catholic population, 65 percent of the children born
in the country were baptized, 49.2 percent of couples opted for a
religious marriage, and 76.6 percent of funerals included religious
services.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Government accords ``recognized'' status to Roman Catholicism,
Protestantism (including evangelicals and Pentecostals), Judaism,
Anglicanism, Islam, and Orthodox Christianity (Greek and Russian).
Representative bodies for these religions receive subsidies from
government revenues. The Government also supports the freedom to
participate in secular organizations. These secular humanist groups
serve as a seventh recognized ``religion,'' and their organizing body,
the Central Council of Non-Religious Philosophical Communities of
Belgium, receives funds and benefits similar to those of the six
recognized religions.
The federal Government and Parliament have responsibility for
recognizing faiths and paying the wages and pensions of ministers of
those faiths.
As a result of constitutional reforms enacted by Parliament in
2001, religious instruction, financial accountability of religious
groups, and religious buildings have become the jurisdiction of the
regional governments. Secular organizations remain under the
jurisdiction of the federal authorities.
By law, each recognized religion has the right to provide teachers
at government expense for religious instruction in public schools. The
Government also pays the salaries, retirement benefits, and lodging
costs of ministers and subsidizes the construction and renovation of
religious buildings for recognized religions. The ecclesiastical
administrations of recognized religions have legal rights and
obligations, and the municipalities in which they are located must pay
any debts that they incur. Some subsidies are the responsibility of the
federal Government, while the regional and municipal governments pay
others.
In 2006, the Government paid $104 million (82 million euros) to
recognized non-Muslim religious groups, $12.7 million (10 million
euros) to secular organizations, and $7.7 million (6.1 million euros)
to Islamic groups. For 2005, the budgetary outlays were $101 million
(79.5 million euros) for the recognized faiths, $11.8 million, (9.3
million euros) for the secular organizations and $7.6 million (6
million euros) for the Muslim faith.
The total outlays by all the governments (for faith education, and
by municipal authorities for buildings) amounted to approximately $29.6
billion (23.4 billion euros).
The Government applies five criteria in deciding whether to grant
recognition to a religious group: The religion must have a structure or
hierarchy; the group must have a sufficient number of members; the
religion must have existed in the country for a long period of time; it
must offer a social value to the public; and it must abide by the laws
of the state and respect public order. The five criteria are not listed
in decrees or laws, and the Government does not formally define
``sufficient,'' ``long period of time,'' or ``social value.'' A
religious group seeking official recognition applies to the Ministry of
Justice, which then conducts a thorough review before recommending
approval or rejection. Final approval of recognized status is the
responsibility of Parliament alone; however, Parliament generally
accepts the decision of the Ministry of Justice. A group whose
application is refused by the Ministry of Justice may appeal the
decision to the Council of State. No minority religious group attempted
and failed to be registered in the last three years. In 2005,
representatives from both the Armenian Church and the Buddhist faith
initiated informal talks to explore the possibility of recognition. The
press quoted government officials as favorable to the Buddhist
application. The lack of recognized status does not prevent a religious
group from practicing its faith freely and openly. Nonrecognized groups
do not qualify for government subsidies; however, they may qualify for
tax-exempt status as nonprofit organizations.
The Muslim faith was recognized in 1974. Since then, the Government
has tried to find reliable interlocutors capable of speaking for the
entire Muslim community. The Government pledged in 2004-2005 that, as
soon as a new Council and Executive were formed, it could begin the
process of paying approved clergy and teachers. However, at the end of
the period covered by this report, regional governments were in the
process of recognizing mosques eligible for funding. In October 2005,
the Walloon regional government adopted a decree on recognition of
mosques and local Muslim communities. A similar decree was enacted by
the Flemish regional parliament in September 2005. The Flemish decree
covered all recognized religions.
On October 2, 2005, the Council elected seventeen members for the
Muslim Executive, which is composed of separate Francophone and Flemish
wings. A Turkish-origin Muslim was elected Chairman of the Executive,
and the two linguistic wings each have a vice chair. As a result of new
parliamentary legislation, which provided a legal basis for a wide
range of security checks, candidates for the Muslim Executive were
screened, triggering some complaints within the community. An imam born
and living in Antwerp was excluded from consideration for membership on
the Muslim Executive based on the results of these security checks.
The transfer of power between the old and new executive caused
tensions within the Muslim community. The outgoing executive refused to
leave the headquarters, upon which the judicial authorities searched
the premises and the two former executive chairpersons were charged
with embezzlement. Once the new executive was put in place, the
authorities closed the case. Continuing internal tensions hampered the
ability of the executive to finalize its proposals for official
support. The executive was cooperating with government educational and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on proposals to begin training
imams in the country.
In 1993, the Government established by law the Center for Equal
Opportunity and the Struggle against Racism. Commonly known as the
Anti-Racism Center, it is an independent agency responsible for
addressing all types of discrimination, including religious. Although
formally part of the Office of the Prime Minister, it is under the
guidance of the Ministry of Social Integration. Its head is appointed
by the prime minister for six years, but the prime minister may not
remove the individual once appointed. Several NGOs, such as the
Movement against Racism, Anti-Semitism, and Xenophobia; the Ligue des
Droits de l'Homme; Human Rights without Frontiers; and the Liga voor
Mensenrechten were also active in promoting religious freedom.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, the Ministry of Justice and Parliament
continued to research and monitor religious and quasi-religious groups
that were not on the official list of recognized religions.
As a result of a 1997 parliamentary commission committee report,
Parliament passed a law establishing two bodies: A group monitoring
harmful sects and an interagency coordinating group on harmful sects.
The first body, the Center for Information and Advice on Harmful
Sectarian Organizations (CIAOSN), collects publicly available
information on a wide range of religious and philosophical groups and
provides information and advice to the public upon request regarding
the legal rights of freedom of association, privacy, and freedom of
religion. There are eight board members who are allowed to serve a
renewable six-year term. The Center's library is open to the public and
contains information on religion in general, as well as on specific
religious groups, including information provided by those groups. The
Center has the authority to share with the public any information it
collects on religious sects; however, it does not have the authority to
provide assessments of individual sectarian organizations to the
general public. Despite its name, regulations prohibit it from
categorizing any particular group as harmful. Testifying behind closed
doors for the House of Representatives working group on sects, the head
of the Center told House members that in 2004 the Center had received
more than 500 inquiries about sectarian organizations. Seventeen
percent of the queries came from public institutions. Reportedly, there
were a growing number of questions (8 percent) about evangelical and
Pentecostal churches. Most queries (21 percent) concerned Jehovah's
Witnesses. Some inquiries (12 percent) related to faith healing. Unlike
the Anti-Racism Center, this body cannot initiate litigation.
The second body established by Parliament, the Interagency
Coordination Group, deals primarily with confidential material and
works with the legal and security institutions of the Government to
coordinate government policy. Through a December 2005 Royal Decree, the
group's composition was changed to include representatives from the
College of Prosecutors General; the Federal Prosecuting Office; the
Federal Police; the State Security; Defense Intelligence; and the
Justice, Interior, Foreign, and Finance Ministries. The Coordinating
Group's executive board meets quarterly and reports to the full group.
It produces no publicly available reports. The Government designated
the federal prosecutor and a magistrate in each of the twenty-seven
judicial districts to monitor cases involving sects.
Regarding the Interagency Coordination Group, the parliamentary
watchdog committee found that the Government had failed, together with
the college of prosecutors general, to determine the official
guidelines for prosecuting offenders. Created in 2002, the Federal
Prosecution Office had not filed its first injunction against a
``sectarian'' organization. Moreover, Parliament was undecided about
amending the criminal code to include a special section on ``offenses
committed by sectarian organizations.'' In the absence of such special
legislation, sectarian organizations can be investigated on such
grounds as embezzlement, money laundering, abuse of confidence,
misappropriation of wills, illegal medical practice, and fraud.
In June 2005, a Brussels appellate court judge ruled that the
Church of the Kingdom of God had suffered damage by appearing in the
parliamentary report of sectarian organizations. The president of the
Chamber of Representatives argued that the judge's ruling undermined
the legislative authority and independence of the lawmakers and filed
an appeal with the country's highest court. The High Court overturned
the ruling because the original court did not have the competence to
rule on legislative matters.
Since 1999, the CIAOSN had conducted research on 598 organizations.
In its 2006 report, the parliamentary watchdog committee mentioned an
increasing number of queries about organizations originating from
Northern American Protestant and African evangelical movements.
Most queries concerned Jehovah Witnesses (3.7 percent), other
Protestant denominations (12.6 percent), Scientology (4.8 percent),
Oriental faiths (11.2 percent), dissident Catholic organizations (5.5
percent), esoteric religions (6.6 percent), physical welfare and
therapeutical organizations (11.6 percent), and New Age and New
Paganism (6.6 percent).
The parliamentary committee noted that since it was established in
1999, the queries coming from the public had shifted from sectarian
organizations to those offering mental and physical healing, generated
by a rapidly growing number of groupings and organizations, often hard
to identify.
In its recommendations, the committee also requested that
brainwashing and mental manipulation be established as criminal
offences.
The Council of Ministers adopted proposed draft legislation aimed
at including an additional chapter in the criminal code regarding
``abuse of an individual's ignorance or weakness.'' The key provision
reads: ``Anyone abusing the ignorance or weakness of a minor or a very
vulnerable individual, either due to his/her age, sickness, disability,
physical or mental deficiency, illegal residence or precarious living
condition or pregnancy, so as to force the person to do an act or
refrain from doing an act that would seriously endanger his/her
physical or mental integrity, or affect his assets, will be sentenced
to a prison term from three months to three years and a fine'' from
$318 to $25,400 (250 to 20,000 euros.).
The concept of abuse of vulnerability is not new, since the
vulnerable position of the victim is an aggravating circumstance for
such offences as rape, indecent assault, obscenity, human trafficking
and smuggling, begging, and exploitation of slum dwellers. Similar
draft legislation was submitted by members of the two houses of
Parliament, but in light of the Government's own initiative, no further
action on these individual initiatives was expected.
The 1998 act concerning the country's intelligence services tasked
the State Security with monitoring sectarian organizations. The
judicial branch of the Federal Police had a special department dealing
with terrorism and harmful sects. Within this department only one
person dealt with sectarian organizations. Sects were also monitored by
local police forces, in particular at the level of judicial districts.
Without providing specific detail, the Federal Police identified
thirteen sectarian organizations that had potential for threatening
public order.
According to the Federal Prosecuting Office, the 2004 criminal
investigation into the Belgian Church of Scientology's operations was
completed. Formal indictment and trial were scheduled for late 2006.
In 2003, the International Church of Scientology (CSI) opened its
European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights in Brussels. Press
reports claimed the Church was planning to move its European
Headquarters from Copenhagen to Brussels. Despite generally negative
press reports and comments from city officials, CSI operated unhindered
by government action and continued, albeit unsuccessfully, to engage
the Government in a dialogue.
As they were not one of the recognized religions, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) expressed some concerns
about the status of its local workers. The Government had not
formalized in writing its 2003 agreement allowing Mormon missionaries
to operate in the country, fearing such a written agreement would set a
legal precedent that other nonreligious foreign workers could try to
exploit.
In February 2006, hearings began in the case of Minh Luong Dang,
founder of the Spiritual Human Yoga (SHY), and Vo Hinh Hiep, his former
representative in the country. The two faced charges of committing
fraud and illegally practicing medicine. The movement was on the
parliamentary list of sectarian organizations, but the trial concerned
the two defendants personally. Since the opening of the litigation in
1999, no SHY groups in the country had been banned or denied permission
to teach and apply Dang's techniques.
In April 2006, the Brussels Appellate Court ruled that the
Francophone Community Government must cease circulating a flyer in
which anthroposophism was labeled as a dangerous sect. The court
awarded one euro symbolic damage to the plaintiffs.
Some courts in the Flanders region have stipulated, in the context
of child custody proceedings and as a condition of granting visitation
rights, that a noncustodial parent who is a member of Jehovah's
Witnesses may not expose his or her children to the teachings or
lifestyle of that religious group during visits. These courts claimed
that such exposure would be harmful to the child; however, other courts
had not imposed this restriction, and other sources stated that custody
issues rather than religion prompted the decisions.
Religious or ``moral'' instruction was mandatory in public schools
and was provided according to the student's religious or nonreligious
preference. All public schools provided teachers for each of the six
recognized religions, if a sufficient number of pupils wished to
attend. Public school religion teachers were nominated by a committee
from their religious group and appointed by the minister of education
of the respective community governments. Private authorized religious
schools that follow the same curriculum as public schools were known as
``free'' schools. They received community government subsidies for
operating expenses and buildings. Teachers, like other civil servants,
were paid by their respective community governments.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
The Jewish Community registered forty-eight anti-Semitic incidents
during 2005 and twelve incidents during the first two months of 2006.
Most incidents took place in Antwerp, and to a lesser extent in
Brussels. Verbal abuse was the most common complaint, together with the
painting of anti-Jewish graffiti. As in the past, incidents appeared to
have been generated from the Muslim immigrant community.
In April 2005, a youth threatened a group of Jewish boys with a
knife in Antwerp. The young assailant was arrested. Later that month in
Antwerp a Jewish boy was knocked off his bicycle and sustained
injuries. In November a Jewish elder was harassed by local youths. By
the end of the reporting period, no court action had started in these
cases.
The Antwerp First Instance court handed down a six-month prison
sentence and payment of a fine to a Moroccan immigrant for insulting
and threatening a Jew. The same court sentenced a local inhabitant to a
six-month suspended prison sentence for issuing threats against a Jew.
The Brussels first instance court convicted a Brussels National Airport
employee of tagging baggage coming from Israel with anti-Semitic
slogans. The judge suspended his verdict, while imposing special
working conditions on the defendant.
Observers noted that courts in the country were becoming less
lenient on anti-Semitic offences and that an increasing number of
judges had taken such cases.
In April 2006, the Brussels Chamber of Indictment ruled that
Roeland Raes, a former far-right Vlaams Blok vice-chairman and former
senator, would have to stand trial for denying the Holocaust during a
television show in 2001.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, several religious
groups reported incidents of private discrimination, particularly Jews
and Muslims, as well as religious groups that have not been accorded
official ``recognized'' status by the Government.
Prejudice in the private sector against members of the Muslim
community was not unknown, affecting housing, employment, and, in some
cases, education. However, these prejudices affected primarily the
North African communities (including both immigrant and first-
generation). Muslims of Turkish and other national origins appeared to
be far less frequently the targets of such prejudice, which could be
described as more ethnic than religious. At the same time, Muslim-
heritage immigrants were increasingly visible, particularly in the
public and nonprofit sectors.
The Center for Equal Opportunity and the Fight against Racism, an
independent government agency, reported that 7.5 percent of the
discrimination complaints filed with the Center during 2002 cited
religion as the basis of the alleged discrimination. In June 2005, the
Center released a report covering 2004, which provided, among other
topics, information on anti-Semitism.
At the national level, there is an annual general assembly of the
National Ecumenical Commission to discuss various religious themes. The
Catholic Church sponsors working groups at the national level to
maintain dialogue and promote tolerance among all religious groups. At
the local level, every Catholic diocese has established commissions for
interfaith dialogue. The president of the National Ecumenical
Commission maintains contacts with leaders of other faiths, including
both recognized and unrecognized religious groups.
In March 2005, the Center for Equal Opportunity issued a
comprehensive report on public symbols of religious and philosophical
convictions. The 2003 act made discrimination on religious and
philosophical grounds unlawful. The report found that neither Flemish
nor Francophone schools imposed restrictions given by the governing
authorities, nor was it left to individual schoolmasters to decide
which signs would be tolerated. Most schoolmasters in the country
imposed a headscarf ban on both pupils and teachers. A survey released
in 2004 showed that in Brussels, of 110 surveyed schools, only 8
allowed headscarves. Schools on both sides of the country's linguistic
border allow free days for attending religious festivals. The public
educational system, from kindergarten to university, requires strict
neutrality for teaching personnel, except for teachers of religion. The
subsidized Catholic educational institution (which constitutes the
largest number of educational establishments nationwide) allows the
wearing of religious symbols. Schoolmasters also opposed the invoking
of religious grounds for not attending certain courses, physical
education classes in particular.
The federal Government has no specific directives on wearing
religious symbols. The same applies in regional and municipal services.
Wearing religious symbols is prohibited for selected public service
officials, such as judges, police, and other uniformed officials.
In a June 2005 landmark case, the Antwerp Appellate Court, the
highest court to address the issue, ruled that it was outside the
jurisdiction of the state to determine whether the Muslim faith
requires women to wear a headscarf. The Court ruled that, in principle,
girls in public schools have the right to wear a headscarf. However,
the school board also has the authority to restrict that right for
organizational reasons, or for the good functioning of the school, but
must justify any restrictions it seeks to impose.
At the end of 2005, approximately twenty municipalities had issued
a ban on walking the streets completely veiled. In a few cases women
were fined $190 (150 euros) for ignoring the ban. Under a 1993
executive order, persons in the streets must be identifiable, based on
laws dating back to the Middle Ages.
In 2005, an Antwerp initiative to further dialogue between the
Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim faiths received the formal backing of the
King. This was a local initiative.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government regularly discusses religious freedom issues
with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
U.S. Embassy representatives frequently discussed the issue of
religious freedom with officials from the Prime Minister's Office; with
the Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Social Integration, and
Interior; with members of Parliament; and with regional and local
officials.
Embassy officials expressed concern regarding anti-Semitic
incidents and urged the Government to intensify its efforts to counter
this trend. Following embassy engagement with both federal and language
community officials, and supporting the efforts of the U.S. Special
Envoy for Holocaust Issues, the country formally applied to join the
International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and
Research. The application had been delayed because of the overlapping
competencies on the issue among the federal, regional, and language
community governments, but all eventually agreed to provide the needed
funding.
The embassy hosted individual interfaith events to encourage
dialogue among citizens and with the U.S. Government. Embassy officials
also met with representatives of both recognized and nonrecognized
religions, particularly those that reported some form of discrimination
during the period covered by this report.
__________
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The State Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the
entity constitutions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the
Federation) and the Republika Srpska (RS) provide for freedom of
religion, and individuals generally enjoy this right in ethnically
integrated areas or in areas where they are adherents of the majority
religion; however, adherents of religions in largely ethnically
homogenous areas where they are in a small minority have had their
right to worship restricted, sometimes violently. The 2004 state-level
Law on Religious Freedom also provides comprehensive rights to
religious communities.
Overall, government respect for religious freedom did not change
during the reporting period. The Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Serb
Orthodox religious communities reported a significant number of attacks
on religious objects. A number of illegally constructed religious
objects continued to cause ethnic/religious tension and conflict in a
number of communities. Religious communities continued to support and
advocate refugee returns for their respective constituencies; however,
the number of returns significantly declined during the reporting
period. The return process suffered from a lack of funding for
reconstruction of housing and infrastructure, local governments'
inability or unwillingness to provide necessary services to allow for
sustainable returns, and a lack of employment opportunities. The State
Law on Religious Freedom protecting the rights of religious communities
and creating a government registry allowing them to establish legal
status was being implemented at the end of the reporting period.
Religious intolerance in the country directly reflected ethnic
intolerance because of the virtually indistinguishable identification
of ethnicity with one's religious background. Bosniaks generally were
associated with Islam, Bosnian Croats with the Roman Catholic Church,
and Bosnian Serbs with the Serb Orthodox Church. The Jewish community
maintained a very small but important presence in Bosnian society.
There were also several small Christian denominations throughout the
country. Despite the constitutional and legal provisions protecting
religious freedom, discrimination against religious minorities occurred
in virtually all parts of the country. In some communities, local
religious leaders and politicians contributed to intolerance and an
increase in nationalist feeling through public statements and on
occasion in sermons. Religious symbols were often misused for political
purposes.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government and leaders from the four traditional religious communities
in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights and reconciliation. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo supported
the religious communities in their efforts to receive restitution of
property nationalized by the communist government of the former
Yugoslavia after World War II. The embassy also assisted small
Christian communities in obtaining legal registration of their churches
in BiH.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country's territory is divided into two entities, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Federation) and the Republika
Srpska (RS), with a separate administrative district in Brcko (Brcko
District). The country has an area of 31,816 square miles. In 2004, the
World Bank estimated that the population was 3.9 million, although a
reliable census has not been conducted since 1991. Reliable statistics
on the precise membership of different religious groups remained
unavailable.
According to the U.N. Development Program's Human Development
Report 2002, Muslims constituted 40 percent of the population, Serb
Orthodox 31 percent, Roman Catholics 15 percent, Protestants 4 percent,
and other groups 10 percent. Many persons who identified with a major
ethnoreligious group were atheists or agnostics who did not regularly
practice any religion. The small Jewish community had approximately
1,000 believers and maintained a special place in society by virtue of
its long history of coexistence with other religious communities and
its active role in mediating among those communities. There were also
foreign missionaries who preached fundamentalist forms of Islam that
tended to be intolerant of other religions and other forms of Islam.
There were some reports that Muslims were offered economic incentives
to worship and/or dress in a way that was different from traditional
Bosnian Muslim custom.
The rate of religious observance remained relatively low among the
traditional religious groups; however, some areas of significantly
greater observance did exist, for example among Catholic Croats in the
Herzegovina region. For many Bosnian Muslims, religion often served as
a community or ethnic identifier, and religious practice was confined
to occasional visits to the mosque or significant rites of passage such
as birth, marriage, and death. Nevertheless, religious leaders from the
Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox communities claimed that all forms of
observance were increasing among young people as an expression of
increased identification with their ethnic heritage, in large part due
to the national religious revival that occurred as a result of the
1992-1995 Bosnian war. Younger believers who grew up in the post-
communist period also had more freedom to practice their religions and
more access to religious education. Leaders from the three main
religious communities observed that they enjoyed greater support from
their believers in rural areas of Bosnia than from those in urban
centers such as Sarajevo or Banja Luka.
Ethnic cleansing during the 1992-1995 war caused internal migration
and refugee flows, which segregated the population into separate ethno-
religious areas. Increased levels of returns, which peaked in 2002,
continued to slow significantly in 2005-2006, leaving the majority of
Serb Orthodox adherents living in the RS and the majority of Muslims
and Catholics in the Federation. Within the Federation, distinct Muslim
and Catholic majority areas remained. However, returns of Serb Orthodox
adherents and Muslims in recent years to their prewar homes in western
Bosnia and Muslims to their prewar homes in eastern Bosnia shifted the
ethno-religious composition in both areas. For example, the prewar
population of the eastern RS town of Bratunac was 64 percent Bosniak.
In 1995, the population was almost completely Serb. In 2006, after the
return of 6,500 Bosniaks, the population was 38 percent Bosniak.
Similarly, in Prijedor municipality in the RS, about half of the prewar
Bosniak population of 49,500 returned, partially reversing the effects
of ethnic cleansing. Returns of Catholics to central Bosnia also took
place in smaller numbers.
There were eight muftis located in major municipalities across the
country: Sarajevo, Bihac, Travnik, Tuzla, Gorazde, Zenica, Mostar, and
Banja Luka. The more conservative Islamic communities in Bosnia were
located in the Federation in towns such as Travnik, Bocinja/Zavidovici,
Tesanj, Maglaj, Bugojno, and Zenica. The Catholic community maintained
its Bishops' Conference as an overarching organizational and regional
structure, with bishops residing in Mostar, Banja Luka, and Sarajevo;
the Franciscan order maintained its strongest presence in central
Bosnia near Sarajevo and in Herzegovina. The Serb Orthodox Church
maintained its greatest influence in the RS, with the most influential
bishops residing in Banja Luka, Trebinje and Bijeljina. The small
Jewish community, like most other small religious groups in Bosnia
including Protestants, had its strongest support in Sarajevo.
Missionary activity was limited but growing, and included a small
number of representatives from the following organizations, some of
which had their central offices for the region in Zagreb or another
European city outside of the country: Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Krishna Consciousness, and the Baptist Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The State Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and
individuals generally enjoyed this right in ethnically integrated areas
or in areas where they were adherents of the majority religion;
however, adherents of minority religions in areas where one group
represented an overwhelming majority had their right to worship
restricted, sometimes violently. The constitutions of both entities
also provide for freedom of religion.
The State Constitution safeguards the rights of the three major
ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats), and by extension the three
largest religious communities, by providing proportional representation
for each group in the Government and in the military. As a result of
the government structure created by the Dayton agreement, which ended
the Bosnian conflict in 1995, parliamentary seats and most government
positions are apportioned specifically to members of the three
``constituent peoples.'' These stipulations often result in
constitutional discrimination against ``others'' and sympathizers of
certain faiths who do not fit neatly into these three groups. For
example, the country has a three-member joint presidency composed of
one representative chosen specifically from each of the three major
ethnic groups, with a chairmanship that rotates every eight months. As
an attempt to address this lack of opportunity for members of other
religious faiths, the president of the Jewish community--again, by
virtue of the Jewish community's general impartiality in the political
arena--was by common consensus accorded the leadership of the important
Civil Service Agency, which is tasked with selecting civil servants for
government posts based on merit.
Bosnia's state-level Government does not officially recognize any
religious holidays. During the reporting period, Parliament failed to
agree on a state law on national holidays. Entity and cantonal
authorities routinely recognized religious holidays celebrated by
members of the area's majority religion, with government and public
offices closed on those days. Locally observed holy days included
Orthodox Easter and Christmas in the RS, Catholic Easter and Christmas
in Herzegovina, and Kurban Bajram and Ramadan Bajram in Sarajevo and
central Bosnia.
The State Law on Religious Freedom governs religion and the
licensing of religious groups, and provides for the right to freedom of
conscience and religion in Bosnia. It grants churches and religious
communities legal status and allows them concessions that are
characteristic of a nongovernmental organization (NGO). The law also
creates a unified register for all religions within the Bosnian
Ministry of Justice, while the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees is
tasked with documenting every violation of religious freedom.
According to the provisions of the law, any group of 300 adult
citizens may form a new church or religious community with a written
application to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice will
issue a decision within thirty days of the application, and an appeal
may be made to the Bosnian Council of Ministers. The law, which came
into force in March 2004, allows minority religions in the country to
register legally and to operate without unwarranted restrictions. By
the end of the reporting period, all small religious communities that
applied to the Ministry of Justice were successfully registered.
Political parties dominated by a single ethnic group remained
powerful and continued to identify closely with the religion associated
with their predominant ethnic group. Some political parties claimed to
be multiethnic. Some clerics characterized hard-line nationalist
political sympathies as part of ``true'' religious practice. Some
religious leaders were also significantly involved in politics,
becoming increasingly vocal during the pre-election campaign period and
during the public debate over whether Parliament should adopt changes
to the Bosnian constitution. For example, in June 2006, the Serb
Orthodox bishop in Trebinje signed a petition calling for a referendum
on whether the RS should be ``independent'' from BiH. Also in June,
Cardinal Puljic made public statements in which he stated that the
hostile attitude of local Muslims contributed to the low numbers of
Bosnian Croat returns. In a lecture in June 2006, Reis Ceric compared
recent meetings between Catholic and Orthodox officials without the
presence of Muslim representatives to the 1991 meetings between former
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and former Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic at which they discussed the potential partition of BiH.
Bosnia was scheduled to hold general elections in October 2006.
The lines dividing politics, ethnic identity, and religion were
often blurred, particularly during pre-election periods, when religious
sermons and services were sometimes misused for campaigning purposes.
Many political party leaders were former communists who manipulated the
core attributes of their particular ethnic group, including religion,
to strengthen their credibility with voters. For example, offices of
local Bosnian Serb mayors in the RS were often decorated with religious
icons, although few officials practiced religion in any meaningful
sense.
During the reporting period, the entity, cantonal, and municipal
governments gave varying levels of financial support to the four major
religious communities. Religious communities tended to receive the most
funding in areas where their adherents were in the majority. Religious
education in Bosnia and Herzegovina is largely decentralized, as is the
education system generally. In 2005, the international community
encouraged the state-level Ministry for Civil Affairs (MCA) to take a
coordinating role in developing education policy. However, the
understaffed MCA education department failed to take an active role in
creating a national education policy. Cantonal governments in the
Federation, the entity Government in the RS, and Brcko District have
responsibility for education policy. Public schools offer religious
education classes, but with the exception of Brcko, schools generally
offer religious instruction only in the area's majority religion. In
theory, students (or their parents, in the case of primary school
students) have the option to choose not to attend these classes.
However, in practice, students of the majority religion and sometimes
also of minority religions face pressure from teachers and peers to
attend the classes. For example, the RS requires Serbs to attend
Orthodox religion classes but does not require attendance for Bosniaks
and Croats. However, Bosniak and Croat students often attend these
classes anyway because they are reluctant to be singled out as
different from their classmates. If a sufficient number of students of
minority religion(s) attend a particular school (twenty in the RS,
fifteen in the Federation), the school is required to organize religion
classes on their behalf. However, in rural areas, there are usually no
qualified religious representatives available to teach religious
studies to the handful of minority students. Minority students are
often widely scattered across remote areas, making it logistically
difficult to provide classes even when a teacher is available. In the
Federation's five cantons with Bosniak majorities, schools offer
Islamic religious instruction as a two-hour per week elective course.
In cantons with Croat majorities, all Croat students attend the
``elective'' one-hour weekly Catholic religion course for primary and
middle schools.
Parents may enroll their children in private schools for religious
reasons. In Sarajevo, Tuzla, Travnik, Mostar, and Bihac, Muslim
students may attend madrassahs. These Islamic secondary schools provide
training for students who want to become religious officials, as well
as general education to prepare students for university studies. There
is one Serb Orthodox secondary school in Foca. In Sarajevo, Tuzla,
Travnik, Zepce, Banja Luka and Zenica, students may attend Catholic
school centers. Although primarily Croat, these schools are open to
students of other ethnicities and faiths. These centers have both
primary and secondary schools, and although the principals are priests,
the majority of teachers are not religious officials. The curriculum is
identical to the curriculum applied in schools in areas with a majority
Croat population.
Facilities also existed for the three largest religious communities
at the university level. The Faculty of Islamic Sciences was located in
Sarajevo, the Serb Orthodox Seminary was in Foca in the RS, and two
Catholic theology faculties (one run by the Franciscans and one run by
the Diocese) were located in Sarajevo.
The State Law on Religious Freedom reaffirms the right of every
citizen to religious education. The law calls for an official
representative of the various churches or religious communities to be
responsible for teaching religious studies in all public and private
preschools, primary schools, and universities throughout Bosnia.
However, by the end of the reporting period, this provision of the Law
on Religious Freedom had not been fully implemented. Its implementation
is difficult in Bosnia's often-segregated school systems, particularly
where there is political resistance from nationalist party officials at
the municipal level.
The country's four traditional religious communities all had
extensive claims for restitution of property that the communist
government of the former Yugoslavia nationalized after World War II.
The State Law on Religious Freedom provides religious communities the
right to restitution of expropriated property throughout the country
``in accordance with the law.'' However, as of mid-2006, there was no
state-level law on restitution, and both entity governments deferred
any real attempt to resolve the issue. The State Commission for
Restitution was working on drafting a state restitution law. In the
absence of state legislation, return of former religious properties
continued on an ad hoc basis at the discretion of municipal officials.
For example, the municipal government of Banja Luka returned the
building that housed the newly reopened Catholic school to the Catholic
Church.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Weak administrative and judicial systems effectively restricted
religious freedom and posed major obstacles to safeguarding the rights
of religious minorities. In some cases, local governments and police
made improvements in protecting religious freedoms, although serious
problems remained, including an atmosphere in which abuses of religious
freedom occurred. For example, local police rarely made arrests in
cases of attacks against religious buildings, officials, or believers.
Successful prosecutions were extremely rare. Local police frequently
alleged that juveniles were responsible for these attacks.
Deputies being sworn into the RS National Assembly could choose
either a religious oath consistent with their religious tradition or a
nonreligious civil oath. Deputies to the state and federation
parliaments took nonreligious civil oaths.
The State Constitution provides for proportional representation for
each of the three major ethnic groups in the Government and the
military. Because of the close identification of ethnicity with
religious background, this principal of ethnic parity in effect
reserved certain positions in Government and the military for adherents
or sympathizers of certain faiths. The military in the RS was staffed
overwhelmingly by ethnic Serbs and had only Serb Orthodox chaplains.
The Federation military was composed of separate Bosniak and Croat
units, as well as integrated units, and has both Muslim and Catholic
chaplains. During the reporting period, both entities passed
legislation that created a unified, state-level Ministry of Defense and
Bosnian Army. The Ministry of Defense planned to develop an integrated
professional chaplain corps.
In early post-war years, RS authorities frequently did not
intervene to prevent the violent obstruction of efforts to rebuild some
of the 618 mosques and 129 churches in the RS that were destroyed or
significantly damaged during the 1992-1995 war. The most recent such
incident was in 2001 when a violent protest disrupted the laying of the
cornerstone for the reconstruction of the historic Ferhadija mosque in
Banja Luka. Local police also subsequently failed to conduct a serious
investigation into most of these incidents. In Zvornik, a past source
of conflict between the Islamic community and the local government was
eliminated when the municipal assembly allocated land for a new mosque
to be built. By the end of the reporting period, construction had not
yet begun.
During the reporting period, the municipality of Travnik in the
Federation partially complied with a 2003 decision by the Human Rights
Chamber (now the Human Rights Commission of the Constitutional Court)
ordering the municipal government to relocate a public school housed in
a building formerly owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. The
municipality returned half the building to the Archdiocese for use as
part of its Catholic school center. However, the other half remained in
use as a public school. The court ordered the public school to move out
of the building by July 1, 2006, but this would not be possible as the
local authorities had not constructed a new public school building. At
the end of the reporting period, negotiations on a timeline for the
full return of the building continued.
In the absence of a law governing property restitution, municipal
and cantonal authorities have broad discretion regarding disposition of
contested property nationalized under the communist government of the
former Yugoslavia. Many officials used property restitution cases as a
tool of political patronage, rendering religious leaders dependent on
politicians to regain property taken from religious communities. Other
unresolved restitution claims were politically and legally complicated.
For example, the Serb Orthodox Church was seeking the return of the
building which housed the University of Sarajevo's Economic Faculty and
compensation for the land on which the state parliament building was
located. The Jewish and Muslim communities also had claims to
substantial portions of what was prime Sarajevo commercial real estate.
The Catholic community had a large number of potential claims in Banja
Luka.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The RS and Federation Governments, local governments, and police
forces frequently allowed an atmosphere in which abuses of religious
freedom could take place. Reported attacks on religious buildings,
officials, and minority believers remained frequent during the
reporting period. The misuse of religious symbols and buildings for
political purposes had a negative impact on interreligious dialogue and
interethnic relations in many communities. The absence of a police
force willing to protect religious minorities, and of a judicial system
willing to prosecute crimes against those minorities, posed major
obstacles to safeguarding minority rights. While new officers continued
to be accepted into the police academies under strictly observed ethnic
quotas, the goal of establishing effective, professional, multiethnic
police forces throughout the country would take years of concentrated
effort. Administrative and financial obstacles to rebuilding religious
structures impeded the ability of religious minorities to worship
freely and contributed to the slow return of minority refugees in many
areas.
A significant number of citizens remained internally displaced or
refugees abroad following the 1992-1995 war. Virtually all had fled
areas where their ethnoreligious community had been in the
minority or had ended up in the minority as a result of the war. Both
organized and spontaneous returns peaked in 2002, and they continued to
fall sharply in 2005-2006.
There were a number of controversial and highly politicized cases
involving the illegal construction of religious buildings or monuments
on private or government-owned land. In these cases, the buildings or
monuments were built to send a political message to minority believers
about the dominance of the majority ethno-religious group in that area,
creating ethnic tensions and impeding the process of reconciliation.
Three significant cases remained unresolved during the reporting
period: The presence of a Serb Orthodox Church on the property of a
Bosnian Muslim woman in the RS town of Konjevic Polje, despite the
absence of local Serb residents; the presence of a Serb Orthodox
church, again in the absence of Orthodox believers, in the middle of a
majority Islamic community in the RS town of Divic; and the presence of
a large stone cross and cement foundations for the stations of the
cross in the ethnically divided town of Stolac in Herzegovina. In
August 2005, local authorities in a Catholic-majority area ordered the
destruction of the mosque in Jasenica on the grounds that the mosque
had been built illegally. The Mostar mufti protested this decision,
arguing that the mosque existed before the war and therefore the
Islamic community was reconstructing a preexisting religious object.
The issue remained unresolved at the end of the reporting period.
Although former Foca Mayor Nedeljko Pavlovic and Gorazde Mufti
Hamed Efendic agreed to the reconstruction of a Muslim religious
facility in Foca in 2003, a notoriously hard-line Serb municipality in
the RS, reconstruction had not begun by the end of the reporting
period.
In May 2004, the former Federation minister of spatial planning
ordered the removal of the Stolac stone cross and cross foundations,
and after a number of delays in response to political and religious
sensitivities, a lawsuit was filed in April 2005 which prevented the
implementation of the removal order pending a ruling by the
Constitutional Court. The lawsuit remained unresolved during the
reporting period.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Acts of anti-Semitism against the small Jewish community in the
country were relatively infrequent. In December 2005, a local
television station with limited viewership broadcast a program which
denied the Holocaust. In January 2006, there was no official
recognition of international Holocaust Memorial Day in BiH. In May
2006, graffiti reading ``Kill Jews'' appeared on a wall in the Sarajevo
suburb of Ilidza. Jewish leaders noted a tendency to mix anti-Israeli
sentiment with anti-Semitism, as the general public and the media often
failed to distinguish between criticism of Israeli policy and anti-
Semitic rhetoric.
In January 2005, two anti-Semitic articles written by a local
journalist were published in the Islamic extremist SAFF magazine and
the tabloid magazine Walter. In addition to making general anti-Semitic
statements (for example, denying the Holocaust), the articles accused
the Jewish community and some of its individual members of corruption
and conspiracy. One article included an altered photograph depicting
the leader of the Jewish community wearing a yarmulke, a Hitler
mustache, and an armband with Star of David insignia.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Catholic and Orthodox bishops of the country continued to meet
regularly to discuss issues of mutual concern. In July 2005, more than
2,000 Catholics attended the consecration of the newly reconstructed
church in the RS town of Doboj. In September 2005, the Catholic school
center in Banja Luka reopened for the first time since the end of World
War II.
In April 2006, the Government and the Holy See signed a basic
agreement regulating the legal status of the Catholic Church in BiH.
This agreement represented the culmination of six years of lobbying by
church officials, who expressed satisfaction with its scope and
provisions.
The Islamic community continued to reconstruct mosques throughout
the RS, including the Osman Pasha Mosque in Trebinje and mosques in
Konjevic Polje and Visegrad. During the last half of 2005, eighteen
reconstructed mosques in the RS were reopened. The Islamic community
estimates that it has reconstructed 130 mosques in the RS since the end
of the war.
The leaders of BiH's four traditional religious communities
participated in the Interreligious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
which continued to operate despite occasional significant
disagreements. Franciscan friar Ivo Markovic directed the ``Pontanima''
interfaith choir, which performed music from all four communities.
In July 2005, the leaders of the four traditional religious
communities attended the ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the
Srebrenica massacre. In November 2005, the leaders of the Serb
Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim communities attended an interfaith
conference in the United States during the commemorations of the tenth
anniversary of the signing of the Dayton peace accords. Cardinal Vinko
Puljic, the head of the Catholic Church in BiH, declined to attend on
the grounds that the Dayton agreement had harmed the interests of the
Bosnian Croat people, and that it would therefore be wrong for him to
attend events related to the anniversary.
Beginning in September 2005, the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo
Canton introduced an hour-long history lecture in the Jewish museum for
all primary and secondary school students.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Until the nineteenth century, most of the country's residents
identified themselves by religious affiliation. With the rise of Balkan
nationalism in the nineteenth century, the country came to identify
itself in ethnic as well as religious terms. This tendency increased
during the communist era when the regime discouraged religious
affiliation and targeted religious officials for harassment and
persecution, including arrest and detention. Under the communists, most
of the country's population identified themselves by ethnic group or
simply as ``Yugoslavs.'' Bosniaks were not considered an official
ethnic group. Only with the adoption of the 1974 Yugoslav constitution
could Muslims identify themselves as such in the census. Following the
country's independence, there continued to be persons who declined to
accept either ethnic or religious identification and considered
themselves simply Bosnians.
Religious buildings, clerics, and individual believers in any area
where they constituted a religious minority bore the brunt of
retaliation for discrimination and violence perpetrated by other
members of their religious/ethnic groups in areas where those groups
constituted the majority. Because they were powerful symbols of
religious identification and ethnicity, clerics and religious buildings
were favored targets. Most religious leaders severely criticized
violence and nationalism against their own group but could be less
vocal in condemning acts against members of other groups.
The 1992-1995 war was not a religious conflict. However, the
association of ethnicity and religion is so close that the bitterness
engendered by the war and the large-scale casualties it caused
contributed to mutual suspicion and distrust among members of all three
major religious groups.
Despite the constitutional and legal provisions for religious
freedom, some discrimination against religious minorities occurred in
virtually all parts of the country. Discrimination remained a serious
problem in the RS, particularly in the eastern RS, and in Croat-
dominated areas of the Federation; discrimination against non-Muslims
appeared also to have worsened in some Bosniak-majority areas where
more conservative Islamic communities resided. Some Muslim communities
in areas where Wahhabis and other Islamic fundamentalist movements have
gained adherents were deeply divided over how to worship, dress, and
perform certain religious ceremonies, including funerals.
While Sarajevo, the Bosniak-majority capital of the country, had
preserved in part its traditional role as a multiethnic city,
complaints of discrimination remained during the period covered by this
report. Some non-Muslims reported feeling isolated and marginalized in
the nation's capital. In February 2006, Muslims in Sarajevo protested
the publication of a cartoon of Muhammad in a number of European
countries. Although the protests were generally peaceful, protestors
burned a Croatian flag during one demonstration because the cartoon was
published in Croatian newspapers. This action provoked criticism from
Bosnian Croats. Protestors also burned Norwegian and Danish flags.
Numerous buildings belonging to the Islamic, Serbian Orthodox, and
Roman Catholic communities were damaged or destroyed during the 1992-
1995 war, usually in a deliberate attempt at ethnic intimidation.
Despite the increase in issuance of building permits for reconstruction
of religious buildings by Federation and RS authorities, the religious
communities lacked funds to rebuild these facilities.
In the immediate postwar period, the major religious communities
avoided reconstruction of the more symbolic religious facilities in the
country, such as the Ferhadija mosque in Banja Luka, the Aladza mosque
in Foca, and the monastery at Plehan near Derventa. The monastery at
Plehan was partially reconstructed, and efforts were underway to
rebuild the church in Plehan with financial support from the Bosnian
Croat diaspora. Reconstruction of the historic Ferhadija Mosque in
Banja Luka had not begun by the end of this reporting period, but the
Islamic community had the necessary permits and was collecting money to
fund the construction.
Numerous incidents against religious targets in all three ethnic
majority areas were reported throughout 2005 and the first half of
2006. All the major religious communities in the country reported an
increase in the number of incidents during the period covered by this
report.
There were a number of incidents directed at Bosniak Muslims during
the period covered by this report. In June 2005, Muslim graves were
desecrated near Prijedor in the RS. In July 2005, insulting graffiti
were painted on the wall of the Zvornik mosque. In October 2005, during
the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the mosque in Prijedor was
vandalized on three separate occasions. In February 2006, the Islamic
community building in Banja Luka was vandalized. Unknown persons wrote
insulting or anti-Muslim graffiti on the walls of the Hadziosmanija
mosque in Banja Luka in January 2005, on the house of an imam in
Balinovac, near Mostar, in April 2005, and on the mosque in the RS town
Zvornik in July. In December 2005, unknown persons vandalized Muslim
gravestones in Banja Luka.
There were also incidents directed at Bosnian Croats and the Roman
Catholic Church during the period covered by this report. In January
2006, unknown perpetrators placed a grenade launcher and a traffic sign
on the bell tower of the Catholic church in Drvar, in the RS. In
February 2006, the windows of the Church of Saint Mark in the Sarajevo
suburb of Ilijas were broken by vandals. Two local men were
subsequently arrested and the case was forwarded to the Sarajevo Canton
prosecutor.
There were incidents directed against members of the Bosnian Serb
Orthodox community during the period covered by this report. Serb
Orthodox priests working in the Tuzla area reported that funeral
services were disrupted by local residents shouting anti-Serb slogans
on several different occasions. The church in Puracic near Lukavac was
vandalized in January 2006.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government and leaders from all four traditional religious communities
in the context of its overall interfaith dialogue and policy of
promoting human rights. The U.S. Government supports the return of
refugees, democratization, and protection of human rights throughout
the country. The U.S. Government also encourages leaders from all major
religious communities to promote a multiethnic society that is
conducive to religious freedom. The embassy publicly criticizes
instances of religious discrimination and attacks against religious
communities or buildings and encourages political leaders from all
ethnic groups and members of the international community to respond
equally strongly. Strong U.S. Government support for full
implementation of the Dayton Accords and a politically moderate,
multiethnic government is intended, over time, to improve respect for
religious freedom in the country.
When the local Seventh-day Adventist Church encountered
difficulties in registering their religious community, the embassy
intervened on their behalf with the responsible officials at the
Ministry of Justice. The subsequent resolution of remaining problems
with the Church's registration application allowed the Church to
legally register and operate throughout the country.
The embassy has also continued to lobby strongly for the drafting
and adoption of a State Law on Restitution, which would assist
religious communities in obtaining return of their former property. The
embassy supported a number of specific initiatives by religious
communities to get back their properties, including the efforts of the
Serb Orthodox Church to reclaim its former theology faculty building in
downtown Sarajevo.
The ambassador frequently meets with the principal religious
leaders, individually and collectively, to urge them to work toward
moderation and a multiethnic society. Other embassy personnel regularly
meet with representatives of all religious communities to discuss
religious freedom concerns. The ambassador is a member of the Executive
Board of the Srebrenica Foundation, which oversees the continued
development of the memorial and cemetery dedicated to victims of the
1995 massacre of Srebrenica-area Muslim men and boys in Potocari.
The U.S. Government funded the development of the countrywide human
rights and democracy courses currently being taught in all Bosnian
secondary schools. In 2005, this project was expanded and the course
was being taught in madrassahs and at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences.
In addition, the embassy engages in an active outreach program with
the religious communities at all levels, including hosting speaking
engagements by visiting U.S. academics and lecturers, meeting with
faith-based charities, and supporting a university affiliation program
between the University of Sarajevo and the University of Arizona to
create a department of comparative religious studies.
__________
BULGARIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the law
prohibits the public practice of religion by unregistered groups. The
constitution also designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the
``traditional'' religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, discrimination,
harassment, and general public intolerance, particularly in the media,
of some religious groups remained an intermittent problem.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 42,855 square miles, and its population
was approximately 7.76 million at the end of 2004, according to the
National Statistical Institute. The majority of citizens, estimated at
approximately 85 percent, identified themselves as Orthodox Christians.
Muslims comprised the largest minority, estimated at approximately 13
percent; other minorities included Catholics, Protestants, Jews,
Gregorian-Armenian Christians, and others. Among the ethnic-Turkish
minority, Islam was the predominant religion. While not officially
enumerated, academic research estimated up to 40 percent of the
population was atheist or agnostic. Official registration of religious
organizations was handled by the Sofia City Court; it reported that
twelve new denominations were registered between February 2005 and
February 2006, bringing the total number of registered religious groups
to seventy-three denominations in addition to the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church (BOC), a nearly 20 percent increase.
Some religious minorities were concentrated geographically. The
Rhodope Mountains (along the country's southern border with Greece)
were home to many Muslims, including ethnic Turks, Roma, and ``Pomaks''
(descendents of Slavic Bulgarians who converted to Islam under Ottoman
rule). Ethnic-Turkish and Roma Muslims also lived in large numbers in
the northeast of the country, primarily in and around the cities of
Shumen and Razgrad, as well as along the Black Sea coast. More than
half of the country's Roman Catholics were located in the region around
Plovdiv. Many members of the country's small Jewish community lived in
Sofia, Rousse, and along the Black Sea coast. Protestants were
dispersed more widely throughout the country. While clear statistics
were not available, evangelical Protestant groups had particular
success in attracting converts from among the Roma minority, and areas
with large Roma populations tended also to have some of the highest
percentages of Protestants.
According to a 2005 report of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,
only 50 percent of the 6 million Bulgarians who identified themselves
as Orthodox Christians participated in formal religious services. The
same survey found that 90 percent of the country's estimated 70,000
Catholics regularly engaged in public worship. Approximately 30 percent
of Catholics belonged to the Eastern Rite Uniate Church. The majority
of Muslims, who were estimated at 750,000, were Sunni; 50,000 were
classified as Shi'a. The Jewish community was estimated at 3,500, and
approximately 50,000 were said to be evangelical Protestants. The
report also noted that more than 100,000 Bulgarians practice
``nontraditional'' beliefs. (Orthodox Christianity, Hanafi Sunni Islam,
Judaism, and Catholicism were generally understood to be
``traditional'' faiths.) Forty percent of these ``nontraditional''
practitioners were estimated to be Roma.
Statistics reported by the Council of Ministers Religious'
Confessions Directorate reported slightly different figures, listing
nearly 1 million Muslims and 150,000 evangelical Protestants, as well
as 20,000 to 30,000 Armenian Christians and approximately 3,000 Jews.
Foreign missionaries from numerous denominations, including several
Protestant churches, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses, were active in
the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the law
prohibits the public practice of religion by unregistered groups. The
constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity, represented by
the BOC, as the ``traditional'' religion; and the Government provided
preferential financial support to it, as well as to several other
religious communities perceived as holding historic places in society,
such as the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths.
The 2002 Denominations Act allows only legally registered
denominations to perform public activities outside their places of
worship. The 2002 law transferred responsibility for registering
religious groups to the Sofia City Court, which is responsible for
maintaining the national register of religious denominations as well as
the register of political parties. The Council of Ministers' Religious
Confessions Directorate, which was formerly responsible for
registration of religious groups, provides ``expert opinions'' on
registration matters upon request of the Court. However, the
Directorate's overall role remains ambiguous, particularly as it
pertains to its administrative oversight and sanctioning functions. All
applicants have the right to appeal negative registration decisions to
the Court of Appeals. Denominations reported a general improvement in
the registration process since the court took over this responsibility
in 2003. Some local branches of nationally registered denominations
continued to experience problems with local authorities who insisted
that the branches be registered locally, despite the fact that the 2002
Denominations Act does not require local formal registration of
denominations. These complaints were less frequent than in previous
years.
Representatives of some evangelical Protestant churches reported
problems in obtaining permits for public services from local
authorities, particularly in the Dobrich and General Toshev
municipalities.
A Council of Europe review of the 2002 Denominations Act, prepared
in early 2003, highlighted that the provisions dealing with the process
of registration specify neither the criteria establishing the basis on
which the court should grant registration nor the grounds on which such
registration can be withheld. The act also fails to specify the
consequences of failure to register as a religious community or
outlines any recourse if a competent court refuses to grant
registration.
The three-year legal dispute surrounding leadership of the Muslim
community remained unsettled, despite the Sofia City Court's May 11,
2005, attempt to resolve the issue by formally registering Mustafa
Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti. Rival Islamic leader Nedim Gendzhev filed
an appeal, and in December 2005, the Sofia Appellate Court ordered
Gendzhev's registration as leader. In January 2006, the City Court
issued official certificates of registration to both parties in the
dispute--to Gendzhev on January 25 and to Hadji on January 26. This
allowed both sides to claim legal recognition and control of community
funds. Accusations of embezzlement were traded, and many observers
criticized the court procedure as opaque and politically influenced.
The legal status of the case remained unclear at the time of this
report.
On November 5, 2004, the Pazardzhik District Court passed a three-
year suspended sentence on Ahmed Ahmed Musa for preaching radical Islam
and instigating societal hatred along religious lines. He was also
fined for disgracing the national flag. During the trial, Musa made a
full confession and pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him.
Five doctors confirmed that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and
as such was extremely susceptible to outside influence. Musa chose not
to appeal the sentence.
The 2002 Denominations Act designates the Metropolitan of Sofia,
currently Patriarch Maxim, as the Patriarch of the BOC. The law
prohibits any group or person who has broken off from a registered
religious group from using the same name or claiming any properties
belonging to that group.
In 2004, prosecutors and police intervened to evict members of the
Bulgarian Orthodox ``Alternate Synod'' from properties claimed by the
BOC after a twelve-year schism in the BOC. Priests from the Alternative
Synod, who oppose Patriarch Maxim's leadership, were forcibly evicted
from approximately 250 churches and other properties, and several
clerics were temporarily detained. Some nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) reported police beatings of clergy and lay persons. Alternative
Synod representatives responded by filing a complaint before the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and were granted an accelerated
hearing in June 2005. The case was pending before the ECHR at the end
of the period covered by this report, as were several smaller cases in
the country's courts involving property disputes between the Orthodox
Church and the Alternative Synod.
For most registered religious groups, there were no restrictions on
attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction.
Two BOC seminaries, a Jewish school, three Islamic schools, the
university-level Islamic Higher Institute, a Muslim cultural center, a
multi-denominational Protestant seminary, and university theological
faculties operated freely. Bibles, Qur'ans, and other religious
materials in the Bulgarian language were imported or printed freely,
and religious publications were produced regularly.
An optional religious education course was first introduced in
state-run schools in 1997. The curriculum, developed by the Ministry of
Education's Commission on Religion, initially focused on Christianity
but was expanded in 1999 to cover Islam as well. The course examines
the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of religion and
introduces students to the moral values of different confessions. All
officially registered religious confessions can request that their
religious beliefs be included in the course's curriculum. According to
the Ministry of Education, the course was offered to 13,209 primary and
secondary school students in 199 schools during the 2004-2005 academic
year. While the ministry provides the course material for free to
students, the 166 religious education teachers participating in the
program are funded directly from municipal budgets.
The Chief Mufti's Office also supports summer Qur'anic education
courses.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The law requires religious groups wishing to operate and be
recognized as legal entities, as well as those wanting to engage in
public activities outside of their places of worship, to formally
register with the Sofia City Court. The number of groups registered
with the court increased from thirty-six in 2003 when the Court took
over this responsibility, to seventy-three in 2006.
While the state of religious freedom has improved for some
nontraditional groups, some groups continued to face limited
discrimination and antipathy from some local authorities, despite
successfully registering through the Sofia City Court. Article 21 of
the 2002 Denominations Act states that nationally registered religious
groups may have local branches according to their statute. The law does
not require formal local registration of denominations, although some
municipalities have claimed that it does.
Some municipalities, such as Rousse, Shumen, Pleven, Stara Zagora,
Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, and Kurdzhali, had local ordinances curtailing
religious practices that have not been changed to conform to the 2002
Denominations Act. In most cases, these ordinances were not strictly
enforced. In March 2005, the Burgas Municipal Council adopted a new
ordinance repealing previous limitations on the right of nontraditional
religious groups to publicly practice their beliefs.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported that police in several towns issued
arrest warrants for members of the denomination who attempted to
proselytize. On June 12, 2005, the deputy mayor of Plovdiv fined Hans
Amon, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, for violating a local decree on
public order by distributing brochures with religious content. Despite
previous hostility in Burgas toward nontraditional groups such as the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the denomination's local branch was included in
the mayor's list of local religious groups in January 2005. The
Jehovah's Witnesses completed construction of a new place of worship in
Burgas in 2005; however, the group also reported that the building was
vandalized several times.
A number of religious groups recognized that foreign missionaries
and religious leaders experienced difficulties in obtaining and
renewing residence visas in the country because the Law on Foreign
Persons has no visa category that explicitly applies to missionaries or
religious workers. The Jehovah's Witnesses reported that the Government
twice refused residence visas to two missionaries from Germany, even
though the denomination had received approval for their activities and
stay in the country from the Religious Confessions Directorate. Some
missionaries have resorted to staying in the country as ``tourists,''
forcing them to limit the length of their visits to no more than thirty
days every six months.
On October 26, 2005, the Government denied Unification Church
leader Sun Myung Moon permission to enter the country. The Ministry of
Interior cited its inability to provide security as the reason for
canceling Moon's visit, which coincided with a nationwide security
crackdown following the gangland killing of the country's wealthiest
businessman. Moon's visit had sparked security concerns due to planned
protests by nationalist groups and religious leaders opposed to his
visit.
There were no indications that the Government discriminated against
members of any religious group in restitution of properties that were
nationalized during the communist period. However, the BOC, the
Catholic Church, the Muslim community, the Jewish community, and
several Protestant denominations all complained that a number of their
confiscated properties had not been returned. For example, the Catholic
Church reported that only 60 percent of its confiscated properties had
been restituted.
A high-profile restitution case involving the Jewish community
ended in defeat in July 2005, when the Supreme Cassation Court denied
the community's claim to part of a high-value property in central Sofia
which was once the site of a Jewish school. Previous court defeats had
held that the petitioning organization was unable to establish its
lineage back to the original owners of the property. In contrast, the
July appellate ruling acknowledged the organization's lineage but held
that the expropriation procedure was properly executed by the Communist
government in the 1960s, and that the community was not legally
entitled to any further compensation. Both foreign and domestic
observers expressed concern about possible manipulation of the judicial
process. The community's request for an extraordinary judicial review
of the July decision was denied in March 2006, effectively exhausting
all judicial remedies. In an attempt to find an equitable political
solution to this and other outstanding restitution cases involving the
Jewish community, the Government established an inter-ministerial
commission in May 2006 to study alternate forms of compensation.
The constitution prohibits the formation of political parties along
religious lines.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
The constitution prohibits forced religious conversion. There were
no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
Anti-Semitism
The country's small Jewish community became a target of the
extremist political party Ataka, which employed anti-Semitic rhetoric
during the June 2005 parliamentary election campaign. Both the
newspaper launched by Ataka in October of that year and the group's
website (www.ataka.bg) contain anti-Semitic material. Ataka is not a
member of the governing coalition, and politicians from all sides of
the political spectrum have spoken out against its extremist message.
Police arrested three teenagers who had admitted desecrating more
than one hundred Turkish graves in Haskovo on April 8, 2005. The three
youths, who had acknowledged an interest in the skinhead movement, were
reportedly intoxicated when they decided to vandalize the cemetery. The
investigation was ongoing at the time of this report.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Despite initial fears that the 2002 Denominations Act would hamper
religious organizations' ability to operate freely, thirty-seven new
religious groups have registered with the Sofia City Court since 2003.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, discrimination,
harassment, and general public intolerance of some religious groups
remained an intermittent problem. While human rights groups reported
that societal discrimination against nontraditional religious groups
has continued to gradually lessen in recent years, it was not uncommon
for the media to disseminate negative and derogatory stories about
nontraditional denominations. For example, the Mormons and the
Jehovah's Witnesses both reported numerous print and broadcast media
stories with negative, derogatory, and sometimes slanderous information
about their activities and beliefs.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy regularly monitors religious freedom in ongoing contacts
with government officials, members of Parliament (MPs), clergy and lay
leaders of religious communities, and NGOs. Embassy officers met with
Orthodox leaders and clergy, senior and local Muslim leaders, religious
and lay leaders of the Jewish community, and leaders of numerous
Protestant and nontraditional denominations. During the period covered
by this report, the embassy remained closely engaged with government
officials, MPs, religious organizations, and NGOs concerning the 2002
Denominations Act. The embassy also remained concerned with government
interference in the BOC schism, and reports of discrimination against
religious organizations; with various religious groups and government
entities regarding the restitution of properties; and with Muslim
leaders regarding Islamic extremism and the Muslim leadership dispute.
__________
CROATIA
The constitution provides for freedom of conscience and religion
and free public profession of religious conviction, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice. There is no official
state religion; however, the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed a close
relationship with the state not shared by other religious groups. The
legal position of most major religious communities improved because of
agreements with the state, which grant benefits similar to those
enjoyed by the Catholic Church.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and the coalition Government
that took power in 2003 continued to contribute to the generally free
practice of religion.
Religion and ethnicity were linked closely in society. Following
independence in 1991, religious institutions of all faiths were
victimized by the ethnic conflicts that led to the breakup of the
former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2005, there were
occasional reports of intimidation and vandalism, particularly in the
war-affected areas, directed against Serbian Orthodox clergy and
property, although those incidents remained sporadic.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
Embassy officials frequently met with representatives of religious and
ethnic minority communities and with government officials.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 21,831 square miles and a
population of approximately 4,437,000. The religious breakdown of the
country was approximately: Roman Catholic, 85 percent; Orthodox
Christian, 6 percent; Muslim, 1 percent; Jewish, less than 1 percent;
other, 4 percent; and atheist, 2 percent. Before the emergence of the
pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II, the Jewish
community numbered some 35,000 to 40,000. An estimated 6,000 Jews were
thought to have survived the war, and the community was thought to
number about 2,000 during the period covered by this report.
The statistics regarding religious affiliation correlated closely
with the country's ethnic makeup. The Orthodox, predominantly ethnic
Serbs associated with the Serbian Orthodox Church, primarily lived in
cities and areas bordering on Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and
Montenegro. Members of other minority religions resided mostly in urban
areas. Most immigrants were Roman Catholic ethnic Croats from Bosnia.
Protestants from a number of denominations and foreign clergy
actively practiced and proselytized, as did representatives of Asian
religions. A variety of missionaries were present, including the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses,
Greek Catholics, Pentecostals, Hare Krishnas, and a wide range of
evangelical Protestant Christians (including Baptists, Seventh-day
Adventists, Church of Christ, and various nondenominational
organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ).
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of conscience and religion
and free public profession of religious conviction, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice. There is no official
state religion; however, the Roman Catholic Church, Serbian Orthodox
Church, Islamic community, and other smaller Christian denominations
that have signed agreements with the state, receive some state support.
The 2002 Law on Legal Status of Religious Communities broadly
defines religious communities' legal positions and covers such issues
as government funding, tax benefits, and religious education in
schools. Other important issues, such as pensions for clergy, religious
service in the military, penitentiaries and police, and recognition of
religious marriages, were left to each religious community to negotiate
separately with the Government. Most religious communities considered
the law an improvement over the previous state of affairs. Restitution
of nationalized or confiscated church property is regulated under the
1996 Law on Return of Property Expropriated or Nationalized during the
Yugoslav communist rule, which was amended in 2002. As of mid-2006,
only persons who obtained citizenship by October 1996 may file claims
under Croatia's restitution law. The Government plans to propose an
amendment to the law that would allow foreigners to file claims on an
equal basis with Croatian citizens. As of mid-2006, the Government had
not yet submitted the proposed amendment to Parliament. With regard to
the period covered by the 1996 restitution law, government officials
stated that a 1999 Constitutional Court decision has the legislative
effect of allowing claims relating to confiscations during the
previously excluded period of World War II to be considered under the
law's provisions.
In 2003, the Government approved a regulation on the registration
of religious communities, known as the Regulation on Forms and
Maintaining Records of Religious Communities in Croatia, which required
all religious communities to submit registration applications within
six months. The regulation stipulates that, to register, a religious
community must have at least 500 believers and must be registered as an
association for five years. All religious communities in the country
prior to passage of the law are being registered without conditions;
religious communities that are new to the country since passage of the
law must fulfill the requirements for the minimum number of believers
and time registered as an association. By the end of the period covered
by this report, approximately forty religious communities had been
registered and seventeen additional communities applied for
registration. Registered religious communities are granted the status
of a ``legal person'' and enjoy tax and other benefits under the Law on
Religious Communities. Religious communities that are based abroad must
submit written permission for registration from their country of
origin. The Helsinki Commission reported earlier in 2004 on
requirements to register new religious communities, but prominent human
rights organizations, including the Croatian Helsinki Committee, said
in 2004 that the requirements were well within the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards. In December 2005,
three churches--the Church of the Full Gospel, the Alliance of Churches
``Word of Life,'' and the Protestant Reformed Christian Church--
challenged in the Constitutional Court the Government's refusal to
conclude agreements that would provide them benefits similar to those
provided by agreements with the Catholic, Serb Orthodox, Islamic, and
other communities. The Government maintained that the churches did not
meet its requirements of having a minimum number of members and of
being continuously active in the country since 1941. The appeal was
pending in the Constitutional Court at the end of the period covered by
this report. No specific licensing is required for foreign
missionaries.
In line with the concordats signed with the Catholic Church and in
an effort to define their rights and privileges within a legal
framework, agreements have been signed with the following religious
communities: The Serbian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Community
(2002); the Evangelical Church, Reformed Christian Church, Pentecostal
Church, Union of Pentecostal Churches of Christ, Christian Adventist
Church, Union of Baptist Churches, Church of God, Church of Christ, and
the Reformed Movement of Seventh-day Adventists (2003); and the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church, and Croatian Old
Catholic Church (2003). The Jewish Community of Zagreb, which
facilitates ``coordination'' with ten other Jewish communities, sought
to sign an agreement with the state in November 2005. The text was
similar to that offered by the Government in 2003, which was refused by
the Community because of lack of progress on property restitution.
Signing was once again delayed as another Jewish group contested the
Community's membership requirements. That group, the Jewish Religious
Community Beth Israel, requested state registration as a new and
separate entity in September 2005, following a split in the Community
after the decision not to renew the contract of the country's first
Rabbi. As of May 2006, the Central State Office for Administration was
considering these requests. The Government's general approach is to
negotiate agreements with individual religious communities based on a
common framework rather than set uniform, nondiscriminatory standards
and practices. Leaders of non-Roman Catholic religions, with the
exception of the Serb Orthodox Church, expressed general satisfaction
with the communication they had with the Government.
In July 2005, Croatian Radio Television (HRT) signed an agreement
with eight minority religious communities guaranteeing equal
representation in its programs. HRT agreed to live broadcasts of
important annual celebrations and minimum weekly and monthly coverage.
Under an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church, HRT provided up to
10 hours per month of regular coverage of Roman Catholic events, while
the other religious communities received 10 minutes of coverage or
less.
The Roman Catholic Church operates one of the country's private
national radio stations, Catholic Radio, which is financed by private
contributions. There are no restrictions on religious broadcasting.
Topics of interest to major non-Roman Catholic religious groups are
covered regularly on weekly religious programming on HRT.
The Roman Catholic Church, on several occasions, reacted to its
treatment in the media. In May 2005, the Catholic Radio Marija
Association collected more than 40,000 signatures requesting that a
satirical cartoon series critical of the Catholic Church be removed
from national television. The Association also sent an open letter to
the OSCE disagreeing with the organization's view that the program was
an expression of civic and media freedoms. Political leaders reacted in
February 2006 when the weekly Nacional printed the controversial Danish
cartoon of Muhammad. President Mesic described this as an unwise move
and said that ``...balance needed to be kept between the principle of
freedom of speech and the need not to hurt anyone's religious
sentiments.'' Prime Minister Sanader also considered this as ``a wrong
editorial move,'' and the Government stated that, while advocating full
freedom of media, it maintained that ``articles containing
disparagements and mocking another's religion, nationality or world-
view should by no means be published in the media.'' Bosnian Muslims in
Sarajevo burned a Croatian flag in front of the Croatian Embassy in
protest against the publishing of the cartoons.
The Islamic community's Bairam ceremony, usually attended by high-
level government officials, is telecast live annually from the Zagreb
Mosque. The Islamic community credited the monthly TV broadcast Ekumena
for contributing significantly to an atmosphere of greater tolerance.
Muslims have the right to observe their religious holy days. They
are granted a paid holiday for one Bairam and have the right to observe
the other as well, although they are not paid for the second day. The
Ministry of Education recognizes the diploma conferred by the Muslim
community's secondary school in Zagreb.
Missionaries did not operate registered schools, but the Mormon
community provided free English lessons which were normally offered in
conjunction with education on the Mormon religion.
There was no government-sponsored ecumenical activity.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. The Government imposes no formal restrictions on
religious groups, and all religious communities are free to conduct
public services and to open and run social and charitable institutions.
There is no official state religion; however, the Roman Catholic
Church receives financial state support and other benefits established
in concordats between the Government and the Vatican. The concordats
and other agreements with non-Catholic religious communities allow
state financing for some salaries and pensions for priests and nuns
through government-managed pension and health funds.
The concordats also regulate recognition of marriages, public
school catechisms, and military chaplains. The Ministry of Defense
employs fifteen full-time and four part-time Catholic priests and
chaplains. After the Government signed an agreement with the Serbian
Orthodox Church, five Orthodox priests began service in prisons and
penitentiaries; the Islamic Community deployed one imam in the same
service. In October 2005, the Government signed a protocol with the
Islamic community that guarantees that members of the armed forces and
recruits of the Muslim faith have regular access to chaplains, are
provided with halal meals, and are excused from duty during major
holidays. According to internal army polls in 2004, fifty-five
conscripts and active members of the armed forces requested Muslim
pastoral care.
Marriages conducted by the fifteen religious communities that have
agreements with the state are officially recognized, eliminating the
need to register the marriages in the civil registry office.
Facilitating the return of refugees (primarily ethnic Serbs)
remained a challenge for the Government, which made progress in a
number of areas relating to returns. However, some ethnic Serbs who
wished to return to the country, including Serbian Orthodox clergy,
continued to encounter difficulties or delays in resolving various
administrative issues. Serbian Orthodox officials reported that the
number of Serbian Orthodox clergy, which had been reduced to 30 after
the 1991-1995 war, increased to 128. The increase was greatest in the
Dalmatian and Karlovac eparchies. Orthodox Church sources ascribed the
rising number of new priests, mostly from Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Serbia and Montenegro, to the increase in Serb returnees. Orthodox
Church sources complained that the new priests, particularly in Knin,
continued to have difficulties with renewing their working permits and
residency status at relatively short intervals. The lack of a more
permanent status deprived them and their family members of health care
benefits and pensions. While religion and ethnicity were closely linked
in society, the majority of incidents of discrimination were motivated
by ethnicity rather than religion or religious doctrine. Discrimination
continued in some areas against ethnic Serbs and, at times, other
minorities, including the administration of justice, employment, and
housing.
The Government requires that religious training be provided in
public schools, although attendance is optional. Because 85 percent of
the population is Roman Catholic, the Catholic catechism is the
predominant religious teaching offered in public schools. Schools that
meet the necessary quota of seven students of a minority faith per
class allowed separate religion classes to be held for the students. In
cases where there are not sufficient numbers of students of a minority
faith to warrant separate classes, students may exercise the option to
receive religious instruction through their religious community. In
2003, government officials estimated that 4,500 primary and secondary
school children in 37 schools attended Serbian Orthodox religion
classes, the majority of which were in Eastern Slavonia, Rijeka, and
Gorski Kotar. Orthodox Church sources reported that the number of
students in 2005 rose to approximately 5,000, of which 4,050 were in
Eastern Slavonia. Local Orthodox clergy commended the Ministry of
Science, Education and Sports, the GOC Institute for Education, and the
Catholic Church in Djakovo diocese for good cooperation. In 2005, after
initial resistance, principals of two schools in Knin permitted Serbian
Orthodox religion classes for the approximately 500 primary and
secondary school children eligible to attend. However, Orthodox clergy
complained that authorities in one of the primary schools allowed only
half of the guaranteed number of classes, and, in the other school,
pupils of Serb ethnicity were dispersed throughout the school so that
the legally required minimum of seven students per class could not be
reached. Similar resistance by local school boards to establishing
Serbian Orthodox religion classes in schools continued in Imotski. In
2005, Serbian Orthodox officials reported that many school children and
their parents remained reluctant to identify themselves as Serbian
Orthodox to avoid being singled out. Similarly, the Orthodox clergy
noted that children in the Karlovac area were reluctant to openly
attend their religious education for fear of being ostracized.
In September 2003, the Jewish Community of Zagreb opened the first
private Jewish elementary school in the country. The Government
annually observes January 27 as Holocaust Remembrance Day with seminars
and commemorative events.
The secondary school operated by the Islamic Community for
religious training was at full capacity (102 students); the community
intended to gradually convert the school into a more general secondary
school while at the same time developing an institution of higher
education specifically for religious training. The community postponed
its plans to open a Faculty of Islamic Studies at the Zagreb Mosque in
order to meet academic requirements. It planned to open an Islamic
institute for higher education in September 2006 that would educate
both clergy and laity and provide training for religious teachers in
the schools. The minister of culture, in charge of relations with
religious communities, expressed support for the project. Authorities
representing the Islamic community continued to report good cooperation
and dialogue with the Government. The Orthodox Church opened a
religious secondary school in September 2005 that had ten students
during the period covered by this report, with plans to expand in the
coming years. The Roman Catholic Church intended to establish a
university in Zagreb in 2007. (See below.)
Restitution of property nationalized or confiscated by the Yugoslav
communist regime remained a problem. Many religious communities
identified property return as their top priority and complained about
the lack of progress. A 1998 concordat with the Vatican provided for
the return of all Roman Catholic Church property confiscated by the
communist regime after 1945. The agreement stipulated that the
Government would return seized properties or compensate the Church
where return was impossible. Some progress was made with some
returnable properties being restituted, and there were instances of
compensation for non-returnable properties. In 2003, the Roman Catholic
Church submitted a list of priority properties for restitution to the
Government that included large commercial buildings, recreational
property, and several properties already in use by the Church, such as
monasteries, dormitories, and residences for children with
disabilities. Catholic Church officials reported the return of a few
properties over the last year, while some claims ran into open
opposition by local authorities. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader met with
the Zagreb Archbishop Josip Bozanic in May 2006 and agreed to sign a
contract to hand over the King Tomislav army barracks complex as a
compensation for other yet unspecified church property in Zagreb. The
building will be used to house the Catholic University, which was
scheduled to begin its program in the fall of 2007. The Government
signed a letter of intent in July 2005 to hand over the property and
expressed full support for the project. The press reported that the
city of Zagreb returned the Komedija theatre in the city center to the
Franciscan Monastery. The theatre would continue to use the building
for the next fifteen years under a favorable rent agreement.
In March 2006, the press reported that the Varazdin town and county
authorities opposed restitution of the former monastery in the town's
center in which the Computer Science College is located. The building
is listed as one of the remaining fifteen capital objects in the
country intended for restitution. City authorities disputed the legal
basis of the claim and cited its substantial investment in the
building. According to the Varazdin bishop, the town's mayor agreed in
2002 to relocate the college, and the Church protested against
widespread media reports perceived as pressure intended to influence
the procedure. This was the only remaining claim made by the Church in
Varazdin at the end of the period covered by this report, because a
monastery, currently used as a medical school, was returned in February
2006 to the Order of Ursuline nuns. Negotiations remained stalled on
the Government's offer of a 25 percent stake in the Croatia Osiguranje
insurance company that opened three years ago.
Other than the Law on Return of Property Expropriated or
Nationalized during Yugoslav communist rule, there were no specific
property restitution agreements between the Government and non-Roman
Catholic religious groups. The Serbian Orthodox community, the second
largest claimant of property in the country, reported that its joint
restitution subcommission with the Government had not convened during
the year, despite repeated requests. It reported that restitution in
2005 was minimal, and expressed particular concern over the lack of
progress in restitution of several valuable business and residential
buildings in downtown Zagreb. In 2005, reconstruction of a number of
Orthodox churches began across the country. Most notably, the Ministry
of Reconstruction funded and worked on the landmark St. Nicholas Church
in the center of Karlovac, which was demolished during the war.
Overall, sources in the Serbian Orthodox Church believed that the
Government had been slow to follow through on its commitments but
commended good relations with the president's cabinet. The Church
continued with legal action initiated in 2004 against current owners of
forty previously church-owned and then nationalized flats in Zagreb in
order to prevent further sale. No progress was made in any of these
cases or in the return of properties that belonged to monasteries, such
as arable land and forests.
Several Jewish properties, including some Zagreb buildings, were
not returned. The Jewish community stated that the process of returning
nationalized property in Zagreb was halted in 2005 and had made no
progress since. The Jewish community of Osijek reported some progress
on the return of property in Osijek and Vukovar; in 2004, the property
on which the former synagogue of Vukovar stood was returned. Other
claims remained stalled in court at the end of the reporting period.
The Muslim community had no property claims. Its major issue
concerned the construction of a mosque in Rijeka after several years of
delays because of administrative obstacles and local community protests
related to its location. An acceptable alternate site was found, and
the community expected the construction to begin soon after the
authorities adopted the city zoning plan in June 2006. Plans existed to
build a mosque in Osijek. In 2005, city officials offered a favorable
site that was connected to existing infrastructure.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Generally, acts of anti-Semitism were rare. In April 2005, the
Jewish community and some international organizations received a
threatening, anti-Semitic letter. Police investigated but identified no
suspects. In June 2006, police pressed charges against a twenty-one-
year-old student for sending two threatening e-mails to the Zagreb
Jewish Community. In the messages, the author insulted victims of the
Holocaust, Jews, and the black race. He also expressed hope for ``the
Iranians to complete a nuclear bomb as soon as possible and launch it
on Haifa and Tel Aviv,'' after which celebrations would be held in
Zagreb's streets.
Also in June, two youths wearing shirts with Nazi insignia verbally
and then physically assaulted the rabbi of the Jewish Community in
Zagreb. Police continued an investigation at the end of the period
covered by this report.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Religion and ethnicity were closely linked in society, and religion
often was used historically to identify non-Croats and single them out
for discriminatory practices. This link contributed to the ethnic
conflicts of the 1990s and to the perpetration of violence and
intimidation against religious persons, institutions, and symbols of
all faiths. Such incidents continued to occur sporadically during the
period covered by this report and were primarily directed against
Serbian Orthodox clergy and property.
During the period covered by this report, human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and religious leaders noted that
overall ethnic and religious relations remained stable. The exceptions
were incidents involving harassment of clergy and desecration and
vandalism of Serbian Orthodox Church property, which continued to occur
sporadically. In Dalmatia, Serbian Orthodox officials reported an
increased number of incidents of verbal threats and isolated physical
attacks against clergy and property. Serbian Orthodox officials
continued to complain that local police investigations rarely led to
identification or legal action against perpetrators.
The majority of reported incidents against both Orthodox Church
property and clergy occurred at the end of 2005 prior to Orthodox
Christmas.
For example, in December 2005, the Orthodox Church and the NGO Serb
Democratic Forum reported that a group of young men smashed the
entrance to the St. Sava Church in Split and shouted threats such as
``Kill the Serbs,'' and continued to cause damage on nearby streets. In
Zadar, in December, offensive graffiti referring to a Serb Orthodox
saint and Ustasha symbols were sprayed on the fence of the St. Ilija
Church. Church sources reported that an unknown perpetrator lit a fire
in front of the Orthodox Diocese building. The fire was contained
before spreading to the adjacent park. Police investigated but did not
identify perpetrators in any of these cases. Similarly, unknown persons
damaged the shutters of the Orthodox residential and administrative
building in Osijek and pasted the windows with threatening messages
such as ``Serbs should hang.'' The perpetrators were not identified.
In September 2005, the Serb Democratic Forum reported that a group
of unknown attackers threw stones at the Church of the Assumption in
Drnis in the Dalmatian hinterlands while the priest was inside the
church. The men yelled, ``Do not toll the bell; this is not Serbia.''
The police arrived shortly afterwards but were not able to apprehend
the perpetrators. In October 2005, a group of young men jumped over the
wall of the Sibenik eparchy courtyard shouting anti-Serb slogans, and
demolished garden furniture and window shutters. Police identified
three perpetrators and indicated to the media that the incident had no
political significance. Despite its low profile in Croatia, the foreign
minister of Serbia and Montenegro (SaM) sent a protest note to his
Croatian counterpart, and the SaM ambassador visited Sibenik and asked
local authorities to guarantee the security of Serbs and their places
of worship.
Sporadic, small-scale incidents occurred elsewhere in the country.
For example, in August, human rights NGOs reported that a group of
young men rushed into the courtyard of the parish's Orthodox priest in
Slatina in the early morning hours, yelling ethnically-based epithets.
The police intervened quickly and filed a report against the
perpetrators for disturbing public order. The priest did not file
criminal charges for the ethnically-motivated abuse.
The Muslim and Jewish communities reported no major incidents of
violence or harassment toward religious persons or sites during the
period covered by this report; however, during Bairam holidays in
November 2005, a plaque on the Dubrovnik Mosque was burned and the fire
partly damaged the entrance door. Similarly, a plaque was removed from
the front wall of the Islamic community building in Split in February
2006. In both cases the police investigated but did not identify any
suspects. Local Islamic community leaders expressed concern about the
incidents as they echoed similar cases of vandalism in 1993 and 1997.
Relations between the Government and the Jewish community steadily
improved over the past several years. However, President Stepan Mesic
(who held a nonpartisan, partly ceremonial head-of-state position)
spoke out publicly in support of one specific Jewish group after the
Zagreb Jewish Community split in mid-2005 over the issue of whether to
renew, for an eighth year, the contract of the rabbi. While generally
supportive of ethnic and religious minority groups, the president
criticized the decision not to renew the rabbi's contract and suggested
that the rabbi was to be expelled ``according to the same principles by
which the Nazis drove Jews into concentration camps.'' Community
leaders criticized the president's perceived interference.
In March 2005, President Mesic visited the Yad Vashem memorial in
Jerusalem and acknowledged that inappropriate statements by prior
leaders caused mistrust between Israel and Croatia. In June 2005, Prime
Minister Sanader made his first official visit to Israel, where he met
with then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and paid respect to the victims
of the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem memorial. In April 2006, President
Mesic spoke at the Holocaust commemoration ceremony at the Jasenovac
concentration camp; the ceremony was attended by representatives of
Parliament, Government, and national minorities, as well as
representatives of the Orthodox, Jewish, and Catholic faiths. In
November 2005, Croatia became a member of the Task Force for
International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and
Research. Preparations were under way to open a memorial museum and
educational center by the end of 2006 at the Jasenovac Memorial Area.
While the Roman Catholic Church officially seeks no role in
political life, it campaigned through its most prominent institutions,
including the largest Catholic Church charity, Caritas, on several
topics of public interest. Along with the Center for Promotion of
Social Teaching and the Franciscan Institute, Caritas campaigned for
the law that would ban all stores from opening on Sundays, and, in
March 2006, they approached the minister of economy for support. In
late 2003, Caritas campaigned for legislation based on the church-state
concordats that would ban most retail stores from opening on Sundays. A
law restricting business activities on Sundays was enacted in January
2004; however, the Constitutional Court overturned the law in April
2004 after major retailers appealed the law citing financial losses. In
March 2006, the same organizations challenged the proposed
privatization of water resources on the grounds that access to spring
water must be handled transparently and for the public good.
In March 2006, authorities rescinded the license to a U.S. film
crew that intended to film parts of horror movie Omen 4 in Split after
the local Roman Catholic authorities campaigned against it. The
Ministry of Culture issued all relevant permits in December 2005, but
the Church in Split and authorities in the nearby town of Solin
objected to the use of the Split city center and Solin cemetery,
causing the annulment of the permits. The media reported that some film
sets were vandalized and burned.
The Roman Catholic Church continued to exercise influence over the
Government's social policies. For example, in January 2005, the Church
publicly criticized the international Global Fund's MEMOAIDS
educational program, designed to raise AIDS awareness in secondary
schools. The Church objected to the mention of the use of condoms in
the program, stating that it encouraged promiscuity.
In his interviews and sermons in April 2006, Cardinal Bozanic
referred to internal and foreign policy topics. He called for precise
laws to ban corruption, calling it one of the greatest evils of
society. He also supported Croatia's EU aspirations, but called first
for a definition of national interests and preservation of the
country's identity. In May 2005, the Bishops' Conference invited Prime
Minister Sanader to speak to the group about EU integration, Croatia's
cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the role of the Church in relation to these
processes. In September 2005, the media reported that the country's
representatives of the Catholic organization Iustitia et Pax criticized
the work of the ICTY, stating that the Tribunal's practices did not
guarantee justice and that arresting the then-fugitive general Gotovina
should not be a condition for Croatia's negotiations with the EU. Senj-
Gospic Bishop Mile Bogovic made similar statements in September,
criticizing the ICTY prosecutor as biased and suggesting that the ICTY
is a political court. However, such statements were not echoed by
Cardinal Bozanic, and the Church, in line with government policy, took
a moderate position.
Since Cardinal Bozanic took office as archbishop of Zagreb in 1997
and became head of the Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK), the Catholic
Church's leadership sought a more proactive role in advocating ethnic
and religious reconciliation. Ecumenical efforts among the religious
communities developed in an atmosphere of mutual understanding. For
example, religious leaders met frequently to discuss issues of mutual
interest and to cooperate and coordinate with the Government Commission
for Relations with Religious Communities.
In the spring of 2005, Croatian dailies reported on repeated acts
of violence and sexual abuse in the home for mentally incapacitated
children in Brezovica run by the leading Catholic charity Caritas.
Criminal charges were brought against the director, who was suspected
of covering up the evidence and preventing criminal proceedings against
the orphanage staff. One employee was arrested. In August 2005, the
archbishop of Zagreb replaced the director. Approximately one year
after press allegations about the abuse, Zagreb's Archdiocese
Visitation inspected and found no irregularities or abuse. The head of
the inspection team complained that their work was impeded by
inappropriate, negative media coverage.
According to surveys published in July 2005, the Catholic Church's
traditional reputation as an institution that enjoys the most public
trust was affected by these reports.
In March 2006, the editor of the Catholic religious program at the
national television station HRT received negative media attention when
he dismissed the sign language interpreter on the grounds that she was
going through a divorce. The editor argued that it was inappropriate
for a divorced person to appear in a religious program and that he had
received complaints from the viewers to that effect. The HBK distanced
itself from the move. In April 2006, the HRT Program Council reinstated
the interpreter and fined the editor.
According to the results of a survey published in May 2005 by the
international research agency GFK Marketing Research Center, citizens
placed the most trust in the Catholic Church, the president, and
persons close to them, as opposed to the Government, judiciary and
political parties, which occupied the opposite end of the scale.
According to the same survey, this high level of trust had remained
unchanged over the past five years.
In February 2006, the Muslim community in Zagreb hosted the Bosnian
Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric, who presented a Declaration of European
Muslims. The Declaration, which received considerable media attention,
invited Muslims to accept European democratic standards and appealed to
EU countries to officially recognize Islam in order to make it less
vulnerable to external influences. Croatian Mufti Sevko Omerbasic noted
that Croatia was one of four countries in Europe that officially
recognizes Islam and in which the indigenous Muslim community was
successfully integrated into society.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
coalition Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights and actively works to encourage the Government to respect
religious freedom in practice. U.S. Embassy officials met frequently at
all levels with representatives of religious communities and minority
groups and engaged in the promotion of human rights, including the
religious rights of these groups. The embassy organized the visit of a
U.S. author and expert on Islam in the Balkans. That visit generated
significant media attention on the author's message of tolerance and
religious freedom in Europe. In addition, the embassy supported the
construction of an interethnic, interreligious seniors' home in an
ethnically mixed community near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project was organized by the local Muslim community in cooperation
with Caritas.
During the period covered by this report, Phase II of the
International Partnership among Museums (IPAM) was implemented between
the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the Jasenovac Memorial
Area. (IPAM is a U.S. State Department-administered international
museum exchange program in collaboration with the American Association
of Museums.) The partnership's previous work in Phase I concentrated on
technical expertise exchange, such as preserving and managing
collections, developing a joint web site, and conducting research.
Phase II concentrated on efforts to educate the public about the
Holocaust and the history of the Jasenovac concentration camp.
Activities consisted primarily of personnel and expertise exchanges,
both in person and electronically. The United States was supporting the
development of a Holocaust Education Center at Jasenovac Memorial
through the expertise of the USHMM. The education center would provide
workshops for student tour groups.
In January 2005, the USHMM participated in a Ministry of Education
seminar for history teachers on studying and teaching the Holocaust. In
the summer of 2005, four history and sociology teachers traveled to the
United States, and five more history teachers participated in the same
program in June 2006. In addition, the embassy was funding the
translation and printing of a USHMM handbook on teaching the Holocaust.
The project commenced in 2004 in cooperation with the Ministry of
Education and with the Jasenovac memorial area. In November 2005, 700
handbooks about the Holocaust were distributed to high schools, and
plans existed to reprint and distribute approximately 2,000 brochures
to primary schools in the fall of 2006.
In cooperation with Yad Vashem and the Visual History Foundation,
the Jewish Community prepared a brochure that analyzes history
textbooks for primary and secondary schools; the brochure was scheduled
to be publicized in September 2006. The authors--several prominent
historians--cited a lack of information concerning Jewish ethnic
identity and culture and on the genesis of anti-Semitism, which would
provide the historical context for anti-Semitism in Croatia and the
Holocaust. For example, historians observed that the existing textbooks
implied that implementation of racist laws had no roots in the NDH
(Independent State of Croatia) but occurred exclusively under the
influence of Germany.
__________
CYPRUS
The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
Cyprus has an area of 5,747 square miles, and the population in the
Government-controlled areas was estimated at 766,600.
Prior to 1974, the country experienced a long period of strife
between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. In response, the
U.N. Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) began peacekeeping operations in 1964.
The island has been divided since the Turkish military intervention of
1974, following a coup d'etat directed from Greece. The southern part
of the island is under the control of the Government of the Republic of
Cyprus, while the northern part is administered by Turkish Cypriots. In
1983, their administration proclaimed itself the ``Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus'' (``TRNC''). The United States does not recognize the
``TRNC,'' nor does any other country except Turkey. A buffer zone, or
``green line,'' patrolled by UNFICYP separates the two parts. In 2003,
Turkish Cypriot authorities relaxed many restrictions on movement
between the two communities, including abolishing all crossing fees.
The new procedures led to relatively unimpeded contact between the
communities and permitted Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to visit
religious sites located in the other community; however, Cypriots, as
well as foreigners, must show identification at the buffer zone
checkpoints to cross from one side to the other.
Approximately 96 percent of the population in the Government-
controlled areas belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. An
estimated 0.7 percent of the remaining population was Maronite,
slightly less than 0.4 percent was Armenian Orthodox, 0.1 percent was
Latin (Roman Catholic), and 3.2 percent belonged to other groups. The
latter category included small groups of Protestants and Jews and
immigrants of various religious beliefs, including Muslims and
Buddhists.
In July 2005 the first Buddhist temple in Cyprus opened in Nicosia.
In September, Cyprus's first new synagogue in at least twenty years
opened in Larnaca.
A 1998 opinion poll indicated that an estimated 48 percent of Greek
Cypriots regularly attended church services, while 49 percent attended
only for major religious holidays and ceremonies such as weddings and
funerals. The remainder did not attend religious services at all.
There was some Protestant missionary activity in the Government-
controlled area.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution of the Republic of Cyprus provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in
full and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private
actors.
The 1960 constitution specifies that the Greek Orthodox Church of
Cyprus, which is not under the authority of the mainland Greek Orthodox
Church, has the exclusive right to regulate and administer its internal
affairs and property in accordance with its holy canons and charter.
The Church of Cyprus is exempt from taxes with regard to religious
activity, and according to law, is required to pay taxes only on
strictly commercial activities. Under the 1960 constitution, the same
applies to the Vakf, or Evkaf, the Muslim institution that regulates
religious activity for Turkish Cypriots and which operates only in the
area administered by Turkish Cypriots.
Three other religious groups are recognized in the 1960
constitution: Armenian Orthodox, Maronite Christians, and Latins (Roman
Catholics). These groups also are exempt from taxes and are eligible,
along with the Church of Cyprus and the Vakf, for government subsidies
to their religious institutions.
The Government of Cyprus has constitutional or legal bars against
religious discrimination. The 1975 Vienna III Agreement remains the
basic agreement covering treatment of Greek Cypriots and Maronites
living in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots and Turkish
Cypriots living in the Government-controlled area. Among other things,
this agreement provides for facilities for religious worship.
Religions other than the five recognized religions are not required
to register with the authorities; however, if they desire to engage in
financial transactions, such as maintaining a bank account, they must
register as a nonprofit company. To register, a group must submit an
application through an attorney that states the purpose of the
nonprofit organization and provides the names of the organization's
directors. Upon approval, nonprofit organizations are tax-exempt and
are required to provide annual reports of their activities.
Registration is granted promptly, and many religious groups are
recognized. No religious groups were denied registration during the
reporting period.
There are no prohibitions against missionary activity or
proselytizing in the Government-controlled areas. Foreign missionaries
must obtain and periodically renew residence permits in order to live
in the country; normally, renewal requests are not denied.
The Government requires children in public primary and secondary
schools to take instruction in the Greek Orthodox religion. Parents of
other religions may request that their children be excused. These
children are exempted from attending religious services and
instruction. In the past, however, some Jehovah's Witnesses parents
reported that their children were not excused from all religious
instruction.
In February 2006 the Ministry of Education announced that it was
preparing a proposal to reduce the number of hours of religious
instruction required in public schools from two hours to one hour per
week. The Church of Cyprus and other religious organizations strongly
objected. The ministry promised that no new regulations would be
adopted without appropriate debate and discussion.
The Government of Cyprus recognizes the following holy days as
national holidays: Epiphany, Annunciation, Good Friday, Easter Monday,
Holy Spirit Day, Assumption Day, and Christmas.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion in Cyprus. In 2001, however, the European Court of
Human Rights ruled that the Government of Turkey was responsible for
imposing restrictions on the movement of Greek Cypriots in the area
administered by Turkish Cypriots, which limited their access to places
of worship.
Since 2003, when restrictions of movement were relaxed, Greek
Cypriots have reported relatively easy access to Apostolos Andreas
Monastery and other religious sites in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots. Likewise, Turkish Cypriots enjoyed relatively easy access to
religious sites, including Hala Sultan Tekke in the Government-
controlled area.
Missionaries have the legal right to proselytize, but the
Government closely monitors missionary activity. It is illegal for a
missionary to use ``physical or moral compulsion'' to make religious
conversions. The police may investigate missionary activity based on a
citizen's complaint. They may also open an investigation if
missionaries are suspected of being involved in illegal activities that
threaten the security of the republic, constitutional or public order,
or public health and morals. In the past there were occasional
apprehensions but no arrests under these laws.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses are exempt from active military
duty; however, they are legally required to complete an alternative
military service and perform reservist duty in the Greek Cypriot
National Guard.
In May 2006 a nongovernmental organization (NGO) reported that it
had filed complaints with the Ombudsman's Office and the independent
body formed in April to investigate the police regarding police
treatment of Muslim asylum seekers.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There were polite relations
between the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the other religious
communities in the Government-controlled area.
In April 2005 a Turkish Cypriot cemetery in Larnaca, which had
recently been rehabilitated as part of a U.S.-funded project aimed at
improving bi-communal relations, was vandalized. In 2005, there were
also reports of Turkish Cypriot cemeteries in the Government-controlled
area being destroyed for the construction of roads and other
development.
Although Turkish Cypriots occasionally have reported that unused
mosques in the Government-controlled area have been vandalized, the
Government of Cyprus routinely maintains and repairs them.
The Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus is suspicious of any attempts
to proselytize among Greek Cypriots and closely monitors such
activities. Religion is a prominent component of Greek Cypriot society,
with considerable long-standing cultural and political influence.
During the 1950s, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus,
Archbishop Makarios III, led the Greek Cypriot campaign for
independence and served as president from independence in 1960 until
his death in 1977. While the preeminent position of the Church of
Cyprus has been somewhat reduced in recent years, it remains an
important power center in politics. As the largest owner of real estate
in Cyprus and the operator of several large business enterprises, the
Church of Cyprus is also a significant economic actor. Present-day
influence of the Church can be seen in the political messages bishops
and priests regularly include in their Sunday sermons. In February
2005, an organization known as the Pancyprian Christian Orthodox
Movement, with links to the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, issued a
booklet alleging that clubs such as the Lions, Rotary, and Boy Scouts
were ``recruiting grounds for Freemasonry'' and were thus a danger to
Cypriot society.
In March 2005 the Government requested that an additional Church of
Cyprus priest be assigned to minister to the Greek Cypriots living in
the Karpas region of the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The
enclaved community already had one full-time priest but decided it
needed a second. Turkish Cypriot authorities agreed in principle to
this request, but the first proposed individual could not go for
personal reasons. Turkish Cypriot authorities objected to the second
individual who was proposed, claiming he disliked Turkish Cypriots and
had made inappropriate statements about their community. Turkish
Cypriot authorities asked that the Government nominate a different
priest. At the end of the reporting period, the position remained open
and the Government had not nominated a new priest.
In November 2005 press reports claimed that the police and the
municipality had harassed the Buddhist temple in Strovolos. The
municipality allegedly claimed that the temple did not have the proper
license to operate as a temple, and police said they visited the site
as required by law after receiving numerous anonymous and formal
complaints about disturbances. There were also reports that police had
visited the Jewish synagogue because of complaints of disturbances soon
after its opening.
In November 2005 the Ombudsman's Office issued a report on a
complaint from Jehovah's Witnesses whose child was excused from
religious instruction but who was subsequently harassed by fellow
students and pressured by a religious instructor. The report concluded
that the student's complaint was valid and that the instructor's
remarks during a lesson on religious sects violated the student's
religious freedom.
In May 2006 an NGO reported complaints from recognized political
asylees of Muslim origin who had difficulty securing employment because
of their religion. Several women reported that potential employers did
not like their headscarves. Another asylee alleged that he could not
secure housing because he was a Muslim.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The ambassador and other embassy officers meet periodically with
Greek Cypriot religious authorities regarding specific religious
freedom concerns.
AREA ADMINISTERED BY TURKISH CYPRIOTS
Since 1974, the northern part of Cyprus has been governed by a
Turkish Cypriot administration that proclaimed itself the ``Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus'' (``TRNC'') in 1983. The United States
does not recognize the ``TRNC,'' nor does any other country except
Turkey.
The basic law in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots refers
specifically to a ``secular republic'' and provides for freedom of
religion, and Turkish Cypriot authorities generally respected this
right in practice. The politically divisive environment of Cyprus,
however, engendered some restrictions on religious freedom,
particularly for Greek Cypriots and Maronites.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period, and Turkish Cypriot policies continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were a few
reports of vandalism of religious sites and cemeteries.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with Turkish
Cypriot authorities as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
Approximately 250,000 persons lived in the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots. An estimated 99 percent of Turkish Cypriots was at
least nominally Muslim. There was a small Turkish Cypriot Baha'i
community. Most other non-Muslims in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots were foreigners from Western Europe who were generally members
of the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches. Approximately 10 percent of
the population in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots attended
religious services regularly.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The ``TRNC Constitution'' provides for freedom of religion, and
Turkish Cypriot authorities generally respected this right in practice.
The ``TRNC Constitution'' does not recognize any specific religion.
It does state, however, that the Vakf or Evkaf, the Muslim institution
that regulates religious activity for Turkish Cypriots, has the
exclusive right to regulate and administer its internal affairs and
property in accordance with Vakf laws and principles. The Vakf is tax-
exempt in its religious activities, but its commercial operations are
subject to the applicable taxes. The Vakf also receives official
subsidies. No other religious organization is tax-exempt or receives
subsidies. The Vakf is the largest landowner in the area administered
by Turkish Cypriots.
Turkish Cypriot authorities bar religious discrimination. The 1975
Vienna III Agreement is the basic agreement covering treatment of Greek
Cypriots and Maronites living in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living in the Government-controlled area.
Among other things, this agreement provides for facilities for
religious worship.
Religious organizations are not required to register with Turkish
Cypriot authorities unless they wish to engage in commercial activity
or apply for tax-exempt status. There are no legal restrictions on
missionary activity; however, such activity was rare.
There is instruction in religion, ethics, and comparative religions
in two grades of the primary school system in the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots. There is no formal Islamic religious instruction in
public schools, and there are no state-supported religious schools.
Turkish Cypriot authorities do not sponsor any interfaith activity.
The following holy days are observed widely in the Turkish Cypriot
community: Kurban Bairam, Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Ramadan
Bairam.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Greek Cypriots and Maronites were prohibited from visiting
religious sites located in military zones in the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots. Greek Cypriots and Maronites were allowed to worship
at only seven sites designated by the Turkish military in the area
administered by Turkish Cypriots.
Turkish Cypriot authorities once again gave permission for an
Orthodox service to be held in Agias Mamas Church near the town of
Guzelyurt/Morphou on September 1 and 2, 2005. In 2004, a bomb exploded
in the doorway of the church during the service. During the September
2005 service, two Greek Cypriots' cars were burned in the parking lot.
Turkish Cypriots maintained the fire was due to an electrical problem,
but Greek Cypriot forensic tests indicated arson.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
area administered by Turkish Cypriots.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
In the area administered by Turkish Cypriots there are few non-
Muslims, and no noticeable friction between them and the Muslim
population.
Greek Cypriots report that unused Orthodox Church of Cyprus
churches and cemeteries in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots
continued to be robbed and vandalized, and the Government maintained
its claim that Orthodox Church of Cyprus icons had been smuggled out of
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. In February 2005, a Greek
Cypriot cemetery near Lapta/Lapithos, which had recently been
rehabilitated as part of a U.S.-funded project aimed at improving bi-
communal relations, was vandalized. In May 2005, Turkish Cypriot media
alleged that a Greek Cypriot church committee had taken a religious
icon across the buffer zone (or green line) into the Government-
controlled area.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
authorities as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The ambassador and other embassy officers meet periodically with
Turkish Cypriot religious authorities regarding specific religious
freedom concerns.
__________
CZECH REPUBLIC
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 30,442 square miles, and its population
was estimated at 10.2 million. The country had a largely homogenous
population with a dominant Christian tradition. However, in part as a
result of forty years of communist rule between 1948 and 1989, the vast
majority of citizens did not identify themselves as members of any
organized religion. In a 2004 opinion poll sponsored by Cardinal Strich
University, 32 percent of respondents claimed to believe in God, while
49 percent identified themselves as atheists. There was a revival of
interest in religion after the 1989 ``Velvet Revolution''; however, the
number of those professing religious beliefs or participating in
organized religion fell steadily since then in almost every region of
the country.
An estimated 5 percent of the population attended Catholic services
weekly, and most of these lived in the southern Moravian dioceses of
Olomouc and Brno. The number of practicing Protestants was
approximately 1 percent of the population. Islam was registered as an
officially recognized religion in 2004, and leaders of the local Muslim
community estimated that there were an estimated 10,000 Muslims in the
country. There was a mosque in Brno and another in Prague. The vast
majority of the country's historic Jewish community, which numbered in
the tens of thousands before the Nazi occupation of the area of today's
Czech Republic, was killed during the Holocaust. There were
approximately 3,000 persons officially registered as members of the
Jewish community. Judaism is an officially registered religion because
of its recognition by the state before 1989.
Missionaries of various religious groups, including the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses,
were present in the country. Missionaries of various religious groups
generally proselytized without hindrance.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Religious affairs are the responsibility of the Department of
Churches at the Ministry of Culture. All religious groups officially
registered with the Ministry of Culture are eligible to receive
subsidies from the state, although some decline to receive state
financial support as a matter of principle and as an expression of
their independence. There are twenty-six state-recognized religious
organizations. In 2004, the Center of Muslim Communities was officially
registered, the first such registration of a Muslim organization in the
country. An appeal by the Unification Church to overturn their denial
to register in 1999 was denied by the Constitutional Court in 2004.
The 2002 law on Religious Freedom and the Position of Churches and
Religious Associations created a two-tiered system of registration for
religious organizations. To register at the first (lowest) tier, a
religious group must have at least 300 adult members permanently
residing in the country. First-tier registration conveys limited tax
benefits and imposes annual reporting requirements, as well as a ten-
year waiting period before the organization may apply for full second-
tier registration. To register at the second tier, a religious group
must have membership equal to at least 0.1 percent of the country's
population (approximately 10,000 persons). Second-tier registration
entitles the organization to a share of state funding. Only clergy of
registered second-tier organizations may perform officially recognized
marriage ceremonies and serve as chaplains in the military and prisons,
although prisoners of other religious groups may receive visits from
their respective clergy. Religious groups registered prior to 1989,
such as the small Jewish community, are not required to meet these
conditions for registration. Unregistered religious groups may not
legally own community property but often form civic-interest
associations for the purpose of managing their property and other
holdings until they are able to meet the qualifications for
registration. The Government does not interfere with or prevent this
type of interim solution. Unregistered religious groups otherwise are
free to assemble and worship in the manner of their choice.
In November 2005, the lower house of parliament passed an amended
Church Law that came into effect the following month. The new law
governs the establishment and regulation of church-sponsored charities,
schools, and other institutions. A group of twenty-five mainly
Christian Democratic senators submitted a complaint against the new law
before the Constitutional Court in January 2006. The complaint includes
charges that the new law contradicts Article 16, Paragraph 2 of the
Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms that stipulates that
``...churches and religious associations...found [establish or create]
religious orders and other church institutions, independent of state
authorities.'' The senators' complaint focuses upon the
constitutionality of the law's wording and the level of state
regulation over church-sponsored institutions. The Constitutional Court
case was pending at the end of the period covered by this report.
Religious organizations receive approximately $90 million (1.93
billion Czech crowns) annually from the Government. Funds are divided
proportionally among the twenty-one religious organizations eligible
for state assistance based on the number of clergy in each, with the
exception of four religious organizations (Mormons, Jehovah's
Witnesses, the New Apostolic Church, and Open Brethren) that do not
accept state funding. Of this sum, approximately $32 million (818
million Czech crowns) is used to pay salaries to clergymen. The rest of
the funding goes to state grants for religious organizations' medical,
charitable, and educational activities, as well as for the maintenance
of religious memorials and buildings.
A 2000 law outlaws Holocaust denial and provides for prison
sentences of six months to three years for public denial, questioning,
approval of, or attempts to justify the Nazi genocide. The law also
outlaws the incitement of hatred based on religion.
Missionaries must obtain a long-term residence and work permit if
they intend to remain longer than ninety days. There were no reports of
delays in processing visas for missionaries during the period covered
by this report. There is no special visa category for religious
workers; foreign missionaries and clergy are required to meet the
relatively stringent conditions for a standard work permit even if
their activity is strictly ecclesiastical or voluntary in nature.
Of the twenty-six registered churches in the country, nine have
obtained permission from the Ministry of Culture (under the 2002 Law on
Religious Freedom and the Position of Churches and Religious
Associations) to teach religion in state schools. According to the
Education Ministry, although religious instruction is optional in
public schools, school directors must introduce religious education
choices if there are at least seven students in one class of the same
confession who require and request classes in their faith.
The Government continued its effort to resolve religious-based
communal and personal property restitution problems, especially with
regard to Jewish property. Jewish claims dated to the period of the
Nazi occupation during World War II, while Catholic authorities pressed
claims for properties that were seized under the former communist
regime. While the majority of Jewish property claims were resolved,
there was no progress in resolving the Catholic Church's claims during
the period covered by this report.
The 1991 Law on Restitution applied only to property seized after
the communists took power in 1948. In 1994, Parliament amended the law
to provide for restitution of or compensation for property wrongfully
seized between 1938 and 1945. This amendment provided for the inclusion
of Jewish private properties, primarily buildings, seized by the Nazi
regime. Both the amendment and the original law required the claimants
to be Czech citizens. This citizenship restriction unfairly impacted
Czechs who obtained citizenship in the United States as these
naturalized citizens were required to forfeit their Czech citizenship
under the terms of a 1928 treaty between the two countries. The treaty
was finally abrogated in August 1997, by which time the 1992 and 1995
deadlines for filing claims had already passed. In 1994, the Federation
of Jewish Communities identified 202 communal properties as its highest
priorities for restitution, although it had unresolved claims for more
than 1,000 properties. By decree, the Government returned most of the
properties in its possession, as did the city of Prague; however,
despite a government appeal, other cities have not been as responsive.
A few outstanding cases remain, including two properties in Brno that
were under the control of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs. Legal proceedings were under way between the
Brno Jewish Community and the state at the end of the period covered by
this report.
A 2000 law authorized the Government to return more than sixty
works of art in the National Gallery to the Jewish community and an
estimated 7,000 works of art in the Government's possession to
individual Jewish citizens and their descendants. Another provision of
the law authorized the return of certain agricultural property in the
Government's possession to its original owners. Under the 2000 law,
stolen works of art must be claimed by December 2006. The Federation of
Jewish Communities has been lobbying for an amendment to the law which
would either dismiss the 2006 deadline or extend it by another five
years.
In 2001, the Federation of Jewish Communities established a
Foundation for Holocaust Victims into which the Government invested
approximately $11.7 million (300 million Czech crowns) from the
Government's National Property Fund to pay for those properties that
cannot be restituted physically. It was expected to provide partial
compensation in cases where the Government needs to retain the property
or is no longer in possession of it, to help meet the social needs of
poor Jewish communities, and to support the restoration of synagogues
and cemeteries.
Approximately one-third of the funds were dedicated to communal
property, one-third to individual claims, and one-third to social
programs for approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors. Applications for
the fund were first accepted in 2001, and by March 2005, the Foundation
for Holocaust Victims announced the conclusion of payments totaling
more than four million to approximately 500 claimants residing in
twenty-seven different countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
assisted the foundation in its efforts to locate and contact survivors
in other countries.
Certain properties of religious orders, including 175 monasteries
and other institutions, were restituted under laws passed in 1990 and
1991. The Catholic Church continued to claim large tracts of ``income-
generating properties.'' Some of these properties were farms and
woodland that were in the hands of municipal governments or private
owners. Other lands were forests that were administered by the state.
When the Social Democratic government came to power in 1998, it halted
further restitution of non-Jewish religious communal property. Efforts
to resolve the final claims continued but were slowed by the Church's
refusal to provide a list of specific properties and land to which it
felt entitled and the Government's refusal to continue restitution
discussions without this list. There was no progress in resolving the
Catholic Church's claims during the period covered by this report.
Members of unregistered religious groups may issue publications
without interference.
The Ministry of Culture sponsors religiously oriented cultural
activities through a grant program. The ministry sponsored some
interfaith activities during the period covered by this report,
including partial funding of the Christian and Jewish Society.
Easter Monday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and St. Stephen's Day
(December 26) are recognized as national holidays, although their
recognition does not negatively affect any religious group.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Under the 2002 religious registration law, the Ministry of Culture
has responsibility for registering religious charities and enterprises
as legal entities. The Catholic Church has criticized the law on the
grounds that it unduly restricts the manner in which the Church manages
and finances many of its social projects. An October 2003
Constitutional Court ruling that the Ministry of Culture improperly
interpreted the registration law in failing to register a religious
enterprise operated by the Catholic Church in the northern Moravian
town of Lipnik nad Becvou was implemented by the ministry in 2003, and
the enterprise in question was registered. The Catholic Church reported
that religious charities and enterprises continue to experience
difficulties and delays in registering as legal entities, although
there has been some recent improvement in the speed of granting
registrations.
In 2006, the Armenian Apostolic Church asked the Ministry of
Culture for registration. The registration is in the process of being
finalized.
In April 2006, the Center of Muslim Communities petitioned the
Ministry of Culture for authorization to perform specific functions,
such as providing Islamic religious instruction in state schools;
establishing private religious schools; performing marriage ceremonies;
and designating persons to perform clerical activities in the military,
within prisons and detention facilities. These activities were to be
financed by the state in accordance with existing law. The Culture
Ministry recommended approval of the center's proposal and a final
decision by the Government was expected in mid-2006.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In 2002, Parliament passed a measure to extend the deadline for
filing art restitution claims by Holocaust victims to December 31,
2006. In 2004, Parliament approved a law designating January 27 as
Holocaust Remembrance Day in the country. Holocaust Remembrance Day was
observed in January 2006 in public events in Prague and elsewhere
throughout the country. The public and media response to these events
was extremely positive.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The immigrant population was relatively small and included persons
from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, and Vietnam. Immigrants did not
report any difficulties in practicing their respective faiths
There were no new developments relating to the decision to halt
plans to construct a mosque in Teplice.
In general, public expressions of anti-Semitic sentiment were
extremely rare, and Holocaust denial investigations and prosecutions
were vigorously pursued by authorities. A small but persistent and
fairly well-organized extreme right-wing movement with anti-Semitic
views existed in the country. The Ministry of Interior continued its
efforts to counter the neo-Nazis, which included monitoring of their
activities, close cooperation with police units in neighboring
countries, and concentrated efforts to shut down unauthorized concerts
and gatherings of neo-Nazi groups. Police shut down such concerts in
July and November of 2005 and were roundly criticized by
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), political leaders, and media
outlets when they failed to intervene in a September 2005 concert in
rural Bohemia in which participants allegedly shouted neo-Nazi slogans.
Two police officials were later disciplined for failing to intervene
and stop the concert.
There were no reported violent anti-Semitic incidents against
individuals in the country during the reporting period and only
isolated reports of property damage or vandalism. In August 2005, a
Holocaust memorial in Teplice was reportedly vandalized and, in
September 2005, an NGO reported that several doors and windows were
broken in a synagogue in Krnov and that several gravestones in a Jewish
cemetery in Velky Pecin had been defaced with graffiti. In October
2005, police reported that a commemorative stone dedicated to a Jewish
artist in Jihlava was defaced. In each incident police responded with
appropriate investigations. The incidents highlight the difficult task
that authorities faced attempting to secure Jewish sites in rural areas
that no longer served sizable Jewish communities.
In April 2006, several hundred persons attended a rally and public
meeting against anti-Semitism that was sponsored by Christian and
Jewish groups and supported by Prague mayor Pavel Bem and Senate
Speaker Premysl Sobotka. Also in April, President Vaclav Klaus publicly
commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day in the United States with a
speech to an audience of schoolchildren, diplomats, and Holocaust
survivors in Los Angeles during a state visit. Similar events were also
held in Prague in April. During the same time frame in April 2006, the
Education Ministry also sponsored and hosted a two-day seminar on
Holocaust education with other education ministers from across Europe.
The guest of honor at the seminar was former President Vaclav Havel.
The Jewish Museum of Prague, with the support of the Ministry of
Culture, designated 2006 as the ``Year of Jewish Culture.'' This
nationwide commemoration involved partnerships with other state and
private institutions, and included film festivals, music festivals,
educational and social events, theater productions and other cultural
events across the country. The Jewish Museum and Prague's Jewish
quarter remained the most popular tourist attractions in the country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall dialogue and policy of promoting
human rights. U.S. Government efforts on religious issues have focused
largely on encouraging the Government and religious groups to resolve
religious property restitution claims and registration of religious
organizations.
During the reporting period, U.S. Government and embassy officials
emphasized to the Government and religious groups the importance of
restitution (or fair and adequate compensation when return is no longer
possible) in cases pending regarding property wrongfully taken from
Holocaust victims, the Jewish community, and churches.
The embassy maintains close contact with the Office of the
President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture,
representatives of various religious groups, and NGOs. Embassy
officials met on several occasions with representatives of the Ministry
of Culture to discuss the law on religious registration, as well as
representatives of smaller religious groups affected by the law,
including the Czech Muslim community. Several meetings were held with
representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the Roman Catholic
Church, and the Federation of Jewish Communities on restitution
matters. Embassy officials also responded to individual requests for
assistance from Czech-American Holocaust victims seeking compensation.
__________
DENMARK
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church is the state church and enjoys some privileges not
available to other faiths.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 16,639 square miles, and its
population was approximately 5.4 million. As of January 2006, 83
percent of the population belonged to the official Evangelical Lutheran
Church. Although only approximately 3 percent of church members
attended services regularly, most members utilized the church for
weddings, funerals, baptisms, confirmations, and religious holidays.
The second largest religious community was Muslim, constituting
approximately 3.7 percent of the population (an estimated 210,000
persons), followed by communities of Catholics (35,000), Jehovah's
Witnesses (15,000), Jews (7,000), Baptists (5,500), Pentecostals
(5,000), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
(4,500). There were also many communities with fewer than 3,000
members, including Seventh-day Adventists, the Catholic Apostolic
Church, the Salvation Army, Methodists, Anglicans, and Russian
Orthodox. The German minority in southern Jutland and other non-Danish
communities (particularly Scandinavian groups) had their own religious
groups. Approximately 5.4 percent of the population described
themselves as not religious, and an estimated 1.5 percent described
themselves as atheist.
Missionaries operated within the country, including representatives
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and
Jehovah's Witnesses. The European headquarters of the Church of
Scientology was located in Copenhagen, although it is not officially
approved as a religion.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution stipulates that the Evangelical Lutheran Church is
the national church, the reigning monarch shall be a member of the
church, and the state shall support it. The Evangelical Lutheran Church
is the only religious organization that can receive state subsidies or
funds directly through the tax system. Approximately 12 percent of the
Church's revenue comes from state subsidies; most of the rest comes
from the church tax that is paid only by members. No individual may be
compelled to pay church tax or provide direct financial support to the
national church or any other religious organization. Members of other
faiths, notably Catholics, have argued that the system is unfair, and
that the Government does not provide religious equality, despite
providing religious freedom. Allowing other religious organizations to
be given the same status and privileges as the Evangelical Lutheran
Church would require changes to the constitution.
Eleven Christian holy days are considered national holidays: Holy
Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Easter Monday, Common Prayer Day,
Ascension, Pentecost, Whit Monday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and
Christmas Day 2 (December 26). The holidays do not have a negative
impact on any religious groups.
Aside from the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Government gives
official status to religions in two ways: It recognizes religions by
royal decree, and it approves religions under the 1969 Marriage Act. As
of April 2005, 12 religious organizations were recognized by royal
decree, including the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Russian
Orthodox churches as well as Judaism; and 115 were approved, including
several Islamic groups, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh-day
Adventists, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christian Orthodox, Hindu, Baha'is, and
Hare Krishnas, and the indigenous Norse belief system known as Forn
Sidr. By approving religions under the 1969 Marriage Act, the
Government allows individually named priests to conduct officially
recognized marriage ceremonies, and thereby legally approves the
religion.
Both recognized and approved religions enjoy certain tax
exemptions. Other religious communities are entitled to practice their
faith without any sort of licensing, but their marriage ceremonies are
not recognized by the state and they are not granted tax-exempt status.
The 1999 Guidelines for approval of religious organizations
established the following requirements for religious groups: A written
text of the religion's central traditions, descriptions of its most
important rituals, an organizational structure accessible to public
control and approval, and constitutionally elected representatives who
may be held responsible by the authorities. Additionally, the
organization must ``not teach or perform actions inconsistent with
public morality or order. ``Scientologists did not seek official
approval as a religious organization during the period covered by this
report. Their first application for approval was made in the early
1970s and rejected; the second and third applications were made in 1976
and 1982, and both were denied. In mid-1997, the Scientologists filed a
fourth application, which was suspended at their request in 2000. In
suspending their application, the Scientologists asked the Ministry of
Ecclesiastical Affairs to clarify the approval procedure; however, the
ministry told them they must first submit an application before the
ministry could provide any feedback. Despite the Scientologists'
unofficial status, the Church maintained its European headquarters in
Copenhagen.
There are no restrictions on proselytizing or missionary work as
long as practitioners obey the law and do not act inconsistently with
public morality or order. All schools, including religious schools,
receive government financial support. While the Evangelical Lutheran
faith is taught in the public schools, a student may withdraw from
religious classes with parental consent. Section 76 of the constitution
protects the rights of parents to home school or educate their children
in private schools.
During the period covered by the report, the Government continued
to consider legislative and administrative proposals to promote further
social integration of refugees and immigrants. The proposals emerged
out of widespread political and social attitudes favoring the
integration of immigrants and refugees. In June 2004, Parliament
enacted a law directed at foreign religious leaders seeking residence
visas. The ``Imam Law,'' which is applied by immigration authorities to
all foreign religious leaders, requires that the number of religious
residence visas be reasonably proportioned to the size of the
corresponding religious community. Additionally, the visa applicant
must prove association with a recognized or approved religious
community and possess a relevant background or education as a religious
preacher, missionary or member of a religious community.
The law provides that ``Christian studies'' be taught in public
schools. The course covers world religions and philosophy and promotes
tolerance and respect for all religious beliefs; however, the course
devotes the most time to Christianity. The course is compulsory,
although students may be exempted from the course if a parent presents
a request in writing. If the student is aged fifteen or older, the
student and parent must jointly request the student's exemption from
the course. According to the Ministry of Education, less than 2 percent
of students in the greater Copenhagen area, the area with the highest
concentration of other religious populations, ``opt out'' of the
Christian studies course.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In April 2006, the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs officially
approved the plans for the first cemetery completely dedicated to the
Muslim community in the country. The Dansk Islamisk Begravelsefond
(Danish Islamic Cemetery Fund) purchased property in the greater
Copenhagen area to use for a Muslim cemetery in December 2004. The
purchase was the culmination of a several-year effort by members of the
Muslim community to establish the first Muslim cemetery in the country.
The Danish Islamic Cemetery Fund overcame a publicized dispute with
municipal authorities over the value of the land, which prolonged the
purchase efforts. The cemetery was expected to open in 2007.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were isolated incidents of anti-Semitism, primarily by
immigrants. Both the members of the Jewish community and police sources
attested to the fact that the greatest friction was between the Jewish
and Muslim communities. Ethnic Danes and non-Muslims had not been cited
for anti-Semitic acts during the reporting period. Most acts involved
vandalism, such as graffiti, or verbal assaults. Data were difficult to
determine because such reports were generally entered via a police
hotline, or came from the Jewish community, and were rarely followed by
an arrest.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The country has a long
history of welcoming religious minorities and affording them equal
treatment. There are generally amicable relations between religious
groups, although the influx of a substantial Muslim population over the
last several years resulted in some tension between Muslims and the
rest of the population. In May 2006, the International Helsinki
Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the European Commission against
Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published reports stating that the
overall political climate for Muslims in the country had deteriorated.
Both the IHF and ECRI noted that portions of the Danish media
contributed to the general misperceptions of Islam and the negative
sentiment toward the Muslim community.
In September 2005, Jyllands-Posten, a widely read daily newspaper,
published a series of twelve cartoons controversially depicting
satirical images of Muhammad. While the editors, citing constitutional
protections of freedom of expression, maintained the cartoons
represented a national tradition of robust public discourse, many
observers, especially in the minority Muslim community, interpreted
them as a direct attack on the Islamic faith. In early 2006, as the
cartoons were republished in other European countries, a widespread
international backlash erupted, turning violent in several Islamic
countries. Protests within the country were peaceful. Prime Minister
Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his center-right coalition Government were
criticized for failing to heed concerns expressed by representatives of
the country's Muslim community and refusing to meet with ambassadors of
Islamic countries before the cartoon crisis escalated. The prime
minister expressed regret that the cartoons had offended the Muslim
community but declined to reprimand the publisher or issue an official
apology on behalf of the Government. The Government stated that the
newspaper's publication of the drawings was a protected exercise of its
constitutional right, even if the Government did not like or support
the content of that expression. A broad majority of the public agreed
with this position. The Government, seeking to improve dialogue with
its Muslim communities and to repair its relations with the Islamic
world, subsequently sponsored and participated in a number of Muslim
events in and outside of the country aimed at fostering tolerance and
mutual understanding.
Minority group unemployment figures, crime rates (especially among
young adults), and education dropout rates tended to be higher, and
allegations sometimes were raised of discrimination on the basis of
religion. However, it was difficult to separate religious differences
from differences in language and ethnicity, and the latter may be
equally important in explaining unequal access to well-paying jobs and
social advancement. The integration of immigrant groups from Islamic
countries was an important political and social topic of discussion.
There were isolated incidents of anti-immigrant graffiti and low-
level assaults as well as some denial of service and hiring on racial
grounds. The Government criticized the incidents, investigated several,
and brought some cases to trial.
The international Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir continued to
operate in the country despite periodic calls by the various political
parties to ban the group. In March 2006, the Copenhagen public
prosecutor brought charges against Fadi Abdullatif, the Hizb-ut-Tahrir
spokesman, for making threats against Prime Minister Rasmussen and
other members of the government administration. The case was ongoing at
the end of the reporting period. Abdullatif served sixty days probation
in 2002 for distributing pamphlets calling for the murder of all Jews.
In March 2006, the Ministry for Ecclesiastical Affairs published a
report regarding grave desecrations in the country. The report
confirmed damage to 32 cemeteries and a total of 817 grave markers in
2005, with an additional 83 graves in 4 churches during the first
quarter of 2006. There was no sectarian breakdown of the numbers. In
February 2006, more than twenty Muslim graves were desecrated in
Esbjerg. Authorities believed the graves were damaged in retaliation to
the cartoon controversy. The police identified three juvenile suspects
who were interrogated and then released to the social authorities for
reprimand.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy regularly engages in dialogue with religious leaders and
community groups from the country's diverse religious backgrounds.
Embassy officers engaged in an active Muslim outreach program, which
included numerous meetings with religious and community leaders of
leading Muslim organizations in the country. Embassy officers had wide-
ranging discussions with the Muslim leaders on topics such as religious
and cultural diversity, democracy and freedom, and Muslim life in the
United States. The U.S. Department of State sponsored Danish Muslim
leaders to participate in established International Visitors Programs
focusing on diversity and multiculturalism, and developed a special
summer 2006 program for nine young leaders active in Danish Muslim
community building. The Department also launched, in conjunction with
the Ministry for Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs, an
initiative to reach out to young people in diverse communities through
sports and a summer internship program with American companies in the
country.
In April 2006, the ambassador visited a mosque in Ishoj, an
ethnically diverse suburb of Copenhagen, to discuss the political
climate and economic outlook for Muslims in the country with the imam,
the mayor of Ishoj, local council members and other community
activists.
In January 2005, the embassy participated in targeted Global Anti-
Semitism Report outreach by placing an article in the national daily
Kristelig Dagblad (circulation 25,000), the country's largest-
circulation religious affairs newspaper. The article stressed the need
for governments to take uncompromising steps to address the issue of
increased anti-Semitic abuses in Europe and Russia. By reporting
numerous instances of abuse targeted at the Jewish community, and by
describing the nature of both Muslim-inspired and right-wing hostility
to the worldwide Jewish community, the article clearly illustrated the
contemporary nature of the problem and caused the newspaper's
readership to reconsider their views on the issue.
__________
ESTONIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society continued to contribute to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 17,666 square miles and a population of
1.35 million (68 percent ethnic Estonian, 26 percent Russian, 2 percent
Ukrainian, 1 percent Belarusian, and 1 percent Finnish). The Estonian
Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC) was the largest denomination, with
165 congregations and approximately 170,000 members. The Estonian
Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC) had fifty-nine congregations with
approximately 18,000 members and the Estonian Orthodox Church,
subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate (EOCMP), had thirty
congregations with approximately 150,000 members. There were smaller
communities of Baptists, Roman Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Pentecostals, Old Believers, Methodists, and other denominations. There
was a small Jewish community with 2,500 members, with a Jewish
community center and a day school in operation. During a state visit to
the country in September 2005, Israel's President Moshe Katsav
participated in a ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a new synagogue.
There were also communities of Muslims, Buddhists, and many other
denominations and faiths; however, each of these religious groups had
fewer than 6,000 adherents.
Fifty years of Soviet occupation diminished the role of religion in
society. Many neighborhoods built since World War II do not have
religious centers, and many of the surviving churches require extensive
renovations. In September 2005, the first resident Roman Catholic
bishop since World War II was ordained in Tallinn. The renovation of
two churches--St. John's Lutheran Church in Tartu and St. Simeon's and
St. Anne's Orthodox Church in Tallinn--was completed during 2004-2005.
St. John's Church, which had been in ruins since 1944, was inaugurated
in December 2004. The City of Tallinn has its own ongoing project for
renovation of churches in the city. In 2005, renovation work took place
in eight churches, including Dome Church, St. Olaf's Church, St.
George's Church, and others. Church attendance, which had seen a surge
coinciding with the independence movement in the early 1990s, has since
decreased significantly.
Many groups have sent foreign missionaries into the country in
recent years. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
had the largest number of missionaries.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full, and did not
tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The
constitution states that there is no state church.
There are other laws and regulations that directly or indirectly
regulate individual and collective freedom of religion. The activities
of religious associations are regulated by the Churches and
Congregations Act and the Non-Profit Associations and Unions Act. The
statutes of churches, congregations, and unions of congregations are
registered at the city courts.
The Churches and Congregations Act decrees that the commanding
officer of each military unit shall guarantee conscripts the
opportunity to practice their religion. Military chaplain services
extend to service members of all faiths. The Churches and Congregations
Act decrees that prison directors shall ensure inmates the opportunity
to practice their religion. Conscripts and prisoners exercised this
right in practice.
A church, congregation, and association of congregations must have
a management board. A person who is a citizen or who has the right to
vote in local government elections may be a member of a management
board. In order to formally register with the city court, the
management board of a religious association submits an application
signed by all members of the board. A congregation must have at least
twelve adult members. The minutes of the constitutive meeting, a copy
of statutes, and a notarized copy of signatures of the members of the
management board serve as supporting documents for the registration
application.
A program of basic ecumenical religious instruction was available
in public schools. A school is under obligation to offer religious
studies at the primary or secondary level if at least fifteen students
request it. Comparative religious studies were available in public and
private schools on an elective basis. There were no official statistics
on how many students participated in these classes. There were two
private church schools in Tartu that had a religious-based curriculum.
The Government took steps to promote anti-bias and tolerance
education. Since 2003, the Government observes the annual Holocaust and
Other Crimes against Humanity Victims' Memorial Day on January 27. The
country is a liaison member of the Task Force for International
Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. A
Holocaust education seminar for schoolteachers took place in August
2004, in cooperation with a local nongovernmental organization (NGO)
and Sweden's Living History Forum, and co-financed by the Ministry of
Education. During the reporting period the Government provided more
than two hundred schools with a thirty-minute film about Holocaust
history. In August 2005, the Government, together with the Task Force,
supported a seminar for history teachers to discuss best practices for
teaching the Holocaust in schools. The International Commission for
Investigation of Crimes against Humanity on issues related to the
German and Soviet occupations of the country continued its work.
The property restitution process, by which religious properties
were transferred from the state back to religious associations, was
carried out under the Principles of the Ownership Reform Act, passed in
1991. The process has largely been completed. By the end of the period
covered by this report, most Orthodox Church properties, including
those being used by the EOCMP, were under the legal control of the
Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC). The Government transferred
seven properties to the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchy
during the period covered by this report, and further transfers are
planned.
According to local Jewish leaders, property restitution was not an
issue for the community, as most prewar religious buildings were
rented, not owned.
Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas, and Pentecost are national
holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations between the various religious communities were generally
amicable. Although the majority of citizens were nominally Lutheran,
ecumenical services during national days, Christian holidays, or at
public events were common.
Most of the religious adherents among the country's Russian-
speaking population are Orthodox, while the Estonian majority is mostly
Lutheran. There is a deep-seated tradition of tolerance of other
denominations and religions.
In May 2005, two vandals knocked down thirty-nine stone crosses in
a German war cemetery in Narva. The vandals were caught and pled
guilty; prosecutors requested probation for one year. One church was
vandalized during the reporting period. In July 2005, a drunken minor
broke five stained glass windows of Viljandi St. Paul's Church and was
fined. In April 2005, a fire was set at the library of Tartu St. Paul's
Church. At first it was considered an accident, but in August 2005 it
was established that it was an act of arson. As a result of the fire,
many valuable volumes of church literature were destroyed. The police
took a suspect into custody. A police investigation was ongoing at
year's end. During the period covered by this report one graveyard was
vandalized. A vandal damaged over twenty grave plaques as well as
crosses, lanterns and benches in a Parnu cemetery. The police started a
criminal proceeding. Earlier thefts of church property prompted the
Estonian Council of Churches and the Board of Antiquities to initiate a
database of items under protection. The database, which comprises
digital photos and detailed descriptions, is shared as needed with law
enforcement agencies.
In June 2005, a person was found guilty by a district court for
writing an essay that publicly incited social hatred on the basis of
national origin, race, or religion. In his essay, he called for
destroying all Christians, Jews, and churches. He appealed to the
Supreme Court and was acquitted. In August 2005, a city court fined a
person for making anti-Semitic comments over the Internet. In September
2005, a district court let the decision stand and, in December 2005,
the Supreme Court confirmed the opinion.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Officials of the U.S. Embassy met with the religious affairs department
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, NGOs, and a wide range of figures
in religious circles. During the period covered by this report, U.S.
Embassy officials continued to engage the Government and
nongovernmental actors to promote dialogue and education on Holocaust
issues in the country.
The U.S. Government funded a travel grant to two history and civics
teachers to attend a one-week U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)-
arranged training program at Appalachian State University and a two-day
program at USHMM from June 26 to July 5, 2005. In the framework of the
agreement between the Government and the United States on the
Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties, two
Holocaust memorials were opened on the sites of Nazi labor camps at
Klooga and Kivioli in July 2005. In April 2006, the U.S. Embassy hosted
a digital video conference between the Southern Poverty Law Center and
representatives from the Government and civil society on the subject of
promoting tolerance, including religious tolerance and Holocaust
studies.
__________
FINLAND
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. According to
law, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Orthodox Church are the
established state churches.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 130,127 square miles, and its population
was approximately 5.2 million. At the end of 2005, 83.1 percent of the
population belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and 1 percent
belonged to the Orthodox Church. The percentage for the Evangelical
Lutheran Church was 83.6 percent a year earlier. A total of 33,043
people left the Evangelical Lutheran Church, some 6,000 more than in
2004. The number of those who joined the Church increased by 9,559.
This figure did not include the 49,443 babies who were baptized,
virtually the same number as in 2004.
In the past several decades, as many as 400,000 have left the
Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The Research Center of the Lutheran Church asked people who left
the Church to give reasons for their decision. The most common reason
was that membership was of no significance to them. Younger respondents
especially expressed this view. There were also some very religious
people who left the Church, stating that the modern Church's message
was too watered down and did not meet their deeper spiritual demands.
Other respondents said religion was of such personal nature to them
that they did not need the Church to take care of it. Only about 10
percent gave the Church tax as the reason for leaving membership in the
Lutheran Evangelical Church.
Pentecostal Church communities that were registered as associations
had approximately 45,000 members. However, only a fraction of
Pentecostal churches were registered, and the actual number of
Pentecostal worshippers was probably higher. Various other non-state
religions had approximately 60,000 members. An estimated 10 percent of
the population did not belong to any religious group. In the past
decade, the number of Muslims increased from 1,000 to approximately
20,000, most of whom were immigrants to the country. Of these,
approximately 5,000 were Shiites and 15,000 Sunni. The largest single
national group was Somali, but the communities also included North
Africans, Bosnians, peninsula Arabs, Tartars, Turks, and Iraqis. There
were four major Muslim communities in the country: The Muslim Community
in Finland, the Tampere Muslim Community, Shi'a Muslims, and the
Multicultural Dawa Center of Islam. There were seven Roman Catholic
congregations with approximately 8,000 registered members, and two
Jewish congregations with approximately 1,500 members.
All public schools provide religious and/or philosophical
instruction. Students who did not wish to receive religious instruction
may choose to study philosophy instead. In certain Helsinki area
schools, there were more Muslim students than members of the country's
second religion, Orthodoxy. Therefore, in these schools, Islam became
the third most popular ``philosophical subject'' after the Lutheran
faith and general ``philosophy-of-life.'' The number of Muslim students
increased countrywide by approximately 20 percent every year over the
past three years. This trend was expected to continue for at least two
to three years.
In 2006, the Ministry of Education denied permits to five out of
seven groups that wished to start or expand private Christian schools.
The ministry stated that concern over academic standards, particularly
in science, was a significant factor in its decision. The minister of
education also stated that in his view it was not the proper function
of schools to promote a single religious truth. The groups in question
have appealed the ministry's decision.
A 2003 Gallup poll showed that Finns held a more positive view
toward Christian churches and religious groups than in a similar poll
taken in 1999. Over one-half of those interviewed believed that one was
accountable in an afterlife for one's deeds. Seventy-seven percent (69
percent in 1999) held positive views about the Lutheran Church, 65
percent (56 percent in 1999) held positive views of the Salvation Army,
and 62 percent (51 percent in 1999) held positive views of the Orthodox
Church. A majority of the population held negative views about
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), Christian Science, and Islam. People were fairly evenly
split on positive and negative perceptions of Judaism.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church counted everyone who entered a
church for any reason as an attendee. In 2004, an attendance of nearly
18 million was registered at worship services, christenings, weddings,
funerals, concerts, and other church meetings presented by the Church.
The congregations had approximately 2,200 choirs and 600 musical bands,
with a total membership of 44,000. The attraction of Sunday schools
decreased by some 10 percent; only one child out of ten in the group of
four- to ten-year-olds attended Sunday school. However, confirmation
classes were the flagship of the Church's youth work, and in 2004 as
many as 57,000 youngsters, i.e. some 90 percent of the age group
(approximately fifteen years), attended.
In the last few decades the Evangelical Lutheran Church has started
to show far greater awareness of its international responsibilities.
This was reflected in increased support for missionary work and
development assistance, and in a greater interest in ecumenical work.
Support for missionary work has doubled since the early 1980s, and the
proceeds of church collections for foreign aid have increased many
times over.
Nontraditional religious groups freely professed and propagated
their beliefs. Such groups as Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have been active in the
country for decades. Other groups included the Catholic, Muslim, and
Jewish communities.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There are two
state churches: The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Orthodox
Church. All citizens who belong to either state church pay a church tax
set at 1 to 2 percent of income, varying with the congregation, as part
of their income tax. Those who do not want to pay the tax must inform
the applicable state church that they are leaving it. These taxes are
used to defray the costs of running the churches. State churches also
handle services such as recording births, deaths, and marriages, which
for citizens outside these churches are handled by official state
registrars. Nontraditional religious groups are eligible for some tax
relief (for example, they may receive tax-free donations), provided
that they are registered with, and recognized by, the Government as
religious communities.
State subsidies were being planned for religious communities and
were scheduled to be included in the 2007 state budget. The funds would
have to be applied for separately from general tax revenues. The amount
of the subsidy would be approximately $7 (5 euros) per person, although
the smallest communities would not qualify for these subsidies.
Although not of substantial financial significance, the subsidies would
nonetheless mean a step toward greater religious equality.
To be recognized, religious groups should have at least twenty
members. The purpose of the group should be the public practice of
religion, and the activities of the group should be guided by a set of
rules. The Government recognizes fifty-five religious groups.
The 2003 Religious Freedom Act includes regulations on registered
religious communities. Their autonomy was increased, and the law on
associations is extensively applied to them. As in the old law, a
minimum of twenty members is required to form a religious organization.
Furthermore, the new law no longer prevents a person from being a
member of several religious communities simultaneously. The religious
communities will decide independently whether or not their members can
belong to other religious communities as well. The one-month
reconsideration period and the personal notice of resignation have been
abandoned. Resignation can be submitted by mail, and it takes effect
immediately upon receipt.
The new law further clarifies that the religious denomination of a
child is not automatically determined by the faith of the parents: The
child's membership in or resignation from a religious community is
always based on a separate expression of the will of the parents/
guardians, such as baptizing the child. The independence of the child
has been increased so that the denomination of any person older than
twelve may be changed only by permission of the person.
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion.
Various government programs available through the Ministry of Education
and the Ministry of Labor focus on ongoing discrimination, including
discrimination based on religion. Studies and research, integration
programs, and recommendations for further incorporation of immigrants
into society have been the focal points of these programs. Religion has
not been highlighted in particular, but remains a part of the
Government's overall attempts to combat discrimination.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. There were no reports of verbal or physical
violence against persons or property of any minority religious groups.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
Some citizens were not very receptive to proselytizing by adherents
of nontraditional faiths, in part because of the tendency to regard
religion as a private matter.
Nontraditional religious groups were generally free from
discrimination despite intolerant attitudes from some members of
society.
Immigrants did not encounter difficulties in practicing their
faiths; however, they sometimes encountered random discrimination and
xenophobia.
There were a few reports of anti-Semitic graffiti; however, there
were no reports of significant anti-Semitic activity.
An issue raising some amount of discussion among the clergy was
whether or not registered couples of the same sex should be given the
blessings of the church. In 2003, the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church meeting decided to table two opposite proposals: One banning
access to church ceremonies for those living in a registered same-sex
relationship, and the other proposing church blessings for such
couples. No decisions about this issue had been made by the end of the
period covered by this report.
The subject of gay marriage was discussed at an Episcopal
conference in September 2005; however, after the meeting, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church failed to adopt a policy on registered
same-sex (de facto married) couples and homosexuality. The conference
set up a working group to present findings within a year.
Some registered same-sex couples may have received blessings in an
unofficial capacity by some clergy. Two members of the clergy wrote in
an article in a church weekly that they had given blessings to gay and
lesbian couples. They said it was a matter of conscience and encouraged
same-sex couples to seek church blessings. The Evangelical Lutheran
Church had no official policy on the matter at the end of the period
covered by this report.
Two cases served to illustrate the social liberalism among the
general public on the one hand, and the more conservative view of the
Church itself on the other. The Lutheran Bishop of Turku resigned in
early 2005 following allegations of an extramarital affair. Although
the Church hierarchy supported the resignation on moral grounds, the
bishop received significant expressions of sympathy from many ordinary
members, and a popular movement collected more than 5,000 signatures
supporting him.
Another ongoing case involved a doctoral thesis alleging that the
female clergy in the Diocese of Oulu (a conservative area in the north)
suffered from discrimination, psychological violence, and harassment by
the previous bishop, who was opposed to female clergy in principle.
Nearly all female ministers in the diocese met with opposition from
certain male colleagues and superiors. The harassment reportedly
occurred from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. Most
citizens strongly supported female clergy.
Another current issue of debate involves state-financed fertility
treatments. Lutheran Archbishop Jukka Paarma, who occasionally
expresses his views on certain political/moral issues that might also
be debated in Parliament, commented on the fertility question in May
2005 at a synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Turku. Paarma
said that single women and lesbian couples should not receive state-
funded fertility treatment to facilitate conception. Paarma rejected
the notion that childbearing was an inherent human right that should be
supported by the state in all cases. The archbishop stressed that the
focus should always be on the child's rights when considering in-vitro
fertilization treatment. In his opinion, these include the right to
have a mother and a father. He also clearly established that he did not
condemn fertility treatment, calling it a blessing for many married
couples.
The organization for sexual equality in Finland (SETA) leveled
harsh criticism at the Evangelical Lutheran Synod's stance on
forthcoming legislation on fertility treatment. The Government proposed
that lesbian couples be eligible for state-funded fertility treatment.
The church opposed the plan.
State churches often speak out in support of the Finnish/Nordic
welfare state model, couching social welfare state values in religious
or moral terms. Preaching at the opening of the synod of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in May 2004, the Bishop of Espoo expressed
his position on the Kyoto Climate agreement, saying the country should
not withdraw from it because of short-term national interests. A senior
politician of the Greens immediately commended the Church for taking a
stance on an issue that was not directly related to religion, but to
the general welfare of people.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall dialogue and policy to promote human
rights. Embassy representatives periodically met with representatives
of various religious communities (both mainstream and nontraditional)
to discuss religious freedom issues.
The ambassador met with a delegation of American and Finnish
Orthodox Church leaders to discuss issues of shared concern, including
religious tolerance, ecumenical exchanges, trafficking-in-persons, and
other transnational problems confronting modern societies.
An embassy officer spoke to the Orthodox Seminary and several other
religious gatherings on the relationship between church and state in
the United States and on the role of American faith-based institutions
in charitable assistance. This was part of an initiative by local
Orthodox ecclesiastical leaders to promote tolerance and understanding.
In March 2006, the embassy hosted an outreach reception for the
country's Muslim community. The reception brought together a diverse
group of Muslim immigrants representing many different ethnic and
religious communities. The aim of the reception was to promote
discussion and debate over the experience of Muslim immigrants in the
country and their concerns over religious freedom and political issues
both within the country and internationally.
__________
FRANCE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, some
religious groups remain concerned about legislation passed in 2001 and
2004, which provided for the dissolution of groups under certain
circumstances and banned the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols
by public school employees and students. A 1905 law on the separation
of religion and state prohibits discrimination on the basis of faith.
Government policy continued to contribute to the generally free
practice of religion. A law prohibiting the wearing of conspicuous
religious symbols in public schools by employees and students entered
into force in September 2004. Despite significant efforts by the
Government to combat anti-Semitism and an overall decline in the number
of incidents, anti-Semitic attacks persisted. The Government has a
stated policy of monitoring potentially ``dangerous'' cult activity
through the Inter-ministerial Monitoring Mission against Sectarian
Abuses (MIVILUDES). Some groups expressed concern that MIVILUDES
publications contributed to public mistrust of minority religions, and
that public statements from the new president indicated the
organization would take a harder line against minority religions. The
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief issued a report
indicating that the Government generally respected the right to freedom
of religion or belief, but expressed concern about the application of
the 1905 law, the treatment of cult groups and certain new religious
movements, and the 2004 legislation regarding religious symbols in
schools.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to freedom of religion. Anti-Semitic incidents
dropped by 48 percent in 2005, but incidents persisted, most notably
the kidnapping, torture, and killing of a twenty-three-year-old Jewish
man. Government leaders, religious representatives, and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) continued to criticize strongly anti-Semitic and
racist violence, and the Government provided increased security for
Jewish institutions.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 211,209 square miles and a population of
approximately 62.9 million.
In accordance with its definition of separation of state and
religion, the Government did not keep statistics on religious
affiliation. According to press reports, only 12 percent of the
population attended religious services of any faith more than once per
month. In a poll released in December 2004, 64.3 percent of the
respondents indicated they were Catholic, even if they never attended
religious services. Another 27 percent polled stated they had no
religious affiliation, while 8.7 percent cited another religious
affiliation. Of those who identified themselves as something other than
Catholic, 49.4 percent were Muslim, 21.8 percent were Protestant, 7
percent were Jewish, and 21.8 percent indicated ``other.'' A February
2004 poll indicated that 60 percent of those interviewed believed in
God, and 12 percent attended religious services often. The vast
majority of the population was nominally Roman Catholic, but according
to one member of the Catholic hierarchy, only 8 percent of the
population were practicing Catholics. Muslims constituted the second
largest religious group. There were an estimated five to six million
individuals of Muslim origin in the country (8 to 10 percent of the
population), although estimates of how many of these were practicing
Muslims varied widely. Protestants made up 2 percent of the population,
the Jewish and Buddhist faiths each represented 1 percent, and those of
the Sikh faith less than 1 percent. According to various estimates,
approximately 6 percent of the country's citizens were unaffiliated
with any religion.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 600,000. According to
press reports, at least 60 percent were not highly observant,
celebrating at most only the High Holy Days. The large majority of
observant Jews were Orthodox. There were small Conservative and Reform
congregations as well.
Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that 250,000 persons attended their
services either regularly or periodically.
Orthodox Christians numbered between 80,000 and 100,000; the vast
majority was associated with the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church.
Other religions present in the country included evangelicals,
Christian Scientists, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons). Membership in evangelical churches was growing, in
large part because of increased participation by African and Antillean
immigrants. According to the press, there were approximately 31,000
Mormons. The Church of Scientology had an estimated 5,000 to 20,000
members.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. A long history
of conflict between religious groups and between the Church and the
French Republic led the state to break its ties to the Catholic Church
early in the last century and adopt a strong commitment to maintaining
a totally secular public sector. The 1905 law on the separation of
religion and state, the foundation of existing legislation on religious
freedom, prohibits discrimination on the basis of faith. Of the
country's ten national holidays, five were Christian holy days.
Religious organizations are not required to register, but may apply
for tax-exempt status or to gain official recognition if they so wish.
The Government defines two categories under which religious groups may
register: associations cultuelles (associations of worship, which are
exempt from taxes) and associations culturelles (cultural associations,
which are normally not exempt from taxes). Associations in these two
categories are subject to certain management and financial disclosure
requirements. An association of worship may organize only religious
activities, defined as liturgical services and practices. A cultural
association may engage in profit-making activity. Although a cultural
association is not exempt from taxes, it may receive government
subsidies for its cultural and educational operations, such as schools.
Religious groups normally register under both of these categories; the
Mormons, for example, run strictly religious activities through their
association of worship and operate a school under their cultural
association.
Under the 1905 statute, religious groups must apply to the local
prefecture to be recognized as an association of worship and to receive
tax-exempt status. The prefecture reviews the submitted documentation
regarding the association's purpose for existence. To qualify, the
group's purpose must be solely the practice of some form of religious
ritual. Printing publications, employing a board president, or running
a school may disqualify a group from tax-exempt status.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 109 of 1,138 Protestant
associations, 15 of 147 Jewish associations, and approximately 30 of
1,050 Muslim associations have tax-free status. Approximately one
hundred Catholic associations are tax-exempt; a representative of the
Ministry of Interior reports that the number of non-tax-exempt Catholic
associations is too numerous to estimate accurately. More than fifty
associations of the Jehovah's Witnesses have tax-free status.
According to the 1905 law, associations of worship are not taxed on
the donations that they receive. However, the prefecture may decide to
review a group's status if the association receives a large donation or
legacy that comes to the attention of the tax authorities. If the
prefecture determines that the association is not in fact in conformity
with the 1905 law, its status may be changed, and it may be required to
pay taxes at a rate of 60 percent on present and past donations.
The 2001 About-Picard Law tightened restrictions on associations
and provided for the dissolution of groups, including religious groups,
under certain conditions. These include: Endangering the life or the
physical or psychological well-being of a person; placing minors at
mortal risk; violation of another person's freedom, dignity, or
identity; the illegal practice of medicine or pharmacology; false
advertising; and fraud or falsification.
For historical reasons, the Jewish, Lutheran, Reformed, and Roman
Catholic groups in three departments of Alsace and Lorraine enjoy
special legal status in terms of taxation of individuals donating to
these religious groups. Adherents of these four religious groups may
choose to have a portion of their income tax allocated to their
religious organization in a system administered by the central
Government.
Central or local governments own and maintain religious buildings
constructed before the 1905 law separating religion and state. In
Alsace and Moselle, special laws allow the local governments to provide
support for the building of religious edifices. The Government
partially funded the establishment of the country's oldest Islamic
house of worship, the Paris Grand Mosque, in 1926.
Foreign missionaries from countries not exempted from visa
requirements to enter the country must obtain a three-month tourist
visa before leaving their own country. All missionaries who wish to
remain in the country longer than ninety days must obtain visas before
entering the country. Upon arrival, missionaries must apply with the
local prefecture for a carte de sejour (a document that allows a
foreigner to remain in the country for a given period of time) and must
provide the prefecture a letter from their sponsoring religious
organization.
Public schools are secular. In March 2004, the Government passed
legislation prohibiting public school employees and students from
wearing conspicuous religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf,
the Jewish skullcap, and large crosses; the legislation took effect at
the beginning of the school year in September 2004. Religious
instruction is not given in public schools, but facts about religions
are taught as part of the history curriculum. Parents may home-school
children for religious reasons, but all schooling must conform to the
standards established for public schools. Public schools make an effort
to supply special meals for students with religious dietary
restrictions. The Government subsidizes private schools, including
those that are affiliated with religious organizations.
The Government has made efforts to promote interfaith
understanding. Strict anti-defamation laws prohibit racially or
religiously motivated attacks. Denial of crimes against humanity is
illegal. The Government has programs to combat racism and anti-Semitism
through public awareness campaigns and through encouraging dialogue
among local officials, police, and citizen groups. Government leaders,
along with representatives from the Jewish community, the Paris and
Marseille Grand Mosques, the Protestant Federation, and the French
Conference of Bishops have publicly condemned racist and anti-Semitic
violence. In 2003, a law was passed against crimes of a ``racist, anti-
Semitic, or xenophobic'' nature; the law classifies racist motivations
for violent acts as aggravating circumstances and mandates harsher
punishment for these crimes. March 2004 legislation further increased
punishment for ``hate'' crimes. The Government regularly applies these
laws in prosecuting anti-Semitic crimes.
The Government consults with the major religious communities
through various formal mechanisms. The Catholic community is
represented by the Council of Bishops.
The Protestant Federation of France, established in 1905, comprises
sixteen churches and sixty associations. Its primary purpose is to
contribute to the cohesion of the Protestant community. It also acts as
an interlocutor with the Government.
The Central Consistory of Jews of France, established in 1808,
includes the Jewish ``worship associations'' from the entire country.
It acts as a liaison with the Government, trains rabbis, and responds
to other needs of the Jewish community. In 1943, Jewish members of the
French Resistance formed the Representative Council of Jewish
Institutions in France (CRIF). The CRIF's mission is to fight anti-
Semitism, preserve the memory of the Holocaust, affirm solidarity with
Israel, and promote peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
The national French Council of the Muslim Faith and twenty-five
affiliated regional councils serve as interlocutors for the Muslim
community with local and national officials on such civil-religious
issues as mosque construction, providing chaplains for prisons and the
military, and certification of halal butchers. In November 2004, then-
Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin announced the creation of a
Foundation for French Islam to assist in the funding of mosques,
provide a transparent vehicle for individual and foreign donations, and
assist in the training of foreign imams in the French language,
history, and civics; however, it suffers from a lack of foreign or
private funding. The Government's goal was to establish the
organization, with funding to come from the members. Government
interest in the project could be flagging because of a change in
ministers.
The MIVILUDES is charged with observing and analyzing ``sect/cult''
movements that constitute a threat to public order or that violate law,
coordinating the appropriate responses to abuses by ``cults,''
informing the public about potential risks, and helping victims to
receive aid.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or
Belief, Asma Jahangir, visited the country in September 2005 and issued
a report on her findings in March 2006. While the special rapporteur
indicated that the Government generally respected the right to freedom
of religion or belief, she noted several areas of concern. Regarding
the 1905 law separating church and state, the special rapporteur
recognized that while the law guarantees in principle the fundamental
right to freedom of religion or belief, she stated that ``in some
circumstances, the selective interpretation and rigid application of
this principle has operated at the expense'' of religious freedom. The
special rapporteur considered that ``the policy of the Government may
have contributed to a climate of general suspicion and intolerance''
towards religious groups listed in a 1995 parliamentary report as
``cults.'' She noted that authorities had ``adopted a more balanced
approach'' in recent years towards groups considered cults and judged
that MIVILUDES was an improvement over the anti-cult organization it
replaced in 2002. However, the special rapporteur added that because of
staffing changes after she completed her visit, ``MIVILUDES was
allegedly about to return to a more hard-line position'' regarding
alternative and minority religions. The special rapporteur found that,
while the March 2004 law banning the wearing of religions symbols in
schools can ``protect the autonomy of minors who may be pressured or
forced to wear a headscarf or other religious symbols,'' it also acted
to deny the rights of ``minors who have freely chosen to wear a
religious symbol to school as a part of their religious belief,'' and
that ``the stigmatization of the headscarf has provoked acts of
religious intolerance when women wear it outside school.''
In March 2004, on the recommendation of an inter-ministerial
commission established by the president to study secularism,
integration, and the place of religion in the country, the Government
passed a law prohibiting the wearing of ``conspicuous'' religious
symbols--including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and large
crosses--by employees and students in public schools. In June 2004, the
European Commission on Human Rights ruled that the law did not violate
the freedom of religion; the law was implemented in September 2004.
Some Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh leaders, human rights groups,
and foreign governments voiced concerns about the law's potential to
restrict religious freedom. Following the enactment of the law, media
reports indicated that Muslim girls and Sikh boys had been expelled
from public school for violating this law; all had reportedly enrolled
in private schools, distance education courses, or schools abroad. One
Muslim group, however, indicated that the law adversely affected many
more Muslim girls, whether by causing them to seek alternative
educational options or requiring them to remove their veil. Media
reports estimated that, of the 13 million schoolchildren, approximately
1,200 Muslim school-aged girls wore veils. The Sikh community reported
that, of the roughly 200 school-aged Sikh boys, 84 percent were
affected by the legislation.
In 2005, the Paris Court of Appeals rejected a telemarketing firm's
appeal of a 2003 ruling in favor of a young woman who sought
reinstatement, damages, and interest after she was fired by the
telemarketing firm for refusing to wear her headscarf in a manner
deemed appropriate by her employer.
Some Muslim and Sikh groups protested the government policy
prohibiting the wearing of head coverings in national identity photos.
A case brought before the country's highest court for administrative
matters by a Sikh wishing to be permitted to wear his turban in
driver's license and passport photos was ongoing at the end of the
period covered by this report. The Sikhs, who lost the case in March
2006, filed complaints with the French High Authority against
Discrimination and for Equality, and with the European Commission, for
indirect discrimination against individuals and a group of individuals
in contravention of various European laws.
In July 2004, Parliament passed a law permitting the expulsion of
individuals for ``inciting discrimination, hatred or violence against a
specific person or group of persons.'' Abdelkader Bouziane, an imam,
was deported from the country in October 2004, accused of publicly
justifying wife-beating in an article.
The Government continued to encourage public caution toward some
minority religions that it considers ``cults.'' Mass suicides in 1994
by members of the Order of the Solar Temple led to heightened public
concern about ``cult'' behavior. In 1996, a parliamentary commission
studying so-called cults publicly released a report that identified 173
groups as ``cults,'' including the Raelians, the Association of the
Triumphant Vajra, the Order of the Solar Temple, Sukyo Mahikari, the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Theological Institute of Nimes (an evangelical
Christian Bible college), and the Church of Scientology. The Government
has not banned any of the groups on the list; however, members of some
of the groups listed have alleged instances of intolerance because of
the ensuing publicity. In May 2005, then-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre
Raffarin issued a circular indicating that the parliamentary list
should no longer be used to identify ``sects'' and directed authorities
to focus their efforts instead on those sects that represent the
greatest threat, notably those ``small, fluid'' groups that are ``less
easily identifiable'' and that use the Internet for recruitment. Some
religious groups hailed the move as a step forward but called for the
Ministry of Justice to issue a circular to rescind repressive measures
against minority religions.
On April 16, 2006, MIVILUDES published its report for 2005, noting
continued concern about the activities of groups it considers
``cults.'' According to MIVILUDES President Jean-Michel Roulet, ``There
are real and good reasons not to give up the fight against sectarian
abuses on the fallacious grounds that this represents an attack on the
freedom of religion.'' The 176-page report cited three primary areas of
concern: Protecting children from cult influences, both from parents
who may be involved in the groups and from attempts by groups to
recruit young members; curing demand for ``alternative medicines'' and
spiritual healers; and preventing sects' use of natural disasters and
humanitarian aid to promote their public image and proselytize their
beliefs. The report specifically cited the Church of Scientology as
being present in France's suburbs following last fall's unrest there,
distributing copies of their booklet ``The Path of Happiness'' and
reaching out to youth. Minority religious groups indicated that the
allegations in the report were unsubstantiated and often false, adding
to public mistrust of the organizations involved. Groups also expressed
concern about comments made by Roulet, often specifically citing the
Church of Scientology, and promising to increase efforts against
minority religions.
In January 2005, MIVILUDES published a guide for public servants
instructing them how to spot and combat ``dangerous'' sects. In several
instances, the law regarding the right of patients to refuse medical
treatment, as well as subsequent court decisions, was noted. The
Jehovah's Witnesses were mentioned as an organization that refused
blood transfusions, and there was mention of Health Ministry guidance
to encourage treatment while respecting patient wishes. Some groups
expressed concern that this guide would be misused by overzealous
public servants against legitimate religious organizations.
Some observers remained concerned about the 2001 About-Picard law,
which permits the dissolution of religious groups, if it is established
that group practices are believed to violate basic rights. In 2002, the
Council of Europe passed a resolution critical of the law and invited
the Government to reconsider it. The law remained in force. Although
the provisions allowing for the dissolution of groups have never been
applied, another aspect of the law was utilized for the first time
against the leader of a ``cult.'' Arnaud Mussy, the founder and
spiritual head of the group Neo-Phare, was convicted in November 2004
of fraudulent abuse of the state of ignorance and the weakness of four
followers. Mussy claimed to be the reincarnation of Christ and made
several predictions in 2000 regarding the pending apocalypse; one of
his adherents killed himself, and two other followers attempted suicide
allegedly because of their states of mind brought on by Mussy's
manipulation. He appealed the decision.
On June 28, 2006, the National Assembly passed a law creating a
Commission of Enquiry Regarding the Influence of Sects on Minors, the
third parliamentary commission in eleven years set up to investigate
sects. According to the sponsors of the bill, the committee would seek
to investigate both the ``insidious means'' by which sects seek to
proselytize youth, as well as any resultant negative effects on young
people's physical and psychological well-being.
Representatives of the Church of Scientology continued to report
cases of societal discrimination, frivolous lawsuits, and prosecution
for allegedly fraudulent activity. In 2003, the Court of Appeals of
Paris fined the Paris-region Spiritual Association of the Church of
Scientology approximately $6,100 (5,000 euros) for breaking a law on
information privacy; the decision was appealed. Church of Scientology
representatives reported that a case filed by a parent whose child
attended an ``Applied Scholastics''-based school was resolved when the
young woman, previously prevented by the Government from leaving the
country to attend the school abroad, decided she would wait until she
reached the age of eighteen and could legally make the decision
herself. In March 2004, the police intelligence agency, Renseignements
Generaux (RG), was instructed by the Administrative Tribunal of Paris
to comply with a 2003 decision by the Council of State to provide the
Church of Scientology with its files on the group, or be fined. The RG
had refused to accede to the Church of Scientology's request since
2000, citing ``public safety'' concerns.
The Church of Scientology also argued that numerous remarks by
Jean-Michel Roulet, since his October 2005 installation as the
president of MIVILUDES, were ``rife with false and derogatory
information...[which] makes it impossible for MIVILUDES to function in
an objective and neutral manner.'' Scientology representatives
characterized Mr. Roulet's statements as ``a return to discriminatory
government policies...designed to...stigmatize and denigrate targeted
minority faiths in France.'' In addition, they criticized his February
2006 letter to France's Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA in French),
which alerted CSA authorities that a public service announcement that
had been broadcast on French television had in fact been provided by
the Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI), which is affiliated
with the Church of Scientology. After receipt of Roulet's letter,
according to the Scientologists, the CSA acted to censor the public
service announcements by warning stations of their origin (the link
between YHRI and Scientology is clear on the website indicated on the
website address provided on the box containing the DVD of the PSA). The
Scientologist's attorney pointed out that this type of censorship had
occurred only in France.
Scientologists in the country reported many other cases of
discrimination. In one, the spokesperson for the Church in the country,
Danielle Gounord, was summoned to appear before the police on January
31, 2006, and told that the magistrate who headed the ``Sect Mission''
within the Justice Ministry's Department of Criminal Affairs and Pardon
had filed a report claiming harassment against her. The Magistrate,
Marie-Jose Aube Lotte, based her claim of harassment on letters
received from Gounord, on an article Gounord wrote, and on a question
that Gounord posed to Lotte at a seminar in the Senate. According to
the Scientologist's attorney, in no case had Gounord said, done, or
written anything in contravention of any law.
On December 14, 2005, a Paris court rejected a lawsuit brought by a
collective of associations asking for the dissolution of the National
Union of Associations for the Defense of the Family (UNADFI). The
organizations accused UNADFI, a state-subsidized NGO ``specializing in
information about sects,'' of regularly overstepping its informative
role and acting against religious freedom. Instead, the court ruled
that the suit constituted an ``abusive procedure'' and ordered the
plaintiffs to pay UNADFI $18,000 (15,000 euros) in damage and court
costs and ordered the plaintiffs to print the decision in eight
newspapers. The plaintiffs planned to appeal the decision.
Some observers voiced concerns about the tax authorities' scrutiny
of the financial records of some religious groups. In October 2004, the
Association of Jehovah's Witnesses lost their appeal to the Court of
Cassation on a 2002 ruling that they must pay back taxes currently
totaling nearly $51,135,000 (40,908,000 euros). The members claimed
that they were discriminatorily and punitively audited because of their
classification as a cult, because of their placement on the 1996
parliamentary list, and that authorities adopted a new administrative
regulation to retroactively tax ``manual donations'' offered by
adherents. The association further alleged that this tax had not been
applied to any other nonprofit or religious organization, and the
amount of the tax exceeds the assets of the Association of Jehovah's
Witnesses in the country. The Association of Jehovah's Witnesses has
refused to pay what it considers an unjust tax. On February 25, 2005,
the case was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights and was
ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
Jehovah's Witnesses in the Vosges Department reported difficulty
gaining permission to build a house of worship in the town of
Deyvilliers, and at the end of a reporting period a court case was
pending before an administrative court. Jehovah's Witnesses also
reported several acts of vandalism, including the burning of a car and
the arson of a house of worship. On December 1, 2005, the Paris Court
of Appeal overturned a 2001 decision and ordered the Ministry of
Interior to turn over to the Jehovah's Witnesses documents relating to
the 1996 parliamentary report and to pay $1,800 (1,500 euros) for
costs. The Ministry of Interior's appeal of the decision was ongoing at
the end of the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
On February 13, 2005, the first death linked to anti-Semitism since
1995 occurred when authorities discovered the beaten and burned body of
Ilan Halimi, a twenty-three-year-old Jewish man who was kidnapped and
tortured to death by a gang in the southern Paris suburb of Bagneux.
Halimi was approached by a young woman at his place of work and
kidnapped when he went to meet her on January 20. One of the suspects
in custody for the crime admitted to authorities that Halimi had been
targeted ``because he is Jewish, and because Jews are rich.'' The gang,
which referred to themselves as ``The Barbarians,'' demanded as much as
$600,000 (500,000 euros) for his release and reportedly told his family
to ``ask synagogues for the money'' when told that the family did not
have enough money. The gang leader and self-proclaimed ``Brain of the
Barbarians,'' Youssef Fofana, fled to Cote d'Ivoire shortly after
Halimi's body was discovered and was later extradited to France. At the
end of the reporting period at least twenty-one persons, including
Fofana and the woman who lured Halimi, were in custody or awaiting
charges for the kidnapping and killing of Halimi, which was classified
by the Justice Ministry as a hate crime bearing the ``aggravated
circumstance of anti-Semitism.''
Authorities reacted strongly to Halimi's killing, although some
members of Halimi's family accused the police of moving too slowly and
initially disregarding the anti-Semitic dimension of the crime.
President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin,
opposition political figures, and Muslim and Christian religious
leaders attended a memorial for Ilan Halimi February 24 at a Paris
synagogue. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Foreign Minister Philippe
Douste-Blazy, and European Minister Catherine Colonna were among the
estimated 33,000-200,000 people who attended a February 26 march
organized by the CRIF and NGOs SOS-Racisme and the International League
against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) to honor Halimi and show
solidarity against racism and anti-Semitism.
Following the Halimi killing there was a spate of anti-Semitic
incidents in the Parisian suburb of Sarcelles, where Jews make up
approximately 20 percent of the 58,000 residents. According to press
reports, the perpetrators in these incidents were of sub-Saharan
African and Maghreb origin. On March 3, 2006 a local rabbi's seventeen-
year-old son was attacked by two men of African origin near a
synagogue, suffering a broken nose. That same day, an eighteen-year-old
man was assaulted by a group of five men, who insulted him and stole
his cell phone. On March 4, a twenty-eight-year-old man was attacked by
four assailants, suffering a dislocated shoulder. The four responsible
for the attack were arrested. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy met
with the families of all three victims, calling anti-Semitism ``a stain
on the national flag'' and announcing a reinforcement of local police
forces and video surveillance in the area.
In July 2005, three youths threw bottles of acid into the courtyard
of a Jewish school in Paris. No injuries were reported. The three
minors were released into judicial custody, and their trial remained
ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
In April 2005, the CRIF condemned the sale of anti-Semitic
cassettes by the Committee for the Well-being and Rescue for
Palestinians at the annual meeting of the Union of Islamic
Organizations in France (UOIF). The president of the UOIF called the
situation ``regrettable'' and lamented that the situation had not been
brought to his attention earlier, so as to prevent the dissemination.
He stated, ``We cannot tolerate the sale of such cassettes, this is an
incitation to racial hatred, an incitation against religions. This is
unacceptable.''
In November 2004, a group of students visiting Auschwitz were
accused of inappropriate behavior, including running, throwing
snowballs, smiling next to pictures of deportees, and in the case of
one student, making comments that approved of the Nazis' actions. In
January 2005, an appeals court rejected the appeals of two of the
disciplined students, upholding the permanent expulsion for the student
who made the remarks, and confirming a fifteen-day suspension for
another student.
In October 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called comments by
Radio France International editor Alain Menargues ``unacceptable.''
Menargues called Israel a ``racist'' state while publicizing his book
on the West Bank security barrier. As a result of the controversy
surrounding his remarks, Menargues resigned.
In October 2004, Bruno Gollnisch, a part-time university professor
in Lyon, member of the European Parliament, and vice president of the
extreme-right National Front, made several comments regarding the
Holocaust to the media, questioning the use of gas chambers and
stating, ``I'm not contesting the existence of concentration camps, but
as for the number of dead, historians might want to debate on it.'' In
March 2005, the disciplinary committee at the university where he was
teaching banned him from teaching there for five years for contesting
crimes against humanity; on May 22, the National Council of Higher
Education's disciplinary committee confirmed the expulsion. On May 23,
Gollnisch's trial on charges of contesting crimes against humanity was
postponed until November 7. The European Parliament lifted Gollnisch's
parliamentary immunity on December 13, 2005.
On Sunday May 28, 2006, approximately thirty young men marched down
a symbolically significant street in Paris' traditional Jewish quarter
yelling ``death to the Jews'' and other anti-Semitic insults. The men,
of African origin, were seeking a confrontation with members of the
Betar youth movement and the Jewish Defense League. The incident lasted
an estimated fifteen minutes. Although there was no violence, many
Jewish residents and shopkeepers in the area complained of
intimidation. The National Office of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism
filed a complaint with police, who opened an investigation. The gang
warned it would return every Sunday but had not returned again in the
period covered by this report.
The men were believed to belong to Tribu KA, a thirty-member group
of extremist blacks, created in 2004 and known to police for their
racist rhetoric against Jews and whites. Its leader, Stellio Gilles
Robert, a former member of the Nation of Islam in Paris under the name
Kemi Seba, was indicted in the past on charges of public slander and
incitement to racial hatred. The day after the attack, Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy wrote a letter to the minister of justice
seeking an order to ban the group's Internet site, and the site was
down two days later. The day after the incidents, Sarkozy received the
president of CRIF and some area shopkeepers. The Socialist Party
condemned the intimidations of the Tribu KA and called on authorities
to get to the bottom of the events.
Sarkozy visited the area on May 31, 2006, proclaiming, ``I don't
want a single Jew to be afraid here. The fear of a single Jew is a
stain on the French flag.'' Sarkozy announced that police were
undertaking two investigations into the incident. He also noted he had
asked legal experts to study how Tribu KA could be dissolved and
reinforced patrols in the neighborhood.
Another interior ministry official stated during a June 4 interview
that Sarkozy would seek to have the group sanctioned. However, a press
report from mid-June suggested that investigators have were not able to
find evidence (from videotapes and witnesses) that the gang members
actually committed anti-Semitic acts or said anything that would be
actionable under the law.
Also in June, the administrative tribunal of Toulouse convicted the
French state and the state railways, the SNCF, for its role in the
deportation of Jews during World War II. The specific case was brought
by the family of Georges Liepitz, whom the state railway transferred in
spring 1944 from Pau to the transit camp of Drancy, north of Paris.
(The family was ultimately liberated.) In its judgment, the court
declared that ``The French administration could not manifestly ignore
that their transfer...facilitated an operation that would normally have
been the prelude to the deportation of the concerned persons.'' The
SNCF, which was ordered to pay $74,400 (62,000 euros) to the Lipietz
family, said it will appeal the decision.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government has taken a number of proactive steps to fight anti-
Semitic and anti-Islamic attacks, including instructing police
commissioners to create monitoring units in each department and
creating a department-level Council of Religions to raise public
awareness of increased racial and sectarian assaults and other
incidents. The number of racist and anti-Semitic incidents reported by
the Government in 2005 was down 38 percent over those in 2004. In late
2003, the Ministry of Education created a national commission to combat
anti-Semitism in schools, and the Government continued efforts to
promote tolerance and combat racism and anti-Semitism throughout the
reporting period. In August 2004, the Mayor of Paris sent letters to
all Paris-area principals calling for ``debates on anti-Semitism,
racism and discrimination'' when classes resumed in September.
Rabbi Michel Serfaty, co-president of the French Judeo-Muslim
Friendship Association (AJMF), received positive responses to his June
2005 tour of Jewish and Muslim leaders throughout the country to
promote dialogue between the two communities. As a result, Rabbi
Serfaty followed up with a tour of the Paris region in April and
another country-wide tour in May.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were a number
of anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic incidents during the period covered by
this report. The Council of Christian Churches in France is composed of
three Protestant, three Catholic, and three Orthodox Christian
representatives. It serves as a forum for dialogue among the major
Christian churches. There is also an organized interfaith dialogue
among the Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and Jewish communities, which
discusses and issues statements on various national and international
themes.
In 2004, the Government released the Rufin Report, which concluded
that racism and anti-Semitism were a threat to French democracy and
that anti-Semitic acts are not only carried out by elements of the
extreme right and Muslim youth of North African descent, but also by
``disaffected individuals'' whose anti-Semitic obsessions prompt their
attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions. The Rufin Report also
warned against radical anti-Zionists who question Israel's right to
exist. The report recommended that a law be created to punish those
publicly equating Israel with apartheid or Nazi Germany. Additionally,
the report concluded that the press law of 1881, designed to guarantee
freedom of the press, was too unwieldy to adequately address the issues
of racism and anti-Semitism. It recommended removing from the press law
all injunctions against incitement to racism and anti-Semitism and
putting them into a new law written specifically to address these
issues. The Rufin Report also called for countering intolerance in
primary schools; educating new immigrants about the fight against
racism and anti-Semitism; and creating an observation system to monitor
racist and anti-Semitic websites and to work closely with authorities
to prosecute offenders.
In a March 2006 annual report to the prime minister, the National
Consultative Commission on Human Rights (NCCHR) indicated that there
were 974 racist and anti-Semitic incidents in 2005, a drop of 38
percent from the 1,574 recorded in 2004. The number of anti-Semitic
incidents--including physical assaults, attacks against property,
cemetery desecrations, threats, and reported insults--decreased 48
percent, from 974 in 2004 to 504 in 2005. The NCCHR also indicated that
the decrease in anti-Semitic incidents extended into the schools, an
area that has been of great concern in recent years. According to
Ministry of Interior figures, the number of racist, anti-Semitic, and
xenophobic incidents in schools dropped by 54 percent in 2005, with the
number of anti-Semitic incidents seeing the greatest decrease. The
Ministry of Education likewise reported a 30 percent reduction in
incidents of intolerance.
The NCCHR report noted that the number of anti-Semitic threats and
insults committed by those of ``Arab-Muslim'' background dropped from
429 in 2004 to 99 in 2005, a decrease of 77 percent, and comprised 24
percent of the total. The number of threats and insults committed by
the extreme right remained relatively stable (148 in 2005 as opposed to
152 in 2004) and made up 36 percent of the incidents recorded.
Authorities were unable to identify the perpetrators of anti-Semitic
violence in 47 percent of the cases. Individuals of ``Arab-Muslim''
background were responsible for 41 percent of violent incidents while
members of the extreme-right were culpable for 10 percent.
The NCCHR report stated, ``despite the efforts deployed to fight
racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, there is still a long way to
go.'' Specifically, the NCCHR noted a ``lifting of the taboo'' against
racist attitudes, as evidenced by polls indicating that one in three
citizens admits to being at least ``a little'' racist, up from 25
percent in the 2004 report. In its list of recommendations, the NCCHR
encouraged the Government to continue efforts to fight racism, anti-
Semitism, and xenophobia, particularly as they were disseminated on the
Internet.
Judging that French society historically had ``perhaps not been
vigilant enough in the face of racism and anti-Semitism,'' Justice
Minister Pascal Clement announced that French courts handed down 434
convictions for racist and anti-Semitic crimes in 2005, a 43 percent
increase over the 303 convictions recorded in 2004. The rise in
convictions, the minister noted, was not due to a rise in incidents,
but rather to ``better pursuit'' of the acts that did occur.
Additionally, prosecutors were under orders to seek maximum punishments
in hate crimes and to systematically appeal sentences not considered
strong enough.
CRIF operated a hotline to register allegations of threats in the
greater Paris region. Additionally, CRIF contributed an analysis of
anti-Semitic acts and threats in the NCCHR's 2005 annual report. Based
on its own information and that of the Jewish Community Protection
Service, CRIF registered 252 anti-Semitic incidents during the first
ten months of 2005, as opposed to 484 during the same period of time in
2004. CRIF stated in the NCCHR report that its figures do not always
correspond to those of the Government, as victims do not always report
their attacks to both the police and CRIF. CRIF also noted its concern
about the availability of anti-Semitic diffusions via the Internet, the
radio, and satellite television.
Authorities met with international organizations to discuss efforts
to fight anti-Semitism. Representatives of the American Jewish
Committee made several trips during the reporting period to consult
with officials and expressed support for government efforts. President
Chirac declared his ``absolute determination'' to fight anti-Semitism
in a May 2, 2006, meeting with members of the UJA-Federation of New
York, who also discussed the issue with the ministers of justice and
the interior.
In 2003, after an arson attack destroyed a Jewish school in Gagny,
President Chirac stated ``an attack on a Jew is an attack on France''
and ordered the formation of an interministerial committee charged with
leading an effort to combat anti-Semitism. Since its first meeting in
2003, the committee has worked to improve government coordination in
the fight against anti-Semitism, including the timely publication of
statistics and reinforced efforts to prosecute attackers.
Authorities condemned anti-Semitic attacks, maintained heightened
security at Jewish institutions, investigated the attacks, made
arrests, and pursued prosecutions. More than thirteen mobile units,
totaling more than 1,200 police officers, were assigned to those
locales with the largest Jewish communities. Fixed or mobile police
were present in the schools, particularly during the hours when
children were entering or leaving school buildings. All of these
measures were coordinated closely with leaders of the Jewish
communities in the country, notably CRIF.
The Government took other steps to combat anti-Semitism and other
forms of intolerance, particularly among young people; however, some
groups asserted that the judicial system was lax in its sentencing of
anti-Semitic offenders. Schools emphasized the need for tolerance, and
copies of the film ``Shoah'' were distributed to all high schools for
use in history and civics classes.
The Government has taken other proactive steps to fight anti-
Semitic and anti-Islamic attacks, including instructing police
commissioners to create monitoring units in each national department
and announcing in June 2004 the creation of a department-level Council
of Religions to raise public awareness of increased racial and anti-
sectarian incidents. In September 2004, the mayor of Paris launched a
campaign to fight all forms of intolerance that included 1,200
municipal billboards and bulletins in major newspapers.
Members of the Arab-Muslim community experienced incidents of
harassment and vandalism. However, the situation improved in 2005,
during which, according to the NCCHR, there were 470 racist acts
recorded, a decrease of 22 percent from the 600 committed in 2004. Of
these, the drop was most profoundly noted in the number of violent
incidents (88 in 2005 as opposed to 169 in 2004). More than half of the
racist incidents (257) were attributed to far-right extremists.
However, violent racist incidents on the island of Corsica, which made
up 48 percent of the attacks in 2004, comprised only 27 percent of the
incidents in 2005.
Attacks in Corsica were often blamed on elements of the island's
nationalist movement, and many incidents involved graffiti with such
slogans as ``Arabs Out'' and ``Corsica for the Corsicans'' written in
the Corsican language. On January 18, 2006, a bomb exploded outside a
Muslim-owned butcher shop in the Corsican capitol of Ajaccio, the
fourth such attack against the same shop. No one claimed responsibility
for the attack. In November 2004, assailants opened fire on an imam as
he answered a knock at the door of the Muslim Cultural Association of
Sartene, in southern Corsica. The imam was uninjured. In that same
month, police placed fourteen members of the nationalist group
Clandestini Corsi under investigation. In December 2004, there were two
attacks against a building that houses immigrants. Also in that month,
Corsican authorities held a week of events aimed at increasing
awareness of the danger of racism and promoting co-existence between
immigrant and native Corsican populations. The attacks caused some
families to move to the mainland or return to their countries of
origin.
On November 11, 2005, a mosque near Lyon was attacked with little
damage reported. On November 13 and 14, two firebomb attacks were
attempted against the Grand Mosque of Lyon. On November 20, a mosque in
the eastern town of Fougeres was hit with two firebombs, but no one was
injured, and the main prayer room was not damaged. Political and
religious leaders condemned the attacks, and authorities actively
investigated the incidents. Many suspected the attacks might have been
committed by right-wing militants in response to the unrest occurring
nightly at the time.
Negative societal attitudes regarding the wearing of Muslim
headscarves might have led to incidents of discrimination against
Muslim women. Members of the Muslim community alleged that, when
wearing headscarves, they were refused service by private businesses.
Media reports indicated that some companies discouraged women employees
from wearing the headscarf or encouraged them to wear a bandanna in its
place.
Authorities cracked down on efforts by small groups linked to the
extreme right responsible for distributing ``identity soup'' made with
pork, which is forbidden to those observing kosher or halal diets, to
the homeless. Police shut down efforts to distribute the soup once it
was determined to contain pork, and in January the city of Strasbourg
banned the practice as a threat to public order. ``Schemes with racial
subtexts must be denounced,'' announced the mayor of Strasbourg.
In 2004, a court handed down a four-month suspended sentence and a
$13,624 (10,000 euros) fine to a woman who refused to sell property to
an Arab couple.
Cemeteries and religious sites were often targets of attack; the
Interior Ministry announced desecrations and destructive acts at
ninety-two Christian, thirty-one Jewish, and twenty-eight Muslim sites
in 2004. Many of these incidents occurred in Alsace, where extreme-
right groups have ties to similar groups across the border in Germany.
In January 2006, two individuals were arrested and charged with the
April 29, 2004, desecration of 127 tombs in a Jewish cemetery in
Herrlisheim, near the German border. An accomplice, a member of the
extreme-right political party the National Front, was previously
arrested in December 2004. Emmanuel Rist, one of the two arrested for
the defamation, and another individual were also charged with a
September 8, 2005, explosion that injured Benemar Lhabib, a sixty-five-
year-old Moroccan. A letter following the bombing claimed
responsibility and called for a ``Nordic-Aryan'' Alsace. In May 2005,
approximately sixty gravestones were smashed and a swastika drawn on a
door of a Jewish cemetery in Sarreguemines (eastern France) shortly
after the memorial service for the town's Holocaust victims had been
held. Two young vandals, aged fourteen and twelve, were caught and
confessed to having committed the act ``out of foolishness.''
On May 18, 2006, the Government approved a ministry of interior
decision to disband the neo-Nazi group Elsass Korps. The dissolution
would prevent the group from meeting publicly and punish individuals
found to be reconstituting the group under a different name.
In May 2005, a Versailles court of appeals found the authors and
publisher of a 2002 article titled ``Israel-Palestine: The Cancer''
guilty of ``racial defamation'' for anti-Semitic content. Journalists
Edgar Morin, Daniele Sallenave, and Sami Nair, as well as editor Jean-
Marie Colombani were ordered to pay the legal fees of the prosecuting
groups and $1.20 (1 euro) each in damages. The publishing newspaper, Le
Monde, was ordered to print a retraction. The decision was
controversial, particularly as one of the authors, Edgar Morin, was
Jewish. A judge dismissed the initial complaint, ruling that any
reasonable reader would not equate criticism of then-Israeli Prime
Minister Sharon and his supporters as an attack on all Jews, but an
appeals court found that three sentences in the article violated a 1990
antiracism law.
In June 2005, a Paris court ordered French Internet service
providers (ISPs) to block the website of the French revisionist
organization Association of Former Connoisseurs of War and Holocaust
Stories (AAARGH) to French viewers. Two of three U.S. ISPs agreed to
stop hosting AAARGH's website.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Representatives from the embassy met several times with government
officials responsible for religious freedom issues. These issues were
raised regularly in meetings with other officials and members of
Parliament. Embassy officers also met regularly with a variety of
private citizens, religious organizations, and NGOs involved in the
issue. The embassy maintained regular contact with the representative
bodies that comprise the French Council of the Muslim Faith and visits
mosques run by the various organizations as part of its promotion of
religious freedom and Muslim outreach efforts. In December 2005, the
embassy and the Paris-based representative of the American Jewish
Committee organized a meeting between the ambassador and leading Jewish
intellectuals and educators to examine the relationship between anti-
Americanism and anti-Semitism in France. In May, the ambassador co-
hosted with the ambassadors of Great Britain, the Czech Republic, and
Slovakia a screening of the film ``The Power of Good,'' which detailed
the efforts of Sir Nicolas Winton to save 669 children from Nazi
extermination during World War II, as part of the embassy's efforts to
promote religious tolerance. The embassy facilitated the visits of
American Members of Congress and Congressional Commissions, as well as
Congressional staff members and representatives from other government
agencies, to discuss religious freedom issues with religious leaders
and senior government officials.
__________
GEORGIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
During the period covered by this report, the status of religious
freedom continued to improve. Beginning in July 2005 the Government
approved the registration applications of previously unregistered
religious groups, pursuant to a new law enabling religious groups to
operate more freely. A total of fourteen organizations subsequently
registered under the law. Police were generally more responsive to the
needs of minority religious groups but failed at times to adequately
protect them. In December 2005 numerous members of Parliament (MPs)
objected strongly to a report by the government ombudsman calling for
equal recognition under the law of all religious groups. The MPs stated
that the historical role of the Georgian Orthodox Church justified its
privileged position.
Citizens generally did not interfere with religious groups
considered to be ``traditional''; however, there was widespread
suspicion of ``nontraditional'' ones. Attacks on religious minorities,
including violence, verbal harassment, and disruption of services and
meetings, continued to decrease. While the Prosecutor General's Office
increasingly initiated investigations of religious-based violence, past
complaints remained unresolved.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 25,900 square miles, and
its population is an estimated 4.4 million. Most ethnic Georgians (who
constituted more than 80 percent of the population, according to the
2002 census) at least nominally associated themselves with the Georgian
Orthodox Church (GOC). According to common Orthodox practice, Orthodox
churches serving non-Georgian ethnic groups, such as Russians,
Armenians, and Greeks, are under the territorial jurisdiction of the
GOC. Non-Georgian Orthodox churches generally use the language of their
communicants. There remained a small number of mostly ethnic Russian
adherents from three dissident Orthodox schools--the Molokani,
Staroveriy (Old Believers), and Dukhoboriy (Spirit Wrestlers). Under
Soviet rule, the number of active churches and priests declined
sharply, and religious education was nearly nonexistent. Membership in
the GOC has continued to increase since independence in 1991. The
Church maintained four theological seminaries, two academies, several
schools, and twenty-seven dioceses; it had approximately 700 priests,
250 monks, and 150 nuns. The Church was headed by Catholicos Patriarch
Ilia II; the patriarchate was located in the capital, Tbilisi.
The Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), Roman Catholicism, Judaism,
and Islam traditionally coexisted with Georgian Orthodoxy. Some
religious groups were correlated with ethnicity. Azeris comprised the
second largest ethnic group (approximately 285 thousand, 7 percent of
the population) and were largely Muslim; most lived in the southeastern
region of Kvemo-Kartli, where they constituted a majority. Armenians
were the third largest ethnic group (estimated at 249 thousand, 6
percent of the population), comprising the majority in the southern
Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Armenians largely belonged to the AAC.
Approximately 9.9 percent of the population was at least nominally
Muslim. There were three main Muslim populations: Ethnic Azeris, ethnic
Georgian Muslims of Ajara, and ethnic Chechen Kists in the northeastern
region. There were four large madrassahs (Muslim religious schools)
attached to mosques in the eastern region, two of which were Shi'ite
and financed by Iranian religious groups, and two of which, financed by
Turkish religious groups, were Sunni. There were also several smaller
madrassahs in Ajara that were financed by private groups in Turkey.
The Armenian Apostolic Church comprised the third largest religious
group, with members constituting an estimated 3.9 percent of the
population. Each of the other religious groups constituted less than 1
percent of the population.
There were approximately thirty-five thousand Catholics, largely
ethnic Georgians or Assyrians. A small number of Kurdish Yezidis--an
estimated eighteen thousand--have lived in the country for centuries.
The ethnic Greek Orthodox community used to number more than one
hundred thousand, but emigration waves since independence reduced its
numbers to approximately fifteen thousand.
Judaism, which has been present since ancient times, was practiced
in a number of communities throughout the country, particularly in the
largest cities, Tbilisi and Kutaisi. Approximately ten thousand Jews
remained in the country following two large waves of emigration, the
first in the early 1970s and the second during perestroyka in the late
1980s. Before then, officials estimate that there were approximately
forty thousand Jews.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Protestant and other
nontraditional denominations have become more active and prominent.
Local Jehovah's Witnesses' representatives stated that the group had
approximately 16 thousand adherents locally and had been in the country
since 1953. Pentecostals, both ethnic Georgian and Russian, were
estimated to number nine thousand. Baptists--composed of ethnic
Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Ossetian, and Kurdish groups--totaled an
estimated eight thousand adherents.
There were fewer than one thousand Lutherans, mostly descendents of
German communities that settled in the country several hundred years
ago. Seventh-day Adventists claimed approximately 350 members, and the
New Apostolic Church was also present. Membership in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was small. There also were a few
Baha'is, Hare Krishnas, and Buddhists. The membership of all these
groups combined was officially estimated at thirty-four thousand
persons. The number of atheists who openly declare themselves as such
was less than 1 percent of the population.
Section II. Status of Freedom of Religion
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, local
officials and police sometimes denied this right or protection to
religious minorities. The constitution recognizes the special role of
the GOC in the country's history but also stipulates the independence
of the church from the state. In 2002 a constitutional agreement
(concordat) between the Government and the GOC was signed and ratified
by Parliament. The concordat recognizes the special role of the GOC and
devolves authority over all religious matters to it, including matters
outside the church including public education topics.
The criminal code specifically prohibits interference with worship
services, persecution of a person based on religious faith or belief,
and interference with the establishment of a religious organization.
Violations of these prohibitions are punishable by fine and/or
imprisonment. Violations committed by a public officer or official are
considered abuse of power and are punishable by higher fines and/or
longer terms of imprisonment.
The president and government ombudsman have been effective
advocates for religious freedom and have made numerous public speeches
and appearances in support of minority religious groups. The Ministry
of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) have
become more active in the protection of religious freedom but sometimes
have failed to pursue criminal cases against Orthodox extremists for
previous attacks against religious minorities. The human rights unit in
the legal department of the PGO is charged with protecting human
rights, including religious freedom. Since the beginning of 2005 the
PGO has initiated twenty-eight investigations of religious-based
violence, which have resulted in the trial and conviction of seven
individuals.
The GOC remains very active in the restoration of religious
facilities, and it lobbies the Government for the return of properties
that were held by the Church before the country's incorporation into
the Soviet Union (church authorities have claimed that 20 to 30 percent
of the country's land area at one time belonged to the church). In
September 2005 the Government returned three additional properties to
the GOC.
In November 2005 President Saakashvili ordered the return of a
mosque in the Kvemo-Kartli region, which had been seized earlier and
converted into a community hall.
The country celebrates all Orthodox holy days. In March 2006
President Saakashvili attended the celebration of the Muslim holy day
Navrus Bairam in Marneuli, and in November 2005 he participated in a
celebration of the Muslim holy day Bairam at a mosque in Tbilisi.
Before a registration process was established by Parliament in
April 2005, religious groups were required to register as public
entities, even though the law provided no mechanism to do so yet
stipulated a fine for any unregistered religious group. Religious
groups may now register as local associations or foundations. An
association is based on membership (a minimum of five members is
required), while a foundation involves one or more founders
establishing a fund for furtherance of a certain cause for the benefit
of the particular group or the general public. In both cases
registration is a function of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).
Registration must be granted or denied within fifteen days of
application; a refusal may be appealed in court.
In July 2005 the MOJ approved the first applications filed under
the new registration process. Both the Foundation of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Georgia (Mormons) and the
Representation of the International Agency of Adventist Development and
Assistance in Georgia (which is affiliated with the Seventh-day
Adventist Church) received approval in less time than the fifteen days
allowed by law. An additional twelve organizations subsequently
registered under the law. The MOJ suspended a notary public for one
year after she refused to notarize documents of a Pentecostal church
that the church needed for registration; the congregation was seeking
registration at the end of the reporting period. Officials at the MOJ
were responsive in providing advice to religious organizations on
preparing registration applications and supporting documentation.
Some religious communities expressed dissatisfaction with the
status that registration provided. The Catholic Church (RCC) and the
AAC opposed registering themselves as civil organizations. Other
churches such as the Baptists expressed concern that transfers of
property to their churches would then be taxable.
In November 2005 Jehovah's Witnesses rented a hall in Rustavi to
conduct meetings. On November 3, 2005, Paata Bluashvili, the leader of
the Orthodox group Jvari, and members of the group threatened the owner
of the meeting hall, who then cancelled the contract with the Jehovah's
Witnesses. Bluashvili was convicted in 2004 of interfering with a
religious service and given a two-year suspended sentence. Pending
investigation of the November incident, Bluashvili was sentenced to
pretrial detention. Upon Bluashvili's appeal of the three-month
detention, a court of appeals overturned the sentence and released him,
pending trial. In April 2006 a Rustavi court reinstated the three-month
sentence. Bluashvili failed to appear at the April hearing and was
wanted by the authorities.
While Jehovah's Witnesses no longer believed it necessary to hold
services in private homes for security reasons, they often continued to
do so, due to delays in obtaining permits to build and occupy Kingdom
Halls.
Despite a law on education passed in April 2005 that forbids
religious indoctrination, proselytizing, forced assimilation, or the
teaching of theology in public schools during school hours, in practice
students routinely received instruction in Orthodox Christian theology.
Teachers often began most courses, including mathematics and science,
by leading the class in a recitation of Orthodox prayers. Those
students who did not participate were sometimes punished. The law also
forbids the display of religious symbols on a public school's grounds
unless the purpose is academic. In many classrooms, however, teachers
hung orthodox icons or pictures of GOC religious figures. Some schools
have Orthodox chapels where students were encouraged to pray.
Public schools offered an elective course, ``Religion in Society.''
This course, however, dealt exclusively with the theology of Orthodox
Christianity. Moreover, while the course was an elective, there was
societal pressure for students to take it. The primary textbook
approved for use in the course focused on Orthodox Christianity to the
exclusion of other faiths. The Ministry of Education (MOE) continued to
work on curriculum development for this course.
Students are allowed to study religion and conduct religious
rituals after school hours; neither a teacher nor any other outside
party, such as a priest, may participate unless invited by the
students. Prayers and other rituals may no longer be conducted during
school hours.
The GOC routinely reviews religious and other textbooks used in
schools for consistency with Orthodox beliefs. By law the church has a
consultative role in curriculum development but no veto power.
Pursuant to a memorandum signed by the GOC patriarchate and the MOE
in January 2005, a joint working group began reviewing options for the
elective course on religion in society and other matters related to
religion in the curriculum. In the memorandum, the ministry also agreed
to financially assist the church in its education projects and
institutions and to include the Church in the development of new
material for religious education. No other religious groups were
afforded these privileges.
Senior government officials, including the speaker of Parliament,
and opposition party leaders intervened when the public television
station declined to broadcast live a Christmas Eve church service. The
service was broadcast following the intervention.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The 2002 concordat between the GOC and the state defines relations
between the two. The GOC enjoys tax-exempt status not available to
other religious groups. The concordat contained several controversial
articles: Giving the patriarch immunity, granting the Church the
exclusive right to staff the military chaplaincy, exempting GOC
clergymen from military service, and giving the Church a unique
consultative role in government, especially in the sphere of education.
Many of these controversial articles, however, required Parliament to
adopt implementing legislation, which it had not done at the end of the
reporting period. For example, despite the concordat granting the GOC
the right to establish a military chaplaincy, no legislation had been
adopted and there were no chaplains in military units.
The Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, and Armenian Apostolic churches,
as well as representatives of the Jewish and Muslim faiths, signed
formal documents with the GOC patriarchate agreeing to the concordat
but stated after the document was published that several of these
controversial articles were not in the original that they had signed.
Representatives of nontraditional minority religious groups, such as
Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals, were not included in the
concordat process. The AAC raised concerns about the authority the GOC
enjoys over decisions regarding the return of historically AAC church
property.
While most citizens practiced their religion without restriction,
the worship of some, particularly adherents of nontraditional faiths,
was restricted by threats and intimidation from some local Orthodox
priests and congregations. On some occasions during the reporting
period, local police were slow to prevent the harassment of non-
Orthodox religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses and
Pentecostals.
On February 14, 2006, members of Jehovah's Witnesses requested
permission to use the privately owned sports palace in Tbilisi for a
two-day religious convention for up to five thousand persons. On
February 22, 2006, the management of the sports palace responded that
they would be willing to accommodate such a convention only if
Jehovah's Witnesses obtained a guarantee from the state to provide
security. An identical request they made in April 2005 had received a
similar response from the management. The 2005 incident prompted an
investigation by the PGO; results were pending at the end of the
reporting period.
A 2001 Supreme Court ruling revoked the registration of Jehovah's
Witnesses as a foreign branch of the U.S.-based Jehovah's Witnesses on
the grounds that the law does not allow registration of religious
organizations. The revocation resulted from a 1999 court case brought
by a former MP seeking to ban the group on the grounds that it
presented a threat to the state and the GOC. A case brought by
Jehovah's Witnesses before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in
2001 challenging this annulment was pending at the end of the period
covered by this report. It was unclear how the acknowledgement by the
Government of the lawfulness of the Jehovah's Witnesses' registration
and four subsequent registrations by other religious organizations as
branches of foreign noncommercial legal entities would affect the case
before the ECHR.
The Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches have been unable to
secure the return of churches and other facilities closed during the
Soviet period, many of which later were given to the GOC by the state.
The prominent AAC church in Tbilisi, Norashen, remained closed, as did
four smaller AAC churches in Tbilisi and one in Akhaltsikhe. In
addition, the RCC and AAC, like Protestant denominations, have had
difficulty obtaining permission to construct new churches.
De facto authorities in the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia
regions remained outside the control of the central Government, and
reliable information from those regions was difficult to obtain. A 1995
decree issued by the de facto leader of Abkhazia banning Jehovah's
Witnesses in the region remained in effect but was not enforced. During
the reporting period Jehovah's Witnesses reported no problems in
Abkhazia, where membership was approximately 1,500. Although Baptists,
Lutherans, and Catholics also reported that they were allowed to
operate in the region, the GOC reported it was unable to do so. The
patriarch expressed concern over Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) support
of separatism in the region, specifically subsidizing websites that
encouraged secessionist sentiments. The GOC also complained that the
ROC's Moscow Theological Seminary was training Abkhaz priests. Despite
the fact that the ROC recognizes the country's territorial integrity,
the GOC patriarchate claimed that the ROC was sending in priests loyal
to the ROC patriarchate in Moscow, under the pretext of setting up
indigenous Abkhaz churches.
Orthodox believers were not able to conduct services in GOC
churches located near the villages of Nuli, Eredvi, Monasteri, and Gera
because these areas were under the control of Ossetian authorities.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
While there were fewer physical attacks on religious minority
groups during the reporting period, harassment continued. Although
police rarely facilitated harassment of religious minority groups, they
sometimes failed to protect them.
There was sporadic harassment of members of nontraditional
religious groups. Occasionally local Orthodox priests and their
congregation members verbally and physically threatened members of
minority groups and prevented them from constructing places of worship
and from holding worship services. Representatives of the affected
groups regularly filed complaints with the PGO and the ombudsman.
Within the PGO, the Human Rights Protection Unit monitors the
progress of investigations and prosecution of cases involving abuses of
religious freedom. During the reporting period, twenty instances of
interference, threats, intimidation, or violence were investigated. In
five instances, cases were awaiting trial; in eleven instances, the
investigations were ongoing; and in four instances, the investigation
did not find sufficient evidence to support charges. In October 2005 a
case against J. Megenishvili, for interfering in the performance of a
religious service, was forwarded to the Tbilisi city court for trial.
In August 2005 the prosecutor general initiated an investigation
related to an attack on two members of Jehovah's Witnesses, Lamara
Tskhovrebadze and Guliko Palivashvili. That investigation was ongoing
at the end of the reporting period.
In Rustavi on August 28, September 1, and October 18, 2005,
Jehovah's Witnesses alleged that thirty persons blocked the road
leading to a home used for services. At the request of the public
defender, an investigation was launched. The investigation found that
the congregation had not been subjected to threats or violence.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements in Respect for Religious Freedom
Pursuant to a new registration law adopted in April 2005, religious
groups can obtain legal status, which provides benefits such as the
ability to enter into contracts, open bank accounts, and own property.
While many religious groups praised the legislation, more traditional
religious groups continued to push for special legal status that would
set them apart from nontraditional religious groups. Some religious
groups also complained that the amendment did not provide for
registering property that they already owned under personal title.
While the parliamentary legal committee agreed to hold consultations to
help religious groups overcome this hurdle, the law was not amended
before the end of the reporting period.
Nontraditional religious groups reported that they were able to
import literature without seizure or delay. The AAC stated, however,
that imports of religious items such as candles were sometimes delayed
due to ambiguities about the Church's legal status in the country.
While Jehovah's Witnesses no longer believed it was necessary, for
security reasons, to hold their services in private homes, due to
delays in obtaining permits to build and occupy Kingdom Halls,
congregations often continued to meet in private homes.
In an effort to implement a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, the Jewish
community reached an agreement with a theater group whereby the theater
group vacated a hall in a Tbilisi building seized from the Jewish
community during Soviet rule. While the Jewish community was able to
use the hall, the situation was not fully resolved, because the
community could not use the hall as a synagogue.
In July 2005 the GOC patriarch and the ombudsman established
religious councils as forums to discuss ecumenical approaches to
addressing social problems such as poverty and drug addiction.
On November 2, 2005, the appeals court upheld a trial court
decision sentencing excommunicated Orthodox priest Basil Mkalavishvili
to six years' imprisonment for engaging in numerous attacks on
nontraditional religious minorities including Baptists, Seventh-day
Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The four-year sentence of his
accomplice Petre Ivanidze was also upheld.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The public's attitude towards religion was ambivalent. Although
many residents were not particularly observant, the link between the
country's Orthodoxy and ethnic and national identity was strong.
The Jewish communities reported that they encountered few societal
problems. Anti-Semitism has not been a significant problem in recent
years, and there were no reported incidents during the period covered
by this report.
Relations between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims were very good; Sunni
and Shi'a worshipped together in Tbilisi's mosque. Relations between
Muslims and Christians were also quite good. There were occasional
media reports of minor incidents of violence between ethnic Azeris and
ethnic Georgians or ethnic Armenians; however, these incidents did not
appear to be motivated by religious differences.
Despite their historical tolerance toward minority religious groups
traditional to the country--including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic
Christians, Jews, and Muslims--many citizens remained apprehensive
about Protestants and other nontraditional religious groups, which they
often viewed as taking advantage of the populace's economic hardship by
gaining membership through economic assistance to converts. Many
members of the GOC and the public viewed religious minorities,
especially nontraditional groups of evangelical Protestants or so-
called ``sects,'' as a threat to the national church and the country's
cultural values.
Local Orthodox priests and public school teachers vocally
criticized minority religious groups and interfaith marriages. Some
also discouraged Orthodox followers from any interaction with students
who belonged to Protestant churches. Sometimes teachers ridiculed
students who had converted to Protestant faiths, claiming the students
converted because they were offered financial benefits.
In 1997 the GOC withdrew from the World Council of Churches to
appease clerics strongly opposed to ecumenism. Some Orthodox Church
officials had ties to the Jvari organization that was involved in
physical attacks on nontraditional religious organizations and to two
fundamentalist Orthodox groups, the Society of Saint David the Builder
and the Union of Orthodox Parents, which denounced activities of non-
Orthodox churches or organizations.
GOC authorities accused AAC believers of purposely altering some
existing Georgian Orthodox churches so that they would be mistaken for
AAC churches. AAC representatives accused GOC believers of similar
activities. On July 14, 2005, in the village of Samsara in the
Samtskhe-Javakheti Region, a group of ethnic Georgian students and GOC
nuns were attacked by ethnic Armenian villagers as they were cleaning
up a church whose ownership is in dispute. The villagers accused the
students and nuns of trying to erase crosses symbolic of the AAC from
the building and of placing Orthodox icons in the church. After the
ombudsman intervened, representatives from both the GOC and the AAC
issued a joint statement denouncing the violence and calling for
forgiveness of those who had used force.
Following a series of physical and verbal threats in April and May
2005 against a group of Russian Pentecostals attempting to hold
services in a private home in Tbilisi, the ombudsman helped the
congregation obtain a plot of land on which to construct a new building
for services. While plans for the building were being drawn up, the
congregation conducted services in undisclosed private homes or in
outdoor areas. Police routinely provided protection in the latter case.
No charges were filed in connection with the April and May 2005
incidents.
Following a series of incidents which began in June 2005 in Kutaisi
during which local residents repeatedly attacked members of Jehovah's
Witnesses in an effort to stop renovations to a meeting house, numerous
investigations were launched into the attacks as well as into reports
that the police had been slow to respond to the violence and then
themselves threatened the Jehovah's Witnesses. Two individuals who were
detained in connection with the attack publicly apologized to the
Jehovah's Witnesses. In April 2006, at the request of Jehovah's
Witnesses, the criminal charges against the two persons were dropped.
The meetinghouse in Kutaisi operated freely afterwards.
In August 2005 a large and vocal protest continued for two days at
the Nunciature of the Holy See in Tbilisi. A GOC parents group,
objecting to perceived proselytizing by the Catholic Church, carried
out the protest. The group also included Orthodox clergy. Police did
not disperse the protesters even when objects were thrown at the
Nunciature.
In September 2005 an ecumenical memorial service was held for the
victims of Hurricane Katrina and the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. Representatives from most Protestant denominations and of the
Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish faiths participated.
Between November 24 and 26, 2005, the Christian Research Center, a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) affiliated with the GOC, held a
symposium to promote dialogue and tolerance. Representatives from the
AAC, the RCC, and other denominations participated. During a
presentation by the bishop of the Lutheran Evangelical Church, however,
hecklers verbally abused him.
In December 2005 in the village of Tsinubani in the predominantly
ethnic Armenian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, a local AAC priest
denounced a local Pentecostal congregation and urged villagers to
prevent the latter from burying its members in the local cemetery. The
ombudsman called for an investigation which is still pending.
Acts of religious violence between 2000 and 2004 went unpunished,
sometimes despite the filing of numerous criminal complaints. For
example, no criminal cases were expected to be opened for the following
incidents: The October 2004 incident in the village of Velistsikhe,
where local Orthodox priests and congregation members used verbal and
physical threats to block Baptists from constructing a church; the June
2003 arson attack on a Baptist church in Akhalsopheli; the July 2004
incident in Ozurgeti during which an employee of the mayor's office
verbally and physically threatened two members of Jehovah's Witnesses
who were proselytizing door-to-door; the November 2004 incident during
which a member of Jehovah's Witnesses was threatened several times for
using his house in Kareli to hold worship services; or the November
2004 assault by members of the conservative Orthodox group, ``The
Society of Saint David the Builder,'' on several more liberal GOC
seminary students.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Government repeatedly raised its concerns regarding harassment of
and attacks against nontraditional religious minorities with senior
government officials, including the president, speaker of Parliament,
the ministers of internal affairs and justice, and the prosecutor
general. Embassy officials, including the ambassador, frequently met
with representatives of the Government, Parliament, various religious
confessions, and NGOs concerned with religious freedom issues.
An embassy official advocated with the Ministry of Justice on
behalf of religious organizations seeking recognition under the
registration law adopted in April 2005.
__________
GERMANY
The Basic Law (constitution) provides for religious freedom, and
the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
discrimination against certain religious minorities remained an issue.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
Although the country's religious demography grew increasingly
complex, the generally amicable relationships among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Important religious concerns
included the organization of Islamic religious instruction in schools;
social and governmental (federal and state) treatment of certain
religious minorities, notably Scientologists and Jehovah's Witnesses;
and bans in certain states on the wearing of headscarves by female
Muslim teachers in public schools.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Government placed particular emphasis on support for direct
dialogue between representatives of minority religious groups and
relevant government officials.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 137,847 square miles, and its population
was approximately 82 million. There were no official statistics on
religious groups; however, unofficial estimates and figures provided by
religious organizations gave an approximate breakdown of the membership
of the country's denominations. The data below were compiled from
various sources and are for 2004, unless otherwise noted.
The Roman Catholic Church had a membership of approximately 26.2
million. The Evangelical Church, a confederation of the Lutheran,
Uniate, and Reformed Protestant churches, had approximately 25.8
million members. Together, these two churches accounted for nearly two-
thirds of the population.
The following list consists of other religious communities
comprising more than 0.1 percent of the population. Protestant
Christian denominations include: New Apostolic Church, 380,000; Ethnic
German Baptists from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), 300-380,000; and
Baptist, 85,000. Muslims number 3.3 million (2003), including Sunnis,
2.2 million (2001); Alawites, 340,000 (2000); and Shiites, 170,000
(2000). Orthodox Christians number 1.4 million, including Greek
Orthodox/Constantinople Patriarchate, 450,000; Serbian Orthodox,
150,000; Romanian Orthodox, 80-100,000; and Russian Orthodox/Moscow
Patriarchate, 50,000. Buddhists number 240,000, and Jehovah's Witnesses
166,000. Jews number 189,000, including Central Council Affiliated,
105,000; and nonaffiliated, 80,000. Hindus number 97,500.
Under a liberal immigration policy from 1990 to 2005, more than
199,000 Jews and their dependents from the countries of the former
Soviet Union (FSU) came to the country. In mid-2005, the Government and
Jewish organizations agreed to new, more restrictive procedures for
Jewish immigration from the FSU, in order to better regulate the
influx.
An estimated twenty-one million persons, or one-quarter of the
population, either had no religious affiliation or belonged to
unrecorded religious organizations.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Basic Law (constitution) provides for freedom of religion, and
the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
discrimination against and unequal treatment of some minority religious
groups remained an issue, in part because of the legal/constitutional
structure of church-state relations. The structure for managing church-
state relations, established in 1949, was gradually adapting to the
country's increasingly diverse religious composition.
Religious organizations are not required to register with the
state, and groups may organize themselves for private religious
purposes without constraint. However, most religious organizations are
registered and treated as nonprofit associations, which enjoy a degree
of tax-exempt status. State-level authorities review registration
submissions and routinely grant tax-exempt status. Their decisions are
subject to judicial review. Organizations must provide evidence,
through their own statutes, history, and activities, that they are a
religion. Local tax offices occasionally conduct reviews of tax-exempt
status.
Religion and state are separate, although a special partnership
exists between the state and those religious communities that have the
status of a ``corporation under public law.'' Any religious
organization may request that it be granted ``public law corporation''
status, which, among other things, entitles it to name prison, hospital
and military chaplains, and to levy a tithe (averaging 9 percent of
income tax) on its members that the state collects. Public law
corporations pay a fee to the Government for this tax service; not all
avail themselves of it. The decision to grant public law corporation
status is made at the state level based on certain requirements,
including an assurance of permanence, the size of the organization, and
an indication that the organization is not hostile to the
constitutional order or fundamental rights. An estimated 180 religious
groups have been granted public law corporation status, including the
Evangelical and Catholic churches, the Jewish community, Mormons,
Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Baptists, Methodists, Christian
Scientists, and the Salvation Army.
The Muslim communities remained an exception. Few Muslim
organizations had applied for public law corporation status and no
state had granted the status, in part because of intra-Muslim disputes
over whether any Muslim organization was representative of the
community and/or met the criteria for the status. In principle, the
federal Government is in favor of the states' granting public law
corporation status to Muslim communities but would like Muslims to
agree upon a single organization with which the state and federal
governments could deal. Efforts to bring together at least several of
the Muslim organizations providing religious services were ongoing.
The state provides subsidies to some religious organizations for
historical and cultural reasons. In view of German culpability for the
Holocaust, the states have accepted as a permanent duty the obligation
to provide financial support to the Jewish community, including support
for reconstruction of old and construction of new synagogues. Repairs
to and restoration of some Christian churches and monasteries
expropriated by the state in 1803 are financed by the Government. Newer
church buildings and mosques do not generally receive subsidies for
maintenance or construction. State governments also subsidize various
institutions affiliated with public law corporations, such as religious
schools and hospitals, which provide public services.
The 2003 ``State Agreement on Cooperation'' between the federal
Government and the Central Council of Jews agrees to supplement the
funding received by the Jewish community from the states. Approximately
$3.75 million (3 million euros) is provided annually to the Central
Council to maintain Jewish cultural heritage, to build up the Jewish
community, and to support integration and social work. The Central
Council reports annually to the Government on the use of the funds. The
agreement emphasizes that the Central Council of Jews is meant to
support all branches of Judaism with the funds provided. In late 2005,
the Central Council and the German branch of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) resolved differences over the role of the
WUPJ and the use of Central Council funds to support WUPJ-affiliated
communities and activities.
Most public schools offer Protestant and Catholic religious
instruction in cooperation with those churches, as well as instruction
in Judaism if enough students express interest. Depending on the state,
a nonreligious ethics course or study hall may be available for
students not wishing to participate in religious instruction. In early
2005, a dispute arose between the state of Berlin and the Evangelical
and Catholic churches over proposals to establish a mandatory secular
ethics course for all students in Berlin public schools. The state
argued that, because of the low level of participation in religion
classes and the relatively high proportion of Muslim students, such a
course was needed. The churches argued that the state should not be
responsible for transmitting ethical values and cannot properly teach
about the ethical content of religions. Although confessional education
would remain available in Berlin on a voluntary basis, the churches
believed that their teaching would be undermined. As of April 2006, the
state planned to introduce the new course into seventh grade classes in
August 2006.
How to provide Islamic education in public schools was a
controversial topic nationally. Education is a state responsibility
and, in part because no nationally recognized Islamic organization
exists that could assist in developing a curriculum or providing
services, the form and content of Islamic instruction varies from state
to state. Organizations providing Islamic instruction do not have
public law corporation status.
Bavaria, in cooperation with the Turkish government, has offered
Islamic religious instruction in Turkish in its public schools since
the 1980s. Since 2001, in a separate state-initiated and much smaller
program, Islamic instruction has been offered in German. In 2003-2004,
a pilot Islamic education program in German in cooperation with the
local Muslim community began at one public school.
Baden-Wuerttemberg was scheduled to offer Islamic religious courses
in select public schools in 2006-2007. Local Islamic organizations were
expected to be responsible for the religious classes, using a
curriculum developed by the state.
Since 2001, the Islamic Federation of Berlin has provided Islamic
instruction in several Berlin schools. The decision has drawn criticism
from Muslim organizations not represented in the Federation, and from
others concerned about the Federation's alleged links to a Turkish
group classified as extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection
of the Constitution (OPC). In June 2005, media reported that the state
government was planning to establish a training program for teachers of
Islam at the Free University to permit the development of a state-
sponsored alternative to the Islamic Federation's program; however, no
action had been taken by the end of the period covered by this report.
In 2003, Lower Saxony began a pilot Islamic instruction program in
German in eight elementary schools. The program was developed by the
state in collaboration with local Muslim communities and was expanded
to seventeen elementary schools in 2005. In January 2006, the minister-
president announced his intention to further expand the program to meet
a surge in demand from parents.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Islamic instruction began in Turkish in
1999. As of 2004, Islam was taught, through a state-developed
curriculum in German, to more than 6,000 students. By 2006, 130 schools
offered this curriculum. However, these courses seek to provide
objective information about Islam rather than educate students in their
faith, as is the case in Protestant and Catholic classes. Efforts are
underway to develop such a course in cooperation with Islamic
organizations.
One school in Bremen offers instruction in Islam. The government of
Schleswig-Holstein has begun to consider how to introduce Islamic
instruction in German. In March 2006, the Saarland Parliament resolved
to consider the possibility of Islamic instruction, should Muslim
organizations request it. The state education minister declared that he
favored Muslim participation in nondenominational ethics courses. No
Islamic instruction was provided in Hamburg during the period covered
by this report, but, in February 2006, the minister-president proposed
that independent Islamic studies be offered in schools. The proposal
was before the Hamburg Parliament at the end of the period covered by
this report. The state of Hesse has not introduced Islamic instruction
because of disputes over the curriculum and Islamic community
representation. In a number of eastern states (Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania, Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt), the number of Muslim
students was too small and dispersed for Islamic instruction to be
practicable.
Ministry of Defense efforts to develop a Muslim chaplaincy have
failed because of an inability to reach agreement on a plan with the
multiple Muslim groups. Independently, the ministry has developed a
code of conduct to facilitate the practice of Islam by an estimated
3,000 Muslim soldiers.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. In May 2006, the Government sent a draft anti-
discrimination law to Parliament for consideration. The law is based
on--but also goes beyond--European Union requirements and would ban
discrimination on grounds of religion. Representatives of various
minority religious groups believed the new law, once enacted and
enforced, would improve their legal and civil standing.
In 2002, the Federal Constitutional Court defined the Government's
``warning'' function with respect to nontraditional religions, ruling
that the Government could characterize nontraditional religions as
``sects,'' ``youth religions,'' and ``youth sects,'' and is allowed to
provide accurate information about them to the public. However, the
Government may not defame these religious groups by using terms such as
``destructive,'' ``pseudo-religion,'' or ``manipulative.''
The Federal Interior Ministry's 1995 immigration exclusion (refusal
to issue a visitor's visa) continued in force against the founder of
the Unification Church, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and his wife, Hak Ja
Han Moon. The 1995 decision also placed Rev. and Mrs. Moon on the
``Schengen'' list, which bars their entry into many other European
states, and was based on the Government's characterization of Rev. Moon
and his wife as leaders of a ``cult'' that endangers the personal and
social development of young persons. The Unification Church was seeking
to overturn the ban in the courts.
A ten-year legal effort by Jehovah's Witnesses to overturn a 1995
Berlin state government (Senate) decision to deny them public law
corporation status was resolved in May 2006. The Senate had refused to
grant the status because the Jehovah's Witnesses' bar on members voting
raises questions about its loyalty to the democratic state, and because
its use of corporal punishment and separation of members leaving the
religion from their families raise human rights concerns. In mid-2005,
the Senate accepted a March 2005 Berlin Administrative Court ruling in
favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Following successful negotiations
between the Senate and the Witnesses on implementation of the ruling,
the Senate formally granted public law corporation status to the church
in May 2006.
The Church of Scientology, which operated eighteen churches and
missions, remained under observation (as it has been since 1997) by the
federal and seven state Offices for the Protection of the Constitution
(OPCs), out of concern that the Church's teachings and practices are
opposed to the democratic constitutional order or violate human rights.
In deciding whether to observe an organization, OPC officials collect
publicly available information, mostly from written materials and from
public events, to assess whether a ``threat'' exists. In addition, OPC
staff and law enforcement officials also directly approached
Scientologists for information, a practice many find a form of
intimidation and harassment. More intrusive observation methods are
subject to legal checks and would require evidence of involvement in
treasonous or terrorist activity.
The Church of Scientology appeal of a November 2004 Cologne court
ruling, which stated that OPC observation was justified and could
continue, remained before the Higher Administrative Court in Muenster;
a decision was not expected until 2007. In recent years, however, many
state OPCs have opted to stop their observations of Scientology;
exceptions included Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, and Hamburg, which
remained particularly stringent. Despite this reduced observation, the
federal OPC's 2006 annual report concluded that the original reasons
for initiating observation of Scientology in 1997 remained valid,
although it noted that Scientology had not been involved in any
criminal activity. Scientologists contended that OPC observation was
harmful to the Church's reputation and continued to seek redress
through the courts.
Several states published pamphlets about Scientology (and other
religious groups) that detailed the Church's ideology and practices.
States defended the practice by noting their responsibility to respond
to citizens' requests for information about Scientology as well as
other subjects. While many of the pamphlets were factual and relatively
unbiased, some warned of alleged dangers posed by Scientology to the
political order, to the free market economic system, and to the mental
and financial well being of individuals.
Beyond the Government's actions, the Catholic Church and,
especially, the Evangelical Church have been public opponents of
Scientology. Evangelical ``Commissioners for Religious and Ideological
Issues'' have been particularly active in this regard.
In response to concerns about Scientology's ideology and practices,
government agencies at the federal and state level and private sector
entities had established rules and procedures that discriminate against
Scientology as an organization and/or against individual members of the
Church. For example, in 2001, the federal Government had prohibited
firms bidding on government training contracts from using the
``technology of L. Ron Hubbard'' (a proprietary term used by the Church
of Scientology) in executing contracts. Firms owned, managed by, or
employing Scientologists could, however, bid on contracts. Some states
and private business groups adopted variations, in some cases more
stringent, of this rule. In addition, since 1996, government employment
offices throughout the country had implemented an Economics and Labor
Ministry administrative order directing them to enter an ``S'' notation
next to the names of firms suspected of employing Scientologists.
Employment counselors were supposed to warn their clients that they
might encounter Scientologists in these workplaces. Some private job
centers also adopted this practice. In late 2005, the federal Agency
for Labor formally informed the Church of Scientology that this
practice was no longer followed.
In 2005, Scientologists continued to report instances of societal
and official discrimination. A subcontractor to a Munich branch of a
telecommunications company asserted that she had been fired in June
2005 for being a Scientologist after her employer was asked whether she
employed Scientologists. Since March 1, 2005, applicants for German
citizenship in Bavaria have been required to fill out a questionnaire
regarding their affiliation with organizations under observation by the
state OPC, including Scientology. The Church documented two cases
involving persons whose naturalization requests were denied, allegedly
because of membership in the Church. However, in November 2005, the
Bavarian Administrative Appeals Court affirmed the right of a
Scientology ``Celebrity Center'' to call itself a ``registered
association,'' as a nonprofit social group whose members share a common
purpose. In December 2005, the Federal Supreme Administrative Court
ruled, on the basis of freedom of religion, that the city-state of
Hamburg could no longer distribute forms which companies used to obtain
a statement from their business partners that the partner would not use
``the technology of L. Ron Hubbard'' in its business. Scientology
representatives, however, stated that the city-state has not
implemented the ruling in good faith, leaving critical material on its
website.
Since the 1990s, four of the major political parties--the Christian
Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union, the Social Democratic
Party (SPD), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP)--have banned
Scientologists from party membership. Scientologists have
unsuccessfully challenged these bans in courts.
A large number of Muslim organizations, including some which
profess to be engaged in specifically and solely peaceful religious,
social and/or cultural activities, were under observation by state and
federal OPCs. These included, for example, the Cologne-based
Association of Islamic Cultural Centers and the Islamic Federation of
Berlin. The Islamic Religious Community of Hesse (IRH), that state's
largest Muslim umbrella organization, protested its listing in the 2005
Hesse OPC Report. In reply, the Hesse Interior Ministry claimed that
IRH activities, such as limiting female participation and promoting
Shari'a, contradict basic principles of the constitution. IRH leaders
expressed concern that the listing undermines the state's dialogue with
the Muslim community and the group's leader announced that he would
resign and leave the country in protest. In June 2006, the State
Administrative Court ruled that, while OPC observation could continue,
the IRH could not appear in the 2007 report unless the OPC presented
new information.
After 2003, the Federal Constitutional Court cleared the way for
state legislation that would ban female Muslim teachers from wearing
headscarves at work; several states indicated their intention to enact
laws prohibiting Muslim public servants from wearing headscarves on
duty. From April 2004 to June 2006, eight states had passed such
legislation. New legislation generally used language that could be
applied to wearing any symbol that could be taken as a rejection of
constitutional values or as a symbol of oppression. In the case in
Baden-Wuerttemberg, this legislation was under judicial review at the
end of the reporting period. In October 2005, the state government
proposed extending the ban to include kindergarten teachers, a proposal
that generated much opposition but remained on the table as of May
2006.
In April 2006, a Bonn high school principal, backed by the regional
school authority, suspended two eighteen-year old Muslim students who
sought to wear burqas to class. The principal defended his decision on
pedagogical grounds, and one student agreed not to wear the burqa; the
other dropped out of the public school system.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
According to the 2006 report by the OPC, the total number of
registered anti-Semitic crimes rose significantly from 1,316 in 2004 to
1,658 in 2005. Among these, the number of violent crimes increased from
thirty-seven to forty-nine. Desecration of Jewish cemeteries or other
monuments was the most widespread anti-Semitic act. On April 18-19,
2006, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, located in Mainz, was
desecrated. The police announced that the act was probably the work of
right-wing extremists (although no epithets or political symbols were
used), but the actual perpetrators remained unknown.
In January 2005, following criticisms from a member of Parliament,
the Hesse criminal office began investigating virulently
antiSemitic reporting by the Istanbul-based newspaper Vakit.
The interior minister banned the newspaper and its publisher. In
August, prosecutors concluded they could not charge the editors since
the articles were written abroad.
On March 3, 2005, the radio station SWR Four withdrew its
invitation to singer Christian Anders to perform at an event after
Anders' Holocaust denial on his private Web site was publicized. Anders
had also re-edited and published an anti-Semitic song.
On August 15, 2005, the Electoral Alternative for Social Justice
Party in Trier expelled its county chairman, Wolfgang Schmitt, for
using anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
The country was simultaneously becoming increasingly secular and
religiously diverse. Regular attendance at religious services
decreased. Fifteen years after reunification, the eastern part of the
country remained far more secular than the west. Only 5 to 10 percent
of eastern citizens belonged to a religious organization.
A degree of anti-Semitism based on religious doctrines and historic
anti-Jewish prejudice continued to exist. Far-right political
organizations added claims that Jews were behind modern social and
economic trends, such as globalization, which some Germans found
disorienting or dangerous. While most anti-Semitic acts were attributed
to neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist groups or persons, recent
anti-Semitic incidents indicated that Arab youths were increasingly
behind attacks on and harassment of Jews.
Authorities strongly condemned all anti-Semitic acts and devoted
significant resources to investigating incidents and prosecuting
perpetrators. Authorities ran a variety of tolerance-education
programs, many focusing on anti-Semitism and xenophobia. The programs
received input and assistance from Jewish nongovernmental
organizations. The state also provided twenty-four-hour police
protection at synagogues and many other Jewish institutions.
The rise of a substantial Muslim minority at times led to social
conflict with religious, ethnic, and cultural overtones. Commonly, this
included local resistance to the construction of mosques or
disagreements over whether Muslims may use loudspeakers in residential
neighborhoods to call its adherents to prayer. Authorities argued that
many disputes also appeared to be related to compliance with
construction and zoning laws; private groups (with some Interior
Ministry financing) sought to better educate Muslim groups about these
laws. Muslim groups, however, argued that such rules were often abused
or that local opposition was motivated by anti-Muslim bias.
Nonreligious (e.g., noise and traffic levels) and security concerns
were also factors. Local opposition in Munich, for example, delayed
plans to build a new mosque there and, in early 2006, efforts to build
a new mosque in eastern Berlin prompted widespread community and
political opposition, in part because of questions about the sponsoring
groups' funding sources and socio-political orientation. Islamic
instruction in Turkish or Arabic also came under criticism from
politicians and others who were concerned that such classes may convey
anti-constitutional or anti-Western messages.
On several occasions, police raided mosques and other Muslim
institutions in connection with counter-terrorism investigations. Some
raids, such as the September 2005 large-scale raids in Hesse, triggered
accusations of discrimination from members of the mosque. Muslim
representatives criticized the Hesse raids as an excessive and
arbitrary ``dragnet.'' There also remained areas where the law and
Islamic practices conflicted with one another, for example, with regard
to the call to prayer, Muslim ritual slaughtering, or the segregation
of older boys and girls during sports classes. Muslim organizations
also criticized various proposals from several states for
naturalization tests in early 2006 as reflecting a generalized
suspicion of Muslims and rejection of them as potential citizens.
The Evangelical Church employed ``Commissioners for Religious and
Ideological Issues'' (often referred to as ``sect commissioners'') to
investigate ``sects, cults, and psycho-groups'' and to publicize what
they considered to be the dangers of these groups to the public.
Evangelical sect commissioners were especially active in their efforts
to warn the public about alleged dangers posed by the Unification
Church, Scientology, Bhagwan-Osho, and Transcendental Meditation. The
print and internet literature of the sect commissioners portrayed these
as ``totalitarian,'' ``pseudo-religious,'' and ``fraudulent.'' Mormons,
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Christ, Christian Scientists, the
New Apostolic Church, and the Johannish Church were characterized in
less negative terms, but nevertheless were included in the Church's
web-page on ``sects.'' The Catholic Church also employed similar
commissioners, who generally restricted their activities to providing
counsel to individuals with questions about ``sects.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses all aspects of religious freedom with
the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights,
including the status of Islamic education and attitudes toward the
Muslim community. The U.S. Mission has extensive contact with all
religious groups in the country and meets frequently at multiple levels
with representatives of religious groups to discuss their situation and
concerns.
In response to anti-Semitic crimes, members of the U.S. Embassy
closely followed the Government's responses and expressed the U.S.
Government's opposition to anti-Semitism. Mission officers maintained
contact with Jewish groups and continued to monitor closely the
incidence of anti-Semitic activity.
The U.S. Government expressed its concerns over infringement of
individual rights because of religious affiliation with respect to
Scientology and other minority religious groups.
__________
GREECE
The constitution establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ
as the prevailing religion, but also provides for the right of all
citizens to practice the religion of their choice. However, while the
Government generally respected this right, non-Orthodox groups
sometimes faced administrative obstacles or encountered legal
restrictions on religious practice. The constitution and law prohibit
proselytizing and stipulate that no rite of worship may disturb public
order or offend moral principles.
There were some improvements in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report; the Government passed
a law allowing cremation and amended a law abolishing the requirement
to consult local Greek Orthodox bishops before granting house of prayer
permits.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Some non-Orthodox citizens
complained of being treated with suspicion by fellow citizens or told
that they were not truly Greek when they revealed their religious
affiliation.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 81,935 square miles and a population of
approximately 10.9 million. An estimated 97 percent of Greek citizens
identified themselves as Greek Orthodox. There were approximately
500,000 to 800,000 Old Calendarist Orthodox who used the Julian
calendar and adhered to traditional Greek Orthodox practice throughout
the country. The Government did not keep statistics on religious
groups; the census did not ask for religious affiliation. Officials
estimated the size of the Thrace Muslim community at 98,000, although
unofficial estimates ranged up to 140,000. The Jehovah's Witnesses
reported having approximately 30,000 active members and 50,000 people
affiliated with the faith; members of the Roman Catholic faith were
estimated at 50,000; Protestants, including evangelicals, at 30,000;
and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) at 420.
Scientologists reported 500 active registered members. The longstanding
Jewish community, which prior to the World War II occupation of Greece
and deportation of thousands of Jews to Nazi death camps had numbered
some 76,000, was estimated at approximately 5,500. There were
approximately 300 members of the Baha'i Faith. Followers of the ancient
polytheistic Hellenic religions reported 2,000 members. There was no
official or unofficial estimate of atheists.
The majority of non-citizen residents and immigrants were not Greek
Orthodox. The largest group was Albanian (approximately 700,000,
including legal and illegal residents); most Albanians were secular in
orientation. Despite such secularism, Albanians traditionally
associated themselves with the Muslim, Orthodox, or Roman Catholic
faiths. Aside from the indigenous Muslim minority in Thrace, the Muslim
immigrant population in the rest of the country was estimated at
200,000 to 300,000.
Roman Catholics resided primarily in Athens and on the islands of
Syros, Tinos, Naxos, and Corfu, as well as in the cities of
Thessaloniki and Patras. Immigrants from the Philippines, Poland, and
Iraq also practiced Roman Catholicism. The Roman Catholic immigrant
population was estimated to be 200,000. The bishop of Athens headed the
Roman Catholic Holy Synod.
Some religious groups, such as evangelicals and Jehovah's
Witnesses, consisted almost entirely of ethnic Greeks and some
immigrants from former Soviet republics and Albania. Other groups, such
as Mormons and Anglicans, consisted of an approximately equal number of
ethnic Greeks and non-Greeks.
The indigenous Muslim minority, concentrated in Thrace with small
communities in Rhodes, Kos, and Athens, was composed mainly of
Turcophones but also included Roma and Pomaks, a Slav-origin linguistic
minority. A growing number of Muslim immigrants lived in Athens and in
rural areas.
Scientologists and followers of the ancient polytheistic Hellenic
religions practiced their faith through registered nonprofit civil law
organizations.
Foreign missionary groups in the country, including Protestants and
Mormons, were active; Mormons reported that there were approximately
sixty missionaries in the country during the year.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ
(Greek Orthodoxy) as the prevailing religion and provides for freedom
of religion. However, while the Government generally respected this
right in practice, non-Orthodox groups sometimes faced administrative
obstacles or encounter legal restrictions on religious practice. The
constitution and law prohibit proselytizing and stipulate that no rite
of worship may disturb public order or offend moral principles. The
Orthodox Church exercises significant political and economic influence.
The Government financially supports the Greek Orthodox Church; for
example, the Government pays for the salaries and religious training of
clergy and finances the maintenance of Orthodox Church buildings. The
Government also pays the salaries and some expenses of the two official
Muslim religious leaders (muftis) in Thrace, and provides a small
monthly allowance to imams in Thrace. In May 2006, representatives of
the Central Board of the Jewish Communities of Greece formally objected
in public statements, press releases, and in appeals to the Government
to the fact that the Government pays the salaries of religious
officials from the Greek Orthodox and Muslim faiths, but not to Jewish
rabbis. The Jewish Community reported it has requested equal treatment
on this issue from the Government. Government officials stated they
have received no formal request on the issue.
The Orthodox Church, Judaism, and Islam are the only religious
groups considered to be ``legal persons of public law.'' Other
religions are considered ``legal persons of private law.'' In practice,
the primary distinction is that the Civil Code's provisions pertaining
to corporations regulate the establishment of ``houses of prayer'' for
religions other than the Orthodox Church, Judaism, or Islam. For
example, other religions cannot own property as religious entities; the
property must belong to a specifically created legal entity rather than
to the religious body itself. Other religious communities also face
additional legal and administrative burdens because they cannot
function as legal entities. The Baha'i and other faiths have expressed
their desire to operate within a legal framework as legally recognized
religions, rather than as ``associations.'' Members of religious groups
that are classified as private entities cannot be represented in court
as religious entities and cannot bequeath or inherit property as a
religious entity. The law extended legal recognition as a private
entity to Roman Catholic churches and related entities established
prior to 1946. By virtue of the Orthodox Church's status as the
prevailing religion, the Government recognizes the Orthodox Church's
canon law, both within the Church and in such areas of civil law as
marriage. The Catholic Church unsuccessfully has sought government
recognition of its canon law since 1999. In April 2006, the Ministry of
Education and Religion established a committee to study the issue and
propose a legislative arrangement.
No formal mechanism exists to gain recognition as a ``known
religion.'' Recognition is granted indirectly by applying for and
receiving a ``house of prayer'' permit to open houses of worship from
the Ministry of Education and Religion.
Scientologists have not been able to register or build a house of
prayer. Groups that follow the ancient polytheistic Hellenic tradition
also applied for house of prayer permits, which the ministry announced
in May 2006 were not approved despite advice from the ombudsman to the
ministry to respond positively to the requests. The Jehovah's Witnesses
have several pending house-of-prayer permit requests, but they have not
taken the cases to the ombudsman because they received a verbal
commitment from the Ministry of Education and Religion that it would
approve their applications.
Leaders of some non-Orthodox religious groups claimed that all
taxes on religious organizations are discriminatory because the
Government subsidizes the Orthodox Church, while other groups are self-
supporting. In 2004, the Government passed taxation legislation that
gradually abolishes, by 2007, tax on property revenues received by
Greek Orthodox churches and institutions. While such laws can be
applied to all religions upon judicial examination, this practice
presents administrative obstacles for non-Orthodox religions.
Muslim religious leaders stated there were approximately 375
mosques in Thrace. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne gives Muslims in Thrace
the right to maintain social and charitable organizations called wakfs
and allows muftis to render religious judicial services (under Shari'a)
in the area of family law.
The Lausanne Treaty provides the Muslim minority in Thrace the
right to Turkish-language education and provides a reciprocal
entitlement for the Greek minority in Istanbul (estimated at fewer than
2,500 persons). Western Thrace has secular Turkish-language bilingual
schools and two Qur'anic schools funded by the state. In 2005,
approximately 6,800 Muslim students were enrolled in Turkish bilingual
grammar schools, and 1,290 attended minority high schools. Another 350
students attended the Islamic schools. The majority of Muslim minority
students, approximately 4,110, attended public Greek-language secondary
schools, which were deemed better preparation for Greek-language
universities.
Special consideration is given to Muslim minority students from
Thrace for admission to technical institutes and universities that set
aside 0.5 percent of the total number of places for them annually.
Approximately 900 Muslim minority students took advantage of this
affirmative action program; a small number chose to attend university
in Turkey. In April 2005, the minister of education announced that ten
full scholarships for the academic year 2005-2006 would be offered to
Muslim minority students for postgraduate studies at universities. Only
two students eventually benefited from the program; the other eight who
were nominated did not qualify to receive the scholarships. Two
students who did not qualify for the scholarships, because they had
already exceeded the time permitted by the program for the conclusion
of their postgraduate studies, filed complaints with the ombudsman's
office. The Government planned to offer the scholarships again for the
next school year.
The Government maintains that Muslims outside Thrace are not
covered by the Treaty of Lausanne and therefore do not enjoy those
rights provided by the Treaty. Muslim parents complained that hundreds
of Turkish speaking children in the Athens area did not receive
remedial Greek instruction other than in one multicultural elementary
education ``pilot school.''
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In 2000, the Ministry of Education and Religion rejected the
application of the Scientologists for recognition and a house of prayer
permit on the grounds that Scientology ``is not a religion.'' The
Church of Scientology appealed the decision to the Council of State,
and then withdrew the appeal in 2003. The Scientologists were
registered as a nonprofit organization because the group's legal
counsel advised that the Government would not recognize Scientology as
a religion.
Minority religious groups have requested that the Government
abolish laws regulating house of prayer permits, which are required to
open houses of worship. Local police have the authority to bring to
court minority churches that operate or build places of worship without
a permit. In practice, this happens rarely.
In May 2004, Nikodim Tsarknias, a former Greek Orthodox priest who
is now a priest of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, was sentenced to
three months in prison, a sentence which was suspended by the Aridea
Criminal Court of First Instance, on charges of establishing and
operating a church without authorization after he held Macedonian
language religious services without a house of prayer permit.
Tsarknias's sentence could not be appealed in the country; he intended
to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Several religious denominations reported difficulties in dealing
with the authorities on a variety of administrative matters. Privileges
and legal prerogatives granted to the Greek Orthodox Church are not
extended routinely to other recognized religions. Non-Orthodox
religious organizations must provide separate and lengthy applications
to government authorities on such matters as gaining permission to move
places of worship to larger facilities. In contrast, Greek Orthodox
officials have an institutionalized link between the church hierarchy
and the Ministry of Education and Religion to handle administrative
matters.
Although Jehovah's Witnesses are recognized as a ``known''
religion, members continued to face some harassment and administrative
problems during the period covered by this report. This usually took
the form of arbitrary identity checks (although this problem has
abated) and local officials' resistance to construction of places of
worship. A decision on an appeal by the Jehovah's Witnesses regarding a
property dispute over taxation rates involving their officially
recognized headquarters was scheduled to be heard at the Supreme
Administrative Court in September 2006.
New legislation providing for religious worker visas was passed in
2005, remedying the difficulty reported in the past by some religious
denominations in renewing the visas of non-EU citizen religious
officials.
Non-Orthodox citizens have claimed that they face career limits
within the military, police, fire-fighting forces, and the civil
service because of their religions. In the military, generally only
members of the Orthodox faith become officers, leading some members of
other faiths to declare themselves Orthodox. Few Muslim military
personnel have advanced to the rank of reserve officer. There were
reports of pressure exerted on Greek Orthodox military personnel, such
as being passed over for promotion if they chose to marry in the
religious ceremony of non-Orthodox partners.
Muslim citizens in Thrace were underrepresented in public sector
employment and in state-owned industries and corporations. While the
under-representation was partly due to lower education level and Greek
language ability of the available applicant pool, minority activists
blamed lack of transparency in the civil service hiring process and
endemic discrimination. Muslims claimed they were generally hired for
lower level positions. One Muslim minority member from Thrace held a
seat in Parliament. In Xanthi and Komotini, Muslims held seats on the
prefectural and town councils and served as local mayors. Thrace
municipalities hired Muslims as public liaisons in citizen service
centers and provided Turkish lessons for other civil servants.
Unlike in Thrace, the growing Muslim community in Athens (estimated
by local press and experts to be between 200,000 and 300,000 mainly
economic migrants from South Asia, the Middle East, and a small
percentage of Muslims from Thrace) did not have an official mosque or
any official cleric to officiate at religious functions, including
funerals. Press reports in 2006 stated that the number of unofficial
prayer rooms in Athens ranged from twenty-five to seventy. Members of
the Muslim community used the official Muslim clerics in Thrace for
official religious rites. Muslims in Athens and other cities traveled
to Thrace or abroad for wedding ceremonies and some transported their
deceased to Thrace or abroad for religious burials; those who could
afford to travel to Thrace had unrecognized religious rites performed.
Remains buried in Greek cemeteries were subject to exhumation after
three years, a practice overseen by municipalities because of limited
space in Greek cemeteries, especially in Attika. This practice has
presented a problem for Muslims, as Islamic law does not permit
exhumation of remains.
Although Parliament approved a bill in 2000 allowing construction
of the first Islamic cultural center and mosque in an Athens suburb,
construction had not started by the end of the period covered by this
report. In April 2006, the Government decided to fund a mosque in
central Athens rather than an outlying suburb, but no decisions on
location were made.
Greek Orthodox Church leaders have publicly supported the building
of a mosque in Athens, although they have stated their opposition to
the cultural center. The Orthodox Church reportedly offered the Muslim
community in Athens a piece of land for the creation of a Muslim
cemetery.
Differences remained within the Muslim minority community and
between segments of the community and the Government regarding the
means of selecting muftis. Under existing law, the Government appoints
two muftis and one assistant mufti, all resident in Thrace. The
Government maintained that it must appoint the muftis, as is the
practice in Muslim countries, because, in addition to religious duties,
they perform judicial functions under Muslim religious law for which
the state pays them. The Government consults a committee of Muslim
minority notables, which recommends candidates for the ten-year terms
of office. Members of the Muslim minority objected to the fact that the
Government was not legally obligated to follow the recommendation of
the committee on the selection of the muftis.
Additionally, while some Muslims have accepted the authority of the
two government-appointed muftis, other Muslims have ``elected'' two
muftis to serve their communities since they maintain that the
government of a non-Muslim country cannot appoint muftis. There was no
established procedure or practice for these nongovernmental elections,
and the Government did not recognize the ``elected'' muftis. A portion
of the Muslim minority continued to lobby the Government to allow for
the direct election of muftis. In May 2006, the appointed Mufti of
Komotini expressed his view that ``nowhere in the history of Islam has
there been an elected mufti.''
The Government recognizes Shari'a (the Muslim religious law) as the
law regulating family and civic issues of the Muslim minority in
Thrace. The First Instance Courts in Thrace routinely ratify decisions
of the muftis who have judicial powers on civic and domestic matters.
The National Human Rights Committee, an autonomous human rights body
that is the Government's advisory organ on protection of human rights,
has stated that the Government should limit the powers of the muftis to
religious duties and should stop recognizing Shari'a, because it can
restrict the civic rights of citizens it is applied to. There are
arranged marriages among underage Roma and Muslims, although Greek
civil law forbids marriages of children under age eighteen. A parent or
legal guardian, however, may apply for a judicial permit for the
marriage of an underage person from a First Instance Court in cases of
``extraordinary circumstances,'' such as pregnancy.
In November 2005, the appointed mufti of Komotini instructed all
imams under his jurisdiction not to conduct underage marriages. In
November 2005, the mufti refused permission for two minors (a twelve-
year-old girl and a fourteen-year-old boy) to marry. In January 2006,
he advised the guardians of a thirteen-year-old girl, who insisted on
marrying despite his prohibition, to turn to the First Instance Court.
The court granted her permission to marry.
Controversy between the Muslim community and the Government also
continued over the management and self-government of the wakfs. This
involved the Government's appointment of officials to serve on
administrative boards that govern each wakf and the degree and type of
administrative control, which prior to the 1960s was exercised by the
Muslim community. In response to objections from some Muslims that the
Government's appointment of these officials weakened the financial
autonomy of the wakfs and violated the terms of the 1923 Treaty of
Lausanne, a 1996 presidential decree placed the wakfs under the
administration of an oversight committee appointed by the Government
for three years as an interim measure pending resolution of outstanding
problems. The interim period has been extended every two years by
presidential decree.
In the past, Muslim activists have complained that the Government
regularly lodges tax liens against the wakfs, although they were tax-
free foundations in theory. Under a national land and property registry
law that entered into full effect in 1999, the wakfs, along with all
property holders, must register all of their property with the
Government. The law permits the Government to seize any property that
the owners are not able to document; there are built-in reporting and
appeals procedures. The wakfs were established in 1560; however,
because of the destruction of files during the two world wars, the
wakfs are unable to document ownership of much of their property.
Because they have not registered the property, they cannot pay assessed
taxes. The Government had not sought to enforce either the assessments
or the registration requirement by the end of the period covered by
this report.
Members of missionary faiths reported having difficulties with
harassment and police detention because of anti-proselytizing laws, but
continued to note an improvement during the reporting period because of
increased training and instruction given to police officers. Church
officials from missionary faiths expressed concern that anti-
proselytizing laws remained on the books, although such laws did not
seriously hinder their activities.
A law on alternative forms of mandatory national service for
religious and ideological conscientious objectors was enacted in 1998
and amended in 2004. In 2001, the Government added a conscientious
objector provision in the constitution. The law provides that
conscientious objectors may, in lieu of mandatory military service,
work in state hospitals, or municipal and public services for two times
the length of military service minus one month, typically twenty-three
months. Conscientious objector groups and Amnesty International
generally characterized the legislation as a positive step, but
criticized the longer service term as punitive. They also reported that
uneven administration of the civilian service in some cases led to poor
working conditions and noted that it would be preferable for the
civilian service to be under civilian administration rather than under
the Ministry of Defense. Parents of three or more children are exempt
from military service.
Mandatory military service is three months for ``repatriated''
citizens, those who emigrated from the former Eastern bloc and are of
Greek origin, and five months for repatriated conscientious objectors.
Repatriated conscientious objectors who have in the past completed
military service in their country of origin and became conscientious
objectors later in their life are ineligible for alternative service
and have taken their cases to the courts. For example, on August 26,
2005, a military court in Xanthi sentenced Boris Sotiriadis, a Georgian
national of Greek origin, to three and a half years in prison for
refusing military service because of his religious beliefs. Sotiriadis
had served previously in the Soviet army before becoming a Jehovah's
Witness and immigrating to Greece.
Problems also existed for those who became conscientious objectors
after they performed their military service and were placed on
reservist lists. These conscientious objectors are not recognized, as
there is no legal provision covering those who change their status
after having completed military service. Several cases involving such
conscientious objectors were pending before the Council of State.
Orthodox religious instruction in public, primary, and secondary
schools is mandatory for all Orthodox students. Non-Orthodox students
are exempt from this requirement. However, schools offer no alternative
supervision for these children during the period of religious
instruction; they sometimes attended Orthodox religious instruction.
Members of the Muslim community in Athens were lobbying for Islamic
religious instruction for their children.
Some schoolbooks continued to carry negative references to Roman
Catholicism, Judaism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the ancient polytheistic
Hellenic tradition.
The intra-Orthodox doctrinal dispute between Esphigmenou monastery
on Mt. Athos and the Ecumenical Patriarchate that administers the
region under the 1924 Charter of Mt. Athos continued. Esphigmenou is an
Old Calendarist monastery that does not recognize the authority of the
Patriarchate. In March 2005, the Council of State declined to rule on
the appeal of a 2002 eviction request by the Ecumenical Patriarchate
against the abbot of Esphigmenou on the grounds that it was not
competent, under the constitution, to judge the ecclesiastic and
administrative jurisdiction of the Patriarchate over Mt. Athos, but the
Government had not enforced the expulsion order. Approximately ninety
similar appeals by other Esphigmenou monks were pending. In late 2005,
the Holy Community governing Mt. Athos appointed a new Esphigmenou
monastic order, recognized by the Patriarchate, to replace the existing
order. An open dispute between the two monastic orders ensued in
December. The Esphigmenou monastery complained about restrictions on
access to supplies and medical care that it claimed threatened the
survival of the monastery. Government and ecclesiastic representatives
claimed they preferred to settle this dispute without eviction.
The leader of the Greek Rumi faith, which teaches the theology of
the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi, founder of the Mevlevi order
or ``Whirling Dervishes,'' was sentenced on July 1, 2005, to twenty-
five months' imprisonment for defamatory actions related to his
``controlling the consciousness'' of his followers. The Orthodox Church
considers the Greek Rumi community a ``sect'' whose heresies ``threaten
to corrupt Greece's religious and national identity.'' Local and
international NGOs condemned the conviction, and the Greek Rumi leader
was acquitted on appeal in March 2006.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees, apart
from the problems of temporary police detention experienced by Mormons.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Most non-Orthodox religious leaders reported that their members
(non-missionaries) did not encounter discriminatory treatment. However,
police regularly detained Mormon missionaries (primarily from outside
the EU who were undergoing the protracted residence permit process), on
average once every three months, usually after receiving complaints
that the individuals engaged in proselytizing. In most cases, these
individuals were held for several hours at a police station and then
released with no charges filed. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses
reported that their interaction with the police improved during the
reporting period because of increased training and instruction given to
police officers. Two Jehovah's Witnesses were tried and acquitted in
2004 on proselytism charges.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were no reports of anti-Semitic articles or cartoons in the
media, contrary to previous years. The European Commission against
Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-
Defamation League, and the Greek Helsinki Monitor had denounced the
Greek press for anti-Semitic articles and cartoons on several occasions
in 2004.
There were no reports of vandalism of Jewish monuments or
cemeteries during the reporting period, which had been a problem in
previous years. Police remained unable to find perpetrators in the 2004
cases of desecrations of Jewish memorials and plaques in Drama and
Komotini.
Anti-Semitic graffiti were repeatedly spray-painted at several
spots along the busy Athens-Corinth and Athens-Tripoli highway during
2005 and 2006. Anti-Semitic slogans also reportedly appeared close to
the Athens Court complex in November 2005 and on the island of
Keffalonia in September 2005. The Wiesenthal Center and a local NGO
protested anti-Semitic graffiti on the country's highways and on other
public buildings. The extreme right-wing group ``Golden Dawn''
regularly spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on bridges and other
structures. In February 2006, the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against
``Golden Dawn'' for defacing public property and painting anti-Semitic
graffiti the last several years on the basis of allegations submitted
by a local NGO, the Greek Helsinki Monitor. The Central Board of Jewish
Communities of Greece and the Greek Helsinki Monitor submitted
testimony. The preliminary investigation was underway.
In April 2006, the Central Board of the Jewish Communities of
Greece continued to protest the Easter tradition of the burning of a
life-size effigy of Judas, sometimes referred to as the ``burning of
the Jew,'' which they maintained propagated hatred and fanaticism
against Jews. One Greek Orthodox bishop, a local NGO, and the
Wiesenthal Center wrote formal objections to this tradition. The Jewish
Community also protested anti-Semitic passages in the Holy Week
liturgy. The Jewish community reported that it remained in dialogue
with the Orthodox Church about the removal of these passages.
The June 2004 ECRI report recommended that the Greek authorities
closely monitor the situation regarding anti-Semitic acts and
statements and take all necessary awareness-raising and punitive
measures to put a stop to these acts. The report pointed out that Greek
public opinion sometimes reflected the prejudices and stereotypes
expressed against the Jewish Communities of Greece by the media or
public figures. The report continued that, while in some cases judicial
authorities took measures to counter expressions of anti-Semitism, in
other cases the criminal law provisions against hate speech were not
applied.
There was no progress on negotiations between the Jewish community
of Thessaloniki and the Government to find acceptable restitution for
the community's cemetery, expropriated after its destruction during the
Holocaust in 1944. Aristotle University, a public institution, was
built on top of the expropriated cemetery.
The Government co-sponsored commemorative events in Athens and
Thessaloniki in January 2006 for Holocaust Remembrance Day, followed
two weeks later by the visit of Israel's President Moshe Katsav, the
first official visit of an Israeli head of state to Greece. The
Ministry of Education distributed materials to schools on the history
of the Holocaust to be read in all schools on Holocaust Remembrance
Day, and teacher training seminars on the Holocaust were held in 2005.
In 2005, the country became a full member of the Task Force for
International Cooperation on Holocaust Education.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
On March 1, 2006, the Government passed a law allowing cremation.
The Greek Orthodox Church forbids cremation of the Greek Orthodox
believers (the vast majority of the population), and cremation
facilities had not been established in the country by the end of the
period covered by this report. Remains of those who wish to be cremated
must be shipped at significant cost to countries where cremation is
available. Buddhist citizens have claimed that the lack of cremation as
an available means of burial infringes on their religious rights.
In June 2006, an amendment to an existing law was accepted by
Parliament abolishing the practice by which the ministry sought the
opinion of the local Greek Orthodox bishop on whether to grant house of
prayer permits for faiths other than Greek Orthodox. Non-Orthodox
faiths had objected to this practice.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Religious affiliation was very closely linked to ethnicity. Many
attributed the preservation of national identity to the actions of the
Greek Orthodox Church during approximately 400 years of Ottoman rule
and the subsequent nation-building period. The Church exercised
significant social, political, and economic influence, and it owned a
considerable, although undetermined, amount of property.
Many Greeks assumed that any ethnic Greek was also an Orthodox
Christian. Some non-Orthodox citizens complained of being treated with
suspicion or told that they were not truly Greek when they revealed
their religious affiliation.
Members of minority faiths reported incidents of societal
discrimination, such as local Orthodox bishops warning parishioners not
to visit clergy or members of minority faiths and requesting that the
police arrest missionaries for proselytizing. However, with the
exception of the burgeoning Muslim population, most members of minority
faiths considered themselves satisfactorily integrated into society.
Organized official interaction between religious communities was
infrequent.
Some non-Orthodox religious communities encountered difficulty in
communicating with officials of the Orthodox Church and claimed that
the attitude of the Orthodox Church toward their faiths increased
social intolerance toward their religions. The Orthodox Church
maintained a list of practices and religious groups, including the
Jehovah's Witnesses, evangelical Protestants, Scientologists, Mormons,
Baha'is, and others, which it believed to be sacrilegious. Officials of
the Orthodox Church have acknowledged that they refused to enter into
dialogue with religious groups considered harmful to Orthodox
worshipers; church leaders instructed Orthodox Greeks to shun members
of these faiths.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officers meet with working-level officials responsible for
religious affairs in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education
and Religion. The ambassador and other mission representatives
discussed religious freedom with senior government officials and
religious leaders. The U.S. Mission also regularly discusses religious
freedom issues in contacts with other government officials, including
mayors, regional leaders, and members of Parliament. Officers from the
embassy and the consulate general in Thessaloniki meet regularly with
representatives of various religious groups and solicit their
participation in embassy social events. Embassy and consulate general
officials investigated complaints of religious discrimination brought
to their attention.
The ambassador attended Holocaust commemorations in Athens and the
consul general represented him at Thessaloniki events. He and other
mission officers participated along with the Ministry of Education and
the Jewish Museum of Greece in teacher-training conferences on the
Holocaust in 2004 and 2005. Mission officers continued to monitor the
issue of restitution of Jewish properties in Thessaloniki.
The consular section actively followed issues relating to religious
workers' visas and property taxes.
The embassy and consulate general promoted and supported
initiatives related to religious freedom. The embassy and consulate
general used the International Visitor program to introduce Muslim
community leaders to the United States and American counterparts.
The ambassador and mission officials regularly visited religious
sites and conducted outreach throughout the country.
__________
HUNGARY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion; however, the four ``historic religions'' (Catholic,
Lutheran, Reformed, Jewish) and certain other denominations, such as
Unitarian and Orthodox churches, enjoy some privileges not extended to
other religious groups.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
However, several points of friction between the Government and
religious organizations developed during the period covered by this
report concerning recent laws affecting church-run social institutions.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 35,919 square miles and a population of
approximately 10 million.
The 2001 national census, the latest demographic survey available,
contained an optional question on religious affiliation, and 90 percent
of the population provided a response. According to the census results,
55 percent of citizens were Roman Catholic, 15 percent were members of
the Reformed Church, 3 percent were members of the Lutheran Church, and
less than 1 percent were Jewish. These four faiths comprised the
country's historic religious groups. Three percent of respondents
identified themselves as Greek Catholics, and 15 percent of respondents
declared no religious affiliation. The remainder was divided among a
number of other denominations. The largest of these was the
Congregation of Faith, a local evangelical Christian movement. Other
denominations included a broad range of Christian groups, including
five Orthodox denominations. In addition, there were seven Buddhist
groups and three Islamic communities. Citizens were able to donate 1.0
percent of their income to the religious group of their choice.
Statistics on tax revenue voluntarily directed by individual taxpayers
for use by religious groups confirmed previous official estimates of
religious affiliation.
Foreign representatives from a variety of religious groups and
missionary organizations, mainly Christian, were active in the country.
These representatives were not subject to government regulation or
interference.
Strict enforcement of data protection regulations impeded the
collection of official statistics on popular participation in religious
life; however, surveys and other evidence suggested that the country's
citizens were less devout than the average central European. According
to a 2004 survey by the Economic Research Institute of Hungary (GFK),
58 percent of respondents declared themselves to be ``believers,'' and
55 percent responded that they believe in ``God or the supernatural.''
Only 15 percent of those believers declared that they attended
religious services at least once a week, and 25 percent stated that
they never did.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The 1990 Law on the Freedom of Conscience regulates the activities
of and the benefits enjoyed by religious communities and establishes
the criteria for legal designation. To register, religious groups must
submit a statement to a county court declaring that they have at least
one hundred followers. The court determines whether the registration of
the new group complies with constitutional and legal requirements;
these requirements were very loose and registration was essentially pro
forma. While any group is free to practice its faith, formal
registration makes available certain protections and privileges and
grants access to several forms of state funding. In 2005, eight new
religious groups were registered by the courts. As of May 2006, there
were a total of 146 registered religious groups.
Religious instruction is not part of the curriculum in public
schools; however, the Government permits primary and secondary school
students to enroll in extracurricular religious education classes.
Optional religious instruction is usually held after the normal school
day and is taught in school facilities by representatives of religious
groups. While the Government makes provisions for minority religions to
engage in religious education in public schools, the four historic
religions provide the majority of after-hours religious instruction.
During the 2005-2006 school year, 46 registered religious groups
provided religious instruction to 492,065 students in public schools.
In addition to taxpayer contributions, the Government allocates
public funds to registered religions. The Government supplements
taxpayer contributions to registered religions in proportion to
individual contributions. In 2005, this supplementary funding amounted
to $58 million (HUF 12.4 billion). Further funding is provided for a
range of activities such as the maintenance of public art collections,
the reconstruction and renovation of religious institutions, support
for religious instruction, compensation for non-restituted religious
property and assistance to church personnel serving the smallest
villages. In 2005, this amounted to nearly $120 million (HUF 25.8
billion). The Government also provided financial support for church-run
social services and schools on the same level as it does for state-run
institutions. This form of support amounted to an estimated $290
million (HUF 62.4 billion) for 2005.
Easter Monday, Whit Monday, All Saints' Day, and Christmas are
celebrated as national holidays. These holidays did not negatively
affect any religious groups.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. While there are several laws that grant rights
and privileges to the historic religions, such as per-capita funding
for church-run universities, the Government showed steady improvement
over the last several years in extending these rights and privileges to
every religious group.
In June 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that a statement adopted by
the Theology Faculty Council of a Reformed Church University did not
violate the provisions of the law on equal treatment, despite the
University's proscription on training homosexuals for the priesthood or
for religious teaching positions. The judgment noted that since this
form of instruction is inseparable from the Church's moral and
religious beliefs, it falls within religious freedom of the Church, and
the state can not pass legal judgment on it.
In May 2006, the Data Protection Ombudsman published an open letter
in which he expressed his concerns over the manner in which the
Scientology Church handles the data it records about its members,
particularly with the use of the so-called e-meter. Examples of the
shortcomings the ombudsman observed were that the Church was not
sufficiently concrete in stating to what end the information is
collected and that the waiver signed by members forfeits for all time
their right to access information collected on them. The ombudsman
called upon the Church to fully conform to the country's data
protection laws. In response, a church spokesperson stated that the
ombudsman had overstepped his jurisdiction and interfered in the
religious freedom of the Church.
The issue of state financial allocation to the various churches for
educational and social services continued to be a source of contention
in church-state relations. (The Vatican Treaty and several 1997
agreements obligate the Government to provide the same amount of per-
capita funding to church-run social institutions as it does to public
institutions, such as schools and old-age homes.) In August 2005, a
dispute arose between the Ministry of Youth, Family, Social Affairs and
Equal Opportunity (ICSSZEM), and some of the historical Christian
churches over state support of the churches' homes for the elderly. The
ICSSZEM minister noted a growing trend among local governments to pass
responsibility for retirement homes to the churches, which, according
to an interpretation of the Hungarian-Vatican Concordat, are able to
secure more funding for these homes from central funds. According to
the ICSSZEM minister, these financially motivated actions place a huge
burden on the ministry's budget and warrant consideration of modifying
the Concordat.
After a September 2005 meeting at the Vatican, the minister of
foreign affairs stated that the Government had no intention of
modifying the existing Concordat. However, he did recommend adding
appendices to clarify the calculation of how much state financing is
owed to the churches for various activities.
In early December 2005, leaders of all four historic churches
jointly called upon the Government to modify the draft 2006 budget to
eliminate what they perceived as discriminatory per capita funding for
the public service institutions they operate, particularly schools. On
December 16, schools run by two of the historic Christian churches
staged a protest demonstration, calling on the Government to fully
equalize the funding. Although the called-for budget modification was
not forthcoming, subsequent negotiations with the Government appeared
to settle most of the churches' concerns. In April 2006, three
opposition politicians submitted a complaint to the Constitutional
Court alleging that the 2006 budget discriminated against church-run
public services with respect to central budget financing and thus
violated the 1997 Concordat. The court had not ruled on the case by the
end of the period covered by this report.
The military chaplain service has permanent pastoral representation
by the four historic religions in the defense forces. The Government
also requires the military to respect the rights of other religions by
providing pastoral care for their members. The Ministry of Defense
funds and maintains the chaplain service. There is no evidence that
soldiers receive preferential treatment for either foregoing or using
the service. The Ministry of Justice regulates a similar system for the
provision of religious services to prisoners.
Leaders of the Roman Catholic and Reformed churches also complained
that state financing of the maintenance of public art collections and
other public services for which the churches were responsible was being
delayed. In August, the Government acknowledged the delays, attributed
them to technical difficulties, and promised that all apportioned
funding would be transferred by fall 2006.
Religious groups and the Government agreed on a number of
properties to be returned and an amount of monetary compensation to be
paid for properties that could not be returned. These agreements were
subsumed under the 1991 Compensation Law, which requires the Government
to compensate religious groups for properties confiscated by the
Government after January 1, 1946. Overall 7,572 claims were made by
religious groups for property restitution under the 1991 Compensation
Law: 2,695 cases were rejected as inapplicable under the law; the
Government decided to return property in 1,897 cases and gave cash
payments in another 1,953 cases; and 1,027 cases were resolved directly
between former and present owners without government intervention. Real
estate cases have involved twelve religious groups: Roman Catholic,
Reformed, Lutheran, Unitarian, Baptist, Romanian Orthodox, Hungarian
Orthodox, Budai Serb Orthodox, Hungarian Methodist, Seventh-day
Adventist, the Salvation Army, and the Confederation of Hungarian
Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz). While these agreements primarily
address property issues and restitution, they also have provisions
requiring the Government to support religious organizations that
provide social services as well as support for the preservation of
religious monuments.
In 2005, the Government adopted a resolution making it possible to
fast-track property restitution negotiations and close outstanding
claims in 2006, instead of by 2011 as the original law set forth. Three
churches made use of this new procedure, resulting in the settlement of
a further 435 church properties by March 2006. The Catholic Church
resolved 430 claims with a value of $112 million (HUF 24.1 billion),
leaving only three property cases outstanding. Mazsihisz resolved its
final three outstanding claims and the Budai Serb Orthodox Church also
closed the restitution process by resolving its two outstanding claims.
Members of the Jewish community viewed the restitution process as
generally fair but wanted to see compensation paid for the estimated $2
to $16 billion (HUF 430 to 3,440 billion) worth of heirless Jewish
properties specifically excluded from the restitution process. Neither
the Reformed nor the Lutheran churches opted for the fast-track
procedure. Between them and the Catholic Church a total of 310 property
claims remain to be settled by 2011.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
The Jewish community stated that there were fewer acts of vandalism
in Jewish cemeteries than in previous years. Concerning those incidents
of vandalism that did occur, Jewish community leaders attributed most
of them to youths, and did not consider the incidents anti-Semitic.
Representatives of the Jewish community expressed concern over
anti-Semitism in some media outlets, in society, and in coded political
speech. The weekly newspaper Magyar Demokrata continued to publish
anti-Semitic articles as did the more radical weekly Magyar Forum.
Anti-Semitism figured in the spring 2006 election campaign of the small
but vocal far-right wing party MIEP-Jobbik.
The Jewish community also expressed concerns that the Hungarian
Soccer Federation was not doing enough to curb anti-Semitic outbursts
among the core fans of a few of the country's soccer clubs.
There were no developments in the police investigation of the June
2005 vandalization of the largest Jewish cemetery in Budapest, and
observers doubt that it will produce any concrete results.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government continued its strong efforts to combat anti-Semitism
by clearly speaking out against the use of coded speech by right-wing
extremists, and the prime minister publicly stated that Hungarians also
bear responsibility for the Holocaust.
On April 16, 2006, the speaker of Parliament attended the annual
Hungarian Holocaust Remembrance Day gathering at Budapest's Holocaust
Memorial Center.
In March 2006, Hungary took over chairmanship of the Task Force for
International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and
Research. The minister of education represented the Government in the
position of chairman.
Responding in part to pressure from the Jewish community, in March
2006, the minister of health ordered that the name of Bela Johan be
removed from the title of the National Epidemiology Center and that the
bust of Johan be taken down. Johan was a state secretary in the
Ministry of Interior in the early 1940s, and although certain public
health achievements are tied to his name, he was also actively
complicit in the drafting and execution of a number of anti-Jewish
measures. The Jewish community welcomed the move.
On February 13, 2006, Parliament passed Act LXVII of 2006, which
reopened the window for compensation claims from those individuals
whose immediate relatives were killed in the Holocaust. Eligible
individuals may apply for a lump sum or pension worth up to $1,860 (HUF
400,000) for each parent, sibling, or child who was killed. The act
took effect on March 31 and was scheduled to expire on July 31, 2006.
After nearly two years of operation, Budapest's Holocaust Memorial
Center, a state-financed institution, opened its permanent exhibition
in February 2006.
On January 27, 2006, the prime minister, president, and a host of
public figures commemorated the UN-adopted Holocaust Remembrance Day,
also the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration
camp. In his speech, the prime minister drew attention to the fact that
Hungarians were both victims of and accomplices in the Holocaust.
During an October 2005 visit to the United States, Prime Minister
Gyurcsany visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and attended
Hungarian-Jewish community events in the United States.
In an effort to strengthen ties with all religious groups, the
minister of culture made regular visits to a host of smaller religious
communities not included among the four historic churches. Since his
inauguration in February 2005, the minister visited, among others,
Buddhist, Krishna, Baptist, Methodist, and other nontraditional
religious groups.
During the period covered by this report, the Office of the Prime
Minister worked directly with representatives of the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum to ensure access to Holocaust-era archives.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationships among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, and there was little friction
between religions. During the reporting period, Christian churches and
the Jewish community continued to organize regular events under the
auspices of the Christian-Jewish Society, which brings together
religious academics for discussions. Religious groups also demonstrated
a great willingness to work together across a wide range of other areas
in order to achieve common social or political goals.
Overall, society welcomed the increasing religious activity that
followed the transition from communism. However, lingering effects of
the Communist Party's suppression of religion remain. Officials from
Christian churches continued to contend that it will be another
generation at least before a majority of citizens realize that religion
has a vital role to play in the nation's public life.
Church leaders report that the divisive political climate in the
country affects societal attitudes toward religion, as church
statements on important public issues tend to be seen as politically
motivated. Politicians on the left have routinely criticized the
churches for their perceived political support for the right ever since
the regime change of 1989. This political tension was manifest in the
present reporting period during the spring parliamentary elections, in
which a few Christian parishes openly campaigned for the political
right, although there were no directions from church leaders to do so.
Furthermore, in the first months of 2006, historians reportedly found
documents linking present and former leaders of the Catholic Church to
the communist-era secret service. The Church, while not fully denying
the charges, suggested that the timing of the revelations, which
occurred before the elections, was politically motivated.
Reports of vandalism or destruction of Christian and Jewish
property exhibited a downward trend, as did burglaries involving places
of worship. In 2005, the National Police reported 216 cases of
vandalism to cemeteries, as compared to 339 in 2004, and 125 cases of
burglary involving places of worship as compared to 148 in 2004. There
was no information on which churches owned the cemeteries. Most police
and religious authorities considered these incidents to be acts of
youth vandalism and not indications of religious intolerance.
In September 2005, an unknown person or persons placed a number of
anti-Islamic posters around Budapest. Police did not initiate an
investigation, citing freedom of speech. The incident received little
attention in the media at the time. There was no measurable public
reaction as the incident was minor and isolated and the Muslim
community in the country is quite small.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom activities,
maintaining regular contact with government officials, members of
Parliament, leaders of large and small religious groups, and
representatives of local and international nongovernmental
organizations that address issues of religious freedom. Through these
contacts, embassy officers tracked closely the dispute over parochial
school funding and the possible effect on clergy that the country's
proposed lustration legislation may have. Embassy officers also worked
with Mazsihisz to identify Jewish cemeteries for possible restoration
by the U.S. Commission to Preserve America's Cultural Heritage Abroad
(USCPACHA). In September 2005, the embassy facilitated a visit from a
USCPACHA official to survey three cemeteries for possible restoration.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy facilitated
the transfer of Holocaust-era records to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum, and it lobbied the Government at the highest levels for greater
archival access for the museum.
The embassy also remained active on issues of compensation and
property restitution for Holocaust victims. Embassy officers worked
with Mazsihisz, the Hungarian Jewish Public Foundation, other local and
international Jewish organizations, members of Parliament, and the
Prime Minister's Office to maintain dialogue on restitution issues, and
to promote fair compensation.
The embassy continued to urge the Government to speak out against
anti-Semitism and hate speech.
__________
ICELAND
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the
state financially supports and promotes Lutheranism as the country's
official religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The
Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is the state church, enjoys some
advantages not available to other faiths in the country and provides
social services regardless of creed.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, and there have been no
reports of religious persecution.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 39,600 square miles, and a population of
approximately 300,000. Most residents lived on or near the coasts. The
area surrounding the capital, Reykjavik, was home to approximately 60
percent of the country's total population.
According to the National Statistical Bureau, 251,728 persons (84.1
percent of the total population) were members of the state Lutheran
Church. During the reporting period, a total of 1,065 individuals
resigned from the Church, as against 214 new registrants other than
infants baptized. Many of those who resigned from the state Church
joined one of the structurally and financially independent Lutheran
Free Churches, which had a total membership of 13,816 persons (4.6
percent of the population). The breakdown in membership was as follows:
Reykjavik Free Church-6,597; Hafnarfjordur Free Church-4,566; and
Reykjavik Independent Church-2,653. A total of 14,687 individuals (4.9
percent) were members of 23 other small recognized and registered
religious organizations ranging from the Roman Catholic Church (6,451
members) to the First Baptist Church (14 members). There were 11,794
individuals (3.9 percent) who belonged to other or nonspecified
religious organizations and 7,379 (2.5 percent) who were not part of
any religious organization. There were also religions, such as Judaism,
that have been practiced in the country for years but have never
requested official recognition. In official statistics, these religions
are listed as ``other and unspecified.'' The National Statistical
Bureau does not keep track of Jewish community numbers, and there is no
synagogue or Jewish cultural center; however, up to sixty people
attended occasional Jewish holiday parties and themed lectures and
discussions organized by a few Jewish immigrants. A number of academic
studies reported that between 16 and 23 percent of the population
identified itself either as atheist or agnostic.
Although the majority of citizens used traditional Lutheran rituals
to mark events such as baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals,
most Lutherans did not regularly attend Sunday services.
A 2005 Gallup poll showed that about two-thirds of Icelanders
believed in some kind of existence after death.
According to statistics provided by the immigration authorities,
the number of foreigners receiving a residence permit increased
significantly during the past several years. In direct relation to the
increase in foreigners (itinerant workers, immigrants, and refugees),
the number of religious organizations significantly increased.
Foreigners comprised more than half of the Roman Catholic population.
The Reykjavik Catholic Church held one service each week in English,
and many Filipinos attended. A growing number of Catholic Poles lived
in the country, where they worked in the fishing and shipbuilding
industries. Three Polish priests served the Polish Catholic community.
The Catholic Church also employed priests from Argentina, France,
Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Slovakia. Since there were few
Catholic churches outside of Reykjavik, Lutheran ministers regularly
lent their churches to Catholic priests so that they could conduct
Masses for members in rural areas.
The Association of Muslims in Iceland (Felag Muslima a Islandi),
founded in 1997, had 341 members (out of approximately 800 to 1000
Muslims living in the country, according to the Association). Muslims
were mostly concentrated in the capital area, although there were a
number of Kosovar Muslim refugees in the small northern town of Dalvik.
Since 2002, the community has had its own house of worship, with daily
prayer nights and weekly Friday prayers that attracted a core group of
approximately thirty individuals. A 2000 application for land to build
a mosque languished in Reykjavik's planning commission. The city cited
competing claims for the land in question, but some observers expressed
concern that prejudice was behind the delay.
The Russian Orthodox Church applied for land to build a house of
worship in Reykjavik and also experienced frustrating bureaucratic
delays. City officials publicly expressed concern that tensions could
arise if the Muslims and Orthodox Christians were to erect neighboring
facilities, as they have been looking at the same site. While there
were acknowledged tensions, occasionally leading to arguments, between
Reykjavik's small Muslim Kosovar and Orthodox Serb communities,
religious leaders told authorities they had no qualms about worshipping
in close proximity.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) accounted
for the only significant foreign missionary activity in the country.
The U.S.-based First Baptist Church of Iceland in Keflavik, which
primarily served U.S. military personnel at Naval Air Station Keflavik
(NASKEF), was planning to strengthen its outreach to the broader
Icelandic community when NASKEF closed in late 2006.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The official state
religion is Lutheranism.
The constitution provides all persons the right to form religious
associations and to practice religion in accordance with their personal
beliefs. It also bans teaching or practices harmful to good morals or
public order. In addition, the General Penal Code protects religious
practice by establishing fines and imprisonment for up to three months
for those who publicly deride or belittle the religious doctrines or
worship of a lawful religious association active in the country.
Article 62 of the constitution establishes the Evangelical Lutheran
Church as the state church and pledges the state's support and
protection. Parliament has the power to pass a law to change this
article. Although Gallup polls show that the majority of citizens favor
the concept of separation of church and state, most probably would not
support the change if it meant closing Lutheran churches because of
lack of funding. According to the state church's website, ``9 out of 10
children are baptized in their first year, more than 90 percent of
adolescents are confirmed, 75 percent are married in the church and 99
percent are buried in the church.'' Although few citizens regularly
attend services, they see the Lutheran religion as part of their
culture and view the closing of a church as losing a part of their
heritage. In October 2004, the Alliance Party presented a parliamentary
motion on constitutional amendments that included a clause calling for
consideration of the separation of church and state. The initiative has
not made it out of committee. Sidmennt, the 188-member Icelandic
Ethical Humanist Association, strongly supports legislation to separate
church and state. An October 2005 Gallup poll found two-thirds of the
general population, led by men, capital-area residents, and younger,
wealthier, better educated people, in favor of separation.
The state directly pays the salaries of the 140 ministers in the
state church, and these ministers are considered public servants under
the Ministry of Judicial and Ecclesiastical Affairs. These ministers
counsel persons of all faiths and offer ecumenical services for
marriages and funerals. The state operates a network of Lutheran parish
churches throughout the country. In new housing areas, land
automatically is set aside for the construction of a parish church to
serve the neighborhood. State radio broadcasts worship services every
Sunday morning and daily devotions morning and night, contributing to
state Lutheran domination of the public space.
A 1999 law sets specific conditions and procedures that religious
organizations must follow to gain state subsidies. All taxpayers
sixteen years of age and older must pay a church tax amounting to
approximately $121 (ISK 8,472) a year. Individuals are free to direct
their church tax payments to any of the religious groups officially
registered and recognized by the state. For persons who are not
registered as belonging to a religious organization, or who belong to
one that is not registered, the tax payment goes to the University of
Iceland, a secular institution. Atheists have objected to having their
fee go to the university, asserting that this is inconsistent with the
constitutional right of freedom of association.
During the period covered by this report, the Government gave the
state church approximately $61.4 million (ISK 4.3 billion). Of that
amount, the church tax funded $22.9 million (ISK 1.6 billion), the
cemetery tax $10.7 million (ISK 749.5 million), and general revenues
$27.1 million (ISK 1.9 billion). The state church operates all
cemeteries in the country, and the $10.7 million from the cemetery tax
must be used solely for this purpose. All recognized religious
denominations have equal access to the country's cemeteries. The church
tax also provided a total of $2.4 million (ISK 170 million) to the
other recognized religions and a total of $1.5 million (ISK 108
million) to the University of Iceland.
In January 2006, the Icelandic Pagan Association (Asatuarfelagith)
sued the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and the
Ministry of Finance to receive funding proportional to its membership
from monies currently made available only to the state church. These
monies supplement the income that the National Church receives from
church taxes, exclusively favoring state Lutheranism in violation of
Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights, according to the
plaintiff. The case was scheduled to go to trial on September 18, 2006.
The Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs handles
applications for recognition and registration of religious
organizations. The law provides for a three-member panel consisting of
a theologian, a lawyer, and a social scientist to review the
applications. To become registered, a religious organization must,
according to Law Number 108/1999, ``practice a creed or religion that
can be linked to the religions of humankind that have historical or
cultural roots...be well established...be active and stable...have a
core group of members who regularly practice the religion in compliance
with its teachings and should pay church taxes....'' All registered
religious organizations are required to submit an annual report to the
Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs describing the
organization's operations over the past year. The law also specifies
that the leader of a religious organization must be at least twenty-
five years old and pay taxes in the country. No restrictions or
requirements are placed on unregistered religious organizations, which
have the same rights as other groups in society. Of three groups that
applied to register as religious organizations during the reporting
period, one, an offshoot of the Icelandic Pagan Association, gained
official recognition. The Free Church of Iceland and the Baptist Church
of Sudurnes had their applications denied on grounds of not being
sufficiently well established.
Law Number 108/1999 confirms that parents control the religious
affiliation of their children until the children reach the age of
sixteen. However, the Children's Act requires that parents consult
their children about any changes in the children's affiliation after
the age of twelve, and the National Registry confirms that such changes
do take place with the requesting children's signatures. In the absence
of specific instructions to the contrary, children at birth are assumed
to have the same religious affiliation as their mother and are
registered as such.
Under Law Number 66/1995, which regulates public elementary
schools, the Government requires instruction in Christianity, ethics,
and theology during the period of compulsory education; that is, ages
six through sixteen. Virtually all schools are public schools, with a
few exceptions such as a Roman Catholic parochial school located in
Reykjavik. All schools are subject to Law Number 66 with respect to the
compulsory curriculum. However, the precise content of this instruction
can vary, and some observers have claimed that religious indoctrination
can take place, as the curriculum is not rigid and as teachers often
are given wide latitude in the classroom. Some teachers place greater
emphasis on ethical and philosophical issues rather than on
specifically religious instruction. Lessons on non-Christian religions
are part of the curriculum, but teachers ultimately teach mostly about
Christianity. The rationale behind the focus on Christianity in
religious instruction is based on the creed's historically strong
influence on the country's society and culture.
Students may be exempted from Christianity classes. The law
provides the minister of education with the formal authority to exempt
pupils from instruction in compulsory subjects such as Christianity. In
practice, individual school authorities issue exemptions informally.
There is no obligation for school authorities to offer other religious
or secular instruction in place of Christianity classes.
In December 2005, the Ministry of Education published proposals for
a new curriculum for Christianity, ethics, and religious studies in
primary schools. The proposals suggested a more multicultural and
intellectual approach to religious education and a greater emphasis on
teaching a variety of beliefs rather than a single faith. The Ministry
of Education was expected to implement the proposals in late 2006. In
secondary schools, theology would continue to be taught under the
rubric of ``community studies'' along with sociology, philosophy, and
history.
In the 2005-2006 school year, some secondary schools adopted a new
Icelandic textbook on world religions. Minority religious
organizations, while praising the book's comprehensive coverage,
criticized the volume for inaccuracies in its discussion of non-
Christian faiths and for describing atheism as a religion. Observers
also criticized a secondary school history textbook for a number of
errors regarding Islam. For example, a picture of the Dome of the Rock,
the third holiest place in Islam, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is
wrongly captioned as the second holiest place in Islam, located in
downtown Jerusalem.
The Government does not actively promote interfaith understanding.
The Government does not sponsor programs or official church-government
councils to coordinate interfaith dialogue, but many church groups
sponsor meetings between the leaders of the various religious
organizations. A Japanese-born minister of the state church has been
designated to serve the immigrant community and help recent arrivals of
all faiths integrate into society. Holocaust education is not a
required element of the national school program, but the subject is
taught in most schools as part of a mandatory history curriculum.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were no reports of physical violence against Jews or acts of
violence against, or vandalism of, Jewish community institutions, of
which there are none. Incidents of harassment were rare.
When an Israeli border guard delayed and insulted First Lady Dorrit
Moussaieff, of Jewish descent and born in Israel, on her departure from
that country following a private visit, Moussaieff remarked that the
border guard's behavior was the type that led to anti-Semitism.
Subsequent broad coverage in the press focused on the First Lady's loss
of composure but did not analyze or criticize the statement. A major
daily newspaper caricatured the affair in a cartoon showing Moussaieff
leading her husband, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson (portrayed as
preparing himself for a fistfight) toward a group of grim-faced Jews--
stereotypically rendered with hats, beards, and prominent noses--
waiting behind the Western (``Wailing'') Wall. The caption read, ``Give
the damn Jews a good beating, dear Oli.'' The cartoonist's main aim
appears to have been to mock the president--who has not publicly
commented on the incident--for subservience to his wife.
Harassment of the country's tiny, inconspicuous Jewish community is
infrequent and not organized.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. If members of religious
minorities face discrimination, it is indirect in nature, taking the
form of prejudice and lack of interfaith or intercultural
understanding. The country has a small, close-knit, homogenous society
that closely guards its culture and is not accustomed to accommodating
outsiders. Although most citizens are not active members of the state
church, Lutheranism is still an important part of the country's
cultural identity. There were reports of isolated incidents involving
inebriated individuals verbally harassing veiled Muslim women on the
streets of Reykjavik.
Muslims in the country, seconded by independent observers, have
expressed concern that Omega, a Christian television station,
broadcasts distorted, negative coverage and commentary on Muslims and
Islam. The station's broadcasting area includes Southwest and South
Iceland, reaching approximately 75 percent of the country's population.
Since June 2002, Omega also broadcast its programming via satellite to
continental Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa, claiming to
reach approximately 45 million homes.
During the last decade, there has been increased awareness of other
religious groups, and informal interfaith meetings, seminars, and
courses have been held. In May 2005, the National Church for the first
time organized an interfaith meeting of the leaders of major registered
religious groups (defined as those with 150 or more members). Attendees
planned to establish a permanent Interfaith Forum in mid-2006 that
would foster dialogue and strengthen links between religious groups. A
position paper completed by participants in early 2006 stated that the
forum is intended to encourage honest debate on issues of common
interest; to fight prejudice and discrimination; to emphasize the
social value of religion; and to encourage greater professionalism in
the teaching of religion in public schools. The position paper was
subject to the nascent organization's formal approval at the end of the
period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy also maintains a regular dialogue on religious freedom issues
with the leaders of various religious groups and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). In November 2005, the charge d'affaires invited
members of the Muslim community, as well as state church officials, NGO
immigrant service providers, journalists, and embassy staff with
experience in the Muslim world to the ambassador's residence for an
Iftar-style meal to celebrate religious diversity and demonstrate
Americans' respect for Islam and religious freedom.
__________
IRELAND
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 27,136 square miles, and a population of
approximately four million. The country is overwhelmingly Roman
Catholic. According to official government statistics based on the 2002
census, the religious affiliation of the population was 88.4 percent
Catholic (3,462,606), 2.9 percent Church of Ireland (115,611), 0.55
percent Christian (unspecified), 0.52 percent Presbyterian (20,582),
0.25 percent Methodist (10,033), 0.49 percent Muslim (19,147), and less
than 0.1 percent Jewish (1,790). Approximately 5.5 percent (217,358) of
the population stated no preference or adherence to a particular
religion.
The number of immigrants increased, and they tended to be non-
Catholic. Muslim and Orthodox Christian communities in particular
continued to grow, especially in Dublin. Immigrants and noncitizens
encountered few difficulties in practicing their faiths.
According to 2005 figures released by the Catholic Communications
Office (CCO), approximately 60 percent of the 4,155,368 Irish and
Northern Irish Catholics attended Mass once a week and 220,000 attended
Mass once a day. The CCO reported that there was a noticeable increase
in attendance during Christmas and Easter holidays and around the time
of the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005. A similar survey conducted
in 2005 by the Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) estimated that up to
30,000 evangelicals (comprising Baptists, members of Assemblies of God,
Pentecostals, charismatics, and former Catholics) attended services
each week.
Section II. Status of Freedom of Religion
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution prohibits promotion of one religion over another
and discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, and the
Government does not restrict the teaching or practice of any faith.
There is no state religion, and there was no discrimination against
nontraditional religious groups. There is no legal requirement that
religious groups or organizations register with the Government, nor is
there any formal mechanism for government recognition of a religion or
religious group.
The Employment Equality Act prohibits discrimination in employment
on nine grounds, including religion. The Equality Authority works
toward continued progress in the elimination of discrimination and the
promotion of equality in employment. The Equal Status Act prohibits
discrimination outside of employment (such as in education or provision
of goods) on the same grounds cited in the Employment Equality Act.
While Catholicism is the dominant religion, it was not favored
officially or in practice. Because of the country's history and
tradition as a predominantly Catholic country and society, the majority
of those in political office are Catholic, and some Catholic holy days
are also national holidays.
The following holy days are considered national holidays: St.
Patrick's Day (the country's national day), Good Friday, Easter Monday,
Christmas, and St. Stephen's Day. These holidays did not negatively
affect any religious group.
The Government does not require but does permit religious
instruction in public schools. Most primary and secondary schools are
denominational, and their boards of management were governed partially
by trustees within the Catholic Church or, in some cases, the Church of
Ireland. Under the terms of the constitution, the Department of
Education must and does provide equal funding to schools of different
religious denominations, including Islamic and Jewish schools. Although
religious instruction is an integral part of the curriculum, parents
may exempt their children from such instruction.
In 2003, the Equality Authority published a booklet stating that
church-linked schools are permitted legally to refuse to admit a
student who is not of that religion, providing the school can prove
that the refusal is essential to the maintenance of the ``ethos'' of
the school (i.e., too many Catholics in a Muslim school could prevent
the school from having a Muslim ``ethos''). However, there were no
reports of any children being refused admission to any school for this
reason.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
In 2005, there were reports of acts of vandalism against Jewish
establishments in Dublin. The culprit was identified and, in February
2006, sentenced to twenty months in jail for multiple counts of
vandalism. He was scheduled to appeal this sentencing on June 26, 2006;
however, his appeal was rescheduled to take place in October 2006. The
individual was out on bail for these charges at the end of the period
covered by this report. In another February 2006 case, the same
individual was charged and placed on probation for six months for the
2005 painting of swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on the Dublin
Jewish museum. On May 19, 2006, he was scheduled to face twenty-three
further charges of sending offensive e-mails to Jewish community
individuals; however, trials pertaining to these charges were
rescheduled for September 2006. After his arrest, the attacks on Jewish
establishments ceased.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In November 2004, in an effort to reach out across community and
faith lines, the Government invited key religious leaders, including
the imam from a prominent mosque, to take part in the country's
presidential inauguration. In March 2005, government officials took
part in a ``Muslims in Ireland Today'' conference held at a prominent
mosque in the country. In addition, the Garda (the police) Racial and
Intercultural Office placed 145 Ethnic Liaison Officers around the
country to advise police and monitor policing activity in light of the
increasing number of ethnic and religious groups that were immigrating
to the country. In December 2005, the prime minister announced that the
Government initiated contact with and decided to meet annually with
leaders of the religious communities to institute regular interfaith
dialogues.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Society largely was
homogenous; as a result, religious differences were not tied to ethnic
or political differences. Various religious groups, nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions conducted activities or
projects designed to promote greater mutual understanding and tolerance
among adherents of different religions.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
September 2004 the U.S. Embassy began its Muslim Outreach program aimed
at fostering greater understanding of political, social, cultural, and
religious views prevalent among Muslims in the country, and embassy
officials, including the ambassador, met regularly with Muslims.
Embassy officials also met with the chief rabbi of the country, the
head of the Egyptian Coptic Church, and prominent leaders from both
Catholic and Protestant religious groups. The embassy's interfaith
Thanksgiving reception facilitated dialogue and understanding of
religious freedom among governmental, NGO, religious, and community
leaders, and assisted government outreach to minority groups.
__________
ITALY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
There is no state religion; however, the Catholic Church enjoys some
privileges, stemming from its sovereign status and its historical
political authority, not available to other religious groups.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Catholic Church's
influential role in society has led to controversy when church
teachings have appeared to influence Catholic legislators on matters of
public policy. Increasing immigration has led to some anti-immigrant
sentiment; for the country's many Muslim immigrants, religion has
served as an additional factor differentiating them from native-born
citizens.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 116,347 square miles, and its population
was approximately 58.5 million. An estimated 87 percent of native-born
citizens were nominally Catholic, but only 20 percent regularly
participated in worship services. According to numbers reported by the
communities, members of Jehovah's Witnesses formed the second largest
Christian denomination among native-born citizens, numbering
approximately 231,000 adherents, followed by members of the Assembly of
God (78,000), Methodists and Waldesians (27,000), and Mormons (22,000).
However, immigration--both legal and illegal--continued to add
large groups of non-Christian residents, mainly Muslims, from North
Africa, South Asia, Albania, and the Middle East. Of 2.9 million legal
immigrants, an estimated 1 million were Muslim, primarily Sunnis. There
were approximately 75,000 Hindus. Buddhists included approximately
40,000 adherents of European origin and 20,000 of Asian origin.
According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, during the period of
German occupation in World War II, Nazi officials deported
approximately 8,000 Jews from the country to Auschwitz-Birkenau and
other Nazi camps. Almost 2,000 Jews were deported from Rhodes, an
Aegean Sea island that had been part of the country before the war.
Approximately 7,600 of those deported were killed. Because Italian
authorities obstructed the deportations and because many Italian Jews
succeeded in hiding or escaped southward to Allied-occupied areas of
the country, more than 40,000 Jews survived the Holocaust in the
country. The country's Jewish community, during the period covered by
this report, numbered approximately 30,000, and maintained synagogues
in twenty-one cities. Other significant religious communities included
Orthodox churches, small Protestant groups, the Baha'i Faith, and South
Asian Hindus. Polls conducted in 2003 showed that approximately 14
percent of the population considered themselves to be either atheists
or agnostics.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Prior to the constitution's adoption in 1947, the country's
relations with the Catholic Church were governed by a 1929 Concordat,
which resolved longstanding disputes stemming from the dissolution of
the Papal States and established Catholicism as the country's state
religion. A 1984 revision of the Concordat formalized the principle of
a secular state but maintained the practice of state support for
religion--support that also could be extended, if requested, to non-
Catholic confessions. In such cases, state support is to be governed by
legislation implementing the provisions of an accord (intesa) between
the Government and the religious confession. An intesa grants ministers
of religion automatic access to state hospitals, prisons, and military
barracks; allows for civil registry of religious marriages; facilitates
special religious practices regarding funerals; and exempts students
from school attendance on religious holidays. If a religious community
so requests, an intesa may provide for state routing of funds, through
a voluntary check-off on taxpayer returns, to that community, a
privilege that some communities initially declined but later requested.
The absence of an intesa does not affect a religious group's ability to
worship freely; however, the privileges granted by an intesa are not
always granted automatically, and a religious community without an
intesa does not benefit financially from the voluntary check-off on
taxpayer returns.
In 1984, the first such accord granted specific benefits to the
Waldesian Church. Similar accords, which are negotiated by the Prime
Minister's Office and require parliamentary approval, extended similar
benefits to the Adventists and Assembly of God (1988), Jews (1989), and
Baptists and Lutherans (1995). In 2000, the Government signed accords
with the Buddhist Union and Jehovah's Witnesses; however, these intese
did not receive parliamentary ratification before that government left
office in 2001. The Government initiated negotiations with the Mormons
(2000), the Orthodox Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate (2000),
the Apostolic Church (2001), Hindus (2001), and Soka Gakkai, or
Japanese Buddhists (2001). The Government chose to complete work on
pending requests and submit all such accords--including those
previously signed with the Buddhist Union and Jehovah's Witnesses--to
Parliament as a single package. However, Parliament's term ended in
April 2006 without considering either the pending intese or omnibus
religious freedom legislation, which incorporated provisions contained
in other laws. Divisions among the country's Muslim organizations, as
well as multiple Muslim immigrant groups, have hindered that
community's efforts to seek an intesa.
The revised Concordat of 1984 accorded the Catholic Church certain
privileges. For example, the Church is allowed to select Catholic
teachers, paid by the state, to provide instruction in ``hour of
religion'' courses taught in the public schools. This class is
optional, and students who do not wish to attend are free to study
other subjects or, in certain cases, to leave school early. While in
the past this instruction involved Catholic priests teaching catechism,
church-selected instructors now may be either lay or religious, and
their instruction is intended to include material relevant to non-
Catholic religious groups. Problems may arise in small communities
where information about other religious groups and numbers of non-
Catholic communicants is limited. The constitution prohibits state
support for private schools; however, declining enrollment in Catholic
schools has led Catholic Church officials, as operators of the
country's most extensive network of private schools, to seek government
aid.
While Catholicism is no longer the state religion, its role as the
dominant religion occasionally gives rise to problems. In 2004,
Parliament passed legislation favored by the Vatican that equates an
embryo with a human life, prohibits the use of donated sperm for
artificial insemination, restricts the production of embryos, and
limits scientific research on embryos. The legislation drew support
from Catholic legislators across the political spectrum, while secular
conservatives and Communists joined to oppose it. In January 2005,
Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, urged
Catholics to abstain from voting for four referenda to abolish parts of
the new fertility law; this sparked strong reactions from some leftist
leaders who accused the Catholic Church of inappropriate interference
in the political process. The June 2005 referenda failed when only 26
of the required 50-plus percent of the population voted. The low
turnout reflected a variety of factors, including Church opposition,
the ambivalence of most secular politicians, and voter apathy on a
summer weekend. In past years, Catholic politicians joined Pope John
Paul II and other church officials (including Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger, who has since been elected Pope Benedict XVI) in asserting
that the draft European Constitution should include language
recognizing Europe's Christian heritage.
The continuing presence of Catholic symbols, such as crucifixes, in
courtrooms, schools, and other public buildings, has drawn criticism
and has led to a number of lawsuits. Judicial decisions reflected
public opinion; in a recent poll, 80 percent of Italians supported the
presence of crucifixes in public buildings, and another nine percent
supported them if they did not offend others. In January, a Muslim who
threw a crucifix out of a window in his mother's room in a public
hospital was sentenced to eight months in jail under a Fascist-era law
that prohibits affronts to the Catholic religion; he was not expected
to serve jail time as the courts suspend sentences of less than three
years for first-time misdemeanors. In February, the Council of State,
the national Appeals Court for administrative cases, rejected a request
made by a mother to remove crucifixes from her children's classrooms;
the Court determined that the presence of religious symbols in public
buildings is not discriminatory as they epitomize high civil values. In
April 2005, a court ruled that crucifixes do not have to be removed
from polling stations, as requested by the president of a small Islamic
association. In December 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that,
based on a technicality, a 1928 regulation that provides for the
display of crucifixes in public classrooms is constitutional. A mother
in Venice, who asked that the crucifixes be removed, brought the case.
In March 2005, Interior Minister Pisanu argued publicly that the
crucifix was a symbol of great value that represented two thousand
years of civilization and culture.
Muslim women are free to wear the veil in public offices and
schools; however, there were occasional reports of objections to women
wearing a burqa (a garment that completely covers the face and body).
In August 2004, a woman in Drezzo was fined for wearing a burqa under a
seldom-used 1931 law that forbids persons from hiding their identity.
In view of the negative aspects of the country's fascist past,
government leaders routinely acknowledge and pay tribute to Jews
victimized by the country's 1938 racial laws.
In January 2004, Prime Minister Berlusconi created a new ``Inter-
Ministerial Commission to Combat Anti-Semitism'' to ensure strong,
uniform responses to any anti-Semitic acts by the police and local/
federal government officials. In December 2004, the Government hosted,
with the Anti-Defamation League, an international conference on anti-
Semitism.
National, regional, and local authorities organize annual
educational initiatives and other events to support National Holocaust
Remembrance Day on January 27. In 2004, the country acted as Chair of
the International Task Force on Holocaust Education and the Ministry of
Education organized an international conference to train teachers on
the Shoah. In January 2005, Prime Minister Berlusconi attended
ceremonies to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of
Auschwitz, and the Speaker of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera,
addressed the special session of the UN General Assembly commemorating
the liberation of Nazi death camps with remarks on the importance of
acknowledging and combating continued anti-Semitism. In January 2006,
the mayor of Rome announced approval of a plan for a museum dedicated
to the Shoah; work is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2006. In 2003,
Parliament approved the creation of a National Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Ferrara; construction had not begun at the end of the period
covered by this report.
Missionaries or religious workers do not encounter problems but
must apply for appropriate visas prior to arriving in the country.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. In March 2006, Abdul Rahman, an Afghan citizen
under threat of death because he converted to Christianity, arrived in
the country to accept the Government's offer of asylum.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were no violent anti-Semitic attacks in the period covered by
this report, but public opinion surveys indicated that anti-Semitism
was growing in the country. According to pollsters, this trend was tied
to, and in some cases fed by, widespread opposition to the Israeli
government and popular support for the Palestinian cause. In 2005,
there were some incidents of Israeli diplomats being heckled at public
events. Small-scale graffiti (swastikas) were found in major cities.
Following a display of anti-Semitic banners and Nazi symbols at a
soccer match in January 2006, the offending fans' team was disciplined.
The minister of interior called the incident ``an unbearable attack
against the victims of Nazism and Fascism'' and declared that public
authorities would enforce laws prohibiting the display of slogans or
symbols exalting political violence, racism or xenophobia in sports
stadiums. In April 2006, on the anniversary of the country's liberation
from Nazism and Fascism, pro-Palestinian demonstrators took an Israeli
flag from Jewish Brigade representatives and burned it.
On May 16, 2006, forty Jewish graves (of approximately 6 thousand)
in Milan were vandalized. The tombstones were knocked over and broken
but there were no signs of anti-Semitic slogans or Nazi symbols. The
attack was immediately condemned by leaders of both the center-left and
center-right; Milan's chief rabbi called the incident serious and
without precedent. The police opened an investigation and speculated in
the press that the vandals might have been drunken revelers.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious and government
officials continued to encourage mutual respect for religious
differences. In March 2006, Rome's Chief Rabbi paid a first-ever visit
to Rome's main mosque; a reciprocal visit was being scheduled.
Increasing immigration from Eastern Europe, Africa, China, and the
Middle East was altering demographic and cultural patterns in
communities across the country and led to some anti-immigrant
sentiment. For the country's Muslim immigrants, religion serves as an
additional factor differentiating them from native-born citizens.
During the election campaign, some Catholic politicians and community
leaders contributed to popular reaction by emphasizing the perceived
threat posed by immigrants to the country's ``national identity.''
Some members of the Northern League political party, a minority
member of the governing coalition, asserted that practices present in
many Islamic societies, notably polygamy, Islamic family law, the role
of women, and the lack of separation between religion and state,
rendered many Muslim immigrants incompatible for integration into
society. In February 2006, Northern League Minister for Reform Roberto
Calderoli went on television wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with
controversial cartoons mocking Muhammad. Following violent reactions,
including an attack on the country's consulate in Bengazhi, Libya,
Prime Minister Berlusconi called for and received Calderoli's
resignation.
In November 2005, Interior Minister Pisanu established a sixteen-
member Islamic Consultative Council comprised of Italian and immigrant
Muslims designed to open dialogue on how to improve the lives of
moderate Muslims. The Council met three times in 2006 to offer advice
to the Government on immigration, housing, education, employment, and
related policies. At the same time, the Government continued a
crackdown on illegal immigration and deportations of suspected Muslim
extremists. During the reporting period, it expelled thirteen Muslims,
including Turin-based Imam Bouchta Bouriki, on terrorism-related
charges.
In December 2004, the minister of equal opportunity created a new
national Office to Combat Racial and Ethnic Discrimination to monitor
and prevent discrimination and assist victims with legal assistance.
The office established a hotline to receive complaints and began a
public relations effort to discourage ethnic, racial and religious
discrimination.
Government units provide funds for the construction of places of
worship as well as public land for their construction, and they help
preserve and maintain historic places of worship that shelter much of
the country's artistic and cultural heritage. In 2001, the Campania
regional administration approved the request for approximately $3.1
million (2.6 million euros) to build a mosque in Naples despite the
absence of a formal intesa between the state and the Muslim confession.
Construction had not yet begun at the end of the period covered by this
report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
LATVIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion; however,
bureaucratic problems persisted for some minority religions.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, lingering suspicions
remained toward newer, nontraditional faiths.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 25 thousand square miles,
and an estimated population of approximately 2.3 million. The three
largest faiths were Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox
Christianity. Denominational membership statistics were self-reported
estimates and were not completely precise. Sizeable religious
minorities included Baptists, Pentecostals, and various evangelical
Protestant groups. The once large Jewish community was virtually
destroyed in the Holocaust during the 1941-1944 German occupation; the
community was an estimated 6,000 to 13,500 persons during the reporting
period.
As of April 2006, the Board of Religious Affairs had registered
1,174 congregations. This total included: Lutheran (303), Roman
Catholic (250), Orthodox (118), Baptist (93), Old Believer Orthodox
(67), Seventh-day Adventist (50), Jehovah's Witnesses (13), Methodist
(13), Jewish (13), Buddhist (4), Muslim (15), Hare Krishna (11), Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (4), and more than 100
other congregations.
Interest in religion increased markedly since the restoration of
independence; however, a large percentage of adherents did not
regularly practice their faith. In 2005, religious groups provided the
following estimates of membership to the Justice Ministry: Lutherans
(458,424), Roman Catholics (500,000), Orthodox (350,000), Baptists
(7,119), Old Believer Orthodox (2,843), Seventh-day Adventists (3,957),
Jehovah's Witnesses (161), Methodists (1,002), Jews (638), Buddhists
(87), Muslims (380), Hare Krishnas (127), and Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (867). Although no precise statistics
existed, it was widely acknowledged that a significant portion of the
population was atheist. Orthodox Christians, many of whom were Russian-
speaking, non-citizen, permanent residents, were concentrated in the
major cities, while many Catholics lived in the east.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. However,
bureaucratic problems persisted for some minority religions. There is
no state religion; however, the Government distinguishes between
``traditional'' (Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believers,
Baptists, and Jewish) and ``new'' religions. In practice, this has not
resulted in government discrimination against any particular religion.
Jews are considered an ethnic group and can be listed as such in
passports, rather than as Latvian or Russian. Prior to 2002, regardless
of the bearer's wishes, all passports listed the bearer's ethnicity on
the front bio-page as Latvian, Russian, or Jewish. In 2002, new
passports were introduced that indicate ethnicity only when requested
by the bearer. If the bearer requests that the ethnicity be listed, it
is listed on the backside of the bio-page at the front of the passport.
Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Monday are national holidays.
The Orthodox Church has been seeking recognition of Orthodox Christmas
for several years, but the Government had not adopted this proposal by
the end of this reporting period.
The Latvian Lutheran Church established its own clergy education
center, the Luther Academy in Riga, in 1998. The Roman Catholic Church
and the Orthodox Church each have their own seminary. The University of
Latvia's theological faculty is nondenominational.
There are two councils that comment on religious issues for the
Government: The New Religions Consultative Council (NRCC) and the
Ecclesiastical Council (EC). The NRCC consists of doctors, academics,
and an independent human rights ombudsman. It meets on an ad hoc basis
and offers opinions on specific issues, but it does not have decision-
making authority. It has not published any information or warnings
concerning ``cults.'' The Ecclesiastical Council is an advisory body
organized in 2002 by the prime minister and is chaired by either the
sitting prime minister or the deputy prime minister. It includes
representatives from the major churches: Roman Catholic, Lutheran,
Baptist, Orthodox, Jewish, Adventist, Methodist, and Old Believers. The
Ecclesiastical Council met during the reporting period to discuss a new
draft law on traditional confessions. The draft law outlines which
religions are considered traditional religions (those that existed
during the country's first period of independence), and further defines
the relationship between church and state. Under current law,
traditional religions enjoy certain rights and privileges that
nontraditional religions do not. It is not clear at this point how the
relationship between church and state will be defined and/or changed.
The U.S. Embassy will continue to monitor this draft law and report
further in the next reporting period.
Although the Government does not require the registration of
religious groups, the 1995 Law on Religious Organizations accords
religious organizations certain rights and privileges when they
register, such as status as a separate legal entity for owning property
or other financial transactions, as well as tax benefits for donors.
Registration also eases the rules for public gatherings.
According to the 1995 Law on Religious Organizations, any twenty
citizens or persons over the age of eighteen who have been registered
in the Population Register may apply to register a church. Asylum
seekers, foreign staff of diplomatic missions, and those in the country
temporarily in a special status may not register a religious
organization. Congregations that do not belong to a registered church
association must reregister each year for ten years. Ten or more
congregations of the same denomination and with permanent registration
status may form a religious association. Only churches with religious
association status may establish theological schools or monasteries.
The decision to register a church is made by the Board of Religious
Affairs, a semi-autonomous body within the Ministry of Justice. The
director of the Board of Religious Affairs reports directly to the
Minister of Justice. According to Board of Religious Affairs officials,
most registration applications are approved eventually once proper
documents are submitted. The Bureau of Human Rights has proposed to
abolish the religious association membership requirement and reduce the
new congregation registration requirement to three years. By the end of
the reporting period, Parliament had not acted on this recommendation
and no legislation has been introduced.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Law on Religious Organizations does not permit simultaneous
registration of more than one religious association (church) in a
single confession. During the reporting period, the Government had not
registered or been requested to register any offshoots of established
religious groups. According to the Board of Religious Affairs, they
were not aware of any offshoot Jewish groups who were denied
registration. A Chabad-Lubavich organization was registered in 1997. In
the past, a group from the Latvian Free Orthodox Church, which was
originally denied registration in 1997, was asked in 2005 by the Board
to submit their registration request again, but the group had not done
so during the reporting period. There were twenty nonassociated Old
Believer groups registered with the Board during the reporting period.
In 2005, the Religious Affairs Administration again proposed
amendments to the Law on Religious Organizations that would abolish
restrictions on single association registration. However, neither the
Ecclesiastical Council nor the Government had acted on this
recommendation by the end of the period covered by this report.
Visa regulations effective since 1999 require foreign religious
workers to present either an ordination certificate or evidence of
religious education that corresponds to a local bachelor's degree in
theology. The visa application process, requiring letters of invitation
and proof of seminary training, remained cumbersome, although the
Government generally was cooperative in helping resolve difficult visa
cases in favor of missionary workers.
Foreign evangelists and missionaries are permitted to hold meetings
and to proselytize, but the law stipulates that only domestic religious
organizations may invite them to conduct such activities. Foreign
religious denominations criticized this provision.
The Law on Religious Organizations stipulates that only
representatives of the traditional Christian churches (i.e.,
Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believer, and
Baptist churches) may teach religion to public school students who
volunteer to take the classes. The Government provides funds for this
education. Students at state-supported national minority schools also
may receive education on the religion ``characteristic of the national
minority'' on a voluntary basis. Other denominations and religions that
do not have their own state-supported minority schools, such as the
Jewish community, may provide religious education only in private
schools.
Property restitution had been substantially completed, although
most religious groups, including the Lutheran, Orthodox, and Jewish
communities, continued to wait for the return of some properties. The
status of these remaining properties was unclear and was the subject of
complicated legal and bureaucratic processes concerning ambiguous
ownership, competing claims, and the destruction of the Jewish
communities to which properties belonged before World War II. The
Office of the Prime Minister established a working group to address the
restitution-related concerns of the country's religious communities.
The Jewish community expressed concern about the terms under which some
properties were restored.
In early 2006, a law was proposed that would return approximately
200 properties to the Jewish community. The proposal would create a
centralized list of all the contested properties and the compensation
requested for each item. The Jewish community and the Government
continued productive discussions on this issue. By prenegotiating the
properties, the community hoped to expedite the legislative process.
The Jewish community was optimistic regarding a favorable outcome.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
In 2003, vandals overturned tombstones and sprayed anti-Semitic
graffiti on the walls of Riga's New Jewish Cemetery. National leaders
condemned the act and city authorities quickly repaired the damage.
Similar desecrations, although on a much smaller scale, occurred in
both 2004 and 2005, with similar reactions from leading local citizens.
In the spring of 2005, the Orthodox rabbi of Riga was accosted,
threatened, and subjected to violently anti-Semitic epithets in Old
Town Riga. In late 2005, during the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, vandals
deliberately knocked over and broke a large outdoor menorah in Riga.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In early 2006, Latvian police participated in a U.S. Government-
sponsored training course to address racial intolerance, which also
included a component on anti-Semitism. The course was designed to
educate police officers to identify criminal behavior based on
intolerance and to explore best practices to combat intolerance on the
streets. As a result of this initial course, the Latvian Police Academy
incorporated a tolerance training segment into their overall course for
new police recruits.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Ecumenism continued to be a
new concept in the country, and traditional religions have adopted a
distinctly reserved attitude toward the concept. Although government
officials encouraged a broader understanding and acceptance of newer
religions, many citizens continued to doubt the validity of newer,
nontraditional faiths.
The Latvian Historical Commission, under the sponsorship of
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, continued to promote Holocaust
awareness throughout society. A monument to Zanis Lipke, who saved
forty Jews from the Riga ghetto, was planned for completion in 2006. In
June 2004, the country was admitted as a permanent member of the
International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and
Research. In July 2006, the country will hold its first Holocaust
Remembrance conference, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
presided over by the president. The conference will address issues
relating to the awareness and remembrance of the Holocaust.
Participants will include Latvians and delegates from the United
States, western Europe, and central and eastern Europe.
Many government leaders--the president in particular--have reacted
to a perceived increase in public anti-Semitism by speaking out against
all forms of xenophobia and appearing prominently at Holocaust-related
commemoration events. The Government actively discourages anti-
Semitism, although anti-Semitic sentiments persisted in some segments
of society, manifested in occasional public comments and resistance to
laws and memorials designed to address Holocaust remembrance. Books and
other publications appearing in Latvia that address the World War II
period generally dwelt on the effects of the Soviet and Nazi
occupations on the state and on ethnic Latvians, sometimes at the
expense of comment on the Holocaust or some Latvians' role in it.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by the report, the U.S. embassy worked to
support the principle of religious freedom by engaging in regular
exchanges with the president, the prime minister, and appropriate
government bodies, including the director of the Office of Religious
Affairs, human rights nongovernmental organizations, and
representatives of various religious confessions, including
missionaries. The embassy also held regular discussions with local
immigration authorities and section meetings with the Department of
Religious Affairs.
The embassy actively supports the Latvian Historical Commission. It
has funded the travel of scholars to the United States for education on
ethnic and religious tolerance, and of U.S. experts to the country for
Historical Commission activities. In addition, the embassy worked with
the Government to develop a Holocaust education curriculum for all
students in grades 9-12. The embassy funded the training of teachers in
curriculum development, the production and publication of a Holocaust
education curriculum, and the preparation of teachers to teach
Holocaust history and awareness. The completed Holocaust curriculum was
published in late spring 2005 and, following teacher training
throughout the summer, was implemented in the 2005-2006 school year in
some history and social studies classes.
At the end of the summer of 2006, the U.S. Embassy will send two
teachers on a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum study tour. The embassy,
through a Democracy Commission Grant, also assisted with the production
and publication of the book ``Jewish Cemeteries in Latvia,'' released
in spring 2006.
Embassy officials maintain an open and productive dialogue with the
Government's director of the Board of Religious Affairs. Embassy
officials also meet regularly with visiting missionary groups as well
as representatives of different religious confessions, both local and
foreign. Officials often discuss problems that certain minority
religious groups had experienced at the Citizenship and Migration
Department when seeking visas and residency permits.
__________
LIECHTENSTEIN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Roman
Catholic Church is the official state church.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 61.7 square miles (160 square
kilometers) and, as of 2002, a total population of 33,863, according to
the Office of the National Economy. Membership in the different
religious communities was as follows: 25,730 Roman Catholics, 2,354
Protestants, 1,384 Muslims, 258 Eastern Orthodox, 72 Buddhists, 31
Jehovah's Witnesses, 18 Jews, 14 Baha'is, 13 Anglicans, 9 New
Apostolics, 8 other religions, and 329 with no formal affiliation to
any religious community. For 3,643 residents, authorities had no
indication of their religious affiliation. As of 2002, the Government
discontinued statistics on religious affiliation.
There were no significant foreign missionary groups in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Criminal Code
prohibits any form of discrimination or debasement of any religion or
any of its adherents. The constitution makes the Roman Catholic Church
the established church of the country, and as such it enjoys the full
protection of the state.
Church funding comes from the general budget, as decided by
Parliament, and is not a direct ``tithe'' paid by the citizens. The
Government gives money not only to the Roman Catholic Church but also
to other denominations. Roman Catholic and Protestant churches receive
regular annual contributions from the Government in proportion to
membership size as determined in the census count of 2000; smaller
religious groups are eligible to apply for grants for associations of
foreigners or specific projects. In 2006, the Government made a
contribution of $20,000 (25,000 Swiss francs) to the Muslim community.
The Catholic and Protestant churches' finances are integrated directly
into the budgets of the national and local governments. The Roman
Catholic Church receives approximately $240,000 (300,000 Swiss francs)
per year, plus additional sums from the eleven municipalities. The
relationship between the state and the Roman Catholic Church is being
redefined. In 2003, the Government reestablished a working group that
discussed legislative reform, but the working group has not met since
2004. In 2004, the Government contracted an independent study on church
financing reform that is being discussed with local governments. All
religious groups enjoy tax-exempt status.
The Archdiocese of Vaduz is scheduled to receive a sum of $2.4
million (3 million Swiss francs) over a total of five years as part of
a financial settlement with the Diocese of Chur (Switzerland), to which
it belonged until 1997. The transaction will permit the financial
separation of the dioceses from one another. The first payment of $800
thousand (1 million Swiss francs) was transferred in December 2003.
Additional payments were being made in installments of $320 thousand
(400 thousand Swiss francs). The Archdiocese of Vaduz intended to use
the funds to pay back its property loan.
In May 2005, the Council of Europe's (COE) Commissioner for Human
Rights criticized the fact that standing policy favored the Catholic
Church over other religious communities in the distribution of state
subsidies and urged the Government to review its policies to ensure an
equitable distribution of these funds. In 2004, the U.N. Human Rights
Commission (UNHRC) also expressed concern about the unequal treatment
of different religious denominations in the allocation of public funds.
The issue of state subsidies to religious communities formed part of
the government-sponsored discussions to reach consensus on the
redefinition of the relationship between the state and the Roman
Catholic Church.
There were no significant foreign missionary groups in the country.
To receive a religious-worker visa, an applicant must demonstrate that
the host organization is important for the entire country. An applicant
must have completed theological studies and be accredited with an
acknowledged religious group. Visa requests normally were not denied
and were processed in the same manner as requests from other
individuals or workers.
Since 2001, the Government has granted the Muslim community a
residency permit for one imam, plus one short-term residency permit for
an additional imam during Ramadan. The Government follows a policy of
routinely granting visas to the imams in exchange for the agreement of
both the Turkish Association and the Islamic community to prevent
religious diatribes by the imams or the spread of religious extremism.
Religious education is part of the curriculum at public schools. At
the secondary school level, parents and pupils choose between
traditional confessional religious education and the nonconfessional
subject ``Religion and Culture.'' Since its introduction in 2003, more
than 85 percent of Roman Catholic pupils have chosen the new subject,
with the remainder following traditional confessional classes held by
the Catholic Church. Representatives of the Protestant community have
complained that the optional subject ``Religion and Culture'' de facto
eliminated classes in Protestant doctrine because it made it virtually
impossible for the minority community to meet the quorum of four pupils
to hold confessional classes as part of the regular curriculum. As an
alternative, the Protestant Church offers extra-curricular religious
education classes with financial support from the Government. Regarding
Roman Catholic confessional education at primary schools, a working
group representing the local municipalities, religious teachers
(catechists), and the Department of Education has worked out an
agreement with the archbishop of Vaduz. The agreement retained the
compulsory nature of confessional religious education and granted the
Roman Catholic Church autonomy in setting the curriculum. With regard
to oversight of religious education, the agreement gave the archbishop
the final say on employment decisions of religious teachers, including
dismissals, and provided for only a complementary supervisory role of
the local municipalities. All municipalities except for Balzers,
Triesen, and Planken, which decided to retain the old model of
religious education, have implemented the agreement. By the end of the
period covered by this report, the Protestants were the only other
religious community allowed to offer religious education in primary
schools. Members of other religious groups were not required to attend
these classes. Groups other than the Roman Catholic Church and the
Protestants were free to regulate their own religious education.
The Government collaborates with religious institutions by
supporting interfaith dialogue and providing adult education courses in
religion, as well as other subjects.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In April 2006, a group of fifteen teachers from the country
traveled to Israel for a study trip at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust
memorial complex. The purpose of the trip was to learn about the
Holocaust and methods of teaching its various aspects.
In 2004, the Government established a working group for the better
integration of members of the Muslim community into society. The
working group consists of representatives of the Muslim community and
government officials who deal with Islam as part of their duties. The
working group's objectives are to counter mutual prejudices and promote
respect and tolerance on the basis of dialogue and mutual
understanding. At the working group's suggestion, the Government
decided to issue a short-term residency permit for an additional imam
during Ramadan and, in 2006, to make, for the first time, a
contribution of $20,000 (25,000 Swiss francs) to the Muslim community.
In cooperation with the national library, the working group has already
made accessible to the public a selection of books in Turkish as well
as books on Islam.
The Government's Equal Opportunity Office is charged with handling
complaints of religious discrimination, but the office has not yet been
contacted concerning a case of discrimination based on religious
belief. The Government has also established an interdepartmental
Working Group against Racism, anti-Semitism, and Xenophobia whose
purpose is to prevent racist and xenophobic attitudes through awareness
raising and the promotion of mutual understanding and respect. The
working group also coordinates the Government's measures to prevent and
combat anti-Semitism.
The Government supported or sponsored a variety of activities to
promote the integration of immigrants and intercultural understanding,
including a class on intercultural dialogue in the curriculum of the
national administration's internal training program.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. Roman Catholics, Protestants, and
members of other faiths work well together on an ecumenical basis.
Differences among religious faiths are not a significant source of
tension in society. There have been no reports of verbal or physical
acts against Jewish persons or property. The Jewish community in the
country is too small to sustain an organizational structure of its own.
In 2004, the UNHRC expressed concern about the persistence of
xenophobia and intolerance, especially against Muslims and persons of
Turkish origin.
On January 27, 2006, the Government held a special memorial hour to
commemorate the Holocaust. President Otmar Hasler called on the
population to commemorate the historic date and presented the day of
remembrance as part of the Government's efforts to fight racism,
xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination. Secondary schools in the
country have held discussion fora on the Holocaust on this date since
2003.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy and the foreign office conduct annual discussions of religious
freedom issues in preparation for this report.
__________
LITHUANIA
The constitution establishes the right to freedom of religion
except where religious observance would violate the constitution or
national law, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. There is no state religion. Some religious groups enjoyed
government benefits not available to others. Nontraditional religious
groups faced some restrictions.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, although members of religious
minorities occasionally were subject to acts of intolerance. The media
reported instances of anti-Semitic acts, statements, and events. Select
media outlets published expressions of intolerance towards religious or
ethnic groups. The political leadership of the country publicly
criticized anti-Semitic statements when they occurred.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights and
tolerance and in discussions on the country's strategy for addressing
its Holocaust legacy. The U.S. Government sponsored events to promote
religious freedom, understanding, and tolerance in the country,
including a September 11 commemoration that was the first interfaith
service held in the country. The U.S. Government promoted religious
freedom and tolerance in several media events throughout the reporting
period and actively denounced the few acts of religious and ethnic
intolerance.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 25,174 square miles and a population of
approximately 3.4 million. Roman Catholicism, the dominant faith in the
country prior to the Soviet era, survived years of occupation and
remained both dominant and influential. According to the 2001 census,
approximately 79 percent (2,686,000) of the inhabitants considered
themselves to be Roman Catholics. In May 2006, there were 683
registered Roman Catholic communities and associations (parishes,
schools, monasteries, etc). Approximately 140,000 constituted the
Eastern Orthodox Church, the country's second largest religious group,
with 52 communities mainly along the border with Belarus. Old
Believers, numbering 27,000, had 61 registered religious communities.
An estimated 20,000 Lutherans belonged to 58 communities, primarily in
the southwest. The Evangelical Reformed community had approximately
7,000 members in seventeen communities. The seven Sunni Muslim
communities counted approximately 2,700 members, while the Greek
Catholic community had approximately 300 members. The Jewish community
numbered approximately 4,000. The majority of local Jews were secular,
and only about 1,200 belonged to one of the seven religious
communities. The Chabad Lubavich, a Hassidic Jewish group, operated a
school (kindergarten through twelfth grade), a social center, and a
kosher kitchen in the capital of Vilnius.
The Karaites have been in the country since 1397. Karaites, while
not unique to the country, exist in few other locations in the world.
Karaites speak a Turkic-based language and use the Hebrew alphabet.
Some consider Karaites to be a branch of Judaism; the religion is based
exclusively on the Old Testament. The Government recognizes the
Karaites as a distinct ethnic group. Two houses of worship, one in
Vilnius and one in nearby Trakai, serve the Karaite religious community
of approximately 250 members. The Karaites' only religious leader is
also their community president.
Approximately 0.23 percent of the population belonged to what the
Government refers to as ``nontraditional'' religious communities. The
most numerous are the Full Gospel Word of Faith Movement, Pentecostals/
Charismatics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists,
and the New Apostolic Church. A total of 1,055 traditional and 173
nontraditional religious associations, centers, and communities have
officially registered with the State Register of Legal Entities.
Foreign missionary groups, including Baptists, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses, were
active in the country.
An estimated 9.4 percent of the population did not identify with
any religious denomination. According to 1998 research data,
approximately one-third of the country's Roman Catholics attended
church services at least once a month. Data on religious participation
for members of other faiths were not available.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Article 26 of the constitution provides for the right to religious
freedom, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in full and
did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution provides that a person's freedom to profess and
propagate his or her religion or faith ``may be subject only to those
limitations prescribed by law and only when such restrictions are
necessary to protect the safety of society, public order, a person's
health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.''
The Criminal Code contains three provisions to protect religious
freedom. The code prohibits discrimination based on religion and
provides for punishment of up to two years' imprisonment. Interference
with religious ceremonies is also punishable with imprisonment or
community service. Inciting religious hatred is punishable by
imprisonment of up to three years and legal entities can be prosecuted
for violations under this article.
It is unlawful to make use of the religious teachings of churches
and other religious organizations, their religious activities, and
their houses of prayer for purposes that contradict the constitution or
the law. The Government may also temporarily restrict freedom of
expression of religious conviction during a period of martial law or a
state of emergency. The Government has never had occasion to invoke
these laws.
There is no state religion; however, under the 1995 Law on
Religious Communities and Associations, some religious groups enjoy
government benefits not available to others, including government
funding, the right to teach religion in public schools, and the right
to register marriages. The Law on Religious Communities and
Associations enables all registered religious groups to own property
for prayer houses, homes, and other buildings, and permits construction
of facilities necessary for their activities.
The constitution recognizes traditional churches and religious
organizations, as well as other churches and religious organizations,
provided that they have a basis in society and their teaching and
rituals do not contravene morality or the law. In practice, there are
four classifications of religious entities: Traditional, state-
recognized, registered, and unregistered religious communities and
associations.
Government authorities acknowledge as traditional only those
religions that can trace their presence in the country back at least
300 years. The law specifies nine traditional religious communities:
Latin Rite Catholics, Greek Rite Catholics, Evangelical Lutherans,
Evangelical Reformed Church, Orthodox Christians (Moscow Patriarchate),
Old Believers, Jews, Sunni Muslims, and Karaites.
Traditional religious communities and associations may register
marriages; may establish subsidiary institutions; are eligible to
receive government assistance; may establish joint private/public
schools; and have the right to provide religious instruction in the
public schools. Their highest religious leaders are eligible to apply
for diplomatic passports, their clergy and theological students are
exempt from military service, and they may provide military chaplains.
The Ministry of Justice does not require traditional religious
communities and associations to register their bylaws. Traditional
religious communities do not have to pay social and health insurance
for clergy and other employees, and they are not subject to a
valueadded tax (VAT) on basic utilities, such as electricity,
telephone, and heating.
The law stipulates that the Government may grant state recognition
to nontraditional religious communities that have societal support and
have been registered in the country for at least twenty-five years.
Nontraditional religious communities must apply to the Ministry of
Justice and provide a description of their religious teachings and a
founding statement signed by no fewer than fifteen members who are
adult citizens of the country. The ministry must review the documents
within six months and make a recommendation to Parliament for final
approval.
The Baptists were the only state-recognized religion. The Baptists
do not receive annual subsidies, tax exemptions, or exemptions from
military service enjoyed by traditional communities. In practice,
state-recognized religions receive some additional privileges from the
Government, but not to the extent that traditional religious groups do.
They are entitled to perform marriages and do not have to pay social
security and healthcare taxes for clergy and other employees.
The Ministry of Justice's Religious Affairs Department is
responsible for processing initial registration applications, but since
January 2004 the new State Register of Legal Entities, under the
national Registry Center, manages the database of registered religious
communities. Religious communities, formerly able to register only in
the capital, can now file applications at local registration centers
throughout the country. Registration centers forward new applications
to the Religious Affairs Department and process renewal registrations
locally. New communities affiliated with traditional religions register
for free, while nontraditional communities pay a registration fee of
$32 (105 litas).
Religious communities must register to obtain official status,
which is a requisite for opening a bank account, owning property, or
acting in a legal or official capacity as a community.
Unregistered communities have no legal status or state privileges.
However, there were no reports that the Government prevented any such
groups from worshiping or seeking members.
While only traditional religious communities receive annual state
subsidies, nontraditional groups are eligible for government support
for their cultural and social projects.
Following the restoration of the country's independence, the
Government returned property to religious communities that the Nazi and
Soviet occupations had confiscated. The law granted all religious
communities equal opportunity to reacquire control of property they
once used for religious services. The Roman Catholic community has been
more successful in regaining its property than many other religious
communities. The Government returned some religious properties,
including twenty-eight synagogues to the Jewish community, mostly
between 1991 and 1996. The Government successfully resolved a number of
claims for restitution; others were pending at the end of the reporting
period.
No single government agency addresses the concerns of religious
groups. A small department in the Ministry of Justice adjudicates
requests of religious groups for registration. The prime minister's
advisor for Cultural and Jewish Affairs follows relevant issues within
the Jewish community.
Since January 2005, the Office of the Equal Opportunities (OEO)
ombudsperson has had the authority to adjudicate complaints about state
institutions, educational institutions, places of employment, and
products and service sellers and producers that discriminate on a basis
of religion (previously, the office heard complaints on sex-
discrimination issues only). The OEO ombudsperson has the authority to
investigate complaints, recommend changes to parliamentary committees
and ministries regarding legal acts, and recommend cases to the
Prosecutor General's Office for pretrial investigation if warranted.
The OEO ombudsperson reported no complaints of religious
discrimination.
The parliament ombudsperson examines whether state authorities
perform their duty to properly serve the people. The law on the
parliament ombudsperson specifically notes religious beliefs in
defining the functions of the office. The ombudsperson has the
authority to investigate complaints, recommend changes to parliamentary
committees and ministries regarding legal acts, and recommend cases to
the Prosecutor General's Office for pretrial investigation if
warranted. The parliament ombudsperson reported no complaints on
grounds of religious beliefs during the reporting period. While there
is some overlap between the two bodies, the OEO ombudsperson appears to
have greater authority to hear complaints of individual acts of
religious discrimination.
The Jounalist Ethics Inspectorate has the authority to investigate
complaints under Article 20 of the Law on Provision of Information to
the Public, as amended April 27, 2004, that bars publishing material
that ``instigates war, national, racial, religious, social and gender
hatred.'' It has the authority to issue administrative fines to
newspapers under administrative law or refer cases to law enforcement
authorities for criminal prosecution.
In 2000, the Government and the Holy See agreed to establish a
military Ordinariat to provide religious support to Roman Catholic
members of the military service by means of military chaplains. In
2002, the Ministry of Defense and the Catholic Church signed a
regulation on military chaplains' activities. There were sixteen
chaplains providing services to the military as of May 2005. The
Ministry of Defense provides material support for the Ordinariat and
its places of worship. Other traditional churches and religious groups
also provide religious support to the military services. The Ordinariat
may make requests to the Ministry of Defense to provide religious
services for other faiths based on need or requests from service
members.
Conscientious objectors may petition for alternative military
service within military structures, but there is no option for
alternative nonmilitary service, despite requests by members of
Jehovah's Witnesses. Persons enrolled in alternative military service
must follow military regulations and reside on military installations.
They receive assignments to work in nonviolent military roles, such as
grounds maintenance, or can work as unskilled laborers in government
health or social care institutions.
The constitution establishes that public educational institutions
are secular. The Law on Education permits and funds religious
instruction only of traditional and state-recognized faiths in public
schools. In practice, parents can choose either religious instruction
or secular ethics classes for their children. Schools decide which of
the traditional religions will be represented in their respective
curricula on the basis of requests from parents for children up to age
fourteen. (After age fourteen, the pupil decides.) The Ministry of
Education and Science had not received any complaints about any school
not providing requested religious instruction.
The number of wholly private religious schools in the country is
relatively low per capita. There were approximately twenty-five schools
with ties to Catholic and Jewish groups, although people of different
faiths often attend these schools. Since 2001, all accredited, private
schools (religious and nonreligious) receive funding from the Ministry
of Education and Science through a voucher system based on the number
of pupils. The voucher system covers program but not capital costs of
school operation. Founders generally bear responsibility for covering
capital outlays; however, the Ministry of Education and Science does
provide funding for capital costs of traditional religious private
schools where an international agreement to do so exists. In 2000, the
Government entered into agreement with the Holy See to fully fund
private Roman Catholic Schools.
In 2005, religious education in the public schools was provided to
277,000 students (Roman Catholic); 378 (Greek Catholic); 802
(Evangelical Lutheran); 117 (Evangelical Reformed Lutheran); 4,183
(Russian Orthodox); 28 (Old Believer); 249 (Jewish); and 17 (Muslim). A
total of 232,000 studied ethics.
Religious holidays include Assumption Day (August 15), St. Mary's
celebration (January 1), Easter Monday, All Saints' Day (November 1),
Christmas, and Boxing Day (December 26). There were no reports of
formal complaints that these agreements adversely affect religious
freedom for the adherents of other religions.
An interministerial commission coordinates investigations of
religious groups. It seeks to ensure that activities of religious
groups are in line with the principles of a democratic society, human
rights, and fundamental freedoms. The Minister of Justice appoints the
chairperson of the commission, which also comprises representatives of
the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Education, Health, Foreign
Affairs, the General Prosecutor's Office, and the State Security
Department. The Government established the commission following some
parliamentarians' calls for increased control of ``sects.'' In 2003,
the commission investigated the conditions under which religious,
esoteric, and spiritual groups may spread their faith via educational
institutions. In particular, the commission looked at how many groups
were renting premises from public educational institutions. The
commission also investigated the alleged involvement of Satanists in
the desecration of cemeteries. In 2004, the commission began an
investigation of both ``magic and the occult on television'' and offers
of ``magical services'' by, for example, psychics and astrologers. In
May 2005, the local Council of Bishops also raised concerns about
``shamanism,'' and objected also to the municipal government's funding
of public Tai Chi classes in Vilnius.
In March 2004, Parliament established a Working Group on Issues of
Spiritual and Religious Groups in response to complaints from persons
whose relatives had allegedly been harmed by religious ``sects.'' The
group reviewed legislation regulating activities of religious groups
and aired plans to introduce tougher registration requirements.
Following parliamentary debates on ``destructive sects and cults,''
terms that encompass both recognized and unrecognized religious groups,
Parliament approved changes to the Criminal Code in July 2004. The
changes to the Criminal Code introduced fines and imprisonment of up to
three years for religious groups, communities, and centers that use
psychological violence to persuade a person or his/her relative to take
illegal action or prevent him/her from pursuing legal action.
The Government continued to engage in efforts that foster religious
tolerance and understanding. In 2005, Parliament commemorated Holocaust
Day by publicly acknowledging and apologizing for the killing of Jews
and destruction of Jewish culture in the country during World War II.
The Prime Minister attended the commemoration of the sixtieth
anniversary of Holocaust Day in Auschwitz.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
While registered religious communities can act as legal entities,
they do not receive regular subsidies, tax exemptions, social benefits,
or exemptions from the military enjoyed by traditional communities. In
April 2006, the Government allocated $1,171,000 (3,279,000 litas) to
traditional religious communities for capital costs associated with
houses of worship, schools, and other facilities. No other religious
communities received this particular type of support, but funds from
municipal or other government sources may be available for their use.
Based on an April 27, 2005, decision, the state additionally funds
social security and healthcare contributions for spiritual leaders of
only traditional and state-recognized religious communities. Other
religious communities must pay for these benefits on behalf of their
spiritual leaders.
For the fourth consecutive year, Parliament deferred granting
``state-recognized religion'' status to the United Methodist Church of
Lithuania. The Pentecostals (Evangelical Belief Christian Union)
applied for state-recognized status in late 2004, and their application
was pending parliamentary consideration. The Ministry of Justice
recommended the application of the Seventh-day Adventists to Parliament
to become a state-recognized religion. At the end of the period covered
by the report, there were no final decisions in these three cases.
The Ministry of Justice did not recommend the New Apostolic Church
of Lithuania to Parliament for consideration as a state-recognized
religion. The ministry argued that the community could not be
considered a part of the country's historical, cultural, and social
heritage, largely because of its small membership.
Since 1995, the Ministry of Justice has turned down two initial
registration applications, those of the Osho Ojas Meditation Center and
the Lithuanian Pagans Community (Old Sorcerers). In February 2005, the
Government issued a registration permit to the Osho Ojas Meditation
Center following the Center's successful appeal of the Ministry's two
previous denials.
In early 2002, the Government established a commission on communal
property restitution. The commission's task was to identify communal
property eligible for restitution and to propose amendments to the law,
enabling the secular Jewish community to benefit from the restitution
process. The Ministry of Justice expected to submit the amendments to
the Parliament in 2006, but progress was slowed by the collapse of the
governing coalition and by disagreements among different Jewish groups
within the country.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were a few incidents of anti-Semitic remarks by extremist
politicians during the reporting period. The country's Jewish
communities publicly expressed their concerns when anti-Semitic remarks
occurred. The political leadership of the country and most media
outlets generally criticized anti-Semitic statements when they
occurred.
The chairperson of the Jewish Community attributed public
expressions of anti-Semitism to ignorance and the failure of society to
recognize the extent of the destruction that occurred in the country.
In April 2006, neo-Nazis marked the birthday of National Socialist
leader Adolf Hitler by dressing up in SS-style uniforms. A member of
Parliament and television commentators denounced the neo-Nazis' acts.
An August 2005 ``bulletin'' stamped with the Lithuanian Liberty
Union (LLU) party's seal urged people not to trust a bank in Lithuania
because Latvian Jews allegedly established it. The bank brought suit
against the LLU, alleging instigation of ethnic hatred towards Jews,
and the State Security Department conducted an investigation. The
nonparliamentary LLU has not pursued other such activities, and its
leader, former mayor of Kaunas and former MP Vytautas Sustauskas, no
longer held public office.
In May 2005, four to six motorcyclists wearing Nazi-style uniforms
drove past the Lithuanian Jewish Community headquarters in Vilnius.
Members of the community were outside and heard the riders yell Nazi
epithets as they drove by. This incident occurred the same day as the
opening of the motorcycle season in the country, with more than 700
bikers gathering in a nearby park. The mayor immediately asked the
police to look into the incident. Police identified several suspects
but did not apprehend anyone. The case remained open.
Fringe and anti-Semitic groups gained attention through public
anti-Semitic statements. In April 2005, a Siauliai City Council member
founded a nationalist political party with anti-Semitic policies. A
plank of the party's platform is to stop the Jewish communal property
restitution process. In June 2005, several politicians and government
officials immediately and publicly denounced the politician's
statements, and the State Security Department recommended bringing
charges. At the end of this reporting period, a pre-trial investigation
was underway.
Beginning in 2005, international Jewish groups expressed concern
about the recent construction of a commercial/residential complex on or
near (the matter is in dispute) the grounds of a historically
significant Jewish cemetery in Vilnius. The Russian Czar closed the
cemetery in 1831 and constructed fortifications on part of the land.
The Soviets subsequently destroyed visible vestiges of the cemetery,
disturbing graves and constructing a sports complex on the site. The
Government has opened a dialogue with international Jewish groups to
address concerns about development plans for the area.
In April 2004, the police launched an investigation into the
desecration of a Jewish cemetery in the Kaisiadorys region; they had
not found any of the perpetrators at the end of the period covered by
this report. The case remained open.
In February 2004, the popular national daily Respublika carried a
series of editorials with obvious anti-Semitic overtones, under the
title ``Who Rules the World?'' Government officials at the highest
levels condemned the publication of the series and the anti-Semitic
sentiments therein, but the Jewish community and others criticized the
Government for responding too slowly. Local nongovernmental
organizations and representatives of other religious groups similarly
denounced the anti-Semitic articles. The Prosecutor General's Office
and the State Security Department launched pretrial investigations over
incitement of ethnic and racial hatred by Respublika's editor-in-chief.
In April 2004, Parliament formed a working group to strengthen
legislation prohibiting incitement of discord, anti-Semitism, racism,
and xenophobia. In January 2005, the Journalist Ethics Inspectorate
fined Respublika $2,200 (6,000 litas) for ethical lapses. In February
2005, the Prosecutor General's Office dropped the investigation, but
then quickly resumed it at the urging of the president and senior
government officials. In May 2005, a Vilnius administrative court fined
the editor-in-chief of the Russian-language version of Respublika $370
(1,000 litas) for dissemination of a publication that instigates
national, racial or religious discord. Prosecutors also pursued the
editor and owner of Respublika, but the Supreme Administrative Court in
September 2005 terminated the case against the editor and cancelled a
fine of $1,200 (3,000 litas). The Supreme Administrative Court annulled
the ruling on a ``double-jeopardy'' principle as the prosecutors were
simultaneously pursuing both administrative and criminal punishment for
violation of the same law. In November, the Prosecutor General's Office
petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court to reconsider the case
against the paper's editor and owner. The case was pending at the end
of the period covered by this report.
Anti-Semitic comments also occurred on unscreened Internet blogs.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the period covered by the report, the state register of
legal entities registered ten religious communities, one nontraditional
and nine traditional religious communities. The state did not deny
registration to any applicant religious group.
Since early 2004, the Ministry of Justice had delayed registration
of a Unification Church community in response to parental protests and
the objections of a self-proclaimed ``anti-cult'' group. After
reviewing the evidence against the Church, the Ministry determined that
the protesters' claims of abuse on the part of the Unification Church
in Lithuania were baseless and issued the registration permit in
January 2005.
In June 2005, the Jounalist Ethics Inspectorate established a new
edition of the Code of Journalist Ethics barring journalists and public
information producers from insulting a person on the basis of religious
beliefs.
In September 2005, the Constitutional Court upheld a decision of
the Government to close a Chechen web site for inciting ethnic and
religious hatred.
In October 2005, Siauliai Prosecutors brought charges of inciting
religious hatred against seven individuals for disrupting a menorah
celebration in Siauliai in 2003. The court heard from witnesses in
January 2006, and the case continued.
In September 2004, the president awarded the Life Saving Cross to
fifty-five persons who worked to save Jews during the Holocaust. He
commended their selflessness and recognized the substantial number of
people who perished during the Holocaust.
The Government continued its efforts to support post-World War II
restitution efforts. In February 2005, the Government reiterated its
commitment to Jewish property restitution during meetings with the
Jewish Community. In November 2004, the Vilnius city government
participated in erecting a monument at the site of a former Jewish
cemetery.
Following a Klaipeda district court ruling overturning fines and
one-year jail sentences for two members of Jehovah's Witnesses, the
Government organized a working group to explore the possibility of
introducing alternative service in nonmilitary structures for
conscientious objectors. The working group found that twenty-three of
the twenty-five recent conscientious objectors accepted service in
noncombatant military positions. Rather than create a separate program
of alternative nonmilitary service for the few conscientious objectors,
the Government decided to waive their military service obligation.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among various religious
communities in society contributed to religious freedom, although
members of religious minorities occasionally were targets of acts of
intolerance, such as insults.
Disputing factions within some religious communities, for example
within evangelical, Old Believer, and Jewish communities, periodically
appealed to official authorities and courts to limit the activities of
their rivals, sometimes by opposing a certain faction's registration as
a religious community. The Government attempted not to involve itself
in internal disputes of religious communities. In April and June 2003,
however, Vilnius administrative courts ruled to create separate new Old
Believer communities in response to a conflict within the Old Believer
community. In May 2004, the Jewish community temporarily closed the
Vilnius synagogue following a disorderly dispute in the synagogue
between members of the Orthodox and the Chabad Lubavich Jewish groups.
The community closed the synagogue again in August 2004, following
another disturbance. The Government charged the leader of the Chabad
Lubavich community with assault and trespassing in the second
occurrence, but subsequently dropped the charges. The synagogue
remained closed pending resolution of the community's internal
disputes.
Activities of some nontraditional religions raised concerns within
segments of society. Since 2003, for example, some parents opposed
their children's membership in the Unification Church and protested the
registration of a second Unification Church community. (The first
community was registered in 1993.) The ministry approved the
registration in January 2005.
An estimated 10 percent of the pre-World War II population was
Jewish. More than 200,000 Jews (approximately 95 percent of the
immediately prewar Jewish population) died as victims of the Holocaust.
The country is still working to understand its past better and to make
just recompense for its Holocaust legacy. In 1998, President Valdas
Adamkus established a historical commission to investigate crimes of
both the Holocaust and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The commission
has held annual conferences and several seminars, published several
reports, and co-sponsored a Holocaust education program.
In February 2006, the newspaper Respublika reprinted caricatures of
Muhammad, previously published in the Danish press, drawing sharp
criticism from religious leaders of all faiths and from government
leaders. The incident was under investigation as a violation of the
Public Information Law but no charges were filed by the end of the
period covered by this report.
In September 2005, Respublika ran a series of articles attacking
the work of the Soros-funded Open Society Institute. The London
Economist noted the ``new attacks are also aimed at religious and
political figures only indirectly connected with the Soros
foundation.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintained a close and regular dialogue on religious
issues with senior officials in the Government, members of Parliament,
and presidential advisors, as well as continual contact with religious
leaders. Religious groups used the embassy as a vehicle to voice their
complaints, and the embassy encouraged religious leaders to share their
views on the status of religious freedom and to raise complaints. The
embassy was active in discussing the restitution of Jewish communal
property with government officials and community leaders in the
country. The embassy also maintained regular contact with U.S.
missionary groups.
The ambassador publicly criticized anti-Semitic statements in the
media and encouraged a similar response from the highest officials of
the Government. The embassy also maintained close relations with the
Jewish community to monitor the situation.
On September 11, 2005, the embassy organized an interfaith service
to commemorate those who lost their lives as a result of ethnic and
religious intolerance and terrorism. Roman Catholics, Evangelical
Lutherans, Muslims, Jews, Orthodox adherents, and Mormons attended the
service, as did the ambassador, his counterparts from Russia, Spain,
Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and President Adamkus. The nationally
televised event was the first public ecumenical service ever held in
the country.
On October 20, 2005, the embassy hosted a seminar ``Mainstreaming
equality and diversity: Opening the debate with media,'' which aimed to
promote better understanding between the media and national ethnic and
religious minorities in the country. Attendees included religious
community representatives, the media, and government officials. The
ambassador opened the event, and the director general of the Department
of National Minorities, the deputy chairman of Parliament, the
inspector of journalist ethics, and other experts delivered remarks.
The embassy funded a number of projects with the goal of promoting
greater religious tolerance, particularly projects related to building
broader understanding of the Holocaust. The ambassador regularly spoke
on tolerance issues and hosted a roundtable focusing on tolerance and
Holocaust issues at the American Center in May 2005, attended by high
school students and members of various religious communities. In the
summers of 2004 and 2005, two secondary school teachers participated in
a teacher-training initiative in the U.S. that sought to promote and
develop Holocaust education. Lithuanian participation is also
anticipated in 2006.
In April 2005, the embassy released a public statement condemning
anti-Semitism after a politician announced the creation of a
nationalist, anti-Semitic political party.
The embassy continually engaged government officials at all levels
on issues relating to religious freedom. In March 2004, in response to
anti-Semitic articles published in Respublika, the ambassador raised
his concerns with the vice-minister of foreign affairs. The embassy
also released several public statements, and the ambassador gave
interviews condemning the articles. Following such criticism from U.S.
and European Union diplomatic representatives, high-level government
officials stepped up their condemnation of the articles and of anti-
Semitism in general. The foreign minister and prime minister mentioned
their concern for the country's international image in their censure of
the articles and in calls for a criminal investigation of Respublika's
editor-in-chief.
__________
LUXEMBOURG
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 999 square miles and a population of
approximately 460 thousand. The country is historically Roman Catholic,
and Catholicism remained the predominant faith. According to a 1979
law, the Government may not collect or maintain statistics on religious
affiliation; however, more than 90 percent of the population was
estimated to be baptized Catholic. The Lutheran and Calvinist churches
were the largest Protestant denominations. Muslims were estimated to
number approximately 9,000 persons, including approximately 900
refugees from Montenegro; Orthodox Christian (Greek, Serbian, Russian,
and Romanian) adherents were estimated to number 5,000 persons; and
there were approximately 1,000 Jews. The Baha'i Faith, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Universal Church, and
Jehovah's Witnesses were represented in smaller numbers. The number of
professed atheists reportedly was growing.
There were no significant foreign missionary groups. Many religious
groups described as ``sects'' were represented in the country. They
were expected to obey the law, but their activities did not produce
significant political or social concerns.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion. The Government does not register religious groups. However,
based on the Concordat of 1801, some churches receive financial support
from the state. The constitution specifically provides for state
payment of the salaries and pensions of clergy of those religious
groups which sign conventions with the Government. Pursuant to
negotiated agreements with the Government, the following religious
groups receive such support: Catholic, Greek and Russian Orthodox,
Jewish, and some other Protestant denominations. In 2003, the Romanian
Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, and Anglican churches also concluded
conventions with the Government.
An application for financial support for the Muslim community has
been under consideration for more than eight years. In late 2003, the
Muslim community named a national representative and single
interlocutor, which allowed discussions over the convention to proceed.
Once signed, the convention would allow the Muslim community to receive
government funding. Although the minister of religion set a goal for
conclusion of the convention by the end of 2006, there was no agreement
by the end of the reporting period. For the convention to be completed,
the Government requires the Muslim community to fully respect the
constitution, including the equal treatment of men and women.
The following holy days are considered national holidays: Shrove
Monday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Assumption Day, All
Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, Christmas, and the second day of
Christmas.
There is a long tradition of religious education in public schools.
A 1997 convention between the minister of national education and the
Catholic Archbishop governs religious instruction. In accordance with
this convention, religious instruction is a local matter, coordinated
at the communal level between representatives of the Catholic Church
and communal authorities. Government-paid lay teachers provide
instruction (totaling two school hours per week) at the primary school
level. Parents and pupils may choose between instruction in Catholicism
or an ethics course; requests for exemption from religious instruction
are addressed on an individual basis. Although approximately 81 percent
of primary school students choose religious instruction, the number
drops to 57 percent for high school students.
The Government subsidizes private religious schools. All private,
religious, and nonsectarian schools are eligible for and receive
government subsidies if the religious group concluded a convention with
the state. The Government also subsidizes a Catholic seminary.
In 2004, the Government launched a pilot program in one high school
that provides nondenominational values education, highlighting the
principal world religious groups and schools of thought. This program
was developed in consultation with the Catholic Church and Muslim
community, among others, and, after five years, it is intended to be
made universal in the country's school system.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. The Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and
Muslim faiths worked well together on an interfaith basis. Differences
among religious groups were not a significant source of tension in
society. There were no reports of verbal or physical violence against
Jewish persons or property during the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. embassy discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its policy to promote human rights. The embassy's
human rights officer met with representatives of several government
ministries at a working level to discuss matters related to religious
freedoms. The ministries were cooperative interlocutors, who spoke
openly about the relationship between religious groups and the
Government. The human rights officer also met with representatives from
religious groups and nongovernmental organizations, none of whom voiced
any concern over the state of religious freedom in the country.
__________
MACEDONIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report. The absence of
provocative actions by state and nonstate actors, and ongoing
government efforts to consolidate a unitary, multiethnic state helped
foster a climate of general respect for religious freedom. However, the
law places some limits on religious practice by restricting the
registration of religious groups. During the period covered by this
report, these restrictions were applied to a small group aligned with
the Serbian Orthodox Church, which denies the ecclesiastical
independence of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
The generally amicable relationship among the various religious
groups contributed to religious freedom. However, the ongoing dispute
between the Serbian and Macedonian Orthodox churches has intensified in
recent years after the Serbian Orthodox Church rejected the legitimacy
of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and instead recognized a small
splinter group as the ``only canonical'' church in Macedonia. The
Serbian government was found to have financially supported this group,
known as the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid.'' The Government, with
general support from the majority of the public, openly sided with the
Macedonian Orthodox Church in the long-running dispute.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 9,781 square miles and a population of
2,071,200. The country's two major religions were Orthodox Christianity
and Islam. Nominally, 65 percent of the population was Macedonian
Orthodox, 32 percent was Muslim, 1 percent was Roman Catholic, and 2
percent was of other faiths (largely various Protestant denominations).
There was also a small Jewish community, with the majority of its
members residing in Skopje. Public participation in religious
activities centered on major holidays, weddings, and funerals.
Numerous foreign missionaries were active and represented a wide
range of faiths. Many of these missionaries entered the country in
connection with other work, often charitable or medical. Several
Protestant missionary groups and members of Jehovah's Witnesses were
active.
There was a general correlation between ethnicity and religion. The
majority of Orthodox believers were ethnic Macedonian, and the majority
of Muslim believers were ethnic Albanian.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. However, the law
places some limits on religious practices, including the establishment
of places of worship, the collection of contributions, and locations
where religious rites may be held.
The 1997 Law on Religious Communities and Religious Groups further
defines the constitutional provision for religious freedom. This law
designates the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Islamic Community, the
Roman Catholic Church, the Jewish Community, and the Methodist Church
as religious communities. All other registered religious associations
are considered to be religious groups. In 1998 and 1999, the
Constitutional Court struck down several provisions of the 1997 law,
including the requirement that religious groups must be registered to
perform religious ceremonies. In practice, the remaining provisions
were not enforced consistently.
The law requires that religious groups be registered to perform a
number of activities. For instance, only registered religious groups
may obtain permits to build churches or request visas for foreigners
coming to the country to undertake religious work. The Law on Religious
Communities and Religious Groups contained a number of specific
requirements for the registration of such groups; the Constitutional
Court struck down these requirements in 1999. Consequently, there is
considerable confusion over which registration procedures still apply.
The law prohibits the registration of more than one group for each
religious confession. The law provides for penalties against any person
or group that restricts a citizen's right to join a religious group or
participate in religious rituals.
Orthodox Easter and Christmas are observed as national holidays.
Muslim and Jewish religious holidays are not national holidays, but
they are recognized as required holidays for believers of those faiths.
Regulations require that foreigners entering the country with the
intent to carry out religious work or perform religious rites obtain
approval from the State Commission on Relations with the Religious
Communities and Groups to receive a visa. When applying for visas, such
persons must submit a letter of invitation from representatives of a
registered religious group in the country to the Commission, which then
issues a letter of approval to be submitted with the visa request.
The Law on Religious Communities and Religious Groups places some
restrictions on the locations where religious ceremonies may be held.
It provides that religious rites and religious activities ``shall take
place at churches, mosques, and other temples, and in gardens that are
parts of those facilities, at cemeteries, and at other facilities of
the religious group.'' Provision is made for holding services in other
places, provided that a permit is obtained from the State Commission on
Relations with the Religious Communities and Groups at least fifteen
days in advance. No permit or permission is required to perform
religious rites in a private home. The law also states that religious
activities ``shall not violate the public peace and order, and shall
not disrespect the religious feelings and other freedoms and rights''
of other citizens.
The Law on Religious Communities and Religious Groups also places
some limitations on the collection of contributions by restricting it
to places where religious rites and activities are conducted. In
practice, these provisions of the law were not enforced.
Education laws restrict the establishment of all private primary
schools, including parochial schools. However, there are no
restrictions placed on religious education that takes place in
religious spaces such as churches and mosques. Children below the age
of ten years may not receive religious instruction without the
permission of their parents or legal guardians.
In May 2005 the Ministry of Justice released a new draft law on
religious communities and groups. The draft law proposed a transfer of
the responsibility for registering religious groups to the judiciary
from the State Commission on Relations with the Religious Communities
and Groups. The draft law was submitted to the Ministry of Justice in
March 2006. At the end of the reporting period the draft law was under
interagency review prior to being submitted to Parliament.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, restrictions contained in the Law on
Religious Communities and Religious Groups continued to be applied to a
group known as the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid,'' which denies
the Macedonian Orthodox Church's self-declared autocephaly
(ecclesiastical independence, which is not recognized by other Orthodox
churches). Led by a defrocked Macedonian Orthodox Church Bishop, Zoran
Vraniskovski, this schismatic group is recognized by the Serbian
Orthodox Church as an archbishopric.
In November 2004 the State Commission on Relations with the
Religious Communities denied the registration application of the
``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid.'' It cited a number of grounds for
the denial, noting that under the law only one group may be registered
for each confession, and arguing that the name ``Orthodox Archbishopric
of Ohrid'' was not sufficiently distinct from that of the Macedonian
Orthodox Church, which is also known as the Orthodox Archbishopric of
Ohrid and Macedonia. Similar arguments were used to reject three
registration applications for small Christian groups using the names
``Free Protestant Church,'' ``Good News Church,'' and ``Reformist
Movement of Adventists'' during the period covered by this report. The
appeal to the Supreme Court by the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid,''
which followed two unsuccessful administrative appeals, was still under
consideration at the end of the period covered by this report.
In July 2004, Zoran Vraniskovski, recognized by the Serbian
Orthodox Church as Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid, was convicted in a Bitola
court of ``inciting religious and ethnic hatred.'' In June 2005, an
appeals court upheld the verdict and Vraniskovski reported to prison in
July 2005. In February 2006, the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to
time served, and he was released from prison in March 2006. Following
his release from prison, a representative of the ``Orthodox
Archbishopric of Ohrid'' told an embassy official that government
officials had refused to return Vraniskovski's passport. Government
officials cited his pending sentence for embezzlement as the reason for
refusing to return his passport.
The February 2006 Supreme Court decision also suspended
Vraniskovski's one-year prison sentence for ``falsely assuming
religious authority.'' This conviction stemmed from an incident in
2003, when Vraniskovski attempted to baptize his niece at a Macedonian
Orthodox church; authorities claimed his attempt to do so constituted
trespassing, since he earlier had been defrocked by the Macedonian
Orthodox Church and therefore was not authorized to perform religious
rites in that church.
In addition to these charges, Vraniskovski faced two charges of
embezzlement. The first charge was for embezzling $72,000 (57,000
euros) donated to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In September 2005,
the local Veles Court found him guilty of misappropriating funds and
sentenced him to two years in prison. In March 2006, the Skopje Appeals
Court reduced this sentence to one year, taking into account his return
of the money to the Church as a mitigating circumstance. Vraniskovski
appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, and no decision had been
made by June 2006. In May 2006, media reported that Vraniskovski had
traveled to Belgrade to meet with Serbian Orthodox Church officials.
This caused speculation in the media that Vraniskovski had obtained
Serbian citizenship, as the Government was still in possession of his
Macedonian passport, as mentioned above. Vraniskovski was summoned to
report to prison by June 19, 2006, to serve the reduced sentence in the
embezzlement case. However, he did not report by the specified date,
and media reported that Vraniskovski was admitted to a Belgrade
hospital on June 26 because of ``deteriorated health.'' By the end of
the period covered by this report, Vraniskovski had not reported to
prison, and the police had not issued a warrant for his arrest.
In April 2006 Vraniskovski was acquitted on the second embezzlement
charge involving $410,000 (324,000 euros) allegedly taken from
Macedonian Orthodox Church funds while he was still a bishop with the
Macedonian Orthodox Church.
In May 2006 local media reported that the Serbian Orthodox Church
had appealed to President Crvenkovski to pardon Vraniskovski as a
condition for resuming talks between the Macedonian and Serbian
Orthodox churches. In June 2006, media reported that Crvenkovski had
rejected this appeal, citing the damaging effect a pardon for the
embezzlement conviction would have on the rule of law.
A priest with the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' reported that
he was beaten because of his beliefs and that his home, where he
performed liturgies, was vandalized in July 2005. Members of the group
alleged that, following this incident, police officers discouraged them
from reporting future acts of violence or vandalism.
Representatives of the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' alleged
that in May 2005 police entered a private residence without a warrant,
interrupting an Easter service, and asked to see believers' national
identification cards. This report could not be independently confirmed.
``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' representatives also alleged that
in January 2005 at least two of their followers were summoned to the
police station in Prilep and were questioned about their support for
the group. Complaints regarding the Prilep incident were lodged with
the Ministry of Interior's Professional Standards Unit, which,
following an investigation, found the police action justified. A
secondary school teacher associated with the group in Veles reported
that police questioned her students about her teaching, and asked
whether she was spreading church propaganda.
Vraniskovski's residence was vandalized in February 2004, and
unknown intruders forcibly cut the hair of several nuns present. He
claimed the attackers were state agents, but some speculated that his
followers staged the attack to generate international sympathy. The
alleged intruders were never identified.
The 1997 Law on Religious Communities and Religious Groups
specifically allows foreign citizens to carry out religious activities,
but only at the request of a registered religious body and provided the
foreign citizen obtains the appropriate visa. During the period covered
by this report no visa applications for religious workers were denied;
approvals for these visas typically were issued in less than a week.
In September 2004 a Polish-born nun associated with the ``Orthodox
Archbishopric of Ohrid'' claimed that the Ministry of Interior declined
to extend her residency permit because of her affiliation with that
group. Since the law prevents registration of more than one group for
each confession, the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' has been
denied registration and is thus not legally entitled to sponsor foreign
religious workers. Followers of the church reported that the nun
currently enters the country as a tourist and therefore may not remain
in the country continuously for a period longer than ninety days.
Churches and mosques often are built without the appropriate
building permits; however, the Government normally does not take action
against religious buildings that lack them. In the past, several
Protestant groups have been unable to obtain building permits for new
church facilities because of bureaucratic complications that affect all
new construction, religious or secular. Some local human rights
organizations stated that religious groups who reported trouble
obtaining building permits often had not followed the proper legal
procedures for obtaining a permit.
In October 2004 policemen demolished a small monastery that was
being built by members of the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' in
Nizepole, near Bitola. The organization's lawyer conceded that the
monastery was being constructed without a permit but noted that other
buildings in the area, also built without permits, were not destroyed.
At the end of the period covered by this report, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation (OSCE) was unable to obtain a copy of the
decision by the competent ministry authorizing the monastery's
destruction.
The issue of restitution of religious properties expropriated by
the former Yugoslav government had not been fully resolved. Many
churches and mosques had extensive grounds or other properties that
were expropriated by the communist regime. Some progress was made in
restitution of previously state-owned religious property. Almost all
churches and many mosques have been returned to the ownership of the
appropriate religious community, but that was not the case for most of
the other properties. Restitution or compensation claims often are
complicated by the fact that the seized properties have changed hands
many times or have been developed. The Islamic Community of Macedonia
claimed it was not able to regain rightful use of several mosques that
the Government was to have returned to it. In addition, the Islamic
Community alleged that the Government in some cases delayed the process
of restitution by selling or starting new construction on disputed
property and questioning the historical legal claim of the Islamic
Community to religious properties.
The Jewish community continued to work with the Government for the
full restitution of property confiscated by the former Yugoslav
government. In 1996, the Jewish Community first submitted a proposal to
the Government for restitution of community property. The Law on
Denationalization, however, was not passed until 2000, and in 2001 all
community property was fully restituted. The agreement included four
pieces of property and two buildings in Bitola and one piece of
property and a building in Skopje. In addition the community received
bonds valued at $3.5 million (2.8 million euros). The Jewish community
is the only religious community in Macedonia whose community property
has been fully restituted. However, the process of individual property
restitution has been slow in large part because of the extensive
documentation required to show the chain of ownership and lack of
heirs. In 2004, the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, which
regulates restitution to individual Holocaust victims without heirs,
successfully settled twenty-four cases, returning to the Fund a large
piece of property in the old Jewish section of Skopje. In September
2005, construction began on the returned property for a Memorial
Holocaust Center for the Jews from Macedonia. There was slow but
noticeable progress during the period covered by this report;
approximately 450 cases are in the settlement process with the
Government, and 1,000 cases remain to be documented and resolved.
The Bektashi, a Sufi Islamic group, sued the Government for failing
to reverse the former Yugoslavia's nationalization of the Bektashis'
Tetovo compound, known as the Arabati Baba Tekke. The Bektashi also
filed suit against the Islamic Community of Macedonia (ICM), armed
members of which seized part of the complex in 2002; the ICM continued
to occupy the mosque. The Islamic Community claimed that the property
belongs to them, as the Bektashi are a sect of Islam; however, the
Bektashi in Macedonia have registered as a separate religious group and
claim that the property belongs strictly to the Bektashi Community and
not the Islamic community as a whole. These disputes were ongoing at
the end of the period covered by this report.
Zoran Vraniskovski was considered by some human rights
organizations to be a religious prisoner. He was in prison from July
2005 to March 2006, but was free at the end of the period covered by
this report.
There were no additional reports of religious prisoners or
detainees in the country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The February 2006 Supreme Court decision reducing Zoran
Vraniskovski's prison sentence led to his release from prison, after
which there were no cases of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Restitution of property according to denationalization laws moved
forward. Construction began on a Memorial Holocaust Center on a piece
of property restituted to the Jewish community in 2005 using funds from
bonds received from the Government.
In May 2006 a dispute over approving the construction of a Catholic
church in the village of Sekirnik was resolved when officials from the
Macedonian Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, and Government worked
together with the citizens of Sekirnik to ensure the proper permits
were obtained. Subsequently, construction of the church began
unhindered.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom, and prominent religious leaders
frequently spoke out in support of pluralism and religious tolerance.
However, the continued rejection of the Macedonian Orthodox Church's
independence, by the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' and the
Serbian Orthodox Church, provoked angry responses by the public, press,
and Government, who view this rejection as an attack on the country's
national identity.
Religious differences in the country often correspond with ethnic
identity. Specifically, most Muslims are ethnic Albanians. However,
there are a number of ethnic Macedonians who are Muslim. During the
reporting period there were no reports of religious discrimination or
prejudice related to ethnic Macedonian Muslims.
Representatives of the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid'' said
that a number of their members or sympathizers suffered from
discrimination during the reporting period. A student in the theology
department in Skopje reported that he was asked to leave the school
after attending a Serbian Orthodox liturgy. The school, however, is a
private institution run by the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which
maintains it has the right to admit or reject students as it sees fit.
There was one unverified report that a journalist in Skopje was fired
after writing about religious freedom restrictions in the country.
The Bektashi reported two acts of vandalism at the compound in
Tetovo. In April 2006, a large photograph of Reshat Bardhi, head of the
World Bektashi Community, which hung at the entrance to the compound,
was reported stolen. The photograph was replaced and, in May 2006, it
was vandalized when the middle of the photograph was cut out. The
police investigations into both of these incidents were ongoing at the
end of the period covered by this report.
During the period covered by this report, there were isolated
reports of Orthodox churches being vandalized. The Macedonian Orthodox
Church considered these acts to be incidents of petty theft and did not
believe that they were motivated by religious beliefs or
discrimination.
Jewish leaders reported that there were no physical or verbal
attacks against Jewish persons or property during the period covered by
this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, the ambassador and
embassy staff met with leaders and representatives of the various
religious communities, as well as with government officials, to address
religious freedom issues and to support the Government's policy of
ethnic and religious tolerance.
The ambassador and other embassy representatives continued to
follow the developments in the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid''
case, in coordination with OSCE and the OSCE's Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights. The ambassador and other embassy
officials discussed the issue with the president, prime minister,
Macedonian Orthodox Church officials, and representatives of the
``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid.'' On each occasion, the embassy
urged respect for religious freedom and the rule of law, as well as
moderation in language on both sides.
The ambassador attended events to foster religious freedom,
tolerance, and understanding, including Holocaust commemoration events,
the enthronement of the new Catholic bishop of Skopje, and a meeting
organized by the country's president to positively engage religious
leaders in the 2006 parliamentary elections.
__________
MALTA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The constitution
establishes Roman Catholicism as the state religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is an archipelago, consisting of three inhabited
islands in the Mediterranean Sea, and has an area of 122 square miles.
Its population was approximately 400 thousand. The overwhelming
majority of citizens (approximately 95 percent as of 2004) were Roman
Catholic, and approximately 63 percent (2004 estimates) attended
services regularly. All or almost all of the country's political
leaders were practicing Roman Catholics. The country joined the
European Union in 2004, and the Government supported the failed effort
to include a reference to ``Europe's Christian heritage'' in the
European Constitution.
Most congregants at the local Protestant churches were not Maltese
but rather some of the many British retirees who live in the country or
vacationers from many other nations. Of the Protestant churches in the
country, the Church of England had a congregation of about 270 members;
the united congregations of the Presbyterian and Methodist Church
numbered 120; and the Evangelical Church of Germany had approximately
70 members. There was also a union of sixteen groups of Evangelical
churches with approximately 500 members in all, which included the
Pentecostal and other nondenominational churches. There were
approximately 680 Jehovah's Witnesses, 115 members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and 30 members of the
Bible Baptist Church. There was a Jewish congregation with
approximately one hundred members. Zen Buddhism had approximately ten
adherents and the Baha'i Faith had approximately thirty members. There
was one Islamic mosque and a Muslim primary school. Of the estimated
3,000 Muslims in the country, approximately 2,250 were foreigners, 600
were naturalized citizens, and 150 were native-born citizens. An
estimated 2 percent of the population did not formally practice any
religion, including those who were professed atheists.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state
religion and declares that the authorities of the Catholic Church have
``the duty and the right to teach which principles are right and which
are wrong.'' Divorce is not available in the country. However, the
state generally recognizes divorces from individuals domiciled abroad
who have undergone divorce proceedings in a competent court.
The Government and the Catholic Church participated in a foundation
which financed Catholic schools and provided free tuition in those
schools. The foundation was established in 1991 as a result of the
transfer from the church to the state of properties not set aside for
pastoral use under the 1991 Ecclesiastical Entities Act.
The Government subsidized children living in church-sponsored
residential homes.
There was one Muslim private school with approximately 120
students. In 2005, work began on a projected 500-grave Muslim cemetery.
There are six holy days that are also national holidays: The
Motherhood of Our Lady, St. Paul's Shipwreck, Good Friday, Easter
Sunday, the Assumption, and Christmas Day. These holidays did not
negatively affect any religious groups.
Since 1991, all religious organizations have had similar legal
rights. Religious organizations can own property such as buildings, and
their ministers can perform marriages and other functions. While
religious instruction in Catholicism is compulsory in all state
schools, the constitution establishes the right not to receive this
instruction if the student or parent or guardian objects, and this
right is respected in practice.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. The Roman Catholic Church makes its
presence and its influence felt in everyday life; however, non-
Catholics, including converts from Catholicism, do not face legal or
societal discrimination. Relations between the Catholic Church and non-
Catholic religious groups are characterized by respect and cooperation.
Proselytism by practitioners of non-Catholic faiths is conducted freely
and openly. To promote tolerance, school curricula include studies in
human rights, ethnic relations, and cultural diversity as a part of
values education for students. Religious groups are not required to be
licensed or registered.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy advocates continued observance of basic human rights such as
freedom of expression and freedom of religion. Both the embassy's
private discussions with government officials and its informational
programs for the public consistently emphasize these points.
Through a variety of public affairs programs, the embassy continued
to work with different sectors of society, including religious groups,
to promote interfaith dialogue, religious freedom, and tolerance. Among
the embassy's initiatives during the period covered by this report was
increased outreach to the local chapter of the World Islamic Call
Society and other members of the Muslim community and Muslim students
enrolled at the University of Malta. The embassy also had regular
contact with the country's small Jewish community.
__________
MOLDOVA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the law
includes restrictions that at times inhibited the activities of some
religious groups.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government continued to
uphold its earlier decisions to deny some groups registration. In March
2006 a court ordered the State Service for Religions (SSR) to register
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons); however, the
SSR appealed the ruling. In the separatist region of Transnistria,
which is not controlled by the Government, authorities continued to
deny registration to and harassed a number of minority religious
groups.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, disputes among
different branches of the Christian Orthodox faith continued, and there
were some reports of Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses experiencing
harassment from local town councils, as well as from Orthodox priests
and adherents.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Specifically, the U.S. embassy raised concerns at the highest levels of
the Government regarding the persistent registration difficulties faced
by some religious groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately thirteen thousand square
miles, and its population, including Transnistria, is an estimated 3.9
million. The Migration Department estimates that between 500 thousand
and one million citizens have left the country to work abroad since
independence in 1991. Common destination countries include Russia,
Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
The predominant religion was Christian Orthodox. More than 90
percent of the population nominally belonged to either of two Orthodox
denominations. According to the SSR, the Moldovan Orthodox Church (MOC)
had 1,255 parishes, and the Bessarabian Orthodox Church (BOC) included
219 parishes. The BOC was formed in 1992 by priests who broke away from
the MOC. It was officially recognized in 2002. In addition followers of
the Old Rite Russian Orthodox Church (Old Believers) made up
approximately 3.6 percent of the population. The True Orthodox Church
of Moldova continued to be refused registration. The religious
traditions of the Orthodox churches are entwined with the culture and
patrimony of the country. Many self-professed atheists routinely
celebrate religious holidays and observe Orthodox practices if local
tradition and the occasion demand.
Adherents of other faiths included Roman Catholics, Baptists,
Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Baha'is, Jews, followers of Reverend Moon, Molokans (a Russian group),
Messianic Jews (who believe that Jesus was the Messiah), Lutherans,
Presbyterians, Hare Krishnas, and some other charismatic Christian and
evangelical Christian groups. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons) had two congregations, with an estimated 250 members.
According to the most recent statistics from the Israeli cultural
center in Chisinau, the Jewish community had approximately 25,000
members, including 15,000 in Chisinau; 2,500 in Balti and surrounding
areas; 1,600 in Tiraspol; 1,000 in Bender; and 4,000 in small towns.
Foreign missionaries represented many faiths and denominations.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the law
on religions (adopted in 1992 and amended in 1999 and 2002) contains
restrictions that inhibited activities of unregistered religious
groups. The law provides for freedom of religious practice, including
each person's right to profess in any form his or her religion. It also
protects the confidentiality of the confessional, allows denominations
to establish associations and foundations, and states that the
Government may not interfere in the religious activities of
denominations. The law specifies that ``in order to organize and
function,'' religious organizations must be registered with the
Government. Unregistered groups may not own property, engage employees,
or obtain space in public cemeteries in their own names.
There is no state religion; however, the MOC receives favored
treatment from the Government. The Metropolitan of Chisinau and all
Moldova is issued a diplomatic passport. Other high-ranking MOC
officials also reportedly have diplomatic passports.
The procedures for registering a religious organization are the
same for all groups. To register, a religious organization must present
a declaration of creation, by-laws, and an explanation of its basic
religious beliefs to the SSR. The SSR enters the religious organization
into the register of religions within thirty working days. At the
request of the SSR, a court can annul the recognition of a religious
organization if it ``carries out activities that harm the independence,
sovereignty, integrity, and security of the Republic of Moldova, public
order, or is connected with political activities.'' The law also
prohibits religious organizations from including in their by-laws any
provisions that would violate the constitution or any other laws.
The Government has recognized and registered twenty-one religious
organizations, many of which have subentities throughout the country.
Although amendments to the law on religions adopted in 2002 were
intended to simplify the registration process and make it essentially
automatic, the SSR continues to deny registration to the Spiritual
Organization of Muslims, the Central Muslim Spiritual Board of Moldova,
and the True Orthodox Church of Moldova. Beginning in 2000, the Mormons
tried repeatedly to register with the SSR. On March 28, 2006, the
Chisinau Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Mormons and ordered the
SSR to register the church. On May 25, 2006, the SSR appealed the
decision to the Supreme Court of Justice. By the end of the period
covered by this report, the appeal had not come before the court.
In 1999 an amendment to the law on religions legalized
proselytizing; however, the law explicitly forbids ``abusive
proselytizing,'' which is defined as an attempt to influence an
individual's religious faith through violence or abuse of authority.
During the period covered by this report, the authorities did not take
legal action against any individual for such proselytizing.
A draft of the law on religions, introduced in 2002, was revised to
remove numerous restrictive measures. The Council of Europe reviewed
the draft law, which passed its first reading in Parliament on December
22, 2005. By the end of the period covered by this report, the law had
not come before Parliament for a second reading.
By the end of the period covered by this report, the 2003 law on
combating extremism had not been used against any religious groups or
opposition organizations.
The criminal code permits punishment for ``preaching religious
beliefs or fulfillment of religious rituals which cause harm to the
health of citizens, or other harm to their persons or rights, or
instigate citizens not to participate in public life or in the
fulfillment of their obligations as citizens.'' No organization was
prosecuted under this code during the period covered by this report.
Article 200 of the administrative offenses code prohibits any
religious activities of registered or unregistered religious groups
that violate current legislation. The article also allows the expulsion
of foreign citizens who engage in religious activities without the
consent of authorities. In 2004 the Spiritual Organization of Muslims
reported being fined under the article for holding religious services
in a location registered to a charitable organization. The Government
charged that its activities were not in line with the stated activities
and purposes of the charitable organization. Foreign volunteers from
the Mormon Church have also been charged under this article with
working illegally for an unregistered religious organization.
Foreign missionaries may enter the country for ninety days on a
tourist visa. They experience the same bureaucratic difficulties in
obtaining residence permits and customs clearances as other foreign
workers who wish to stay in the country for longer periods.
On April 6, 2006, the law on entry and exit was amended by
Parliament, limiting the stay of foreigners to ninety days in a six-
month period. However, foreign missionaries may obtain an ``immigration
certificate'' and residence permit from the National Bureau for
Migration if they can demonstrate that they are locally employed. This
amendment proved problematic for missionaries who were working in the
country on a volunteer basis.
According to the law on education, ``moral and spiritual
instruction'' is mandatory for primary school students and optional for
secondary school and university students. Some schools offer religion
courses, but enrollment depends on parental request and the
availability of funds. There are a number of theological institutes,
seminaries, and other places of religious education.
Two public schools and a kindergarten are open only to Jewish
students; in Chisinau one kindergarten has a special ``Jewish group.''
These schools receive the same funding as other state schools and are
supplemented financially by the community. However, Jewish students are
not restricted to these schools. Total enrollment for Jewish schools
was approximately 550.
The law provides for restitution of property that was confiscated
during successive fascist and Soviet regimes to politically repressed
or exiled persons. This regulation also extends to all religious
communities; however, in practice the MOC has been favored over other
religious groups. The MOC has recovered nearly all of its property, and
in cases where property was destroyed, the Government offered
alternative compensation. The recovered property included churches,
schools, hospitals, orphanages, and administrative properties. Property
disputes between the Moldovan and Bessarabian Orthodox churches have
not been resolved. According to Jewish community representatives, there
was no consistent restitution being undertaken on their behalf in the
country, nor were there any ongoing restitution claims by individuals.
The authorities in Transnistria also impose registration
requirements that negatively affect religious groups and have denied
registration to some groups. In 2004 the Transnistrian Supreme Soviet
considered a new draft law on religions, which reportedly contained
numerous contentious provisions. However, it abandoned the initiative
in 2005, after the Orthodox bishop of Tiraspol and some legislators
objected strongly to the draft; the 1995 law on religions remains in
force.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The law on religions contains restrictions that inhibit the
activities of unregistered religious groups, and the Government
continued to deny registration to some groups.
Unregistered religious organizations are not permitted to buy land
or obtain construction permits for churches or seminaries. In some
cases, members of unregistered religious groups held services in homes,
nongovernmental organization (NGO) offices, and other locations. In
other cases, the groups obtained property and permits in the names of
individual members. Individual churches or branches of officially
registered religious organizations are not required to register with
local authorities; however, a branch must register locally in order to
carry out legal transactions and receive donations.
In February 2004 the Supreme Court overturned the Government's 2001
decision that made the MOC the successor to the pre-World War II
Romanian Orthodox Church for purposes of all property ownership. In
April 2004 the Supreme Court rescinded its ruling, in response to an
appeal submitted by the Government. The Bessarabian Orthodox Church
(BOC), which regards itself as the legal and canonical successor to the
pre-World War II Romanian Orthodox Church, contested the latter
decision and in May 2004 submitted the case to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR), where it awaited examination at the end of the
reporting period. The issue has political as well as religious
overtones, since it raises the question of whether the Orthodox Church
should be oriented toward the Moscow patriarchate (as is the MOC) or
the Bucharest patriarchate (as is the BOC). In June 2005 the Government
rejected a BOC request for the return of property and archives, arguing
that the law provides no mechanism for doing so.
On April 13, 2006, in a dispute over control of a local church, the
BOC priest and some parishioners in the city of Floresti reportedly
were assaulted by local police and members of the MOC when they tried
to enter the church. In March 2005 the Supreme Court had ruled in favor
of the Floresti BOC and ordered local authorities to recognize its
registration; however, local officials continued to refuse the BOC
access to the church. In March 2006 the BOC appealed to the ECHR.
In January 2006 the Government launched a public campaign for
donations to renovate the historic Curchi monastery, which is
administered by the MOC. By the end of the reporting period,
approximately $750 thousand (lei 10 million) had been collected, in
addition to in-kind donations. Parliament was selected as the ``primary
patron'' of the monastery, and it passed a bill granting tax exemption
to the renovation effort. Opposition parties criticized the bill,
arguing that it contravened the constitution and was discriminatory
toward other religious groups.
There was no change in the status of efforts to register the Church
of the True Orthodox-Moldova, a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church
Abroad (ROCA), and it remained unregistered.
The Mormons continued to face bureaucratic obstacles to
registration, including their fourth and most recent application in
November 2005. The church filed a lawsuit against the SSR in December
2005, and on March 28, 2006, the Chisinau court of appeals ruled in
favor of the Mormons and ordered the SSR to register the church. The
SSR was presented with the court's ruling on May 10 and appealed the
decision to the Supreme Court of Justice fifteen days later. The case
is still pending examination by the Supreme Court, whose decision was
expected to be final. In August 2004 two American citizens volunteering
for a charitable organization registered by the Mormons were charged
with, and convicted of, working illegally for an unregistered religious
organization. In September 2004 the court of appeals overturned that
decision and dropped all charges.
The SSR refused registration on numerous occasions to both the
Spiritual Organization of Muslims and the Central Muslim Spiritual
Board of Moldova (the latter is associated with the Central Muslim
Spiritual Board of Russia and CIS states). The Spiritual Organization
of Muslims filed its most recent application for registration on June
28, 2005, and was immediately refused. In February 2006 the court of
appeals upheld the SSR decision. On June 28, 2006, the Supreme Court of
Justice ordered the rehearing of the case by the court of appeals. At
the end of the period covered by this report, the lawsuit filed by the
Central Muslim Spiritual Board of Moldova against the SSR for failing
to register the Spiritual Organization of Muslims was under review by
the court of appeals.
There has been no resolution in the case of the halted construction
of a Baptist church in Capriana, despite Baptist appeals to both
district and central authorities.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have reported several instances of
interference in construction or renovation of houses of worship. In
2004 the Comrat mayor's office refused to issue a construction permit
for a house of worship, and the village council of Saratenii Vechi
voted to annul a previously issued urban-planning certificate and
construction permit, in order to stop the renovation of a house of
worship there. In April 2006, at the insistence of the local Orthodox
community, authorities in the village of Farladeni terminated a
contract with Jehovah's Witnesses for rental of a public building to
use as a place of worship.
Authorities in Transnistria used registration requirements and
other legal mechanisms to restrict the religious freedom of some
religious groups. Evangelical religious groups meeting in private homes
reportedly were told that they do not have the correct permits to use
their residences as venues for religious services.
The Transnistrian authorities developed a textbook in 2000 that is
used at all school levels, which reportedly contains negative and
defamatory allegations regarding the Jehovah's Witnesses.
As noted in previous reports, the Jehovah's Witnesses in
Transnistria filed suit against the Office for Religions and Cults
(ORC) there for repeatedly refusing to accredit their religious
leaders. In 2004 the Tiraspol City Court ruled to limit the activities
of the Jehovah's Witnesses to the city of Tiraspol and to annul its
1997 registration. However, the court also rejected the Tiraspol city
prosecutor's 2002 request to prohibit the group's activities
altogether, and ruled that the ORC must reexamine the Jehovah's
Witnesses' application for accreditation of their leaders.
In 2004 the Tiraspol city prosecutor notified the Jehovah's
Witnesses that the group would need to reregister and obtain
accreditation for its leaders in order to continue their activities;
however, the ORC continued to refuse to issue accreditation. In early
2005 the Jehovah's Witnesses filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of
Transnistria; however, it refused to examine the case, referring the
Jehovah's Witnesses back to the Tiraspol city prosecutor. In June 2005
the ORC again refused to grant the Jehovah's Witnesses documentation
required for registration, and in August 2005 the group sued the ORC.
On June 21, 2006, the Tiraspol City Court was scheduled to consider the
community's complaint regarding the inaction of the Transnistrian
``presidential administration'' and issue an opinion so that the group
might be registered. However, the hearing was postponed due to the
repeated failure of administration representatives to appear.
The Baptist community in Transnistria submitted an application for
registration in 2004, which remained under review at the end of the
reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Spiritual Organization of Muslims reported continued harassment
by the police and new problems with the Ministry of Justice during the
period covered by this report. Since 2004 police have often shown up at
the group's Friday prayers, which are held at the offices of the local
Islamic organization Calauza, to check participants' documents and take
pictures. In 2004 police detained several members following a raid and
deported three Syrian citizens for not having proper legal residence
documents. Authorities claimed the religious services were illegal
because the organization and its meeting place were not properly
registered. In March 2005 Calauza received a letter from the Ministry
of Justice demanding that it stop the propagation of an unregistered
cult. On May 19, 2006, police filmed attendees during Friday prayers
and tried to bring charges of administrative violations, but the court
dismissed the charges as unfounded.
In 2004 the Mormons reported that police showed up at one of their
religious services, which are held at the offices of their humanitarian
assistance organization. The police took video and pictures of the
service and questioned several participants about their activities.
In January 2005 the Jehovah's Witnesses community in Domulgeni
began proceedings to register as a legal entity. In November 2005 the
community filed a complaint with the Balti court of appeals against the
Floresti Raion district council chairman for his refusal to consider
their application and won the case. The district council appealed the
decision to the Supreme Court of Justice. On April 5, 2006, the Supreme
Court reversed the decision of the Balti appeals tribunal and ordered
that a new trial be held.
The Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptists have reported numerous
instances of being charged administrative fines. In several cases local
police fined the group for failing to provide proper security for the
group's meeting place, including barring the doors and windows and
setting up a twenty-four-hour watch, despite the fact that no such
requirements exist in law. In each case the charges were dropped on
appeal to the courts.
The Jehovah's Witnesses in Transnistria have reported that
officials levied administrative fines and made unjust arrests of its
members. In all reported cases the charges were dropped on appeal to
the Supreme Court. In 2004, at the Lipcani-Tighina border crossing, a
border guard seized literature from two Jehovah's Witnesses, but the
material was returned after they filed a complaint with the head of the
border guard unit in Tiraspol.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relations among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom. The dispute between the Moldovan and
the Bessarabian Orthodox churches continued during the reporting
period. With the exception of the incident in Floresti, members of the
two churches generally did not interfere with each others' freedom to
worship.
Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses in various areas complained that
local town councils impeded their ability to practice their religions
freely. They reported physical and verbal abuse by townspeople,
instigated by local Orthodox priests.
In the village of Rosietici, the Baptists have attempted to receive
the proper documents and build a church for several years but have been
repeatedly refused them by local authorities. In the village of
Hijdieni, the Baptists were refused permission to renovate a building
they had purchased, and villagers tried to vandalize the structure.
In 2004 Jehovah's Witnesses in the village of Saratenii Vechi began
renovating a house for a place of worship. As they worked on the
building, eighty local townspeople, along with the village priest and
mayor, marched to the construction site, and threatened and insulted
the workers. Later that week, some reportedly returned, forcibly
entered the building, and verbally and physically abused the Jehovah's
Witnesses present.
There were a few reports of negative press articles about non-
Orthodox religious groups. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been the target
of articles criticizing their beliefs and legitimacy, and Baptists in
Transnistria claimed press reports about their religion had been
negative.
On May 3, 2005, six tombstones were destroyed in the Jewish
cemetery in Chisinau. Three young men, two from Chisinau and one from
Tiraspol, were arrested in connection with the vandalism. The motives
for the vandalism were not clear, and the Jewish community stated that
it did not believe that the incident was an act of anti-Semitism. In
November 2005 another twenty-five tombstones in the same cemetery were
destroyed. The police did not find the perpetrators, and the local
Jewish community did not describe the incident as an act of anti-
Semitism.
There was no progress in the investigation into several anti-
Semitic acts that took place in Transnistria in 2004, when more than
seventy tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in Tiraspol
and unknown persons attempted to set the Tiraspol synagogue on fire.
Transnistrian authorities believed the same persons perpetrated the
attacks.
In 2003 unknown persons destroyed eight tombstones in a Jewish
cemetery in Balti. However, according to a leading rabbi in Chisinau,
it was not clear whether anti-Semitism motivated the incident.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officers have met with leaders and legal representatives of
many religious organizations to discuss registration, restitution, and
other problems organizations have had with the authorities. The embassy
raised concerns at the highest levels of the Government regarding the
persistent registration difficulties of some religious groups. The
embassy sent diplomatic notes to the Government expressing concern
about continued delays in registering some groups as well as others
being blocked from constructing houses of worship. During the period
covered by this report, an embassy officer met with the head of the SSR
to discuss the continued difficulties of some organizations in
obtaining official registration. An embassy representative maintains
regular contact with religious leaders throughout the country.
The U.S. ambassador met with leaders of the major religious
organizations, including the MOC, BOC, Catholic Church, and the Jewish
community. Embassy employees maintain contact with most of the resident
American missionaries. The embassy has supported the activities of
religious and secular groups, and has funded several NGO projects to
promote tolerance and understanding in society.
__________
MONACO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
are some restrictions. Roman Catholicism is the official religion.
Religious freedom, freedom of religious practices, and public
expression are provided for in Articles 2, 9, and 23 of the
constitution.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government denies
religious organizations regarded as ``sects'' permission to operate.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The principality has an area of 0.8 square miles and a population
of approximately 32,100. Catholicism is the state religion, and most of
the approximately 7,200 Monegasque citizens living in the principality
adhered to that religion, at least nominally. There were five Catholic
churches in the principality and a cathedral presided over by an
archbishop. Protestantism was the next most practiced religion, with
two churches. There was one synagogue in the principality. The
constitution provides the nearly 25,000 noncitizen residents in the
principality the same religious freedom as citizens. Most noncitizens
also adhered to either Catholicism or Protestantism, although there
were some residents who practiced Judaism, Islam, or other world
religious groups. There were no mosques in the principality. No
missionaries operated in the principality.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
are some restrictions. Catholicism is the state religion and most
citizens practiced it. The Catholic ritual generally played an
important role in state festivities, such as the annual national day
celebration.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
No missionaries operated in the principality and proselytizing was
strongly discouraged. However, there is no law against proselytizing by
religious organizations that are registered formally by the Ministry of
State. Organizations regarded as religious ``sects'' routinely have
been denied such registration; however, there were no reports of
religious organizations being denied registration during the period
covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
principality.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. There were no known ecumenical
movements or activities to promote greater mutual understanding and
tolerance among adherents of different religious groups. There were no
reports of societal religious violence in the principality.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
THE NETHERLANDS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to an overall environment of religious freedom and
mutual tolerance. The killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004
by a Dutch Islamic extremist and subsequent reactions, however, brought
to the surface simmering tensions between the Muslim and non-Muslim
communities, which continued to color relations between the two groups.
In the public debate, Dutch Muslims often felt compelled to defend
themselves against criticism for such perceived problems as the poor
integration of Muslim immigrants into society, the high level of
criminal activity among Muslim youth, and the conservative views of
orthodox Muslims on women's rights and corporal punishment. The level
of anti-Semitic incidents remained relatively high, and many incidents
appeared to have been politically motivated in reaction to developments
in the Middle East.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 16,485 square miles and a population of
approximately 16.3 million. Approximately 60 percent of the population
had some religious affiliation, although many did not actively practice
their religion. Approximately 31 percent considered themselves Roman
Catholic; 14 percent Dutch Reformed; 6 percent Muslim; 6 percent
Calvinist Reformed; 3 percent other (Hindu, Jewish, or Buddhist); and
40 percent atheist or agnostic. Other Protestant denominations included
Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Protestants from the United States, and
Remonstrants. Approximately 20 percent of citizens, primarily among
those who left the ``traditional'' churches, described themselves as
``seekers of spiritual or philosophical truths.'' These persons tended
to gravitate toward (although not necessarily join) newer or
nontraditional religious movements, such as Pentecostal groups,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna, Transcendental Meditation,
Scientology, Theosophy, or Anthroposophy.
Society had become increasingly secularized during the several
decades prior to the reporting period. According to a 1995 study of the
Government's Social Cultural Planning Bureau, religious membership
declined steadily from 76 percent in 1958 to 41 percent in 1995, and
continued to decrease, although at a slower pace. Membership was
decreasing among all religions except Islam. Approximately one-quarter
of church members were active within their religious communities. In a
2002 study, an estimated 25 percent of Roman Catholics, 33 percent of
Dutch Reformed, 55 percent of Calvinist Reformed, and 50 percent of
Muslims attended church/mosque at least once every two weeks.
Approximately 70 percent of the total population never attended
services. There were no figures for Jewish participation rates.
Research revealed that those who left a religion rarely returned.
Nonetheless, significant numbers of those who left their religions
continued to consider themselves to be members of a religious group.
The beliefs and practices of many of these adherents developed into
what some described as a selective approach to religion, accepting what
they consider the positive, but not the negative, aspects of a
particular religion.
Following the secularization that began in the 1960s, many Roman
Catholics left their church. Among those remaining, many expressed
alienation from their religious hierarchy and doctrine. For example,
most of the country's Catholics expressed no objections to female or
married priests and differed with church thinking on a number of
sensitive doctrinal issues.
The country's Protestantism was quite heterogeneous. Among the
Protestant churches, the Dutch Reformed Church remained the largest,
although it also suffered the greatest losses to secularization. Church
membership declined by two-thirds in the fifty years prior to the
reporting period. The second largest Protestant group, the Calvinist
Reformed Church, was less affected by membership losses and even
succeeded in attracting former members of the Dutch Reformed Church. In
2003, the main Dutch Protestant churches merged into the United
Protestant Churches; however, a few orthodox communities refused to
merge.
Because of a long-established climate of religious tolerance, Jews
numbered more than 140,000 in 1940. Amsterdam harbored one of the
largest and liveliest Jewish communities in Europe. During World War
II, 106,000 Dutch Jews were killed, the highest percentage in Western
Europe. Of the remainder, approximately 5,000 remained in the country,
while the rest fled. In the post-war period, Jewish life slowly revived
and flourished. While the Dutch have generally shied away from
discussing this grim period of their history, Prime Minister
Balkenende, in May 2005, acknowledged publicly Dutch ``collaboration,
indifference and treason'' during the war, and ``the lack of humanity
and understanding'' towards Jews in the post-war period.
Research from the Jewish Social Work organization showed that the
country counted approximately 45,000 Jews during the reporting period,
although the Stephen Roth Institute and the Council of Europe estimated
the number to be closer to 30,000. Less than one-quarter of those
belonged to active Jewish organizations such as religious communities,
hospitals, schools, cultural and welfare centers, and sports and
entertainment clubs. Since 1997, the Jewish community's main
organizations had an umbrella group, the Central Jewish Consultation,
which represented the community's interests in discussions with the
Government.
The number of Muslims continued to rise because of relatively high
birth rates and the continued practice of Turkish and Moroccan
immigrants marrying partners from their countries of origin. By 2005,
950,000 Muslims, constituting 5.8 percent of the total population, were
estimated to live in the country, primarily in the larger cities,
including approximately 341,000 Turks and 295,000 Moroccans. Other
Muslims came from the country's former colony of Suriname. In the past
decade, Muslim numbers further increased because of the large numbers
of asylum seekers from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and
Bosnia. A network of mosques and cultural centers served the Islamic
community. This network was organized to conform to the national system
of subsidies, which underwrites cultural activities geared to social
orientation and the promotion of equal opportunities. The number of
mosques increased to approximately 400: More than half catered to
Turks, approximately 140 to Moroccans, and approximately 50 to
Surinamese. The founding of more than forty-five Islamic schools
further reflected the increased influence of Islam. Muslims were not
separately organized in the political sphere. The Contact Body for
Muslims and Government (CMO), representing approximately 80 percent of
the Muslim community, discussed the community's interests with the
Government. The official Muslim community unanimously condemned the Van
Gogh killing.
There were approximately 95,000 Hindus, of whom 85 percent
originally came from Suriname and approximately 10 percent from India.
The country also hosted smaller numbers of Hindus from Uganda, as well
as similar movements based on such Hindu teachings as Ramakrishna, Hare
Krishna, Sai Baba, and Osho. The Buddhist community was quite small,
with approximately 17,000 members.
There was a small number of foreign missionary groups operating in
the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
permits the Government to place restrictions on the exercise of
religion only on limited grounds, such as health hazards, traffic
safety, and risk of public disorder.
The Government provides state subsidies to religious organizations
that maintain educational facilities. The Government provides funding
for education to public as well as to religious schools, other
religious educational institutions, and health care facilities,
irrespective of their religious affiliation. To qualify for funding,
institutions must meet strict nonreligious criteria for curriculum
standards, minimum size, and health care.
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government;
however, the law recognizes the existence of religious denominations
and grants them certain rights and privileges, including tax
exemptions. Although the law does not formally define what constitutes
a ``religious denomination'' for these purposes, religious groups
generally have not experienced any problems qualifying as religious
denominations.
The law provides for religious minorities to have their views
broadcast on radio and television. For example, broadcasting time was
allotted to the Islamic Broadcasting Foundation, an alliance of all
Muslim groups in the country.
The government of Turkey exercised influence within the country's
Turkish Islamic community through its religious affairs directorate,
the Diyanet, which was permitted to appoint imams for the 140 Turkish
mosques in the country. There was no such arrangement with the Moroccan
government. The Moroccan government maintained connections with the
approximately 100 Moroccan mosques through a federation of Moroccan
friendship societies but has no mechanism to exercise direct influence
in the country.
The authorities expressed concern regarding Turkish and Moroccan
interference with religious and political affairs because such
interference appeared to run counter to government efforts to encourage
integration of Muslims into society. For example, government
authorities insisted on strict observance of mandatory school
attendance up to the age of sixteen, despite appeals by foreign imams
to keep girls under the age of sixteen at home.
To counter undesired foreign influence, the Government began to
provide subsidies to universities providing training for local persons
interested in becoming imams to ensure that they have a basic
understanding of local social norms and values. Given the strict
separation between the state and religion, however, the authorities
themselves could not organize such training, and instead depended on
private organizations. In addition, the assembled Muslim organizations
decided, in February 2005, to found an Islamic institute to educate
imams and Islamic theologians in coordination with individual
university programs; the institute was not set up at the end of the
period covered by this report. Parliament proposed phasing out the
issuance of work permits to foreign imams by 2008 to increase the
number and influence of locally educated religious leaders. As an
interim measure, the Government decided that all imams and other
spiritual leaders recruited in Islamic countries first must follow a
yearlong integration course before they would be allowed to practice in
the country.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Disputes arose when the exercise of the rights to freedom of
religion and speech clashed with the strictly enforced ban on
discrimination. Such disputes were addressed either in the courts or by
antidiscrimination boards. Complaints were repeatedly filed against
religious or political spokesmen who publicly condemn homosexuality.
However, longstanding jurisprudence dictates that such statements, when
made on religious grounds, do not constitute a criminal offense absent
an intention to offend or discriminate against homosexuals.
The Equal Opportunities Committee (CGB) and the courts also
repeatedly addressed the wearing of headscarves in schools and places
of employment. The prevailing opinion is that the wearing of
headscarves may be banned only on narrow grounds, such as security
considerations or inconsistency with an official government uniform. In
2003, the CGB stated that a recent ban by Amsterdam schools on wearing
burqas in class is not discriminatory. The CGB stated that open
teacher-student and student-to-student interaction is more important
than the right to wear a burqa. In late 2005, the Parliament adopted a
resolution urging the Government to ban public wearing of burqas. The
integration minister replied that a general ban was not possible under
the law, but she was investigating whether such a ban was possible
under specific circumstances, such as at school or in the workplace.
In other areas, employers have been rebuked publicly by
antidiscrimination boards for failure to allow non-Christians to take
leave from work on their religious holidays, for objecting to Sikhs
wearing turbans or to Muslim women wearing headscarves, or for
objecting to observance of food requirements on religious grounds. In
2004, the CGB ruled against a company that had denied employment to a
Turkish applicant because he intended to attend Friday services at a
mosque. This was considered a violation of freedom of religion.
According to the CGB, Friday service for Muslims is equivalent to
Sunday service for Christians. It ruled that employers are obliged to
take account of reasonable religious demands from their employees,
except in exceptional circumstances.
In 2003, legislation took effect that explicitly permits employees
to refuse to work on Sunday for religious reasons, unless the work's
nature, such as in the health sector, does not permit such an
exception. The legislation came in the wake of charges by the Calvinist
Reformed Social Union of religious discrimination by employers and
reports of job applicants being turned down for employment for refusing
to work on Sundays for religious reasons.
In November 2005, a Dutch lower court ordered the Government to
make a formal Schengen Treaty exception to a German entry ban on the
Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, founders of the Unification Church.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
The vast majority of the population is not manifestly anti-Semitic.
However, certain groups opposed to Israeli policies in the occupied
territories, such as the Arab European League and the Stop the
Occupation Movement, frequently used seemingly anti-Semitic language
and images to express political views. Explicitly anti-Semitic
sentiments also prevailed among certain segments of the Muslim
community and among fringe nationalist and neo-Nazi groups.
In its report covering the period between January 2004 and May
2005, the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI)
registered 326 anti-Semitic incidents in 2004, compared to 334 in 2003.
Although these figures declined for the second year in a row, CIDI
qualified the level of incidents as ``continuously high'' and
identified as one major cause for anti-Semitic behavior the
dissemination of anti-western and anti-Semitic propaganda from the
Middle East, as well as sermons by imams that enhance anti-Semitic
stereotypes.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious communities tended
to live alongside each other in harmony. Among them, the Protestant
denominations in particular promoted the Jewish cause and reached out
to the Islamic community. However, a May 2005 poll by the private
consultancy Motivaction showed 10 percent of the native Dutch
population admitted to being racist, 27 percent said they disliked
foreigners, and 43 percent said Islam was incompatible with Western
society. The government minister for integration withheld comment and
said she would wait for a more official government report, due later in
the year.
In the fall of 2001, widespread societal resentment towards growing
numbers of Muslims and their culture became apparent. Populist
politician Pim Fortuyn, who was killed shortly before the 2002 general
elections, received broad support for his characterization of Islam as
``a backward culture'' that is intolerant toward women and homosexuals
and that allows practices from the Middle Ages.
The November 2004 killing of Dutch filmmaker and critic of Islam,
Theo van Gogh by a Dutch Muslim extremist exacerbated existing social
tensions. The killing triggered a brief upsurge of violent incidents,
which had largely subsided by the end of the period covered by this
report. However, minor incidents, including intimidations, brawls,
vandalism, and graffiti with abusive texts, were frequent. Expanding
pockets of both radicalized Muslim and other youth, who identified
themselves as ``native Dutch,'' were responsible for many of these
instances of violence. A number of offenders were arrested, prosecuted,
and convicted. Polls revealed that popular attitudes towards Muslims
were rapidly becoming more negative, and a majority viewed their
presence as a threat. In a February 2006 poll by the R&M Matrix
research agency, a majority of ``native Dutch'' found Islam to be
intolerant (52 percent of participants), violent (40 percent), women-
unfriendly (70 percent), and humorless (54 percent); 54 percent opined
that Islam and democracy were incompatible. Muslims already faced
continuing criticism for such perceived problems as the poor
integration of Muslim immigrants into society, the high level of
criminal activity among Muslim youth, and the conservative views of
orthodox Muslims on topics such as women, homosexuals, and corporal
punishment. Overcoming habitual reticence and abandoning Dutch
libertarian attitudes toward religion, a number of outspoken
politicians, mainly from the right, openly argued that Islam is
incompatible with Dutch traditions and social values.
The Muslim community reacted with restraint to the cartoon
controversy and refrained from any outburst of public violence.
Government and Parliament seized upon the controversy to emphasize the
``inviolable'' rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. If
someone feels offended, the only venue is to sue. The prime minister
added that freedom of speech was ``no obligation to offend.''
Former parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, known for her criticism of
what she called Islam's intolerance of homosexuals and its subjugation
of women, generated substantial controversy in the Muslim community. In
May 2006, she announced that she would move to the United States.
In response to the controversy, the Government launched a
comprehensive outreach campaign to counter anti-Muslim sentiments,
stressing that the majority of Muslims fit comfortably into Dutch
society. The Government also opened three imam training programs, with
a fourth scheduled to open soon. At the same time, the Government made
clear that it would combat directly groups espousing violence in
support of an extremist Islamic agenda. These efforts raised public
awareness and triggered debate, but concerns remained about the
effectiveness of the new measures. Many in the Muslim community noted
an increased sense of alienation from Dutch society.
The Government repeatedly condemned any form of anti-Semitism and
formed a comprehensive action plan to combat any form of
discrimination. According to this plan, parents have primary
responsibility for preventing anti-Semitic incidents; schools can also
help to combat discrimination and inculcate respect and tolerance.
Public debate and dialogue are other tools to achieve these goals, to
which end several nongovernmental organizations have launched projects,
such as Een Ander Joods Geluid (An Alternative Jewish Viewpoint), to
foster debate on equality, tolerance, and human dignity. Also, the
Dutch Coalition for Peace has called on Jews, Palestinians, and other
Muslims in the country to work together to restore peace in the Middle
East.
Stricter instructions to prosecutors and the police took effect in
2003 to ensure proper attention is given to incidents of
discrimination. Measures were also taken to deal more effectively with
incitement to discrimination on the Internet. Despite these measures,
critics claimed that law enforcement agencies still do not give
priority to instances of discrimination. Prosecutions and convictions
remained rare.
The Ministry of Education tasked schools in longstanding guidelines
to teach about different religions and ideologies in conjunction with
discrimination and intolerance, with explicit attention being paid to
the persecution of Jews in World War II. The Ministry of Welfare
subsidized a special program to teach children about World War II and
the persecution of Jews. In particular, the program was designed to
raise awareness about the consequences of prejudice. The Government
also sought to promote dialogue and supported initiatives that aim to
create a better understanding between Jews and Muslims. The Anne Frank
Foundation published a book, called Fifty Questions on Anti-Semitism,
primarily intended for teachers who interacted with Muslim students.
The labor federations worked to include stipulations in collective
bargaining agreements that permit non-Christian employees to take leave
on non-Christian holy days. Such stipulations were included in most
agreements.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. It
also engages in dialogue with all major religious groups.
__________
NORWAY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Norway, the state church, enjoys some benefits not
available to other faiths.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 150 thousand square miles
and a population of approximately 4.6 million. Citizens were considered
to be members of the state church unless they explicitly associated
themselves with another denomination; 86 percent of the population
(approximately 3.9 million persons) nominally belonged to the state
church. However, actual church attendance was rather low.
Other religious groups operated freely and included various
Protestant Christian denominations (152,975 members; 3.9 percent of the
population), Muslims (77,857 members; 1.9 percent), and Roman Catholics
(46,308 members; 1.2 percent). Buddhists, Jews, Orthodox, Sikhs, and
Hindus were present in very small numbers, together comprising less
than 1 percent of the population. The Norwegian Humanist Association--
the only national organization for those who did not formally practice
any religion, including atheists--had 69,610 registered adult members
and claimed 10,000 children as associate members. Persons could not
register as full members until they reach adulthood. The Government
estimated that an additional 5.6 percent of the population (roughly
252,000 persons) did not formally practice religion.
The majority of European and American immigrants, who made up
approximately half of the foreign-born population, were either
Christian or nonreligious, with the notable exception of Muslim
refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. Most non-Western
immigrants practiced Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, or Hinduism.
Foreign missionaries and other religious workers operated freely in the
country.
Forty-two percent of the country's religious minorities were
concentrated in the Oslo metropolitan area, including 76 percent of the
country's Muslims and the country's entire Buddhist community.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway is the state church. It
is supported financially by the state, and there is a constitutional
requirement that the king and at least one-half of the cabinet belong
to this church.
On March 14, 2006, the U.N. Human Rights Committee voiced concerns
that a section of the constitution is incompatible with Article 18 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Specifically, the constitution provides that individuals professing the
Evangelical-Lutheran religion must raise their children in the same
faith.
Church officials and some politicians spoke in favor of a greater
separation in the state-church relationship. In 2003, the Government
appointed an official State-Church Commission to review the future of
the state-church relationship. The commission's purpose is to ascertain
whether the state-church system should be maintained, reformed, or
discontinued. The commission has its own secretariat and has members
from several parts of society, including different church groups and
other religions, politicians, legal experts, and the Sami people.
On January 31, 2006, the commission presented its assessments. A
large majority of members advocated that the existing state-church
system be abolished. The Storting (parliament) is expected to make a
final decision in 2008, based upon the commission's assessment.
A religious community is required to register with the Government
only if it desires state support, which is provided to all registered
denominations in accordance with their membership.
There are no special licensing or registration requirements for
foreign religious workers. Foreign religious workers are subject to the
same visa and work permit requirements as other foreign workers. The
Anti-Discrimination Act is viewed as another legislative means to
improve the protection (and promotion) of human rights recognized under
the ICCPR. The act (which passed in Parliament on June 3, 2005) is
intended to strengthen protections against ethnic discrimination.
Specifically, the act incorporates provisions of the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The act forbids unequal treatment on the basis of religion and belief,
in addition to ethnicity, national origin, and skin color, and applies
to all areas of society. The law forbids direct discrimination: An
employer can neither hire, nor exclude, an employee based upon that
employee's particular origin. The law also protects employees against
indirect discrimination. For example, an employer cannot completely
prohibit wearing hijabs as such exclusion will theoretically prohibit
women from wearing hijabs for religious reasons.
On January 1, 2006, the Government established an Equality and
Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman and an Anti-Discrimination Tribunal to
deal with such human rights issues.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
A 1997 law introduced the Christian Knowledge and Religious and
Ethical Information (CKREE) course for grades one through ten (ages six
to sixteen). The CKREE reviews world religions and philosophy, while
promoting tolerance and respect for all religious beliefs. Citing the
country's Christian history (and given the stated importance of
Christianity to society), the CKREE devotes an extensive amount of time
to studying Christianity. This class is mandatory, without any
exceptions for children of other faiths. On special grounds, students
may be exempted from participating in (or performing) specific
religious acts, such as church services or prayer, but they cannot
forgo religious instruction. Organizations for atheists, as well as
Muslim communities, have contested the legality of forced religious
teaching, claiming that it is a breach of freedom of religion and
parents' rights to provide religious instruction to their children. In
2002, the Humanist Association appealed the case to the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg and the United Nations Human
Rights Commission. In November 2004, the UNHRC decided that the
practice of a mandatory religious class broke with human rights
principles, violating Article 18 of the ICCPR. The UNHRC held that the
law violated the parental ability to choose their children's religious
and moral upbringing. The case was scheduled for debate at the ECHR in
the fall of 2006.
In response, the Government gave parents the right to exempt their
children from the CKREE until August 2005 (when a new curriculum was
implemented). The UNHRC demanded that the Government grant parents
either the ability to fully exempt their children from the class, or
make the course religion/belief-neutral.
Under the new curriculum, Christianity, as the state religion,
continued to receive a larger percentage of the class's teaching time
than other religions. The final law states that children cannot receive
complete class exemption. Limited exemptions may occur with respect to
specific classroom activities, such as singing hymns and/or public
prayer. This partial exemption right also applies to other courses,
such as gym or cooking-classes.
The Humanist Association did not support the recent curriculum
changes. The association noted in a letter to the UNHRC that the CKREE
curriculum revisions were only cosmetic and did not create a religion
and belief-neutral class. In addition, the association advocated that
the partial exemption right be expanded. Accordingly, the association
claimed that the UNHRC concerns had not been heeded, and the CKREE
curriculum, as revised, continued to violate Article 18 of the ICCPR.
In the past, Muslims have encountered some difficulties in
obtaining local permission to build mosques in areas where Muslims are
concentrated. Since 1975, the town council in Drammen had regularly
turned down applications to build a mosque. However, in 2004, the
Muslim community in Drammen received permission to build a mosque. No
other problems with permission to construct mosques have been recorded.
The Workers' Protection and Working Environment Act permits
prospective employers to ask job applicants who are applying for
positions in private schools, religious schools, or day care centers,
whether they agree to teach and behave in accordance with the
institution's or religion's beliefs and principles.
In 2006, the city of Oslo recommended banning the wearing of burqas
and nikabs in schools. Accordingly, the city sent its recommendation to
the Ministry of Knowledge in order to determine necessary changes to
existing laws which would effectuate such a ban in the 2006-2007 school
year.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Jewish organizations had reported that anti-Semitic incidents
doubled from 2002 to 2003. The majority of the forty reported incidents
in 2003 involved verbal harassment of primary and secondary school
Jewish students by non-Jewish students. A small number of incidents
involved threats against Jews. There were no reports of anti-Semitic
violence or vandalism through June 2006.
The Government was vigilant in fighting anti-Semitism and promoting
religious tolerance. In April 2004, Prime Minister Bondevik met with
two Jewish children who had been harassed on the basis of their
religion and, at the conclusion of the meeting, issued a strong public
statement condemning anti-Semitism and calling on the public to fight
anti-Semitism more actively.
Norway is a member of the International Task Force for Holocaust
Education, Remembrance and Research. In 2003, the Government instituted
annual observance of Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 in schools
nationwide, as part of a National Plan of Action to Combat Racism and
Discrimination. In addition, according to the Oslo-based Center for
Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, the curriculum of
the CKREE class includes teaching high school students about the
deportation and extermination of Norwegian Jews from 1942 to 1945.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. A Cooperation Council for
Faith and Secular Society included the state church and other religious
communities, including the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and secular
humanist communities. The Oslo Coalition for Freedom of Religious
Beliefs facilitated closer coordination and international cooperation
on religious freedom issues, and supported projects in China, Central
Asia and the Caucasus, and Indonesia that develop contacts, foster
dialogues on interreligious understanding, and establish
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with representatives from
different religions. The Ecumenical Council of Christian Communities
was active in promoting cooperation within the Christian community.
There was cooperation between the various religious communities on
human rights issues in the past several years. Bilateral dialogue
between the state church and the Muslim and Jewish communities
generated statements in support of minority rights and human rights.
A Christian newspaper, Magazinet, published cartoons lampooning
Muhammad. The cartoons, originally published by a Danish newspaper,
triggered an international furor, including the burning of Norway's
embassy in Syria and attacks upon Norwegian troops in Afghanistan. In
February 2006, the editor of Magazinet, following receipt of twenty e-
mail death threats, publicly apologized for offending the Muslim
community. The Islamic Council welcomed the apology and offered the
editor its protection. The apology (and the council's acceptance)
received governmental praise, including from the minister of labor and
social inclusion.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
2004, the U.S. Embassy sponsored the participation of a U.S.
constitutional law expert in an Oslo Coalition seminar on religious
freedom. During the current reporting period, representatives from the
embassy's political and economic affairs section participated in a
seminar involving religious issues sponsored by the Oslo-based
organization ``Dialogue for Peace.'' In addition, public affairs staff
attended a seminar on peace and democracy in Afghanistan which included
extensive discussions on religious freedom. Finally, the embassy
sponsored a Norwegian international visitor of Middle Eastern descent
who attended a program in the United States on managing diversity in a
multi-ethnic society. The program focused in large part on how to deal
with different religious groups in society.
__________
POLAND
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Jewish community leaders
reported several serious anti-Jewish incidents in the country during
the period covered by this report, including an attack on the chief
rabbi of Poland and the stabbing of an antifascist activist by a
neofascist skinhead group. There were occasional desecrations of Jewish
and, more frequently, Roman Catholic cemeteries by skinheads and other
marginal elements of society. The Government publicly denounced anti-
Semitic acts.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
Embassy and Consulate General Krakow officers actively monitor threats
to religious freedom and seek further resolution of unsettled legacies
of the Holocaust and the communist era.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 120,725 square miles and a population of
approximately 39 million. More than 96 percent of citizens were
identified as Roman Catholic; however, Eastern Orthodox, Greek
Catholic, and much smaller Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim congregations
were also present.
According to the 2005 Annual Statistical Yearbook of Poland, the
following figures represent the formal membership of the listed
religious groups, but not the actual number of persons in those
religious communities; for example, the actual number of Jews was
estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000, while the formal membership of
the Union of Jewish Communities totaled only 2,500. The number of Jews
was slowly rising, partly because of converts.
The yearbook estimated that there were 34,206,767 baptized Roman
Catholics; 509,100 Orthodox Church members; 53,000 Greek Catholics;
127,377 Jehovah's Witnesses; 77,500 Lutherans (Augsburg Confession);
23,894 Old Catholic Mariavits; 19,172 members of the Polish Catholic
Church; 20,890 Pentecostals; 9,488 Seventh-day Adventists; 4,688
Baptists; 5,076 members of the New Apostolic Church; 111 members of
Muslim associations; 915 Hare Krishnas; 4,420 Methodists; 2,952 members
of the Church of Christ; 3,550 Lutherans (Reformed); 2,274 Catholic
Mariavits; 1,305 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons); and 2,500 members of the Union of Jewish Communities.
The vast majority of the Jewish community in Poland, which had numbered
approximately 3 million people before the Nazi occupation of Poland
during World War II, was killed in the Holocaust. The community was
estimated at 20,000 to 30,000, including the 2,500 registered members
listed in the country's Statistical Yearbook, during the period covered
by this report.
Each of these religious groups has a relationship with the state
governed by either legislation or treaty, with the exception of
Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Apostolic Church, the Church of Krishna
Consciousness (Hare Krishna), and the Church of Christ.
A March 2005 public opinion poll indicated that the attitude of
Poles toward religion was little changed from the last polling,
conducted in 2003. Approximately 58 percent of citizens actively
participated in religious ceremonies at least once per week. Nine
percent of respondents declared that they had no contact with the Roman
Catholic Church, 16 percent that they attended Mass once to twice per
month, and 17 percent that they attended Mass only sporadically.
Approximately 3 percent declared themselves to be nonbelievers. The
survey also found that women continued to be more religious than men,
and, while 58 percent of citizens considered themselves active
Catholics, 39 percent preferred to consider themselves ``believers in
their own way.''
Foreign missionary groups operated freely in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Criminal Code
stipulates that offending religious sentiment through public speech is
punishable by a fine or up to a three-year prison term. The Roman
Catholic Church was the dominant religious group in the country.
There are fifteen religious groups whose relationship with the
state is governed by specific legislation that outlines the internal
structure of the religious groups, their activities, and procedures for
property restitution. There are 146 other registered religious groups
that do not have a statutorily defined relationship with the state. All
registered religious groups, including the original fifteen, enjoy
equal protection under the law, and there were no reports of serious
conflicts among churches or religious groups.
Religious communities may register with the Ministry of the
Interior; however, they are not required to do so and may function
freely without registration. According to the 1989 Law on Guaranteeing
Freedom of Conscience and Belief, registration requires that the group
submit the names of at least one hundred members as well as other
information about the group. This information on membership must be
confirmed by a notary public, although the registration itself often
appears to be a formality. In 2005, no new religious groups registered.
However, in the first half of 2006, two new religious groups registered
with the Ministry: The Evangelical Christian Church and the
Presbyterian Church. In April 2006, the Salvation Army's application to
register as a religion was denied for technical reasons by the Ministry
of Interior. The Salvation Army appealed this decision and was still
awaiting a decision on this appeal when the period covered by this
report ended. All registered religious groups receive the same
privileges, such as duty-free importation of office equipment and
reduced taxes.
Citizens enjoy the freedom to practice any faith that they choose.
Religious groups may organize, select and train personnel, solicit and
receive contributions, publish, and meet without government
interference. There are no government restrictions on establishing and
maintaining places of worship.
The law places Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox, and Protestant
communities on the same legal footing, and the Government attempts to
address the problems that minority religious groups may face.
Foreign missionaries are subject only to the standard rules
applicable to foreigners temporarily in the country. There were no
reports that missionaries were denied entry into the country.
Although the constitution gives parents the right to bring up their
children in compliance with their own religious and philosophical
beliefs, religious education classes continue to be taught in the
public schools at public expense. Children have a choice between
religious instruction and ethics. Although Catholic Church
representatives teach the vast majority of religious classes in the
schools, parents may request such classes in any of the religions
legally registered, including Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish
religious instruction. While it is not common, such non-Catholic
religious instruction exists, and the Ministry of Education pays the
instructors. Religious education instructors, including clergy, receive
salaries from the state for teaching religion in public schools.
Catholic Church representatives are included on a commission that
determines whether books qualify for school use.
Catholic holy days (Easter Monday, Corpus Christi Day, Assumption
of the Virgin Mary, All Saints' Day, Christmas, and St. Stephen's Day)
are national holidays.
In 1998, the Concordat, a treaty signed in 1993 regulating
relations between the Government and the Vatican, was ratified by
Parliament, signed by the president, and took effect. The parliamentary
vote came after years of bitter disputes between Concordat supporters
and opponents. The debate centered on whether the treaty ensured the
Catholic Church's right to guarantee freedom of religion for its
congregants or blurred the line between church and state. The
Government and the Catholic Church participate at the highest levels in
a Joint Government-Episcopate Task Force, which meets regularly to
discuss church-state relations.
The Government continues to work with both local and international
religious groups to address property claims and other sensitive issues
stemming from Nazi- and communist-era confiscations and persecutions.
The Government enjoys good relations with many domestic and
international Jewish groups. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is largely
responsible for coordinating relations between the Government and these
international organizations, although the President also plays an
important role. The Government cooperates effectively with a variety of
international organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, for
the preservation of historic sites, including cemeteries and houses of
worship. However, contentious issues regarding property restitution and
preservation of historic religious sites and cemeteries remained only
partially settled.
Progress continued in implementing the laws that permit local
religious communities to submit claims for property owned prior to
World War II that subsequently was nationalized. The Catholic and
Orthodox churches reported general satisfaction with government action
to restitute property. A 1997 law, which mirrors previous legislation
benefiting other religious communities, permits the local Jewish
community to submit claims for such property. The law allowed for a
five-year period to file claims, the longest period allowed for any
religious group, for the return of synagogues, cemeteries, and
community headquarters, as well as buildings that were used for other
religious, educational, or charitable activities. The laws included
time limits for filing claims; these deadlines expired in recent years,
and no additional claims may be filed. However, restitution commissions
composed of representatives of the Government and the Jewish community
were continuing adjudication of previously filed claims.
Claims by the local Jewish community, whose opportunity for filing
claims under the 1997 law expired in 2002, totaled 5,544. The
commission considered 857 cases, of which 277 were settled amicably and
317 properties were restored.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and some observers criticized
the generally slow pace of restitution of Jewish communal property and
noted reluctance by the Government to return valuable properties in
some cases. In contrast, restitution of Jewish communal property
appeared to be progressing well in cities where it had the support of
the local governments, such as Warsaw and Lodz. The Government elected
in 2005 vowed to expedite the process, particularly with respect to
noncontroversial cases.
Of approximately 10,000 communal property claims filed for
restitution of religious property, more than 4,100 were resolved, with
more than 1,200 properties returned by the end of 2005.
At the end of the reporting period, approximately 2,959 of the
3,063 claims filed by the Catholic Church had been concluded, with
1,420 claims settled by agreement between the Church and the party in
possession of the property (usually the national or a local
government); 922 properties returned through decision of the commission
on property restitution, which rules on disputed claims; and 617 claims
rejected by the commission.
The Lutheran Church, for which the filing deadline was 1996, filed
claims for 1,200 properties. Of these, 834 cases were heard, 228 of
which were resolved amicably and 136 properties were restored.
A total of 313 claims were filed with the commission by the
Orthodox Church, of which 137 were closed in full or in part.
The laws on communal property restitution do not address the issue
of communal properties to which private third parties had title,
leaving several controversial and complicated cases unresolved. In a
number of cases, buildings and residences were built on land that
included Jewish cemeteries destroyed during or after World War II.
There was no progress during the reporting period on adoption by
Parliament of long-awaited legislation that would govern the
restitution of private property. Parliament made several attempts to
enact such legislation and passed a law in early 2001, but the
president vetoed it because of its budgetary implications and because
it was discriminatory. The legislation imposed a citizenship
requirement that would have made most American citizens ineligible to
file a claim. In early 2006, the Government expressed its intention to
draft and submit new legislation regarding the restitution of private
property. Some claimants for such restitution successfully regained
title to their property in local courts. While approximately 500 claims
totaling $183 million have been settled over the past 10 years, the
treasury estimated that 56,000 claims valued at approximately $16.7
billion remained outstanding. The lack of legislation in this area
affected individuals of many faiths seeking restitution or compensation
for property confiscated during and after World War II.
The Government cooperates with the country's NGOs and officials of
major denominations to promote religious tolerance and lends support to
activities such as the March of the Living, an event to honor victims
of the Holocaust. In January 2005, the country hosted a number of world
leaders, including the U.S. Vice President and Holocaust survivor Elie
Wiesel, at ceremonies commemorating the sixtieth Anniversary of the
Liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. In 2001, the Government established a department
within the Ministry of Interior to monitor the activities of ``new
religious groups'' and ``cults.'' In April 2002, the Government closed
the department; however, an employee of the Interior Ministry's Public
Order Department continued to monitor religious groups.
Although the constitution provides for the separation of religion
and state, crucifixes hang in both the upper and lower houses of
Parliament, as well as in many other public buildings.
Public radio and television stations broadcast Catholic Mass, but
only with licensure from the National Radio and Television Broadcasting
Council.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitic feelings persisted among certain sectors of the
population. Isolated incidents of harassment and violence against Jews
continued to occur, almost always linked to skinheads and other
marginal societal groups.
On May 27, 2006, during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, Chief Rabbi
of Poland Michael Shudrich was attacked by an anti-Semitic youth who
knocked him down, sprayed him with pepper spray, and shouted ``Poland
is for Poles,'' an anti-Semitic slogan from the interwar period. After
the attack, President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Kazimierz
Marcinkiewicz met with Shudrich and publicly denounced the attack and
anti-Semitism.
Following this incident and one on May 16 in which an antifascist
activist was stabbed by skinheads in Warsaw after being targeted by a
neo-Nazi website, police created a special unit that combats neofascist
activities, according to the prime minister's advisor on Jewish
affairs. Police in July arrested the alleged content provider of Red
Watch, the website that listed the name and whereabouts of the man who
was stabbed by skinheads in Warsaw and which also promoted hatred of
Jews and homosexuals.
There were more than 500 racist and xenophobic websites in the
country, according to Never Again, an antiracism organization.
Occasional cases of cemetery desecration, including both Jewish and,
more frequently, Catholic sites, also occurred during the period
covered by this report.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Orthodox religious officials reported accounts of discrimination
towards the Orthodox community. There were reports of less than
proportional funding for cultural events associated with the Orthodox
community, layoffs in which Orthodox employees were the first
dismissed, and opinions circulated in the local press in some areas
depicting Roman Catholicism as necessary for true citizenship.
In February 2006, Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and
Foreign Minister Stefan Meller publicly apologized to Muslims for the
publication of potentially offensive cartoons depicting Muhammad in
national daily Rzeczpospolita.
In March 2006, the NGO Media Ethics Council publicly condemned
anti-Semitic statements made by commentator Stanislaw Michalkiewicz on
the popular Catholic radio station Radio Maryja. In addition to
Michalkiewicz's comments, Radio Maryja often aired anti-Semitic
comments on call-in shows. The station, run by the controversial Father
Tadeusz Rydzyk, had close relations with the ruling Law and Justice
Party (PiS) and had never been fined by the National Broadcasting
Council (KRRiT) for its anti-Semitic content despite public protest.
However, in June, Elzbieta Kruk, the president of KRRiT, asked for a
formal explanation of Michalkewicz's comments. A KRRiT spokesman
claimed that KRRiT could not begin discussing consequences for Radio
Maryja's broadcasting without an explanation from the station first.
Opinion polls suggested that these anti-Semitic sentiments were not
shared by a majority of citizens; an April 2006 poll published in the
major daily Gazeta Wyborcza indicated that 89 percent of citizens
interviewed believed Radio Maryja should not be involved in politics.
In May 2006, a government coalition was formed by the ruling Law
and Justice Party (PiS) with the leaders of the League of Polish
Families (LPR) and the Self Defense Party (SO). LPR's participation in
the Government and the appointment of LPR Chairman Roman Giertych as
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education sparked controversy
amongst international Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation
League, because of Giertych's ties to the All Poland's Youth League, a
group which has long been perceived as anti-Semitic.
The fifteenth March of the Living took place on April 25, 2006. An
estimated 10,000 participants walked from the former Auschwitz
concentration camp to the former Birkenau death camp to honor victims
of the Holocaust. Schoolchildren, Boy Scouts, the Polish-Israeli
Friendship Society, Polish survivors of Auschwitz, and the Polish Union
of Jewish Students participated in the march. Former Israeli Prime
Minister Simon Peres led the march, which was also attended by many
prominent world leaders. In May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited
Auschwitz and reiterated his condemnation of the Holocaust and his
commitment to interreligious harmony and freedom.
There was some public concern expressed about the growth of groups
perceived to be ``sects'' and the influence of nonmainstream religious
groups, especially during the summer travel season when young persons
travel to camps and other gatherings. Newspapers and magazines
published articles during the reporting period concerning the arrival
of Scientologists in the country and depicting the Church of
Scientology as a dangerous sect.
Interfaith groups worked to bring together the various religious
groups in the country. The Polish Council of Christians and Jews met
regularly to discuss issues of mutual interest, and the Catholic and
Orthodox churches had an active bilateral commission. The Polish
Ecumenical Council, a group that includes most religious groups other
than the Roman Catholic Church, was also active. Approximately 250
Greek Catholic churches were taken over by Roman Catholic dioceses
after World War II, and Greek Catholics were working to have those
properties returned. This was an internal issue between the Greek and
Roman Catholic dioceses, mediated by the Pope, which did not involve
the Government.
In May 2006, the second annual Meeting with Arab Culture was held
in Krakow. In June 2006, the city of Bydgoszcz and a local university
hosted an Arabic Culture Day, with sessions focusing on tolerance and
multiculturalism. Also in June, the Sixth Annual Muslim Cultural Days
conference was held in Gdansk. The Warsaw Islamic Council and Warsaw
University's Oriental Studies Department also planned and held numerous
activities throughout the year to promote understanding of Muslim faith
and culture.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Representatives of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General Krakow
regularly monitor issues relating to religious freedom and interfaith
relations, including ethnic-Polish-Jewish relations. Embassy and
consulate officers met frequently with a wide range of representatives
of religious communities, the Government, and local authorities on such
matters as religious freedom, property restitution, religious
harassment, and interfaith cooperation. The embassy and consulate
general actively urged the protection and return of former Jewish
cemeteries throughout the country.
Embassy and consulate representatives, including the ambassador,
regularly met with representatives of major religious communities,
including leaders of the Jewish community, both in the capital and
during travels throughout the country. Consulate officials routinely
attended commemorations and ceremonial events at Auschwitz, honoring
the Jews, Roma, ethnic Poles, and others killed there. They also
monitored developments regarding historical sites related to the
Holocaust, supported efforts at commemoration and youth education, and
facilitated official visits to the Auschwitz Museum, which is located
near Krakow. Embassy and consulate officers also remained in contact
with and attended events associated with the Orthodox, Protestant, and
Muslim minorities.
The embassy and the consulate continued to provide support for
activities designed to promote cultural and religious tolerance. Those
activities included press and public affairs support for the Auschwitz
Jewish Center Foundation's education project in Oswiecim, as well as
continued support for the annual NGO-sponsored ``Days of Tolerance'' in
Kolobrzeg, an event that brought together youths of various religious
and ethnic backgrounds from many countries. The majority of events
conducted in Krakow's ``Partnership for Democracy'' (formerly called
``Bridges to the East'') featured nonviolence and tolerance as integral
parts of the presentations.
As part of the embassy's overall program promoting religious
tolerance, Villanova Professor Hibba Abugideiri visited the country
March 21-24, 2006, in order to discuss Islam in America and the role of
American Muslim Women in U.S. society. Abugideiri's activities included
speaking engagements at the Oriental Studies Department of Warsaw
University, a lecture for an MBA class at the Warsaw Economics and
Trade School (SGH), a speaking engagement co-organized with Warsaw's
leading women's activist group ``Feminoteka,'' a speech to
international high school students at the American School in Warsaw,
and a presentation at the U.S. Embassy as part of the embassy's
``America Presents'' program.
In May 2006, at the request of the Government, the embassy
collaborated with police to identify individuals associated with the
Blood and Honor website, leading to several arrests.
__________
PORTUGAL
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; there are a number of
government and privately sponsored activities that contribute to
interfaith understanding.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 35,672 square miles, and a population
(as of January 2006) of approximately 10.4 million. More than 80
percent of the population above the age of twelve identified with the
Roman Catholic Church; however, a large percentage stated that they did
not actively participate in church activities. Approximately 4 percent
identified with various Protestant denominations (including
approximately 250 thousand evangelicals), and approximately 1 percent
with non-Christian religious groups. Less than 3 percent stated that
they had no religion.
Practitioners of non-Christian religions included approximately
35,000 Muslims (largely from sub-Saharan Lusophone Africa and South
Asia), approximately 700 Jews, and a very small population of
Buddhists, Taoists, and Zoroastrians. There was also a Hindu community
of approximately 7,000 persons, which largely traced its origins to
South Asians who emigrated from Lusophone Africa and from the former
colony of Goa in India. Many of these minority communities were not
formally organized.
Government estimates suggested that there were more than 200,000
immigrants from Eastern Europe in the country. More than half of these
immigrants were from the Ukraine; many were Eastern Orthodox. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) reported 35,000
members. Brazilian syncretistic Catholic churches, which combined
Catholic ritual with pre-Christian Afro-Brazilian ritual, such as
Candomble and Umbanda, also operated in small numbers, as did Seventh-
day Adventists. The Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church
of the Kingdom of God), a proselytizing church that originated in
Brazil, also practiced in the country. The Church of Scientology had
approximately 200 active members, primarily in the Lisbon area.
Foreign missionary groups, such as the Mormons, operated freely.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
prohibits discrimination based on religion.
The Government is secular. Other than the constitution, the two
most important documents relating to religious freedom are the 2001
Religious Freedom Act and the 1940 Concordat with the Holy See.
The 2001 Religious Freedom Act created a legislative framework for
religious groups established in the country for at least thirty years
or those recognized internationally for at least sixty years. The act
provides qualifying religious groups with benefits previously reserved
for the Catholic Church: Full tax-exempt status, legal recognition for
marriage and other rites, chaplain visits to prisons and hospitals, and
respect for traditional holidays. It allows each religion to negotiate
its own concordat-style agreement with the Government, although it does
not ensure the acceptance of any such agreements. In December 2003, the
Government enacted rules governing the commission that oversees the
act's implementation. In 2004 procedures were published in the national
gazette, Diario da Republica, on how to create the registry of
religious entities.
The Catholic Church maintains a separate agreement with the
Government under the terms of the 1940 Concordat. In May 2004, the
Government signed an amended concordat with the Vatican to comply with
the 2001 Religious Freedom Act. The new concordat was approved by
Parliament and the president and ratified in 2004. This document
abrogates the previous concordat, which had been in force for sixty-
four years but was considered obsolete due to the changes in national
life. The new concordat recognized for the first time the juridical
personality of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. It also allows the
Catholic Church to receive 0.5 percent of the income tax that citizens
can allocate to various institutions in their annual tax returns.
Public secondary school curricula included an optional course
called ``Religion and Morals.'' This course functioned as a survey of
world religious groups and was taught by laypersons. It could be used
to give instruction on the Catholic religion, although the Catholic
Church had to approve all teachers for this course. Other religious
groups could set up such a course if they had ten or more children of
that religion in the particular school. For example, the Evangelical
Alliance held 263 classes in schools during the 2005-2006 school year.
Under the 2001 Religious Freedom Act, each religion may approve the
course's respective instructors.
In 2004, the Government established a Working Group for Inter-
Religious Dialogue, a task force to promote multicultural and
multireligious dialogue between the Government and society. Among its
objectives are fostering tolerance for religious diversity, promotion
of interreligious studies, and participation in national and
international religious events. The working group is led by a
government-appointed chairman and consists primarily of teachers who,
by the nature of their jobs, have professional experience in this area.
Under the concordat, major Catholic holy days also are official
holidays. Seven of the country's sixteen national holidays are Catholic
holy days.
The Diocese of Leiria-Fatima broadcasts national Catholic
programming through the Brazilian Catholic Television network, Cancao
Nova.
The Government takes active steps to promote interfaith
understanding. Most notably, five days a week the state television
channel (Radiotelevisao Portuguesa 2) broadcasts A Fe dos Homens (The
Faith of Men), a half-hour program consisting of various segments
written and produced by different religious communities. The Government
pays for the segments, and professional production companies are hired
under contract to produce the segments. Religious communities send
delegates to a special television commission, which determines the
scheduling of segments. The television commission has operated on the
general rule that religious communities eligible for the program are
those that have been operating for at least thirty years in the country
or at least sixty years in their country of origin.
The Catholic Church receives 22.5 minutes of programming time per
episode, while the remaining 7.5 minutes is divided among the other
religious groups. The Evangelical Alliance receives two 7.5-minute
segments per week, while other participating religious groups receive
approximately one 7.5-minute segment per month. The Catholic Church has
a program of its own called ``70 7,'' while other religious
groups work together to schedule programming on the Caminhos
(``Paths'') broadcast every Sunday morning.
The Lisbon municipal government provided matching funds for
completion of the city's mosque, completed at the end of this reporting
period. In 2004, the municipality provided matching funds for the
restoration of Lisbon's nineteenth-century synagogue, considered a
building of historic significance and still used by the Jewish
community for religious services and cultural events. The municipality
of Lisbon also provided opportunities for the religious communities to
participate in summer festival events.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. The Catholic Church receives some preferential
treatment; for example, chief chaplaincies for the military, prisons,
and hospitals remain state-funded positions for Catholics only.
The Papal Nuncio is always the dean of the diplomatic corps. The
Church of Scientology, although recognized as a religious association
since 1986, does not benefit from the 2001 Religious Freedom Act, since
it has not been established in the country for thirty years or
recognized internationally for sixty years, as required under the law.
Scientology leaders were concerned that exclusion from the benefits
accorded under the act may have a negative effect on their ability to
practice their faith; however, they reported no discrimination or
opposition during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Participation among the
various religious groups in crafting the programming schedule for A Fe
dos Homens facilitated greater understanding and enhanced mutual
respect. Many communities conducted ``open houses'' or sponsored
interfaith education seminars.
There were no reported cases of verbal or physical attacks against
Jewish persons or property during the period covered by this report.
Following the interfaith congress held in 2003 at the Catholic
shrine of Fatima, representatives of the world's leading religious
groups explored the possibility of opening the shrine to a variety of
religious groups. The first steps in developing Fatima as a multifaith
center were taken in May 2004 when a Hindu religious service was held
at the shrine in the Chapel of the Apparitions. There were subsequently
a number of events involving Muslims and Buddhists at the Fatima
Sanctuary. As a result, a few conservative Catholic organizations
criticized the Church and called for a more traditionalist role for the
Catholic shrine. However, several bishops, including the chairman of
the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, publicly dismissed the criticism
and restated their desire to welcome other religious groups to the
shrine.
The residents of the Azores and Madeira archipelagos, although
traditionally Catholic, were also quite tolerant of other religious
groups. Both Mormon and Baptist missionaries were active on the
islands. They were well treated and participated in Azorean and
Madeiran social life.
A number of initiatives during the period covered by this report
focused on the promotion of religious tolerance. In November 2005, the
Parliamentary Committee for Religious Freedom organized a two-day
international seminar on Religion in a Democratic State, which took
place in Lisbon's Ismaili Center. The seminar focused on religious
freedom and the role of religion in democratic societies. On March 4,
2006, President Sampaio, the mayors of Lisbon and Sintra, the labor
minister, and other high-ranking authorities attended the opening of
the Aga Khan Foundation's community center in Lisbon. This community
development project is sponsored by the Ismaili foundation in
partnership with, among others, the Catholic Church's Holy House of
Mercy charity organization. On April 19, 2006, in a ceremony in a
public square in downtown Lisbon, Jews and non-Jews marked the 500th
anniversary of the killing of thousands of Jews who had been forced by
the state to convert to Christianity. City officials unveiled a small
memorial at the site of one of the main stakes used during the three-
day killing spree in 1496. These initiatives received significant media
coverage.
The Aristides de Sousa Mendes Foundation is a nongovernmental
organization established to honor the Portuguese consul general in
Bordeaux, France, who defied his dictatorial government and issued
visas enabling approximately 30,000 Jews to escape through the country
during World War II. In 2004, the Foundation collaborated on many
events in the country and in cities around the world to commemorate the
fiftieth anniversary of Aristides de Sousa Mendes's death.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
Embassy representatives have continuing contacts with leaders of the
country's religious communities, including the Catholic Church and the
Jewish and Muslim communities. The U.S. Embassy hosted several events
to promote religious freedom and tolerance. On October 17, 2005, the
charge d'affaires hosted an Iftar for Muslim ambassadors and leaders in
the Portuguese Islamic community to show support for tolerance and
religious freedom. Ambassadors from Iraq, Turkey, Morocco, and Egypt
were in attendance, along with the general delegate from Palestine and
the sheik from the country's only Islamic school. On June 2, 2006, Phra
Raja Sumedhacariya, the First Occidental (Buddhist) Father, spoke to a
group of academics, religious leaders, and other Portuguese and
international guests. The Father's talk, together with the deputy chief
of mission's remarks, showed support for a multicultural and
religiously tolerant society.
__________
ROMANIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; while the
Government generally respected this right in practice, some
restrictions adversely affected the rights of many religious groups.
Minority religious groups also continued to claim credibly that low-
level government officials impeded their efforts at proselytizing and
interfered with other religious activities.
There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report. The Government
continued to differentiate between recognized and unrecognized
religions, and registration and recognition requirements continued to
pose obstacles to minority religions. The Government proposed a new law
on religious freedom that remained under debate in Parliament. Many
domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), international
organizations, and religious groups criticized the draft law,
expressing concern that the draft law, if passed, would
institutionalize discrimination against many religious minorities and
create impediments for many such groups to obtain official recognition
as a religion. The Government still had not passed legislation to
return to the Greek Catholic community the churches and church property
transferred by the communists to the Orthodox Church in 1948, nor had
it shown any inclination to do so by the end of the period covered by
this report. The Government continued progress in recognizing the true
history of the Holocaust in Romania, establishing and opening a new
Elie Wiesel Institute for Romanian Holocaust Studies. This move was
based on a recommendation made in a report released in 2004 by the
International Commission for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania,
commonly called the Wiesel Commission. The Government also took
additional steps towards introducing the issue of the country's role in
the Holocaust into school curricula and launched the first textbook
about the Holocaust in the country in October 2005. Some minority
religions continued to complain of lengthy delays in the process of
granting construction permits, which they claimed were based on their
status as minority religions. Although restitution of religious
property continued to be slow, several important buildings were
restituted to religious denominations after the passage of property
legislation in July 2005. In February 2006, the Government approved new
regulations related to religious assistance in penitentiaries, which
allow the free access of all religious groups to prisons.
Relations among different religious groups were generally amicable;
however, there were incidents in which the Romanian Orthodox Church
showed some hostility toward non-Orthodox churches and criticized the
proselytizing of Protestant, neo-Protestant, and other religious
groups. The Orthodox Church in general continued to prevent the return
of Greek Catholic churches that it received from the state after the
dismantling of the Greek Catholic Church by the communists in 1948.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government, including at the highest political levels, as part of its
overall policy to promote human rights. During the year, the U.S.
Embassy continuously expressed concern about discriminatory components
of the draft law on religion, including with the prime minister,
members of Parliament, and the minister of culture and religious
affairs. The embassy also continued to raise concern with officials
about the failure of the Government to ensure the full restitution of
religious properties, including Greek Catholic churches. The embassy
sponsored numerous events on religious freedom, including visiting
speakers from the United States and a program of active outreach to a
wide range of religious groups. The embassy also supported extensively
the Government's efforts to recognize the true history of the Holocaust
in Romania, including the implementation of the recommendations in the
2004 Wiesel Commission report, the training of teachers to teach the
history of the Holocaust in the country, and the commemoration of the
country's Holocaust Remembrance Day. The embassy continued to encourage
government and religious leaders to respect religious freedom fully.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 91,699 square miles and a
population of approximately 21.7 million.
The Romanian Orthodox Church was the predominant religion in the
country. The Government officially recognizes eighteen religions: The
Romanian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Serb Bishopric of Timisoara
(originally listed as part of the Orthodox Church), the Roman Catholic
Church, the Greek Catholic Church, the Old Rite Christian (Orthodox)
Church, the Reformed (Protestant) Church, the Christian Evangelical
Church, the Romanian Evangelical Church, the Evangelical Augustinian
Church, the Lutheran Evangelical Church-Synod Presbyterian, the
Unitarian Church, the Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Church, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Armenian Church, Judaism, Islam, and
Jehovah's Witnesses (first recognized as a religion in 2003). Members
of other faiths worshiped freely but were not afforded various forms of
state support.
According to the 2002 census, the Romanian Orthodox Church
(including the Orthodox Serb Bishopric of Timisoara) had 18,817,975
members, which comprised 86.8 percent of the population. The Roman
Catholic Church had 1,026,429 members. The Greek Catholic Church had
191,556 members, although this figure was disputed by the Greek
Catholic Church, which claimed that there were many irregularities,
such as census takers refusing to note Greek Catholic affiliation and
automatically assuming Orthodox affiliation, which led to an inaccurate
result. The Greek Catholic Church estimated in 2003 that its adherents
numbered more than 790,000. (Greek Catholics were former members of the
Romanian Orthodox Church who, in 1697, accepted principles required for
union of the Orthodox Church with the Roman Catholic Church, but
continue to maintain many Orthodox observances and traditions.)
The Old Rite Christian (Orthodox) Church had 38,147 members. The
Protestant Reformed Church had 701,077 members. The Christian
Evangelical Church had 44,476 members. The Romanian Evangelical Church
had 18,178 members. The Evangelical Augustinian Church had 8,716
members. The Lutheran Evangelical Church Synod-Presbyterian had 27,112
members. The Unitarian Church of Romania had 66,944 members. The
Baptist Church had 126,639 members. The Apostolic Church of God
(Pentecostal Church) had 324,462 members. The Seventh-day Christian
Adventist Church had 93,670 members. The Armenian Church had 687
members. There were 6,075 Jews, according to the 2002 census. The
Jewish Community Federation, however, stated that it had approximately
10,200 members. Romanian Muslims, mostly Turks and Tartars, had 67,257
members. In addition, nongovernmental groups estimated that an
additional 30,000 Muslims resided in Romania as noncitizen residents.
Jehovah's Witnesses, which did not have legal status as a recognized
religion at the time of the census, were estimated to have
approximately 80,000 members and associates. According to the same
census, the number of atheists was 8,524, and there were 12,825 persons
who did not have any religious affiliation.
According to the State Secretariat for Religious Denominations
(``the Secretariat''), most religions had followers dispersed
throughout the country, although a few religious communities were
concentrated in particular regions. Old Rite members (Lippovans) were
located in Moldavia and Dobrogea. Most Muslims were located in the
southeastern part of the country in Dobrogea, near Bulgaria and the
Black Sea coast. Most Greek Catholics were in Transylvania, but there
were also Greek Catholics in Bucharest and the Banat and Crisana
regions. Protestant and Catholic believers tended to be in
Transylvania, but many also were located around Bacau. Orthodox or
Greek Catholic ethnic Ukrainians were mostly in the northwestern part
of the country. Orthodox ethnic Serbs were in Banat. Armenians were
concentrated in Moldavia and the south. Members of the Protestant
Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Unitarian churches in Transylvania were
virtually all ethnic Hungarians.
According to published sources, the Baha'i Faith, the Family (God's
Children), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
the Unification Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church,
Transcendental Meditation, Hare Krishna, and Zen Buddhism had active
branches in the country; however, they were not officially recognized
religions.
According to a nationwide poll conducted by the National Polling
and Marketing Institute (INSOMAR) in April 2006, 6 percent of
respondents stated that they went to church several times a week; 22
percent once a week; 23 percent several times per month; 34 percent
only at Christmas and Easter; 12 percent once a year or less; and 3
percent not at all. A separate poll conducted in April 2006 by the
Group for Social Surveys indicated that 85 percent of the respondents
stated that the church was the institution they trusted most.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Although the constitution provides for freedom of religion, the
Government exercises considerable influence over religious life through
laws and decrees. The Orthodox Church exercises substantial influence
in its dominant role among a majority of the population and
policymakers. Government registration and recognition requirements
continued to pose obstacles to minority religions. Several minority
religious groups continued to claim credibly that low-level government
officials and the Romanian Orthodox clergy impeded their efforts at
proselytizing and interfered with other religious activities.
The communist-era decree 177/1948 remained the basic law governing
religious denominations and allows considerable state control over
religious life. Technically, very few of the articles of this law have
been abrogated formally; however, according to the Secretariat, a large
number of its articles have been nullified in practice by the
constitution and a series of governmental decrees. Although several
religious denominations and religious associations confirmed that
articles stipulating the state's interference with or control over
religious life and activities have not been enforced, such provisions
still exist in the law.
The Government requires religious groups to register. There is no
clear procedure for the registration of religious groups as religions.
The Government has refused to recognize a number of religious groups
since 1990.
The total number of recognized religions remained low. Under the
provisions of the 1948 decree, the Government recognized fourteen
religions; subsequently, it added the Greek Catholic Church (1989) and
the Jehovah's Witnesses (2003). The Romanian Evangelical Church and the
Christian Evangelical Church, originally recognized as one religion,
were separated into two religions, while the Orthodox Serb Bishopric of
Timisoara was also separately recognized from the Orthodox Church. The
total number of recognized religions was eighteen. Recognized religions
are eligible for state support; they have the right to establish
schools, teach religion in public schools, receive government funds to
build churches, pay clergy salaries with state funds and subsidize
clergy's housing expenses, broadcast religious programming on radio and
television, apply for broadcasting licenses for denominational
frequencies, and enjoy tax-exempt status.
The Government registers religious groups that it does not
recognize either as religious and charitable foundations or as cultural
associations, a status which does not guarantee the same rights as a
recognized religion.
Religious groups are registered under a government decree of 2000
on associations and foundations which became Law 246 in July 2005, and
which abrogated Law 21 of 1924 and eliminated most of the bureaucratic
obstacles in the registration process, including the minimum
requirement of members needed to establish religious associations and
foundations, and the requirement of the mandatory approval by the
Secretariat. A 2003 ordinance reintroducing mandatory approval by the
Secretariat for the registration of religious associations was
abrogated in July 2005. Thereafter, religious groups no longer needed
approval by the Secretariat in order to register as a religious
association or foundation.
The number of adherents of each recognized religion in the 2002
census determines its state-provided budget. The Orthodox religion
receives the largest share of governmental financial support. In
addition, Orthodox religious leaders generally preside over state
occasions. In 2005, the Government allocated financial assistance for
construction and repair works amounting to almost $9.2 million (ROL
271,139 million) to the Orthodox Church. The Government allocated
approximately $432,500 (ROL 12,793 million) to the Roman Catholic
Church, around $273,000 (ROL 8,075 million) to the Greek Catholic
Church, and approximately $365,500 (ROL 10,815 million) to the Reformed
Church. In the first three months of 2006, the Government allocated
approximately $3.5 million (ROL 104,340 million) to the Orthodox
Church, $73,000 (ROL 2,160 million) to the Roman Catholic Church, close
to $10,000 (ROL 300 million) to the Greek Catholic Church, and
approximately $150,000 (ROL 4,410 million) to the Reformed Church.
The law governing the rights of foreigners, revised in 2003,
introduced a long-stay visa for religious activities. Visa requirements
include approval by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs,
evidence that the applicants represent a religious organization legally
established in the country, certification of medical insurance, and a
criminal record review. The law no longer limits visa extensions to six
months, a change considered positive by most religious groups. Although
the law provides for up to five years of visa extensions, the Jehovah's
Witnesses continued to complain that their missionaries were granted
only two-year and even one-year extensions without any explanation. The
Baptist Church also reported that its missionaries who did not have
U.S. or EU citizenship received only visas of a maximum one-year
duration. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also
complained of inconsistent requirements and high fees to obtain or
renew visas. There are penalties for any foreigner who stays without a
visa, but such penalties do not appear to be linked to religious
activities. The Secretariat reported that it recommended the approval
of 924 visas and visa extensions for religious workers in 2005, and 230
in the first 4 months of 2006.
In February 2005, the Government abolished the requirement of a
construction permit from a special national commission in order to
build places of worship; instead, only local permits are required as
with any construction. Minority religions, however, continued to report
unjustified opposition by local authorities to granting such permits
for some minority religious groups.
The Government did not adopt a new religion law to replace
communist era legislation. The Parliament continued to debate a
government-sponsored draft law on religious freedom since its September
2005 introduction. Although seemingly an improvement over previous
proposals, civil society and international organizations, such as the
Council of Europe's Venice Commission, criticized its limitations. The
Government did not consult with nonrecognized religions regarding the
draft law. Of the eighteen recognized religions that were consulted by
the Government, the Greek Catholic Church and Jehovah's Witnesses
refused to support the draft law from the start, while the Baptist
Church withdrew its support after its proposed amendments were excluded
from the text. The U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (Helsinki Commission) also expressed strong concern. The draft
law requires an inordinately high numerical threshold of 0.1 percent of
the population--or approximately 22,000 people--to qualify for religion
status, a membership number that even some recognized religions do not
have. In addition, minority religions must undergo a twelve-year
waiting period in order to qualify for the more preferential religion
status. Civil society organizations recommended the elimination of both
requirements. In December 2005, the Upper House delayed debating the
draft and, in the end, passed the draft law implicitly without any
debates or amendments. At the end of the period covered by this report,
the Romanian Chamber of Deputies was awaiting recommendations by its
human rights and legal committees before holding a debate on the draft
law. According to the press, the Chamber of Deputies' human rights and
legal committee voted in support of an amendment proposed by one of its
members that would penalize ``aggressive proselytizing'' by religious
groups or individuals with fines or six months to three years in
prison.
Minority religious groups continued to assert that central
government and parliamentary officials were more cooperative than local
officials.
During the reporting period, the Secretariat, in partnership with
the independent NGO Conscience and Liberty, sponsored symposia on
religious freedom issues. Subjects included the relations between the
church and the state, as well as churches' social assistance, at
symposia in Bucharest (in September 2005) and Iasi (in October 2005).
The Secretariat also met with representatives of religious groups on a
regular basis and attended the meetings of leading bodies of some
religious denominations. On April 30, 2006, the Secretariat was present
during the Greek Catholic Church's celebration of the Holy See's
elevation of its status to major archbishopric. According to the
Secretariat, the Government continued its efforts to mediate and defuse
tensions between the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches in some local
areas.
The National Anti-Discrimination Council (CNCD), an institution
established to curb discrimination of any kind (including on religious
grounds), received fourteen complaints of discrimination on religious
grounds in 2005 and six in the first six months of 2006.
Christmas and the Orthodox Easter are national holidays. Members of
the other recognized religions that celebrate Easter on a different
date are entitled by law to have an additional holiday. Religious
leaders occasionally play political roles. In particular, many Orthodox
leaders make public appearances with prominent political figures, and
religious messages often contain political promises or goals, and
support for particular political positions.
Most mainstream politicians continued to criticize anti-Semitism,
racism, and xenophobia publicly, and criticized attempts to deny the
occurrence of the Holocaust in the country. On October 10, 2005,
President Traian Basescu highlighted the country's need to recognize
its true Holocaust history and to ``acknowledge its own mistakes'' in
his speech on National Holocaust Remembrance Day. During a January 23,
2006, conference to commemorate the 1941 Bucharest pogrom, President
Basescu highlighted the necessity ``to present the realities of that
time to the young generation.'' In April 2006, Parliament passed and
the president signed into law a decree issued in 2002 to combat anti-
Semitism and ban fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations. The
president had previously returned the law unsigned to Parliament in
October 2005 to ensure the addition of language to include the
persecution of Roma in addition to Jews in the law's definition of the
Holocaust.
Most of the streets named after the country's pro-Nazi World War II
leader Marshal Ion Antonescu were renamed. Cluj-Napoca renamed its
street in 2004. Targu Mures renamed its street in October 2005, after
human rights NGO Pro Europa League applied constant pressure on the
city's mayor. A street named for Antonescu continued to exist in
Cimpulung Muscel.
In 2003, the Government established the International Commission on
the Holocaust in Romania, headed by Nobel Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel
and consisting of thirty Romanian and foreign historians. The objective
of the commission was to examine the history of the Holocaust in
Romania; to identify the facts that took place during the Holocaust;
and to disseminate the research results in the country and abroad. The
organization of the commission--commonly called the Wiesel Commission--
followed public statements made earlier in 2003 by then President Ion
Iliescu, who minimized the Holocaust in Romania, and by former
Information Minister Vasile Dincu, who denied the Holocaust in Romania.
Iliescu subsequently asserted his comments had been misinterpreted, and
the Government set up and fully supported the commission. In 2004, the
Wiesel Commission presented its report. Iliescu praised the balance and
objectivity of the report, publicly accepted its conclusions, and
underscored the need for the country to come to terms with its past.
The Wiesel Commission's recommendations included the Government's
reversal of the previous rehabilitation of Nazi war criminals;
establishment of a national Holocaust Remembrance Day; construction of
a national Holocaust memorial and museum in Bucharest; and enforcement
of legislation making Holocaust denial a crime. In addition, the
commission recommended the comprehensive inclusion of the accurate
history of the Holocaust in school curricula and textbooks.
In August 2005, the Government announced plans to build a Holocaust
memorial in Bucharest and, in January 2006, launched a design contest
for the memorial. In August 2005, the Government also established the
Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in
Romania, which opened officially on October 10, 2005.
The Government made some progress in its efforts to expand public
school education on the true history of the Holocaust in the country.
The Government continued a program on Holocaust education introduced in
2002 at the National Defense College. In addition, the Holocaust was
taught during history classes in sections on World War II in the
seventh and eleventh grades. The situation of the Romanian Jews between
1940 and 1944 was taught as part of the State, Society, and Culture
course in the twelfth grade. In October 2005, the Government launched
the first standardized textbook on the Holocaust and the history of the
Jews in the country, which was used for an elective course offered to
the eleventh grade throughout the country during the 2005-2006 school
year; 330 groups of high school students elected to take the course
during the year, and the Ministry of Education distributed 255 copies
of the textbook to the schools. A second edition of the textbook
remained under publication. The Government did not implement any plans,
however, to make the course mandatory for all public high schools. The
elective course was first offered in the 2004-2005 school year at 200
high schools, but without a standardized textbook at the time.
The Holocaust in Romania was explicitly mentioned for the first
time in general school curricula for the tenth grade in 2004, and the
curricula were implemented in the 2005-2006 school year. According to
the Ministry of Education, the description of the Holocaust was taught
in line with the recommendations of the Wiesel Commission. The
Government also set up a teachers' association in Bacau and centers at
universities in Cluj, Bucharest, Iasi, and Craiova to train
approximately one hundred history teachers per year to teach the
Holocaust. The Ministry of Education approved in 2005 a new Holocaust-
teaching course (110 hours in duration) proposed by the director of the
Bacau teachers' association. All centers began teaching the course in
the 2005-2006 school year. In addition, the teachers received training
in programs offered jointly by the Ministry of Education, Yad Vashem
Institute, Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (Paris), and the
Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
In March 2006, the Ministry of Education made available on its
website a teaching guide to assist the 327 teachers nationwide who
instruct courses on the Holocaust. The guide was translated from a
document drafted by the Task Force for International Cooperation on
Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, of which the country
has been a member since 2004. The Ministry of Education also stated its
intention to distribute 15,000 copies of this guide to school teachers.
Throughout the period covered by this report, the Ministry of Education
distributed 26,200 books in schools to be used as supplementary
material in the teaching of the Holocaust; it also distributed 750
copies of the Wiesel Commission report and 900 CD/DVDs of a movie about
the Holocaust in Romania. There were reports, however, that the number
of books supplied was insufficient. The Ministry of Education continued
to sponsor international seminars on the Holocaust and the teaching of
its history. Two seminars were held in Bucharest in May 2006 for the
training of teachers by a Yad Vashem speaker. The Government also
earmarked funds amounting to $83 thousand (ROL 2.45 billion) to sponsor
a June 2006 conference in Iasi organized by the National Institute for
the Study of the Holocaust to commemorate the 1941 Iasi pogrom.
In 2004, the Foreign Intelligence Service signed an agreement with
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to grant access to its
archives for research regarding the Holocaust.
In 2004, in line with the recommendation later contained in the
Wiesel Commission's report, the Government established an annual
Holocaust Remembrance Day to take place on or around October 9, the
anniversary of the first deportation of Jews from southern Bukovina to
Transnistria. In 2004, the Government commemorated this date for the
first time. On October 9, 2005, the country commemorated for two days
its second Holocaust remembrance day with events in several cities,
including one held by President Basescu at Cotroceni Palace. The
events, many organized by local schools, were attended by officials and
key dignitaries, including the president, prime minister, and foreign
minister.
In 2004, then-President Iliescu awarded the nation's highest honor,
the ``Order of the Star of Romania,'' to extreme nationalist Greater
Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor, known for making
numerous xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments. Iliescu also decorated a
well-known Holocaust denier, PRM Vice Chairman Gheorghe Buzatu, with
the prestigious ``Faithful Service'' award. The granting of awards to
these two individuals generated a wave of protest: Elie Wiesel
announced his decision to return the Order he received from Iliescu in
2002, stating that he ``cannot belong to any group of which Vadim Tudor
is a member.'' Separately, a group of fifteen Radio Free Europe
journalists decided to return the awards they also received from
Iliescu. In March 2005, President Traian Basescu created new honorary
boards for the country's decorations, which have the authority to
review all awards previously granted. To date, the awards decorated to
the PRM leaders have not been rescinded.
In April 2006, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in its Annual Status
Report on Worldwide Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals
for 2005, ranked the Government under the category ``total failure.''
The category listed the countries that refused in principle to
prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, despite clear evidence that
such individuals were residents within their borders. In May 2006, the
Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized the state for delays in the
investigation of four suspected Romanian Nazi war criminals cases. The
center had previously brought the four suspects to the Government's
attention as part of the center's ongoing ``Last Chance'' operation to
uncover unpunished perpetrators of the Holocaust.
In 2002, the Parliament passed legislation that could bar the
return to the country of citizens who participated in Nazi war crimes
but left the country during or after World War II. This includes
individuals who lied about their participation in atrocities to obtain
nationality in other countries, notably the United States. Embassy and
other U.S. officials expressed strong concern about this legislation as
well as the refusal of the country to accept the return of war
criminals, noting that it represented a failure of the country to
recognize the participation of its nationals in the Holocaust and to
accept official responsibility.
The Government failed to take any action to reverse the 1997
decision by the Supreme Court to rehabilitate two war criminals,
colonels Radu Dinulescu and Gheorghe Petrescu, who previously had been
convicted of direct complicity in activities associated with the
Holocaust in Romania.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There is no law against proselytizing, nor is there a clear
understanding by the authorities of what activities constitute
proselytizing. Although proselytizing is protected by law, several
minority religious groups, which include both recognized and
unrecognized religions, made credible complaints that low-level
government officials and Romanian Orthodox clergy impeded their efforts
to proselytize, interfered in religious activities, and otherwise
discriminated against them during the period covered by this report.
Few politicians sponsored bills and measures that would oppose the
Orthodox Church. Local officials tended to be tolerant, but there were
incidents where they were pressured or intimidated by Orthodox clergy.
In some instances, local police and administrative authorities tacitly
supported societal campaigns (a few of which involved physical
intimidation) against proselytizing by non-Romanian Orthodox religious
groups.
Representatives of religious groups that sought recognition after
1990 alleged that the registration process was arbitrary and unduly
influenced by the Romanian Orthodox Church, and that they did not
receive clear instructions concerning the requirements. The
Organization of the Orthodox Believers of Old Rite, the Adventist
Movement for Reform, the Baha'i Faith, and the Mormons were among the
religious groups that tried unsuccessfully to register as religions
after 1990. Local leaders of the Baha'i Faith stated again that, during
the period covered by the report, they did not seek registration
because government officials told them that the group's status cannot
be changed under the existing legislation. It took the Ministry of
Culture and Religious Affairs three years to recognize Jehovah's
Witnesses on the basis of a 2000 court ruling. The Mormons declared
that, during the period covered by the report, the group repeatedly and
unsuccessfully raised the issue with relevant government officials.
One reason that the Secretariat provided as an explanation for the
failure to register new religions was that recognition requires a
decree issued by the Presidium of the Grand National Assembly, a
communist-era institution that no longer exists. Since no new
legislation has been passed in this regard, the Secretariat stated that
the registration of any new religion was not possible. Many minority
religious groups pointed out that the proposed draft law on religion
would still not provide the opportunity for new organizations to
register, given the inordinately high thresholds set in the draft law.
Unrecognized religions receive no financial support from the
Government, other than limited tax and import duty exemptions, and are
not permitted to engage in profit-making activities.
Although, since February 2005, approval by a national commission
for the construction of places of worship is no longer required,
minority religions continued to encounter difficulties in obtaining
construction permits at the local level. For example, Jehovah's
Witnesses reported that, in some localities, mayors and municipal
councils obstructed their plans to build places of worship by illegally
conditioning permits on the agreement of all neighbors in the area or
claiming that only certain types of construction can be built in a
particular district. In Calarasi, Calarasi County, the Jehovah's
Witnesses won a court ruling in December 2005 after local officials
obstructed the construction of a place of worship in August 2004, but
the mayor's office again appealed the case. In Odorheiu Secuiesc,
Covasna County, the municipal council had not enforced a December 2005
court ruling in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses. In Bistrita, the
Jehovah's Witnesses congregation has tried to obtain a construction
permit since 2004 and, despite a court ruling in their favor, the
mayor's office has not issued the permit. In Targoviste, Dambovita
County, the Jehovah's Witnesses tried to obtain a construction permit
for several years without success. In February 2006, after the
Jehovah's Witnesses obtained a favorable court ruling in November 2005,
the mayor's office in Targoviste finally issued the permit. In Panciu,
Vrancea County, and Bals, Olt County, the mayors' offices eventually
issued the construction permits during the period of the report, after
the Jehovah's Witnesses took the issue to court and repeatedly
requested the permits. Other religions experienced similar
difficulties. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Carlibaba, Suceava
County, could not obtain a permit to build a church after purchasing
the land in 2000. The mayor refused to issue a permit on the grounds
that the members were too few to warrant a church. The Baptist Church
also reported similar cases; in Insuratei, Braila County, local
officials repeatedly refused to grant a construction permit, arguing
that the number of Baptist believers was too small, and that they would
need a referendum on this issue. The central Government did not respond
to the Baptist Church's complaints. The Greek Catholic Church reported
the refusal by local officials to issue construction permits in
Pesceana, Valcea County, and Sapanta, Maramures County.
The law does not prohibit or punish assembly for peaceful religious
activities. However, several minority religious groups complained that
local authorities and Orthodox priests prevented religious activities
from taking place, even when the groups had been issued permits. The
Seventh-day Adventist Church reported difficulties in obtaining
approvals to use public halls for religious activities following
pressure by Orthodox priests. Even when they had rented public venues,
on many occasions the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Baptist
Church were forced to discontinue or cancel their religious programs.
On November 20, 2005, in Dobridor, Dolj County, an Orthodox priest
reportedly incited the local population to threaten the Seventh-day
Adventist Church representatives with reprisals unless they stopped
proselytizing. Some policemen were sent to attend the religious
gatherings and defuse the situation. After involvement of the mayor in
fruitful discussions, no further incidents occurred. Between August 2
and 4, 2005, during religious lectures sponsored by the Baptist Church
in a rented facility in Babeni, Valcea County, four Orthodox priests
allegedly tried to stop people from entering the venue and to disrupt
the program, despite approval of the facility rental by the city hall.
In Saliste, Sibiu County, after the Jehovah's Witnesses filed a series
of complaints of discriminatory attitudes displayed by local
authorities, the problem was resolved during the period covered by the
report, when the discriminatory behaviors ceased. The Jehovah's
Witnesses also won a lawsuit against the Saliste mayor's office, which
had demanded taxes for the Jehovah's Witnesses' places of worship
despite the group's status as a religion. The mayor's office could
appeal the court ruling, however. In Baia Mare, Maramures County, the
mayor's office retroactively asked for tax payments incurred before
2003, the year in which the Jehovah's Witnesses acquired official
religion status. The Jehovah's Witnesses took legal action against the
mayor's office, since, according to a court ruling, it had been a
religion since the year 2000. The lawsuit was in progress at the end of
the period covered by the report.
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses reports, in January 2006, the
court of Dragasani, Valcea County, rejected on religious grounds the
appeal of a member of this faith in a divorce lawsuit. The court ruling
gave as one of the reasons for rejecting the appeal the plaintiff's
religious beliefs.
A Roman Catholic Csango community, an ethnic group that speaks a
Hungarian dialect, continued to complain that they were unable to hold
religious services in their mother tongue because of opposition by the
Roman Catholic Bishopric of Iasi, which cooperates closely with the
Orthodox Church. In August 2005, the Csango community filed a complaint
with the CNCD, which decided on October 27, 2005, that the act of
denying religious services in the mother tongue is a restriction on
religious freedom. In December 2005, the Bishopric challenged the CNCD
decision in court, and the case was still pending by the end of the
period covered by this report.
The Government permits, but does not require, religious instruction
in public schools. Attendance in classes is optional. Only the eighteen
recognized religions are entitled to hold religion classes in public
schools. While the law permits instruction according to the faith of
students' parents, some minority recognized religious groups complained
that they were unable to have classes offered in their faith in public
schools. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Greek Catholic Church,
the Baptist Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses continued to report such
cases. According to minority religious groups, the local inspectors for
religion classes are typically Orthodox priests who deny accreditation
to teachers of other religions. According to Greek Catholic reports,
some school directors denied access in their schools to teachers of
Greek Catholic religion. The Baptist Church also reported such a case
in Tecuci, Galati County. Religious teachers are permitted to instruct
only students of the same religious faith. However, minority religious
groups, including the Greek Catholic Church, credibly asserted that
there were cases of children pressured to attend classes of Orthodox
religion, as happened repeatedly in the Greek Catholic eparchy of
Oradea. The Baptist Church complained that some public schools
indirectly forced students belonging to this faith to attend Orthodox
religion classes in schools where Baptist religion classes were not
taught. According to Baptist Church representatives, Orthodox religion
classes were scheduled deliberately in these schools in the middle of
the day so that Baptist students were required to attend, since they
were not allowed to leave school early. The Baptist Church also
reported that some school directors refused to offer Baptist religion
classes even in districts where there were a large number of Baptist
adherents, such as in Vaslui and Braila counties. The Baptist Church
also reported cases, for example in Hotar, Bihor County, where school
officials attempted to pressure Baptist students to change their faith.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church continued to complain that, since
2002, the School Inspectorate of Cluj County excluded two out of the
requested three classes on Adventist religion in the school curriculum,
although there were sufficient students for three full classes. In
addition, the Baptist Church continued to report that, at some
festivities in public schools, all students, irrespective of their
religious affiliation, must attend Orthodox religious services. The
same reportedly continued to happen in the Army.
Until February 2006, only recognized religions were entitled to
give religious assistance to prisoners; regulations on religious
assistance in penitentiaries forbid proselytizing. The prison priest
(always an Orthodox priest) had the responsibility to coordinate
religious assistance in prisons. Some NGOs reported that prisoners were
pressured against changing their religions, and that, in many cases,
Orthodox priests attended the meetings of representatives of other
religions with the prisoners. Minority recognized religious groups,
including Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
asserted that Orthodox priests denied them access to some
penitentiaries. The prison priest from the Orthodox Church denied the
Seventh-day Adventist Church access to the penitentiary in Gherla, Cluj
County; they also could not enter the penitentiary in Aiud, Alba
County.
In August 2005, in response to a complaint filed by NGO Association
for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania--The Helsinki Committee, the
CNCD concluded that the legal provisions on military clergy and the
agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the Romanian Orthodox
Church regarding religious assistance in penitentiaries discriminate
against minority religions by granting a privileged role to the
Orthodox Church. The CNCD recommended that the Ministry of Justice
eliminate the discriminatory provisions from the law.
On February 17, 2006, the Ministry of Justice changed the
regulations for religious assistance in detention places. The new
regulations provide for unrestricted access of recognized religions and
religious associations to any type of detention places, even if their
assistance is not specifically requested. According to the new rules,
the National Administration of Penitentiaries (ANP) can bar the access
of representatives of a religious group only if it can provide solid
proof that the presence of the religious group in question actually
endangers the security of the detention place. The regulations also
forbid any interference of the management of penitentiaries with
religious programs and forbid the presence of management
representatives at the meetings between representatives of any faith
and prisoners. Distribution of religious publications cannot be
subjected to any restriction. Prison representatives in charge of
religious assistance should not be priests or representatives of any
faith. The new regulations were not uniformly applied, however, when
the Jehovah's Witnesses requested access from the ANP to the
penitentiary in Baia Mare, Maramures County. In March 2006, the ANP
required the group to sign an agreement of cooperation with the
penitentiary and to provide details of their religious assistance
programs before they were given access. After the Jehovah's Witnesses
submitted another access request in April, emphasizing that the new
legislation permits unconditional access to prisons, the ANP in May
allowed Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries to gain entry to the Baia Mare
penitentiary without any further stipulations.
The law entitles recognized religions to have military clergy
trained to render religious assistance to conscripts. According to
minority religions, however, the military clergy is comprised only of
Orthodox priests, with the exception of two representatives of the
Catholic Church and the Evangelical Alliance.
Media reported that, in September 2005, the Bucharest city hall
illegally approved a permit for a property developer to construct a
nineteen-story building directly next to the Roman Catholic Saint
Joseph Cathedral, a historical monument in downtown Bucharest. The
media alleged possible corruption or nepotism by Bucharest officials in
granting the permit. In addition, after construction began at the site
in May 2006, the Holy See and the Roman Catholic metropolitan
archbishop released public statements protesting the decision to allow
construction of a large building that they claimed would damage the
structural foundation of the cathedral. More than 1,000 Roman Catholic
Church members also held street protests against the construction. In
May 2006, the Orthodox Church issued a public statement sharing the
concerns of the Roman Catholic Church. Media also reported that a large
building constructed by the same property developer near the Armenian
church in Bucharest permanently ruined that church's structure.
Some NGOs and religious groups reported that the national identity
card application form includes a section requesting completion of the
applicant's religious affiliation. They expressed concerns that the
accumulated data can be used to discriminate against non-Orthodox
believers.
The Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), a
yoga organization, complained of repeated alleged persecution,
harassment, abuse, and discrimination by the authorities for their
spiritual opinions and beliefs. Members also claimed that their
organization was the subject of a negative media campaign. In December
2005, the leader of this movement received asylum in Sweden on the
grounds of being harassed.
Some religious groups complained that the National Audio-Visual
Council made it difficult for radio frequency licenses to be purchased
for religious broadcasting. Minority religions complained of a lack of
provisions to provide for the free access of religious groups to state-
owned media.
The Baha'i Faith complained that newspaper companies repeatedly
rejected its request to publish paid articles, once after a contract
had been signed and the Baha'i Faith paid the fees.
In many cases, religious minorities have not succeeded in regaining
possession of properties, despite restitution by these decrees. Many
properties returned by decree contain government offices, schools,
hospitals, or cultural institutions that would require relocation, and
lawsuits and protests by current possessors have delayed restitution of
the property to rightful owners. In July 2005, new legislation to
improve the process of property restitution came into effect. The law
clarified and simplified the procedures for property restitution;
broadened the scope of restitution; established new application
deadlines and fines for the officials who hindered the process; and
created a $4 billion (ROL 117,884 billion) property fund to pay damages
to former owners for properties that cannot be returned in kind. These
provisions resolved some of the impediments to property restitution in
earlier legislation that were criticized by religious denominations,
i.e., not restituting the land of demolished buildings and not
providing for compensation. Although the large majority of restitution
cases of religious property remained unresolved, the pace of
restitution increased slightly during the period covered by this report
as a result of the new legislation. In many cases, local authorities
refused to turn over restituted properties in which county or municipal
governments had an interest and challenged the decisions of the Special
Restitution Commission in court. There were many complaints that the
local authorities consistently delayed supplying information about the
reclaimed properties to the Special Restitution Commission, thereby
obstructing the restitution process, despite the fines stipulated by
the new legislation for such delays. The Office of Property Restitution
reported at the end of the reporting period, however, that local
authorities were improving with regard to supplying information. The
number of restitution claims submitted by religious denominations
increased because of the six-month extension of the deadline for the
submission of claims, i.e., until January 25, 2006. The compensation
process had not begun by June 30, 2006.
Law 501/2002 should provide for the restitution of all church
properties. The buildings used by public institutions (such as museums,
schools, and hospitals) are to remain in tenants' hands for a period of
three or five years, depending on the function of the public
institutions, during which time they are to pay rent to the churches.
The majority of church properties belong to this category. However,
this law does not address the distinctive and sensitive issue of the
Greek Catholic churches, which were confiscated under communist rule in
1948 and handed over to the Orthodox Church. The July 2005 legislation
again delayed solving the problem and stated that the issue would be
addressed separately. By the initial March 2, 2003 deadline, religious
denominations submitted 7,568 applications for restitution according to
Law 501; by the 6-month extended deadline at the end of 2005, the
number increased to 14,716 as follows: Orthodox Church, 2,215; Roman
Catholic Church, 1,203; Greek Catholic Church, 6,723; Reformed Church,
1,208; Jewish, 1,918; Evangelical Church, 1,147; and other
denominations, 303. The Special Commission for Restitution started its
activity in 2003 and had restituted 1,592 buildings by the end of the
period covered by this report. A total of 855 buildings were restituted
during the period covered by this report, a much higher number than in
previous years.
There were several high profile properties restituted during the
period covered by the report. For example, in December 2005, the
Government restituted to the German Language Evangelical Church the
buildings of the well-known Bruckenthal Museum in Sibiu County,
together with the museum's art collections.
The Greek Catholic Church was the second largest denomination
(approximately 1.5 million adherents out of a population of
approximately 15 million) in 1948 when communist authorities outlawed
it and dictated its forced merger with the Romanian Orthodox Church. At
the time of its banning, the Greek Catholic Church owned more than
2,600 churches and monasteries, which were confiscated by the state and
then given to the Orthodox Church, along with other facilities. Other
properties of the Greek Catholic Church, such as buildings and
agricultural land, became state property.
Since 1989, the Greek Catholic Church, which has very few places of
worship, has been given back fewer than 200 churches from the Orthodox
Church. Many followers were still compelled to hold services in public
places--more than 220 cases, according to Greek Catholic reports. In
Sisesti, Mehedinti County, services had to be held in the open. In
1992, the Government adopted a decree that listed eighty properties
that were not places of worship owned by the Greek Catholic Church to
be returned. After the restitution of sixty to sixty-five properties,
mostly only on paper, no further progress was made. The most important
buildings, including three schools in Cluj, were not restituted.
Separately, the Greek Catholic Church accused the Bucharest mayor's
office of having blocked the restitution of one of the eighty
properties.
Some Orthodox priests, whose families were originally Greek
Catholics, converted back to Greek Catholicism after 1989 and also
brought their parishes and churches to the Greek Catholic Church. In
the early 1990s, the Orthodox Archbishop of Timisoara, Nicolae
Corneanu, returned to the Greek Catholics approximately fifty churches
in his diocese that belonged to the Greek Catholic Church, including
the cathedral in Lugoj. However, because of his actions, the archbishop
experienced criticism from the Orthodox Holy Synod and his fellow
Orthodox clergymen, several of whom opposed any type of dialogue
between the two denominations. Relations between the Greek Catholic
Church and the Orthodox Archbishopric of Timisoara continued to be
amicable and cooperative. The Orthodox Bishopric of Caransebes
continued to hold similar positive dialogues with the Greek Catholic
Church.
For the most part, however, Orthodox leaders opposed and delayed
returning churches to the Greek Catholics. The Greek Catholic Church of
the eparchy of Lugoj complained that the Orthodox Bishopric of Arad,
Ienopole, and Halmagiu did not follow through with a commitment to
enter a dialogue with the Greek Catholic Church. The Orthodox Bishop of
Arad, Ienopole, and Halmagiu also did not agree to a proposal by the
Greek Catholic Church to hold alternating church services in churches
that were historically Greek Catholic. At the end of the period covered
by this report, the Orthodox Bishopric had returned no church to the
Greek Catholics. Between July 1, 2005, and April 2006, the Greek
Catholic Church recovered only five churches nationwide, the same
number as in the previous year.
A 1990 government decree set up a joint Orthodox and Greek Catholic
committee at the national level to resolve the situation of former
Greek Catholic churches. The committee met for the first time in 1998,
had three meetings in 1999, and then met annually after 2000; however,
the Orthodox Church resisted efforts to resolve the problem in this
forum. In many cases, the courts refused to consider Greek Catholic
lawsuits seeking restitution, citing the 1990 decree establishing the
joint committee to resolve the issue. In June 2005, Parliament passed
into law a 2004 decree permitting the Greek Catholic Church to resort
to court action whenever the bilateral dialogue regarding the
restitution of churches with the Orthodox Church fails. Parliament
initially rejected the decree but passed it after the president refused
to sign the rejection law.
On November 20, 2005, after the intervention of the prime minister
and the minister of culture and religious affairs, the Orthodox Church
returned a cathedral in central Oradea to the Greek Catholic Church;
however, despite the Orthodox Patriarch's promise to also restitute a
major cathedral in Gherla, Cluj County, and a church in Bucharest, the
Greek Catholic Church had not received the churches by the end of the
period covered by this report.
From the initial property list of 2,600 seized churches, the Greek
Catholic Church had reduced the number of its claims to fewer than 300.
According to reports from the Greek Catholic Church, only sixteen
churches were restituted as the result of the joint committee's
meetings. Restitution of existing churches was financially important to
both denominations because local residents were likely to attend the
church whether it was Greek Catholic or Orthodox. Consequently, the
number of members and corresponding share of the state budget
allocation for religions were at stake.
The joint committee has practically ceased its activity since 2004,
after the Orthodox Church expressed dissatisfaction with the Greek
Catholic Church's answer to a letter that urged dialogue rather than
court actions. The two churches did not resume dialogue through this
committee during the period covered by the report.
Despite the stated desire for dialogue, the Orthodox Church
demolished Greek Catholic churches under various pretexts. Greek
Catholic churches--some declared historical monuments--were demolished
in Vadu Izei, Maramures County; Baisoara, Cluj County; Smig, Sibiu
County; Tritenii de Jos, Cluj County; Craiova, Dolj County; Valea
Larga, Mures County; Bont, Cluj County; Calarasi, Cluj County; Solona,
Salaj County; and Urca, Cluj County. Another church faced unauthorized
demolition in Ungheni, Mures County. In Ungheni, the Orthodox Church
continued construction of a new church which was being built around the
Greek Catholic church.
On May 9, 2006, in Taga, Cluj County, members of the Orthodox
Church demolished overnight a rundown Greek Catholic church, despite an
injunction issued by the Government forbidding its demolition or the
construction of a new church. An ownership lawsuit was ongoing between
the Greek Catholic and the Orthodox churches over the property at the
time the demolition took place. The Orthodox priest in Taga was fined
approximately $350 (ROL 10 million) for the illegal demolition.
Orthodox Church members in Taga were building a new church on the same
premises during the reporting period. Following the Greek Catholic
complaints, the construction work for the new Orthodox church stopped
in June 2006. The Greek Catholic Church also complained to the
President's Office about the church's destruction. In Belotint, Arad
County, a dilapidated Greek Catholic church also faced imminent
demolition after the Orthodox Church repeatedly refused to return it to
the Greek Catholics.
In Nicula, Cluj County, the Orthodox Church continued construction
close to the famous Greek Catholic Monastery of Nicula, despite a court
order to halt any construction. The lawsuit over the ownership of the
church has moved slowly since it was filed in 2001. On August 15, 2005,
the Greek Catholic Bishop of Cluj-Gherla sent a letter to the prime
minister asking for intervention to help preserve the Nicula Monastery.
The Greek Catholic Bishop had reportedly not received a reply from the
prime minister by the end of the period of this report. A similar case
was reportedly developing in Orastie, Hunedoara County, where the
Orthodox Church began construction of a building close to the former
Greek Catholic church, presumably with the intention of subsequently
demolishing the latter. Over the years, the Orthodox Church repeatedly
rejected the Greek Catholic requests for alternating services in over
230 localities.
The Special Commission for Restitution, under Law 501/2002,
returned to date 318 of the 6,723 properties claimed for restitution by
the Greek Catholic Church. Thirty-three of these were returned between
July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006.
In April 2005, Greek Catholic believers in the country and
throughout the world redistributed a 2002 memorandum to the state
authorities complaining about discrimination against their Church and
calling for the restitution of the Greek Catholic churches and other
assets confiscated under communist rule. The only reaction by the
authorities came from the state secretary for religious denominations,
who replied in a letter that the issue of the Greek Catholic churches
was complex and sensitive, and that the establishment of the commission
for dialogue was a wise solution.
Local and state authorities also ignored numerous letters and
appeals complaining about discrimination against the Greek Catholic
Church, sent by Greek Catholic bishops and priests over the years. The
authorities also did not respond to street protests by Greek Catholics.
Many lawsuits filed by the Greek Catholic Church remained delayed
by the courts, often impeded by constant appeals by the Orthodox
Church. In November 2005, for example, after a lawsuit that lasted
fifteen years, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Greek
Catholic Church in its attempt to regain a major church in Bucharest.
The Orthodox Church appealed the ruling, but the High Court of
Cassation and Justice rejected the appeal on June 15, 2006. The Greek
Catholic Church also brought the case to the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR), which had not issued a decision by the end of the period
covered by this report.
Historical Hungarian churches, including Roman Catholic as well as
Protestant churches (Reformed, Evangelical, and Unitarian), have
received a small number of their properties from the Government.
Churches from these denominations were closed but not seized by the
communist regime; however, the communist regime confiscated many of
these groups' secular properties, which were being used for public
schools, museums, libraries, post offices, and student dormitories.
Approximately 80 percent of the buildings confiscated from
Hungarian churches are used as public facilities (schools, hospitals,
or museums). Of approximately 3,000 buildings confiscated by the
communist regime from Hungarian churches, only 33 were restituted by
government decrees between 1996 and 2000. However, Hungarian churches
could not take possession of all of them because of lawsuits and
opposition of current occupants. In the case of the Batthyanaeum
Library, the Roman Catholic Church remained unsuccessful in obtaining
the return of the building, despite a 2003 favorable court ruling
obtained after a five-year lawsuit. The Church filed a complaint with
the ECHR right after the issuance of the court ruling, and a decision
was still pending. The Roman Catholic Church submitted a complaint to
the minister of culture and religious affairs during the winter of
2005, which remained unanswered. During the reporting period, the Roman
Catholic Church and the Special Commission for Restitution reportedly
began to discuss potential solutions for the restitution of the
building before the ECHR rules on the case. The Roman Catholic bishop's
palace in Oradea was only partially restituted in 2003, in accordance
with an agreement between a local museum, its current user, and the
Roman Catholic Bishopric. The museum closed during the period of the
report and, in November 2005, the Roman Catholic Church received three
more rooms; however, restitution of the remaining portions of the
building remained impeded by slow movement of museum holdings to their
new location. The Special Commission for Restitution, using Law 501/
2002, had restituted in principle 583 of the approximately 2,700
reclaimed buildings to the Hungarian churches, with 195 buildings
restored during the period covered by this report. However, Hungarian
churches did not regain physical possession of many of these
properties. The mayor of Cluj and president of one of the ruling
coalition parties reportedly opposed the restitution of three buildings
to the Unitarian Church, all of which the Church should have received
in December 2004 under the law on religious property. The mayor's
office challenged the decisions in court, which ruled in the Unitarian
Church's favor. The Unitarian Church took partial possession of one
building and was waiting for court papers concerning the other two to
be issued.
The Jewish community has received forty-two buildings by government
decree. Of these structures, the community took partial or full
possession of thirty-six buildings. In many cases, restitution was
being delayed by lawsuits. The community was able to reclaim land only
in Iasi, where it received fifteen plots of land (of former synagogues
and schools) between 1999 and 2000, as well as three additional plots
during the period covered by this report. However, eighteen land claims
of the Jewish community remained unresolved in Iasi, including a plot
of land that, although claimed by the Jewish community in 1998, was
divided and distributed to other persons by the prefect. In this case,
the county land restitution commission decided to give different plots
in compensation for the one that was sold, but the decision was
challenged in court by the National Agency of State Domains. Under Law
501/2002, 197 additional buildings had been returned to the Jewish
community, of which 142 were restituted during the period covered by
this report. The users of ten of the buildings restituted by the
Special Restitution Commission challenged the restitution decisions in
court, and lawsuits were in progress. During the period covered by this
report, the Jewish community obtained one additional building by court
ruling.
In 2004, Parliament adopted a law stipulating the restitution of
all buildings that belonged to ethnic communities and were confiscated
between September 6, 1940, and December 22, 1989. As in the case of
religious properties, buildings used for ``public interest'' will
remain in the hands of the present users for either three or five
years, depending on the current use of the structure. At the request of
the Jewish community, the law extended the period of the confiscation
of properties to include the time period between 1940 and 1945, when
the pro-Nazi government seized a large number of Jewish properties. By
the deadline of September 30, 2004, ethnic communities had submitted
1,930 claims, of which 1,744 belonged to the Jewish community. During
the six-month deadline extension for submission of claims ending on
January 25, 2006, the number of claims reached 2,156 cases, of which
1,852 belonged to the Jewish community. The new provision regarding
compensation for buildings that cannot be returned in kind applies to
this law, too. During the reporting period, seventy-nine buildings were
restituted under this law.
Another problem with restitution was often a refusal by the
occupant to return a property or pay rent for occupancy. The nominal
owner can still be held liable for payment of property taxes in such
cases.
According to Law 1/2000, which addresses the restitution of farm
and forest lands, religious denominations were initially entitled to
only a limited amount of land. The new July 2005 legislation, however,
greatly increased the scope and number of properties that religious
denominations could seek for restitution. When properties cannot be
restituted, religious denominations are also eligible for compensation
through receipt of comparable properties or shares in the property
fund. The Greek Catholic Church complained that, in many regions where
it had claimed farm and forest land, local authorities, under the
influence of the Orthodox Church, opposed restitution or proposed
restitution to all religious denominations in direct proportion to the
number of their believers. Such was the case in Moisei, Maramures
County, and in Hunedoara and Cluj counties. One parliamentary party
belonging to the ruling coalition proposed a bill at the end of 2005
that stipulated proportional restitution of churches, assets, and land.
The Greek Catholic Church separately reported that it could not obtain
the return of 40,000 square meters of land in Bucharest because of
resistance from the Bucharest mayor's office.
The Orthodox Archbishopric of Suceava and Radauti also complained
that the authorities opposed the restitution of 192,000 hectares of
forest land to the Orthodox Church Fund of Bucovina, a precommunist
foundation. They accused the county land restitution commission headed
by the Suceava County prefect of imposing certain conditions that
hinder restitution. On May 3, 2006, many priests from the Archbishopric
of Suceava participated in a march of silence in Suceava town to
protest the authorities' refusal to restitute the land.
Amendments to the constitution enacted in October 2003 allow the
establishment of confessional schools subsidized by the state. However,
this provision was not implemented.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Acts of anti-Semitism, including vandalism against Jewish sites,
continued during the period covered by this report. The extreme
nationalist press continued to publish anti-Semitic articles. The
Legionnaires (also called the Iron Guard, an extreme nationalist, anti-
Semitic, pro-Nazi group that existed in the country in the interwar
period) continued to republish inflammatory books from the interwar
period.
In 2003, a contributor to one of the Legionnaire magazines, the
Timisoara-based Gazeta de Vest (Western Gazette), was sentenced to
thirty months' imprisonment for the dissemination of nationalist-
chauvinistic propaganda and fascist symbols, a ruling he appealed. In
February 2006, after a lengthy lawsuit, he was acquitted.
In 2004, authorities charged an individual with distributing
nationalistic-chauvinistic and fascist propaganda; although he received
an eighteen-month sentence in prison, the trial was ongoing at the end
of the period covered by this report. During a search, the police found
a large number of neo-Nazi flyers, magazines, and extreme-right
publications in the defendant's home and on his computer.
In February 2005, the Iron Guard monthly Obiectiv Legionar
(Legionnaire Focus) was distributed in Parliament, where the chairman
of the Human Rights Committee of the Senate called for a ban of the
magazine. The relevant authorities did not take any action to stop the
publication. The magazine, which began publication in 2003, primarily
carried old Legionnaire literature and was distributed by a press
distribution company, which also distributed another Legionnaire
publication, Cuvintul Legionar (Legionnaire Opinion), in several of the
largest cities, including Bucharest.
In 2004, the metal hood used to cover a Marshal Antonescu statue
located in the yard of an Orthodox church in Bucharest was removed and
replaced by a tri-color ribbon. The slogan, ``Antonescu--national
hero,'' was written on the church wall close by. The perpetrator was
not identified. Following complaints by the Jewish community to the
authorities, the statue was covered again and the graffiti removed. In
September 2005, unidentified individuals again removed the covering,
which was eventually put back in place following similar complaints.
In 2004, Nazi and anti-Semitic signs were found on the interior
walls of the Jewish cemetery in Sarmasu, Cluj County. Neo-Nazi graffiti
were discovered on the door of the home of a member of the Bucharest
Jewish community, who filed a complaint with the police. In January
2005, Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic graffiti were found on a building
in Suceava inhabited by a married couple that survived the Holocaust.
In April 2005, similar symbols were found on a garage in Galati. None
of the perpetrators were identified in these cases.
During the first Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2004, some extremists
made several attempts to undermine the commemoration and deny the
existence of the Holocaust in Romania. During the national electoral
campaign in 2004, the extreme nationalist New Generation Party adopted
for its electoral campaign a slogan used by the 1930s anti-Semitic
Legionnaire Movement: ``I swear to God to make Romania into a country
like the holy sun in the sky.'' In 2004, the Organization of Jewish
Youth in Timisoara also received threatening and intimidating anti-
Semitic messages. The authorities did not react to these cases.
In January 2005, police and prosecutors in Buzau initiated criminal
prosecution against a seventeen-year-old male for creating an anti-
Semitic website which incited violence against two teenagers of the
Jewish community in that town; a decision was pending.
In March 2005, a university professor in Sibiu published an article
denying the Holocaust in Romania. In August 2005, the Federation of the
Jewish Communities and other Jewish organizations filed a legal
complaint with the Prosecutor's Office in Sibiu against the professor
for denying the Holocaust. In October 2005, the Prosecutor's Office
decided that the professor's action could not be interpreted as a crime
as described by the 2002 decree forbidding Holocaust denial. An appeal
filed by the Jewish organizations was rejected in November 2005.
In April 2005, unidentified persons vandalized the headquarters of
the Jewish community in Focsani, Vrancea County. In May 2005, nine
graves were desecrated in a Jewish cemetery in Ploiesti, Prahova
County. On May 17, 2005, a synagogue was desecrated in Radauti, Suceava
County; nothing was stolen, but the Torah scrolls were vandalized. The
Federation of the Jewish Communities notified the state authorities of
these incidents.
On July 5, 2005, unidentified persons stole the iron fences
surrounding fifty graves and the metal doors of two burial vaults in a
Jewish cemetery in Barlad, Vaslui County. In August 2005, a swastika
was found on the walls of an old synagogue in Cluj. Perpetrators were
not identified.
In October 2005, police began investigating one adult and three
juveniles who reportedly drew Nazi symbols on the walls of a synagogue
in Targu Mures at the end of September 2005. The police halted the
investigation after the suicide of the adult who had been the primary
suspect.
The New Right organization (also with Legionnaire orientation)
continued to sponsor yearly marches, followed by religious services, to
commemorate Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of the Legionnaire
Movement. The last march took place in November 2005.
In November 2005, a university professor and Holocaust denier
published an anti-Semitic article in Romania Mare, a magazine
controlled by the extreme nationalist Greater Romania Party. The
article asserted that the country was the target of a Jewish invasion.
The Federation of Jewish Communities reacted by filing a criminal
complaint and by issuing a statement that urged relevant government
institutions to take concrete measures to eradicate anti-Semitism and
xenophobia. In January 2006, the police began investigating the
professor for nationalist-chauvinistic propaganda.
On November 5, 2005, swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found
on the walls of a vocational school and a neighboring block of
apartments in Suceava. The police identified the perpetrators, and
their prosecution began the same month; a decision remained pending at
the end of the period covered by this report.
On November 18, 2005, the doors of two synagogues in Dorohoi,
Botosani County, were damaged, apparently by vandals.
On January 20, 2006, the police arrested a twenty-year-old for
throwing stones at the window of the Jewish Theatre in Bucharest.
According to police reports, he was apparently mentally ill and was
hospitalized in a specialized clinic.
On March 17, 2006, unidentified individuals stole eight steel poles
from the fence of the Jewish cemetery in Sighisoara. On March 24, 2006,
unidentified individuals vandalized twenty tombs in the Jewish cemetery
in Resita, generating damages amounting to approximately $45 thousand
(35 thousand euros). The Federation of Jewish Communities notified the
authorities in these cases, but the perpetrators were not identified.
During the night of May 5, 2006, two minors drew two swastikas on
the walls of the Lutheran church in Cluj. The police fined them, and
the Lutheran Church also filed a penal complaint, saying that the
perpetrators offended a religious denomination. Lutheran Church
officials also questioned publicly whether the vandalism was linked to
the fact that the government of Israel in 2005 had recognized, post
mortem, the efforts of one of the pastors in the parish who hid Jews in
the church during Nazi occupation. The case was pending at the end of
the period covered by this report.
In May 2006, swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the
walls of a house in Bucharest. Perpetrators were not identified.
On June 1, 2006, Vatra Romaneasca (Romanian Hearth) Union, a
nationalistic NGO, the Marshal Antonescu League, and the Party of the
United Left, a tiny, non-parliamentary party, invited the population to
a religious service to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of
Antonescu's death. The Federation of Jewish Communities filed a
complaint, based on the law punishing racist, xenophobic, pro-Nazi
propaganda and banning organizations that disseminate such ideas,
against the three sponsors of the event. Police sent the complaint to
the Prosecutor's Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
On June 17 and 18, 2006, newly painted swastikas were found on
several buildings in downtown Cluj, Cluj County, mostly on ethnic
Hungarian-related buildings, including the Reformed church and the
Hungarian-language Bathory Istvan High School.
During the reporting period, anti-Semitic views and attitudes were
expressed during talk shows broadcast by private television stations
Antena 1, National TV, DDTV, and Pro-TV. The television stations failed
to respond to any complaints made by the Jewish organizations on this
issue.
According to MCA Romania, authorities tended to minimize the
significance of such incidents, usually explaining them as being the
actions of children, drunkards, or persons with mental disorders.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government continued to make substantial progress in
recognizing and teaching the true history of the Holocaust in Romania.
In August 2005, the Government decided to erect a Holocaust memorial in
Bucharest and to establish the new Elie Wiesel National Institute for
the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. The Institute was officially
inaugurated on October 10, 2005. In October 2005, the Government
launched the first textbook on the Holocaust in Romania, and
commemorated the second annual National Holocaust Remembrance Day with
high profile events and speeches throughout the country. The Government
commemorated the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Bucharest pogrom in
January 2006 and the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Iasi pogrom in June
2006.
Although the pace of restitution remained slow, the Special
Commission for Restitution returned several significant buildings to
religious denominations.
In February 2006, the Government issued new regulations regarding
religious assistance in penitentiaries. The new regulations allow the
free access of all religious groups to prisons.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There are generally amicable relations among the different
religious groups. There is no law against proselytizing. However, the
Romanian Orthodox Church repeatedly criticized the ``aggressive
proselytizing'' of Protestant, neo-Protestant, and other religious
groups, which the Church repeatedly described as ``sects.'' This led to
conflicts in some cases. The press also reported several cases in which
adherents of minority religions were prevented by others from
practicing their faith, and local law enforcement authorities did not
protect them.
The predominance of the Orthodox Church over the last several
hundred years, along with its status as the majority religion, has
contributed to its reluctance, in particular at the local level, and
sometimes with the support of low-level officials, to tolerate other
religions. Consequently, actions by other religious groups to attract
members frequently are perceived by the Orthodox Church as attempts to
diminish the number of its members. Minority religious groups alleged
that some members of the Orthodox clergy provoked isolated incidents of
organized group intimidation.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
complained of repeated harassment and discrimination against its
members, including in the workplace. This included incidents where
members were threatened with losing their jobs at work or harassed by
colleagues because of their religious affiliation. There were also
reported incidents where children were reportedly forced by teachers at
school to declare their faith and then were harassed. According to the
Church's reports, its missionaries were repeatedly and consistently the
subject of harassment and violence. In September 2005, four individuals
in Constanta reportedly physically assaulted two missionaries of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and threatened to kill one
them at knifepoint. Police intervened, and one perpetrator was
reportedly fined. In November 2005, two Mormon missionaries were
physically assaulted in Iasi, Iasi County, by an individual who tried
to push them down a flight of stairs and hit one of them with a bottle.
The police intervened, and the perpetrator was charged with assault.
The court fined the perpetrator and required an official apology. On
May 7, 2006, two Mormon missionaries were assaulted and injured by a
man in Bucharest. The police fined the individual approximately $70
(ROL 2 million).
The Jehovah's Witnesses continued to allege verbal and physical
abuse, in particular by some Orthodox priests, and indifference from
some police. In some instances, the priests reportedly had the support
of local authorities and the police, such as in Dofteana, Bacau County,
where, in 2004, the mayor, apparently under influence of the Orthodox
priest, obstructed activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses and warned
them to cease their door-to-door ministry. In January and March 2005,
the Jehovah's Witnesses were physically assaulted by some residents of
Dofteana, and the police did not protect them. On February 4, 2006, two
members of the Jehovah's Witnesses were assaulted by an Orthodox
priest. When they filed a complaint with the local police, the
policemen purportedly warned them to not return to Dofteana.
The Jehovah's Witnesses also reported verbal and physical abuse by
an Orthodox priest and two individuals, all of them allegedly drunk, in
Focsani, Vrancea County, on August 11, 2005. Police fined the three
individuals. Similar alleged physical abuse against a group of
Jehovah's Witnesses by an Orthodox priest occurred several times in
Breasta, Dolj County, in November and December 2005. Police in Breasta
allegedly ignored the complaints filed by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
In February 2006, in Topile, Iasi County, an Orthodox priest and a
group of drunk individuals allegedly assaulted with clubs a group of
Jehovah's Witnesses. Orthodox priests also physically assaulted members
of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Lupcina, Suceava County, on February 25,
2006; in Branesti, Gorj County, on March 26, 2006; and in Cosereni,
Ialomita County, on April 2, 2006. Police did not take any measures
against the assailants.
In the small town of Mizil, Prahova County, the local Orthodox
church reportedly continued a persistent discrediting campaign against
a small congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The mayor, along with
Orthodox priests and the police, continued an anti-Jehovah's Witnesses
campaign that began in 1997 in an attempt to stop the church's activity
in Mizil. In 2004, despite repeated complaints filed by the Jehovah's
Witnesses, the mayor issued a resolution forbidding any actions of
proselytizing. In April 2005, the CNCD reprimanded school authorities
and the mayor of Mizil for harassing and discriminating against a
Jehovah's Witnesses teacher who was also told by the school director
that he would be dismissed. The mayor alleged that the teacher was
proselytizing in school and that two school inspectors forced him to
choose between his faith and his job. In April 2005, the CNCD also
fined the mayor approximately $220 (ROL 6 million) for publishing
discriminatory articles against the Jehovah's Witnesses in the city
hall's monthly publication. The city hall and the two inspectors
challenged the CNCD decisions, and on November 16, 2005, the Mizil
court of first instance ruled in their favor based on a procedural flaw
and eliminated the fine; however, the CNCD decision of discrimination
remained valid.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church reported similar incidents with
Orthodox priests in several localities, including Milas, Bistrita
Nasaud County, in 2004 and 2005, and other localities with smaller
congregations. In Pitesti, Arges County, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints had problems for several years with an Orthodox
priest who repeatedly took and broke the missionaries' name tags, and
destroyed religious pamphlets they were carrying.
The Baptist Church reported that, during the period covered by the
report, the Baptist community of Satu Mare and Oradea counties filed a
formal complaint regarding a group of individuals who repeatedly
disrupted the Baptist religious services in Botiz, Satu Mare County.
Local police allegedly did not intervene, claiming they could not take
action against the perpetrators in the absence of a specific court
order.
The Reformed Church in Oradea repeatedly complained that local
authorities incited an interconfessional and interethnic conflict by
allocating a sports playground which had, according to the Reformed
Church, rightfully belonged to a reformed high school, to a local
Orthodox parish in 2004. The local Orthodox parish intensified the
conflict by locking up the playground, restricting access to the
students, and leaving the high school in a state of de facto limbo. The
Reformed Church responded by filing complaints to the local authorities
and sponsoring several peaceful protests. The case remained unresolved
at the end of the period covered by the report.
Minority religions credibly complained about the intolerant
attitude of some Orthodox religion teachers, who in some instances have
depicted non-Orthodox churches to students as ``sects'' and a danger to
all who might wish to join them. According to a December 2005 incident
reported by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an Orthodox priest threw
an Adventist translation of the Bible to the back of the classroom
during a religion class in Piatra Neamt, Neamt County, and asked the
grade school students to kick it.
In February 2006, Orthodox priests disrupted healthcare events
organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tarzia-Brusturi,
Dragomiresti, and Razboieni, all in Neamt County.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church continued to complain that
Orthodox priests allowed the burial of non-Orthodox believers in
confessional or even public cemeteries (often treated as confessional
by Orthodox priests in rural areas) only in isolated sections of the
cemetery or if non-Orthodox religious services were not used. During
the reporting period, such incidents were reported in Lipanesti,
Prahova County; Jiblea, Valcea County; Cojasca, Dambovita County;
Garbesti, Iasi County; and Ceahlau, Neamt County. To avoid such
encounters, the Adventist Church asked the mayors' offices several
years ago for land for cemeteries in a large number of localities where
it had congregations, but it received positive answers to only 13 of
its 700 requests. During the reporting period, the Seventh-day
Adventist Church received a piece of land for cemetery use in Tecuci,
Galati County. Orthodox priests also denied access for Greek Catholics
to many cemeteries, such as those in Sapanta, Maramures County; Salva,
Bistrita Nasaud County; Lucaceni, Satu Mare County; Pesceana, Valcea
County; Ungheni, Mures County; Telec-Bicaz, Neamt County; Damuc, Neamt
County; Bicaz-Chei, Neamt County; Magina, Alba County; Radesti, Alba
County; and Vintu de Jos, Alba County. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints also complained of being constantly denied access to
cemeteries.
According to the local Muslim community, Bucharest city hall failed
to respond to repeated requests by the Muslim community for land for a
Muslim cemetery. This has led to difficulties in locating a proper
burial ground for Romanian Muslims. During the period covered by the
report, the city hall offered to allocate a plot that was insufficient
in size. The Muslim community renewed its request and a decision
remained pending. In June 2006, the mufti, official head of the Muslim
community, wrote a letter to both the president and the prime minister
complaining of the situation.
In January 2005, when a group of villagers, along with the Orthodox
priest, switched to the Greek Catholic faith in Pesceana, the village's
local council illegally forbade the registration of a Greek Catholic
parish and the activities of the Greek Catholic church in the village.
Police did not react to the Greek Catholics' complaints of verbal and
physical abuse by Orthodox villagers and their priest. The local police
chief was subsequently dismissed. An agreement mediated by the state
secretary for religious denominations in May 2005 was disregarded by
both parties soon after its signature. Following a complaint by a group
of NGOs, the CNCD decided that the local council's decisions were
discriminatory and reprimanded it at the end of August 2005. Tensions
continued, however, during the entire period covered by this report.
The situation was aggravated further when the Greek Catholic priest and
the church's members were repeatedly denied access to the local
cemetery. A court ruling on January 19, 2006, allowing the Greek
Catholic priest to enter the cemetery was appealed by the Orthodox
Church, and the lawsuit remained ongoing. In April and May 2006, the
mayor's office of Pesceana refused to issue a construction permit for a
Greek Catholic church, asking the Greek Catholic parish to meet the
requirements of Decree 177/1948, the communist religion law. The Greek
Catholic Church also complained of the hostile attitude of the prefect
of Valcea County toward the Greek Catholic congregation in Pesceana and
of the illegal transfer by the local council of two communal cemeteries
to the Orthodox Church.
A Greek Catholic Association complained to the minister of the
administration and interior of the negative attitude of some prefects--
such as those from Valcea and Satu Mare, and the Maramures and Alba
counties--towards the Greek Catholic Church.
In January 2006, the decision of more than one hundred people to
switch from the Orthodox to the Greek Catholic Church in Stei,
Hunedoara County, also generated tensions. The Greek Catholic Church
could not obtain possession of the rectory restituted in 2004 because
the Orthodox Church appealed a restitution decision that had been in
favor of the Greek Catholics. The Greek Catholics were also denied
access to the only church in the village, which was Greek Catholic
before the communist period. The Greek Catholic Church asked the
Secretariat to mediate its dialogue with the Orthodox Church concerning
alternative service in the church.
In April 2006, a similar situation occurred in Valea de Jos, Bihor
County, when 350 of the approximately 400 villagers, together with the
priest, decided to join the Greek Catholic faith and attempted to keep
a church they had previously built.
Representatives of minority religions credibly complained that only
Orthodox priests grant religious assistance in hospitals, children's
homes, and shelters for the elderly. Charitable activities carried out
by other churches in children's homes and shelters were often
negatively interpreted as proselytizing. In one instance, an Orthodox
priest forbade residents of a state-owned orphanage, including some
young adults over age eighteen, from attending non-Orthodox religious
services unless they were prepared to live elsewhere. He also hindered
efforts by religious charities to visit that orphanage. In many cases,
minority religions felt compelled to form nonreligious associations in
order to gain access to public institutions to carry out charitable
activities.
In April 2006, the New Right, an extreme-right xenophobic
organization, developed a campaign in Cluj about ``the danger''
represented by ``proselytizing sects.'' The organization distributed
thousands of leaflets and confronted hundreds in an attempt to curb the
increasing activity in the country of such ``sects'' that aimed at
``destroying Orthodox Christianity.''
Since the dialogue between the Greek Catholic and Orthodox churches
came to a halt in 2004, disputes between the two religions' believers
over church property increased in intensity. Greek Catholic communities
decided, in many cases, to build new churches because of the lack of
progress in restituting their properties either through dialogue with
the Orthodox Church or in court; however, their efforts were hampered
by the Orthodox Church, sometimes with the support of local
authorities. In Sapanta, Maramures County, the Greek Catholic Church
decided to give up claims for its church and build a new one. For the
last three years, however, the local council, under the influence of
the Orthodox priest, refused to issue a construction permit. The Greek
Catholic Church initiated a lawsuit. Similar tensions continued in
Certeze, Satu Mare County, where the Greek Catholic Church was not
permitted to build a new church on its land because of obstructions and
harassment by the Orthodox Church and local authorities. Tensions
continued in localities where the Orthodox Church refused to enforce
court rulings that ordered restitution of churches to the Greek
Catholic Church: Lupsa in Cluj County and Bogdan Voda in Maramures
County were two examples. In Bogdan Voda, Maramures County, the
Orthodox priest consistently refused to hand over the church that the
Greek Catholic Church won in court in 2000.
In Prunis, Cluj County, where most of the residents belong to the
Greek Catholic Church, tensions continued because of a long-standing
lawsuit.
In Ardud, Satu Mare County, the Greek Catholic Church, which
previously had owned the only church in the locality, built a new
church to put an end to the long-standing conflict. However, the
Orthodox Church took legal action and evicted the Greek Catholic priest
(who had been an Orthodox priest) from the parish house in 2003 in the
presence of numerous gendarmes and police. The Orthodox Church refused
the Greek Catholics' proposal to help buy a new house for the Orthodox
priest. During the period covered by this report, tensions came to an
end in Ardud after the construction of a new house by the Greek
Catholic Church for its priest.
In most localities with two churches (one of which had belonged to
the Greek Catholic Church) and only one Orthodox priest, priests
frequently do one of three things: Hold alternate religious services
between the two locations, keep the Orthodox church locked and hold the
services in the former Greek Catholic churches, or establish a second
Orthodox parish in the locality. However, more than eighteen former
Greek Catholic churches remained closed.
On February 17, 2006, in Satu Mare, after sixteen years of lawsuits
and delays, authorities enforced a ruling restituting a cathedral to
the Greek Catholic Church.
In Dumbraveni, Sibiu County, the Orthodox Church continued to
refuse to enforce a previous court ruling to share a local church with
the Greek Catholic Church. Although the Orthodox Church promised to
return the Greek Catholic church after it completed the construction of
a new Orthodox church, it refused to do so after the construction was
over.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government actively discusses religious freedom issues
with the Government and maintained active public outreach on the issue
as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The embassy also
maintained close contact with a broad range of religious groups in the
country, including the Islamic faith, and many minority religions. The
ambassador and other embassy representatives regularly met with
religious leaders and government officials who work on religious
affairs in Bucharest and in other cities.
Throughout the period covered by the report, embassy
representatives and other U.S. Government officials discussed with
government officials at multiple levels the importance of full official
recognition of the Holocaust in Romania, improvements in Holocaust
education in school curricula, and implementation of the
recommendations of the Wiesel Commission. The embassy supported
visiting delegations focusing on issues related to the Holocaust,
including the Wiesel Commission. Embassy personnel and visiting U.S.
officials repeatedly discussed the Holocaust in Romania with local and
international members of the Wiesel Commission and supported the work
of the commission. Among many other events, the charge d'affaires and
other U.S. officials participated in the commemoration of Romania's
National Holocaust Day in October 2005. In January 2006, the ambassador
and other embassy personnel participated in events commemorating the
anniversary of the Bucharest pogrom in Bucharest. In May 2006, the
ambassador and the deputy director of the U.S. Department of State's
Office of Holocaust Issues publicly addressed a roundtable at the Elie
Wiesel Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. In July
2005, the embassy financed the travel of two high school teachers to a
course in the United States on teaching the Holocaust. The embassy also
supported activities of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in the
country.
On repeated occasions, the ambassador and other embassy officials
raised concerns about the slow restitution of religious properties,
particularly of Greek Catholic churches, with government officials,
including the president, prime minister, and the minister of culture
and religious affairs. Members of the embassy's office in Cluj had
meetings with Reformed, Evangelical, Greek Catholic, Jewish, and
Orthodox officials in Cluj and Oradea, and discussed restitution of
religious properties. U.S. officials continued to lobby in government
circles for fair treatment on property restitution issues, including
religious and communal properties, and for nondiscriminatory treatment
of all religious groups.
Embassy and other U.S. Government officials also continuously
expressed concern to officials and encouraged revision of a government-
sponsored draft law on religion, which included numerous elements that
would inhibit the freedom of religion. The embassy approached the
Government at all levels on this issue, including parliamentarians,
presidential experts, the minister of culture and religious affairs,
the prime minister, and the president. In July 2005, the ambassador
sent a letter expressing clear concerns about the draft law to the
minister of culture and religious affairs. The U.S. Congressional
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, commonly called the
Helsinki Commission, expressed its concerns regarding the draft
religion law in letters to the presidents of the relevant commissions
of the Senate in October 2005, and of the Chamber of Deputies in March
2006. Helsinki Commission members also expressed concern directly to
senior Romanian officials in Washington and Bucharest.
The embassy sponsored conferences on religious freedom in October
2005 and April 2006.
In addition, embassy staff members were in frequent contact with
numerous NGOs that monitor developments in the country's religious
life. U.S. officials continued to advocate in government circles for
fair treatment on property restitution issues, including religious and
communal properties, and for nondiscriminatory treatment of all
religious groups.
__________
RUSSIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, in some
cases authorities imposed restrictions on certain groups. Although the
constitution provides for the equality of all religions before the law
and the separation of church and state, the Government did not always
respect these provisions.
Conditions deteriorated for some minority religious groups while
remaining largely the same for most, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion for most of the
population. Some federal agencies and many local authorities continued
to restrict the rights of various religious minorities. Legal obstacles
to registration under a complex 1997 law ``On Freedom of Conscience and
Associations'' (1997 Law) continued to seriously disadvantage many
religious groups considered nontraditional. The Moscow Golovinskiy
Intermunicipal District Court cited the 1997 Law as the basis for its
March 2004 decision banning Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, a decision
that continued to have significant negative ramifications for the
activities of Jehovah's Witnesses during the reporting period. There
were indications that the security services, including the Federal
Security Service (FSB), increasingly treated the leadership of some
minority religious groups as security threats.
Religious matters were not a source of social tension or problems
for the large majority of citizens. Popular attitudes toward
traditionally Muslim ethnic groups, however, were negative in many
regions, and there were manifestations of anti-Semitism as well as
hostility toward Roman Catholics and other nonOrthodox
Christian denominations. Some observant Muslims claimed harassment
because of their faith. Instances of religiously motivated violence
continued, although it was often difficult to determine whether
xenophobic, religious, or ethnic prejudices were the primary motivation
behind violent attacks. Many citizens firmly believe that at least
nominal adherence to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is at the heart
of their national identity. Conservative activists claiming ties to the
ROC occasionally disseminated negative publications and held meetings
throughout the country against other religions considered non-
traditional in the country, including alternative Orthodox
congregations. Some ROC clergy have stated publicly their opposition to
any expansion of the presence of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and
other non-Orthodox denominations.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights and
engages a number of religious groups, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), and others in a regular dialogue on religious freedom. The
embassy and consulates work with NGOs to encourage the development of
programs to sensitize officials to recognize discrimination, prejudice,
and crimes motivated by ethnic or religious intolerance. In many
instances, federal and regional officials strongly support the
implementation of these programs. The embassy and consulates maintain a
broad range of contacts in the religious and NGO communities through
frequent communication and meetings. Mission officers look into
possible violations of religious freedom and also raise the issue of
visas for religious workers with the Passport and Visa Unit in the
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the Foreign Ministry (MFA).
During the reporting period, the U.S. ambassador addressed religious
freedom in public addresses and consultations with government
officials. He also attended events on major religious holidays and
regularly met with a range of religious leaders. Other Department of
State and U.S. Government officials raised the treatment of minority
religious groups with officials on many occasions.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 6,592,769 square miles, and its
population is approximately 142.8 million. There were no reliable
statistics that break down the population by denomination. Available
information suggested approximately 70 percent of the residents
considered themselves Russian Orthodox Christians, although the vast
majority were not regular churchgoers. There were an estimated fourteen
to twenty-three million Muslims, constituting approximately 14 percent
of the population and forming the largest religious minority. The
majority of Muslims lived in the Volga-Urals region--which included
Tatarstan and Bashkortostan--and the North Caucasus, although Moscow,
St. Petersburg, and parts of Siberia had notable Muslim populations as
well. The Muslim communities in the Volga-Urals region and the North
Caucasus are culturally and in some cases theologically distinct from
one another and therefore must be considered separate communities.
According to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, Protestants
made up the second largest group of Christian believers, with
approximately 3,500 organizations and more than 2 million followers. An
estimated 600,000 to 1 million Jews (0.5 percent of the population)
remained, following large-scale emigration over the last two decades;
the Federation of Jewish Communities (FJC) estimated that up to 500,000
Jews lived in Moscow and 100,000 in St. Petersburg. These estimates
significantly exceeded the results of the official government census.
Between 5,000 and 7,000 Jews lived in the so-called Jewish Autonomous
Oblast (region), located in the Far East. The Catholic Church estimated
that there were from 600,000 to 1.5 million Catholics in the country,
figures that also exceeded government estimates. Buddhism is
traditional to three regions: Buryatiya, Tuva, and Kalmykiya; and the
Buddhist Association of Russia estimated there were between 1.5 and 2
million Buddhists. In some areas, such as Yakutiya and Chukotka,
pantheistic and nature-based religions were practiced independently or
alongside other religions.
According to Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin's annual report, the
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) had registered 22,513 religious organizations
as of December 2005, approximately 500 more than January 2005 (22,092),
an increase of approximately 1,500 registered organizations since 2002
and more than 5,500 since 1997. As of December 2005, the Federal
Registration Service recorded the number of registered religious groups
as follows: Russian Orthodox Church--12,214 groups, Russian Orthodox
Autonomous Church--43, Russian Orthodox Church Abroad--30, True
Orthodox Church--42, Russian Orthodox Free Church--10, Ukrainian
Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate)--11, Old Believers--285
(representing 4 different Old Believer denominations), Roman Catholic--
251, Greek Catholic--4, Armenian Apostolic--68, Muslim--3,668,
Buddhist--197, Jewish--284 (divided among Orthodox and Reform groups),
Evangelical Christians--740, Baptist--965, Pentecostal--1,486, Seventh-
day Adventist--652, other evangelical and charismatic groups--72,
Lutheran--228 (divided among 4 groups), New Apostolic--80, Methodist--
115, Reformist--5, Presbyterian--187, Anglican--1, Jehovah's
Witnesses--408, Mennonite--10, Salvation Army--10, Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)(Mormon) Church--53, Unification
Church--9, Church of the ``Sovereign'' Icon of the Mother of God--27,
Molokane--27, Dukhobor--0, Church of the Last Covenant--7, Church of
Christ--19, Judeo-Christians--2, nondenominational Christian--12,
Scientologist--1, Hindu--1, Krishna--78, Baha'i--19, Tantric--2,
Taoist--5, Assyrian--2, Sikh--1, Shamanist--14, Karaite--1,
Zoroastrian--1, Spiritual Unity (Tolstoyan)--1, Living Ethic
(Rerikhian)--1, pagan--8, other confessions--155.
The number of registered religious organizations does not reflect
the entire demography of religious believers. For example, due to legal
restrictions, poor administrative procedures on the part of some local
authorities, or disputes between religious organizations, an unknown
number of groups have been unable to register or reregister; and other
religious believers may not seek to be members of any organized
religious group.
There were a large number of missionaries operating in the country,
particularly from Protestant denominations.
An estimated 500 (official estimate) to more than 9,000 (Council of
Muftis' estimate) Muslim organizations remained unregistered; some
reportedly were defunct, but many, according to the Council of Muftis,
have concluded that they did not require legal status and have
postponed applying for financial reasons. Registration figures probably
also underestimated the number of Pentecostal churches. As of May 2006,
there were nearly 1,500 Pentecostal organizations officially registered
(up from 1,467 in 2004) and 18 regional associations; statistics on the
number of believers were unavailable. The difference in numbers can be
explained by the fact that many Pentecostal churches remain
unregistered. The Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists reported more
than 1,000 registered churches, 549 unregistered groups, 7 regional
associations, and more than 75,000 members. The Union of Seventh-Day
Adventists estimated that there were 1,026 Adventist organizations in
the country (more than 600 of them are registered with the Ministry of
Justice) and more than 100,000 church followers. According to the
Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (whose members
included Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists, and the Church of
Christians of Evangelical Faith), there were 2,005 registered churches
and unregistered groups, more than 180,000 members of the Church, and
67 regional central organizations. The total number of members of the
Church and other evangelical believers was estimated at 320,000.
Some religious groups registered as social organizations because
they were unable to do so as religious organizations. In 2005 the
Association of Christian Unification Churches reported that the drop in
its registered organizations from seventeen in 2003 to five was due to
local authorities hindering the association's attempt to reregister its
local organizations. In 2006, it continued to report 5 registered
organizations, approximately 30 unregistered groups, and 1,000
believers. The Moscow Monthly Friends' Meeting (Quakers) was an
officially registered organization, although as of May 2006, it
apparently was registered under ``other faiths,'' as there was no
Quaker organization listed in the MOJ registry.
In practice, only a minority of citizens participated actively in
any religion. Many who identified themselves as members of a faith
participated in religious life rarely or not at all.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, in some
cases the authorities imposed restrictions on certain groups. The
constitution also provides for the equality of all religions before the
law and the separation of church and state; however, the Government did
not always respect this provision.
The 1997 Law declared all religions equal before the law,
prohibited government interference in religion, and established simple
registration procedures for religious groups. Although the 1997 Law did
not recognize a state religion, its preamble recognized Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and other religions as constituting an
inseparable part of the country's historical heritage, and also
recognized the ``special contribution of Orthodoxy to the history of
Russia and to the establishment and development of Russia's
spirituality and culture.'' Public opinion widely considered Orthodoxy,
Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism to be the only religions ``traditional''
to the country.
Implementing regulations took effect on April 10, 2006, for the Law
on Public Associations (NGO Law), which President Putin signed on
January 10, 2006. The 1997 Law remains the primary legislation
governing religious organizations, but some provisions of the new NGO
Law will apply to religious organizations as well. Although
implementing regulations were in effect for too short a time in the
reporting period to examine their effects on policy directives and
subsequent implementation, the new law's inspection provisions are of
particular concern since they appear to permit government inspections
of religious organizations and attendance at some of their public
events with advance notice. Although most of the provisions in the new
law do not apply to religious organizations, the law appears to contain
some provisions that apply, such as new reporting requirements; the
authority for the registration body (located in the MOJ) to request
certain documents, send its representatives to participate in events,
and review on an annual basis compliance of an organizations'
activities with its statutory goals; and a requirement that covered
nonprofit organizations inform the registering body of changes to
certain data within three days of the effectuation of the changes. In
addition, the brief amendment to the Civil Code would also appear to
reach religious organizations, but the effect of this amendment and all
other amendments remains to be seen in how the authorities choose to
implement the law. Local authorities in St. Petersburg, however, began
an investigation of the Jehovah's Witnesses Administrative Center, even
before the new law's implementing regulations were agreed upon, but
citing the new law as the cause and indicating that they would find any
irregularity that would permit them to close down the center.
On March 10, 2006, President Putin signed a controversial anti-
terrorism law, which critics charged was vaguely-worded, especially the
provision that permits the banning of any organization ``whose purposes
and actions include the propaganda, justification, and support of
terrorism.''
In January 2005 authorities amended the 1997 Law to conform to a
new law on state registration of other legal entities. The amended law
requires all registered local religious organizations to inform the
Federal Registration Service (FRS) within three days of a change in its
leadership or legal address. If a local organization fails to meet this
requirement on two or more occasions, the FRSD can file suit to
dissolve and deregister the organization. Some denominations with
numerous local organizations feared that compliance with this change
will be highly burdensome.
Neither the constitution nor the 1997 Law accords explicit
privileges or advantages to the four ``traditional'' religions;
however, many politicians and public figures argued for closer
cooperation with them, and above all with the ROC. The ROC has entered
into a number of agreements--some formal, others informal--with
government ministries on such matters as guidelines for public
education and law enforcement and customs decisions, giving the ROC far
greater access than other religious groups to public institutions such
as schools, hospitals, prisons, the police, the FSB, and the army. In
November 2004 the ROC and the MVD extended an earlier agreement
pursuant to which the two entities cooperate in efforts to combat
extremism, terrorism, and drug addiction. Such efforts include, for
example, ROC support for the psychological rehabilitation of servicemen
returning from conflict zones and the holding of religious services for
those serving there.
Many government officials and citizens equate Russian Orthodoxy
with the national identity. This belief appears to have manifested
itself in the church-state relationship. For example, the ROC has made
special arrangements with government agencies to conduct religious
education and to provide spiritual counseling. These include agreements
with the Ministries of Education, Defense, Health, Internal Affairs,
and Emergency Situations, and other bodies, such as the Federal Tax
Service, Federal Border Service, and Main Department of Cossack Forces
under the President. Not all of the details of these agreements were
accessible, but available information indicated that the ROC received
more favorable treatment than other denominations. Some government
officials' public statements and anecdotal evidence from religious
minorities suggested that increasingly since 1999, the ROC has enjoyed
a status that approaches official. Although it was illegal, election
campaign teams reportedly often included ROC clergy who frequently
played a special role at official events at both the local and national
level and who supported a close relationship with the State. Non-
ordained ROC officials may participate in election campaigns but not as
official church spokesmen. Nonetheless, policymakers remained divided
on the State's proper relationship with the ROC and other churches.
The Rodina Duma faction and single-mandate deputies representing
the People's Party have consistently supported a more official status
for the ROC. The president, in contrast with his predecessors, has
openly spoken of his belief in God, and greeted Orthodox, Jewish,
Muslim, and Buddhist communities on major religious holidays. He also
meets periodically--last documented in September 2004--with members of
the Presidential Council on Cooperation with Religious Associations,
which includes representatives of traditional religions and other major
religious communities, such as the Protestants and Catholics, to
discuss topical issues. Sergey Sobyanin, Chief of the Presidential
Administration, headed the Council, and two Presidential Administration
officials (Mikhail Ostrovskiy and Aleksandr Kudryavtsev) were Council
members.
The 1997 Law ostensibly targets so-called totalitarian sects or
dangerous religious cults, by making it difficult for members of less
well-established religions to set up religious organizations. Many
officials in law enforcement and the legislative branches spoke of
protecting the ``spiritual security'' of the country by discouraging
the growth of ``sects'' and ``cults,'' usually understood to include
Protestant and newer religious movements. The 1997 Law is very complex,
with many ambiguous provisions, creating various categories of
religious communities with different levels of legal status and
privileges. Most significantly, the law distinguishes between religious
``groups'' and ``organizations.'' A religious ``group'' is not
registered and consequently does not have the legal status of a
juridical person; it may not open a bank account, own property, issue
invitations to foreign guests, publish literature, enjoy tax benefits,
or conduct worship services in prisons and stateowned hospitals
and among the armed forces. However, individual members of a group may
buy property for the group's use, invite personal guests to engage in
religious instruction, and import religious material. In this way,
authorities theoretically permitted groups to rent public spaces and
hold services; however, in practice members of unregistered groups
sometimes encountered significant difficulty in doing so.
The 1997 Law provides that a group that has existed for fifteen
years and has at least ten citizen members may register as a ``local
organization.'' It acquires the status of a juridical person and
receives certain legal advantages. A group with three functioning local
organizations in different regions may found a ``centralized
organization,'' which has the right to establish affiliated local
organizations without meeting the fifteen-year-rule requirement.
The 1997 Law required all religious organizations registered under
a more liberal 1990 law to reregister by December 31, 2000. In
practice, this process, which involved simultaneous registration at the
federal and local levels, required considerable time, effort, and legal
expense. International and well-funded domestic religious organizations
began to reregister soon after publication of the 1997 regulations;
however, some Pentecostal congregations refused to register out of
religious conviction, and some Muslim groups decided that they would
not benefit from reregistering, according to spokespersons for the two
most prominent muftis.
Representative offices of foreign religious organizations are
required to register with state authorities, and they are barred from
conducting services and other religious activities unless they have
acquired the status of a group or organization. In practice, many
foreign religious representative offices opened without registering or
were accredited to a registered religious organization.
Under a 1999 amendment to the 1997 Law, groups that failed to
reregister became subject to legal dissolution (often translated as
``liquidation''), i.e., deprivation of juridical status. By the
deadline for reregistration, the MOJ held an estimated 2,095 religious
groups subject to dissolution and dissolved approximately 980 by May
2002, asserting they were defunct, but religious minorities and NGOs
contended that a significant number were active. Complaints of
involuntary dissolution have decreased in recent years in part because
those who fought dissolution have already taken their cases to court;
however, a few groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Salvation Army,
the Unification Church and Scientologists, were still fighting their
cases through the court system.
The 1997 Law gives officials the authority to ban religious groups.
Unlike dissolution, which involves only the loss of an organization's
juridical status, a ban prohibits all of the activities of a religious
community. Authorities have not used the law to ban many groups to
date. However, in a notable exception, the decision of a Moscow court
judge in June 2004 to uphold on appeal the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses
garnered significant media coverage and prompted an upswing in
restrictions on Jehovah's Witnesses. As of April 2006, authorities
permitted registration of Jehovah's Witnesses groups in 400 local
communities in 72 regions, but problems with registration continued in
some areas, notably Moscow, where the Moscow Golovinskiy Intermunicipal
District Court and the Moscow City Court (of appeal) have banned them.
A lack of specific guidelines accompanying the 1997 Law contributed
to inconsistent application at the local and regional levels. Local
officials, reportedly often influenced either by close relations with
local ROC authorities or the FSB, sometimes refused outright to
register groups or created prohibitive obstacles to registration. There
were indications that the Procurator General encouraged local
prosecutors to challenge the registration of some minority religious
groups.
The LDS Church succeeded in registering fifty-one local religious
organizations as of the end of the reporting period. In 2005
authorities registered the LDS Church in Tver following a series of
rejections of its application for registration. The group has not been
able to register a local religious organization in Kazan, Tatarstan,
since 1998 despite numerous attempts. In April 2006 the Federal
Registration Service, part of the MOJ, restored the Salvation Army's
registration documentation for the country-wide central religious
organization. The legal position of its Moscow branch remained
unresolved. Although the Constitutional Court found earlier rulings by
Moscow courts dissolving the Moscow branch of the Salvation Army to be
unconstitutional, the Moscow Oblast Department of Justice had not
reregistered the organization by the end of the reporting period, and
two of the court judgments that legally dissolved the applicant branch
remained in force, despite the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
In a separate case, authorities had not enforced the Presnenskiy
District Court ruling against the Salvation Army's registration, and
according to the organization's Moscow office, it continued to operate
based on documents filed under the old statute. The preface of the
Presnenskiy Court's ruling refers to the Salvation Army as a
``militarized organization.'' A textbook on religious culture prepared
for use in schools repeats this definition of the Salvation Army, which
it calls a ``sect.'' The Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) was
working with the Moscow office of the Salvation Army to overturn the
Presnenskiy Court ruling. The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR)
ruled in June 2004 that the group's complaint that Moscow authorities
had not allowed it to reregister was admissible; however, the court
declared the rest of the complaints inadmissible. At the end of the
reporting period, an ECHR decision on the merits was pending; however,
the Salvation Army had not reported obstruction of its daily activities
in Moscow.
Moscow authorities continued to deny reregistration to the Moscow
branch of the Church of Scientology, threatening it with dissolution.
The Scientologists countered the MOJ contention that the church had
failed to reregister by the deadline by citing the 2002 Constitutional
Court ruling in favor of the Salvation Army. Despite the court ruling
against dissolution, the Government filed a supervisory appeal to the
Supreme Court, which granted it, and remanded the case back to the
trial court for new proceedings, in which the trial court ruled in the
Government's favor. In February 2005, a Moscow appeals court ordered
Moscow Oblast officials to permit the Church to submit an application
for reregistration and to examine the application on its merits. Prior
to this decision, the Church of Scientology had filed a suit with the
ECHR against the dissolution order, which the ECHR found admissible in
October 2004. The case was still pending in the ECHR. By June 2006 the
Church had filed for reregistration eleven times; the Moscow
registration service rejected the tenth claim on June 27, 2005.
According to the Church of Scientology, other than the
reregistration case the Church has had no substantive problems with
other government agencies in the country in general, such as the tax
authorities, prosecutor's office, or police. They had good relations
with the authorities, especially regarding the Church's Human Rights
Campaign and Youth for Human Rights Campaign. Authorities regularly
issued permits without problem for Church-sponsored human rights events
and anti-drug events, which have the support of various agencies. Under
the Church of Scientology umbrella there were approximately 100
registered groups promoting the Church's ideas and projects throughout
the country.
In response to local authorities' repeated refusal to register the
St. Petersburg branch of the Church of Scientology, the Church filed
suit. The St. Petersburg registration service claimed that the document
from the St. Petersburg District Authorities certifying that the Church
of Scientology has existed in St. Petersburg for fifteen years was not
``authentic,'' although it did not give a reason for its finding.
Authorities postponed a hearing scheduled for May 2005 for procedural
reasons until June 2005; due to the illness of the presiding judge,
authorities postponed the June 2005 hearing indefinitely, and at the
end of the reporting period no hearing date had been set.
Local authorities have impeded the operation of Scientology centers
in Dmitrograd, Izhevsk, and other localities. Since these centers have
not existed for fifteen years, they were unable to register and cannot
perform religious services (although they were allowed to hold meetings
and seminars). The Churches of Scientology in Surgut City and
Nizhnekamsk (Tatarstan) filed suits with the ECHR against the refusal
of officials to register the churches based on the fifteen-year rule.
The ECHR found the suits admissible in June 2005; the cases were
awaiting a final decision.
The Council of Muftis indicated that registration was not an issue
for Muslim organizations, and some regional Muslim organizations
continued to operate without registration, such as the thirty-nine of
forty-seven Muslim communities in the Stavropol region that operated
without registration despite affiliation with a recognized regional
Muslim administration. How many were unregistered by choice was
unknown, but many Muslim organizations in the North Caucasus preferred
not to be considered an official entity. The regions of Kabardino-
Balkariya and Dagestan have local laws banning extremist religious
activities, described as ``Wahhabism,'' but there were no reports that
authorities invoked these laws to deny registration to Muslim groups.
The government in the Republic of Tatarstan, one of the strongest
Islamic areas, continued to encourage a Tatar cultural and religious
revival while avoiding instituting confrontational religious policies.
The Unification Church reported that the requirements of a broad
range of government agencies, involving fire inspection, tax
inspection, and epidemiological inspection unduly complicated the
registration process.
A 2002 ``Law on Foreigners,'' which transferred much of the
responsibility for visa affairs from the MFA to the MVD, appeared to
disrupt the visa regime for religious and other foreign workers.
Immediately after implementation of this law, nontraditional groups
reported problems receiving long-term visas. Although the number of
such problems appeared to decrease during the previous reporting
period, such reports continued, most notably with the recent ousters of
the principal legal advisor for the Unification Church in January 2006
and a fellow worker in the Urals in February 2006. The former had lived
in Moscow since 1990. As in the latter case, the FSB inserts itself
into matters dealing with visas and religion, particularly with groups
it labels ``dangerous cults and sects,'' distinctions that it reserves
for some of these nontraditional groups.
Working groups within the Government continued to focus on
introducing possible amendments to the controversial 1997 Law but had
not introduced any by the end of the reporting period. Duma Deputy
Aleksandr Chuyev was one of several officials who proposed legislative
changes to formally grant special status to ``traditional'' religious
denominations.
According to Federal Registration Service statistics, authorities
investigated the activities of 3,526 religious organizations during the
2005 calendar year. The MOJ sent notifications of various violations to
2,996 religious organizations. The courts made decisions on liquidating
fifty-nine local organizations for violations of constitutional norms
and federal legislation during that period. The courts made no
decisions on banning religious organizations. In July 2004 the MOJ had
reported that authorities had returned more than 4,000 churches and
other property and more than 15,000 religious items to the ROC. No
update on the latter was available.
Officials of the Presidential Administration, regions, and
localities maintain consultative mechanisms to facilitate government
interaction with religious communities and to monitor application of
the 1997 Law. At the national level, groups interact with a special
governmental commission on religion, which includes representatives
from law enforcement bodies and government ministries. On broader
policy questions, religious groups continued to deal with the
Presidential Administration through a body known as the Presidential
Council on Cooperation with Religious Associations. The broad-based
Council is composed of members of the Presidential Administration,
secular academic specialists on religious affairs, and representatives
of traditional and major nontraditional groups. Other governmental
bodies for religious affairs include a Governmental Commission for the
Affairs of Religious Associations, headed by the Minister of Culture
and Mass Communications. Under the President, there is also a Council
for the Promotion of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights.
Avenues for interaction with regional and local authorities also
exist. The offices of some of the seven Plenipotentiary Presidential
Representatives (Polpreds) include sub-offices that address social and
religious issues. Regional administrations and many municipal
administrations also have designated officials for liaison with
religious organizations; it is at these administrative levels that
religious minorities often encounter the greatest problems.
The Russian Academy of State Service works with religious freedom
advocates, such as the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, to train
regional and municipal officials in properly implementing the 1997 Law.
The academy opens many of its conferences to international audiences.
The office of Federal Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin
contains a department for religious freedom issues, which receives and
responds to complaints.
Representatives of some minority religions and many expert
observers claimed that some government officials, particularly in the
security services, believed minority religions--especially Muslims,
Roman Catholics, some Protestant denominations, and other groups--were
security threats, requiring greater monitoring and possibly greater
control.
In 2004 Smolensk and Kursk Oblast authorities adopted local laws
restricting missionary activity. Under these laws, foreigners visiting
the region are forbidden to engage in missionary activity or to preach
unless specifically allowed to do so according to their visas. There
were no reports of enforcement.
Contradictions between federal and local laws, and varying
interpretations of the law, allowed regional officials to restrict the
activities of religious minorities. Many observers attributed
discriminatory practices at the local level to the greater
susceptibility of local governments than the federal government to the
influence of local majority religious groups. There were isolated
instances in which local officials detained individuals engaged in
publicly discussing their religious views, but usually authorities
resolved these instances quickly. Although President Putin's expressed
desire for greater centralization of power and strengthening of the
rule of law initially led to some improvements in religious freedom in
the regions, as local laws were brought into conformity with federal
laws, many localities appeared to implement their own policies with
very little federal interference. When the federal government chooses
to intervene, it works through the Procuracy, MOJ, Presidential
Administration, and the courts, forcing regions to comply with federal
law or not, depending on the political stakes, as with the Moscow
Jehovah's Witnesses and Salvation Army cases. The Government only
occasionally intervened to prevent or reverse discrimination at the
local level.
During the reporting period, President Putin spoke out several
times on the need to combat interethnic and interreligious intolerance,
notably during the September 2005 UN General Assembly and during a
February 2006 session of the Interior Ministry Council. He publicly
condemned the January 2006 attack on a Moscow synagogue.
Officials met regularly during the reporting period with Rabbi Berl
Lazar. In a January 2006 meeting, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
that the MFA was trying to fine-tune international dialogue dealing
with the issues of how xenophobia and extremism can be countered at the
international level. Lavrov also spoke out strongly against the January
2006 Moscow synagogue attack, stating that the root causes of
xenophobia and anti-Semitism are deeper than law-enforcement agencies
can cope with and that better education by the government religious
groups, and public organizations could help address the problem. In a
March 2005 meeting, President Putin pledged to make the fight against
anti-Semitism a Government priority, and in an October 2004 meeting, he
expressed support for the revival of Jewish communities. He also
denounced anti-Semitism in several press interviews, usually to foreign
media or while traveling outside the country. In April 2005 Rabbi Lazar
met with Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov to discuss anti-Semitism and the
state of Moscow's Jewish community. Luzhkov expressed concern about the
growing number of extremist organizations and pledged the city's
cooperation in fighting extremism. In April 2005, President Putin
became the first Russian leader ever to visit Israel.
In March 2004, prominent rabbis Berl Lazar and Pinchas Goldschmidt
came together to call on the Government to better define the meaning of
``extremism.'' Lazar and Goldschmidt said that law enforcers were prone
to dismiss anti-Semitic actions as simple hooliganism to avoid calling
attention to their region as extremist-oriented and/or to consciously
protect extremist groups with which they sympathized.
During the reporting period, new, more rigorous amendments to the
existing Law on Countering Extremist Activity were working their way
through the Federal Assembly, continuing the initiative begun by the
March 2004 call by then Minister for Nationalities Vladimir Zorin, who
called anti-Semitism and xenophobia major threats to the country,
requiring stricter enforcement of the existing statutes outlawing
extremism, such as Article 282 of the Criminal Code (which criminalizes
the incitement of ethnic hatred). He also called for more programs to
educate the public about anti-Semitism and to promote tolerance.
Minister of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliyev became the first high-
level government official to acknowledge the existence of right-wing
extremist youth groups. Combating this extremism was one of the top
priority tasks for the MVD and FSB, he stated. These statements marked
a positive step toward the Government's willingness to prosecute those
who commit hate crimes, although few concrete moves have been made to
solve many high-profile cases.
The Government does not require religious instruction in schools,
but it continues to allow public usage of school buildings after hours
for the ROC to provide religious instruction on a voluntary basis. The
Government has backed off from a controversial proposal to introduce an
optional course on the national level, ``Foundations of Orthodox
Culture,'' using a textbook that detailed Orthodox Christianity's
contribution to the country's culture, with descriptions of some
minority religions that members of those religions found objectionable.
Although some schools still used the text, the Ministry of Education
rejected further editions and circulation. Nevertheless, a significant
number of regions continued to offer in public schools a course on
Orthodoxy and may continue to do so because municipal administrations
make school curriculum decisions. On the federal level, the
Governmental Commission for the Affairs of Religious Associations at
its December 21, 2005, session chaired by Minister of Culture Sokolov,
supported, among other issues, the proposal of the Ministry of Culture
to grant religious educational institutions the right to train public
school teachers of religion. The proposal to teach ``world religions''
or a course on Orthodoxy in the schools remained controversial among
experts, including those in the ROC. Nevertheless, the ROC in some
communities (Kaluga Oblast and Yekaterinburg) was training local
teachers in summer courses providing teachers with certification to
teach ``Foundations of Orthodox Culture.'' Some regions have begun
offering a class on ``History of Religion,'' a proposal that Education
Minister Andrey Fursenko suggested but had not introduced nationally.
In July 2005 the subscriber services of satellite broadcasters NTV-
Plus and Stream TV launched Spas (Savior) television channel, the first
one in the country devoted to religion. It devotes 40 percent of its
sixteen daily broadcasting hours to Russian Orthodox themes, with the
rest of the time for general interest talk shows, documentaries, and
educational programming. An advisory board including members of the
parliament and senior figures from the Orthodox Church sets the
channel's agenda and decides on programming strategies.
The constitution mandates the availability of alternative military
service to those who refuse to bear arms for religious or other reasons
of conscience. The law on alternative civil service took effect in
January 2004, and two supplements to the law were issued in March 2004.
The first supplement listed 722 organizations to which authorities may
assign draftees for alternative service, and the second listed 283
activities that qualified. In June 2004 Prime Minister Fradkov signed
regulations on the implementation of the law on alternative civilian
service. According to the regulations, the standard alternative service
term is forty-two months--versus the regular service term of twenty-
four months--but the term is shorter, thirty-six months, if the draftee
is assigned to a military organization. The required service for
university graduates is twenty-one and eighteen months, respectively,
in these situations. Some human rights groups have complained that the
extended length of service for draftees requesting alternative
assignments acts as a punishment for those who exercise their
convictions.
The authorities permit Orthodox chapels and priests on army bases
and also give Protestant groups access to military facilities, although
on a limited basis. Authorities largely ban Islamic services in the
military and generally do not give Muslim conscripts time for daily
prayers or alternatives to pork-based meals. Some Muslim recruits
serving in the army have reported that their fellow servicemen insulted
and abused them on the basis of their religion.
In June 2004 authorities closed the federally targeted program on
tolerance and anti-extremism ahead of its original 2005 end date. The
program called for a large number of interagency measures, such as the
review of federal and regional legislation on extremism, mandatory
training for public officials to promote ethnic and religious
tolerance, and new materials for use in public educational
institutions.
With the registration of the Diocese of the Transfiguration in
Novosibirsk in August 2005, the Roman Catholic Church completed the
process of registration of the four existing Catholic dioceses (Moscow,
Saratov, Irkutsk, and Novosibirsk). In 2003 President Putin stated
publicly that secular authorities would do everything in their power to
improve relations between the ROC and the Vatican.
Officials have encouraged a revival of Buddhism in Kalmykia with
state subsidies for building Buddhist temples and training monks. The
Government issued the Dalai Lama a visa, reversing previous denials of
his visa requests.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Critics continue to identify several aspects of the 1997 Law on the
grounds that it provided a legal basis for actions restricting
religious freedom. In particular, they criticized the provisions
requiring organizations to reregister, establishing procedures for
their dissolution, and allowing the Government to ban religious
organizations. Critics also cited provisions that not only limit the
rights of religious ``groups'' but also require that religious groups
exist for fifteen years before they can qualify for ``organization''
status. Although the situation was somewhat better for groups that were
registered before 1997, new groups were sometimes hindered in their
ability to practice their faith. The federal government has attempted
to apply the 1997 Law in a liberal fashion, and critics directed most
of their allegations of restrictive practices at local officials.
Implementation of the 1997 Law varied widely, depending on the attitude
of local offices of the MOJ (responsible for registration, dissolution,
and bans).
In February 2004 the Procuracy of Moscow's Northern Circuit banned
the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses on the grounds that it
was a ``threat to society,'' a basis for banning under the 1997 Law.
Unlike dissolution, which involves only the loss of juridical status, a
ban prohibits all of the activities of a religious community. In June
2004 a ban on all organized activity by Moscow's 10,000 members of
Jehovah's Witnesses took effect, marking one of the first times that
such a ban had been implemented under the 1997 Law. Jehovah's Witnesses
appealed the ruling, and although the judge admitted that members did
not incite violent religious hatred, he accused the organization of
``forcing families to disintegrate, violating the equal rights of
parents in the upbringing of their children, violating the constitution
and freedom of conscience, encouraging suicide, and inciting citizens
to refuse both military and alternative service.'' In May 2005
authorities advised the Witnesses by telephone that the Presidium of
the Moscow City Court had dismissed a subsequent appeal, although by
the end of the reporting period, authorities had not sent official
documentation of the dismissal or an explanation of its grounds. The
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was considering their appeal,
which was submitted in 2004. The ban, although applying only to Moscow,
has had nationwide ramifications for the 133,000 Jehovah's Witnesses
practicing in the country.
After the 2004 Moscow banning decisions, many local congregations
of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country reported that landlords
had cancelled rental contracts on their buildings or were threatening
to do so. During the reporting period, the Witnesses reported a problem
similar to their June 2004 attempts to find a suitably large venue in
Sochi, when a landlord denied access to a meeting venue after FSB
pressure but later reversed the denial. In Moscow Oblast, which is a
separate jurisdiction from the city of Moscow, the Witnesses reported a
hotel conference center, a cinema, and a cultural center, each of which
previously had been used by congregations of Witnesses, cancelled their
leases.
Some landlords outside of the city of Moscow appeared to believe
that the Moscow ban obligated them to cancel rental contracts with the
Witnesses, as seen by incidents in 2005 in Roshchino (Leningrad
Oblast), Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Khabarovsk, and Ufa, where
authorities disrupted or prevented assemblies. For example, in March
2005, reportedly under pressure from his superiors, the Director of the
Palace of Culture in the village of Roshchino forced a group of
Witnesses to change the venue of a religious celebration scheduled in
the palace.
In some cases the Witnesses reported that authorities consulted
with the ROC to determine whether to approve their requests. The
Witnesses report that Father Valeriy of the Arkhangelsk Orthodox
Diocese exerted pressure on Archangelsk authorities to prevent the
Witnesses from holding a district convention scheduled for August 2005
similar to the Church's influence in Vladimir in 2004, in which venue
use depended on approval from a local Russian Orthodox priest.
In April 2005, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court dismissed the claim
filed by the city prosecutor to declare invalid the registration of the
local Witnesses' organization's title to the unfinished Kingdom Hall in
that city. The Witnesses subsequently finished construction of the
building and were able to use it for religious services. In February
2006 an internet agency, Regions.Ru, claimed that a group affiliated
with the Yekaterinburg ROC diocese asked the court to ban Jehovah's
Witnesses, a ``totalitarian cult,'' because of ``their destructive
activities.'' In August 2005 the regional internet agency,
UralPolit.Ru, reported that the Yekaterinburg ROC diocese was taking
the Jehovah's Witnesses to court, seeking a ban, as ``what already
happened to them in Moscow.'' Nevertheless, the Jehovah's Witnesses in
Yekaterinburg continued their activities as usual.
In April 2006 the news agency Kurskcity.ru published an article
referring to the Moscow ban as an example to be followed and claiming
that authorities could ban the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Kursk. The article added that the Kursk City Council would discuss
Jehovah's Witnesses harassment of citizens.
The Witnesses won appeals to overturn dissolution orders that lower
courts issued as in November 2004, in Primorskiy Kray, and in October
2004, in Tatarstan. Jehovah's Witnesses cited five child custody cases
in which courts have reportedly discriminated against their religion
and in which the banning played a role. A court in Primorskiy Kray
cited the Moscow ban in reversing a lower court's decision to award
custody of a child to its mother, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. In
August 2004 the judge in a child custody case reportedly wrote to the
Moscow court that ordered the banning of the Witnesses to request a
copy of its decision. In November 2004 the father in a child custody
case referred to the Moscow banning decision as one of the factors
supporting his claim for custody. Some cases were resolved in favor of
the Jehovah's Witnesses mother.
In May 2004 the Civil Law Collegium of the Supreme Court of the
Russian Federation upheld the decision of the Bashkortostan Supreme
Court, which upheld in March 2004 a previous ruling against the local
Church of Scientology Dianetics Center for conducting illegal medical
and educational activities and of ``harming people.'' Officials closed
down the initial Ufa center, but the Scientologists formed a parallel
Dianetics Center, which was operating openly; however, the negative
publicity and the local prosecutor's ongoing investigation led to a
semi-underground existence.
There was no progress in the investigation of the January 2004
explosion in a building belonging to a congregation of unregistered
Baptists (also called ``Initsiativniki'') in Tula. Anonymous threats
caused the Tula Baptist community to believe the explosion was a
terrorist attack, while local law enforcement authorities attributed a
gas leak, although a gas company inspection reported no evidence of a
gas leak. The authorities have long been suspicious of the
Initsiativniki, whose complete refusal to cooperate with the Soviet
authorities led to their split in 1961 from the Union of Evangelical
Christians-Baptists.
Some human rights groups and religious minorities accused the
Procurator General of encouraging legal action against a number of
minority religions and for giving official support to materials that
are biased against Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, the LDS Church, and
others. There were credible reports that supporters of the ROC within
the federal security services and other law enforcement agencies
harassed certain minority religious groups, investigated them for
purported criminal activity and violations of tax laws, and pressured
landlords to renege on contracts. In some cases the security services
were thought to have influenced the MOJ to reject registration
applications.
Forum 18 reported that the FSB had summoned the leadership of an
Old Believers' community in February 2004 to indicate the FSB's
preference for a particular candidate for church leadership who lost
the election. There were no reports of further FSB contact with the
group.
Some religious personnel experienced visa and customs difficulties
while entering or leaving the country, although such problems appeared
to be decreasing for some groups. Authorities either deported or denied
entry to several religious workers with valid visas during the period
covered by this report, such as the January 9, 2006, deportation of the
founder and legal/spiritual advisor of the Unification Church in
Moscow, who may not reapply for a visa for five years, despite having
lived in the country since 1990. During the previous reporting period,
the Forum 18 news service reported that there were fifty-five cases of
foreign religious workers of various religious groups who had been
barred since 1998.
In March 2005 the Government denied entry to high-ranking British
and Danish Salvation Army officials, Major Robert Garrard and Colonel
Karl Lydholm, respectively, who sought to attend a church congress. In
explaining its decision to deny entry, the Moscow city branch of the
federal MVD cited the provision of law under which foreigners may be
denied entry ``in the interests of state security.''
Visa problems appeared to decrease for some groups during the
reporting period. Several groups, including the LDS and Roman Catholic
churches, reported that the FSB issued most of their clergy one-year
visas. Foreign religious workers without residency permits typically
must go abroad once a year to renew their visas, usually back to their
countries of origin; some receive multiple-entry visas or are able to
extend their stays. Since the enactment of the Law on Foreigners and
subsequent amendments that took effect in 2002, some religious workers
reported difficulty in obtaining visas with terms longer than three
months (even if they had previously held visas with one-year validity).
The curtailed validity has led some religious groups to begin shuttling
their missionaries in and out of the country every three months,
presenting a financial and spiritual hardship for such groups.
Missionaries under such restrictions must pay for travel back to their
countries of origin, often not knowing if they may return. As a result,
many missionary groups must find and maintain two workers for every
position if one is to be available for ministry while the other is
outside the country applying for a visa renewal.
Foreign clergy are particularly important for the Roman Catholic
Church in the country, since there are only a relatively small number
of ordained Russian nationals, primarily because the Soviets only
allowed two Catholic parishes and no seminaries to function in Soviet
times. The first local citizens that the church trained as Catholic
priests since the end of the Soviet regime graduated in 1999. At the
end of the reporting period, there were approximately 270 Catholic
priests working in the country, with only 10 percent of them citizens,
and approximately 220 officially registered Catholic parishes.
One of the eight Catholic clergy the Government barred since 1998,
Polish Catholic priest Father Janusz Blaut, to whom authorities refused
a visa in October 2004 after he worked in North Ossetia for ten years,
returned to the republic's capital Vladikavkaz in autumn 2005. Foreign
Catholic clergy in the Krasnodar region now hold one-year visas rather
than three-month visas that authorities issued from mid-2002 to mid-
2004. Another priest denied entry, Polish citizen Father Edward
Mackiewicz, in effect, exchanged his Rostov-on-Don parish with that of
Father Michal Nickowski in western Ukraine, who, as a Ukrainian
citizen, may remain in the country without a visa for up to three
months. Officials granted Father Jerzy Steckiewicz, leader of the
parish in Kaliningrad, a tourist visa valid only for that region,
rather than a religious visa, making it impossible for him to travel in
the rest of the country. Otherwise, Catholic authorities reported a
decrease in visa problems for priests during the period covered by this
report.
Officials annulled the visa of Moscow chief rabbi Pinchas
Goldschmidt in September 2005, denied a visa to South African
Protestant church overseer Hugo Van Niekerk in July 2005, and revoked
the visa of German Lutheran bishop Siegfried Springer in April 2005.
All subsequently received visas and returned.
As was the case for the previous reporting year, the LDS Church
reported few visa problems for their foreign missionaries and that
virtually all of them received one-year, multiple-entry visas. The LDS
Church occasionally had difficulties in securing residency permits for
missionaries but noted this varied from region to region and was not
systemic. There were few reports of religious workers of minority
religious groups having difficulties registering their visas with the
local authorities, as required by law.
In December 2003 the Unification Church reported that it appealed
to the ECHR the Government's 2002 denial of a visa to church member
Patrick Nolan. This case has not yet been ruled on. In 2003, Nolan lost
both a trial court case and an appeal before the Supreme Court.
Missionaries with the Swedish Evangelical Church in Krasnodar, the OMS
Christian organization, the Christian Church in Kostroma, and the
Kostroma ``Family of God'' Pentecostal Church, to whom officials denied
visas in past years, did not return. In some cases, officials denied
visa renewals for those living there for up to nine years.
While most conscripts seeking exemptions from military service
sought medical or student exemptions, the courts provided relief to
some on the grounds of religious conviction. The question of
conscientious objector status arose most frequently with respect to
Jehovah's Witnesses, under the new legal regime which took effect in
spring 2004 governing alternative civilian service (ACS). In February
2006 officials from the Federal Services for Labor and Employment and
the Department for the Organization and Control of Alternative Civilian
Service in Moscow reported that approximately 640 individuals were
performing ACS, 70 percent of whom were Jehovah's Witnesses. The
Witnesses were aware of 192 Jehovah's Witnesses performing ACS. Members
of Jehovah's Witnesses reported that draft commissioners more willingly
appointed them to ACS than in the past, and they did not face the same
pressure to unwillingly perform military service as they did
previously. Since ACS formation, 197 Witnesses have refused it; there
were 37 ongoing cases against Witnesses for avoidance of ACS, and the
courts convicted 41 Witnesses of evasion, and either fined them
(between 100 dollars and 1,000 dollars or approximately 2,700 rubles
and 27,000 rubles, respectively) or sentenced them to perform community
service (up to 210 hours). Jehovah's Witnesses were aware of only two
criminal cases that authorities had instigated against Witnesses for
evasion of military service. At the end of this reporting period,
authorities had imprisoned no Witnesses for failure to perform ACS.
In Bashkortostan, the Supreme Court sustained the refusal of
exemption for Jehovah's Witness Marsel Faizov due to his criminal
background. The ECHR accepted this case in March 2006. The Government
filed its observations on June 27, 2006. Faizov had until September 1,
2006, to provide his reply to the Government's observations. However,
to Jehovah's Witnesses' knowledge the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan
had not reconsidered the case, and it was not clear when it would do
so.
Some religious groups reported problems with religious properties.
In March 2005 a St. Petersburg court dismissed the Witnesses' suit in
litigation since 1999 seeking permission to remodel a building it owned
on Pogranichnika Gar'kavogo Street for use as a prayer center. As of
the end of the reporting period, the Witnesses reported that they were
selling the property and had opened another meeting place.
Although in 2004 authorities in Velikiy Novgorod held a meeting
favorable in its public response to Jehovah's Witnesses' request to
acquire land to construct a lecture hall, the city denied permission,
informing them in April 2005 that the city would not review the denial.
During the reporting period, the local authorities continued to dismiss
the congregation's repeated requests for information on available plots
of land.
Following a March 2004 referendum in Sosnovyy Bor (Leningrad
Oblast), local authorities refused to let a Jehovah's Witnesses
community use land to construct a place of worship. At the end of the
reporting period, the congregation had not been able to obtain
permission from the authorities to build a place of worship and was
using a privately owned building to hold their meetings. On May 5,
2006, Mayskaya Gorka City Circuit in the Arkhangelsk region held a
public meeting to discuss a Jehovah's Witness application for a plot of
land to build a place of worship. A large crowd gathered for the
hearing, including members of political groups and three local ROC
priests. Reports indicate that the atmosphere was hostile, not giving
the representatives of the Witnesses the opportunity to reply to all
the questions, the majority of which were about religious beliefs
rather than plans for the land. The mob chanted ``Down with the sect,''
among other verbal abuses. ROC representatives reportedly made
allegations that Jehovah's Witnesses are forbidden to speak to their
non-Witness relatives and called it a sect that one cannot leave
voluntarily and that destroys families. At the conclusion of the
meeting, those present voted not to provide Jehovah's Witnesses with a
plot of land.
The Jehovah's Witnesses successful attempt to build a Kingdom Hall
in Zlatoust in the Chelyabinsk region is an example of federal
authorities intervening at the local level through the court system.
The local administration provided the Jehovah's Witnesses with a plot
of land, but when construction began in June 2005, local residents
filed complaints with the authorities, and the prosecutor initiated an
administrative case against the Jehovah's Witnesses. Over the next four
months, local city officials claimed the building was unlawful since
the Witnesses did not adequately inform the public of their intentions,
and there was no expert environmental study of the site. Local
authorities felt the Jehovah's Witnesses should destroy the building at
their own expense. Although the Zlatoust prosecutor served the
Jehovah's Witnesses with a warning to cease infringement of the 1997
Law, the Chelyabinsk Regional Arbitration Court decided in favor of
Jehovah's Witnesses.
In January 2006 the Chelyabinsk Region Department of State
Environmental Control produced a site impact conclusion unsupportive of
the Jehovah's Witnesses, prompting them to request a second ecological
expert study. In February 2006 the Chelyabinsk Region Directorate of
the Federal Service for Control of Nature Management's expert
ecological study supported the construction project. Following this
change, the arbitration court continued hearing the case. The city
administration argued that the Kingdom Hall in Zlatoust should be
declared illegal and destroyed and produced a letter from the
Chelyabinsk Region Federal Registration Service (FRS) stating that the
Jehovah's Witnesses had violated the 1997 Law. The court dismissed the
motion as well as the city administration's application to demand
demolition at the expense of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The city
administration did not appeal the decision.
There was no change in the situation during the reporting period
for the LDS Church, whose leaders confirmed press reports that in
August 2004 a local Cossack group organized a protest against plans for
the construction of a meetinghouse in Saratov city. Muslim and ROC
leaders also spoke out against the construction. Although the church
had received construction permits for the project, the city stopped
construction, and did not permit it to resume.
According to a May 2005 article in the Perm newspaper Permskiy
Obozrevatel, in late 2004 the Pentecostal New Testament Church in Perm
purchased the local House of Culture from a private company to house
its social and charitable activities. The purchase provoked
considerable controversy in the area, reportedly encouraged in part by
the local ROC Bishop Irinarkh, a long-time critic of Pentecostals. The
case went to an arbitration court, which ultimately recognized the sale
as legal and valid but did not issue a ruling that would bind the owner
to proceed with the registration. The Pentecostals paid 50 million
rubles ($1,851,851) for the House of Culture and were using it for
their services, but they were not registered as the owners at the end
of the reporting period. According to Pastor Eduard Grabovenko, oblast
administration officials had put pressure on the owner to block
registration. On May 11, 2006, the New Testament Church filed a suit
asking the court to issue an order that would permit property rights
registration without the former owner's cooperation.
In late May 2006 a meeting between Perm Governor Oleg Chirkunov and
the chairman of the Russian Pentecostal Union Sergey Ryakhovskiy
brought no results. However, according to a representative of the
Russian Pentecostal Union, the problem of the building was later
resolved successfully. In April 2006 the Arbitration Court ruled in
favor of the Pentecostal community and ordered the selling party to
complete the building sale; however, the Perm Kray Committee on Culture
appealed, creating at least a month's postponement of the final
decision. As a result of an appeal by some local organizations to
return the House of Culture to the administration in exchange for
another building, the Pentecostal community agreed, and the problem
became one of finding an appropriate new building for them.
In May 2006 the Moscow Arbitration Court decided in favor of the
Charismatic Kingdom of God Church, in a suit that the Federal Property
Agency filed in December 2005 asking the court to obtain on demand its
``illegally occupied'' property in the capital. According to the suit,
the privatized factory, which sold its former social center and sports
hall to the church in December 1997, had no right to do so ``since the
owner of the building...is the Russian Federation.'' In its decision
the court said that the Government had no ownership rights over the
property, that the church possessed a valid state certificate
registering its rights to the property, and that the deadline for legal
challenges--three years from the point of sale--had in any case long
expired.
Contrary to previous reports, the Voronezh Lutheran Community
reported it had been discussing with local ROC representatives the
return of their church building, although it was expected that this
process would take considerable time to complete.
Religious news sources claimed that authorities acting on behalf of
the ROC sometimes prevented Orthodox churches not belonging to the ROC,
including the True Orthodox, from obtaining or maintaining buildings
for worship. In April 2005 the court ordered the Church of St. Olga in
Zheleznovodsk, which the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC)
first registered in 1944 at the same address, transferred to the
authority of the ROC Diocese of Stavropol despite the ROAC
congregation's renovation and reconstruction of the building at the
same site. Cossacks implemented the decision in April 2006, which
forced the ROAC to conduct its Easter service outside while the church
building stood empty of parishioners, since the local community belongs
to the ROAC, not the ROC. The protesting of the church transfer and
informing the international community led to the beating of
Metropolitan Valentine (see the Abuse section) as well as threats to
the ROAC clergy.
On June 2, 2006, media and Hare Krishna representatives reported
that Moscow City authorities approved the allotment of land for the
construction of a Krishna temple. Reports indicated that the promise
was part of a joint statement by the Mayor of Moscow and the Delhi
Chief Minister, who hoped to enhance trade and economic cooperation.
Moscow's estimated 10,000 Hare Krishna devotees shared their temple
with at least 5,000 Indians, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, and Mauritians of
other Hindu denominations. This followed the Moscow authorities' sudden
October 7, 2005, withdrawal of permission for the new temple's
construction. The Hare Krishna community was left, until the recent
accord between the two city governments, using temporary accommodation
on the construction site. Having spent more than $74, 074 (two million
rubles) on the project and approved an architectural design with
considerable difficulty due to its distinctiveness from the surrounding
buildings on Leningradskiy Prospekt, the Hare Krishna devotees
subsequently turned to Moscow's Arbitration Court. The status of the
appeal remained unclear in light of the accord, but while their appeal
was being heard, the community cannot be evicted from the site, even
though Moscow's land committee ordered it to leave in January 2006. In
withdrawing their permission, the city authorities cited paperwork
errors involving the terms of land usage.
Already demolished as part of a municipal building program, the
Hare Krishna community's previous Moscow temple premises were a gift in
1989 as part of the confession's rehabilitation in the late Soviet
period. (In the early 1980s the Soviets incarcerated approximately
fifty of its members in prisons and psychiatric institutions.)
Authorities offered the current site as compensation for the demolition
of the previous temple. They have permission to remain on their current
site until ready to move to the new location. The question of
architecture remained a concern at any site. On November 30, 2005,
Interfax reported that Russian Orthodox Archbishop Nikon (Vasyukov) of
Ufa and Sterlitamak asked Mayor Luzhkov not to allow the construction
of the temple and used disrespectful language about the Hindu religion.
Rinchenling, a 200-strong community following the Dzogchen
tradition within Tibetan Buddhism, lost its Moscow city center premises
in 2004 due to a municipal construction project. Unlike the Hare
Krishna community, city authorities did not offer them compensation, as
there was no provision for it in their 1997 rental contract. In January
2005 Rinchenling also closed its Kunsangar retreat center in Moscow
region. The group's Tibetan teacher, Chogyal Namkai Norbu, had told the
group to sell the retreat center due to the negative influence of local
Orthodox. Rinchenling was planning to set up a retreat center in
Ukraine.
The Unification Church reported difficulties in establishing a
Eurasian Church Center in Moscow to coordinate church activities in the
region. On June 19, 2006, ORT-TV aired a sensational television
program, The Order of Moon: A Special Investigative Report, where the
Government appeared to be laying the groundwork for actions against the
Church. This follows security services' actions against the founder of
the Moscow congregation and legal and spiritual advisor, a U.S. citizen
living in Moscow since 1990. On December 31, 2005, the main immigration
office summoned him and gave him ten days to leave the country, banning
his reapplication for five years. The FSB reportedly sent eight men to
watch him during the remaining time, preventing him taking the actions
necessary to remain in the country and escorting him onto the plane on
January 9, 2006. The Church planned to construct the center on property
owned by an NGO affiliated with the Reverend Moon. In April 2005 a
local prosecutor ordered church officials to turn over for inspection
documents relating to the property after the local administration
received complaints from local citizens that a ``totalitarian sect''
was using the building. Eight police officers reportedly visited the
property the next day in order to ``investigate criminal activity.''
According to Forum 18, in January 2006 the Evangelical Christian
Missionary Union, which embraces fifty-four registered churches
throughout the southern part of the country, reported that the
municipal authorities in the town of Tikhoretsk (Krasnodar Kray) had
refused to renew a rental contract with its congregation there. The
150-strong Path to God Church had rented its basement premises for the
previous seven years and renovated them, according to the Union, but
was unable to find alternative premises in the town and thus to meet as
a single congregation.
Protestants in Voronezh and elsewhere often suspected local
Orthodox clergy to be instrumental in blocking their construction
plans. They cited as an example Saratov's construction committee's
refusal to grant the Word of Life Pentecostal Church permission to
advertise its presence on the outside wall of its own premises. In a
letter dated May 4, 2005, chief architect Vladimir Virich confirmed as
much, referring to an April 19, 2005, letter from the Saratov diocese
of the Russian Orthodox Church and indicating that the Architectural
Committee could not agree to the sign because of the letter.
State authorities gave Muslims meeting at Mosque Number 34 on the
outskirts of Astrakhan until May 1, 2006, the option to demolish their
worship building themselves or face its destruction, after the
Astrakhan Oblast Court denied an April 17, 2006, appeal to suspend the
demolition of the mosque for three months. At the end of the reporting
period, the mosque remained standing. The congregation had already lost
a previous March 1 Astrakhan Oblast Court appeal against a January 23,
2006, decision in which Astrakhan's Soviet District Court agreed with
the municipal administration that authorities should remove the
mosque--a disused silage tower and two-storey annex on the road to the
city's airport--as it qualified as ``unauthorized construction.''
The mosque congregation purchased the 6,450 square-foot site in
1998, and Astrakhan authorities gave them permission to carry out the
preliminary construction work of a new mosque building during the first
half of 2001. However, the court noted that they did not start until
almost four years later, and that the Muslim community's refurbishment
and extension of the disused silage tower was not on the construction
plan the city's architectural department approved. The court also ruled
that they must remove the currently existing construction work for the
new mosque, begun in 2005 after the community had collected sufficient
funds.
Muslim sources were skeptical about the reasons given for the
demolition order. Their situation abruptly changed, they claim,
following a visit by President Putin to Astrakhan in August 2005, when
he reportedly remarked to the regional governor and mayor that they had
not chosen a good place for a mosque. When authorities denied them
permission to hold a February 20 demonstration outside Astrakhan's
municipal administration building, Muslim activists gathered morse than
1,000 signatures protesting the demolition order. They intended to
appeal to the supreme court, although it was not heard before the May 1
deadline. Per the Sova Center, a human rights NGO, the court ruling to
demolish the mosque had not been executed as of June 30, 2006.
Citizens in Kaliningrad protested against the construction of a
mosque, which the local Muslim community had been requesting since
1993. The ROC was involved in the talks to allow construction. While he
claimed not to be against the mosque's construction, the local ROC
bishop insisted that a small mosque rather than a large Muslim cultural
center should be built in the suburbs, proportional to the small number
of Muslims living in Kaliningrad. The Sova Center reported that as of
August 17, 2005, the Commission on Economic Policy and Municipal
Property of the Kaliningrad City Council allowed the Kaliningrad Muslim
organization to use several buildings free of charge. The Muslims
planned to open a mosque there.
The NGO Sova Center reported at the end of the reporting period
that the Vladimir Muslim community still was not able to obtain public
land to build a mosque. In 2004, despite interference from the Vladimir
city authorities, the congregation constructed a mosque on private land
near a house that community members bought and used as a temporary
prayer house. The mosque was called a community house and was used by
the local community of Muslims even though it did not have room for all
25,000 members. The authorities had not met the request for a land spot
for a mosque, but the negotiations were continuing.
The mayor's office continued to deny authorization to Muslims in
the Krasnodar Kray to build a new mosque in the city of Sochi, even
though the organization's current rented premises barely accommodated
the approximately thirty members who attended Friday prayers. According
to Sova, officials allotted land several times but did not authorize
construction because of technical problems, or they ultimately sold the
land to other people. According to the Krasnodar Kray Department for
Relations with Public Associations and Religious Organizations and
Monitoring of Migration Processes, authorities can allocate land for a
mosque only after a public opinion survey indicates that the proposed
location would not cause a ``conflict situation.''
Restitution of religious property seized by the Communist
government remained an issue. Although authorities have returned many
properties used for religious services, including churches, synagogues,
and mosques, all four traditional religions continued to pursue
restitution cases.
The ROC appeared to have had greater success reclaiming
prerevolutionary property than other groups, although it still had
disputed property claims. The ROC had a number of restitution claims in
Yekaterinburg. According to the ROC diocese spokesman, the ROC does not
lay claim to the 1905 Square but it would like to see the Orthodox
cathedral that once stood there rebuilt. The issue was not discussed
because the ROC understood how complicated and costly it would be to
pull down the existing structures to make room for a cathedral.
Property claims are a complicated subject, according to the ROC
spokesman, since there was no separation between church and state
before the revolution. Most of the Orthodox church buildings in
Sverdlovsk Oblast that were returned to the ROC were not considered ROC
property; the ROC had no property rights to them and is only entitled
to use these buildings, so that, at least theoretically, it could be
evicted. The ROC fully owned only newly built churches.
In fact, the very historical importance of a building can impede
its return to previous owners, as the Government views many
prerevolutionary buildings as cultural treasures and runs them as
museums, such as the Kremlin cathedrals, St. Petersburg's Peter and
Paul Cathedral, and most of Novgorod's medieval churches. Since 1995
the Ministry of Culture has determined which historical and cultural
monuments religious organizations must share with the state.
The Moscow City Duma passed a law in March 2004 returning
approximately $27,500 (approximately 742,500 rubles) to the ROC as
retroactive property tax benefits.
Forum 18 reported that an Old Believer community in Samara was
still struggling to obtain restitution of a prerevolutionary church.
Municipal officials told the community that it should first ascertain
the position of the ROC on restitution. In April 2006, for the first
time in seventy-five years, the community celebrated Easter in the
church, even though the municipality had not yet officially returned
the church to the community.
The Roman Catholic Community reported forty-four disputed
properties, most of which they would use for religious services. The
Catholic Church was not successful in achieving restitution of the
Saint Peter and Saint Paul Cathedral in Moscow. The office of an oil
company occupied the cathedral, and the Catholic parish met in a former
disco hall because it did not expect the company to vacate the
premises. According to the Catholic Church, it was making progress
towards building a new church in Moscow to replace the Saint Peter and
Saint Paul Cathedral. In Vologda, Catholic authorities had not
succeeded in--and did not anticipate--achieving restitution of a
prerevolutionary church that housed a restaurant. In 2005 the local
authorities in Tula returned a building to the local Catholic parish.
According to a March 2004 statement from the Council of Muslim
Religious Organizations in Stavropol City, the region's arbitration
court finally refused to hear a case set to decide the issue of whether
or not federal authorities could require Stavropol authorities to
return a mosque that had been converted to a city art gallery back to
the Muslim community--after seven months of preliminary deliberations--
on the grounds that it was ``outside its competency.'' The fact that
authorities lack of action forced the local Muslim community to file
suit with the court in the first place, explains the statement, because
the Stavropol Kray authorities repeatedly refused to acknowledge
receipt of a 1999 instruction from the federal Ministries of Culture
and State Property demanding the return of the former mosque to local
Muslims.
Muslims in Beslan have appealed to the Presidential Council for
Cooperation with Religious Associations to return an historic mosque to
the Muslim community. The Cathedral Mosque, built in 1906 by the decree
of Tsar Nicholas II, was occupied by a vodka-bottling plant and a
bottle washing shop, and was soon to be modified to accommodate a car
wash. The North Ossetian administration alleged that there was nowhere
to move the plant, but the republic's Muslim Council stated that
locating a factory in a mosque was illegal and that there were several
facilities in the town to accommodate the factory.
The Jewish community was still seeking the return of a number of
synagogues and cultural and religious artifacts. The FJC reported that
federal officials had been cooperative in the community's efforts to
seek restitution of former synagogues, as had some regional officials,
although some Jews asserted that the Russian Federation has returned
only a small portion of the total properties the Soviets confiscated
under Soviet rule. In December 2004 the mayor of Sochi gave the Jewish
community a parcel of land on which to construct a synagogue and
community center to replace the small structure in use. According to
the chief rabbi of Sochi Arye Edelcopf, the community was collecting
money for the construction of the synagogue which was to begin within a
few months. Chabad Lubavitch still sought return of the Schneerson
Collection, revered religious books and documents of the Lubavitcher
rebbes.
Some local governments prevented religious groups from using venues
suitable for large gatherings such as cinemas and government
facilities. In Arkhangelsk, Jehovah's Witnesses originally signed a
contract to use premises, from August 5-7, 2005, belonging to the
Rossiya Physical Education and Sports Trade Union Society for a large
congress, but received notice from the society's director three days
before the congress was to take place that the building would not be
available due to an incomplete sewage system. Failing to win an
arbitration court challenge to this unilateral cancellation of the
contract, the Jehovah's Witnesses then signed two further contracts
with smaller venues, but the director of one cancelled the agreement
later the same day.
On August 3, 2005, two days before the Jehovah's Witnesses'
congress, Arkhangelsk-based weekly newspaper Pravda Severo-Zapada ran
an article detailing last year's court ban on the Moscow community of
Jehovah's Witnesses and likening the organization to Aum Sinrikyo, the
Japanese religious group convicted of releasing nerve gas into Tokyo's
underground system in 1995. The newspaper labeled the ideology
totalitarian and called for an investigation by the FSB.
When the Jehovah's Witnesses' congress commenced on August 5, 2005
at the third venue, the Solombala Arts Center, the police demanded that
all 714 delegates leave the building because of an alleged terrorist
threat. Subsequently, a fire inspector drew up an official order
closing the building. As a result, the Witnesses reduced the three-day
program to a partial one-day session held on August 5, 2005. Jehovah's
Witnesses filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office to open a
criminal case against those responsible for the breakup of the
convention; however, the prosecutor's office dismissed the complaint.
Officials also significantly disrupted two other Jehovah's
Witnesses' regional congresses during the reporting period in the
southern Urals city of Orenburg, where a conference was scheduled for
August 12-14, 2005 and in Kokhma (Ivanovo region) for a July 22-24,
2005 congress in Rekord Stadium.
A Jehovah's Witnesses' convention planned for July 8-10, 2005 in
Yekaterinburg with the participation of more than 5,000 Witnesses did
not take place because of the reported July 4, 2005 intervention of an
Orthodox priest who wrote a letter to the owner of the stadium
demanding that the convention not proceed. On July 7 the director of
the stadium claimed repair work should proceed instead and canceled the
contract. Jehovah's Witnesses attempted to resolve the crisis by
contacting officials, including filing a claim with the Yekaterinburg
Prosecutor's Office to initiate a criminal case against the priest for
disrupting the lawful activity of a religious organization. On August
31, Jehovah's Witnesses sent an inquiry on the results of the
investigation to the prosecutor's office, which on September 14, 2005,
replied that the investigation was still ongoing. Nevertheless, the
Witnesses' Easter observances in Yekaterinburg on April 12, 2006,
proceeded without official or community disruption for the first time
in many years.
The Church of Scientology reported that it sometimes had
difficulties getting permits for large events in Moscow.
The Caucasian Knot website reported in March 2006 that law
enforcement officials in Kabardino-Balkaria continued to monitor
children in schools who displayed observant Muslim customs, after the
phrase ``Jihad is freedom'' appeared on the wall in a Nalchik school.
Reportedly they kept lists of students who said Muslim prayers, had
Muslim middle names, or who sent clips with Islamic themes through
their mobile phones.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On October 13, 2005, following ROAC complaints about the awarding
of St. Olga's Church to the ROC, three armed men broke into the home of
Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir, the head of the ROAC.
The attack was obviously well planned and timed to take advantage of a
short period when he was alone. The attackers knocked him unconscious
and beat him severely, particularly on his feet, from which they
removed the bandages to inflict more harm because of his diabetic
condition. The men rolled him up in a rug to be carried out of the
house, but the unexpected arrival of another cleric surprised the
attackers and they dropped the Metropolitan. He spent six months in the
hospital recovering from injuries sustained and the amputation of part
of his foot. The FSB reportedly interrogated and threatened several
ROAC clergy and members following this incident.
In April 2005, a group of masked paramilitary troops stormed the
Work of Faith Church in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, during an evening worship
service, led worshippers outside and searched them without a search
warrant; the troops threatened some of the women with rape and detained
forty-six persons some for as long as twenty four hours. In response to
several complaints (and international attention), local authorities
conducted an investigation of the Izhevsk incident. They said their
investigation uncovered that the police had committed some procedural
irregularities while the detainees were in custody, that officials had
given a warning to the district police chief because of the
irregularities, had reprimanded two other police officials, and opened
a criminal investigation into the allegation that the police beat one
of the detainees. Officials dropped administrative charges against
most, if not all, of the detainees.
On the evening of April 12, 2006, the Lyublino Police Department of
Moscow disrupted a religious meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses. The
commemoration of the death of Christ, also known as the Lord's Evening
Meal, is the most important religious observance for Jehovah's
Witnesses. The chief of the Lyublino Police Department, Yevgeniy
Kulikov, ordered the congregation to disperse. According to Jehovah's
Witnesses, police detained fourteen male leaders of the congregation,
taking their passports. Armed officers of the Special Police Forces
(OMON) took them to the Lyublino police station where police
interrogated them for up to four hours before releasing them at one-
thirty a.m. Police refused to provide them with written reasons for
their detention and reportedly not only physically assaulted their
attorney when he went to the police station to assist them but also
threatened him at knife-point not to file a complaint. Both the police
and Jehovah's Witnesses filed complaints with the prosecutor's office.
The Jehovah's Witnesses also filed a court action, and officials set
the hearing for May 2006. After several adjournments, on June 15, 2006,
the judge finally ruled that the detention of the plaintiffs was
unlawful, but dismissed the remainder of the claim, failing to find
unlawful the fact that police had disrupted the religious service. The
decision referred to the absence of the permission of the authorities
to carry out the meeting, in accordance with the Federal Law on
Assemblies, Rallies, Processions, Demonstrations, and Pickets.
Jehovah's Witnesses filed an appeal on June 30 with the Moscow City
Court because the law does not apply to religious groups or
associations.
Of the 23 different locations in Moscow used by some 17,000 of
Jehovah's Witnesses to commemorate the death of Christ, the Lyublino
District was the only place where the observance was disrupted by
police intervention. Similar services were held throughout the country
without interference. In 2005 the total number who attended services
was approximately 267,000.
In early April 2006 persons repeatedly vandalized the Kingdom Hall
and its surrounding property in Kamyshin in the Volgograd region.
Police did not take any action, saying that the acts did not constitute
a crime. In November 2005, unidentified persons fired thirty shots into
the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Voskresensk, but hit no one.
Police opened a criminal case but closed it on January 31, 2006,
because they could not identify the perpetrators.
In August 2004, the Khabarovsk newspaper Amurskiy Meridian reported
that in March of that year police in Khabarovsk detained and beat
Sergey Sofrin, a local Jewish businessman, repeatedly insulting him
with religious epithets. At the end of the reporting period, contacts
at the newspaper reported that although officials conducted an
investigation of the incident, they had not disciplined the police
involved yet.
Authorities periodically arrested suspected members of the banned
Islamic political movement, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), on the grounds that
they conducted extremist and terrorist activities. In April 2006 a
Moscow court convicted Sardorbek Siddikov and sentenced him to one year
in jail for membership in HT. On September 8, 2005, the city court of
Nizhnevartovsk, gave a four-year suspended prison term to Eduard
Khusainov, who was believed to have headed the local HT group.
Officials reportedly found extremist propaganda in his apartment.
Khusainov was charged with organizing the activities of an extremist
organization and with ``involving others in committing terrorist crimes
or otherwise abetting such crimes.''
On October 3, 2005, the Tobolsk Court found nine members of the
local HT branch guilty on all charges of extremism brought against
them. Three of the accused--local leaders Marat Saybatalov, Dmitriy
Petrichenko, and Rail Valitov--were sentenced to prison terms ranging
from five and one-half to six years. Other members were sentenced to
various terms from twelve months to five and one-half years.
According to Sova, police broke up an HT group in Chelyabinsk in
March 2005 and detained one of its members, Rinat Galiullin. The
criminal case against Rinat Galiullin was initiated on March 15, 2005.
He was arrested and tried in September-November 2005. The court passed
a verdict of a one-year suspended sentence. Also, Galiullin won a suit
against a local newspaper for spreading information alleging that he
had been plotting a riot, stockpiled weapons, and encouraged people to
sign a contract with Al Qaeda. The HT group, to which Galiullin
allegedly belonged, was not found. Sova also reported that since
December 2004, the authorities in Tatarstan initiated criminal cases on
charges of extremism and terrorism against alleged members of radical
organizations, including HT and Islamic Jamaat. According to Sova, the
Islamic Jamaat case was being heard in court in Tatarstan. Authorities
charged twenty-three persons. The preliminary investigation was over,
and five young men were being tried in court. Later, a trial for other
members will take place. Among the charges are murder and planning
hostile activities. In the authorities' case against the seven alleged
HT members, the investigation cleared one of them, but the other six
remain untried. In May 2005 authorities also brought to trial for
alleged HT membership the two individuals who police in Izhevsk
detained in December 2004. In June 2005, they were convicted each to
one year of parole. At the end of the reporting period, the courts had
convicted forty-six Muslims, twenty-nine of whom were in prison, for
membership in Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
On March 31, 2006, Adygeia militia reportedly detained Muslims on
their way to Friday prayer at the mosque in the nearby village of New
Adygeia. According to news service IA Regnum, before the start of
midday prayers, Special Forces of the Adygeia MVD blocked all entrances
and exits to the village. The action was carried out by the local MVD
office for fighting organized crime together with a group from the FSB.
Muslims in Adygeia suspected that Special Forces had a list of Muslims
planning to pray in this mosque that included their license plates. One
resident reported that only Muslims were stopped in their vehicles by
road blocks and apprehended; those who tried to leave their cars were
intimidated, and none of them were able to attend prayer. Another
source reported that Special Forces threatened to break the legs of
those who tried to leave their cars and walk to the mosque.
In Dagestan in March 2006, journalists reported that soldiers
desecrated a copy of the Qur'an while searching the house of a killed
militant.
The NGO Memorial reported government harassment of Muslims in
Adygeia starting in summer 2005. Hostile actions reported included
seizing religious literature from citizens. In one example from
December 29, 2005, authorities claimed that the seizure of six books
from one young Muslim was connected to the proceedings against former
imam of the Adygeia mosque Nedzhmedin Abazia for ``propaganda on the
inferiority of citizens signaled by their relations with Hinduism,
Christianity, and non-Wahabbist forms of Islam.'' Authorities
questioned approximately ten persons in Adygeia in connection with this
case.
On October 22, 2005, in Maykop, Adygeia Republic, police officers
allegedly assaulted and apprehended a group of young Muslims, including
the Maykop mosque's imam, as they were leaving a mosque. The imam
reported that masked policemen dragged the group to minibuses and took
them to the Interior Ministry's Anti-Organized Crime Department, where
policemen beat and questioned them about why there were wearing beards
and observing Islamic norms of hygiene. After a night in prison,
officials took them before a judge who ordered their immediate release.
On October 13, 2005, gunman attacked police and military facilities
in Nalchik, the capital of the southern republic of Kabardino-Balkaria
in the North Caucasus. The attack appeared to have been the result of a
combination of pressure by local authorities on independent mosques
(closure of thirty-nine of forty-six local mosques), rampant
corruption, and attempts by Chechen separatists to expand their war
against the Government. It was known that nearly all of the several
hundred militants killed during the violence were young untrained
Muslims protesting the local Ministry of Internal Affairs' closure of
mosques. Government officials said they arrested more than sixty
persons on suspicion of participating in the October raids on Nalchik.
Human rights groups, in turn, claimed the number of detainees was
higher and that most of them were not responsible for the unrest. Some
sources believed that several hundred fighters were killed and that the
authorities had not returned to families the corpses of these fighters.
Human rights groups claimed that following the 2004 hostage-taking
in Beslan, police stepped up activity in the North Caucasus.
Authorities allegedly have charged with extremism increasing numbers of
Muslims, both Russian citizens and citizens of the predominately Muslim
states bordering Russia. Memorial described twenty-three cases
involving more than eighty individuals charged with extremism as
``trumped-up.'' Of these, the NGO Memorial reported, eighteen resulted
in verdicts, only one of which was an acquittal. Some observers said
that police harassment of Muslim clerics and alleged militants in the
Republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, including torture and the closure of
all but one of Nalchik's mosques during the reporting period, were part
of the reason for the October 13, 2005 rebel attack on Nalchik.
According to the Sova Center, on April 19, 2005, nine female
students were arrested during their regular reading of the Qur'an in a
classroom at Kabardino-Balkariya State University. Authorities told the
students when arresting them that wearing the hijab and group studying
of the Qur'an violated university statutes. Police brought them to
Nalchik city militia headquarters, searched, interrogated, and detained
them for about eight hours. The same source claimed that police had
detained some Muslims in Moscow mosques prior to the March 2004
elections.
There were occasional reports of short-term police detentions of
non-Muslim believers on religious grounds, but such incidents were
generally resolved quickly. For example, local police frequently
detained missionaries for brief periods throughout the country or asked
them to cease their activities, such as displaying signboards,
regardless of whether they were actually in violation of local statutes
on picketing. During the reporting period, the Jehovah's Witnesses in
particular reported approximately fifty-five recorded incidents,
twenty-one of which took place in Moscow, in which authorities briefly
detained their members or other citizens while conducting lawful
preaching activities.
After months of demonstrations, arrests, court hearings, and time
spent in jail in June 2005, Pastor Purshaga and members of Emmanuel
Pentecostal Church in Moscow District won the right to rent land to use
for a prayer house and church office building. At the end of the
reporting period, authorities had not decided about another piece of
land at issue.
In September 2004, an Initsiativniki prayer house in Lyubuchany,
Chekhov District, Moscow Oblast, burned down. In the summer preceding
the fire, security agencies, including local police and FSB officers,
intimidated several thousand participants at an open-air gathering
sponsored by the church. Press reports claimed that eyewitnesses placed
some of the same law enforcement personnel at the church site in
September minutes before the fire broke out. Although the official
investigation attributed the fire to arson, authorities had charged no
one in the incident by the end of the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country; however, there were increasing NGO reports of short-term
detentions, especially in the North Caucasus.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
Anti-Semitism
Explicit, racially motivated violent attacks against Jews were
fairly rare in the context of rapidly growing racist violence in the
country, especially perpetrated by skinheads targeting identifiable
ethnic groups. There were a series of attacks around a Moscow synagogue
in Maryina Roscha in the winter of 2004-2005. In particular, the
attackers beat Rabbi Alexander Lakshin. Following the attack against
the rabbi, police promptly found the perpetrators; they were prosecuted
and convicted, and attacks against Jews in the neighborhood stopped.
There were three known explicit anti-Semitic violent attacks and four
incidents of public insults and threats in 2005, which was down from
2004.
A notable exception was on January 11, 2006, in Moscow, when
twenty-year-old Alexander Koptsev attacked worshipers in the Chabad
synagogue with a knife, wounding eight people--among them citizens of
Russia, Israel, Tajikistan, and the United States. On March 27, 2006,
the Moscow City Court sentenced Koptsev to thirteen years'
imprisonment, ordering him to undergo mandatory psychiatric treatment.
The court dropped the charges of provoking interethnic hatred but left
the charge of attempted murder of two or more persons for reasons of
ethnic enmity. The lawyers of the victims filed an appeal since the
prosecutor had dropped the charges of inciting ethnic hate; Koptsev's
lawyers also filed an appeal due to his mental illness and the fact
that none of the victims were killed or disabled. On June 20, 2006, the
Supreme Court overturned the verdict on the grounds that the charges
had not referred to the incitement of racial and religious hatred and
ordered a new trial in a different court. Both President Putin and
Foreign Minister Lavrov publicly condemned this attack.
On January 13, 2006, a local student made a copy-cat attack on a
synagogue in Rostov-on-Don. He entered the synagogue attempting to
attack worshippers, but security guards stopped him before he could
harm anyone. Although authorities charged him with hooliganism, the
court declared him mentally unfit to stand trial. On June 9, 2006, a
court in Rostov-on-Don ruled that he undergo psychiatric treatment.
According to the NGO Moscow Bureau of Human Rights (MBHR), the
ultranationalist and anti-Semitic Russian National Unity (RNE)
paramilitary organization continued to propagate hostility toward Jews
and non-Orthodox Christians. The RNE appeared to have lost political
influence in some regions since its peak in 1998, but the organization
maintained high levels of activity in other regions, such as Voronezh.
Sova Center noted in its 2005 report that RNE activities had been
mostly reduced to picketing and distributing leaflets.
On November 6, 2005, Basmannyy District Court of Moscow convicted
an RNE activist for propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi
attributes and symbols and sentenced him to five days of detention
under the Administrative Code. Officials detained the activist on
November 4, 2005 among twelve RNE members who participated in a so-
called ``Right March.''
According to an FJC report published in June 2005, a court in
Velikiy Novgorod convicted three RNE members of inciting ethnic and
religious hatred, and sentenced the leader of the RNE cell to four
years in prison, and two others to two and three years. According to
the Sova Center, in April 2005, authorities convicted two RNE members
from Bryansk Oblast and gave them suspended sentences on charges of
inciting racial hatred after distributing RNE leaflets and videos in
Orel. After authorities announced the verdict, RNE activities in Orel
noticeably intensified, and over thirty RNE members held a picket the
day the verdict was announced, with RNE members from Bryansk, Moscow
Region, and Belgorod coming to support their ``comrades.'' On May 8,
2005 three RNE members distributed nationalistic leaflets in downtown
Orel.
In October 2005 the MOJ registered the interregional social
movement National Sovereign Way of Russia (NDPR). The organization is
the successor of the National Sovereign Party of Russia (which has not
been able to register as a political party) and preserved its
abbreviation NDPR as well as the party's anti-Semitic, nationalistic
ideology. In 2005 officials denied the St. Petersburg branch
registration, although the organization tried to get registration based
on the same documents as the Moscow branch.
Some NDPR branches in regions participated in official events that
the local authorities organized. For instance, NDPR participated in a
May 1, 2006 communist meeting in Moscow. NDPR also participated in May
1, 2006 events in St. Petersburg. In the summer of 2005, in St.
Petersburg, NDPR participated in the events of the local legislative
assembly twice. On July 19, 2005, the Altay NDPR branch participated in
a rally of local trade unions and distributed its leaflets, although
local authorities in attendance tried to halt it; local TV broadcast
the event. At a small February 2005 rally in Moscow, NDPR members
distributed anti-Semitic publications and engaged in anti-Semitic hate
speech, and in 2004, activists distributed their newspaper and leaflets
in downtown Kostroma.
The primary targets of skinheads were foreigners and individuals
from the North Caucasus, but they expressed anti-Muslim and anti-
Semitic sentiments as well.
The MBHR estimated more than 50,000 skinheads and 15,000 members of
extremist organizations were acting in the country, who engage in
approximately 300 incidents on ethnic hate grounds take place annually.
However, in recent years there were at most only five indictments
annually. MBHR reported that during the period from January to May
2006, officials registered over 100 skinhead attacks, killing 17 people
and injuring approximately 130. No statistics on the number of
skinheads in particular towns was available, but according to MBHR,
among the cities where skinheads were especially active in 2006, were
Moscow, St.Petersburg, Kostroma, Volzhsk, Voronezh Oblast, Tula Oblast,
Cheboksary, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Elista, Kaluga,
Nizhniy Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Ryazan, and Surgut. Authorities
combined thirteen criminal cases of ethnic-extremist motivation that
took place in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast from 2003-2006 into
one case for trial. MBHR noted that the skinhead movement continues to
expand, spreading from major regional centers to small towns and
settlements. In December 2005 skinheads appeared in the small
settlement of Chagoda, Vologda region.
In connection with the April 2004 attack in Voronezh on human
rights activist and anti-Semitism monitor Aleksey Kozlov, the Anti-
Defamation League (ADL) reported that authorities arrested two young
skinheads shortly thereafter and treated the attack as a misdemeanor
unworthy of prosecution and closed the case. At least two
demonstrations took place in Moscow on February 23, 2006, the Defenders
of the Fatherland holiday. Participants displayed racist placards with
slogans such as ``Russia for ethnic Russians'' and chanted racist
slogans. According to reports, prominent members and leaders of the
Rodina and Communist political parties participated in one of the
demonstrations. Authorities gave administrative sanctions (fines and up
to five days' administrative arrest for carrying a flag with a
swastika) to the organizers of the march and a few participants
belonging to RNE; officials did not charge anyone with incitement to
racial hatred under Article 282 of the Criminal Code in connection with
the march. In response to an appeal by the Moscow Anti-Fascist Center
NGO, a court ruled on April 11, 2006, that the organizers had not
violated any criminal laws.
On November 4, 2005, the Day of National Unity, in Moscow, the
Movement against Illegal Immigration and other organizations organized
a march of approximately one thousand persons, with openly racist
slogans against migrants and Jews, entitled ``Russia against the
Occupiers.''
Vandals desecrated Jewish cemeteries during the reporting period.
Officials reported desecration in Omsk (April 15, 2006), the settlement
of Khokhryaki near Izhevsk (November 2005), and Kostroma (October
2005). On October 16, 2005, vandals toppled and broke at least fifty
tombstones, and on October 6, 2005, vandals desecrated approximately
seventy Jewish graves in St. Petersburg. Vandals also desecrated graves
in Velikiye Luki (September 20, 2005), Tambov (August 29 and August 31,
2005), and Tver (August 6, 2005). Earlier in 2005, vandals desecrated
Jewish cemeteries in Kazan, Moscow, Saratov, Petrozavodsk, Makhachkala,
Irkutsk, and St. Petersburg. In late May 2005, vandals painted
swastikas on twenty-six Jewish tombstones in the Jewish section of
Kazan's Arskoye Cemetery. The FJC reported that the authorities were
investigating the incident as a hate crime and the Kazan City Council
issued a statement condemning the attack. In May 2005 vandals
desecrated Jewish graves at the Vostryakovskoye Cemetery, near Moscow;
the case was being treated as a hate crime rather than simple
``hooliganism.'' The Jewish cemetery in Petrozavodsk was vandalized at
least three times in 2004; a criminal investigation failed to identify
the perpetrators.
One of the most large-scale desecrations occurred in St. Petersburg
in December 2004, when vandals damaged approximately one-hundred graves
at the St. Petersburg Preobrazhenskoye (Jewish) Cemetery. In the
aftermath of the desecration, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina
Matviyenko met with the city's Chief Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Pewsner, and
promised a serious investigation of the crime. Officials arrested
members of a gang but reportedly, since its members were minors, the
case was either dropped or the perpetrators received insignificant
punishment.
Sometimes authorities prosecuted the perpetrators as in January
2005, when a court in Velikiy Novgorod issued a three-year prison term
for planting a fake explosive device near the city's synagogue in 2003,
and when authorities sentenced two adults and one minor to two years'
probation for a 2004 desecration in Kaluga Kray.
Vandals desecrated several synagogues and Jewish community centers
during the reporting period. In June 2006, officials reported that a
man entered a Jewish cultural center in the Urals city of
Yekaterinburg, and stabbed the door of the synagogue ten times with a
knife. Security guards caught him and had police arrest him. According
to a report from the UCSJ, a May 18, 2006, article in the local
newspaper ``Saratovskaya Oblastnaya Gazeta'' reported that the courts
sentenced a 20-year-old man with a two-year suspended sentence for
painting swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the walls of the Saratov
Jewish center to which he had confessed when police caught him doing
the same thing to a parked car. Unknown assailants have also thrown
rocks at the center and its occupants through the windows. Local police
allegedly ignored the Jewish community's complaints until the swastika-
painting incident.
In April 2006, at the Orenburg synagogue, a group of young men
threw stones, kicked the synagogue doors, shouted anti-Semitic slogans,
and hit windows with a metal bar. Police detained a fifteen-year-old
boy near the synagogue, while others escaped. Officials opened criminal
proceedings on charges of hooliganism, not extremism, but since the boy
was a minor, he could not face criminal punishment. In March 2006
vandals used paint to draw a swastika on the fence in front of the main
entrance of the Jewish community center and the region's first
synagogue under construction in Lipetsk. Vandals painted anti-Semitic
insults and swastikas on the walls of synagogues in Borovichy (October
5, 2005) and Nizhniy Novgorod (September 5, 2005) similar to incidents
in Vladimir (June 3, 2005).
In March 2006 a youth again vandalized the Jewish center in Penza,
breaking one of its windows with a brick. Vandals had attacked this
building and the Jewish center in Taganrog on a number of previous
occasions in 2005 and 2004. In October 2004, congregants stopped a
group of skinheads from entering the synagogue in Penza. Later that
day, approximately forty people armed with chains and iron clubs
approached the synagogue. Worshipers locked themselves inside and
called the police who detained two or three of the perpetrators and
forced them to repair the damage.
These incidents are similar to those reported for earlier reporting
periods in Samara, Syktyvkar (Komi Republic), Petrozavodsk (Republic of
Karelia) in March 2005 and Perovo, Moscow Oblast, in February 2005; in
2004 in Baltiisk, Kaliningrad Oblast, and in the city of Kaliningrad.
In November 2004, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, unknown
individuals scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on the headquarters of the
Moscow-based ``Holocaust Foundation.''
In May 2005 a fire which authorities considered a case of arson
destroyed the historic synagogue of Malakhovka in the outskirts of
Moscow. Several days earlier, there had been a burglary at the
synagogue. The FJC reported that officials suspected the same persons
of both crimes and raised the possibility that they may have set the
synagogue fire to destroy evidence related to the burglary, rather than
as a hate crime. Authorities detained the main suspect, Andrei
Terekhov, on May 14 after he broke into a Christian church in
Malakhovka. On December 5, 2005, the trial started; the court
ultimately convicted him of setting the fire in order to cover evidence
of his robbery and sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine.
The Malakhovka Jewish community was preparing to build a community
center and a new synagogue at the same location. While the court
required Terekhov to compensate for the arson, it was unlikely that he
would be able to make any financial contribution.
The Jewish community center in the Moscow suburb of Saltykovka was
hit by arson in January and February 2005. Investigators caught the man
who set the arson fire; he denied being an anti-Semite and said that he
could not explain his motivation for the arson. The prosecutors found
no criminal substance in his actions and closed the case. Vandals
desecrated the synagogue in the Perovo district of Moscow in January
2005 and again in February 2005.
Authorities arrested two students for posting Nazi posters in
Petrozavodsk in April 2005, on the anniversary of Hitler's birthday.
Reports indicate that the court punished them in accordance with the
administrative code.
There were no developments in the 2004 cases of the beating of
Ulyanovsk Jewish youth leader Aleksandr Golynsky and the skinhead
vandalism of the Ulyanovsk Jewish Center. The FJC reported that the
police released the suspects that community members had detained and
delivered to them. There also were no developments in connection with
the 2004 attack on the synagogue in Chelyabinsk.
A number of small, radical-nationalist newspapers that print anti-
Semitic, anti-Muslim, and xenophobic articles, many of which appear to
violate the law against extremism, were readily available throughout
the country. Although the production of this illegal material
continued, authorities generally did not prosecute the publishers,
although there were some noted recent exceptions described below. The
estimated number of xenophobic publications exceeded one hundred; local
chapters of the NDPR sponsored many of them. The larger anti-Semitic
publications, such as Russkaya Pravda, Vityaz, and Peresvet, were
easily available in many Moscow metro stations. Some NGOs claimed that
the same local authorities that refused to take action against
offenders owned or managed many of these publications. In addition,
there were at least eighty websites in the country dedicated to
distributing anti-Semitic propaganda.
On April, 4, 2006, St. Petersburg prosecutor Sergey Zaitsev
rescinded the decision of his deputy, Alexandr Korsunov, who refused to
prosecute the Rus Pravoslanaya (Orthodox Russia) editor Konstantin
Dushenov for the publication of anti-Semitic materials. Although
Korsunov found no criminal matter in Dushenov's publications, Zaitsev
expressed a different position after the public criticized his deputy's
decision.
On April 3, 2006, the Velikiy Novgorod (Central Russia)
Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal case against the Russian Veche
editor Paul Ivanov. Ivanov was accused of ``public calls to committing
violence'' and ``fueling hatred and discord.'' Officials initiated the
case after the staff of the St. Petersburg History Institute of the
Academy of Sciences had examined several issues of the newspaper and
found that they contained elements that could incite hatred.
According to the ADL, in March 2006 officials initiated a criminal
case in Ulyanovsk against the publishers of the Vest newspaper for
anti-Semitic articles. On February 2, 2006, the Moscow Procurator's
Office initiated a criminal case over the distribution of anti-Semitic
literature on the Internet, because this material had motivated
Alexander Koptsev, who had attacked parishioners at the Bolshaya
Bronnaya synagogue in January 2006. However, according to the ADL, the
case might not prevent the future Internet distribution of anti-Semitic
literature, because many extremist websites are registered abroad.
According to the Russian Jewish Congress, the Chita Russian
Zabaikalie newspaper published anti-Semitic articles in February 2006.
There were reports of anti-Semitic literature on sale in Saratov,
Kaliningrad, Pertozavodsk, Rostov-on-Don, and other cities. The Our
Strategy television program, which had broadcast anti-Semitic views,
continued to air in St. Petersburg during the reporting period.
On January 11, 2006, the Tula newspaper Zasechniy Rubezh, named
after its nationalist organization publisher, printed an interview with
scholar I. Shafarevitch in which he stated he approved of the anti-
Semitic ``letter of 500.'' The letter, issued in January 2005, was
signed by twenty Duma deputies. At the time, the newspapers Rus
Pravoslavnaya and Za Russkoye Delo published articles supporting the
letter.
On January 5, 2006, the Nizhniy Novgorod newspaper, Novoye Delo,
printed an article which described the Khazars' adoption of Judaism
more than 1,000 years ago in anti-Semitic terms and accused Jews of
enslaving the Khazars, saying that the Jews turned Khazaria into a
``blood-sucking spider that exhausted the neighboring countries.''
In April 2005 Velikolukskaya Pravda, a newspaper supported by the
authorities in Velikiy Luki in Pskov Oblast, published an anti-Semitic
article which the local prosecutor began investigating as a possible
hate crime. Per Sova Center, based on the fact of the publication of
the article, Velikiye Luki City Procuracy initiated a criminal case for
instigation of national hatred on June 1, 2005. On November 24, 2005,
the City Procuracy dropped the case on the grounds of absence of crime
in the action.
According to local representatives of the ADL, a St. Petersburg
prosecutor initiated criminal proceedings against the publisher of the
Our Fatherland newspaper, accusing it of hate speech in 2005. Officials
gave the newspaper a warning, but there was no information on further
proceedings.
The Ulyanovsk local newspaper Orthodox Simbirsk is still in
circulation despite authorities holding preliminary hearings in January
2005 following a criminal case against the editor in 2002 for
demonizing Jews. The FJC reported that the newspaper fired the editor,
and in March 2005 Governor Morozov of Ulyanovsk promised governmental
financial support to prevent bankruptcy.
In December 2004, a court in Novosibirsk sentenced the editor of
Russkaya Sibir, Igor Kolodezenko, to a two and half year suspended
sentence for publishing anti-Semitic articles. Kolodezenko, whom the
court convicted of inciting ethnic hatred in 2000, never served prison
time because of a Duma commemorative amnesty.
In 2005 Volgograd's Voroshilovskiy District Prosecutor's Office
decided not to pursue a criminal case against the editor of the
newspaper Kolokol, accused of inciting ethnic hatred through a series
of anti-Semitic articles. The MBHR and the Volgograd Jewish community
had sought such a case, the latter appealing for action on numerous
occasions, without result. The prosecutor reportedly found the statute
of limitations applied to one of the offending articles and that the
others did not meet sufficient cause of action under the hate crime
laws.
An anti-Semitic novel, The Nameless Beast, by Yevgeny Chebalin, had
been on sale in the State Duma's bookstore since September 2003,
despite international publicity. The xenophobic and anti-Semitic text
makes offensive comparisons of Jews and non-Russians. According to the
ADL, authorities do not typically monitor for content books sold in the
Duma. In cases where Jewish or other public organizations have
attempted to take legal action against the publishers, the courts have
been generally unwilling to recognize the presence of anti-Semitic
content.
Anti-Semitic statements have resulted in formal prosecution, but
while the Government has publicly denounced nationalist ideology and
supports legal action against anti-Semitic acts, the reluctance of some
lower-level officials to call such acts anything other than
``hooliganism'' remained problematic. According to the ADL, in 2006
human rights organizations made numerous attempts to prosecute the
authors of the ``Letter of 500.'' However, their attempts were
unsuccessful. According to the Obschestvennoye Mnenie (Public Opinion)
Foundation, after the January 2006 Moscow synagogue attack, the number
of citizens who condemned anti-Semitism increased by almost 10 percent.
A poll concerning the attack showed that the proportion of citizens who
had a negative attitude towards anti-Semites increased from 34 to 42
percent, while the proportion of those who claimed to be indifferent to
them decreased from 47 to 38 percent. Distrust and dislike of Jews was
expressed by 7 percent of the respondents, while 5 percent sympathized
with those who expressed dislike.
In January 2006, the Nizhniy Novgorod Muslim Council condemned
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appeal to rid the world of
Israel in an aggressive call for another Holocaust. The council issued
a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day urging citizens
to overcome anti-Semitism, extremism and xenophobia.
On June 8, 2005, Patriarch Aleksey II sent a statement to the OSCE
Conference on Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance meeting in
Cordoba, Spain, in which, reportedly for the first time, he publicly
referred to anti-Semitism as a ``sin.''
Members of the State Duma and other prominent figures expressed
anti-Semitic sentiments. In January 2005, approximately 500 persons,
including nineteen members of the Duma representing the Rodina Party
and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), wrote to the
prosecutor general to investigate Jewish organizations and initiate
proceedings to ban them, charging that a Russian translation of ancient
Jewish law, the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, incited hatred against non-Jews.
The MFA condemned the letter as did President Putin, and the Duma
passed a resolution condemning the letter in February 2005. In
response, approximately 5,000 persons, reportedly including a number of
ROC clerics and some prominent cultural figures, signed a similar anti-
Semitic letter to the prosecutor general in March 2005. A Moscow
district prosecutor opened an investigation into the Jewish
organization that published the translation, as well as into charges
brought by Jewish and human rights organizations that the letters
violated federal laws against ethnic incitement, but closed both
investigations in June 2005 without bringing charges. In January 2006,
some of the deputies who had signed the letter said in an interview
that the letter had been the ``right step.'' One deputy even proposed
at a Rodina meeting to repeat the letter with even wider distribution.
Originally registered with well-known neo-Nazis on its electoral lists,
Rodina attempted to improve its image by rejecting openly neo-Nazi
candidates; however, it allowed others known for their anti-Semitic
views to remain. On November 21, 2005, head of the Rodina party Dmitry
Rogozin, in a meeting with Rabbi Lazar, claimed that neither he nor
anyone around him from the party were anti-Semites. He claimed that
although a number of members of the Rodina Duma faction did sign the
``letter of 500,'' it included deputies who were not members of the
party and therefore did not follow party discipline.
State Duma Deputy Vladimir Zhirinovskiy and the Liberal Democratic
Party of Russia (LDPR) are also known for their anti-Semitic rhetoric
and statements. In earlier years, LDPR supporters rallied during
Moscow's May Day celebration, carrying anti-Semitic signs and speaking
out against what they called ``world Zionism,'' but there were no
reports of this during the period covered by this report. Nikolay
Kurianovich, an LDPR Duma deputy, initiated and publicized the creation
of a ``list of the enemies of the Russian people,'' with mostly Jewish
names on the list.
Some members of the KPRF also made anti-Semitic statements. For
example, former Krasnodar Kray governor and current State Duma deputy
Nikolay Kondratenko at a June/July 2004 conference in Beirut, blamed
Zionism and Jews in general for many of the country's problems and
blamed Jews for helping to destroy the Soviet Union. His speech was
printed in the Communist Party's main newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya and
several regional papers, including the Krasnodar paper Kuban Segodnya
and the Volgograd paper Volgogradskaya Tribuna.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In June 2006 the administration of Arsen Kanokov, president of the
Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR), drafted a new three-year program to
implement measures to protect human rights. The document assesses the
work of republic and local government officials and of the Interior
Ministry, which under its former head, Khachim Shogenov, reportedly
targeted young Muslim men in a misdirected attempt to curb militant
Islam.
The Slavic Center for Law and Justice reported as of June 20, 2006
that the Land Committee of the Western District of Moscow officially
allowed the Emmanuel Church to rent 4,000 square meters of land under
the old House of Culture in the Solntsevo district of Moscow, which
members planned to convert into a prayer house and church office
buildng. As for the piece of land on Prospekt Verndaskoyo (Moscow
Western District), authorities had not decided. This decision came
after a Moscow district court ruled on November 14, 2005, that it
agreed with the Emmanuel Pentecostal Church that the local authorities
had violated the legal procedure for regulating public events in its
handling of the Church's repeated demonstrations. The same court ruled
on October 10, 2005, that thirteen police had wrongfully detained
Emmanuel members following a demonstration a week earlier. Pastor
Purshaga confirmed that his church--which had been staging regular
demonstrations for over eight months--and protesting since 1996
discrimination that prevented them from building a Pentecostal Church,
stopped encountering police obstruction following these court
decisions. During their long fight, authorities arrested members and
Pastor Purshaga on several occasions. They served five days in jail in
June 2005.
In Voronezh the regional administration organized a roundtable
meeting in November 2005 at which representatives from the police, the
procuracy, the Federal Security Services, local authorities,
universities, NGOs, academics, and religious groups discussed the
problems of racism, intolerance, and interethnic relations. Following
the meeting, officials set up a coordination committee chaired by the
deputy governor of Voronezh region, bringing together law enforcement
agencies, representatives from the town's universities, NGOs, and
religious institutions with the aim of creating a plan of action.
Izvestiya reported that on May 17, 2005, the Moscow city government
decided to create a two-year, $12.5 million (350 million ruble) program
to promote interethnic tolerance.
Federal and regional officials participated actively in, and in
many cases strongly supported, a range of NGO-organized programs to
promote tolerance and the more effective handling of hate crimes.
In addition, the newly established Public Chamber, a body that the
government set up to represent civil society and whose approach
President Putin appeared largely to direct, recognized racism and
intolerance as a serious issue and a priority on which to work. The
Public Chamber set up a commission on tolerance and freedom of
conscience.
In the past five years, the number of organized Jewish communities
in the country has increased from 87 to more than 200. In 2005
officials dedicated new synagogues in Birobidzhan (Jewish Autonomous
Oblast), Khabarvosk, Vladivostok, and Yekaterinburg; and opened a
Jewish school in Kazan.
The reporting period witnessed a few developments in the cultural
life of the Jewish community such as opening of a new building to house
a Jewish Community Center in St. Petersburg in September 2005. The
Federation of Jewish Communities, which officially accounts for 184
communities in 176 cities of the country, was restoring a synagogue in
Irkutsk. The project was to be completed in the summer of 2006. As of
early 2006, the FJC had built eleven multifunctional community centers
in the country. A Jewish center and synagogue are being constructed in
Lipetsk, and the construction was expected to be competed in the fall
of 2006.
The support of federal authorities, and in many cases regional and
local authorities, facilitated the establishment of new Jewish
institutions. On June 26, 2006, Arkadiy Gaydamak President of the
Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia,
and Chief Rabbi of Russia Shayevich signed an investment contract
regarding the construction of a Moscow Jewish community center. Work
began on the construction of a $100 million dollar (2,700,000,000
rubles) complex on land donated by the Moscow city government to house
Jewish community institutions including a school, a hospital, and a
major new museum devoted to the history of the country's Jews, the
Holocaust, and tolerance. The construction was scheduled to be
completed by the end of 2008.
On September 1, 2005, a center for scribing sacred Jewish scrolls
opened in St. Petersburg for the first time in eighty years. Located in
the Jewish educational center Tomhei Tmimim Lubavich Yeshivah, the
center named ``Merkaz Stam'' will train specialists in scribing and
verifying Torah scrolls, Tefillins, and Mezuzahs for use by the Jewish
population in the city. A certified specialist from Israel directed the
center.
See Anti-Semitic Acts section for reports of positive developments
on closing of anti-Semitic newspapers, public opinion about anti-
Semites, and condemnation of Iranian President Ahmadinejab.
Some minority groups were able to obtain restitution of their
religious property. Press reports in August 2005 indicated that
officials returned a church that Soviet authorities had confiscated in
1922 to a St. Petersburg Russian Orthodox Old Believers' Community. On
September 5, 2005, authorities returned school buildings in Rostov-on-
Don and Orenburg to the Jewish community, and in September 2004, they
returned a synagogue in Vladivostok. In 2004, Tula City Duma returned a
church to the Catholic community. On September 18, 2005 the Roman
Catholic Church consecrated its new church in Pskov after many delays
apparently due to ROC pressure.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported that authorities resolved a child
custody case in their favor during the reporting period.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Religious matters are not a source of pronounced societal tension
or overt discrimination for most citizens; however, many citizens
firmly believe that at least nominal adherence to the ROC is a part of
Russian culture. Instances of terrorism and events related to the war
in Chechnya have given rise to negative popular attitudes toward
traditionally Muslim ethnic groups in many regions. Instances of
religiously motivated violence continued, although it was often
difficult to determine whether xenophobia, religion, or ethnic
prejudices are the primary motivation. Conservative activists claiming
ties to the ROC disseminated negative publications and staged
demonstrations throughout the country against Roman Catholics,
Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other minority religions, and
some ROC leaders expressed similar views. See the Anti-Semitic Acts
section for additional information on this subject.
There is no large-scale movement to promote interfaith dialogue;
however, some religious groups successfully collaborate on the local
level on charity projects and participate in interfaith dialogues.
Pentecostal and Baptist organizations, as well as the ROC, have been
reluctant to support ecumenism. At the international level, the ROC has
traditionally pursued interfaith dialogue with other Christian groups.
Individuals associated with Russian Orthodox and Muslim hierarchies
made numerous hostile statements opposing the decision and continued to
consider it a source of tension.
A small splinter group of the RNE called ``Russian Rebirth''
registered successfully in the past in Tver and Nizhniy Novgorod as a
social organization, prompting protests from human rights groups;
however, in several regions such as Moscow and Kareliya, the
authorities have limited the activities of the RNE by denying
registration to their local affiliates. According to Sova Center, there
were neither registration denials nor registrations of RNE during the
reporting period.
Hostility toward non-Russian-Orthodox religious groups sparked
harassment and occasionally physical attacks. The police investigation
of the June 2004 killing of Nikolai Girenko, an expert on xenophobia,
racism, and anti-Semitism, finally produced suspects in May 2006.
Moscow newspapers reported that in late May 2006 officials detained
five men in St. Petersburg for possible ties to the killing of an
African student and on suspicion of the murder of Girenko, according to
city prosecutor Sergey Zaitsev. The suspects, members of the Mad Crowd
group, are thought to have killed Girenko as revenge for Girenko's
testimony in court against another extremist group. Girenko had served
for many years as an expert witness in trials involving alleged
skinheads and neo-Nazis.
Muslims, the largest religious minority, continued to encounter
societal discrimination and antagonism in some regions. After
terrorists associated with Chechen, Ingush, and Islamic extremists
seized a school in September 2004 in Beslan, North Ossetia, interethnic
and interreligious tensions resulting in discrimination persisted in
the region without the authorities' intervention, according to NGOs.
Muslims claimed that citizens in certain regions feared Muslims, citing
cases such as a dispute in Kolomna, approximately sixty miles southeast
of Moscow, over the proposed construction of a mosque. Government
officials, journalists, and the public have been quick to label Muslim
organizations ``Wahhabi,'' a term that has become equivalent with
``extremist.'' Such sentiment has led to a formal ban on Wahhabism in
Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya. Numerous press reports documented
anti-Islamic sentiment.
On March 14, 2006, in the republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia,
unknown persons armed with Kalashnikovs fired twenty-seven cartridges
at the home of mufti Ismail Hadzhi Berdiyev, chair of the Muslim
Coordinated Council for Spiritual Management of Karachayevo-Cherkessia
and Stavropol Regions.
In Muslim-dominated regions, relations between Muslims and Russian
Orthodox believers were generally harmonious. In Tatarstan, the
authorities promoted the liberal brand of Islamic thought dubbed
``Euro-Islam''; however, tensions occasionally emerged in the republic
and the surrounding Volga region. Law enforcement organizations closely
watched Muslim groups. Officials often described Muslim charitable
organizations as providing aid to extremists in addition to their overt
charitable work. Extremely traditional or orthodox versions of Islam
were often associated in the public mind with terrorism and radical
Muslim fighters in the North Caucasus.
Although the previous reporting period saw the chairman of the
Council of Muftis, the head of the Central Spiritual Board of the
country's Muslims, and the head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims
of the North Caucasus jointly denounce terrorism, the national press
carried stories during the reporting period highlighting their public
differences in attitudes toward Wahabbism, among other things.
In April 2006, officials detained seven teenagers between the ages
of fifteen and sixteen in the town of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhniy
Novgorod Region for throwing stones and a Molotov cocktail at a local
mosque. An investigation was continuing. On December 2, 2005, vandals
set on fire a two-story wooden building housing the Muslim Board of
Komi, which housed a mosque. The fire destroyed the roof and damaged
thirty square meters of the premises; there were no injuries. The
emergency situations' authorities said the fire was the result of
arson.
In February 2005, vandals desecrated twenty-six tombs in a Muslim
cemetery in Yoshkar-Oly; in January 2005, vandals desecrated ten tombs
in the Donskoye Muslim cemetery in Moscow. Teenagers were suspected of
involvement in both of these incidents. In January 2005, vandals
painted swastikas on the walls of the ``Tauba'' mosque in Nizhniy
Novgorod. Investigators characterized these crimes as ``mere
hooliganism'' rather than as hate crimes, or national and religious
extremism.
Although a Yekaterinburg journalist reported militiamen barred
women wearing the hijab from local subway stations on several occasions
in 2005, she did not know of similar incidents in the reporting period
nor of any overt signs of intolerance toward Muslims on religious
grounds.
On May 21, 2006, in downtown Yaroslavl, skinheads reportedly kicked
a thirty-year-old Hare Krishna in the stomach several times.
According to press reports, in September 2004, representatives of
the Aleksandr Nevsky Patriotic Society disrupted a pre-approved
demonstration organized by Hare Krishna members in Saratov, held in
memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in Beslan.
On November 14, 2005, a thirty-six-year-old resident of the
Smolensk region detonated an explosive device in the ROC Chapel near
the town of Vyazma because of his ``dislike for the Russian Orthodox
Church.'' Officials charged him under the Criminal Code for vandalism,
illegal possession of weapons and explosives, and willing destruction
of property using explosives.
On March 11, 2006, vandals robbed and desecrated the church of the
Resurrection of Christ in the Vysotskoye settlement in Yaroslavskaya
Region. On February 26, 2006, teenagers desecrated a chapel in the
Smolenskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, and on February 5, 2006,
vandals broke street lamps and spray-painted the Center of Russian
Spirituality of the Orthodox Church of the Mother of God with
xenophobic slogans.
During the reporting period, the tensions between the Vatican and
the ROC notably decreased, although the Patriarchy in Moscow continued
to object to the transfer of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic See from Lviv
to Kiev, which occurred in August 2005. Other issues of concern that
remained between the two groups include the ROC's continued negative
perception that Roman Catholics proselytize across the country and a
proposal by a local priest to open a small, three-room Catholic
Carmelite convent whose main mission would be to work with orphans in
the city of Nizhniy Novgorod. The ROC alleged that the convent would
serve as a base for missionary activities, and the Catholic Church
indicated that the convent was not a full-fledged convent but a means
for caring for local orphans.
In a meeting in March 2006 with a Franciscan Order delegation,
Patriarch Aleksey II reportedly said that he hoped the Catholic Church
would stop proselytizing Orthodox believers and those with Orthodox
roots because the rivalry in winning souls makes their work more
difficult at a time when the world needs the fruit of both churches in
their Christian efforts.
In June 2005, Patriarch Aleksey met with the President of the
Italian Parliament Pier Ferdinando and they jointly launched an appeal
for Catholics and Orthodox to avoid ``negative and anti-Christian
tendencies'' and to cooperate ``against violence, egoism, and moral
relativism.''
In February 2006 Cardinal Roger Etchegaray traveled to Moscow to
take part in celebrating the patriarch's birthday and feast day.
Observers saw this as the result of the government's attempt to ease
the tensions between the two churches and pave the way for a papal
visit to Moscow, which President Putin has publicly championed, sending
Foreign Minister Lavrov to the Vatican in June 2005.
On the night of April 27-28, 2006, vandals set fire to an Adventist
church in Taganrog in Rostov Region, after breaking windows earlier
that week. The fire was termed arson. It was the first such incident at
that church.
Reports of the harassment of evangelicals and Pentecostals
dramatically decreased during the reporting period. In contrast to
previous reports and Helsinki Commission testimony in April 2005 about
the vandalizing and burning of prayer houses in Nekrasovskoye,
Chelyabinsk, Bratsk, Izhevsk, Buryatiya, Oshkar Ola, Khalsk, and
Poldolsk, where authorities made no arrests, few such instances
appeared to have occurred since September 2005, when Bishop Sergey
Ryakhovskiy joined the Public Chamber. Nevertheless, African-Russian
and African ministers of non-Orthodox Christian churches experienced
prejudicial treatment, based apparently on a combination of religious
and racial bigotry.
According to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, in April 2005,
the eve of Russian Orthodox Easter, vandals firebombed a Baptist church
in Chelyabinsk. Local Baptists blame coverage in a news broadcast on a
local television channel for characterizing the Baptists as a
``totalitarian sect.'' According to church sources, after the fire,
employees of the television station visited the church to apologize,
saying they did not expect their report to have this effect. The
station broadcast a retraction, and the pastor of the church and the
local Baptist bishop called a press conference, this time receiving
sympathetic television coverage.
Picketers held demonstrations outside New Life Church in
Yekaterinburg on May 8, May 15, and May 22, 2005, but only a few people
took part in them. Anti-Evangelical activists held pickets beginning in
March 2005 in an attempt to demand city authorities evict the New Life
Church from its building. This represented the near-cessation of
members of the Orthodox Brotherhood and members of City Without Drugs
picketing of Sunday services at Protestant churches in Yekaterinburg.
The situation is calm according to the pastor of Living Word Church,
the head of the Adventist congregation, and the Bishop of the New Life
church. In April 2005, at the request of Protestant leaders,
Yekaterinburg city officials began denying permission to groups who
wished to picket outside Protestant churches, accusing members of these
churches of torturing and even killing children, and espionage.
The press routinely continued to reference members of Jehovah's
Witnesses as a religious ``sect,'' although they had been present in
the country for approximately one-hundred years. In November 2004, the
ROC-affiliated NGO Committee for the Salvation of Youth from
Totalitarian Sects filed a claim with the prosecutor general seeking
the dissolution of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Russia. A common prejudice circulating among the general public was
that members of Jehovah's Witnesses are ``spies of imperialism.'' In
January 2004, the governor of Stavropol Kray compared members of
Jehovah's Witnesses to Wahhabis. This comparison resonated particularly
strongly in Stavropol, an area that had been attacked by Chechen
separatists.
According to Interfax, in September 2005 Yekaterinburg Russian
Orthodox Archbishop Vikenty invited listeners of the Voskresenie
Diocesan radio station to convert Jehovah's Witnesses to the Orthodox
faith, referring to their beliefs as ``delusions.''
During the reporting period, officials reported thirty cases of
physical attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country while
they engaged in their preaching work; of these, five took place in
Moscow. The authorities did not take any action against the assailants.
In April 2006 unidentified individuals reportedly climbed over the
fence of the Pskov Kingdom Hall and broke two windows.
After nearly two years of criminal proceedings, in March 2005,
authorities found the Sakharov Center Director and a staff member
guilty of inciting religious hatred and fined them approximately $3,750
(100,000 rubles) each. Officials acquitted the third defendant of all
charges. Although the Moscow City Court dismissed their appeal, the
Center entered an appeal at the European Court in Strasbourg. The
charges stemmed from a provocative 2003 exhibit of religious-themed art
entitled ``Danger, Religion!'' Authorities never charged those who
vandalized the exhibit with a crime, and the verdict leaves room for
the state and the ROC to define parameters for religious and artistic
expression.
During the reporting period, the Slavic Center for Law and Justice
and a number of minority ``nontraditional'' religious leaders asserted
that the Government and majority religious groups increasingly used the
mass media, conferences, and public demonstrations to foment opposition
to minority religions as threats to physical, mental, and spiritual
health; asserting that these groups threatened national security.
Speakers associated with the ROC took part in antisect conferences and
meetings around the country.
In 2004 the Izhevsk newspaper Infopanorama published an article
that slandered the pastor of that city's Work of Faith Evangelical
Church for which the newspaper later apologized. In Krasnodar Kray, the
local Adventist congregation was unable to move the prosecutor general
to initiate a criminal investigation against a television station that
broadcast an allegation that the Adventists conducted ritual killings
each year.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Government continued to engage the Government, a number of
religious groups, NGOs, and others in a regular dialogue on religious
freedom. The U.S. embassy in Moscow and the consulates general in
Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, and Vladivostok actively investigated
reports of violations of religious freedom. In the period covered by
this report, their contacts included government officials,
representatives of all traditional and many ``nontraditional''
religious confessions, the Slavic Center for Law and Justice, the Anti-
Defamation League, lawyers representing religious groups, journalists,
academics, and human rights activists.
The embassy and consulates worked with NGOs to encourage the
development of programs designed to sensitize law enforcement officials
and municipal and regional administration officials to recognize
discrimination, prejudice, and crimes motivated by ethnic or religious
intolerance. Senior embassy officials discussed religious freedom with
high-ranking officials in the presidential administration and the
Government, including the MFA, raising specific cases of concern.
Federal officials responded by investigating some of those cases and by
keeping embassy staff informed on issues they have raised. As part of
continuing efforts to monitor the overall climate of religious
tolerance, the embassy and consulates maintained frequent contact with
working-level officials at the MOJ, presidential administration, and
MFA.
The embassy addresses religious freedom by maintaining a broad
range of contacts in the religious and NGO communities. Two positions
in the embassy's political section are dedicated to human rights and
religious freedom issues. These officers work closely with other U.S.
officers in Moscow and U.S. consulates around the country.
Consular officers routinely assisted U.S. citizens involved in
criminal, customs, and immigration cases; officers were sensitive to
any indications that these cases involved possible violations of
religious freedom. Such issues were raised regularly in meetings with
the Consular Department of the MFA and with the MVD. As U.S.
missionaries and religious workers comprised a significant component of
the local U.S. citizen population, the embassy conducted a vigorous
outreach program to provide consular services, and to maintain contact
for emergency planning purposes and to inquire about the missionaries'
experiences vis-a-vis immigration, registration, and police authorities
as one gauge of religious freedom.
The U.S. ambassador addressed religious freedom in public addresses
and consultations with government officials. He attended events on
major religious holidays and often met with a range of religious
leaders from various denominations. He hosted discussions on religious
freedom with the leaders of major religious denominations.
The U.S. Government continued to press the country to adhere to
international standards of religious freedom. Officials in the U.S.
Department of State met regularly with U.S.-based human rights groups
and religious organizations, as well as with visiting representatives
of local religious organizations, the Slavic Center for Law and
Justice, and members of the State Service Academy that trains regional
officials in charge of registering local religious organizations.
Members of the staffs of the U.S. consulates general in St.
Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Yekaterinburg met with religious leaders
from a range of denominations in several cities in their consular
district. During the reporting period, the consulate general in
Yekaterinburg maintained a particularly active outreach program to the
Muslim community of the Urals.
Consulate officials met with representatives of different religious
groups in Ufa, including the chief mufti of the Central Muslim
Spiritual Board, Talgat Tadjuddin, to discuss the current situation and
U.S.-related issues.
As part of the embassy's outreach to the Muslim community and to
promote tolerance, in summer 2005 the second annual English language
camp sponsored by the embassy in Moscow and the consulate general in
Yekaterinburg took place in Ufa, Bashkortostan. The two summer camps,
each three weeks long, allowed approximately 200 children from low-
income families to improve their English, leadership skills and
understanding of U.S. culture.
In April 2006 the head of the Tajik NGO Somon who participated in
the International Visitor Program (IVP) invited the Consul General to a
seminar titled ``Tolerance Starts at School.'' This seminar was the
second stage of the ``Teaching Tolerance'' project sponsored by the
Democracy Commission. The first stage took place in January 2006, and
brought together teachers and representatives of ethnic NGOs in
Yekaterinburg. The third seminar, in May, was geared to law enforcement
officials.
The U.S. Government organized exchanges under the IVP with a focus
on religious freedom issues. In February and March 2006, a group of
religious leaders, NGO representatives, and journalists who covered
religious tolerance issues from Yekaterinburg and Orenburg, visited the
USA under the regional IVP ``Community Activism in Promoting a Tolerant
Society.'' After coming back, the Orthodox and Muslim religious leaders
gave interviews to religion-oriented television and radio programs and
newspapers, emphasizing their positive impressions of activities of
U.S. NGOs, confessions, and government structures. A journalist
published an article on this program in one of the major Yekaterinburg
newspapers.
In February 2006, during the regional workshop for the American
Corners, one session was devoted to outreach programs for the Muslim
population. A deputy director of the Interethnic Information Center
gave the coordinators advice on how to contact and attract the Muslim
community to their events.
On February 28, 2006, 500 students from 7 Vladivostok universities
attended a student conference sponsored by the consulate general in
Vladivostok with the theme ``Tolerance in Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic,
Multi-Faith Societies: Challenges, Practices, and Opportunities'' at
the Far Eastern State Technical University. More than fifty students
delivered English-language presentations on international practices in
tolerance, Consul General John Mark Pommersheim delivered opening
remarks, and International Information Programs speaker Dr. Rock
Brynner delivered the keynote address. There was also an NGO roundtable
composed of U.S. Government exchange program alumni that featured
religious tolerance as well.
In September 2005 a speaker on religious tolerance visited
Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Zlatoust, which had experienced
problems between religious groups, and met with religious communities,
officials, journalists, human rights activists, and students.
In March 2005, the consulate general in Yekaterinburg supported an
academic conference on ethnic and religious tolerance at Orenburg State
University. The conference drew participants from throughout the
country and Kazakhstan. The mufti of Orenburg Oblast and the head of
the Orthodox Church in Orenburg both participated in the conference.
In September 2004, the consulate general in Yekaterinburg sent a
group of ten primarily Muslim community and religious leaders from the
Urals to the United States on a program entitled ``Promoting
Multiculturalism in Civic Life.'' As a result, one participant, a
television producer, devoted an episode of her television show ``Islam
Today'' to religious freedom in the U.S. and, along with another
participant, founded the ``Interethnic Information Center,'' which
followed media coverage of ethnic and religious minorities and worked
to educate journalists and government officials on tolerance issues.
The Democracy Commission gave them a small grant to create an on-line
news portal for ethnic and religious organizations.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy's Democracy
Commission, a small (up to $24,000 or approximately 648,000 rubles)
grants program supporting local NGOs working on a range of issues,
approved 4 tolerance-related grants totaling approximately $48,800
(approximately 1,317,600 rubles). A group of religious leaders from
Yekaterinburg, representing multiple religious groups, participated in
an International Visitor Leadership Program devoted to religious
freedom of expression and the development of constructive
interconfessional relations.
Between April 16 and 27, 2006, the Youth LINX program facilitated
dialogues in Ivanovo, Kostroma, and Moscow among religious leaders in
an effort to increase interfaith communication and understanding and
expose local university students to tolerance issues. In Kostroma, for
example, regional clergymen Father Grigoriy Chekmenyov, Father Mikhail
Nasonov, Imam-Khatab Marat Zhalyaletdinov, and Rabbi Nison Mendl Ruppo
served as panel experts, and a Kostroma State University student,
trained on tolerance issues, moderated the discussion. Professors of
the Philosophy Department of Kostroma State University and
approximately fifty five students attended the event. Representatives
of the Kostroma regional administration emphasized the importance of an
open dialogue in promoting tolerance.
During the reporting period, the Southern Russia Resource Center
(SRRC) conducted two workshops on interethnic tolerance specifically
targeted to youth organizations, as well as a school for NGO leaders,
two workshops in community mobilization in a post-conflict environment,
and a public relations school for journalists and NGOs. The SRRC issued
ten grants to six Chechen, three Ossetian, and one Ingush organizations
to promote tolerance among youth in these republics; these projects
ended in March 2006. In February 2006 the SRRC signed an agreement with
the Ministry of Nationalities in Ingushetia to support SRRC's
activities in the republic and to consult the Ministry about the issues
of interethnic understanding and cooperation.
In June and July 2005, U.S. Government grantee, SRRC, in
partnership with the Tolerance Institute, conducted seminars for sixty
participants from North Ossetia, Chechnya and Ingushetia, promoting
models for how to prevent and address such problems as xenophobia,
cultural ignorance, and interethnic conflict. Participants included NGO
leaders, journalists, youth leaders, and regional and local government
officials.
The United States supported two additional tolerance projects
through the PartNER (Partnerships, Networking, Empowerment, and Roll-
out) program, which ended in December 2004. One of these projects, the
Ural NGO Support Center (UNGOSC), worked to encourage public discussion
of ethnic and religious tolerance in Perm. UNGOSC worked with media
outlets and various organizations to publicize program activities,
conduct a training program for journalists to promote more responsible
media coverage on racial and ethnic issues, recruit training
participants and stage public awareness campaigns and seminars.
Officials conducted the other tolerance project at the Volga
Humanitarian-Theological Institute in Nizhniy Novgorod, which provided
representatives of government and religious organizations with a series
of seminars to educate participants and help them focus their thoughts
and ideas on religious policy issues. The activity of religious
communities in the Volga Federal District increased as a result of this
project by uniting their efforts to assist street children, migrants,
and other people in difficult situations and establishing a website to
serve as a virtual resource center for state officials and community
leaders.
In 2004-2005, the U.S. continued to support through a grant the Bay
Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal's ``Climate of Trust''
program, which focuses on forming and strengthening Regional Tolerance
Councils in Kazan, Ryazan, and Leningrad Oblast. As the result of the
program, officials introduced tolerance courses for militia cadets in
the St. Petersburg Law Institute of the General Procuracy and the
Ryazan Branch of the Moscow Academy of the MVD. Tatarstan's regional
Ministry of Education signed an agreement on March 1, 2005, in which it
pledged to include tolerance courses in continuing education programs
for school teachers.
__________
SAN MARINO
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 37.57 square miles and a population of
approximately 30 thousand.
The Government does not provide statistics on the size of religious
groups, and there were no census data providing information on
religious membership; however, it is estimated that more than 95
percent of the population was Roman Catholic. Other religious groups
included small numbers of Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is, Muslims, Jews,
and members of the Waldesian Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Government at all
levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Although Catholicism is dominant, it is not the state religion, and
the law prohibits discrimination based on religion. The Catholic Church
receives direct benefits from the state through income tax revenues;
taxpayers may request that 0.3 percent of their income tax payments be
allocated to the Catholic Church or to ``other'' charities, including
three religious groups (the Waldesian Church, the Baha'i Community, and
Jehovah's Witnesses).
In 1993, some parliamentarians objected to the traditional 1909
oath of loyalty sworn on the ``Holy Gospels.'' Following this
objection, Parliament changed the law in 1993 to permit a choice
between the traditional oath and one in which the reference to the
Gospels was replaced with ``on my honor.'' In 1999, a European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) ruling implicitly endorsed the revised 1993 legal
formulation. The ECHR also noted that the traditional oath continues to
be mandatory for other offices, such as the captain regent or a member
of the Government; however, by the end of the period covered by this
report, no elected Captain Regent or government member had challenged
the validity of the 1909 oath.
There are no private religious schools; the school system is public
and is financed by the state. Public schools provide Catholic religious
instruction; however, students may choose without penalty not to
participate.
Epiphany, Saint Agatha, Easter, Corpus Domini, All Saints' Day,
Commemoration of the Dead, Immaculate Conception, and Christmas are
national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, and government and religious
officials encourage mutual respect for differences.
The country's role protecting religious minorities during World War
II, including 100,000 total refugees, approximately 1,000 percent of
the country's regular population at the time, is a public source of
pride for citizens and government officials.
Catholicism is not a state religion, but it is dominant in society,
as most citizens were born and raised under Catholic principles that
form part of their culture. These principles still permeate state
institutions symbolically; for example, crucifixes sometimes hang on
courtroom or government office walls. The country's dominant Catholic
heritage may inform individual choices on lifestyle matters such as
marriage or divorce, although there is no government suasion involved.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its policy to promote human rights and has always
found the Government fully open to such discussions.
__________
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
The constitution and laws of the state union of Serbia and
Montenegro provide for freedom of religion, and the state union
Government generally respected this right in practice. There was no
state religion in Serbia and Montenegro; however, the majority Serbian
Orthodox Church received some preferential consideration. The
constituent republics of the state union handled most religious
affairs. The constitution and laws of the republic of Montenegro
provided for freedom of religion and generally respected this right in
practice. The republic of Serbia adopted a discriminatory law on
religion that creates an inequality among religious groups. President
Tadic indicated that he would seek to amend the law which, in its
current version, would impede the free practice of religion in Serbia.
During the period covered by this report, Montenegro's government
policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of
religion in its republic. However, government respect for religious
freedom in Serbia deteriorated over the period because of the
problematic law on religion.
There were some instances of discrimination and acts of societal
violence directed against representatives of religious minorities in
Serbia and Montenegro. The Jewish community in Serbia reported
continuing incidents of anti-Semitism, including anti-Semitic books,
during the period covered by this report; however, there were fewer
incidents directed at religious groups overall than during the previous
reporting period. Leaders of minority religious communities often
reported acts of vandalism, hate speech, physical attacks, and negative
media reports labeling them ``sects,'' ``satanists,'' or ``deviants.''
Police and government officials took some positive steps in response to
acts of hate speech and vandalism; however, in Serbia, the punishments
for perpetrators tended to be lenient.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
state union and republic governments as part of its overall policy to
promote human rights. Embassy representatives meet regularly with
representatives of ethnic and religious minorities as well as with
government representatives to promote respect for religious freedom.
During the reporting period, embassy representatives advocated for
changes in the laws on religion and restitution that would rectify some
of the discriminatory aspects of the legislation. The embassy also
assisted in rebuilding administrative offices of the Islamic
communities in Belgrade and Nis that were heavily damaged by fires in
March 2004.
Section I. Religious Demography
The state union of Serbia and Montenegro (excluding U.N.-
administered Kosovo) has an area of nearly 35,300 square miles and a
population of approximately 8,186,000. The predominant faith in the
country was Serbian Orthodoxy. Approximately 78 percent of the citizens
of Serbia and Montenegro, including most ethnic Serbs and Montenegrins
who professed a religion, were Serbian Orthodox. The Muslim faith was
the second largest in Serbia and Montenegro, with approximately 5
percent of the population, including Slavic Muslims in the Sandzak,
ethnic Albanians in Montenegro and southern Serbia, and Roma located
throughout Serbia and Montenegro. Roman Catholics comprised
approximately 4 percent of the population and were predominantly ethnic
Hungarians in Vojvodina, ethnic Albanians in Montenegro, and ethnic
Croats in Vojvodina and Montenegro. Protestants made up approximately 1
percent of the population and included Adventists, Baptists, Reformed
Christians, evangelical Christians, members of the Church of Christ,
and Pentecostals. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses were also present. Serbia and
Montenegro had a small and aging Jewish population numbering between
2,000 and 2,400. The remainder of the population professed other faiths
or claimed to be atheist. In a 2002 census, 3 percent of Serbian
citizens claimed to be nonbelievers or declined to declare a religion.
According to Montenegro's 2003 census, almost 70 percent of its
population was Orthodox, 21 percent was Muslim, and 4 percent was
Catholic.
Approximately one hundred foreign missionaries from several faiths
operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution and laws of the state union of Serbia and
Montenegro and those of the republic of Montenegro provide for freedom
of religion, and the governments at these levels generally respected
this right in practice. However, the law on religion in Serbia, adopted
in April 2006, discriminates among religious groups and requires
minority religious groups, including religions that have been
previously recognized, to re-register through an invasive and
burdensome procedure in order to attain or retain their status as
recognized religions.
There is no state religion in Serbia and Montenegro; however, the
Montenegrin Republic's constitution mentions the Orthodox Church,
Islamic Religious Community, and Roman Catholic Church by name, stating
that these and other religions are separate from the state. Serbia's
law on religion recognizes seven ``traditional'' religious communities:
The Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Slovak
Evangelical Church, the Reformed Christian Church, the Evangelical
Christian Church, the Islamic religious community, and the Jewish
religious community. The 2005 law on finance also recognizes only these
seven religious groups, granting them tax exemptions, although the law
was pending in the Constitutional Court at the end of the reporting
period, and the minister of religion wrote letters to several minority
religious groups stating that they would not have to pay taxes.
Serbia has not recognized other Orthodox churches, despite attempts
by the Macedonian, Romanian, and Montenegrin Orthodox churches to gain
recognition. The new religion law reinforces this unwillingness to
recognize them: Article 19 stipulates that the name of a religious
organization cannot contain a name or part of a name of an existing
registered group. For example, no group including the word ``Orthodox''
or ``Evangelical'' in its title could be registered as those are
already found in the names of the traditional churches.
Serbia's law on religion was the sixth iteration of a bill that was
long under development. Previous versions perpetuated the special
status and privileges of the seven traditional communities, but the
Government had appeared committed to working with religious communities
and the international community to grant privileges to smaller
religious groups. However, the sixth version was submitted without
adequate opportunity for comment. Key articles of the law that would
grant the privileges of the traditional seven to pre-existing religious
communities, including many smaller Protestant churches, were
inexplicably dropped from the text at the last minute. Religious groups
and international organizations who had long been engaged on the issue
were not informed of last-minute changes in the draft and were caught
unawares by Parliament's passage and the president's subsequent signing
of the bill. President Tadic himself expressed reservations about the
legislation; he attached a list of his reservations when he signed the
bill and acknowledged that the legislation did not conform to
international standards.
Many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious communities,
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the
Council of Europe's Venice Commission were highly critical of Serbia's
religion law. It recognizes the ``traditional'' seven religious
communities, while all other religious groups must now re-register with
the Ministry of Religion, which has the discretion to decide whether to
grant approval. Many of the religions now required to re-register have
been recognized officially as religions in Serbia for over 50 years,
and have been present in the republic for as long as 150 years.
The registration requirements, deemed invasive by the Council of
Europe, include submitting names, identity numbers and signatures of
members; proof that the religious group meets the threshold of 0.001
percent of adult citizens of Serbia (approximately sixty-five persons);
the group's statute and summary of its religious teachings, ceremonies,
religious goals, and basic activities; and information on sources of
funding.
Montenegro has no legislation to regulate the work of religious
communities.
The Orthodox Church also received preferential treatment beyond tax
exemptions: The Serbian Government continued to collect money from
postal charges for construction of a large Serbian Orthodox Church and
to subsidize salaries for Serbian Orthodox clergy working in Kosovo and
internationally.
The Serbian Government required all religious organizations to
submit annual financial statements as businesses. On March 2, 2005,
Novi Sad's commercial court fined Serbia's Baptist Union $308 (20,000
dinars) and its vice president, Zarko Djordjevic, $62 (4,000 dinars)
for failure to comply, but suspended the fines because the Baptist
Union had been unaware of the requirement. In 2004, the Adventist
Church was fined $633 (500 euros) for the same offense. In 2005, legal
proceedings were underway against the Adventist Church and the
financial director of the Serbian Orthodox diocese of Raska/Prizren for
failure to submit annual financial statements; the defendants submitted
their paperwork and charges were dropped.
Religious education in Serbian primary and secondary schools
continued during the period covered by this report. According to a 2001
Serbian government regulation, students are required either to attend
classes from one of the seven ``traditional'' religious communities or
to substitute a class in civic education. The proportion of students
registering for religious education remained approximately equal to the
proportion registering for civic education courses during the reporting
period. Some Protestant leaders and NGOs in Serbia and in Montenegro
continued to voice their objection to the teaching of religion in
public schools. In Montenegro, religious studies have not been
introduced as a subject in primary and secondary schools.
Orthodox Christmas and Orthodox Easter are public holidays in
Serbia and Montenegro. These holidays do not negatively affect other
religious groups.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, police response to vandalism and other
societal acts against religious groups rarely resulted in arrests,
indictments, or other resolution of incidents. Some government
officials continued to criticize minority religious groups as
``sects,'' ``satanists'' and ``deviants.'' In addition, government
actions have made it difficult for Orthodox churches not recognized by
the Serbian Orthodox Church to operate in Serbia, including the
Romanian Orthodox Church, the Macedonian Orthodox Church, and the
Montenegrin Orthodox Church.
Local authorities ordered the demolition of a Romanian Orthodox
church built on private, rural land (which does not require building
permits) in the village of Malajnica, Serbia. The authorities evidently
acted because the local Serbian Orthodox clergy had not granted
approval for the church as a matter of Orthodox Church rules and
jurisdiction. The case was pending in the Supreme Court at the end of
the reporting period, and the church remained standing. Local
authorities also threatened to charge the church for the demolition of
its own building.
There is no chaplain service in the armed forces. Although local
Serbian Orthodox priests are the only clergy offering religious
services at armedforces chapels, members of the armed forces of other
faiths can attend religious services outside their barracks and spend
important religious holidays with their families. Because of cost
considerations, the army has not implemented plans to meet Muslim
soldiers' dietary requirements, which would require separate kitchens.
In Montenegro, the Reis of the Islamic Community noted that Islamic
prisoners and army conscripts have difficulty in receiving proper
foods, i.e. meals without pork.
The town of Leskovac, Serbia, has a municipal Council for the
Prevention of Addictions and Religious Sects. The Council identified
Adventists, Baptists, Pentecostals, the Evangelical Church, Jehovah's
Witnesses, and ``satanists'' as sects and promoted propaganda against
them.
There was limited progress in Serbia during the period covered by
this report on restitution of previously seized religious property. The
Government reported that it was near to completing a register of seized
religious property. As a temporary measure, a few religious communities
were granted free use of some facilities that had been seized from
them. At the close of the reporting period, Parliament was considering
a draft law on restitution of religious property in Serbia. This draft
law would recognize claims for religious property confiscated in 1945
or later; some religious groups--particularly the Jewish and Islamic
communities, who lost land prior to 1945--expressed opposition to this
benchmark.
The Belgrade Islamic community reported continued difficulties in
acquiring land and government approval for an Islamic cemetery near the
city. Religious organizations generally continued to report difficulty
obtaining permission from local authorities in Serbia to build new
worship facilities.
Montenegro's 2004 Law on Restitution treats religious property as
it treats privately owned property. In Montenegro, the Serbian Orthodox
Church claimed property comprising a significant part of the Republic's
territory.
In 2004, the Government of Montenegro built a temporary waste
facility on a site in Lovanja. A claim filed by Catholic priest Don
Branko Zbutega that the Catholic Church held title to some of the land
was rejected, and a countersuit filed against him by the Montenegrin
Government was upheld. Zbutega appealed the $2,510 (2,000 euros) fine
imposed on him in the case. The court trial regarding the ownership of
Lovanja was pending; Zbutega died in April 2006.
The Montenegrin Government challenged a decision by the Ministry of
Defense of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to transfer
military property to the majority Serbian Orthodox Church in 2003.
Montenegrin officials claim the transfer was an illegal attempt to
prevent the Republican Government from obtaining this property when the
federal state was dissolved and replaced by the state union of Serbia
and Montenegro. The case remained unresolved at the end of the period
covered by this report, largely because of a moratorium on most
transfers of military property.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Jewish leaders in Serbia reported continued incidents of anti-
Semitism, including small-circulation anti-Semitic books and Internet
postings. The release of new books or reprints of translations of anti-
Semitic foreign literature often led to an increase in hate mail and
other expressions of anti-Semitism. These same sources associated anti-
Semitism with anti-Western and anti-globalization sentiments, as well
as with nationalism.
On July 10, 2005, graffiti appeared in Smederevo's main square that
read, ``Beware of the Jewish influence on government and the private
sector,'' ``Inflation comes from the Jews,'' ``Death to Zionism,'' and
``Riot against Jews,'' and included swastikas and Nazi slogans.
Smederevo police arrested two suspects and a court sentenced them to
thirty days in prison for inciting national, religious, and racial
hatred. On July 11, anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on a Novi Sad
synagogue; the perpetrators remained unidentified.
On September 3, 2005, anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on a Novi Sad
synagogue during the celebration of Days of Jewish Culture in Serbia.
On September 5, anti-Semitic graffiti appeared again in Smederovo.
On November 18, 2005, a guest on the television show ``Problem''
alleged that Jews knew in advance about the September 11, 2001, attacks
in the United States. The guest also made disparaging remarks about
Jews in Serbia.
On February 12, 2006, graffiti appeared on a monument in Nis saying
``Holocaust--the Jewish lie that governs the world,'' along with
nationalistic slogans such as ``Serbia for the Serbs.''
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
According to the NGO Center for Tolerance and Inter-Religious
Relations, the amount of anti-sect reporting in the media declined
slightly during the reporting period. The number of attacks against
religious minorities also generally declined during the period.
While Serbia's law on religion discriminates against minority
religious groups, the seven ``traditional'' religious groups recognized
by the law reported a general improvement in their status during the
reporting period. These groups welcomed the new law on religion as a
step that, while imperfect, is in their view a positive first step
toward improving interreligious relations.
Police continued to guard the Belgrade mosque since it was attacked
in March 2004. They also provided security in front of the Belgrade
synagogue.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
While relations between members of different religious groups were
generally good, there were some instances of discrimination against
representatives of religious minorities in the country. Religion and
ethnicity are intertwined closely throughout the country, and in some
cases it was difficult to identify discriminatory acts as primarily
religious or primarily ethnic in origin.
Minority religious communities in Serbia continued to experience
problems with vandalism of church buildings, cemeteries, and other
religious premises. Most attacks involved spray-painted graffiti;
thrown rocks, bricks, or bottles; or vandalized tombstones.
On July 5, 2005, several tombstones at the Catholic graveyard in
Srpski Itebej near Zrenjanin were severely damaged and leveled to the
ground. On July 15, unknown perpetrators set fire to the door of the
Adventist church in Rakovica, near Belgrade. On July 21, windows at the
Backa Palanka Adventist church were broken; similar attacks at the same
place occurred August 13 and August 21. Police charged a group of
suspects with property damage.
On August 12, 2005, unknown perpetrators broke windows and painted
graffiti on the Adventist church in Sivac. On August 27, windows were
broken at the regional headquarters of the Adventist Church in Novi
Sad. On September 7, dozens of graves at the Sencansko Catholic
graveyard in Subotica were desecrated. Subotica's mayor condemned the
attacks.
Unknown attackers broke stained glass windows at the Catholic
church in Smederevo in early January 2006 and again on March 24. On
April 20, the stained glass windows at the Catholic church in
Kragujevac also suffered damage from attacks.
While harassment of religious minorities was generally limited to
crimes against property and occasional verbal abuse, physical attacks
on persons occurred in Serbia during the reporting period. On July 11,
2005, three unknown assailants stabbed a Hare Krishna in the chest
while he was walking on the street late at night; according to media
reports, the assailants told him he should be burned at the stake.
Between July and November 2005, members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints were physically attacked on four separate
occasions. Although the victims reported the incidents to the Belgrade
police, providing video footage of one attack, the police told them it
would be difficult to apprehend the perpetrators since they were
minors.
In 2004, police arrested 110 persons for an attack on the Belgrade
mosque in March 2004. In April 2005, one of these persons was sentenced
to three months' imprisonment in connection with the attack. A trial of
ten other persons indicted in the attack was ongoing at the end of the
reporting period. The Serbian Government repaired the outside of the
mosque but had not repaired the interior. The Government also pledged
funds toward repair of other buildings on the mosque compound, but
provided only a portion of the amount promised. The U.S. Embassy
earmarked $60,000 for the reconstruction of the administrative
building, including its school facilities and a computer center, and
began work in January 2006.
In July 2005, a municipal court convicted and sentenced eight
persons to spend three to five months in prison for the March 2004
burning of the Islam-Aga mosque in the southern Serbian city of Nis,
the first such conviction for anti-Muslim violence from that period.
Muslim leaders criticized the sentences as too lenient. Numerous police
present at the court building at the time of the trial did not
intervene when the defendants' followers chanted ``Death to Muslims.''
Nis authorities provided $4,688 (300,000 dinars) toward repair of the
Nis mosque. The U.S. Embassy began plans to fund the design and
engineering work, estimated at $15,000 to $20,000, to build a community
center at the site of the burned mosque.
Anti-sect propaganda decreased slightly in the Serbian press, which
labeled smaller, multiethnic Christian churches--including Baptists,
Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses--and some other smaller religious
groups as ``sects'' and claimed they were dangerous. Religious leaders
noted that instances of vandalism often occurred soon after press
reports on sects. On August 18, 2005, the Belgrade daily Vecernje
Novosti published an article attacking the Oasis Pentecostal Romany
children's center in Jagodina, calling it ``sectarian'' since it did
not perform Orthodox rites. In the article, Orthodox priests claimed
the center was a ``sect, since it is obvious that it is a religious
organization that rebaptizes children.'' On September 7, Pancevacke
Novine weekly in Pancevo denigrated members of the Mormon and Jehovah's
Witnesses communities as ``false benefactors who under a mask are
offering secrets of `the way of happiness and body' and bring their
victims to complete disaster, loss of their houses and apartments,
friends, family and almost sanity.''
In Montenegro, the Catholic, Muslim, and Orthodox communities
coexisted within the same towns and often used the same municipally
owned properties to conduct worship services. Tensions continued
between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin Orthodox
Church. These tensions were largely political, stemming from
Montenegro's periodic drive for independence that started in 1997 and
increased occasionally with the approach of the May 2006 referendum on
independence. The two churches continued to contend for adherents and
to make conflicting property claims, but this contention was not marked
by significant violence.
The Montenegrin Institute for Protection of Monuments and Cultural
Heritage accused the Serbian Orthodox Church of ``counterfeiting''
Montenegro's cultural heritage at several locations (Church of the Holy
Trinity, Ostrog Monastery, Beska Church, etc.) by performing illegal
restoration and conservation works, some of which altered the content
of some ancient artwork and frescoes. The state directorate responsible
for the prevention of illegal building prohibited several construction
projects on church facilities run by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
However, Serbian Orthodox clergymen ignored inspections several times,
claiming to be solely responsible for the Serbian Orthodox church
property in Montenegro. In practice, it was not clear who controlled
construction and restoration of church buildings in Montenegro.
On January 6-8, 2006, at their third formal conference in Cetinje,
representatives of the orthodox churches of Georgia, Ukraine, Italy,
Bulgaria, and Montenegro adopted a Declaration of Unanimous Support to
the Montenegrin Autocephalous Church. The Serbian Orthodox Church
described the event as ``the meeting of godless people.''
From February 14 to 17, 2006, the Government of Montenegro
organized an international convention of orthodoxy in Montenegro's
historic capital, Cetinje, which was seen as an effort by the
Government to restore good relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church
in Montenegro on the eve of the May 21 referendum on independence.
In June 2005, the Serbian Orthodox Church, with the assistance of a
Serbia and Montenegro army helicopter, erected a church on the peak of
Mount Rumija, near the city of Bar, without a valid permit. The Serbian
Orthodox Church was accused of violating a century-long tradition of
good interethnic relations among the three confessions (Orthodox,
Catholic, and Muslim) living in Bar. While government authorities
announced the ``imminent'' removal of the church, no actions were taken
by the end of the period covered by this report. The Serbian Orthodox
Church announced that it would ask for the necessary permits to
legalize the church. Serbia and Montenegro Army Chief of Staff Dragan
Paskas was relieved of office for allowing the use of the helicopter.
In September 2005, a delegation of prelates from Montenegro,
including the leader of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church Mihajlo,
Catholic priest Don Branko Zbutega, and the previous Reis of the
Montenegrin Islamic Community Idris Demirovic, paid homage to the
victims of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with both
republics' governments as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights, and continues to promote ethnic and religious tolerance
throughout Serbia and Montenegro. Embassy officials meet regularly with
the leaders of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as with
representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Government to
promote respect for religious freedom and human rights.
During the reporting period, the embassy began projects to help the
Islamic communities in Belgrade and Nis rebuild facilities that were
heavily damaged from the ethnically motivated attacks of March 2004.
Embassy officials worked with the Serbian religion minister, leaders of
religious communities, international organizations and NGOs, and
directly with President Tadic and Prime Minister Kostunica to advocate
changes in the law on religion and the law on restitution of property
of religious communities. The embassy also counseled religious groups
to report all incidents against their property or adherents to senior
government officials, to counter often lackluster response by local
police. Embassy officials continued to urge senior government officials
to speak out against incidents targeting ethnic minorities (including
their places of worship and cemeteries) and to find and punish the
perpetrators.
______
KOSOVO
Kosovo continued to be administered under the civil authority of
the U.N. Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), pursuant to
U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1244. UNMIK and its chief
administrator, the Special Representative of the Secretary General
(SRSG), established a civil administration in 1999, following the
conclusion of the NATO military campaign that forced the withdrawal of
Yugoslav and Serbian forces from Kosovo. Since that time, the SRSG and
UNMIK, with the assistance of the international community, have worked
with local leaders to build the institutions and expertise necessary
for self-government under UNSCR 1244. UNSCR 1244 also authorized an
international peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) to provide a safe and
secure environment.
The UNMIK-promulgated Constitutional Framework for the Provisional
Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) in Kosovo provides for freedom
of religion, as does UNMIK Regulation 1999/24 on applicable law in
Kosovo; UNMIK and the provisional institutions of self-government
generally respected this right in practice. Attacks by Kosovo Albanians
against Kosovo Serbs peaked following the NATO campaign in 1999, and
again in March 2004, when violence perpetrated by Kosovo Albanians
resulted in the deaths of 19 persons (11 Kosovo Albanians and 8 Kosovo
Serbs), 954 injuries, and widespread property damage, including 30
Serbian Orthodox churches, monasteries, cemeteries and more than 900
homes.
Respect for religious freedom increased during the period covered
by this report and government policy continued to contribute to the
generally free practice of religion. Historically, tensions between
Kosovo's Albanian and Serb populations have been largely rooted in
ethnic, rather than religious, bias. Roman Catholic institutions were
not targets. Attacks on Orthodox religious sites significantly
decreased after the March 2004 riots, although some minor vandalism
occurred during the period covered by this report.
The violent events of March 2004 slowed the transfer of
responsibility for the protection of Serbian Orthodox churches and
other religious symbols from the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) to U.N.
international police (CIVPOL) and the Kosovo Police Service (KPS). KFOR
halted the process immediately following the March 2004 riots and
increased the number of checkpoints near Serbian Orthodox churches,
monasteries, and patrimonial sites; however, the transfer process has
since continued. For example, KFOR relaxed its two fixed checkpoints on
either side of the main road to Decani monastery on April 27, 2006.
Kosovo leaders, with the acceptance of the Serbian Orthodox Church
(SOC), sought to address the concerns of persons displaced by the
violence, reconstructed all but a handful of houses damaged, and funded
and finished preliminary assessments on thirty religious sites damaged
in March 2004.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with UNMIK,
the PISG, and religious representatives in Kosovo as part of its
overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. Government has
contributed to the continued safekeeping of Islamic manuscripts,
refurbished through U.S. Government funds. After six years of
international community assistance, the PISG must still fully address
interethnic reconciliation and make further progress on implementing
the ``Standards for Kosovo,'' which help provide the framework for
establishing a multiethnic, sustainable democratic society. In October
2005, the U.N. Security Council endorsed the U.N. secretary general's
intention to begin status negotiations for Kosovo, which include
discussions on the protection of cultural and religious heritage in
Kosovo. As a member of the Contact Group and contributor to the NATO-
led Kosovo Force, the United States remains fully involved in all
aspects of peacekeeping and democratization in Kosovo. The U.S.
Government also supports UNMIK and KFOR in their security and
protection arrangements for churches and patrimonial sites. In December
2004, the SRSG and KFOR commander signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU), which specifies response mechanisms and cooperation between the
KPS and KFOR to maintain order. Contingency plans for riot control have
been revised to include an operational presence in municipalities and
permanent contact among local police, UNMIK, communities, village
leaders, and local authorities.
Over the course of the period covered by this report, the UNMIK
police community policing initiative completed phased deployment of 350
international police officers to 30 locations in the region that are
considered sites for potential return of displaced persons and those
inhabited by minority communities.
Section I. Religious Demography
Kosovo has an area of approximately 4,211 square miles and a
population of approximately 2 million, although the last credible
census was taken in the 1980s. Islam was the predominant faith,
professed by most of the majority ethnic Albanian population, the
Bosniak, Gorani, and Turkish communities, and some in the Roma/Ashkali/
Egyptian community, although religion was not a significant factor in
public life. Religious rhetoric was largely absent from public
discourse, mosque attendance was low, and public displays of
conservative Islamic dress and culture were minimal. The present Serb
population in Kosovo, which was estimated at 100,000 to 120,000
persons, was largely Serbian Orthodox. Approximately 3 percent of
ethnic Albanians were Roman Catholic. Protestants made up less than 1
percent of the population and had thirty-six churches and small
populations in most of Kosovo's cities, the largest concentration
located in Kosovo's capital of Pristina. Approximately forty persons
from two families in Prizren had some Jewish roots, but there were no
synagogues or Jewish institutions. Estimates of atheists or those who
did not practice any religion were difficult to determine and/or
largely unreliable.
Foreign clergy actively practiced and proselytized. There were
Muslim, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant missionaries active in
Kosovo. Roman Catholic communities were concentrated around Catholic
churches in Prizren and Pristina. UNMIK estimated that seventy-one
faith-based or religious organizations, which listed their goals as
providing humanitarian assistance or faith-based outreach, worked in
Kosovo. In March, UNMIK transferred the tracking of such organizations
to the Ministry of Public Services, but the ministry had not provided
any new information by the end of the period covered by this report.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
In 2001, UNMIK promulgated the Constitutional Framework for
Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo (the ``Constitutional
Framework''), which established the PISG and replaced the UNMIK-imposed
Joint Interim Administrative Structure. Following November 2001 central
elections, the 120-member Kosovo Assembly held its inaugural session in
late 2001. In 2002, the Assembly selected Kosovo's first president,
prime minister, and government. Kosovo's latest government was formed
after the Kosovo Assembly elected Fatmir Sejdiu as Kosovo's president
on February 10, 2006, and Agim Ceku as Kosovo's prime minister on March
10, 2006. UNMIK had transferred most of the authority authorized by the
Constitutional Framework to the PISG, and, while it transferred some
competencies to the Ministries of Justice and Interior in February
2006, UNMIK and NATO retained ultimate authority in such areas as
security and protection of communities.
Kosovo's Constitutional Framework incorporates international human
rights conventions and treaties, including those provisions that
protect religious freedom and prohibit discrimination based on religion
and ethnicity; UNMIK and the PISG generally respected this right in
practice. UNMIK, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), and the PISG officially promote respect for religious
freedom and tolerance in administering Kosovo and in carrying out
programs for its reconstruction and development. UNMIK, as Kosovo's
final administrative decision-maker, sought to protect religious
freedom in full.
UNMIK recognizes as official holidays some, but not all, holy days
of the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox religious groups. UNMIK
recognizes the major religious Orthodox and Islamic holy days of
Orthodox Christmas, Eid-al-Adha, Orthodox Easter Monday, Orthodox
Assumption Day, the beginning of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, and western
Christmas.
There are no mandatory registration regulations with regard to
religious groups; however, to purchase property or receive funding from
UNMIK or other international organizations, religious organizations
must register with the Ministry of Public Services as nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). Religious leaders have complained that they
should have special status apart from that of NGOs. Protestant
evangelical community representatives have complained that they cannot
receive documentation proving religious or NGO status in Kosovo because
the Ministry of Public Services requires that they be a documented
entity for at least five years before they can be legally registered as
an NGO.
In response to the complaint that religious communities should have
special status other than that of NGOs, the Kosovo Prime Minister's
Office established a working group to draft a law on religious freedom
and the legal status of religious communities in 2003. The group
consisted of representatives of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and
Islamic religious groups in Kosovo; Serbian Orthodox representatives
declined to participate. Nonetheless, the working group continued to
provide Serbian Orthodox representatives with drafts of the law.
On May 20, 2005, the Kosovo Assembly passed the first reading of
the draft law on Religious Freedom and the Legal Status of Religious
Communities in Kosovo, which would further protect the rights of
religious communities and individuals. Before the draft law's first
reading in May 2005, the Islamic community and Roman Catholic
leadership proposed new amendments to this draft, which included:
Labeling the Islamic community the ``only representative'' of Kosovo
Muslims; establishing a ministry of religion; and exempting religious
communities from paying utilities. The assembly committee did not add
these provisions to the draft law. After the first reading in the
Assembly, the law went back to parliamentary committee for further
debate. The Islamic community lobbied local political leadership for
inclusion of amendments which continue to require a minimum number of
adherents before a religious group can be registered as a ``special
status'' religion and in a ``special relationship with the
Government,'' which Protestant religious groups in Kosovo believe would
pave the way for the teaching of religion in public schools. In
December 2005, a group of religious leaders from the Serbian Orthodox
Church, the Islamic Community, the Roman Catholic community, and the
Jewish community (in Serbia), as well as working-level PISG
representatives in Vienna, drafted these changes as amendments to the
law, but the assembly committee did not add these elements into the law
sent to the Government for approval. By the end of the period covered
by this report, the Contact Group named this law among three pieces of
priority legislation that the PISG is to pass in 2006. The law had not
been given a second reading in the assembly at the end of the period
covered by this report. The contentious provisions that met with
objections from the Protestant community were excluded from the draft
law approved by the Kosovo Assembly and would likely be addressed in
subsequent legislation. The most recent draft law enshrined the right
to believe and worship freely in Kosovo.
In April 2006, ethnic Albanian President Fatmir Sejdiu visited
Decani monastery for Orthodox Easter and spoke in Serbian while
conversing with the clergy, marking the first time a president of
Kosovo received and accepted such an invitation. Veton Surroi, leader
of Reform Party Ora (PRO), visited the SOC's Decani monastery twice
during the reporting period, in an effort to hear SOC concerns
pertaining to Kosovo's final status negotiations. Central and local
government officials participated in a landmark interfaith conference
hosted by the Pec Patriarchate from May 2 to May 4, 2006, which
included a visit to the Decani monastery, a nearby mosque, and a Roman
Catholic church.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
UNMIK, the PISG, and KFOR policy and practice contributed to the
generally free practice of religion; however, the Kosovo Islamic
Community at times publicly alleged that Kosovo lacked genuine
religious freedom, citing as examples UNMIK's refusal to provide radio
frequencies for an Islamic radio station and the closing of a prayer
room in the National Library by the Ministry of Education, Science, and
Technology in 2004. The same community also alleged that, although
thirty-two acres of municipal land were allocated and the cornerstone
was laid August 28, 2005, for a Roman Catholic cathedral in Pristina
dedicated to Mother Theresa, a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity, the
Pristina Municipal Assembly refused its request to allocate space for
new mosques for what the Islamic community claimed was a growing Muslim
population in Pristina. Some Kosovo Muslim leaders complained that they
were not consulted prior to registration of foreign Islamic NGOs with
UNMIK.
Kosovo education legislation and regulation provide for a
separation between religious and public spheres. In May 2005, a
principal suspended a public school teacher for wearing a headscarf to
class, citing a provision of Kosovo's law on education which obligates
public institutions to adopt a neutral attitude towards religion when
providing education. On May 29, Pristina Municipality's Department of
Education dismissed the teacher, a decision the Ombudsperson's
Institution supported when the investigation revealed the teacher was
found to have been proselytizing during class time. A male student
filed a complaint with the Ombudsperson's Institution alleging he was
expelled from school for wearing a beard; school officials told the
Ombudsperson Institution that the student was not expelled, but only
prevented from returning to class while he wore a beard. Another case
from April 2005, which was under investigation at the end of the
reporting period, involved a primary school student who was dismissed
from class for wearing a headscarf. A similar case resulted in a June
2004 non-binding opinion from the ombudsperson that the ministry's
interpretation should only apply to school teachers and officials, not
students. All parties filed petitions with the Ministry of Education
and formal complaints with Kosovo's ombudsperson.
Protestants continued to report that they experience discrimination
in media access, particularly by the public Radio and Television Kosovo
(RTK). Protestants also reported that Decani municipality denied them
permission to build a church facility on privately owned land they had
purchased, citing negative reaction from local citizens, and that the
Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning upheld the decision.
Decani municipal authorities responded that their donation of time in
the shared municipal convention center afforded Protestants adequate
space.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On January 17, 2006, the SOC alleged that the Association of Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) War Veterans, in cooperation with Gjakova
municipality, had erected a monument honoring KLA veterans on church
property. On February 2, the SOC announced that UNMIK promised, in
cooperation with the PISG, to ``work to protect this church property.''
The monument remained in place at the end of the reporting period.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, Kosovo political
leaders--including government and political party officials--
increasingly called for religious tolerance and participated in
milestone interfaith events. Kosovo officials also constructively
engaged in several rounds of U.N.-led negotiations this year with
Serbian officials to reach agreement as part of the Kosovo status talks
on ways to better protect religious and cultural heritage in Kosovo.
Talks were ongoing at the end of the period covered by the report.
During a January 6, 2006, visit to the Serb residents in Pristina
on Orthodox Christmas, the then-Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi said that
Kosovo was not only his home, but the home of all Kosovo's residents,
irrespective of ethnicity and religion.
Serbian Orthodox clergy reported constraints on freedom of movement
that prohibited adherents from freely attending worship services, but
reported that they themselves were able to move freely around Kosovo
with little incident. On March 22, 2006, UNMIK Chief Soren Jessen-
Petersen and Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu paid a visit to Rahovec
municipality. In two separate meetings with members of Serb and
Albanian communities, Sejdiu and Jessen-Petersen called on citizens of
Rahovec to work together to achieve full human rights for all Kosovars.
On March 28, 2006, Veton Surroi convened the Communities
Consultative Council in Durres, Albania, bringing together political
leadership from Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo's other minority communities to
openly discuss their ideas for the Kosovo status talks.
On April 19, 2006, the SRSG urged internally displaced persons
(IDPs) and IDP associations to participate actively in the ongoing
returns efforts. In his meeting with members of IDP associations, the
SRSG said that the PISG and UNMIK, in active collaboration with IDP
associations and minority groups, had revised the returns manual to
ensure direct participation of IDPs themselves in decision-making
processes.
One challenge facing the international community and the PISG has
been reducing and preventing ethnically motivated attacks on Serbian
Orthodox churches and shrines and on the Serbian Orthodox population of
Kosovo. Since the riots of March 2004, during which 30 Orthodox
religious sites and more than 900 homes and businesses of ethnic
minorities were burned or damaged, the number of attacks on Serbian
Orthodox churches has decreased. Members of the PISG and some political
leaders, who made efforts to communicate with Kosovo Serbs and Serbian
Orthodox officials after the riots and during the period covered by
this report, continued to express a public commitment to assist in
their return and the reconstruction of damaged or destroyed churches.
Prompted by the international community after the March 2004 riots,
Kosovo leaders sought to address the concerns of the Serbian Orthodox
Church and persons displaced by the violence and agreed to fund and
cooperate with local religious officials and international experts in
rebuilding the damaged property. On the basis of a Council of Europe
damage assessment, the PISG allocated $5.3 million (4.2 million euros)
for the initial phase of the reconstruction of churches and monasteries
damaged in the March riots. The PISG completed the first phase of
emergency repairs in full cooperation with the SOC during the period
covered by this report.
In a May 2006 report to the UNSC, UNMIK stated that most of the
criminal cases related to March 2004 riots were handled by the local
judiciary: Charges were pressed against 426 people, resulting in 217
convictions, 14 acquittals, 89 pending cases, and 106 cases dropped for
lack of evidence. International prosecutors conducted forty-four of the
most serious riot-related cases, resulting in thirteen convictions,
with punishments ranging from suspended sentences to eighteen years in
prison for attempted murder.
General crime statistics as reported by UNMIK on May 24, 2006,
revealed a decline in potentially ethnically-motivated crimes. Compared
to the seventy-two incidents recorded from January to March 2005,
nineteen such cases were reported during the same time period in 2006.
UNMIK police reported that of the 1,408 Kosovo Serb convoys escorted by
the KPS from January to early May 2006, there were only 6 incidents of
stone throwing, leading to 5 arrests by the KPS. In response to reports
in the Serb media of increasing security concerns among Kosovo Serbs,
UNMIK and KPS began twenty-four-hour foot patrols in majority ethnic
Serb areas of Kosovo in May 2006.
On May 16, 2006, ethnic Albanian students from a secondary school
in Decan municipality, accompanied by the director and four teachers,
visited the Decani monastery, marking the first nonofficial visit of
ethnic Albanian Kosovo residents to the monastery since the end of the
conflict in 1999. Father Sava Janjic welcomed and guided the group
through a tour of the site; both sides expressed positive impressions,
and Father Sava told the group he would welcome more such visits in the
future.
On April 14, 2006, UNMIK, for the third time, renewed a six-month
protection zone for 800 hectares surrounding Decani monastery, which
prevents commercial development on protected property.
The municipal assembly of Rahovec/Orahovac passed a resolution on
June 19, 2006, allowing the monks of Zociste/Zocishte monastery to
regularly use their church bell. Until June 19, as directed by German
KFOR, the monks rang the bell only for important church holidays.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and a large Serbian
delegation traveled to Kosovo on June 26-28 to commemorate the 650th
anniversary of the death of King Dusan at the Holy Archangels Monastery
in Prizren, and the annual Vidovdan commemoration of the defeat of the
Serbs and their allies by the Turks in the Battle of Kosovo Polje in
1389. The visit, a possible flashpoint, went without incident.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Ethnicity and religion were inextricably linked in Kosovo and made
it difficult to determine if societal discrimination and violence were
religiously or ethnically motivated. While most Kosovo Albanians
identified themselves as Muslim, the designation had more of a cultural
than religious connotation. Kosovo Serbs identified themselves with the
SOC, which defined not only their religious but also their cultural and
historical perspectives. During and after the 1999 conflict, some
Serbian Orthodox leaders played a moderating political role, while
others withdrew from constructive discussion. Most Kosovo Serb
politicians continued their three-year boycott of participation in
government institutions.
Societal violence continued and increased marginally from the last
reporting period. Three high-profile killings of ethnic Serbs occurred
during the reporting period: On August 27, 2005, two young men were
fatally shot while driving, and a third was stabbed in March on the
flashpoint bridge separating ethnic Serb majority north Mitrovica
municipality from ethnic Albanian majority south Mitrovica. The first
crime had not been solved, but police authorities reacted quickly to
arrest suspects in the second case, one of whom was released and was
awaiting trial. On May 6, 2006, Kosovo Serb media reported that unknown
attackers shot at a car driven by Serbian Orthodox priest Srjdan
Stankovic in Zvecan municipality; UNMIK charged an ethnic Serb Kosovo
Police Service officer in connection with the incident for
``brandishing a firearm.'' One other high profile shooting occurred at
a gas station; no one had been charged for this incident by the end of
the period covered by this report. Although tension between communities
remained high, the prevailing crime trend continued to be against
property instead of persons. In 2005, however, 57 percent of potential
ethnically motivated incidents were assault and intimidation-related,
not necessarily property-related offences, as in the previous reporting
period. There were some reported incidents of rock-throwing and other
assaults against Serbian buses and Serbian Orthodox clergy as they
traveled outside of their monasteries, and monks and nuns at some
monasteries reportedly did not use parts of the monasteries' properties
because of concerns about safety.
Security concerns continued to affect the Serb community and also
affected its freedom to worship, particularly after the March 2004
riots. Some Kosovo Serbs asserted that they were not able to travel
freely to practice their faith. Father Sava Janjic of Decani monastery
told USOP that, since KFOR stopped escorting non-clergy parishioners to
religious sites in April 2005, he noticed a decline in attendance at
services. Sava also reported that, when traveling through Kosovo,
clergy transit vans were sometimes pelted with stones and verbal
insults, although he and his co-religious generally traveled freely and
without incident on Kosovo's main highways during the period covered by
this report. Father Sava and Bishop Teodosije (Sibalic) of Lipljan both
traveled with an escort to USOP on occasion without incident, including
on July 1, 2005, for a Fourth of July celebration. On April 21, 2005,
KFOR withdrew its last two armored vehicles from the bridge connecting
majority Serb-inhabited north Mitrovica and Kosovo Albanian dominated
south Mitrovica and, on April 29, 2005, opened twenty-four-hour passage
on the bridge; however, following the stabbing incident near the
northern side of the bridge, civilian passage was again temporarily
halted. KFOR maintained a nearby presence.
Problems at Serbian Orthodox religious sites continued during the
period covered by this report, such as an abundance of garbage at a
cemetery near the Pec/Peja Patriarchate. Local Serb radio reported on
May 12, 2006, that unknown attackers broke newly fitted doors and
several new windows added to the SOC's Church of Saint Ilija, in
Podujeve/Podujevo municipality, by the PISG as part of the renovation
of March 2004 riot-related damage. The SOC told the media that unknown
attackers vandalized the Church of the Birth of the Mother of God
(Theotokos) in Obiliq/Obilic on June 19, 2006, by taking at least two
crosses from the church's domes and a portion of the lead roof. This
church was built in 1998, damaged in the March 2004 riots, and placed
on the list of sites to be reconstructed using money from the PISG.
The Kosovo Police Service reported on June 20, 2006, that unknown
attackers vandalized sixteen tombstones in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery
located in the ethnic Serb majority village of Staro Gracko/Starogracke
in Lipljan municipality. KFOR had reportedly cordoned off the cemetery
on June 9 when visitors discovered a landmine there. Investigations
were ongoing at the end of the period covered by this report. On June
21, Serb media reported that the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Andrew
in Podujeve/Podujevo municipality was vandalized as well.
Many of the churches and monasteries burned in the March 2004 riots
were constructed in the 14th century and are considered part of
Kosovo's cultural and religious heritage. Father Sava Janjic provided a
comprehensive list of religious sites destroyed or damaged between
March 17 and 19, 2004. The list included thirty sites altogether in the
following fourteen locations: Prizren, Rahovec, Gjakova, Skenderaj,
Peja, Ferizaj, Kamenica, Shtime, Pristina, Fushe Kosove, Vushtrri,
Obiliq, Mitrovica, and Podujevo.
Individual donor countries began repairs to several of the seventy-
five priority cultural and religious monuments identified at the May
13, 2005, donors' conference in Paris.
In addition, problems continued with the unfinished Serbian Church
of Christ the Savior (only the exterior walls stood), located on
University of Pristina grounds. During the 1990s, the Serb-dominated
administration in Pristina gave the land on which the church sits to
the SOC. In 2003, the Pristina Municipal Assembly passed a resolution
to return the land to the university. The UNMIK representative in the
Pristina municipal government immediately suspended this decision. In
February 2005, a Christian cross attached to the church was damaged.
The SRSG recommended that Pristina authorities abandon their September
proposal to convert the unfinished church into an entertainment venue,
such as a movie theater or an art gallery.
In light of societal violence in Kosovo against properties owned by
the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian Orthodox religious symbols,
UNMIK authorities continued to provide special security measures to
protect religious sites and to ensure that members of all religious
groups could worship safely. KFOR deployed security contingents at
religious sites throughout Kosovo to protect them from further
destruction, such as that which had occurred immediately after KFOR's
intervention in 1999; however, KFOR gave priority to saving persons'
lives rather than property and was unable to stop the burning and
destruction of many sites in March 2004. Because of improving security
conditions and decreasing interethnic tensions in some areas, KFOR
removed static checkpoints from most churches and religious sites,
including relaxing checkpoints at Decani monastery, during the period
covered by this report, relying instead on patrols by the U.N.
international police (CIVPOL) and indigenous Kosovo Police Service
(KPS). In most cases, such changes in security measures did not result
in a change in the level of safety of, or access to, the religious
sites. During the March 2004 riots, KFOR, CIVPOL, and KPS were involved
in crowd control and protecting lives and property. The priority was
evacuating persons over saving property, even religious property.
Immediately following the March riots, the process of transfer of
jurisdiction over local police stations from KFOR to CIVPOL and KPS was
halted; subsequently, transfer continued, and all thirty-two
jurisdictions in Kosovo were under local KPS patrol at the end of the
period covered by this report.
Although Protestants previously reported a slight improvement in
their situation, they reported suffering more violence and
discrimination during the period covered by this report. They reported
discrimination through verbal attacks and exclusion from interfaith
initiatives by the religious leadership who defended their actions on
the grounds that Protestants are not considered a ``traditional''
religion in Kosovo. They also stated that, while public television
station RTK as an institution did not specifically report on the
Protestant religion, some individuals within the RTK had a more
positive approach. Protestants also reported slight discrimination in
schools where school officials occasionally called in parents of pupils
to deter their children from being Protestant. Protestants reported
that a U.S. citizen pastor was beaten in Decani municipality by a young
man opposed to the Protestants' building of a church there. Protestants
also reported verbal local opposition to showing a Christian-based
movie in villages throughout Kosovo, as well as break-ins at churches
and harassment of adherents.
Roman Catholic leaders reported that they had good relations with
the Muslim community but hardly any bilateral contact with the Serbian
Orthodox Church leadership. Roman Catholic and Serbian Orthodox church
leadership believed each other to be highly politicized. The Muslim
community made similar remarks concerning their relationship with the
Roman Catholic leadership and lack of relationship with the Orthodox
community. On May 3, 2006, thieves stole thirteen religious paintings
from a Catholic church in Letnica village, which was inhabited by
ethnic Albanian and Croats. The Pec/Peja Patriarchate hosted Kosovo's
first interfaith conference in two years from May 2 to 4, 2006.
Participants from Islamic, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and
Protestant religious communities, diplomatic liaison offices, UNMIK,
and members of the PISG's central and local governance structures
discussed religious freedom; visited a Roman Catholic church, a mosque,
and Peja/Pec's Orthodox church, accompanied by regional municipal
leadership; visited Decani monastery; and, accompanied by ethnic
Albanian Decan/Decani mayor Nazmi Selmanaj, walked together to the
mosque in the city center. The common statement released by the
religious leaders committed the group to hold regular meetings to
intensify interreligious dialogue and cooperation, to promote the
returns process of all displaced persons, and to engage in the process
of drafting religious freedom legislation. Norwegian Church Aid hosted
the May 2006 conference to promote peace and dialogue among religious
groups. The Islamic community offered to host the next meeting in
October 2006.
The withdrawal of Former Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbian troops
from Kosovo in 1999 and establishment of UNMIK administration through
UNSCR 1244 resulted in an improved situation for the majority, largely
Muslim, ethnic Albanian population, and a cessation of attacks on their
mosques and religious sites.
Islamic, some local Orthodox, and Roman Catholic leaders have
attempted to encourage tolerance and peace in Kosovo, in both the
religious and political spheres.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
U.N. Special Envoy for the Kosovo status talks, UNMIK, the PISG, and
religious representatives in Kosovo as part of its overall policy to
promote human rights, and has sought to promote ethnic and religious
tolerance in Kosovo. U.S. officials also maintained close contacts and
met regularly with religious leaders of the Serbian Orthodox, Islamic,
Roman Catholic, and Protestant communities to discuss their concerns
and to push for interfaith dialogue. A delegation of Serbian Orthodox
officials formally visited U.S. Government institutions in the United
States from March 15 to 22, 2006.
U.S. officials continued to urge dialogue between members of the
Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and ethnic Albanian members of the
PISG. Officials from the United States met frequently with the heads of
major religious communities. In contrast to previous reporting periods,
United States Office Pristina personnel attended Serbian Orthodox
holiday services. U.S. officials continued to support UNMIK and the
PISG in rebuilding religious buildings damaged in the interethnic riots
of March 2004. Officials from the United States met frequently with the
heads of the major religious communities, provided funding to preserve
Ottoman-era transcripts in the Gazi Medhmed Pasha library, and granted
$1 million to UNESCO's large-scale effort to preserve cultural heritage
in the country.
The United States is involved actively in UNMIK, whose goal is to
secure peace, facilitate the return of the displaced, lay the
foundations for democratic self-government, and foster respect for
human rights regardless of ethnicity or religion.
U.S. KFOR peacekeeping troops worked to prevent ethnic and
religious violence in Kosovo and guarded religious sites. U.S. KFOR was
credited by local SOC officials with preventing the situation from
further escalation in their sector during the March 2004 riots, and
they increased their presence within the sector they patrol.
The U.S. Government funded the remainder of a survey of Islamic
manuscripts in Kosovo to help the local Islamic community preserve its
religious heritage.
The U.S. Department of State funds a U.N. international police
(CIVPOL) advisor in Pristina and provided $40 million (31.86 million
euros) to support KPS and CIVPOL. KPS and CIVPOL have worked to prevent
ethnic and religious violence in the country.
The U.S. Department of State provides $3.5 million in funding for
returns programs for Muslim and Orthodox Roma, Orthodox Serbs, Muslim
Bosnians, and other minority communities.
In the wake of the March 2004 interethnic violence, U.S. officers
met with Islamic, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic authorities to discuss
ways of supporting reconciliation and interfaith dialogue. Many high-
level U.S. Government and military officials continued to visit the
country in conjunction with the final status negotiation process and
meet with both political and religious leaders to assess the situation
and urge reconstruction and progress toward a multiethnic Kosovo. The
U.S. Office also urged the Government to reconstruct Serb homes quickly
and allow UNESCO to take the lead on reconstruction of destroyed and
damaged religious sites in the country.
__________
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, anti-Semitism
persisted among some elements of the population.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 18,859 square miles and a population of
5,396,193. According to the 2001 census, the number of persons who
claimed a religious affiliation increased from 72.8 percent in 1991 to
84.1 percent in 2001. This increase may have been in part due to
greater willingness among persons to state their affiliation, in
contrast to 1991 immediately after the fall of communism. According to
the census, there were 3,708,120 Roman Catholics (68.9 percent of the
population); 372,858 Augsburg Lutherans (6.9 percent); 219,831
Byzantine Catholics (4.1 percent); 109,735 members of the Reformed
Christian Church (2 percent); 50,363 Orthodox Christians (.9 percent);
and 20,630 members of Jehovah's Witnesses. There were also 3,562
Baptists; 3,217 Brethren Church members; 3,429 Seventh-day Adventists;
3,905 Apostolic Church members; 7,347 Evangelical Methodist Church
members; 3,000 Jews; 1,733 Old Catholic Church members; 6,519 Christian
Corps in Slovakia members; and 1,696 Czechoslovak Husite Church
members. According to the 2001 census, 13 percent of the population
claimed no religious affiliation, and 3.5 percent were undecided. There
were also some Muslims living in the country, primarily immigrants from
Middle Eastern countries, international students, or Albanian
immigrants. Estimates of the Muslim population varied from 300 to
3,000.
There were three categories of nonregistered religions that
comprised approximately thirty groups: Nontraditional religions, such
as Ananda Marga, Hare Krishna, Yoga in Daily Life, Osho, Sahadza Yoga,
Shambaola Slovakia, Sri Chinmoy, Zazen International Slovakia, Zen
Centermyo Sahn Sah, Rosicrucians, and Raelians; religious societies
termed ``syncretic'' by the Government, such as the Unification Church,
the Church of Scientology, Movement of the Holy Grail, and the Baha'i
Faith; and Christian religious societies, such as the Church of Christ,
Manna Church, International Association of Full Gospel Businessmen
International, Christian Communities, Church of the Nazarenes, New
Revelation, Word of International Life, Society of the Friends of Jesus
Christ, Sword of the Spirit, Disciples of Jesus Christ, Universal Life,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Free
Peoples' Mission, Presbyterian Church Emmanuel, and Brothers in Christ
(Christadelphians).
The number of immigrants was statistically insignificant. There
were very small numbers of refugees and migrants who practiced faiths
different from those of the majority of native-born citizens.
Missionaries do not register with the Government, and no official
statistics existed, although, according to government information,
there were missionaries from Roman Catholic, Augsburg Lutheran, and
Methodist religious groups, as well as a Jewish emissary, active in the
country. Among the nonregistered churches, there were a significant
number of Mormon missionaries.
There was some correlation between religious differences and ethnic
or political differences. The Christian Democratic Party (KDH), which
had ties to the Catholic faith, was the only political party with an
explicitly religious agenda. The Slovak Democratic Christian Union
(SDKU) was a Christian democratic party similar to those found in many
western European countries. The Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK)
also had a Christian wing.
Followers of the Orthodox Church lived predominantly in the eastern
part of the country. The Ruthenian minority were typically adherents to
the Orthodox faith. The Reformed Christian Church existed primarily in
the south, near the border with Hungary, where many ethnic Hungarians
lived. Other religious groups tended to be spread evenly throughout the
country.
According to polling data, the number of religious practitioners
continued to increase after the fall of communism, and approximately 54
percent of Catholics and 22 percent of Lutherans actively participated
in formal religious services.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution provides for the right to practice the religion of
one's choice, the right to change religion or faith, and the right to
refrain from any religious affiliation. The Government observed and
enforced these provisions in practice.
The law provides for freedom of religion and defines the status of
religious groups, including those groups not registered with the
Government. It does not prohibit the existence of nontraditional
religious groups. It allows the Government to enter into agreements
with religious communities. The law was applied and enforced in a
nondiscriminatory fashion.
Governmental entities at all levels, including the courts,
interpreted the law in a way that protected religious freedom.
No official state religion exists; however, because of the numbers
of adherents, Catholicism is considered the dominant religion. The
Catholic Church receives significantly larger government subsidies
because of the higher percentage of Catholics in the country. In 2001,
the Government signed an international treaty with the Vatican, which
provides the legal framework for relations between the country's
Catholic Church, the Government, and the Vatican. Four corollaries to
the framework treaty were proposed. In 2002, the Government signed an
agreement with eleven other registered religious groups in an attempt
to counterbalance the Vatican agreement and provide equal status to the
remaining registered religious groups. This agreement is subordinate to
national law and subject to amendment by statute; the Vatican treaty,
as an international agreement, can be amended only through
international legal mechanisms.
In 2002, the Government approved one of the corollaries regarding
military service in the chaplaincy for priests. In 2003, the president
signed a second corollary regarding religious education, which was
approved by Parliament in January 2004. An identical agreement was
signed with eleven other registered religious groups. This treaty
mandates that all public elementary schools require children to take
either a religion class or an ethics class, depending on their (or
their parents') preference. This was previously required only for
students in the fifth through ninth grades. Private schools affiliated
with a particular religion do not need to provide classes in other
religions. These courses were often taught by religious leaders, and
the religious groups were responsible for providing instructors,
although their salaries were paid from the government budget. There was
a lack of qualified teachers for certain religions. Some
representatives of religious groups complained that the status of
religious lecturers was not equal to that of regular teachers.
Religious lecturers were usually hired on contract and were not paid
during the two-month summer vacation. There was some concern about
possible ostracism of student members of smaller religious groups, who
might be one of a small group requesting the class, especially in
smaller municipalities. Despite these resource concerns, smaller
churches reiterated that they were generally pleased with the system.
The remaining two corollaries to the Vatican treaty, including a
proposal to allow employees to refuse to perform certain job
requirements on religious grounds, were not passed into law during the
period covered by this report. The so-called ``conscientious objector
treaty'' was turned into a draft law that was widely debated in society
and political circles, but was not forwarded to the cabinet for a vote
on adoption.
Registration of religious groups is not required; however, under
existing law, only registered religious groups have the explicit right
to conduct public worship services and other activities, although no
specific religions or practices are banned or discouraged by the
authorities in practice. Those that register receive government
benefits, including subsidies for clergymen, office expenses, the right
to visit and proselytize in prisons and hospitals, and access to public
television broadcasting. Government funding also is provided to
religious schools and to teachers who lecture on religion in state
schools. The Government occasionally subsidizes one-time projects and
significant religious activities, and registered religious groups are
partly exempt from paying taxes and import custom fees. A religion may
elect not to accept the subsidies.
During the period covered by this report, there were sixteen
registered religious groups in the country. The last group to
successfully register was the Apostolic Church in 2001. Because of the
high membership requirement, no new religious groups have filed for
registration since then.
To register a new religion, a group must submit a list of 20,000
permanent residents who adhere to that religion. Fourteen of the
religious groups already established before the law passed in 1991 were
exempt from this membership requirement. Although the Nazarene and the
Muslim communities existed in the country prior to 1991, they were
never properly registered and, therefore, were not given registered
status under the 1991 law. Two additional religious groups have been
allowed to register since 1991: The Jehovah's Witnesses and the New
Apostolic Church. Leaders of a number of minority religious
communities, in particular Muslims, smaller Protestant churches, the
Hare Krishna community, and the Church of Scientology, have in previous
years complained that the membership requirements effectively barred
them from obtaining registered status. Nonregistered religious groups
may not build public places of worship or conduct legally valid
religious ceremonies such as weddings. In 2000, the Muslim community in
Bratislava purchased a plot of land with the hope of building an
Islamic center. While they previously speculated that municipal
officials were denying them permission for the construction, it appears
that financial problems, zoning questions, and a lack of identifiable
leadership in the Muslim community could have also affected the
construction delay. Several of Bratislava's Muslims also criticized the
registration law, noting that the community in the Czech Republic was
able to submit an application for first-tier registration under Czech
law with only 300 or more citizen member signatures. The Ministry of
Culture was aware of the registration controversy.
Because the law on registration of religious groups does not
provide for registration of nontheistic groups, the Department of
Church Affairs suggested that an atheist group that had made inquiries
into obtaining registration might find funding from the Department of
Minority Culture.
There are no specific licensing or registration requirements for
foreign missionaries or religious organizations. The law allows all
religious groups to send out their representatives, as well as to
receive foreign missionaries, without limitation. Missionaries neither
need special permission to stay in the country, nor are their
activities regulated in any way.
Joint education projects on Jewish history and culture for
elementary and high school teachers were successful and well received.
In November 2005, the Government was accepted as a full member in the
Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,
Remembrance, and Research. The Ministry of Education organized a
January 2006 international seminar in Bratislava on ``Teaching and
Remembering the Holocaust,'' together with the International School of
the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Museum, the Council of Europe, and the
Holocaust Documentation Center. In March 2006, two seminars were held
at the Terezin Memorial, with eighty teachers attending; that same
month, twenty Slovak teachers took part in a seminar at Jerusalem's Yad
Vashem Museum entitled ``Teaching about the Holocaust.'' In 2005, two
teachers participated in a seminar at the Florida Holocaust Museum. The
Ministry of Education jointly organized a seminar in July 2005 on the
history of Judaism and the Holocaust in southern Slovakia.
Several Slovak schools received grants from the Anne Frank House,
and a school in Sered initiated a project to restore the local Jewish
cemetery. It also created an exhibit about Judaism in the country,
despite the complete decimation of the city's Jewish community in the
first half of the twentieth century, at which time the city hosted one
of the country's three labor camps for Jews awaiting deportation. In
2004, teachers continued to visit U.S. universities to participate in
summer training programs; twenty-five Slovak teachers visited the
concentration camp in Dachau, and twenty teachers traveled to Terezin
for training on Holocaust education in the Czech Republic. To assist
teachers with instruction about the Holocaust, the Ministry of
Education published a textbook, ``Why We Learn about the Holocaust,''
during the reporting period, and distributed it to four teacher-
training centers. In 2003, a Holocaust Documentation Center was
established as a joint project of the Bratislava Jewish community and
the Milan Simecka Foundation; after May 2005, the Union of Jewish
Communities and the Simecka Foundation took over its administration. It
has released several publications dealing with the Holocaust in the
country, Jewish wartime history, and memoirs of Jewish personalities.
In August 2005, President Ivan Gasparovic participated in the
inauguration of an exhibit on ``The Fate of Slovak Jews'' at a
refurbished synagogue in Nitra.
The Institute for Church-State Relations also organized two
conferences, including one on ``Islam in Europe'' in November 2005, and
another titled ``Western Muslim Culture--Implications for Slovakia'' in
March 2006.
In 2005, the Institute for National Memory began publishing on the
Internet the names of Slovaks who organized the ``aryanization'' of
Jewish property during World War II. The project was met with
controversy, as the Institute planned to release the names of Slovaks
who benefited from ``aryanization.''
There are several religious holy days that are celebrated as
national holidays, including Epiphany, the Day of the Virgin Mary of
the Seven Sorrows, All Saints' Day, St. Stephen's Day, Christmas, and
Easter. A treaty with the Vatican prohibits the removal or alteration
of existing religious holidays considered as state holidays.
The Department of Church Affairs at the Ministry of Culture
oversees relations between religious groups and the state and manages
the distribution of state subsidies to religious groups and
associations. However, the ministry cannot intervene in the internal
affairs of religious groups and does not direct their activities. The
ministry administers a cultural state fund, ``Let's Renew Our House,''
which allocates money for the upkeep of cultural and religious
monuments.
Since 1989, the Government has promoted interfaith dialogue and
understanding by supporting events organized by various religious
groups. The state-supported Ecumenical Council of Churches promotes
communication within the religious community. Most Christian churches
have the status of members or observers in the Council. The Central
Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Slovak Republic (UZZNO)
was invited and participates in its activities.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Although government support was provided in a
nondiscriminatory manner to registered religious groups that seek it,
the requirement that a registered organization have 20,000 members
disadvantaged smaller religious groups.
The Institute of State-Church Relations monitors and researches
religious ``cults'' and ``sects''; however, it was difficult to
identify these groups because they largely register as nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) rather than as religious groups. Such groups
included Scientologists and the Unification Church. The Institute
conducted seminars, issued publications, and provided information to
the media regarding its findings. The Institute's budget came mainly
from the Ministry of Culture's general fund, although it received some
grants for its projects from other sources. Other organizations not
funded by the Government, such as the Center for the Study of Sects,
engaged in similar work.
Some property restitution cases remained unresolved at the end of
the period covered by this report. Law 282/93 on the Restitution of
Communal Property enabled all religious groups to apply for the return
of their property confiscated by the communist government. The deadline
for these claims was December 31, 1994. The property was returned in
its existing condition, and the Government did not provide any
compensation for the damage done to it during the previous regime. The
property was returned by the Government, municipalities, state legal
entities, and, under certain conditions, by private persons. In some
cases, the property was returned legally by the Government, but it was
not vacated by the former tenant, often a school or hospital with
nowhere else to go.
There were also problems with the return of property that was
undeveloped at the time of seizure but was subsequently developed.
Churches, synagogues, and cemeteries have been returned, albeit mostly
in poor condition. Religious groups often lacked the funds to restore
these properties to a usable condition. The main obstacles to the
resolution of outstanding restitution claims were the Government's lack
of financial resources, due to its austerity program, and bureaucratic
resistance on the part of those entities required to vacate
restitutable properties. The Reformed Christian Church was vocal
regarding its unfulfilled restitution claims. According to their
representatives, the new restitution law that went into effect in May
2005 addressed some complex property claims, but did not resolve the
cases of approximately seventy church premises (church schools,
teachers' facilities, etc.) that were owned by individual parishes and
nationalized by the communist government after 1948. Reformed Christian
Church officials also complained that the Government did not allow
church organizations to draw from European Union structural funds for
social purposes. The Church existed primarily in poorer areas of the
country where there was little money for restoration and consequently
was seeking funds from abroad during the period covered by this report.
The Orthodox Church reported that all of its claims for restitution
have been settled, while the Catholic Church reported that more than
half of the property that it had claimed had been returned. In another
12 percent of cases, the property had been returned legally to the
Church, but typically was occupied by other tenants and would require
court action to be returned to church hands. The Church had not
received any compensation for the remaining 40 percent of claims, since
these properties were undeveloped at the time of nationalization but
were developed later. The Church also is not eligible to reacquire
lands that originally were registered to church foundations that no
longer exist or no longer operate in the country, such as the
Benedictines.
In 2004, the Bratislava City Government proposed to evict the
state-run Jewish Museum from its current location unless it paid a
higher, market-rate rent rather than the nominal rate that it was
paying. The museum responded that it did not have the funds to pay the
higher rent. Jewish community leaders suggested that the city owed some
consideration to them since it owned many other buildings that once
belonged to Jewish Holocaust victims. While this building was not among
them, it was occupied by many who also perished in the concentration
camps. At the end of the period covered by this report, there were no
new developments.
Following two years of negotiations, the deputy prime minister's
office drafted a proposal of compensation for heirless property owned
by Jewish families before the Holocaust. In 2002, the Cabinet agreed to
$18,747,253 (SKK 850 million) in compensation for this property. The
entire amount was placed into an account at the Slovak National Bank,
and one-third was made available immediately as needed because of the
advancing age of Holocaust survivors. The Jewish community would draw
interest on the account for ten years before receiving the remaining
principal. The community intended to use the funds to compensate some
community members as well as to fund social, educational, and cultural
programs.
UZZNO has filed a lawsuit against Germany to reclaim compensation
for monies paid by the wartime Slovak Government to Germany to cover
the cost of Germany's deportation of 57,000 members of the country's
Jewish population. UZZNO lost the lawsuit in 2003 and immediately
appealed; the case was still pending during the reporting period.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism persisted among some elements of society, manifested
occasionally in incidences of violence and vandalism. According to
estimates, 500 to 800 neo-Nazis and 3,000 to 5,000 sympathizers
operated in the country and committed serious offenses; however, only a
small number of these abuses were prosecuted. The Penal Code stipulates
that anyone who publicly demonstrates sympathy towards fascism or
movements oppressing human rights and freedoms can be sentenced to jail
for up to three years. In May 2005, police broke up a skinhead concert
in the northern part of the country. Legislation is similar to that of
neighboring countries, but court delays prevented comparable
improvements in the situation. Religious minorities had not yet needed
to avail themselves of protections provided by a new anti-
discrimination law passed in 2004.
In October 2005, the town of Topolcany issued a public apology to
former Jewish residents forced out by a pogrom in September 1945, in
which forty-eight Jews were badly injured. A documentary film about the
pogrom was widely viewed when it aired on Slovak television in 2005.
The nationalist group Slovenska Pospolitost, whose members
frequently dress in black uniforms similar to those of the fascist
Hlinka Guards (who identified and sent Jewish persons to the
concentration camps during World War II), undertook several actions
during the reporting period and clashed with police forces at several
marches. The Ministry of the Interior stripped Slovenska Pospolitost of
its status as a political party in 2006, in advance of parliamentary
elections. However, the group's leadership cooperated with other
nationalist political parties to get themselves on the ballot for the
elections. Slovenska Pospolitost remained a registered NGO, although
this status was in dispute.
The low number of prosecutions for racially motivated crime
generally improved over the past three years because of the creation of
a specialized police unit, an advisor in the Bratislava Regional
Police, and increased training. Their successes included the
investigation of 121 persons in 2005, 82 of whom were formally charged
with supporting ideas or movements that suppressed the rights of
others, including the leader of Slovenska Pospolitost, who taught high
school in Banska Bystrica. In another 2004 success, the Bratislava
Police checked 158 suspected meeting places of extremist groups in an
overnight raid that resulted in 14 arrests. Because of the monitoring
unit and its NGO advisory board, the police were better trained in
identifying neo-Nazi members and more informed about their activities.
The minister of the interior had an advisor on racially motivated crime
who participated actively on the Government's advisory commission with
NGOs. The Ministry of Interior assigned specialists on hate crimes to
each of the country's eight regions.
Meetings and demonstrations to commemorate the anniversary of the
first Slovak state from World War II occur each year throughout the
country. At these and other events, extremists frequently appear in the
uniforms of the Hlinka guards. In March 2005, 200 persons dressed in
Hlinka guard uniforms marched through Bratislava to commemorate the
anniversary of the establishment of the Fascist Slovak state in 1939.
Jewish community groups complained that the Government had not done
enough to investigate and identify the benefactors of this group.
In 2005, a publication by the cultural organization Matica
Slovenska questioned the scope and nature of the Holocaust, suggesting
that the deportation of the country's Jewish population to
concentration camps was simply part of a ``resettlement program.''
A Jewish cemetery was desecrated during the period covered by this
report. In April 2006, unknown culprits placed three posters of Hitler
with eagles and swastikas at a monument to Jewish Holocaust victims in
Rimavska Sobota. It was previously vandalized in July 2005, when it was
both damaged and covered in graffiti claiming that the Holocaust was a
lie. A week earlier, five tombstones were destroyed in a Jewish
cemetery in Rimavska Sec. An UZZNO official claimed that the cases
appeared to be simple vandalism, but racial motivation could not be
ruled out, and some NGOs believed the vandalism may be more organized.
Vandals regularly spray-painted anti-Semitic slogans and toppled or
broke gravestones. In most cases, police caught adolescent
perpetrators, who were sentenced to pay at least part of the cost of
the repairs. Jewish community leaders stated they were satisfied with
the Government's response to these incidents, and they did not believe
that the communities supported this vandalism. In one notable
sentencing that occurred in 2004, a judge sentenced vandals to
unconditional jail sentences, which the Jewish community believed sent
a needed message to the community. In January 2005, juveniles
vandalized nineteen tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Ruzemberok; an
investigation into the incident was ongoing at the end of the period
covered by this report. In June 2005, vandals broke a pane of glass at
Bratislava's memorial to Rabbi Chatam Sofer. In July 2005, derogatory
inscriptions, such as ``The Holocaust is a lie,'' were painted and
carved on the new Holocaust Memorial in Rimavska Sec; the investigation
concluded without charges being filed. Vandals destroyed five
tombstones and damaged another two at Rimavska Sobota's Jewish cemetery
the following week; the investigation concluded with no suspects.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Few communication problems
existed among the major religious groups, and there were several
ecumenical organizations that fostered closer relationships. The
Ecumenical Council of Churches operated and represented several
religious groups.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy maintained contacts with a broad spectrum of religious
groups. The embassy encouraged tolerance for minority religious groups.
Embassy officers and official visitors met with officials of major and
minor religious groups on a regular basis to discuss property
restitution issues as well as human rights conditions and religious
freedom.
The embassy continued its dialogue with the Conference of Bishops,
the Federation of Jewish Communities, and the Orthodox Church. The
embassy had good relations with the Ministry of Culture and fostered an
effective dialogue between religious groups, the Ministry of Culture,
and the Commission for the Preservation of U.S. Heritage Abroad on
matters of importance to the commission.
Embassy officers aided the Government in its membership in the Task
Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education,
Remembrance, and Research and the initiation of a liaison project on
Holocaust education in cooperation with the task force. Embassy
officers continued to be active in perpetuating this successful
project.
The embassy hosted several roundtable discussions and
representational events focusing on the need for the country to lower
its numerical threshold for religious registration to better correspond
with OSCE standards. The embassy publicly expressed U.S. opposition to
the numerical threshold, and the ambassador raised the issue with the
minister of culture.
The embassy also hosted a series of events focusing on relations
with the Muslim community, which continues to face difficulties
organizing and constructing a mosque in the country, in some part
because of local bias. Embassy officers often made tolerance and
diversity the subject of speeches during outreach trips.
__________
SLOVENIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 7,827 square miles and a population of
approximately 1,964,000. Estimates of religious identification varied.
According to the 2002 census, the numbers were: Roman Catholic,
1,135,626; Evangelical, 14,736; other Protestant, 1,399; Orthodox,
45,908; other Christian, 1,877; Muslim, 47,488; Jewish, 99; Oriental,
1,026; other religion, 558; agnostic, 271; believer, but belonging to
no religion, 68,714; unbeliever/atheist, 199,264; no reply, 307,973;
and unknown, 139,097.
The Orthodox and Muslim populations appeared to correspond to the
country's immigrant Serb and Bosniak populations, respectively. These
groups tended to have a lower socioeconomic status in society.
Foreign missionaries, including a mission of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and other religious groups
(including Hare Krishna, Church of Scientology, and the Unification
Church), operated without hindrance.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There were no formal requirements for recognition as a religion by
the Government. Religious communities must register with the
Government's Office for Religious Communities if they wish to be legal
entities, and registration entitles such groups to rebates on value-
added taxes. During the reporting period, there were forty-one
religious communities officially registered, up from forty in 2005 and
thirty-six in 2003. Four cases remained pending at the end of the
period covered by this report.
Registered religious groups, including foreign missionaries, may
receive value-added tax rebates on a quarterly basis from the Ministry
of Finance. All groups reported equal access to registration and tax
rebate status.
In 2004, several political parties proposed that religious
instruction be made compulsory; however, the Ministry of Education
rejected the initiative on the basis of existing legislation. The
constitution states that parents are entitled to give their children
``a moral and religious upbringing.'' Only those schools that were
supported by religious bodies taught religion.
According to the Office for Religious Communities, it has been
government policy since 1991 to pay the share of social insurance
contribution for clergy and other full time religious workers that is
normally paid by an employer.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
After independence in 1991, Parliament passed legislation calling
for denationalization (with restitution or compensation) within a fixed
period of church properties--church buildings and support buildings,
residences, businesses, and forests--that were nationalized after World
War II by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. By March 31,
2006, the Government had adjudicated 35,241 (92 percent) of the 38,306
denationalization claims filed. In 2004, the Government reallocated
existing resources to reduce the backlog in cases, effectively
quickening the pace of resolution.
The Roman Catholic Church was a major property holder in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia before World War II. After the war, much church
property was confiscated and nationalized by the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. Despite the Catholic Church's numerical
predominance, restitution of its property remained a politically
unpopular issue. By October 31, 2005, the Government had adjudicated
61.8 percent of claims filed by the Roman Catholic Church and had
compensated or returned $170 million (135.1 million euros) worth of
property. The total value of all property and compensation being
claimed by the Roman Catholic Church was $293 million (233.2 million
euros).
Many Jewish communal and heirless properties were also either
confiscated or nationalized during and after World War II. To date,
there has been no restitution for these losses. In 2005, the Ministry
of Justice created a new Department for Restitution and National
Reconciliation to study the issue of private property restitution and
compile an inventory of Jewish private properties nationalized or
confiscated after World War II. The Government was to issue a tender
for this project in June 2006, and research was expected to begin by
the fall of 2006.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Societal attitudes toward religion were complex. Historical events
dating from long before the country's independence colored perceptions
regarding the dominant Catholic Church. Much of the gulf between the
(at least nominally) Catholic center-right and the largely agnostic or
atheistic center-left stemmed from the killing of large numbers of
alleged Nazi and Fascist collaborators in the years 1946-1948. Many of
the so-called collaborators were successful businessmen whose assets
were confiscated after they were killed or driven from the country, and
many were also prominent Catholics. After independence, right-of-center
political groups called for a purge of communist government and
business officials, but this call was quickly replaced by one for
reconciliation.
Interfaith relations were generally amicable in the period covered
by this report, although there was little warmth between the majority
Catholic Church and foreign missionary groups that were viewed as
aggressive proselytizers. Societal attitudes toward the minority
Jewish, Muslim, and Serb Orthodox communities generally were tolerant;
however, some persons feared the possible emergence of Muslim
fundamentalism. While there were no governmental restrictions on the
Muslim community's freedom of worship, services were commonly held in
private homes under cramped conditions because of the lack of mosques.
The Muslim community had long been planning to build a mosque in
the capital of Ljubljana. The absence of a mosque was due, in part, to
a lack of organization in the Muslim community and to complex
legislation and bureaucracy in construction and land regulations. In
2004, a locally organized referendum campaign sought to prevent the
Muslim community from building a mosque in Ljubljana, but the plans to
hold a referendum were struck down by the Constitutional Court before
the referendum could be held. In 2005, plans for building the mosque
were stalled in part because of the discovery that part of the land
that the city had identified for sale to the Muslim community was
subject to a denationalization claim by the Catholic Church. The Church
agreed to forgo its claim if compensated by the city. At the end of the
period covered by this report, city authorities were set to vote on a
budgetary appropriation to provide compensation to the Church and clear
the land for sale to the Muslim community.
In early October 2004, a Jewish family grave was desecrated; police
had not identified the perpetrators by the end of the period covered by
this report. Such acts were extremely rare. However, Jewish community
representatives reported some prejudice, ignorance, false stereotypes,
and negative images of Jews within society.
The Government promoted tolerance and anti-bias education through
its programs in primary and secondary schools. The Holocaust is an
obligatory topic in the contemporary history curriculum; however,
teachers had a great deal of latitude in deciding how much time to
devote to it. The country formally joined in the Council of Europe's
2004 proclamation of May 9 as Holocaust Memorial Day. Schools carried
out various activities to remember the Holocaust on May 9, for example,
watching documentaries, writing assignments, and holding discussions on
the topic.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy held extensive discussions with the Government on the
topic of property denationalization and restitution for heirless and
communal Jewish properties confiscated or nationalized after World War
II. In addition, the embassy has made informal inquiries into the
status of the mosque construction project. The embassy meets with
members of all major religious communities, representatives of
nongovernmental organizations that address religious freedom issues,
and government officials from relevant offices and ministries.
__________
SPAIN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion; however, the Catholic Church enjoys some privileges
unavailable to other faiths.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationships among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 194,897 square miles, and a population
of approximately 43 million.
The law prohibits the collection of census data based on religious
belief, which limited the ability to compile statistical data on the
number of adherents in the country. The Center for Sociological
Investigation (CIS), an independent government agency, collected
statistics on religious trends in the society. In February 2006, a CIS
survey reported that 77 percent of citizens considered themselves
Catholic; however, 46 percent of those persons stated that they never
attended Mass. In addition, 13 percent of Spaniards considered
themselves agnostics, 6 percent atheists, and approximately 2 percent
said that they practiced other religions.
An April 2006 survey by the Santa Maria Foundation reported that,
for the first time, less than half of Spaniards between the ages of
fifteen and twenty-four described themselves as practicing or
nonpracticing Catholics. In a similar 1996 survey of Spanish young
persons, 77 percent of respondents described themselves as Catholic.
Forty-six percent declared that they were agnostic, atheist, or
indifferent to religion.
The Episcopal Conference of Spain (CEE) estimated that there were
approximately 34 million Catholics in the country. The Federation of
Evangelical Religious Entities (FEREDE) stated that it represented
400,000 evangelical Christians and other Protestants and estimated that
30 percent of its members were immigrants from Latin America and
Africa. FEREDE also estimated that there were 800,000 foreign
Protestants, mostly European, who lived in the country at least six
months of each year. There was little comprehensive information on the
size of the Muslim community in the country; estimates ranged from
700,000 to 1,500,000. The Federation of Spanish Islamic Entities
(FEERI) estimated that there were more than one million Muslims,
including both legal and illegal immigrants. Recent government
estimates supported local source reports that there were 30,000 to
40,000 Jews in the country. There were approximately 9,000 practicing
Buddhists.
The majority of Muslims were recent immigrants from Morocco, but
there were also Algerians, Pakistanis, and immigrants from other Arab
or Islamic countries, as well as a number of Spanish converts to Islam.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Office of Religious Affairs noted that,
although the majority of Muslims emigrated from Islamic countries,
there was also a small number of Christians that emigrated from
countries such as Egypt and Lebanon. At the end of 2005, the deputy
minister for immigration reported that immigrants from Morocco were the
largest immigrant group in the country. There were 386,958 Moroccans
living in the country legally and as many as 120,000 illegal Moroccan
immigrants.
Most Orthodox Christians were from Eastern European countries such
as Romania, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine. Evangelical Protestant
immigrants typically came from African and Latin American countries,
according to government officials.
The country's largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, contained the
largest number of religious confessions, according to government
officials. The last government census, taken in 2002, indicated that
the largest communities of immigrants from predominantly Islamic
countries were located in the autonomous communities of Catalonia,
Andalucia, Madrid, Valencia, Murcia, and the Spanish North African
enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The population of Orthodox Christian
communities was largest in Aragon and Valencia. The country also hosted
a number of foreign missionaries of evangelical Christian, Mormon,
Orthodox, Buddhist, and Islamic faiths.
In January 2005, the MOJ's Register of Religious Entities listed
12,453 entities created by the Catholic Church. There were 1,388 non-
Catholic churches, denominations, and communities in the register,
including 1,064 Protestant church entities. Protestant entities
included 305 charismatic churches, 128 Assemblies of Brethren, 228
Baptist churches, 125 Pentecostal churches, 38 Presbyterian churches,
one Evangelical Church of Philadelphia, 10 Church of Christ churches, 1
Salvation Army entity, 18 Anglican churches, 63 interdenominational
churches, 35 Churches for Foreigners, 4 Seventh-day Adventist churches,
3 Reformed Adventist churches, and 121 other evangelical churches. In
addition, there were also 10 Orthodox churches, 1 Jehovah's Witnesses
entity, 1 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 1
Unification Church, 10 entities of other Christian confessions, 16
entities of Judaism, 254 entities of Islam, 11 entities of the Baha'i
Faith, 3 entities of Hinduism, 21 entities of Buddhism, and 3 entities
of other confessions. The Church of Scientology was present in the
country, although the MOJ declined to register it as a religious
organization.
The number of non-Catholic churches and religious communities in
the country could have been much larger. Some religious groups chose to
register as cultural organizations with the regional governments rather
than with the National Registry of Religious Entities in Madrid because
the national registration process could take up to six months and
required much paperwork.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. Discrimination on
the basis of religious beliefs is illegal.
Article 16 of the constitution provides for religious freedom and
the freedom of worship by individuals and groups. It also states, ``No
faith shall have the character of a state religion.'' However, the
Government provides certain public financing benefits to the Catholic
Church that are not available to other religious entities in practice.
These benefits derive from four accords signed with the Holy See in
1979. They cover economic, religious education, military, and judicial
matters. The Catholic Church receives financing through voluntary tax
contributions and direct payments. Taxpayers can select a box on their
income tax forms to contribute up to 0.5 percent of their taxes to the
Catholic Church. In 2004, taxpayers contributed approximately $128
million (105.9 million euros) to the Catholic Church. In addition to
voluntary taxpayer contributions, the Government provided the Catholic
Church an additional $40 million (32.8 million euros). This sum did not
include state funding for religion teachers in public schools, military
and hospital chaplains, and other indirect assistance.
Representatives of Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic faiths signed
bilateral agreements with the Government in 1992. These agreements
provide certain tax benefits and give civil validity to weddings
performed by the religious groups. They also permit the religious
groups to place their teachers in schools and chaplains of their faiths
in hospitals and prisons. Protestant entities signed the accord as the
FEREDE; Jewish entities signed as the Federation of Israelite
Communities of Spain (FCIE); and Islamic entities signed as the Islamic
Commission of Spain (CIE). The CIE is composed of two federations: The
FEERI and the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain (UCIDE). In 2003,
the Government expanded this concept of ``well-known deeply-rooted''
beliefs (notorio arraigo) to allow other religious groups to sign
bilateral agreements. The MOJ granted notorio arraigo to the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2003; however, the church has not
negotiated a bilateral agreement with the Government. Jehovah's
Witnesses and the MOJ both reported in early 2006 that they were
working to establish the same status for the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Beginning in 2005, a new government-funded Foundation for Pluralism
and Coexistence, based in the MOJ, provided funds directly to the
minority religion confessions in order to promote religious equality
and dialogue among religious groups. The funds, $3.6 million (three
million euros) in 2005, are used for activities not themselves
religious, that is, for cultural, educational, and social integration
programs. The foundation's board includes representatives of most
government ministries as well as members of the religious groups
themselves.
Some autonomous regions have also signed agreements with religious
groups in order to encourage social integration. For example, the
Catalonian government has signed agreements with the Islamic Council of
Catalonia, and Protestant, Jewish, and Baha'i religious communities.
These agreements were social rather than financial in nature and were
intended to encourage social integration.
National religious holidays include Epiphany (January 6), Holy
Thursday and Good Friday, Assumption (August 15), All Saints' Day
(November 1), Immaculate Conception (December 8), and Christmas
(December 25); many regional governments also establish local religious
holidays. National religious holidays do not have a negative effect on
other religious groups. In the 1992 cooperation accords with the FCIE
and CIE, the Government agreed to recognize Jewish and Muslim holidays.
The 1992 accord with FEREDE accommodates Protestant entities, such as
the Seventh-day Adventists, that celebrate Saturday as the Sabbath by
giving them Friday afternoon off from work with pay to prepare for the
Sabbath.
The Law of Religious Freedom of 1980 implements the constitutional
provision for freedom of religion. The 1980 law establishes a legal
regime and certain privileges for religious organizations. To enjoy the
benefits of this regime, religious organizations must be entered in the
Register of Religious Entities maintained by the MOJ Office of
Religious Affairs, which is updated regularly. To register with the
MOJ, religious groups must submit documentation supporting their claim
to be religions. If a group's application is rejected, it may appeal
the decision to the courts. If it is judged not to be a religion, it
may be included on a Register of Associations maintained by the
Ministry of Interior. Inclusion on the Register of Associations grants
legal status as authorized by the law regulating the right of
association. Religious groups not officially recognized are treated as
cultural associations.
The Church of Scientology has been refused registration as a
religious entity in the country since it first applied in 1983. The
decision to deny registration was upheld by a Supreme Court decision in
1990. An organization claiming to be affiliated with the Church of
Scientology filed an application to register with the MOJ in 1983. The
MOJ also rejected this application. Following a 2001 decision by the
Constitutional Court to register the Unification Church, and following
the opening of a new national Church of Scientology of Spain, the
Church of Scientology filed an application again in October 2004.
However, the Government denied the application in May 2005 and declined
to register the Church of Scientology on the grounds that the MOJ did
not have the authority to overturn the 1990 decision of the Supreme
Court through an administrative action. The Church of Scientology filed
a Notice of Appeal to this denial.
Officials of the Church of Scientology argued that the organization
that filed the 1983 application was not affiliated with the Church of
Scientology. They also argued that the 1990 decision was based on
provisions of law, overturned in a 2001 Constitutional Court decision,
that a religion must worship a supreme being. Church officials argued
that, under the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Church should
be registered. MOJ officials held that the 2001 decision applied only
to the Unification Church, and that the Church of Scientology must
pursue the case through the court system. The Office of Religious
Affairs found that the Church of Scientology held the same doctrine,
organizational structure, and leadership as the organization that
applied in 1983 and was denied registration at that time. Authorities
declared that the Government would not interfere in any way with the
activities of the Church of Scientology.
The first section of the Register of Religious Entities, called the
``special section,'' contains a list of religious entities created by
the Catholic Church and a list of non-Catholic churches, denominations,
and communities that have an agreement on cooperation with the state.
Catholic dioceses and parishes are not required to register to gain
benefits under the 1980 law. However, Catholic monasteries, religious
communities, associations, and foundations may voluntarily register to
participate in the legal regime.
In 2004, leaders of the Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish communities
discussed the issue of expanded tax benefits and public funding, the
opening of new places of worship, and the quality of religious
education with the Office of Religious Affairs in the MOJ; in
particular, they sought treatment comparable to that enjoyed by the
Catholic Church. All religious minority groups requested the Government
to revise the national income tax form to allow taxpayers the option to
donate a percentage of their taxes to non-Catholic entities. However,
these negotiations ended without an agreement between the Government
and religious leaders.
In general, the Government placed no legal restrictions on opening
new places of worship; however, representatives of minority religious
groups sometimes had difficulty opening places of worship, most
frequently because of resistance from neighborhood groups. According to
the MOJ Office of Religious Affairs, local governments are obligated to
provide land for the opening of places of worship; however, this law
was largely ignored by local municipalities. The ministry carried out a
campaign to educate local governments about their responsibilities to
minority religious groups. The Catalan regional government's director
of religious affairs announced that a law was being drafted that would
set guidelines for building mosques.
Muslim and Protestant leaders also have called for the Government
to provide more support for public religious education in their
respective faiths. In 2004, the Government responded to these calls by
approving legislation that provides funding for teachers of courses in
Catholic, Islamic, evangelical/Christian, and Judaic studies in public
school when at least ten students request them. These courses are not
mandatory. Those students who elect not to take confessional courses
are obliged to take an alternative course covering general social,
cultural, and religious themes.
In 2004, the Government set aside funds to pay for twenty Muslim
teachers to teach courses on Islam to public school students. The
Government required that the teachers hold degrees from a Spanish
university, have training in Spanish law, and be fluent in Spanish. As
of September 2005, seventeen teachers were providing Islamic
instruction in schools in Andalucia (thirteen), Aragon (three) and the
Basque Country (one). In addition, twenty teachers already provide
Islamic instruction in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
There are religious schools for Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and
Jewish students. There are no restrictions placed on parents who want
to provide their children religious home school training or enroll them
in private religious schools.
The Government has taken steps to promote interfaith understanding
through the support or sponsorship of programs on interfaith dialogue,
principally through the establishment of the Foundation for Pluralism
and Coexistence described above. Members of all religious groups serve
as members of a government Committee of Advisors on Religious Freedom.
It also sponsors university courses and seminars with representatives
of different religious confessions. In 2005, the Government held
interreligious roundtables at the University Menendez Pelayo of
Santander and the University of Madrid. In 2005, the Government hosted
a conference on Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance in Cordoba
under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. The conference included representatives of all religious groups
as well as international experts on the subject of religious freedom.
Government officials placed great emphasis specifically on the issue of
anti-Semitism in the country and expressed interest in maintaining a
regular dialogue with the U.S. Government on anti-Semitic activity in
the country. The Government also appointed a special envoy within the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve as a liaison between the Jewish
community and international organizations dedicated to combating anti-
Semitism in Europe, such as the Forum for International Cooperation on
Holocaust, Education, Remembrance, and Research in Warsaw.
Restrictions on Freedom of Religion
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The Islamic and Protestant federations continued to report that the
building permit process for new mosque and church construction could be
difficult and lengthy, especially for building sites in central urban
locations. According to FEERI, new mosque construction sometimes was
forced into less-visible suburban areas, primarily because of
resistance from neighborhood groups. FEERI reported that female Muslim
students who wore headscarves did not encounter problems with the
uniform codes that private schools are allowed to implement. The
Government consistently held that the right to education takes priority
over the enforcement of clothing regulations.
The Government funds Catholic chaplains for the military, prisons,
and hospitals. The 1992 bilateral agreements recognize the right of
Protestant and Muslim members of the armed forces to have access to
religious services, subject to the needs of the service and
authorization by their superiors. According to the agreements, such
services are to be provided by ministers and imams approved by the
religious federations and authorized by the military command. However,
Protestant and Muslim leaders continued to report that there are no
military regulations to implement the 1992 agreements. FERDE reported
that evangelical military service personnel must leave their barracks
to meet chaplains and participate in evangelical religious services.
Muslim leaders reported that prison officials generally provide access
for imams to visit Muslim prisoners, and on June 9, 2006, the Council
of Ministers authorized Evangelical, Jewish and Islamic religious
services for prisoners inside jails. The various religious groups were
scheduled to appoint worship ministers who would then be authorized by
the Penitentiary Administration to conduct religious services in the
jails.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Jewish community leaders reported that, while violent anti-Semitic
acts against individual members of the community were rare, they were
concerned about anti-Semitism expressed as vandalism against Jewish
institutions. Two synagogues in Barcelona belonging to the Jewish
community of Barcelona and the Jewish Community Atid of Catalunya were
vandalized repeatedly in recent years and again in 2005. The vandalism
included anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of the synagogue. The
groups also reported their belief that local extremist groups monitored
them. The regional government responded by increasing security at the
center.
Jewish community leaders also cited some incidents of anti-Semitic
propaganda in the media and in local government institutions. In May
2006, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities stated that
``a new political anti-Semitism,'' which manifests itself in bias
towards the Palestinians, is growing in the Spanish press. In 2004, a
Star of David, placed side-by-side with a swastika, appeared on a City
Hall webpage in Barcelona. City officials removed the symbols without
explaining why they were placed there. In the same year, in the region
of Galicia in the northern part of the country, the mayor of the town
of Oleiros approved public signs that described the Israeli prime
minister as an ``animal'' and labeled member of his government ``neo-
Nazis.'' The Government responded by issuing a strong statement
condemning the incident. The mayor later agreed to remove the signs.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom. The growth of the country's immigrant
population at times led to social friction, which in isolated instances
had a religious component. Many citizens blamed recent Moroccan
immigrants for increased crime rates in the country. These beliefs
sometimes resulted in anti-Muslim sentiment, which in some cases led to
attacks and vandalism. The attackers were reported to be skinheads who
wanted to link Muslims to radical Islamist terrorism, according to
police and Muslim leaders. Muslim leaders stated that Islamic
communities continued to suffer from discrimination, particularly in
obtaining employment and rental housing. They were concerned that media
reports appeared to link Islam to the terrorist attacks. In February
2005, Sigma Dos, a private polling agency, conducted a national survey
of 1,000 individuals on attitudes on the Muslim population in the
country. The poll revealed that 70 percent of those who responded had
had no contact with Muslims, and 48 percent stated they knew almost
nothing about Islam or Muslims. Nevertheless, approximately 43 percent
of respondents said the greatest threat of the presence of Muslims in
the country was the possibility that fundamentalists would carry out a
terrorist attack.
In 2005, the Government began to observe January 27 as Holocaust
Remembrance Day. Regional governments, including those in both Madrid
and Catalonia, initiated similar commemoration.
On January 28, 2006, attackers burned the Qur'an and threw
religious books into a trash can in a mosque in Soria. Several months
earlier, the mosque had been spray-painted with graffiti. Girona, Salt,
Palafrugell, and San Vicente de Castellet, four towns in Catalonia,
also reported recent attacks on mosques and Islamic butcher shops. On
October 23, 2005, in the eastern town of Reus, police detained two car-
loads of skinheads armed with Molotov cocktails, spray paint, weapons,
and Nazi propaganda as they headed towards the local mosque.
In April 2006, an arson attack on a mosque in the enclave city of
Ceuta, where one-third of the population was Muslim, raised fears of
growing intolerance towards Muslims. The burning of the Sidi Bel Abbas
sanctuary came just three months after arsonists attacked another
sanctuary in the enclave.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy officials also meet with religious leaders of various
denominations.
The embassy facilitated exchanges between U.S. and local religious
associations to foster dialogue and promote religious tolerance and
freedom. The embassy in Madrid and the consulate in Barcelona organized
a Muslim outreach group to coordinate and promote increased contact
with the Islamic community. During the period covered by this report,
the mission dramatically increased its contacts in this community by
reaching out to leadership of the Islamic Commission of Spain and
keeping in close contact with Spain's largest mosque. Embassy officers
established new relationships with numerous immigrant and religious
groups, and nominated a record number of international visitors of
Muslim faith. The embassy utilized the Bureau of International
Information Programs' speaker program to bring Muslim-Americans to the
country to speak on matters of religious tolerance. The ambassador
established close links with his counterparts from the Muslim world,
and met repeatedly with leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities in
the country. The embassy also discussed with government officials the
attempts by the Church of Scientology to register.
__________
SWEDEN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 173,732 square miles and a population of
9.1 million. Approximately 77 percent of the population belonged to the
Church of Sweden. Increasing numbers of persons have left the Church of
Sweden each year since it separated from the state in 2000. Between
November 2, 2004, and November 1, 2005, 68,040 persons left the Church.
Church of Sweden studies found that individuals left primarily for
economic reasons; membership carries a tax of 1.19 percent of members'
incomes. In 2004, the Church of Sweden baptized 68.5 percent of
children, a figure that has steadily declined over the past two
decades. Confirmations declined more sharply; according to the latest
available figures, less than 40 percent of Swedish fifteen-year-olds
were confirmed in 2004, as opposed to 80 percent in 1970.
There was an estimated 145,000 Roman Catholics, of whom 82,000 were
registered with the Roman Catholic Church. Approximately 85 percent of
Catholics were first- or second-generation immigrants, with the largest
groups coming from southern Europe, Latin America, and Poland. Within
the Stockholm Catholic Diocese, the Armenian, Chaldean, Maronite,
Melchite, and Syrian churches celebrated Mass in their respective
languages, as did the Polish, Croatian, Spanish, Italian, Eritrean,
Vietnamese, Korean, and Ukrainian communities.
The Orthodox Church had approximately 100,000 practicing members.
The main national Orthodox churches were Syrian, Serbian, Greek,
Romanian, and Macedonian.
There was a large Finnish-speaking Lutheran denomination.
While weekly services in Christian houses of worship generally were
poorly attended, a large number of persons observed major festivals of
the ecclesiastical year and preferred religious ceremonies to mark
turning points in life such as weddings and funerals.
Those who attended Protestant churches, other than the Church of
Sweden, totaled more than 400,000. The Pentecostal movement and the
Missionary (or Missions) Church were the largest Protestant groups
outside of the Church of Sweden. In 2005, the Pentecostal movement had
86,669 registered members, a figure reflecting a steady decline from a
peak of more than 100,000 in 1985. The Missionary Church had 64,251
registered members in 2002, the latest year for which statistics were
available.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) had
approximately 9,000 members. Jehovah's Witnesses counted approximately
23,000 members.
The total number of Jews living in the country is estimated to be
18,500-20,000; however, the Jewish community estimates 10,000 active,
or practicing, members. There are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform
Jewish synagogues, found mostly in the cities. Large numbers of Jews
attend High Holy Day services, but attendance at weekly services is
low.
The major religious communities and the Church of Sweden were
spread across the country. Large numbers of immigrants in recent
decades have introduced various religions to the country, such as
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a number of Christian denominations in
those communities populated by immigrants. These communities tended to
be concentrated in the larger cities.
Buddhists numbered approximately 15,000; Hindus numbered between
7,000 and 10,000. There were estimated to be just over 1,000 Sikhs and
approximately 500 Zoroastrians. Reliable statistics on the number of
atheists were not available; however, past estimates placed the figure
at 15 to 20 percent of the adult population.
The exact number of Muslims was difficult to estimate. However, it
has increased rapidly through immigration in the past several years.
The number provided by the Muslim community was approximately 350,000,
of whom an estimated 100,000 were reportedly active. Muslim
affiliations among immigrant groups were predominantly with the Shi'a
and Sunni branches of Islam. There were mosques in many parts of the
country.
A significant number of smaller, internationally active religious
groups have also been established in the country. Such groups included
the Church of Scientology (approximately 3,000 members), Hare Krishna,
Word of Faith, and the Unification Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The rights and
freedoms enumerated in the constitution include the rights to practice
one's religion and protection of religious freedom. The laws concerning
religious freedoms are generally observed and enforced at all
government levels and by the courts in a non-discriminatory fashion.
Legal protections cover discrimination or persecution by private
actors.
Since the separation of church and state in 2000, eight recognized
religious denominations, in addition to the Church of Sweden, raise
revenues through member-contributions made through the national tax
system. All recognized denominations are entitled to direct government
financial support, contributions made through the national tax system,
or a mix of both. The state does not favor the Church of Sweden at the
expense of other religious groups in any noticeable way. Since the
population is predominantly Christian, certain Christian religious holy
days are national holidays, but this does not appear to affect other
religious groups negatively. School students from minority religious
backgrounds are entitled to take relevant religious holidays.
No recognition or registration is required to carry out religious
activity. Religious groups that want to receive government aid may
apply for it. The Government considers the number of members in the
group and its length of establishment, but applies no specific
criteria.
Religious education covering all major world religions is
compulsory in public schools. Parents may send their children to
independent religious schools, all of which receive government
subsidies, provided they adhere to government guidelines on core
academic curriculum.
The Office of the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination
investigates claims of discrimination ``due to race, skin color,
national or ethnic origin, or religion.'' Discrimination on religious
grounds is illegal, including discrimination in the work place and in
the provision of public and private services.
In May 2006, the National School Authority ruled that a public
school in the city of Umea had acted improperly for expelling a Muslim
student for wearing a head scarf. The ruling enables Muslim students to
wear head scarves in school.
Following a 1998 public opinion poll that showed a low percentage
of Swedish schoolchildren had even basic knowledge of the Holocaust,
the Government launched nationwide Holocaust education projects.
Approximately one million copies of the projects' core textbook are in
circulation and available in many languages, at no cost, to every
household with children.
The Living History Forum--a government organization established in
2003 to promote tolerance, democracy and human rights using the
Holocaust as a starting point--and the Swedish Committee against anti-
Semitism initiated an ongoing educational program on the Holocaust,
anti-Semitism, and racism. Designed for teachers and others working in
education, the program aims to establish a network of well-educated and
engaged individuals who can spread knowledge of the Holocaust.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding and meets annually
with representatives from various religious groups. The Commission for
State Grants to Religious Communities is a government body consisting
of twenty-two registered religious groups (thirty-seven including sub-
groups) entitled to government aid.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The law requires animal slaughter to be preceded by the
administration of anesthetics to minimize undue suffering by the
animal. The Jewish community has protested that this prevents the
practice of kosher slaughter in the country, requiring kosher meat to
be imported. The Muslim community appeared to be split between those
who believed certain anesthetic methods do not conflict with halal
requirements, and those who believed that they do. A government
investigation of the law was scheduled to present its results by April
30, 2007.
The law stipulates that male circumcision may be performed only by
a licensed doctor or, in the case of boys under the age of two months,
in the presence of a person certified by the National Board of Health.
Approximately 3,000 Muslim boys and forty to fifty Jewish boys are
circumcised each year. The National Board of Health has certified
Jewish mohels (persons ordained to carry out circumcision according to
the Jewish faith) to carry out the operations, but a medical doctor or
an anesthesia nurse must accompany them. Some members of the Jewish and
Muslim communities have protested against the law on the grounds that
it interferes with their religious traditions. The National Board of
Health and Welfare Authority reviewed the law and recommended its
continued usage.
Individuals serving in the military are given the time and
opportunity to fulfill religious requirements. The military makes
available food options fulfilling religious dietary requirements and
allows time for appropriate mourning periods. Some regiments have an
imam attached to them to facilitate religious observance by Muslim
soldiers. Jehovah's Witnesses are exempt from national military
service.
Armed forces guidelines allow the wearing of religious headwear. In
2005, a Sikh finished his military service, throughout which he wore a
turban. In March 2006, the National Police Board incorporated in its
diversity guidelines the right of police officers to wear religious
headwear.
In June 2005, the country's newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported
that the ombudsman against ethnic discrimination was suing Gothenburg
city for two instances in which Muslim women were turned away at a
swimming pool because they were wearing arm-length tops. Pool employees
maintained the clothing violated pool regulations. One of the women
believed that she was turned away because she was wearing a veil. The
ombudsman subsequently filed a lawsuit against the City of Gothenburg;
a court hearing had not taken place by the end of the period covered by
this report.
In July 2004, Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green was convicted and
sentenced to one month's imprisonment under a hate-speech law that
criminalizes agitation against ethnic groups. Green's conviction
resulted from a sermon in which he condemned homosexuality, in part on
the basis of biblical teachings. Green challenged the verdict on the
basis of freedom of speech and, in February 2005, an appeals court
ruled in Green's favor and overturned the conviction. The Government
then appealed the February decision to the Supreme Court, which in
November acquitted Green on the basis of Articles 9 (freedom of
religion) and 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on
Human Rights.
In April 2005, a district court in Stenungsund sentenced Leif
Liljestrom to two months' imprisonment for violation of the hate-speech
law and for violation of a website content law. The individual had
posted on a Christian website material judged to be offensive toward
homosexuals. Liljestrom appealed the conviction, arguing that the
online content reflected his Christian convictions. In April 2006, an
appeals court in Gothenburg acquitted Liljestrom of the hate-speech and
website content charges, but found him guilty of being an accomplice to
hate-speech for allowing third parties to post offensive material on
his website. The appeals court sentenced Liljestrom to one month's
imprisonment. Liljestrom filed an appeal to the Gothenburg court
decision; the Supreme Court had not yet decided on whether to accept
the case by the end of the reporting period.
Three trade unions and the Employers' Association agreed in April
2005 on compensatory holiday leave hours that will allow non-Christians
to substitute their religious holy days for Christian holy days that
are also national holidays.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who have been abducted or illegally removed from
the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
In November 2005, Swedish Radio revealed that the bookshop in the
Stockholm Central Mosque was selling audio cassettes with anti-Semitic
content. One tape included calls for Muslims to kill Jews. Police
subsequently seized a number of tapes and compact disks from the
mosque. The material contained highly anti-Semitic content, including
calls for a holy war against Jews in which suicide bombers are
celebrated as martyrs. In January 2006, the chancellor of justice, a
civil servant who serves as a government legal advisor, issued an
opinion that the contents of the tapes and compact disks did not
constitute hate speech under Swedish law. The hate-speech law provides
as follows: ``A person who, in a disseminated statement or
communication, threatens or expresses contempt for a national, ethnic,
or other group of persons with allusion to race, color, national or
ethnic origin, religious belief, or sexual orientation shall be
sentenced for agitation against such a group to imprisonment for at
most two years or, if the crime is petty, to a fine.'' The chancellor
of justice opined that, in light of the broader Middle East conflict,
such language could be interpreted as applying to the broader conflict
and not to groups within the country per se, and hence did not violate
the law.
The Jewish Congregation of Stockholm reported the desecration of
approximately ten gravestones in the Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm in
August 2005. The Congregation also reported that approximately fifty
Jews and individuals with Jewish-sounding last names received letters
with anti-Semitic content during the September-October period.
In June 2006, a court convicted three high school students for
violation of the country's hate-speech law for making Nazi salutes in
front of teachers and fellow students. The court sentenced two of those
convicted to fines and the third to social counseling.
The number of reported anti-Semitic crimes has increased since the
end of the 1990s, and averaged approximately 130 annually during the
period 2000-2003, with 128 crimes reported in 2003. In 2004, the number
of anti-Semitic crimes rose by 44 percent, an increase in police
attribute largely to a change in statistical methodology. The largest
single category of anti-Semitic crime in 2004 was agitation against an
ethnic group, with sixty-six reported incidents, and unlawful threat/
molestation second, with forty-two reported incidents. There were seven
reported cases of assault during the same period. This means that the
number of assaults more than doubled compared to 2003, when three
assaults were reported. Nazi symbolism, such as Hitler salutes and the
use of swastikas, was associated with 27 percent of reported anti-
Semitic crimes. Some Jews believed that increases in attacks were
directly linked to increased tensions in the Middle East. Since the
beginning of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000, some in the
Jewish community saw its primary threats as coming from Islamists and
leftist extremists, as opposed to the traditional neo-Nazi threat.
Representatives of the Jewish community organizations in the country
believed that it was unfair that they were obliged to bear costs for
security measures, as they believed that the state should guarantee the
security of its citizens.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Citizens were generally
tolerant of diverse religious practitioners. However, anti-Semitism
existed, and Muslims were subject to societal discrimination. Law
enforcement authorities maintained statistics on hate crimes but did
not break the figures down by categories relating to the targeting of
specific religious groups, with the exception of anti-Semitic attacks.
There were inadequate figures on incidents or crimes motivated by
religious prejudice or intolerance toward members of the Muslim
community. The Office of the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination
received reports of discrimination on religious grounds, including
religious affiliation, during the period covered by this report. Exact
statistics were not available.
In October 2004, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention
and the Living History Forum together presented a report on intolerance
towards Muslims and Jews among high school students. In March 2006,
both organizations released their follow-up report on anti-Semitism
among the population as a whole. Five percent of individuals questioned
for the report, and 39 percent of those questioned who identified
themselves as Muslims, indicated strong anti-Semitic views; 36 percent
of all respondents indicated an ambivalent view towards Jewish people.
In November 2005, Swedish Radio (SR) reported that four of ten
Islamic organizations in the country believe they had been threatened,
according to an investigation by an SR news program which interviewed
100 organizations that together represented 80 thousand Muslims. The
report stated that three of ten organizations had been attacked,
vandalized, and damaged. Abuses ranged from graffiti to attacks with
fire bombs.
The Jehovah's Witnesses and members of various smaller Christian
churches reported incidents of discrimination during the past few
years.
In September and October 2005, unidentified individuals carried out
arson attacks at the Islamic Center in Malmo. The attacks did not
result in extensive damage, unlike the serious arson attack against the
center that occurred in 2003.
In May 2006, two masked individuals stabbed a Sunni Muslim imam in
the city of Gavle. The imam sustained a chest wound. Authorities were
investigating the case but had made no arrests by the end of the period
covered by this report.
Many religious communities are involved in interfaith dialogue.
However, in May 2004, the Jewish central council decided that the
Jewish community should withdraw from official cooperation with the
Church of Sweden after the launch of the Church's HOPP (HOPE) campaign
for a just peace in the Middle East. Archbishop KG Hammar endorsed the
campaign, which included a recommendation to boycott Israeli goods
originating from occupied territory. Cooperation was likely to resume
following the June 2006 appointment of a new archbishop, who signaled
his intent for the Church to play a less political role.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Government is a member of the Task Force for International
Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research.
The embassy maintained regular contacts with local religious
leaders, and embassy officials have participated in events promoting
interfaith understanding and religious tolerance. The embassy also
nominated individuals to participate in International Visitor programs
on religious diversity.
__________
SWITZERLAND
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. However, negative reaction to
immigration, the conflict in the Middle East, and terrorist acts by
Muslim extremists in foreign countries, have increased intolerance
towards religious minorities. The growing Muslim population, a number
of reports of Muslim clerics preaching extremist views, and the
international controversy over the Danish newspaper cartoons of
Muhammad have spurred the public debate on the role of Muslim believers
in society.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 15,942 square miles and a population of
approximately 7.29 million. Three-quarters of the population nominally
adhered to either the Roman Catholic or Protestant churches, but actual
church attendance rates were much lower. The Muslim population was the
largest religious minority, making up approximately 4 percent of the
resident population. More than 11 percent of citizens claimed no formal
allegiance to any church or religious community.
Over the past several years, noticeable membership shifts occurred
within the various religious denominations. Historically, more than 95
percent of the population was evenly split between the Swiss Protestant
Church and the Roman Catholic Church; however, since the 1970s, there
has been a steady increase of persons formally renouncing their church
membership. In the Roman Catholic Church, immigration from southern
Europe has countered this trend. The arrival of immigrants from other
areas has contributed to the noticeable growth of religious communities
that had little presence in the country in the past. According to the
Government's Statistics Office, membership in religious denominations
was as follows: 41.8 percent Roman Catholic; 33.0 percent Protestant;
1.8 percent Orthodox; 0.2 percent Old Catholic; 0.2 percent other
Christian groups; 4.3 percent Muslim; 0.2 percent Jewish; 0.8 percent
other religions (Buddhist, Hindu, and other); and 11.1 percent
professed no formal creed.
According to official census statistics, the Muslim population
increased significantly from 57,000 in 1980, to 152,000 in 1990, and to
311,000 in 2000. Muslim immigrants from North African countries
typically settled in the French-speaking western part of the country,
whereas those arriving from Turkey, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia
commonly relocated in the German-speaking eastern and central parts.
There were two major mosques, one in Zurich (built in 1963 and
belonging to the Ahmadiyya movement) and one in Geneva (built in 1978
and financed by Saudi Arabia). There were approximately 120 Muslim
centers located throughout the country in private homes or office
complexes.
Approximately 75 percent of Jewish households were located in the
urban areas of four major cities: Zurich, Geneva, Basel, and Bern.
There were four distinguishable Jewish subgroups: orthodox,
conservative, liberal, and reform. An estimated 15 percent of Jews
belonged to the orthodox branch.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Article 15 of the constitution provides for freedom of creed and
conscience, and the Federal Penal Code prohibits any form of debasement
or discrimination of any religion or any religious adherents.
There is no official state church; religious matters are handled by
the cantons (states), according to Article 72 of the constitution. Most
of the twenty-six cantons (with the exception of Geneva and Neuchatel,
where church and state are separated) financially support at least one
of the three traditional religious communities--Roman Catholic, Old
Catholic, or Protestant--with funds collected through taxation. Each
canton observes its own regulations regarding the relationship between
church and state. In some cantons, the church tax is voluntary, but in
others an individual who chooses not to contribute to church tax may
have to leave the church formally. In some cantons, private companies
are unable to avoid payment of the church tax. Some cantons grant
``church taxation'' status, which the traditional three Christian
communities enjoy, to the Jewish community. Islamic and other
nonofficial religious groups are excluded from these benefits.
In February 2005, voters in Zurich canton comfortably adopted a new
Cantonal Constitution that grants the three traditional Christian
communities greater autonomy in regulating their internal affairs. The
new constitution also grants official recognition to two local Jewish
communities but does not provide for the raising of funds through
taxation as with the three Christian communities. Neither does the new
constitution provide for the official recognition of Islam or other
religious communities. On October 30, 2005, voters in Basel adopted a
new cantonal constitution that paves the way for granting non-
traditional religious communities, including Islam, recognition as
official religions under cantonal law. The Basel cantonal constitution
was awaiting approval by the Federal Parliament when the period covered
by this report ended.
A religious organization must register with the Government in order
to receive tax-exempt status.
In 2004, the Federal Council (cabinet) decided to appoint an
ambassador to the Vatican in order to establish full diplomatic
relations with the Holy See.
Groups of foreign origin are free to proselytize. Foreign
missionaries must obtain a ``religious worker'' visa to work in the
country. Visa requirements include proof that the foreigner would not
displace a citizen from doing the job, has formally completed
theological training, and would be supported financially by the host
organization. The host organization must acknowledge the country's
legal order and must not tolerate its abuse by members, either in
theory or in practice. During 2004 and 2005, a total of 60 ordained
clergymen and 120 non-ordained religious employees were working on
short-term permits in the country.
Religious education is taught in most public cantonal schools, with
the exception of Geneva and Neuchatel. Classes in Roman Catholic and
Protestant doctrines are normally offered; some schools also cover
other religious groups living in the country. In Lucerne Canton, two
municipalities have offered religious classes in Muslim doctrine since
2002. In some cantons, religious classes are entirely voluntary, while
in others they form part of the curriculum; waivers, however, are
routinely granted for children whose parents request them. Those of
different faiths are free to attend classes for their own creeds during
the class period. Parents may also send their children to private
religious schools and to classes offered by their church, or they may
teach their children at home.
A number of cantons reformed religious education in public schools
during the reporting period to either complement or entirely supplant
traditional classes in Christian doctrine with non-confessional
teachings about religion and culture. French-speaking primary schools
in Fribourg, Vaud, Wallis, Jura, and Bern adopted a new religious
tutorial that gives prominent coverage to non-Christian denominations
as well. In the central part of the country, authorities in a number of
cantons decided to complement religious classes being offered by the
individual religious communities with secular teachings about ethics
and religion. The first of these cantons, Obwalden, introduced its
religion and ethics program in 2005. In Zurich, the government's board
of public education decided to introduce a new subject, Religion and
Culture, to secondary schools, which would expose pupils to all major
religious traditions, with no precedence given to any one of them, in
an effort to foster interconfessional understanding and tolerance in a
multi-cultural society. Textbooks and the curriculum were being drafted
and the training of lay teachers was being prepared. Classes were
scheduled to begin in school year 2007-2008. At the primary school
level, authorities announced plans also to introduce secularized
religious instruction in a move to counter a citizens' ballot
initiative against a 2004 government decision to cut funding for
traditional classes in biblical history. The Canton of Basel was
contemplating similar steps but had not made any firm decisions by the
end of the period covered by this report. In virtually all cantons
contemplating or implementing reform, authorities planed to make the
non-confessional teachings about religion and culture a non-elective
part of the curriculum for all pupils.
The question of waivers other than from religious classes gave rise
to some controversy at the end of 2005 after the county of Stettlen in
the Canton of Bern excused a nine-year-old girl from a Muslim family
from swimming and from some physical education classes. In spring 2006,
however, the Libyan refugee family withdrew the demand for special
treatment of their daughter. There are no national guidelines regarding
exemptions on religious grounds, and practices vary. Some cantons have
issued guidelines not to excuse pupils from swimming or physical
education classes despite a contrary ruling of the Federal Tribunal
(Supreme Court) from 1993, holding that such exemptions on religious
grounds are constitutional. Education policy is set at the cantonal
level, but school authorities at the county level wield some
discretionary power in their implementation.
The debate over the country's World War II record contributed to
the problem of anti-Semitism. To counter anti-Semitism and racism, in
2001, the Federal Department of the Interior created the Federal
Service for the Combating of Racism to coordinate antiracism activities
of the Federal Administration with cantonal and communal authorities.
Between 2001 and 2005, this service managed a project fund of $11.1
million (15 million Swiss francs), which supported more than 500
projects to combat racism, including some projects specifically
addressing the problem of anti-Semitism. After the completion of the
one-time project fund, the Federal Service for the Combating of Racism
continued to support anti-racism activities with money from the regular
federal budget. For the year 2006, Parliament earmarked $640 thousand
(800 thousand Swiss francs) to fund projects.
Of the fourteen political parties represented in the Federal
Parliament, four (the Christian Democratic Party, the Evangelical
People's Party, the Federal Democratic Union, and the Christian Social
Party) subscribe to a religious philosophy. There were no reports of
individuals being excluded from a political party because of their
religious beliefs.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were several reports of authorities taking measures to
prevent or stop Muslim clerics from spreading religious ideas that
clash with basic precepts of the country's legal order.
In 2004, the Federal Office of Migration (FOM) rejected the 2003
work permit applications of two Muslim clerics that the Islamic Center
in Geneva had filed with local authorities because of the extremist
views of the Islamic Center's leader, Hani Ramadan. On October 5, 2005,
the Justice Ministry's appeals body upheld the FOM decision, thus
setting a precedent of rejecting work permit applications for Muslim
imams on ideological grounds.
In 2004, Basel authorities asked a Muslim imam to depart the
country after learning that the imam, a Saudi national working as a lay
teacher in a local Muslim school, had justified some form of domestic
violence based on teachings of the Qur'an. Basel follows a zero-
tolerance policy regarding the interpretation in public of religious
texts that violate the constitution or federal or cantonal law.
In May 2005, a Geneva administrative court ordered the cantonal
government to recognize Hani Ramadan's status as public servant and
resume paying his salary. Ramadan was suspended from his duties as
public school teacher in the fall of 2002, following the publication of
an article in the French newspaper Le Monde in which he favored the
stoning of adulterers as set out in Islamic law (Shari'a). Ramadan, who
heads the Islamic Center in Geneva, was dismissed in 2003 following an
administrative investigation, but he successfully appealed the
decision. Following a second investigation, however, the Geneva
cantonal government confirmed Ramadan's dismissal and removed him from
the cantonal payroll in December 2004. The cantonal government stated
its intention to honor the administrative court ruling but not to re-
instate Ramadan in his former teaching duties.
In September 2005, the city of Fribourg dismissed two school
employees for refusing to remove their Islamic headscarves during
working hours. The two young women were employed to tend to children
after school hours. Fribourg had previously banned the wearing of
religious apparel in schools. The Canton of Geneva has a similar
provision which has been upheld by the Federal Tribunal (Supreme Court)
and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR found that the
Canton of Geneva's legal provisions did not discriminate against
religious convictions, but were meant to protect the rights of other
subjects as well as the public order.
Resident Muslim organizations complained that it was nearly
impossible to acquire zoning approval to build mosques or Muslim
cemeteries, since this authority rested with individual counties and
municipalities. The building commission of the northwestern village of
Wangen in the Canton of Solothurn blocked the plans of a local Turkish
cultural association to add a minaret to its house of worship.
Officially, the planned eighteen-foot (six-meter) high minaret was
blocked because of violations of zoning restrictions, but the
association reportedly believed the decision to be political. When the
association filed the building permit application in September 2005,
local political opposition quickly formed, and community leaders took a
public stance against the project. The association stated its intention
to appeal the decision to the cantonal justice department.
Reports from the Cantons of Aargau and Bern stated that Muslim
communities there faced similar opposition to community building
projects. There were two minarets in the country, at the Geneva and
Zurich mosques.
Ritual slaughter (the bleeding to death of animals that have not
first been stunned) was made illegal in the country in 1893; however, a
1978 Law on the Protection of Animals explicitly allows for the
importation of kosher and halal meat. Imported from France and Germany,
this meat is available in the country at comparable prices. In 2003, a
popular initiative to protect animal rights and prohibit the import of
meat from animals bled without stunning was filed; in December 2005,
however, the sponsors withdrew their initiative before it had been
submitted to a national vote after Parliament adopted a revision of the
Law on the Protection of Animals.
On May 10, 2006, the Federal Tribunal (Supreme Court) upheld the
decision of authorities in the Canton of Basel to reject the
citizenship application of a Turkish national woman on the grounds that
she lacked a desire to integrate into society. The woman, who worked as
a voluntary religious teacher, had appealed the rejection, claiming
that it was due to her profession of Islam and her corresponding living
habits. The Federal Tribunal opined that the negative decision of the
Basel authorities was neither discriminatory nor a violation of
religious freedom rights, but rather a manifestation of the legal
precept that individuals who voluntarily seclude themselves from the
population should be denied citizenship. At the same time, it held that
the appeal raised delicate questions and therefore decided to cover the
legal costs of the indigent woman in spite of the negative ruling.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
On June 29, 2006, the Geneva-based Intercommunity Center for
Coordination against anti-Semitism and Defamation (CICAD) hosted a
conference in Geneva to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the
Roman Catholic Church's declaration Nostra Aetate and to discuss
interreligious dialogue between Jews and Catholics. Participants
included senior representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the
Jewish community, as well as Federal Councilor Pascal Couchepin.
On May 8, 2006, the Zurich cantonal parliament held the opening
ceremony of its annual session in a local synagogue instead of the
typical setting of a Christian church. The ceremony was meant to honor
the official recognition of two Jewish communities under the new
cantonal constitution that entered into force at the beginning of 2006.
In December 2005, the Federal Council (cabinet) allocated $8
million (10 million Swiss francs) to the Swiss National Science
Foundation for a new research program to study the transformation of
individual forms of belief and the changing role of religious
communities in society in recent years. The objective of the research
program was to delineate areas of conflict between adherents of
different creeds, as well as between believers and nonbelievers, and to
develop ways to ease religious tensions. The program was also expected
to pave the way for debate on an eventual article on religion in the
constitution.
The federal Government joined with national youth associations to
support the Council of Europe's youth campaign ``All Different--All
Equal'' to promote diversity, human rights, and political
participation. The campaign, which was scheduled to run from June 2006
to September 2007, aimed to involve as many youths as possible in local
and regional projects.
The country participated in the April 2004 conference sponsored by
the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on anti-
Semitism, in Berlin. State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Franz von
Daniken highlighted the various ways through which the country was
confronting anti-Semitism. He condemned all forms of racism and anti-
Semitism and fully endorsed the OSCE measures to promote tolerance and
nondiscrimination.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Senior leaders of the country's Christian, Jewish, and Muslim
communities met in Bern on May 15, 2006, to formally establish a Swiss
Council of Religions to promote interreligious dialogue and to serve as
a consultation partner for the federal Government. The Council was
meant to foster religious peace; to build confidence between different
faiths; to find common positions on issues of mutual interest; and to
engage in political dialogue on faith-related and social issues.
Inspiration for this Council sprang from an interreligious ceremony
held in Bern cathedral in March 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war.
Implementation began following a July 2004 meeting of high-level
representatives belonging to the three religious communities in Bern.
The Swiss Council of Religions included senior representatives of the
Roman Catholic Church, Old Catholics, the Swiss Protestant Church, and
the Muslim and Jewish communities. Evangelical churches, the Christian
Orthodox Church, and other religions were not represented but could
join the Council at a later stage.
On January 23, 2005, representatives of ten Christian denominations
in the country signed the Charta Oecumenica, an ecumenical charter
concerning closer cooperation in Europe, after a televised inter-
confessional service in the Church of St. Ursanne in northwestern
Switzerland. The text of the charter, written in 2001 by
representatives of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox
traditions, mentioned the need for Christian unity in Europe and a
common approach to spreading the Christian faith. However, in November
2004, the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches had instructed its
ministers not to administer Holy Communion jointly with Roman Catholic
clergy. The 2004 recommendation came only months after the Vatican's
instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which reaffirmed the exclusion of
non-Catholics from the celebration of Holy Communion.
The Swiss Observatory of Religions based in Lausanne noted an
increase in anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic feelings over the last
decade. In a statement following the March 2005 arson attack on the
Lugano synagogue, the Federal Commission Against Racism observed that
the climate against members of religious minorities and their
institutions had deteriorated in general. Although physical violence
was rare, most anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim remarks have largely been
fueled by extensive media reports over the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, the Holocaust Assets issue, and terrorist acts by Muslim
extremists in foreign countries.
In March 2005, two arson attacks were launched in the city of
Lugano, in the southern canton of Ticino, one against a clothing store
owned by a Jewish family and another against the synagogue. The attacks
completely destroyed the clothing store and severely damaged the ground
floor beneath the main sanctuary of the synagogue. No one was hurt in
either incident. Shortly after the incidents, police arrested a 58-
year-old resident Italian national with a mental condition, who
confessed to the arson attacks. The Ticino cantonal prosecutor later
publicly stated that the perpetrator had acted alone without any
apparent connection to other individuals and ruled out overtly anti-
Semitic motives for the two arson attacks, a claim the psychiatric
evaluation later corroborated. In November 2005, a Ticino court
sentenced the Italian national to two years in prison; the sentence was
suspended for psychiatric treatment. Though more recent attacks on
synagogues had been restricted to vandalism and anti-Semitic graffiti,
the arson attack in Lugano was the first instance in living memory of
the burning of a house of worship within the country. President Samuel
Schmid immediately condemned the arson attacks and pledged government
support in fighting anti-Semitism. Three days after the attacks, over
1,000 people, including representatives of all major religious
communities, gathered in Lugano to express their support for the Jewish
community.
During the night of March 31, 2006, unidentified vandals smashed
several windows of the synagogue in Lausanne. The local Jewish
community filed a report with the police. CICAD denounced the attack
and expressed concern over the series of anti-Semitic incidents
occurring in the French part of the country. In April 2005, vandals
spray-painted anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of, and on a Holocaust
memorial just outside of, the Grand Synagogue in Geneva. In May 2005,
unidentified vandals desecrated a dozen tombs of the Jewish cemetery of
Vevey-Montreux. No suspects were arrested.
In 2005, CICAD recorded seventy-five anti-Semitic incidents in the
western, French-speaking part of the country, ranging from verbal and
written assaults to offensive graffiti and acts of vandalism against
Jewish property. In 2004, the year recordings began, CICAD noted
thirty-four incidents. The former president of the Swiss Federation of
Jewish Communities cautioned that the CICAD statistics did not
represent a wider national trend.
According to data gathered by the Federal Commission against
Racism, between 1995 and 2002 there were 212 prosecutions for
violations of the anti-racism clause, leading to 110 indictments that
resulted in 89 convictions. Most prominent among the identified victims
were Jews, followed by foreigners of different ethnic origin and dark-
skinned people. More than 70 percent of the racist acts were verbal or
written slurs, or the distribution of racist material; only 3 percent
were physical assaults.
In his radio and television address commemorating the sixtieth
anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, President Schmid
stated that it was in the best interest of all to resolutely oppose all
totalitarian and extremist endeavors, as well as all forms of racism
and anti-Semitism.
In July 2005, the Zurich cantonal prosecutor closed the
investigation of a political advertisement for violation of the anti-
racism law; no charges were made. During the national referendum
campaign to ease restrictions on granting citizenship to second- and
third-generation immigrants, opponents ran a controversial
advertisement suggesting that the Muslim population would double every
decade and would become the majority population within the country by
2040. The Zurich cantonal prosecutor concluded that the advertisement
created a climate of fear but did not incite discrimination or
denigrate members of the Muslim community. The electorate rejected the
constitutional amendments on easing citizenship restrictions in a
national ballot vote in September 2004.
Prompted by the international controversy over the (re-)publication
of Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper, three of the four major
political parties communicated their positions regarding the
relationship between the state and the Muslim community. In April 2006,
the center-left Christian Democratic Party (CVP) published a twenty-
page white paper on the role of Muslim believers in society. The paper
stressed the primacy of the standing legal order, emphasizing the
equality of the sexes and the ban on forced marriage and domestic
violence. For the CVP, freedom of religion implied the right of Muslim
women to choose whether or not to wear religious headscarves, as well
as the right of anyone over the age of sixteen to adhere or not adhere
to any religion. The CVP advocated banning fundamentalist imams from
entering the country while establishing a faculty for Muslim theology
at a Swiss university. The conservative Free Democratic Party (FDP)
published a resolution maintaining that liberalism and democracy could
be reconciled with the Islamic faith. The FDP advocated equal
assessment of church towers and minarets by the same building codes and
zoning restrictions. In March 2006, the right-populist Swiss People's
Party (SVP) published a white paper on migration policy. The SVP paper
stressed that the country's legal and customary norms applied to all
and criticized government policy as too accommodating to minority
requests. According to the SVP, foreigners increasingly abused the
country's liberal order to engage in political agitation that
undermined neutrality and exploited religious freedom by requesting
special treatment, such as waivers for Muslim girls from swimming
lessons in public schools.
In the Federal Parliament, the SVP, nominally the strongest
faction, tabled two motions in December 2004 and February 2005,
respectively, to abolish the Federal Commission against Racism and to
erase the anti-racism clause from the Federal Penal Code, which
criminalizes racist or anti-Semitic action or expression, whether in
public speech or in printed material. Both motions have yet to be
debated in Parliament.
According to statistics gathered by the Foundation against Racism
and Anti-Semitism, a local organization combating intolerance and
xenophobia, the total number of reported incidents against foreigners
or minorities was 103 in 2005, which was somewhat decreased from 108
incidents in 2004. These figures included instances of verbal and
written attacks, which were much more frequent than physical assaults.
A 2004 study by the Zurich University found no evidence of anti-
Semitism in the country's German language media, but noted that
newspapers and electronic media often resorted to questionable
stereotypes. The study also said that Muslims were more likely to be
portrayed as aggressors or as opposed to democracy.
In April 2004, the Zurich lawyer and honorary chairman of the
Jewish religious community, Sigi Feigel, sued the political party
Europa Partei Schweiz, claiming that it sponsored newspaper
advertisements comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. The party, which is
not represented in Parliament, ran advertisements in the daily Tages-
Anzeiger the day after the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi,
calling on the Government to cut off diplomatic relations and end
military cooperation with Israel. The advertisements referred to
``Israel, nation of the Jews'' and stated, ``with the exception of the
gas chambers, all the Nazi instruments are being used against
(Israel's) resident population.'' In March 2006, a Zurich cantonal
prosecutor, in agreement with the claimant parties, closed the case
without bringing charges.
In May 2005, the Zurich cantonal appeals court acquitted the Jewish
author of an anti-Islamist pamphlet from the charge of violating the
anti-racism law on the grounds that in a political context even
exaggerated criticism must be tolerated as long as it is not overtly
racist.
On January 27, 2006, following the precedent of previous years,
schools across the country held a day of remembrance for victims of the
Holocaust. Education authorities said the aim was to remember the
Holocaust and other forms of genocide committed in the past century and
raise awareness of inhumane ideologies.
In October 2004, a forty-five-year-old African national entered the
Islamic Center in Lausanne during Friday prayers and attacked the imam
with a knife, seriously injuring him and a nearby worshiper in the
stomach. The assailant had the knife taped to his hand and, in the
ensuing scuffle, injured another six persons, including himself, before
he could be controlled by bystanders and apprehended by the police.
According to police, the assailant had escaped from a hospital where he
was undergoing psychiatric evaluations. Vaud judicial authorities
opened an investigation that remained pending at the end of the period
covered by this report.
There were several reports of resident members of the Muslim
community expressing concern about or alerting authorities to foreign
imams giving radical speeches in mosques or local prayer rooms. In
November 2004, a Muslim imam was asked to depart from Basel Canton for
justifying some forms of domestic violence; he was also denounced by
members of the local Muslim community. The former imam of the Islamic
Center in Zurich, Youssef Ibram, stated that the storm of indignation
following a November 2004 interview with a Swiss-French magazine, in
which he refused to take an unequivocal stance against the stoning of
adulterers, damaged his relations with the leadership of the community
and left him no choice but to resign from his position. In April 2004,
Swiss Muslims in Geneva complained that foreign imams invited to the
Grand Mosque of Geneva for a prayer were giving radical speeches,
sometimes filled with invectives against the Jewish population and
western countries.
In June 2005, the local Association of Muslim Organizations in
Zurich made public a charter adopted in March committing its fifteen
member societies to uphold the established legal order and democracy.
The charter calls for the peaceful coexistence of and dialogue between
different cultures and religions, rejects violence, and demands respect
for human rights and equality. The charter calls for the integration of
members of the Muslim communities with society and active engagement
for the common good.
Efforts to set up a training program in the country for Muslim
clerics and religious teachers were advanced in Basel, where cantonal
authorities and the local university initiated the establishment of a
chair for Muslim history and theology. In 2004, the university held
exploratory talks with the Vienna-based Academy for Islamic Religious
Education, but private financing for the chair has not yet been
assured. Similar efforts to establish a chair for Muslim theology in
other locations have failed or stalled, a fact that prompted the newly
founded Center on Religion, Science, and Politics of the University of
Zurich to launch a study to gauge the political climate regarding the
training of Muslim clerics and Islamic religious education in public
schools in the country. In November 2004, the Conference of Swiss
Bishops and the Swiss Protestant Church Federation both publicly
endorsed the idea that imams who lead prayers in Swiss mosques should
be trained at Swiss universities; however, the Federal Council
(cabinet) cautioned that the training for a specific profession was not
a priority at the university level.
The Federal Office of Migration acknowledged that the training of
imams posed a problem. Some cantons refused to grant a residency permit
to imams considered fundamentalists. Many imams in the country came
from Kosovo, Bosnia, the Middle East, and Maghreb countries. They were
often either self-taught or trained in Muslim countries, the primary
foreign country of training being Saudi Arabia. Officially, the country
had two large mosques, in Geneva and Zurich, and approximately 120
prayer rooms. It was believed that another 100 prayer rooms existed,
many of them belonging to Albanian, Turkish, or Arab communities. A new
Federal Law on Foreigners, which Parliament adopted on December 16,
2005, provides for mandatory training of immigrant clerics in order to
facilitate their integration into society. Among other provisions, the
training program would ensure that immigrants can speak at least one of
the three national languages (French, German, or Italian). The Federal
Law on Foreigners was subject to a national referendum vote to be held
on September 24, 2006.
While Muslim and Jewish cemeteries existed in the country, two laic
cantons (Geneva and Neuchatel) require that all individuals from
religious communities be buried in state-owned cemeteries only. Both
Jewish and Muslim communities protested that this restriction breaches
their freedom of religion and incurs higher costs. Islam prohibits
Muslims from being buried in cemeteries belonging to other religions,
and Geneva Muslims protested that they were forced to pay expensive
repatriation costs to send their deceased by plane to a Muslim country.
It was estimated that between 90 and 95 percent of deceased Muslims in
Geneva were sent to their countries of origin for burial.
Other religious customs, such as genital mutilation of children,
forced marriage, or the unilateral repudiation of marriage by the
husband, are illegal. In May 2006, authorities in St. Gallen Canton
reportedly deported both the husband and the father of a twenty-one-
year-old resident Turkish woman who had been forced into marriage a
year earlier in Turkey. The woman had notified police of receiving
death threats when she refused to consummate the marriage after her
husband had followed her to Switzerland. Both men were banned from
reentering the country.
In 2004, Muslim leaders expressed fears of a ``witch-hunt''
following government revelations that members of half a dozen militant
Muslim groups were operating secretly in the country. The Government
later confirmed press allegations that these radical Islamic groups
included the Tunisian Islamic Front, the Palestinian Hamas, and
Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front. The Government stated that it was
being more sensitive in the wake of September 2001 terrorist attacks in
the United States, but denied any systematic targeting of the country's
Muslims.
There were no reports of difficulties for Muslims buying or renting
space for worship, but some Islamic centers continued having
difficulties accommodating the growing number of faithful attending
Friday prayers. Although occasional complaints arose, such as a Muslim
employee not being given time to pray during the workday, attitudes
were generally tolerant toward Muslims. In one poll from November 2004,
76 percent of residents surveyed did not feel threatened by the
presence of the 300,000-strong Muslim community living in the country,
as opposed to 16 percent who did feel threatened; 61 percent favored a
university chair to train Islamic imams in Switzerland; and 53 percent
approved of female members of the Muslim community wearing the
headscarf to work. In a separate survey of the Muslim community living
in the country, 84 percent of the respondents said they felt accepted
in the country, with 79 percent declaring that they have never
experienced discrimination because of their religion.
However, a sociological study from 2005 found that a significant
minority of the resident population holds anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic
views. The study, which was part of the Swiss National Science
Foundation's research program on right-wing extremism, consisted of a
representative sample of more than 3,000 oral interviews probing for
extremist beliefs and attitudes towards minorities. According to the
study, almost one-quarter of respondents harbored anti-Semitic views or
negative stereotypes, a fact that the authors partly explained as a
consequence of the controversy over Switzerland's role during World War
II. However, the study also established that the majority of anti-
Semitic comments made in private occurred in the context of discussions
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Muslim community was seen even
more critically: 36 percent of respondents did not believe that Muslims
in the country should order their lives in accordance with Islamic
customs, and 30 percent of respondents considered it a humiliation for
a Muslim woman to wear a headscarf. On the other hand, the study also
found that 90 percent of respondents rejected right-wing extremism, and
85 percent approved of the criminal prosecution of racist propaganda.
A government-commissioned survey of thirty Muslim believers found
that the resident Islamic community was very diverse. Coming from
different countries and cultural backgrounds, religious practices of
the mostly immigrant community varied. Most Muslims had no problems
practicing their religion, but only a small minority could be
considered strict believers, according to the study. Many Muslims
praised the country's integration policy, and a majority said they were
influenced by Swiss culture. Some complained of discrimination or
racism, particularly against women wearing religious headscarves.
The place of the Islamic headscarf in society was an issue of
public debate. In October 2004, the country's biggest retailer made
headlines when it became public that a request made in August by one of
its female employees at a Zurich store to wear her headscarf to work
had been put on hold. In November 2004, the retailer granted the
request, stating that it would not impose a general ban but decide each
case on individual merits. The second biggest retailer, on the other
hand, announced that its dress code did not provide for any headgear
and that it would henceforth not allow the wearing of the headscarf. In
Basel, the candidacy of a young woman in the October 2004 elections to
the cantonal parliament who publicly affirmed her intention to continue
to wear the headscarf if elected re-kindled the debate over the
headscarf in public office. In November 2004, a local conservative
party launched a popular initiative to ban all public sector employees
or holders of public office from wearing the headscarf on duty. Federal
Councilor Moritz Leuenberger publicly opposed an outright ban of the
headscarf and warned that such a ban could hamper integration of Muslim
women in society.
Many nongovernmental organizations coordinated interfaith events
throughout the country.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy discusses religious freedom issues with government
officials and representatives of the various faiths. Meetings have been
held with Swiss Jewish leaders, a senior Muslim professor and community
leader, Christian clergy, and human rights officials from the Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs.
__________
TURKEY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the
Government imposes some restrictions on Muslim and other religious
groups and on Muslim religious expression in government offices and
state-run institutions, including universities.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally tolerant relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, a sharp debate continued
over the country's definition of ``secularism,'' the proper role of
religion in society, and the potential influence of the country's small
minority of Islamists. Some Muslims, Christians, and Baha'is faced a
few restrictions and occasional harassment for alleged proselytizing or
unauthorized meetings. The Government continued to oppose ``Islamic
fundamentalism.'' Authorities continued their broad ban on wearing
Muslim religious dress in government offices, universities, and
schools.
According to the general perception, Turkish identity is based on
the Turkish language and the Islamic faith. Religious minorities said
they were effectively blocked from careers in state institutions.
Christians, Baha'is, and some Muslims faced societal suspicion and
mistrust, and more radical Islamist elements continued to express anti-
Semitic sentiments. Additionally, persons wishing to convert from Islam
to another religion sometimes experienced social harassment and
violence from relatives and neighbors.
The U.S. Government frequently discusses religious freedom with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy representatives met frequently with government officials and
representatives of religious groups during the reporting year to
discuss issues related to religious freedom, including legal reform
aimed at lifting restrictions on religious minorities.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 301,383 square miles and a
population of approximately 69.6 million. According to the Government,
approximately 99 percent of the population was Muslim, the majority of
which was Sunni. According to the human rights nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Mazlum-Der and representatives of various religious
minority communities, the actual percentage of Muslims was slightly
lower. The Government officially recognized only three minority
religious communities--Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Orthodox
Christians, and Jews--although other non-Muslim communities existed.
The level of religious observance varied throughout the country, in
part due to the influence of secular traditions and official
restrictions on religious expression in political and social life.
In addition to the country's Sunni Muslim majority, there were an
estimated fifteen to twenty million Alevis, followers of a belief
system that incorporates aspects of both Shi'a and Sunni Islam and
draws on the traditions of other religions found in Anatolia as well.
Some Alevis practice rituals that include men and women worshipping
together through oratory, poetry, and dance. The Government considered
Alevism a heterodox Muslim sect; however, some Alevis and radical
Sunnis maintained Alevis are not Muslims.
There were several other religious groups, mostly concentrated in
Istanbul and other large cities. While exact membership figures were
not available, these religious groups included approximately 65,000
Armenian Orthodox Christians; 23,000 Jews; and fewer than 2,500 Greek
Orthodox Christians. The Government interpreted the 1923 Lausanne
Treaty as granting special legal minority status exclusively to these
three groups, although the treaty text refers broadly to ``non-Muslim
minorities'' without listing specific groups. However, this recognition
did not extend to the religious leadership organs; for example, the
Ecumenical and Armenian Patriarchates continued to seek recognition of
their legal status.
There also were approximately 10,000 Baha'is; an estimated 15,000
Syrian Orthodox (Syriac) Christians; 5,000 Yezidis; 3,300 Jehovah's
Witnesses; 3,000 Protestants; and small, undetermined numbers of
Bulgarian, Chaldean, Nestorian, Georgian, Roman Catholic, and Maronite
Christians. The number of Syriac Christians in the southeast was once
high; however, under pressure from government authorities and later
under the impact of the war against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK), many Syriacs migrated to Istanbul, Western Europe, or
North and South America. Over the last several years, small numbers of
Syriacs returned from overseas to the southeast, mostly from Western
Europe. In most cases, older family members returned while younger ones
remained abroad.
Christian organizations estimated there were approximately 1,100
Christian missionaries in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the
Government imposes some restrictions on Muslim and other religious
groups and on Muslim religious expression in government offices, state-
run institutions, and universities, usually for the stated reason of
preserving the ``secular state.'' The constitution establishes the
country as a secular state and provides for freedom of belief, freedom
of worship, and the private dissemination of religious ideas. However,
other constitutional provisions regarding the integrity and existence
of the secular state restrict these rights. The constitution prohibits
discrimination on religious grounds. Core institutions of the state,
including the presidency, armed forces, judiciary, and state
bureaucracy, have played the role of defending traditional Turkish
secularism throughout the history of the republic. In some cases,
elements of the state have opposed policies of the elected Government
on the grounds that they threatened the secular state.
The Government oversees Muslim religious facilities and education
through the Diyanet, which is under the authority of the Prime
Ministry. The Diyanet is responsible for regulating the operation of
the country's more than 77,500 registered mosques and employing local
and provincial imams, who are civil servants. Some groups, particularly
Alevis, claimed that the Diyanet reflected mainstream Sunni Islamic
beliefs to the exclusion of other beliefs; however, the Government
asserted that the Diyanet treated equally all who requested services.
A separate government agency, the General Directorate for
Foundations (GDF), regulates some activities of non-Muslim religious
groups and their affiliated churches, monasteries, synagogues, and
related religious property. There are 161 ``minority foundations''
recognized by the GDF, including Greek Orthodox foundations with
approximately 70 sites, Armenian Orthodox foundations with
approximately 50 sites, and Jewish foundations with 20 sites, as well
as Syriac, Chaldean, Bulgarian Orthodox, Georgian, and Maronite
foundations. The GDF also regulates historic Muslim charitable
religious foundations, including schools, hospitals, and orphanages.
In 1936, the Government required all foundations to declare their
sources of income. In 1974, amid political tensions over Cyprus, the
High Court of Appeals ruled that the minority foundations had no right
to acquire properties beyond those listed in the 1936 declarations.
The court's ruling launched a process, which continued during the
period covered by this report, under which the state has seized control
of properties acquired after 1936. The law also allows the state to
expropriate properties in areas where the local non-Muslim population
drops significantly. Minority religious groups, particularly the Greek
and Armenian Orthodox communities, have lost numerous properties to the
state in the past and continued to fight ongoing efforts by the state
to expropriate properties.
The law allows the 161 religious minority foundations recognized by
the GDF to acquire property, and the GDF has approved 364 applications
by non-Muslim foundations to acquire legal ownership of properties.
However, the legislation does not allow the communities to reclaim the
hundreds of properties affiliated with foundations expropriated by the
state over the years. Foundations have also been unable to acquire
legal ownership of properties registered under names of third parties,
including properties registered under the names of saints or
archangels, during periods when foundations could not own property in
their own name.
Government authorities do not interfere in matters of doctrine
pertaining to non-Muslim religions, nor do they restrict the
publication or use of religious literature among members of the
religion.
There are legal restrictions against insulting any religion
recognized by the Government, interfering with that religion's
services, or debasing its property.
Alevis freely practiced their beliefs and have built ``cem houses''
(places of gathering), although cem houses have no legal status as
places of worship. Representatives of Alevi organizations maintained
that they often faced obstacles when attempting to establish cem
houses. They said there were approximately one hundred cem houses in
the country, a number that they claimed was insufficient to meet their
needs.
Alevis in the Kartal district of Istanbul continued to fight a
court battle against a decision by local authorities to deny them
permission to build a cem house. In January 2005, Alevis in the Cankaya
district of Ankara applied to acquire property to open a cem house.
Municipal authorities consulted the Diyanet, which issued a letter
stating that Alevis in Cankaya did not need a cem house because they
could worship at a local mosque. Also in January 2005, the Diyanet
issued a letter to authorities in the Sultanbeyli district of Istanbul
stating that cem houses violate Islamic principles and Turkish law.
In May 2006, authorities in the Istanbul municipality of
Sultanbeyli reportedly halted the construction of a cem house on the
grounds that the Pir Sultan Abdal Association, an Alevi group, had not
acquired the necessary construction permits. Association officials said
the local mayor and his staff had attended the groundbreaking ceremony
and had promised not to interfere with the project.
The Diyanet covers the utility costs of registered mosques, but not
of cem houses and other places of worship that are not officially
recognized. In May 2006, Diyanet President Ali Bardakoglu said the
Diyanet could not provide such support to cem houses as it did not have
funds for ``supporting mystical worship.''
Many Alevis alleged discrimination in the Government's failure to
include any of their doctrines or beliefs in religious instruction
classes in public schools. They also charged a bias in the Diyanet,
which does not allocate specific funds for Alevi activities or
religious leadership.
The constitution establishes compulsory religious and moral
instruction in primary and secondary schools. Religious minorities are
exempted. However, some religious minorities--such as Protestants--
faced difficulty obtaining exemptions, particularly if their
identification cards did not specifically list membership in a minority
religion. The Government claims that the religion courses cover the
range of world religions; however, religious minorities said the
courses reflected Sunni Islamic doctrine, which, they maintained,
explains why non-Muslims are exempt.
In January 2004, an Alevi parent filed suit in the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR), charging that the mandatory religion courses
violate religious freedom; the case is ongoing. In a June 2004 report,
the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance recommended that
the Government either make the courses optional, or revise the content
so that they genuinely and fairly cover all religions.
In April 2006, an Istanbul court announced its ruling in favor of
an Alevi father who requested that his son be exempt from the religion
courses at school; in May, however, a higher court overturned the
ruling on appeal.
Officially recognized religious minorities may operate schools
under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Such schools are
required to appoint a Muslim as deputy principal; reportedly, these
deputies have more authority than their nominal supervisors. The
curriculum of these schools includes Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox,
and Jewish instruction.
The Caferis, the country's principal Shi'a community, numbering
between 500 thousand and 1 million (concentrated mostly in eastern
Turkey and Istanbul), do not face restrictions on their religious
freedoms. They build and operate their own mosques and appoint their
own imams; however, as with the Alevis, their places of worship have no
legal status and receive no support from the Diyanet.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, state policy imposes some restrictions
on religious groups and on religious expression in government offices
and state-run institutions, including universities.
Secularists in the military, judiciary, and other branches of the
bureaucracy continued to wage campaigns against what they label as
proponents of Islamic fundamentalism. These groups view religious
fundamentalism as a threat to the secular state. The National Security
Council (NSC) categorizes religious fundamentalism as a threat to
public safety. President Sezer delivered a speech in April 2006 in
which he listed separatism and religious fundamentalism as threats
facing the country. The president said that the ``fundamentalist threat
has reached a dangerous level'' and that ``Turkey's best protection
against this threat is its secular order.''
According to Mazlum-Der and other groups, some government
ministries have dismissed or barred from promotion civil servants
suspected of anti-state or Islamist activities. Reports by Mazlum-Der,
the media, and others indicated that the military sometimes dismisses
religiously observant Muslims from military service. Such dismissals
were based on behavior that military officials believed identified
these individuals as Islamic fundamentalists; they were concerned that
such behavior could indicate disloyalty to the secular state.
According to Mazlum-Der, the military charged soldiers with lack of
discipline for activities that included performing Muslim prayers or
being married to women who wore headscarves. According to the military,
officers and noncommissioned officers were sometimes dismissed for
maintaining ties to Islamic fundamentalist organizations, despite
repeated warnings from superior officers.
Mystical Sufi and other religious-social orders (tarikats) and
lodges (cemaats) have been banned officially since the mid-1920s;
however, tarikats and cemaats remain active and widespread. Some
prominent political and social leaders continue to associate with
tarikats, cemaats, and other Islamic communities.
Under the law, religious services may take place only in designated
places of worship. Municipal codes mandate that only the Government can
designate a place of worship, and, if a religion has no legal standing
in the country, it may not be eligible for a designated site. Non-
Muslim religious services, especially for religious groups that do not
own property recognized by the GDF, often take place on diplomatic
property or in private apartments. Police occasionally bar Christians
from holding services in private apartments, and prosecutors have
opened cases against Christians for holding unauthorized gatherings.
The law prohibits imams, priests, rabbis, or other religious
leaders from ``reproaching or vilifying'' the Government or the laws of
the state while performing their duties. Violations are punishable by
prison terms of one month to one year, or three months to two years if
the crime involves inciting others to disobey the law.
The authorities continued to monitor the activities of Eastern
Orthodox churches, but generally did not interfere with their
activities. The Government does not recognize the ecumenical status of
the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, acknowledging him only as the head of the
country's dwindling Greek Orthodox community. High-level government
leaders often assert publicly that use of the term ``ecumenical'' in
reference to the patriarch violates the 1923 Lausanne Treaty. However,
government officials privately acknowledge that Lausanne does not
address the issue.
As a result, the Government has long maintained that only citizens
of the country can be members of the Church's Holy Synod and
participate in patriarchal elections. However, in 2004, Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I appointed six non-Turkish-citizen metropolitans
to the Holy Synod, representing the first time in the eighty-year
history of the country that noncitizens had been appointed to the body.
The Government did not formally respond to the appointments.
Members of the Greek Orthodox community said the legal restrictions
threatened the survival of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul
because, with fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox left in the country, the
community was becoming too small to maintain the institution.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul continued to seek to reopen
the Halki seminary on the island of Heybeli in the Sea of Marmara. The
Government closed the seminary in 1971, when the state nationalized all
private institutions of higher learning. The state provides training
for Sunni Islamic clergy; religious communities outside the Sunni
Islamic mainstream cannot legally train new clergy in the country for
eventual leadership. Co-religionists from outside the country have been
permitted to assume leadership positions in some cases, but in general
all religious community leaders, including patriarchs and chief rabbis,
must be citizens.
In April 2005, the Patriarchate filed an appeal with the ECHR
concerning the GDF's expropriation of an orphanage on the Prince's
Islands that had belonged to the Patriarchate. There were no new
developments in the case.
The Armenian Orthodox community continued a legal battle against
the Government's expropriation of properties belonging to the Yedikule
Surp Pirgic Armenian Hospital Foundation in Istanbul. In March 2005,
the Treasury attempted to sell a building expropriated from the
foundation to a private company, but the Finance Ministry blocked the
sale. The ECHR continued proceedings related to the appeal by the
Armenian Orthodox community of the 1999 expropriation of two other
foundation properties.
No law explicitly prohibits proselytizing or religious conversions;
however, many prosecutors and police regard proselytizing and religious
activism with suspicion. Police occasionally bar Christians from
handing out religious literature. Proselytizing is often considered
socially unacceptable; Christians performing missionary work are
sometimes beaten and insulted. If the proselytizers are foreigners,
they may be deported, but generally they are able to reenter the
country. Police officers may report students who meet with Christian
missionaries to their families or to university authorities.
By the end of the reporting period, there was no verdict in the
trial proceedings in the case of three members of the Nationalist
Movement Party who severely beat Yakup Cindilli, a convert to
Christianity, for distributing New Testaments in Bursa Province in
2003.
Authorities continued to enforce a long-term ban on the wearing of
headscarves at universities and by civil servants in public buildings.
Women who wear headscarves and persons who actively show support for
those who defy the ban have been disciplined or have lost their jobs in
the public sector as nurses and teachers. Students who wear head
coverings are officially not permitted to register for classes,
although some faculty members permit students to wear head coverings in
class.
Many secularists accuse Islamists of using advocacy for wearing the
headscarf as a political tool and say they fear that efforts to repeal
the headscarf ban will lead to pressure against women who choose not to
wear a head covering.
In February 2006, the Council of State ruled in favor of a decision
by education authorities to revoke the promotion of an Ankara teacher
to a nursery school principal position on the grounds that the teacher
regularly wore an Islamic headscarf outside of school. Some journalists
and religious rights advocates asserted that the court's decision
effectively expanded the headscarf ban into the private sphere. The
court, however, maintained that the teacher had violated the principle
of secularism in education by wearing the headscarf while traveling to
and from school.
In May 2006, attorney Alparslan Arslan opened fire in the Council
of State court responsible for the February ruling, killing Judge
Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin and wounding four other judges. Arslan, who was
apprehended at the scene, reportedly said he was motivated by anger
over the ruling. Thousands of protestors attending Ankara funeral
ceremonies for Ozbilgin accused government leaders of inciting the
attack by criticizing the headscarf ban and the Council of State
ruling. There were no similar protests in other cities.
In another February 2006 ruling, the Council of State upheld a
decision by the Education Ministry to deny the application of religion
instructor Abdullah Yilmaz to be assigned to a position in Central Asia
because Yilmaz's wife wears a headscarf.
A 1997 law made eight years of secular education compulsory. After
completing the eight years, students may pursue study at imam hatip
(Islamic preacher) high schools, which cover both the standard high
school curriculum and Islamic theology and practice. Imam hatip schools
are classified as vocational, and graduates of vocational schools face
an automatic reduction in their university entrance exam grades if they
apply for university programs outside their field of high school
specialization. This reduction effectively bars imam hatip graduates
from enrolling in university programs other than theology. Many pious
citizens criticized the religious instruction provided in the regular
schools as inadequate. Most families who enrolled their children in
imam hatip schools did so to expose them to more extensive religious
education, not to train them as imams.
In December 2005, the Education Ministry issued a regulation
allowing imam hatip students to earn degrees from regular high schools
by taking distance learning courses. However, the Higher Education
Council objected to the regulation, and, in February 2006, the Council
of State suspended the regulation pending a final ruling.
Only the Diyanet is authorized to provide religion courses outside
of school, although clandestine private courses do exist. Students who
complete five years of primary school may enroll in Diyanet Qur'an
classes on weekends and during summer vacation. Many Qur'an courses
function unofficially. Only children twelve and older may legally
register for official Qur'an courses, and Mazlum-Der reported that law
enforcement authorities often raided illegal courses for younger
children.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported continuing official harassment of
their worship services because they were not members of an officially
recognized religion. Jehovah's Witnesses continued to engage in a legal
battle over their efforts to form an association.
Restoration or construction may be carried out in buildings and
monuments considered ``ancient'' only with authorization of the
regional board on the protection of cultural and national wealth.
Bureaucratic procedures and considerations relating to historic
preservation in the past have impeded repairs to religious facilities,
especially in the case of Syriac and Armenian Orthodox properties.
Groups are prohibited from using funds from their properties in one
part of the country to support their existing population in another
part of the country.
Religious affiliation is listed on national identity cards. Some
religious groups, such as the Baha'i, are unable to state their
religion on their cards because their religion is not included among
the options; they have made their concerns known to the Government. In
April 2006, Parliament adopted legislation allowing persons to leave
the religion section of their identity cards blank or change the
religious designation by written application. However, it appeared that
the Government may restrict applicants' choice of religion; members of
the Baha'i community said government officials had told them that,
despite the new law, they would not be able to list their religion on
the cards.
There were reports that local officials harassed some persons who
converted from Islam to another religion when they sought to amend
their cards. Some non-Muslims maintained that listing religious
affiliation on the cards exposed them to discrimination and harassment.
In October 2004, the Government's Human Rights Consultation Board
issued a report on minorities, which stated that non-Muslims were
effectively barred from careers in state institutions, such as the
armed forces, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Police, and
the National Intelligence Agency. Professors Baskin Oran and Ibrahim
Kaboglu faced criminal charges for their roles as principal authors of
the report. An Ankara court acquitted them in May 2006. Members of
minority religious communities confirmed the report's conclusions. They
said non-Muslim citizens were viewed as foreigners and were therefore
considered unqualified to represent the state.
In January 2006, the ECHR ruled against the country in a case
involving conscientious objector Murat Ulke. The court determined that
Ulke, who had been imprisoned for refusing to carry out his military
service, had suffered ill-treatment.
At the end of the reporting period, court proceedings continued in
the Istanbul trial of sixty-nine suspects charged in connection with
the November 2003 terrorist bombings of two synagogues, the British
consulate, and a bank.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to
the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In April 2006, Roman Catholic authorities reopened the Bebekli
Church in Adana for Sunday services. Catholic leaders had closed the
church in September 2005 because local authorities had failed to
enforce zoning regulations requiring a ten-meter offset around the
church building, and noise from an adjacent wedding hall had been
interfering with church services. In April, local Catholic officials
thanked municipal authorities for discontinuing the operating license
of the wedding hall.
In June 2006, officials in the Tasdelen municipality of Istanbul
allocated land to an Alevi organization for the construction of a cem
house. Members of the Alevi community said the decision marked the
first time a cem house had been officially recognized as a place of
worship, rather than as a cultural center.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally tolerant relationship among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, some Muslims, Christians,
Baha'is, and other religious communities faced societal suspicion and
mistrust. Jews and Christians from most denominations freely practiced
their religions and reported little discrimination in daily life.
However, citizens who converted from Islam to another religion often
experienced some form of social harassment or pressure from family and
neighbors. Proselytizing on behalf of non-Muslim religions was socially
unacceptable and sometimes dangerous. A variety of newspapers and
television shows regularly published and broadcasted anti-Christian
messages, and government officials asserted that missionary activity
was a threat to the state and was not covered under the concept of
religious freedom.
Religious pluralism was widely viewed as a threat to Islam and to
``national unity.'' Nationalist sentiments sometimes contained anti-
Christian or anti-Semitic overtones. Some in the Jewish community
reported growing feelings of insecurity in the wake of the 2003 attacks
in Istanbul, and certain media outlets promoted anti-Semitic
propaganda, including allegations that the Jewish community aided and
even orchestrated the Kurdish nationalist movement.
In January 2006, five assailants severely beat Protestant church
leader Kamil Kiroglu in Adana. One attacker wielded a knife and
threatened to kill Kiroglu unless he renounced Christianity.
In February 2006, an assailant shot and killed Catholic priest
Andrea Santaro in a church in Trabzon. A witness said the gunman
shouted ``God is great'' as he shot Santaro from behind. A sixteen-
year-old was charged in the case; his trial was ongoing at the end of
the reporting period. The suspect reportedly told police he was angry
about the caricatures of Muhammad that had been published in a Danish
newspaper. Prime Minister Erdogan and other government officials
condemned the killing.
Also in February, a group of young men beat and threatened to kill
a Catholic friar in Izmir. The attackers shouted anti-Christian slogans
and said they wanted to ``clean Turkey of non-Muslims.''
In March 2006, an assailant entered a Catholic church in Mersin,
threatening church members with a knife and shouting anti-Christian
statements. Police arrived at the scene and arrested the assailant.
In April 2006, a group of young men entered the Syriac compound in
Diyarbakir and shouted threats at church members. Police refused to
send patrols to the neighborhood of the church until a few days later,
when the church's Easter ceremonies were held.
In May 2006, Greek Orthodox Christians held a mass at a historical
church in Bergama. A group of nationalist and leftist protestors
attempted to disrupt the mass with loud slogans and music. Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I, who attended the mass, thanked local officials
for authorizing the event.
Members of the Syriac community said local villagers, particularly
village guards, often occupied the homes of Syriacs who fled the
country, refusing to leave when Syriacs attempted to return. The
village guards are a civil defense force of approximately 57,000,
mostly in the southeast. They were reputed to be the least disciplined
of the security forces.
According to the Syriac community, more than fifty unoccupied
Syriac homes have been destroyed in the village of Bardakci, Mardin
province, since 2000. The majority of the village's Syriac residents
fled the region in the mid-1980s. One of the village's two Syriac
churches was converted into a mosque without consulting the Syriac
community. Some returning Syriacs claimed that government authorities
reclassified properties while the Syriacs were out of the country in
ways that caused them to lose some of their lands.
Trial proceedings continued in the appeal of Kerim Akbas, who was
convicted in 2004 for television broadcasts inciting violence against
Christians.
Members of the secular establishment fear the influence of Islamism
and reject the involvement of even moderate Islam in politics.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
ambassador and other mission officials, including staff of the U.S.
Consulate General in Istanbul and the U.S. Consulate in Adana, enjoyed
close relations with the Muslim majority and other religious groups.
The U.S. Embassy continued to urge the Government to permit the
reopening of the Halki seminary on Heybeli Island.
In November 2005, the U.S. charge d'affaires addressed an Istanbul
conference on interfaith dialogue organized by the Appeal of Conscience
Foundation. Speaking to an international audience representing diverse
religions, she emphasized the importance of religious freedom and the
need for leaders of all faiths to stand up against terrorism.
The mission collaborated with the Gaziantep American Corner, the
Gaziantep Rotary Club, and the Anatolian Journalists Union in
organizing a photo exhibit in June 2005 on religious diversity in the
country that helped to engage attendees in dialogue about issues
important to the country's continued democratic development.
The mission sponsored a series of presentations on religion in the
United States by Wilfred McClay, professor of history at the University
of Tennessee, in March 2006. McClay addressed audiences of students,
faculty, theologians, opinion makers, and others in Istanbul, Bursa,
and Ankara, including at the ambassador's residence. He explained the
basic assumptions that underpin the U.S. Constitution as part of his
discussion of secularism in the United States.
The ambassador discussed religious freedom regularly in private
meetings with cabinet members. These discussions touched on both
government policy regarding Islam and other religions, and specific
cases of alleged religious discrimination. The ambassador met with
Diyanet President Ali Bardakoglu. During introductory calls in
Istanbul, he met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Chief Rabbi
Isak Haleva, and Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Mesrob II to show support
for religious freedom and to discuss issues affecting their respective
communities.
Other embassy officers held similar meetings with government
officials. Diplomats from the embassy and consulates met regularly with
representatives of the various religious groups. These meetings covered
a range of topics, including problems faced by non-Muslim groups and
the debate over the role of Islam in the country.
The mission utilizes the International Visitor Program to introduce
professionals in various fields to the United States and American
counterparts. Religious issues are included among these programs.
__________
UKRAINE
The 1996 constitution and the 1991 law on freedom of conscience
provide for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected
this right in practice; however, there were isolated problems at the
local level due to local officials taking sides in disputes between
religious organizations. Religious groups of all beliefs flourished;
however, some local officials impeded attempts by minority and
nontraditional religious groups to register and to buy or lease
property.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Government policy continued
to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. Registration
and property restitution problems remained; however, the Government
continued to facilitate the return of some communal properties.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were some
exceptions, particularly among leaders of rival branches of the same
faith. There were isolated cases of anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism.
The All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (All-
Ukraine Council), an influential, interconfessional government advisory
body; the Conference of Representatives of Christian Churches of
Ukraine; and the Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches each
provided a forum to enhance coordination between various denominations,
resolve disputes and discuss relevant legislation. As of June 1, 2006,
the Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches, established in 2005,
had eight members representing 80 percent of the country's Protestant
organizations.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 233 thousand square miles and a
population of 47 million. Estimates of those who considered themselves
believers varied widely. A 2003 nationwide survey by a major
independent think tank, the Razumkov Center, found that 75.2 percent of
the respondents considered themselves believers, 37.4 percent said they
attended church, and 21.9 percent said they did not believe in God. As
of January 1, 2006, there were 30,507 registered religious
organizations, including 29,262 religious communities; the Government
estimated that there were approximately 1,679 unregistered religious
communities. More than 90 percent of religiously active citizens were
Christians, the majority Orthodox. Religious practice was generally
strongest in the western part of the country.
In 2004 the national newspaper Den (The Day) published the results
of a major poll on religious beliefs by the All-Ukraine Sociological
Service. Of the respondents who identified themselves as believers,
50.44 percent said they belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
(UOC)-Kiev Patriarchate; 26.13 percent to the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate;
8.02 percent to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (sometimes referred
to as the Uniate, Byzantine, or Eastern Rite Church); 7.21 percent to
the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church; 2.19 percent belonged to
the Roman Catholic Church; 2.19 percent identified themselves as
Protestants; 0.63 percent responded that they observed Jewish religious
practices; and 3.2 percent said they belonged to ``other
denominations.''
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) had 35
eparchies and 10,875 communities (approximately 68 percent of all
Orthodox Christian communities in the country), most of which were
located in the central, southern, and eastern oblasts. Metropolitan
Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev headed the denomination within the country.
The UOC-MP, which had 9,072 clergy members, referred to itself as The
Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP) was formed
after independence and has been headed since 1995 by Patriarch Filaret
(Denysenko), who was once the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and
all Ukraine. The UOC-KP had 31 eparchies, 3,721 communities, and 2,816
clergy members. Approximately 60 percent of the UOC-KP faithful lived
in the western part of the country. The UOC-KP was not recognized by
the UOC-MP.
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) was the smallest
of the three Orthodox churches in the country; it was founded in 1919
in Kiev. Banned during the Soviet era, it was legalized in 1989 and had
12 eparchies and 1,166 communities, approximately 70 percent of them in
the western part of the country. The UAOC had 686 clergy members. In
the interest of the possible future unification of the country's
Orthodox churches, it did not name a patriarch to succeed the late
Patriarch Dmitriy. The UAOC was formally headed in the country by
Metropolitan Mefodiy of Ternopil and Podil; however, the large
eparchies of Kharkiv-Poltava, Lviv, Rivne-Volyn, and Tavriya have
officially broken relations with Mefodiy and have asked to be placed
under the direct jurisdiction of Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew.
The adherents of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)
constituted the second largest group of believers after the Christian
Orthodox churches. The Council of Brest formed the Church in 1596 to
unify Orthodox and Roman Catholic believers. Outlawed by the Soviet
Union in 1946 and legalized in 1989, the UGCC was for forty-three years
the single largest banned religious community in the world. The UGCC
had 18 eparchies, 3,433 communities, and 2,136 clergy members. The
UGCC's members, who constituted a majority of the believers in western
Ukraine, numbered approximately four million.
The Roman Catholic Church is traditionally associated with
historical pockets of citizens of Polish ancestry who lived mainly in
the central and western regions. The Roman Catholic Church had 7
dioceses, 879 communities, and 499 clergy members serving approximately
one million persons.
Protestant Churches have grown rapidly in the years since
independence. The Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine (the Baptist
Union) was the largest group, claiming more than 500 thousand members
in more than 3 thousand churches. The Baptist Union had 3,106 clergy
members. Other growing communities included Anglicans, Calvinists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutherans, Methodists, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Seventh-
day Adventists, and others.
The Jewish community has a long history in the country. Estimates
of the size of the current Jewish population varied. According to a
2001 census, the State Committee of Statistics estimated that there
were 103,600 Jews in the country. Some Jewish community leaders,
however, said the Jewish population could be as high as 300 thousand.
The 2004 All-Ukraine Sociological Service poll appeared to corroborate
the higher figure. Observers believed that 35 to 40 percent of the
Jewish population was active communally; there were 240 registered
Jewish organizations. Most observant Jews were Orthodox. There were 104
Chabad-Lubavitch communities in the country. The Progressive (Reform)
Jewish movement had forty-eight communities.
Some Muslim leaders estimated that there were 2,000,000 Muslims in
the country, although estimates by the government and independent think
tanks were substantially lower, approximately 500,000. There were 457
registered Muslim communities, 320 of them on the Crimean peninsula.
Sheikh Akhmed Tamim, the mufti of Ukraine, was a member of the All-
Ukraine Council. According to Sheikh Tamim, approximately 50,000
Muslims, mostly foreign, lived in Kiev. The majority of the country's
Muslims were Crimean Tatars, who were forcibly deported from Crimea to
Uzbekistan by Stalin in 1944; they were permitted to return to the
country in 1989. There were approximately 300,000 Crimean Tatars in
Ukraine; 267,000 lived on the peninsula.
The Government estimated that there were more than fifteen
nontraditional religious movements in the country. As of January 1,
2006, twenty-nine Krishna Consciousness communities and forty-seven
Buddhist communities were registered.
According to the Government, as of January 1, 2006, there were 175
theological educational institutions with 9,721 full-time and 10,727
correspondence students. Foreign religious workers were active in many
religious groups. The Government estimated that approximately 51
percent of priests in the Roman Catholic community were foreign
citizens. Foreign religious workers also played a particularly active
role in Protestant and Mormon communities, where missionary activity
was central to community growth. The Jewish community also depended on
foreign religious workers, since many rabbis were not citizens.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The 1996 constitution and the 1991 law on freedom of conscience
provide for freedom of religion. The Government generally sought at all
levels to protect this right and did not tolerate its abuse, either by
governmental or private actors. However, some minority and
nontraditional religious groups experienced difficulties in
registration and in buying and leasing property.
There is no formal state religion; however, the UOC-MP and the UGCC
tended to dominate in the east and west of the country, respectively.
Local authorities frequently sided with the religious majority in a
particular region. In many areas of the east and south they tended to
side with the UOC-MP. For example, according to representatives of the
Roman Catholic Church, the Odesa city council, at the urging of local
UOC-MP leaders, greatly restricted the work of the Catholic charity
Caritas with street children. Conversely, in the western part of the
country, local authorities often supported the UGCC and UOC-KP.
On March 22, 2006, President Yushchenko called for the creation of
a unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which the UOC-MP and major
Protestant denominations opposed. The UOC-MP publicly cautioned the
president against ``politicizing'' and ``artificially'' speeding up the
unification process.
The courts do not always interpret the law in a manner that
protects religious freedom, often siding with the dominant local
religious organization. For example, in a case that received national
and international media and nongovernmental organization (NGO)
attention, a local court in Cherkasy Oblast exonerated a UOC-MP priest
of assault and hate crime charges for beating six members of Jehovah's
Witnesses with his walking stick. The priest admitted that he beat the
persons and publicly boasted that he would ``do it again,'' claiming
that the six came onto his property and pushed him. The Jehovah's
Witnesses also reported that two female Jehovah's Witnesses were
attacked in Donetsk Region. According to the Witnesses, police refused
to file a complaint under Article 161 (religious enmity) of the
criminal code.
The country officially celebrates numerous religious holidays,
including Christmas, Easter Monday, and Holy Trinity Day, all according
to the Julian calendar shared by the Orthodox churches and the Greek
Catholics.
The law requires religious groups to register their ``articles and
statutes'' either as a local or national organization and to have at
least ten adult members in order to obtain the status of a ``juridical
entity.'' Registration is necessary to conduct many day-to-day business
activities including publishing, banking, and property transactions. By
law, the registration process should take one month, or three months if
the Government requests an expert opinion on the group's legitimacy.
Registration denials may be appealed in court.
According to the law, registered religious organizations maintain a
privileged status as the only organizations permitted to seek
restitution of communal property confiscated by the Soviet regime.
During the period covered by this report, most buildings and objects
subject to restitution were those immediately necessary for religious
worship. Communities must apply to regional authorities for property
restitution. While consideration of a restitution claim should be
completed within a month, it frequently takes much longer.
Intracommunal competition for particular properties complicated
restitution claims for the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities.
The slow pace of restitution was partly a reflection of the country's
economic situation, which limited funds available to relocate occupants
of seized religious property. Some groups asserted that there was
progress in the restitution of property, while others reported little
or no progress. Many properties for which restitution was being sought
were occupied by state institutions or were historic landmarks. All
major religious organizations called on the Government to establish a
transparent legal process to address restitution claims.
The registration process is administered by the Ministry of
Justice's State Department for Religious Issues (SDRI), the successor
organization to the Soviet-legacy State Committee for Religious Affairs
(SCRA), which was abolished in April 2005 by presidential decree.
Representatives of most major religious organizations, NGOs, and think
tanks, who generally viewed the SCRA as an antiquated, corrupt, Soviet-
style organization, cautiously welcomed the decision. According to the
Government, the creation of SDRI was intended to ``take the politics''
out of the registration process and bring the law into conformity with
European norms. However, some major religious organizations criticized
the move, noting that the SCRA, while flawed, played a valuable role as
the religious community's voice in the Government, helping to mediate
disputes between religious organizations and various government
agencies. Some observers noted that the SDRI, which was establishing
its position in relation to regional departments of religious issues,
lacked sufficient power over oblast and municipal level departments.
Mormon leaders asserted that during the period covered by this
report, the Chernivtsi municipal government refused to permit the
registration of a Mormon community.
The Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America asserted that
the SDRI refused to register the organization, a charge the SDRI
denied.
Muslim representatives in Kiev and Crimea noted that they have had
difficulty registering communities. In Kharkiv Oblast, the government
for the past twelve years repeatedly refused to register a Muslim
community. Islamic community leaders also expressed frustration with
the Ministry of Education, which had not registered an Islamic school.
The law restricts the activities of foreign-based religious
organizations and narrowly defines the permissible activities of
members of the clergy, preachers, teachers, and other noncitizen
representatives of foreign-based religious organizations; however, in
practice there were no reports that the Government used the law to
limit the activity of such religious organizations. Religious worker
visas require invitations from registered religious organizations in
the country and the approval of the Government. Foreign religious
workers may preach, administer religious ordinances, or practice other
canonical activities ``only in those religious organizations that
invited them to Ukraine and with official approval of the governmental
body that registered the statutes and the articles of the pertinent
religious organization.'' In 2005, 8,349 foreigners were issued visas
for religious work; approximately 3,500 of those visas were issued to
clergymen who intended to preach or do long-term missionary work.
According to the Government, no visa applications by foreign religious
workers were rejected during the period covered by this report.
Under the law, religion cannot be part of the public school
curriculum. However, President Yushchenko, with the support of the
country's four top Christian clergymen, instructed the Ministry of
Education to introduce ``ethics of faith'' training courses into public
school curricula beginning September 1, 2005. According to the SDRI,
prominent religious leaders, and the media, nationwide implementation
had been haphazard. In some schools in the eastern part of the country,
students study the ``ethics of faith'' but also continue to take an
``ethics'' course developed in Soviet times based on atheist doctrine.
In Kharkiv Oblast, fifth-year students may elect to study Christian
ethics, but only with their parents' consent. While Jewish leaders
support the teaching of ethics and civics in school, they have insisted
on a nonsectarian approach to the training. Schools run by religious
communities may, and do, include religious education as an
extracurricular activity.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding by frequently
consulting with the All-Ukraine Council, whose membership represents
the religious groups of more than 90 percent of the religiously active
population. The council, which has a rotating chairmanship, meets once
every two or three months, providing members and government
representatives the opportunity to discuss interfaith concerns. The
council has also provided a forum through which religious organizations
can consult with the Government on relevant draft legislation.
President Yushchenko met with the council on March 3, 2006. Oblast
state administrations and local religious leaders in most regions of
the country have formed oblast councils of churches and religious
organizations.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Mormon leaders in Kiev complained about the Government's
unwillingness to allow a Mormon representative to join the All-Ukraine
Council. They argued that the refusal denied their organization the
appearance of legitimacy and discouraged broadcast media outlets from
allowing the Mormons to purchase airtime.
Representatives of the UOC-KP, the UAOC, the UGCC, and the Roman
Catholic Church alleged that local governments in the south and east
favored the UOC-MP in matters of property restitution and registration.
Representatives from the UOC-KP specifically complained that the Odesa
and Poltava oblast governments deliberately delayed the registration of
congregations that, in accordance with the law, had changed
jurisdictions from the UOC-MP to the UOC-KP.
Representatives of progressive Jewish communities noted that the
government of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast permitted only the registration of
Chabad Jewish communities and complained about property restitution
difficulties with the Kharkiv municipal government.
Senior leaders of the UOC-MP complained that, in the wake of the
2004 Orange Revolution and the election of President Yushchenko, the
UOC-MP had been discriminated against by the Rivne, Ternopil, and Lviv
oblast governments. UOC-MP representatives asserted that local
officials and UOC-KP supporters in Rivne Oblast threatened UOC-MP
clergy and their family members.
Greek Catholic Cardinal Husar, as well as prominent members of the
country's Jewish community, continued to call on the Government to
amend the education law, which prohibits religious organizations, such
as the UGCC, from establishing and running primary and secondary
schools.
According to Roman Catholic Bishop Bronislav Bernatsky, the Odesa
municipal government, acting at the behest of the UOC-MP, restricted
the training of Roman Catholic priests for the diocese of Odesa-
Simferopol. Specifically, the municipal government refused to authorize
the restitution of Odesa's Roman Catholic seminary, which was
confiscated by the Soviet regime, and criticized Bishop Bernatsky for
having ``too many foreign priests'' in the diocese.
There is no chaplain corps in the military. However, members of the
armed forces have regular access to religious services, and many
military units have priests. Christian symbols and ceremonies are
routinely used in the armed forces.
The Government continued to facilitate the building of houses of
worship. As of January 1, 2006, religious organizations in the country
were using 21,075 places of worship, of which approximately 6,200 were
rented. As of January 1, 2006, 2,420 religious buildings were under
construction. During the period 1992-2004, government funds and
donations were used to construct 4,398 places of worship.
Representatives of the Jewish and Baptist communities have complained,
however, that state funds were allocated only for Orthodox church
buildings. The Government had not allocated funds for the construction
or reconstruction of synagogues, for example.
Members of numerous communities described difficulties in dealing
with the municipal administrations in Kiev and other large cities to
obtain land and building permits. These problems, however, were not
limited to religious groups.
Representatives of the UGCC complained of discrimination by the
Odesa municipal government, which blocked the Church's efforts to
obtain land in the city.
Evangelical Protestant leaders expressed concern about
discrimination by the Kherson and Odesa regional and municipal
governments and complained about interference with religious services,
refusal to sell property to build churches, and failure to protect
Church property rights.
Leaders of the All-Ukraine Baptist Union complained about the
prosecutor general's effort to seize the Union's headquarters building
in downtown Kiev. Baptist Union officials could not rule out the
possibility that the prosecutor general's action was linked to domestic
politics, as one influential politician was a prominent Baptist
minister.
Despite requests from the Roman Catholic Church, including the late
pope, John Paul II, the Government had not transferred its ownership of
St. Nicholas' Cathedral and a former residence of Roman Catholic
bishops in Kiev to the Church. The Church was, however, permitted to
use the cathedral for daily morning Mass, on weekends, and during major
religious holidays. Roman Catholic representatives also expressed
frustration about unrealized restitution claims in Chernivtsi,
Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Sevastopol, and Simferopol.
There was no progress in the resolution of the high-profile and
long-running dispute over inappropriate use of a Jewish cemetery in the
Volyn Oblast town of Volodymyr-Volynsky. In 2002 a local court ordered
a halt in the construction of an apartment building on the site of the
cemetery. However, according to the Volodymyr-Volynsky municipal
council, apartment construction was completed during 2003, and most of
the units were occupied. Local Jewish groups complained that the
Ministry of Justice continued to refuse to help resolve this dispute.
Representatives of the Muslim community asserted that the
Government's slow pace of communal property restitution undermined the
authority of moderate Muslim leaders. For example, they argued that
Muslims--particularly in Crimea--were more willing to listen to
strident Islamist views, especially those espoused by Crimean Tatar
followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which advocated the establishment of an
international Islamic state. Muslim community leaders complained in
particular about unresolved restitution claims involving a 118-year-old
mosque in Mykolayiv, a famed mosque in Dnipropetrovsk, a 150-year-old
mosque in the Crimean town of Masandra, and the ruins of an 18th-
century mosque in the Crimean coastal city of Alushta.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversions, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
There were a number of acts of anti-Semitism during the period
covered by this report; at least four of them involved physical
attacks. On August 28, 2005, a group of skinheads assaulted two yeshiva
students in Kiev. One of the students had his skull partially crushed
with a beer bottle. On August 31, 2005, police arrested three of the
alleged assailants, who were charged with criminal hooliganism. On
September 1, 2005, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Henady Moskal
told the press that the attack was not motivated by
antiSemitism, an assertion that was publicly questioned by
prominent members of the Jewish community. President Yushchenko
publicly condemned the assault.
On September 11, 2005, a group of skinheads assaulted a rabbi and
his son in Kiev. Police detained a group of suspects; two were charged
with criminal hooliganism. On December 12, 2005, the country's
correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was severely beaten by
unidentified assailants; as of June 1, 2006, the police investigation
remained ongoing.
On February 3, 2006, a man stormed into the Brodsky Synagogue in
downtown Kiev and demanded to see the rabbi. Security guards found a
knife on the man, and police arrested him. On March 6, 2006, a yeshiva
student used an air-pellet gun to fend off four men on a Kiev subway
train who kicked him to the ground while shouting anti-Semitic insults.
The student shot one of the assailants in the face with the pellet gun,
which he had purchased following the August 28, 2005, attack referenced
above. The assailants were arrested at the scene. On April 21, 2006, a
group of skinheads beat and stabbed an Israeli yeshiva student in
Dnipropetrovsk; the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on May 5,
2006, that a criminal case of hooliganism would be brought against the
assailants. The ministry also noted that prosecutors were continuing to
examine the motives behind the attack, which could lead to additional
``interethnic hostility'' charges.
Police in Simferopol continued to investigate a January 2005
incident in which a group of skinheads assaulted thirteen students from
a Chabad Jewish day school, including two girls who required
hospitalization.
There were no indications that the police were investigating
assaults on two rabbis in 2004 in Odesa and on a yeshiva student in
Donetsk. Similarly, there was no progress reported in police
investigations into two separate 2004 attacks on rabbis near Kiev's
Brodsky Synagogue.
There were also several instances in which synagogues, cemeteries,
and Holocaust memorials were vandalized, particularly in Sevastopol,
Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa; police follow-up often appeared to be
ineffectual, especially in Dnipropetrovsk. However, there was an
effective official response in other cases. For example, the Security
Service of Ukraine on June 6, 2006, detained a suspect in the March 23,
2006, desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Sevastopol. In addition,
four neo-Nazis were sentenced February 7, 2005, for vandalizing
gravestones in a cemetery in the Donetsk Oblast in 2004. The court
issued suspended sentences for the two adult defendants and ordered
``compulsory educational measures'' under parental supervision for two
juveniles. According to media reports, the local Jewish community
requested light sentences for the vandals, who came from extremely poor
families. In Rivne, municipal authorities restored the Sosonky
memorial, which was desecrated in 2004.
There were no indications that police were investigating the
vandalism of several dozen tombstones in 2004 at Jewish and Christian
burial sites in Kiev's Kurenivske Cemetery.
Despite continued mediation efforts by local Jewish and Greek
Catholic leaders, a long-standing dispute between nationalists and Jews
over the erection of crosses in an old Jewish cemetery in Sambir
remained unresolved. On May 3, 2006, the Supreme Administrative Court
of Ukraine rejected an appeal by the Union of Councils of Soviet Jewry
to take ownership of the cemetery.
Anti-Semitism was also evident in public life. For example, on
August 8, 2005, the fringe Ukrainian Conservative Party, associated
with the anti-Semitic Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management
(known by its Ukrainian acronym MAUP), ostensibly an academic
institution seen by many as a diploma mill, published an ``open
letter'' to President Yushchenko calling for the criminal prosecution
of Hasidic Rabbis for ``the dissemination in Ukraine of Judeo-Nazi
teachings.''
In the March 26, 2006, parliamentary elections, the Ukrainian
Conservative Party received only 0.09 percent of the national vote.
Despite an intensive advertising campaign, the party failed the win the
necessary 3 percent to be represented in Parliament.
Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and
irregular newsletters, although such articles rarely appeared in the
national press.
MAUP, which receives significant funding from several Middle
Eastern government sources, remained the most persistent anti-Semitic
presence in the country. It published a monthly journal Personnel and a
weekly newspaper Personnel Plus, which was the subject of an ongoing
criminal investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to
Jewish organizations, MAUP accounted for nearly 85 percent of all anti-
Semitic material published in the country during the year. On December
5, 2005, President Yushchenko issued a public statement criticizing
MAUP for its anti-Semitic publications. The president also issued an
executive order barring civil servants from studying or teaching at
MAUP branch affiliates and ordered the Ministry of Education to review
the licenses of all MAUP affiliates. In March 2006 seven such
affiliates, out of approximately fifty across the country, were closed
because of unspecified licensing violations. In a January 23, 2006,
national television interview, Foreign Minister Tarasyuk also stressed
that ``there is no place for any form of anti-Semitism or xenophobia in
Ukraine.''
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
There were several improvements in respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report.
On September 23, 2005, President Yushchenko issued a decree
ordering educational and research institutions at all levels to
strengthen teaching about tolerance and interdenominational
understanding. The decree, ``On Measures to Fulfill State Policies in
the Sphere of International Relations, Religions and Churches,''
included an order to take immediate steps to resume work of the
Interagency Commission set up in 2002, with the primary goal of
returning property to religious communities. According to the decree,
the Government began preparations to appropriately commemorate the
sixty-fifth anniversary of the September 1941 Babyn Yar massacre in
Kiev by Nazi forces. On March 15, 2006, the Cabinet of Ministers
restarted work of the commission.
On January 20, 2006, the president issued a decree instructing the
Ministry of Justice to draft a new version of the Law on the Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Organizations, improve restitution-related
rules and regulations, and extend the basis for granting conscripts the
right to alternative (nonmilitary) service.
On March 9, 2006, the chief of the Presidential Secretariat formed
a working group to examine matters emerging in church-state relations,
prepare proposals to address them, and improve laws pertaining to
religious freedom.
On April 4, 2006, the Supreme Rada adopted the amended Law on
Military Duty and Military Service granting deferment from military
conscription to full-time students of theological schools and their
graduates holding clerical posts. The law also grants them exemption
from military reserve training.
On April 25, 2006, Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko signed a
directive designed to accommodate the religious needs of servicemen and
guarantee their constitutional rights of religious freedom.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of the Kiev and
Moscow Patriarchates, Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches, and
All-Ukraine Baptist Union actively worked with the Ministry of Defense
in drafting the decree.
During the March 2006 parliamentary and local elections, most major
religious organizations generally avoided political involvement. For
example, rather than backing specific political parties, many senior
religious figures urged their congregations to pray for free and fair
elections. Human rights organizations noted that this was a major
improvement over the 2004 presidential elections, when UOC-MP priests
in the eastern part of the country actively campaigned for then prime
minister Viktor Yanukovych by reading special prayers on his behalf,
urging the faithful to vote for him, and denouncing then opposition
candidate Viktor Yushchenko as a ``servant of the devil.''
The Government continued to make progress in returning to religious
groups communal properties expropriated during the Soviet era. For
example, during the period covered by this report, the Government
returned eight Orthodox churches to communities in Kharkiv Oblast,
including the Church of the Holy Protection; the Holy Nativity and Holy
Cross monasteries in Khmelnytsky Oblast to the UOC-MP; St. John's Roman
Catholic Church in Zhytomyr; the Roman Catholic Metropolitan's
Residence in Lviv; the German Lutheran Church in Odesa; and, synagogues
in Lutsk and Sumy.
Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA)
expressed satisfaction with the Government's handling of a legal
dispute between ROCA and the UOC-KP over ownership of the Holy Trinity
Church in Odesa Oblast. The dispute was resolved through the courts in
ROCA's favor.
The SDRI, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry
of Internal Affairs, State Border Guard Committee, State Customs
Service, State Committee for Tourism, and other agencies, met numerous
times to develop plans to support Jewish pilgrimages to the burial site
in Uman of Rabbi Nakhman Tsadyk, founder of the Bratslav Hasidic
movement. According to the media, more than twenty thousand Hasidim
traveled to Uman in 2005, the largest number in the country's post-
independence history.
In Medzhybizh, (Khmelnytsky Oblast) the city government worked with
the local Jewish community to create a new synagogue and pilgrimage
center for Hasidic Jews.
In response to requests from local Jewish organizations, the
Kirovohrad municipal government banned construction on a Holocaust
remembrance site. The local Jewish community was given permission to
build a small memorial and park at the location.
In response to a long-standing complaint from Crimean Tatar
leaders, the Bakhchysarai municipal government agreed to relocate the
city's central market from the territory of Azyzler, an ancient Muslim
cemetery and pilgrimage site for Crimean Tatars. Bakhchysarai's mayor
also announced plans to build a museum and memorial complex at the
site.
In response to U.S. and EU diplomacy, and efforts by prominent NGOs
and international academic institutions, the Ministry of Education on
March 9, 2006, reversed its longstanding policy and officially
recognized theology as an academic discipline. Prior to the ministry's
decision, students majoring in theology were subject to the draft,
ineligible for student discounts, and had difficulty finding work in
the country because their degrees were not recognized.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, conflicts between
local representatives of contending religious organizations in some
cases adversely affected broader ties among religious groups in
society.
During the period covered by this report, senior leaders of the
UOC-MP alleged that supporters of the UOC-KP attacked UOC-MP clergy and
seized a number of UOC-MP churches. The UOC-MP cited numerous such
incidents, including in Rivne, Ternopil, and Chernivtsi regions,
claiming that UOC-KP was emboldened by the success of the 2004 Orange
Revolution, the Yushchenko presidency, and indications that the
Ecumenical Patriarch might recognize their church as the country's
canonical Orthodox Church.
The UOC-KP rejected the allegations, noting that many UOC-MP
communities exercised their legal right to change jurisdictions from
the UOC-MP to the UOC-KP. Patriarch Filaret asserted that in the Rivne
Oblast town of Ostroh on October 27, 2005, UOC-MP priests and
supporters from Crimea physically intimidated and humiliated
parishioners of the Church of the Holy Ascension, which had legally
switched jurisdictions from the UOC-MP to the UOC-KP.
Representatives of the ROCA voiced complaints about the UOC-MP,
asserting that the UOC-MP demanded the surrender of ROCA church
buildings in Malyn, Zhytomyr Oblast, and pressured local authorities to
prevent the registration of a ROCA community in Khotin, Chernivtsi
Oblast.
The UOC-MP accused the UGCC of attempting to expand in regions
where the Moscow Patriarchate was traditionally strong. The accusation
appeared to be based on the UGCC's plans to establish a patriarchate
and on the relocation of Cardinal Husar's headquarters from Lviv to
Kiev on August 21, 2005, a move which the UOC-MP strongly protested.
Evangelical Protestant leaders complained about the activities of
the group ``Dialogue,'' which they and human rights groups
characterized as a front for the UOC-MP that promoted hostility toward
non-Orthodox Christians.
On February 6, 2006, the Association of Christian Journalists,
Publishers, and Broadcasters criticized the STB television network for
airing a program that attacked evangelical churches. According to the
association, the program misrepresented the beliefs of traditional
Protestant Churches (including Lutherans and Baptists) and referred to
evangelical Protestants as ``Satanists.''
At an April 17, 2006, press conference, the president of the major
Protestant Christian media group, Serhiy Belbovets, criticized what he
called ``a series'' of television and newspaper reports that
characterized evangelical Christians as ``fanatics'' and ``members of
sects.'' He called on all churches in the country to ``stand together,
shoulder to shoulder, to defend Christian values.''
Senior Mormon leaders in Kiev asserted that believers faced
discrimination from some government officials and from the UOC-MP and
UOC-KP. They expressed concern about efforts by these churches to
prevent the establishment of a Mormon community in Chernivtsi. In
official correspondence with the city government, local UOC-MP and UOC-
KP leaders accused the Mormons of encroaching on an ``Orthodox city.''
Muslim leaders in Crimea, as well as members of the Crimean Tatar
Mejlis, the major, but unofficial, organization representing Crimean
Tatars, accused the UOC-MP of encouraging anti-Muslim and anti-Tatar
violence in Crimea. UOC-MP priests in Crimea reportedly assured ethnic
Russian vigilantes, who refer to themselves as Cossacks, that violence
against Muslim Tatars was justified in order to ``protect Orthodoxy''
in Crimea.
Mejlis members and Crimea-based human rights groups continued to
criticize the Crimean government for permitting schools to use
textbooks that contained inflammatory and historically inaccurate
material about Tatar Muslims. Human rights activists specifically noted
that a common textbook for fifth graders, Viktor Misan's Stories on the
History of Ukraine, contained more than twenty pejorative references to
Muslims, including the fallacy that Tatar children had frequently used
``elderly and disabled Ukrainian captives for archery and saber
practice.'' Similarly, A.K. Shchvidko's eighth-grade textbook, History
of Ukraine, 16-18th Centuries, depicted Muslims in a negative light,
erroneously asserting, for example, that ``there wasn't a year when
Tatars did not invade Ukraine, burn its villages and towns, slaughter
its citizens, and take prisoners.'' One major Crimea-based human rights
group noted that such misinformation created an impression among young
people that ``Tatars are bad for Ukraine and that to kill and rob them
is a blessed deed.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government frequently discusses religious freedom issues
with the Government and religious leaders as part of its overall policy
to promote human rights. A majority of foreign religious workers were
U.S. citizens, and the embassy continued to intervene as necessary to
defend their rights to due process under the law.
Embassy officers tracked developments in religious freedom court
cases involving different faiths and denominations. For example, the
embassy continued to monitor the longstanding Sambir and Volodymyr-
Volynsky cemetery cases and also pressed the Prosecutor General's
Office for an explanation of its attempt to seize the downtown Kiev
headquarters of the Baptist Union.
Throughout the period covered by this report, the ambassador raised
the broader topics of communal property restitution and cultural
heritage preservation in meetings and correspondence with government
officials at the highest levels, including the president, prime
minister, foreign minister, justice minister, and transportation
minister.
On numerous occasions, the ambassador raised with senior government
officials, including President Yushchenko, the issue of tolerance and
combating anti-Semitism. He urged the Government to address the
foreign-funded anti-Semitic activities of MAUP and encouraged the
Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the
Dnipropetrovsk municipal government to take appropriate actions in
response to anti-Semitic incidents. On December 5, 2005, President
Yushchenko denounced all expressions of anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
He condemned MAUP's systematic publication of anti-Semitic material and
urged MAUP's leadership to stop inciting interethnic hatred. In
addition, during a January 23, 2006, national television interview,
Foreign Minister Tarasyuk stressed that ``there is no place for any
form of anti-Semitism or xenophobia in Ukraine.''
In a July 2005 letter to the Minister of Education, the ambassador
argued strongly for the official recognition of theology as a
legitimate field of academic study, pointing out the hardships faced by
students of theology. On March 9, 2006, the ministry officially
recognized theology as an academic discipline, due in part to the
embassy's efforts.
During the period covered by this report, embassy officers
continued to maintain close contact not only with clerics but also with
lay leaders in religious communities and representatives of faith-based
social service organizations, such as Caritas, the American-Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee, and the National Conference on Soviet
Jewry, which were active in the country. In addition, the embassy
facilitated similar meetings with these groups for members of Congress
and other visiting U.S. officials.
Embassy officers also met with Muslim leaders in Kiev and Crimea
throughout the period covered by this report in an effort to understand
the concerns of those communities. For example, the ambassador attended
the April 10, 2006, plenary session of the Congress of the Spiritual
Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine, meeting personally with the mufti of
Ukraine, Sheikh Akhmed Tamim.
The embassy funded three major International Visitor Leadership
Program (IVLP) groups on advancing religious freedom and promoting
tolerance. In September 2005 a trio of legal experts from the Ministry
of Justice and the SDRI visited the United States to examine, among
other things, how religious organizations are treated under federal,
state, and local law, and how cities protect religious heritage sites
like cemeteries. In November 2005 a group of prominent clergymen from
the major religious groups visited the United States to better
understand how interfaith dialogue strengthens tolerance in American
society. (A representative from the UOC-MP was invited and encouraged
to participate in this IVLP program but declined.) In April 2006 a
group of writers and researchers who specialize in the Holocaust and
Holodomor (Stalinist Terror Famine of 1932-33) visited the United
States to examine how the United States remembers and teaches young
people about the Holocaust and other tragic events, such as slavery and
the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy approved a
grant to Ukrainian Catholic University's Institute of Religion and
Society to monitor religious freedom in the country and post the
results on its widely read and widely respected web site. The embassy
also provided financial support to Kiev's annual Klezmer (traditional
Jewish folk music) festival.
__________
UNITED KINGDOM
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Centuries-old sectarian
divisions and instances of violence persisted in Northern Ireland. The
July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks carried out on London's transport
system by Muslim suicide bombers acting under what they declared to be
religious beliefs have caused the British public and Government to
reflect on whether tolerance for religious practices was sufficient to
guarantee a civic and civil society.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The United Kingdom has an area of 94,525 square miles and a
population in mid-2003 of approximately 59.6 million. The 2001 census
for the whole of the United Kingdom reported that approximately 42
million persons (almost 72 percent of the population) identified
themselves as Christians. Approximately 1.6 million (2.7 percent)
identified themselves as Muslims. The next largest religious groups
were Hindus (1 percent), Sikhs (0.6 percent), and Jews (0.5 percent).
More than 9 million (15.5 percent) respondents stated they had no
religion. The census's religion question was voluntary, but only 7.3
percent chose not to respond.
Religious affiliation was not evenly distributed among ethnicities.
According to 2001 census data for Great Britain, approximately 70
percent of the white population described themselves as Christians.
Almost 75 percent of black Caribbean respondents stated that they were
Christians, as did 70 percent of black Africans. Meanwhile, 45 percent
of Indians were Hindus, and 29 percent were Sikhs. Approximately 92
percent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were Muslims.
Non-Christian populations were concentrated in London and other
large urban areas. London was home to 56 percent of Jews, 52 percent of
Hindus, 38 percent of Muslims, and 31 percent of Sikhs. Census figures
showed that Muslims, as compared to adherents of other religions, had
higher rates of unemployment and ill health and lower rates of
educational qualifications.
Information on membership in Christian denominations was not
recorded in the 2001 census. In 2003, the Office for National
Statistics indicated approximately 29 percent of the population
identified with Anglicanism, 10 percent with the Roman Catholic Church,
and 14 percent with Protestant churches.
In Northern Ireland, the 2001 census showed that 53.1 percent were
Protestants and 43.8 percent were Catholics. Overall church attendance
in Northern Ireland was estimated at 30 to 35 percent. The divisions
between nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland have largely
evolved along religious lines. The policy of the Government remained
one of promotion of religious tolerance.
Most Catholics and Protestants continued to live in segregated
communities in Northern Ireland, including public housing (``housing
estates'') and other working class areas, although many middle class
neighborhoods were mixed communities. Intimidation by paramilitary
gangs often resulted in members of the local-minority community leaving
housing estates, which increased the level of segregation.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Government at all
levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The law provides for
the freedom to change one's religion or belief. The 1998 Human Rights
Act guarantees freedom of religion and bans discrimination based on
religion. Religious discrimination in employment and vocational
training was made illegal by the 2003 Employment Equality (Religion or
Belief) Regulations. The 2001 Anti-Terrorism, Crime, and Security Act
covers ``religiously aggravated offenses,'' based on existing assault,
harassment, criminal damage, and public order offenses. Those convicted
of ``religiously aggravated offenses'' (i.e., where there is evidence
of religious hostility in connection with a crime) face higher maximum
penalties. According to the Crown Prosecution Service's Racist Incident
Monitoring Annual Report covering the period of April 2004 to May 2005,
twenty-seven of thirty-four defendants were prosecuted for religiously
aggravated offenses under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime, and Security Act
in England and Wales. In twenty-three of the offenses, the actual or
perceived religion of the victim was Islam.
On February 16, 2006, the Government enacted the Racial and
Religious Hatred Act and the Equality Act applicable throughout Great
Britain. The Racial and Religious Hatred Act amended the Public Order
Act of 1986 by creating new offenses for stirring up hatred against
persons on religious grounds. The Act defined ``religious hatred'' as
hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious
belief or lack of religious belief. The act does not seek to define
what amounts to a religion or a religious belief, leaving it to the
courts to make such determinations.
Offenses under the act must be threatening and intended to stir up
religious hatred based on: The use of words, behavior, or display of
written material; publishing or distributing written material; the
public performance of a play; distributing, showing, or playing a
recording; broadcasting or including a program in a program service; or
the possession of written materials or recordings with a view to
display, publication, distribution, or inclusion in a program service.
The act's provisions are not intended to restrict freedom of speech and
criticism of religions or lack of religion. The act does not apply
where words or behavior are used or displayed inside a private dwelling
and cannot be seen or heard by others outside. The maximum penalty for
stirring up religious hatred is seven years in prison.
This act also amended the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984,
giving only constables the power to arrest persons in the context of
these offenses, rather than allowing ``citizens' arrests.''
The Equality Act made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of
``religion or belief'' or the ``lack of religion or belief'' in the
provision of goods, facilities and services, education, the use and
disposal of property, and the exercise of public functions. The
Equality Act established the Commission for Equality and Human Rights
(CEHR) for Great Britain, which is responsible for promoting an
awareness of the act's provisions, promoting equality and diversity,
and working towards the elimination of unlawful discrimination and
harassment. The CEHR has powers to investigate unlawful acts of
discrimination and can bring legal proceedings against violators of the
Equality Act's provisions. The CEHR's remit is slightly different for
Scotland, where it covers only human rights matters reserved to
Westminster. Human rights for matters ``devolved'' to the Scottish
Parliament are covered by the Scottish Commission for Human Rights. The
Equality Act does allow the CEHR to cover devolved matters if it has
the agreement of the proposed Scottish Commission.
There are two established (or state) churches: The Church of
England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The
monarch is the ``Supreme Governor'' of the Church of England and always
must be a member of the Church and promise to uphold it. The monarch's
connection with the Church of England is the subject of ongoing public
debate. In 2003, a nongovernmental Commission on the Future of the
Monarchy called for the Queen to be stripped of the title of Supreme
Governor.
The monarch appoints Church of England officials on the advice of
the prime minister and the Crown Appointments Commission, which
includes lay and clergy representatives. The General Convention of the
Church of Scotland appoints its own office bearers, and its affairs are
not subject to any civil authority. The Church in Wales, the Scottish
Episcopal Church, and the Church of Ireland are members of the Anglican
Communion. There are no established churches in Wales or Northern
Ireland. A February 2001 Home Office study suggested that the
establishment status of the Church of England causes ``religious
disadvantage'' to other religious communities. Those who believe that
their freedom of religion has been infringed upon have the right to
appeal to the courts for relief.
The Government indicated it had no plans to move towards
disestablishment of the Church of England unless both the Church and
the public favored such a move; furthermore, the Government took the
view that establishment was deeply embedded in the nation's history and
in no way indicated a lack of respect for other faiths. Official events
took an inclusive approach; for example, the national Remembrance Day
Service, conducted under the auspices of the Church of England, also
included representatives of a broad range of faiths. The Government
made efforts to address specific needs of different faith communities,
such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's provision of a special
Hajj delegation to provide consular and medical assistance to British
Muslims on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
After the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks against London's
transport system, the Government launched an effort to create ``task
forces'' together with members of the Muslim communities to set an
agenda which would help those communities counter extremism and
radicalization leading to violence.
Holy days that are considered national holidays include Good
Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas.
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government.
No church or religious organization--established or otherwise--receives
direct funding from the state. Religious bodies are expected to finance
their own activities through endowment, investments, and fund-raising.
The Government funds the repair of historic religious buildings, such
as cathedrals and churches, but such funding is not restricted to
Church of England buildings. A government grants program, financed
largely through lottery money, helps to fund repair and maintenance of
listed places of worship of all religious groups nationwide. The
Government also contributes to the budget of the Church Conservation
Trust, which preserves ``redundant'' Church of England buildings of
architectural or historic significance. Several similar groups in
England, Scotland, and Wales repair non-Anglican houses of worship.
Most religious institutions are classified as charities and, as
such, enjoy a wide range of tax benefits. (The advancement of religion
is considered to be a charitable purpose.) In England and Wales, the
Charity Commission reviews the application of each body applying for
registration as a charity. Commissioners base their decisions on a
substantial body of case law. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the
Inland Revenue performs this task. Charities are exempt from taxes on
most types of income and capital gains, provided that the charity uses
the income or gains for charitable purposes. They also are exempt from
the value-added tax.
The Government provides funding for a large number of so-called
``faith schools.'' As of May 2006, there were 6,874 state-funded
schools with a religious character in England. There were 4,659
Anglican, 2,053 Roman Catholic, 1 Greek Orthodox, and 1 Seventh-day
Adventist school. Other Christian denominations accounted for 115 of
the schools. There were 36 Jewish, 7 Muslim, and 2 Sikh schools. In
January 2005, Chief Inspector of Schools for England David Bell called
on faith schools to be ``intolerant of intolerance.'' In February 2005,
then-Schools Minister for England Stephen Twigg published a list of
best practices of how faith schools can implement inclusiveness and
collaboration.
In Scotland, most faith-based government-funded schools were Roman
Catholic, although there was also a Jewish school. The Scottish
Executive undertook significant steps to address religious intolerance
and bigotry. During 2006, the Executive was providing approximately
$187,000 (100,000 pounds sterling) to support anti-sectarian projects
in schools; $18,700 (10,000 pounds sterling) to support an anti-
sectarian campaign run by the National Union of Students; and $25,245
(13,500 pounds sterling) to support anti-sectarian resources in youth
work. It also added an anti-sectarian award for the Scottish Education
Awards. The Executive was also undertaking measures in Scotland's
sporting associations to tackle sectarianism.
Almost all schools in Northern Ireland receive state support. More
than 90 percent of students attended schools that were either
predominantly Catholic or Protestant. Integrated schools served
approximately 5 percent of school-age children whose families
voluntarily chose this option, often after overcoming significant
obstacles to provide the resources to start a new school and
demonstrate its sustainability for three years before government
funding begins. Demand for places in integrated schools outweighed the
limited number of places available.
The law requires religious education in publicly maintained schools
throughout the United Kingdom for ages three to nineteen. According to
the Education Reform Act of 1988, it forms part of the core curriculum
for students in England and Wales. In Scotland, religious education of
some sort is mandated by the Education Act of 1980. Throughout the
United Kingdom, the shape and content of religious instruction is
decided on a local basis. Locally agreed syllabi are required to
reflect the predominant place of Christianity while taking into account
the teachings and practices of other principal religions in the
country. Syllabi must be nondenominational and refrain from attempting
to convert pupils. Schools with a religious designation follow a
syllabus as drawn up by the school governors according to the trust
deed of the school.
In addition, schools in England and Wales must provide a daily act
of collective worship. In practice, this action mainly is Christian in
character, reflecting Christianity's importance in the religious life
of the country. This requirement may be waived if a school's
administration deems it inappropriate for some or all of the students.
All parents have the right to withdraw a child from religious
education, but the schools must approve this request. Under some
circumstances, non-Christian worship may instead be allowed. Teachers'
organizations have criticized school prayer and called for a government
review of the practice.
Where student bodies are characterized by a substantial percentage
of religious minorities, schools may observe the religious festivals of
other faiths. Schools also endeavor to accommodate religious
requirements, such as providing halal meat for Muslim children.
In Northern Ireland, the Fair Employment Act bans employment
discrimination on the grounds of religious or political opinion. A
broad network of laws, regulations, and oversight bodies work to ensure
that there is equal opportunity for employees of all religious faiths.
All public sector employers and all private firms with more than ten
employees must report annually to the Equality Commission on the
religious composition of their workforces, and must review their
employment practices every three years. Noncompliance may result in
criminal penalties and the loss of government contracts. Victims of
employment discrimination may sue for damages. In addition, the 1998
Northern Ireland Act stipulates that all public authorities must show
due regard for the need to promote equality of opportunity, including
on the basis of religious belief. Each public authority must report its
plans to promote equality to the Equality Commission, which is to
review such plans every five years.
In 2003, Parliament approved the Employment Equality (Religion or
Belief) Regulations, which adopted a European Commission Directive
against religious discrimination. The regulations prohibit employment
discrimination based on religious belief, except where there is a
``genuine occupational requirement'' of a religious nature. The
Government attempts to raise awareness of protections under the new
regulations through help lines and good-practice advice. The
regulations do not apply in Northern Ireland.
The Government makes an active effort to ensure that public
servants are not discriminated against on the basis of religion, and
strives to accommodate religious practices by government employees
whenever possible. For example, the Prison Service permits Muslim
employees to take time off during their shifts to pray. It also
provides prisoners with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim chaplains. The
Advisory Group on Religion in Prisons monitors policy and practice on
issues relating to religious provision. The military generally provides
soldiers who are adherents of minority religions with chaplains of
their faith.
Following a May 5, 2006, Cabinet reshuffle, the Race, Cohesion and
Faiths Directorate was formed in the newly-created Department for
Communities and Local Government. The Directorate is responsible for
tackling racism, extremism, and hate, and for promoting interfaith
activity in England and Wales. It engages with faith communities to
ensure government policies and services are delivered equally and
appropriately. In March 2004, the Home Office published a report,
``Working Together: Cooperation between Government and Faith
Communities,'' in partnership with senior faith community
representatives. The report recommended measures to ensure that
government consultations include relevant input from faith communities
when forming policy, to assess the extent to which faith communities
benefit from government funding programs, to address funding
deficiencies, and to involve the different faith communities in
national services and celebrations in a way that reflects the diversity
of the country.
As a result of the July 7, 2005, bombings, the Home Office also
launched a ``Preventing Extremism Together'' project and joint ``task
forces'' with the Muslim Community. Reports on the usefulness of these
efforts were mixed. One part of that effort was the ``theological
roadshow,'' a series of seminars given by prominent Muslims advocating
moderate, nonviolent interpretations of Islam.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In March 2006, the Law Lords, the court of last resort, ruled in
favor of a high school in Luton that expelled a Muslim teenager for
contravening its dress code. In 2002, the school expelled Shabina Begum
for wearing a jilbab, a traditional dress that leaves only the face and
hands exposed, which violated the school's dress code. The school,
which was 79 percent Muslim and had a Muslim headmaster, created the
policy after consultation with local Muslim organizations. The school's
policy allowed girls to wear a skirt, pants, or a shalwar kameez, which
comprises a loose tunic and pants, and to cover their heads with
headscarves. After her expulsion, Begum filed suit in the High Court,
which ruled in the school's favor. In 2005, the Court of Appeal
overturned this decision. Lord Bingham, announcing the Law Lords'
decision, stated the school ``had taken immense pains to devise a
uniform policy which respected Muslim beliefs but did so in an
inclusive, unthreatening and uncompetitive way.'' He also noted that
the rules were acceptable to mainstream Muslim opinion. Begum was
unsure at the end of the period covered by this report if she would
appeal the decision in the European Court of Human Rights.
A secondary school in Horsham banned a group of teenage Christians
from wearing ``purity rings.'' The rings were inscribed with a biblical
verse and worn as a symbol of their belief in chastity until marriage.
Several students were punished with detentions and taught in isolation
from other students for wearing the rings. The school maintained that
wearing the rings violated the school's uniform policy, which prohibits
all jewelry except for a small pair of ear studs. According to the
father of Lydia Playfoot, one of the students, and press reporting, the
school claimed that the no-jewelry policy was in effect because of
health and safety concerns. The school told Mr. Playfoot that the rings
could be injurious to a third party. The school refused to accept
student and parent arguments that the rings were a form of religious
expression and instead determined the rings to be merely decorative.
Muslim and Sikh students, however, were allowed to wear headscarves or
kara bracelets as a means of religious expression. Parents of the
Christian students complained the policy was discriminatory and the
punishment of teaching in isolation had a detrimental effect on
students' education. At the end of the period covered by this report,
some of the parents and students were considering legal action.
Under the 1990 Broadcasting Act and the 2003 Communications Act,
religious bodies can hold local and national digital radio and digital
terrestrial television licenses. Because of the limited broadcast
spectrum, religious groups continued to be prohibited from holding a
national sound broadcasting license, a public teletext license, an
additional television service license, and radio and television
multiplex licenses.
According to a 1999 decision of the Charity Commission for England
and Wales, a quasi-judicial, independent body established by law as the
regulator and registrar for charities, the Church of Scientology does
not fall within the charity law definition of a religion. The Church of
Scientology has not exercised its right of appeal to the court against
the commission's decision. Scientology ministers are not considered
ministers of religion for the purpose of the country's immigration
regulations. Scientologist chapels do not qualify as places of worship
under the law. The Prison Service does not recognize Scientology as a
religion for the purpose of facilitating prison visits by ministers,
although prisoners who are adherents of Scientology are free to
register their adherence and to manifest their beliefs consistent with
good order and discipline in prisons. To meet the needs of individual
prisoners, the Prison Service allows any prisoner registered as a
Scientologist to have access to a representative of the Church of
Scientology if he wishes to receive its ministry.
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church, was
excluded from the country from 2003 through 2005 following a decision
by the Home Secretary. In January 2006, the Home Office removed the
exclusion and allowed Reverend Moon to apply for a visa to enter the
country during the period covered by this report. Allowed to use
another type of visa, Reverend Moon entered the country in November
2005 and spent two days in London addressing followers.
In August 2004, new immigration regulations came into force,
requiring visa applicants who wish to enter the country as ministers of
religion to obtain level four competence in spoken English (on a scale
of one to nine) on the International English Language Testing System.
Visa adjudicators are permitted to waive the testing requirement at
their discretion and where other evidence of English competency is
provided for applicants educated in an English-speaking country.
Ministers of religion are also required to have worked for at least one
year in the last five years as a minister. Ministers of religion
applying for visas must also have one year of full-time experience or
two years of part-time training following their ordination for faiths
where ordination is the sole means of entering the ministry. A
missionary seeking an entry visa must have been trained as a missionary
or have worked as a missionary previously.
Other than some Anglican bishops' inclusion in the House of Lords,
membership in a given religious group does not confer a political or
economic advantage on individual adherents. The Anglican Archbishops of
Canterbury and York; the Bishops of Durham, London, and Winchester; and
twenty-one other bishops, in order of seniority, receive automatic
membership in the House of Lords, whereas prominent clergy from other
denominations or religions are not afforded this privilege.
While not usually enforced and essentially a legal anachronism,
blasphemy against Anglican doctrine remains technically illegal in
England and Wales. In early 2005, several religious organizations, in
association with the Commission for Racial Equality, attempted to
abolish the law or broaden its protection to include all faiths.
According to the Government, there was no intention to revise or
eliminate the law.
In relation to their percentage of the Northern Ireland population
(44 percent), Catholics were underrepresented in the Police Service of
Northern Ireland (PSNI). Ongoing government-mandated measures to
increase Catholic representation in the PSNI have raised the proportion
of Catholics in the police to 20 percent, compared to 8 percent in
1999.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
During the calendar year of 2005, the Community Security Trust
(CST) recorded 455 anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom. CST
recorded 82 assaults, 25 threats, 273 instances of abusive behavior, 27
cases of the distribution of anti-Semitic literature, and 48 instances
of desecration and damage to property. The number of anti-Semitic
incidents slightly decreased from 2004, but CST reported that the
annual totals of anti-Semitic incidents have tended to rise since 1997.
According to the Global Forum against Anti-Semitism's report for 2005,
the United Kingdom continued to have the highest number of anti-Semitic
incidents in Europe. The report stated that activities by ``radical
left wing organizations for a boycott of Israel including the academia
and the church'' created an atmosphere which laid the groundwork for
anti-Semitic acts.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
British society contributed to religious freedom. In Northern Ireland,
where centuries-old sectarian divisions persisted between the
Protestant and Catholic communities, political and cultural differences
contributed to problems between nationalists and unionists.
The police in Northern Ireland reported 222 attacks against both
Catholic and Protestant churches, schools, and meeting halls in 2005.
Such sectarian violence often coincided with tensions during the spring
and summer marching season. The 2005 marching season saw violent
rioting related to two parades in July and August, respectively.
Negotiations involving parade organizers, leaders in nationalist and
loyalist areas, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and government
and police officials helped ensure public order relating to other
parades.
At the end of the period covered by this report, the Government was
preparing a report on the abuse of African children branded as witches.
Since the discovery of an unidentified Nigerian boy's torso in the
Thames River in 2001, there has been widespread public speculation that
children, mostly from Africa, have been abused in exorcism rituals by
some African-based churches. In June 2005, an eight-year-old child,
brought to the country from Angola, was beaten, cut, and had chili
rubbed in her eyes because her aunt and two others believed she was a
witch. The aunt and the two others were arrested on child abuse
charges. There were similar reports of child abuse resulting from
healing rituals, and the Government actively pursued and prosecuted
child abuse in such cases.
On February 7, 2006, Abu Hamza al-Masri was sentenced to seven
years' imprisonment on eleven charges, including soliciting or
encouraging the killing of Jews, inciting racial hatred, and possessing
a document that contained information ``of a kind likely to be useful
to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.''
The Muslim community complained of intermittent incidents of
discrimination, although no formal statistics were available. In
January 2005, an employment equality tribunal ruled in favor of a
Muslim man who requested time off from his employer to make a
pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca. The man received no response, but was told
by the manager that in the absence of a reply his leave was granted.
The man was fired upon his return. The tribunal ruled that by not
trying to accommodate the employee's religious requirement to go on
Hajj or justifying a refusal to authorize his leave, the company was
placing Muslim employees at a particular disadvantage and
discriminating on the grounds of religion.
The Islamic community continued to criticize the police's use of
``stop and search'' powers under anti-terrorism laws. On May 18, 2006,
the Islamic Human Rights Commission published a survey of Muslims in
the country. Respondents generally perceived British anti-terrorism
laws as being unfair towards Muslims, and society as lacking respect
for Muslims. The report also indicated, however, that the majority of
respondents supported British law.
On February 3, 2006, the leader of the British National Party (BNP)
and a party activist were acquitted of several charges of incitement to
racial hatred. However, the Crown Prosecution Services announced they
would proceed with retrials of other charges of incitement to racial
hatred against both men resulting from hung juries. Their arrests
followed a 2005 broadcast of a BBC documentary entitled ``Secret
Agent.'' During the broadcast, the BNP leader was covertly recorded
calling Islam a ``vicious, wicked faith.'' At the end of the period
covered by this report, their trials were pending.
There was a noticeable increase in the number of anti-Muslim
incidents following the July 7, 2005, bombings of London's transport
system. The bombings, carried out by Muslims, created a backlash
against Muslims in the form of verbal and physical assaults, vandalism,
arson, anti-Muslim literature, and Internet postings. Hindus and Sikhs,
misidentified as Muslims, were also targets of such incidents.
Government and religious leaders of all faiths cautioned the public not
to engage in such hate crimes and reiterated that the majority of
British Muslims were peaceful and law-abiding citizens.
The country had both active interfaith and ecumenical movements.
The Council of Christians and Jews worked to advance better relations
between the two religions and to combat anti-Semitism. The Interfaith
Network linked a wide range of religious and educational organizations
with an interest in interfaith relations, including the national
representative bodies of the Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain,
Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and Zoroastrian communities. The Network had a
consultative relationship with the Home Office, from which it received
financial support. The Inner Cities Religious Council encouraged
interfaith activity through regional conferences and support for local
initiatives. The NGO Respect continued to encourage voluntary time-
sharing and mutual understanding among adherents of different
religions.
The main ecumenical body was the Council of Churches for Britain
and Ireland, which served as the main forum for interchurch cooperation
and collaboration. Interchurch cooperation was not limited to dealings
among denominations at the national level. For example, Anglican
parishes shared their churches with Roman Catholic congregations.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. embassy encouraged interfaith dialogue to promote
religious tolerance. Embassy representatives attended regular meetings
of the Three Faiths Forum, an interfaith dialogue organization. Embassy
officers were in regular contact with the Board of Jewish Deputies, the
Chief Rabbi's Office, the Community Security Trust, the Muslim College,
Islamic Relief, and the Muslim Council of Britain. Embassy officials
were highly engaged in ``outreach'' presentations to the British
public, with a particular focus on Muslim communities. In the course of
presentations, embassy officers discussed with the public the important
role that religious diversity plays in the United States; the need for
religious tolerance, especially towards immigrants from the Middle
East, Asia, and Latin America; the fact that the United States is not
involved in a war against Muslims; and the freedom of Muslims to
practice their faith in the United States.
The consulate general in Edinburgh met regularly with Islamic
studies graduate students and maintained close ties with lay and
religious leaders from the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Roman
Catholic Church, the Jewish Communities of Scotland, and various
mosques.
In Northern Ireland, long-standing issues related to national
identity have been part of political and economic friction between
Protestant and Catholic communities. As an active supporter of the
peace process, the U.S. Government encouraged efforts to diminish
sectarian tension and promote dialogue between these two communities.
NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
----------
ALGERIA
The Constitution declares Islam to be the state religion and
prohibits institutions from engaging in behavior incompatible with
Islamic morality. The Constitution does not provide explicitly for
religious freedom; however, it provides that the people set up
institutions whose aims include the protection of fundamental liberties
of the citizen. The law limits the practice of faiths other than Islam,
including prohibiting public assembly for the purpose of their
practice. However, the Government allows registered, non-Muslim
religious groups, in limited instances, to conduct public religious
services. Religious practices that conflict with the Government's
interpretation of Shari'a are prohibited.
The status of respect for religious freedom declined during the
reporting period. The Government increased requirements for the
registration of religious organizations; increased punishments for
foreigners who proselytize Muslims; and made regulations on the
importation of non-Islamic religious texts more stringent. On March 20,
2006, Parliament adopted into law Ordinance 06-03 dealing with the
conditions and regulations of religions other than Islam; the law was
scheduled to be implemented beginning in September 2006. The ordinance
confines non-Muslim worship to specific buildings approved by the
state, imposes penalties for proselytizing, and treats these as
criminal rather than civil offenses. President Bouteflika requested
both the High Islamic Council and the Ministry of Religious Affairs to
assist in refining the details of the ordinance; however, the law was
passed without prior consultation with affected Christian religious
groups and without any meaningful debate in Parliament. Out of a total
of 533 parliamentarians in both chambers, only one senator voted
against the measure.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, differences within
the country's Muslim majority about the interpretation and practice of
Islam caused some discord. Islamist terrorists continued to justify
their killing of security force members and civilians by referring to
interpretations of religious texts. The level of violence perpetrated
by terrorists increased slightly during the reporting period due to
terrorist reaction to the Government's Charter for Peace and National
Reconciliation which was introduced as a measure to bring closure to
the terrorist violence that killed nearly one hundred thousand citizens
during the 1990s.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government
as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 919,595 square miles, and a population
of thirty-three million. More than 99 percent of the population is
Sunni Muslim. There was a small community of Ibadi Muslims in Ghardaia.
Official data on the number of non-Muslim residents is not available;
however, practitioners reported it to be below five thousand. The vast
majority of Christians and Jews fled the country following independence
from France in 1962. Many of those who remained left in the 1990s due
to violent acts of terrorism committed by Islamic extremists. As a
result, the number of Christians and Jews in the country was
significantly lower than the estimated total before 1992. According to
Christian community leaders, Methodists and members of other Protestant
denominations accounted for the largest numbers of non-Muslims,
followed by Roman Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists. It was
estimated that there were three thousand members of evangelical
churches (mostly in the Kabylie region) and approximately three hundred
Catholics. A significant proportion of the country's Christian
residents were students and illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa
en route to Europe; their numbers were difficult to estimate
accurately.
For security reasons, due mainly to the civil conflict, Christians
concentrated in the large cities of Algiers, Annaba, and Oran in the
mid-1990s. During the period covered by this report, evangelical
proselytizing has led to increases in the size of the Christian
community in the eastern, Berber region of Kabylie. The number of
``house churches,'' where members meet secretly in the homes of fellow
members for fear of exposure or because they cannot finance the
construction of a church, has reportedly increased in the region.
Reporting suggests that citizens themselves, not foreigners, make up
the majority of those actively proselytizing in Kabylie.
Only one missionary group operated in the country on a full-time
basis. Other evangelical groups traveled to and from the country, but
they are not established. While most Christians did not proselytize
actively, they reported that conversions took place.
There was no active Jewish community, although a very small number
of Jews continue to live in Algiers. Since 1994 the size of the Jewish
community has diminished to virtual nonexistence due to fears of
terrorist violence, and the synagogue in Algiers was closed. A number
of Jews of local origin living abroad have visited the country in the
past two years. A group visited Oran in 2004, and their visit was well
received by local authorities. In May 2005 another group of 130 visited
Tlemcen for the first time in more than forty years and met with former
Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution declares Islam to be the state religion and
prohibits institutions from engaging in behavior incompatible with
Islamic morality. The Constitution does not provide explicitly for
religious freedom; however, it provides that the people set up
institutions whose aims include the protection of fundamental liberties
of the citizen. The Constitution prohibits non-Muslims from running for
the presidency. The law limits the practice of faiths other than Islam,
including by prohibiting public assembly for the purpose of their
practice, requiring organized religious groups to register with the
Government, and controlling the importation of Christian religious
materials. However, the Government allows registered, non-Muslim
religious groups, in limited instances, to conduct public religious
services.
During the reporting period, the Government increased requirements
for religious organizations to register, increased punishments for
individuals who proselytize Muslims, and made regulations on the
importation of religious texts more stringent. On March 20, 2006,
Parliament approved a controversial new law, Ordinance 06-03, which
regulates non-Muslim worship and was scheduled to be implemented
beginning in September 2006. The first four articles of the ordinance
reiterate that the state religion is Islam and guarantee the freedom to
exercise religious worship in the framework of the Constitution, the
laws and regulations in force, public order, good moral standards, and
the fundamental rights and liberties ``of third parties.'' It also
guarantees tolerance and respect ``between various religions'' and
forbids the use of religious affiliation as a basis for discrimination
against any individual or group. The ordinance confines non-Muslim
worship to church buildings approved by the state, imposes penalties
for proselytizing, and treats these as criminal rather than civil
offenses. This law was passed without prior consultation with affected
religious groups and, as a presidential decree, was subject to no
debate or meaningful vote in Parliament.
The Government recognizes the Islamic holy days of Eid al-Adha, Eid
al-Fitr, Awal Moharem, Ashura, and the birth of the Prophet Muhammad as
national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The new law, Ordinance 06-03, which comprises three main sections
and seventeen articles, restricts the exercise of religions other than
Islam. Nonetheless, it conditionally affirms the freedom to exercise
religious worship and prohibits discrimination based on religious
affiliation. The Government intends to implement the law beginning in
September 2006.
Articles 5 through 9 stipulate that all structures intended for the
exercise of religious worship must be registered by the state, and any
modification of a structure to allow religious worship is subject to
prior approval of the yet to be created National Commission for the
Exercise of Religious Worship. Additionally, worship may only take
place in structures exclusively intended and approved for that purpose.
This gives the Government the power to regulate the locations of all
non-Muslim worship and monitor participation. Effectively, the
Government can now shut down informal Christian religious services that
take place in private homes or in secluded outdoor settings.
Article 10 stipulates that the punishment for proselytizing is one
to three years in jail and a maximum fine of 500 thousand Algerian
dinars (DA) ($6,900) for lay individuals and three to five years of
jail time and maximum 1 million DA ($13,800) if the person is a
religious leader. Article 11 lays out a maximum of five years in jail
and a 500 thousand DA fine for anyone who ``incites, constrains, or
utilizes means of seduction tending to convert a Muslim to another
religion; or by using to this end establishments of teaching,
education, health, social, culture, training...or any financial
means.'' Anyone who makes, stores, or distributes printed documents,
audiovisual materials, or the like with the intent of ``shaking the
faith'' of a Muslim may also be punished in this manner. Contrary to
previous practice, foreigners found guilty of the above offenses will
serve their punishment and then be deported.
The new law caused concern in many Western capitals. The European
Union chiefs of mission in the country met to discuss it in May 2006
and announced their intention to present a special report to the
European Union with their analysis and outline of suggested actions.
One particular area of concern is that Ordinance 06-03 contains vague
wording that renders it susceptible to arbitrary interpretations and
applications.
Local Christian leaders expressed concern over the new law,
especially over not being consulted or warned prior to public release
of the decree. They also collectively worried about its future impact
on their religious activities. Although enforcement of the law was
delayed until September 2006, Christian leaders have already seen a
slight increase in monitoring of their religious work. In April 2006 a
public library, sponsored by a Christian group, noted Government
officials reviewing their inventory of books for ``inappropriate''
religious content. Local newspapers have displayed a new tendency to
include pictures of the Notre Dame d'Afrique Basilica or Monsignor
Tessier, the leader of the Catholic community in Algiers, with articles
discussing evangelization. Often these articles report on conversions
to Christianity in the Kabylie region, although they lack any
connection to Notre Dame d'Afrique or Monsignor Tessier.
Ordinance 06-03 marks a step backward for religious freedom;
however, it will take some time to determine the actual impact of the
law.
In April 2006 President Bouteflika, in his remarks during a visit
to the province of Constantine, stated that democracy does not mean
citizens should ``not react to the Christianization of our children.''
On March 20, 2005 border authorities allegedly refused entrance to
an American citizen, apparently on grounds of his religious
convictions. Two citizens who met him at the airport were also
allegedly placed in detention. The U.S. Embassy was not able to verify
their release. The American citizen in question was originally expelled
in 1970 on charges of evangelism and previously resided in the country
for ten years. The Government did not respond to the U.S. Embassy's
inquiries about the alleged incident.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs provides some financial support
to mosques and pays the salary of imams. Mosque construction is funded
through private contributions of local believers. In February 2005 the
ministry created an Educational Commission under its auspices. The
commission is composed of twenty-eight members who are in charge of
developing an educational system for the teaching of the Qur'an. The
commission is responsible for setting the rules for hiring teachers for
the Qur'anic schools and madrassahs, and ensuring that all imams are of
the highest educational caliber and teach in line with government
guidelines aimed at stemming Islamist extremism.
The Government appoints imams to mosques and, by law, is allowed to
provide general guidance and pre-screen and approve sermons before they
are delivered publicly during Friday prayers. In practice the
Government generally reviews sermons after the fact. The Government's
right of review has not been exercised with non-Islamic religious
groups. The Government also monitors activities in mosques for possible
security-related offenses, bars the use of mosques as public meeting
places outside of regular prayer hours, and convokes imams to the
Ministry of Religious Affairs for ``disciplinary action.'' In September
2005 eight imams in the wilaya (state) of Annaba received
administrative sanctions from the Ministry of Religious Affairs due to
the imams' refusal to conduct a ``prayer of the absent'' in
commemoration of the country's two diplomats who were kidnapped and
later killed in Baghdad.
Amendments to the Penal Code in 2001 established strict
punishments, including fines and prison sentences, for anyone other
than a government-designated imam who preaches in a mosque. Harsher
punishments were established for any person, including government-
designated imams, who acts ``against the noble nature of the mosque''
or acts in a manner ``likely to offend public cohesion.'' The
amendments do not specify what actions would constitute such acts.
The Government requires established religious groups to obtain
official recognition prior to conducting any religious activities. The
Protestant, Catholic, and Seventh-day Adventist churches are the only
non-Islamic religious groups authorized to operate in the country.
Members of other churches are forced to operate without Government
permission and secretly practice their faith in their homes, or like
Methodists and Presbyterians, register as a part of the Protestant
Church of Algeria. According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the
Ministry of the Interior is responsible for determining punishments for
unrecognized religious associations found to be meeting without
permission.
The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a
faith other than Islam. Catholic churches, however, including a
cathedral in Algiers (the seat of the Archbishop), conduct services
without government interference, as does a Protestant church. Only a
few small churches exist; non-Muslims usually congregate in private
homes for religious services.
Conversions from Islam to other religions are rare. Islamic law
(Shari'a), as interpreted in the country, does not recognize conversion
from Islam to any other religion; however, conversion is not illegal
under civil law. Due to safety concerns and potential legal and social
problems, Muslim converts practice their new faith clandestinely.
Christians report that conversions to Christianity take place.
The proselytizing of Muslims is illegal. Missionary groups are
permitted to conduct humanitarian activities without government
interference as long as they are discreet and do not proselytize.
The ministries of Religious Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Interior, and
Commerce all must approve the importation of non-Islamic religious
writings. Often, delays of five to six months are incurred before
obtaining such approval, and there have been further delays once these
books reached customs. Arabic and Tamazight (Berber) translations of
non-Islamic texts are increasingly available, but the Government
periodically has enforced restrictions on their importation. Religious
leaders of the non-Muslim community expressed concerns that Government
delays on the importation of religious materials were impediments to
practicing their faith. Individuals may bring personal copies of non-
Islamic texts, such as the Bible, into the country. In May 2005 an
American citizen and his wife were deported for reportedly importing
Bibles into the country and proselytizing Muslims. Non-Islamic
religious texts, music, and video cassettes are available and there are
two stores in the capital that sell Bibles in several languages.
Government-owned radio stations continued their practice of
broadcasting Protestant Christmas and Easter services in French. The
Government prohibits the dissemination of any literature that portrays
violence as a legitimate precept of Islam.
According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, female employees of
the Government are allowed to wear the headscarf or crosses but
forbidden to wear the full veil (niqab). The Constitution prohibits
non-Muslims from running for the presidency. Non-Muslims may hold other
public offices and work within the Government; however, it is reported
that they experience difficulties in advancing through the hierarchy.
The ministries of Education and Religious Affairs strictly require,
regulate, and fund the study of Islam in public schools. Private
religious primary and secondary schools operate in the country;
however, the Government did not extend recognition to these
institutions during the reporting year. Consequently, private school
students had to register as independent students within the public
school system to take national baccalaureate examinations. In May 2005
the Ministry of National Education required private schools to submit
their educational programs for approval. The Government has given
official authorization to only 22 of 200 private schools so far. This
measure was widely directed toward ensuring that schools supported by
Saudi Arabia conformed to government standards of religious teaching.
Some aspects of the law and many traditional social practices
discriminate against women. The Family Code, adopted in 1984 and
amended in 2005, is based in large part on Shari'a law and treats women
as minors under the legal guardianship of a husband or male relative.
Under the code, Muslim women are prevented from marrying non-Muslims,
although this regulation is not always enforced. The code does not
prohibit Muslim men from marrying non-Muslim women, but it prohibits
them from marrying a woman of a non-monotheistic faith. Under both
Shari'a and civil law, children born to a Muslim father are Muslim,
regardless of the mother's religion. In rulings on divorce, custody of
the children normally is awarded to the mother, but she may not enroll
them in a particular school or take them out of the country without the
father's authorization. Under the 2005 Family Code amendments, women no
longer need the consent of a male guardian (tuteur) to marry. The code
requires only that a chaperone (wali) of her choosing be present at the
wedding. This change signaled a major step for women, as the role of a
tuteur--usually a woman's father or another male relative--is to
conclude the marriage on the woman's behalf, while a wali acts as a
protector who is present while the woman concludes the marriage
herself.
The Family Code also affirms the Islamic practice of allowing a man
to marry up to four wives; however, he must obtain the consent of the
current spouse, the intended new spouse, and a judge. Furthermore, a
woman has the right to a no-polygamy clause in the prenuptial
agreement. Polygamy rarely occurs in practice, accounting for only 1
percent of marriages.
Women also suffer from discrimination in inheritance claims. In
accordance with Shari'a, women are entitled to a smaller portion of a
deceased husband's estate than his male children or brothers. Non-
Muslim religious minorities also may suffer in inheritance claims when
a Muslim family member also lays claim to the same inheritance. Women
may take out business loans and are the sole custodians of their
dowries; however, in practice, women do not always have exclusive
control over assets they bring to a marriage or income they have
earned. Females under eighteen years of age may not travel abroad
without the permission of a legal male guardian.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism in state-owned publications and broadcasts was rare;
however, anti-Semitic articles appeared occasionally in the independent
press, especially Arabic-language papers with an Islamic outlook. More
frequent were articles criticizing policies of the Israeli Government
and leadership. Articles referring to Israel or Israelis in several
non-government papers, including El Khabar, were accompanied by
unrelated photos and cartoons of Orthodox Jews with beards and
sidelocks, a form of anti-Semitic stereotyping. There is no hate crime
legislation.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
The country's decade-long civil conflict pitted Islamist terrorists
belonging to the Armed Islamic Group and its later offshoot, the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, against the Government. While
estimates vary, approximately 100 thousand to 150 thousand civilians,
terrorists, and security forces have been killed during the past
fourteen years. Islamist extremists have issued public threats against
all ``infidels'' in the country, both foreigners and citizens, and have
killed both Muslims and non-Muslims, including seven Trappist monks
killed by Islamist terrorists in 1996. Extremists continued attacks
against both the Government and moderate Muslim and secular civilians,
with the level of violence slightly increasing during the reporting
period. As a rule, the majority of the country's terrorist groups do
not differentiate between religious and political killings.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, differences that
remain within the country's Muslim majority about the interpretation
and practice of Islam caused some discord. A very small number of
citizens, such as Ibadi Muslims living in the desert town of Ghardaia,
practice non-mainstream forms of Islam or practice other religions, but
there is minimal societal discrimination against them.
In general society tolerates foreigners who practice faiths other
than Islam; however, citizens who renounce Islam generally are
ostracized by their families and shunned by their neighbors. The
Government does not usually become involved in such disputes.
The majority of cases of harassment and security threats against
non-Muslims come from radical Islamists who are determined to rid the
country of those who do not share their extremist interpretation of
Islam. However, a majority of the population subscribes to Islamic
precepts of tolerance in religious beliefs. Moderate Muslim religious
and political leaders have publicly criticized acts of violence
committed in the name of Islam. In 2005 a Protestant minister who was a
highly respected longtime resident was stabbed outside his house in
Algiers in what is widely believed to have been a religiously motivated
attack. The High Islamic Council was quick to condemn the attack. On
April 8, 2005, in a show of religious harmony, a large number of both
Christians and Muslims attended a memorial Catholic Mass at Notre Dame
d'Afrique Basilica honoring Pope John Paul II.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government actively promotes religious freedom issues with
the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. Embassy maintained contact with religious leaders of the
Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
Embassy officials met with the Ministry for Religious Affairs,
including the ambassador's April 2006 meeting with the minister of
religious affairs during which he raised concerns over the new
legislation restricting non-Muslim worship. The deputy chief of mission
met with the head of the Council of the Ulema, an independent body of
Islamic religious scholars. Embassy officials and a U.S. senator
established a dialogue on religious freedom with the High Islamic
Council.
The Embassy underscored the need for religious tolerance in several
speeches given by the ambassador and by funding two cultural
restoration projects with religious significance for both Christians
and Muslims. Embassy officials also promoted religious freedom in
speeches to university students by describing the high level of
tolerance that all faiths, including Islam, enjoy in the United States.
The Embassy maintained contact with three Islamic political parties
(Movement for Peaceful Society, El-Islah, and former members of the
defunct group Ennahda) and met with the Wafa Party, which remains
unrecognized by the Government.
The Embassy maintained frequent contact with the National
Consultative Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human
Rights, a quasi-governmental human rights organization established by
the Government in 2001 in response to international and domestic
pressure to improve its human rights record. Individuals and groups who
believe they are not being treated fairly by the Ministry of Religious
Affairs may voice their concerns to this commission.
__________
BAHRAIN
The Constitution states that Islam is the official religion and
also provides for freedom of religion; however, there were some limits
on this freedom.
There was a slight change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the reporting period. The Government continued to
subject both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims to some governmental control and
monitoring, and there continued to be government discrimination against
Shi'a Muslims in certain fields. Members of other religious groups who
practice their faith privately do so without interference from the
Government.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, Shi'a Muslims, who
constitute the majority of the population, often resented minority
Sunni Muslim rule.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 231 square miles, and its population is
approximately 725,000. The citizen population is 98 percent Muslim;
Jews and Christians constitute the remaining 2 percent. Muslim citizens
belong to the Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam, with Shi'a
constituting an estimated 70 percent of the indigenous population.
Foreigners, mostly from South Asia and other Arab countries,
constitute an estimated 38 percent of the total population.
Approximately half of resident foreigners are non-Muslim, including
Christians, Hindus, Baha'is, Buddhists, and Sikhs.
The American Mission Hospital, which is affiliated with the
National Evangelical Church, has operated in the country for more than
a century. The church adjacent to the hospital held weekly multilingual
services and served as a meeting place for several denominations.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution states that Islam is the official religion and
also provides for freedom of religion; however, there were some limits
on this right. The Government continues to register new religious non-
governmental organizations, including some with the legal authority to
conduct political activities. In 2002, the king issued a new
Constitution and held Municipal Council and National Assembly
elections. In the 2002 Municipal Council elections, candidates
associated with religious political groups won forty of the fifty
contested seats. In the 2002 legislative election, candidates
associated with religious groups won more than half of the Council of
Representatives' forty seats. In both elections, candidates from
religious political groups conducted their campaigns without any
interference from the Government.
There was one Jewish member and one Christian member of the forty-
member upper house of Parliament, the Shura Council. All members of the
Shura Council were appointed by the king.
The Government continued to subject both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims to
some governmental control and monitoring, and there was some government
discrimination against Shi'a Muslims in certain fields. Members of
other religious groups who practiced their faith privately did so
without interference from the Government and were permitted to maintain
their own places of worship and display the symbols of their religion.
Every religious group must obtain a license from the Ministry of
Islamic Affairs to operate. Depending on circumstances, a religious
group may need approval from the Ministry of Social Development, the
Ministry of Information, and the Ministry of Education. Christian
congregations, which were registered with the Ministry of Social
Development, operated freely and allowed other Christian congregations
to use their facilities. One synagogue, four Sikh temples, and several
official and unofficial Hindu temples are located in Manama, the
capital, and its suburbs. In 2003, the Orthodox community celebrated
the consecration of the new and expanded St. Mary's Church, which was
built on land donated by other Christian groups.
In the past, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs had repeatedly denied
a Baha'i community's request for a license to operate. The Ministry of
Islamic Affairs stated that the Baha'i faith is an offshoot of Islam.
According to its official interpretation of Islam, the Government
regards the core beliefs of Baha'is to be blasphemous and consequently
illegal, and therefore the ministry refuses to recognize the religion,
but it allows the community to gather and worship freely. The Baha'i
community has not sought official recognition in many years.
Unregistered Christian congregations existed, and there was no
attempt by the Government to force them to register. Holding a
religious meeting without a permit is illegal; however, there were no
reports of religious groups being denied a permit to gather.
The High Council for Islamic Affairs is charged with the review and
approval of all clerical appointments within both the Sunni and Shi'a
communities and maintains program oversight for all citizens studying
religion abroad.
Islamic studies were a part of each year's curriculum in government
schools and mandatory for all public school students. The decades-old
curriculum is based on the Maliki school of Sunni theology. The Shi'a
community has lobbied for inclusion of the Ja'afari (Shi'a) traditions
in the curriculum for years, but this proposal has been rejected. In
2002 a public school for boys called the Ja'afari Institute, which
covers the entire public school curriculum, opened offering religion
classes in Ja'afari traditions for the first time. The school does not
teach Sunni Maliki traditions. The school began in 2002 with students
in the first grade only and has expanded its enrollment each year
because its first-year contingent of students has proceeded to the next
grade. The Ministry of Education has agreed in principle to the opening
of a Ja'afari Institute for girls, but at the end of the period covered
by this report, plans had not been finalized about the school's
opening.
Shi'a were underrepresented in the Ministry of Education in both
the leadership and in the ranks of head teachers who teach Islamic
studies and supervise and mentor other teachers. At the secondary
school level, there was only one Islamic studies head teacher who was
Shi'a out of more than a dozen. Although there were many Islamic
studies teachers who were Shi'a, they were discouraged from introducing
content about Shi'a traditions and practices and instructed to follow
the curriculum.
Curriculum specialists in the Islamic Studies Department at the
Ministry of Education's Curriculum Directorate were all Sunni. The
Curriculum Directorate formed a separate committee of Shi'a teachers
and clerics along with members of the Curriculum Directorate to develop
the Islamic studies curriculum for the Ja'afari Institute. This
committee continues to develop the next year's curriculum as the oldest
group of students at the Ja'afari Institute ages and proceeds to the
next academic year.
The civil and criminal legal systems consist of a complex mix of
courts based on diverse legal sources, including Sunni and Shi'a
Shari'a (Islamic law), tribal law, and other civil codes and
regulations. The number of Shi'a Shari'a judges was slightly higher
than the number of Sunni Shari'a judges.
The country observes the Muslim feasts of Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr,
the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Islamic New Year as national
holidays. The Shi'a religious celebration of Ashura is a two-day
national holiday. The Shi'a stage large public processions and other
related activities during the holiday, and the Government does not
restrict the religious elements of these events. The Ministry of
Information provides media coverage of Ashura events.
Leaders representing many religious groups visited the country and
met with government and civic leaders. These included the bishops of
the Ethiopian and Syrian Orthodox churches and the general secretary of
the Reformed Church in America.
Members of the Awali Community Church visited Christian prison
inmates during the reporting period to provide items of clothing and
Christian literature. In March 2005, members of the Sacred Heart Church
were granted permission to visit Christian prison inmates and
distribute religious materials to them.
In April 2005, the Islamic Awareness Center opened with the goal of
promoting understanding of Islam and building bridges with other
religious groups. The Islamic Enlightenment Society organized a
conference in May 2005 aimed at diffusing tension between Muslim sects.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government funds, monitors, and closely controls all official
religious institutions. These include Shi'a and Sunni mosques, Shi'a
ma'tams (religious community centers), Shi'a and Sunni waqfs
(charitable foundations), and the religious courts, which represent
both the Ja'afari (Shi'a) and Maliki (Sunni) schools of Islamic
jurisprudence. The Government rarely interferes with what it considers
legitimate religious observances. The Government permits public
religious events, most notably the large annual commemorative marches
by Shi'a Muslims during the Islamic months of Ramadan and Muharram, but
police closely monitor such events.
Towns that were developed and expanded in the past ten years, such
as Hamad Town and Isa Town, had mixed Sunni and Shi'a populations. In
these new areas, there were a greater number of Sunni than Shi'a
mosques. In June 2004, King Hamad approved the construction of a large
Shi'a mosque on a site in Hamad Town that had been the subject of a
dispute between the two branches of Islam.
The Government prohibits anti-Islamic writings. Bibles and other
Christian publications are displayed and sold openly in local
bookstores that also sold Islamic and other religious literature.
Religious tracts of all branches of Islam, cassettes of sermons
delivered by Muslim preachers from other countries, and publications of
other religions were readily available. However, in the past few years
the Ministry of Information prohibited the publishing and sale of
several books written by Sunni authors who converted to Shi'ism as part
of an ongoing ban on certain books covering sensitive topics. In
addition, a government-controlled proxy server prohibited user access
to Internet sites considered to be anti-government or anti-Islamic. The
software used was unreliable and often inhibits access to
uncontroversial sites as well.
Following Ashura in February 2006, the Islamic Enlightenment
Society displayed banners and billboards in several places in the
country after receiving permission from the Ministry of Municipalities
and Agriculture. The banners and billboards contained a 2003 sermon
quote from Shi'a cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim implying that the country is
divided into two camps, that of Imam Hussain and that of the Umayyad
ruler Yazid, whose army killed Hussain and his followers in the seventh
century. Senior Government officials, Sunni members of parliament, and
columnists were quick to condemn this message as being sectarian and a
misuse of freedom of expression. Representatives of the Islamic
Enlightenment Society called a press conference to explain the message
of the quote was for all Muslims to choose between right (Hussain) and
wrong (Yazid), and that there was no sectarian meaning intended. The
ministry subsequently asked the society to remove all banners, and the
society complied with the request.
In 2005, the Shi'a Islamic bloc in the Council of Representatives
(COR) proposed that the country's public schools teach the four main
Sunni schools of thought and the Shi'a Ja'afari school of thought. The
proposal was rejected by the Services Committee and by the COR. This
proposal was raised again in February 2006, but was similarly rejected.
In March 2006, a University of Bahrain student was found to have
distributed booklets and cassettes containing content that was
insulting to Shi'ism and promoting sectarianism. University officials
confiscated the materials and reportedly were to discuss the
consequences of the student's actions. The results of these discussions
were not made public.
In March 2005, residents of Muharraq submitted a petition to the
Ministry of Information requesting that the government-run TV station
make live broadcasts of Friday sermons from Shi'a mosques, and not just
from Sunni mosques. According to the petitioners, a similar request
sent to the ministry in 2004 did not receive a response, and there was
no response to the 2005 request.
In 2004, the Ministry of Information banned Mel Gibson's film ``The
Passion of the Christ''; according to the ministry, this decision was
based on Islamic Shari'a prohibitions regarding the depiction of the
Prophet Isa (Jesus).
There are no restrictions on the number of citizens permitted to
make pilgrimages to Shi'a shrines and holy sites in Iran, Iraq, and
Syria. The Government monitors travel to Iran and scrutinizes carefully
those who choose to pursue religious study there.
The Government does not designate religion or sect on national
identity documents. Upon the birth of a child, parents applying for a
birth certificate were asked to provide the child's religion (not
sect), but the government-issued birth certificate did not include this
information.
Although there were notable exceptions, the Sunni Muslim minority
enjoys a favored status. Sunnis often received preference for
employment in sensitive government positions and in the managerial
ranks of the civil service. Shi'a citizens did not hold significant
posts in the defense and internal security forces, although they were
allowed to be employed in the enlisted ranks. In September 2004, the
Interior Ministry established a community police program to place 500
Shi'a men and women on the streets in Shi'a neighborhoods.
During the reporting period, the public Ja'afari Institute in
Juffair, which opened in 2002, served students in grades one through
four. The school is the first in which the Islamic Studies curriculum
is designed to provide primary and secondary students with a foundation
in the Ja'afari Shi'a school of Islam. The school teaches all subjects
in the public school curriculum, but does not teach the Maliki school
of Sunni Islam. The prime minister officiated at the official opening
in June 2005.
Since 1950, a registered Christian church with more than 1,000
members has sought a parcel of land from the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs on which to build its own church and hold religious services.
The ministry has not responded to its formal applications. The National
Evangelical Church allowed this church to use its facilities for
services. However, the facility could only accommodate half of the
church's congregation at any one time.
Since 1985, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has verbally denied
Shi'a applications and petitions to establish a mosque and ma'tam in
Riffa to serve that community's Shi'a population. Riffa is home to the
Sunni ruling family. In 2004, the Ministry of the Royal Court formally
denied the application, citing that land in Riffa cannot be allocated
for commercial enterprises since it is reserved for the ruling family.
In 2003, the Ministry of Interior lifted its ban on policewomen
wearing headscarves (hijab). Also in 2003, by royal decree, the king
allowed women to drive while fully veiled (niqab). In July 2004, the
Ministry of Defense lifted its ban on growing beards, a common practice
among many Muslims. All military personnel who had been released for
growing beards were reinstated. For workers in government offices there
are no prohibitions against men growing long beards or women being
fully veiled, however, in reality there are few women government
workers who wore a full veil (niqab).
Although the 2002 Constitution provides for women's political
rights, Shari'a governs the personal legal rights of women. Specific
rights vary according to Shi'a or Sunni interpretations of Islamic law,
as determined by the individual's faith, or by the courts in which
various contracts, including marriage, have been made. While both Shi'a
and Sunni women have the right to initiate a divorce, religious courts
may refuse the request. Women of either branch of Islam may own and
inherit property and may represent themselves in all public and legal
matters. In the absence of a direct male heir, a Shi'a woman may
inherit all property. In contrast, in the absence of a direct male
heir, a Sunni woman inherits only a portion as governed by Shari'a; the
balance is divided among brothers, uncles, and male cousins of the
deceased. A Muslim woman may legally marry a non-Muslim man only if he
first converts to Islam. In such marriages, the children automatically
are considered Muslim.
In divorce cases, the courts routinely grant Shi'a and Sunni women
custody of children until an age at which custody reverts to the father
based on Ja'afari and Maliki Islamic law, respectively. In all
circumstances except mental incapacitation, the father, regardless of
custody decisions, retains the right to make certain legal decisions
for his children, such as guardianship of any property belonging to the
child, until the child reaches legal age. A non-citizen woman
automatically loses custody of her children if she divorces their
citizen father.
The Supreme Council for Women launched a public awareness campaign
in the fall of 2005 highlighting the need for a family law or personal
status law. This was followed by public debate and rallies both in
favor and against such a law. Civil society groups also held seminars
and workshops throughout the fall and winter advocating such
legislation. The Government introduced draft legislation in March 2006
containing separate sections for Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, one section
according to the Shi'a Ja'afari tradition, and the other section
according to the Sunni Maliki tradition. There was widespread
resistance to the legislation from the Shi'a community in the absence
of Constitutional guarantees that the legislation would not be changed
in the future without the input and approval of Shi'a clerics.
Discussions were ongoing throughout the reporting period.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Although there are exceptions, the Sunni Muslim minority enjoyed a
favored status. In the private sector, Shi'a tended to be employed in
lower paid, less skilled jobs. Educational, social, and municipal
services in most Shi'a neighborhoods were inferior to those found in
Sunni communities. To remedy social inequalities, the Government has
built numerous subsidized housing complexes, which are open to all
citizens on the basis of financial need.
The law does not prohibit conversion from one religion to another.
Converts to Islam from other religious groups were not uncommon,
especially in cases of marriage between Muslim men and non-Muslim
women. These converts were normally welcomed into the Muslim community.
On the other hand, converts from Islam to other religious groups were
not well tolerated by society. It was reported that families and
communities often shunned these individuals and sometimes subjected
converts to physical abuse. Some of these converts believed it
necessary to leave the country permanently.
In 2004, unknown assailants vandalized the Zainab mosque. The
assailants destroyed all water faucets, fans, electrical switches,
lamps, microphones, clocks, and audiotapes. The director of the
Ja'afari Awqaf sought police assistance to investigate the crime. Those
responsible for the damage were not found.
In 2003, unknown assailants vandalized the Sa'sa'a Mosque. The
director of the Government-funded agency responsible for managing
Government-held Shi'a properties (Ja'afari Awqaf) did not seek police
assistance or an investigation.
There were no acts of physical violence or harassment of Jews or
vandalism of Jewish community institutions, such as schools,
cemeteries, or the synagogue. The Government has not enacted any laws
protecting the right of Jews to religious freedom; however, it has not
interfered with their freedom to practice. The Government makes no
effort specifically to promote antibias and tolerance education. Some
anti-Semitic political commentary and editorial cartoons appeared,
usually linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jews practiced
their faith privately without interference from the Government.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
U.S. Government officials meet regularly with representatives of
human rights nongovernmental organizations and discuss matters of
religious freedom among other human rights-related topics.
With U.S. Government funding, Arab Civitas is helping the Ministry
of Education develop a civic education program for public schools that
includes lessons on human rights and tolerance. In 2003 and 2004, the
Embassy worked with the Ministry of Education to create and implement a
new English language curriculum that stresses respect for persons of
different religious backgrounds.
In October 2005, Georgetown University Muslim chaplain Imam Yehya
Hindi visited the country to discuss how Islam is practiced in America
and its acceptance in daily life and to promote religious tolerance and
understanding.
__________
EGYPT
The Constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of
religious rites, although the Government places restrictions on these
rights in practice. Islam is the official state religion and Shari'a
(Islamic law) is the primary source of legislation; religious practices
that conflict with the Government's interpretation of Shari'a are
prohibited. Members of non-Muslim religious minorities officially
recognized by the Government generally worship without harassment and
maintain links with coreligionists in other countries; however, members
of religious groups that are not recognized by the Government,
particularly the Baha'i Faith, experience personal and collective
hardship.
There was no significant change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report. The
Government opposed advances in the respect for religious freedom
affecting Baha'is; there continued to be abuses and numerous
restrictions, and some improvements. It appealed an April 4 decision by
the Administrative Court which supported the right of Baha'i citizens
to receive ID cards and birth certificates with religion noted on the
documents.
In December the president decreed that permits for church repair
and rebuilding, previously requiring his approval, could be granted by
provincial governors. The purpose of this was to reduce delay. The
central government continued to control the granting of permits for
construction of new churches. Despite the 2005 decree, as well as a
previous presidential decree in 1999 to facilitate approvals, many
churches continued to encounter difficulty in obtaining permits.
Metwalli Ibrahim Metwalli Saleh, arrested by the State Security
Intelligence Service (SSIS) in May 2003 apparently for his views on
Islam, including support of the right to convert, was released on April
23 after receiving eight separate rulings from the Supreme State
Security Emergency Court in his favor and an official statement from
the state security prosecutor ordering his release. Saleh, age fifty-
two, had been held in Al-Wadi al-Gadid Prison, near Assiut.
Tradition and some aspects of the law discriminated against
religious minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha'is.
The Government also continued to deny civil documents, including
identity cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members
of the Baha'i community, which numbered 500 to 2000 persons. In the
past, the Government did not provide a legal means for converts from
Islam to Christianity to amend their civil records to reflect their new
religious status. Over the past two years, approximately thirty-two
converts from Christianity to Islam, who wished to return to
Christianity, have received verdicts allowing them to recover their
original Christian identities. This principle, however, has not been
tested in courts in the cases of citizens originally Muslim who
converted to Christianity. The Government also continued to prosecute a
small number of citizens for unorthodox religious beliefs and practices
alleged to ``insult heavenly religions.''
There continued to be religious discrimination and sectarian
tension in society during the period covered by this report. In October
2005 and April 2006, Alexandria witnessed sectarian strife. In the
October incident, a young Muslim man, enraged by reports that some
Christians had staged a play critical of Islam, attacked several
Christians outside a church. Subsequent riots left three Muslims dead
and resulted in significant damage to Copt (Egyptian Christian) private
properties and some damage to churches. In the April incident, a man
attacked Copt worshippers with a knife outside three churches in
separate locations, killing one elderly Christian and wounding more
than a dozen. The suspect, who had a history of mental illness, was
immediately apprehended by the security forces. Subsequent communal
violence, and the response by the security forces, injured dozens of
protestors from both sides. A parliamentary panel had not formally
visited Alexandria and had not completed its investigation of this
incident by the end of the period covered by this report.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
ambassador, senior administration officials, and members of congress
continued to raise U.S. concerns about religious discrimination with
senior government officials.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 370,308 square miles, and its
population, as of June 2006, was approximately 73.7 million, of whom
almost 90 percent were estimated to be Sunni Muslims. Shi'a Muslims
constituted less than 1 percent of the population. Estimates of the
percentage of Christians in the population ranged from 8 percent to 15
percent, or between 6 to 11 million, the majority of whom belonged to
the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Other Christian communities included the Armenian Apostolic,
Catholic (Armenian, Chaldean, Greek, Melkite, Roman, and Syrian
Catholic), Maronite, and Orthodox (Greek and Syrian) churches. An
evangelical Protestant church, established in the middle of the
nineteenth century, included sixteen Protestant denominations. There
also were followers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was
granted legal status in the 1960s. There were small numbers of Mormons
and members of Jehovah's Witnesses, but the Government does not
recognize either group. The non-Muslim, non-Coptic Orthodox communities
ranged in size from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. The
number of Baha'is was estimated at between 500 and 2 thousand persons.
The Jewish community numbered fewer than 200 persons.
Christians were dispersed throughout the country, although the
percentage of Christians tended to be higher in Upper Egypt (the
southern part of the country) and some sections of Cairo and
Alexandria.
There were many foreign religious groups, especially Roman
Catholics and Protestants who have had a presence in the country for
almost a century. These groups engaged in education, social, and
development work. The Government generally tolerated these groups if
they did not proselytize. However, the Government over the past several
years refused reentry into the country of individuals suspected of
proselytizing. In September 2005 an American Christian missionary who
had previously resided in the country reported that he had been refused
entry. In November 2005 press reports indicated that the Government
deported a Korean Christian missionary.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution, under Article 46, provides for freedom of belief
and the practice of religious rites; however, the Government places
restrictions on these rights in practice. Islam is the official state
religion, and Shari'a is the primary source of legislation; religious
practices that conflict with the Government's interpretation of Shari'a
are prohibited. Members of the non-Muslim religious minorities
generally worship without legal harassment and may maintain links with
coreligionists in other countries. Members of other religious groups
that are not recognized by the Government, particularly the Baha'i
Faith, continue to experience personal and collective hardship.
For a religious group to be officially recognized it must submit a
request to the Religious Affairs Department within the Ministry of
Interior, which determines whether the group would, in its view, pose a
threat or upset national unity or social peace. The Religious Affairs
Department also consults the leading religious figures in the country,
particularly the pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the sheikh of
Al-Azhar. The registration is then referred to the president, who
issues a decree recognizing the new group, according to Law 15 of 1927.
If a religious group bypasses the official registration process,
participants are subject to detention and could also face prosecution
and punishment under Article 98(F) of the Penal Code, which forbids the
``ridiculing of a heavenly religion.'' The Government last recognized a
new religious group--First Bible Baptist Folk--in 1990.
During the year, Jehovah's Witnesses engaged the Government on
their legal registration. Jehovah's Witnesses have been banned in the
country since 1960, despite a presence dating to the 1930s and legal
registration in Cairo in 1951 and Alexandria in 1956. The Government's
opposition to Jehovah's Witnesses was based on opposition from the
Coptic Orthodox Church, which has condemned the Jehovah's Witnesses as
heretical, as well as Nasser-era concerns about links to Israel. A 1964
Arab League decree labeled the Jehovah's Witnesses as Zionists. Since
1960, Jehovah's Witnesses have reported varying degrees of harassment
and surveillance by Government agents. In February and May 2006
representatives from the Jehovah's Witnesses New York headquarters,
accompanied by European colleagues, visited the country for meetings
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Council for Human
Rights, the Arab League, and others. The delegation reported that, as a
result of its visit, they believed that harassment and hostile
surveillance of the group had ceased, but progress on registration was
not realized. Previously, in June 2005, Jehovah's Witnesses reported
that one of their members was detained for five days and assaulted by
State Security agents.
The Government continued to encourage interfaith dialogue. The
religious establishment of Al-Azhar and the Ministry of Awqaf
(Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs) engaged in interfaith
discussions, both domestically and abroad. In 2004 the Government
announced the formation of the quasi-governmental National Council for
Human Rights (NCHR), on which five of the twenty-five appointed
members, as well as the president, are Copts. The NCHR is charged with
furthering protections, raising awareness, and ensuring the observance
of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom.
It is also charged with monitoring enforcement and application of
international agreements. The council gave only superficial attention
to the issue of religious freedom in its first annual report. In its
second report, released in March, the council called for a solution for
official recognition of Baha'is; addressed the problem of Jehovah's
Witnesses; and criticized religious textbooks in schools for failing to
address human rights topics. The report also recommended that
Parliament pass a law that would facilitate the construction of new
places of worship for all religious groups. Finally, the report noted
that the council had not received any response from the Ministry of
Interior or several governorates to its nine inquiries related to
numerous complaints of alleged violations of religious freedom that it
had received.
The following holy days are designated national holidays: Eid Al-
Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, the Islamic new year, the birth of the Prophet
Muhammad, and Coptic Christmas (January 7).
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
All mosques must be licensed. The Government appoints and pays the
salaries of the imams who lead prayers in mosques and monitors their
sermons. It does not contribute to the funding of Christian churches.
The minister of awqaf reported that there were 74,500 free-standing
mosques and 18,000 mosques located in private buildings. The Government
annexes new mosques every year, but cannot keep pace with new mosque
construction. A February 2004 decree from the minister of awqaf removed
the authority to issue permits to build mosques from governors and also
placed mosques in private homes under awqaf administrative control.
The contemporary interpretation of the 1856 Ottoman Hamayouni
decree, partially still in force, requires non-Muslims to obtain a
presidential decree to build new churches and synagogues. In addition,
Ministry of Interior regulations, issued in 1934 under the Al-Ezabi
decree, specify a set of ten conditions that the Government must
consider before a presidential decree for construction of a new non-
Muslim place of worship can be issued. The conditions include the
requirement that the distance between a church and a mosque not be less
than one hundred meters and that the approval of the neighboring Muslim
community be obtained.
In an April 2005 broadcast on national television, President Hosni
Mubarak stated that the problem of issuing permits to build churches
had been addressed by the Government and that all citizens are treated
equally. However, in practice, many churches face difficulty in
obtaining permits from provincial officials. Although President Mubarak
reportedly has approved all requests for permits presented to him,
Interior Ministry delays--in some instances indefinitely--cause many
requests to reach the President slowly or not at all. Some churches
have complained that local security officials have blocked church
repairs or improvements even when a permit has been issued. Others
suggest unequal enforcement of the regulations pertaining to church and
mosque projects.
In March 2004 the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the
Constitution required Christian and Muslim endowments be treated under
an equal standard and that Christian endowments, like Muslim
endowments, could not be sued. However, this ``equal treatment'' ruling
has not been extended to legal cases relative to the construction and
repair of churches.
In November 2005 a presidential decree was issued to build a new
church in al-Rehab City, a large, new development on the outskirts of
Cairo with a population of approximately 80 thousand. Church officials
applied for the decree in 2001; construction is scheduled to be
completed in early 2007. The first mass was held at the construction
site on June 2, 2005. Presidential decrees to build new churches were
also issued for the newly constructed cities of Sheikh Zaied, Tenth of
Ramadan, New Cairo, New Assuit, and New Minya during the year.
In March 2006 Pope Shenouda III, accompanied by the governor of
Aswan and forty church officials, formally opened a new cathedral in
the Upper Egypt governorate of Aswan. Six years in construction, the
new cathedral cost $2.09 million (12 million Egyptian pounds) and holds
6 thousand worshippers.
According to statistics published by the Government's Official
Gazette, sixty-three Presidential decrees were issued from June 30,
2005, through July 1, 2006, for church-related construction, compared
with twelve permits reported during the previous period. Of the sixty-
three decrees, twenty-one were issued for construction of new churches
(fourteen Orthodox, two Protestant, two Catholic), community service
buildings (two Orthodox), and one hospital (Catholic); twenty to grant
official status to existing churches (eleven Orthodox, seven
Protestant, two Catholic); twenty to rebuild or reconstruct existing
churches (eight Orthodox, eight Protestant), a community service
building (Orthodox) and monasteries (three Orthodox); and two for
general maintenance or repairs of existing churches (both Protestant).
The approval process for church construction continued to be
hindered by lengthy delays often measured in years. In at least three
locales during the reporting period (Mankateen, Minya Governorate;
Ezzbet Wasef, Giza Governorate; and Odayysat, Luxor), objections by
Muslim citizens to churches that were operating without official
government approval led to sectarian clashes.
In early December 2005 President Mubarak issued Decree 291/2005,
which delegated authority to the country's twenty-seven governors to
grant permits to Christian denominations that seek to expand or rebuild
existing churches. The decree also stated that churches could undertake
basic repairs and maintenance subject only to the provision of written
notification to the local authorities. Decree 291 noted that the
governors must examine all applications for rebuilding or expansion,
which must be supported by unspecified supporting documents, within
thirty days of submission. According to the new decree, ``permits may
not be refused except with a justified ruling.'' Decree 291 also
cancelled a 1999 decree aimed at improving the permit process for
church repair. (Presidential Decree 453 of 1999 had made the repair of
all places of worship subject to a 1976 civil construction code.
Although this decree made mosque and church repairs technically subject
to the same laws, authorities enforced the laws more strictly for
churches than for mosques.)
Six months after the promulgation of Decree 291/2005, church and
lay leaders have complained, privately and publicly, that the permit
process remains susceptible to delay by local officials. They have
further charged that some local authorities refused to process
applications without certain ``supporting documents'' that were
virtually impossible to obtain (e.g., a presidential decree authorizing
the existence of a church which had been established during the
country's monarchical era). Others complain that some local authorities
categorize routine repairs and maintenance (e.g., painting of walls and
plumbing repairs) as expansion/reconstruction projects, thus requiring
formal permits versus simple notification. They also maintain that
security forces blocked them from using permits that had been issued
and at times denied them permits for repairs to church buildings and
the supply of water and electricity to existing church facilities.
Incidents of blocked or delayed permits varied, often depending on the
attitude of local security officials and the governorate leadership
toward the church, and on their personal relationships with
representatives of the Christian churches. As a result, congregations
have experienced lengthy delays--lasting for years in many cases--while
waiting for new church building permits to be issued.
At the unlicensed Evangelical Church in Maadi, police reportedly
halted a reconstruction project in November 2004 and prevented church
members from entering the church. For fifty years the church has been
unable to obtain a licensing permit.
The Assiut bishopric has been waiting for local officials to issue
a building permit for a new church in the governorate's Arbaeen
District, despite a 1997 order from the president and approval from the
Ministry of Interior to issue the decree. Assiut's El Hamra District
and Burg al Arab, Alexandria Governorate, have been waiting since 1997
and 1988, respectively. The Brothers denomination, also in Assiut
Governorate, received a permit to build a church in 2001, but local
police stopped construction of the building's foundation.
After eighteen years St. George Church in Dafesh, a majority
Christian community near Assiut, Upper Egypt, obtained approval from
the local governor in 2000 to build a new church to replace the
original building, which had become too small to accommodate the
growing community. Shortly after construction began in 2000 the new
site was vandalized. The Government halted construction, ostensibly
because the church had only obtained local approval and not the
presidential decree required to build a new church. Construction
remained halted at the end of the period covered by this report. The
congregation continued to worship at the older site.
In 1999 the governor of Assiut issued a decree to St. John the
Baptist at Awlad Elias in Sadfa, near Assiut, stating that the Orthodox
church was given license to effect several remodeling projects and
restoration projects. In 2001, however, Sadfa police halted repairs,
because authorities believed that the church would enlarge its size by
extending the building into the churchyard. After negotiations with
State Security, the church received permission to demolish a wall to
extend its size. However, after the newspaper Watani published an
article exposing this issue and the outcome, State Security officials
halted construction a second time. As of the end of June 2005,
construction had not resumed, and the church was still waiting for the
MOI to permit resumption of repairs. The congregation was forced to
build a tent in the small church courtyard to conduct prayers.
Despite governorate level approval in 2001 for restorations to the
Mar Guirguis Church in Sahel Salim, Assiut, local authorities blocked
work on the church on a variety of pretexts until a presidential decree
in June 2005 paved the way for the complete rebuilding of the church.
In Ezbet al-Nakhl, East Cairo, Coptic leaders of the Church of the
Archangel Mikhail received permission from the Ministry of Interior in
1996, ratified by the Governor of Cairo in 2001, to expand the church
to accommodate its growing congregation. However, local authorities in
the district of al-Marg refused to accept the request to expand the
church without a presidential decree, which was required for the
renovation. The church, which had originally sought a presidential
decree in 1987, had not been able to obtain one, and the project
remained frozen at the end of the period covered by this report.
Government officials asserted that the project was frozen because
church officials did not employ the proper procedures while seeking a
presidential decree, therefore making it illegal to renovate the
church.
Local authorities have also closed down unlicensed buildings used
as places of worship. In May 2005 State Security officials threatened
to demolish the Apostolic Church in Abowan, Minya, which has operated
without a government permit since 1984, on the grounds that it was
structurally unsound. Nonetheless, the church continued to operate
during the reporting period. As a result of restrictions, some
communities use private buildings and apartments for religious services
or build without permits.
In April 2005 unknown arsonists burned down an unlicensed church
hall in Baghour village, Menoufiya Governorate. Nine Coptic Christians
received minor injuries. The local governor supported rebuilding the
facility.
In January 2006 there were sectarian clashes in the settlement of
Udayssat, near Luxor. On January 17 Christians conducted Epiphany
services in a building that has intermittently served as an unlicensed
church since 1971. On January 18 several hundred Muslim residents of
the area surrounded the building, vandalized the property, and
attempted to set it ablaze. In the ensuing melee, approximately a dozen
persons, both Christian and Muslim, were injured, along with several
policemen. On January 20 assailants killed a forty-seven-year-old
Christian farmer, Kamal Shaker Megalaa, as he returned from his fields.
The Luxor district attorney ordered the arrest and investigation of
several Muslims from Udayssat on suspicion of involvement in his
murder.
In late October 2005 SSIS in Alexandria arrested and detained
without charge for several weeks a twenty-one-year-old Alexandria law
student, Abdul Karim Nabil Soliman, apparently because his Internet Web
log (``blog'') carried strongly worded attacks against Islam, the
Government, and the president. Soliman was released without charge.
The Government continued to try citizens for unorthodox religious
beliefs. In March 2005 the Maadi misdemeanor court issued a verdict in
a blasphemy case involving Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Shusha and eleven of his
followers, who had been detained absent an arrest warrant since July
2004. The court sentenced Abu Shusha to a prison term of three years
for claiming to be divine and ridiculing a heavenly religion, namely
Islam. The court sentenced the eleven other defendants (including three
women, two of whom are Abu Shusha's wives) to one year imprisonment and
ordered the confiscation of the leaflets and writings that propagated
the group's ideology. In its reasoning, the court stated that there was
sufficient evidence that Abu Shusha embraced beliefs that are contrary
to and derogatory of Islam, and that he tried to propagate those
beliefs by attempting to show that he possessed divine powers. The
court also asserted that freedom of belief does not comprise permission
to deny the principles of heavenly religions. An appeals court
reaffirmed the Abu Shusha sentences on July 16, 2005. At the end of the
reporting period, Abu Shusha's lawyers were seeking to appeal his case
to the Court of Cassation, the nation's highest court.
On July 6, 2005 the Administrative Judiciary Court in Alexandria
annulled a decree issued by the minister of information that had banned
the appearance of veiled anchorwomen in television programs. The court
established that the Ministry of Information's decree violated Article
47 of the Constitution, which provides for freedom of religion.
The Egyptian Parties Law 40 of 1977 states that political parties
based on religion are illegal. Pursuant to this law, the Muslim
Brotherhood (MB) is an illegal organization. Muslim Brothers speak
openly and publicly about their views and have recently been
identifying themselves publicly as members of the organization,
although they remain subject to arbitrary treatment and pressure from
the Government. During the period covered by this report, hundreds of
members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested and charged with
membership in an illegal organization, planning to revive the
activities of the banned group, possessing anti-government leaflets,
obstructing the Constitution and the law of the country, and organizing
demonstrations without obtaining prior security permission. Authorities
prevented several other members from traveling abroad. Authorities
arrested Essam El-Erian in May 2005 after he indicated that he was
planning to run for president. El-Erian was released in October, but
detained again in May. He and dozens of other MB members remained in
detention at the end of the reporting period.
Eighty-eight independent candidates backed by the Muslim
Brotherhood were elected to the People's Assembly in the 2005
parliamentary elections, held between November 9 and December 7,
despite government-sponsored efforts to stop them. Government actions
included limiting access to polling stations, detentions, and
government-sponsored violence. There were also credible allegations of
ballot tampering and fraud. Many of the MB-affiliated candidates ran
openly under the slogan ``Islam is the solution,'' and displayed the MB
insignia on their campaign materials. Despite the relative freedom
allowed to candidates during the initial stages of the elections, after
striking gains by MB candidates in the first round, security forces
restricted access to certain polling stations in hotly contested races
and killed at least eleven citizens in related civil disturbances.
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of authors
facing trial or charges related to writings or statements considered
heretical during the reporting period.
Various ministries are legally authorized to ban or confiscate
books and other works of art upon obtaining a court order. The Council
of Ministers may order the banning of works that it deems offensive to
public morals, detrimental to religion, or likely to cause a breach of
the peace. The Islamic Research Center (IRC) at Al-Azhar University has
legal authority to censor and, as of June 2004, confiscate, all
publications dealing with the Qur'an and the authoritative Islamic
traditions (Hadith). In recent years, the IRC has passed judgment on
the suitability of nonreligious books and artistic productions, and
there were several new cases of confiscation during the period covered
by this report. Al-Azhar has the legal right to recommend confiscation,
but the actual act of confiscation requires a court order.
The law authorizes various ministries to ban or confiscate books
and other works of art upon obtaining a court order. In 2003, the
Ministry of Justice issued a decree authorizing Al-Azhar sheikhs to
confiscate publications, tapes, speeches, and artistic materials deemed
inconsistent with Islamic law. There were no court-ordered book
confiscations during the year, but the Government permitted greater
confiscatory authority to Al-Azhar University and acted on its
recommendations.
In October 2005 the Government enforced a ban, formally recommended
by the IRC, of Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad,
by Natana De Long-Bas, published by the American University in Cairo
(AUC) Press. On October 8 the Government informed AUC that all one
thousand copies, held at Port Said, would be impounded because the book
contained ``information not in accordance with the principles of
Islam.'' On December 22 the Government advised AUC Press that it had
reversed this decision and would allow importation of the book.
In June 2006 the Ministry of Culture's Department of Artistic
Censorship banned the film The Da Vinci Code as well as the English and
Arabic versions of the novel. Police also confiscated two thousand
copies of a pirated DVD version of the film and arrested the owner of a
local production company. Both the Arabic and English language versions
of the novel had been sold in the country since 2003.
The local media, including state television and newspapers gives
prominence to Islamic programming. Christian television programs are
aired weekly on state-owned Nile Cultural TV. The weekly religion page
of the prominent daily al-Ahram often reports on conversions to Islam
and states that converts improved their lives and found peace and moral
stability.
Pope Shenouda III has banned Coptic travel to Jerusalem since the
Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979. However, press reports indicated
that an estimated 735 Egyptian Copts visited Israel in 2004 for
pilgrimage, citing Israeli Interior Ministry statistics. There were no
statistics available for subsequent periods.
The Government continued to deny civil documents, including ID
cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the
Baha'i community. The Government appealed an April 4, 2006 decision by
the Administrative Court which supported the right of Baha'i citizens
to receive ID cards and birth certificates with religion noted on the
documents. On June 19, the Administrative Court postponed the appeal
hearing to September 16.
Law 263 of 1960, still in force, bans Baha'i institutions and
community activities, and a 1961 presidential decree stripped Baha'is
of legal recognition. During the Nasser era, the Government confiscated
all Baha'i community properties, including Baha'i centers, libraries,
and cemeteries. The Government has asserted that national identity
cards require all citizens to be categorized as Muslims, Christians, or
Jews. The Ministry of Interior has reportedly, on rare occasions,
issued documents that list a citizen's religion as ``other'' or simply
do not include mention of religion. But it is not clear when these
conditions apply. Baha'is and other religious groups that are not
associated with any of the three ``heavenly religions'' have been
compelled either to misrepresent themselves or go without valid
identity documents.
Those without valid identity cards encounter difficulty registering
their children in school, opening bank accounts, and establishing
businesses. Baha'is at age sixteen face additional problems under Law
143/1994, which makes it mandatory for all citizens to obtain a new
identification card featuring a new national identification number.
Police, often on public buses, conduct random inspections of identity
papers, and those found without their identity card are regularly
detained until the document is provided to the police. Some Baha'is
without identity cards frequently stay home to avoid police scrutiny
and possible arrest.
In May 2004 the Government confiscated the identity cards of two
Baha'is who were applying for passports. Officials told them that they
were acting on instructions from the MOI to confiscate any identity
cards belonging to Baha'is.
In 1997 a human rights activist filed a lawsuit seeking the removal
of the religious affiliation category from government identification
cards. The plaintiff challenged the constitutionality of a 1994 decree
by the MOI governing the issuance of new identification cards. A
hearing scheduled for February 25, 2005, never took place. The court
informed the attorney for the plaintiff that the case documents had
been withdrawn and forwarded to the president of the State's Council, a
highly unusual procedure. In December the court dismissed the appeal on
a technicality, arguing that the complainant failed to file the appeal
within sixty days after the decree had been published in the
Government's Official Gazette in 1995.
Lack of formal legal recognition also concerns the membership of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), or Mormons, in
Cairo. The LDS Church has maintained an organized congregation in the
country for more than thirty years. The Government has raised no
objection. Some members, particularly those who have converted to the
LDS Church overseas and then returned to the country, complain of
excessive surveillance from State Security and sometimes avoid meetings
from fear of harassment.
The Constitution provides for equal public rights and duties
without discrimination based on religion or creed, and, in general, the
Government upholds these Constitutional protections; however,
government discrimination against non-Muslims exists. There are no
Christians serving as presidents or deans of public universities, and
they are rarely nominated by the Government to run in elections as
National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates. For the first time in more
than thirty years, a Copt was appointed one of the country's twenty-six
governors, in Qena. As of June 30, there were six Christians (five
appointed, one elected) in the 454-seat People's Assembly; six
Christians (all appointed) in the 264-seat Shura Council; and two
Christians in the 32-member cabinet. Christians, who represented
between 8 and 15 percent of the population, held less than 2 percent of
the seats in the People's Assembly and Shura Council.
Government practices discriminated against Christians in hiring for
the public sector, staff appointments to public universities, payment
of Muslim imams through public funds and barring Christians from study
at Al-Azhar University (a publicly funded institution). There are few
Christians in the upper ranks of the security services and armed
forces. In general public university training programs for Arabic
language teachers bar non-Muslims because the curriculum involves the
study of the Qur'an. In fall 2005 Christian student Christine Zaher
successfully completed the requirements for a master's degree in Arabic
from the Suez Canal University in Port Said and secured a teaching
position at the same university. Prior to her graduation, there had
been no reports of Christian graduates in Arabic language since 2001;
she was the first Copt appointed to a university level Arabic language
teaching position in several decades.
In February 2006 Dr. Salem Salaam, chairman of the pediatrics
department at Minya University, resigned to protest the university's
decision not to hire a medical resident onto the faculty of the
university, based on the resident's Christian faith.
On May 7 President Mubarak appointed seven new judges to the
Supreme Constitutional Court, including Tamer Remon Iskandar, a Copt.
In January 2005 and January 2006 Jewish pilgrims again celebrated
the Abu Hasira festival. In 2004 the Supreme Administrative Court
upheld a lower court's 2001 decision to ban the annual festival at the
tomb of Rabbi Abu Hasira in a village in the Nile Delta and rejected
the Ministry of Culture's designation of the site as a protected
antiquity. The 2001 decision linked the status of the site and the
festival to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the celebration was
not held during the period 2002-2004.
The application of family law, including marriage, divorce,
alimony, child custody, and burial, is based on an individual's
religion. In the practice of family law, the Government recognizes only
the three ``heavenly religions'': Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
Muslim families are subject to Shari'a, Christian families to canon
law, and Jewish families to Jewish law. In cases of family law disputes
involving a marriage between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, the
courts apply Shari'a. The Government does not recognize the marriages
of citizens adhering to faiths other than Christianity, Judaism, or
Islam.
Under Shari'a, as practiced in the country, non-Muslim males must
convert to Islam to marry Muslim women, but non-Muslim women need not
convert to marry Muslim men. Muslim women are prohibited from marrying
Christian men.
Inheritance laws for all citizens are based on the Government's
interpretation of Shari'a. Muslim female heirs receive half the amount
of a male heir's inheritance. Christian widows of Muslims have no
automatic inheritance rights, but may be provided for in testamentary
documents.
Under Shari'a converts from Islam lose all rights of inheritance;
however, because the Government offers no legal means for converts from
Islam to Christianity to amend their civil records to reflect their new
religious status, inheritance rights may appear not to have been lost.
The law provides for khul' divorce, which allows a Muslim woman to
obtain a divorce without her husband's consent, provided that she is
willing to forego all of her financial rights, including alimony,
dowry, and other benefits. In practice some judges have applied the law
in such a manner as to cause lengthy bureaucratic delays for the
thousands of women who have filed for khul' divorce. Many women have
complained that after being granted khul', the required child alimony
is not paid.
The Coptic Orthodox Church excommunicates women members who marry
Muslim men and requires that other Christians convert to Coptic
Orthodoxy to marry a member of the church. Coptic males are prevented
from marrying Muslim women by both civil and religious laws. A civil
marriage abroad is an option should a Christian male and a Muslim
female citizen decide to marry; however, their marriage would not be
legally recognized in the country. Additionally, the woman could be
arrested and charged with apostasy, and any children from such a
marriage could be taken and assigned to the physical custody of a male
Muslim guardian, as determined by the Government's interpretation of
Shari'a. The Coptic Orthodox Church permits divorce only in specific
circumstances, such as adultery or conversion of one spouse to another
religion.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Center issued a legal opinion in
December 2003 condemning Baha'is as apostates. In May 2006 the minister
of justice requested guidance from the IRC in preparation for the
Government's appeal against the landmark April 4 case in support of
Baha'i rights. The IRC issued an Islamic legal interpretation stating
that the Baha'i Faith was a ``heresy.'' The 2006 interpretation
referenced a 1985 opinion that had accused Baha'is of working in
support of Zionism and imperialism, and labeled them as ``apostates.''
The Government at times prosecutes members of religious groups
whose practices are deemed to deviate from mainstream Islamic beliefs,
and whose activities are alleged to jeopardize communal harmony.
Shi'ite Muslim Mohamed Ramadan Hussein El-Derini, arrested in 2004
apparently due to his affiliation with Shi'a Islam, was released in
June 2005, after having spent fifteen months in administrative
detention without charge or trial. There were credible reports that
members of the State Security Intelligence Service (SSIS) repeatedly
tortured and mistreated Derini while he was in custody.
In May 2003 the SSIS arrested Metwalli Ibrahim Metwalli Saleh,
apparently because of his views on Islam. After eight separate rulings
from the Supreme State Security Emergency Court ordering his release,
Saleh who had been in detention in Al-Wadi al-Gadid Prison, near
Assiut, was released on April 23, 2006.
Neither the Constitution nor the Civil and Penal Codes prohibit
proselytizing, but police have harassed those accused of proselytizing
on charges of ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting
sectarian strife.
While there are no legal restrictions on the conversion of non-
Muslims to Islam, there were occasional reports that police harassed
converts from Islam to Christianity. In April 2005, the authorities
detained Baha Al-Accad, a citizen who was born Muslim but who was
reported to have converted to Christianity. Al-Accad remained in
detention at Tora Prison, south of Cairo, at the end of the reporting
period, apparently under investigation for ``denigrating a heavenly
religion.'' The security services reportedly maintain regular and
sometimes hostile surveillance of Muslim-born citizens who are
suspected of having converted to Christianity. One of these converts
also reported that officers from the security service pressured him to
serve as an informant.
The law prescribes administrative steps pursuant to the conversion
of non-Muslims to Islam. The minor children of converts to Islam, and
in some cases adult children, may automatically become classified as
Muslims in the eyes of the Government irrespective of the religion of
the other spouse. This practice is in accordance with the Government's
interpretation of Shari'a, which dictates ``no jurisdiction of a non-
Muslim over a Muslim.''
In April 2004 an administrative court issued a verdict allowing
Mona Makram Gibran, who had converted to Islam and later converted back
to Christianity, to recover her original (Christian) name and identity.
Some legal observers hoped the case would constitute a significant
precedent as the Government has generally refused to acknowledge
citizens' conversions from Islam to Christianity. The court's written
verdict noted ``...the Constitution guarantees equality among
citizens...without any discrimination based on race, sex, language, or
faith. The Government also guarantees freedom of thought and religious
faith in accordance with Article 46 of the Constitution...[The State]
is legally committed to register the woman's real religion and is not
allowed under any circumstance to use its assigned powers to force the
woman to remain Muslim.'' As of late June 2006, there were 148 other
cases involving individuals who converted to Islam and then back to
Christianity, who were attempting to recover their original Christian
identities. Of these 148 individuals, 32 have received verdicts
allowing them to recover their Christian identities and many of them
have done so. The Government has not appealed any of these cases.
In contrast to the above-mentioned cases, the Government has not
recognized conversions of individuals originally Muslim to Christianity
or other religions, and resistance to such conversions by local
officials has constituted a prohibition in practice. In the absence of
a legal means to register their change in religious status, some
converts resorted to soliciting illicit identity papers, often by
submitting fraudulent supporting documents or bribing the government
clerks who process the documents. In such cases, authorities
periodically charged converts with violating laws prohibiting the
falsification of documents.
Under Shari'a as interpreted by the Government, a non-Muslim wife
who converts to Islam must divorce her ``apostate,'' non-Muslim
husband. Upon the wife's conversion, local security authorities ask the
non-Muslim husband if he is willing to convert to Islam; if he chooses
not to, divorce proceedings begin immediately. Custody of children is
then awarded to the mother, following her conversion to Islam and the
required divorce from her husband.
In April 2005 the Family Court granted the divorce of Wafaa Riffat
Adly, a Christian woman who had converted to Islam, from her Christian
husband, Said Farouk Adly, after he refused to convert.
An estimated several thousand persons were imprisoned because of
alleged support for or membership in Islamist groups seeking to
overthrow the Government. The Government stated that these persons were
in detention because of membership in or activities on behalf of
violent extremist groups, without regard to their religious
affiliation. Internal security services monitor groups and individuals
suspected of involvement in or planning for extremist activity.
Internal security agencies regularly detain such persons, and the state
of emergency allows them to renew periods of administrative detention
ad infinitum.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion carried out by
the Government; however, there were again reports of forced conversions
of Coptic women and girls to Islam by Muslim men. Reports of such cases
are disputed and often include inflammatory allegations and categorical
denials of kidnapping and rape. Observers, including human rights
groups, find it extremely difficult to determine whether compulsion was
used, as most cases involve a female Copt who converts to Islam when
she marries a Muslim male. Reports of such cases almost never appear in
the local media.
During the reporting period, a Christian woman, Wafaa Constantin,
whose alleged conversion to Islam in December 2004 had sparked
significant protests in Cairo, remained in seclusion in a Coptic church
facility.
There are reports in these cases of government authorities failing
to uphold the law. Local authorities sometimes allow custody of a minor
(age sixteen to twenty-one) Christian female who ``converts'' to Islam
to be transferred to a Muslim custodian, who is likely to grant
approval for an underage marriage. Some Coptic activists maintain that
government officials do not respond effectively to instances of alleged
kidnapping. In cases of marriage between an underage Christian girl and
a Muslim man, there have been credible reports that government
authorities have failed to cooperate with Christian families seeking to
regain custody of their daughters.
According to the Instructions of the Notary Public, which implement
Law 114 of 1947, persons age sixteen and above may convert to Islam
without parental consent. Ignorance of the law and social pressure,
including the centrality of marriage to a woman's identity, often
affect a girl's decision to convert. Family conflict and financial
pressure also are cited as factors.
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion of minor
U.S. citizens who may have been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States.
Anti-Semitism
The country's small Jewish community numbers approximately 200,
most of them senior citizens. Anti-Semitic sentiments appeared in both
the government-owned and opposition press; however, there have been no
violent anti-Semitic incidents in recent years. Anti-Semitic articles
and opinion pieces appeared in the print media, and editorial cartoons
appeared in the press and electronic media. For example, the satellite-
broadcast Nile Culture TV on November 27 2005 broadcast a program
entitled ``A Study of Israel's History'' wherein a narrator said that
Jews ``extorted the world by exaggerating what was done to them in
World War II, and they are still benefiting from this extortion, in the
form of money and aid, from countries that still have a guilt complex
regarding Hitler's crematoria--for which there is no proof, except for
the Zionists' propaganda.'' The program also presented the views of
journalist Mohammad Al-Qudussi, who said, ``in the six years or so of
World War II, it is not possible that six million Jews could have been
burnt.''
On December 12, 2005, columnist Hisham Abd Al-Rauf, in an article
entitled ``Israel's Lies'' in the government-owned, limited-circulation
evening newspaper Al-Masaa, asserted that Nazi gas chambers ``were no
more than rooms for disinfecting clothing.'' Addressing Western
governments Abd Al-Rauf asked, ``If you feel sorry of [sic] the poor
Jews, why don't you establish their country on your lands?'' The
Government has urged journalists and cartoonists to avoid anti-Semitic
commentary. Government officials insist that anti-Semitic statements in
the media are a reaction to Israeli government actions against
Palestinians and do not reflect historical anti-Semitism; however,
there are relatively few public attempts to distinguish between anti-
Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, the Government took
several steps to encourage religious freedom and tolerance. In November
2005 the NCHR announced the formation of a ``Citizenship Committee,''
with a focus on religious freedom issues. In the aftermath of the
October 2005 sectarian violence in Alexandria, the NCHR and a
collection of human rights groups held a symposium in Alexandria and
called for the Government to pass a unified law for all religious
groups governing the construction and repair of houses of worship.
President Mubarak's Decree 291 of 2005 devolved authority for
renovation and re-construction of churches from the president to the
country's twenty-six governors. Observers welcomed this step as a major
improvement, but some churches have continued to face delays in the
issuance of permits.
Al-Azhar maintained a schedule of interfaith discussions inside the
country and abroad. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Tantawi, a
government appointee, and Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda participated in
joint public events.
In March 2006 the NCHR released its second annual report, in which
it recommended a solution for official recognition of Baha'is,
addressed the problem of Jehovah's Witnesses in the country, and
criticized religious textbooks in schools for failing to address human
rights topics. The report also encouraged the Government to pass a law
for all religious groups addressing the construction of new places of
worship.
A prominent Coptic nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Coptic
Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), continued its
program of interreligious dialogue in cooperation with the Ministry of
Islamic Religious Endowments. The program encouraged interaction
between young Muslim and Christian religious leaders and included a
major conference on citizenship and education, as well as a series of
workshops, training courses, and seminars throughout the reporting
period.
During the period covered by this report, the Government continued
to take steps to contain incidents of sectarian violence, including
those of October 2005 and April 2006 in Alexandria.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Muslim and Christian citizens share a common history and national
identity. They also share the same ethnicity, race, culture, and
language. Christians are geographically dispersed throughout the
country, and Christians and Muslims live as neighbors. However, at
times religious tensions have arisen and individual acts of prejudice
and violence occur.
On August 20, 2005, the Marg district of Cairo witnessed sectarian
tensions after worshippers at a church adjacent to a mosque protested
the ownership of the small strip of land separating the buildings. The
security services intervened to disperse a crowd of several thousand
protestors. Local officials brokered a deal whereby the church received
compensation for the disputed land, along with a permit to expand its
building.
In October 2005 Muslims protested an earlier production at the Mar
Guirguis Church of a theatrical presentation that purportedly
blasphemed Islam. There were also reports that the play had been
recorded on DVD. On October 19, a lone Muslim man assaulted a novitiate
and a lay worker at the church. On October 21, after Friday Islamic
prayers, a large crowd, variously estimated between 1 thousand and 3
thousand persons, gathered outside the church. After some in the crowd
threatened the church, security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets
to disperse the crowd. Three Muslim protesters died in the ensuing
violence. No one had been brought to trial by the end of the period
covered by this report.
In Kafr Salama village, Sharqiya governorate, a December 10 2005
altercation between a Muslim and a Christian resulted in the death of
the Muslim. Muslim villagers later attacked the Abu Sifin Church and
several Christian homes, and looted several shops before the
authorities restored order.
In April 2006 as the Coptic Orthodox community prepared to
celebrate Palm Sunday, Mahmud Salaheddin Abdul Razzak, a Muslim man,
carried out sequential knife attacks at three Alexandria churches,
which resulted in the death of seventy-eight-year-old Noshi Atta
Guirgis and injuries to more than a dozen other Christians. The police
quickly arrested the twenty-five-year-old Razzak, who had a history of
mental illness, and charged him in the murder and assaults. A
government fact-finding committee from the People's Assembly, headed by
Deputy PA Speaker Dr. Zainab Radwan and including MPs Georget Qellini
and Edward El-Dahabi, had not formally visited Alexandria or released
its findings by the end of the reporting period.
At Guirgis's funeral on April 15, and again on April 16, Christian
and Muslim protestors clashed in riots that resulted in the death of
least one Muslim, dozens of injuries, significant damage to property
belonging primarily to Copts, and some damage to churches.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
Religious freedom is an important part of the bilateral dialogue.
The right of religious freedom has been raised with senior government
officials by all levels of the U.S. Government, including by visiting
members of congress, the Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary for
Near Eastern Affairs, the ambassador, and other Embassy officials. The
Embassy maintains formal contacts with the Office of Human Rights at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Embassy also discusses religious
freedom issues regularly in contacts with other government officials,
including governors and members of parliament. The ambassador has made
public statements supporting interfaith understanding and efforts
toward harmony and equality among citizens of all religious groups.
Specifically, the Embassy has raised its concerns about official
discrimination against Baha'is with the Government. The Government
insists that religious identification on national identity cards is
necessary to determine which laws apply in civil cases.
The Embassy maintains an active dialogue with leaders of the
Christian and Muslim religious communities, human rights groups, and
other activists. The Embassy investigates every complaint of official
religious discrimination brought to its attention. It also discusses
religious freedom with a range of contacts, including academics,
businessmen, and citizens outside of the capital area. U.S. officials
actively challenge anti-Semitic articles in the media through
discussions with editors-in-chief and other journalists.
U.S. programs and activities support initiatives in several areas
directly related to religious freedom, including funding for CEOSS
programs that work with Coptic community groups in Upper Egypt.
The U.S. Government is working to strengthen civil society,
supporting secular channels and the broadening of a civic culture that
promote religious tolerance. The U.S. Embassy supports projects that
promote tolerance and mutual respect between members of different
religious communities.
The Embassy supports the development of materials that encourage
tolerance, diversity, and understanding of others, in both Arabic-
language and English-language curriculums.
The U.S. Government developed a version of the television program
Sesame Street designed to reach remote households that has as one of
its goals the promotion of tolerance, including among different
religious groups. According to a recent household survey, the program,
begun in 2000, is reaching more than 90 percent of elementary school-
aged children.
The Embassy is also working with the Supreme Council of Antiquities
to promote the conservation of cultural antiquities, including Islamic,
Christian, and Jewish historical sites.
__________
IRAN
The Constitution declares the ``official religion of Iran is Islam,
and the doctrine followed is that of Ja'fari (Twelver) Shi'ism.'' The
Government restricts freedom of religion.
There was a further deterioration of the extremely poor status of
respect for religious freedom during the reporting period, most notably
for Baha'is and Sufi Muslims. The country's religious minorities
include Sunni and Sufi Muslims, Baha'is, Zoroastrians, Jews, and
Christians. There were reports of imprisonment, harassment,
intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs.
Government actions and rhetoric created a threatening atmosphere
for nearly all religious minorities, especially Baha'is and Sufi
Muslims. To a lesser extent, Zoroastrians, evangelical Christians, and
the small Jewish community were also targets of government harassment.
Government-controlled media, including broadcasting and print,
intensified negative campaigns against religious minorities--
particularly the Baha'is--following the June 2005 election of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The U.S. Government makes clear its objections to the Government's
harsh and oppressive treatment of religious minorities through public
statements, support for relevant U.N. and nongovernmental organization
(NGO) efforts, as well as diplomatic initiatives towards states where
religious freedom is a concern. Since 1999 the Secretary of State has
designated Iran as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' (CPC) under the
International Religious Freedom Act for its particularly egregious
violations of religious freedom.
In 2003, the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 58/195 on the
human rights situation in the country; it expressed serious concern
about the continued discrimination against religious minorities by the
Government. In 2004, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution
condemning the human rights situation in Iran. In March 2006 the U.N.
General Assembly adopted Resolution 60/171 expressing serious concern
about the continued discrimination and human rights violations against
religious minorities by the Government. Also in March 2006, the Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief issued a statement of
concern about the treatment of the Baha'i community in the country. The
Special Rapporteur's statement claimed that Supreme Leader Khamene'i
has instructed security officials to identify and compile information
on Baha'is.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 631,660 square miles, and
its population was an estimated 69 million. The population was
approximately 98 percent Muslim, of which an estimated 89 percent were
Shi'a and 8 percent were Sunni, mostly Turkmen, Arabs, Baluchs, and
Kurds living in the southwest, southeast, and northwest. Although there
are no official statistics of the size of the Sufi Muslim population,
some reports estimated between two to five million people practice
Sufism compared to approximately 100,000 before 1979.
According to the country's most recent official national census,
taken in 1996, there were an estimated 59.8 million Muslims, 30,000
Zoroastrians, 79,000 Christians, and 13,000 Jews, with 28,000
``others'' and 47,000 ``not stated.''
Recent unofficial estimates provide larger numbers for non-Muslim
minority groups. Baha'is, Jews, Christians, Mandaeans, and Zoroastrians
constitute approximately five percent of the population combined. The
largest non-Muslim minority was the Baha'i community, which had an
estimated 300,000 to 350,000 adherents throughout the country. Credible
estimates on the size of the Jewish community vary from 25,000 to
30,000. This figure represents a substantial reduction from the
estimated 75,000 to 80,000 Jews who resided in the country prior to the
1979 Islamic revolution. According to U.N. figures, there were
approximately 300,000 Christians, the majority of whom are ethnic
Armenians. Unofficial estimates indicated an Assyrian Christian
population of approximately 10,000. There also were Protestant
denominations, including evangelical churches. The Mandaean Sabaeans, a
community whose religion draws on pre-Christian gnostic beliefs,
numbered approximately 5,000 to 10,000 persons, with members residing
primarily in Khuzestan in the southwest. There were indications that
members of all religious minorities are emigrating at a higher rate.
The Government estimated the Zoroastrian population had
approximately 30,000 to 35,000 adherents; however, Zoroastrian groups
claim an estimated 60,000 adherents. Zoroastrians mainly were ethnic
Persians concentrated in the cities of Tehran, Kerman, and Yazd.
Zoroastrianism was the official religion of the pre-Islamic Sassanid
Empire and played a central role in the country's history.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Government severely restricts freedom of religion. The
Constitution declares the ``official religion of Iran is Islam and the
doctrine followed is that of Ja'fari (Twelver) Shi'ism.'' All laws and
regulations must be consistent with the official interpretation of the
Shari'a (Islamic law). The Constitution states that ``within the limits
of the law,'' Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only
recognized religious minorities who are guaranteed freedom to practice
their religion; however, members of these recognized minority religious
groups have reported imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and
discrimination based on their religious beliefs.
Adherents of religious groups not recognized by the Constitution do
not enjoy freedom to practice their beliefs. This restriction seriously
affects adherents of the Baha'i faith, which the government regards as
a heretical Islamic group with a political orientation that is
antagonistic to the country's Islamic revolution. However, Baha'is view
themselves not as Muslims, but as an independent religion with origins
in the Shi'a Islamic tradition. Government officials have stated that,
as individuals, all Baha'is are entitled to their beliefs and are
protected under the articles of the Constitution as citizens; however,
the Government continued to prohibit Baha'is from teaching and
practicing their faith. Baha'is also faced discrimination in the
workplace and are barred from government posts.
The tricameral government structure is ruled over by a supreme
religious jurisconsult, or ``supreme leader.'' The supreme leader,
chosen by a group of eighty-three Islamic scholars who are elected to
the Assembly of Experts, oversees the country's decision-making
process. All acts of the majlis (legislative body or parliament) must
be reviewed for strict conformity with Islamic law and the Constitution
by the Council of Guardians, which is composed of six clerics appointed
by the supreme leader and six Muslim jurists (legal scholars),
nominated by the head of the judiciary and approved by the majlis. The
council does not have voting rights. The supreme leader is also advised
by the Expediency Council, which has the authority to mediate disputes
between Parliament and the Council of Guardians.
The Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance (Ershad) and the
Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) monitor religious activity
closely. Adherents of recognized religious minorities were not required
to register individually with the Government; however, their communal,
religious, and cultural events and organizations, including schools,
are monitored closely. Registration of Baha'is is a police function.
The Government pressured evangelical Christian groups to compile and
submit membership lists for their congregations, but evangelicals
resisted this demand. Non-Muslim owners of grocery shops were required
to indicate their religious affiliation on the fronts of their shops.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
By law and practice, religious minorities are not allowed to be
elected to a representative body or to hold senior government or
military positions, with the exception that 5 of a total 270 seats in
the majlis are reserved for religious minorities. Three of these seats
are reserved for members of the Christian faith, including two seats
for the country's Armenian Christians, and one for Assyrians and
Chaldeans. There is also one seat for a member of the Jewish faith, and
one for a member of the Zoroastrian faith. While members of the Sunni
Muslim minority do not have reserved seats in the majlis, they were
allowed to serve in the body. Sunni members tend to come from the
larger Sunni communities. Members of religious minorities are allowed
to vote. All of the minority religious groups, including Sunni Muslims,
were barred from being elected president.
All religious minorities suffer varying degrees of officially
sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment,
education, and housing. Reportedly, religious minorities are allowed to
handle food and own food businesses, but in practice most Muslim
conservatives will not eat food prepared by Jews. Consequently, Jews
are discouraged from owning food businesses. The government does not
protect the right of citizens to change or renounce their religious
faith. Non-Muslims may not engage in public religious expression and
persuasion among Muslims, and there are restrictions on published
religious material. Apostasy, specifically conversion from Islam, may
be punishable by death. While there were no reported cases of the death
penalty being applied for apostasy during the reporting period, on
November 22, 2005, unidentified persons killed a man who had converted
to Christianity more than ten years earlier. He had allegedly received
death threats over the past few years. Reportedly, his death was
followed by repression of and threats against other Christians,
including arrests of ten Christians.
Members of religious minorities, excluding Sunni Muslims, were
prevented from serving in the judiciary and security services and from
becoming public school principals. Applicants for public sector
employment were screened for their adherence to and knowledge of Islam,
although members of religious minorities could serve in lower ranks of
government employment, with the exception of Baha'is. Government
workers who did not observe Islam's principles and rules were subject
to penalties. The Constitution states that the country's army must be
Islamic and must recruit individuals who are committed to the
objectives of the Islamic revolution; however, in practice no religious
minorities were exempt from military service. The law forbids non-
Muslims from holding officer positions over Muslims in the armed
forces. Members of religious minorities with a college education could
serve as an officer during their mandatory military service but could
not be a career military officer.
University applicants were required to pass an examination in
Islamic, Christian, or Jewish theology, but there was no test for the
Baha'i faith. All public school students, including non-Muslims, must
study Islam. With the exception of Baha'is, the Government generally
allowed recognized religious minorities to conduct religious education
for their adherents, although it restricted this right considerably in
some cases. The Ministry of Education, which imposed certain curriculum
requirements, supervised these schools. With few exceptions, the
directors of such private schools must be Muslim. Attendance at the
schools was not mandatory for recognized religious minorities. The
Ministry of Education must approve all textbooks used in coursework,
including religious texts. Recognized religious minorities could
provide religious instruction in non-Persian languages, but such texts
required approval by the authorities. This approval requirement
sometimes imposed significant translation expenses on minority
communities.
The legal system discriminates against religious minorities. In
2004 the Expediency Council approved appending a note to Article 297 of
the 1991 Islamic Punishments Act, authorizing collection of equal
``blood money'' (diyeh) for the death of Muslims and non-Muslims. All
women and Baha'i men were excluded from the equalization provisions of
the bill. According to law, Baha'i blood is considered Mobah, meaning
it can be spilled with impunity.
Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority in the country,
claiming a membership of approximately five and a half million (eight
percent of the population), consisting mostly of Turkmen, Arabs,
Baluchs, and Kurds living in the Southwest, Southeast, and Northwest.
The Constitution provides Sunni Muslims a large degree of religious
freedom, although it forbids a Sunni Muslim from becoming president.
Sunnis claimed that the Government discriminated against them; however,
it was difficult to distinguish whether the cause of discrimination was
religious or ethnic since most Sunnis were also members of ethnic
minorities. Sunnis cited the lack of a Sunni mosque in Tehran, despite
the presence of more than one million adherents there, as a prominent
example of this discrimination. Sunni leaders reported bans on Sunni
religious literature and Sunni teachings in public schools, even in
predominantly Sunni areas. Sunnis also claimed there was a lack of
Sunni representation in appointed offices in provinces where they form
a majority, such as Kurdistan and Khuzestan province, as well as their
reported inability to obtain senior governmental positions. In
addition, Sunnis charged that the Broadcast Corporation's program Voice
and Vision, airs programming which were insulting to them.
In April 2004 Sunni majlis representatives sent a letter to Supreme
Leader Khamene'i decrying the lack of Sunni presence in the executive
and judiciary branches of government, especially in higher-ranking
positions in embassies, universities, and other institutions. They
called on Khamene'i to issue a decree halting anti-Sunni propaganda in
the mass media, books, and publications; the measure would include the
state-run media. The Sunni representatives also requested adherence to
the Constitutional articles ensuring equal treatment of all ethnic
groups.
The Baha'i faith originated in the country during the 1840s as a
reformist movement within Shi'a Islam. The Government considers Baha'is
to be apostates because of their claim to a valid religious revelation
subsequent to that of Muhammad, but Baha'is do not consider themselves
to be Muslim. Rather, the government defines the Baha'i faith as a
political ``sect,'' linked to the Pahlavi regime but Baha'is faced
discrimination prior to the revolution. A 2001 Ministry of Justice
report stated that Baha'is would be permitted to enroll in schools only
if they did not identify themselves as Baha'is, and that Baha'is
preferably should be enrolled in schools with a strong and imposing
religious ideology. There are allegations that Baha'i children in
public schools have faced attempts to convert them to Islam. The
Ministry of Justice report also stated that Baha'is must be excluded or
expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during
the course of their studies, once their religious affiliation becomes
known.
Baha'is may not teach or practice their faith or maintain links
with co-religionists abroad. The fact that the Baha'i world
headquarters (established by the founder of the Baha'i faith in the
nineteenth century, in what was then Ottoman-controlled Palestine) is
situated in what is now the state of Israel exposes Baha'is to official
charges of ``espionage on behalf of Zionism.'' These charges were more
acute when Baha'is were caught communicating with or sending monetary
contributions to the Baha'i headquarters.
Baha'is are banned from government employment and government
pensions. In addition Baha'is were regularly denied compensation for
injury or criminal victimization and were denied the right to inherit
property. Baha'i marriages and divorces were not officially recognized,
although the government allows a civil attestation of marriage to serve
as a marriage certificate.
The Government allows recognized religious minorities to establish
community centers and certain self-financed cultural, social, athletic,
or charitable associations. However, the Government prohibited the
Baha'is community from official assembly and from maintaining
administrative institutions by actively closing such Baha'i
institutions. Since the Baha'i faith had no established clergy, the
denial of the right to form such institutions and elect officers
threatened its existence in the country.
Broad restrictions on Baha'is undermined their ability to function
as a community. Baha'is repeatedly were offered relief from
mistreatment in exchange for recanting their faith.
Baha'i cemeteries, holy places, historical sites, administrative
centers, and other assets were seized shortly after the 1979
Revolution. No properties have been returned, and many have been
destroyed. Baha'is were not allowed to bury and honor their dead in
adherence to their religious tradition. Baha'i graveyards in Yazd and
other cities have been desecrated, and the government did not seek to
identify or punish the perpetrators. Public and private universities
continue to deny admittance to Baha'i students. In 2004, for the first
time, Baha'i applicants were permitted to take part in the nationwide
exam for entrance into state-run universities. However, for those
students who passed the exam, ``Islam'' was pre-printed as a
prospective student's religious affiliation on the form authorizing
their matriculation. This action precluded Baha'i enrollment in the
country's state-run universities since a tenet of Baha'i faith is to
not deny one's faith. Only a few students were allowed to enroll. In
2005, after similar treatment, no Baha'i students were accepted. A
statement posted on Ayatollah Safi's official website during the
reporting period reiterated the policy that Baha'is must be expelled
from university once their affiliation was known.
The Government monitored the activities of those it identified as
adhering to the Baha'i Faith. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
Religion or Belief became aware of a secret October 2005 letter written
by the Chairman of the Armed Forces Command, Major General Seyyed
Hossein Firuzabadi, acting on instructions from Iran's Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i, to the Ministry of Information, the
Revolutionary Guard, and the Police Force, which requested the agencies
to collect and to provide to the Armed Forces Command all information
about members of the Baha'i Faith. There were also reports the
Association of Chambers of Commerce compiled a list of Baha'i members
and their trades and employment. A May 2, 2006, letter from the Trades,
Production, and Technical Services Society of Kermanshah to the Union
of Battery Manufacturers shows further evidence of workplace
restrictions as it asks the union to compile ``a list of the names of
those who belong to the Baha'i sect and are under the jurisdiction of
your union.''
In principle, but with some exceptions, there was little
restriction of or interference with Jewish religious practice; however,
education of Jewish children had become more difficult in recent years.
The Government reportedly allowed Hebrew instruction, recognizing that
it was necessary for Jewish religious practice. However, it limited the
distribution of Hebrew texts, in practice making it difficult to teach
the language. Moreover, the Government required that in conformity with
the schedule of other schools, several Jewish schools must remain open
on Saturdays, which violates Jewish law.
Jewish citizens were permitted to obtain passports and travel
outside the country, but they were often denied the multiple-exit
permits normally issued to other citizens and faced numerous obstacles
from officials to travel abroad. With the exception of certain business
travelers, the authorities required Jews to obtain clearance and pay
additional fees before each round trip abroad. Members of all religious
minorities appeared to be emigrating in higher numbers even though
immigration was illegal under Iranian law.
According to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees' (UNHCR)
background paper on the country, the Mandaean Sabaeans were regarded as
Christians and were included among the country's three recognized
religious minorities. However, Mandaean Sabaeans regarded themselves
not as Christians but as adherents of a religion that predates
Christianity in both belief and practice. Mandaean Sabaeans enjoyed
official support as a distinct religion prior to the Revolution, but
their legal status as a religion since then was the subject of debate
in the majlis, which has not been clarified. The small community faced
discrimination similar to that faced by the country's other religious
minorities. There were reports that members of the Mandaean Sabaeans
community experienced societal discrimination and pressure to convert
to Islam, and they often were denied access to higher education.
Mandaean Sabaeans refugees reported specific religious freedom
violations and concerns, such as being forced to observe Islamic
fasting rituals and to pray in Islamic fashion, both in direct
violation of Mandaean Sabaeans teaching.
Sufis within the country and Sufi organizations outside the country
remained extremely concerned about growing government repression of
Sufi communities and their religious practices, including the constant
harassment and intimidation of prominent Sufi leaders by the
intelligence and security services. Government restrictions on Sufi
groups and houses of worship became more pronounced during the year
covered by this report. Although laws governing Sufi practice were
ambiguous, there are reports that the Government called for a full ban
on the practice of Sufism. Since 1979, the numbers of practicing Sufis
have soared, increasing tension with the Government.
The Government propagated an interpretation of Islam that
effectively deprived women of some rights granted to men. Gender
segregation was enforced generally throughout the country without
regard to religious affiliation and could be burdensome for those who
do not follow strict Islamic religious codes; however, as a practical
matter these prohibitions have loosened in recent years. Women of all
religious groups were expected to adhere to Islamic dress in public,
although enforcement of rules for conservative Islamic dress eased in
recent years.
In 1986 the Government issued a twelvepoint contract to
serve as a model for marriage and divorce, which limited the privileges
accorded to women by custom and traditional interpretations of Islamic
law.
Many female Muslims were seeking to eliminate laws and practices
that discriminate against women, arguing that relegating women to a
lesser status due to, inter alia, their being considered ``deficient in
reason'' was not a precept of Islam, but rather a non-Islamic accretion
to Islamic practices.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The property rights of Baha'is were generally disregarded, and they
suffer frequent government harassment and persecution. Since 1979 the
government has confiscated large numbers of private and business
properties belonging to Baha'is, as well as religious material.
Numerous Baha'i homes reportedly were seized and handed over to an
agency of Supreme Leader Khamene'i. Sources indicated that property was
confiscated in Rafsanjan, Kerman, Marv-Dasht, and Yazd. Authorities
reportedly also confiscated Baha'i properties in Kata, forced several
families to leave their homes and farmlands, imprisoned some farmers,
and did not permit others to harvest their crops. In one instance, a
Baha'i woman from Esfahan who legally traveled abroad, returned to find
that her home was confiscated. The Government also seized private homes
in which Baha'i youth classes were held despite the owners having
proper ownership documents.
The Baha'i community claimed the Government's seizure of Baha'i
personal property and its denial of Baha'i access to education and
employment were eroding the economic base of the community and
threatened its survival. On June 29, 2006 the UN Special Rapporteur on
adequate housing found that government expropriations of property in
Iran ``seem to have targeted disproportionately'' the property of
Baha'is and other ethnic and religious minorities. He further mentioned
that many of the confiscation verdicts made by Iranian Revolutionary
Courts declared that ``the confiscation of the property of the evil
sect of the Baha'i [were] legally and religiously justifiable.'' There
were recent reports of authorities forcing Baha'i businesses to close
and placing restrictions on their businesses. Managers of private
companies were reportedly asked to dismiss their Baha'i employees.
The Government continued to imprison and detain Baha'is based on
their religious beliefs. The Government harassed the Baha'i community
by arbitrarily arresting Baha'is and charging them with violating
Islamic penal code Articles 500 and 698, relating to activities against
the State and spreading falsehood, respectively. Often the charges were
not dropped upon release and those with charges still pending against
them reportedly feared re-arrest at any time. Most were released only
after paying large fines or posting high bails.
In 2004, authorities initiated the destruction of the tomb of
Quddus, a Baha'i holy site. Local Baha'is attempted to prevent the
destruction through legal channels, but the tomb was destroyed in the
interim. The Baha'is were not allowed permission to enter the site and
retrieve the remains of this revered Baha'i figure. The house of Mizra
Buzarg-e-Nuri, father of the faith's founder, was destroyed without
notice.
According to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States, since 1979 more than 200 Baha'is were killed, 15
disappeared and were presumed dead, and more than 10,000 Baha'is were
dismissed from government and university jobs.
In 2004, a Baha'i optician in Hamadan was reportedly kidnapped and
brutally attacked by five individuals, who threatened him with death if
he did not recant his faith and convert to Islam. Local authorities
were unwilling to pursue the case and a local judicial official
reportedly told him ``it would cost him [the victim] dearly'' if he
pursued his complaint against the assailants.
In 2004, for the first time, the Baha'i community wrote an open
letter to the Government of the Islamic Republic, addressed to
President Khatami, seeking an end to Baha'i-focused human rights and
religious freedom abuses. Numerous anecdotal reports indicated a marked
increase in government persecution of Baha'is after this letter. Much
of this anti-Baha'i activity focused on Yazd, presumably due to Yazdi
Baha'is having presented Yazd intelligence-security officials with a
copy of the letter.
In late 2004 and January 2005, nine Baha'is in Yazd were arrested
and briefly detained, and their homes searched and some possessions
confiscated. On January 14, 2005, authorities summoned, questioned, and
released another Yazd Baha'i, and four days later on January 18, four
individuals came to his home and beat him with batons, inflicting
severe injuries to his face, back, and arms. The same individuals,
equipped with batons and communication devices, also attacked the home
of another Baha'i later that day. On that same day, these same persons
went to the home of a third Baha'i and attacked him with batons,
causing serious head wounds. This third Baha'i was attacked again on
January 25; on January 27 his shop was set on fire.
In February 2005, the Baha'i cemetery in Yazd was destroyed, with
cars driven over the graves, tombstones smashed, and the remains of the
interred left exposed. Two days later, a gravestone was removed and
left in front of a Baha'is home, along with a threatening letter. The
Baha'i community filed a complaint with authorities at the national
level, but no action was taken. These events coincided with the launch
of a campaign of defamation against the Baha'i faith in government-
controlled media.
In February 2005, two Baha'is were released from prison after
serving almost fifteen years on charges related to their religious
beliefs.
In March 2005, a series of Baha'i arrests and imprisonments began
throughout the country. In Tehran on March 6 2005, intelligence
officials arrested and took into custody three prominent Baha'is, and
another was arrested and imprisoned on March 16. Agents conducted
prolonged searches of their homes and confiscated documents, books, and
other belongings. They were all detained without charge, and released
after having posted bail.
On March 8 2005, one of the Baha'is previously arrested and briefly
detained for having distributed an open letter from the Baha'i
community to President Khatami, received a three-year sentence and was
incarcerated in Evin prison. He did not have access to lawyers nor to
any form of legal counsel. Another Baha'i previously arrested and
detained, was tried in absentia and given a one-year sentence for the
same alleged offence.
On April 25 2005, five more Baha'is were arrested and imprisoned,
all members of farming families whose properties had been confiscated
in the village of Kata, when they obeyed a summons and came to the
court for hearings concerning their grievances. On May 3 2005, four
more Baha'is from Kata answered a similar summons and appeared before a
court in the same province. The judge asked them if they would
relinquish their property, and when they refused, the judge ordered
their arrest and detention. Later that month, all nine were released
from prison after a business license was used as collateral.
On May 16 2005, nine Baha'is were summoned to appear before the
office of the Public Prosecutor in the city of Semnan. They were
charged with ``creating anxiety in the minds of the public and those of
the Iranian officials'' and distributing ``propaganda against the
government of the Islamic Republic of Iran'' for having distributed
copies of the November 2004 open letter to various government
officials. They were detained and subsequently released, with the
understanding that they would appear for a hearing at a later date.
Between August 2005 and May 2006, eighty-seven Baha'is were
arrested (but only eighty-six were detained). At the end of the period
covered by this report, two remained in prison. Most of the others were
never formally charged but they were only released after posting bail.
For some, bail was deeds of property worth approximately $11,000;
others were released in exchange for personal guarantees or work
licenses. Some were not allowed to resume working for six months after
their detention. There were also reports of attacks on Baha'is by
unidentified assailants.
In the first week of August 2005, fourteen Baha'is were arrested
from several cities, including Tehran. They were held in incommunicado
detention, and there was concern from several sources that they were at
risk of torture or ill treatment. During the rest of August and during
September, nine more Baha'is were arrested in various cities. On
September 17 and 19, three were released on bail. On September 5, four
Baha'is were sentenced to ten months of imprisonment for opposition to
the government. On the same day, the homes of nine Baha'is were
searched in Yazd, and books, computers, tapes, videos, and CDs were
confiscated.
On December 19, 2005, the longest imprisoned Baha'i, Zabihullah
Mahrami, died in prison of unknown causes. He was arrested in 1995 and
convicted of apostasy in 1996. He was forced to engage in hard labor at
the penitentiary and regularly received death threats. His family was
told he died of a heart attack, but Mahrami was reportedly in good
health prior to his death.
On January 15, 2006, three Baha'is from Kermanshah were arrested on
charges of ``involvement in Baha'i activities and insulting Islam.''
Their homes and four others were raided the same day and books,
documents, and other items were confiscated. On January 16, the
Revolutionary Court set property worth more than US$30,000 as
collateral for the three Baha'is, and they were released on January 20.
On February 5, 2006, three Baha'is from Esfahan were arrested for
coordinating Baha'i activities.
On March 18, 2006, Mehran Kawsari was released from jail without
bail. He was tried in connection with the November 2004 open letter to
then President Khatami that requested the restoration of human rights
for the Baha'is and was charged with taking measures against the
internal security of the government.
From May 9 to 11, 2006, eleven Baha'i homes were raided in
Shahinshahr, Najafabad, and Kashan but no arrests were made. On May 19,
six Baha'i homes were raided in Shiraz, and notebooks, computers,
books, and documents were seized. The homeowners were among the fifty-
four Baha'is arrested that day. The individuals were mostly youths
engaged in humanitarian service. With permission from the Islamic
Council of Shiraz, they were teaching classes to poor children as part
of a UNICEF program. On May 24-25, fifty-one out of fifty-four of the
detainees were released. As of June 14, the remaining three had been
released, initially for collateral payments of $54,600 per person but
in the end solely based on personal guarantees.
On June 13, 2006, one Baha'i man from Sanandaj was arrested and
released on June 29 on unknown terms. There was an unconfirmed report
of five more arrests in Shiraz, but no further information is yet
available. On June 18, three Baha'is from Hamadan were arrested after
government officials confiscated books, computers, and Baha'i
documents, but they were released on bail on June 21. No details of the
terms of their release were available. On June 21, one Baha'i from
Baluchistan province was reportedly abducted, and authorities said they
suspected criminal elements were involved. On June 28, one Baha'i was
taken into custody and was being held in the Ministry of Information's
detention center. This individual was previously arrested and released
in August 2005.
The Government vigilantly enforced its prohibition on proselytizing
activities by evangelical Christians by closely monitoring their
activities, closing their churches, and arresting Christian converts.
Members of evangelical congregations were required to carry membership
cards, photocopies of which must be provided to the authorities.
Worshippers were subject to identity checks by authorities posted
outside congregation centers. The Government restricted meetings for
evangelical services to Sundays and church officials were ordered to
inform the Ministry of Information and Islamic Guidance before
admitting new members to their congregations.
Conversion of a Muslim to a non-Muslim religion is considered
apostasy under the law and is punishable by the death penalty, although
it was unclear whether this punishment had been enforced in recent
years. Similarly, non-Muslims could not proselytize Muslims without
putting their own lives at risk. Evangelical church leaders were
subject to pressure from authorities to sign pledges that they would
not evangelize Muslims or allow Muslims to attend church services.
In previous years, the Government harassed churchgoers in Tehran,
in particular worshippers of the capital's Assembly of God
congregation. This harassment included conspicuous monitoring outside
Christian premises by Revolutionary Guards to discourage Muslims or
converts from entering church premises, as well as demands for the
presentation of the identity papers of worshippers inside. In 2004,
there were reports of the arrest of several dozen evangelical
Christians in the north, including a Christian pastor, his wife, and
their two teenage children in Chalous, Mazandaran Province. Many of
those arrested were later released, and the pastor and his family were
released after six weeks in detention. One press source reported that
authorities ordered those jailed to stop meeting for worship and to
``stop talking about Jesus.'' Christians continued to be subject to
harassment and close surveillance. Low scale harassment of Armenian
Christians were reported, including situating Shi'a Ashura sites near
churches and schools.
In 2004, security officials raided the annual general conference of
the country's Assemblies of God Church, arresting approximately eighty
religious leaders gathered at the church's denominational center in
Karaj. After fingerprinting and questioning, authorities released all
but ten pastors later that day. Of these, nine were released.
Assemblies of God Pastor Hamid Pourmand, a former Muslim of Assyrian
Christian background who converted to Christianity nearly twenty-five
years ago and who led a congregation in Bushehr, was the only detainee
not released. Later that year, Pourmand, who was also a non-
commissioned officer in the Army, was moved to a military prison. In
late January 2005 he was tried in a military court on charges of
espionage. On February 16, 2005, he was found guilty of espionage and
sentenced to three years, and was transferred to Evin prison to serve
his sentence. A military appeals court subsequently affirmed the
verdict and the sentence. As a consequence, Pourmand faced automatic
discharge from the army and forfeit of his entire income, pension, and
housing for his family. In mid-April, the authorities abandoned
preliminary hearings against Pourmand before a Tehran General and
Revolutionary Court on two separate charges of apostasy and
proselytizing, both capital crimes, reportedly after news of his trial
leaked out to the international press. In May, he was transferred from
Tehran to his home city of Bushehr to stand trial in a General and
Revolutionary Court on these charges. On May 28, that court acquitted
Pourmand on apostasy and proselytizing charges, and he was sent back to
Tehran's Evin prison to serve out the remainder of his three-year
prison sentence. In August 2005, there were reports that he continued
to face pressure from prison officials to recant his Christian faith
and return to Islam.
On November 22, 2005, a Muslim convert to Christianity, Ghorban
Tori, was kidnapped from his house in the northeast and killed. His
body was later returned to his house. Tori was a pastor at an
independent house church of converted Christians. After the killing,
security officials searched his house for Bibles and banned Christian
books in Persian. In the previous week, according to some sources, the
Ministry of Intelligence and Security arrested and tortured ten
Christians in several cities.
On May 2, 2006, a Muslim convert to Christianity, Ali Kaboli, was
taken into custody in Gorgan, after several years of police
surveillance and threatened prosecution if he did not leave the
country. He was interrogated and was held incommunicado. So far no
charges have been filed against him.
In 2000, ten of thirteen Jews arrested in 1999 were convicted on
charges of illegal contact with Israel, conspiracy to form an illegal
organization, and recruiting agents. Along with two Muslim defendants,
the ten Jews received prison sentences ranging from four to thirteen
years. During and shortly after the trial, Jewish-owned businesses in
Tehran and Shiraz were targets of vandalism and boycotts, and Jews
reportedly suffered personal harassment and intimidation. There was one
report of vandalism against a synagogue during the reporting period.
Numerous Sunni clerics were killed in recent years, some allegedly
by government agents. While the exact reason for their killings was
unknown, most Sunni Muslims in the country belonged to ethnic
minorities who historically suffered abuses by the Government. During
this reporting period, Sunni leaders reported abuses, including
detentions and torture of Sunni clerics, and an unconfirmed report of a
suspicious death of a Sunni cleric who had defied orders not to return
to the mosque after his release from prison.
There were no reports of government harassment of the Zoroastrian
community during the reporting period; however, the community remained
unable to convene a Spiritual Assembly to manage its religious affairs
for fear of official retaliation, and there were reports of
discrimination in employment and education. In 2004, Zoroastrians were
able to make, apparently without government interference, their annual
pilgrimage to one of the holiest sites of their faith, the temple of
Chak-Chak (near the city of Yazd).
Reports of government harassment and abuse of Sufis became
prevalent during this reporting period due to the increasing
intolerance towards the Sufi community from the Government. On February
13, 2006, police officers tried to close a Sufi house of worship, or
Husseinieh in the city of Qom, sparking two days of clashes and
violence. Qom officials stated the Sufis had illegally turned a
residential building into a religious establishment. However, the
establishment apparently had been built three years ago with municipal
permission. According to some human rights groups, the Sufis, including
many women and children, were peacefully protesting the order to leave
the Husseinieh. The police attacked the Sufis in the building with tear
gas and explosives, causing over 500 hospitalizations according to some
sources and 100 injuries according to the Qom Governor, General Abbas
Mohtaj. Members of the Fatemiyon and Hojjatiyeh groups, conservative
Islamic groups, reportedly joined the police in first taunting the
protestors and then attacking and beating them.
On February 14, 2006, the security forces demolished the building
and neighboring houses, and more than 1,000 persons were arrested,
according to several sources. Other sources close to the Sufi groups
and human rights activists reported 2000 arrests. At least 173 were
detained at Fajr prison and were reportedly tortured in order to
extract confessions that would be read on national television. Those
who were released had to sign agreements saying they would not attend
Sufi gatherings in Qom and would present themselves to intelligence
offices. Some reportedly were required to sign documents renouncing
Sufism.
On May 4, a court sentenced fifty-two Sufis to jail on various
charges in connection with the February incident. The defendants and
their two lawyers were sentenced to a year in prison, fines, and
seventy-four lashes. The lawyers, Farshid Yadollahi and Omid Behrouzi,
were also banned from practicing law for five years.
The government carefully monitors the statements and views of the
country's senior Shi'a religious leaders. Several Shi'a religious
leaders have been under house arrest for years, including Grand
Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was released after five years of
house arrest in 2003.
The Special Clerical Court (SCC) system, established in 1987 to
investigate offenses and crimes committed by clerics and which the
Supreme Leader oversees directly, is not provided for in the
Constitution and operates outside the domain of the judiciary. In
particular, critics alleged that the clerical courts were used to
prosecute certain clerics for expressing controversial ideas and for
participating in activities outside the area of religion, including
journalism.
On February 6, 2005, the special clerical court agreed to the
conditional release (parole) of prominent dissident cleric Hojatoleslam
Hassan Yussefi Eshkevari; he had served two thirds of his seven-year
sentence and was therefore eligible for parole under the law. The
cleric had been arrested in 2000, charged with the capital crimes of
apostasy and ``corruption on earth,'' in conjunction with speeches he
had made at a 2000 conference on reform in Berlin.
Laws based on religion have been used to stifle freedom of
expression. Independent newspapers and magazines have been closed, and
leading publishers and journalists were imprisoned on vague charges of
``insulting Islam'' or ``calling into question the Islamic foundation
of the Republic.'' In 2002 academic Hashem Aghajari was sentenced to
death for blasphemy against Muhammad, based on a speech in which he
challenged Muslims not to blindly follow the clergy, provoking an
international and domestic outcry. In 2003 his death sentence was
revoked by the Supreme Court, but the case was sent back to the lower
court for retrial. He was retried on charges that did not include
apostasy and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, two of which
were suspended, and five years of additional ``deprivation of social
right'' (meaning that he could not teach or write books or articles).
His time served was counted towards his three-year sentence; the court
converted the remainder of the time to a fine. He was released on bail
in 2004.
Anti-Semitic Acts
While Jews are a recognized religious minority, allegations of
official discrimination were frequent. The Government's anti-Israel
policies, along with a perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish
citizens supported Zionism and the state of Israel, created a hostile
atmosphere for the small community. For example, in 2005 many
newspapers celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the anti-Semitic
publication Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jewish leaders reportedly
were reluctant to draw attention to official mistreatment of their
community due to fear of government reprisal.
The Jewish community has been reduced to less than one-half of its
pre-1979 size. Some of this emigration was connected with the larger,
general waves of departures following the establishment of the Islamic
Republic, but some also stems from continued anti-Semitism on the part
of the government and within society.
In 2004, the country's Sahar 1 television station began airing a
weekly series titled For You, Palestine, or Zahra's Blue Eyes, set in
Israel and the West Bank. Produced in Farsi and subsequently translated
into Arabic, this series depicted Israeli government, military, and
civilian personnel harvesting organs from Palestinian children for the
benefit of Israeli officials. Other anti-Semitic series shown on state-
run Iranian television during this period included The People of the
Cave, a supposedly historical drama series, and Al-Shatat. Al-Shatat,
originally broadcasted by Hizbullah's Al-Manar television channel,
portrayed Jewish persons as being responsible for most the world's
problems, by conspiring to achieve political and economic domination
over the world.
In April 2005, Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the
country's leading religious authorities, told a group of clerics that
``one should fight the Jews and vanquish them,'' to prepare the ground
and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam.
On April 13, Representative Moris Motamed, who represents Jews in
the majlis, joined by the speaker of the majlis, complained that the
state television was broadcasting anti-Semitic programs. According to
the press, Motamed claimed that ``insulting Jews and attributing false
things to them in television serials over the past twelve years has not
only hurt the feelings of the Jewish community but has also led to the
emigration of a considerable percentage of the Jewish community.''
There were indications that anti-Semitic content in broadcasting
decreased after these complaints.
The perception among some of the country's radicalized elements
that Jews support Zionism and the state of Israel created a threatening
atmosphere for the Jewish community Many Jews have sought to limit
their contact with or support for the state of Israel out of fear of
reprisal. Recent anti-American and anti-Israeli demonstrations included
the denunciation of Jews themselves, as opposed to the past practice of
denouncing only ``Israel'' and ``Zionism,'' adding to the threatening
atmosphere for the community.
Since August 2005, President Ahmadinejad has pursued a virulent
anti-Israel campaign, which created an even more hostile environment
for the Jewish minority. In October 2005, the president called for
Israel to ``be wiped off the map.'' In December 2005, the president
alleged that the Holocaust was a ``myth.'' On December 16, 2005, the
Friday prayer leaders endorsed the president's Holocaust statements and
reported the statements were ``the heartfelt words of all Muslims in
the world''. During this reporting period, there was a rise in
officially sanctioned anti-Semitic propaganda in a reportedly
coordinated plan involving official statements, media outlets,
publications, and books. The rhetorical attacks also further blurred
the line between Zionism and Judaism. This increasingly negative
rhetoric, coupled with the tension surrounding the nuclear issue in the
country, led to increased concerns about the future security of the
Jewish community.
On January 26, 2006, the head of the Jewish community, Haroun
Yashayaei, sent a letter to the president protesting his Holocaust
denial comments. Yashayaei stated the comments and the recent Holocaust
denial seminars have struck fear within the small Jewish community. On
February 11, 2006 Moris Motamed, the Jewish parliamentarian, reported
that the negative remarks were an insult to the Jewish communities.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S.
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
However, a child born to a Muslim father automatically is
considered a Muslim. Baha'is were repeatedly offered relief from
mistreatment in exchange for recanting their faith, and several Sufi
Muslims reportedly had to sign forced renunciations of their faith to
be released from prison following the February riots.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
There were no reported abuses targeted at specific religious groups
by terrorist organizations during the reporting period.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The continuous presence of the country's pre-Islamic, non-Muslim
communities, such as Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians, had accustomed
the population to the participation of non-Muslims in society; however,
government actions continued to create a threatening atmosphere for
some religious minorities and became significantly worse throughout the
reporting period. The president's new agenda stressed the importance of
Islam in enhancing ``national solidarity'' and mandated that
government-controlled media emphasize Islamic culture in order to
``cause subcultures to adapt themselves to public culture.'' Since
August 2005 the government had intensified a campaign against non-
Muslim religious minorities, and political and religious leaders issued
a continual stream of inflammatory statements.
On November 21, 2005, the domestic press quoted Ayatollah Ahmad
Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, publicly attacking non-Muslims,
calling them ``sinful animals'' and ``corrupt.'' The remark was widely
criticized in the country, and the majles representative of the
Zoroastrian community publicly condemned his remarks and was
consequently charged with the ``dissemination of false information,
slander, and insult.'' At year's end, no case had been pursued against
him.
Christians faced an increase in abuse and harassment. Reportedly,
the president allegedly called for an end to the development of
Christianity in the country. The small Mandaean Sabaean religious
community reportedly faced intensifying harassment and repression by
authorities.
Since late 2005, Baha'is have faced an increasing number of public
attacks, including a series negative and defamatory articles in Kayhan,
the official Tehran daily newspaper. Kayhan is a government-controlled
newspaper whose managing editor was appointed by Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Khamene'i. Radio and television broadcasts have also
increasingly condemned the Baha'is and their religion, and since
October 2005 they have launched a series of weekly anti-Baha'i
broadcasts. These reports had the intention of arousing suspicion,
distrust, and hatred for the Baha'i community.
Since the National Association of Chambers of Commerce began
collecting employment data on Baha'is, have been reported problems for
Baha'is in different trades around the country. Baha'is have also
experienced an escalation of personal harassment, including receiving
threatening notes, CDs, text messages, and tracts. There were reported
cases of Baha'i children being harassed in school and subjected to
Islamic indoctrination. Baha'i girls were especially targeted, with the
intention of creating tension between parents and children.
There has been concern from several groups about the rumored
resurgence of the banned Hojjatiyeh society, a secretive religious-
economic group that was founded in 1953 to rid the country of the
Baha'i Faith in order to hasten the return of the twelfth Imam or
Mahdi. Though not a government organization, it is believed that many
members of the current administration are Hojjatiyeh members and are
using their offices to advance the society's goals. It was unknown,
however, what role, if any, the group played in the recent arrests of
numerous Baha'is throughout the country. Many Baha'i, human rights
groups, and news agencies describe the goals of the Hojjatiyeh society
as the pursuit of the eradication of the Baha'is, not just the Baha'i
Faith. According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, however, the group's
founder was reportedly distraught by violence against Baha'is. The
group's anti-Baha'i orientation has reportedly widened to encompass
anti-Sunni and Sufi activities as well. Rasul Montajabnia, a prominent
member of the Militant Clerics Society--a key reformist clerical
group--claimed that Hojjatiyeh members have actually stopped their
fight against the Baha'i faith and turned their attention to creating
divisions between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, mainly as a means of
fomenting chaos to bring about the return of the Mahdi.
Sufi Muslims faced an increasing ``demonization'' campaign. In
September 2005, Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, as Islamic scholar in
Qom, reportedly called for a crackdown on Sufi groups, labeling them a
``danger to Islam.'' Five months later an attack occurred that involved
police and paramilitary forces. During the riots, the paramilitaries
distributed leaflets calling Sufis enemies of Islam, and the Qom
governor accused the Sufis of having ties to foreign countries and
creating instability. Articles attacking Sufis were printed in
government-controlled, national newspapers, such as the Jomhouri-ye
Eslami and Kayhan. On February 14, 2006, a Kayhan article quoted senior
clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city.
During the period covered by this report, several anti-Sufi books were
published.
Sunni Muslims encounter religious discrimination at the local,
provincial, and national levels. Religious leaders reported widespread
restrictions on their practice and abuses, including detentions and
torture of Sunni clerics. They also reported bans on Sunni teachings in
public schools and Sunni religious literature. The residents of
provinces with large Sunni populations, including Kurdistan, Khuzestan,
and Sistan-va Baluchistan report discrimination and lack of resources,
but it is difficult to determine what is ethnic-based discrimination
and what is religious-based.
In June 2003, an interfaith delegation of American Christians,
Jews, and Muslims traveled to meet with religious, political, and
cultural leaders. In April 2005 an interfaith delegation of Muslims,
Christians, and Jews paid a return visit to the United States,
attending an interfaith conference in the United States.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The United States has no diplomatic relations with the country, and
thus it does not raise directly the restrictions that the Government
places on religious freedom and other abuses the Government commits
against adherents of minority religious groups. The U.S. Government
makes its position clear in public statements and reports, support for
relevant U.N. and NGO efforts, and diplomatic initiatives to press for
an end to government abuses. The U.S. Government calls on other
countries with bilateral relations with Iran to use those ties to press
Iran on religious freedoms and human rights.
From 1982 to 2001, the U.S. Government co-sponsored a resolution
each year regarding the human rights situation in the country offered
by the European Union at the annual meeting of the U.N. Commission on
Human Rights (UNCHR). It passed every year until 2002, when the United
States did not have a seat on the Commission, and the resolution failed
passage by one vote. The U.S. supported a similar resolution offered
each year during the U.N. General Assembly until the fall of 2002, when
no resolution was tabled. The U.S. Government strongly supported the
work of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Iran and called
on the government to grant him admission and allow him to conduct his
research during the period of his mandate, which expired with the
defeat of the resolution at the UNCHR in 2002. There also was no
resolution on the country at the UNCHR in the spring of 2003. In 2003
the Canadian government introduced a resolution censuring the country's
human rights policies, which was passed by the U.N. General Assembly.
The U.S. has supported Canadian-sponsored resolutions censuring the
government's treatment of religious minorities. In 2004, the UN General
Assembly passed a resolution expressing serious concern about the
continued discrimination of religious minorities. The U.S. Government
remains supportive of efforts to raise the human rights situation
whenever appropriate within international organizations.
On numerous occasions, the U.S. State Department spokesman has
addressed the situation of the Baha'i and Jewish communities in the
country. The U.S. Government has publicly condemned the treatment of
the Baha'is in UN resolutions, including one that passed in the General
Assembly in 2005. The U.S. Government has encouraged other governments
to make similar statements.
Since 1999, the Secretary of State has designated Iran as a
``Country of Particular Concern'' under the International Religious
Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
__________
IRAQ
During the reporting period, unsettled conditions prevented
effective governance in parts of the country, and the Government's
ability to protect religious freedoms was handicapped by insurgency,
terrorism, and sectarian violence. Following the U.S.-led coalition's
removal of the Ba'athist regime in April 2003, the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council
administered the country pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions
1483, 1500, and 1511, until the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) was
appointed on June 28, 2004. In January 2005, the country held its first
free election, leading to the transitional government led by former
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'afari in May 2005. During the October 15,
2005 referendum, voters adopted a Constitution and, in a first step
toward establishing a permanent government, elected members of the
country's new legislature on December 15, 2005. The permanent
government, led by Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki and the Constitution,
came into office May 20, 2006.
The Law for the Administration of the State of Iraq for the
Transitional Period (TAL) was adopted on March 8, 2004, and was the
operative law in the country until May 20, 2006 when the Constitution
came into effect. The TAL and the Constitution established a
republican, federal, democratic, and pluralistic system with powers
shared among the federal and regional governments, including eighteen
governorates. The TAL and Constitution also guarantee freedom of
thought, conscience, religious belief and practice.
Both the TAL and the Constitution recognize Islam as the official
religion and state that no law may be enacted that contradicts the
established provisions of Islam. While the Government generally
endorsed these rights, its efforts to prevent or remedy violations were
hampered by substantial political and religious violence between Sunni
and Shi'a Muslims and by harassment of non-Muslims.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Since 2003, the Government
has not engaged in the persecution of any religious group, calling
instead for tolerance and acceptance of all religious minorities.
However, long-standing discriminatory practices against the Baha'i and
Wahhabi Sunni Muslims continued by some government institutions.
While the Government generally respected the right of the
individual to worship according to thought, conscience, and belief,
private conservative and radical Islamic elements continued to exert
tremendous pressure on other groups to conform to extremist
interpretations of Islam's precepts. In addition, frequent attacks on
religious places of worship, as well as sectarian violence, hampered
the ability to practice religion freely. This sectarian violence was
heightened by the February 22, 2006, attack on the al-Askariya Mosque
in Samarra, one of the most significant Shi'a mosques in the world
containing the mausoleums of the tenth and eleventh imams.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Senior U.S. administration and Embassy officials called for unity in
the face of sectarian violence, supported the inclusion of religious
minorities in the political and Constitution drafting processes, and
facilitated interfaith discussion with all members of the country's
diverse religious communities.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 437,072 square miles and a population of
26 million. An estimated 97 percent of the population is Muslim. Shi'a
Muslims--predominantly Arab, but also including Turkmen, Faili Kurds,
and other groups--constitute a 60 to 65 percent majority. Sunni Muslims
make up 32 to 37 percent of the population, of whom approximately 18 to
20 percent are Sunni Kurds, 12 to 16 percent Sunni Arabs, and the
remainder Sunni Turkmen. The remaining 3 percent is comprised of
Chaldeans (an eastern rite of the Catholic Church), Assyrians (Church
of the East), Syriacs (Eastern Orthodox), Armenians (Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox), and Protestant Christians, as well as Yazidis,
Sabean-Mondarans, Baha'is, Kaka'is (a small, syncretic religious group
located in and around Kirkuk), and a small number of Jews. Shi'a,
although predominantly located in the south, were also a majority in
Baghdad and had communities in most parts of the country. Sunnis formed
the majority in the center and the north of the country.
According to official estimates, the number of Christians decreased
from 1.4 million in 1987 to fewer than 1 million, with Catholics
(Chaldeans) comprising the majority. Christian leaders estimated that
approximately 700,000 Iraqi Christians lived abroad.
Four of the five largest Christian communities were located in
Mosul (150,000), Erbil (20,000-25,000), Dohuk (13,000), and Kirkuk
(12,000). According to church leaders in Erbil and Mosul, Christians in
the north accounted for roughly 30 percent of the country's Christian
population.
The Primate of the Armenian Diocese reported that approximately
20,000 Armenian Christians remained in the country, primarily in the
cities of Baghdad (12,000), Basrah, Kirkuk, and Mosul.
There were approximately 225,000 Assyrian Christians and an
estimated 750,000 Chaldeans (Eastern Rite Catholics). The Chaldean and
Assyrian Christians are descendants of the earliest Christian
communities, and they share a similar cultural and linguistic
background. Both communities speak the same ancient language (Syriac);
however, they are considered by many to be distinct ethnic groups.
Chaldeans recognize the primacy of the Roman Catholic Pope, while the
Assyrians, who are not Catholic, do not. While some Chaldeans and
Assyrians considered themselves Arab, the majority, as well as the
Government, considered both groups as ethnically distinct from Arabs
and Kurds.
The Yazidi are a religious group with ancient origins that
encompass several different religious traditions comprising elements of
Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Gnostic
beliefs and traditions. Yazidi do not intermarry with outsiders or
accept converts. Defined by the former regime as Arabs, some Yazidi
considered themselves to be Kurds, while others defined themselves as
both religiously and ethnically distinct from Muslim Kurds. Most of the
650,000 Yazidi resided in the North.
Sabeans are an ancient religious group dating from the first three
centuries and reflect numerous religious influences, including ancient
Gnostic, Jewish, and Christian beliefs. The Sabean community continued
to decline; according to Sabean leaders, an estimated 10,000 remained
in the country. While some Sabeans fled the tyranny of the former
regime, this decline could also be attributed to the fact that converts
are not accepted, and those Sabeans who marry Christians or Muslims are
no longer regarded as Sabean. The Kaka'i, sometimes referred to as Ahl-
e-Haqq, resided primarily in Kirkuk, Mosul, and Kankeen in the Diyala
Province. Most are ethnic Kurds.
There was no data available on active participation in religious
services or rituals; however, terrorist attacks rendered many mosques,
churches, and other holy sites unusable. Many worshippers reportedly
did not attend religious services or participate in religious events
because of the threat of violence. There were numerous reports of
places of worship closing due to those threats.
The Government provided significant support for the Hajj. The Sunni
and Shi'a waqfs, or religious endowments, accepted applications from
the public and submitted them to the Supreme Council for the Hajj.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution mirrors many of the same religious freedoms
provided when the TAL was in effect. Both provide for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. While the Government endorsed this right, its efforts to
prevent or remedy violations were hampered by substantial political and
religious violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims and by harassment of
non-Muslims.
It is the Government's policy to protect the right of all religious
groups to gather and worship freely; however, in practice, the ongoing
insurgency impeded the ability of many citizens to exercise that right.
Article 43 states that the followers of all religious groups and sects
are free in the practice of religious rites, and in the management of
religious endowments, their affairs, and their religious institutions.
Article 10 of the Constitution establishes the state's commitment to
assuring and maintaining the sanctity of holy shrines and religious
sites, and to guaranteeing the free practice of rituals in them. The
second clause of Article 43 of the Constitution reiterates this by
explicitly guaranteeing the freedom of worship and the protection of
places of worship.
Deficiencies in security force capabilities and in the rule of law
made it difficult for the justice system to investigate or address
violations. Furthermore, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) did not
operate at full capability during the reporting period and were unable
to prevent or remedy violations of these rights.
Although the Constitution generally provided for full religious
freedom, it was heavily focused on the nation's Islamic identity.
Article 2, which recognizes Islam as the country's official religion,
mandates that Islam be considered a source of legislation and that no
law be enacted which contradicts the faith's universally agreed tenets.
On June 14, 2006, the Council of Representatives implemented bylaws
requiring that a verse from the Qur'an be read before each session.
The second clause of Article 2, however, stipulates that no law be
enacted that contradicts the principles of democracy, or basic
freedoms, which include the right to freedom of thought, conscience,
and religious belief and practice. Article 14 of the Constitution
establishes that citizens are equal before the law without
discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, origin,
color, religion, sect, belief, opinion, or economic or social status.
Article 41 provides that citizens are free in their commitments to
their personal status according to their religious groups, sects,
beliefs, or choices.
Many Muslim holy days are also national holidays, including,
Ashura, Arbai'n, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and the Birth of the Prophet
Muhammad. Although some non-Muslim holy days are recognized, such as
Christmas, only Muslim holy days are officially recognized as national
holidays.
Non-Muslims complained that although the Government recognizes
their religious holidays by law, in practice they were generally
disregarded. Schools routinely scheduled examinations during non-Muslim
holy days, and no special dispensation was given to students wishing to
observe them.
Religious groups are required to register with the Government.
According to the Christian and Other Religions Endowment, approximately
twenty foreign missionaries have applied to operate in the country
since 2003; however, only ten remain in the country. After learning of
the registration requirements, which include having at least 500
followers, none of the organizations returned to complete the
registration process.
The Government permits religious instruction in public schools. In
most areas of the country, students in both primary and secondary
school must study Islam for approximately three hours daily as a
requirement for graduation. Religious study is not mandatory in the
north. Non-Muslim students are not required to participate in Islamic
studies; however, some non-Muslim students reported that they felt
pressure to do so. Alternative religious study is provided for in the
curriculum of non-Muslim schools.
Under civil law there is no penalty for conversion. Under Islamic
law, conversion from Islam to another religion is a criminal offense
subject to the death penalty. Article 1 of the Penal Code No. 111 of
1969, however, mandates that criminal penalties can be imposed only by
civil law. Despite the Shari'a punishment for conversion, the penal
code does not import the Shari'a penalty, nor does it contain a similar
penalty. The Law of Civil Affairs No. 65 of 1972 explicitly allows non-
Muslims to convert to Islam. The Constitution provides that citizens
are to be free in their commitment to their personal status according
to their religious groups, sects, beliefs, or choices, as regulated by
law.
Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Resolution 201 of 2001,
prohibits the Wahhabi branch of Islam and mandates the death penalty
for adherents if the charge is proved. Law No. 105 of 1970, prohibits
the Baha'i faith. Both are still part of the law.
Provisions in the TAL and the Constitution provide for religious
freedom. However, at the end of the reporting period, the Ministry of
Interior's Nationality and Passport Section continued to follow the
provisions of Regulation 358 of 1975 which prohibits the issuance of a
nationality identity card to those claiming the Baha'i faith. Without
this official citizenship card, Baha'i experienced difficulty
registering their children in school and applying for passports.
Although the Constitution, as well as the TAL before it, provides
that any person who had his citizenship withdrawn shall have the right
to demand its reinstatement, the Transitional National Assembly (TNA)
passed a citizenship law on November 15, 2005, that, among other
things, specifically precludes local Jews from regaining citizenship.
The Presidency Council (the president and the two deputy presidents)
sent a notice to the TNA that it was vetoing this legislation, but the
TNA challenged the legal effectiveness of the notice. The law came into
effect in March 2006, when it was published in the Official Gazette.
Although the Personal Status Law of 1959 calls for incorporation of
Shari'a into the law in the absence of legislative text on a matter,
Article 2(1) expressly exempts from its application, individuals
covered by special law. Such special law includes British Proclamation
No. 6 of 1917 and the Personal Status Law of Foreigners, No. 38 of
1931. Proclamation No. 6 provides that the civil courts consult the
religious authority of the non-Muslim parties for its opinion under the
applicable religious law and apply this opinion in court. The Personal
Status Law of Foreigners requires that courts apply the municipal law
of the foreign litigants to resolve their domestic law matters.
Article 92 (Second) of the Constitution provides that the Federal
Supreme Court shall be made up of a number of judges, experts in
Islamic jurisprudence, and legal scholars. The law is supposed to
regulate the number, method of selection, and work of the Court. At the
end of the period covered by this report, the law had not been enacted,
leaving unsettled the question of whether Islamic jurisprudence experts
would serve as consultants and advisors to the judges or as members of
the court.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practices generally did not interfere with
the free practice of religion; however, the ongoing insurgency
significantly harmed the ability of all religious believers to practice
their faith. Additionally, sectarian misappropriation of official
authority within the security apparatus impeded the right of citizens
to worship freely.
All political parties participated in the December 15, 2005,
election, including the Sunni Arab parties that had boycotted the
January elections. The two Sunni Arab coalitions won a total of fifty-
five seats in the Council of Representatives (COR). Sunni Arabs held
the positions of vice president and speaker of the COR, as well as
several ministerial positions.
The Government did not restrict the formation of political parties
based on religious beliefs, or interpretations of religious doctrine.
Although the political coalitions competing in the December elections
were based predominantly on religion or ethnicity, religious belief or
ethnicity was not a requirement for participation in all cases. For
example, the Kurdish List, which won 21 percent of the seats in the
COR, included Sunnis, Shi'a, Christians, and Yazidi; the Iraqiyun List
also included a variety of ethnicities and religious groups. Likewise,
the winning Shi'a Coalition, although predominantly Shi'a Islamists,
also included religious and ethnic minorities, such as Sunnis, Yazidi,
Kurds, Turkmen, and Shabak. The United Iraqi Alliance also included
secular Shi'a and political independents not associated with any
religious party.
Although the transitional government publicly supported the freedom
of all individuals to worship as they chose, there were some reports of
discrimination by Shi'a elements in the Government against Sunni and
non-Muslim minorities. The Wahhabi branch of Islam and the Baha'i faith
are prohibited by law; however, the respective provisions of the TAL
and provisions within the Constitution on freedom of religion may
supercede these laws. Nonetheless, by the end of the reporting period,
no court had ruled on these laws as no challenges had been brought.
The Personal Status Law of Foreigners requires that courts apply
the municipal law of the foreign litigants to resolve their domestic
law matters. Despite this exception in the 1959 Personal Status Law,
there are instances in which this law, based on Shari'a principles,
applies to non-Muslims, thereby overriding rules particular to their
religion. For instance, the law forbids the marriage of a Muslim woman
to a non-Muslim; also, in the distribution of inheritance, a female
receives one-half of what a male receives. These provisions could be
considered inconsistent with Article 14 of the Constitution, which
guarantees equal protection under the law without discrimination based
on gender or religion. No court has yet ruled on this issue.
Many residents on the Ninewah Plain, who are mostly non-Muslim,
were better able to participate in the October 2005 Constitutional
referendum and December 2005 national election. Although the Chaldean
and Assyrian Christian communities were anticipating barriers to
voting--similar to those in January 2005--there were few documented
cases of voter intimidation according to the Independent Electoral
Commission of Iraq (IECI).
Passports do not indicate an individual's religion; however,
religion is explicitly noted on the national identity card.
Government employees were not prohibited from displaying elements
of their religion.
Students generally were not prohibited from practicing elements of
their faith in school; however, during the reporting period, non-Muslim
minorities and secular Arabs in some schools were increasingly forced,
often under the threat of violence, to adhere to conservative Islamic
practices. During the reporting period, Basrah's education director
instituted a policy requiring all females in the schools to cover their
heads and all female university students in Mosul, even non-Muslims,
were required to wear the hijab, or headscarf.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government does not officially engage in or tolerate abuses of
an individual's right to religious freedom. However, the Government
focused most of its resources and attention on the ongoing insurgency
and reconstruction efforts during the reporting period; thus, it did
not have the capacity to address issues relating to abuses of freedom
of religion.
Many attributed the escalating violence in the country, especially
the tremendous upsurge in sectarian violence following the February 22,
2006, bombing of the al-Askariya Shrine ``Golden Mosque'' in Samarra to
terrorists attempting to sow sectarian strife. Sectarian attacks and
reprisals following the Samarra bombing, were estimated to have claimed
more than one thousand lives and damaged more than sixty mosques across
the country. In the aftermath of the Samarra bombing, it became
increasingly difficult to determine how much of the violence was based
on religious affiliations rather than criminal elements.
The Sunni Arab community often cited police raids of its mosques
and religious sites as an example of targeting by the Shi'a-dominated
government.
On May 19, 2005, for example, security forces raided Baghdad's
prominent Sunni Abu Hanifa Mosque as Friday prayers were ending,
reportedly to detain alleged terrorists. Local leaders complained that
security forces used tear gas and abused women. The prime minister
subsequently provided compensation for damages to the Sunni religious
endowment office and promised a full investigation of the incident.
On June 9, 2005, police broke into Amarra's Sunni Hetteen Mosque in
the south charging that it harbored terrorists. Subsequently, the
police turned the mosque over to the Shi'a Endowment Office, which
changed its name to Fatima Al Zahraa Mosque.
There were allegations that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
engaged in discriminatory behavior against religious minorities.
Christians living north of Mosul claimed that the KRG confiscated their
property without compensation and began building settlements on their
land. Assyrian Christians also alleged that the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP)-dominated judiciary routinely discriminated against non-
Muslims and failed to enforce judgments in their favor. Despite the
allegations of KRG discrimination against religious minorities, many
non-Muslims fled north from the more volatile areas in the middle and
southern parts of the country where pressures to conform publicly to
narrow interpretations of Islamic teaching were greater.
Sunni Arab leaders accused the Badr Organization, an armed militia
of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), and
the Jaysh al-Mehdi Shi'a militia, of assassinating Sunni clerics. The
Badr Organization group claimed it had relinquished its weaponry and
become a strictly political organization. However, by the end of the
reporting period, reports of Jaysh al-Mehdi militia attacks on Sunni
residents and places of worship were increasing.
The Armenian Church of Iraq was working with government officials
to regain properties that the former regime forced it to sell. Although
the Church was paid fair market value for six properties in Mosul,
Basrah, Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Dohuk, it was forced to sell the
properties under pressure. Church officials stated that discussions
with the Government yielded no results during the reporting period;
however, they were optimistic about the KRG's return of property in the
north.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States. However, there were reports that Islamic
extremists threatened, kidnapped, and killed Mandaeans for refusing to
convert to Islam.
Abuses by Terrorist Organizations
While the general lawlessness that permitted criminal gangs,
terrorists, and insurgents to victimize citizens with impunity affected
persons of all ethnicities and religious groups, many individuals were
targeted because of their religious identity or secular leanings.
Individuals were victims of not only harassment and intimidation but
also kidnapping and even killings. Women and girls were often
threatened, assaulted with acid, and killed for refusing to wear the
hijab or for dressing in western-style clothing. On August 5, 2005,
Assyrian college student Anita Tyadors was killed in the Zohoor region
of Mosul. She was reportedly targeted for her modern lifestyle,
including speaking English and wearing Western clothing. Some women
claimed they were denied employment and educational opportunities
because they were non-Muslim, did not dress in accordance with
conservative Islamic norms, or did not sufficiently adhere to strict
interpretations of religious rules governing public behavior.
On March 15, 2005, Muqtada al-Sadr loyalists attacked picnicking
Basrah University students, claiming they were violating the principles
of Islam with their western-style clothing, and by singing, and
dancing. The Sadrists fired guns at the students and beat them with
sticks. Police were present during the incident but did not intervene.
University officials reported that at least fifteen students were
hospitalized, many with serious injuries. One student reportedly died
in the incident.
Islamist militants harassed shopkeepers for providing goods or
services they considered to be inconsistent with Islam and sometimes
killed them for failing to comply with warnings to stop such activity.
Liquor storeowners, primarily Christians and Yazidi, were especially
targeted. Liquor stores in Baghdad, Mosul, and Basrah were bombed,
looted, and defaced. More than fifty liquor stores operated by
Assyrians in Baghdad were closed during the reporting period due to
threats by Islamic extremists.
The Christian and Other Religions Endowment reported that, after a
series of church bombings and incidents of violence targeting
Christians over the past two years, more than 200,000 non-Muslims left
the country or fled to the North. Many remained in Jordan or Syria
awaiting improvement in the security situation.
A succession of car bombs on January 29, 2006, targeted Christian
churches in Baghdad and Mosul. Attacks on the Catholic Church of the
Virgin Mary and the Orthodox Church in Kirkuk, and Saint Joseph's
Catholic Church and an Anglican Church in Baghdad killed at least three
persons and injured nine. The same day, a car bomb also exploded
outside the residence of the Apostolic Nuncio (also referred to as the
Vatican Embassy).
Christian leaders inside and outside of the country reported that
members of their Baghdad community received threat letters demanding
that Christians leave or be killed. Thousands of Christians reportedly
left their neighborhoods to live with family either in other
neighborhoods, or outside of Baghdad.
Both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims reported receiving death threat
letters demanding that they leave their neighborhoods following the
attack on the al-Askiriya mosque. More than 100,000 Shi'a and Sunnis
reportedly left their homes to avoid these threats. Some were living in
internally displaced camps, while the majority sought refuge with
families or through religious community support systems.
During the reporting period, Sabean leaders reported that their
community was increasingly targeted. In the spring of 2006, Sabeans
began to receive death threat letters accusing them of practicing
sorcery and urging them to leave the country. According to estimates,
more than ten Sabaeans were killed and ten to fifteen Sabaeans were
kidnapped for ransom during the reporting period. There were also
reports that Islamic extremists threatened, kidnapped, and killed
Sabaeans for refusing to convert to Islam.
The Yazidi community reported that eleven Yazidis were killed
during the reporting period, including Ninewa Provincial Council member
Hasan Nermo, who was assassinated on April 20, 2006.
In addition to targeting non-Muslims, terrorists continued to
attack both Sunni and Shi'a communities during the reporting period.
Insurgents attacked mosques in Sunni and Shi'a neighborhoods and killed
clerics, other religious leaders, and private citizens of both sects.
There were also accusations that both insurgents and militia wore
police uniforms to incite sectarian violence and discredit the
Government in the eyes of the public.
On July 16, 2005, a suicide bomber killed more than ninety-eight
people and injured more than 130 in a suicide attack in front of a
Shi'a mosque in Musayyab. The explosion occurred as worshipers were
emerging from evening prayers. The same mosque was also targeted in a
suicide attack on November 2, 2006, which killed at least twenty
persons. In that attack, a bomber exploded on a minibus in front of the
mosque as persons were arriving for sunset prayers.
On September 14, 2005, Baghdad was hit by at least a dozen attacks
that appeared to target Shi'a civilians. Violence continued two days
later, with an attack on a Shi'a mosque in Tuz Khurmatu in Salah ad Din
province that killed fourteen, and assassinations of Shi'a clerics in
Mosul and the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad. In an internet
posting, Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the series of
attacks and declared an ``all out war'' on Shi'a in the country.
On October 5, 2005, a bomb planted in the doorway of a Shi'a mosque
in Hilla killed at least twenty-five and injured more than eighty-
seven. The bomb at the Ibn al-Nama mosque exploded as worshippers
gathered for prayers on the first day of Ramadan.
On November 18, suicide bombers struck two Shi'a mosques in the
town of Khanaqin, near the Iranian border. More than ninety persons
were killed in the midday attacks, as worshippers gathered for Friday
prayers. Both the Greater and Smaller Khanaqin mosques were destroyed
in the attacks.
The February 22, 2006, bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra
led to an increase in sectarian violence. Those who attacked the Golden
Mosque sought to exploit divisions among the population and the
political leadership. The Government and religious leaders alike, in a
demonstration of national unity, condemned the attacks and called for
an end to sectarian unrest. Many families fled mixed neighborhoods for
fear of attack, and estimates indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000
persons were internally displaced. Although the majority of the
displaced were Shi'a, almost 25 percent of the families were Sunni.
Reports also indicated that as many as one thousand Christians were
also displaced due to threats and intimidation.
On March 24, 2006, a bomb planted outside a Sunni mosque in the
town of Khalis killed five persons and injured seventeen others. The
explosion at the Sunni Saad Bin Abi Waqqas mosque occurred as
worshippers were leaving from Friday prayers.
On April 6, 2006, a car bomb exploded approximately 300 meters from
the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf. At least thirteen persons were killed in
the attack against the most revered holy site for Shi'a Muslims in the
country.
On April 7, 2006, three suicide bombers attacked a Shi'a mosque in
Baghdad, killing at least seventy-nine persons. The attack on the
Baratha mosque, which is affiliated with the largest Shi'a political
party, occurred as Friday prayers were ending. Two of the bombers
detonated in the crowded courtyard, while the third exploded at the
main exit. The Baratha mosque was again attacked on June 16, 2006.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Despite the tenuous security environment and the Government's
preoccupation with fighting the insurgency and rebuilding the country's
infrastructure, significant improvements were made with respect for
religious freedom during the reporting period.
While the Sunni minority did not broadly participate in the January
elections, resulting in only nominal representation in the TNA, the
transitional government made some efforts to encourage Sunni
participation in the political and Constitutional development
processes. Members of all minority and religious groups participated in
the October Constitutional referendum, approving a Constitution that
protects the rights of all citizens, regardless of religious
affiliation. Although there was some initial concern from minority
leaders, especially Christians, about the extensive role of Islam in
the Constitution, the Government has reached out to these leaders to
assure them that their rights as minorities are protected. During the
transitional government administration, both President Talabani and
Prime Minister Jafari met with Chaldean (Catholic) Patriarch Emmanuel
III Delly in September 2005 to discuss Constitutional concerns. Foreign
Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on August
26, 2005, to discuss religious freedom and legal rights for Christians
in the country. Zebari attended a Catholic Church sponsored conference
in Italy. Later, in November 2005, President Talabani also discussed
religious freedom with the Pope.
Despite violence against Christian communities, fifteen new
evangelical Christian congregations have reportedly been established in
Baghdad since April 2003. Under the previous regime, only two
evangelical churches--both Presbyterian and led by Egyptian nationals--
were allowed to exist. At the end of the period covered by this report,
Baptists, Methodists, and other Christian congregations emerged, all
led by local clergy.
During the reporting period, Government leaders repeatedly spoke of
the need for all citizens to unite--regardless of religious
orientation--to confront terrorism. Government leaders often emphasized
their commitment to equal treatment for all religious groups and
ethnicities. Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari frequently expressed
his concern over implications of Government involvement in violence
against the Sunni Arab minority. By the end of the reporting period, no
information regarding investigations into alleged ISF abuses or
punishment of perpetrators had been released to the public. The
Government also made clear it would not exempt mosques and homes of
religious leaders from assault if they were being used as insurgent
strongholds.
The Government publicly denounced all incidents of sectarian
violence and, as such violence escalated in late February, repeatedly
encouraged unity among the county's religious sects. Both President
Jalal Talabani and former Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari immediately
condemned the bombing of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra and called for
calm as sectarian tensions flared.
Religious leaders reported that they generally had good relations
and worked together to promote interfaith understanding. The Sabeans
sought the assistance of the Grand Ayatollah Sistani, SCIRI's Hakim,
Prime Minister Jafari, and Muqtada al-Sadr in supporting minority
rights.
Religious leaders of all religious groups condemned the terrorist
acts committed by the insurgency and urged the country's religious
communities to refrain from retaliation and join together to end the
violence.
After the Samarra bombing, Sunni and Shi'a religious leaders in
cities across the country joined together for joint prayer services in
protest of sectarian violence. In early March 2006, representatives of
the Sunni Muslims Scholars Association visited Grand Ayatollah Al
Sistani and the Marjaiya, or the Shi'a supreme religious authorities,
in Najaf to discuss ways to calm the sectarian violence and unite the
population.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The country's cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity is far
better reflected in its political and economic structure than prior to
the 2003 liberation. Shi'a Arabs, the religious majority of the
population, were long disadvantaged economically, politically, and
socially but now constitute the majority in the Government.
Despite these changes, conservative and extremist Islamic elements
continued to exert tremendous pressure on society to conform to their
interpretations of Islam's precepts. Although this impacted both the
Sunni and Shi'a secular Muslim population, non-Muslims were especially
vulnerable to the pressure and violence because of their minority
status and the lack of protection provided by a tribal structure.
Sunni Muslims claimed general discrimination, alleging revenge by
the Shi'a majority for the Sunnis' presumed favored status under the
former regime, but also because of the public's perception that the
insurgency was composed primarily of Sunni extremists and former regime
elements with whom the majority of the Sunni population supposedly
sympathized. While some within the Sunni community supported and even
assisted the insurgency, many denounced the terrorism as vocally as
their non-Sunni counterparts.
Non-Muslims, particularly Christians, complained of being isolated
by the Muslim majority because of their religious differences. Despite
their statistically proportional representation in the National
Assembly, many non-Muslims said they were disenfranchised and their
interests not adequately represented.
The combination of discriminatory hiring practices, attacks against
non-Muslim businesses, and the overall lack of rule of law, have also
had a detrimental economic impact on the non-Muslim community and
contributed to the significant numbers of non-Muslims who left the
country. The Armenian Diocese estimated that the number of destitute
Armenian Christians, for example, had grown by 50 percent since 2003, a
condition exacerbated by the inadequate security environment, which
hampers Armenian Christians' ability to find employment. Terrorist
threats have compelled tens of thousands of Christians, including
Armenian Orthodox and Chaldean Catholics, to leave the country in the
wake of church bombings in 2004 and early 2006.
Terrorist threats also caused thousands of Sunni and Shi'a to leave
their homes and flee to more tolerant neighborhoods or leave the
country altogether. The magnitude of sectarian attacks on both Sunnis
and Shi'a was extremely high, albeit difficult to track.
Anti-Semitic feeling remained a strong undercurrent during the
reporting year. According to the head of the Christian and Other
Religions Endowment, the country's 2,700-year-old Jewish population had
dwindled to less than fifteen persons in the Baghdad area.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government is committed to promoting religious freedom and
continues to work closely with the Government on this as part of its
overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. officials at all levels,
including the Secretary of State, regularly engaged the Government on
problems relating to freedom of religion. This took the form of public
statements calling for unity in the face of sectarian violence, high-
level meetings with government officials and religious leaders, and
working-level interaction urging representatives of the Government and
religious organizations to include minorities. The Embassy also
facilitated interfaith discussion by hosting meetings, roundtables, and
other events with all member religious groups of the country's diverse
religious communities and funded training, seminars, conferences, and
exchange programs to promote religious understanding and tolerance.
The Embassy's primary focus during the reporting period was on
reducing sectarian violence, increasing Sunni and non-Muslim inclusion
in the political and Constitutional development processes, and
increasing interfaith understanding. The United States worked to
increase Sunni inclusion in the political process by providing
technical assistance to Sunni leaders. U.S.-funded projects worked with
religious minorities by bringing together members of different
religious and ethnic backgrounds to discuss common problems. The United
States also conducted a significant amount of conflict mitigation at
the local level through its Community Action Program (CAP). Under the
CAP, community groups were formed with diverse membership, including
women and youth, in an effort to promote reconciliation. In ethnically
or religiously mixed communities, these community groups included
representatives from all segments of society. These groups identified
and prioritized their needs and developed projects to address those
needs. The projects did not specifically target any one ethnic or
religious group for assistance. Rather, they sought opportunities to
bridge differences.
The Iraqi Institute of Peace (IIP), an interfaith dialogue center
established with financial and organizational support from the U.S
Institute of Peace, continued to focus on mitigating conflict and
building peace primarily through its forum work. IIP forums target
specific groups such as women, youth, and the media, and focus on key
topics such as human rights and religious dialogue.
IIP forums have promoted tolerance and peace through democracy
building. They played a critical role in the drafting of the
Constitution by educating the public about the process and made a
concerted effort to encourage Sunnis, who had boycotted the January
2005 elections, to participate in the process. Conferences and forums
educating citizens about the Constitutional referendum and the national
election were also held.
In addition to promoting peace through democratic reform, IIP
regularly meets with tribal leaders, senior clerics and community
leaders in tension-filled areas to improve dialogue and mitigate
conflict. IIP, along with a network of affiliated NGOs, also organized
Brotherhood Day events during Ramadan in assorted cities. These events
were attended by clerics of different religious sects, tribal sheiks,
and other notables who held common prayers and signed declarations of
brotherhood.
__________
ISRAEL\1\
The country has no Constitution; however, the law provides for
freedom of worship, and the Government generally respects this right.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The religious freedom situation in the Occupied Territories is
discussed in the annex appended to this report.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion; however,
problems continued to exist, stemming primarily from the unequal
treatment of religious minorities, and from the state's recognition of
only Orthodox Jewish religious authorities in personal and some civil
status matters concerning Jews.
Relations among religious groups--between Jews and non-Jews,
Muslims and Christians, secular and religious Jews, and among the
different streams of Judaism--often were strained. Tensions between
Israeli Jews and Arabs increased significantly after the start of the
second Intifada (or uprising) in 2000 when the police killed twelve
Israeli-Arab demonstrators, prompting a three-year public inquiry and
investigation. The Orr Commission of Inquiry established to investigate
the killings found certain police officers guilty of wrongdoing, and
concluded in 2003 that the ``government's handling of the Arab sector
has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,'' that it ``did not
show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and
did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal
manner.'' The Police Investigation Department (PID) decided in
September 2005 not to indict any police officers for the killings. The
Government then announced that the Deputy State Attorney would review
the PID decision, and has allowed Adalah, an Arab-Israeli advocacy
group, to examine the investigation files so that the organization
could prepare a summary of its findings for the Deputy State Attorney.
Tensions remained high due to institutional, legal, and societal
discrimination against the country's Arab citizens.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
Based on its pre-1967 borders, the country has an area of
approximately 7,685 square miles, and its population is approximately 7
million, of which 5.6 million are Jews (including Jewish settlers who
live in the Occupied Territories), approximately 1.3 million are Arabs,
and approximately 290,000 are members of other minorities. Although the
Government defined nearly 80 percent of the population as Jewish,
approximately 306,000 of these citizens did not qualify as Jews
according to the Orthodox Jewish definition or the definition used by
the Government for civil procedures. According to a government survey
conducted in 2004 and published in 2005, approximately 8 percent of the
Jewish population were Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox, and another 9
percent were Orthodox, while 39 percent described themselves as
``traditionally observant'' or ``traditional,'' and 44 percent
described themselves as ``secular'' Jews, most of whom observed some
Jewish traditions. A growing but still small number of traditional and
secular Jews associated themselves with the Conservative, Reform, and
Reconstructionist streams of Judaism, which are not officially
recognized for purposes of civil and personal status matters involving
their adherents. Although the Government does not officially recognize
them, these streams of Judaism received a small amount of Government
funding and were recognized by the country's courts.
Numerous religious groups are represented in the country. Slightly
less than twenty percent of the population is non-Jewish and the vast
majority of them are ethnically Arab. Of this number, Muslims
constitute approximately twelve percent, Christians 3.5 percent, Druze
1.5 percent, and adherents of other religious approximately 0.5
percent. The non-Jewish populations were concentrated in the north, in
Bedouin communities in the Negev region in the south, and in the narrow
band of Arab villages in the central part of the country adjacent to
the Occupied Territories. Relatively small communities of evangelical
Christians, Messianic Jews (those who consider themselves Jewish but
believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah), and Jehovah's Witnesses also
resided throughout the country. In an April 2005,` media report, a
leader of the Jewish Messianic community estimated that the Messianic
Jewish population numbers approximately 10,000 persons. Media sources
also indicated that the number of Messianic Jews had grown rapidly over
the past decade, with many new adherents coming from the Russian
immigrant community.
The Government reported that approximately 60,000 to 70,000 legal
foreign workers lived in the country, and estimated that another 50,000
to 70,000 illegal foreign workers resided in the country. Two local
non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating for workers' rights
placed the number of legal foreign workers closer to 100,000, and
estimated that another approximately 100,000 illegal foreign workers
lived in the country. Most of the foreign workers were Roman Catholic,
Orthodox Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu.
The Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty describes the country as
a ``Jewish'' and ``democratic'' state. Most members of the non-Jewish
minority were generally free to practice their religions but were
subject to various forms of discrimination, some of which have
religious dimensions.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
There is no Constitution; however, the law provides for freedom of
worship, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The declaration of independence describes the country as a ``Jewish
state,'' but provides for full social and political equality regardless
of religious affiliation. While the law explicitly guarantees freedom
of religion and the safeguarding of ``holy places of all religions,''
inequities exist. Israeli-Arabs and other non-Jews generally were free
to practice their religions; however, discrepancies in treatment
existed between Jews and various non-Jewish communities, and between
Orthodox Jews and Jews of non-Orthodox affiliations.
The ``status quo'' agreement reached at the founding of the state,
which has been upheld throughout the state's history, guarantees the
Government will implement certain policies based on Orthodox Jewish
interpretations of religious law. For example, the Government does not
recognize Jewish marriages performed in the country unless they are
performed by the Orthodox Jewish establishment. The Orthodox Jewish
establishment also determines who is buried in Jewish state cemeteries,
limiting this right to individuals considered ``Jewish'' by the
Orthodox standards. In addition, the national airline El Al and public
buses in every city but Haifa do not operate on Saturday, the Jewish
Sabbath; however, several private bus companies do. Additionally,
streets in most Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods are closed to vehicles on
the Sabbath. According to the Law on Work and Rest Hours of 1951, which
was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2005, Jews in most professions
are prohibited from working on the Sabbath unless they are granted a
special permit by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Employment.
According to the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), however, the
Government often chooses not to enforce the law.
In April 2004, the High Court rejected a petition demanding that
the Ministry of the Interior enforce the prohibition on the public
display of leavened products for sale during the Passover holiday, but
it did not rule on the legality of the prohibition. Then, in March
2005, following the interior minister's announcement that he would not
enforce the prohibition, then-Prime Minister Sharon reportedly
instructed the minister to enforce the prohibition. In recent practice,
however, the Government has not enforced this law, according to IRAC.
There were no reports of its enforcement during the reporting period.
In regions inhabited primarily by non-Jews, bread was displayed and
sold openly during Passover.
In 2003, the High Court suspended several municipal prohibitions
and curbs on the sale of pork and instructed municipalities to allow
sales of pork in neighborhoods where no more than an unspecified, small
portion of the residents would object on religious grounds. The result
of the decision was to allow each municipality to determine on its own
whether to allow the sale of pork.
The law recognizes as ``religious communities'' those recognized by
and carried over from the British Mandate period (1920-1946), during
which Great Britain administered present-day Israel and the Occupied
Territories. These include: Eastern Orthodox, Latin (Roman Catholic),
Gregorian-Armenian, Armenian-Catholic, Syrian (Catholic), Chaldean
(Uniate), Greek Catholic Melkite, Maronite, Syrian Orthodox, and
Jewish. Since the founding of the country, the Government has
recognized three additional religious communities--the Druze (a
monotheistic offshoot of Islam) in 1957, the Evangelical Episcopal
Church in 1970, and the Baha'i in 1971. The status of several Christian
denominations with representation in the country has been defined by a
collection of ad hoc arrangements with various Government agencies. The
fact that the Muslim population was not defined as a religious
community was a vestige of the Ottoman period, where Islam was the
dominant religion, and it does not limit Muslims from practicing their
faith. The Government allows members of unrecognized religions the
freedom to practice their religion. According to the Government, there
were no religious groups awaiting recognition during the reporting
period.
With some exceptions, each recognized religious community has legal
authority over its members in matters of marriage, divorce, and burial.
Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive
jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims.
For so-called ``unrecognized religions,'' no local religious tribunals
exercised jurisdiction over their members in matters of personal
status. In addition, unlike recognized religious communities,
unrecognized religious communities do not receive government funding
for their religious services. The Arrangements Law provides exemption
from municipal taxes for any place of worship of a recognized faith.
Exemption from tax payments is also granted to churches that have not
been officially recognized by law. In several cases, the Government has
interpreted that exemption from municipal taxes to apply only to that
portion of the property of religious organizations that was actually
used for religious worship. Not-for-profit religious schools also
receive tax exemptions. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) had tax-
exemption status for its hospital on the Mount of Olives for more than
thirty years until the District Court revoked this privilege in 2002.
After several rescheduled hearings, the Supreme Court was scheduled to
hear LWF's case for tax exemption on May 22, 2006.
Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but
parties, by mutual agreement, may bring such cases to religious courts.
Jewish and Druze families may ask for some family status matters, such
as alimony and child custody in divorces, to be adjudicated in civil
courts as an alternative to religious courts. Christians may ask that
child custody and child support cases be adjudicated in civil courts
rather than in religious courts. Muslims have the right to bring
matters such as alimony and property division associated with divorce
cases to civil courts in family-status matters. However, paternity
cases remain under the exclusive jurisdiction of Shari'a courts. There
is no overarching law or directive that prescribes these varying
approaches.
The Supreme Court ruled in April that rabbinic courts may not
arbitrate property disputes between a divorced husband and wife. This
ruling has, in effect, repudiated the authority of the rabbinic courts
to serve as arbitrators in all financial disputes, even if neither
party in the dispute objects to the courts playing this role. Although
the rabbinic courts have ruled on financial matters since before the
establishment of the state, their jurisdiction has never been
established in law. In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the
rabbinic courts initiated a Knesset bill to secure in law their
jurisdiction over financial matters, which they presented in June to
the Justice Ministry for its consideration. In March 2004, the Ministry
of Religious Affairs was officially dismantled and its 300 employees
were reassigned to several other ministries. As a result, the Ministry
of the Interior now has jurisdiction over religious matters concerning
non-Jewish groups; the Ministry of Tourism is responsible for the
protection and upkeep of all holy sites, and the Prime Minister's
office has jurisdiction over the nation's 133 religious councils (one
Druze and the rest Jewish) that oversee the provision of religious
services to their respective communities. Legislation establishing
religious councils does not include non-Jewish religious communities
other than the Druze. Instead, the Ministry of the Interior directly
funds religious services for recognized non-Jewish communities. The
state, through the Prime Minister's office, continues to finance
approximately 40 percent of the religious councils' budgets, and local
authorities fund the remainder. According to government figures, the
2005 state budget included approximately $31.5 million (Shekels (NIS)
140,000,000) for religious councils.
According to government budget figures, during 2005 the budget for
religious services and religious structures for the Jewish population
totaled approximately $260 million (NIS 1.19 billion). Religious
minorities, which comprised approximately 20 percent of the population,
received approximately $13 million (NIS 61 million), or 5 percent of
total funding. Of these totals, the Government reported that the 2005
budget for Jewish religious services was approximately $55.5 million
(NIS 250,000,000). The 2005 religious services budget for the non-
Jewish communities, including the Druze, totaled approximately $6.5
million (NIS 29,250,000). At least $209 million (NIS 960 million),
comprising approximately 80 percent of the budget for Jewish religious
services and education, went toward Orthodox services, Orthodox rabbis'
salaries, and Orthodox educational institutions.
Arab advocacy groups continued to charge that the state did not
allocate adequate or proportional funds for the provision of religious
services in Arab towns and villages. A reputable representative of the
Arab Christian community criticized the Government in April 2005 for
not allocating enough funds for Christian institutions. The Government
claimed, however, that funding for religious services in Arab
communities has been proportional to the percentage of the total
population that these communities comprise. The Government did not
provide evidence to support its claim.
Under the Law of Return, the Government grants immigration and
residence rights to individuals who meet established criteria defining
Jewish identity. Included in this definition is a child or grandchild
of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew, and the
spouse of a grandchild of a Jew. A separate, more rigorous standard
based on Orthodox Jewish criteria is used to determine the right to
full citizenship, entitlement to government financial support for
immigrants, the legitimacy of conversions to Judaism performed within
the country, and Jewish status for purposes of personal and some civil
status problems. Residency rights are not granted to relatives of
converts to Judaism, except for children of female converts who are
born after the mother's conversion is complete. The Law of Return does
not apply to non-Jews or to persons of Jewish descent who have
converted to another faith. Approximately 36 percent of the country's
Jewish population was born outside of the country.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) charged that the
Ministry of the Interior's Population Registry subjected non-Jewish
spouses and non-Jewish adopted children of Jewish immigrants to unfair
and at times arbitrary policies for proving the bona fides of their
relationship for residency purposes. Most of these cases involved
persons who immigrated under the Law of Return from the former Soviet
republics and their non-Jewish spouses and non-Jewish adopted children.
In August 2004, the minister of the interior acknowledged the problems
and took steps to change certain policies. For example, in August 2004,
the minister of interior announced that he was canceling his ministry's
requirement that immigrants from the former Soviet republics deposit a
$7,000 (30,000-shekel) bank guarantee before allowing their non-Jewish
spouses to enter the country. The deposit was to be returned once the
spouse was granted residency.
In 2003, the Government began issuing new and replacement
identification cards that do not carry a ``nationality'' (i.e., usually
religious) designation. Citizens and residents are still required to
register with the Ministry of the Interior's Population Registry as one
of a set list of nationalities. Immediately prior to this reporting
period, the Ministry of the Interior issued to individuals arriving in
the country immigration forms with an item for travelers to list their
religion. Immigration officials were inconsistent in seeking
compliance, and the form has since been amended to omit any questions
on religious affiliation.
Politicians, media outlets, and many ordinary citizens criticized
the Government's practice of granting military draft exemptions and
living allowances to full-time yeshiva students. Under the Tal Law,
ultra-Orthodox Jews are entitled to exemption from military service to
pursue religious studies. This exemption allows ultra-Orthodox Jews to
postpone military service in one-year increments to pursue full-time
religious studies at recognized yeshivas, or religious schools. These
students must renew their deferments each year by proving that they are
full-time students. At the age of twenty-two, the yeshiva students are
given one year to decide whether to continue to study full time with
yearly renewals until they reach the age of forty; to perform community
service for one year, and thereafter, twenty-one days each year until
the age of forty; or to serve in the army until they finish their
military service requirement. According to the Government,
approximately 9 percent of all male candidates for military service
have deferments as full-time yeshiva students, up from 7.3 percent in
2000.
In July 2005, the justice minister wrote to the prime minister to
report that the Tal Law had been implemented ``unsatisfactorily, to say
the least,'' and insisted that ``an immediate change to the situation
is needed.'' In the three years since the law took effect, between 2002
and 2005, only about 1,100 of the 14,000 yeshiva students with draft
deferrals had elected to take a ``year of decision,'' and of those
students, only about 30 had actually chosen to perform army service.
Only 139 out of 45,639 ultra-Orthodox Jews at the military-conscription
age have joined the army since 2002. Officials in both the IDF and the
Finance Ministry reportedly opposed the Tal Law for various reasons,
and failed to implement it. The only two national service programs
designed specifically for the ultra-Orthodox include the Nahal Haredi
Unit and the Haredi soldier-teacher program. The Government did not
take steps to implement the law or to create new military service
options for ultra-Orthodox Jews during the reporting period.
Public Hebrew-speaking secular schools teach mandatory Bible and
Jewish history classes. These classes primarily cover Jewish heritage
and culture, rather than religious belief. Public schools with
predominantly Arab student bodies teach mandatory classes on the Qur'an
and the Bible, since both Muslim and Christian Arabs attend these
schools. Orthodox Jewish religious schools that are part of the public
school system teach mandatory religion classes, as do private ultra-
Orthodox schools that receive some state funding.
The Government recognizes the following Jewish holy days as
national holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simhat Torah,
Passover, and Shavuot. Arab municipalities often recognize Christian
and Muslim holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Muslim, Christian, and Orthodox Jewish religious authorities have
exclusive control over personal status matters, including marriage,
divorce, and burial, within their respective communities. The law does
not allow civil marriage, and it does not recognize Jewish marriage
performed in the country unless by recognized Orthodox rabbis. Many
Jewish citizens objected to such exclusive control by the Orthodox
establishment over Jewish marriages and other personal status problems,
and to the absence of provision for civil marriage, because
approximately 306,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union were not
recognized as Jewish by Orthodox authorities.
The 1967 Protection of Holy Sites Law applies to holy sites of all
religions within the country, and the Penal Code makes it a criminal
offense to damage any holy site. The Government, however, issued
implementing regulations for only Jewish sites. The Government reported
in 2006 that there were several hundred official holy sites in 2005--
including ten new mosques that were still under construction during the
reporting period--without specifying the number of these sites that the
law protects. In 2006, the Government did not issue new implementing
regulations to protect non-Jewish holy sites under the law, including
the ten new mosques under construction.
In November 2004, the Arab Israeli advocacy group Adalah petitioned
the High Court to compel the Government to issue regulations to protect
Muslim sites, charging that the Government's failure to do so had
resulted in desecration and the conversion of several sites into
commercial establishments. In its petition, Adalah stated that all of
the 120 places designated by the Government as holy sites are Jewish.
At the end of the reporting period, the court had not held an initial
hearing on the petition. The Government established a committee to
examine the issue, but the committee has met only once, according to
Adalah. The Government is expected to submit its full response to the
petition prior to the initial hearing, scheduled for October 2006.
According to Adalah, the Government did not designate any non-Jewish
sites as holy sites in either 2005 or 2006, while it has added fifteen
Jewish sites since December 2004. The Government did not provide
statistics on holy sites.
In December 2004, the Arab Association for Human Rights (AAHR)
issued a comprehensive report documenting what it refers to as the
``destruction and abuse of Muslim and Christian holy places in
Israel.'' In its report, AAHR asserted that 250 non-Jewish places of
worship had either been destroyed during and after the 1948 war or made
inaccessible to the local Arab population. Lands of destroyed Arab
villages were given to Jewish farmers, and the surviving mosques in
these villages had been used as animal pens or storage depots. In Ein
Hod, a town south of Haifa, the mosque was turned into a bar. The
Government stated that in March 2004, there was a fire in an abandoned
mosque in Beit She'an, resulting in a collapse of the structure. The
Government reported that the only incident involving damage to a holy
site in 2005 occurred in early March, when a couple protesting a family
court decision lit firecrackers in the Church of the Annunciation in
Nazareth, sparking a riot among church members.
During Jewish holidays and following terrorist attacks, the
Government imposed closures to restrict travel in the country and the
Occupied Territories for security purposes that had the effect of
impeding access to holy sites in the country for Arab Muslims and
Christians, as well as Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians who possessed
Jerusalem identification cards. The construction of the separation
barrier also impeded access to holy sites throughout the country and
the Occupied Territories during the reporting period.
The Government permits religious organizations to apply for state
funding to maintain or build religious facilities. Funding was provided
for the maintenance of facilities such as churches, Orthodox
synagogues, mosques, and cemeteries. Funding for construction was not
provided for non-Orthodox synagogues. Several civil rights NGOs
asserted that Orthodox Jewish facilities receive significantly greater
proportions of funding than did non-Orthodox Jewish and non-Jewish
facilities. Muslim groups complained that the Government did not
equitably fund the construction and maintenance of mosques in
comparison to the funding of synagogues.
AAHR reported that the Government was reluctant to refurbish
mosques in areas where there was no longer a Muslim population, and has
never in its history budgeted for the building of a new mosque. Muslim
clerics, judges, and political leaders cited a lack of government
funding for, maintenance of, and access to mosques in, among other
places, Tiberias, Safed, Beersheva, and Caesaria; the Government kept
several of these mosques closed during the year, reportedly for the
mosques' protection, and allowed private citizens or municipalities to
turn several into galleries, restaurants, and museums. The Government
stated that the AAHR report referred to abandoned sites and not to
active sites, and the abandoned sites were not properly maintained.
There is no restriction on the construction of new mosques, but the
Government noted that, while the state budget does not cover the costs
of new construction, it does provide assistance in the maintenance of
mosques. The Government cited examples of mosques that received
government assistance for their maintenance in 2004, including mosques
in Romana, Bartaa, Baana, Daburiya, Bir al Maksur, Bustan Almarge,
Maala Iron, Hualad, and Hura, which altogether received approximately
$313,000 (NIS 1,420,000). The Government's total development budget for
cemeteries was approximately $6.75 million (NIS 30 million) in 2005.
According to government figures, the development budget in 2005 for
holy sites and cemeteries for non-Jewish denominations was $2.22
million (NIS 10 million).
Muslim residents of the Be'er Sheva area, including members of
Bedouin tribes, protested the municipality's intention to reopen the
city's old mosque as a museum rather than as a mosque for the area's
Muslim residents. The High Court rejected a petition from Adalah,
representing the area's Muslim community, to enjoin the municipality
from renovating the mosque into a museum. The petitioners argued that
there were no alternative mosques in the Be'er Sheva area. In January
2005, the High Court issued an interim opinion suggesting that the
mosque be used as an Islamic cultural and social center by the Muslim
community of Be'er Sheva, but not for prayer. In February 2005, the
municipality issued a response rejecting this suggestion, insisting
that the mosque be opened as a museum. According to Adalah, the
attorney general originally submitted a response to the High Court
supporting the Be'er Sheva Municipality's position that the building
not be used as an Islamic Cultural Center, but in April 2006 the
attorney general announced that the Government preferred to reopen the
mosque as a museum for Islamic and eastern culture. The case was
pending at the end of the reporting period.
Building codes for places of worship are enforced selectively based
on religion. Several Bedouin living in unrecognized villages were
denied building permits for construction of mosques, and in the past,
the Government has destroyed mosques built in unrecognized Bedouin
communities. In 2003, government officials demolished a mosque that was
constructed without a permit and served approximately 1,500 residents
in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Tel al-Maleh. According to the
Regional Council for the Arab Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, in
2003 and 2004, the Government issued demolition orders for three
mosques in Um al-Hiran, al-Dhiyya, and Tel al-Maleh respectively; all
three were unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev and built without
the proper permits. The Regional Planning and Building Committee in the
Negev stated that it was unaware that the building marked for
demolition in al-Dhiyya was a mosque. By the end of the reporting
period, the demolition orders continued to stand. The Tel al-Maleh case
was transferred to a lower court for review and the case was pending at
the end of the rating period. In 2003 in Um al-Hiran, the Government
issued orders to demolish the mosque, and villagers were fined
approximately $7,000 (NIS 30,000) for building the structure without a
permit. Earlier this year, following a failed appeal by the village,
the Magistrate' Court ordered the mosque to be destroyed. It was not
known at the end of the period covered by this report whether the
mosque was demolished.
Adalah reported that, in March 2005, the state requested a
demolition order for a mosque in Husseiniya. The case was still pending
at the end of the reporting period. According to the Regional Council
for the Arab Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, the Government did not
destroy any mosques during the reporting period. In contrast, according
to a former Tel Aviv municipal council member, in recent years
approximately 100 illegal synagogues have operated in Tel Aviv, some
within apartment buildings and others in separate structures.
A 1977 anti-proselytizing law prohibits any person from offering or
receiving material benefits as an inducement to conversion. No reports
existed of attempts to enforce the law during the reporting period.
Missionaries are allowed to proselytize, although the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) voluntarily refrained from
proselytizing under a signed agreement with the Government.
By the end of the period covered by this report, the Knesset had
not ratified the Fundamental Agreement establishing relations between
the Holy See and the Government that was negotiated in the 1990s. In a
separate process, representatives of the Government and the Holy See
held several negotiating sessions since September 2004 with the aim of
reaching an agreement (concordat) on fiscal and legal matters. The
negotiations addressed the problems of tax exemption of Roman Catholic
institutions and property and the access of the Roman Catholic Church
to courts. No agreement had been reached by the end of the period
covered by this report.
Since the Government does not have diplomatic relations with Saudi
Arabia, Muslim citizens must travel through another country, usually
Jordan, to obtain travel documents for the Hajj. The average number of
Hajj pilgrims traveling from the country each year was approximately
4,500, and the overall number allowed to participate in the Hajj was
determined by Saudi Arabian authorities. According to the Government,
travel to hostile countries, including travel to Saudi Arabia for the
Hajj, may be restricted; however, these restrictions are based on
security concerns rather than on any religious or ethnic factors.
During the reporting period, many groups and individuals of
numerous religions traveled to the country freely. Members of the
Messianic Jewish community, however, charged that during the year,
government officials detained and denied entry to several of their
members who were seeking to enter the country. There were no new
instances during the reporting period.
According to representatives of Christian institutions, the process
of visa issuance for Christian religious workers significantly improved
after a period in 2003 when the Government refused to grant residence
visas to approximately 130 Catholic clergy assigned to the country and
the Occupied Territories. The Ministry of the Interior's Christian
Department reported that it approved most of the applications made by
clergy during the reporting period. The Department did not stipulate
how many it received.
The Government discriminated against non-Jewish citizens and
residents, the vast majority of whom were Arab Muslims and Christians,
in the areas of employment, education, and housing. The Orr Legal
Commission of Inquiry, established to investigate the 2000 police
killing of twelve Israeli-Arab demonstrators, issued a final report in
2003 noting historical, societal, and governmental discrimination
against Arab citizens. The Government has not implemented either the
Orr Commission recommendations or those of a follow-up inter-
ministerial committee.
According to a March 2005 media report, approximately 8,000 non-
Jewish soldiers were serving in the IDF. The IDF policy is to allow
non-Jewish soldiers to go on home leave for their respective religious
holidays. Military duties permitting, Jewish soldiers can leave on
holidays. These duties rotate to allow some soldiers to go home for
Jewish holidays. The IDF conducts commemorative activities appropriate
for each respective Jewish holiday.
The IDF did not have any Muslim or Christian chaplains because,
according to government sources, the frequent home leave accorded all
soldiers allowed Muslim and Christian soldiers easy and regular access
to their respective clergy and religious services at home. There were
discussions between the IDF and the National Security Council regarding
chaplain appointments for non-Jewish IDF soldiers, but no decision had
been made by the end of the period covered by this report.
The Government used private non-Jewish clergy as chaplains at
military burials when a non-Muslim or non-Jewish soldier died in
service. The Interior Ministry reported that it provided imams to
conduct funerals according to Muslim customs. In 2003, however,
according to the family of a Christian soldier killed in a terrorist
attack, the IDF did not have a military priest available to officiate
at their son's burial. The soldier was buried in a non-Jewish section
of the military cemetery in a non-religious ceremony without a
religious figure to officiate. All Jewish chaplains in the IDF are
Orthodox.
The IDF sponsored Orthodox Jewish conversion courses for Jewish
soldiers who do not belong to Orthodox Judaism and for non-Jewish
soldiers seeking to convert to Judaism. The IDF does not facilitate
conversion to other religions.
Military service is compulsory for Jews and Druze. Orthodox Jews
could obtain exemptions from service for full-time religious study.
Some Arab citizens, mainly Bedouin, were accepted as volunteers.
Approximately 90 percent of Israeli-Arabs do not serve in the army.
Israeli-Arab advocacy groups charged that housing, educational, and
other benefits, as well as employment preferences based on military
experience, effectively discriminate in favor of the Jewish population,
the majority of whom serve in the military. In December 2004, the Ivri
Committee on National Service recommended to the Government that
Israeli-Arabs be afforded an opportunity to perform alternative
nonmilitary service. By the end of the reporting period, the Government
had not yet considered these recommendations.
In 2003, the Government introduced a core curriculum program that
required all state-funded schools to teach core subjects, such as
mathematics. However, state-subsidized ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious
schools were not compelled, as were other types of schools, to comply
with this law. The High Court ruled in December 2004 that ultra-
Orthodox Jewish religious schools that did not comply with the
Education Ministry's core curriculum by the opening of the 2007 school
year would not be eligible for any funding from the ministry. The
ruling was a response to a petition filed by the Secondary Schools
Teachers' Association against the Ministry of Education charging that
while the ministry cut funding to the public school system, causing
hundreds of teachers to lose their jobs, it provided approximately $40
million to autonomous ultra-Orthodox schools that did not comply with
ministry pedagogical requirements. In April 2006, the Education
Ministry reported that all of the ``recognized but unofficial''
education facilities affiliated with ultra-Orthodox parties were now
``fully implementing the core curriculum program.'' It is unclear
whether these institutions will continue to implement the core
curriculum because Prime Minister Olmert reportedly promised the ultra-
religious Shas party in April that his cabinet would pass a new law to
``permit all Haredi education institutions to continue to carry out the
education and study programs unique to them.''
Government resources available for religious/heritage studies to
Arab and to non-Orthodox Jewish public schools were proportionately
less than those available to Orthodox Jewish public schools. According
to IRAC, approximately 96 percent of all state funds for Jewish
religious education were allocated exclusively to Orthodox or ultra-
Orthodox Jewish schools. Both public and private Arab schools offer
studies in both Islam and Christianity, but the state funding for such
studies was proportionately less than the funding for religious
education courses in Jewish Orthodox schools.
The Government funded secular schools and Orthodox Jewish schools;
it did not fully fund religious schools for non-Jews. Schools that seek
to adopt a non-Jewish, religious curriculum must operate outside of the
regular public schools system. Quality private religious schools for
Israeli-Arabs existed; however, parents often must pay tuition for
their children to attend such schools since little government funding
was available. Jewish private religious schools, however, received
significant government funding in addition to philanthropic
contributions from within the country and abroad, which effectively
lowers the schools' tuition costs.
Government funding to the different religious sectors was
disproportionate to the sectors' sizes. Civil rights NGOs charged that
the Government favored Orthodox Jewish institutions in the allocation
of state resources for religious activities.
IRAC noted that approximately 97 percent of public funding for
Jewish cultural and educational activities went to Orthodox Jewish
organizations, despite IRAC's estimate that non-Orthodox Jewish
institutions accounted for only approximately 20 percent of all Jewish
cultural activities. In response to a petition filed by IRAC in 2002,
the Supreme Court ruled in December 2004 that the Government must
create new criteria for state funding of Jewish cultural activities.
Accordingly, the Government issued new criteria for its funding of
educational and cultural activities. The educational criteria, however,
still discriminated against the secular sector, according to IRAC,
which planned to petition the Supreme Court again. IRAC expressed
satisfaction with the Government's new criteria for funding cultural
activities, though it remained concerned that the criteria could be
discriminatory in implementation.
In spite of the legal provision for public funding to build non-
Orthodox synagogues, the Government did not funded the construction of
any non-Orthodox synagogues. In 2003, IRAC petitioned the High Court on
behalf of a Reform congregation in Modi'in to require that Modi'in
municipality fund construction of a Reform synagogue. The city already
funded eight Orthodox synagogues, but none of the Conservative or
Reform synagogues. The High Court ruled in 2003 that it was permissible
to use state funds for the construction of a Reform synagogue in the
city of Modi'in and ordered the municipality to repeat the process for
determining which congregations would receive funding and to use
criteria that would guarantee and provide equal treatment.
Nevertheless, the request for funding stalled in the Modi'in
municipality. IRAC again petitioned the High Court to compel the
municipality to hold a hearing to consider all available budget
requests for synagogue construction in light of the needs of Modi'in
residents. IRAC also petitioned the court to freeze all municipal
allocations for synagogue construction in Modi'in until such a hearing
was held. In 2005, The Government announced that it would build
synagogues for non-Orthodox denominations, but the Government had not
allocated any such funding by the end of the reporting period.
In 1998, the High Court of Justice ruled that discrepancies in
budget allocations between religious institutions in the Jewish and
non-Jewish sectors constituted prima facie evidence of discrimination.
In 2000 the plaintiffs from the 1998 High Court case brought a case
contending discrimination in the allocation of resources for religious
cemeteries. The High Court agreed with the plaintiffs that non-Jewish
religious cemeteries were receiving inadequate resources and ordered
the Government to increase funding to such cemeteries.
The 1996 Alternative Burial Law established the right of any
individual to be buried in a civil ceremony and required the
establishment of twenty-one public civil cemeteries throughout the
country. However, at the end of the reporting period, only one public
civil cemetery existed in the country, in Be'er Sheva, and only
approximately fifteen Jewish cemeteries in the country contained a
section for civil burials. The City of Jerusalem reportedly planned to
establish a cemetery for use by secular citizens free of charge. If
completed, this cemetery would be the first public civil cemetery
endorsed by a municipal government in the country.
Several domestic civil rights and immigrant groups asserted that
the Government failed to allocate adequate space or sufficient funds
for the establishment of civil cemeteries. Civil burials were also
offered by certain Kibbutzim, but, according to some NGOs, such burials
were expensive. The Government reported that the 2004 capital budget
for civil cemeteries was approximately $760,000. It reported that in
2004, the administrative budget for Jewish cemeteries was approximately
$2 million, and claimed that no capital budget was allocated. In 2005,
the budget for Jewish burials was approximately (NIS 17 million), while
the budget for civilian burials was (NIS 11.5 million).
Only approximately 7 percent of land was privately held, according
to Adalah. Most citizens who controlled land, either for residential or
business use, including farms, leased their land from the Government on
long-term leases. Of the 93 percent of the land not in private hands,
the Government directly controlled the vast bulk, but approximately
12.5 percent was owned by the state through the quasi-public Jewish
National Fund (JNF). The Israel Land Administration, a government
agency, manages both the land directly owned by the Government and the
JNF land. The JNF's charter prohibited it from leasing land to non-
Jews. In addition, the Jewish Agency, an organization that promotes
Jewish immigration to the country and develops residential areas on
both public and JNF land, as a matter of policy does not lease land to
non-Jews. In 2000, the High Court ruled that the state may not allocate
land to its citizens on the basis of religion or nationality, even if
it allocates the land through a third party such as the Jewish Agency.
The Court's decision precludes any restrictions on the leasing or sale
of land based on nationality, religion, or any other discriminatory
category. JNF complied with the ruling by publishing announcements
about land sales in publications available to both Jews and non-Jews,
but it remained unclear whether or not non-Jewish citizens would
actually be able to purchase the advertised properties.
In October 2004, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of
Justice to block a government bid announcement involving JNF land that
effectively banned Arabs from bidding. The Government then halted
marketing of JNF land in the Galilee and other areas of the north,
where there are large Arab populations. In December 2004, Adalah
petitioned the High Court to require the Government to apply
nondiscriminatory procedures for allocating land and to conduct open
land sales or leases to Arabs as well as to Jews. In January 2005, the
attorney general ruled that the Government would not discriminate
against Israeli-Arabs in the marketing and allocation of lands it
manages, including lands that the Israel Land Administration manages
for the Jewish National Fund. Adalah criticized the attorney general,
however, for also deciding that the Government should compensate the
JNF with land equal in size to any plots of JNF land won by non-Jewish
citizens in government tenders.
Exclusive control over marriages resides by law with recognized
bodies of the recognized religious denominations. Accordingly, anyone
wishing to marry in a secular ceremony, Jews wishing to marry in non-
Orthodox religious ceremonies, Jews not officially recognized as Jewish
by the Orthodox Jewish establishment but wishing to marry in Jewish
ceremonies, and Jews wishing to marry someone of another faith must all
do so abroad. The Ministry of the Interior recognizes such marriages.
During the reporting period, approximately 250,000 citizens could not
marry because they lacked religious affiliation. According to Central
Bureau of Statistics, between 2000 and 2004, 32,009 citizens married
outside of the country. Almost half of this number--14,214--comprised
couples in which both the husband and the wife were Jewish. A smaller
proportion of this number--1,764--lacked religious affiliation in the
country. Between 2000 and 2003, five percent of Jewish couples that
qualified to be married by the Chief Rabbinate decided to marry abroad
instead. Others decided instead to hold weddings unrecognized by the
Government, including Reform and Conservative weddings and those
conducted by Kibbutz authorities.
In March 2004, the Knesset (parliament) rejected two bills that
would have allowed for civil marriage. In July 2004, the chairman of a
Knesset committee established to formulate a civil marriage option
announced that the committee would not complete its work or issue
recommendations due to what was characterized as political interference
with the committee's work. In April 2005, the High Court instructed the
Government to inform the Court within three months of the government's
position on whether to recognize so-called ``consular marriages,''
those conducted by officials of foreign embassies in the country.
Government recognition of consular marriages would enable couples with
no religious affiliation, or those of a religion not recognized by the
Government, to wed in such civil ceremonies. Consular weddings have not
been performed since 1995, when the Foreign Ministry issued a
memorandum to foreign embassies instructing them to cease performing
consular marriages. According to press reports, the High Court was
expected to consider two petitions demanding that the Interior Ministry
recognize consular marriages in 2006.
In December 2004, the Government reached an agreement with the
Chief Rabbinate to limit required prenuptial instruction to those
Jewish religious laws that were directly connected to the marriage
ceremony and not require Jewish couples to receive instruction on
Orthodox Jewish laws of ritual purity.
The state does not recognize conversions to Judaism performed in
the country by non-Orthodox rabbis. In March 2005, the High Court ruled
that, for the purpose of conferring citizenship rights, the Government
must recognize those non-Orthodox conversions of non-citizen legal
residents that were begun in the country but formalized abroad by
acknowledged Jewish religious authorities, even if not of the Orthodox
strain. In a separate May 2004 ruling, the court determined that non-
Jews who move to the country and then convert in the country through an
Orthodox conversion were eligible to become immigrants and citizens
pursuant to the Law of Return. Previously, non-Jews were entitled to
immigrate to the country and obtain full citizenship only if these
conversions were conducted entirely abroad and under Orthodox
standards. The High Court did not, however, rule on whether the
Government must recognize non-Orthodox conversions formalized in the
country.
Separately, in May 2006 the Chief Rabbinate announced that it
decided two years ago to not automatically recognize conversions
performed by Orthodox rabbis abroad, citing the need for consistency of
standards in the conversion process.
The Shinui Party, which ran in the 2002 national elections on a
platform of ending the exclusive power of the Orthodox establishment
over such problems as marriage and citizenship, left then-Prime
Minister Sharon's governing coalition in December 2004 in protest over
the allocation of approximately $70 million in the 2005 budget for
ultra-Orthodox religious institutions. Then-Prime Minister Sharon
allocated the funds as part of a coalition agreement with the ultra-
Orthodox United Torah Judaism party to secure that party's support for
the Gaza disengagement plan.
Under the Jewish religious courts' interpretation of personal
status law, a Jewish woman may not receive a final writ of divorce
without her husband's consent. Consequently, thousands of women, so-
called ``agunot,'' are unable to remarry or have legitimate children
because their husbands have either disappeared or refused to grant
divorces.
Rabbinical tribunals have the authority to impose sanctions on
husbands who refuse to divorce their wives or on wives who refuse to
accept divorce from their husbands. In May 2004, a rabbinical court
decided for the first time to jail a woman who refused to accept a
divorce from her husband. Rabbinical courts also could exercise
jurisdiction over, and issue sanctions against, non-Israeli Jews
present in the country. The rabbinical courts administration asked U.S.
authorities in mid-February 2006 to extradite husbands who fled to the
United States to avoid granting their wives a religious divorce decree.
Some Islamic law courts have held that Muslim women could not
request a divorce but could be forced to consent if a divorce was
granted to the husband. One Arab Muslim woman who won a divorce from
her abusive husband in a Muslim court subsequently filed a civil suit
against the husband with the Magistrates Court in the north. The court
set a precedent in March 2005 by awarding the woman approximately
$10,000 in compensation for damage to her status and chances of re-
marrying. Divorced Arab women were stigmatized in their communities and
experienced difficulties remarrying.
Members of unrecognized religious groups, particularly evangelical
Christians, sometimes faced problems in obtaining marriage
certifications or burial services that were similar to the problems
faced by Jews who were not considered Jewish by the Orthodox
establishment. Informal arrangements with other recognized religious
groups provided relief in some cases.
Most Orthodox Jews believed that mixed gender prayer services
violate the precepts of Judaism. As a result, such services were
prohibited at the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, and men
and women must use separate areas to visit the Western Wall. Women also
were not allowed to conduct any prayers at the Western Wall wearing
prayer shawls, which were typically worn by men, and cannot read from
Torah scrolls. In 2003, the Women of the Wall, a group of more than 100
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform women, lost their fourteen-year
legal battle to hold formal women's prayer services at the Western
Wall. The High Court ruled that the group could not hold prayer
services at the Western Wall and instead would be permitted to hold
them at nearby Robinson's Arch, part of an archeological site. The
court ordered the Government to prepare an area at Robinson's Arch
where women could read aloud from the Bible and conduct group prayers,
and the Government inaugurated a plaza in this area for women's
services in August 2004. The mayor of Jerusalem, Uir Lupolianski,
requested permission to expand the women's section and make its size
equal to that of the men's section, by changing the route of the
``Mugraby Path'' leading to the Temple Mount.
Another religious group, the Masorti movement, regularly held
prayer services at Robinson's Arch according to its own customs, which
include dmen and women praying together, women reading from the Torah,
and women wearing a tallit or tefallin. However, they could pray only
between seven and eight in the morning without paying. If the members
of the Masori movement wanted to pray after this time, they had to pay
the approximately $6 fee charged to visit the archeological site. In
April 2006, the Masorti movement petitioned the High Court regarding
the fee.
Non-Orthodox Jews faced greater difficulties than Orthodox Jews in
adopting children. In December 2004, in response to a petition from
IRAC, the High Court ordered the Government to justify the practice
under which the Adoption Service of the social affairs ministry that
placed non-Jewish children only in Orthodox Jewish homes. The
Government did not respond by the end of the reporting period. Existing
law requires that the adopted child must be of the same religion as the
adopting parents. However, Representatives of IRAC reported that when
no family of the same religion was willing to adopt the child, adoption
officials consistently placed the child with an Orthodox family. In
such cases, the child's conversion to Judaism had to be completed
before the adoption was finalized. The Government defended its practice
by arguing that the placement of non-Jewish children in Orthodox homes
eliminated any subsequent legal uncertainty about the Jewish status of
the children. At the end of the reporting period, the case was still
pending.
The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center began construction in
2004 of a $150 million Center for Human Dignity and Museum of Tolerance
in Jerusalem. The Wiesenthal Center began building on the site of a
municipal parking lot, which local officials had built in the 1960s
over part of a centuries-old Muslim cemetery. Supporters of the
Wiesenthal Center cited an 1894 ruling by the Shari'a court at the
time, which stated that because the cemetery was abandoned, it was no
longer sacred. During the reporting period, builders unearthed hundreds
of skeletons and skeletal remains. After several Muslim organizations
petitioned the High Court to stop construction, the court ordered the
sides to arbitration and issued an injunction stopping construction
work. The museum was reportedly considering a plan to relocate the
Muslim graves.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
U.S. citizens minors who had been abducted or illegally removed from
the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
During the reporting period, terrorist organizations, including
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, carried out
several attacks. While terrorists launched these attacks largely as
political statements, they sometimes accompanied the attacks with anti-
Semitic rhetoric.
Improvements in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government appointed Oscar Abu-Razek, a Muslim Israeli-Arab, as
director general of the Ministry of Interior, the first Arab to serve
in such a senior position in a government ministry. In addition, for
the first time since the establishment of the state, an Arab was
appointed in 2004 as a permanent justice of the High Court.
According to government data, the number of non-Jewish directors on
the boards of state-owned companies increased from 5.5 percent in 2002
to 8 percent in 2005. Former Prime Minister Sharon stated publicly that
increasing the number of non-Jewish board directors and the number of
non-Jewish civil service employees is a government priority.
Members of the Knesset and the Chief Rabbinate attended a seminar
in January 2005, hosted by the American Jewish Committee, to increase
understanding of the various branches of Christianity. To enhance
interfaith relations, seminar participants also visited the heads of
various Christian subgroups, including the Latin and Armenian
patriarchs and a representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
In June 2006, The 35th World Zionist Congress passed a resolution
obligating the Jewish Agency to include Israeli-Arab communities in its
development plans for the country. The agency has never been active
before in the Arab and Druze communities. The resolution's proponents
succeeded through a rare collaborative effort between Reform and
Orthodox groups, who combined to overcome the opposition of delegates
from some political parties, including Kadima, Herut and Yisrael
Beiteinu.
The Government established a new department in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to fight anti-Semitism and commemorate the Holocaust.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations among different religious groups--between Jews and non-
Jews, between Christians and Muslims, between Christians of different
traditions, and among the different streams of Judaism--often were
strained. Tensions between Jews and non-Jews were the result of
historical grievances as well as cultural and religious differences,
and they were compounded by governmental and societal discrimination
against Israeli-Arabs, both Muslim and Christian. These tensions were
heightened by the Arab-Israeli conflict, and manifested in terrorist
attacks targeting citizens, IDF operations in the Occupied Territories,
incidents of Jewish militants targeting Israeli-Arabs, and incidents of
Israeli-Arab involvement in terrorist activity.
On July 7, 2005, the Messianic congregation in Arad published a
letter in Iton HaTzvi that reported harassment by members of the local
ultra-Orthodox community. The High Court heard on September 12, 2005, a
petition by ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking both the right to demonstrate
at the house of a family of Messianic Jews and reversal of a police
decision prohibiting such a demonstration. The court had not issued a
ruling by the end of the reporting period. According to Messianic Jews
resident in Arad, since April 2004 members of the Gur Hassidim movement
have demonstrated regularly in front of the homes of Christians and
Messianic Jews in Arad to protest alleged proselytizing by these
groups.
An observer reported that a group of approximately 200 ultra-
Orthodox Jews violently disrupted the religious service of a Messianic
congregation in Be'er Sheva on December 24, 2005. According to the
account, the group pushed and slapped the congregation's pastor and
damaged property. Police dispersed the mob. On December 26, 2005, the
observer filed a report with the Be'er Sheva police.
Members of the Messianic Jewish community in Arad reported
suffering verbal harassment and physical violence at the hands of
ultra-Orthodox Jews. During the reporting period, authorities and
public officials did not respond effectively to protect this community.
According to a 2006 poll conducted by the Israel Democracy
Institute, some 62 percent of the citizens believed that the Government
should encourage Arab citizens to emigrate. Only 14 percent of
respondents thought relations between Jews and Arabs were good in the
country. An ultra-Orthodox weekly, Sh'a Tova, carried a comic strip in
March 2005 for children with a negative depiction of Arabs, including
the statement, ``Yes, a good Arab is a dead Arab.'' In 2005, fans of a
Jerusalem soccer team shouted racist slogans against Israeli-Arab
soccer players during a match. In 2004, several Jews were indicted in
one incident for shouting such slogans.
Two individuals wrapped a pig's head with a keffiyeh with the word
``Mohammad'' written on it and threw it into the courtyard of the
Hassan Bek mosque in Jaffa on August 19, 2005. Police later arrested
and charged the individuals with religious insult, but released them in
September after a judge ruled that there was no risk that the
individuals would repeat the act.
In March, the state prosecutor initiated a formal investigation of
Rabbi David Batzri and his son, Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri, for suspected
incitement to racism. The rabbis organized a conference in January to
rally opposition to the proposed expansion of a bilingual school in
Jerusalem that includes both Arab and Jewish students. Rabbi David
Batzri stated at the conference, ``The people of Israel are pure and
Arabs are a nation of asses. The question must be asked, why didn't God
give them four legs, because they are asses?'' His son, Rabbi Yitzhak
Batzri, added, ``People say we are racist, but they are the evil ones,
the cruel ones, the scum of snakes. This is war.''
During the reporting period, incidents occurred in Jerusalem in
which ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths assaulted Arabs and spray-painted
anti-Arab graffiti.
During the run-up to the parliamentary elections in March, the
Herut party used campaign posters depicting an Arab woman wrapped in a
traditional veil with the caption ``this demographic will poison us.''
In April Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered a criminal
investigation into the incident.
The phrases ``Death to Arabs'' and ``Death to Gentiles'' were
spray-painted in March 2005 on ten graves in a Christian cemetery in
Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. Police continued to investigate the
matter, but had not made any arrests by the end of the reporting
period. Adalah and AADR reported that the police have still not made
any arrests. Similarly, in May 2006, Israeli youths celebrating the
holiday of Lag Ba'Omer, a day traditionally marked by the lighting of
bonfires, allegedly attempted to set fire to an abandoned mosque in the
northern city of Acre. The individuals claimed they were simply
preparing to light a bonfire, but police found indications of attempted
arson.
Former Prime Minister Sharon's controversial withdrawal of all
citizens from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West
Bank caused tensions in society between supporters and opponents of the
withdrawal, the latter often being members of religious Zionist groups.
Prior to disengagement, a rabbi issued a religious edict permitting
settlers to physically harm Bedouin and Druze soldiers who participated
in the evacuation of settlements pursuant to Sharon's plan. In response
to the edict, a Bedouin Sheikh urged Bedouin soldiers to respond
forcefully, including with live fire, to any settler attacks against
them during the evacuation.
Death threats in various forms, including graffiti, were made
against government officials who supported the disengagement plan,
including against Prime Minister Sharon. During a March 2005 sermon,
Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef suggested that God would
see that Sharon dies for implementing disengagement. The national
office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a public statement
condemning Yosef's sermon for its inflammatory language and his
subsequent apology as inadequate. As part of his opposition to the
disengagement plan, right-wing activist Noam Federman passed out flyers
inciting violence and terror and made statements on his weekly radio
show such as, ``Let's get rid of the Arabs. They have twenty-two other
countries. Let's take them there.'' In March 2006, the Jerusalem
prosecutor's office indicted Federman on twenty-five charges related to
these actions.
In May 2006, Vandals spray painted approximately twenty swastikas
on the ark, Torah scroll and walls of the great synagogue in the city
of Petah Tikva. Neo-Nazi graffiti was also sprayed on monuments
honoring, and actual gravesites of, several well-known historical
figures, including the grave of the country's first Prime Minister,
David Ben-Gurion. In May 2005, swastikas and graffiti comparing Prime
Minister Sharon to Adolf Hitler were sprayed on the road leading into
the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. A reputable Jewish
organization attributed these acts to extremist opponents of Prime
Minister Sharon's disengagement plan. In April 2005, police discovered
two fake bombs in Jerusalem and arrested two far-right Jewish religious
activists for planting those bombs and others in their efforts to
distract government attention from the disengagement plan.
In February 2005, Druze rioters damaged a Melkite Catholic church
and damaged or burned dozens of Christian-owned businesses, homes, and
cars in the northern village of Mughar after a Druze falsely claimed
that Christian youths had placed pornographic pictures of Druze girls
on the Internet. Eight persons were reported injured, and many
Christians fled the city and refused to allow their children to return
to school for weeks in the aftermath of the violence. Druze religious
leaders were quick to denounce the riots, and representatives of the
Christian community criticized the Government for not responding more
quickly to the violence. In June 2005, the Government announced the
allocation of $2 million (NIS 10 million) in state funds to compensate
residents for property damage incurred during the riots.
Numerous NGOs in the country were dedicated to promoting Jewish-
Arab coexistence and interfaith understanding. Their programs included
events to increase productive contact between religious groups and to
promote Jewish-Arab dialogue and cooperation. These groups and their
events have had varying degrees of success. Interfaith dialogue often
was linked to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians and
between the country and its Arab neighbors. Among efforts in this area
were those of participants in the Alexandria Interfaith Peace Process,
initiated at a 2002 interfaith conference in Cairo. Canon Andrew White,
the Archbishop of Canterbury's special representative to the Alexandria
Process, convened meetings in December 2004 and in January 2005 in
Jerusalem with Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders to discuss
advancing the Alexandria Process. The group discussed ways to advance
an agenda of peace among religious leaders in their respective
communities. In January 2005, as part of the Alexandria Process,
Israeli rabbis and Israeli and Palestinian imams joined a group of more
than 100 imams and rabbis from all over the world in a Brussels
conference aimed at enhancing interfaith understanding and combating
violence.
Animosity between secular and religious Jews continued during the
period covered by this report. Non-Orthodox Jews have complained of
discrimination and intolerance by members of ultra-Orthodox Jewish
groups. Persons who consider themselves Jewish but who are not
considered Jewish under Orthodox law particularly complained of
discrimination. As in past years, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem
threw rocks at passing motorists driving on the Sabbath.
A variety of NGOs existed that sought to build understanding and
create dialogue between religious groups and between religious and
secular Jewish communities. Several examples were the Gesher Foundation
(Hebrew for ``bridge''); Meitarim, which operates a pluralistic Jewish-
oriented school system; and the Interreligious Coordinating Council in
the country, which promoted interfaith dialogue among Jewish, Muslim,
and Christian institutions.
Throughout society, attitudes toward missionary activities and
conversion generally were negative. Many Jews were opposed to
missionary activity directed at Jews, and some were hostile toward
Jewish converts to Christianity. Media sources reported that the
Messianic Jewish community accused Yad L'achim, a Jewish religious
organization opposed to missionary activity, of harassing its members.
Christian and Muslim Israeli-Arab religious leaders complain that
missionary activity that leads to conversions frequently disrupts
family coherence in their communities.
A March 2005 dispute over the sale of property in Jerusalem's Old
City owned by the Greek Orthodox Church to Jewish investors led a Holy
Synod meeting in Istanbul to depose the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos
I, in May 2005. While Greece, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority
recognized the ousting of Irineos and the appointment of Theophilus III
as his successor, the Government did not. In November 2005, Theophilus
appealed this issue to the High Court and at the same time a
ministerial committee was established to deal with the situation. The
committee did not resolve the issue and the court recommended waiting
for the establishment of the next Government and a new ministerial
committee before resolving the matter.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy consistently raised problems of religious freedom with the
Foreign Ministry, the police, the prime minister's office, and other
government agencies.
Embassy representatives, including the ambassador, routinely meet
with religious officials. These contacts include meetings with Jewish,
Christian, Muslim, and Druze leaders at a variety of levels. In April
2005, the Embassy invited two Knesset members from the secular Shinui
party and two from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to participate
together in an International Visitors Program on the U.S. legislative,
judicial, and executive branches of Government. The program received
positive media coverage for enhancing understanding and ties between
these two rival parties.
Embassy officials maintain a dialogue with NGOs that follow human
and civil rights problems, including religious freedom. Embassy
representatives also attended and spoke at meetings of such
organizations, including the Arab Association for Human Rights, the
Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel, the Israel Religious Action Center, and
Adalah.
The religious freedom situation in the Occupied Territories is
discussed in the annex appended to this report.
__________
THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES (INCLUDING AREAS SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION
OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY)
The Palestinian Authority (PA) does not have a ratified
Constitution; however, the Palestinian Basic Law provides for freedom
of religion, and the PA generally respected this right in practice. The
Basic Law names Islam as the official religion but also calls for
``respect and sanctity'' for other religious groups.
There was no change in the status of the PA's respect for religious
freedom during the reporting period. Hamas candidates won 74 of 132
seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council during elections on
January 25, 2006. A new PA government led by Hamas Prime Minister
Isma'il Haniyyah was sworn-in by PA President Mahmud Abbas on March 28.
President Abbas took steps to eliminate religious incitement, although
incidents of such incitement still occurred. In previous years, there
were credible reports that PA security forces and judicial officials
colluded with criminal elements to extort property illegally from
Christian landowners in the Bethlehem area. While there were no reports
of Christians being targeted for extortion or abuse during the period
covered by this report, the PA did not take action to investigate past
injustices allegedly perpetrated by PA officials.
Israel exercises varying degrees of legal control in the Occupied
Territories. Israel has no Constitution; however, it also has a Basic
Law that provides for freedom of worship. The Israeli government
generally respects this right in practice in the Occupied Territories.
There was no change in the status of the Israeli government's
respect for religious freedom in the Occupied Territories during the
reporting period. Israel's strict closure policies frequently
restricted the ability of Palestinians to reach places of worship and
practice their religions. The construction of a separation barrier by
the government of Israel, particularly in and around East Jerusalem,
also severely limited access to mosques, churches, and other holy
sites, and seriously impeded the work of religious organizations that
provide education, healthcare, and other humanitarian relief and social
services to Palestinians. Such impediments were not exclusive to
religious believers or to religious organizations, and at times the
Israeli government made efforts to lessen the impact on religious
communities. The Israeli government confiscated land (usually offering
limited compensation, which churches do not accept) belonging to
several religious institutions to build its separation barrier between
East Jerusalem and the West Bank. However, according to the Israeli
government, it sought to build the barrier on public lands where
possible, and when private land was used, provided opportunities for
compensation.
Christians and Muslims generally enjoy good relations, although
tensions exist. Strong societal attitudes are a barrier to conversions
from Islam. Relations between Jews and non-Jews, as well as among the
different branches of Judaism, are strained. Societal tensions between
Jews and non-Jews exist and such tensions remained high during the
reporting period; however continuing violence also contributes to
societal tensions and was apparent during Israel's disengagement from
Gaza and portions of the West Bank in 2005. The violence that has
occurred since the outbreak of the second Intifada (uprising) in
October 2000 has significantly curtailed religious practice in many
areas of the Occupied Territories. This violence included severe damage
to places of worship and religious shrines in the Occupied Territories.
Prior to the establishment of the Hamas-led government on March 28,
2006, the U.S. Government discussed religious freedom problems with the
PA and the Israeli government as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The Gaza Strip covers an area of 143 square miles, and its
population is approximately 1.3 million persons. The West Bank
(excluding East Jerusalem) covers an area of 2,238 square miles, and
its population is approximately 2.4 million persons, not including
approximately 250,000 Israeli settlers. East Jerusalem covers an area
of twenty-seven square miles, and its population is approximately
400,000 persons, not including approximately 180,000 Israeli settlers.
Approximately 98 percent of Palestinian residents of the Occupied
Territories were Sunni Muslims. According to the sum of estimates
provided by individual Christian denominations (which appear
significantly overstated), the total number of Christians was
approximately 200,000. Other estimates placed the Christian community
between 40,000 to 90,000 persons. A majority of Christians were Greek
Orthodox; the remainder consisted of Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic
Protestant, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, Maronite, and Ethiopian
Orthodox denominations. Christians were concentrated primarily in the
areas of Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Bethlehem. According to municipal
officials in Bethlehem, since 2002 approximately 2,800 Christians from
the Bethlehem area had left the West Bank for other countries.
According to Christian leaders, most left for economic and security
reasons. Low birth rates among Palestinian Christians had also
contributed to its shrinking minority status. There was also a
community of approximately 400 Samaritans located on Mount Gerazim near
Nablus in the West Bank.
Adherents of several denominations of evangelical Christians, as
well as members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, operated in the West Bank.
Foreign missionaries operate in the Occupied Territories, including a
small number of evangelical Christian pastors who reportedly sought to
convert Muslims to Christianity. While they maintained a generally low
profile, the PA was aware of their activities and generally did not
restrict them.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The PA does not have a Constitution; however, the Basic Law
provides for religious freedom, and the PA generally respected this
right in practice. The Basic Law states that ``Islam is the official
religion in Palestine,'' and that ``respect and sanctity of all other
heavenly religious groups (i.e., Judaism and Christianity) shall be
maintained.'' In 2002 the Basic Law was approved by the Palestinian
Legislative Council (PLC) and signed by then-President Yasir Arafat.
The Basic Law states that the principles of Shari'a (Islamic law) are
``the main source of legislation.''
Churches in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza operate under one of
three general categories: Churches recognized by the status quo
agreements reached under Ottoman rule in the late nineteenth century,
Protestant and evangelical churches established between the late
nineteenth century and 1967, which, although they exist and operate,
are not recognized officially by the PA, and a small number of churches
that became active within the last decade, and whose legal status is
more tenuous.
The first group of churches is governed by nineteenth century
status quo agreements reached with Ottoman authorities, which the PA
respects, and that specifically established the presence and rights of
the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian, Syrian
Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Coptic, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.
These churches are ``recognized'' by the Israeli Government. The
Episcopal and Lutheran churches were added later to this list. The PA,
immediately upon its establishment, recognized these churches and their
rights. Like Shari'a courts under Islam, these religious groups are
permitted to have ecclesiastical courts whose rulings are considered
legally binding on personal status and some land problems. Civil courts
do not adjudicate on such matters.
Churches in the second category, which includes the Assembly of
God, Nazarene Church, and some Baptist churches, have unwritten
understandings with the PA based on the principles of the status quo
agreements. They are permitted to operate freely and are able to
perform certain personal status legal functions, such as issuing
marriage certificates.
The third group of churches consists of a small number of
proselytizing churches, including Jehovah's Witnesses and some
evangelical Christian groups. These groups have encountered opposition
in their efforts to obtain recognition, both from Muslims who oppose
their proselytizing, and from Christians who fear that the new arrivals
may disrupt the status quo. However, these churches generally operate
unhindered by the PA.
In practice, the PA requires Palestinians to declare religious
affiliation on identification papers. All legal matters relating to
personal status must be handled in either Islamic or Christian
ecclesiastical courts if such courts exist for the individual's
denomination. All legally recognized individual sects are empowered to
adjudicate personal status matters, and in practice most do so. Neither
the PA nor the Israeli government currently has a civil marriage law.
Legally, members of one religious group mutually may agree to submit a
personal status dispute to a different Christian denomination to
adjudicate, but in practice this does not occur. Churches that are not
officially recognized by the PA or the Israeli government must obtain
special permission to perform marriages or adjudicate personal status
issues; however, in practice non-recognized churches advise their
members to marry (or divorce) abroad.
Since Islam is the official religion of the PA, Islamic
institutions and places of worship receive preferential treatment. The
PA has a Ministry of Waqf and Religious Affairs, which pays for the
construction and maintenance of mosques and the salaries of many
Palestinian imams. The government of Jordan maintains responsibility
for waqf institutions in Jerusalem. The Ministry also provides limited
financial support to some Christian clergymen and Christian charitable
organizations. The PA does not provide financial support to any Jewish
institutions or holy sites in the West Bank; these areas are generally
under Israeli control.
The PA requires that religion be taught in PA schools, with
separate courses for Muslim and Christian students. A compulsory
curriculum requires the study of Christianity for Christian students
and Islam for Muslim students in grades one through six. The PA
Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MOEHE) revised its primary
and secondary school textbooks. A USG-funded review of Palestinian
textbooks concluded that the textbooks did not cross the line into
incitement but continued to show elements of imbalance, bias, and
inaccuracy. Critics noted the new textbooks often ignored historical
Jewish connections to Israel and Jerusalem.
The PA does not officially sponsor interfaith dialogue; however, it
sends representatives to meetings on improving inter-religious
relations and attempts to foster goodwill among Muslim and Christian
religious leaders. The PA makes an effort to maintain good relations
with the Christian community; however, the PA has not taken sufficient
action to remedy past harassment and intimidation of Christian
residents of Bethlehem by the city's Muslim majority. The PA judiciary
failed to adjudicate numerous cases of seizures of Christian-owned land
in the Bethlehem area by criminal gangs. There were credible reports
that PA security forces and judicial officials colluded with gang
members to extort property illegally from Christians. In previous
years, PA officials appear to have been complicit in property extortion
of Palestinian Christian residents. Several attacks against Christians
in Bethlehem went unaddressed by the PA, but authorities investigated
attacks against Muslims in the same area.
PA President Abbas has informal advisors on Christian affairs. Six
seats in the 132-member PLC are reserved for Christians; there are no
seats reserved for members of any other faith. The PA observes several
religious holidays, including Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Zikra al-Hijra
al-Nabawiya, Christmas, and the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
Christians also may observe the Easter holiday.
Israel exercises varying degrees of legal control in the Occupied
Territories. The international community considers Israel's authority
in the Occupied Territories to be subject to the 1907 Hague Regulations
and the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the Protection of Civilians
in Time of War. The Israeli government considers the Hague Regulations
applicable and maintains that it largely observed the Geneva
Convention's humanitarian provisions. The Israeli government applies
Israeli law to East Jerusalem, which it annexed after 1967; however,
the U.S. Government considers Jerusalem a permanent status issue to be
resolved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Israeli government gives preferential treatment to Jewish
residents of the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem, when
granting permits for home building and civic services. For example,
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem pay the same taxes as Jewish
residents, but Palestinian residents receive significantly fewer
municipal services than Jewish residents. Many of the national and
municipal policies enacted in Jerusalem are designed to limit or
diminish the non-Jewish population of Jerusalem. These are official
policies that every Jerusalem municipal government has acknowledged and
followed since 1967, and that Israeli ministers have at times openly
admitted. According to Palestinian and Israeli human rights
organizations, the Israeli government uses a combination of zoning
restrictions on building for Palestinians, confiscation of Palestinian
lands, and demolition of Palestinian homes to ``contain'' non-Jewish
neighborhoods, while simultaneously permitting Jewish settlement in
predominantly Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), contains the Dome of the
Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, among the most holy sites in Islam. Jews
refer to the same place as the Temple Mount and consider it the
location of the ancient Jewish temple. The location has been, with all
of East Jerusalem, under Israeli security control since 1967, when
Israel captured the city (East Jerusalem was formally annexed in 1980,
and thus Israel applies its laws to East Jerusalem). The Haram al-
Sharif is administered, however, by the Islamic waqf, a PA-affiliated
but Jordanian-funded and administered Muslim religious trust for East
Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli police
control the compound's entrances, and limit access to the compound. The
waqf can object to entrance of particular persons, such as non-Muslim
religious radicals, or to prohibited activities, such as prayer by non-
Muslims or disrespectful clothing or behavior, but lacks authority to
remove anyone from the site, and thus must rely on Israeli police to
enforce site regulations. In practice, waqf officials claimed that
police often allowed religious radicals (such as Jews seeking to
rebuild the ancient Temple on the site and to remove the mosques) and
immodestly dressed persons to enter and often were not responsive to
enforcing the site's rules.
While non-Muslims (except guests of the waqf) were not allowed to
enter the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount from September 28, 2000 (the
date of former Likud party head Ariel Sharon's visit which sparked
unrest) until August 2003, non-Muslims could visit the site during
designated visiting hours. The Israeli government, as a matter of
stated policy, has prevented non-Muslims from worshipping at the Haram
al-Sharif/Temple Mount since 1967. Israeli police consistently did not
permit public prayer on public safety grounds and publicly indicated
that this policy has not changed in light of the renewed visits of non-
Muslims to the compound or the court ruling on the issue. Waqf
officials contend that the Israeli police, in contravention of their
stated policy and the religious status quo, have allowed members of
radical Jewish groups to enter and to worship at the site. Spokesmen
for these groups have claimed successful attempts to pray inside the
compound in interviews with the Israeli media. The Waqf interprets
police actions as part of an Israeli policy to incrementally reduce
Waqf authority over the site and to give non-Muslims rights of worship
in parts of the compound.
Since October 2000, the Israeli government, citing security
concerns, prevented most Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza from
reaching the Haram al-Sharif by prohibiting their entry into Jerusalem.
Restrictions were often placed on entry into the Haram al-Sharif even
for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, such as a frequently
implemented restriction on males under the age of forty-five.
There were also disputes between the Muslim administrators of the
Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and Israeli authorities regarding Israeli
restrictions on waqf attempts to carry out repairs and physical
improvements on the compound and its mosques. In 2005 Palestinian
workers under direction of Jordanian engineers worked on restoring
tiles on the Dome of the Rock and Ottoman-era stones on the southern
and eastern walls of the compound. Israeli authorities prevented the
waqf from conducting several improvement projects or removing debris
from the site, alleging that the waqf was attempting to alter the
nature of the site or to discard antiquities of Jewish origin.
Personal status law for Palestinians is based on religious law. For
Muslim Palestinians, personal status law is derived from Shari'a, and
various ecclesiastical courts rule on personal status issues for
Christians. A 1995 PA presidential decree stipulated that all laws in
effect before the advent of the PA would continue in force until the PA
enacted new laws or amended the old ones. Therefore, in the West Bank,
which was formerly under Jordanian rule, the Shari'a-based Jordanian
Status Law of 1976 governs women's status. Under the law, which
includes inheritance and marriage laws, women inherit less than male
members of the family. The marriage law allows men to take more than
one wife, although few do so. Prior to marriage, a woman and man may
stipulate terms in the marriage contract that govern financial and
child custody matters in the event of divorce. Reportedly, few women
use this section of the law. Personal status law in Gaza is based on
Shari'a-centered law as interpreted in Egypt; however, similar versions
of the attendant restrictions on women described above apply as well.
Due to violence and security concerns, the Israeli government has
imposed a broad range of strict closures and curfews throughout the
Occupied Territories since October 2000. These restrictions largely
continued during the reporting period and resulted in significantly
impeded freedom of access to places of worship in the West Bank for
Muslims and Christians.
In 2002, the Israeli government, citing security concerns, began
constructing a barrier to separate most of the West Bank from Israel,
East Jerusalem, and Israeli settlement blocks. Construction of the
barrier has involved confiscation of property owned by Palestinians,
displacement of Christian, Muslim, and Israeli residents, and
tightening of restrictions on movement for non-Jewish communities. The
Israeli government asserts that it has mechanisms to compensate
landowners for all takings, but there were several reports of land
being taken along the barrier's route without compensation under the
Absentee Property Statute or military orders.
Construction of the separation barrier continued in and around East
Jerusalem during the reporting period, seriously restricting access by
West Bank Muslims and Christians to holy sites in Jerusalem and in the
West Bank. The barrier also negatively affected access to schools,
healthcare providers, and other humanitarian services, although in some
cases, the Government made efforts to lessen the impact on religious
institutions.
The separation barrier made it difficult for Bethlehem-area
Christians to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and
it made visits to Christian sites in Bethany and in Bethlehem difficult
for Palestinian Christians who live on the Israeli side of the barrier,
further fragmenting and dividing this small minority community. Foreign
pilgrims sometimes experienced difficulty in obtaining access to
Christian holy sites in the West Bank because of the barrier and
Israeli restrictions on movement in the West Bank. The barrier and its
checkpoints also impeded the movement of clergy between Jerusalem and
West Bank churches and monasteries, as well as the movement of
congregations between their homes and places of worship. On November
15, 2005, Israel opened a new crossing terminal from Jerusalem into
Bethlehem for tourists and non-tourists. After initial complaints of
long lines, the Israeli government instituted new screening procedures
and agreed to ease access into Bethlehem during the Christmas holiday,
with restrictions eased from December 24 to January 19. For example,
the PA reported 30,000 visitors to the Church of the Nativity for
various Christmas celebrations on December 24-25 2005, the largest
turnout since 2000.
Hundreds of Armenian pilgrims attending the Holy Fire Celebration
on April 22, 2006 were prevented by the Israeli Police from entering
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem despite
the fact that all had the necessary permits to enter.
In February 2003, the Israeli government issued confiscation orders
for land in Bethlehem to build a barrier and military positions around
Rachel's Tomb (a shrine holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims). This
barrier would leave the shrine on the ``Israeli'' side of the
separation barrier. By the end of 2004, the Israeli government walled
off and fortified the Rachel's Tomb area, and often restricted access
to the site, only allowing Jewish visitors regular, unimpeded access
and requiring prior coordination by other worshippers. In previous
years, Jewish tourists visiting the shrine occasionally were harassed
by Palestinians, but Israel's closure of the area and associated land
expropriations impeded Muslim and Christian access to the site. Israeli
settlers obtained ownership of some of the land and properties around
the tomb through a disputed land deal.
In 2003, the Government of Israel confiscated land from the Baron
Deir monastery in Bethlehem, which belongs to the Armenian
Patriarchate, for construction of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) patrol
road in the area. Negotiations between the Patriarchate and the Israeli
government reduced the amount of land confiscated.
The Armenian Patriarchate reported that the IDF caused significant
damage to the property during incursions into Bethlehem in 2002. The
parties reached an undisclosed agreement on compensation for this
damage.
Since 2003, the Israeli government confiscated land (with some
compensation generally offered but refused) belonging to three Catholic
institutions in Bethany for construction of the separation barrier: The
Camboni Sisters Convent, the Passionist Monastery, and the Sisters of
Charity Convent and school. Construction of the barrier in this area,
which was largely completed during the reporting period, involved
confiscation of a significant portion of each church property. In the
village of Bethany on the Mount of Olives, the Israeli government built
an eight-meter high concrete separation barrier that crosses into the
property of several Christian institutions. The barrier in Bethany
blocks the annual Orthodox Palm Sunday procession from Lazarus' Tomb in
Bethany to the Old City of Jerusalem, but Israel has constructed a
crossing terminal to allow foreign pilgrims and Christians living on
the West Bank side of the barrier to participate in the procession.
Israeli closure policies, imposed according to the Israeli
government due to security concerns, prevented tens of thousands of
Palestinians from reaching places of worship in Jerusalem and the West
Bank, including during religious holidays such as Ramadan, Christmas,
and Easter. There have been several violent clashes in the past between
Israeli police and Muslim worshippers on the Haram al-Sharif, which
waqf officials allege have been due to the large police contingent kept
on the site. On a few occasions, Muslim worshippers have thrown stones
at police and police have fired tear gas and stun grenades at
worshippers. Muslim worshippers also have held demonstrations at the
site to protest reported Jewish extremist plans to damage the mosques
or create a Jewish worship area at the site. Israeli security officials
and police have generally been proactive and effective in dealing with
such threats. There were no incidents of rocks thrown near the Western
Wall during the period covered by this report.
The Israeli government's closure policy prevented several
Palestinian religious leaders, both Muslim and Christian, from reaching
their congregations. In previous years, several clergymen reported that
they were subject to harassment at checkpoints; however, during the
reporting period there were no reports of serious harassment of clergy.
During the reporting period, Palestinian violence against Israeli
settlers prevented some Israelis from reaching Jewish holy sites in the
Occupied Territories, such as Joseph's Tomb near Nablus. Since early
2001, following the outbreak of the Intifada, the Israeli government
has prohibited Israeli citizens in unofficial capacities from traveling
to the parts of the West Bank under the civil and security control of
the PA. This restriction prevented Israeli Arabs from visiting Muslim
and Christian holy sites in the West Bank, and it prevented Jewish
Israelis from visiting other sites, including an ancient synagogue in
Jericho. Visits to the Jericho synagogue ceased after disagreements
erupted between Israel and the PA over security arrangements.
Settler violence against Palestinians prevented some Palestinians
from reaching holy sites in the Occupied Territories. Settlers in
Hebron have in previous reporting periods forcibly prevented Muslim
muezzins from reaching the al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs to
sound the call to prayer, and have harassed Muslim worshippers in
Hebron. Settler harassment of Palestinians in Hebron was a regular
occurrence in this reporting period. The Israeli government did not
effectively respond to settler-initiated blocking of religious sites.
While there were no specific restrictions placed on Palestinians
making the Hajj, all Palestinians faced closures and long waits at
Israeli border crossings, which often impeded travel for religious
purposes. Palestinians generally were not allowed to use Ben-Gurion
Airport. If residents of the Occupied Territories obtained a Saudi Hajj
visa, they must travel by ground to Amman (for West Bankers) or Egypt
(for Gazans) and then by ground, sea, or air to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Palestinians from Gaza who participated in the Hajj departed through
the Palestinian-controlled Rafah crossing into Egypt.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Throughout the year Israeli authorities still required that
Christian clergy leave the West Bank or Jerusalem every ninety days to
renew their tourist visas, disrupting their work and causing financial
difficulties to their sponsoring religious organizations. Catholic and
Orthodox priests and nuns and other religious workers often from Syria
and Lebanon faced long delays, and sometimes denied applications,
entirely without explanation; however, the Israeli government claimed
that delays were due to security processing for visas and extensions.
The shortage of foreign clergy impeded the functioning of Christian
congregations.
In January 2006 the IDF re-opened the Mosque to Muslim worship for
the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Israeli officers selectively
enforced orders preventing the muezzin at the al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb
of the Patriarchs in Hebron from sounding the call to prayer when Jews
were praying in their portion of the shrine.
There were no reports of major damage to Christian churches during
this reporting period. In previous reporting periods, there were
credible reports that the Israeli military caused significant damage to
church property.
In previous reporting periods, the PA failed to halt several cases
of seizures of Christian-owned land in the Bethlehem area by criminal
gangs. In many cases, criminal gangs reportedly used forged land
documents to assert ownership of lands belonging to Christians. Police
failed to investigate most of these cases. In two cases, police
arrested and then released the suspects on bail and allowed them to
continue occupying the land in question. Local religious and political
leaders confirmed that no such attempts to seize Muslim-owned land took
place.
In the midst of growing chaos and lawlessness in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, there were credible reports in previous years that PA
security forces and judicial officials colluded with members of these
gangs to seize land from Christians. In one reported case, a PA judge
openly told a Palestinian Christian landowner that he and his partners
in the PA intelligence services required a substantial bribe to allow
the landowner to remain on his property. PA officials repeatedly
promised Christian leaders that they would take action in these cases,
but by the end of the reporting period, no action had been taken.
Officials from the Qalqilya branch of the YMCA relocated following
a firebombing of its office by local Muslims in April 2006. Local
Muslim leaders have written to the Hamas-led municipal council
demanding that the branch office close.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
Occupied Territories.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There generally were amicable relations between Christians and
Muslims, although tensions exist. Relations between Jews and non-Jews
often were strained. Tensions between Jews and non-Jews exist primarily
as a result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as Israel's
control of access to sites holy to Christians and Muslims. Relations
among different branches of Judaism were also strained. Some non-
Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have complained of discrimination and
intolerance on the part of some Orthodox Jews.
Societal attitudes continued to be a barrier to conversions,
especially for Muslims converting to Christianity. In previous
reporting periods, there were reports that some Christian converts from
Islam who publicized their religious beliefs were harassed or
ostracized by their families or villages.
Muslim-Christian tension has been minimal during this reporting
period, and the few instances of Muslim-Christian violence appear
related to social or inter-family conflicts rather than religious
disputes. Both Muslim and Christian Palestinians have accused Israeli
officials of attempting to foster animosity among Palestinians by
exaggerating reports of Muslim-Christian tensions.
Jewish settlers, either acting alone or in groups, engaged in
assaulting Palestinians and destroying Palestinian property; however,
most instances of violence or property destruction reportedly committed
against Palestinians did not result in arrests or convictions.
Interfaith romance was a sensitive issue. Most Christian and Muslim
families in the Occupied Territories encouraged their children-
especially their daughters-to marry within their respective religious
groups. Couples who challenged this societal norm encountered
considerable societal and familial opposition. For example, there were
reports of some Christian women receiving death threats from Christian
family members and community leaders for marrying Muslim men during the
reporting period.
In September 2005, Muslims rioted through the predominantly West
Bank Christian village of Taybah, torching homes, vandalizing private
vehicles, and assaulting residents. The violence followed a reported
romance between a Muslim woman and a Christian man from Taybah. In
October 2004, a yeshiva student spat at the Armenian archbishop of
Jerusalem while he was engaged in a religious procession through the
Old City. The student was arrested and ordered to remain away from the
Old City for seventy-five days. He also made a formal apology. The Holy
See and the country's chief rabbinate issued a joint condemnation of
the assault at the end of a meeting of Catholic and Jewish officials
near Rome shortly after the incident. There were several other spitting
incidents, usually involving Armenian clergy due to their proximity to
several Jewish quarter yeshivas. The mayor of Jerusalem, the chief
rabbinate, and the heads of several yeshivas have strongly criticized
such behavior and punished those involved. The armenian patriarchate
was satisfied with measures that the Israeli government, Jerusalem
municipality and yeshivas have taken after these incidents, but
believes that more education on tolerance and respect for other
religious groups would be helpful.
A March 2005 dispute over the transfer of property in Jerusalem's
Old City owned by the Greek Orthodox Church to Jewish investors ended
with senior Orthodox leaders calling for the removal of the Greek
Patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I. The sale enraged Palestinians, who
saw the deals as a betrayal of Palestinian parishioners by the mostly-
Greek clergy and feared that such purchases would affect Palestinian
claims on East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Patriarch Irineos I was ousted from his position by the Orthodox synod
of bishops, but did not resign, claiming that proceedings against him
were illegal. Jordan and the PA have rescinded official recognition of
Irineos I, but at the end of the period covered by this report Israel
still recognized him as patriarch and kept a contingent of Israeli
police inside the Greek Orthodox Monastery to protect him.
In general, established Christian subgroups did not welcome less-
established evangelical churches. Settlers from the Hebron area and the
southern West Bank severely beat and threatened several international
activists, including individuals from the Christian Peacemaker Teams
that escort Palestinian children to school and protect Palestinian
families from settler abuse. While it is unclear whether the attackers'
motives stemmed from religious extremism as opposed to ultra-
nationalism, the activists felt that local Israeli police did not
actively pursue the suspects and oppose the Christian Peacemaker Teams'
presence in Palestinian villages.
The strong correlation between religion, ethnicity, and politics in
the Occupied Territories at times imbues the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict with a religious dimension. The rhetoric of some Jewish and
Muslim religious leaders has been harsher since the outbreak of the
Intifada in October 2000.
In previous years, Muslims at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount
threw stones at Jewish worshippers on the Western Wall plaza, leading
to major police confrontations; however, there were no incidents of
stone-throwing at the plaza during the period covered by this report.
Palestinian media frequently published and broadcast material
criticizing the Israeli occupation, including dismissing Jewish
connections to Jerusalem. In September 2005 Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi,
the chief justice and president of the Higher Shari'a Council, called
the Israeli government's claim of a Jewish connection to the Haram al-
Sharif/Temple Mount a ``baseless lie'' and provocation to Muslims
everywhere. Al-Tamimi also warned against the ``Judaization'' of
Jerusalem. Rhetoric by Palestinian terrorist groups included
expressions of anti-Semitism. Some Muslim religious leaders preached
sermons on the official PA television station that included expressions
of anti-Semitism. However, on October 28, Israeli media quoted PLO
Chief Negotiator Sa'eb Erekat's statement that the Iranian president's
declaration that Israel should be wiped off the map was
``unacceptable.''
Israeli activists reported numerous examples in which PA television
shows invoked messages that activists considered anti-Semitic or that
attempted to de-legitimize Jewish history in general. Israeli settler
radio stations often depicted Arabs as subhuman and called for
Palestinians to be expelled from the West Bank. Right-wing, pro-settler
organizations such as Women in Green, and various Hebron-area
publications, have published several cartoons that demonize
Palestinians. Also, the sermons of some Muslim imams occasionally
included anti-Semitic messages, such as a May 13, 2005, sermon
delivered by Shaykh Ibrahim Mudayris that ran on PA television, in
which he compared Jews (in the context of land conflicts) to ``a virus,
like AIDS.'' In May 2005 media quoted PA Minister of Information Nabil
Sh'ath as calling for Mudayris' suspension from the PA religious
affairs ministry and Muslim waqf, which employed Mudayris, and banned
him from delivering Friday sermons. At the end of the reporting period,
Mudayris was no longer delivering Friday sermons.
There were instances of Jewish-nationalist extremists harassing
Muslims. On several occasions, a group of Jewish-nationalist extremists
known as the Temple Mount Faithful attempted to force their way inside
the wall enclosing the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. In addition, the
same group periodically attempted to lay a cornerstone for the building
of a new Jewish temple that would replace the Islamic Dome of the Rock
shrine, an act that Muslims considered an affront.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
Prior to the establishment of the Hamas-led PA government, U.S.
officials maintained dialogue with PA officials on religious issues, in
particular on incitement in the Palestinian media. In light of the new
PA government led by Hamas which has not agreed to the Quartet
principles that it disavow violence, recognize Israel, and accept
previous agreements and obligations, U.S. officials have no contact
with PA officials under the authority of the prime minister or any
other minister in the Hamas-led cabinet, including working-level
officials in these ministries. Contact is allowed with PA President
Abbas and officials in the Office of the PA president and other
officials in agencies directly under the authority of the PA president.
The consulate general continues to maintain contacts with
representatives of the Jerusalem waqf-an Islamic trust and charitable
organization that owns and manages large amounts of real estate,
including the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in Jerusalem-as well as with
the various Christian churches and Jewish communities in Jerusalem.
U.S. officials regularly meet with religious representatives to
ensure that their legitimate grievances are reported and addressed.
During the reporting period, the consulate investigated a range of
charges, including allegations of damage to places of worship,
incitement, and allegations concerning access to holy sites. Consulate
general officers met with representatives of the Bethlehem Christian
community and traveled to the area to investigate charges of
mistreatment of Christians by the PA. The consulate general raised the
issue of seizure of Christian-owned land in discussions with PA
officials.
In October 2004, a representative from the Office of International
Religious Freedom visited Jerusalem and met with government officials,
NGO representatives, Muslim Waqf officials, and Christian clergy and
religious workers, particularly those negatively impacted by
construction of the separation barrier.
In several cases, the Israeli government agreed to consider changes
to the route of the barrier in Jerusalem near several Christian
institutions and installed pedestrian gates in the barrier to
facilitate the passage of priests and other religious workers.
__________
JORDAN
The Constitution provides for the freedom to practice the rites of
one's religion and faith in accordance with the customs that are
observed in the Kingdom, unless they violate public order or morality.
According to the Constitution, Islam is the state religion; religious
practices that conflict with the official interpretation of Shari'a are
prohibited.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. In January 2006, a Shari'a court received
a complaint for apostasy against a convert from Islam to Christianity.
The plaintiff subsequently dropped the charges but the defendant has
not yet received an official guarantee that no new charges will be
filed. In 2005 an appellate court upheld the Amman Shari'a Court's 2004
conviction of a convert from Islam to Christianity for apostasy.
Members of unrecognized religious groups and converts from Islam face
legal discrimination and bureaucratic difficulties in personal status
cases. Converts from Islam additionally risk the loss of civil rights.
Shari'a courts have the authority to prosecute proselytizers.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups
contributed to religious freedom. Relations between Muslims and
Christians generally are good; however, adherents of unrecognized
religions and Muslims who convert to other faiths face societal
discrimination.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government in the context of its overall policy to promote human
rights, interfaith dialogue, and understanding.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 55,436 square miles and a population of
5.9 million. More than 95 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim.
Official government figures estimate that Christians make up 4 percent
of the population; however, government and Christian officials
privately estimate the figure to be closer to 3 percent. It is
estimated there are at least twenty thousand Druze, a small number of
Shi'a Muslims, and fewer than 400 Baha'is. There are no statistics
available regarding the number of persons who are not adherents of any
religious faith.
Officially recognized Christian denominations include the Greek
Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic (Melkite), Armenian Orthodox,
Maronite Catholic, Assyrian, Coptic, Anglican, Lutheran, Seventh-day
Adventist, United Pentecostal, and Presbyterian churches. Other
Christian groups, including the Baptists, the Free Evangelicals, the
Church of the Nazarene, the Assembly of God, and the Christian and
Missionary Alliance, are registered with the Ministry of Interior as
``societies'' but not as churches. There are a number of Chaldean and
Syriac Christians and Shi'a among the estimated 500 thousand to 600
thousand Iraqis in the country, many of whom are undocumented or on
visitor permits.
With few exceptions, there are no major geographic concentrations
of religious minorities. The cities of Husn, in the north, and Fuheis,
near Amman, are predominantly Christian. Madaba and Karak, both south
of Amman, also have significant Christian populations. The northern
part of the city of Azraq has a sizeable Druze population, as does Umm
Al-Jamal in the governorate of Mafraq. There also are Druze populations
in Amman and Zarka and a smaller number in Irbid and Aqaba. There are a
number of non-indigenous Shi'a living in the Jordan Valley and the
south. Druzes are registered as ``Muslims'' and, as they have their own
court in Al Azraq, can administer their own personal status matters.
Foreign missionaries operating in the country include
representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, Campus Crusade for Christ, Samaritan's
Purse, The Evangelical Alliance Mission, Life Agape, Intervarsity,
Navigators, Christar, Arab World Ministries, Operation Mobilization,
Southern Baptist International Mission Board, the Conservative
Baptists, Frontiers, Brother Andrew, the Jesuits, Christian Brothers,
Rosary Sisters, Benedictines, Anglican Church Mission Society, the
Society of Friends (Quakers), Comboni Sisters, Little Sisters of Jesus,
the Religious of Nazareth, Sisters of St. Dorothy, the Daughters of
Mary the Helper (Salesian Sisters), the Little Sisters of Nazareth, the
Little Family of the Annunciation, Sisters of St. Joseph of the
Apparition, Basiliennes Chouerites, Focolare Sisters, Franciscans
(OFM), Sons of Divine Providence (Don Orione Fathers), Association
Fraternal International, Institute of the Incarnate Word, Franciscans
of the Cross, Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine, Franciscan
Missionaries of Mary, Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, Daughters of Mary of the Enclosed Garden, Theresian Institute,
and the Missionaries of Charity.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for the freedom to practice the rites of
one's religion and faith in accordance with the customs that are
observed in the Kingdom, unless they violate public order or morality.
According to the Constitution, Islam is the state religion; religious
practices that conflict with the official interpretation of Shari'a are
prohibited.
The Constitution, in Articles 103-106, provides that matters
concerning the personal status of Muslims are the exclusive
jurisdiction of Shari'a courts, which apply Shari'a law in their
proceedings. Personal status includes religion, marriage, divorce,
child custody and inheritance. Personal status law follows the
guidelines of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, which is
applied to cases that are not explicitly addressed by civil status
legislation. Matters of personal status of non-Muslims are the
jurisdiction of Tribunals of Religious Communities, according to
Article 108.
Churches and other religious institutions that wish to receive
official recognition must apply to the Prime Ministry for registration.
Recognized non-Muslim religious institutions do not receive subsidies;
they are financially and administratively independent of the Government
and are tax-exempt. Some churches were registered with the Ministry of
Interior as ``societies'' rather than churches.
While Christianity is a recognized religion and non-Muslim citizens
may profess and practice the Christian faith, churches must be accorded
legal recognition through administrative procedures in order to own
land and administer sacraments, including marriage. The prime minister
unofficially confers with an interfaith council of clergy representing
officially registered local churches on all matters relating to the
Christian community, including the registration of new churches. The
Government refers to the following criteria when considering official
recognition of Christian churches: The faith must not contradict the
nature of the Constitution, public ethics, customs, or traditions; it
must be recognized by the Middle East Council of Churches; the faith
must not oppose the national religion; and the group must include some
citizen adherents. Groups that the Government deems to engage in
practices that violate the law and the nature of society or threaten
the stability of public order are prohibited; however, there were no
reports that any religious groups were banned.
Public schools provide mandatory religious instruction for all
Muslim students. Christian and Baha'i students are not required to
attend courses that teach Islam. In 1996 the late King Hussein and the
Ministry of Education approved a plan to provide religious instruction
for Christian students in public schools. In 1998 the Government
launched an experimental program in four districts to incorporate
Christian education in the public school curriculum for Christian
students only, and on condition that the school's Christian population
meet a size requirement. However, this program has not been implemented
because the Christian denominations have not agreed upon a common
curriculum. The Constitution provides that congregations have the right
to establish schools for the education of their own communities
``provided that they comply with the general provisions of the law and
are subject to government control in matters relating to their
curriculums and orientation.''
There are two major government-sponsored institutions that promote
interfaith understanding: The Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies
and the Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization Research (the Al al-Bayt
Foundation). The last time the Government held an international
Christian conference in government facilities was in 2002.
On January 23, 2006 a Royal Decree was issued to recognize
``Copts'' as a religious community. In December 2005 the Government
approved a request by the Coptic Orthodox bishop in Amman for the
establishment of a church court for the Coptic community. Although the
court has not yet been established, the Coptic priest has authority to
settle all personal status issues for members.
In August 2005 a member of the royal family, Prince Hamza, hosted a
conference that promoted interfaith dialogue among religious
communities. The conference included religious leaders from numerous
countries and focused on Islam as a faith with democratic principals.
In November 2004, supported by the Government, the Grand Mufti issued a
proclamation, known as the ``Amman Message'' stating that the ``true
nature'' of Islam is one of moderation and tolerance. He encouraged the
``silent majority'' to promote Islam as a faith capable of building
bridges of understanding between all nations.
The Islamic feasts of Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, the birth of the
Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet's Ascension, and the Islamic New Year,
are celebrated as national holidays. Christmas and the Gregorian
calendar New Year also are national holidays. Easter is a government-
recognized holiday and Christians may request leave for other Christian
feasts approved by the local Council of Bishops.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There were no reports that the practice of any faith was
prohibited; however, the Government does not officially recognize all
religious groups. Some religious groups, while allowed to meet and
practice their faith, faced societal and official discrimination. In
addition, not all Christian denominations have applied for or been
accorded legal recognition.
The Government does not recognize the Druze or Baha'i faiths as
religions but does not prohibit their practice. The Druze face official
discrimination but do not complain of social discrimination. Baha'is
face both official and social discrimination. On national identity
cards, which normally identify the bearer's religious community, the
Government records Druzes as Muslims, and indicates no religion for
Baha'is. The Baha'i community does not have its own court to adjudicate
personal status and family matters; such cases are heard in Shari'a
courts. The Government does not officially recognize the Druze temple
in Azraq, and four social halls belonging to the Druze are registered
as ``societies.'' The Government does not permit Baha'is to register
schools or places of worship. Employment applications for government
positions occasionally contain questions about an applicant's religion.
Additionally, the Constitution stipulates that the prime minister must
be a Muslim citizen. Christians serve regularly as cabinet ministers.
Of the 110 seats of the lower house of Parliament, 9 are reserved for
Christians. No seats are reserved for adherents of other religious
groups. No seats are reserved for Druzes, but they are permitted to
hold office under their Government classification as Muslims.
The Government does not recognize Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church
of Christ, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but each
is allowed to conduct religious services without interference.
The Government does not interfere with public worship by the
country's Christian minority.
The Government recognizes Judaism as a religion; however there are
reportedly no Jordanian citizens who are Jewish. The Government does
not impose restrictions on Jews, and they are permitted to own property
and conduct business in the country.
Because Shari'a law governs the personal status of Muslims,
converting from Islam to Christianity and proselytism of Muslims are
not allowed. Muslims who convert to another religion face societal and
governmental discrimination. The Government does not recognize the
legality of such conversions. Under Shari'a, converts are regarded as
apostates and may be denied their civil and property rights. In the
past, this principle has not been applied, but during the last
reporting period a convert to Christianity was found guilty of apostasy
and stripped of many of his civil rights. The Government maintains it
neither encourages nor prohibits apostasy. The Government does not
recognize converts from Islam as falling under the jurisdiction of
their new religious community's laws in matters of personal status;
converts are still considered Muslims. Converts to Islam fall under the
jurisdiction of Shari'a courts. Shari'a, in theory, provides for the
death penalty for Muslims who apostatize; however, such punishment has
never been applied in the country.
There is no statute that expressly forbids proselytism of Muslims;
however Government policy requires that foreign missionary groups
refrain from public proselytism. In August 2005 two foreign
missionaries were expelled from the country after a member of
parliament complained to the minister of the interior that they were
proselytizing among children without the permission of the parents. In
the past, the Government has taken action against some non-Orthodox
Christian missionaries in response to Orthodox Christians who
complained that missionary activities disrupt the peace and cohesion of
society.
Despite past difficulty in obtaining legal status, the Jordan
Evangelical Theological Seminary (JETS), a Christian training school
for pastors and missionaries, was registered with the Government and
operates as a cultural center. JETS is permitted to appoint faculty and
administration, but as a consequence the Government denies
accreditation as an academic institution. Students and faculty from
abroad wishing to attend JETS were sometimes able to live temporarily
in the country by using tourist visas; however, because of the lack of
accreditation, visas were sometimes not granted. Many students
overstayed their visas and upon departure from the country were
required to pay two dollars for each day they spent without a visa.
JETS is forbidden by the Government to accept Muslim students. During
the reporting period, JETS denied the request of a Muslim former member
of parliament to attend classes due to the Government's policy against
Muslims studying at the center. In the past, seven foreign students who
had converted from Islam to Christianity were forced out of the program
and required to leave the country. The Government authorized JETS to
own property, and in August 2003 the organization broke ground on a new
facility. During the reporting year, the Government confiscated a
shipment of approximately one hundred books ordered by JETS. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened and secured the release of the
books to JETS.
Parliamentary elections law historically has under-represented
urban areas that are centers of support for Islamist candidates.
The Political Parties Law prohibits houses of worship from being
used for political activity. The law was designed primarily to prevent
Government opponents from preaching politically-oriented sermons in
mosques.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Trusts manages Islamic
institutions and the construction of mosques. It also appoints imams,
provides mosque staff salaries, manages Islamic clergy training
centers, and subsidizes certain activities sponsored by mosques. The
Government monitors sermons at mosques and requires that preachers
refrain from political commentary that could instigate social or
political unrest.
In January and February 2006, Jihad Al-Momani, former chief editor
of the weekly newspaper Shihan, and Hussein Al-Khalidi, of the weekly
Al Mihar, were arrested, released, and then re-arrested for printing
controversial cartoons depicting Muhammad. Although released, the two
journalists each face charges of ``defaming the Prophet Muhammad''
which is punishable by up to three months imprisonment; and additional
charges of ``insulting God'' which carries a maximum sentence of three
years. Both men have pleaded ``not guilty'' to the charges stating that
their intent was to garner support for the movement against the Danish
paper that originally published the cartoons. On May 30, 2006 the two
men received the minimum sentence of two months prison, but were
immediately released on bail with the possibility that the sentences
will be commuted to fines of approximately $170 (JD 120) each.
According to the Constitution, religious community trusts
(``awqaf'') and matters of personal status such as religion, marriage,
divorce, child custody, and inheritance fall within the exclusive
jurisdiction of the Shari'a courts for Muslims and separate non-Muslim
tribunals for each religious community recognized by the Government.
There is no provision for civil marriage or divorce. The head of the
department that manages Shari'a court affairs (a cabinet-level
position) appoints Shari'a judges, while each recognized non-Muslim
religious community selects the structure and members of its own
tribunal. All judicial nominations are approved by the prime minister
and commissioned officially by royal decree. The Protestant
denominations registered as ``societies'' come under the jurisdiction
of one of the recognized Protestant church tribunals. There are no
tribunals assigned for atheists or adherents of unrecognized religions
such as the Druze and the Baha'i. Such individuals must request one of
the recognized courts to hear their personal status cases.
Shari'a is applied in all matters relating to family law involving
Muslims or the children of a Muslim father, and all citizens, including
non-Muslims, are subject to Islamic legal provisions regarding
inheritance. According to the law, all minor children of male citizens
who convert to Islam are considered to be Muslim. Adult children of a
male Christian who has converted to Islam become ineligible to inherit
from their father if they do not also convert to Islam. In cases in
which a Muslim converts to Christianity the conversion is not
recognized legally by the authorities, and the individual continues to
be treated as a Muslim in matters of family and property law.
In 2002, the Shari'a and civil court systems adjudicated a dispute
concerning custody of two minors, raised as Christians, whose father
allegedly converted to Islam shortly before his death. The widow
contended that her husband's signature on the conversion certificate
was a forgery. The courts assigned legal custody to the Christian
widow's brother, who is a convert to Islam. However, the children
remained in the mother's physical custody pending the result of a
counter suit she filed against her brother, alleging disinterest in the
children and misuse of the children's trust funds. In April 2005, a
court ruled in the mother's favor and assigned her legal custody of the
children. In May 2005, the widow's brother appealed against the ruling,
but an appellate court rejected the petition.
Some Christians are unable to divorce under the legal system
because they are subject to their denomination's religious court
system, which does not allow divorce. Such individuals sometimes
convert to another Christian denomination or to the Islamic faith to
divorce legally.
Druzes, Baha'is, and members of other unrecognized religious groups
do not have their religious affiliations correctly noted on their
national identity cards or ``family books'' (the family book is a
national registration record that is issued to the head of every family
and that serves as proof of citizenship). Atheists must associate
themselves with a recognized religion for purposes of official
identification.
The Government traditionally reserves some positions in the upper
levels of the military for Christians (4 percent); however, all senior
command positions have been held by Muslims. Division-level commanders
and above are required to lead Islamic prayer on certain occasions.
There is no Christian clergy in the military.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On January 20, 2006 a Shari'a court received an apostasy complaint
against Mahmoud Abdel Rahman Mohammad Eleker, a convert from Islam to
Christianity. On April 14, 2006 the complainant, the convert's brother-
in-law, dropped the charges after the convert's wife renounced in the
presence of a lawyer any claims she might have to an inheritance from
her own parents. However, Eleker must still appear before a court in
order to receive an official guarantee that no new charges will be
filed. Eleker and his pastor postponed the date of this appearance
until the end of July, having heard rumors of an upcoming change in the
apostasy law which might help his case. The case was still pending at
the end of the reporting period.
On September 13, 2004, on the order of a Shari'a court, a convert
from Islam to Christianity was arrested and held overnight on charges
of apostasy. On November 23, 2004 a Shari'a court found the defendant
guilty of apostasy. The ruling was upheld on January 25, 2005 by a
Shari'a appeals court. The verdict declared the convert to be a ward of
the state, striped him of his civil rights, and annulled his marriage.
It further declared him to be without any religious identity. It stated
that he lost all rights to inheritance and may not remarry his (now
former) wife unless he returns to Islam, and forbade his being
considered an adherent of any other religion. The verdict implies the
possibility that legal and physical custody of his child could be
assigned to someone else. The convert reportedly left the country with
his family and is not believed to have returned.
There were no reports of religious detainees or prisoners who
remained in custody at the end of the period covered by this report.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States. However, according to the law, the father of any
child, whether Muslim or Christian, may restrict the child's travel.
Anti-Semitism
Editorial cartoons, articles and opinion pieces critical of Israel
and Israeli politics were frequently published in the local press.
Anti-Semitic pieces occurred with much less frequency, and were usually
the expressions of political columnists; they did not prompt a response
from the Government.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Baha'is faced some societal
discrimination.
The majority of the population views religion as central to one's
personal identity. Muslims who convert to other religions often face
social ostracism, threats, and abuse from their families and Muslim
religious leaders. Parents usually strongly discourage young adults
from pursuing interfaith romantic relationships, because they may lead
to conversion. Such relationships may lead to ostracism and, in some
cases, violence against the couple or feuds between members of the
couple's families. When such situations arise, families may approach
local government officials for resolution. In the past, there were
reports that in some cases local government officials encouraged
Christian women involved in relationships with Muslim men to convert to
Islam to defuse potential family or tribal conflict and keep the peace;
however, during the period covered by this report, there were no known
cases in which local officials encouraged conversion from Christianity
to Islam.
During the reporting period, local newspapers occasionally
published articles critical of Christian evangelical organizations.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government actively promotes religious freedom issues with
the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
U.S. Embassy officials raised religious freedom and other human rights
issues with government authorities on a number of occasions via formal
inquiry and discussion. Embassy officers met frequently with members of
the various religious and missionary communities in the country, as
well as with private religious organizations.
In October 2005, the Embassy funded an interfaith conference to
commemorate the first anniversary of the Amman Message. The conference,
titled ``The Amman Message in Action'' was organized by the Jordan
Interfaith Coexistence Research Center and brought together experts,
professors, and clerics from the three monotheistic faiths from Jordan,
the Middle East, and the United States. The conference produced an
interfaith endorsement of the principles of the Amman Message, and
culminated in an interfaith celebration of the end of the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan.
From September 10 to October 1, 2005, the Embassy also sponsored
the participation of Shari'a judges in an international visitor program
designed to expose these religious scholars to the diversity, religious
tolerance and freedom of U.S. society, including meeting religious
leaders from several religious groups and U.S officials who raised
religious freedom concerns. From November 21 to December 9, 2005, the
Grand Mufti of Jordan traveled to the United States on an International
Visitor exchange for the same purpose.
In September 2005, Embassy officers met with moderate Islamic
political leaders dedicated to tolerance and religious dialogue. The
U.S. Department of State continued its multi-phase exchange program to
bring U.S. religious leaders to the country and Jordanian imams and
other religious leaders to the United States for outreach activities
aimed at grassroots communities and youth.
__________
KUWAIT
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government placed some limits on this right. The Constitution also
provides that the state shall protect the freedom to practice religion
in accordance with established customs, provided that it does not
conflict with public policy or morals. The Constitution declares that
Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a (Islamic law) is a main
source of legislation.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. Government officials met with various
religious groups in the country and hosted a conference to promote
religious tolerance. The Government made efforts to promote moderation
through the formation of a special committee on strengthening
moderation through information campaigns in schools and training
sessions for religious leaders. The new emir sponsored an international
conference in London on moderation in Islam and pledged to sponsor two
more conferences in the coming year, one in the United States and one
in Russia.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Tensions came to the surface
during the reporting year as a result of an attack on a Shi'a mosque
and requests made by minority religious groups to build or gain
recognition for religious-based institutions.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
Embassy hosted events designed to bring different religious groups
together, sent religious leaders to the United States on professional
exchange programs, and promoted a dialogue between U.S. military
chaplains and local imams.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 6,880 square miles, and its population
is approximately 2.9 million, of which 973,000 are citizens. The
remaining residents are foreign workers and their families. More than
100,000 Bidoon (stateless) Arabs, with residence ties to the country,
either have no documentation, or are unwilling to disclose their
nationality. The national census did not distinguish between Shi'a and
Sunni Muslims. Estimates suggested that approximately 70 percent of
citizens, including the ruling family, belonged to the Sunni branch of
Islam. Most of the remaining 30 percent were Shi'a Muslims. These
estimates came from voting, which often occurs along sectarian lines,
and personal status documents. There are approximately 150 to 200
Christian citizens, and a small number of Bahai citizens. Some 100,000
of the noncitizen residents are Shi'a. Some areas had relatively high
concentrations of Sunnis or Shi'a; for instance, Jahra province had a
small Shi'a population compared to Sunnis. For the most part, however,
the country was fairly integrated religiously.
The primarily expatriate Christian population is estimated to be
more than 300,000, with alternate estimates at more than 400,000. The
Christian community included: The Anglican (Episcopalian) Church with
approximately 100 members (several thousand other Christians also used
the Anglican Church for worship services); Armenian Orthodox Church
with approximately 4,000 members; Coptic Orthodox Church with at least
65,000 members; Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church with approximately
1,000 to 2,000 members (Greek Catholics worship in a rented house, not
at the Catholic cathedral in Kuwait City); Greek Orthodox Church
(referred to in Arabic as the Roman Orthodox Church, a reference to the
Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium) with an estimated 3,500 members;
National Evangelical (Protestant) Church with more than seventy
congregations serving approximately 40,000; and the Roman Catholic
Church, with two official churches and a third worship facility in a
rented house, with an estimated 250,000 members (Latin, Maronite,
Coptic Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Malabar, and Malankara
congregations all worshipped at the Catholic cathedral in Kuwait City).
There were many other unrecognized Christian sub-groups, totaling
tens of thousands of members. These included: Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Indian Orthodox Syrian Church, Mar Thoma,
and Seventh-day Adventists.
There are also communities of Baha'is (estimated 400 adherents),
Buddhists (estimated 100,000), Hindus (estimated 300,000), and Sikhs
(approximately 10,000 to 20,000).
Missionary groups in the country served non-Muslim congregations.
The Government prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing to Muslims.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government placed some limits on this right. The Constitution also
provides that the state shall protect the freedom to practice religion
in accordance with established customs, provided that it does not
conflict with public policy or morals. The Constitution declares that
Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is a main source of
legislation.
The Government exercises direct control of the dominant Sunni
strain of Islam. This creates certain advantages and disadvantages for
both Sunnis and Shi'a. For example, the Government appoints Sunni imams
and monitors their Friday sermons. It also finances the building of
Sunni mosques. The Government does not exert this control over Shi'a
mosques and Shi'a must fund their own mosques.
The 2006 Press and Publications Law specifically prohibits the
publication of any material that attacks religious groups or incites
persons to commit crimes, create hatred, or spread dissension among the
public. There are laws against blasphemy, apostasy, and proselytizing.
These laws sometimes were used to restrict religious freedom.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has official
responsibility for overseeing religious groups. Officially recognized
churches must deal with a variety of government entities, including the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (for visas and residence permits
for pastors and other staff) and the Municipality of Kuwait (for
building permits and land concerns). While reportedly there was no
official government list of recognized churches, seven Christian
churches had at least some form of official recognition enabling them
to operate openly. These seven churches had open files at the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labor, allowing them to bring in pastors and
staff to operate their churches.
Four Christian sub-groups are widely understood to enjoy full
recognition by the Government and are allowed to operate compounds
officially designated as churches: Anglican, Coptic Orthodox, National
Evangelical (Protestant), and Roman Catholic. They faced quotas on the
number of clergy and staff they could bring into the country. Some of
the churches find the quotas adequate. Others found them insufficient
and considered their existing facilities inadequate to serve their
respective communities. They faced significant problems in trying to
build new facilities.
The Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church had an open file at the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. Greek Catholics worshipped in a
rented house (two other Indian Catholic denominations also used the
house for worship services).
The Armenian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches were allowed to
operate openly, hire employees, invite religious speakers, and conduct
other such activities without Government interference; however,
according to Government records, their facilities were registered only
as private homes. They rented facilities from private citizens for
worship services and other religious purposes, putting them in a
vulnerable position if the owner decides to stop renting to them since
it is difficult to find other landlords willing to rent to religious
groups. No other churches or religious groups had legal status, but
adherents generally were allowed to operate freely in private homes
provided that they did not violate laws limiting public assembly or
prohibiting proselytizing.
The procedures for registration and licensing of religious groups
appear to be connected to those for non governmental organizations
(NGOs). In 1993, the Council of Ministers ordered all unlicensed NGOs
to cease activities, but this order has never been enforced. There were
hundreds of unlicensed, informal NGOs, clubs, and civic groups in the
country. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor issued an increasing
number of new NGO licenses including sixteen during the reporting year.
At the end of the reporting period, there were 163 NGO applications
pending with the Ministry. Nonrecognized Christian groups perceived it
as impossible to gain official recognition and contented themselves
with worshipping in private.
In February 2005 the Government announced it would remove all
street-side Islamic charity boxes, due to difficulty monitoring and
confirming whether the funds were diverted to uses other than the
intended charitable cause; removal was completed in March 2005. All
charitable contributions of licensed Islamic charities in the country
require Central Bank approval. There is a charitable organizations
department within the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor that is
responsible for regulating religious charities based in the country,
which reviews their applications for registration and monitors their
operations.
The Higher Advisory Committee on Completion of the Application of
Islamic Shari'a Provisions is tasked with preparing society for the
full implementation of Shari'a in all fields. The committee makes
recommendations to the emir on ways in which current laws can be
brought into better conformity with Shari'a, but it has no authority to
enforce such changes. The Constitution states Shari'a is a main source
of legislation, but some Islamists would like to amend that to the only
source of legislation.
The following Islamic holy days are considered national holidays:
Islamic New Year, Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, Ascension of the
Prophet, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha. The workweek in the country is
generally Saturday through Wednesday. Most Christians attended church
on Fridays and did not cite the inability to go on Sunday as a
religious concern. Some workers are able to arrange with their
employers to have time on Sunday for worship. Private employers can
decide whether to give their non-Muslim employees time off for their
holidays.
The Government requires Islamic religious instruction in public
schools for all students. The Government also requires Islamic
religious instruction and prohibits other religious instruction in
private schools that have one or more Muslim students.
In March 2006 the Government, through the Ministry of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs, sponsored a conference entitled ``We and the Other,''
to emphasize Islam's openness to cooperation with persons of other
religious groups. It also screened for foreign diplomats a film
proposal for a television series on the life of Muhammad. In May 2006,
it held in London the first of a series of three international
conferences on moderation in Islam. Government officials continued to
meet with Muslim leaders and the heads of various Christian
denominations to promote interfaith understanding. The Government
designated a committee specifically designed to strengthen religious
moderation, which undertook an education campaign in the schools to
encourage respect for the opinions and beliefs of others. As part of
the moderation program, the Government planned to open an institute
devoted to promoting moderation amongst Muslims and increased
understanding of Islam by non-Muslims.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Shi'a are free to worship according to their faith without
Government interference, and the overall situation for Shi'a remained
stable during the reporting period. An attack on a Shi'a mosque in
October 2005 by alleged Sunni extremists caused concern among the Shi'a
community, but it proved to be an isolated incident. Members of the
Shi'a community have expressed concern over the relative scarcity of
Shi'a mosques due to the Government's slow approval of the construction
of new mosques and the repair of existing ones. (There were
approximately thirty-five Shi'a mosques compared to more than 1,000
Sunni mosques in the country.) Since 2001 the Government has granted
licenses for and has approved the construction of six new Shi'a
mosques. Three of these mosques were reportedly in the final stages of
construction and were scheduled to open in 2006.
There were approximately 650 Shi'a husseiniyas (Shi'a gathering
places) in the country, most of which are informal or unlicensed.
Husseiniyas are used for social gatherings, funerals, and for annual
religious observances. Generally, the country's husseiniyas are
privately owned and associated with prominent Shi'a families.
Family law is administered through religious courts. The Government
permits Shi'a to follow their own jurisprudence in matters of personal
status and family law at the first-instance and appellate levels. In
2003, the Government approved a long-standing Shi'a request to
establish a Shi'a court of cassation (Supreme Court) to handle Shi'a
personal status and family law cases at the highest judicial level.
However, the court has not yet been established because there are no
Shi'a (Ja'fari) judges for this level of jurisdiction. In November
2003, the Government publicly announced its approval of another long-
standing Shi'a request for the establishment of an independent Shi'a
(Ja'fari) Waqf, an agency to administer religious endowments in
accordance with the Ja'fari school of jurisprudence. The Shi'a Waqf has
been able to carry out its work freely.
Shi'a who aspire to serve as imams are forced to seek appropriate
training and education abroad (mainly in Iraq and Iran, and to a lesser
degree in Syria), due to the lack of Shi'a jurisprudence courses at
Kuwait University's College of Islamic Law (Faculty of Shari'a). The
Ministry of Education was reviewing a Shi'a application to establish a
private college to train Shi'a clerics. Shi'a leaders have called on
the Ministry of Education to remove references from high school Islamic
education textbooks declaring Shi'a as nonbelievers. Sunni scholars
author the books, which are entirely based on the Sunni interpretation
of Islam. A governmental committee was formed to study the issue of
removing references that are offensive to Shi'a Islam.
One of the leading Shi'a imams in the country gave a Friday sermon
that led members of parliament to demand that he be suspended. The
Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs sent the imam a letter telling
him to stop preaching. The imam continued preaching without government
interference.
Shi'a remained under-represented in upper levels of government. In
2006 four Shi'a were elected to the fifty-member National Assembly,
compared with five Shi'a in the previous assembly and six in the
assembly before that. A new cabinet was formed in February 2006, after
the death of the country's long-serving emir and installation of new
government leaders. The new prime minister retained the only Shi'a
Minister from the previous cabinet (Dr. Ma'asouma Mubarak, Minister of
Planning, and the country's first female minister) and added another
Shi'a (Dr. Yousef Al-Zalzalah, Minister of Commerce and Industry, who
was a member of parliament as well). Another new cabinet, also with two
Shi'a members, was formed after the June 2006 parliamentary elections.
Dr. Ma'asouma Mubarak became Minister of Communications while Dr. Abdul
Hadi Al-Salih took on the position of State Minister for National
Assembly Affairs. There were no known Shi'a in the Kuwait State
Security (KSS) forces, and they were reportedly under-represented in
the National Guard.
In March 2004 the Government permitted Shi'a to stage a public
reenactment of the Battle of Karbala depicting the martyrdom of Imam
Hussein, Muhammad's grandson. Television networks, also for the first
time, broadcast programs on the Shi'a religious holiday of Ashura. The
Government denied a Shi'a request during 2005. In 2006 the Government
allowed and provided security for public celebrations, marches, and
reenactments during Ashura, without giving official permits.
The Anglican, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox,
National Evangelical, and Catholic churches operated freely on their
premises and hold worship services without Government interference.
Their leaders also state that the Government generally was supportive
of their presence, providing police security and traffic control as
needed. Other Christian denominations (including Indian Orthodox, Mar
Thoma, Mormons, and Seventh-day Adventists) were not recognized legally
but were allowed to operate in rented villas, private homes, or the
facilities of recognized churches. Members of these congregations
reported that they were able to worship without government
interference, provided that they did not disturb their neighbors or
violate laws regarding assembly and proselytizing. Churches outside of
the four recognized denominations are prohibited from displaying
exterior signage, including a cross or the congregation's name, or
engaging in other public activities, such as ringing bells. Some
churches without the financial resources to rent a location were able
to gather in schools on the weekends, although representatives from the
churches reported that the schools were pressured to stop allowing such
gatherings.
In September 2005 there was an announcement that the Government had
approved the Melkite Catholics' application for a plot of land to build
a new church, although this decision had not been approved by all the
relevant governmental institutions. The Melkites applied for the land
because they worshiped in a rented villa whose owner wanted to evict
them. After repeated delays, however, the Municipal Council rejected
the Church's request outright after the period covered by this report.
The ostensible reason for the rejection was traffic concerns, but
religious opposition to church-building was almost certainly the reason
for refusal. The Government has the power to reverse the Municipal
Council's decision. In general, churches have found it all but
impossible to get permission to build new facilities.
Some church officials reported that domestic workers complained of
not being allowed to leave their homes by their employers, thus making
it impossible for them to worship with their congregations.
There have been past examples of anti-Semitic rhetoric in
government-sponsored education curricula, such as citing Qur'anic
verses to denounce the political intentions of the Jewish people,
specifically in reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Members of religious groups not sanctioned in the Qur'an, such as
Baha'is, Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs, may not build official places of
worship since these religious groups lack legal status, but they are
allowed to worship privately in their homes without government
interference.
The Sikh community was able to worship freely in private homes. In
past years they had used a rented apartment designated for worship, but
the building was destroyed for reasons unrelated to the Sikhs'
presence. The community reported that it had not been able to find
another landlord willing to rent them a space to be used for religious
purposes. They have been unable to gain permission for a crematorium to
cremate their deceased. Sikhs also engaged in other religious
activities, including public marriage and other celebrations, without
government interference.
In 2003 the Government reportedly closed the file on the National
Evangelical Church (NEC) due to the NEC's alleged failure to comply
with the National Manpower Support Law by employing the requisite
number of citizens. The Government had reinstated the NEC's open file
status by May 2004, and the church was able to apply for and renew
visas for pastors and staff; however, in accordance with the Law, the
Government imposed substantial annual fines for every visa application
or renewal submitted on behalf of non-citizen staff, in addition to
routine visa and residency fees. Church leaders negotiated with
Government authorities to resolve the fine issue and exempt the church
from the law's Kuwaitization requirements. NEC church leaders continued
to report that they did not have access to the number of visas they
would like to fully staff their activities.
The law prohibits organized religious education for religious
groups other than Islam, although this law was not enforced rigidly.
Informal religious instruction occurs inside private homes and on
church compounds without government interference; however, there were
reports that government inspectors from the Ministry of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs periodically visited public and private schools outside
of church compounds to ensure that religious teaching other than Islam
did not take place. During the reporting period, the Government still
had not responded to the request from the Catholic Church to permit
Catholic students in certain private schools to study the Catechism
separately during the period allotted for instruction in Islam. The
National Evangelical Church requested a license for its school, which
it has operated for several decades. After receiving approval from
numerous governmental bodies, the Church's request was denied by the
Municipal Council amid erroneous media reports that the Church planned
to take over a historic site for the school and for the purpose of
proselytizing. Press statements by Municipal Council members suggested
the request was refused on ideological grounds rather than on zoning or
other technical grounds. The Municipal Council controls access to
Government land and has become a focus for society's internal division
over granting land to non-Muslim religious institutions.
The Catholic Church faced severe overcrowding at its two official
church facilities. Its cathedral in downtown Kuwait City regularly drew
tens of thousands of worshippers to its more than twenty weekly
services in several languages. Due to limited space on the compound,
the church was unable to construct any new buildings. The National
Evangelical Church, which served a weekly average of 20,000 worshippers
in more than seventy congregations, was also overcrowded. The Church
would like more land to build a new church but had not made an official
request.
The Coptic Orthodox Church reported that it had excellent relations
with the Government and faced no difficulties in bringing church
workers and guests into the country. The Government has been extremely
cooperative in providing permits to erect tents on adjacent lots to
handle the crowds during Christian holidays. The Church's main
challenge was the overcrowding at its small compound facility in Kuwait
City. The Government planned to level the current Coptic Church
building to make way for a road project. It had granted the Church
6,500 square meters of new land in Hawally district to build a new
place of worship; however, it has not offered any financial assistance
to construct the new church. Construction began in the first quarter of
2006, and the Church expected it to take more than a year to complete
the project. The church agreed to move to a temporary facility if the
road project began while the church was under construction. No date had
been set for the church's demolition.
In December 2004 and 2005, a group of Salafi Islamists in the
region of Jahra forced merchants to remove Christmas items such as
trees and greeting cards from their stores, claiming holiday items
connected to Christmas and New Year's celebrations were contrary to
Islamic teachings. In 2004 the group reportedly produced a petition
with 350 signatures demanding the removal, asserting that allowing such
goods to be available was haram (forbidden).
The Government prohibits missionaries from proselytizing among
Muslims; however, they may serve non-Muslim congregations. In November,
the police arrested five preachers, none of whom were country natives,
who went door-to-door espousing the ideology of al-Qaeda.
The Government controls the content delivered by imams and
preachers in their sermons. The Government banned a number of religious
leaders, including the imam of the Grand Mosque, from giving Friday
sermons after they strayed from government-approved topics. The
Government especially clamped down on preachers at unlicensed mosques
and those who commented too directly on politics.
The Government does not permit the establishment of non-Islamic
religious publishing companies or training institutions for clergy.
Nevertheless, several churches publish religious materials solely for
their congregations' use.
A private company, the Book House Company Ltd., was permitted to
import a significant number of Bibles and other Christian religious
materials, including videotapes and compact discs, for use solely by
government-recognized church congregations. The Book House Company Ltd.
was the only company that had an import license to bring in such
materials, which requires approval by government censors. The company
supplied only bookstores operated within the Christian compounds. There
were reports of customs officials confiscating non-Islamic religious
materials from private citizens upon their arrival at the airport.
Domestic workers reported that their employers confiscate religious
articles such as Bibles and rosary beads, along with nonreligious
items. In 2003, police arrested five foreign workers for allegedly
proselytizing with Bibles in the Andalus district. State security
officials later released the individuals on the condition they sign
commitments pledging to refrain from proselytizing.
In April 2006 the Government banned eighteen books from being
displayed at an Islamic book festival organized by the Social Reform
Society, a religiously conservative NGO affiliated with the Kuwaiti
Muslim Brotherhood. The banned books were authored by or contained the
writings of individuals associated with the Wahhabi/Salafi movement in
Islam.
The Islam Presentation Committee (IPC), under the authority of the
Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, actively encouraged
proselytizing Islam to non-Muslims. The IPC maintained an office at the
Central Prison to provide religious education and information to
inmates.
Although there was a small community of approximately 150 to 200
acknowledged Christian citizens, a 1980 law prohibits the
naturalization of non-Muslims; however, citizens who were Christians
before 1980 are allowed to transmit their citizenship to their
descendents.
The law forbids marriage between Muslim women and non-Muslim men. A
non-Muslim female is not required by law to convert to Islam to marry a
Muslim male. In practice many non-Muslim women face strong economic and
societal pressure to convert. Failure to convert may mean that, should
the couple later divorce, the Muslim father would be granted custody of
any children. A non-Muslim woman who fails to convert also is
ineligible to inherit her husband's property or to be naturalized.
Women continued to experience legal and social discrimination. In
the family courts (i.e., those controlled by religious bodies), one
man's testimony is sometimes given the same weight as that of two
women; however, in the civil, criminal, and administrative courts, the
testimony of women and men is considered equally.
Bidoon (stateless) Arabs continued to face great difficulty in
obtaining documents necessary to travel abroad, including for travel to
participate in the Hajj. The Government declared in early 2006 that it
would facilitate the obtaining of travel documents by Bidoon, but
whether these declarations would have a tangible effect remained
unclear.
Inheritance is governed by Islamic law, which differs according to
the branch of Islam. In the absence of a direct male heir, Shi'a women
may inherit all property, while Sunni women inherit only a portion with
the balance divided among brothers, uncles, and male cousins of the
deceased.
During the reporting period, there were no reports of the
Government prohibiting state employees from displaying or practicing
any elements of their faith. However, in late 2003, the headmistress of
a public high school in Farwaniya district reportedly dismissed several
female students for failure to wear the Islamic hijab (headscarf). The
school readmitted the students and the headmistress was criticized
widely in the local media.
The law requires jail terms for journalists who defame religion.
Academic freedom is limited in practice by self-censorship. Academics
and journalists are legally prohibited from criticizing Islam. The law
also provides that any Muslim citizen may file criminal charges against
an author if the citizen believes that the author has defamed Islam,
the ruling family, or public morals.
In 2004, an appeals court sentenced a journalist to a 1-year
suspended sentence for a 2004 article deemed to defame the Qur'an. The
publication's editor received a 50KD fine (equivalent to $175 USD) in
2004. Three Islamist activists filed the complaint resulting in the
court case.
In January 2004 the Court of Misdemeanor sentenced a Shi'a citizen
to one year in jail with hard labor and fined him approximately 1,000
KD ($3,500 USD) for producing and distributing an audiotape allegedly
defaming the Islamic (Sunni) religion, degrading its rituals and rites,
and defaming and abusing Muhammad's Companions. In February 2004, the
citizen reportedly was released from prison in error by an Amiri pardon
issued on the occasion of the country's National Day. The Government
subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest, but he reportedly
remained at large. In March 2004, the Appeals Court dismissed the
original misdemeanor verdict and referred the citizen's case to the
Public Prosecutor for re-trial by the Criminal Court. As a result, the
citizen also faced more serious charges of violating the State Security
Law. In May 2004, the Criminal Court sentenced him to ten years in jail
in absentia on charges of defaming Sunni Islam. Most Shi'a believe that
hardline Sunni Islamist pressure was behind the Government's harsh
action against the individual, even though they too publicly condemned
his anti-Sunni statements and the audiocassette incident.
In February 2006 a new Press and Publications law was passed which
increased fines and jail sentences for those who publish material
denigrating Islam. It also expanded the scope of what cannot be
criticized to include the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Ministry of Interior, General Customs Department, arrested and
deported thirty-two individuals in 2004 for allegedly practicing
sorcery and confiscated alleged sorcery-related materials during the
reporting period.
The Government does not designate religion on passports or national
identity documents.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States. There have been cases in which U.S. citizen children
have been prevented from returning to the United States; however, there
were no reports that such children were forced to convert to Islam, or
that forced conversion was the reason the children were not allowed to
return to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Ministry of Education continued to review a Shi'a proposal to
establish a private college to train Shi'a clerics; however, at the end
of the reporting year, no action had been taken. The Ministry also
continued to review a request from the Catholic Church to allow
Catholic students at certain private schools to study the Catechism
during the time allotted for Islamic instruction.
Interfaith dialogues took place among Christian denominations
through the framework of a council representing Christian leaders from
various churches and numerous informal meetings. Government officials
promoted interfaith understanding by meeting with Shi'a and Sunni
leaders. The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs also sponsored a
conference and screened a film in an attempt to increase religious
tolerance.
In 2005, more than 10,000 worshippers from the Bohra community
celebrated the Sultan of Bohra's birthday without interference. The
Bohra participants, who are Shi'a Muslims mainly from Gujarat in
western India, gathered at their community center.
The death of Pope John Paul II received wide press coverage
throughout April 2005, including full-page spreads in local newspapers.
In a country where the Catholic Church estimates its population as 10
percent of all residents (although this could not be independently
verified), the Government issued a public statement expressing ``agony
of the Christian brothers'' following the Pope's death. Senior
Government officials attended commemoration events at the Catholic
cathedral, and an Amiri envoy led a delegation representing the
Government at the Pope's funeral at the Vatican. Local newspapers
provided extensive coverage of Christmas and Easter celebrations in
2005 and 2006. The play Nunsense had a successful run in the country
without incident despite its portrayal of Christian nuns.
Christian churches held memorial services after the death of Amir
Shaykh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
In general there were amicable relations among the various
religious groups, and citizens generally were open and tolerant of
other religious groups; however, there was a small minority of
ultraconservatives opposed to the presence of non-Muslim groups.
While some discrimination based on religion reportedly occurred on
a personal level, most observers agreed that it was not widespread.
There was a perception among some domestic employees and members of the
unskilled labor force that there would be better treatment from
employers as well as from society as a whole if they converted to
Islam; however, others did not see conversion to Islam as a factor in
this regard.
The conversion of Muslims to other religions is forbidden. While
such conversions reportedly have occurred, they have been done quietly
and discreetly. Known converts faced harassment, including loss of job,
repeated summonses to police stations, arbitrary detention, physical
and verbal abuse, police monitoring of their activities, and property
damage without legal recourse.
In the June 2006 elections, an openly declared atheist ran for
parliament on a platform of separating church and state. She was not
subject to any restrictions or harassment.
In 2004 some well-known Salafis called on Muslims to refrain from
congratulating non-Muslims on their holidays. In December 2004, the
Chairman of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society's (RIHS) Good Word
Committee announced in an Arabic daily newspaper that it is forbidden
for Muslims to imitate non-Muslims in all matters, including
participating in non-Muslim festivals and holidays. The announcement
stated that Muslims are ``prohibited from sharing the Christian and
other infidel religious groups' holidays in any form, whether by
attendance, exchange of gifts, or expression of joy.''
There were incidents of unofficial anti-Semitic commentary from
media pundits and some mosque preachers. On August 7, 2005, a private
citizen purchased newspaper space to run an advertisement with anti-
Semitic imagery. On August 10, 2005, the Government referred the two
newspapers that carried the advertisement to the attorney general for
prosecution under the law, which forbids publishing religious material
without a license.
In October 2005 a group of several dozen or perhaps as many as 200
alleged Sunni extremists attacked a Shi'a mosque in the Jahra area. The
attack stirred fears of Sunni-Shi'a tension in the country, since the
mosque had been attacked previously. No further incidents were
reported. Despite initial reports that the Government had provided
insufficient security for the mosque, the Government made arrests and
the mosque owner was satisfied with the response.
In 2005, an extremist Salafi cleric preached violent jihad in the
country. The Government blocked access to the Salafi preacher's website
in February and banned him from preaching at his mosque in March. He
then was detained by KSS forces for alleged links to two of the January
shoot-outs between law enforcement officials and militants.
The Government's moderation program was an attempt to temper the
effects of any such intra-religious tension. The program was well
received in general, despite one member of parliament's publicly
labeling the advocates of moderation ``terrorists with deviant ideas.''
The same member of parliament lost his seat in the 2006 elections.
Shi'a complain of a ``glass ceiling'' that prevents them from
obtaining promotions as easily as their Sunni counterparts. They
reportedly had more difficulty in obtaining appointments in certain
government agencies. The appointment of two Shi'a Ministers in the
February 2006 cabinet and in the July 2006 cabinet was a positive step.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government in the context of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
Intensive monitoring of religious freedom matters has long been an
Embassy priority. U.S. Embassy officials meet frequently with
recognized Sunni, Shi'a, and Christian groups, as well as
representatives of various unrecognized religious groups and of NGOs
that deal with religious freedom concerns.
The ambassador and other Embassy officers actively encourage the
Government to address the concerns of religious leaders, such as
overcrowding, lack of adequate worship space, lack of access to
religious materials, insufficient staffing, and bureaucratic delays in
processing routine requests. During the reporting period, Embassy
officials met with senior representatives from the major recognized
Christian denominations in the country, encouraged them to present
their concerns in a unified manner to the Government, and advocated on
their behalf in high-level meetings with government officials.
The Embassy has made an effort to increase its dialogue with and
understanding of the Municipal Council, whose control over land grants
and other permits give it a key role in allowing religious institutions
to flourish.
In an effort to develop a dialogue with Muslim moderates, the
Embassy worked with the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to send
two imams to the United States on a Single-Country International
Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) entitled, ``Religion in the U.S.''
The project showed the participants the scope of religious freedom in
the United States and encouraged the promotion of tolerance and
interreligious understanding. A third official of the ministry
participated in another IVLP, ``Interfaith Dialogue in the U.S.'' Both
projects consisted of three-week visits to five representative cities
in the United States. Participants met with counterparts of different
religious backgrounds. All three participants said that the visit
radically transformed their preconceived notions about life in the
United States. They reported that they gained an appreciation for the
interreligious dialogue in the United States, the freedom of worship
that Muslims have in America, and the tolerant diversity they
discovered in their interaction with American clergy.
Embassy facilities are used for weekly services by Protestant and
Catholic congregations largely composed of official personnel and
western expatriates. Official premises are used for these services due
to overcrowding and security concerns at compounds located in the
downtown area.
__________
LEBANON
The Constitution provides for absolute freedom of belief and
guarantees the freedom to practice all religious rites provided that
the public order is not disturbed. The Constitution declares equality
of rights and duties for all citizens without discrimination or
preference but establishes a balance of power among the major religious
groups. The Government generally respected these rights; however, there
were some restrictions, and the Constitutional provision for
apportioning political offices according to religious affiliation may
be viewed as inherently discriminatory.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. The status of religious freedom continued
to be affected by the 1989 Ta'if Agreement that, in accordance with
demographic developments in the country, mandated an increase in Muslim
representation in Parliament so that it would be equal to the
representation of the country's Christian community. In addition, the
Ta'if Agreement, which concluded the country's fifteen-year civil war,
endorsed the Constitutional provision of appointing most senior
government officials according to religious affiliation. This practice
is operative in all three branches of government. The Ta'if Agreement
also stipulated a cabinet with power equally allocated between Muslims
and Christians. The political establishment has been reluctant to
change this ``confessional'' system, because citizens perceive it as an
element critical to the country's stability. Some religious groups do
not enjoy official recognition, such as Baha'is, Buddhists, Hindus, and
unregistered Protestant Christian groups. They are disadvantaged under
the law in that their members do not qualify for certain government
positions, but they do not suffer discrimination in the practice of
their faith.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There were, however, periodic
reports of tension between religious groups, attributable to
competition for political power, and citizens continued to struggle
with the legacy of a fifteen-year civil war that was fought largely
along sectarian lines. Despite sectarian tensions caused by the
competition for political power, churches, mosques, and other places of
worship continued to exist side-by-side extending a centuries-long
national heritage as a place of refuge for those fleeing religious
intolerance.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, founded as a modern state in 1943, has an area of
4,035 square miles and a population of four million. Because parity
among confessional groups remains a sensitive issue, a national census
has not been conducted since 1932. However, according to three
reputable demographic studies conducted over the past two years, 28-35
percent of the population was Sunni Muslim, 28-35 percent Shi'a Muslim,
25-39 percent Christian, and 5-6 percent Druze. Over the past sixty
years, there has been a steady decline in the number of Christians as
compared to Muslims, mostly through emigration of large numbers of the
Christian Maronite community. There were also very small numbers of the
Jews, Baha'is, Mormons, Buddhists, and Hindus.
Of the eighteen officially recognized religious groups, four were
Muslim, twelve Christian, one Druze, and one Jewish. The main branches
of Islam were Shi'a and Sunni. The smallest Muslim communities were the
Alawites and the Ismaili (``Sevener'') Shi'a order. The Maronite
community, by far the largest Christian group, has had a centuries-long
affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church but has its own patriarch,
liturgy, and ecclesiastical customs. The second largest Christian group
is the Greek Orthodox Church, principally composed of ethnic Arabs who
maintain a Greek-language liturgy. Other Christians were divided among
Greek Catholics, Armenian Orthodox (Gregorians), Armenian Catholics,
Syrian Orthodox (Jacobites), Syrian Catholics, Assyrians (Nestorians),
Chaldeans, Copts, evangelicals (including Protestant groups such as the
Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists), and Latins (Roman Catholic). The
Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or ``believers in one
God,'' are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south
of Beirut. Divisions and rivalries between various groups date back
many centuries, and while relationships between religious adherents of
different confessions were generally amicable, group identity was
highly significant in most aspects of cultural interaction.
Foreign missionaries operating in the country, primarily from
Catholic and evangelical Christian churches, operated missions,
schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
Many persons fleeing religious mistreatment and discrimination in
neighboring states have immigrated to the country, including Kurds,
Shi'a, and Chaldeans from Iraq, as well as Coptic Christians from Egypt
and Sudan. Precise figures were unavailable due to the lack of census
data and the tendency of these groups to assimilate into the culture.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for absolute freedom of religion and
guarantees the freedom to practice all religious rites provided that
public order is not disturbed. The Constitution requires the state to
respect all religions and denominations and guarantee respect for the
personal status and religious interests of persons of every religious
sect. The Constitution declares equality of rights and duties for all
citizens without discrimination or preference but stipulates a balance
of power distributed among the major religious groups. The Government
generally respected these rights; however, there were some
restrictions, and the Constitutional provision for apportioning
political offices according to religious affiliation may be viewed as
inherently discriminatory.
The Government permits recognized religious groups to exercise
authority over matters pertaining to personal status, such as marriage,
divorce, child custody, and inheritance. The ``Twelver'' Shi'a, Sunni,
Christian, and Druze confessions have state-appointed, government-
subsidized clerical courts that administer family and personal status
law. The Constitutional provision for the distribution of political
power and positions according to the principle of religious
representation is designed to prevent a dominant position being gained
by any one confessional group. The ``National Pact'' of 1943 stipulates
that the president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament be
Maronite Christian, Sunni Muslim, and Shi'a Muslim, respectively. This
distribution of political power functions at both the national and
local levels of government. The 1989 Ta'if Agreement, which ended the
country's fifteen-year civil war, reaffirmed this arrangement but,
significantly, mandated increased Muslim representation in Parliament
so that it would be equal to that of the Christian community, and
reduced the power of the Christian Maronite presidency.
The following holy days are considered national holidays: New Year,
Armenian Christmas, Eid al-Adha, St. Maroun Day, Islamic New Year,
Ashura, Good Friday, Easter (both Western and Eastern rites), the birth
of the Prophet Muhammad, All Saints' Day, Feast of the Assumption, Eid
al-Fitr, and Christmas. The Government also excuses Armenian public
sector employees from work on St. Vartan Day.
Formal recognition by the Government is a legal requirement for
religious groups to conduct most religious activities. A group that
seeks official recognition must submit a statement of its doctrine and
moral principles for government review to ensure that such principles
do not contradict popular values or the Constitution. The group must
ensure that the number of its adherents is sufficient to maintain its
continuity.
Alternatively, religious groups may apply for recognition through
recognized religious groups. Official recognition conveys certain
benefits, such as tax-exempt status and the right to apply the
religion's codes to personal status matters. An individual may change
religions if the head of the religious group the person wishes to join
approves of this change.
Citizens belonging to a faith not recognized by the Government are
permitted to perform their religious rites freely; however, some rights
may not be secure in that they fall outside the ``confessional'' system
of allocating political power. For example, a Baha'i cannot run for
Parliament as a Baha'i candidate because there is no seat allocated for
the confession, nor could such an individual hold senior positions in
the Government, as these are also allocated on a confessional basis.
However, a number of members of unregistered religious groups are
recorded under the recognized religions. For example, most Baha'is are
registered under the Shi'a sect. As such, a member of the Baha'i
community can run for office and fill a seat allocated to the Shi'a
sect. Similarly, Mormons are registered under the Greek Orthodox faith.
Government decisions on granting official recognition of religious
groups do not appear to be arbitrary.
The Government permits the publication in different languages of
religious materials of every registered religion.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The 1989 Ta'if Agreement called for the eventual elimination of
political sectarianism in favor of ``expertise and competence;''
however, little progress has been made in this regard. One notable
exception is the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which has significantly
reduced the role of confessionalism in the appointment and promotion of
officers and noncommissioned officers. The Constitution provides that
Christians and Muslims be represented equally in Parliament, the
cabinet, and high-level civil service positions, which include the
ministry ranks of secretary general and director general. It also
provides that these posts be distributed proportionally among the
recognized religious groups.
Officially unrecognized groups such as Baha'is, Buddhists, Hindus,
and some evangelical denominations, may own property and assemble for
worship without government interference; however, they are
disadvantaged under the law because legally they may not marry,
divorce, or inherit property in the country. Protestant evangelical
churches are required to register with the Evangelical Synod, a non-
governmental advisory group that represents those churches with the
Government. It is self-governing and oversees religious matters for
Protestant congregations. Representatives of some churches have
complained that the Synod has refused to accept new Protestant groups
into its membership since 1975, thereby crippling their clergy's
ability to minister to the members of those communities.
In February 2004 the Government denied a residency permit to the
nonresident leader of a local Pentecostal community, who entered the
country on a visitor's visa, and granted him seven days to depart the
country. The Government informed him he needed to register as a
religious worker and re-apply for a residency permit. He left the
country as ordered, but was unable to return. He claimed he could not
fulfill the requirement of registering as a religious worker because
the head of the Evangelical Synod refused to register his congregation.
In October 2004 the minister of labor ordered shops in the coastal
city of Sidon to close on Fridays at the request of the predominantly
Muslim Merchants' Association of Sidon. This order was reportedly only
partially observed.
Many families have relatives who belong to different religious
communities and intermarriage is not uncommon; however, intermarriage
is difficult to arrange in practice between members of some groups.
Shari'a, which applies to personal status matters of Muslims, forbids
the marriage of a non-Muslim male to a Muslim woman. Druze religious
leaders will only perform marriages of Druze couples. There are no
procedures for civil marriage; however, the Government recognizes civil
marriage ceremonies performed outside the country.
There are no legal barriers to proselytizing; however, traditional
attitudes of the clerical establishment strongly discourage such
activity. The respective sect's leadership councils make appointments
to senior clerical posts. For example, the nomination of Sunni and
Shi'a muftis is officially endorsed by the Government's Council of
Ministers, and they receive monthly salaries from the Government. The
Government appoints and pays the salaries of Muslim and Druze
ecclesiastical judges. The leaders of other religious groups, such as
Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics, do not receive salaries from the
Government.
The Government does not require citizens' religious affiliations to
be indicated on their passports; however, religious affiliation is
encoded on national identity cards.
In most cases, religious groups administer their own family and
personal status laws. Many of these laws discriminate against women.
For example, Sunni inheritance law provides a son twice the inheritance
of a daughter. Although Muslim men may divorce easily, Muslim women may
do so only with the concurrence of their husbands.
In 2003 the cabinet endorsed a draft law allowing the country to
adopt a curriculum proposed by the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization making Islamic culture the core of the
educational curriculum at all levels in schools and universities.
Following strong condemnation and opposition from a wide range of
Christian figures, including the head of the Maronite Church, the
Shi'ite speaker of parliament argued that the bill violated the spirit
of the Constitution. The Government withdrew the bill in late 2003.
Article 473 of the Penal Code stipulates a maximum prison term of
one year for anyone convicted of ``blaspheming God publicly.'' There
were no prosecutions reported under this law during the reporting
period.
Students and teachers found to be working while on tourist visas
are deemed to have violated their visa status and are consequently
deported. The same sanction applies to religious workers not working
under the auspices of a government-registered religious organization.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees during
the reporting period.
Anti-Semitism
In 2003 Hizballah's Al-Manar television aired a Syrian-made, anti-
Semitic mini-drama that it claimed to accurately portray the history of
the Zionist movement. The station aired the inflammatory series Al-
Shatat (The Diaspora) in daily segments during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan when television audiences peak. The Arab-Israeli conflict and
Israel's former occupation of south Lebanon nurtured a strong antipathy
for Israelis, and the country's media sometimes referred to Israel as
``the Jewish State'' to avoid referring explicitly to Israel. During
the reporting period, the Shi'a terrorist organization Hizballah,
through its media outlets, regularly directed strong rhetoric against
Israel and its Jewish population and characterized many events in the
region as part of a ``Zionist conspiracy.'' Moreover, anti-Semitic
literature was published and distributed with the cooperation of
Hizballah.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
In October 2004, the outgoing minister of education yielded to
years of pressure from Muslim leaders and ordered the closure of public
schools on Fridays, the Islamic day of prayer. The decree stipulated
that if students, teachers, and the neighborhood religious authority
agreed, a local public school could continue to operate on Fridays and
close over the Saturday-Sunday weekend, which Christians generally
prefer. The decree resulted in the recognition of Muslim sensibilities
in those neighborhoods where Muslims are the majority.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were periodic
reports of tension between religious groups during the reporting
period, which may be attributed to political differences and the fact
that citizens still struggled with the legacy of a fifteen-year civil
war that was fought largely along religious lines.
During the reporting period, several bombs were detonated in
commercial areas of predominantly Christian neighborhoods. Leaders of
all religious denominations condemned the bombings, but responsibility
had not been determined by the end of the reporting period. It was
presumed that these bombings were acts of violence aimed at provoking
religious tensions.
In the months of March through May 2005, in the run-up to
parliamentary elections, sectarian rhetoric steadily increased,
culminating in a statement by the Maronite Bishops' Council that
implied Muslim voters should not have a deciding voice in the election
of Christian candidates. This statement by the council, as well as
other politically motivated rhetoric from other religious groups,
exacerbated sectarian tensions.
On February 5, 2006, in the aftermath of the publication of
controversial cartoons in Europe, a crowd of several thousand
predominantly Sunni protestors staged a demonstration outside the
Danish Consulate, situated in the mainly Christian neighborhood of
Achrafieh in downtown Beirut. The demonstration turned violent when
protestors attempted to burn down the building housing the consulate
and also attacked St. Maroun church (Maronite) and the St. Nicholas
church (Greek Orthodox) causing slight material damage. Authorities
arrested 441 persons, mostly for damage to the diplomatic facility.
These cases were pending at the end of the reporting period.
In 2003 a bomb exploded outside the home of a western Christian
missionary in Tripoli, killing one person.
A permanent search warrant remained in effect for the 2002 killing
of an American citizen missionary affiliated with the Christian and
Missionary Evangelical Alliance in Sidon, although the case was
officially closed in April 2004. Investigations at the time of the
killing suggested that Sunni extremists, possibly operating from the
nearby Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, were responsible.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government actively promotes religious freedom issues with
the Government as part of its overall policy in promoting human rights.
The U.S. Embassy advances this goal through contacts at all levels of
society, public remarks, Embassy public diplomacy programs, and the
funding of relevant projects. Embassy officers met regularly with
leaders of religious communities and regularly discussed issues
relating to religious freedom and tolerance. The Embassy complained to
the minister of foreign affairs and minister of information about the
airing of anti-Semitic programs by Al-Manar television. The U.S.
Government supports the principles of the Ta'if Agreement and Embassy
staff regularly discuss the issue of sectarianism with political,
religious, and civic leaders.
In 2004 the Embassy sent a member of the Islamic-Christian Dialogue
Committee on a U.S. Department of State International Visitor Program
to participate in an inter-faith program in the United States.
Additionally, U.S.-funded programs in rural areas required civic
participation, often involving villages of different religious
backgrounds, with the aim of promoting cooperation between religious
groups.
__________
LIBYA
The country does not have a Constitution, and there is no explicit
legal provision for religious freedom. However, a basis for some degree
of religious freedom is provided in the Great Green Charter on Human
Rights of the Jamahiriya Era, dated December 6, 1988 which states:
``The members of Jamahiriya Society...proclaim that religion is
absolute faith in the Divinity, and that it is a sacred spiritual
value. Religion is personal to each one and common to all. It is a
direct relationship with the Creator, without any intermediary.
Jamahiriya Society proscribes the monopoly of religion as well as its
exploitation for purposes of subversion, fanaticism, sectarianism,
partisan spirit and fratricidal wars.'' The Government opposes militant
forms of Islam, which it views as a threat. The Government is tolerant
of other religious groups but prohibits the proselytizing of Muslims.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period. Persons rarely were harassed because of
their religious practices unless such practices were perceived as
having a political dimension or motivation. Followers of religions
other than Islam generally were free to practice according to their
beliefs. There is no civil law prohibiting conversion from Islam to
another religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
In February 2004 the U.S. Government established an official
diplomatic presence in the country and immediately began discussing
religious freedom issues with the Government as part of its overall
policy to promote human rights. On May 31, 2006, the U.S. Government
upgraded the existing U.S. Liaison Office in Tripoli to an Embassy.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 703,816 square miles and a population of
5,765,563, of which approximately 97 percent was Sunni Muslim. There
was no known Shi'a community. There were small Christian communities,
composed almost exclusively of foreigners, predominantly African
immigrants. A small Anglican community composed of one resident priest
and mostly African and Indian immigrant workers in Tripoli were part of
the Egyptian diocese. The Anglican bishop of Libya was resident in
Cairo. There were Unitarian churches in Tripoli and Benghazi as well as
small Unitarian congregations scattered throughout the country. There
were an estimated fifty thousand Roman Catholics who were served by two
bishops--one in Tripoli and one in Benghazi; both communities were
multinational. Catholic priests and nuns served in all the main coastal
cities, and there was one priest in the southern city of Sebha. Most of
them worked in hospitals, orphanages, and with the handicapped and
elderly. The Catholic bishops, priests, and nuns wore religious dress
in public and reported virtually no discrimination. An accredited
Nuncio resided in Malta, a bishop in Tripoli, and Coptic Orthodox and
Greek Orthodox priests in both Tripoli and Benghazi.
There may have been be a very small number of Jews, but their
location was unknown. In 1974 the World Jewish Congress reported that
there were no more than twenty Jews in the country. The Jewish
community, which numbered approximately thirty-five thousand in 1948,
left for Israel and other countries at various stages between 1948 and
1967. The Government has been rehabilitating the ``medina'' (old city)
in Tripoli and has renovated the Jewish community center that currently
serves as a city archive; however, the synagogue has not reopened.
In his August 31, 2004, Revolution Day speech, Libyan leader
Colonel Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi called for compensation for Jews who had
been expelled. Discussions regarding possible compensation for
confiscated communal properties have been underway since October 2004.
There was no information on the number of foreign missionaries in
the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The country does not have a Constitution, and there is no explicit
legal provision for religious freedom. However, a basis for some degree
of religious freedom is provided in the Great Green Charter on Human
Rights of the Jamahiriya Era, dated December 6, 1988, which states:
``The members of Jamahiriya Society...proclaim that religion is
absolute faith in the Divinity, and that it is a sacred spiritual
value. Religion is personal to each one and common to all. It is a
direct relationship with the Creator, without any intermediary.
Jamahiriya Society proscribes the monopoly of religion as well as its
exploitation for purposes of subversion, fanaticism, sectarianism,
partisan spirit and fratricidal wars.'' The Government opposes militant
forms of Islam, which it views as a threat. The Government is tolerant
of other religious groups but prohibits the proselytism of Muslims.
The Government regulates the number of places of worship allowed
for each Christian denomination present in each city. The Government
continued to ban the once powerful Sanusiyya Islamic order; in its
place, the country's leader, Colonel Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, established
the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), which is the Islamic arm of the
Government's foreign policy and is active worldwide. The WICS is also
responsible for relations with other religious communities, including
Christians. The churches reported good cooperation with the WICS. The
WICS's main purpose is to promote a moderate form of Islam that
reflects the Government's religious views and to ban Islamic groups
whose beliefs and practices are at variance with it. Although most
Islamic institutions are under government control, prominent families
endow some mosques. However, these mosques generally adhere to the
government-approved interpretation of Islam.
Although generally tolerant of other religious groups, the
Government also exhibited intolerance. On April 10, 2006 Al-Jazeera
television aired a speech by Al-Qadhafi on the occasion of the
celebration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in which he stated
that all people are required to be Muslims, the Bible that exists today
is a forgery that incites hatred, female Christian followers of Jesus
are naked, and Europe and the United States should either convert to
Islam or conduct war against Muslims. While not an official statement
of the Government, Al-Qadhafi's position as the country's leader does
raise concerns about governmental attitudes.
The Government recognizes the Islamic holy days of Eid al-Fitr, Eid
al-Adha, and the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government controls most mosques and Islamic institutions, and
even mosques endowed by prominent families generally must conform to
the government-approved interpretation of Islam. According to reports,
individuals rarely were harassed because of their religious practices,
unless such practices were perceived as having a political dimension or
motivation. It is prohibited to proselytize Muslims.
Members of minority religious groups were allowed to conduct
services, and Christian churches operated openly. The Government
routinely granted visas and residence papers to religious staff from
other nations. The Government restored the former Catholic church in
the medina, which, during the reporting period, was used as an art
exhibition hall. The Government had not honored a promise made in 1970
to provide the Anglican Church with appropriate alternative facilities
when it took the property used by the Church. The Anglicans shared a
villa with other Protestant denominations until 1998, when the
Government gave them a small suite of offices to use for worship.
Similarly, the Government has not returned Unitarian Church property
confiscated in 1971 despite requests from the Church.
The Government allowed priests to visit six Bulgarian medics
imprisoned since 1999 for allegedly infecting children with HIV. The
medics, convicted and sentenced to death in May 2004, appealed and
their sentences were remanded to a lower court on December 25, 2006.
The medics' trial remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
They were allowed to worship with the Greek Orthodox priest in Tripoli.
There were no known places of worship for other non-Muslim
religions such as Hinduism, the Baha'i Faith, and Buddhism, although
adherents are allowed to practice within the privacy of their homes.
Foreign adherents of these religions are allowed to display and sell
religious items at bazaars and other gatherings.
Religious instruction in Islam is required in public schools, but
in-depth instruction in other religions is not taught. The Government
does not issue information on the religious affiliation of children in
public schools, and there were no reports of children transferring to
private schools for alternative religious instruction.
The Government monitors and restricts all political activity. It
also restricts religious literature, including Islamic literature,
published in or allowed into the country.
The country adheres to traditional Islamic law which states that a
non-Muslim woman who marries a Muslim man is not required to convert to
Islam, although many do so; however, a non-Muslim man must convert to
marry a Muslim woman.
Citizens who wish to make the Hajj must be at least forty-years
old.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
On March 2, 2006 the country released eighty-five members of the
Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Libyan Islamic Group, many of
whom had been held since June 1998. In September 2005 the Supreme Court
overturned sentences imposed on them by the now-abolished People's
Court. An ad hoc lower court retried the cases and upheld the original
sentences, prior to the government pardon.
Some practicing Muslims have shaved their beards to avoid
harassment from members of the security services, who tend to associate
wearing beards with advocacy of militant Islam aimed at overthrowing
the Government. In the late 1980s the Government began to pursue a
domestic policy directed against Islamic extremists; the events of
September 11, 2001, reinforced Qadhafi's view that Islamic militancy is
a potential rallying point for opponents of the Government. The
security service did not harass those who frequently attend mosque
services.
There continued to be reports of armed clashes between security
forces and Islamic groups that oppose the Government and advocate the
establishment of an Islamic government that would enforce a more
conservative form of Islam. There were no reports available on the
number or status of individuals detained because of their religious
beliefs.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Information on the relationship among religious groups in society
is limited; however, some members of non-Muslim minority religious
groups reported that they do not face harassment by authorities or the
Muslim majority on the basis of religion.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
In February 2004 the United States established an official presence
in the country and immediately began discussing religious freedom
issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights. Additionally, the Embassy established an outreach program
to maintain close communication with the leaders of the various
religious denominations in the country. On May 31, 2006 the U.S.
Government upgraded its diplomatic representation in the country from a
liaison office to an Embassy. On June 30, 2006 Secretary Rice rescinded
the country's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
__________
MOROCCO
The Constitution provides for the freedom to practice one's
religion. Islam is the official state religion and the king is
``Commander of the faithful and the Supreme Representative of the
Muslim community.'' Non-Muslim foreign communities openly practiced
their faiths.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government places certain
restrictions on Christian religious materials and proselytizing.
Several small religious minorities are tolerated with varying degrees
of official restrictions. The Government monitored the activities of
mosques and placed some restrictions on Muslims and Islamic
organizations whose activities were deemed to have exceeded the bounds
of religious practice and become political in nature.
While there is generally an amicable relationship among religious
groups in society, converts to Christianity may face social ostracism.
U.S. Government officials met regularly with members of all
religious communities to promote tolerance and freedom. Officials
actively promoted and facilitated meetings between the Ministry of
Islamic Affairs and Endowments and visiting U.S. religious leaders, and
the U.S. funded programs that promoted religious freedom and tolerance.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 172,320 square miles.
According to the 2004 census, the population was approximately thirty
million, and more than 99 percent of the citizens were Sunni Muslims.
According to Jewish community leaders, there were approximately
four thousand Jews, the majority of whom resided in Casablanca. The
estimated size of the Rabat Jewish community was 200 to 250. The
remainder of the Jewish population was dispersed throughout the
country.
The expatriate Christian community, Catholic and Protestant,
consisted of approximately five thousand practicing members, although
some estimates were as high as twenty-five thousand. Most Christians
resided in the Casablanca and Rabat urban areas.
The Baha'i community, also located in urban areas, numbered 350 to
400 persons. The Government recognizes the presence of a Shi'a Muslim
community; however, the size was unknown.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for the freedom to practice one's
religion. Islam is the official state religion and the king is
``Commander of the faithful and the Supreme Representative of the
Muslim community'' with the responsibility of ensuring ``respect for
Islam.'' The Government prohibits the distribution of Christian
religious materials, bans all proselytizing, and tolerates several
small religious minorities with varying degrees of restrictions. The
Government monitored the activities of mosques and placed other
restrictions on Muslims and Islamic organizations whose activities were
deemed to have exceeded the bounds of religious practice and become
political in nature. Jewish and foreign Christian communities openly
practiced their faiths. A small foreign Hindu community freely
performed cremations and held services. During the period covered by
this report, there were no reports of restrictions on the religious
activities of the Baha'is or Shi'a Muslims.
The following Islamic holy days are national holidays: Eid al-Adha,
Islamic New Year, the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and Eid al-Fitr.
Other religious groups observed religious holy days without
interference from government authorities.
During the reporting period, the Government did not license or
approve new religious groups or religious organizations. In 2004 an
English-speaking church group received nonprofit association status as
the ``Protestant Church.'' Other registered churches and associations
included the Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, French
Protestant, and Anglican churches.
The Rabat Protestant Church and other minority religious groups
have been operating unfettered by government authorities since the
1970s, and registration allows the groups to make financial
transactions and undertake other business as private associations and
legal entities.
The Government provides tax benefits, land and building grants,
subsidies, and customs exemptions for imports necessary for the
religious activities of the major religious groups, namely Muslims,
Jews, and Christians.
The Government's annual education budget funds the teaching of
Islam in public schools and religious instruction in separate Jewish
public schools. The Government also funded the study of Jewish culture,
and its artistic, literary, and scientific heritage. In the Faculty of
Letters at the University of Rabat, two professors teach Hebrew and one
teaches comparative religion in the Department of Islamic Studies.
Throughout the country, approximately twelve other professors teach
Hebrew.
The Government continued to encourage tolerance, respect, and
dialogue among the religious groups. During the reporting period,
senior government officials, including the minister of Islamic Affairs
and Endowments, received delegations of U.S. Christian and Jewish
leaders.
King Mohammed VI established the Islamic-Judeo Observatory, a body
of international scholars, to promote religious tolerance and monitor
intolerance. The country was the only Arab country with a Jewish
museum. In May 2006, for the second year in succession, a three-day,
contemporary Christian music festival featuring foreign and local bands
took place. This event was organized by a foreign Christian evangelical
organization in coordination with local community leaders and
officials.
The Government organizes the annual ``Fez Festival of Sacred
Music,'' which in the past has included musicians from Muslim,
Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Native American spiritual
traditions. The year 2006 marked the eleventh anniversary of the
festival. During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the king hosted
colloquia of Islamic religious scholars that, among other matters,
considered ways to encourage tolerance and mutual respect within Islam
and between Islam and other religious groups. For the third consecutive
year, a woman spoke during Ramadan in the presence of the king and
religious scholars. A woman was also a member of the Supreme Council of
the Ulema, or religious scholars.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments monitored Friday
mosque sermons and the Qur'anic schools to ensure the teaching of
approved doctrine. At times the authorities suppressed the activities
of Islamists but generally tolerated activities limited to the
propagation of Islam, education, and charity. Security forces commonly
closed mosques to the public shortly after Friday services to prevent
use of the premises for unauthorized political activity. The Government
strictly controlled authorization to construct new mosques. Most
mosques were constructed using private funds.
During academic year 2005 the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and
Endowments initiated two programs. One was a graduate-level theological
course, part of which focused on Christianity and Judaism. The other
was a course designed to train men and women to be counselors and
teachers in mosques throughout the country. Fifty women, the first
group of female murshidats (guides), were assigned to mosques in May
2006.
In April 2004 King Mohammed VI, as the ``Commander of the
Faithful,'' announced plans to restructure the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs and Endowments to ensure the promotion of moderate Islam and
guard against imported Islamic doctrines and the preaching of extremist
ideology in mosques.
In 2004 the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments took charge
of and monitored the activities of mosques, placed restrictions on
activities deemed to have exceeded the bounds of religious practice or
become political in nature, and began to provide religious training for
imams. Authorities stated that all of these measures were put in place
in order to avoid exploitation of mosques for political propaganda and
to prevent supportive activities such as distributing pamphlets and
raising funds.
The Government does not recognize the Islamic Justice and Charity
Organization (JCO), which rejects the king's spiritual authority. The
JCO holds to a strict interpretation of Islam and advocates an Islamic
state contrary to the Constitution. The JCO continued to hold meetings,
organize and participate in demonstrations, and operate two websites,
although the Government did not allow the JCO to publish written
materials. In April 2006 the Government started entering JCO members'
houses, forcing the cessation of weekly meetings and continued closing
the JCO's weekly meetings and open houses throughout May and June. JCO
materials were confiscated and as many as 400 members were arrested.
The vast majority of detainees were released after several hours, but
at least one member was scheduled to appear in court after the
reporting period.
Government informers monitored campus activities, primarily those
conducted by Islamists.
According to Article 220 of the penal code, any attempt to stop one
or more persons from the exercise of their religious beliefs or from
attendance at religious services is unlawful and may be punished by
three to six months' imprisonment and a fine of $10 to $50 (115 to 575
dirhams). The article applies the same penalty to ``anyone who employs
incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another
religion.'' Any attempt to induce a Muslim to convert is illegal.
Foreign missionaries either limit their proselytizing to non-Muslims or
conduct their work quietly. The Government has cited the penal code's
prohibition on proselytism in most cases in which courts ruled to expel
foreign missionaries. During this reporting period, there were no
reports of police questioning foreign missionaries for being in
possession of Christian materials.
Citizens who convert to Christianity and other religions may face
social ostracism, and a small number of converts have faced short
periods of questioning or detention by authorities for proselytizing
and have been denied issuance of passports. There were no reports of
such occurrences during the reporting period.
On January 6, 2005, according to the foreign nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Middle East Concern, police arrested on charges of
proselytism a Muslim citizen who had converted to Christianity, and
whose passport was found on a foreign Christian arrested for
distributing Christian materials in Tetouan. On October 27, 2005, the
authorities dropped the charges against the person. Middle East Concern
also reported that as of mid-July 2004 authorities had either
confiscated or refused to renew the passports of five citizens who had
converted from Islam to Christianity. Three of the converts received
their passports by August 2004, but foreign Christian leaders in the
country alleged that two of them experienced police harassment and long
interrogations. The remaining two received their passports by the end
of the 2005 reporting period. The reports on these individuals could
not be confirmed by other sources.
Voluntary conversion is not a crime under the criminal or civil
codes. Muslim citizens are allowed to study at Christian and Jewish
schools. A Jewish school in Casablanca includes Muslim students, and a
hospital run by the Jewish community provides care to low-income
citizens regardless of religion.
A small foreign Christian community operated churches, orphanages,
hospitals, and schools without any government restrictions.
Missionaries who refrain from proselytizing and conduct themselves in
accordance with societal expectations largely are left unhindered;
however, those whose activities become public face expulsion. In March
2005 authorities expelled a South African pastor of a Protestant church
in Marrakesh for not having lucrative employment, although authorities
had renewed his temporary residence permit annually for five years
until January 2005. The deportation followed a series of news and
opinion articles in the local press concerning the presence of foreign
Christian missionaries in the country, the Government's invitation to
U.S. Christian leaders to visit and meet with political and religious
officials, a discussion on comparative religion that took place in
March in a Marrakesh classroom, and the job performance of the minister
of Islamic Affairs and Endowments.
In May 2004 authorities detained for several hours and subsequently
expelled seven foreign missionaries for distributing Christian
materials in Marrakesh's main square.
In the past, some missionaries have been questioned by authorities
or have not been granted a ``temporary residence permit'' enabling them
to remain in the country on a long-term basis. No similar incidents
occurred during this reporting period.
The Government permits the display and sale of Bibles in French,
English, and Spanish. It generally confiscates Arabic-language Bibles,
however, and refuses licenses for their importation and sale despite
the absence of any law banning such books. Nevertheless, Arabic Bibles
have been sold in local bookstores.
There are two sets of laws and courts pertaining to marriage,
inheritance, and family matters, one for Muslims and one for Jews. The
family law courts are administered, depending on the law that applies,
by rabbinical and Islamic authorities who are court officials.
Parliament authorizes any changes to those laws. In 2004, under the new
Family Law Code (Moudawana) for Muslims, new civil judges were
recruited. In 2003 the minister of justice established family courts to
adjudicate divorce and child custody cases in anticipation of proposed
reforms to the code. These courts addressed family matters for Muslim
citizens, and the judges were trained in Shari'a (Islamic law) as
applied in the country. By the end of 2005, the Ministry of Justice,
often in cooperation with international NGOs, had trained 300 new
judges and 60 family court judges, while 600 judges had participated in
continuing education courses. Plans called for the establishment of
seventy family courts with one for each province. At the end of 2004,
the Government had established twenty of these courts. No new specific
family courts had been established by year's end as the Government was
reviewing the policy. Family matters for Jewish citizens were handled
by a parallel legal system available to them.
Rabbinical authorities continue to administer family courts for
Jews. Non-Qur'anic sections of Islamic law on personal status are
applicable to non-Muslim and nonJewish persons. Christians
inherit according to the civil law, which reflects the changes to the
family code. Jews maintain their own separate inheritance law based on
Jewish religious law.
Reforms of the family law code passed in 2003 gave women the same
rights as men in divorce cases, granted mothers custody of minor
children, increased the marriage age to eighteen and imposed
significant limitations on polygyny. The reforms also abolished
codified traditions that favored male heirs based on the official
interpretation of Shari'a. The new code is predicated on the
establishment of family courts and the creation of a family aid fund,
and it relies on the court system more than the previous law did. On
February 14, 2005, the one-year anniversary of the new code, top
government officials held a conference during which they presented
evidence of the code's success, including statistics showing a decrease
in the number of divorces, an increase in women's requests for
divorces, and a decrease in polygyny requests. However, the women's
rights group Ligue Democratique des Droits de la Femme (LDDF) disputed
the government statistics on divorce in a February 2005 report,
branding the reforms a ``failure'' due partly to conservative courts,
to which the code provides much leeway. Implementation of the code
continued throughout this reporting period. Under the criminal code,
women generally are accorded the same treatment as men.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
While there is generally an amicable relationship among religious
groups in society, Muslim converts to Christianity may face social
ostracism.
From January 2005 until the May 2005 concert of contemporary
Christian music, there was a societal debate on the influence of
evangelical Christianity in the country. In spite of considerable
criticism, the Government allowed the May 2005 concert to take place,
and no negative incidents occurred. In May 2006 the concert was held
for the second time without incident.
Foreigners attended religious services without any restrictions or
fear of reprisals. Many citizens of all religions believe that the
country is enriched by its centuries-old Jewish minority, and Jews
lived in safety throughout the country during the reporting period.
Annual Jewish commemorations took place around the country, and Jewish
pilgrims from around the region regularly visited holy sites in the
country.
Although the free expression of the Islamic faith and free academic
and theological discussion of non-Islamic religions are accepted on
television and radio, society discourages all public efforts to
proselytize. Because many Muslims view the Baha'i Faith as a heretical
offshoot of Islam and, consequently, Baha'is as apostates, most members
of the Baha'i community avoided disclosing their religious affiliation;
however, Baha'is' concerns for their personal safety and property did
not prevent their functioning in society, and some held government
jobs.
There was widespread consensus among Muslims regarding religious
practices and interpretation. While some dissenters challenged the
religious authority of the king and call for the establishment of a
government more deeply rooted in their vision of Islam, the majority of
citizens did not appear to share their view.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues as part of
its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. Embassy officials
encountered no interference from the Government in making contacts with
members of any religious group.
U.S. Government officials met regularly with religious officials,
including the minister of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Islamic
religious scholars, leaders of the Jewish community, Christian
missionaries, the leaders of the registered Christian communities, and
other local Christians during the period covered by this report. A U.S.
program focused on religious tolerance and freedom was held that
utilized the United States as a model.
U.S. Government officials met regularly with members of religious
communities to promote tolerance and freedom. Officials actively
promoted and facilitated meetings between the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs and Endowments and visiting U.S. religious leaders. U.S.
programs enabled one university professor, two journalists, and two
religious leaders to study the relationship between religion and civic
education in the United States.
__________
WESTERN SAHARA
The Constitution of Morocco provides for the freedom to practice
one's religion. Due to continuing Moroccan administrative control of
the territory, the laws and restrictions regarding religious
organizations and religious freedom are the same as those in the
Kingdom of Morocco.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period.
During the period covered by this report there were no reports of
problems concerning religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government of Morocco through the U.S. Embassy in Rabat and the U.S.
Department of State as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The territory has an area of approximately 102,706 square miles and
a population of 273 thousand. The overwhelming majority of the
population was Sunni Muslim.
There was a small foreign community working for the U.N.
Peacekeeping Mission in the territory (known by its French acronym,
MINURSO); most of its members were not Muslims.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution of Morocco provides for the freedom to practice
one's religion. Due to continuing Moroccan administrative control of
the territory, laws and restrictions regarding religious organizations
and religious freedom are the same as those in the Kingdom of Morocco.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Restrictions on religious freedom in the territory are the same as
those in the Kingdom of Morocco.
There were no reports of religious detainees or prisoners.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Embassy in Morocco, discusses
religious freedom issues with the Government of Morocco as part of its
overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
OMAN
The Basic Law, in accordance with tradition, provides for the
freedom to practice religious rites if the practices do not breach
public order. The Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, there are some de facto limitations on proselytizing
and printing religious material. The Basic Law declares that Islam is
the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of all legislation.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 119,498 square miles, and its population
is 2.33 million, of whom 1.8 million are citizens, according to the
2003 national census. While no official statistics were kept on
religious affiliation, most citizens were Ibadhi or Sunni Muslims. The
Government does not give official preference to any particular
religious group. Statistical data on the religious affiliation of the
population may be collected but is not publicized. There was a small
but significant population of Shi'a Muslims concentrated in the capital
area and along the country's Batinah coast. Ibadhism, a form of Islam
distinct from Shi'ism and the ``orthodox'' schools of Sunnism, was the
dominant religious sect in the country. Oman is the only country in the
Islamic world to have had a majority Ibadhi population. A
distinguishing feature of Ibadhism is the choice of ruler, known as the
imam, who is appointed by communal consensus. Additionally, there was a
small community of ethnically Indian-Hindu citizens and reportedly a
very small number of Christian citizens, who came from India or the
Levant, who have been naturalized.
The majority of non-Muslims were noncitizen immigrant workers from
South Asia. There were a number of Christian denominations represented.
While there was no information regarding missionary groups in the
country, several faith-based organizations operated. Clergy of the
Anglican Church, the Reformed Church of America, and other Protestant,
Catholic, and Orthodox groups were present.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Basic Law, in accordance with tradition, provides for the
freedom to practice religious rites if the practices do not breach
public order. The Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, there were some restrictions. The Basic Law declares
that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of all
legislation. Within these parameters, the Government permitted freedom
of worship for non-Muslims. The Basic Law prohibits discrimination
against individuals on the basis of religion or religious group. Some
non-Muslims worship at churches and temples built on land donated by
the Sultan, including at least seven Christian and Hindu complexes in
three major cities. Adherents of other religious groups, typically
found among expatriate residents, practiced their rites in less formal
facilities, such as company labor compounds or personal residences.
All religious organizations must be registered with the Ministry of
Awqaf and Religious Affairs, and the Government restricts some of their
activities. The criterion for registration is not clear. Religious
groups seeking registration must submit an application to the ministry.
The ministry investigates the number of affiliates and area of
concentration and if approved, the ministry issues a written letter to
the group allowing them to engage in religious activity or to establish
a place of worship.
One non-Muslim religious organization present in the country for
several decades has had its application for formal registration pending
at the Ministry for several years. Anecdotal evidence suggested that
visiting non-Muslim organizations are permitted to operate within legal
boundaries if a registered entity agrees to sponsor them with the
Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.
The Government has sponsored forums at which differing
interpretations of Islam have been examined, and government-sponsored
interfaith dialogues took place on a regular basis. During the
reporting period, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs hosted
several Christian and Muslim scholars and lecturers of various schools
of thought to discuss interfaith relations and tolerance in Islamic
traditions. In April 2006 the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs
participated in a forum in Qatar on U.S.-Islamic dialogue.
The following Islamic holy days are considered national holidays:
Eid al-Adha, Islamic (Hijra) New Year, the Birth of the Prophet
Muhammad, Ascension Day, and Eid al-Fitr.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Citizens and noncitizen residents are free to discuss their
religious beliefs within the limits of the law; however, the Government
prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing Muslims. The Basic Law does
not specifically prohibit proselytizing, nor does any other law;
however, in practice the Government used immigration regulations and
laws concerning morals to restrict individuals suspected of engaging in
proselytizing.
Under Islamic law, a Muslim who recants belief in Islam is
considered an apostate and dealt with under applicable Islamic legal
procedure. During the reporting period, there were no cases of persons
punished for conversion, and the Government asserts that it has no
legal authority to prosecute persons for changing their religious
beliefs. Proselytizing non-Muslims by Muslims is allowed but
discouraged. The Government records religious affiliation on national
identity cards for citizens and on residency cards for noncitizens.
Religious affiliation was previously recorded on passports; however,
they no longer contain this information. Statistics on religious
affiliation are not published.
The Government prohibits non-Muslim groups from publishing
religious material, although non-Muslim religious material printed
abroad may be imported. Members of all religious groups are free to
maintain links with coreligionists abroad and to undertake foreign
travel for religious purposes. Clergy from abroad are permitted to
visit to carry out duties related to registered religious
organizations.
The Government expects all imams to preach sermons within the
parameters of standardized texts distributed monthly by the Ministry of
Awqaf and Religious Affairs. The Government monitors sermons at mosques
to ensure that imams do not discuss political topics and stay within
the state-approved orthodoxy of Islam. The ministry maintains a website
and toll-free number whereby questions concerning the practice of faith
and worship can be answered by the grand mufti or his representatives.
The grand mufti regularly appears on television and radio to answer
questions from the public.
Some aspects of Islamic law and tradition, as practiced in the
country, discriminate against women. Shari'a favors male heirs in
adjudicating inheritance claims. While there was continuing reluctance
to take an inheritance dispute to court for fear of alienating the
family, women increasingly were aware of and taking steps to protect
and exercise their rights as citizens. When the country acceded in
April 2005 to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), it attached reservations on any
provision within the convention deemed to be not in accordance with
Islamic law.
Public schools must provide instruction in Islam; however,
noncitizen students may attend schools that do not offer instruction in
Islam. Instruction in Islam is a component of the basic curriculum in
all public school grades K-12. The curriculum focuses on the Qur'an and
Hadith, the life of Muhammad and his companions, and the five pillars
of the Islamic faith.
Military bases maintain at least one mosque and one imam for the
convenience of military personnel. Moreover, training facilities
dedicate approximately three sessions per week for the study of Islamic
subjects. Non-Muslim members in the military are not prevented from
practicing their religion or compelled to undertake mandatory Islamic
studies; however, if they wish to worship they must seek places to do
so on their own.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious discrimination in
the private sector was largely absent. Christian theologians have met
with local Islamic authorities and with members of the faculty at the
country's major university. Private groups that promote interfaith
dialogue were permitted to exist as long as discussions did not
constitute an attempt to cause Muslims to recant their Islamic beliefs.
Societal attitudes toward proselytizing and conversion generally were
negative.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. This
included inquiries into the arrests of the alleged Ibadhi conservatives
during the previous reporting period. Representatives of the U.S.
Embassy freely participated in local religious ceremonies and have
contact with members of non-Muslim religious groups. During the
reporting period, the Embassy sponsored the visit of a U.S. research
specialist in the field of Islamic studies, who addressed audiences
(including at the Sultan's Grand Mosque) on prophecy among the Arabs.
__________
QATAR
The Constitution provides for freedom of worship in accordance with
the law and the requirements of protecting the public system and public
behavior; however, the Government continues to prohibit proselytizing
by non-Muslims and places some restrictions on public worship. The
state religion is Islam, as interpreted by the strictly conservative
Wahhabi order of the Sunni branch.
The status of respect for religious freedom improved somewhat
during the reporting period. The Constitution explicitly provides for
freedom of worship, including the adoption of laws that provide for the
freedom of association and public assembly. On April 25-27 2006, the
country held its fourth conference on interfaith dialogue. In April
2006, construction began on the first Christian church to be built
since the coming of Islam. The Government regulates the publication,
importation, and distribution of all religious books and materials.
However, in practice, individuals and religious institutions were not
prevented from importing holy books and other religious items for
personal or congregational use.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total land area of approximately 4,254 square
miles and its population is an estimated 900,000, of whom approximately
200,000 are believed to be citizens. Of the citizen population, Shi'a
Muslims accounted for approximately 10 percent and Sunni Muslims 90
percent. The majority of the estimated 600,000 noncitizens were
individuals from South and Southeast Asian and Arab countries working
on temporary employment contracts, along with their accompanying family
members in some cases. They belonged to the following religious groups:
Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Baha'is.
Most foreign workers and their families lived near the major employment
centers of Doha, Al Khor, Messaeed, and Dukhan.
The Christian community is composed of Indians, Sri Lankans,
Filipinos, Africans, Europeans, Arabs, and Americans. It includes Roman
Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican, and other Protestant
denominations. The Hindu community is almost exclusively Indian, while
Buddhists include South, Southeast, and East Asians. Most Baha'is come
from Iran. Religion is not indicated on national identity cards and
passports, nor is it a criterion for citizenship according to the
Nationality Law. However, nearly all Qatari citizens were by definition
either Sunni or Shi'a Muslims, except for a Syrian Christian and a few
Baha'is and their respective families who were granted citizenship.
No foreign missionary groups operate openly in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of worship in accordance with
the law and the requirements of protecting society and public behavior.
However, the Government continued to prohibit proselytizing by non-
Muslims and placed some restrictions on public worship. The state
religion is Islam, as interpreted by the strictly conservative Wahhabi
order of the Sunni branch. Shi'a Muslims practice most aspects of their
faith freely, and they may organize traditional Shi'a ceremonies and
perform rites such as self-flagellation. The nationality law does not
impose any restrictions on religious identity.
The Government and ruling family are linked inextricably to Islam.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs controls the construction of mosques,
clerical affairs, and Islamic education for adults and new converts.
The emir participates in public prayers during both Eid holiday periods
and personally finances the Hajj for pilgrims who cannot afford to
travel to Mecca.
The Government has granted legal status to Catholic, Anglican,
Orthodox, Coptic, and many Asian Christian denominations. It maintains
an official register of approved religious congregations.
The following Islamic holy days are considered national holidays:
Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Converting to another religion from Islam is considered apostasy
and is technically a capital offense; however, since the country gained
independence in 1971 there has been no recorded execution or other
punishment for such a crime.
The Government regulates the publication, importation, and
distribution of non-Islamic religious literature. Individuals and
religious institutions are allowed to import Bibles and other religious
items for personal or congregational use. In addition, religious
materials for use at Christmas and Easter are readily available in
local shops.
Religious services were held without prior authorization from the
Government; however, congregations may not publicly advertise them in
advance or use visible religious symbols such as outdoor crosses.
Christian services are regularly held and open to the public. Some
services, particularly those on Easter and Christmas, drew more than
one thousand worshippers.
Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'is, and members of other religious groups
do not operate as freely as Christian congregations, because they have
not sought official permission from the Government. However, there was
no official effort to harass or hamper adherents of these religious
groups in the private practice of their religion.
No foreign missionary groups operated openly in the country. In
June 2004, a new criminal code was enacted that established new rules
for proselytizing. Individuals caught proselytizing on behalf of an
organization, society, or foundation for any religion other than Islam,
may be sentenced to a term in prison of up to ten years. If
proselytizing is done by an individual, for any religion other than
Islam, the sentence is imprisonment of up to five years. According to
this new law, individuals who possess written or recorded materials or
items that support or promote missionary activity are imprisoned for up
to two years.
Discrimination in the areas of employment, education, housing, and
health services occurred, but nationality was usually the determinant
more than religion.
Islamic instruction is compulsory in public schools. While there
were no restrictions on non-Muslims providing private religious
instruction for children, most foreign children attended secular
private schools. Muslim children were allowed to go to secular and co-
educational private schools.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim litigants may request the Shari'a courts
to assume jurisdiction in commercial or civil cases. In 2005, a new
panel was established in the courts for the Shi'a. The panel decided
cases in the following areas: Marriage, divorce, inheritance, and other
domestic disputes. Convicted Muslims may earn points for good behavior
and have their sentences reduced by a few months by memorizing the
Qur'an.
The official interpretation of Shari'a imposes some restrictions on
Muslim women. Muslim wives have the right to inherit from their
husbands. Non-Muslim wives inherit nothing, unless a special exception
is arranged. Shari'a is also applied in cases of divorce. Both parents
retain permanent rights of visitation; however, local authorities do
not allow a non-citizen parent to take his or her child out of the
country without permission of the citizen parent. Women may attend
court proceedings. They are generally represented by a male relative;
however, they may represent themselves. According to Shari'a, the
testimony of two women equals that of one man, but the courts routinely
interpret this on a case-by-case basis. A non-Muslim woman is not
required to convert to Islam upon marriage to a Muslim; however, many
make a personal decision to do so. A non-citizen woman is not required
to become a citizen upon marriage to a citizen. Children born to a
Muslim father are considered to be Muslim.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The emir and top Government officials strongly supported the swift
construction and establishment of churches. The Government assigned a
coordinator in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to speed up the process
and facilitate all required building procedures and related matters,
although some restrictions have been imposed on the use of certain
religious symbols on buildings.
In May 2005, representatives of Christian churches in the country
signed an agreement with the Government for a fifty-year lease on a
large piece of property on the outskirts of Doha on which they intend
to erect six churches at their own expense. The churches were expected
to pay nominal lease fees of a few hundred dollars a year, renewable
after ten years. The property was expected to include an Anglican
church that may also be used by other Protestant denominations, a
church to serve thirty four Indian-Christian congregations, a church
for the country's small but influential Coptic community, and a site
for two Orthodox churches, one Greek and one Eastern Rite. In December
2005, the foundation stone for the Catholic Church was laid and the
ground-breaking took place at the end of April 2006. This would be the
first church built since the coming of Islam. Other groups were in the
process of raising funds for the construction of their churches. Also,
a board composed of members of all the Christian churches was formed to
liaise directly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding church
matters. Previous barriers stemming from religious and cultural
sensitivities were eased, and church representatives could now directly
approach any Government agency to conduct their church affairs.
Each church was granted permission to apply for visas for visiting
clerics to preside over and assist in church services. Non-Muslim
religious figures were seen in public.
The Fourth Conference for Religious Dialogue took place on April
25-27, 2006, in Doha. Representatives from the three largest
monotheistic religions--Christianity, Islam, and Judaism--were invited.
Invitations were extended to the Anglican Church, Coptic Church, Middle
East Churches Council, Orthodox Church, the Vatican, and Jewish rabbis,
among others. Rabbis from the U.S. and other countries attended and
were full participants.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Relations between persons of
differing religious beliefs generally are amicable and tolerant. The
press and media generally treat non-Muslim religious groups in a
respectful manner.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
U.S. Embassy officials met with Government officials at all levels
to address religious freedom issues. The Embassy facilitated contacts
between religious leaders and the Government, and coordinated
initiatives with other foreign embassies to increase their impact.
The ambassador and other U.S. Embassy officials also met with
representatives from religious communities in the country to discuss
religious freedom issues, including protection of the interests of
minority congregations and allegations of discrimination on religious
grounds. These concerns were brought to the attention of appropriate
officials in the Government and on the National Human Rights Committee.
__________
SAUDI ARABIA
The country is a monarchy with a legal system based on its
interpretation of Islamic law (Shari'a). Islam is the official
religion, and the law requires that all citizens be Muslims. The
Government does not provide legal recognition or protection for freedom
of religion, and it is severely restricted in practice. The public
practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited. As a matter of policy,
the Government confirmed that it guarantees and protects the right to
private worship for all, including non-Muslims who gather in homes for
religious practice; however, this right was not always respected in
practice and is not defined in law.
There generally was no change in the status of religious freedom
during the reporting period. However, the Government identified and
confirmed its policies with regard to religious practice and tolerance
in a number of key areas. The Government continued a campaign against
religious extremism, and top officials, including the king, continued
to call for the promotion of tolerance. There were reports that some
imams (clerics) in their Friday sermons called for all citizens to show
respect for other religious faiths. However, there continued to be
instances where imams made intolerant statements toward Jews and other
religious groups.
During the reporting period, the Government put into place policies
to limit harassment of religious practice and curb violations by the
mutawwa'in (religious police, officially known as the Commission to
Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice). Reports of harassment of non-Muslims
and non Sunni-Muslims by mutawwa'in continued, but there were fewer
reports than in the past. The Government enforced a strictly
conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam. Muslims who do not adhere
to the officially sanctioned interpretation of Islam can face
significant societal discrimination and serious repercussions at the
hands of mutawwa'in. Members of the Shi'a minority continued to face
political, economic, legal, social, and religious discrimination,
including discrimination in employment, little representation in
official institutions, and restrictions on the practice of their faith
and on the building of mosques and community centers.
The Government confirmed its policy to protect the right to private
worship and the right to possess and use personal religious materials.
However, it did not provide for this right in law. Despite this
allowance, there were reports of mutawwa'in raids on private residences
and detentions of non-Muslims for alleged religious violations, such as
possession of non-Muslim literature or holding non-Muslim worship
services; however, there were fewer reports than during the previous
reporting period. Many non-Muslims continued to worship in fear of
harassment and in such a manner as to avoid discovery by police or
mutawwa'in. Although the Government did not provide statistics on the
numbers of individuals arrested for religious violations, anecdotal
evidence suggested that there was a decrease in both long-term and
short-term detentions, and in arrests and deportations of non-Muslims.
However, there were also reports that mutawwa'in, using both Muslim and
non-Muslim informants, targeted non-Muslim religious leaders and
organizers, and non-Muslim religious groups for harassment, arrest, and
deportation in an effort to deter groups from conducting private, non-
Muslim religious services.
During the reporting period, the Government made clear in the
context of various discussions its policy to improve the climate of
tolerance toward other religious groups and within Islam. In December
2005, the King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue convened the
fifth national dialogue forum, entitled, ``We and the Other: A National
Vision for Dealing with World Cultures.'' The final national vision
paper submitted to the King Abdullah emphasized adherence to Islamic
values and customs, and stressed respect for others' beliefs and
openness to other cultures. In December 2005, King Abdullah hosted a
ministerial summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),
which produced the communique ``A Ten Year Plan of Action for the
Muslim World.'' The communique included provisions calling for
religious tolerance, and King Abdullah inaugurated the conference with
a call for moderation, tolerance, rejection of extremist violence, and
reform of educational programs (including textbooks and curricula).
The Government clarified that its policy is to halt the
dissemination of intolerance and combat extremism both within the
country and abroad, including through the educational system and in
sermons. The Government confirmed that it continues to review
educational materials to remove and revise disparaging references to
other religious traditions and fire or retrain imams whose preaching
promotes extremist religious thought. Some journalists at a few, mostly
English language papers, continued to criticize abuses by the religious
police publicly. However, religious discrimination and sectarian
tension in society continued during the reporting period, including
denunciations from government-sanctioned pulpits of non-Muslim
religions and the Shi'a branch of Islam.
The majority of citizens support a state based on Islamic law,
although there were varying views regarding how this should be
interpreted and implemented.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Senior administration officials continued to raise religious freedom
concerns with the Government, including on specific cases. During the
reporting period, senior U.S. officials discussed with the Government
their policies concerning religious practice and tolerance. This made
it possible to identify and confirm a number of key policies that the
Government has made clear that it is pursuing and will continue to
pursue for the purposes of promoting greater freedom for religious
practice and increased tolerance for religious groups.
In 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell designated Saudi
Arabia as a ``Country of Particular Concern'' (CPC) under the
International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations
of religious freedom. In September 2005 Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice re-designated Saudi Arabia as a CPC, and the Government was issued
a waiver of sanctions ``to further the purposes of the Act.''
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1,225,000 square miles, and its
population was approximately 26.7 million, including an estimated
foreign population of more than 7 million. The foreign population
reportedly included approximately 1.4 million Indians, one million
Bangladeshis, nearly 900,000 Pakistanis, 800,000 Filipinos, 750,000
Egyptians, 250,000 Palestinians, 150,000 Lebanese, 130,000 Sri Lankans,
40,000 Eritreans, and 25,000 Americans. Comprehensive statistics for
the religious denominations of foreigners were not available; however,
they included Muslims from the various branches and schools of Islam,
Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. Approximately 90 percent of the
Filipino community was Christian. There possibly were as many as one
million Catholics in the country.
The majority of citizens were Sunni Muslims who predominantly
adhere to the very strict Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence, the
strictest of Sunni Islam's four legal schools. In addition most Sunnis
in the Kingdom subscribed to the teachings of Muhammad bin Abd al-
Wahhab, an eighteenth Century Muslim scholar belonging to the Hanbali
school. For this reason, these individuals were often referred to by
others as ``Wahhabis'' or Tawhidis. Most citizens, however, did not
describe themselves in these terms, preferring instead to say simply
that they were ``Muslims.'' Some conservative Muslims who attempt to
follow the practice and example of the first generation of Muslims,
known as the ``sacred ancestors'' or Salaf in Arabic, were often
referred to as Salafis. It is important to note that the terms
``Wahhabi'' and Salafi have quite different meanings.
In January and February 2006, the country hosted more than two
million Muslim pilgrims from around the world, and from all branches of
Islam, for the annual Hajj.
The Shi'a Muslim minority (approximately two million persons) lived
mostly in the Eastern Province, although a significant number also
resided in Medina in the Western Province.
An estimated 700,000 Sulaimani Ismailis, a subgroup of Shi'a Islam,
also lived in the country, primarily in Najran.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
There is no legal recognition or protection of religious freedom,
and it is severely restricted in practice. Although millions of Muslims
and non-Muslims did practice their faith on a daily basis, both Muslims
whose beliefs do not conform to the Hanbali school of Islamic
jurisprudence and non-Muslims must practice their religion in private
and are vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and sometimes
detention. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be
Muslims. Religious freedom is not recognized or protected under the
Government's interpretations of Islamic laws, and basic religious
freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned
version of Sunni Islam. Citizens are denied the freedom to choose or
change their religion. The Government limits the practice of all but
the officially sanctioned version of Islam and prohibits the public
practice of other religions.
As custodian of Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, the
Government considers its legitimacy to rest largely on its
interpretation and enforcement of Shari'a. The Basic Law provides that
the Qur'an and the Sunna (tradition and sayings of Muhammad) constitute
the country's Constitution. The Government generally follows the
rigorously conservative interpretation of the Wahhabi branch of the
Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence and discriminates against other
branches of Islam. However, in a sign of liberalization, the Government
also instructed judges to base their rulings on all four schools of
Islamic jurisprudence, not just the Hanbali school and its Wahhabi
branch. Neither the Government nor society in general accepts the
concept of separation of religion and state.
The Basic Law establishes the system of government, rights of
residents and citizens, and powers and duties of the Government. The
judiciary bases its judgments largely on Shari'a, the traditional
system of laws derived from the Qur'an and the Sunna. The Government
claims that it permits Shi'a Muslims to use their own version of
Shari'a to adjudicate cases limited to family law, inheritance, and
endowment management. However, there were only two such Shi'a judges
serving the entire Shi'a population. The Shari'a courts could and did
overrule their judgments, and other government departments could choose
not to implement their judgments.
During the reporting period, the Government announced September 23
as the Kingdom's National Day, the first secular holiday. The Eid al-
Fitr and Eid al-Adha religious feasts are the only other recognized
national holidays. The Government again permitted public observance of
the Shi'a holiday of Ashura in the eastern city of Qatif but did not
permit it in other areas where Shi'a citizens resided, such as Al-Ahsa
and Dammam.
Significant numbers of Sufis in the Western Province engaged in
technically illegal practices such as celebrating the Mawlid, or
Prophet's Birthday, without government interference.
During the reporting period, the Government made clear its policy
that it permits private worship for all, including non-Muslims who
gather in homes for religious practice, and confirmed that it would
address violations of this right by government officials. However, the
mutawwa'in sometimes did not respect this right in practice.
Individuals whose right to private worship had been violated could
address their grievances through the Ministry of the Interior, the
Human Rights Commission, and when appropriate, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. During the reporting period, there was no information on the
number of claims filed or the Government's response to claims.
Additionally, while customs officials and the mutawwa'in do not have
the authority to confiscate personal private religious materials, in
practice materials were confiscated from both Muslims and non-Muslims.
It is the policy of the Government that when processing guest workers,
its missions abroad are to inform them of their right to worship
privately and possess personal religious materials, and where to file
grievances should these rights be violated.
Islamic law considers Hindus to be polytheists; identification with
polytheism is used to justify discrimination against Hindus, inter
alia, in calculating accidental death or injury compensation.
Christians and Jews, who are classified as ``People of the Book,'' are
also discriminated against, but to a lesser extent than Hindus. For
example, according to the country's ``Hanbali'' interpretation of
Shari'a, once fault is determined by a court, a Muslim male receives
100 percent of the amount of compensation determined, a male Jew or
Christian receives 50 percent, and all others (including Hindus,
Buddhists and Sikhs) receive 1/16 of the amount a male Muslim may
receive. Women's testimony is worth only half that of men, and a non-
Muslim woman's testimony is worth less than that of a Muslim woman.
During the reporting period, the Ministry of Education continued to
revise textbooks and educational curricula in an effort to remove
intolerant references. The Government also established a High
Commission for Education (HCE) to oversee the ongoing revision and
updating of the educational system. The HCE reports to the king and is
chaired by the crown prince. It includes the ministers of justice,
islamic affairs, education, higher education, and labor, two members of
the Shura Council, the secretary general of the Islamic League, and a
representative of the Supreme Council of the Ulema. The HCE's mandate
includes oversight of the effort to improve textbooks, educational
curricula, and teacher training, including the removal of intolerant
text and the promotion of human rights.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Tolerated Islamic practice generally is limited to a branch of the
Hanbali school of the Sunni branch of Islam founded by Muhammad bin Abd
Al-Wahhab, an eighteenth century Sunni religious leader, which is often
referred to as ``Wahhabism.'' Outside the country, most citizens do not
use this term to describe themselves. Practices contrary to this
interpretation, such as celebration of Muhammad's birthday and visits
to the tombs of renowned Muslims, are forbidden. The Government
prohibits the propagation of Islamic teachings that do not conform to
the officially accepted interpretation of Islam. However, in practice,
during the reporting period Muslims adhering to the non-Hanbali school
were less restricted than in the past in expressing their religious
beliefs.
During the reporting period, there was an increasing degree of
public discussion of conservative religious traditions. Some writers
criticized abuses committed by mutawwa'in. However, discussion of
religious issues remained limited, and the Government placed temporary
or permanent bans on some editors and writers of major local daily
newspapers for publication of articles and cartoons critical of the
religious establishment. In February 2006 the Government temporarily
shut down a daily tabloid for reproducing one of the controversial
cartoons of Muhammad that first appeared in a Danish daily newspaper.
The Government suspended the paper for two weeks for violating sacred
religious strictures.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs pays stipends to imams and others
who work in Sunni mosques. A separate government committee within the
Ministry of Islamic Affairs defines the qualifications of Sunni imams.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs also supervises and finances the
construction and maintenance of most Sunni mosques, although
approximately 30 percent of Sunni mosques are built and endowed by
private persons, either as acts of charity or at private residences.
The Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice is a governmental
entity that reports to the Royal Diwan. Its chairman has ministerial
rank.
The Government did not finance construction or maintenance of Shi'a
mosques. Shi'a who wished to build a new mosque must obtain the
permission of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, the municipality, and
the governorate (which is functionally part of the Ministry of
Interior); the latter office's approval was not necessary for Sunni
mosques. While the Government had approved construction of new Shi'a
mosques in Qatif and some areas of Al-Ahsa, sometimes after lengthy
delays, it did not approve construction of Shi'a mosques in Dammam,
home to a significant number of Shi'a.
The Government refused to approve construction or registration of
hussainiyas, which serve as Shi'a community centers. Shi'a were forced
to build areas in private homes that serve as hussainiyas, which did
not enjoy legal recognition. These hussainiyas sometimes did not meet
safety codes, and the lack of legal recognition made their long-term
financing and continuity more difficult than it would otherwise be. The
Government also did not approve construction of a Shi'a graveyard in
Dammam.
The Government did not register the Hawza, or Shi'a religious
seminary, in Al-Ahsa; it was instead registered as a private house. The
government did not support the Hawza, sanction issuance of certificates
to its graduates, or provide employment for its graduates, all of which
it did for Sunni religious training institutions. There were no Shi'a
members of the country's highest religious authority, the Council of
Senior Islamic Scholars (Ulema). Religious training for all other
religions is strictly prohibited.
Since the 2003 terrorist attacks in Riyadh, the Government has
taken public measures to counter religious extremism. The Government
continued its national dialogue initiative to promote dialogue and
discussion among society and to combat extremism and terrorism. In
February 2005 the Government hosted the first ever Counter-Terrorism
International Conference for participants representing sixty-one
countries and international organizations. The Government also
continued sponsorship of antiterrorism and antiextremism public
relations campaigns. The government-run television network continued
broadcasting programs to combat extremist and terrorist ideology, and
senior government and religious leaders, including the grand mufti,
spoke out against extremism.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs continued using the Internet to
promote moderation and counter extremist's ideology. The Ministry of
Islamic Affairs also monitored the majority of mosque sermons to ensure
the ideas espoused are consistent with the government-sanctioned
interpretation of Islam. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs claimed to
monitor sermons as part of its ongoing efforts to fight extremism. The
ministry also confirmed that its policy is to retrain imams to promote
tolerance and combat extremist teachings. It also claims that it is
reassigning or relieving imams who would not conform to retraining.
During the reporting period, there were some instances where imams were
relieved of their duties by the ministry. The Government stated that it
barred foreign imams from leading worship during the most heavily
attended prayer times, but there were instances when foreign imams
delivered Friday sermons in the Eastern Province. Writers and other
individuals who publicly criticized the official interpretation of
Islam, including those who favored a more moderate interpretation than
the Government's, risked mutawwa'in sanctions. Several journalists who
wrote critically about the religious leadership or who questioned
theological dogma were banned from writing or traveling abroad.
In April 2006, the Government arrested and detained a journalist
for Riyadh's Al Shams newspaper. According to news reports, he was
charged with ``doubting the Islamic creed'' and for ``harboring
destructive thoughts.'' The journalist had received death threats for
his writings, according to news media. He was released after eleven
days.
Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is widely considered to
be apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused did not recant.
There were no executions for apostasy during the reporting period, and
there have been no reports of such executions for several years.
In March 2004, a schoolteacher who was reportedly teaching students
about tolerance was convicted of blasphemy and was sentenced to 3 years
imprisonment and 300 lashes.
In November 2005 a religious court convicted a high school teacher
of blasphemy, sentencing him to more than 3 years and 750 lashes. The
teacher reportedly was teaching his students about tolerance and
challenging extremism. Both teachers were pardoned by King Abdullah in
December 2005 after appealing their cases. Both trials received
substantial international press coverage.
The Government prohibited public non-Muslim religious activities.
Non-Muslim worshippers risked arrest, imprisonment, lashing,
deportation, and sometimes torture for engaging in religious activity
that attracts official attention. In principle the Government permitted
non-Muslim foreigners, including non-Sunni Muslims, to worship
privately in their homes. In October 2005 King Abdullah publicly stated
``people are free to practice their faith in the privacy of their
homes.'' However, the Government did not define ``private worship,''
and this ambiguity, coupled with instances of arbitrary enforcement and
detention, led many non-Muslims to worship in fear of harassment and in
such a way as to avoid discovery by police or mutawwa'in. During the
reporting period, those detained for visible non-Muslim worship were
deported, sometimes after being detained for a period of time during
the investigation. In some cases in the past, those convicted were also
sentenced to receive lashes prior to deportation. Anecdotal evidence
suggested there was a decrease in both long-term detentions and
deportations of non-Muslims for religious reasons. As a matter of
policy, the mutawwa'in do not have the authority to conduct
surveillance. However, there was an increase in reports of surveillance
of non-Muslims by the mutawwa'in and informants. This perception of
surveillance and targeting of leaders and organizers of non-Muslim
religious groups by mutawwa'in effectively deterred many non-Muslims
from gathering to hold private worship services in their homes. There
was continued harassment by mutawwa'in, which either led to warnings,
punishments, or short-term detentions of non-Muslims. As a matter of
policy, the mutawwa'in are not authorized to implement punishments or
detain individuals. Some former detainees reported occasional
government harassment and surveillance following their release.
The Government officially did not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter
the country to conduct religious services, although some did so under
other auspices, and the Government generally allowed their performance
of discreet religious functions. Such restrictions made it difficult
for most non-Muslims to maintain contact with clergy but did not
prevent non-Muslims from gathering for private worship services.
Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who require a priest on a regular
basis to receive the sacraments required by their faith, were
particularly affected.
Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-
Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, was illegal. The promotion
of nonofficial interpretations of Islam was less restricted than it was
in previous years. Muslims or non-Muslims wearing religious symbols in
public that were considered idolatrous within the Hanbali school of
Islam risk confrontation with mutawwa'in.
Some non-Muslim foreigners converted to Islam during their stay in
the country. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs sponsored approximately 50
``Call and Guidance'' centers employing approximately 500 persons to
convert foreigners to Islam. The ministry also employed approximately
fifty women to work in mosques and advocate for conversion to Islam.
The state-owned media reported in May 2006 that in the last 10 years as
many as 4,200 expatriates of various nationalities converted to Islam
as a result of the activities of the Islamic Education Foundation. The
report stated that approximately 40 percent of those who converted were
women. The press often carried favorable articles about such
conversions, including testimonials.
The Government required noncitizens to carry iqamas, or legal
resident identity cards, which contained a religious designation for
``Muslim'' or ``non-Muslim.'' There were reports that individual
mutawwa'in pressured sponsors and employers not to renew iqamas of non-
Muslims they had sponsored for employment if it was discovered or
suspected that those individuals had either led, sponsored, or
participated in private non-Muslim worship services. Additionally,
there were reports that mutawwa'in pressured employers and sponsors to
reach verbal agreements with non-Muslim employees, who must promise
that they will not participate in private or public non-Muslim worship
services.
During the reporting period, authorities continued to permit a
greater degree of freedom to Shi'a in the Eastern Province city of
Qatif, overlooking religious practices and gatherings that were
restricted or prevented in the past. However, in other areas with large
Shi'a populations, such as al-Ahsa and Dammam, the authorities
continued to restrict Shi'a religious practices. In January and
February 2006 observances of Ashura took place in Qatif. Large groups
of Shi'a gathered to hear Shi'a clerics speak at hussainiyas, to
purchase books and other religious paraphernalia, and to participate in
marches in commemoration of Imam Hussain's death. The Government
imposed restrictions on public observances of Ashura in al-Ahsa,
Dammam, and other areas where Shi'a lived, banning public marches,
loudspeaker broadcast of clerics' lectures from hussainiyas, and, in
some instances, gatherings within hussainiyas. The Government continued
to exclude Shi'a perspectives from the state's extensive religious
media and broadcast programming but appeared to have enforced more
sporadically restrictions banning the importation and sale of Shi'a
books and audio and video products.
Members of the Shi'a minority were subject to officially sanctioned
political and economic discrimination, in addition to the religious and
legal discrimination described above. Although Shi'a comprise 10 to 15
percent of the citizen population and approximately half of citizens in
the Eastern Province (EP), Shi'a were underrepresented in senior
government positions. There were no Shi'a governors, mayors, or
ministry branch directors in the EP, and only three of the fifty-nine
government-appointed municipal council members were Shi'a. The Shi'a
were well-represented in the elected portion of the municipal councils,
however. The municipal council at Qatif was headed by an elected Shi'a.
At the national level, there were only 4 Shi'a on the 150-member Majlis
al-Shura.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that Shi'a faced considerable
employment discrimination in the public and private sectors. While
there were some Shi'a who occupied high-level positions in government-
owned companies and government agencies, many Shi'a believed that
openly identifying themselves as Shi'a would have a negative impact on
career advancement. While there was no formal policy concerning the
hiring and promotion of Shi'a, anecdotal evidence suggested that in
some companies--including companies in the oil and petrochemical
industries--well-qualified Shi'a were passed over for less-qualified
Sunni compatriots. In the public sector, Shi'a were significantly
underrepresented in national security related positions.
The Government discriminated against Shi'a in higher education in
the selection process for students, professors, and administrators at
public universities. For example, it was estimated that Shi'a comprise
2 percent of professors at a leading university in al-Ahsa, an area
that is approximately 50 percent Shi'a. Also in al-Ahsa, it was
estimated that there were five Shi'a principals at the several hundred
boys' schools and no Shi'a principals at the several hundred girls'
schools. Shi'a principals were also underrepresented in Qatif, although
it was reported that the Government had begun to appoint Shi'a
principals at girls schools. Shi'a teachers were not permitted to teach
certain courses in schools, such as history or religion, even in
predominantly Shi'a areas. While government officials stated that
textbook language with prejudicial, anti-Shi'a statements were removed,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that textbooks still
contained anti-Shi'a and intolerant references. There were reports of
prejudicial questions on exams. There were also reports that some
teachers continued to use anti-Shi'a rhetoric, such as calling Shi'a
students infidels or polytheists.
Under the provisions of Shari'a law as practiced in the country,
judges may discount the testimony of nonpracticing Muslims or of
individuals who do not adhere to the official interpretation of Islam.
Testimony by Shi'a was often ignored in courts of law or was deemed to
have less weight than testimony by Sunnis. despite official government
statements that judges do not discriminate based on religion when
hearing testimonies. In March 2006 a Sunni judge refused the testimony
of Shi'a citizen Ala' Amin Al Sadeh. Al Sadeh filed a complaint with
the Ministry of Justice and the National Society for Human Rights. At
the end of the reporting period, it was not known whether a resolution
was reached.
There were unconfirmed reports that at least fifty-seven Sulaimani
Ismailis were still in jail following rioting in Najran in 2000. During
the reporting period, there was no additional information on the status
of these individuals. There were reports that the Government
discriminated against Sulaimani Ismailis by prohibiting them from
having their own religious books, allowing Sunni religious leaders to
declare them unbelievers, denying them government employment or
restricting them to lower-level jobs, relocating them from the
southwest to other parts of the country, or encouraging them to
emigrate.
Customs officials routinely opened mail and shipments to search for
contraband, including Sunni printed material deemed incompatible with
the conservative Hanbali tradition of Sunni Islam, Shi'a religious
materials, and non-Muslim materials such as Bibles and religious
videotapes. Such materials are vulnerable to confiscation and
censorship, although rules appeared to be applied arbitrarily. The
Government blocked access to some Internet websites with religious
material that the Government considered offensive or sensitive.
Sunni Islamic religious education is mandatory in public schools at
all levels. Regardless of the Islamic tradition to which their families
adhere, all public school children receive religious instruction that
conforms to the conservative Hanbali tradition of Sunni Islam. Non-
Muslim students in private schools are not required to study Islam.
Private religious schools are not permitted for non-Muslims or for
Muslims adhering to nonofficial interpretations of traditions of Islam.
During the reporting period, senior government officials announced
plans to reform the educational system, including confirming plans to
revise and reform textbooks to remove remaining intolerant references
that disparage non-Sunni Muslims and non-Muslims or that promote hatred
toward other religions or religious groups within one to two years.
These plans also include revisions to the educational curricula and the
training process for teachers to ensure that tolerance is promoted in
the educational system. As a matter of policy, the Government confirmed
that it is prohibiting the use of government channels or funds to
publish or promote textbooks that contain intolerant references toward
other religions and religious groups.
Public debate over reform in the country continued during the
reporting period. In December 2005 the King Abdul Aziz Center for
National Dialogue convened the fifth national dialogue forum, entitled,
``We and the Other: A National Vision for Dealing with World
Cultures.'' More than 700 men and women scholars, intellectuals, and
government officials met to discuss proposing a national vision paper
for citizens' interaction with other societies and their religions. The
national vision paper emphasized adherence to Islamic values and
customs and stressed respect for others' beliefs and openness to other
cultures. King Abdullah, then the crown prince, began the national
dialogue initiative in 2003 in response to calls for real and practical
reform in the kingdom. Building on the four previous forums, the
December session was the culmination of thirteen preparatory meetings
held in the country between April and November 2005 where scholars and
civil society members, both men and women, discussed political reform,
religious tolerance, and the role of women and youth in the country.
Additionally, preparatory meetings for the Sixth National Dialogue
Forum, entitled ``Education: Reality and Development Methods,'' were
held in May 2006 to address education curricula reform.
During the reporting period, the National Society for Human Rights
(NSHR), the first human rights NGO officially licensed by the
Government in March 2004, continued to address some human rights
violations, although not specifically religious freedom issues. From
March 2004 to February 2006, it reportedly processed 5,000 ``human
rights'' cases. Additionally, the Government formed the Human Rights
Commission (HRC) in September 2005 to address human rights infractions,
including violations of religious freedom. The HRC is also mandated to
spread human rights awareness in the country, including by training
police and security forces on protecting human rights. The king issued
a decree that ministries had three weeks to respond to a complaint
filed by the HRC. Most complaints filed with the HRC involved alleged
violations by mutawwa'in. At the end of the period covered by this
report, the board of the HRC had not been established, and the HRC was
not completely operational.
Abuses of Freedom of Religion
The Government continued to commit abuses of religious freedom;
however, reports of abuses often were difficult or impossible to
corroborate. Fear and the consequent secrecy surrounding any non-Muslim
religious activity contributed to reluctance to disclose any
information that might harm persons under government investigation.
Moreover, information regarding government practices was generally
incomplete because judicial proceedings generally were closed to the
public, despite provisions in the 2002 Criminal Procedural Law that
allowed some court proceedings to be open.
During the reporting period, there was no additional information on
the case of a dissident Sunni religious scholar who the Government
accused of writing literature that questioned the Islamic
establishment's interpretation of the Sunna (the sayings and acts of
Muhammad). The Government reportedly had banned him from writing and
traveling for several years.
During the reporting period, the government reinstated the travel
privileges of a university professor who was banned from teaching and
traveling during the last reporting period for criticizing the
Government's discriminatory policies against Shi'a. The university
professor was allowed to resume teaching in 2005.
In 2003 the press reported a raid in the Al Jouf region, where
sixteen Sufis were arrested for possession and distribution of books,
videos, and brochures promoting Sufism. During the reporting period,
there was no additional information confirming the raid or reporting on
the status of these individuals.
In June and November 2005, the Government temporarily shut down a
weekly majlis, or gathering, held by a Sufi sheikh who adheres to the
Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. The majlis reconvened shortly
after.
There was no additional information on unconfirmed reports that a
number of Shi'a remained in detention.
There continued to be instances of detaining and deporting non-
Muslims for religious reasons.
In September 2004 seven Filipino Christian leaders were arrested
and detained when mutawwa'in raided a religious service. All were
released within one month, but mutawwa'in reportedly put pressure on
their employers to deport them. Six had been deported by July 2005.
In November 2004, Indian Christian Brian O'Connor was deported
after being detained for seven months for religious reasons.
In February 2005, mutawwa'in raided a Filipino Christian worship
service in Riyadh; those detained and arrested were released within
hours of the raid.
In March 2005 mutawwa'in arrested Indian Christian Samkutty
Varghese and confiscated religious materials he was carrying. Varghese
was released in July 2005. There were additional reports of arrests in
May 2005 of at least eight Indian Protestant leaders following
Varghese's arrest, purportedly because he carried information listing
other Christians in the kingdom. Six of the eight were released and two
remained in the kingdom. Further details on the status of the two who
remained were not known.
In April 2005, according to newspaper reports and independent
sources, at least twenty Pakistani Christians were arrested during a
mutawwa'in raid on a Christian service. Most or all were released the
same day.
Also in April 2005, three Ethiopian and two Eritrean Christians
were arrested in Riyadh during a raid on a private service. All five
were released after a month in detention.
During the reporting period, there were reports of several raids on
Filipino Christian services in Riyadh. Mutawwa'in raided services and
confiscated religious materials such as Bibles and Christian symbols
but typically did not detain non-Muslims. In April 2006 the Government
arrested a Catholic priest from India who was presiding over a service
in Dammam. He was released on April 7 and left the country the next
day.
Also in April 2006 the mutawwa'in reportedly arrested a female
Shi'a student in Riyadh, allegedly for proselytizing other students.
She was released several days later and allowed to return to her
family.
In June 2006 four East African Christians were arrested while
leading a private worship ceremony. At the end of the period covered by
this report, they were scheduled for deportation.
During the reporting period, there also were reports of
surveillance of Christian religious services by security personnel.
``Magic'' was widely believed in and sometimes practiced. However,
under Shari'a the practice of magic was regarded as the worst form of
polytheism and was severely punished. There were an unknown number of
detainees held in prison on the charge of ``sorcery,'' including the
practice of ``black magic'' or ``witchcraft.'' During the reporting
period, the local press reported several cases of arrests of foreigners
and citizens for practicing ``sorcery.'' The raids were reported to be
part of a campaign to locate illegal residents.
Mutawwa'in practices and incidents of abuse varied widely in
different regions of the country. Reports of incidents were most
numerous in the central Nejd region, which includes the capital Riyadh.
In certain areas, both mutawwa'in and religious vigilantes acting on
their own harassed, assaulted, battered, apprehended, and detained
citizens and foreigners. The Government requires mutawwa'in to follow
established procedures and to offer instruction in a polite manner.
However, mutawwa'in did not always comply with these requirements and
the Government did not take legal or police action against mutawwa'in
who violated these regulations, even in cases where they used physical
violence against detainees.
Mutawwa'in enforcement of strict standards of social behavior
included closing commercial establishments during the five daily prayer
observances, insisting upon compliance with conservative dress
standards, and dispersing gatherings in public places. Mutawwa'in
enforcement of strict standards of social behavior was more pronounced
during the month of Ramadan. Mutawwa'in reproached foreign women for
failure to observe strict dress codes, particularly for failure to wear
headscarves, and detained men and women found together who were not
married or closely related. In the past, the press reported that
mutawwa'in warned shopkeepers not to sell New Year's or Christmas gifts
or decorations. The warning also reminded employees not to allow their
staff to celebrate either holiday openly. In February 2004, the grand
mufti restated a previously issued fatwa that declared Valentine's Day
a ``pagan Christian holiday'' that could not be celebrated publicly.
Mutawwa'in banned shopkeepers from selling Valentine's Day gifts and
decorations and forbade vendors from selling roses five days prior to
and following February 14.
Mutawwa'in had the authority to confront persons for violations of
strict standards of proper dress and behavior and to apprehend
individuals committing a crime, but must immediately hand suspects over
to the police. However, they sometimes detained people for more than
twenty-four hours before delivering them to the police. The interior
minister announced this policy, but no information was available on
whether the Government had taken measures to hold accountable
mutawwa'in who broke the rules. Procedures required that a police
officer accompany mutawwa'in at the time of arrest. Mutawwa'in
generally complied with this requirement, but there were cases during
the year in which mutawwa'in violated this requirement. As a matter of
policy, mutawwa'in must also have a warrant and be accompanied by a
police officer to enter a private residence; however, there were
several reported cases where mutawwa'in did not produce a warrant
before entering the premises. Mutawwa'in could not conduct
investigations or allow unpaid volunteers to accompany official
patrols; however, there were cases during the year in which unofficial
mutawwa'in harassed individuals and used noncitizen informants to
gather information for investigations of other non-Muslims. During the
reporting period, the Government issued a decree that all members of
the mutawwa'in must wear an official photo identification badge, and
all future members of the mutawwa'in must be trained at a special
institute. Current members of the mutawwa'in were to undergo
retraining. By the end of the reporting period, there were no known
instances where mutawwa'in were held accountable for violating
government policies.
In May 2006 the Government issued a decree to all thirteen
provinces stating that all cases involving alleged harassment by the
mutawwa'in would be transferred for investigation to the Board of
Investigation and Prosecution, an independent board in each province
that answers to each region's governor. In the past, the mutawwa'in had
conducted independent, internal investigations of complaints against
it. The decree also reiterated that the role of the mutawwa'in ended
with the apprehension of individuals accused of crimes and that the
mutawwa'in must immediately hand them over to the police.
In general, non-Muslim, non-Western religious communities must
exercise extreme caution when practicing their religions. The press
reported in March 2005 that mutawwa'in raided a makeshift Hindu shrine
in Riyadh, destroying its temple and forcing worshippers to cease their
activities. The Government reportedly deported three worshippers.
During the reporting period, there continued to be instances in
which mosque preachers, who are paid government stipends, used anti-
Jewish, anti-Christian, and anti-Shi'a language in their sermons.
Although this language has declined in frequency since the Government
began encouraging moderation following the 2003 terror attacks, there
continued to be instances in which mosque speakers prayed for the death
of Jews and Christians, including from the Grand Mosque in Mecca and
the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
There were no reports that terrorists targeted victims based on
their religion. During the reporting period, the security forces
conducted a number of raids on suspected al-Qa'ida cells in the
Kingdom. Seven members of the security forces were killed during
firefights with suspected terrorists. Terrorists also unsuccessfully
attacked an oil facility in February 2006. In May 2006, a local man
fired shots at a foreign consulate in Jeddah. No personnel were injured
during the shooting and the individual was arrested and detained by the
security forces. During the previous reporting period, terrorists
killed more than thirty foreigners and citizen civilians, including
five employees of a foreign consulate in Jeddah in December. More than
forty members of security forces were also killed while combating
terrorists. The terrorist attacks consisted of kidnappings, targeted
shootings, bombings, and beheadings.
Forced Religious Conversion
Under the law, children of male citizens are considered Muslim,
regardless of the country or the religious tradition in which they have
been raised. While, the Government's application of this law
discriminates against non-Muslim, noncitizen mothers, and denies their
children the freedom to choose their religion, in practice some
children of mixed marriages were raised in other faiths. Women who
marry citizens must convert to Islam. There were no reports of the
forced religious conversion of minor U.S. citizens who had been
abducted or illegally removed from the United States during the
reporting period.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the reporting period, the Government identified and
confirmed its policies with regard to a wide range of religious
practice and tolerance issues. Senior government officials made efforts
to improve the climate of tolerance toward other religious groups and
within Islam.
In October 2005, in his first U.S. television interview since
becoming king, King Abdullah stated that ``people are free to practice
their faith in the privacy of their homes.'' In December 2005 King
Abdullah hosted a ministerial summit of the OIC, which produced the
communique ``A Ten Year Plan of Action for the Muslim World.'' The king
inaugurated the conference with a call for moderation, tolerance,
rejection of extremist violence, and reform of educational programs
(including textbooks and curricula). The communique included provisions
calling for religious tolerance, improved human rights standards, and
state accountability.
There was an improvement in press freedom during the reporting
period, and discussions of religious issues were more open.
Additionally, increased press freedom permitted journalists to
criticize abuses by the mutawwa'in publicly. The press reported on
debates in the Majlis al-Shura that focused on whether individuals must
be Muslim to attain citizenship and included opinions on both sides of
the issue.
The Government also took limited measures to remove what it deemed
to be disparaging references to other religious traditions from
educational curricula.
Senior leaders, including the king, the crown prince, the foreign
minister, the ambassador to the United States, the grand mufti, the
imam and khateeb of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the imam and khateeb of
the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, and imams in mosques in various parts
of the kingdom continued to call for tolerance and moderation. In May
2004, the deputy minister of Islamic affairs was reported as saying
that the country protects non-Muslims but does not plan to expand
freedom of worship. In May 2006, an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca
called for increased tolerance of other religious faiths.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
As a deeply conservative and devout Muslim society, there is
intense pressure within the country to conform to societal norms.
The conservative religious leadership also exerted pressure on the
state to adhere strictly to its interpretation of Islam. The Government
stated that in 2003 it stepped up efforts to combat religious extremism
by firing several hundred prayer leaders and beginning retraining
programs for both imams and other mosque employees. In July 2005, the
news media reported that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Najran
fired 17 imams working in mosques in the region and ordered another 132
to attend legal training courses. During the reporting period, there
were numerous instances where imams were fired for extremist rhetoric.
There were several media reports that individuals who were openly
critical of the religious establishment were often harassed by the
mutawwa'in and received death threats from religious extremists.
The majority of citizens support a state based on Islamic law,
although there were differing views as to how this should be realized
in practice. The official title of the head of state is ``Custodian of
the Two Holy Mosques,'' and the role of the king and the Government in
upholding Islam within the country is regarded as one of its paramount
functions.
Relations between Muslim citizens and foreign Muslims were
generally good. Each year the country welcomes between two and three
million Muslim pilgrims from all over the world and representing all
branches of Islam, who visit the country to perform the Hajj and Umra.
Anti-Semitic editorial comments appeared in the print and
electronic media. For example, references supporting the idea of
``Jewish control over the world,'' and to the Protocols of the Elders
of Zion appeared in the newspaper Ar-Riyadh on March 6, 2006. Cartoons
typically used classic anti-Semitic imagery directed against the
actions of Israel as a ``Zionist'' state, particularly in regard to
treatment of Palestinians. At times, there were questions raised in the
media on whether modern Christians and Jews should be considered
``people of the book'' and thus due the respect required by the Qur'an.
In December 2005, according to an NGO, Sheikh Abdul al-Aziz Fawzan al-
Fawzan, a professor of Islamic law at Al-Imam University, urged on Al-
Majd television a nonracist, compassionate, ``hatred'' toward infidels
that would guide and reform them.
NGOs have reported examples of hate speech in educational textbooks
and, in particular noted that religious textbooks emphasized
intolerance and hatred of religious traditions, especially Christianity
and Judaism. Officials claimed to have revised textbooks to remove
content disparaging religions other than Islam. However, many recently
published textbooks still contained language that was intolerant of
Judaism, Christianity, and the Shi'a tradition. The Government
confirmed that it is revising and updating the textbooks to ensure that
tolerance is promoted.
There was societal discrimination against Shi'a, particularly in
the school system. Some teachers of Islam told their students that
Shi'a practices were un-Islamic and that Shi'a students must follow
Sunni traditions to be true Muslims. There were reports that teachers
told their students that Shi'a were not Muslims, but rather were
kaffirs (unbelievers). Outside the school system, there were reports
that eggs were thrown at houses of Shi'a living in predominantly Sunni
areas and that some Sunnis would not socialize, or permit their
children to be friends with Shi'a.
In certain areas, religious vigilantes unaffiliated with the
Government and acting on their own harassed, assaulted, battered,
arrested, and detained citizens and foreigners.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discussed religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
Government policy is to press the Government consistently to honor its
public commitment to permit private religious worship by non-Muslims,
eliminate discrimination against minorities, and promote tolerance
toward non-Muslims.
During the reporting period, the U.S. ambassador met with senior
government and religious leaders regarding religious freedom, and
raised specific cases of violations with senior officials. Senior U.S.
officials discussed with the Government their policies concerning
religious practice and tolerance. This made it possible to identify and
confirm a number of key policies that the Government is pursuing and
will continue to pursue for the purposes of promoting greater freedom
for religious practice and increased tolerance for religious groups.
Senior U.S. officials called on the Government to enforce its public
commitment to allow private religious practice and to respect the
rights of Muslims who do not follow the conservative Hanbali tradition
of Sunni Islam. U.S. Government officials also raised their concerns
over the dissemination of intolerant literature and an extremist
ideology with the Government.
In addition, Embassy officers met with ministry of foreign affairs
officials at various other times to discuss matters pertaining to
religious freedom. In September 2005, the Secretary of State
redesignated Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC)
under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). In connection
with this designation, Secretary Rice issued a waiver of sanctions ``to
further the purposes of the Act.''
__________
SYRIA
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government imposes restrictions on this right. There is no official
state religion; however, the Constitution requires that the president
be Muslim and stipulates that Islamic jurisprudence is a principal
source of legislation.
The status of respect for religious freedom improved slightly
during the period covered by this report in that the Government eased
restrictions on public, state-sanctioned expressions of Islam. The
Government continued to monitor the activities of all groups, including
religious groups, and discourage proselytism, which it deems a threat
to the relations among religious groups. The Government also considers
the Jehovah's Witnesses a ``politically motivated Zionist
organization.''
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were
occasional reports of minor tensions between religious groups, some
attributable to economic rivalries rather than religious affiliation.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 71,498 square miles and a population of
18 million. Sunni Muslims represented approximately 74 percent of the
population (approximately 12.6 million persons). Other Muslim groups,
including Alawi, Ismailis, and Shi'a, together constituted an estimated
13 percent of the population (approximately 2.2 million persons). The
Druze accounted for an estimated 3 percent of the population
(approximately 500 thousand persons). Various Christian denominations
made up the remaining 10 percent of the population (approximately 1.7
million. persons). The great majority of Christians belonged to the
Eastern groups that have existed in the country since the earliest days
of Christianity. The main Eastern groups belonged to the autonomous
Orthodox churches, the Uniate churches, which recognize the Roman
Catholic Pope, and the independent Nestorian Church. There was a small
Yazidi population. There were approximately forty Jews. It was
difficult to obtain precise population estimates for religious sub-
groupings due to government sensitivity to sectarian demographics.
The largest Christian denomination was the Greek Orthodox Church,
known in the country as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and
All the East. The Syrian Orthodox Church is notable for its use of a
Syriac liturgy. Most citizens of Armenian origin belonged to the
Armenian Apostolic Church, which uses an Armenian liturgy. The largest
Uniate church in the country was the Greek Catholic Church. Other
Uniate denominations included the Maronite Church, the Syrian Catholic
Church, and the Chaldean Catholic Church, which derives from the
Nestorian Church. Protestant Christian denominations included Baptist
and Mennonite. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) was also present.
Sunni Muslims were present throughout the country. Christians
tended to be urbanized, and most lived in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and
Lattakia, although significant numbers lived in the Hasaka governorate
in the northeast. A majority of the Alawis lived in the Lattakia
governorate. A significant majority of the Druze population resided in
the rugged Jabal al-Arab region in the southeast, and most were located
in the town of Suweida. The few remaining Jews were concentrated in
Damascus and Aleppo. Yazidis were found primarily in the northeast.
Foreign missionary groups were present but operated discreetly.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government discourages public proselytism and carefully monitors groups
it considers to practice militant Islam. There is no official state
religion; however, the Constitution requires that the president be
Muslim and stipulates that Islamic jurisprudence is a principal source
of legislation.
All religions and orders must register with the Government, which
monitors fundraising and requires permits for all religious and
nonreligious group meetings, except for worship. The registration
process can be complicated and lengthy, but the Government usually
allows groups to operate informally while awaiting the Government's
response.
Recognized religious groups, including all governmentally-
recognized Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities, receive free
utilities and are exempt from real estate taxes and personal property
taxes on official vehicles.
There is a de facto separation of religion and the state. The
Government generally refrains from involvement in strictly religious
matters and religious groups tend not to participate in internal
political affairs. During the reporting period, the Government
increased its support for the practice and study of government-
sanctioned, moderate forms of Islam.
During the reporting period, the Government allowed a greater use
of religious language in public spaces, including the placement of
banners bearing religious slogans at the site of prominent public
landmarks during religious holidays and during the controversy over the
publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad in European newspapers.
During the reporting period the Government sometimes encouraged
negative--even violent--expressions of Islamic religious sentiment, at
least in part to curry favor with the Syrian Sunni majority. The
clearest example of this occurred on February 4, 2006, when the
Government allowed Muslim groups to demonstrate publicly against the
publication of the cartoons, and later failed to control a mob of
several thousand Muslim protesters that attacked and set fire to the
building housing the Danish, Swedish, and Chilean embassies, and later
set fire to the Norwegian Embassy.
In April 2006, MP and moderate Muslim cleric Mohammed Habash
addressed the officers at the Higher Military Academy, an event
described by press sources as the first such invitation since the 1963
rise of the Ba'ath Party to power. In May 2006, the state-owned al-
Thawra newspaper began a new section called ``Religion and Life,''
which focused exclusively on Islamic views and fatwas. Syrian state
radio also began broadcasting the dawn and afternoon Muslim prayers, in
addition to its traditional broadcast of noon prayers.
In April 2006, President Bashar al-Asad signed a decree permitting
the establishment of a Shari'a (Islamic Law) faculty at Aleppo
University. In the same month, the Government also announced a
decision, the first of its kind, to license three private Islamic
banks. In November 2005, Muslim groups successfully lobbied government
ministries to clamp down on the activities of two secular
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In the first case, the NGO
distributed a book that challenged the practice of Muslim women wearing
the hijab (headscarf). In the second case, another NGO attempted to
conduct research on the use of Shari'a as the basis for many personal
status laws applicable to all citizens, regardless of religion.
The Government selects moderate Muslims for religious leadership
positions and is intolerant of and suppresses extremist forms of Islam.
Two moderate Islamists were elected in the March 2003 elections and
serve as independent members of parliament. In July 2005, the
Government appointed Sheikh Ahmed Baderedin Hassoun, the Grand Mufti of
Aleppo, as the new Grand Mufti of Damascus. Sheikh Hassoun is known for
his encouragement of religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue. Since
being appointed to his new role, Sheikh Hassoun has called on Muslims
to stand up to Islamic fundamentalism and has urged leaders of the
various religious groups to engage in regular dialogues for mutual
understanding.
The Government generally does not prohibit links by its citizens
with coreligionists in other countries or with an international
hierarchy; however, it prohibits contact between the Jewish community
and Jews in Israel. Western Christmas, Orthodox and Western Easter, as
well as four Muslim religious holidays (Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, the
Islamic New Year, and the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad) are official
national holidays.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In 1964, the Government banned Jehovah's Witnesses and branded it a
``politically motivated Zionist organization.'' The Government bans
Witnesses from employment in the civil service, receiving religious
literature by post, and traveling abroad. They are also prohibited from
holding worship services; however, individual members of Jehovah's
Witnesses continued to practice their faith privately.
In 1963, the Government banned membership in the Syrian Muslim
Brotherhood and later made affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood
punishable by death under the auspices of Law 49 of 1980.
Proselytism is not prohibited by civil law; however, the Government
discouraged such activity which it deems a threat to the relations
among religious groups. Foreign missionaries were present but operated
discreetly. In the past, some proselytizers were prosecuted for
``posing a threat to the relations among religious groups.'' Most
charges of this kind carried sentences of imprisonment from five years
to life, although often such sentences were reduced to one or two
years. There were no reported cases of any prosecution on this charge
during the last four years.
The security services were constantly alert for any possible
political threat to the State, and all groups, religious and
nonreligious, were subject to surveillance and monitoring by government
security services. The Government considered militant Islam in
particular a threat to the regime and followed closely the practice of
its adherents. The Government has allowed many mosques to be built;
however, it monitored and controlled sermons and often closed mosques
between prayers.
The Government primarily cited tense relations with Israel as the
reason for barring Jewish citizens from employment in the civil
service, serving in the armed forces, and for exempting them from
military service obligations. Jews were the only religious minority
group whose passports and identity cards noted their religion. They
must obtain the permission of the security services before traveling
abroad. Jews also faced extra scrutiny from the Government when
applying for licenses, deeds, or other government papers. The Jewish
community is prohibited from sending historical Torahs abroad under a
law against exporting any of the country's historical and cultural
treasures. This created a serious problem for the dwindling Jewish
community concerned for the preservation of its religious texts.
Government policy officially disavows sectarianism of any kind;
however, in the case of President Asad's Alawi Muslim group, religion
can be a factor in determining career opportunities. For example,
Alawis held dominant positions in the security services and military
that were disproportionate to their percentage of the population.
In keeping with the Government's secular policy, the military did
not have a chaplain corps, members of the military did not have direct
access to religious or spiritual support, and soldiers were expected
not to express their faith overtly during work hours. For example,
Muslims were discouraged from praying while on duty. Religious
minorities, with the exception of Jews, were represented among the
senior officer corps.
Religious groups are subject to their respective religious laws on
marriage and divorce.
For Muslims, personal status law on divorce is based on Shari'a,
and some of its provisions as interpreted discriminate against women.
The legal standard for men to be granted a divorce is much lower than
that for women. For example, husbands may claim adultery as grounds for
divorce, but wives face more difficulty in presenting the same case. If
a woman requests a divorce from her husband, she may not be entitled to
child support, alimony, and the return of her dowry in some instances.
All citizens are subject to the Shari'a-based personal status laws
regulating child custody, inheritance, and adoption. In the case of
divorce, a woman loses the right to custody of her sons when they reach
the age of thirteen and her daughters when they reach the age of
fifteen, regardless of religion. Women can also lose custody before
this age if they remarry, work outside the home, or move outside of the
city or country.
Inheritance for all citizens is also based on Shari'a. Accordingly,
women usually are granted half of the inheritance share of male heirs;
however, Shari'a mandates that male heirs provide financial support to
the female relatives who inherit less. For example, a brother would
inherit his and his unmarried sister's share from their parents'
estate, and he is obligated to provide for the sister's well-being with
that inheritance. If the brother fails to do so, she has the right to
sue. Polygyny is legal but is practiced only by a minority of Muslim
men.
All schools officially were government-run and nonsectarian,
although in practice some schools were run by Christian and Druze
minorities. There was mandatory religious instruction in schools for
all religious groups, with government-approved teachers and
curriculums. Religious instruction was provided on Islam and
Christianity only, and courses were divided into separate classes for
Muslim and Christian students. Groups that participated in Islamic
courses include Sunni, Shi'a, Alawi, Ismaili, Yazidi, and Druze. In the
past, Jews had a separate primary school that offered religious
instruction on Judaism and other traditional subjects; however, the
school closed in 2004 due to the dwindling size of the Jewish
community. Although Arabic was the official language in public schools,
the Government permitted the teaching of Armenian, Hebrew, Syriac
(Aramaic), and Chaldean in some schools, on the basis that these were
``liturgical languages.'' There was no mandatory religious study at the
university level.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
There were reports that the Government used torture against alleged
Islamists held in detention. For example, family members of forty-five
accused Islamists from the villages of Qatana, al-Otaiba, and al-Tal
reported to human rights organizations during the year that their
relatives had been tortured at the time of their arrests in 2004.
During the reporting period, human rights organizations documented
the arrest of at least seventy persons for alleged ties to Islamist
groups.
On February 7, 2006, Tartous-based journalist Adel Mahfouz was
arrested by Syrian authorities after publishing an article encouraging
dialogue between Muslims and the cartoon artists who created
caricatures of Muhammad for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. He
was released on bail March 12, and at the end of the reporting period
no criminal court date had been set for him.
The Government continued to hold an unknown number of members of
the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists as political detainees and
prisoners. Their arrests and, in some cases, convictions, were
motivated primarily by the Government's view of militant Islamists as
potential threats to regime stability. Human rights groups estimated
that at least several hundred alleged Islamists were detained in
prisons, security service detention centers, or other secret detention
facilities.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
During the reporting period, there were no reports of incidents of
harassment and property damage against Jews in Damascus perpetrated by
individuals not associated with the Government. In 2004 and early 2005,
there were reports of such harassment and there was evidence that local
police and other government officials did not respond aggressively to
these incidents.
Government officials occasionally used radio and television
programming, news articles, and other mass media to condone anti-
Semitic material. Anti-Israel material was widespread, some of which
carried anti-Semitic overtones. For example, in January 2006, the
government-owned al-Thawra newspaper published an article suggesting
that the Government of Israel had genetically engineered the avian flu
virus in order to damage ``genes carried only by Arabs'' and thus ``to
realize the Zionist goal of harming the Arabs.''
On November 8, 2005, government-owned Syrian TV broadcast an
interview with the deputy minister of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) in
which he stated that Syria serves as ``the last line of defense''
against ``Zionist plots which aim to put on the throne of the Middle
East the descendants of...those whom the Koran called the descendants
of apes and pigs.''
On November 24, 2005, former National Director of the Knights of
the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, participated in a mass solidarity protest
in Damascus, and his speech was aired on Syrian national television. He
praised President Bashar al-Asad, declaring, ``It is not just the West
Bank of Palestine...that [is] occupied by Zionists, but Washington,
D.C., and New York, and London.''
Tishrin editorialist, Izz-al-Din al-Darwish, wrote in a July 31,
2005, editorial that ``Syria is targeted by an intensive media campaign
managed and financed by Zionist circles.'' Tishrin also regularly used
anti-Semitic caricatures to represent Israel in editorial cartoons.
In January 2005, a new edition of The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion was published by the Syrian publishing company Dar al-Awail, which
credited the Ministry of Information with approving the text. In 2003,
an independent production company created and filmed an anti-Semitic
program inside the country. Its theme centered on the alleged
conspiracy of the ``Elders of Zion'' to orchestrate both world wars and
manipulate world markets to create Israel. The program was not aired in
the country but was shown elsewhere.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
A November 3, 2005, presidential decree granted amnesty to 190
political prisoners, coinciding with the end of the Islamic holy month
of Ramadan. Most freed prisoners were Islamists and had been long-term
detainees.
In February 2005, the president ordered the release of fifty-five
political prisoners who had spent up to twenty years in jail. Most
freed prisoners were being held for, or had been convicted of,
belonging to an Islamist group.
The late Grand Mufti's son Salah Kuftaro and his Abu Nur Islamic
Institute continued to engage in a wide variety of activities promoting
Christian-Muslim understanding. In May 2005, the Council of Middle East
Churches visited Kuftaro to discuss Christian-Muslim understanding and
future prospects. In November 2004, Muslim and Christian leaders
participated in a conference on the subject, part of which was held at
the Abu Nur Institute.
In 2005 and 2006, an American rabbi visited the country three
times. During his May 2005 visit, he spoke with both Christian and
Muslim religious leaders about the value of religion in building a
tolerant and caring society. In May 2006, at the invitation of the
Grand Mufti, he delivered a speech at an Aleppo mosque to a group of
over three thousand Muslims.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there were
occasional reports of minor tensions between religious groups mainly
attributable to economic rivalries rather than religious affiliation.
In July 2005, sectarian strife broke out in the cities of Misyaf
and Qadmous in clashes between members of the Alawite and Ismaili
sects. In Misyaf, rioting broke out after a dispute between Alawite and
Ismaili bus drivers. In Qadmous, a group of Alawites looted and
destroyed shops in a predominantly Ismaili area.
There was little evidence of societal discrimination or violence
against religious minorities.
Societal conventions, and religious and theological proscriptions,
made conversions relatively rare, especially Muslim-to-Christian
conversions. In many cases, societal pressure forced those who
undertook such conversions to relocate within the country or leave the
country to practice their new religion openly.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government has limited contact with the Government. The
charge d'affaires and other Embassy officials met with religious
leaders and adherents of almost all religious groups at the national,
regional, and local levels to convey to the public U.S. support for
freedom of religion.
__________
TUNISIA
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion and the freedom
to practice the rites of one's religion unless they disturb the public
order; however, the Government imposes some restrictions on this right.
The Constitution declares the country's determination to adhere to the
teachings of Islam, stipulates that Islam is the official state
religion, and that the president be Muslim. The Government does not
permit the establishment of political parties on the basis of religion
and prohibits proselytizing by non-Muslims. It restricts the wearing of
Islamic headscarves (hijab) in government offices and it discourages
women from wearing the hijab on public streets and at certain public
gatherings.
There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the reporting period, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 63,170 square miles, and a population of
ten million. Approximately 99 percent of the population was Muslim.
There was no reliable data on the number of practicing Muslims. There
was a small indigenous ``Maraboutic'' Muslim community that belongs to
spiritual brotherhoods known as ``turuq;'' however, there were no
statistics regarding its size. Reliable sources reported that many
members of these brotherhoods left the country shortly after
independence when the Government appropriated their religious buildings
and land (and those of Islamic foundations). During annual Ramadan
festivals, members of these brotherhoods provided public cultural
entertainment by performing religious dances. There were also
approximately 150 members of the Baha'i Faith.
The Christian community, composed of foreign residents and a small
group of native-born citizens of European or Arab descent, numbered
approximately twenty-five thousand and was dispersed throughout the
country. According to church leaders, the practicing Christian
population was approximately two thousand and included a few hundred
native-born citizens who have converted to Christianity. The Roman
Catholic Church operated twelve churches, nine schools, several
libraries, and two clinics. There were approximately 500 practicing
Catholics. In addition to holding religious services, the Catholic
Church also freely organized cultural activities and performed
charitable work throughout the country. In 2005 the Government
permitted the reopening of a Catholic church in Djerba following
requests from European nations with substantial tourist travel to the
country. The Russian Orthodox Church had approximately one hundred
practicing members and operated a church in Tunis and another in
Bizerte. The French Reform Church maintained a church in Tunis, with a
congregation of approximately 140 primarily foreign members. The
Anglican Church had a church in Tunis with several hundred
predominantly foreign members. There was a small Seventh-day Adventist
community with approximately fifty members. The thirty-member Greek
Orthodox Church maintained three churches (in Tunis, Sousse, and
Djerba). On an occasional basis, Catholic and Protestant religious
services were also held in several other locations, such as private
residences. There were also approximately fifty Jehovah's Witnesses, of
whom approximately half were foreign residents and half are native-born
citizens. The Government allowed a small number of foreign religious
charitable nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to operate and provide
social services.
Judaism was the country's third largest religion with approximately
1,500 members. One-third lived in and around the capital and is
descended predominantly from Italian and Spanish immigrants. The
remainder lived on the island of Djerba where the Jewish community
dates back 2,500 years.
Foreign Christian missionary organizations and groups were present
in the country; however, they were not permitted to proselytize.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion and the freedom
to practice the rites of one's religion unless they disturb the public
order; however, the Government imposes some restrictions on this right.
The Constitution declares the country's determination to adhere to the
teachings of Islam, stipulates that Islam is the official state
religion, and that the president be Muslim. The Government does not
permit the establishment of political parties on the basis of religion
and prohibits proselytizing by non-Muslims. It restricts the wearing of
the hijab in government offices and it discourages women from wearing
it on public streets and at certain public gatherings.
No statutory prohibitions against conversion from Islam to another
faith exist, and the Government does not require registration of
conversion; however, government officials occasionally discriminate
against converts from Islam to another religion, using bureaucratic
means to discourage conversion.
The Government controls and subsidizes mosques and pays the
salaries of imams (clerics). The president appoints the Grand Mufti of
the Republic. The 1988 Law on Mosques provides that only personnel
appointed by the Government may lead activities in mosques and
stipulates that mosques must remain closed except during prayer times
and authorized religious ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals.
However, several historically significant mosques are partially open to
tourists and other visitors for a few hours per day, several days a
week. New mosques may be built in accordance with national urban
planning regulations; however, upon completion, they become the
property of the Government. The Government also partially subsidizes
the Jewish community.
The following Islamic holidays are considered national holidays:
Eid el-Kebir, the Islamic New Year, the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad,
and Eid Es-Sighir.
The Government recognizes all Christian and Jewish religious
organizations that were established before independence in 1956.
Although the Government permits Christian churches to operate freely,
it has recognized formally only the Catholic Church, via a 1964
concordat with the Holy See. In addition to authorizing fourteen
churches ``serving all sects'' of the country, the Government
recognizes land grants signed by the Bey of Tunis in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries that allow other churches to operate. By the end
of the reporting period the Government had not acted on a request for
registration of a Jewish religious organization in Djerba; however, the
group continued to operate and perform religious activities and
charitable work unobstructed.
The Government allows the Jewish community freedom of worship and
pays the salary of the Grand Rabbi. It also provides security for all
synagogues and partially subsidizes restoration and maintenance costs
for some. In 1999 the president of the Provisional Committee of the
Jewish community and his board of governors submitted registration
papers to the Ministry of Interior for permanent registration as the
Association of the Jewish Community of Tunisia. Although the Government
has not registered the association by the end of the reporting period,
the president and board of governors continued to meet weekly. During
the reporting period, the Government permitted the association to
operate and perform religious activities and charity work unhindered.
According to the law, an NGO that has filed an application to register
may operate freely while the Government processes its application. If
the Government does not reject the application within ninety days, the
NGO is automatically registered.
The Government permits the Jewish community to operate private
religious schools and allows Jewish children on the island of Djerba to
split their academic day between secular public schools and private
religious schools. The Government also encourages Jewish emigres and
other Jewish pilgrims to return for the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the
historic El-Ghriba Synagogue on Djerba. There also was a small private
Jewish school in Tunis.
The Government promoted interfaith understanding by sponsoring
regular conferences and seminars on religious tolerance and
facilitating and promoting the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the El-
Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, celebrated on the Jewish holiday of Lag
B'Omar. In October 2005, the religious affairs minister gave a lecture
at ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally party headquarters on
``Tunisia's efforts in support for the dialogue between religions.'' In
January 2006, the country hosted an international conference on ``Human
Civilizations and Cultures: From Dialogue to Alliance,'' organized by
the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization,
which included discussions on religious tolerance. In April 2006, the
Ministry of Religious Affairs introduced a university program on
intercivilizational dialogue between all major world religious groups.
In September 2005, the minister of foreign affairs participated in
a conference promoting Islamic-Jewish dialogue with the World Jewish
Congress and the European Jewish Congress. In February, the European
Jewish Congress voted to make the country a member of its organization.
The European Jewish Congress is affiliated with the World Jewish
Congress and is made up of leaders of forty-one European and North
African communities.
In 2005, the Government announced it would help clean up the
rundown Jewish cemetery of Tunis, a former Hebraic school would be
restored and made into an arts training center for the handicapped, and
that travel restrictions on Israelis would be eliminated. In the past,
passport restrictions, as well as concerns about possible retribution,
discouraged Israelis from visiting, despite the fact that the
Government has encouraged foreign Jewish visitors to participate in the
Ghriba pilgrimage. The number of Jewish pilgrims to Ghriba in May
represented a dramatic increase over previous years; in 2006 estimates
ranged between three thousand and four thousand. According to local
Jewish leaders, approximately 500 of these pilgrims were Israeli
citizens traveling under the recently relaxed travel policies.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government regards the Baha'i Faith as a heretical sect of
Islam and permits its adherents to practice their faith only in
private. The Government permits Baha'is to hold meetings of their
national council in private homes, and three Local Spiritual
Assemblies, the local governing body, have been elected since 2004.
Baha'is presence in the country dates back a century and their number
was estimated at 200.
The Government does not permit the establishment of political
parties on the basis of religion, and it refused to register the
Islamist party An-Nahdha. In the past, it prosecuted suspected party
members on these grounds. The Government maintained tight surveillance
over Islamists. The Government refused to issue passports to a number
of alleged Islamists. The Government maintained that only the courts
possess the power to revoke passports; however, reports indicated that
it rarely observed this separation of powers in politically sensitive
cases.
Notwithstanding the reopening of the church in Djerba mentioned
above, the Government did not permit other Christian groups to
establish new churches, and proselytizing by non-Muslims was viewed as
disturbing the public order, and thus illegal. Foreign Christian
missionary organizations and groups were present, but were not
permitted to proselytize. Whereas authorities previously deported non-
Muslim foreigners suspected of proselytizing and did not permit them to
return, more recent reports indicated that the Government preferred to
deny suspected missionaries visa renewal or to pressure their employers
not to extend their contracts. However, during the reporting period
there were no reported cases of official action against persons
suspected of proselytizing.
While there are no legal restrictions against conversion from Islam
to other religions, some local officials occasionally harassed converts
to discourage conversion. There were reports of Christian citizens
being detained by police and government security officials and
questioned about their conversion to Christianity. There was one report
that a Christian citizen was told by a local security official that it
was illegal to be a Christian, and threatened with imprisonment. There
were reports that on occasion when seeking renewal of passports, the
process was inexplicably delayed for some Christians, although
passports were subsequently issued.
Both religious and secular NGOs are governed by the same legal and
administrative regulations that impose some restrictions on freedom of
assembly. For example, all NGOs are required to notify the Government
of meetings to be held in public spaces at least three days in advance
and to submit lists of all meeting participants to the Ministry of
Interior.
Religious groups are subjected to the same restrictions on freedom
of speech and the press as secular groups. In January, the president
signed a law lifting ``depot legal,'' which had been a requirement that
the Government approve all locally-produced printed material prior to
publication or distribution. For publications printed abroad,
distributors must deposit copies with the chief prosecutor and other
ministries prior to their public release. Although Christian groups
reported that they were able to distribute previously approved
religious publications in European languages without difficulty, they
said the Government generally did not grant permission to publish and
distribute Arabic-language Christian texts. Moreover, the Government
allowed only established churches to distribute religious publications
to parishioners. It considered other groups' distribution of religious
documents to be a ``threat to public order,'' and thus illegal.
The Government restricts the wearing of the hijab in government
offices, and there were reports of police requiring women to remove
their hijabs in offices, on the street, at universities, and at some
public gatherings; however, it was nonetheless common to see women
wearing the hijab in a variety of public settings. The Government
characterized the hijab as a ``garment of foreign origin having a
partisan connotation'' and restricted its use in public institutions to
``observe impartiality required of officials in their professional
relations with others.'' There also were frequent reports that police
sometimes harassed or detained men with beards whom the Government
suspected because of their ``Islamic'' appearance.
According to human rights lawyers, the Government regularly
questioned some Muslims who were observed praying frequently in
mosques. The authorities instructed imams to espouse government social
and economic programs during prayer times in mosques. In December, 2005
the religious affairs minister told members of the Chamber of Advisors
that mosques were open only for prayers and that those who used mosques
to ``spread ideologies'' would be prosecuted.
Islamic religious education is mandatory in public schools, but the
religious curriculum for secondary school students also includes the
history of Judaism and Christianity. The Zeitouna Qur'anic School is
part of the Government's national university system, which is otherwise
secular.
Customary law based on Shari'a forbids Muslim women from marrying
outside their religion although marriages of Muslim women to non-Muslim
men performed abroad are generally recognized by the Government.
However, on occasion the Government did not recognize such marriages as
legal, forcing the couple to seek a court ruling. While judges
generally ruled that marriages performed abroad were legal, on rare
occasions judges declared them void in the country. The Government does
not permit the marriage of Muslim women to non-Muslim men inside the
country; however, if a man converts to Islam, he may marry a Muslim
woman. Muslim men and non-Muslim women who are married cannot inherit
from each other, and children from those marriages, all of whom the
Government considers to be Muslim, cannot inherit from their mothers.
Civil law is codified; however, judges were known to override
codified family or inheritance laws if their interpretation of Shari'a
contradicted it. For example, codified laws provided women with custody
over their minor children; however, when a case was contested by the
father, judges generally refused to grant women permission to leave the
country with their children, holding that Shari'a appoints the father
as the head of the family, and he must grant permission for the
children to travel.
Generally, Shari'a-based interpretation of civil law was applied
only in some family cases. Some families avoid the strictures of
Shari'a on inheritance by executing sales contracts between parents and
children to ensure that sons and daughters receive equal shares of
property.
The Government assisted in cleaning up the rundown Jewish cemetery
in Tunis; government employees were responsible for lawn upkeep of the
cemetery, although the Jewish community had responsibility for the
restoration of tombs and monuments and large structural rehabilitation.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
In 2006, credible sources estimated that approximately 200 persons
were serving prison sentences because of their suspected membership in
the illegal Islamist political party An-Nahdha or for their alleged
Islamist sympathies; however, there were no reports of cases in which
the Government arrested or detained persons based solely on their
religious beliefs.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitism
Privately owned newspapers on occasion published cartoons and
articles critical of Israel. Some cartoons used derogatory caricatures
of Jews to portray the state of Israel and Israeli interests. These
cartoons were all drawn by cartoonists outside of the country and
reprinted locally.
According to press reports and eyewitnesses, approximately one
hundred students shouted anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans during a
demonstration in March 2006 at Manouba University near Tunis at a
ceremony marking the donation of books from the library of the late
Jewish Tunisian historian Paul Sebag. After the incident, the Manouba
Student Union, mainstream citizen journalists, and the Tunisian Human
Rights League strongly denounced the demonstration's anti-Jewish
character.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The public university system established a department of
comparative religion designed to promote broader understanding of
diverse religions.
Although legal, there was great societal pressure against Muslim
conversion to other religions. Muslims who converted faced social
ostracism. There was one report of expulsion of a convert from home and
beating by family members.
Despite a history of social pressure by middle and upper class
secularists to discourage women from wearing the hijab, anecdotal
evidence suggested that, for a variety of social and religious reasons,
the number of young middle class urban women choosing to wear the hijab
continued to rise during the reporting period.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. Embassy maintains good relations with leaders of majority
and minority religious groups throughout the country, and the
ambassador and other eEmbassy officials met regularly with government
officials and Muslim, Christian, and Jewish religious leaders
throughout the reporting period. The Embassy fostered regular exchanges
that included components designed to highlight U.S. traditions of
religious tolerance and pluralism and disseminated the publication
``Muslim Life in America.''
__________
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion in accordance
with established customs, and the government generally respects this
right in practice; however, there were some restrictions. The federal
Constitution declares that Islam is the official religion of the
country.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom concerns with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country's population is estimated at 4.5 million, approximately
85 percent of which are noncitizens. Approximately 85 percent of
citizens were Sunni Muslim and the remaining 15 percent were Shi'a.
Foreigners were predominantly from South and Southeast Asia, although
there were substantial numbers from the Middle East, Europe, Central
Asia, former Commonwealth of Independent States, and North America.
Although no official figures were available, local observers estimated
that 55 percent of the foreign population was Muslim, 25 percent was
Hindu, 10 percent was Christian, 5 percent was Buddhist, and 5 percent
belonged to other religious groups, including Parsi, Baha'i, and Sikh.
In late 2001 the Ministry of Planning inquired about religious
affiliation in its first federal census. According to a ministry report
compiled in 2003 using data collected during the census, 76 percent of
the total population was Muslim, 9 percent was Christian, and 15
percent was ``other.''
There were foreign missionaries operating in the country. The
government does not permit foreign missionaries to proselytize Muslims;
however, they have performed humanitarian (missionary) work since
before the country's independence in 1971. In 1960 Christian
missionaries opened a maternity hospital in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi;
the hospital continued to operate. Missionaries also operated a
maternity hospital in the Emirate of Fujeirah. An International Bible
Society representative in al-Ain distributed Bibles and other religious
material to Christian religious groups throughout the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion in accordance
with established customs, and the Government generally respects this
right in practice; however, there were some restrictions. The
Government controls virtually all Sunni mosques, prohibits
proselytizing, and restricts the freedom of assembly and association,
thereby limiting the ability of religious groups without dedicated
religious buildings to worship and conduct business. The Constitution
declares that Islam is the official religion of all seven of the
constituent emirates of the federal union. The Government recognizes a
small number of Christian denominations through the issuance of land-
use permits for the construction and operation of churches. Religious
groups without dedicated buildings of worship often used the facilities
of other religious groups or worship in private homes. There were no
reports of government interference in this common practice.
The Government funds or subsidizes almost 95 percent of Sunni
mosques and employs all Sunni imams; approximately 5 percent of Sunni
mosques are considered private, and several large mosques have large
private endowments. The Government distributes guidance on religious
sermons to mosques and clergy, whether Sunni or Shi'a, and monitors all
sermons for political content.
The Shi'a minority, which is concentrated in the northern emirates,
is free to worship and maintain its own mosques. All Shi'a mosques are
considered private and may receive funds from the government upon
request. Shi'a imams are government-appointed only in the Emirate of
Dubai. Shi'a Muslims in Dubai may pursue Shi'a family law cases through
a special Shi'a council rather than the Shari'a courts.
After a January 2006 cabinet reorganization, the Ministry of
Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Endowments, which operated as the central
federal regulatory authority for Muslim imams and mosques, was divided
into two separate bodies. The Islamic Affairs and Endowments section
became the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments. At the
end of the period covered by this report, the role of the Authority had
been fully determined. There is neither an authority nor licensing or
registration requirements for the recognition and regulation of non-
Muslim religious groups.
Non-Muslim groups can own their own houses of worship, wherein they
can practice their religion freely, by requesting a land grant and
permission to build a compound from the local ruler (the title for the
land remains with the ruler). There is no federal-level method of
granting official status to religious groups or approving land grants.
Rather, rulers of the individual emirates exercise autonomy in choosing
whether to grant access to land and permission to build houses of
worship within their emirates. Religious groups that do not have their
own buildings must use the facilities of other religious organizations
or worship in private homes. The police or other security forces do not
interfere with gatherings held in private homes.
There were at least thirty-one Christian churches in the country
built on land donated by the ruling families of the emirates in which
they are located. There were two Hindu temples operating in rented
commercial buildings in Dubai, one of which was used by Sikhs as well.
Sikhs and Hindus living in Abu Dhabi also practiced their religion in
private homes. Four emirates were home to parochial, Christian,
primary, and secondary schools. The Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai
have donated land for Christian cemeteries, and the Emirate of Abu
Dhabi has donated land for a Baha'i cemetery. There were two operating
cremation facilities and associated cemeteries for the Hindu community,
one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai.
Non-Muslim religious groups do not receive funds from the
Government; however, those with land grants are not charged rental
payments, and the local rulers grant the land for some religious
buildings. In addition, the Emirate of Sharjah waives utility payments
for religious buildings. Non-Muslim groups raised money from among
their congregants and received financial support from abroad. Religious
groups openly advertised certain religious functions in the press, such
as holiday celebrations, memorial services, religious conventions,
choral concerts, and fundraising events.
Because an orthodox interpretation of Islam considers Christians to
be ``people of the book'' (monotheists practicing an Abrahamic
religion), facilities for Christian congregations were far greater in
number and size than those for other non-Muslim communities, despite
the fact that Christians were estimated to represent less than a
quarter of the non-Muslim population.
In practice, the Government supports a moderate interpretation of
Islam; however, as the state religion, Islam is favored over other
religious groups and conversion to Islam is viewed favorably. A list of
Muslim converts is published annually. Prisoners who convert to Islam
often receive a reduction in their sentences. In Dubai, prisoners who
memorize all or part of the Qur'an can receive a reduction in their
sentences or a pardon, depending on the length of sentence and the
number of sections memorized. Prisoners facing life sentences do not
benefit from the memorization program. The ruler of the Emirate of
Ajman offers a cash award for prisoners who memorize all or part of the
Qur'an.
During the period covered by this report, the rulers of the various
emirates pardoned prisoners on religious and national holidays without
regard to the prisoners' religious affiliations. Those pardoned
generally were serving sentences from three to five years for financial
crimes, immigration violations, and other relatively minor offenses;
pardons reportedly were not extended to prisoners convicted of rape,
killing, and kidnapping.
The Government follows a policy of tolerance toward non-Muslim
religious groups and, in practice, interfered very little in their
religious activities.
The Government's religious adviser, Ali Al-Hashemi, regularly
represented the country at Islamic, ecumenical, and Christian
conferences, and events in other countries. Al-Hashemi met regularly
with Christian leaders in the country.
The following religious holidays are considered national holidays:
Waqfa, Eid al-Adha, the Islamic New Year, the Birth of the Prophet
Muhammad, Ascension Day, and Eid al-Fitr. During the month of Ramadan,
Muslims and non-Muslims alike are required by law to refrain from
eating, drinking, and smoking publicly during fasting hours out of
respect for Islamic practice.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Federal Ministry of Justice distributes weekly guidance to both
Sunni sheikhs and Shi'a imams regarding subject matter, themes, and
content of religious sermons, and it ensures that clergy do not deviate
frequently or significantly from approved topics in their sermons.
Approximately 95 percent of Sunni imams are employees of the General
Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments or of individual emirate
departments. Except in Dubai, where the Department of Islamic Affairs
and Endowments controls the appointment of preachers and the conduct of
their work in all mosques, the Government does not appoint sheikhs for
Shi'a mosques.
There was one temple for both Sikhs and Hindus in Dubai. There were
no Buddhist temples; however, Buddhists, along with Hindus and Sikhs in
places without temples, conducted religious ceremonies in private homes
without interference. There were only two operating cremation
facilities and associated cemeteries for the large Hindu community, one
in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai. Official permission must be obtained for
their use in every instance, posing a hardship for the large Hindu
community. The Government does not allow temples to be built on work
premises. In contrast to previous years, there were no reports that the
Sharjah municipality had dismantled temples built by Hindu workers in
labor camps.
The Government prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing or
distributing religious literature under penalty of criminal
prosecution, imprisonment, and deportation, for engaging in behavior
offensive to Islam. While there are no specific laws against missionary
activities, in the past the Government reportedly has threatened to
revoke the residence permits of persons suspected of missionary
activities. There were no reports of such threats during the period
covered by this report.
In past years the media reported several cases where women claimed
discrimination from employers in the private sector due to their
decision to wear the hijab head covering at work, considered a
religious mandate by many Muslim women. Some persons called for legal
protection for female employees who wear the hijab. The Government did
not publish an official position on the issue by the end of the
reporting period.
According to the OpenNet Initiative's ``Internet Filtering in the
United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005: A Country Study,'' the country's
sole Internet service provider, Etisalat, blocked websites containing
religious information. These sites included information on the Baha'i
faith, Judaism, negative critiques of Islam, and testimonies of former
Muslims who converted to Christianity.
Immigration authorities routinely asked foreigners applying for
residence permits to declare their religious affiliation on residence
applications; however, the Government reportedly does not collect or
analyze this information, and there have been no reports of religious
affiliation affecting the issuance or renewal of visas or residence
permits.
Non-Muslim religious leaders reported that customs authorities
rarely questioned the entry of religious materials such as Bibles and
hymnals into the country unless the materials are printed in Arabic. In
the past customs authorities questioned the entry of religious
materials that they deemed in excess of the normal requirements of
existing congregations, although in most instances the items were
permitted entry. Customs authorities reportedly were less likely to
question the importation of Christian religious items than that of
other non-Muslim, religious items, although in virtually all instances
importation of the material in question eventually was permitted.
There is a dual system of Shari'a (Islamic) courts for criminal and
family law matters and secular courts for civil law matters. Non-
Muslims are tried for criminal offenses in Shari'a courts. Not all
crimes are punishable by Shari'a penalties. In cases punishable by
Shari'a penalty, non-Muslims may receive civil penalties at the
discretion of the judge, which generally occurs. Shari'a penalties
imposed on non-Muslims also may be overturned or modified by a higher
court.
Family law for Muslims is governed by Shari'a and the local Shari'a
courts. Dubai has a special Shi'a council to act on matters pertaining
to Shi'a family law. Muslim men may marry non-Muslim women ``of the
book,'' that is, Christian or Jewish women; however, Muslim women are
not permitted to marry non-Muslim men unless the men convert to Islam.
Because Islam does not consider the marriage between a non-Muslim man
and a Muslim woman valid, both are subject to arrest, trial, and
imprisonment on grounds of fornication. There were no reports of this
occurring during the period covered by this report. Shari'a, according
to the Maliki school of jurisprudence, also is applied in cases of
divorce. Women generally are granted custody of female children until
they reach the age of maturity and are granted temporary custody of
male children until they reach the age of twelve. If the mother is
deemed unfit, custody reverts to the next able female relative on the
mother's side. Shari'a, as practiced in the country, permits polygamy.
Islamic studies are mandatory in public schools (schools supported
by the federal Government primarily for citizen children) and in
private schools for Muslim children. Religious instruction in non-
Muslim religious groups is not permitted in public schools; however,
religious groups may conduct religious instruction for their members on
their religious compounds. According to Article 84 of the Federal Law
No. 28 of 1999 concerning private education, private schools found
teaching subjects that contravene Islam, defame any religion, or
contravene the nation's ethics and beliefs may face penalties,
including closure.
In March 2006, the Ministry of Education confiscated a social
studies textbook entitled ``World Cultures,'' which allegedly contained
material offensive to Islam, glorified Israel, and promoted sentiments
against tolerance. A ministry official described the book as ``having a
racist tone and is insulting to the country's religion and culture.''
The book has been used for the past ten years in one of the private
schools in the country. The ministry banned the book from all private
schools and severed ties with its publishing house.
Since many Baha'is and Druze had passports that identify them as
Muslims, the Ministry of Education required their children to take the
prescribed Islamic studies classes.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
On May 3, 2006, the Ministry of Education banned a Dubai-based
expatriate school principal from teaching or working in the educational
field in the country, after she was found guilty of insulting religion,
culture, and traditions of the country. According to the press
statement, the principal prohibited Qur'an recitals during school
activities.
On May 2, President Sheikh Khalifa offered a monetary grant to the
Greek Orthodox assistant patriarch, as a contribution to build an
orphanage house, under the umbrella of Sidnaya monastery in Damascus.
On May 1, the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
organized a session on ``Criminalizing the Offending of Religions.''
The session, under the auspices of the minister of justice, discussed,
among other subjects, how Islamic Shari'a prohibits offending other
religious groups.
On April 27, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-
Nahyan, met with a delegation from the Oasis Hospital in al-Ain, and
emphasized that Islam was a religion of peace and tolerance and had
nothing to do with violence. The hospital, along with a church, was
originally built in 1959 to serve the Christian community in the
country at that time.
On April 23, the assistant under secretary for mosque affairs
participated in the Easter mass and celebration for the Egyptian
Orthodox Coptic church in Abu Dhabi.
On April 19, the Federal National Council General Secretariat
received a statement from the Orthodox Parliamentary Association,
through the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), condemning any
direct or indirect disrespect to any religious figure.
On April 13-16, the country hosted an Islamic-Danish dialogue
conference with the aim of building bridges of understanding between
Muslims and non-Muslims. The conference included thirty Danish academic
and intellectual participants and Muslim scholars from the UAE and Gulf
region.
On April 2 Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, the minister of
higher education, attended the consecration of the new Mar Thoma Indian
Church at Mussafah in Abu Dhabi. In his speech, the minister stated
that the Government continued to support tolerance and mutual respect
between persons of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
On March 16 the Greek Orthodox patriarch for Antakya and Levant
visited the country to inaugurate an exhibition at the Juma al-Majed
Center for Culture and Heritage. During the inauguration speech, the
patriarch commended the religious harmony in the country and called it
a model for peaceful coexistence between different religious groups.
On February 27 the religious advisor organized a session on the
concept of dialogue in Islam, attended by the cultural advisor, Arab
dignitaries, foreign ambassadors, representatives from the Egyptian
Coptic and Ethiopian churches, and prominent scholars and academics.
The session discussed the Government's policy of moderation and peace
and the belief that Islam calls for justice and tolerance of other
civilizations and religious groups.
On February 8, during a meeting with the OIC secretary general,
Dubai Crown Prince Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum stressed the
importance of civilized dialogue between Islamic leadership and non-
Islamic leadership, and that human coexistence and communication was
the common ground between all religious groups.
On February 7, during a meeting with the OIC secretary general,
President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan emphasized the tolerance
and moderation of Islam.
On February 4 the minister of higher education received the Latin
patriarch of Jerusalem and discussed with him the importance of
religious tolerance, dialogue, and peaceful coexistence between
nations. That same day, the minister of justice and under secretaries
from the Islamic Affairs section received the patriarch and expressed
the necessity of dialogue between persons of different religious
groups. The patriarch held a church Mass in Dubai on February 3.
In September 2005 the minister of justice met the head of foreign
relations at the Evangelical Protestant Church in Germany and discussed
religious tolerance. The meeting was attended by the under secretary
and assistant under secretary for Islamic affairs.
In 1999 land was designated in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah for
the construction of a new Catholic church, which was completed in 2000.
In December 2005 the church was allowed to open with the permission of
the Ras al-Khaimah Crown Prince.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Non-Muslim religious leaders
from inside and outside of the country regularly referred to it as one
of the most liberal and broadminded countries in the region in terms of
governmental and societal attitudes toward allowing all persons to
practice their faiths freely. While citizens regarded the country as a
Muslim nation that should respect Muslim religious sensibilities on
matters such as public consumption of alcohol, modest dress, and public
comportment, society also emphasized respect for privacy and Islamic
traditions of tolerance, particularly with respect to forms of
Christianity. Modest casual attire for men and women was permitted
throughout the country.
Many hotels, stores, and other businesses patronized by both
citizens and foreigners were permitted to sell alcohol and pork to non-
Muslims and to acknowledge non-Muslim holidays such as Christmas,
Easter, and Diwali (although such displays generally are not permitted
during the month of Ramadan). Shopping centers were festive during
Christian holidays, and traditional holiday foods, decorations,
posters, books, and videotapes were widely available. School children
gathered in Dubai malls to sing Christmas carols while ``department-
store Santas'' handed out gifts. Reports of religious holiday
celebrations, including church services, were regularly printed in the
media. The largest country carrier, Emirates Airline, brought European
tourists to Dubai on ``Easter-special sightseeing packages.''
Citizens occasionally expressed concern regarding the influence on
society of the cultures of the country's foreign majority. However, in
general, citizens are familiar with foreign societies and believed that
the best way to balance foreign influence was by supporting and
strengthening indigenous cultural traditions.
There were no anti-Semitic or religiously intolerant articles or
statements in the English and Arabic-language electronic and print
media. On a routine basis, all media carried articles or statements
criticizing the policies and actions of the Israeli government.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom concerns with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
U.S. Embassy officials in Abu Dhabi and consulate general officials
in Dubai have discussed religious tolerance and freedom with government
officials on a number of occasions and encouraged the government to
increase religious freedom by permitting the opening or expansion of
religious facilities for the large expatriate population.
Embassy officials met with the under secretary of Islamic affairs
on a regular basis to discuss religious freedom and tolerance.
On September 11, 2005, the Embassy invited the president's Judicial
and Religious Affairs advisor to speak at a commemorative event at the
Embassy where he stressed the nature of Islam as a religion of
cooperation and peaceful coexistence.
In October 2005, the Embassy brought Imam Yahya Hindi, from
Georgetown University, to speak about Islam in the United States, the
importance of establishing an interfaith dialogue, and religious
tolerance.
In May 2006, the ambassador received both the chair of the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations and the
president's judicial and religious affairs advisor at the Embassy and
discussed religious tolerance and the free practice of religion in the
country. The ambassador invited the president's advisor to visit the
United States and attend an iftar with the Secretary of State during
Ramadan.
Embassy and consulate officials also help to protect religious
freedom by monitoring its status through informal inquiries and
meetings with government officials and representatives of Muslim,
Christian, and other religious groups.
__________
YEMEN
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
were some restrictions. The Constitution declares that Islam is the
state religion, and that Shari'a (Islamic law) is the source of all
legislation.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the reporting period, and government policy continued to
contribute to the generally free practice of religion. Muslims and
followers of religious groups other than Islam are free to worship
according to their beliefs; however, the Government prohibits
conversion from Islam and proselytization of Muslims.
Although relations among religious groups remained generally
amicable and continued to contribute to religious freedom, there were
some attacks on Jews. Government actions lessened political, tribal,
and religious tension caused after it took action against armed
insurrections by the ``Shabab al-Moumineen,'' or ``Believing Youth''
movement, which the Government believes is linked to Twelver Shi'ism of
Iran.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of approximately 328,080 square miles, and
its population is approximately 20 million. Virtually all citizens were
Muslims, belonging either to the Zaydi order of Shi'a Islam or to the
Shafa'i order of Sunni Islam, representing approximately 30 percent and
70 percent of the total population, respectively. There were a few
thousand Ismaili Muslims who reside mainly in the north.
Nearly all of the country's once-sizable Jewish population has
emigrated. Less than 500 Jews were scattered in the northern part of
the country, primarily in the vicinity of Raida and Saada.
There were approximately 3,000 Christians throughout the country,
most of whom were refugees or temporary foreign residents. There were
approximately 40 Hindus, who traced their origins to India, living in
Aden. There were four churches in Aden, three Roman Catholic and one
Anglican. Aden also had one Hindu temple. There were three known
functioning synagogues in the north of the country.
Although there were some non-Muslim public places of worship known
to exist in the area of the former North Yemen, they were discreetly
located so as not to draw attention. No officially recognized non-
Muslim public place of worship existed in areas of the former North
Yemen. This was largely because it had no history of a large, resident
foreign community such as existed in the south.
Christian missionaries and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
affiliated with missionary groups operated in the country, and most
restricted their activities to the provision of medical services;
others were employed in teaching and social services. Invited by the
Government, the Sisters of Charity ran homes for the poor and persons
with disabilities in Sana'a, Taiz, Hodeida, and Aden. The Government
issues residence visas to priests so that they may provide for the
community's religious needs. The Swedish Free Mission (SFM), financed
by the Government of Sweden and churches in Sweden, ran a technical
school for the disabled and poor in Taiz. There was also a Dutch
Christian medical mission in Saada. An American Baptist congregation
affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention maintained an
affiliation with a hospital in Jibla, which it ran for more than thirty
years before transferring management to the Government in 2003. The
Anglican Church ran two charitable clinics in Aden.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. During the reporting period,
the Government began efforts to ease religious tension between it and
some members of the Zaydi-Shi'a establishment. This tension began as a
result of government action against the ``Shabab al-Moumineen's'' (The
Believing Youth) armed insurrection that erupted in the summer of 2004
and again in April 2005. The Government maintains that the Shabab are
adherents of Twelver Shi'ism, a variant of Shi'ism which differs from
that of the country's predominant Zaydi-Shi'as. The Shabab follow the
teachings of rebel cleric Hussein Badr Eddine al-Houthi, who was killed
during a ten-week rebellion that he led in June 2004 against the
Government in Saada. The Government's actions against the group in 2005
were politically, not religiously, motivated.
Among religious minorities, approximately 1,000 Christians and most
Jews actively participated in some form of formal religious service or
ritual, although not always in a public place of worship.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
were some restrictions. The Constitution declares that Islam is the
state religion and that Shari'a is the source of all legislation.
Followers of religious groups other than Islam are free to worship
according to their beliefs and to wear religiously distinctive
ornaments or dress; however, Shari'a forbids conversion and prohibits
non-Muslims from proselytizing, and the Government enforced this
prohibition. The Government requires permission for the construction of
new places of worship and prohibits non-Muslims from holding elected
office. The Muslim holy days of Eid al-Adha, Muharram, and Eid al-Fitr
are public holidays. Other religious groups in the country are not
negatively affected by their celebration.
The Government does not keep track of an individual's religious
identity, and there is no law that requires religious groups to
register with the state. After the ruling party tried to put forward a
Jewish parliamentary candidate, the General Election Committee adopted
a policy barring all non-Muslims from running for Parliament. Chapter
2, Article 106 of the Constitution further notes that the president of
the republic must ``practice his Islamic duties.''
Public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other
religions; however, Muslim citizens can attend private schools that do
not teach Islam. Almost all non-Muslim students in the country are
foreigners and attend private schools.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion; however, there were some restrictions.
Government actions to counter the increase in political violence
restricted some practice of religion. In January 2006, for the second
year, the Government banned the celebration of Ghadeer Day (a holiday
celebrated by Shi'a Muslims) in parts of the Saada Governorate. During
the reporting period, the Government reportedly also intensified its
efforts to stop the proliferation of Houthism by limiting the hours
that mosques were permitted to be open to the public, closing down what
the Government believed to be extremist or Twelver-based Zaydi
religious institutes, reassigning Imams who were thought to espouse
radical doctrine, and increasing surveillance of mosque sermons.
The Government prohibits the proselytization of Muslims. During the
period covered by this report, there were reports of persons being
temporarily detained for possession of religious materials with the
intent to proselytize.
The Government did not allow the building of new public places of
worship without previous authorization. At the end of the reporting
period, Catholic officials were still waiting for a decision from the
Government on whether it would allow an officially recognized Catholic
establishment to be built in Sana'a. Church officials did not attribute
government action to discrimination.
Weekly services for Catholic, Protestant, and Ethiopian Christians
were held throughout Sana'a, Aden and other cities without government
interference. Throughout the country, Christian church and Jewish
synagogue services were held regularly in private homes or facilities,
such as schools, without harassment, and such facilities appeared
adequate to accommodate the small numbers involved.
The country maintains regular diplomatic relations with the
Vatican. In December 2005 Archbishop Vladimir Goydiv of the Russian
Orthodox Church visited in an effort to promote Islamic-Christian
dialogue. During his visit, Goydiv met with Vice President Hadi Abd
Rabo Mansour, as well as other Government officials and scholars.
Public schools provide instruction in Islam but not in other religions;
however, Muslim citizens can attend private schools that do not teach
Islam.
The ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and the Islah opposition
party both drew on Islam as a basis for law in their platforms. The
ruling GPC did not exclude members of any religion from its membership.
Islah required that a member must be ``committed'' to Islamic
teachings. There were other minor political parties that are Islamic in
nature, although it was not clear if they restricted their membership
to Muslims.
During the previous reporting period, the Government significantly
increased its efforts to prevent the politicization of mosques and
schools in an attempt to curb extremism and increase tolerance. Efforts
concentrated on monitoring mosques for sermons that incite violence or
other political statements that it considers harmful to public
security. Private Islamic organizations may maintain ties to
international Islamic organizations; however, the Government
sporadically monitored their activities through the police and
intelligence authorities.
During the reporting period, the Government also continued efforts
to close unlicensed schools and religious centers. By the end of the
period covered by this report, more than 3,000 unlicensed religious
schools had been closed. The Government expressed concern that these
schools deviated from formal educational requirements and promoted
militant ideology. The Government also deported foreign students found
studying in unlicensed religious schools. Private and national schools
are prohibited from teaching courses outside of the officially approved
curriculum. The purpose of these actions was to curb ideological and
religious extremism in schools.
There were reports that both the Ministry of Culture and the
Political Security Office (PSO) monitored and sometimes pulled books
that espoused Zaydi-Shiite Islamic doctrine from store shelves after
publication. There were also credible reports that authorities banned
the publishing of some materials that promoted Zaydi-Shiite Islam. The
Government denied that the media was subject to censorship by any
security apparatus.
Following the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990, owners
of property previously expropriated by the communist government of the
former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen were invited to seek
restitution of their property. However, implementation has been
extremely limited, and very few properties have been returned to
previous owners. In exchange for its confiscated property, the Catholic
Church requested from the Government a small plot of land in Sanaa on
which it would build a Catholic establishment. It was awaiting action
on the request at the end of the period covered by this report.
The Constitution declares that Islamic Shari'a is the source of all
legislation. Some local customs, believed to be part of Shari'a as
practiced in the country, are codified in various laws and policies.
Some of these laws discriminate against women and persons of other
religious groups.
According to the Government's interpretation of Shari'a, Muslim
women are not permitted to marry outside of Islam. Under 1992 Personal
Status Law No. 20, men are permitted to marry as many as four wives,
although very few do so. The law also forbids men from marrying non-
Muslim women (the women are Jewish or Christians) or apostates (those
who have renounced Islam).
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Government policy does not prohibit or provide punishment for the
possession of non-Islamic religious literature; however, on occasion
there were credible reports that persons were harassed by members of
the PSO, an organization which reports directly to the President's
Office, and by police for possessing such literature (see Restrictions
on Religious Freedom). There were also reports that some members of the
PSO monitored, harassed, and occasionally censored the mail of
missionary groups and those associated with them, ostensibly to prevent
proselytizing.
During the reporting period, security officials arbitrarily
arrested, detained, and tortured some individuals suspected of
proselytizing. There were also credible reports that security officials
harassed and detained Muslims affiliated with missionary elements in
the Ibb and Jibla areas. Unconfirmed reports attributed such incidents
to followers of conservative Salafi Islamic doctrine within the
security apparatus.
Under Shari'a as applied in the country, the conversion of a Muslim
to another religion is considered apostasy, which the Government
interprets as a crime punishable by death. During the period covered by
this report, there were no reported cases in which persons were charged
with apostasy or prosecuted for it by government authorities.
During the reporting period, most detained Shabab were reportedly
released, but police and security forces continued to detain suspected
members of radical Islamist groups. Since 2001 the Government has
detained ``for questioning'' several hundred Islamists who returned to
Yemen from Afghanistan and/or Iraq Although most persons were released
within days, some reportedly continued to be detained beyond the
maximum detention period as terrorist or security suspects.
In May 2006 President Saleh pardoned two imams, Yahia Hussein al-
Dailami, sentenced to death, and Muhammed Ahmad Miftah, sentenced to
eight years' imprisonment. The two were originally convicted of
establishing contacts with Iran for the purpose of harming the country.
The two men publicly opposed the Government's action in Saada and
formed the Sana'a Youth Organization, a Zaydi religious-based group
that supported Houthism. Both men maintained that they only advocated
peaceful dissent against government action in Saada.
During the same month, the Government released more than 200 Houthi
rebel detainees. It was unclear how many of those detained participated
in the renewed March 2005 rebellion against the Government. Although
some of those detained were held for their affiliation with Houthi's
religious teachings, the arrests appeared to have been politically, not
religiously, motivated. All released detainees pledged not to
participate in any future rebellion. The release followed a September
2005 general amnesty and promise of compensation for all detainees held
as a result of the Saada conflict. In March 2006 state-run media
announced the release of 630 Houthi supporters after 80 members of
Parliament had visited the war-affected areas in Saada.
Throughout the reporting period, the Government continued to
sponsor a dialogue with the Shabab and Islamist detainees. The
dialogues were led by Islamic scholars in an attempt to arrive at an
understanding by which detainees are released in exchange for
repentance of past extremism; denunciation of terrorism; and
commitments to obey the laws and government, respect non-Muslims, and
refrain from attacking foreign interests. The program has had limited
success.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The country is predominantly Muslim. Apart from a small but
undetermined number of Christians and Hindus of South Asian origin in
Aden, Jews are the only indigenous religious minority. Religious
minorities generally lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors. On
April 23, 2006, President Saleh met with a delegation of Yemeni Jews
from the Amran governorate to discuss their concerns. According to
official media, President Saleh also ordered ``concerned bodies'' to
help ease their plight.
Isolated attacks in recent years by anti-Jewish extremists have
convinced most of the country's Jews to relocate to the town of Raida
for safety and to sustain their community. The Jewish population has
diminished significantly over the last fifty years from tens of
thousands to a few hundred due to voluntary emigration.
There were no reported incidents of violence or discrimination
between the adherents of Zaydi and Shafa'i Islam, the two main orders
of Islam practiced in the country. There has been a decrease in
tensions between the Government and mostly Zaydi population after
fighting subsided in the northern governorate of Saada. The Government
also made attempts to reconcile with the citizens of Saada through
reconstruction efforts and dialogue. Religiously motivated violence was
neither incited nor tolerated by the Islamic clergy, except for a
small, politically motivated clerical minority, often with ties to
foreign extremist elements.
During the reporting period, there were sporadic reports of
violence initiated by Salafi elements who were attempting to take
control of moderate and Sufi mosques around the country. In September
2005 an unidentified German citizen living in the Hadramaut Governorate
was accused of proselytizing and had his home and car set on fire.
There were also unconfirmed reports that followers of Ismaili Islamic
teachings were occasionally harassed and forbidden entry to mosques
affiliated with Salafi followers.
As part of its campaign against religious extremism, the Government
also took action to improve conditions that affected societal attitudes
on religious freedom. In May 2006 the Ministry of Endowment and
Guidance conducted a six-day training course for 500 imams to promote
principles of moderation and religious tolerance.
Christian clergy, who ministered to the foreign community, were
employed in teaching, social services, and health care.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy maintained an active dialogue on human rights concerns
with the Government, NGOs, and others. Embassy officers, including the
ambassador, met periodically with representatives of the Jewish and
Christian communities during the reporting period. During the year, the
U.S. Government also sponsored a prominent judge involved with
religious dialogue to participate in a program in the United States on
promoting interfaith dialogue.
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA
----------
AFGHANISTAN
The constitution proclaims that ``followers of other religions are
free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within
the limits of the provisions of law.'' However, it also states that
Islam is the ``religion of the state'' and that ``no law can be
contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of
Islam.'' While the Government generally respected the right to
religious freedom, years of Taliban rule and weak democratic
institutions have contributed to intolerance manifested in widespread
acts of harassment and sometimes violence against reform-minded Muslims
and religious minorities.
Still recovering from twenty-five years of violence, the country
has been moving into an age of greater stability and democracy. Since
2004, the country has held democratic presidential, parliamentary, and
provincial council elections. In April 2006, President Karzai nominated
a second cabinet, and by early August 2006, the new parliament had
confirmed all of the twenty-five ministers nominated and all but one of
the justices of the new supreme court. Efforts to reform the judiciary
were underway with assistance from the U.S. and the international
community. The Government took positive steps to increase religious
freedom. Minister for Women's Affairs Massouda Jalal worked with the
Ministry for Religious Affairs and the Hajj to provide women with
greater access to mosques. The Government also responded positively to
international approaches on religious freedom and worked effectively on
high-profile cases such as the cases of Mohaqeq Nasab and Abdul Rahman.
Despite reform efforts, there was an increase in the number of
reports of problems involving religious freedom compared to previous
years. Several high-profile cases involving religious freedom sparked
demonstrations in major cities during the period covered by this
report. The Danish cartoon controversy, in particular, resulted in
several large demonstrations and more than a dozen deaths across the
country. Condemnations of conversions from Islam and censorship
increased concerns about citizens' ability to freely practice their
religion.
The country's population was nearly entirely Muslim. Non-Muslim
minority groups faced some incidents of discrimination and persecution.
Conversion, which was generally held by many citizens to contravene
Islam and Shari'a, garnered much public attention due to a high profile
case that occurred during the reporting period. Due to societal
pressure, most local Christians hid their religion from their neighbors
and others. As a result, little information was available about this
community or the challenges it faced. The local Sikh and Hindu
populations, although allowed to practice publicly, continued to face
problems obtaining land for cremation purposes and faced harassment
during major celebrations. Within the Muslim population, relations
among the different sects of Islam continued to be difficult.
Historically, the minority Shi'a community has faced discrimination
from the majority Sunni population, and such discrimination continued
to exist.
Prior to the fall of the Taliban, the U.S. Government had not
maintained an official presence in the country for more than a decade.
The Secretary of State designated the Taliban as a particularly severe
violator of religious freedom with country of particular concern status
in 1999, 2000, and 2001. The U.S. Government regularly discusses
religious freedom issues with government officials as part of its
overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. embassy officials
continued to send political, civil society, and religious leaders to
programs in the United States, and during the reporting period, the
U.S. military helped rebuild fifty mosques damaged during the many
years of war. Some Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) provided
assistance to build madrassahs, or religious schools, for local
communities. The embassy also advocated for the Hindu and Sikh
community in their efforts to obtain land for cremation. Although land
was assigned, the embassy continued to work to finalize the agreement.
Together with the international community, the U.S. Government
expressed concern at the treatment of local converts to Christianity.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 251,738 square miles and a population of
approximately 25.8 million. Reliable data on religious demography was
not available because an official nationwide census has not been
conducted in decades. Observers estimated that 80 percent of the
population was Sunni Muslim; 19 percent was Shi'a Muslim; and other
religious groups, including Sikhs, Hindus, and one Jew, made up less
than 1 percent of the population. There also was a small, hidden
Christian community; there were no reliable figures on its size, but
estimates ranged from 500 to 8 thousand. In addition, there were small
numbers of adherents of other religious groups, mostly Buddhist
foreigners.
Traditionally, the dominant religion has been the sect of Sunni
Islam that follows the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. For the last 200
years, Sunnis often have looked to the example of the Darul Uloom
madrassah located in Deoband near Delhi, India. The Deobandi school has
long sought to ``purify'' Islam by discarding supposedly un-Islamic
accretions to the faith and reemphasizing the models that it believes
were established in the Qur'an and the customary practices of Muhammad.
Additionally, Deobandi scholars often have opposed what they perceive
as Western influences. Much of the population adhered to Deobandi-
influenced Hanafi Sunnism, but a sizable minority adhered to a more
mystical version of Islam, generally known as Sufism. Sufism centers on
orders or brotherhoods that follow charismatic religious leaders.
Several regions were religiously homogeneous. Sunni Muslim
Pashtuns, centered around the city of Kandahar, dominated the south and
east of the country. The homeland of the Shi'a Hazaras was in the
Hazarajat, the mountainous central highlands around Bamiyan.
Northeastern provinces traditionally have had Ismaili populations.
Other areas, including Kabul, the capital, were more heterogeneous. In
and around the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, for example, there was
a mix of Sunnis (including ethnic Pashtuns, Turkmen, Uzbeks, and
Tajiks) and Shi'a (Hazaras and Qizilbash), including Shi'a Ismailis.
In the past, small communities of Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and
Christians lived in the country; however, most members of these
communities emigrated. Even at their peak, these non-Muslim minorities
constituted less than 1 percent of the population. Most of the small
Hindu and Sikh populations, which once numbered approximately 50
thousand persons, took refuge abroad during the many years of conflict;
however, since the fall of the Taliban some minority members have begun
to return. Non-Muslims, such as Hindus, Sikhs, and Jews, were estimated
to number in the hundreds at the end of Taliban rule. During the
reporting period, there were approximately 1,500 Sikhs and 100 Hindu
families living in the country. There are five or six gurdwaras, Sikh
places of worship, in Kabul, where worshippers generally were free to
visit, and few threats were reported. The less distinguishable Hindu
population faced little harassment. There were approximately six Hindu
temples in four cities. An additional eighteen were destroyed during
the many years of war. There was one Christian church and one
synagogue. Some who converted to Christianity as refugees have
returned. Others may have been born abroad into other religious groups;
however, an unofficial tradition of the state considers all citizens to
be Muslim.
There were some missionary groups working in the country, but those
that actively proselytized remained secret to avoid harassment or
arrest by local officials.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The new constitution, ratified in January 2004, replaced the 1964
Constitution as law. Efforts continued to update the existing criminal
and civil legal codes to bring them in line with the country's
international treaty obligations. Full and effective enforcement of the
constitution was an ongoing challenge due to the existence of a
judicial system in need of significant reform.
The constitution proclaims that Islam is the ``religion of the
state''; however, it does not prohibit the practice of other religions.
It states that ``followers of other religions are free to exercise
their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the
provisions of law.'' The constitution also declares that ``no law can
be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of
Islam.'' Interpretation of the constitution has proved difficult, since
it contains both legal and religious elements.
The constitution makes no reference to Shari'a. Article 7 commits
the state to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
and other international treaties and conventions to which the country
is a party.
Article 34 of the constitution protects freedom of expression and
of the press. The press law, adopted in 2002, contains an injunction
against information that ``could mean insult to the sacred religion of
Islam and other religions.'' The ambiguity surrounding what constitutes
offensive material offers the potential for abuse of this clause to
restrict press freedom and intimidate journalists. The press law does
not require information to comply with Shari'a; however, the section on
criminal rules states that if no punishment is prescribed in existing
legal codes for crimes mentioned in the press law, then the punishment
would be in accordance with Shari'a (Hanafi school). These rules also
apply to non-Muslims. The law was reviewed by the Ministry of
Information and Culture, and President Karzai signed the amended law on
mass media in late March 2004. The law on mass media retains the broad
and vague content restriction on ``subjects that are contrary to
principles of Islam and offensive to other religions and sects,'' but
it excludes any reference to Shari'a. The law may be subject to change,
since parliament had not reviewed it.
Proselytism was practiced discreetly; there are no laws forbidding
the practice, even though it is viewed as contrary to the beliefs of
Islam. The Government worked on revising the penal code to bring it in
line with international standards during the reporting period.
Conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and is punishable by
death under some interpretations of Shari'a. While the constitution
makes no direct reference to Shari'a, and Article 7 of the constitution
commits the state to abide by the international treaties and
conventions requiring protection of religious freedom, no law contrary
to the beliefs and provisions of Islam is permissible under the
constitution. While not legally prohibited, conversion from Islam is
strongly discouraged, and the legal consequences of conversion are
subject to legal interpretation.
Some conservative elements advocated that the constitution should
favor the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence associated with the
Sunnis over the Jafari school used by the Shi'as. These elements also
called for the primacy of Shari'a in the legal system; however, the
constitution does not grant preferential status to the Hanafi school,
nor does it make specific reference to Shari'a law. The constitution
also grants that Shi'a law would be applied in cases dealing with
personal matters involving Shi'as; there is no separate law applying to
non-Muslims.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) conducted
national consultations on transitional justice, promoted reconciliation
at civil society gatherings, and through various media, continued to
receive reports of abuses from citizens. In June 2005, President Karzai
approved a Transitional Justice Action Plan which was adopted by the
cabinet by the end of the year. In 2003, the Ministry of Interior
established a Human Rights Department to investigate abuses, and this
department set up local branches in the offices of chiefs of police.
During the reporting period, all provinces had human rights departments
to investigate abuses.
Only Islamic holy days are celebrated as public holidays. The
Government has proclaimed the first day of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid
al-Adha, the Birth of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Tenth of Muharram
(Ashura--both Sunni and Shi'a) as national holidays. All mark events on
the Islamic calendar, and there were no reports that these holidays
negatively affected other religious groups. The Shi'a community is able
to celebrate openly the birthday of Imam Ali, one of the most revered
figures in the Shi'a tradition.
The licensing and registration of religious groups is not required.
The components of the educational system that survived more than
twenty-five years of war place considerable emphasis on religion.
During the reporting period, the public school curriculum included
Islamic content but no content from other religious groups. Non-Muslims
were not required to study Islam. Detailed religious study was
conducted under the guidance of religious leaders. There was no
restriction on parental religious teaching. The national curriculum and
textbooks that emphasize moderate Islamic terms and principles steadily
replaced the preaching of jihad in schools. By the end of the period
covered by this report, all schools in Kabul and in fifteen of the
thirty-four provinces, mostly surrounding the capital, were using the
new texts. The Ministry of Education began introducing human rights as
a subject in the national school curriculum at the beginning of the
school year in 2003 and extended it nationwide in 2004.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There was no information available concerning restrictions on the
general training of clergy.
While not legally prohibited, conversion is strongly discouraged
since it is considered by many to be against the tenets of Islam.
During the reporting period, there was one arrest of a convert to
Christianity. In March 2006, Abdul Rahman, who converted to
Christianity while living abroad during the Taliban regime, was
detained for approximately one month and could have faced the death
penalty for apostasy, but he was deemed not fit to stand trial before
those charges could be brought against him. He was granted asylum in
Italy due to potential threats on his life. There were no reports of
abuse while in custody.
Immigrants and noncitizens were free to practice their own
religions. In Kabul 200 to 300 expatriates met regularly at Christian
worship services held in private locations due to the existence of only
one Christian church in the country. This church, located within the
diplomatic enclave, was not open to local nationals. Buddhist
foreigners were free to practice in temples established for the
Buddhist immigrant community.
Since the fall of the Taliban, no political parties (other than the
Taliban) have been officially banned for religious reasons; however,
after the transitional government passed the political parties
registration law in 2003, the supreme court temporarily banned
communists from forming a political party on the ground that communists
are atheists. The ban was later lifted.
Proselytism was practiced discreetly, since it is viewed as
contrary to the beliefs of Islam. During the period covered by this
report, there were a few minor incidents involving individuals
attempting to proselytize. While there was no known action taken
against these individuals, some chose to leave the country after being
discovered. There were an unknown number of foreign missionaries in the
country who worked discreetly to avoid harassment.
There were fewer reports during the period covered by this report
of local government officials prohibiting music, movies, and television
on religious grounds. The cable television audience in urban centers
continued to expand, and unlike in previous years, televisions, radios,
and other electronic goods were sold freely, and music was played
widely. For example, Kabul continued to have five radio stations,
including the official Radio Kabul. Nongovernmental stations broadcast
a mix of Afghan, Indian, Pakistani, and Western music. Approximately 90
percent of the country's inhabitants reported some access to radio. The
stations had no religious content other than brief prayers and Qur'an
readings on the government-controlled radio station.
In January 2003, the supreme court banned cable television
nationwide on religious grounds, but the ban was lifted in April 2003,
when the Government passed a law allowing the resumption of cable
services. In January 2004, Kabul Television broadcasted a female singer
for the first time in more than a decade, prompting protests from
conservatives on the supreme court, who briefly forced the station to
stop airing such performances. Moderates in the Government lifted the
ban later that month, saying women singers on television were permitted
under the new constitution. In April 2004, officials in Nangarhar
Province briefly banned the appearance of women singers on television;
however, their superiors reversed the prohibition. In June and July
2004, Kabul and Jalalabad provincial governments banned cable
television; the ban was later lifted.
In August 2005, Radio Bamiyan received isolated threats and
complaints were filed against the station for allegedly providing un-
Islamic and pro-American programming. In addition, a complaint petition
was filed with the Ministry of Information and Culture.
In February 2006, a Kabul-based television station, Afghan
Television, was fined $1,000 (50,300 afghani) for airing un-Islamic
material. In addition, two local television stations were warned
against programming that ran counter to local culture and did not
conform to conservative views held by many in their respective
localities.
In June 2006, several news agencies in Kabul claimed they were
given a two-page document containing a list of restrictions on the
broadcasting and publication of programs and subject matter which are
against the morals and religious and accepted customs of the public
that provoke people and cause security problems. The Government
rejected reports that it had issued these instructions to local media
restricting their activities.
Christian-affiliated international relief organizations generally
operated throughout the country without interference. There were no
reports of incidents of harassment during the period covered by this
report. After an attack in late September 2003 that killed two
employees of the Voluntary Association for Rehabilitation of
Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman accused the organization and other
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of preaching Christianity. There
were no further details on the attack during the reporting period.
Both Sunnis and Shi'as were permitted to go on the Hajj, and there
was no quota system for those making the pilgrimage. Participants were
selected by lottery.
The Government does not designate religion on national identity
cards and does not require individuals to declare a belief in Islam in
order to receive citizenship. However, the state, including the courts,
traditionally considers all citizens to be Muslim; therefore, some
basic citizenship rights of non-Muslims were not respected.
Most women in rural areas wear burqas, a traditional full body and
face covering. Since the fall of the Taliban, a number of women in
urban areas no longer wear the burqa; however, a majority of women
continued to wear some form of head covering either by choice or
community pressure. Urban women did not wear burqas before the Taliban
imposed this practice.
The constitution requires that the president and vice-president be
Muslim and does not distinguish in this respect between Sunnis and
Shi'as. This requirement is not explicitly applied to government
ministers, but the oath required of ministers suggests adherence to the
Islamic faith. The constitution has no religious requirement for
members of parliament. There was one Hindu member in the upper house.
The Government failed to provide funding or assistance for Sikh
schools. The Sikh community chose to send its children to its own
schools because of reported abuse and harassment in government-run
schools. A Sikh school in Kabul now reported having only one full-time
teacher for 120 students. Four part-time teachers were assigned to the
school for adult education but instead taught the children for two
hours a week. There were no Christian or Jewish schools in the country.
In family disputes, courts continue to rely on a civil code that is
based on the Sunni Hanafi school, regardless of whether the parties
involved are Shi'a or Sunni. The civil code also applies to non-
Muslims. In response to questions about marriage, the chief judge of
the family court issued guidelines in accordance with the court's
interpretation of Shari'a law. Most restrictive is the rule on marriage
between non-Muslims, which stipulates that whether born in the country
or elsewhere non-Muslims would not be allowed to marry. According to
government officials, the court considers all citizens to be Muslims by
default and therefore non-Muslim Afghans can be married as long as they
do not publicly acknowledge their non-Muslim beliefs. In addition, the
judges stated that a Muslim man may marry a non-Muslim woman, but if
she is not ``of the book,'' including Christian or Jewish, she must
first convert; however, a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a non-
Muslim man.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Sporadic violations of religious freedom by some officials
occurred.
In January 2003, the governor of Helmand Province took control of
approximately 200 Hazara-owned shops in Lashkar Gah and distributed
them to other town residents. The governor also blocked the Hazara
community from building a mosque in Lashkar Gah. While the AIHRC and
the UN reached an agreement with the governor in February 2003 to
compensate Hazara shopkeepers with land elsewhere in Lashkar Gah, the
governor had only partially fulfilled his promise by the end of the
period covered by this report.
In June 2003, two editors of a weekly Kabul publication were
arrested for allegedly violating Article 30 of the press law that
prohibits publication of articles defaming Islam. Conservatives within
the judiciary recommended the journalists be charged with ``insulting
Islam'' or blasphemy; however, senior government officials ultimately
supported action short of criminal prosecution. Police searched the
editors' offices, and the national intelligence agency confiscated the
editors' publication, Aftaab, from stores. Moderates led by the
minister of information and culture argued for the release of the
journalists and a resolution to the press law--since amended--that
permits administrative punishment (a fine) in lieu of prosecution.
Within a week, President Karzai ordered the editors released on bail;
however, the charges of blasphemy were not dropped. The two journalists
obtained asylum outside the country during the second half of 2003.
In November 2003, twelve Tablighi preachers (itinerant Sunni
missionaries) were detained for a day in Kandahar. There was no further
police action against Tablighi preachers during the period covered by
the report. The Tablighi claimed their mission was to spread the word
of Islam. Some government intelligence officials accused the Tablighi
of subversive work for Pakistan. Although an investigation of the
group's activities concluded that the group was innocent of spying for
the Taliban and al-Qa'ida, no action had been taken against the police
officers involved in the case by the end of the reporting period.
In May 2005, two students were suspended for a year from Herat
University for commenting on Islam during a religious debate in ways
that classmates and a teacher found blasphemous. The AIHRC reported the
two students were reinstated at the university and all charges against
them suspended. Following the arrests, the students were released from
jail and housed, for security purposes, at various safe houses.
On October 22, 2005, Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, a journalist and editor of
a women's rights magazine, was sentenced to two years in prison by a
tribunal for blasphemy for reprinting and commenting on two articles.
The articles questioned the harsh punishment imposed on women accused
of adultery and theft under traditional Islamic law and advocated that
conversion from Islam should not be considered a crime. After being
tried in court, his sentence was reduced to six months on appeal (half
of this time was suspended), and he was released on December 22, 2005.
There were other unconfirmed reports that converts faced societal
discrimination and threats across the country. The press reported the
killings of five male converts to Christianity near the eastern border
between June and August 2004, but these reports could not be confirmed.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens abducted or illegally removed from the United
States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the
United States.
In May 2005, news reports indicated that an Indian Hindu converted
to Islam. The conversion ceremony was performed before supreme court
representatives, the chief justice and chief of the supreme court, and
local and international media. The conversion did not appear to have
been forced.
Abuses by Terrorist Organizations
There were a few reported abuses targeted at specific religious
groups by terrorist organizations during the period covered by this
report. Terrorist organizations attacked, and in some cases killed,
several Muslim clerics for supporting the Government or for stating
that activities conducted by terrorist organizations were against the
tenets of Islam. There were reports of attacks on non-Muslim
international organizations; however, there were no written records to
validate the claims.
Attacks by remnants of the al-Qa'ida and Taliban networks continued
during the reporting period. In a repeat of previous years, several
killings of religious leaders and attacks on mosques were attributed to
al-Qa'ida and Taliban members who objected to their victims' links with
the Karzai administration and to their public interpretations of Islam.
These attacks were perceived by the public to be an attack on the
Government and not on Islam.
On June 1, 2005, a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar was
bombed during the funeral of an anti-Taliban cleric who had been shot
dead three days earlier. Twenty persons, including the chief of the
provincial capital's police force, were killed. Taliban insurgents were
believed to be behind the attacks.
During the reporting period, numerous schools were attacked. While
some claim schools allegedly connected with Christian groups were
targeted by the Taliban, Muslim schools were also targets during the
reporting period. Therefore, it was difficult to identify whether the
motivation behind the attacks was religious or political. Unconfirmed
press reports claimed that in September 2004, nine boys and a teacher
died when a bomb detonated in the schoolyard of a madrassah in Zurmat.
The madrassah offered morning Islamic lessons for local boys and with
support from a foreign-funded agency, had added an afternoon curriculum
of English, math, and other subjects taught in secular public schools.
In addition, the teachers had been involved in helping men and women
register to vote. Taliban terrorists claimed responsibility.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government continued to stress reconciliation and cooperation
among all citizens. Although it primarily was concerned with
reconciliation of former Taliban combatants, it also expressed concern
about religious intolerance. The Government responded positively to
international approaches on human rights, including religious freedom,
and worked effectively on high profile cases such as those of Mohaqeq
Nasab and Abdul Rahman. The Government continued to indirectly
emphasize ethnic and intrafaith reconciliation through the support of
the judicial, constitutional, and human rights commissions composed of
members of different ethnic and Muslim religious (Sunni and Shi'a)
groups. The Constitutional Commission also included a Hindu member to
represent non-Muslim religious minorities. The Ministry of Women's
Affairs and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Hajj also worked
together to give women the opportunity to attend mosques. While women
have always had the right to attend mosques, separate areas had to be
designated for them. The new initiative provided for such spaces in
larger mosques where room was available.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations between the different branches of Islam continued to be
difficult. Historically, the minority Shi'a faced discrimination from
the Sunni population. However, since Shi'a representation increased in
government, there apparently was less hostility from Sunnis. Most Shi'a
were members of the Hazara ethnic group, which traditionally has been
segregated from the rest of society for a combination of political,
ethnic, and religious reasons. Throughout the country's history, there
have been many examples of conflicts between the Hazaras and other
citizens. These conflicts often have had economic and political roots
but also have religious dimensions. The treatment of the Shi'a
community varied by locality. The active persecution of the Shi'a
minority, including Ismailis, that existed under the Taliban regime has
ended. Although some discrimination continued at the local level,
Shi'as generally were free to participate fully in public life. The
rigid policies adopted both by the Taliban and by certain opposition
groups adversely affected adherents of other branches of Islam and
other religious groups.
In February 2006, six persons were killed during the Shi'a Ashura
processions in Herat. Rumors circulated that Shiites were planning to
perform their ritual self-flagellations at Herat's Blue Mosque, an
important Sunni religious site. These rumors sparked a countermarch
after Shi'a Governor Anwari made a public speech commemorating the
holiday. Although the incident took place between religious groups, the
event was possibly more politically than religiously motivated. It is
believed that rural politicians took advantage of the holiday to foment
violence to further their own agendas.
Non-Muslim minorities such as Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians
continued to face social discrimination and harassment and, in some
cases, violence. This treatment was not systematic, but the Government
did little to improve conditions in the last year. For example, in
early October 2003, a grenade was lobbed at the only functioning Sikh
gurdwara in Kabul. There were no casualties. Prior to the incident,
local police had warned the gurdwara authorities of a possible attack.
Although police and intelligence officials investigated, no suspects
had been apprehended by the end of the reporting period. In April 2005,
a Sikh gurdwara in Khost was attacked and robbed by twenty-one armed
men. The incident was still under investigation at the end of the
reporting period. According to the Sikh community, in the fall of 2005,
there was a report of the disappearance of a Sikh traveling from Kabul
to Jalalabad. There was no additional information available at the end
of the reporting period.
The AIHRC advocated for the rights of Sikhs and Hindus when this
community complained in late 2003 that it was being denied access to
its traditional cremation ground in Kabul by local residents. The
Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs was sympathetic and responsive
to this complaint. In March 2004, Kabul municipal authorities allocated
an alternative cremation site to the Sikh-Hindu community. The Sikh-
Hindu community still alleged that they did not have access to the land
and were working with the Kabul Municipality to resolve land titling
problems. The site was reported to be in use by the end of the period
covered by this report.
Some Sikh and Hindu children were unable to attend government
schools due to harassment from teachers and students. The Government
did not take sufficient steps to protect these children and reintegrate
them into the classroom environment. There were no reports of
discrimination toward Christians in schools.
After the fall of the Taliban, there continued to be episodic
reports of persons at the local level using coercion to enforce social
and religious conformity. In January 2006, religious scholars in Kunduz
province issued a resolution describing the celebration of non-Muslim
religious festivals as against Shari'a; however, the governor of the
province stressed the importance of respecting religious freedom.
During the reporting period, President Karzai and other moderates in
the Government opposed attempts by conservative elements to enforce
rules regarding social and religious practices based on their
interpretation of Islamic law.
In contrast to previous years, there were no new reported cases of
forced chastity examinations. In 2004, the AIHRC intervened and
aggressively launched programs designed to educate all levels of
society in the provinces where forced chastity exams were administered.
The AIHRC conducted surveys in late 2004 that indicated the practice
had declined significantly. From 2004-2005, in Herat there were
continued reports of forced chastity examinations by religious police
of women found with males who were not their relatives; however,
reports declined during the latter months of the reporting period. It
was difficult to know whether this practice was systematic or sporadic,
or done at the request of family members in the context of an extremely
conservative environment. There were no reports of examinations
directed at non-Muslims. Local officials also confronted women over
their attire and behavior, although there were no known official
policies mandating the wearing of the burqa or regulating the
activities of women.
Muslim clerics with political connections were also the target of
violence. In May 2003, Habibullah, a Muslim cleric with close ties to
President Karzai, was shot and killed outside a mosque in Deh Rawood
district. Six persons were detained in connection with the killing.
President Karzai issued a statement condemning it. By the end of the
reporting period, there were no arrests and no further information on
this case, including on the status of the persons originally detained.
Also in May 2003, a well-known religious scholar, Mowlawi Haji
Abdollah, was shot and killed after leaving a mosque after prayers in
central Uruzgan Province. The Government stated that the Taliban and
al-Qa'ida were responsible for the crime. The assailants had not been
identified by the end of the period covered by this report.
In June 2003, a mosque in Kandahar was bombed during the final
prayer of the day and sixteen worshippers were injured. The leader of
the mosque and head of Kandahar's Ulema-u-Shura (clerics' council),
Mullah Abdullah Fayaz, had stated that the Taliban were not correctly
interpreting and following Islam. The Ministry of the Interior stated
that two persons were arrested, one in July 2003 and the other in
August 2003. In May 2005, the Ministry of Interior reported that one
was still in custody pending investigations while the other had
escaped. There were no new developments during the reporting period.
In April 2004, Maulana Abdul Bari, a former Minister of Hajj and
Religious Affairs in Kandahar, was shot and killed outside his home by
suspected Taliban members. At the end of the reporting period, there
had been no arrests in the case, which continued to be under
investigation. During the second half of 2004, two mullahs were killed
in Ghazni and Muqar provinces.
In October 2005, in Helmand Province, a progovernment cleric was
killed by a bomb during prayers, which also injured twelve worshippers.
During the same month, also in Helmand, a progovernment mullah was
killed in a drive-by shooting on his way home. The same day, two
progovernment religious leaders were gunned down in Konar Province. The
large number of religious figures killed in that month was attributed
to antigovernment activity rather than to Sunni-Shi'a tension. It
appeared that terrorists were trying to eliminate individuals with
moderate religious views.
On September 7, 2004, NGOs reported and the AIHRC confirmed that a
large mob attacked several offices and vehicles of NGOs, including the
Agha Khan Development Network, in Faizabad in Badakhshan Province. The
attack appeared to have been in response to rumors that the Agha Khan
Development Network was using its aid projects to convert Sunni Muslims
to Ismaili Shi'ism. Two women workers were raped at the NGOs' offices.
The AIHRC also cited unconfirmed reports of rocket attacks on NGOs in
Faizabad during that and other incidents.
In March 2005, a person in Helmand Province was beheaded,
reportedly because of religious beliefs. No one was charged with the
killing.
On May 9, 2005, Newsweek reported that U.S. interrogators
desecrated the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay. The report sparked
demonstrations throughout the country, which resulted in the deaths of
17 persons and injury to another 120 persons. A local newspaper
reported that an Islamic group reportedly linked to the ousted Taliban
regime declared jihad, or holy war, against U.S.-led troops and the
Government over the alleged Qur'an desecration.
Controversy over the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad created a
widespread public backlash. More than twelve persons were killed and
many injured in protests that lasted a week and took place in several
provinces. Response by government officials was mixed with members of
the supreme court calling for censorship of Danish media, in contrast
to President Karzai who accepted apologies and called for calm.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with
government officials as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
U.S. representatives met regularly with government officials and
with religious and minority figures in an ongoing dialogue regarding
the political, legal, religious, and human rights context of the
country's reconstruction. The United States worked with civil society
organizations to promote religious tolerance. U.S. officials in Kabul
and Washington urged the Government to quickly resolve the Abdul Rahman
case. President Bush and Secretary of State Rice both made strong
public statements calling for the release of Rahman.
The U.S. embassy actively promoted professional and cultural ties
between local citizens and the United States. The public affairs
section coordinated a variety of exchange, speaker, artistic, and
information programs to generate an exchange of ideas between Americans
and local citizens on democracy and civil society, human rights, Islam
in America, and other subjects. The United States funded travel by
local journalists, academics, politicians, government officials,
religious scholars, community leaders, women, youth, and NGO officials
to engage with their counterparts in the United States.
The U.S. embassy continued to send local mullahs to the United
States to participate in programs on democracy, civil society and Islam
in America. Since 2003, the U.S. Government funded visits to the United
States for approximately fifty mullahs under a program on ``Democracy
and Civil Society.'' The approximate cost of this program was $250,000
(12,575,000 afghani).
The United States provided assistance for the cultural preservation
of the Mullah Mohamood Mosque and the Shah Shaheed Shrine and granted
money to sponsor, in cooperation with the Ministry of Hajj and Religion
and a local NGO, a five-day conference in the fall of 2005 focusing on
the role of the ulema (religious leaders) in the modernization and
development of a democratic country. The conference helped to develop
strategies for them to work with the Government. Over sixty religious
leaders from across the country attended the conference as well as
professors and scholars from Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan.
In total, the U.S. military provided assistance to rehabilitate
approximately fifty mosques during the period covered by this report.
During fiscal year 2003, the United States provided $600,000
(30,180,000 afghani) for technical assistance and capacity building for
the AIHRC. The United States provided an additional $5 million (215
million afghani) to the commission during fiscal years 2004-2005 and
committed $2 million (98,500,000 afghani) for fiscal year 2006.
U.S. Government officials supported efforts during the 2003
Constitutional Loya Jirga to include specific language in the draft
constitution to provide for equal rights for men and women and to
incorporate moderate language on Islam.
The U.S. Government has also worked with civil society
organizations to promote religious tolerance. The Civil Development
Foundation, a group of reformist, largely Shi'a citizens, continued to
publish the monthly magazine, Democracy, a project funded by a U.S.
grant of $68,843 (3,390,517 afghani) to cover expenses from July 2004
to April 2005. One of the goals of Democracy was to challenge
``religious despotism'' and to promote a liberal and tolerant
interpretation of Islam.
Other U.S. grants also helped to establish independent community
and commercial radio stations throughout the country that broadcast
programs on a range of topics including democracy and human rights
concerns. During this reporting period, the United States assisted with
the completion of independent community based radio networks and
invested in training and business plan development for sustainable
independent media organizations. The United States helped create
thirty-five independent, community-based radio stations. U.S.
assistance helped renovate and expand local radio stations throughout
the country, especially in the south, where media freedom was severely
restricted. The United States funded three new FM facilities in the
Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, a critical area because of
religious extremism.
__________
BANGLADESH
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but
provides for the right to profess, practice, or propagate--subject to
law, public order, and morality--the religion of one's choice. It also
states that every religious community or denomination has the right to
establish, maintain, and manage its religious institutions. While the
Government publicly supported freedom of religion, attacks on religious
and ethnic minorities continued to be a problem. Protests demanding
that Ahmadis be declared non-Muslims and instances of harassment
continued sporadically, but the Government generally acted in an
effective manner to protect Ahmadis and their property and refused to
give in to any of the protesters' demands. Religion exerted a powerful
influence on politics, and the Government was sensitive to the Islamic
consciousness of its political allies and the majority of its citizens.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Citizens were generally free
to practice the religion of their choice; however, government
officials, including the police, were often ineffective in upholding
law and order and were sometimes slow to assist religious minority
victims of harassment and violence. The Government and many civil
society leaders stated that violence against religious minorities
normally had political or economic motivations and could not be
attributed only to religion.
The generally amicable relationships among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, Hindu, Christian,
and Buddhist minorities experienced discrimination and sometimes
violence by the Muslim majority. Harassment of Ahmadis continued along
with protests demanding that Ahmadis be declared non-Muslims.
During the period covered by this report, the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) in a four party coalition that included the
Islamic parties Jamaat Islami and the Islami Okiyya Jote, led the
Government. Hindus were traditionally viewed as Awami League (AL)
supporters. In the 300-seat parliament, religious minorities held eight
seats. The AL has a Christian, a Buddhist, and two Hindu MPs, and the
BNP has three Hindu MPs. There was also a Hindu MP elected as an
independent candidate. Three non-Muslims held deputy or state minister
or equivalent positions in the Government. The acute animosity between
the two mainstream political parties often led to politically motivated
violence, and sometimes to heightened tensions between Muslims and
Hindus.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In
meetings with officials and in public statements, officers at the U.S.
Embassy encouraged the Government to protect the rights of minorities.
Government officials were particularly encouraged to take necessary
measures to ensure minority rights for the election scheduled to be
held in 2007. Publicly and privately, the embassy denounced acts of
religious intolerance and called on the Government to ensure due
process for all citizens. When two Christians working for a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) were killed, the embassy issued a
press release condemning the violence. The U.S. Government sponsored
the visit of a prominent U.S. Muslim cleric who spoke to audiences
about Qur'anic interpretations that support tolerance and gender
equity. In February 2006, U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley of New
York visited places of worship belonging to several faiths and met with
representatives of religious minorities to demonstrate support for
religious diversity and tolerance.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 55,126 square miles, and its population
was 146 million. Sunni Muslims constituted 88 percent of the
population. Approximately 10 percent of the population was Hindu. The
remainder was mainly Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and Theravada-
Hinayana Buddhist. Ethnic and religious minority communities often
overlapped and were concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and
northern regions. Buddhists were found predominantly among the
indigenous (non-Bengali) populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Bengali and ethnic minority Christians could be found in many
communities across the country; in cities such as Barisal City,
Gournadi (Barisal), Baniarchar in Gopalganj, Monipuripara in Dhaka,
Christianpara in Mohakhali (Dhaka), Nagori in Gazipur. There also were
small populations of Shi'a Muslims, Sikhs, Baha'is, animists, and
Ahmadis. Estimates of their numbers varied from a few thousand to 100
thousand adherents for each faith. There was no indigenous Jewish
community, nor a significant immigrant Jewish population in the
country. There were no synagogues or other Jewish institutions.
Religion was an important part of community identity for citizens,
including those who did not participate actively in prayers or
services. A national survey in late 2003 confirmed that religion was
the first choice by a citizen for self-identification; atheism was
extremely rare.
The majority of ``foreign residents'' were returned Bangladeshi
emigres. There were approximately 30 thousand Rohingyan refugees, who
practiced Islam. There was no reliable estimate of the number of
missionaries, but several Christian denominations operated schools,
orphanages, or other social programs throughout the country. A
substantial number of Christian missionaries, primarily based in Dhaka
and Chittagong, engaged in social development projects. Every year, the
Tabliqui Muslim community holds the Biswa Itjema, the world's second
largest gathering of Muslims. The Tabliqui came from all over the
world, including the United States, but mostly from South and South
East Asia. They worked with populations that were already Muslim and
encouraged them to be more devout. Several faith-based NGOs, including
World Vision and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International,
operated in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but
provides for the right to practice, profess, and propagate--subject to
law, public order, and morality--the religion of one's choice. While
the Government publicly supports freedom of religion, attacks on
religious and ethnic minorities continued to be a problem.
While the right to propagate the religion of ones' choice is
guaranteed by the constitution, local authorities and communities often
objected to efforts to convert persons from Islam. Strong social
resistance to conversion from Islam means that most missionary efforts
by Christian groups were aimed at serving communities that have been
Christian for several generations or longer. In 2006, a group of recent
Christian converts from Buddhism built a church in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. Buddhist members of the community, angry at the conversion and
at the use of a disputed piece of land, set fire to the church.
Investigation into the case continued.
In general, government institutions and the courts protect
religious freedom. Traditionally there was little interference or
regulation by the Government concerning Islamic practices. The
Government ran imam training academies and proclaimed days of festivals
but did not dictate sermon content, select or pay clergy, or closely
monitored content of religious education in madrassahs.
Shari'a (Islamic law) was not implemented formally and was not
imposed on non-Muslims but played an influential role in civil matters
pertaining to the Muslim community. For instance, alternative dispute
resolution was available to individuals for settling family disputes
and other civil matters not related to land ownership. The arbitrator
may rely on principles found in Shari'a for settling disputes, if both
parties agree to the settlement. In addition, Muslim family law was
loosely based on Shari'a.
In 2001, the high court ruled all fatwas--legal rulings based on
Shari'a--illegal. In deeming all fatwas illegal, the high court
intended to end the extrajudicial punishments and restrictions forced
on local populations by religious leaders. However, the high court's
decision prohibited all fatwas, which also included pronouncements on
purely religious matters such as when festivals can begin or whether a
marriage or divorce is valid from a religious standpoint. Several weeks
later, the appellate court stayed the high court's ruling, stating that
while the appeal was pending, the ban on fatwas could not be
implemented. Given the heavy appellate court caseload, it was unclear
when the appeal was expected to be considered.
Islamic tradition dictated that only those muftis (religious
scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law were authorized to declare
a fatwa. Village religious leaders sometimes made declarations in
individual cases and called the declaration a fatwa. Sometimes this
resulted in extrajudicial punishments, often against women, for their
perceived moral transgressions.
Family laws concerning marriage, divorce, and adoption differed
slightly depending on the religion of the persons involved. Each
religion had its own set of family laws. Muslim men may marry up to
four wives; however, a Muslim man must get his first wife's signed
permission before taking a second wife. In contrast, Christian men may
only marry one woman. Under Hindu law, unlimited polygamy is permitted
and while there is no provision for divorce and legal separation, Hindu
widows may legally remarry. There were no legal restrictions on
marriage between members of different faiths.
Religion exerted a powerful influence on politics, and the
Government was sensitive to the Muslim consciousness of its political
allies, Jamaat Islami and the Islami Okiyya Jote, as well as the
majority of its citizens.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs administered three funds for
religious and cultural activities: The Islamic Foundation, the Hindu
Welfare Trust, and the Buddhist Welfare Trust. According to the
Government, the Christian community did not want government involvement
in its religious affairs and requested that there not be any similar
organization for their community; however, the Government recently told
Christian leaders it would soon establish a welfare trust for
Christians. At the end of the period covered by this report, the Hindu
Welfare Trust had $1.7 million (120 million taka). The trust was
founded in the 1980s. This trust used its money to repair temples,
modify cremation pyres, and help destitute Hindu families afford
medical treatment; approximately $29 thousand (2 million taka) went
towards annual Puja celebrations. The Buddhist Welfare Trust, also
founded in the 1980s, had a fund of $425 thousand (30 million taka) at
the end of the period covered by this report. Funds were used to repair
monasteries, organize training programs for Buddhist monks, and
celebrate the Buddhist festival Purnima. There have been no public
criticisms of how the money is proportioned or distributed.
Major religious festivals and holy days of the Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist, and Christian faiths were celebrated as national holidays.
The Bangladesh Christian Association lobbied unsuccessfully for the
inclusion of Easter as a national holiday.
Religious organizations were not required to register with the
Government; however, all NGOs, including religious organizations, were
required to register with the Government's NGO Affairs Bureau if they
receive foreign financial assistance for social development projects.
The Government had the legal authority to cancel the registration of an
NGO suspected to be in breach of its legal or fiduciary obligations and
to take other actions, such as blocking foreign funds transfers, to
limit its operation. In 2003 and 2004, the Government took action in a
nontransparent manner against six NGOs perceived as anti-government or
pro-opposition, temporarily closing one of them. This NGO subsequently
reopened, and reported no additional government harassment. A prominent
NGO had its outside grants blocked in 2001 after its director expressed
concern over attacks on minorities. The leader of this NGO declared
that although the Government agreed in principle to release the grants,
by the end of the period covered by this report it had not released any
funds. In the past, members of NGOs intending to travel to religious
freedom events abroad reported pressure by law enforcement and
intelligence officials to remain at home, but there were no reports of
this occurring during the reporting period.
Religion was taught in government schools, and parents had the
right to have their children taught in their own religion; however,
some claimed that many government-employed religious teachers of
minority religious groups were neither members of the religion they
taught nor qualified to teach it. Although transportation was not
always available for children to attend religion classes away from
school, in practice schools with few religious minority students often
worked out arrangements with local churches or temples, which then
directed religious studies outside of school hours. There were at least
25 thousand Muslim religious schools, or madrassahs. Some madrassahs
were government-funded and some were privately funded and run,
according to a recent U.S. Government study. There were no known
government-run Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist schools.
The Government took steps to promote interfaith understanding. For
example, government leaders issued statements on the eve of religious
holidays calling for peace and warned that action would be taken
against those attempting to disrupt the celebrations. Through
additional security deployments and public statements, the Government
promoted the peaceful celebration of Christian and Hindu festivals,
including Durga Puja, Christmas, and Easter.
The Government supported the creation of the Council for Interfaith
Harmony-Bangladesh, with a mandate to promote understanding and
peaceful coexistence. This initiative came in response to a bombing
campaign in the fall of 2005 by an Islamist extremist group seeking the
imposition of Shari'a law.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Since 2004, anti-Ahmadiyya extremists have publicly demanded that
the Government declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. The International
Khatme Nabuwat Movement Bangladesh (IKNMB) and a splinter group, the
Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh (KNAB), first announced a January
2004 deadline, and in December 2005, again issued an ultimatum and
threatened violent protests at Ahmadiyya mosques. The Government
rejected the ultimatum and successfully kept protesters a safe distance
from all Ahmadiyya buildings. On December 24, 2005, the Daily Star
reported that State Minister for Religious Affairs, Mosharef Hossain
Shajahan stated ``There may be difference of opinion among the
followers of a religion, but no one can attack others for such a
difference.'' In June 2006, the KNAB announced a weeklong program
including dawn to dusk hartals (strikes) near Dhaka and a shutdown of
the airport to force the Government to declare Muhammad as the last
prophet in the ongoing parliament session as a primary step in
declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims. Using minimal force, police prevented
the protests from approaching the Ahmadiya facilities, and the KNAB's
hartal program failed to materialize. The Ahmadiya community
complimented the Government for its responsiveness to their concerns
and its professional handling of the protests.
The constitution provides for the right to profess, practice, or
propagate any religion; however, proselytism was discouraged. Foreign
missionaries were allowed to work, but as is the case with other
foreign residents, they often faced delays of several months in
obtaining or renewing visas. In the past, some missionaries who were
perceived to be converting Muslims to other faiths were unable to renew
their one-year religious worker visas. Some foreign missionaries
reported that internal security forces and others closely monitored
their activities.
On January 8, 2004, the Government announced a ban on all Ahmadiyya
publications. The ban was not formalized, but in 2004, police detained
a boy for three days for possession of Ahmadiyya books, and during
demonstrations in April and May 2004, police entered two Ahmadiyya
mosques and seized documents. In December 2004 the Government prepared
a statement banning Ahmadiyya publications but did not release it.
After local human rights activists and Ahmadiyya leaders challenged
this statement, the high court stayed the ban, making it unenforceable
until the court ruled on it. The Government opposed court challenges to
the ban on the grounds the ban had not been promulgated officially and
was, therefore, beyond judicial scrutiny. With a few exceptions, police
respected the high court's order.
There were no financial penalties imposed on the basis of religious
beliefs; however, religious minorities were disadvantaged in access to
military and government jobs, including elected office. While the
Government has appointed some Hindus to senior civil service positions
at the deputy secretary, joint secretary and secretary levels,
religious minorities remained underrepresented, especially at the
higher ranks. One notable exception was the government-owned Bangladesh
Bank, which employed approximately 10 percent non-Muslims in its upper
ranks. Selection boards for government services often lacked minority
representation. Employees were not required to disclose their religion,
but it generally could be determined by a person's name.
Religious minorities were not underrepresented in the private
sector. Some Hindus reported that Muslims tended to prefer hiring
Hindus for some professional positions, such as doctors, lawyers,
teachers and accountants. They attributed this circumstance to the
education that the British offered during the nineteenth century, which
Muslims boycotted but Hindus embraced.
Many Hindus have been unable to recover landholdings lost because
of discrimination under the now-defunct Vested Property Act. The act
was an East Pakistan-era law that allowed ``enemy'' (in practice Hindu)
lands to be expropriated by the Government. Approximately 2.5 million
acres of land were seized from Hindus, and almost all of the 10 million
Hindus in the country were affected. In April 2001, parliament passed
the Vested Property Return Act, stipulating that land remaining under
government control that was seized under the Vested Property Act be
returned to its original owners, provided that the original owners or
their heirs remained resident citizens. The Government was required to
prepare a list of vested property holdings by October 2001, and claims
were to have been filed within ninety days of the publication date. In
2002, parliament passed an amendment to the Vested Property Return Act,
which allowed the Government unlimited time to return the vested
properties and gave control of the properties, including the right to
lease them, to local government employees. By the end of the period
covered by this report, the Government had not prepared a list of such
properties.
Marriage rituals and proceedings were governed by the family law of
the religion of the parties concerned; however, marriages were also
registered with the state. Under the Muslim Family Ordinance, female
heirs inherit less than male relatives, and wives have fewer divorce
rights than husbands. Although men were permitted to have up to four
wives, society strongly discourages polygamy, and it was rarely
practiced. Laws provide some protection for women against arbitrary
divorce and the taking of additional wives by husbands without the
first wife's consent, but the protections generally apply only to
registered marriages. In rural areas, marriages sometimes were not
registered because of ignorance of the law. Under the law, a Muslim
husband was required to pay his former wife alimony for three months,
but this law was not always enforced. There was little societal
pressure to enforce it, and the courts were so backlogged it was
difficult, if not impossible, to get redress through the courts. There
were separate family laws on the books for Hindus, Muslims, and
Christians, based on their respective traditions with few significant
differences. The major exception was that Hindu law permits unlimited
polygamy and makes no provision for divorce or separation, which are
forbidden according to the Hindu religion.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Reports of BNP harassment, violence and rape of Hindus, who many
believed supported the AL, preceded and followed the 2001 election. The
high court ordered the Government to report on these attacks and to
demonstrate that it was taking adequate steps to protect religious
minorities. The Government submitted its report to the high court in
2002, claiming that incidents of post-election violence were not
connected to communal relations and that some reports of violence were
fabricated or exaggerated. Since then, neither the high court nor the
Government has taken further action. There was no religiously related
political violence during any by-election during the period covered by
this report.
Since the 2001 elections, attacks on religious minorities have led
to the routine posting of law enforcement personnel during major
religious festivals and events, since festivals tend to attract large
congregations that make easy and more attractive targets. Reported
incidents included killings, rape, torture, attacks on places of
worship, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and desecration of
items of worship. These claims continued during the period covered by
this report; however, many such reports could not be verified
independently, and there were incidents of members of the Muslim
community attacking each other on holidays as well, due to a perception
that some events were un-Islamic. The Government sometimes failed to
investigate the crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, who were often
local gang leaders.
Feminist author Taslima Nasreen remained abroad during the period
covered by this report, while criminal charges were pending against her
for allegedly insulting the religious beliefs of the country's Muslims.
In October 2002 a court sentenced Nasreen, in absentia, to a year in
jail for her ``derogatory remarks about Islam,'' in a case filed by a
local Jamaat-e-Islami leader in 1999. Her books remained banned but
were openly sold on street corners.
As of the writing of this report, no charges have been filed in the
2003 case of eleven members of a Hindu family burned to death after
assailants set fire to their home near the port city of Chittagong. BDG
officials ascribed the crime to robbers following a failed robbery
attempt, but the opposition AL alleged that BNP members attacked the
family as part of a local anti-Hindu cleansing effort. Within a month
of the attack, police arrested five persons, three of whom confessed to
the magistrate and claimed that fourteen persons were involved in what
they stated was an attempted robbery. Police have twice submitted their
investigations to court but the public prosecutor has declared the
investigations ``faulty,'' so a third round of investigation was in
process.
At the end of the reporting period, it was unknown what happened to
the evicted families in the June 22, 2005 eviction of sixty-five
families from their land by government officials to establish a
government project in the same place. According to press reports, the
evicted families consisted of fifteen families from the indigenous
Santali Christian community and fifty Hindu families.
The Daily Sangbad reported that on October 20, 2005, a Hindu
teacher, Srabani Sur, was dismissed after being accused of allegedly
insulting Islam. She submitted an appeal to the education board
claiming the allegations were false.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
There were no reported abuses targeted at specific religious groups
by terrorist organizations during the period covered by this report.
However, the banned extremist group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) attacked a variety of government and civil society targets in
late 2005 on the grounds they supported secular governance. Earlier in
2005, JMB attacked a Bangladeshi NGO for promoting un-Islamic
practices, such as teaching women to run businesses and extending
microcredit, in rural areas; however, these attacks were almost all on
other Muslims. The fact that one of two judges JMB killed in Jalakhathi
was Hindu was scarcely noted and was never cited by JMB as a reason for
his killing.
There have been no significant developments in the cases of the
2004 injury of the British high commissioner in a bomb explosion as he
visited the Shahjalal Shrine. In February 2005, there were several
explosions at Muslim shrines in the Sylhet area.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government continued not to enforce the ban on Ahmadiyya
publications. Furthermore, protesters were generally stopped from
hanging signs outside of Ahmadiyya mosques declaring them nonmosques or
threatening the lives or property of Ahmadis. This contrasted sharply
from previous years, when police sometimes facilitated the hanging of
such signs.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations between religious communities generally were amicable.
Persons who practiced different religions often joined each other's
festivals and celebrations such as weddings. Shi'a Muslims practiced
their faith without interference from Sunnis. Nevertheless, clashes
between religious groups occasionally occurred. Violence directed
against religious minority communities continued to result in the loss
of lives and property, but the motives--religious animosity, criminal
intent, or property disputes--were often unclear. Religious minorities
were vulnerable due to their relatively limited influence with
political elites. Like many citizens, they were often reluctant to seek
recourse from a corrupt and ineffective criminal justice system. Police
were often ineffective in upholding law and order and were sometimes
slow to assist religious minorities. This promotes an atmosphere of
impunity for acts of violence against them.
In September 2003, Ibrahim Khali and Dulal were sentenced to life
in prison for raping a Hindu woman. Both convicts were serving their
terms while their appeals were pending. In October 2003, a Speedy Trial
Court sentenced six persons to life in prison and acquitted a seventh
person accused of raping a Hindu woman after the 2001 parliament
election in the Sadar sub-district of Bhola. The convicts appealed the
verdict to the high court; the appeal was pending at the end of the
period covered by this report while those convicted were serving their
sentences.
Attacks against the Hindu community at the hand of societal actors
continued. An NGO reported that during the period from December 1, 2004
to November 2005, there were 52 killings, 78 attacks on Hindu temples,
29 kidnappings, and 161 incidents of assault, theft, looting, or
intimidation.
There were no new developments in the February 2004 case of Humayun
Azad, a Muslim Dhaka University professor who sustained serious
injuries when unidentified assailants stabbed him near campus. The
Government never identified the assailants. Azad died of a heart attack
in Germany in 2004.
There were unconfirmed reports that in September 2005, twelve
indigenous Hindu cobblers from the Chandpur Village were evicted.
Reportedly, a Kwami madrassah was built on the land.
According to one NGO, on October 15, 2005, the ``Ma Kali Mandir''
Temple in Patuakhali was forcefully occupied, and its Hindu priest was
physically assaulted. Reportedly, the temple then was turned into a
madrassah.
On October 15, 2005, approximately 200 Hindu families were attacked
and 10 houses burned down in Majhipara Village. Reportedly, ten persons
were injured and the local temple was vandalized. Police were sent to
the site and arrested five persons.
On October 25, 2005, Gopal Chandra Braman, a Hindu priest in the
Narsingdi District was killed after being kidnapped on October 18.
According to a press report, in December 2005, two Hindus were
killed and ten others were injured when a Hindu majority village in
Dhubaura sub-district was attacked by a land grabber. Police intervened
and arrested the perpetrator.
On December 31, 2005, a Hindu village in Brahmanbaria was attacked
after an announcement was made at the village mosque. Reportedly, five
homes were damaged and two men were injured as a result of the attack.
Two newspapers reported on March 16, 2006, that a group of
approximately eighteen persons attacked six Hindu families and injured
ten individuals in the District of Satkhira while demanding a large sum
of money due to a land dispute. When the owner of the land refused to
pay, the attackers physically assaulted him.
Reports of harassment and violence against the Christian community
were recorded during the reporting period.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that in July 2005, Grace Presbyterian
Bible College in Khulna was moved to a different location after the
school was attacked three times.
In July 2005, according to press reports, four Christian-owned
stores were burned down in the Barisal area. Police arrested five
persons in connection with the arson case. It was not clear if the
crimes were religiously motivated.
On July 27, 2005, two Bangladeshi Christian NGO workers were killed
in Boalmari, Faridpur. They worked primarily in the areas of arsenic
poisoning, mother and child healthcare, and AIDS prevention, but they
also showed religious films with the permission of the villagers. A
week before the attack, the NGO workers were reportedly threatened by
local leaders angry at their attempts to convert local persons to
Christianity. Two men were arrested for the killings.
On April 2, 2006, local newspapers reported that arsonists burned
down a church in the remote village of Lambopara in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts, apparently in retaliation for conversion of local Buddhists to
Christianity. There were no arrests in this case.
Human rights groups and press reports indicated that vigilantism
against women accused of moral transgressions occurred in rural areas,
often under a fatwa, and included punishments such as whipping. During
2005 religious leaders issued thirty-five fatwas, demanding punishments
ranging from lashings and other physical assaults to shunning by family
and community members.
There were approximately 100 thousand Ahmadis concentrated in Dhaka
and several other locales. While mainstream Muslims rejected some of
the Ahmadiyya teachings, the majority supported Ahmadis right to
practice without fear or persecution. However, Ahmadis continued to be
subject to harassment and violence from those who denounced their
teachings.
In the latter part of 2003, Ahmadis were the targets of attacks and
harassment prompted by clerics and leaders of the Islami Okiyya Jote.
In October 2003, seventeen Ahmadiyya families in Kushtia were
barricaded in their homes for several days. In November 2003, police
stopped a mob of approximately 5 thousand attempting to destroy an
Ahmadiyya mosque in Tejgaon, Dhaka. In December 2003, anti-Ahmadi
activists killed a prominent Ahmadi in Jessore. There were no results
from the subsequent police investigations in any of these cases.
Throughout 2004, the police provided minimal protection to
Ahmadiyya communities facing harassment. In April 2004, twelve
Ahmadiyya houses were destroyed and fifteen Ahmadis in Rangpur
reportedly were held against their will and pressed to renounce their
faith. In May 2004, Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh reportedly
threatened to evict thousands of Ahmadis from their homes and destroy
their mosques in Patuakhali, Rangpur, and Chittagong. In October 2004,
an anti-Ahmadi mob injured eleven Ahmadis in an attempt to seize a
mosque. No legal action was taken against these alleged assailants. The
situation continued through the beginning of 2005.
In March 2005, a mob attempted to lay siege to a mosque in the town
of Bogra, hoping to remove the ``Ahmadi Mosque'' sign. Police
controlled the mob but removed the sign. After a few hours, police put
the sign back up. In April 2005, there was a spate of IKNMB attacks on
Ahmadis, including one in the Shatkira District where protesters
injured more than fifty persons after hanging a new sign on an Ahmadi
mosque.
On July 18, 2005, extremists allegedly vandalized the construction
site of an Ahmadiyya mosque in the Uttara section of Dhaka. The police
promptly intervened.
In December 2005, IKNMB and KNAB again issued an ultimatum that the
Government declare Ahmadis non-Muslims. When the Government refused,
the groups staged a protest near the Dhaka Ahmadiyya complex, but
police successfully kept the protesters away from the Ahmadis and their
property. Approximately fifty protesters and seven police officers were
injured.
In January 2006, villagers in Shahbazpur protested when Ahmadis in
their community attempted to bury an Ahmadi woman who died of old age
in the Muslim cemetery. Police and local leaders intervened but
ultimately gave into the villagers' demands. Local government leaders
gave a small plot of publicly owned land to the Ahmadis to use for the
burial.
In June 2006, the KNAB again issued demands that the Government
declare Ahmadis non-Muslims and on June 23, 2006, approximately 1,500
to 2,000 marchers attempted to seize an Ahmadiyya mosque near Dhaka. In
response, police quickly deployed approximately 3 thousand police to
prevent violence and prevent the protest from approaching the Ahmadiyya
complex. KNAB supporters then attempted to block access to Dhaka-Zia
International Airport but were stopped by the police. Some ten to
twenty persons were injured as a result. Following the KNAB's failure
to seize the mosque, the group announced a dawn-to-dusk hartal and
added the demand that parliament pass a law declaring Muhammad as the
last prophet; however, the hartal threat never materialized.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with
officials at all levels of the Government as well as with political
party leaders and representatives of religious and minority
communities. During the period covered by this report, the embassy
emphasized the importance of free and fair elections in early 2007,
with a goal of averting the violence religious minorities experienced
in 2001. Embassy staff traveled to regions of the country where
violence was worst in 2001 and met with civil society members, NGO
leaders, members of parliament, and other citizens to discuss concerns
about violence during the next election and to encourage law
enforcement to take proactive measures to protect the rights of
minorities.
Embassy and visiting U.S. Government officials regularly visited
members of minority communities to hear their concerns and demonstrate
support. During his February 2006 visit, U.S. Representative Joseph
Crowley of New York visited Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Ahmadiyya
houses of worship, to discuss religious freedom concerns and support
the minority communities. He also discussed the importance of an
election free from communal violence.
Following the death of two Christian NGO workers in Boalmari,
Faridpur, the embassy issued a press release stating that religious
freedom was a basic constitutionally guaranteed right, and it was
important that the Government and civil society work effectively to
safeguard this right.
The embassy assisted U.S. Christian-affiliated relief organizations
in guiding paperwork for approval of schools and other projects through
government channels. The Government has been receptive to the
discussion of such subjects and generally helpful in resolving
problems. The embassy has also acted as an advocate in the Home
Ministry for these organizations in resolving problems with visas.
The embassy encouraged the Government through the Ministry for
Religious Affairs to develop and expand its training program for
Islamic religious leaders. After an initial pilot program, the U.S.
Government provided, among other topics, course work for religious
leaders on human rights and gender equality. The U.S. Government
sponsored the visit of a prominent Muslim cleric from Georgetown
University to talk to Bangladeshi audiences. He spoke to both small
roundtables and to thousands at Friday prayers at the national mosque
about Qur'anic interpretations that support tolerance and gender
equity.
During the reporting period, the U.S. Government continued to make
religious freedom, especially the problems facing the Ahmadiyya
community, a point of discussion in meetings with government officials.
Embassy officers continued to visit the Ahmadiyya headquarters in Dhaka
to show support for their security and religious freedom.
The embassy continued to encourage Jamaat Islami to reiterate
publicly its position that it supports tolerance and minority rights in
the context of an attack on a religious minority member. Democracy and
governance projects supported by the United States included tolerance
and minority rights components.
__________
BHUTAN
The law provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government
limited this right in practice by barring non-Buddhist missionaries
from entering the country, limiting construction of non-Buddhist
religious buildings, and restricting the celebration of some non-
Buddhist religious festivals. Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion,
although in the southern areas many citizens openly and mostly freely
practice Hinduism. The draft constitution, introduced in March 2005,
guarantees freedom of religion but had not been adopted by the end of
the period covered by this report.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Pressure for conformity with
Mahayana Buddhist norms was reinforced through the requirement that
citizens wear the traditional dress of the ethnic Ngalops, who are
predominantly Buddhist, in all government buildings, monasteries, and
schools. There were no reports of violence associated with pressure to
conform to Mahayana norms.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
There are no formal diplomatic relations between the United States
and the country; however, there is cordial and ongoing bilateral
interaction, and the U.S. Government discussed religious freedom issues
with the Government informally as part of its overall policy to promote
human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 18,146 square miles, and according to
the May 2005 nationwide census, the population was 552,996.
Approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of the population practiced
Drukpa Kagyupa or Ningmapa Buddhism, both of which are disciplines of
Mahayana Buddhism. Approximately one-quarter of the population was
ethnic Nepalese who practiced Hinduism. Christians, both Catholic and
Protestant combined, comprised a fraction of 1 percent of the
population.
The Drukpa discipline was practiced predominantly in the western
and central parts of the country, although there were adherents in
other regions.
Ethnic Ngalops, descendants of Tibetan immigrants, comprised the
majority of the population in the western and central parts of the
country. The Ngalops predominated in government and the civil service,
and the monarchy decreed their cultural norms and dress to be the
standard for all citizens.
The Ningmapa school of Mahayana Buddhism was practiced
predominantly in the eastern region of the country, although there were
also adherents in other areas. Most living in the east were ethnic
Sarchops, descendants of those thought to be the country's original
inhabitants. Several Sarchops held high positions in the Government,
the national assembly, and the court system.
The Government supports both Kagyupa and Ningmapa monasteries. The
royal family practices a combination of Ningmapa and Kagyupa Buddhism,
and many citizens believe in the concept of ``Kanyin-Zungdrel,''
meaning ``Kagyupa and Ningmapa as one.''
The country's animist and shamanistic faith called Bon revolves
around the worship of nature and predates Buddhism. Although Bon
priests were found and Bon rituals sometimes were included in Buddhist
festivals, very few citizens adhered to this faith exclusively.
The Shaivite, Vaishnavite, Shakta, Ghanapathi, Puranic, and Vedic
schools were represented among Hindus mainly in the south. Hindu
temples existed in the southern part of the country, and Hindus were
allowed to practice their religion in small- to medium-sized groups.
Christians were present throughout the country in very small
numbers. There was reportedly only one building dedicated for Christian
worship in the south, the only location where there was a sufficiently
large concentration of Christians to sustain a church. Elsewhere,
Christian families and individuals were free to practice their religion
at home, although nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claimed that the
Government discouraged open worship and both large and small
gatherings. There were no Christian missionaries operating in the
country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The law provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government
limited this right in practice. NGOs reported that the Government
discouraged both large and small religious gatherings of non-Buddhists,
did not allow construction of churches or non-Buddhist temples, and did
not allow non-Buddhist missionaries to work in the country. Mahayana
Buddhism is the state religion. Proselytism by other faiths is illegal
under the Bhutanese National Security Act.
The country's Monastic Body of 3,500 monks was financed by an
annual government grant and was the sole arbiter on religious matters.
The body also played an advisory role to the national assembly, the
Royal Advisory Council, and the king, who consistently deferred to its
pronouncements on almost all religious matters and some decisions
affecting the state. By statute, 10 seats in the 150-seat national
assembly and 2 seats on the 11-member Royal Advisory Council are
reserved for Buddhist monks. There are no religious stipulations on the
remaining seats. Many non-Buddhists work for the government. The
Special Commission for Cultural Affairs, with a Hindu priest as a
member, also advised on religious matters.
Questions on family law subjects such as marriage, divorce,
adoption, and child custody were addressed under the Marriage Act of
1980, as amended in 1996. Traditionally, Buddhists and Hindus have
resolved questions of family law according to the citizen's religion,
but this is changing. In 2005, a Christian group in the country
reported in 2005 that family law concerns for all citizens, regardless
of religion, were resolved according to Buddhist precepts. The
country's evolving legal system is based on customary law and Buddhist
precepts.
The Government subsidized Buddhist monasteries and shrines and
provided aid to approximately one-third of the kingdom's 12 thousand
monks. The Government stated that it provides this support because its
land reform program carried out in 1956 stripped the monastic
establishment of wide tracts of fertile land for redistribution among
the landless. In exchange, the Royal Government committed to provide
financial support for the monasteries.
Major Buddhist holy days were state holidays. The king declared one
major Hindu festival as a national holiday, and the royal family
participated in it; however, there were no Hindu temples in the capital
city of Thimphu, despite the migration of many ethnic Nepalese to the
city.
NGO representatives living outside the country and dissidents
reported that only Drukpa Kagyupa and Ningmapa Buddhist religious
teaching is permitted in schools and that Buddhist prayer is compulsory
in all government-run schools. The Government contended that Buddhist
teaching is permitted only in monastic schools and that religious
teaching is forbidden in other schools. Bhutan-based NGO interlocutors
confirmed that although students took part in a prayer session each
morning, it was nondenominational and not compulsory.
The Government requires all citizens, when in public places, to
wear the traditional dress of the Ngalop majority; however, it only
strictly enforced this law for visits to Buddhist religious buildings,
monasteries, government offices, schools, and for attendance at
official functions and public ceremonies. Some citizens commented that
enforcement of this law was arbitrary and sporadic.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Followers of religions other than Buddhism and Hinduism generally
were free to worship in private homes, but NGOs alleged that they were
prohibited from erecting religious buildings or congregating in public.
Some Christian groups reported that religious meetings must be held
discreetly, especially in rural areas, for fear of the authorities. In
2004 an NGO reported that some Christians did not worship openly for
fear of discrimination; however, this claim could not be corroborated.
The Christian community also claimed that there were no Christian
churches in the country and that the Government would not grant
approval for such a building.
No new buildings, including new places of worship, can be
constructed without government licenses. Reports by ethnic Nepalese
citizens suggested that this process favored Buddhist temples over
Hindu ones. The Government provided financial assistance for the
construction of Buddhist temples and shrines and state funding for
monks and monasteries. NGOs alleged that the Government rarely granted
permission to build Hindu temples; the last report of such construction
was in the early 1990s, when the Government authorized the construction
and renovation of Hindu temples and centers of Sanskrit and Hindu
learning and provided state funds to help finance the projects. The
Government argued that it was a matter of supply and demand, with
demand for Buddhist temples far exceeding that for Hindu temples. The
Government stated that it supported numerous Hindu temples in the
south, where most Hindus reside, and provided some scholarships for
Hindus to study Sanskrit in India.
While the formation of political parties was not allowed under the
law, the draft constitution would permit the creation of political
parties, with no membership restrictions based on religion.
While proselytism and conversion were not discussed in the
constitution, such activities were deemed illegal by the Government due
to the National Security Act, which prohibits ``words either spoken or
written, or by other means whatsoever, promotes or attempts to promote,
on grounds of religion, race, language, caste or community, or on any
other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity or hatred between different
religious, racial or language groups or castes and communities.''
Violating the Act is punishable with up to three years' imprisonment
although it is not clear that the Government has enforced this
provision of the act.
International Christian relief organizations and Roman Catholic
Jesuit priests were active in education and humanitarian activities.
There were no laws against publishing religious material.
Some NGOs reported increased intimidation by the Government of
persons who do not look ethnically Ngalop, most of whom are Buddhists.
Such actions reportedly included stopping persons at designated
checkpoints and asking for their identity documents. The Government
claimed the identity checks were part of an effort to control illegal
residents and to ensure that the United Liberation Front of Assam
(ULFA) does not re-enter the country. In 2003, the Government ousted
ULFA camps from southern areas of the country.
Certain senior civil servants, regardless of religion, are required
to take an oath of allegiance to the king, the country, and the people.
The oath does not have religious content, but a Buddhist lama
administers it. Dissidents alleged that applicants have been asked
their religion before receiving government services.
Christians stated that in prior years the Government excluded them
from census registration, making it difficult for them to qualify for
higher education or government jobs. There were no reports of the
Government excluding Christians from the May 2005 census.
One Christian group alleged in April 2005 that personal prejudices
may have led selected government officials to deny promotions to some
of the handful of Christians in government service.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Authorities discriminated against ethnic Nepalese residents and
citizens in the late 1980s and early 1990s when many were forcibly
expelled, or left voluntarily as a result of discrimination. Although
the causes of this official discrimination and the expulsions were
cultural, economic, and political, to the degree that their Hinduism
identified them as members of the ethnic Nepalese minority, religion
might have been a secondary factor. The Government contended that many
of those expelled in the early 1990s were illegal immigrants with no
right to citizenship or residency and that other ethnic Nepalese
``voluntarily emigrated'' at that time. Some of those expelled are
petitioning for the right to return, although none have yet done so.
More than 100 thousand ethnic Nepalese continued to live in refugee
camps in eastern Nepal. (For a more detailed discussion, see the 2005
Country Report on Human Rights Practices.)
The Government resettled Bhutanese citizens from other parts of the
country on land in the south vacated by the expelled ethnic Nepalese, a
majority of whom were Hindu, in the early 1990s. Human rights groups
maintained that this action prejudiced any possibility for land
restoration to returning refugees. The Government maintained that this
was not its first resettlement program and that ethnic Nepalese
citizens from the south sometimes were resettled in other parts of the
country.
In April 2004 a religious freedom website alleged that following
Easter Sunday services, police raided three Protestant house churches
in the Sarpang district. Police allegedly warned church members to stop
meeting and told them that the Government viewed their meetings as
``terrorist activities.'' The Government dismissed these reports as
totally false.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
NGOs and well-informed local sources stated that the Government in
early 2005 began to issue national identity cards to ethnic Nepalese
who have family members living in refugee camps in Nepal. In the past,
the Government refused to renew identity cards for some ethnic
Nepalese. This was a marked change in government policy and could point
to a greater acceptance of these predominantly Hindu persons as bona
fide citizens of the country.
In 2005, attempts were made to promote interfaith understanding.
Monks from the country's two schools of Buddhism, Kagyupa and Ningmapa,
undertook regular exchanges. The king's participation in a Hindu
festival also had a positive effect on citizens' attitudes.
In March 2005, the Government released a draft constitution
stipulating freedom of religion as a fundamental right. It stated, ``A
Bhutanese Citizen shall have the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion.'' The draft constitution also guarantees
freedom of speech, opinion and expression to all religious communities
in the country, including non-Buddhists. It also states ``Buddhism is
the spiritual heritage of the country, which promotes among others the
principles and values of peace, non-violence, compassion and
tolerance'' and that ``religion remains separate from politics.''
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Governmental discrimination against ethnic Nepalese in the late
1980s and early 1990s arose in part from a desire to preserve the
country's Buddhist culture against the influence of a growing
population of ethnic Nepalese with different cultural and religious
traditions. It also was a response to increased political assertiveness
of the ethnic Nepalese community.
During the reporting period, the Government and many Buddhists
remained preoccupied with fears of potential Nepalese domination.
Societal pressures toward non-Buddhists were reflected in official and
unofficial efforts to impose the dress and cultural norms of the
Buddhist majority on all citizens. While there were no reports of the
repetition of the excesses of the late 1980s and early 1990s, societal
and governmental pressure for conformity with Drukpa Kagyupa norms was
prevalent.
In 2005, some of the country's few Christians, who are mostly
ethnic Nepalese living in the south, claimed that they were harassed
and discriminated against by the Government, local authorities, and
non-Christian citizens.
On January 7, 2006, authorities arrested two civil servants for
proselytism in the village of Nago in Paro District. The Government
stated the two were posing as if they were on official duty and
instructed the residents of Nago village to assemble for official
discussions on faith. The Government reported that during their
discussion one of the civil servants made derogatory remarks against
the Spiritual Head of Bhutan, and the villagers demanded they stop the
session and reported the incident to the police. Two days later, the
Government found the two guilty of falsely calling a village meeting on
the pretext of holding an official meeting, proselytism, maligning the
Spiritual Head of Bhutan, and posing as officials on official business
and giving false information. The police also charged one of the
accused, who was a nurse by profession, with breach of trust and
criminal misappropriation of government property for unauthorized
distribution of medicines, claiming he did so in order to gain the
confidence of the villagers. Christian groups claim they were arrested
due to their religion since, according to these groups, the men were
allegedly arrested while showing a Christian film in a Buddhist home.
Reportedly, the men were given ten days to appeal to the courts for
bail to avoid serving prison sentences of three to three and a half
years and were tried without adequate legal representation.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
There are no formal diplomatic relations between the United States
and the country. Informal contacts between the two governments took
place frequently. During these exchanges, governmental discrimination
against the ethnic Nepalese minority was discussed.
In August 2005, U.S. embassy officers from New Delhi discussed
religious freedom with the Government in the context of the refugee
issue and the draft constitution in Thimphu. During the meeting,
officials discussed the draft constitution, including the inclusion of
guarantees of religious freedom and protection for minority
populations. The officials also reiterated that the Government needs to
find a lasting solution for the refugees in Nepal, who are mostly
Hindu, in order to demonstrate its commitment to religious tolerance.
The U.S. Government also worked to promote religious freedom and
other democratic values by sponsoring several citizens to travel to the
United States under the International Visitors and Fulbright programs.
__________
INDIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. However, the
Government sometimes did not act swiftly enough to counter effectively
societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by some
leaders of state and local governments to limit religious freedom. This
resulted in part from legal constraints on national government action
inherent in the country's federal structure and from shortcomings in
its law enforcement and justice systems, although courts regularly
upheld the constitutional provision of religious freedom. Despite
Government efforts to foster communal harmony, some extremists
continued to view ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks
on religious minorities, particularly at the state and local level, as
a signal that they could commit such violence with impunity, although
numerous cases were in the courts at the end of the reporting period.
While the National Government took positive steps in key areas to
improve religious freedom, the status of religious freedom generally
remained the same during the period covered by this report. The United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) continued to implement an inclusive and
secular platform based on respect for the country's traditions of
secular government and religious tolerance, and the rights of religious
minorities. Terrorists attempted to provoke religious conflict by
attacking Hindu Temples in Ayodhya and Varanasi. The Government reacted
in a swift manner to rein in Hindu extremists, prevent revenge attacks
and reprisal, and assure the Muslim community of its safety. The
Government also quelled religious violence in Vadodara, Gujarat, after
protests over the demolition of a Muslim shrine threatened to spark
Hindu-Muslim violence. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
continued monitoring ongoing legal battles surrounding the 2002 Gujarat
riots.
Despite the Government's 2005 action to withdraw controversial
textbooks espousing a Hindu nationalist agenda, continuing problems
with biased textbooks in some states led the Government to take further
action by recommending the formation of a National Textbook Council to
ensure such books no longer appear in the curriculum.
Despite the UPA Government's rejection of ``Hindutva,'' the
ideology that espouses politicized inculcation of Hindu religious and
cultural norms above other religious norms, the ideology continued to
influence governmental policies and societal attitudes in some regions
at the state and local levels. However, ``Hindutva''-based policies
could not be implemented without passing court review to determine
whether they were consistent with the principles enshrined in the
country's secular constitution.
In March 2006, the Government of Rajasthan passed an anti-
conversion bill. However, by the end of the period covered by this
report, it had not taken effect, since it was not approved by the
governor and continued to await presidential review.
In August 2005, the Nanavati commission, tasked with conducting a
re-inquiry into the anti Sikh riots of 1984, released its report. The
report cited several prominent Congress party leaders for complicity in
the violence and implicated law enforcement personnel in the deaths,
accusing them of refusing to perform their duty to maintain law and
order. Minister Jagdish Tytler and Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar
were indicted in the report for purportedly leading the rioters. After
the report's release, Tytler resigned from his post in the Ministry of
Overseas Affairs and Kumar resigned from the Delhi Rural Development
Board, but no formal punishment had been handed down by the end of the
period covered by this report. The Government also set up two
committees to disburse financial compensation promised by Prime
Minister Singh to the victims' families. The Government approved an
extra $158 million (7 billion INR) in compensation: $7,800 (350
thousand INR) for every family member killed and $2,800 (125 thousand
INR) for those injured.
A formal judicial resolution to the 2002 Gujarat violence remained
uncertain. However, there were significant developments during the
period covered by this report, most notably convictions in the Best
Bakery case. In February 2006, a Mumbai court gave life sentences to
nine persons convicted for their role in the death of fourteen persons
who took refuge in the bakery. All nine were among twenty-one
individuals acquitted by a Vadodara fast-track court almost three years
ago. Of the remaining twelve, eight were acquitted and four were ``in
hiding''. In response to a supreme court mandate, in February 2006, the
Gujarat police stated that it would reinvestigate 1,600 of the
approximately 2,000 cases that were filed and closed in 2002. In March
2006, the Banarjee Commission report stated that the Godhra train fire
was an accident.
The vast majority of Indians of every religious faith lived in
peaceful coexistence; however, tensions between religious groups were a
problem in some areas. While the Government took some steps, violence
directed against minorities by both state and non-state actors occurred
in several states.
Terrorists continued deadly attacks against religious targets. In
July 2005, they attacked the Ram Hindu temple complex in Ayodhya. In
October 2005, terrorists attacked markets throughout Delhi on the eve
of the Hindu festival of Diwali and the Muslim Eid festival. In March
2006, terrorists also bombed Delhi's Jama Masjid mosque, injuring five,
and a prominent Hindu temple in Varanasi, killing at least twenty-one
and injuring sixty-two others. Terrorists also killed thirty-five
Kashmiri Hindus in two massacres in May 2006.
Hindu-Muslim tension continued over disputed places of worship
claimed by both groups to be sacred sites. There were instances of
politically-manipulated religious tension in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh and
Vadodara, Gujarat in early 2006. Police and state authorities took
appropriate steps to end the violence and curb mob actions.
Conversion continued to be a highly contentious issue. Some Hindu
organizations and others frequently alleged that Christian missionaries
lured converts, particularly from the lower castes, with offers of free
education and healthcare, and equated such actions with forced
conversions. Some Christian groups alleged that Hindu groups forcibly
``reconverted'' those who had embraced Christianity. Several state
governments, most recently the Government of Rajasthan, enacted laws to
criminalize coerced and/or fraudulent conversions. Some nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) claimed some state governments used these laws to
restrict voluntary conversions and to harass religious minorities.
The U.S. Government discussed religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy and its consulates promoted religious freedom in their
discussions with the country's senior leadership, as well as with state
and local officials, and supported initiatives to encourage religious
and communal harmony. During meetings with key leaders of all
significant religious communities, U.S. officials discussed reports of
ongoing harassment of minority groups, converts, and missionaries,
explained U.S. Government policies around the world, and endeavored to
better understand Indian religious attitudes towards the United States.
Embassy officers continued to investigate and discuss religious freedom
incidents of concern such as violence in Gujarat, the implementation
and reversal of anti-conversion legislation, attacks on places of
worship, caste-based discrimination, and the plight of internally
displaced Hindu Kashmiris.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1.3 million square miles and a
population of 1.03 billion. According to the 2001 Government census,
Hindus constituted 80.5 percent of the population, Muslims 13.4
percent, Christians 2.3 percent, Sikhs 1.8 percent, and others,
including Buddhists, Jains, Parsis (Zoroastrians), Jews, and Baha'is,
1.1 percent. Slightly more than 90 percent of Muslims were Sunni; the
rest were Shi'a. Buddhists included followers of the Mahayana and
Hinayana schools, and there were both Roman Catholic and Protestant
Christians. Tribal groups (members of indigenous groups historically
outside the caste system), which in government statistics generally
were included among Hindus, often practiced traditional indigenous
religions (animism). Hindus and Muslims were spread throughout the
country, although large Muslim populations were found in the states of
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, and Kerala, and Muslims were the majority in Jammu and
Kashmir. Christians were concentrated in the northeast, as well as in
the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Goa. Three small
northeastern states (Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya) had large
Christian majorities. Sikhs were a majority in the state of Punjab.
The country's 200 million dalits (formerly called
``untouchables''), constituted 21-25 percent of the population.
However, it was difficult to accurately determine how many Indians fell
within this category, since the Indian census did not ask respondents
for caste status. Over the years, many lower caste Hindus, dalits, and
non-Hindu tribal groups converted to other faiths to escape widespread
discrimination and achieve higher social status. However, those from
lower castes and dalits often continued to be viewed by both their new
coreligionists and by Hindus through the prism of caste. Converts were
regarded widely as retaining the caste of their ancestors, and caste
identity, whether or not acknowledged by a person's own religion, had
an effect on marriage prospects, social status, and economic
opportunity. Historical stratification structures in the country also
affect Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, resulting in discrimination
between coreligionists based on caste.
Immigrants, primarily from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal,
practiced various religions and tended to concentrate in the border
regions near these countries.
According to the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, there were
approximately one hundred registered foreign Christian missionaries
(both Catholic and Protestant) in the country, most over the age of
seventy. Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu missionaries also operated.
Foreign rabbis also regularly visited and participated in religious
ceremonies for the very small Jewish population, estimated at fewer
than 5 thousand individuals.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the National
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, some
state and local governments restricted this freedom.
The country is a secular state with no official religion. The
country's political system is federal, according state governments
exclusive jurisdiction over law enforcement and the maintenance of
order, which has limited the national government's capacity to deal
directly with abuses of religious freedom. The country's national law
enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), cannot
investigate a crime committed in a state without the state government's
permission. However, the national government's law enforcement
authorities, in some instances, have intervened to maintain order when
state governments were reluctant or unwilling to do so.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held power in eight
states. Its political platform called for the construction of a Hindu
temple on the site of a mosque in Ayodhya destroyed by a Hindu mob in
1992; the repeal of Article 370 of the constitution, which grants
special rights to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the country's only
Muslim majority state; the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code that would
apply to members of all religious groups; and the enactment of state-
level anti-conversion legislation in all states in the country. The BJP
was one of a number of offshoots of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization. The BJP, the RSS, and other
affiliated organizations (collectively known as the Sangh Parivar)
claimed to respect and tolerate other religious groups; however, the
RSS in particular opposed conversions from Hinduism and believed that
all citizens, regardless of their religious affiliation, should adhere
to Hindu cultural values. The RSS has been implicated in incidents of
violence and discrimination against Christians and Muslims.
The NHRC and the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) are
governmental bodies created to investigate allegations of
discrimination and make recommendations for redress to the relevant
local or national government authorities. Although NHRC recommendations
do not have the force of law, central and local authorities generally
follow them.
In January 2006, in an effort to build bridges with minority
communities, the UPA Government set up a Ministry for Minority Affairs
and appointed former Maharashtra Chief Minister, A. R. Antulay, as its
first minister. The ministry's charter included overall policy
planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the Government's
regulatory and developmental programs intended to benefit minority
communities.
The NCM and NHRC intervened in several high profile cases,
including the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat and other instances
of communal tension, the enactment of anti-conversion legislation in
several states, and incidents of harassment and violence against
minorities.
Although religious groups were not required to register with the
Government, all foreigners, including missionaries, must register with
the local police station before working in the country.
A number of federal and state laws regulate religious life in the
country. These include the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)
of 1976, several state anti-conversion laws, the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act of 1967, the Religious Institutions (Prevention of
Misuse) Act of 1988, India's Foreigners Act of 1946, and the Indian
Divorce Act of 1869.
The Government may ban religious organizations that provoke
intercommunity friction, have been involved in terrorism or sedition,
or have violated the FCRA, which restricts the disbursement of foreign
funds to missionaries and religious organizations, both foreign and
local. Some organizations complained that the FCRA prevented them from
properly financing humanitarian and educational activities.
The states of Arunchal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and
Orissa have laws against forcible conversions. Gujarat and Tamil Nadu
have inactive anti-conversion laws or bills awaiting accompanying
regulations needed for enforcement. In 2006, the Rajasthan state
assembly passed a law against forcible conversion, which is pending
approval by the governor and cabinet. However, the National Government
can intervene to prevent states from taking action if it determines
that such moves pose a threat to national integrity and communal
harmony or violate the spirit of the constitution.
The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act of 1967 requires the state
government to submit a monthly report specifying the number of
conversions that have taken place in the state. It also requires that
potential converts inform the district magistrate of pending
conversions and that local police officers conduct an inquiry to
determine whether a proposed conversion is legitimate and submit a
report to state authorities. There were no reports of district
magistrates denying permission for conversions or of convictions under
OFRA during the period covered by this report.
Under current provisions in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, a
conversion offense is punishable with imprisonment for a maximum of two
years, and a maximum fine of $220 (10 thousand INR).
The Gujarat anti-conversion law prohibits conversion by force or
allurement; however, the law had not been implemented by the end of the
period covered in this report.
On March 26, 2006, the Rajasthan State Assembly passed an anti-
conversion bill, which continued to await approval by the state
governor and ratification by the state cabinet. At the end of the
reporting period, the bill could not be implemented since the governor
had sent the bill to the president of the country for comment. The
proposed law prohibits ``conversion from one religion to another by the
use of force or allurement or by other fraudulent means,'' and defines
allurement as ``any gift or gratification, either cash or kind.''
Reportedly, there were approximately twenty arrests in Madhya
Pradesh under the state's anti-conversion law during the reporting
period. There were no convictions and all those arrested were released
on bail. There were no available official figures for other states;
however, reports from faith-based NGOs and the media indicated that
there were four arrests in Andra Pradesh, fourteen in Chhattisgarh,
twenty-eight in Madhya Pradesh, two in Orissa, and one in Uttar Pradesh
during the period covered by this report.
In November 2004, the Government amended the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act (UAPA) of 1967 to correct excesses contained in the
controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), often criticized by
Muslim groups as a tool used to target them. Despite its 2004 repeal,
POTA contains a sunset feature, which gives the Central POTA Review
Committee a year to review all existing POTA cases. This clause allows
the Government to make new arrests if they are tied to existing POTA
cases. The Government can issue a new indictment on a case opened years
ago under POTA, even against a person never previously associated with
the case. It can also extend the one-year limit for reviews. The UAPA
empowers the Government to ban religious organizations that provoke
intercommunity friction, have been involved in terrorism or sedition,
or violated the 1976 FCRA. The UAPA was applied intermittently and no
religious organizations were banned under UAPA during the reporting
period.
The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1988 makes
it an offense to use any religious site for political purposes or to
harbor persons accused or convicted of crimes.
Since 2000, Uttar Pradesh's ``Religious Buildings and Places Bill''
has required a permit endorsed by the state government before the
construction of any religious building.
Legislation in West Bengal requires a district magistrate's
permission before the construction of a place of worship.
The Tamil Nadu Government continued to actively work to strengthen
Hindu institutions. In 2005, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa extended the
government-aided free meal program to include Christian churches.
Previously, it was limited to Hindu temples and mosques.
There is no national law barring a citizen or foreigner from
professing or propagating religious beliefs; however, speaking publicly
against other beliefs is deemed dangerous to public order and is
prohibited by the country's Foreigners Act. This act strictly prohibits
visitors on tourist visas from religious preaching without permission
from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Government forbids foreign
missionaries of any faith from entering the country without prior
clearance, and expels those who perform missionary work without the
correct visa. Long-established foreign missionaries generally can renew
their visas, but the Government has not admitted new resident foreign
missionaries since the mid-1960s.
A number of cable and satellite television networks dedicated to
religious programming operated in the country without difficulty.
In an attempt to combat communal violence, the Government
introduced the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and
Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill of 2005 on November 26. If passed, the
bill would double fines and prison terms, allocate funds for
rehabilitation, and provide compensation to victims.
On May 5, 2005, to prevent communal forces from upsetting peace and
harmony, parliament amended the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 144
to allow district magistrates to ban the use of trishuls in any
procession or gathering. In 2003, the Congress-led government in
Rajasthan banned trishul distribution, while allowing their use in
religious places and functions.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act of 1989 lists offenses against disadvantaged persons
and provides for stiff penalties for offenders; however, this act has
had only a modest effect in curbing abuse due to victims' fears of
retaliation if they accused high-caste members of committing
atrocities. Intercaste violence was especially pronounced in Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra
Pradesh, and reportedly claimed hundreds of lives. Human rights NGOs
alleged that caste violence, which crossed religious lines, remained at
prior years' levels.
Article 17 of the constitution outlawed untouchability in 1950 and
the Government continued to implement ``reservations'' for dalits in
public sector employment and education. There were more than 50 percent
``reservation'' in some areas.
According to a 2004 NCM report, 24 percent of government jobs were
reserved for members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
including dalits. Benefits accorded dalits were revoked once they
converted to Christianity or Islam, but not to Buddhism or Sikhism.
Christian groups filed a court case demanding that converts to
Christianity and Islam enjoy the same access to ``reservations'' as
other dalits. The case was appealed to the supreme court, which had not
ruled by the end of the period covered by this report.
On January 4, 2006, the supreme court upheld an earlier high court
decision to provide a five percent quota for Muslims in education and
government jobs in Andra Pradesh. The new ``reservations'' increased
the number of reserved jobs and positions in educational institutions
to 51 percent and excluded Muslims who had already benefited from
``reservations'' or who were successful in their own right. Previously,
the state had added Muslims to its list of backward classes, which
included castes and classes not included in the constitution that,
while not subject to systematic caste discrimination, have less social
mobility and economic advantages than other castes. This category
included former untouchables who converted from Hinduism to other
religions, nomads, and tribes people.
Although the constitution specifies that the Buddhist, Jain, and
Sikh faiths are different from the Hindu religion, interpretations by
Hindu nationalist groups have defined them as Hindu sects. Such
interpretations have been contentious, particularly for the Sikh
community, many of whose leaders viewed Sikhism as a unique religion,
distinct from Hinduism. Sikhs have sought a separately codified body of
law to recognize this distinction legally and preclude ambiguity. The
supreme court rejected the inclusion of Jains under the NCM Act,
stating that the practice of adding new religious groups as minorities
should be discouraged, although the NCM in May 2006 stated again that
Jains and Kashmiri Pandits should be accorded minority status. The
court decreed that increasing social divisions along religious lines
would be detrimental, and the country, which was already heavily
stratified by class, should attempt to move away from such separation.
There are different personal status laws for the various minority
religious communities, and the legal system accommodates religion-
specific laws in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption, and
inheritance. Muslim personal status law governs many non-criminal
matters, including family law and inheritance.
On May 2, 2005, in response to concerns about the improper use of
the triple talaq (the ability of a husband to divorce his wife by
repeating, ``I divorce thee'' three times), the All-India Muslim
Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) adopted new talaq guidelines, stating that
men should use a reversible single talaq followed by a three-month
waiting period known as the iddat. The guidelines also call for the
husband to pay compensation to the wife's family in case of divorce,
equality in property rights, protection against physical and emotional
abuse of wives by their husbands, and assurances that remarried women
will be able to maintain contact with their families.
In April 2006, the supreme court overruled a fatwa (decree) issued
by local clerics which demanded that, against their will, a couple live
separately after an inebriated husband gave talaq to his wife. The
Jamiat ul Ulema (religious leaders) threatened to excommunicate the
couple if they remained together, and criticized the supreme court for
hurting Muslim religious sentiments after it intervened in the case.
The AIMPLB asserted that fatwas are only opinions and therefore are
not binding on any person in an attempt to convince the supreme court
that a legal prohibition against the issuance of fatwas was not
necessary.
The Indian Divorce Act of 2001 limits inheritance, alimony
payments, and property ownership of persons from interfaith marriages
and prohibits their use of churches to celebrate marriage ceremonies in
which one party is a non-Christian. Clergymen who contravene its
provisions could face up to ten years' imprisonment. However, the act
does not bar interfaith marriages in other places of worship.
The Government permits private religious schools, but does not
permit religious instruction in government schools. The supreme court
ruled that the Government can prescribe merit-based admission for
religious colleges that receive public funding, while those that do not
may use their own criteria, including religious affiliation.
Many Hindu sects have established their own schools, although they
did not receive aid from the state. Most Islamic madrassahs did not
accept government aid, alleging that it would subject them to stringent
security clearance requirements.
In 2003, the West Bengal Government brought the undergraduate and
post-graduate sections of madrassahs under the higher education
department of the state while promising to extend college status to the
Calcutta Madrassah. The Government also decreed that the state's Public
Service Commission would hire madrassah teachers and introduced new
subjects like economics, computer science, and political science into
their curriculum.
In the country, school textbooks were published by the Government's
National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and were
uniformly used in government and private schools and printed in various
languages. In March 2005, the Government released new NCERT textbooks
which they asserted were more accurate and restored the secular
character of education.
In June 2004, an NCERT panel reviewed forty-seven new textbooks
prepared by the Directorate of Education in Delhi and determined that
they had poor content, shoddy presentation, and significant amounts of
irrelevant information. It recommended that the books not be introduced
until the defects were corrected, which, according to NCERT, would be
ready by the 2007-2008 academic year. NCERT, upon a recommendation from
the NCM, also withdrew four textbooks during the year for ``factual
distortions.''
In July 2005, the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)
released a report on textbooks used in schools that did not follow the
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus and were not
approved by NCERT. The report stated that some textbooks used in
private schools affiliated with religious bodies propagated a narrow,
often communal view of the world. In October 2005, the Human Resource
Development Ministry proposed the creation of a National Textbook
Council to monitor school textbooks produced outside of the NCERT
system. By the end of the reporting period, the council had not been
formed.
On December 16, 2004, parliament passed a bill creating the
National Commission for Minority Education Institutions to resolve
disputes involving allegations of discrimination against minority
schools. In March 28, 2006, a legislative act empowered the commission
to investigate complaints regarding violations of minority rights,
including the right to establish and administer educational
institutions.
The Government maintained a list of banned books that may not be
imported or sold in the country because they contain material that
governmental censors deem inflammatory and could provoke communal or
religious tensions. In March and April 2006, the Rajasthan Government
banned the books ``Haqeeqat'' (The Truth) and ``Ve Sharm Se Hindu
Kahate Hain Kyon?'' (Why do they say with shame they are Hindus?)
because they disparaged Hinduism.
In September 2005, the Calcutta High Court lifted the ban on
``Split in Two'' in response to a petition by the Association for
Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR).
The board continued to refuse a censor certificate to the film
``Chand Buz Gaya,'' featuring a character resembling controversial
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The major holy days of the country's major religious groups are
considered national holidays, including Good Friday and Christmas
(Christian); the two Eids (Muslim); Lord Buddha's birthday (Buddhist);
Guru Nanak's Birthday (Sikh); Dussehra, Diwali and Holi (Hindu); and
the Birthday of Lord Mahavir (Jain).
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
No religious organizations were banned under UAPA during the
reporting period. The Government renewed the ban on the Student Islamic
Movement of India in February 2006 for the third time. In 2001, the
Government banned the Muslim group Deendar Anjuman for ``fomenting
communal tension'' and actions ``prejudicial to India's security.'' In
2003, the Government extended the ban for another two years, and in
2005, extended it until 2007.
In April 2006, the Government of Gujarat refused to renew the
service contract of five Catholic nuns, whose order had been caring for
lepers in a government hospital for fifty-seven years.
Legislation in West Bengal requires a district magistrate's
permission before construction of a place of worship. Anyone intending
to convert a personal place of worship into a public one is also
required to obtain the district magistrate's permission.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of widespread
distribution of trishuls, a Hindu symbol that was sometimes used to
intimidate non-Hindus. In May 2005, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and
Bajrang Dal handed out approximately 500 trishuls at a ceremony in
Nimapara, Orissa.
In 2005, the Kerala Bar Council's Enrollment Committee denied
membership to two nuns and a priest, arguing that it could not grant
membership to those in religious vocations. The Kerala High Court ruled
against the committee on November 7, 2005, stating that religious
vocation could not disqualify an individual from practicing law.
The Congress Party of Assam set aside thirty-four state assembly
tickets for Muslim candidates during the period covered by this report.
In January 2005, the Assam Congress Minority Cell demanded that the
party allot at least three additional tickets to Christian candidates.
Christians comprised 4 percent of Assam's population and had no
``reservations.''
In 2003, the Tamil Nadu Government ordered the Christian Medical
College of Vellore to accept government-sponsored candidates into 40
percent of its school seats, in violation of constitutional guarantees
given to unaided minority institutions. The supreme court, while
permitting the hospital to follow its prior admission policy, directed
the Government of Tamil Nadu to form a committee to look into the
question of admission procedures followed by privately funded minority
education institutions. In 2004, the state government constituted a
committee, but the supreme court had not issued a verdict by the end of
the reporting period.
In January 2005, the Gujarat Charity Commissioner sent letters
mainly to Christian faith-based charities asking for their financial
statements from the preceding ten years, claiming that he was acting at
the behest of the Government of Gujarat. The law governing charities
only requires the submission of annual reports. Most charities objected
to the measure and were excused.
Unlike in previous years, the Gujarat police conducted no illegal
surveys of Christians during the period covered by this report.
During the period covered by this report, press reports documented
the activities of Christian missionaries who entered on tourist visas
and illegally proselytized. Their activities led to a public outcry and
calls for the Government to enforce existing laws more rigidly. U.S.
citizens accused of religious preaching while visiting the country as
tourists were expelled and faced difficulties obtaining permission to
return for up to a decade after the event.
On June 11, 2005, residents of a slum in a Mumbai suburb assaulted
four missionaries leading a vacation Bible school. The four departed
the country on June 12. No formal charges were filed for the assault or
against the missionaries for violating the FCRA. On June 13, four other
missionaries with tourist rather than missionary visas were deported
for conducting religious activities.
On October 18, 2005, the Times of India reported that a mob
attacked two Americans in the Antantnag district of Kashmir who were
preaching Christianity. Police intervened and rescued them.
Workers from Christian relief organizations continued to report
that bureaucratic obstacles prevented them from renewing their visas.
Missionaries and foreign religious organizations must comply with
the FCRA, which limits overseas assistance to certain NGOs, including
ones with religious affiliations. There were no reports of religious-
based relief operations related to the 2004 tsunami being hampered by
the requirement.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
While the National Government has not been implicated in abuses of
religious freedom, human rights activists criticized it for alleged
indifference and inaction in the face of abuses committed by state and
local authorities and private citizens. Weak enforcement of laws
protecting religious freedom was partly due to an overburdened,
outmoded, and corrupt judiciary. The legal system had many years of
backlog, and all but the most prominent cases moved slowly.
A federal system in which state governments have jurisdiction over
law and order within their borders contributed to the National
Government's ineffectiveness in combating religiously based violence
directly. The only national law enforcement agency, the CBI, is
required to secure state government permission before investigating a
crime in the affected state. States often delayed or refused to grant
such permission.
Although discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, it
remained ubiquitous, stratifying almost every segment of society. Many
members of lower castes were relegated to the most menial of jobs and
had little social mobility, although a segment of the lower castes had
achieved success in many fields of endeavor. Some dalits and other low
caste members converted in an attempt to escape caste-based
discrimination.
In October 2004, Amnesty International (AI) called for the
perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence that occurred after the
assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh
bodyguards to be brought to justice. AI stated that only a small
minority of police officers responsible for the 1984 human rights
violations had been prosecuted.
In 2004, persons involved in the 1984 riots were sentenced to three
years' imprisonment for looting. In May 2005, a Delhi court sentenced
five individuals to life imprisonment for murder and, also in May, the
Delhi High Court ruled that the Government was liable for its failure
to ``protect the life and liberty of its citizens'' and must pay $2,860
(123,000 INR) to all persons injured during the riots, an increase from
the previous amount of $46 (2,000 INR) per victim. In another riot-
related case which had not come to trial by the end of reporting
period, on June 28, 2005, a Delhi city court charged five men for
stabbing a Sikh policeman, his son, and another relative.
The Nanavati commission, tasked with conducting a re-inquiry into
the massacre, released its report in August 2005. It cited several
prominent Congress party leaders for complicity in the violence and
highlighted law enforcement culpability in the deaths due to a
deliberate lack of action. It noted that only one policeman was
convicted for committing atrocities during the riots. Minister Jagdish
Tytler and Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar were indicted in the
report. Tytler resigned from parliament and Kumar resigned from the
Delhi Rural Development Board after its release, but at year's end no
formal punishment resulted from the report. The Government set up two
committees to provide compensation to the victims' families. However,
during the reporting period, the NCM criticized the Government for
failure to open cases against Tytler, Kumar, or any police officers on
duty during the riots.
The Home Ministry reported that a communal riot, which took place
between May and October 2005 in Mau, Uttar Pradesh, left seven persons
dead and thirty-six injured, including eight police officers. On
October 17, 2005, the Uttar Pradesh Government convened a three-member
committee to determine the cause of the riots. On October 19, 2005, the
police filed charges against BJP politicians Mukhtar Ansari and Ramji
Singh for inciting communal discord. The Government instituted a curfew
on the town and directed paramilitary forces to the area to stop the
violence. On November 20, 2005, the committee reported that BJP Member
of Parliament Yogi Adityanath had a role in instigating the communal
clashes, but no charges were filed against him by the end of the period
covered by this report.
Outbreaks of politically-manipulated religious tension in Uttar
Pradesh and Vadodara, Gujarat, in early 2006 did not spread after
police and state authorities took timely steps to end the violence and
curb mob actions.
In April 2006, communal clashes between Hindu and Muslim residents
of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, stemming from the use of loudspeakers during
a religious festival resulted in two deaths and eight injuries. An NCM
investigation determined that the Uttar Pradesh administration
initially did not take appropriate steps to prevent the violence. The
police have launched a judicial inquiry.
On May 1, 2006, despite the Muslim community's request that
authorities preserve a 300-year-old shrine in Vadodara, Gujarat, and
declare it a heritage site, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation
demolished the shrine, alleging that it obstructed traffic. While
attempting to disperse a mob that had gathered to protest the
demolition, the Gujarat police killed two Muslims. In reaction, members
of the Muslim community threw stones and set four shops on fire. On May
1, 2006, the Home Ministry asked the Gujarat Government to control the
situation, and deployed paramilitary forces to assist local security
personnel. On May 3, 2006, the Government applied a curfew and deployed
the army. The NCM urged the state government to ascertain if police
firing was unavoidable and if the decision to destroy the shrine was
justified. The media reported that six persons were killed and forty-
two injured, sixteen as a result of police fire, and that on May 3,
2006, a crowd defying the curfew killed a Muslim man by setting him on
fire.
In February 2005, activists from the Hindu nationalist Bajrang Dal
attacked and beat a group of Christians in Kota, Rajasthan, while
attending a Christian graduation ceremony, and subsequently set up
checkpoints to harass Christians attempting to leave by bus. The
victims claimed that the local government sided with the attackers, and
allowed assaults against 275 persons. The district government stated it
ended the harassment and arrested thirty-seven Bajrang Dal members. A
two-person NCM team investigated the incident and negotiated a peace
agreement.
In February 2006, members of the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena forced
their way into a church belonging to Emmanuel Ministries International
(EMI), a Christian charitable institution, in Kota, Rajasthan, and
burned an effigy of its founder on the rooftop. Local Hindus alleged
that EMI used monetary inducements and charity to encourage conversions
and distributed the book, ``Haqeeqat,'' (The Truth) to denigrate
Hinduism. Hindu nationalists in Rajasthan publicized the alleged
connection between EMI, the offensive book, and conversions, and
pressed for anti-conversion legislation in the state assembly.
EMI officials asserted that, while their library had a copy of
Haqeeqat, they did not condone its offensive message and have since
removed the book. Numerous sources in Rajasthan contradicted EMI's
claim regarding the book and asserted that EMI deliberately distributed
it widely. Authorities held EMI President Samuel Thomas in judicial
custody from March 17 to May 2, 2006, when he was released on bail,
under a law that criminalizes hurting the religious sentiments of any
religion. Thomas was later charged with sedition on May 14, 2006, for
the use of a map on an EMI affiliated website that did not include
Jammu and Kashmir as part of the country. EMI asserted that the charges
constituted ongoing harassment by the state government.
In February 2006, the Rajasthan state Government froze all EMI
assets, citing the group for its failure to properly file its tax
documents. However, on June 26, 2006, the Jaipur High Court overturned
the state government's actions and ruled that all EMI bank accounts be
opened. Human rights groups noted that such tax errors were
commonplace.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 15, 2006, in Kasa,
Maharashtra, policemen verbally and physically abused four tribal
Christians who tried to follow up on a First Information Report (FIR)
lodged on June 8, 2006. The FIR alleged that members of the local
Tribal Welfare Committee assaulted Christians. Subsequently, the four
were charged with breach of the peace. Following a complaint by a human
rights organization, a police inquiry into the case was ordered,
resulting in the removal of one police officer. No further action had
been taken by the end of the period covered by this report.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 16, 2006, in
Bathinda, Punjab, a group of approximately five Hindu extremists led by
the RSS broke up an Easter Day event at the home of a member of the
``House of Prayer,'' an independent Christian denomination, warning its
members not to hold further meetings and vandalizing some of the
property. When the pastor attempted to register a FIR, the Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP) reprimanded him for his Christian
activities and told him that he required permission from the district
magistrate to hold this event. On May 4, 2006, after Delhi All-India
Christian Council (AICC) leaders contacted the superintendent, he
recanted and permitted the services. Two Shiv Sena members and another
man were arrested for the raid, but were released the same day.
In the Balmikinagar jungles bordering Nepal, police and the RSS
accused missionaries and Oraon tribal Christians of ``links'' with the
Maoist Communist Center (MCC). As a result, in June 2005, police
detained and questioned two priests regarding alleged MCC ties, while
ordering others to leave the area. During the previous reporting
period, police detained more than one hundred Oraon tribespeople,
expelling a number of them from the area. There were no reports of
further detentions during the year.
There was continued concern about the failure of the Gujarat
Government to arrest and convict those responsible for the widespread
communal violence in 2002 following the burning in Godhra of the
Sabarmati Express train, in which fifty-nine men, women, and children
died. Home Ministry figures released in May 2005 indicated that, in the
days following the train burning, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were
killed, and 2,500 others were injured. Some NGOs maintained the number
of Muslims killed was higher than official estimates, with figures
ranging anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 dead. There were also reports that
Muslim women were subjected to rape, gang rape, and molestation.
Reportedly, approximately 10 thousand families continued to be
internally displaced and government-provided services remained
inadequate.
In March 2006, a government-established commission headed by
Justice Banerjee determined that the train fire was an accident rather
than a criminal conspiracy, as alleged by the Government of Gujarat.
The report categorically ruled out a Muslim conspiracy, noting that
local Muslims helped douse the fire. The commission also reported that
the then railway minister and the Railway Safety Commission failed to
adequately investigate the possibility that the fire was accidental.
The Gujarat Government rejected the report, and the VHP accused the
Banerjee Commission of political bias. Legal challenges to the
commission still pending in the Gujarat High Court have prevented the
release of its report to parliament.
The Government of Gujarat established the Nanavati-Shah judicial
commission to investigate the train fire and the subsequent violence,
but the supreme court stayed its report in May and by the end of the
period covered by this report, the report had not been made public.
In February 2006, in response to a supreme court inquiry, the state
government ordered the reopening of 1,242 of 2,108 cases that the
Government had dropped because it could not substantiate the charges.
The Gujarat police pledged to reinvestigate 1,600 cases. The total
number of cases registered in connection with the Gujarat violence was
4,256.
According to the Gujarat police chief, the Gujarat police
registered 13 new riot-related cases and arrested 640 accused between
August 2004 and February 2006. However, accused individuals were
acquitted in several more cases during the reporting period because of
lack of evidence or changes in testimony.
In 2005, the Government of Gujarat established ``fast track''
courts to overcome delays and ensure access to justice for riot
victims, resulting in some convictions. On October 24, 2005, five
persons were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a Muslim
youth in Halol and for the murder of eleven Muslims in the Panchmahal
district of Gujarat during the riot period. Others were sentenced to
three years' imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of $11 (500 INR)
each. A local court acquitted 107 of 113 persons arrested for killing 2
Muslims in the post-Godhra riots and, in February 2006, a local court
indicted 39 police officers for riot-related conduct.
In April 2004, the supreme court ordered the retrial of the Bilkis
Bano case and Best Bakery case in Mumbai courts outside the purview of
the Government of Gujarat. It also stayed the trial of ten other major
cases until the two retrials were completed. There were no developments
in the Bilkis Bano case during the period covered by this report and on
February 24, 2006, a special court in Mumbai convicted nine persons of
the murder of fourteen Muslims in the Best Bakery case and sentenced
them to life in prison. The court acquitted another eight accused in
connection with the case.
Many human rights groups continued to argue that, despite the Best
Bakery verdict, those responsible for the 2002 Gujarat violence would
go unpunished.
On June 22, 2005, Central POTA Review Committee recommended that
POTA charges be dropped against many Muslims in connection with the
Gujarat violence due to insufficient evidence; however, at the end of
the reporting period the charges were still in effect.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of intimidation and
harassment of witnesses during the reporting period.
In March 2005, Gujarat police detained at least 400 persons to
prevent Hindu-Muslim clashes during the Shi'ite Muslim day of mourning
(Muharram); the same month, Muslims called off a Muharram procession in
Vadodara to prevent potential clashes with Hindus. No updates on these
events were available during the reporting period.
Since an organized insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989,
there have been numerous reports of human rights abuses by security
forces and local officials, including execution-style killings,
beatings, rapes, and other physical abuse. Terrorist groups have also
perpetrated atrocities against civilians, including car bombings,
forced housing of terrorists, executions, and sexual assaults.
Retaliatory killings by terrorists were also common. Terrorists have
also routinely targeted and killed minority Hindu members of the Pandit
(Hindu Brahmin) community since 1989, resulting in their mass exodus
from Kashmir to refugee camps in Jammu or other parts of the country.
On April 30 and May 1, 2006, terrorists rounded up and shot thirty-five
Hindu residents of remote Jammu villages. The executions were allegedly
punishment for the villagers' participation in the April 24, 2006,
state assembly elections.
Government forces denied allegations of excessive use of force and
asserted that they targeted persons not on the basis of religion but of
involvement in terrorist activity or suspicion of terrorist links. For
their part, terrorists killed and otherwise attacked hundreds of Hindu
and Muslim civilians, including Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus, during the
period covered by this report.
It remained difficult to separate religion and politics in Kashmir;
Kashmiri separatists were predominantly Muslim, and almost all the
higher ranks as well as most of the lower ranks in the Indian military
forces stationed there were non-Muslim. The vast majority of the Jammu
and Kashmir police force of 61 thousand was Muslim. Kashmiri Hindus
remained vulnerable to violence. Most lived in refugee camps outside of
the valley awaiting safe return. In 2003, for the first time in
fourteen years, the Jammu and Kashmir Government allowed a procession
of separatist groups to mark the anniversary of the Birth of the
Prophet Muhammad. It was held again in May 2004 and 2005.
Forced Religious Conversion
Four states have laws in place banning forced religious conversion.
Three other states have inactive laws or bills that await accompanying
regulations before they can be enforced. Some NGOs claimed state
governments used these laws to restrict voluntary conversions and to
harass religious minorities. The issue of conversion, especially to
Christianity, was highly contentious in the country. Hindu nationalist
organizations frequently alleged that Christian missionaries lured
Hindus, particularly from lower castes, with offers of free education
and healthcare and equated such actions with forced conversions.
Christians denied this, responding that low-caste Hindus convert of
their own free will and that efforts by Hindu groups to ``re-convert''
these new Christians to Hinduism were themselves coercive. Arrests
under these laws occurred during the reporting period in several
states. All arrested were Christians. The Christian community contended
that the anti-conversion laws were applied in a discriminatory manner
and only enforced when a person converted from Hinduism to another
religion.
Religious press outlets reported that, in August 2004, Pastor Subas
Samal and an associate were arrested under Orissa's anti-conversion law
and spent six weeks in jail after leading a group of Christians in
Orissa back to their village, from which they had been expelled by
their non-Christian neighbors. The pastor claimed he had attempted to
end the conflict and had never forced anyone to convert.
In February 2005, the NCM urged the Governments of Rajasthan and
Maharashtra to immediately stop forced reconversions of Christians and
to protect Christians and their property. The action was in response to
an attack on Christians in Kota and calls by ``Hindutva'' supporters
for a social boycott against Christians who refused to reconvert.
On May 1, 2005, the press reported that the VHP in Bargarh, Orissa,
reconverted 567 Christians. The reconverted reportedly had signed
affidavits declaring their intention to change their faith in keeping
with the provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act. A Christian
community leader in Orissa asserted that the reconversion was not
genuine and was staged by the VHP to keep the communal issue alive.
Religious press reported that approximately 600 Christian dalit
tribespeople converted to Hinduism in Bijepur, Orissa, due to VHP
pressure.
On May 14, 2005, four Christian missionaries were arrested in
Brajarajnagar, Orissa, and charged with forced conversion. They accused
the missionaries of using offers of financial assistance to propagate
Christianity. The missionaries had not received permission to perform
conversions in the area, but were released the following day.
Religious press outlets reported that on July 10, 2005, police
detained thirty-five members of the Gosner Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, for performing forced conversions. All were
released on July 11, 2005, but a FIR was filed against two women.
Religious press outlets reported that on July 19, 2005, police
arrested a Christian couple under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of
Religion Act (MPFRA) after their neighbors accused them of engaging in
``fraudulent conversion'' activities. They released the couple on bail
within twenty-four hours and were awaiting trial at the end of the
period covered by this report. On August 21, 2005, a mob targeting the
couple injured approximately ten persons, including women and a two-
year-old child.
Religious press outlets reported that on September 26, 2005, the
pastor and eight members of a church in Durg, Chhattisgarh, were
convicted of fraudulent conversion activities for offering money to
Hindus willing to convert.
Religious press outlets reported that on October 11, 2005, police
arrested Sunny John under MPFRA for allegedly engaging in fraudulent
conversions of children from poor Hindu families. John, who runs three
schools, was accused of converting eleven children between the ages of
five and ten.
Religious press outlets reported that on October 15, 2005, Hindu
extremists attacked the annual convention of a church in Raipur,
Chhattisgarh, alleging that the organizers had kidnapped tribespeople
for conversion. Police interrogated the tribespeople, who denied the
reports. Police did not press charges.
Religious press outlets reported that on November 18, 2005, police
arrested Pastor Masih Das Rai under the Freedom of Religion Act for
performing forcible conversions in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Members of a
Hindu extremist group attacked the pastor and twelve members of his
church prior to the arrest. Despite two applications for bail, Pastor
Rai remained in police custody at the end of the period covered by this
report.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 16, 2006,
approximately fifteen Hindu extremists attacked Pastor Kulamani
Mallick, his wife, and child, and set fire to their home in Matiapada,
Orissa. The extremists beat other Christians in the village and
destroyed seven houses, six of which belonged to Christians. Pastor
Mallick and his cousin were subsequently arrested under the Orissa
Freedom of Religion Act. Five men were charged with starting the fires
and destroying property.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 24, 2006, a group
of up to 200 Hindu extremists assaulted Pastor Ram Prakash and a number
of others for allegedly converting local persons to Christianity in
Ramchandrapur, Uttar Pradesh. Prakash was arrested when he called the
police to report the attack. Reportedly, he was beaten while in police
custody. Prakash was released on bail, but was rearrested for
encouraging communal tension.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 26, 2006, police
arrested three Christian leaders belonging to the Church of the
Nazarene in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, under MPFRA, and charged them
with forced conversion of tribespeople. According to an NGO, the
arrests were based on the affidavits of twenty-three non-Christian
tribespeople asserting that they were forced by the leaders to attend a
Christian convention. The NGO contended that the affidavits were
themselves coerced by the police.
Religious press outlets reported that on March 17, 2006, a group of
men interrupted a prayer meeting in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh,
reportedly questioning the participants, injuring six and ``sexually
molesting'' female trainees. The attackers were also alleged to have
destroyed Bibles and damaged property. Police detained five attackers,
who were later released on bail, and registered a case against the
sponsor under MPFRA.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 5, 2006, in Naudara
Bridge, Madhya Pradesh, a Methodist high school was attacked by
extremists who accused the staff of forced conversions after a former
teacher filed a case of forcible conversion against three staff
members. The Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission determined the
accusation to be false.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 7, 2006, in
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, extremists beat approximately twenty-five
Christians protesting the arrest of seven Christians under MPFRA. The
attackers reportedly injured at least seven Christians while police
watched. No action was taken against the perpetrators.
The AICC reported on April 20, 2006, that police arrested two
Christian women for attempting to convert persons in the Jabalpur
district of Madhya Pradesh. The local superintendent of police alleged
that the two women were distributing material urging Hindus to follow
the Bible. The Christian press also reported that on April 18, 2006,
police arrested Avinash Lal, an independent Pentecostal pastor, and six
other Christian leaders in the same Madhya Pradesh district for
conversion by allurement and conducting illegal religious gatherings.
Religious press outlets reported that on May 1, 2006, in Gwarighat,
Madhya Pradesh, police arrested a social worker, Sunil Kumar Rao, of
forcibly converting children to Christianity in violation of the state
anti-conversion law. He was released on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on May 2, 2006, in Jabalpur,
Madhya Pradesh, assailants attacked Pastor Andreas Soni, a Pentecostal
pastor, as he distributed Christian literature. Subsequently, the
police arrested him under the state anti-conversion law. He was later
released on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on May 14, 2006, in Gaur
Nadi, Madhya Pradesh, approximately fifty members of the Dharam Jagran
Sena attacked a church, beat a church member who had just converted to
Christianity, assaulted the pastor, and ordered him to stop converting
persons to Christianity. The attackers accused the church of
undertaking forcible conversions and filed a formal complaint against
the pastor at the police station. He was detained under MPFRA and was
released after local Christians paid his bail fee.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 18, 2006, in Kosa
Nala, Chhattisgarh, approximately twenty-five members of the Dharam
Jagran Sena raided the Hosanna Church during a service and physically
assaulted Pastor David Raj and his wife. The assailants then took the
pastor to the police station where police detained him and arrested his
wife, charging them with forced conversions. The couple was released on
bail but had to report regularly to the police for the duration of
their case, which was still pending by the end of the period covered by
this report.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 25, 2006, in
Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, a large mob threatened four Missionaries of
Charity nuns distributing food to impoverished patients at the Ruya
Hospital and accused them of converting persons to Christianity. Police
subsequently arrested the four nuns and released them after several
hours at the behest of the local diocesan bishop. A case was registered
against those who threatened the nuns.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
Throughout the period covered by this report, Jammu and Kashmir
continued to be a focus of terrorist violence. Terrorist adherents to a
violent strain of Islam committed atrocities against Hindus and other
Muslims, and security forces used targeted but at times excessive force
to suppress them, with civilians frequently the main victims. The
deaths of suspected terrorists, almost all of whom were Muslim,
occurred frequently in police custody, although the government of Chief
Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was working to improve human rights
practices. Islamist terrorists forced the overwhelming majority of
Hindu Kashmiri Pandits to flee their ancestral homes in the Kashmir
Valley in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although 6,000 Pandits
remained, more than several hundred thousand have left since violence
against Hindus began in Jammu and Kashmir in the late 1980s. During the
conflict, terrorists demolished ancient Hindu temples, destroyed
religious artifacts, and desecrated Hindu religious sites throughout
the Kashmir valley.
In May 2005, terrorists threw grenades at a Christian school in
Srinagar, killing two women and wounding sixty persons, including
twenty-five children.
On May 22, 2005, militants detonated bombs at two movie theaters in
New Delhi, killing one and injuring sixty during the screening of the
Hindi film Jo Bole So Nihal. Sikh groups objected to the film, stating
that it negatively portrayed members of their religion. On May 31,
2005, police announced the arrest of two Sikhs in Punjab on suspicion
of carrying out the attacks. Police reported that the two men were
members of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorist group.
On July 5, 2005, suspected Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LET) terrorists
attacked a makeshift Hindu temple erected amidst the ruins of the Babri
Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Indian security forces protecting the
site killed all the attackers.
Terrorists bombed the Jama Masjid, the country's largest mosque
located in Old Delhi, injuring approximately a dozen persons in two
explosions that took place in quick succession on April 16, 2006. No
group claimed responsibility.
LET terrorists killed at least thirty-five Hindus on April 30 and
May 1, 2006, in Jammu and Kashmir. Terrorists struck two remote Hindu-
dominated mountain villages in Doda district, some 100 miles northeast
of Jammu, and shot and killed twenty-two Hindus. On the same day, the
bodies of nine Hindus were recovered from neighboring Udhampur
district. Police stated the dead were Hindu cattle herders reportedly
kidnapped by suspected terrorists on April 30, 2006.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
During the reporting period, the UPA introduced legislation that
would give New Delhi the power to intervene in states in which the
Government refuses to take strong measures to end communal outbreaks.
The UPA also acted to increase the powers of the human rights
commission to investigate abuse cases.
The Government acted forcibly to prosecute those responsible for
the Godhra attacks and win proper compensation for the victims of the
Delhi anti-Sikh riots.
After the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the prime minister and others
deliberately stated that it was not a case of ``Muslim terrorism,''
told the nation to respect and protect innocent Muslims, and praised
Muslims for their patriotism.
The Government acted systematically to remove ``tainted'' textbooks
with communal bias from schools and introduce secular, more objective
textbooks that seriously examine atrocities committed against
minorities in the country.
In Rajasthan, opposition parties marched with Christians and
Muslims to protest the BJP-sponsored anti-conversion bill, and the
Government condemned it.
Speeches by the prime minister and some state government officials
promoted communal harmony and the Government drafted a model
comprehensive law to deal with communal violence, appointed activists
to high-level positions responsible for minority concerns, created a
Commission for Minority Educational Institutions to improve minority
access to education, established a national commission to determine
effective ways to improve the social welfare of religious minorities,
and created a new Ministry for Minority affairs.
The UPA Government continued efforts to make statements and
implement campaign promises to improve religious tolerance.
The NHRC and NCM continued to promote freedom of religion during
the period covered by this report. Through their annual reports and
investigations, they focused attention on human rights problems and,
where possible, encouraged judicial resolutions.
In September 2005, the NCM convened a meeting between prominent
Hindu and Muslim leaders to promote communal harmony and deepen
understanding and trust among their communities.
The NHRC also directed the Gujarat state Government to entrust the
investigation of certain Gujarat cases to the CBI, to support NGOs
working on behalf of religious minorities and to reform the police.
On May 19, 2005, the Orissa High Court commuted Dara Singh's death
sentence to life imprisonment, upheld the life sentence decision for
one of his accomplices, Mahendra Hembram, and acquitted the other
eleven defendants in the case of the killing of Australian missionary
Graham Staines and his two minor sons. Singh has been charged with
three other murders and continued to face trial in those cases. In
October 2005, the supreme court accepted an appeal by Dara Singh
against his conviction and life sentence, and also accepted the CBI's
appeal seeking capital punishment. The supreme court had not heard
either appeal by the end of the period covered by this report.
In August 2005, the Government of Maharashtra amended its 2000
State Minorities Commission Bill to stipulate that the commission
present its annual report to the state parliament and required
parliament to report on actions taken as a result of the commission's
findings.
In response to the communal violence in Vadodara, the supreme court
on May 4, 2006, overturned a Gujarat High Court order directing all
municipal corporations in the state to demolish places of religious
worship that were obstructing roads. The supreme court's order stopped
the ongoing demolitions in Vadodara in order to prevent the destruction
of other mosques and the resulting communal friction. The supreme court
argued that the Gujarat court had directed the police and other
authorities ``to take immediate steps to remove encroachments by
religious structures on public space without discrimination, and submit
their reports.'' The Government also noted that the removal of
religious structures was intrinsically sensitive, and must be subjected
to scrutiny and classification before demolition.
Journalists and numerous NGOs noted that the Government's response
to the Vadodara violence was much improved over its 2002 post-Godhra
reaction. Journalists noted that the Gujarat Government quickly
appealed for peace and local BJP leaders did not make provocative
statements as they did in 2002.
On August 11, 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued an apology
in parliament to the Sikh community as well as the nation for the
massacre of an estimated 2,700 Sikhs during the 1984 riots following
then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. Singh's apology
followed the resignation of two Congress party leaders from public
offices after being indicted by an official commission that probed the
anti-Sikh riots that occurred twenty-one years ago.
The NHRC on May 15, 2006, ordered the Punjab Government to disburse
a monetary relief of $5,700 (250 thousand INR) each to the next of kin
of forty-five persons whom the state government admitted were in police
custody immediately before they were killed and illegally cremated. The
Government, with the assistance of relatives and NGOs, identified 1,296
illegally cremated bodies.
The cabinet, on June 24, 2006, approved a new fifteen-point program
to prevent and control communal incidents and take care of minorities'
welfare and funded programs for minorities. The revised program is also
designed to prevent communal riots, facilitate prosecution of communal
offences, and help rehabilitate riot victims.
The Government acted to implement a National Action Plan for Human
Rights Education, adopted in 2005, to promote awareness of human
rights. Specific target groups include schools, colleges and
universities, government officials, the armed forces, prison officials
and law officers. The Ministry of Home Affairs held five seminars at
Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bhopal, which were attended by a
large number of NGOs working in the field of human rights police
officers and civil servants. The Government also introduced human
rights courses as a part of the training curriculum for the Border
Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, National Police Academy,
and Police Training Colleges.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Despite incidents of violence and discrimination during the period
covered by this report, relations between various religious groups
generally were amicable among the substantial majority of citizens.
Efforts at ecumenical understanding brought religious leaders together
to defuse religious tensions. Prominent secularists of all religious
groups made public efforts to show respect for other religious groups
by celebrating their holidays and attending social events such as
weddings. Muslim groups protested against the mistreatment of
Christians by Hindu extremists. Christian clergy and spokespersons for
Christian organizations issued public statements condemning anti-Muslim
violence in places such as Gujarat.
However, animosities within and between religious communities have
roots that are centuries old, and these tensions, exacerbated by
poverty, class, and ethnic differences, erupted into periodic violence.
The Government made some effort, not always successfully, to prevent
these incidents and to restore communal harmony; however, tensions
between Hindus and Muslims and between Hindus and Christians continued
to pose a challenge to the concepts of secularism, tolerance, and
diversity on which the country was founded.
The Home Ministry reported that during 2005, ``the communal
situation in the country, by and large, remained under control during
the current year. No major communal incident was reported from any part
of the country, except the one incident at Mau town in Uttar Pradesh on
October 14, 2005, involving a confrontation over the holding of a
procession and the use of loudspeakers by Hindus during the Bharat
Milap programme, which claimed ten lives. The situation was, however,
brought under control.''
Hindus and Muslims continue to feud over mosques constructed
centuries ago on sites where Hindus believed temples stood previously.
Extremist Hindu groups such as the VHP and Bajrang Dal maintained
that they intended to build a Hindu temple in Ayodhya on the site of
the 500-year-old Babri Mosque demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992, with
or without the Government's approval. In March 2003, the supreme court
denied the Government's application to rescind a ban on religious
activity at the site, whereupon then Prime Minister Vajpayee promised
to continue with plans to build a temple where the razed mosque had
stood.
Secular groups continued to protest the Sangh Parivar's attempts
over the past decade to take control of the Sufi syncretic (Hindu-
Muslim) shrine known as Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Swami Dargah at
Chikmagalur in Karnataka. The centuries-old shrine is believed to have
been one of the earliest centers of Sufism in the south. In recent
years, Hindus have held many festivals at the site, alienating local
Muslims. In October 2005, the Karnataka Government banned a
controversial Hindu religious ceremony at the shrine. However, human
rights groups stated that the coalition government that took office in
February 2006, with the BJP as one of its partners, would continue to
support attempts by Hindu groups to take control of the shrine.
In early February 2005 and 2006, Hindu-Muslim tension escalated in
the town of Dhar in Madhya Pradesh after Hindus and Muslims attempted
to simultaneously pray at a disputed site called ``Bhojshala.'' Hindu
worshipers resisted violent attempts by the local administration to
stop them from hanging the picture of a Hindu goddess at the site. The
administration then brought in police to quell the violence. Tensions
died down after local police forces convinced the two groups to offer
prayers at different times of the day and instituted a curfew.
A July 2004 Urdu press report highlighted the Muslim community's
sensitivity to threats to their religious sites. The report claimed the
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) planned to move the Sidha
Jama mosque, located on a national highway in Midnapore, West Bengal,
to make way for road expansion. When the NHAI started proceedings to
acquire the land under the Land Acquisition Act, local Muslims
approached the West Bengal Minorities Commission to prevent the
relocation. When the NHAI did not respond to commission requests for
information, Muslims took the case to the Calcutta High Court, which
ordered the mosque to be moved ``in the public interest.'' In their
appeal, Muslims stated that they feared the order would create a
precedent allowing the relocation of mosques across the country.
The same report alleged that airport authorities in Calcutta wanted
to acquire another area where a mosque, madrassah, tomb of a saint, and
a graveyard were situated, to extend the airport. No action was taken
on this case and it remained pending in the courts.
In the second week of September 2004, the VHP led an unsuccessful
attempt to demolish the tomb of a seventeenth century Muslim warrior in
Pratapgarh in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra. During the agitation, several
Muslim families left their homes, fearing violence, but later returned.
The state police moved swiftly to prevent violence and showed no anti-
Muslim bias.
Instances of Hindu-Muslim communal violence occurred during the
reporting period.
Communal violence sparked by a traffic accident occurred in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, in October 2004. Police attempting to quell the
violence were pelted with stones and responded with gunshots, killing
one person and injuring three. There were no updates available during
the reporting period.
In March 2006, the state of Goa reported the first significant
instance of Hindu-Muslim violence since its inception in 1960. A group
of Hindus attacked and destroyed Muslim shops and vehicles in two towns
in central Goa under the pretext of protesting against the illegal
construction of a mosque by recent Muslim immigrants. The small Goa
police force summoned 300 riot police officers from neighboring
Karnataka to contain the violence.
According to media reports, in 2006, the chief minister of Bihar
ordered a probe into the 1989 Bhagalpur riots that killed more than
1,000 persons, mostly Muslims. Some of the responsible were convicted,
but most of the guilty remained at large.
On October 23, 2005, a case of sexual harassment at a clothing shop
led to Hindu-Muslim clashes in Agra. Police quelled the violence with
no loss of life.
In Kerala, RSS activists attacked a mosque at Vallikunnam in
Alleppey district on February 23, 2005, killing one Muslim man and
injuring two others, including the imam.
The Indian Express reported on June 1, 2006, that the Kerala
Government submitted to the high court that there was nothing
unconstitutional in Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) taking an
oath in the name of Allah. This was done in response to a writ petition
filed by a BJP youth leader challenging the constitutional validity of
eleven newly elected Muslim MLAs in Kerala who were sworn in the name
of Allah and not in the name of God, or by making a solemn affirmation,
as prescribed.
In July 2004, Hindus in Vadodara, Gujarat launched a two-month
economic boycott against Muslims following the killing in June of a
Hindu by his former business partner, a Muslim. The alleged killer's
family relocated from the village.
On July 4, 2004, approximately 300 Bajrang Dal activists attacked a
Muslim-owned hospital in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, destroying property
and causing patients to flee. The activists were protesting the
elopement of a Hindu girl with a Muslim worker from the hospital
canteen. The police registered a complaint, but at the end of the
reporting period, there had been no arrests.
In July 2004, in Gujarat, rioters killed two persons, injured
twenty, destroyed forty houses and fifteen shops, and looted property
worth thousands of dollars after an alleged incident of sexual
harassment of a Hindu girl by Muslim youth. In September 2004, also in
Gujarat, minor Hindu-Muslim clashes during a Hindu religious procession
resulted in property damage but no injuries or deaths.
On August 27, 2004, unknown assailants threw crude bombs outside
two mosques in Poorna and Jalna, Central Maharashtra, just after Friday
prayers, injuring eighteen worshippers. A week later, minor riots
following the blasts led to property damage but no loss of life.
The press reported on October 27, 2004, that the S.J. Dave High
School, in Gujarat, had for the past six years required its students to
wear patches associating them with their religion. The school agreed to
stop the practice after two school trustees objected to it and the
district education officer asked the school to stop. Opponents of the
patch requirement expressed concern that it would enable continued
discrimination against Muslims in educational institutions.
Sectarian violence in October 2004 also claimed the lives of two
Muslims clerics in Orai, Uttar Pradesh. Police reported the violence
was sparked by a conflict over control of a religious site.
Three persons were killed and fifteen others injured in February
2005 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, when sectarian violence between two
Muslim groups erupted over a disputed procession. The trouble started
when members of one Muslim sect attempted to prevent a procession by
the other from going through their area.
In August 2004, there were press reports that the Buddhist
community was deeply concerned over rising incidents of harassment and
persecution of Buddhist tribespeople by militants and security forces
alike, particularly in the northeast. Reportedly, two separatist
groups--the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-
IM) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K)--
demanded land belonging to Buddhists and local indigenous faiths in
villages in Tirap and Changlang district. Members of both the NSCN-IM
and the NSCN-K were predominantly Christian. The press also reported
that both groups were pressing Buddhists to convert to Christianity. No
further related incidents were reported during the year.
In May 2005, Akhil Kumar Sahoo, General Secretary of the Orissa
Buddhist Front, claimed that the state government had taken no
administrative or legal steps towards recognition of the Buddhist
community. Although the NCM had directed the state government to
declare the birthdays of Lord Buddha and Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak
as state holidays, only Guru Nanak's birthday had been recognized.
Leaders of the Tibetan Buddhist community in the southern part of
the country commented during the year that relations with the
Government and local residents were good and that they did not believed
to be persecuted. In May 2005, a leading Buddhist monk stated that
tensions between Tibetans and their largely Hindu neighbors occurred
because of economic rather than religious reasons.
In a rare case of Muslim-Buddhist communal tension, members of the
two communities clashed in Leh, Jammu and Kashmir in February 2006,
over the alleged desecration of a Qur'an. Four houses were set on fire
and an unspecified number of persons were injured. The Government
deployed police and military personnel and implemented a curfew in the
area. Buddhist leaders denied the desecration, which they characterized
as a rumor spread by outsiders intent on disrupting centuries of
communal harmony between Leh's Buddhists and Shi'as.
Radical ethnic and religious groups carried out attacks on the
media during the previous reporting period. In June 2005, radical Shiv
Sena elements attacked the Mumbai office of the newspaper Aapla
Mahanagar, assaulted the editorial staff, and damaged office equipment
in response to an article written against a Hindu religious sect. In
August 2005, in Mumbai, alleged Muslim fundamentalist activists
attacked the editor of a Hindi language newspaper, Sajid Rashid, with
knives and seriously injured him, charging that he had insulted Islam.
Mumbai police filed charges in the case, but the assailants remained at
large and the investigation open at the end of the reporting period.
In Christian-majority areas, there were occasional reports that
Christians persecuted members of other faiths belonging to regional
minorities. In Tripura, there were several reported cases of harassment
of non-Christians by members of the National Liberation Front of
Tripura (NLFT), a militant separatist group with a largely evangelical
Christian membership.
According to a media report, International VHP Secretary Pravin
Togadia claimed that the VHP planned to reconvert all Christians
residing in BJP ruled states to Hinduism by 2005 and ``expose the
global Christian conspiracy of conversions.''
The VHP reported in February 2005 that it considered 2004 a
successful year for reconversions, in that it brought 12,857 persons
back ``into the fold'' of Hinduism, 3,727 from Islam and 9,130 from
Christianity.
In April 2006, Former BJP President L.K. Advani spoke out against
religious conversions. He stated, ``We strongly condemn the campaign of
proselytization which poses a grave threat to Hindu society. We demand
stern action against those who indulge in such activities.'' Advani
highlighted what he described as an ``organized foreign-funded
conversion campaign by evangelical groups,'' noting that ``it is bad
enough that religious conversions are conducted in a systematic manner
through inducements and coercions, but such activities are more ominous
when they are facilitated by foreign funded organizations, ostensibly
under the garb of social service for poor and under-privileged
families.''
Christians often held large public prayer meetings without violence
or protests. For example, on May 13, 2005, a leading Christian
evangelist spoke in New Delhi, and the event, attended by more than
3,000 persons, was peaceful, with a moderate police presence and no
Hindu activist group protests.
In January 2005, the Government permitted the U.S.-based
evangelical leader Benny Hinn to hold a rally in Bangalore, which was
attended by thousands. The Government stipulated that the event must
not disturb the peace and that no one should perform ``divine
healing.'' One online news service reported that, although Hinn carried
out ``divine healing,'' the Government took no action. A few Hindu
groups protested the event, resulting in minor damage to property and
vehicles in the area.
Another U.S.-based Christian evangelist, Pat Robertson, spoke at a
prayer meeting in Delhi on May 13, 2005, attended by dignitaries such
as Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahay. The event attracted approximately
3,000 persons and, with a moderate police presence, concluded
peacefully. There was no agitation during the meeting. Visiting Sikh,
Muslim, Buddhist, and Jewish leaders also regularly addressed their
adherents without incident.
The All-India Catholic Union (AICU) expressed deep concern over
growing anti-Christian violence in several BJP-controlled states
following the defeat of the BJP in the national elections in May 2004.
The AICU claimed that the perpetrators were members of fundamentalist
groups affiliated with the RSS.
In November, the AICU reported that there were approximately 200
attacks against Christians throughout the country in the first eleven
months of 2005.
In January 2005, in Assam, a mob set fire to a newly opened
Catholic school, after accusing school staff of attempting to convert
Hindus. Police brought the situation under control, but could not save
the school building from destruction.
On May 21, 2005, the body of K. Daniel, a preacher from Kummarvadi,
was found in Andhra Pradesh bearing marks suggestive of an acid attack.
On June 2, 2005, police in Andhra Pradesh found the body of Pastor
Isaac Raju, who had been missing since May 24. Press reported that in
both cases a person called and gave precise directions on the location
of the body. Church members claim the killings were planned to
terrorize the Christian community. In response, the state government
formed a Special Investigation Team to find those responsible for the
killings and the Home Minister also offered protection to Christian
missionaries living in the state. In June 2005, police arrested Kokala
Govardhan for the killings. Govardhan admitted that he killed the two
pastors for converting Hindus to Christianity. The Government of Andhra
Pradesh disbursed $6,818 (300 thousand INR) to the families of those
killed as financial assistance in September 2005.
Religious press outlets reported that on December 3, 2005, a group
of approximately twenty RSS members in Andhra Pradesh forcibly took
Pastor Yesupadam to the local police station, where they threatened to
kill him if he continued his Christian activities. The pastor
reportedly received a number of telephone threats after the incident.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 12, 2006,
approximately 100 persons beat pastors M. Aaron and Madhu Kumar, of the
Indian Pentecostal Church, when they attempted to distribute Christian
pamphlets during a convention of Bible students in Nizamabad
Polytechnic School in Andhra Pradesh. Police registered a case against
ten assailants, and attributed responsibility for the attack to the
student wing of the BJP and RSS.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 13, 2006, in
Nizambad, Andhra Pradesh, ten members of the RSS pulled Christians from
their home and beat them, leaving the pastor, Nagani Swami David,
unconscious and four others injured. Police arrested and charged nine
men in connection with the attack. The attackers told police that
Pastor David and the other Christians had torn down pictures of Hindu
gods.
Religious press outlets reported that on February 28, 2006, fifteen
assailants attacked Pastor Lavete Jacob and other Christians, including
Jacob's wife, daughters, and a family friend in Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh. Five men were arrested and released on bail. The same group
had earlier attacked Jacob on February 18, 2006.
According to Christian media reports, on March 20, 2006,
approximately thirty persons attacked a group of Christians who were
preaching in the Pappula bazaar of Nellore, Andra Pradesh, resulting in
the short-term hospitalization of three pastors. Local Christians
claimed the group attacked them because they had converted a former RSS
member to Christianity. The United Pastors' Association of Nellore and
the AICC held a protest rally on March 20, 2006, and submitted a
memorandum to local authorities, demanding the arrest of the attackers.
A number of men were arrested and released on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 8, 2006, in Rampur
Thanda, Andhra Pradesh, Pastor Prem Kumar of the Church of South India
was killed after being approached by a young man requesting him to lead
a prayer service in the village. Police initially denied any religious
motive to the killing. The case remained under investigation.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 10, 2006, in
Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh, a group of Christian workers from the
organization Gospel for Asia were beaten and their equipment destroyed
while showing a film on social problems such as HIV/AIDS. The
Christians were not proselytizing at the time of attack, although they
had earlier been involved in evangelism in the area.
Religious press outlets reported that on August 31, 2005, Hindu
extremists surrounded property belonging to a Christian Gospel Society
in Bihar and demanded the arrest of its director for allegedly
desecrating a Hindu religious statue. On September 3, 2005, the police
arrested the director, holding him for several hours, and on September
25, 2005, the attackers returned to the property and injured several
Christians found there.
Religious press outlets reported that Hindu activists in
Chhattisgarh converted hundreds of Christians in a ceremony in April
2005. A local newspaper reported that senior BJP leader Dilip Singh
Judeo threatened Christian workers during his address at the ceremony,
stating, ``If Christian missionaries don't stop converting people, we
will take up arms.''
Religious press outlets reported that on August 14, 2005, the
Dharma Sena (Army of Religion) extremist group attacked a Christian
church under construction in Raipur, Chattisgarh. The group alleged
that the church building encroached on land belonging to a Sena leader.
The church denied this claim.
Religious press outlets reported that on September 11, 2005, the
Hindu extremist group Dharma Sena attacked two churches in Raipur,
Chattisgarh, tearing a cross from one building and throwing it into a
septic tank and inflicting approximately $1,140 (50 thousand INR) worth
of damage. Members of the Dharma Sena also attacked a church meeting,
physically assaulting the wife and brother of a pastor, and accusing
the church of conversions.
Religious press outlets reported that on December 4, 2005, a group
of approximately thirty Dharma Sena members attacked five Christians in
a church in Raipur, Chattisgarh, allegedly forcing them to bow before a
statue at a Hindu temple. No details were known about further
developments.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 25, 2006, in Bothli,
Chhattisgarh, a group of approximately thirty alleged members of Dharam
Jagran Sena raided a prayer meeting organized by six Christian
families, beating those present. Among the main victims was an eight-
month pregnant woman, who was taken to the hospital with internal
injuries. Reportedly, the hospital declined to treat her and police
also refused to take action against the perpetrators.
Religious press outlets reported that on October 14, 2005, a group
of Hindu extremists attacked a large Pentecostal prayer meeting in
Dayal Pur, Delhi, injuring five pastors and damaging church property. A
local BJP MLA and his supporters purportedly prevented church members
from registering a case against the attackers.
Religious press outlets reported that in October 2004,
approximately thirty individuals attacked a Christian pastor and his
wife as they were returning home from a prayer gathering in south
Gujarat. The police filed a FIR but made no arrests.
In November 2005, Christian press reported that a group of
approximately 150 high-caste Hindus attacked dalit Christians in the
Kheda district of Gujarat, injuring five and allegedly sexually
assaulting dalit and Christian women in the village. The report
indicated that the former president of the local Congress party led the
attack and that police initially refused to file a case. An
investigation was ongoing.
From February 11 to 13, 2006, the VHP organized a gathering of more
than 200 thousand Hindus from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and
Rajasthan in the town of Subir (often referred to as ``the Dangs'') in
Gujarat. Activists argued that the Hindu festival constituted indirect
pressure for tribal Christians in the district to reconvert to
Hinduism. Despite widespread anticipation that the gathering would
generate immense pressure to reconvert, no such conversions were
reported. However, Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi
and other speakers condemned conversion activity by Christian
missionaries and exhorted tribal Christians to ``return home'' to
Hinduism. Modi told the gathering that it was his ``constitutional
duty'' to prevent conversions by Hindus to Christianity and RSS chief
K.S. Sudarshan stated that Christians and Muslims should be
``Indianized,'' since they ``could not be thrown into the sea.'' The
Government sent a sizable police contingent, which observers and human
rights groups stated helped prevent violence and intimidation.
In April 2006, the Gujarat Government refused to renew a contract
with an order of Christian nuns to work in a government leprosy
hospital. The press reported that the government suspended the contract
because it believed the nuns were performing religious services and
conversions. The nuns and patients at the hospital denied the charges.
Religious press outlets reported that on May 21, 2006, in Dubalia,
Jharkhand, a newly-converted Christian, Santosh Karmali, was forced to
forfeit his right to the land of his family. Allegedly, tribal animist
believers forced him to sign a document during a meeting of the village
council and the Central Sarna (collective name for the tribal animist
religions in Jharkhand) Committee. Karmali had belonged to a Sarna
religion prior to his conversion. His wife's head was shaved, lime
powder was applied to her face, and she was paraded around the village.
The family was then forced out the village, and the Sarna samiti
committee took possession of the family land.
The media reported the death of a twenty-five-year-old Christian
pastor in Channapatana, Karnataka on February 11, 2005. Although an
official autopsy determined it was a suicide, Christian groups alleged
that Hindu extremists had killed him.
In May 2005, activists of the Bajrang Dal vandalized a Christian
church in Channapatna, Karnataka, injuring women and children belonging
to the congregation. The state police arrested six activists and
registered a case against them.
On August 30, 2005, approximately fifty assailants ransacked a
Christian church building in Bangalore. No further details were known.
Hindu extremists in southern Karnataka attacked a Christian church
on Easter Sunday 2006 and assaulted the pastor. District police
authorities arrested four persons who allegedly belonged to the Bajrang
Dal.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 16, 2006, in
Bataguri, Karnataka alleged Bajrang Dal members attacked two separate
churches. A group of ten to fifteen men attacked the Believers' Church
during Easter Sunday service and vandalized the pastor's house, beating
the pastor and his wife and threatening the parishioners with further
attacks should they continue meeting. On the same day, twenty five to
thirty men raided another church, threatening women and children and
destroying church property.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 8, 2006, in
Thovaracare, Karnataka, seven members of the Bajrang Dal broke up a
Christian prayer meeting, chased away two pastors, and threatened other
Christians present.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 9, 2006, in Kolar
Gold Field, Karnataka, extremists destroyed a church after the pastor
ignored orders to cease his work and leave the area.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 11, 2006, in Namthi,
Kanataka, 150 persons seized Pastor Sundar Rao after he led a prayer
meeting and forcibly took him to the police station, where they and the
police severely beat Rao. The next day, after his release, he was
assaulted again. The attackers were arrested and released on bail.
In August 2004, a Catholic priest was killed in Kerala, during the
state's annual harvest festival. Church members reported that the
Catholic priest had received intimidating telephone calls threatening
him with death if he did not cease to ``proselytize.'' The Catholic
Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) claimed the killing was meant to
destroy inter-religious harmony in Kerala and demanded an
investigation.
In September 2004, also in Kerala, BJP activists attacked nuns and
monks belonging to the order ``Missionaries of Charity,'' injuring one
monk and one nun and damaging a vehicle. The police arrested fourteen
RSS-BJP sympathizers in connection with the attack.
In April 2005, Hindu and Muslim villagers burned down a prayer hall
and physically attacked three Christian church members following a
baptism ceremony in Kerala. Two days later, villagers assaulted the
pastor and his assistant.
On Easter eve 2005, in Chalakud Taluna, Kerala, approximately
twenty RSS activists attacked Christians viewing the film The Passion
of the Christ, injuring one man.
There were no further developments in two incidents of anti-
Christian violence in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh that took
place in January and March 2004. In the incidents, assailants attacked
local Christians, damaging property and beating a priest following the
rape and death of two Hindu minor girls. One Hindu activist was killed
during the violence, allegedly by a shot fired from a church. The
police charged several persons, but the cases had not come up for
hearing.
Religious press outlets reported that on August 21, 2005, Hindu
extremists attacked a Christian prayer meeting in Indore, Madhya
Pradesh, injuring at least ten persons, including several women and a
two-year-old child. The attack targeted two Christians awaiting trial
on charges of forcible conversion of Hindus. Police registered a case
against three men for the attack. The progress of the case was unknown.
Religious press outlets reported that on September 4, 2005, police
ordered two Christians out of a church service while a large group of
Hindus gathered outside. A Hindu leader allegedly then threatened to
burn the two men alive if they attended another service. Subsequently,
police warned the men not to attend church services.
Religious press outlets reported that on September 22, 2005,
assailants attacked a Hindu man and several Christians in Jhabua,
Madhya Pradesh, alleging that they had damaged a Hindu statue. One
Christian was injured in the attack and another detained at the local
police station for approximately thirty-two hours.
Religious press outlets reported that on November 5, 2005, Hindu
extremists barred access to a new church built in Jhabua, Madhya
Pradesh, assaulting the pastor and other members of the congregation.
The attackers claimed the district collector had ordered the church
closed.
Religious press outlets reported that on December 4, 2005, RSS
activists assaulted a Christian pastor during a worship service in his
home after complaining about the noise emanating from the building.
Police, called by the attackers, also reportedly beat the pastor and
detained him for two hours.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 25, 2006, a group
of seven local police in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, entered a Christian
home, reportedly arresting and beating two tribal pastors and ordering
them to end ``Christian activities'' or face the consequences. The
following day, police released the pastors, who were subsequently
denied treatment by a local hospital. No action was taken against the
police involved.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 28, 2006, at least
six Christians were injured during an attack on a prayer meeting in a
private home in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Approximately thirty persons
threw stones at the building and shouted anti-Christian slogans,
accused the organizers of carrying out ``forced conversions,'' and beat
the participants. The church members blamed the Hindu militant group,
Bajrang Dal, for the attack.
Religious press outlets reported that on February 5, 2006, RSS
members beat two Christian men for distributing Christian literature in
Indore, Madhya Pradesh, reportedly injuring one. Police registered a
case and were investigating the matter, but no arrests had been made by
the end of the period covered by this report.
During May and June 2006, various extremist groups in Madhya
Pradesh allegedly led several attacks against Christians. Father Anand
Muttungal, spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh Catholic diocese, and Dr.
John Dayal of the AICC charged that the district administration and the
police colluded in this harassment of Christians. Police refused to
intervene, even when they personally witnessed the attacks.
According to data provided by a Christian NGO, over the period of
August 2005 to June 2006, more than twenty Christian activists (pastors
and social workers) were taken to police stations, booked under MPFRA,
and released on personal sureties of approximately $100 (4,647 INR).
On May 28, 2006, two recent Christian converts residing in Nadia
village, Madhya Pradesh, claimed that their wives were gang-raped by
local Hindu villagers when they refused to reconvert to Hinduism.
Indira Iyengar, the sole Christian member of the Madhya Pradesh State
Minorities Commission, arranged for the couples to meet the media on
June 5, 2006, in the state capital of Bhopal. After the couples had
given the statements, a Bajrang Dal activist disrupted the press
conference and accused Iyengar of making false rape charges. At the end
of the reporting period, the two couples were in hiding. The Khargone
police registered the couples' complaint of rape against four prominent
villagers and sent the DNA of the accused to Calcutta for examination.
According to police officials, the medical exam was inconclusive. Hindu
villagers have filed counter-complaints, accusing the couples of trying
to convert Hindus to Christianity. The police have not charged the
couples nor arrested them.
On May 31, 2006, sixteen Christians accused in the Arjun Pal murder
case were acquitted by a Madhya Pradesh district court of all charges,
including murder, riot, attempt to murder, and unlawful assembly. Two
had been released on bail, while fourteen had spent more than two years
in jail. The case began in January 2004, when the raped body of a nine-
year-old Hindu girl was found inside the premises of a Catholic school
in Ali Rajpur in Madhya Pradesh. Enraged Hindus then ransacked school
property and attacked three churches in neighboring villages. One
Hindu, Arjun Pal, was shot and killed during subsequent Hindu-Christian
rioting. The case had been in the courts since 2005.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 6, 2006, in
Thaiyavali Chowk, Madhya Pradesh, extremists attacked the Christ Church
Boys' School, physically assaulting a teacher and threatening the
headmaster. Reportedly, extremists were angry at the school's decision
to not close during a Hindu festival. The school did not register a
complaint with the police.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 4, 2006, in Myapuri,
Madhya Pradesh, approximately fifty alleged Bajrang Dal members
disrupted a prayer meeting and took all present to a nearby Hindu
temple, threatening the women with rape if they should continue
attending Christian activities. Subsequently, police arrested fifteen,
all Christians. The pastor was released on bail while the others were
interrogated and released after four hours.
In January 2005, in Ambarnath, Maharashtra, a Hindu group attacked
a small convent of the Congregation of Teresian Carmelites and broke a
wooden cross. The nuns locked themselves in the convent and were not
harmed. The group left pamphlets ordering the nuns to leave the area.
Police were investigating the attack but had made no arrests by the end
of the reporting period.
Press reported that in February 2005, a Hindu priest in the
Catholic village of Rajura, Maharashtra, insisted that tribal
Christians turn their church into a Hindu temple or face violent
consequences. A witness stated that the cleric urged Hindu villagers to
kill the Christians with swords.
Numerous religious press outlets reported that in May 2005, Hindu
extremists physically attacked eleven Christian families from Jamanya
village, Maharashtra. The reports alleged that village officials
summoned the families to a panchayat (community council of elders),
which demanded that they renounce their faith. When they refused, the
men were beaten with heavy sticks and chased from the village. On the
following day, the mob attacked the women and children. Witnesses
stated the mob also tried to disrobe the women. No arrests had been
made by the end of the period covered by this report.
Religious press outlets reported that on November 26, 2005,
assailants attacked three Christians in Maharashtra for distributing
Christian literature. The attackers filed a report accusing the three
men of engaging in unethical conversion activities. The police took the
victims to a local hospital and later filed charges against the
attackers.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 29, 2006, Hindu
extremists attacked the inauguration ceremony of a Catholic school and
hostel in Ghosale, Maharashtra. The attackers accused the staff of
trying to convert persons by offering free education to their children.
The police arrested eighteen persons; all were released on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on February 26, 2006,
approximately fifty Bajrang Dal activists attacked and injured three
Christian pastors in Nere, Maharashtra. Police arrested the attackers,
who were released on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on April 11, 2006, in
Khopate, Maharashtra, approximately fifty members of the VHP assaulted
two pastors during a raid on a large-scale prayer meeting at the Living
Light Fellowship Church, accusing them of converting persons to
Christianity. Reportedly, five other pastors present were taken to a
nearby Hindu temple where they were beaten after refusing to worship a
Hindu god. Police conducted an investigation at the behest of the
police commissioner and subsequently made a number of arrests. All were
released on minor charges.
Religious press outlets reported that on May 22, 2006, in Chopada,
Maharashtra, alleged Hindu extremists stoned a member of the Indian
Evangelical Team (IET).
Religious press outlets reported that on May 1, 2006, in
Seikmaijing, Manipur, Hindu villagers burned down a church after a
prominent village member converted to Christianity. Some village
Christians were also physically assaulted and told to depart the
village.
In February 2004, Hindu villagers in Jagatsingpur, Orissa, seized
eight persons, including a local pastor and eight Christian women, and
shaved their heads. Villagers accused the pastor of forcibly converting
two village women; however, the women denied this. In May 2004, the
local police arrested six persons in connection with the incident, and
the pastor and the eight women remained in protected housing. No new
information was available during the reporting period concerning these
cases.
In August 2004, at least 300 persons broke into a Catholic church
in Raikia, Orissa, and smashed religious statues, doors, and windows.
The incident occurred after some Christians protested the removal by
Hindus of fencing encircling the church. The local police brought the
situation under control, but took no action against the perpetrators.
On September 15, 2004, in Orissa, a nun was seriously burned when
an unidentified man threw acid on her.
In October 2004, in Baripada, Orissa, a local court ordered the
arrest of five Christian preachers for ``inciting communal feelings.''
After disrupting a Hindu ceremony, they were arrested for ``uttering
words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of others
and issuing threats of criminal intimidation to several persons.''
In October 2004, approximately 300 tribal Christians were
``reconverted'' to Hinduism in a mass ceremony organized by the World
Hindu Council in Orissa. Gauri Prasad Rath, state secretary of the
council, stated it was the largest reconversion ceremony they had ever
held. Christian leaders expressed shock and dismay at the news and
argued that Hindu groups were able to force Christians to convert
because they depend on the Hindu majority for employment.
On February 16, 2005, in Orissa, Baptist pastor Gilbert Raj was
tortured and killed. Ten days later, Pentecostal pastor Dilip Dalai was
stabbed to death. Christian groups claimed they were killed to stop
their missionary work.
On February 27, 2005, a group of persons attacked Christian
evangelist Kiran Kumar while he was returning home after holding a
prayer meeting in Orissa. The police took him into custody, alleging he
was attempting to forcibly convert persons. He was later released.
In February 2005, Hindu nationalists accused Christian missionaries
of raping and killing a fourteen-year-old girl in the town of
Dhenkanal, Orissa. The victim's mother claimed the missionaries had
threatened her family if they did not convert to Christianity. The
police rejected the conversion theory and were investigating the crime.
Christian press reported that in April 2005, the RSS converted
approximately 300 Christians to Hinduism in the Chakapad village of
Orissa without receiving permission under the state's anti-conversion
law. Noting that police were present and did nothing, Christian groups
argued that the Orissa anti-conversion law is discriminatory and only
enforced when a person converted from Hinduism to another religion.
On June 14, 2005, Sangh Parivar activists disrupted the Indian
People's Tribunal on Environmental and Human Rights hearing on the
communal situation in Orissa. The activists harassed female tribunal
members and threatened to rape them and parade them through the
streets.
Religious press outlets reported that on November 20, 2005, fifteen
houses belonging to members of the Christian community in Gajapati,
Orissa, were burnt down, leaving six persons seriously injured and
hospitalized, and a large number homeless. The attacks were estimated
to have caused approximately $21,730 (one million INR) worth of damage.
The attacks occurred at a time when the Christian population of the
village was attending church. Eight Christians and three or four Hindu
extremists were arrested by police following the attacks. No further
details were available about the progress of the case during the period
covered by this report.
According to a church leader, on January 16, 2006, alleged Hindu
extremists set fire to three houses belonging to Christians in Jajpur,
Orissa. The inhabitants fled and took shelter in the local police
station.
Religious press outlets reported that on January 24, 2006, in
Koikonda, Orissa, Hindu villagers injured ten Christians (including
four visiting Christian missionaries) during an attack on a Christian
home where the participants had meet the night before. The village
pastor and one of the missionaries tried to lodge an official complaint
shortly thereafter, but police refused to file a case. Police arrested
two men in connection with the incident, and subsequently released them
on bail.
Religious press outlets reported that on March 20, 2006, arsonists
targeted a church in Nandapur, Orissa. Local Christians claimed that
extremists were responsible for the attack. The church leader was
pursuing legal redress during the period covered by this report.
Press reported that approximately 342 Christian converts were
reconverted to Hinduism in Orissa's Phulbani district during a
religious conference conducted by the RSS in April 2006. RSS leader
K.S. Sudarshan and VHP President Ashok Singhal attended the conference,
and asked Sangh Parivar activists to monitor missionary activities, and
demanded the Government stop cow slaughter and conversions.
The press reported in April 2005 that VHP activists in Chandigarh,
Punjab planned to start an awareness campaign concerning the
conversions of Sikhs to Christianity and urge Hindus to protest
``vehemently'' against the practice.
Religious press outlets reported that on June 1, 2006, in Pangila,
Punjab, Pastor Harbans Lal, leader of Happy Life Prosperity Church in
Panglia village, was beaten unconscious by approximately fifteen to
twenty persons.
In June 2005, the Jodhpur District Administration in Rajasthan
rescinded permission for the Pentecostal Church of God to hold a
gathering in the city after VHP and Bajrang Dal protests. Hindu
activists claimed the church was converting Hindu children, prompting
the Government to cancel the gathering to prevent violence. A Congress
Party official claimed the administration caved to communal pressures
from Hindu activists and had no right to withdraw permission for the
event.
Religious press outlets reported that on August 14, 2005, Hindu
extremists attacked a prayer meeting held in a private home in
Banswara, Rajasthan, injuring the owner of the house and others.
Reportedly, the following day, Hindu activists prevented the prayer
meeting sponsors from filing charges at the local police station.
Religious press outlets reported that on October 16, 2005, Hindu
extremist youths assaulted five nuns as they boarded a bus to attend a
Catholic event in Udaipur, Rajasthan. No details were known about the
investigation of this incident, but Christian press reported that that
attack was religiously motivated.
Religious press outlets reported that on October 27, 2005, the
Tribal Christian Welfare Society curtailed its three-day festival in
the Banswara district, Rajasthan, after violent RSS opposition to the
event. Reportedly, a large number of Christians were assaulted in the
area, and the RSS attempted to block would-be participants from
reaching the festival.
Religious press outlets reported that on December 23, 2005, three
men assaulted two nuns as they waited at a bus stop in Rajasthan. One
of the attackers had reportedly been arrested and released on bail in
connection with other attacks on Christians. No details were known
about the investigation of this incident.
Religious press outlets reported that on December 24, 2005, nine
RSS members attacked four Catholics, including one priest, traveling to
attend mass in Jambuda, Rajasthan. The four were reportedly beaten
until they were unconscious.
Between January and June 2006, a number of institutions and staff
of EMI, which operates various charitable foundations in Rajasthan and
across the country, endured considerable harassment from extremists and
the state government.
On January 25, 2006, the organization was warned to not hold the
Emmanuel Seminary annual graduation ceremony, which had been the target
of an attack in 2005. Following threats and harassment as well as
official police notification that no security would be provided for the
event, EMI leaders decided to cancel the ceremony.
On February 10, 2006, an EMI school and orphanage in Ramganjmandi,
Rajasthan, were set on fire. Reportedly, local police had warned EMI
leaders that they would not move to prevent the violence.
On February 14, 2006, Hindu extremists attacked EMI headquarters in
Kota after a copy of the controversial book, ``Haqeeqat'' (The Truth)
was discovered on the premises. The book, which has been banned,
reportedly contains derogatory references to Hinduism. Numerous sources
indicated that EMI was actively distributing the text.
Attacks on other EMI institutions also took place through February.
On February 22, 2006, an EMI primary school in Sanganer was attacked,
and on February 24, 2006, the Jhowara Emmanuel Secondary School and
church building were vandalized.
At the end of February, the Rajasthan Government had revoked the
licenses of an EMI Bible institute, orphanage, school, hospital and
church. On March 3, 2006, the Department of Social Welfare of Rajasthan
froze the organization's bank accounts. However, on June 27, 2006, the
Jaipur High Court instructed the state government to show cause
regarding the closing of the EMI property and instructed the accounts
to be unfrozen on June 28, 2006.
Religious press outlets reported that in July 2005, Hindu villagers
in Tamil Nadu closed down a Pentecostal church and expelled the pastor
and his wife, allegedly in response to decreasing interest in Hindu
festivals in the village. After the couple filed a complaint, the
police began negotiating with the villagers. No further details were
known.
Religious press outlets reported that on September 4, 2005, fifteen
extremists disrupted a Christian worship service at Allahabad
Agricultural Institute destroying, religious items and injuring several
persons. No further details were known.
Religious press outlets reported that on November 6, 2005, Hindu
extremists disrupted a prayer gathering of approximately 200 Christians
at the home of a family in Uttar Pradesh. The extremists accused the
host family of converting Hindus to Christianity.
The press reported that on April 17, 2005, in West Bengal, members
of forty-five tribal families reconverted to Hinduism from Christianity
in a ceremony reportedly conducted by the VHP. The local administration
investigated and determined that there was no indication that the
conversions were forced. Some of the reconverted were reportedly from
neighboring states such as Jharkhand and Orissa. A Christian
organization leader asserted that there was no proof that the
reconverted were actual Christians. No new information was available
regarding this case.
On December 5, 2005, the press reported that a mob ransacked a
church in West Bengal and burned a Bible after priests objected to
activities of a local criminal gang. The attackers destroyed furniture,
stole items of value and burnt the church Bible. Police arrested two
attackers. No one was injured in the attack.
Press reported that on January 16, 2006, ten were injured after the
demolition of the Christ Mission Ashram church in south Calcutta, West
Bengal, resulted in a clash between church members and Calcutta
Metropolitan Development Authority workers.
In April 2005, NDTV reported the conversion of Hindu migrant
laborers from Bihar to Sikhism in Punjab. The state has more than one
million migrant laborers, largely from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,
employed in agriculture and industry. Experts observed that the
migrants, who are either low-caste or dalit Hindus, convert to escape
widespread discrimination, and that, although they become a more
accepted part of Sikh society, they remained at the lowest end of the
Sikh social and caste ``hierarchy.''
According to the Home Ministry, from 2002 to 2003, approximately
56,246 Pandit families were driven from their homes in Jammu and
Kashmir by anti-Hindu violence perpetrated by Muslim insurgents and
terrorists. Of these refugees, 4,778 families still were living in 12
refugee camps in Jammu at the end of the period covered by this report,
and 238 families were still in Delhi's 14 camps, with the remainder
living elsewhere.
The Pandit community criticized the bleak physical, educational,
and economic conditions in the camps and feared that a negotiated
solution giving greater autonomy to the state's Muslim majority might
prevent their return and threaten the continued survival of the Pandit
community in Jammu and Kashmir.
Following the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, terrorists slaughtered
nine members of two Hindu families in Bedhal tehsil in the border
district of Rajouri on October 10, 2005. The terrorists, thought to be
members of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, raided a Hindu home and slit the throats
of the male family members one by one, killing two children in front of
their father before killing him. Soon after, the same militants killed
four members of another Hindu family in a different village. Security
forces launched a search for the militants.
The slaughter of cows, considered holy by Hindus, sometimes led to
violence. Several state governments (including Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh, and Gujarat) have passed laws prohibiting slaughter of bovine
species. Hindu nationalists often forcibly implemented these laws
themselves.
On July 10, 2004, a Muslim farmer tried to sell a bull at the
Barghat weekly market, located approximately 20 kilometers from the
town of Seoni in Madhya Pradesh. Several Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal
activists accosted him, accusing him of trying to sell his bull to a
butcher and beat him to death. The district police arrested the
attackers.
In March 2005, in Kota, Rajashtan, activists from the Bajrang Dal
clashed with a Muslim over the possession of a cow, leaving two persons
injured. One member of the Bajrang Dal was beaten up when he attempted
to stop the slaughter of a cow in Kota. In retaliation, a group from
the Bajrang Dal clashed with the Muslims, injuring one.
On November 5, 2005, one person was killed and thirteen injured
during communal clashes resulting from the slaughter of a cow in three
villages in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Reportedly, Hindus caught two men
selling beef on November 1 (the night of the Hindu festival Diwali)
and, when no charges were filed against the vendors, attacked Muslim
property and burned approximately twenty-four houses. The police
station commander was suspended for dereliction of duty and the police
later arrested twelve persons in connection with the violence.
Some upper-caste Hindus, fearing that conversions by Hindu
tribespeople and dalits to Christianity might weaken and ultimately
destroy the rigid caste hierarchy, committed acts of violence against
Christians.
In 2001, Human Rights Watch reported that the practice of
dedicating or marrying young, prepubescent girls to a Hindu deity or
temple as ``servants of god,'' or ``Devadasis,'' reportedly continued
in several southern states, including Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Devadasis, who generally are dalits, may not marry. They must live
apart from their families and are required to provide sexual services
to priests and high caste Hindus. Reportedly, many eventually are sold
to urban brothels. The Devadasi tradition is linked, to some degree, to
both trafficking and the spread of HIV/AIDS. In 1992, the state of
Karnataka passed the Karnataka Devadasi Prohibition of Dedication Act
(KDPDA) and called for the rehabilitation of Devadasis, but this law
reportedly was not enforced effectively and criminalized the actions of
Devadasis. Since Devadasis are by custom required to be sexually
available to higher caste men, it reportedly is difficult for them to
obtain justice from the legal system if they are raped. The KDPDA does
not have a provision for penalizing offenders; however the Department
of Women and Child Development formed a team to review the act to
provide for such a provision.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. Embassy continued to promote religious freedom through contact
with the country's senior leadership, as well as with state and local
officials. The embassy and consulates regularly met with religious
leaders and report on events and trends that affect religious freedom.
The U.S. Government supported a wide range of initiatives to
encourage religious and communal tolerance and freedom. Members of the
embassy community celebrated Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist,
and Jewish festivals throughout the year with members of the various
religious communities.
The embassy repeatedly expressed concern over Rajasthan's anti-
conversion legislation with high ranking officials of the state and
national governments, including the NHRC. The mission also expressed
concern over Jharkand Chief Minister Arjun Munda's December 2005
announcement that he would propose legislation against forcible
religious conversions. No legislation had been enacted in Jharkhand by
the end of the period covered by this report.
Throughout the reporting period, mission officers investigated and
reported on numerous cases of alleged religious persecution, the
reported harassment of EMI by the Rajasthan Government, discrimination
against dalits and religiously motivated attacks by militants and
terrorists, including the bombings at the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.
Mission officers also monitored the plight of internally displaced
Kashmiri Hindus, known as Pandits, who fled their home areas in the
valley of Kashmir starting in 1989 due to attacks on them by terrorists
seeking to drive out non-Muslim minorities.
Embassy officers regularly met with the NHRC General Secretary and
other Commission officers regarding actions by the state government
that have been injurious to the free exercise of belief by religious
minorities.
During the period covered by this report, embassy and consulate
officials met with important leaders of all significant minority
communities. Officers regularly met with representatives of the
country's diverse Muslim community and continued an active program of
outreach to explain U.S. policies around the world and to better
understand Indian Muslim attitudes towards the United States. In April
2006, the Calcutta Consulate organized a conference on ``Perspectives
on Islamic Education in the Twenty First Century.'' Madrassah teachers
attended the program and discussed topics including Education, Religion
and Public Policy, New Directions in Madrassah Education in India, and
Education and Women in Islam. In December, the Calcutta Consulate also
hosted a seminar on the role of religious leaders in combating HIV/AIDS
in their communities.
In March 2005, the U.S. Department of State revoked the visa of a
senior level state government official under section 212(a)(2)(G) of
the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which makes ineligible any
foreign government official who ``was responsible for or directly
carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious
freedom.''
The NGO and missionary communities in the country were extremely
active on questions of religious freedom, and mission officers meet
regularly with local NGOs.
The U.S. Government continued to express regret over the communal
violence in Gujarat in 2002, and urged all parties in Gujarat to
resolve their differences peacefully. Consulate officers also met in
Mumbai with a range of NGO, business, media, and other contacts,
including Muslim leaders, to monitor the aftermath of the Gujarat
violence. The U.S. Embassy and the Mumbai, Chennai, and Calcutta
Consulates reached out to madrassahs through the special International
Visitor Madrassah programs.
The Consulate in Chennai also organized roundtables in June 2003,
October 2004, and November 2005 to promote better understanding between
the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist communities. The Chennai
Consulate continued to reach out to the Muslim community. The consulate
continued to provide English instruction to underprivileged Muslim
children, to donate books to madrassahs in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and
Karnataka, and to sponsor qualified Muslims for IV programs on
``Islamic Life in the U.S.'' and ``Religious Education in the U.S.''
U.S. officials, including the ambassador, continued to engage state
officials on the reversal of anti-conversion laws. Embassy officers
also raised the specific case of Rajasthan's new law at senior levels
of the state and national governments and with the NHRC.
__________
KAZAKHSTAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the various
religious communities worship largely without government interference.
Although local officials attempt on occasion to limit the practice of
religion by some nontraditional groups, higher-level officials, or
courts usually intervene to correct such attempts.
The overall status of religious freedom deteriorated somewhat
during the period covered by this report. 2005 legislation that limited
constitutional protections of religious freedom remained in force.
National security amendments enacted on July 8, 2005, imposed mandatory
registration requirements on missionaries and religious organizations.
Most religious groups, including minority and nontraditional
denominations, reported that the legal changes were implemented in a
manner that did not materially affect religious activities.
Unregistered religious groups reported an increase in court actions
against them and an increase in the level of fines imposed for
nonregistration.
During the period covered by this report, levels of harassment of
religious organizations by local officials remained consistent with the
previous reporting period. Reports of local law enforcement officials
visiting religious organizations for inspections remained at a level
consistent with previous years and most religious organizations
reported generally good cooperation from the Government.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
ambassador and other U.S. officials have supported the country's
efforts to increase links and mutual understanding among religious
groups. U.S. officials engaged in private and public dialogue at all
levels to urge that any new legislation be consistent with the
country's constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and with the
country's tradition of religious tolerance. U.S. embassy and U.S.
Department of State officials visited religious facilities, met with
religious leaders, and worked with government officials to address
specific cases of concern. During the reporting period, the embassy
sponsored exchange programs for Muslim and other religious leaders to
meet with a diverse range of counterparts in the United States. U.S.
embassy officials maintained an ongoing dialogue with a broad range of
groups within the religious community.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1,052,540 square miles, and according to
January 2006 data from the government statistics agency, its population
is 15,219,300.
The society is ethnically diverse, and many religious groups are
represented. Due in part to the country's nomadic and Soviet past, many
residents describe themselves as nonbelievers. Several researchers
reported and surveys suggested low levels of religious conviction and
worship attendance. The Government maintains statistics on the number
of registered congregations and organizations but does not keep
statistics on the size of each group. The most recent reliable
statistics on religious affiliation came from the 1999 census. Although
there was a large increase in the number of minority religious
congregations registered since 1999, the Government believes that
percentages of the population adhering to particular faiths have
remained consistent.
Ethnic Kazakhs, who constituted approximately one-half of the
population, and ethnic Uzbeks, Uighurs, and Tatars, who collectively
comprised less than 10 percent, are historically Sunni Muslims of the
Hanafi school. Other Islamic groups, which accounted for less than 1
percent of the population, included Shafit Sunni (traditionally
associated with Chechens), Shi'a, Sufi, and Ahmadi. The highest
concentration of citizens who identified themselves as practicing
Muslims was located in the southern region bordering Uzbekistan. A
sizeable population of ethnic Russians, and smaller populations of
ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Belarusians, were Russian Orthodox by
tradition; together they constituted approximately one-third of the
population. An estimated 1.5 percent of the population was ethnic
German, many of whom were Roman Catholic or Lutheran.
According to government statistics, Protestant Christian
congregations outnumbered Russian Orthodox congregations, although it
is unlikely that their number of adherents is higher. The Government
reported registering ninety-three ``nontraditional'' Protestant
Christian churches and forty-five affiliated foreign missionaries
during the reporting period.
There were two Baptist groups in the country, the Council of
Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists (``Council of
Churches'') and the Union of Evangelical Christians and Baptists
(``Union of Baptists''). Although there were no precise statistics
available on the Council of Churches, religious observers estimated up
to 1,000 adherents, while Union of Baptists adherents were reported to
number more than 10,000. The Government reportedly registered 198 Union
of Baptists churches during the reporting period, along with 22
affiliated foreign missionaries.
Other Christian associations with a sizable number of congregations
included Presbyterians, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day
Adventists, and Pentecostals. Smaller communities of Methodists,
Mennonites, and Mormons were registered. During the reporting period
government officials continued to report an increase in registrations
of congregations and missionaries affiliated with South Korean
Protestant Christian churches.
There was a Roman Catholic archdiocese, whose members accounted for
2 percent of the population, and which includes many ethnic Ukrainians
and ethnic Germans. The Government reported eighty-three registered
Roman Catholic churches and affiliated organizations throughout the
country. During the year the Government registered 198 foreign Roman
Catholic clergy and missionaries. A smaller, affiliated community of
Greek Catholics, many of whom were ethnic Ukrainians, registered three
churches, which were served by nine foreign priests and missionaries.
A Jewish community, estimated at well below 1 percent of the
population, had synagogues in several larger cities, including Almaty,
Astana, and Pavlodar. Rabbis in Almaty reported an increase in
attendance for both services and religious education during the
reporting period. The Government reported registering eight foreign
rabbis and Jewish missionaries.
The Government registered fifty-eight nontraditional religious
groups during the reporting period, including affiliates of the Hare
Krishna movement, the Baha'is, Christian Scientists, and the
Unification Church. The Government reported four registered Buddhist
groups throughout the country.
According to government statistics, there were 413 foreign
missionaries in the country as of January 2006. The majority of
registered missionaries identified themselves as Christian, with many
coming from South Korea, Russia, and other former Soviet countries.
While there were only twelve registered foreign Muslim missionaries,
more unregistered ones were believed to be active in the southern
regions of the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the various
religious groups worshiped largely without government interference;
however, local and regional officials attempted on occasion to limit or
control the practice of religion by several groups, especially
nontraditional religious communities. The constitution defines the
country as a secular state and provides the right to decline religious
affiliation.
However, the Government enacted national security amendments in
July 2005 that narrowed legal protections for religious freedom. The
amendments clarified that religious groups are required to register
with the Government and in the individual regions (oblasts) in which
they have congregations. The amendments give government officials the
right to suspend activities of religious groups for administrative
reasons. The Government continued to express publicly its support for
religious tolerance and diversity.
The national religion law explicitly requires religious
organizations to register with the Government; however, it continues to
provide that all persons are free to practice their religion ``alone or
together with others.'' Prior to 2005 national security amendments to
the religion law, religious organizations were required to register if
they wished to be accorded legal status in order to buy or rent
property, hire employees, or engage in other legal transactions. To
register, a religious organization must have at least ten members and
submit an application to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). In practice
most religious communities choose to register with the Government and
are registered with few difficulties.
In December 2005 the Government established the Religious Issues
Committee (RIC) within the MOJ. This MOJ committee replaced the Council
on Relations with Religious Communities (CRRC), which reported to the
prime minister. The RIC serves as a liaison between religious groups
and the Government. In addition, the RIC serves as a consultative body
within the MOJ to facilitate the registration of religious groups. Most
of the twenty-two RIC employees previously worked with the CRRC.
In 2004 the MOJ designed and implemented a new, one-step
registration process, and religious groups noted that registration
became more efficient during the reporting period. Article 9 of the
religion law requires registration of local religious organizations
with the regional office of the MOJ. While religious groups were able
to register without difficulty in most cases, some minority religious
groups reported that local MOJ officials sometimes denied or delayed
registration based on minor administrative concerns. Officials in
Western Kazakhstan and Atyrau Oblasts were cited by several groups as
being resistant to working with nontraditional groups seeking
registration.
The Council of Churches has a policy of not seeking or accepting
registration in former Soviet countries. In 1961 the Council of
Churches split from the Union of Baptists, which has no objection to
registering its congregations. The Union of Baptists reported that all
congregations that sought registration during the reporting period
successfully obtained it.
The Jehovah's Witnesses Religious Center reported that local MOJ
authorities have refused, since 2001, repeated applications to register
its branch in Atyrau Oblast.
As in previous years, government officials frequently expressed
concern regarding the potential spread of political and religious
extremism in the south of the country. The Committee for National
Security (KNB) has characterized the fight against ``religious
extremism'' as a top priority of the internal intelligence service. An
extremism law that came into effect in February 2005 applies to
religious and other organizations. Under this law, the Government has
broad latitude in identifying and designating a group as an extremist
organization, banning a designated group's activities, and
criminalizing membership in a banned organization. In March 2005 the
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) political movement was the first organization
banned under the extremism law. By the end of the reporting period, no
apolitical religious organizations had been outlawed as extremist.
The elections law prohibits political parties based upon ethnic,
gender, or religious affiliation.
In 2002 the Constitutional Council ruled that a particular
legislative provision violated the constitutional principle separating
church and state. This provision required that the Spiritual
Association of Muslims of Kazakhstan (SAMK), a national organization
headed by the chief mufti in Almaty, must approve the registration of
any Muslim group. The council also noted that the provisions might
infringe on the constitutional right to freely disseminate religious
beliefs.
In an early 2005 meeting with imams from throughout the country,
President Nursultan Nazarbayev reportedly stated that Sunni mosques
should affiliate with the SAMK. In May 2005 the press reported that the
akim (governor) of Southern Kazakhstan Oblast, along with heads of
regional law enforcement agencies, met with imams of mosques in that
oblast in an effort to pressure nonaligned imams and congregations to
join the SAMK to ensure liturgical orthodoxy. There were unconfirmed
reports that other oblast akims held similar meetings with imams to
encourage affiliation with the SAMK. On several occasions the chief
mufti publicly deplored the proliferation of nontraditional religions,
which he defined as any congregation not affiliated with the Russian
Orthodox Church or with the SAMK. During a May conference on Sufism in
Iran and Central Asia, several local Sufis reportedly accused the SAMK
of promoting ``Wahhabism'' and intolerance among Muslims, a charge the
SAMK publicly denied. Notwithstanding SAMK influence and pressure,
during the reporting period the Government registered mosques and
Muslim communities unaffiliated with the SAMK.
Neither law nor regulation prohibits foreign missionary activity.
Foreign missionaries, like all visitors, are required to register with
the migration police and indicate the purpose of their stay. Under July
2005 amendments to the religion law, local and foreign missionaries are
required to register annually with the MOJ and provide information on
religious affiliation, territory of missionary work, and time period
for conducting that work. All literature and other materials to be used
to support missionary work must be provided with the registration
application; use of materials not vetted during the registration
process is illegal. In addition, a missionary must produce registration
documents for the sponsoring religious organization and a power of
attorney from the sponsoring organization to be allowed to work on its
behalf. The MOJ may refuse registration to missionaries whose work
would be inconsistent with the law, including laws prohibiting the
incitement of interethnic or interreligious hatred. The constitution
requires foreign religious associations to conduct their activities,
including appointing the heads of religious associations, ``in
coordination with appropriate state institutions.'' Foreigners are
permitted under the law to register religious organizations; however,
they generally are required to list a majority of local citizens among
the ten founders of the organization.
During the reporting period one group reported difficulty in
obtaining registration for a missionary who moved from Southern
Kazakhstan Oblast to Almaty. The missionary was registered to work in
Almaty in May 2006. Two groups reported that foreign missionaries were
denied entry into the country based upon another government's addition
of these missionaries to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
visa blacklist which the Government is bound by treaty obligations to
honor. In one case, the missionary had worked in the country for more
than ten years and his family was living in Karaganda. Many foreign
missionaries reported good cooperation with local and national
authorities.
The Government does not permit religious instruction in public
schools. Children must attend secular schools through high school; some
secular schools are private. Homeschooling is not permitted, except for
children at the preschool level and for noncitizen children. Parents
may enroll children in supplemental religious education classes
provided by registered religious organizations.
The July 2005 national security amendments include a provision that
religious training of a child shall not cause damage to a child's all-
around development or physical or moral health. However, they do not
clarify how such damage should be judged or which agency would make
such a determination. The current law does not allow religious groups
to educate children without approval from the Ministry of Education.
This makes lack of such approval a ground for refusing to register a
religious organization whose charter includes provisions for religious
education. In early 2005 the Ministry of Education issued a circular
instructing teachers to be alert in detecting behavior that indicated
children were being exposed to political or religious extremism. There
were unconfirmed reports that similar instructions were reiterated
during the reporting period, although there were no reports of legal
proceedings resulting from teachers reporting on students' religious
education.
The Government exempted registered religious organizations from
taxes on both church collections and income from certain religious
activities. However, congregations are required to pay for services
such as fire company protection for religious buildings, a service not
provided by the Government. The Government has donated buildings, land,
and provided other assistance for the construction of new mosques,
synagogues, and Russian Orthodox churches.
The Government invited the national leaders of the two largest
religious groups, Islam and Russian Orthodoxy, to participate jointly
in some state events; Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders have been
included in such events as well. Leaders of other religious groups,
including Baptists, Presbyterians, Seventh-day Adventists, and other
nontraditional religious groups, at times also have participated in
some events.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Under the amended religion law, the Government may deny
registration based upon an insufficient number of adherents or
inconsistencies between the provisions of a religious organization's
charter and the law. Under the law on public associations, a registered
organization, including a religious group, may have all activities
suspended by court order for a period of three to six months for
defiance of the constitution or laws or for systematic pursuit of
activities that contradict the charter and bylaws of the organization
as registered. In February 2005 the parliament amended this law to
empower police, procurators, and citizens to petition a court to
suspend the activities of a registered organization for failure to
rectify violations or for repeated violations of the law. This
amendment was passed at the same time as the extremism law was adopted.
During a suspension, the organization concerned is prohibited from
speaking with the media on behalf of the organization; holding
meetings, gatherings, or services; and undertaking financial
transactions other than meeting ongoing contractual obligations such as
paying salaries. The Government usually claimed that religious groups'
charters did not meet the requirements of the law when refusing or
significantly delaying registration. In several cases authorities cited
discrepancies between Russian and Kazakh language versions of a group's
charter or referred a charter for expert examination.
Article 375 of the Administrative Code allows authorities to
suspend the activities or fine the leaders of unregistered groups.
Recent amendments to the religion law incorporate language consistent
with Article 375. During the period covered by this report,
unregistered denominations reported an increase in cases filed under
Article 375. As in previous years, the court of first instance often
acquitted the accused. Religious groups reported cases filed under
Article 374-1, a related provision added to the Administrative Code by
the July 2005 national security amendments, which carries significantly
heavier fines than Article 375. Local authorities have broad discretion
in determining whether to file charges for nonregistered religious
activity under Article 375 or 374-1, which was applied unevenly in
different localities.
Procurators have the right to inspect annually all organizations
registered with state bodies; there were few reports that these
inspections, when they occurred, were overly intrusive or were
considered harassment by any religious groups inspected. Where
religious groups operated as legal entities, such as by running
collective farms and restaurants or operating orphanages, authorities
conducted health, sanitation, and other inspections relevant to the
nature of the entities' operations. Authorities conducted public safety
inspections of premises used for religious worship to ensure compliance
with building and fire codes. These inspections also provided
authorities with information about the registration status of the
groups being inspected.
Although the national Jehovah's Witnesses Religious Center noted
generally positive relations with the central Government, the group
alleged several incidents of harassment by local governments. Although
local Jehovah's Witnesses organizations are registered at the national
level, in Astana and Almaty, and in thirteen (of fourteen) oblasts, the
center has attempted unsuccessfully since 2001 to register in Atyrau
Oblast. Its most recent application was turned down in December 2005
based on incomplete registration materials. The Jehovah's Witnesses
claimed that local officials sometimes denied the group permits to rent
stadiums and other large public or private sites for religious
meetings. However, the Center also reported that government treatment
of these requests varied. No other religious groups have reported
similar instances of being denied permits for public gatherings.
There were reports that local representatives of the KNB or police
officials disrupted meetings in private homes during the period covered
by this report. Several groups reported that local law enforcement
representatives attended their services although their presence
generally was not considered disruptive.
During the reporting period the Council of Churches noted several
court cases against churchgoers for participating in the activities of
an unregistered group. When individuals were found to be guilty of
violating Article 375 of the administrative code, courts imposed a
fine. Council of Churches members usually refused to pay fines levied
by courts for nonregistration. Although the Government generally did
not enforce payment of the fines, in one instance authorities imposed a
three-day jail sentence.
Although the Hare Krishna movement was registered at the national
and local levels, leaders reported continuing harassment by the local
government in the form of repeated lawsuits seeking confiscation of
land in Almaty Oblast used as a communal farm. In April 2006 an appeals
court upheld a lower court decision that the land should revert to the
Karasai regional akimat (equivalent to a county government), because
the farmer from whom Hare Krishna followers had purchased the land in
1999 did not hold title, and thus the land had not been properly
privatized. On April 25, 2006, local officials went to the commune to
evict the followers. Hare Krishna followers peacefully resisted and
local authorities did not escalate the situation through force. The
Hare Krishnas claimed that the local government targeted the commune
because they were a nontraditional religious community. They cited
statements by local officials, such as an April 25, 2006, interview
with Channel 31 in which a Karasai akimat official stated that the Hare
Krishnas were ``not accepted as a religion,'' and that they were
dangerous for the country. Independent religious observers, however,
believed that the cases are motivated primarily by a financial interest
in the land, the value of which has appreciated significantly since
1999. Human rights advocates and international observers brought the
issue to the attention of national officials. At the end of the
reporting period, the Government had not evicted the residents from the
commune and the Hare Krishnas' appeal was pending before the Supreme
Court.
Prior to the land confiscation lawsuits, the Hare Krishnas reported
tense relations with Karasai akimat authorities, which they believe
resulted in the community being subject to frequent inspections. In
2004 the Hare Krishna commune was the subject of eleven inspections by
different government agencies including the police, fire protection
service, sanitary agency, environment protection agency, and land
committee, and subsequently fined for various violations. The Hare
Krishnas admitted several violations, which they attempted to rectify
but maintained that they had been subjected to closer scrutiny than
their neighbors.
Observers believe that security officials informally monitor some
religious activity, particularly Muslim imams' sermons; however, no
suggestion has been made that any monitoring had the character of
interference or harassment.
The Ahmadi Muslim community reported difficulties in obtaining
visas and registration for a foreign missionary and his family. In
November 2005 foreign missionary Syed Hasan Tahir Bukhari, also known
as Asan Takhir Sayid Bukhari, moved from Southern Kazakhstan Oblast to
Almaty. His initial application to register in Almaty was denied based
on incomplete materials and out-of-date documents. Bukhari was
registered in Almaty in May 2006 after government liaison officials
assisted the Ahmadis in completing his registration.
Both the national government and the national Muslim organization
SAMK deny that there is any official connection between them. However,
the Government has sought several times in recent years, in the form of
proposed amendments to the religion law, to have the organization
assume a quasi-official role by requiring it to determine which Muslim
groups be allowed to register with authorities and to approve the
construction of new mosques. In 2002 the Constitutional Council ruled
that these provisions of the proposed amendments were unconstitutional;
however, several akims were reported to have exerted pressure on imams
and mosques to align themselves with the SAMK.
Several religious groups, including unregistered Baptists, Hare
Krishnas, and Jehovah's Witnesses, reported that they had been the
subject of news accounts portraying them, or nontraditional religions
in general, as a threat to security or society. Some of the news
accounts appeared in government-controlled media. However, news
accounts relating to the April 25, 2006, attempted eviction of Hare
Krishnas from their commune were generally sympathetic to the group,
including accounts appearing in government-controlled media.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
As in the previous reporting period, there were no reports of
prolonged detention of members of religious organizations for
proselytizing. On occasion authorities took action against individuals
who were not registered as missionaries who were engaged in
proselytizing; however, such actions were limited to the confiscation
of religious literature, fines, and brief detentions.
There were no reports of religious detainees or prisoners in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversions
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Despite legislative setbacks in 2005, the country has out performed
other former Soviet Union nations in its encouragement of religious
tolerance and its respect for the rights of religious minorities.
Religious leaders praised the role the Government played in ensuring
their groups' right to the peaceful practice of religious beliefs. Some
perceived the former Chairman of the Secretariat of the Council on
Relations with Religious Communities, now the deputy head of the newly
organized RIC, and the Ombudsman's Office, as advocates for religious
freedom within the Government. In each of the fourteen oblasts, the
equivalent of state governments, and in the two cities with independent
administrations, Astana and Almaty, the local government (akimat)
included a liaison for religious communities. Several of these liaisons
were cited by religious groups as a resource for assistance in
navigating registration and other laws, while akimat officials in other
oblasts were described as unhelpful or intrusive. Several
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including the Almaty Helsinki
Foundation and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and
Rule of Law (KIBHR), assisted religious groups, including providing
legal assistance for registration.
National and regional (oblast) officials, including RIC officials,
continued to intervene in cases of restriction or harassment of
religious groups by local officials. The frequency of
higherlevel intervention has generally reduced harassment of
religious groups at the local level. During the period covered by this
report, continued activism by national and regional officials resolved
conflicts between nontraditional religious groups and local
authorities.
President Nazarbayev announced in September 2003 that he would
continue his ``Peace and Harmony'' initiative by hosting the second
Congress of World Religions in Astana in September 2006 and by inviting
several previously unrepresented groups. Nazarbayev regularly made
public statements highlighting and praising the country's tradition of
interethnic and interfaith tolerance. The president remains engaged
with international religious leaders and communities.
In June 2006 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-hosted an OSCE
Implementation Meeting in Almaty on religious tolerance. Religious
leaders reported plans to begin building several large houses of
worship during the coming year, including a new Russian Orthodox
cathedral in Astana, a new synagogue complex in Almaty, and a new
synagogue in Ust-Kamenogorsk.
According to government statistics, the number of registered
religious groups has risen steadily over the last few years. In January
2006 there were 3,420 groups, compared with 3,259 in 2005 and 3,157 in
2004. The Union of Baptists, for example, grew from 254 registered
affiliated groups in 2003 to 272 in 2006.
The Government made efforts to promote religious tolerance in its
ranks. Human rights training provided to law enforcement officers by
NGOs in cooperation with the Government included information on
religious rights under the law.
There were no reports of incidents of anti-Semitism committed by
the Government. The country's chief rabbi consistently praised the
Government for its proactive protection of the Jewish community. He
previously stated publicly that in his more than ten years in the
country, he had never faced a single case of anti-Semitism. Other than
the actions of members of the extremist HT political movement, who
printed and distributed leaflets that supported anti-Semitism among
other beliefs, there were no reports of anti-Semitic incitement or acts
during the year.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The country is multiethnic,
with a long tradition of tolerance and secularism. Since independence,
the number of mosques and churches has increased greatly. The
population, particularly in rural areas, is sometimes wary of
nontraditional religions.
In 2004 the media reported a conflict between missionaries from
Missionary Center Grace Rakhim and local Muslims in a village in Akmola
Oblast. The missionaries, who identified themselves as Presbyterian
Christians, were reportedly threatened, beaten, and exiled from the
village when they attempted to convert local residents. In general
Grace Rakhim Church reported good relations between its missionaries
and the community during the reporting period. Akimat officials in
Karaganda Oblast, where Grace Church has its national headquarters,
invited church leaders to public functions and publicly praised the
work of the church during meetings with U.S. embassy officials.
Several members of parliament were quoted in the press expressing
suspicion of nontraditional religions, including the Jehovah's
Witnesses and Evangelical Christian movements. Leaders of the four
traditional religious groups, Islam, Russian Orthodoxy, Roman
Catholicism, and Judaism, reported general acceptance and tolerance
that was not always enjoyed by other minority religious groups. During
the reporting period, there were no reports of such mistrust leading to
violence.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
officials emphasized that bilateral cooperation on economic and
security matters is a complement to, not a substitute for, meaningful
progress on human rights, including religious freedom. The ambassador
and embassy officers remained engaged in dialogue with the Government
to seek assurance that any legislation relating to religious freedom be
drafted through a transparent legislative process, and that it reflect
the country's international commitments to respect individuals' right
to peaceful expression of religion.
U.S. officials expressed concern at high levels over the extremism
law prior to its passage in early 2005. Following passage of the law,
U.S. officials remained engaged with the Government to encourage that
the law be implemented in a manner that least restricted religious
practice.
The ambassador and other embassy officials coordinated with other
embassies and international human rights organizations to encourage the
Government to seek legal expert assistance from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office of Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) in drafting implementing regulations for
legislation that had implications for the religious community,
including the national security amendments that were enacted in July
2005. The ambassador gave several interviews in which he publicly
reiterated the U.S. position against legislation that did not appear to
meet international standards for protecting religious freedom and other
fundamental rights.
Embassy and U.S. Department of State officials visited houses of
worship, met with religious leaders, and worked with government
officials to address specific cases of concern.
The embassy maintained contact with a broad range of religious
communities and reported on violations of their constitutional and
human rights. Department of State officials met with government
officials and members of faith-based groups in the country, and embassy
officials consistently raised cases of local harassment with government
officials, who generally worked to resolve these cases, ensuring an
equitable application of the law. Senior U.S. Government officials met
with senior government officials to raise religious freedom concerns.
Embassy officials worked to connect religious communities with in-
country legal resources to assist with registration concerns.
In his preface to a documentary on Muslims in America by regional
broadcaster Mir TV, the ambassador emphasized, ``Freedom of religion is
one of the most fundamental values of the American way of life,'' and
praised the film for showing the wisdom of community leaders who
demonstrated how to separate extremist ideologies from the peaceful
observance of the Muslim faith. The documentary was produced by three
journalists who traveled to the United States on a U.S. Government
program in the fall of 2005, where they collected material on Islam in
America. In early 2006 the finished product was broadcast on local
television news in all CIS countries except Turkmenistan.
The ambassador toured houses of worship and met with religious
leaders during trips to regional (oblast) capitals throughout the year.
Embassy officials regularly attended public events in support of the
religious community, in addition to participating in roundtables and
other public debates on matters of religious freedom and tolerance.
U.S. officials in the country and in Washington were in regular contact
with NGOs that followed religious freedom topics, including the Almaty
Helsinki Committee and the Kazakhstan Bureau of International Human
Rights and Rule of Law.
In July 2005 the embassy provided grant support to the Youth Center
for Support of Democracy to create a Center for Religious Tolerance in
Shymkent, the capital of Southern Kazakhstan Oblast, where 30 percent
of the country's registered mosques are located. The April 27, 2006,
Center opening was attended by leaders from the local religious
community and was covered by local media. Members of the community have
access to books, reference materials, and other publications about
world religions, in addition to materials about sociology, theology,
and religious anthropology. The center offers monthly seminars on
topics such as the role of religion in democracies and the role of
religion in helping resolve social issues; staff members conduct
interreligious forums and roundtables with religious and public leaders
to discuss urgent social and political questions. In addition, the
center provides Internet access for students, teachers, and others
doing research on theology and religious tolerance.
In 2004 the U.S. Government added a religious component to its
overall development strategy for the country. Implementing
organizations and a regional religion, state and society (RSS)
specialist, based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, have been working to
increase outreach to religious communities in Shymkent. During the
reporting period, the RSS specialist toured Shymkent with religious
leaders and continued to publicize the scope of implementing
organizations' contributions, including civil society development,
which these partners provide. In addition, embassy officials held
meetings with implementing organizations and staff to encourage
partners to reach out to local religious leaders in their work, where
appropriate. In June 2006 the U.S. Government sponsored the
participation of a government official and several local Muslim leaders
in a regional conference on ``The Role of Religion in Promoting Peace
and Stability,'' held in Tajikistan.
During the period covered by this report, the embassy conducted
exchange programs for religious leaders and human rights observers, and
cosponsored several reunions for alumni of past exchange programs.
These included Muslim religious leaders and teachers who attended
programs in 2003 and 2004 on ``Islam in America'' that included tours
of U.S. cities and meetings with American religious leaders.
__________
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
The constitution and the law provide for freedom of religion, and
the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the
Government restricted the activities of radical Islamic groups that it
considered threats to stability and security. The constitution provides
for a secular state and the separation of religion and state. The
Government does not support any religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. The Government continued to
monitor and restrict Islamist groups that it considered to be threats.
In April 2004, then Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev signed a decree and
plan of action aimed at ``combating religious extremism'' from 2004 to
2005. The decree outlined responsibilities of various government
agencies directed at detection and prevention of terrorism and
religious extremism, including creating a database of foreign religious
extremist organizations, conducting an information campaign, and
preventing inter- and intra-faith conflicts. According to the State
Agency for Religious Affairs (SARA)--called the State Commission on
Religious Affairs, or SCRA, until November 2005--the decree expired in
April 2005 and was no longer enforced.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Some tensions occurred
between Muslims and former Muslims who had converted to other faiths.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as a part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, the U.S. embassy continued to
monitor progress of the draft law on religion and maintained contact
with government officials regarding religious affairs. Embassy
representatives met with leaders of religious communities, including
minority groups, and with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that
monitor religious freedom. The ambassador frequently participated in
outreach activities to various religious groups and promoted tolerance
among the various faiths.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 77,181 square miles, and its population
is approximately 5.1 million. The latest official data from the
National Statistics Committee indicated the following ethnic breakdown:
Kyrgyz, 67.4 percent; Uzbeks, 14.2 percent; Russians, 10.3 percent;
Dungans (ethnic Chinese Muslims), 1.1 percent; Uighurs (ethnic Turkic
Muslims), 1 percent; and other ethnicities, 6.4 percent.
Islam is the most widely held faith. Official sources estimate that
up to 80 percent of inhabitants are Muslim. The majority of Muslims are
Sunni; there are few Shi'a in the country (approximately one thousand).
According to the SARA, as of May 2006 there were an estimated 1,643
mosques, of which 1,623 were registered. There also were seven
institutes for higher Islamic teaching. According to recent official
estimates, approximately 11 percent of the population is Russian
Orthodox, although some experts believe the figure could be as low as 8
percent. The country has forty-four Russian Orthodox churches, one
Russian Orthodox monastery for women, and one parochial school. The
Seventh-day Adventist Church operates thirty churches throughout the
country. Jews, Buddhists, and Roman Catholics account for an estimated
3 percent of the population, and they practice their religions openly
in one synagogue, one temple, and three churches, respectively. In
addition, there are 265 registered Protestant houses of worship.
Protestant congregations include Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans,
nondenominational Protestants, Presbyterians, and Charismatics. There
are twelve registered Baha'i houses of worship.
The small Jewish congregation in Bishkek organizes informal
cultural studies and humanitarian services, chiefly food assistance for
its elderly. There also are syncretistic religious practices. Most
notably there is a Baptist church in the Naryn region whose followers
are predominantly ethnic Kyrgyz. While they worship as Christians, they
have incorporated Muslim modes of prayer into their rituals. There is
no official estimate of the number of atheists.
Islam is practiced widely throughout the country in both urban and
rural areas. Russian Orthodoxy typically is concentrated in cities with
a larger ethnic Russian population. Other faiths also are practiced
more commonly in the cities where their smaller communities tend to be
concentrated. There is a correlation between ethnicity and religion;
ethnic Kyrgyz are primarily Muslims, while ethnic Russians usually
belong to either the Russian Orthodox Church or one of the Protestant
denominations. While the majority claims to follow Islam, a significant
number of Muslims appear to be only nominal believers and identify with
the faith out of historical or ethnic allegiance. A significant number
of Russian Orthodox adherents also appear to be only nominal believers.
A number of missionary groups operate. The SARA has registered
missionaries from the Republic of Korea, Great Britain, the United
States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, India, Kazakhstan, Taiwan,
Tajikistan, and Russia. They represent an estimated twenty religious
groups and denominations, including Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, and
Korean Presbyterians. According to the SARA, since 1996 it has
registered approximately 1,133 missionaries, of whom an estimated 870
were Christian and 263 were Muslim. During the period covered by this
report, eighty-five missionaries, of whom sixty-two were Christian and
twenty-three were Muslim, conducted activities. According to official
statistics, since independence, authorities ordered approximately
twenty missionaries, who disseminated dogma inconsistent with the
traditional customs of local Muslims, to leave the country. However,
during the reporting period no missionaries were expelled, asked to
leave the country, or denied registration. All missionaries previously
expelled represented various ``totalitarian sects,'' groups the SCRA
considered incompatible with the standard principles of traditional
world religions.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution and the law provide for freedom of religion;
however, the Government at times restricted this right in practice, in
particular for Muslim groups it considered to be threats. The
constitution provides for a secular state and for the separation of
religion and state, and the Government does not support any particular
religion. Article 8 of the constitution prohibits the formation of
political parties on religious and ethnic grounds, as well as
activities of religious organizations that jeopardize the state,
constitutional system, or national security. Article 82 of the
constitution provides the constitutional court with the authority to
determine whether a religious organization should be prohibited.
The Government recognizes three Muslim holy days (Noorus, Kurman
Ait or Eid al-Adha, and Orozo Ait or Eid al-Fitr) and one Russian
Orthodox holy day (Orthodox Christmas, which is observed on January 7)
as national holidays. The president and the Government send greetings
to Muslims and Orthodox adherents on their major holy days, and the
greetings are printed in the mass media.
The SARA promotes religious tolerance, protects freedom of
conscience, and oversees the application of laws on religion. Members
of the agency are appointed by the prime minister. A 1997 presidential
decree requires the registration of all religious organizations with
the SARA, following approval from the Constitutional Court. While SARA
is the only government agency that has the right to register a
religious entity within Kyrgyzstan, it has no authority to declare a
religious group unqualified. It can, however, postpone the
certification of a particular religious group if SARA believes the
proposed activities of that group are not religious in character.
Unregistered religious organizations are prohibited from actions such
as renting space and holding religious services, although many do hold
regular services without government interference.
Organizations applying for registration must have at least ten
members who are adult citizens and must submit an application form,
organizational charter, minutes of an institutional meeting, and a list
of founding members. Each congregation must register separately. A
religious organization then must complete a registration process with
the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to obtain status as a legal entity, which
is necessary to own property, open bank accounts, and otherwise engage
in contractual activities. If a religious organization engages in
commercial activity, it is required to pay taxes. In practice the MOJ
has never registered a religious organization without prior
registration by the SARA. The registration process with the SARA is
often cumbersome, taking one month on average, but in the past it
sometimes took up to several years. According to SARA regulations,
registration is rejected if a religious organization does not comply
with the law or is a threat to national security, social stability,
interethnic and interdenominational harmony, public order, health, or
morality. An applicant whose registration is denied may reapply, and
may appeal to the courts.
In 2004 the Government created a website that documented the
religious organizations operating in the country. According to the
SARA, there were more than 2,081 registered religious entities,
including mosques, churches, foundations, NGOs of a religious nature,
and religious educational institutions. Of these, 347 were Christian.
The SARA reported that its staff continued to travel around the country
to help unregistered religious entities prepare applications for
registration. The most recent registration information provided by SARA
identified 1,725 Islamic entities (including 1 university), 46 entities
belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, more than 300
``nontraditional'' Christian churches, 2 Russian churches of ``Old
Belief,'' 3 Catholic churches, 1 synagogue, 1 Buddhist church, and 292
Protestant churches (48 Baptist, 20 Lutheran, 45 Pentecostal, 30
Adventist, 18 Presbyterian, 16 ``Charismatic'' churches, 41 Jehovah's
Witnesses, and 22 ``other'' Protestant churches). In addition, SARA
states that, in Kyrgyzstan, there are twenty-one ``other religious
entities,'' including twelve Baha'i centers, plus twenty-one religious
centers of ``other foreign confessions,'' thirteen religious schools,
and seven religious foundations and unions. Although there has been a
history of several groups, including the Catholic Church (RCC), having
difficulties registering, all, including the RCC, were eventually
registered, except for the Hare Krishnas, who continued to have
difficulties. Since 1996 SARA has registered more than 1,137 foreign
citizens as religious missionaries.
In December 2005 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) reported ongoing problems in its efforts to register with the
SARA; problems which remained unresolved at the end of the reporting
period. The church initially submitted its application for registration
in August 2004.
The Church of Jesus Christ is the country's largest Protestant
church with approximately ten affiliates and an estimated eleven
thousand members, of whom approximately 40 percent are ethnic Kyrgyz.
At the end of the period covered by this report, the main church in
Bishkek was registered, along with ten affiliates. The church reported
that over the past year, ten other affiliates decided to become
independent congregations and not be affiliated with the church.
Members of registered religious groups may undergo alternative
military service; it was reported in the press that approximately three
thousand persons apply annually.
Missionary groups of various religious groups operate freely,
although they are required to register with the Government.
The Government forbids the teaching of religion (or atheism) in
public schools. In 2001 the Government instructed the SCRA to draw up
programs for training clergy and to prepare methodologies for teaching
about religions in public schools. These instructions came in response
to concerns about the spread of Wahhabism and what the Government
considered unconventional religious sects. The SCRA turned to a number
of religious organizations for their ideas on introducing religious
education; their reaction generally was negative, as they preferred to
retain responsibility for the religious education of their adherents.
The SARA indicated that it was still developing a curriculum to teach
about religions, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and
several academic institutions; however, the program had not been
implemented because of lack of funding. Volunteers visited villages in
the south to teach traditional Islamic values.
In 2003 the SCRA and the state muftiate granted the Islamic
Institute the status of a university, which gave it authority over
other Islamic institutes in the country and allowed it to develop a
more standardized curriculum. In 2004 the Islamic University
(previously called the Islamic Institute) began a program to oversee
all Islamic schools, including madrassahs. As part of the program, the
Islamic University oversees curriculum development and tries to
maintain a more standardized curriculum among all Islamic schools. It
also declared that one of its goals is to check the spread of extremist
religious teaching. This program continued during the reporting period.
The Government worked through the SARA to promote interfaith dialogue
and encourage religious tolerance. The SARA hosted meetings of
religious groups to bring different faiths together in open forums, and
it assisted them in working together on programs for the protection of
the poor and the elderly.
Since 2001 the Government has worked with representatives of
various religious groups and NGOs on a draft law ``On Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Organizations,'' which is ostensibly a
response to concerns about terrorism and other illegal activities
committed by groups disguised as religious organizations. In May 2006 a
different draft bill was initiated by another group of deputies. Work
on the new draft bill continued at the end of the reporting period.
In August 2005 President Bakiyev signed into law legislation
designed to ``halt extremist activities by religious organizations or
groups.'' However, government officials, including at the SARA, were
unable to provide any details on how the law was being enforced or what
actions had been taken under the law.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government continued to express concern publicly about groups
that it viewed as extremist because of either radical religious or
political agendas. The Government was particularly concerned about the
threat of political Islam, whose followers (Islamists) it labels
``Wahhabis.'' The Government perceives Islamists to be a threat to
national stability, particularly in the south, and fears that they seek
to overthrow the secular government and establish an Islamic theocracy.
Armed incursions in 1999 and 2000 by members of the Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan (IMU), a terrorist organization, increased the Government's
concern regarding political Islam and the actions of militant Islamic
groups. In contrast to previous reporting periods, the Government
expressed no concern over the growing number of Christian groups.
In December 2004 police raided houses in Osh and the Aravan and
Nookat districts, areas of traditional Islamic beliefs, following a
November 2004 incident in which a suspect threw a grenade at police
while trying to escape. Officials maintained the November incident was
perpetrated by Islamic extremists. Local human rights observers
disputed these claims, and alleged that the incident was being used to
discriminate against Muslims as well as the Uzbek minority. In April
2006 police in Osh Oblast arrested twelve men, allegedly for links to
the 2004 grenade incident. Eight men arrested were released within
days, but the four others remain in custody and are awaiting trial.
In 2003 the Supreme Court sustained the ban on four political
organizations, imposed because of extremism and alleged ties to
international terrorist organizations: Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic
Party of Turkestan, the Organization for Freeing Eastern Turkestan, and
the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party.
A muftiate-established commission reviews and standardizes Islamic
educational literature printed and distributed in the country and
reviews new books on Islamic themes prior to publication.
The Church of Jesus Christ reported that it had resolved favorably
an ongoing dispute with the Bishkek mayor's office over the land on
which the main church in the city is located. In 2006 the church signed
a forty-nine-year lease for use of the land.
The Unification Church remains active, despite the SCRA suspension
of its activities in 2003 for registration irregularities, which was
upheld in an appeal to the Bishkek city court.
Although the Government monitored, including by filming, Protestant
and Muslim religious groups in the past, there were no reports of
surveillance during the period covered by this report. There were
unconfirmed reports that law enforcement officials monitored the
activities of missionaries.
In 2004 the Government signed a decree and plan of action
instructing the National Security Service (SNB) to propose measures to
``restrict and prevent the activities of missionaries who propagate
religious fundamentalism and extremism as well as reactionary and
Shi'ite ideas.'' However, the decree period ended in April 2005, and
was thereafter no longer in effect.
Despite announcing in 2004 that the Government would create a
special board to review religious literature, it took no further
action. The SARA confirmed in June 2006 that no board had been created.
The SARA stated that students, who for religious reasons choose to
wear clothing that would indicate adherence to a particular religion,
may attend religious schools. Conversely, according to press reports,
local officials in the Jalalabad Oblast town of Distuk tried to prevent
girls from wearing hijabs to school.
In December 2005 the Jalalabad city education department banned the
wearing of hijabs in that city's schools. Several parents protested the
move and demanded that the ban be lifted. As of the end of the
reporting period, the dispute continued.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Members of the two major
religious groups, Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church, respect each
other's major holy days and exchange holy day greetings.
There was no evidence of widespread societal discrimination or
violence against members of different religious groups; however, there
was evidence of periodic tension in rural areas between conservative
Muslims and foreign Christian missionaries and individuals from
traditionally Muslim ethnic groups who had converted to other faiths.
The U.S. embassy was unable to confirm the Forum 18 online news report
that Saktinbai Usmanov was killed for having converted from Islam to
Christianity. Police reportedly had no leads in the case but were
continuing their investigation. Both Muslim and Russian Orthodox
spiritual leaders criticized the proselytizing activities of
nontraditional Christian groups; however, in 2004 the press reported
that at least one Muslim spiritual leader of the Jalalabad region, Haji
Dilmurod, intervened to prevent the stoning of a group of converts to
Jehovah's Witnesses by local youths. During the period covered by this
report, there were no acts of violence, harassment, or vandalism
reported against Jewish persons, community institutions, schools,
synagogues, or cemeteries.
In April 2005 a group of Islamic extremists attacked a
rehabilitation center for former convicts near Bishkek. The group
attacked the center after they mistook it as a front for Christian
missionaries. Local police and SNB officials responded quickly to
defend the center, which thereafter continued to operate normally.
Despite appeals in the past for the expulsion of Protestants, and
Kyrgyz TV broadcasts that disparaged Protestants, there were no similar
appeals or programs aired during the period covered by this report.
In previous years it was reported that Protestant missionaries
working in the south aroused particular concern among some devout local
Uzbeks, and that Muslims were angered that the authorities monitored
and arrested alleged Islamic extremists but did not interfere with the
work of Protestant groups. However, no similar incidents were reported
during the period covered in this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, the U.S. embassy
continued to monitor the legislative progress of the draft law on
religion and maintained contact with government officials regarding
religious affairs. Embassy representatives met with leaders of
religious communities, including minority groups, and with NGOs
monitoring religious freedom.
On January 10, 2006, the deputy chief of mission addressed, in the
Kyrgyz language, thousands of Muslims who had gathered to pray in the
main square of Bishkek for Eid al-Adha. His speech, which highlighted
the importance of respect for different religious groups, received
positive coverage in the largest-circulation newspaper in the country.
A U.S. Government-funded institutional partnership continued
between the Social Sciences Research Council and the Islamic University
in Bishkek to supplement the religious curriculum with an international
curriculum to include math, English, and a course on comparative world
religions, and to establish exchange visits between university teachers
in the two countries. In 2006 the council purchased computer equipment
for the Islamic University. American professors are scheduled to visit
the Islamic University. In June 2005 the Social Sciences Research
Council organized a three-week summer institute in Kazan, Russia, where
four theology professors from the Islamic University, American
University in Central Asia, and Osh State University were invited to
participate.
During the period covered by the report, the embassy distributed
publications in Russian and Kyrgyz about Muslim life in the United
States and conducted several presentations for students of theology
departments in Bishkek and Southern provinces. In July 2005 a group of
Muslim leaders from Batken, Naryn, and Bishkek traveled to the United
States to participate in an International Visitors Program on religious
tolerance and diversity. Batken contains a majority of the Muslim
population in the country. The International Visitors met with U.S.
Department of State officials, American Muslim religious leaders, and
leaders of other organizations to discuss the relationship between
government and religion in the United States and to learn about the
American Muslim community. After their return, the participants
actively engaged in religious tolerance programs for youth.
The U.S.-sponsored Democracy Commission funded forty-nine grants to
local NGOs, one of which produced a documentary film in Kyrgyz,
Russian, and Uzbek about religious extremism in Central Asia. The film
was broadcast on the ``Mir'' TV channel, and distributed through
Internews, a U.S. Government grantee.
In April 2006 the embassy organized a U.S. Speaker Program with
Ahmed Younis from the U.S.-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, who
spoke about Muslims in America during his five-day stay in the country.
Younis visited mosques, madrassahs, and universities and met with
Muslim leaders and government officials to discuss religious tolerance,
interfaith peace, rights of Muslims, and the need to battle extremist
interpretations of Islam.
__________
MALDIVES
The 1997 Constitution designates Islam as the official state
religion. The Government interprets this provision to impose a
requirement that citizens be Muslims. Freedom of religion is restricted
significantly. The law prohibits the practice of any religion other
than Islam. The president is the ``supreme authority to propagate the
tenets of Islam.'' Government regulations are based on Islamic law
(Shari'a). Non-Muslim foreigners are allowed to practice their religion
only privately. Visitors must also refrain from encouraging local
citizens to practice any religion other than Islam.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Freedom of religion remained
severely restricted.
According to many officials and interlocutors, most citizens
regarded Islam as one of their society's most distinctive
characteristics and believed that it promotes harmony and national
identity.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country is an archipelago of approximately 1,200 coral atolls
and islands scattered over 500 square miles in the Indian Ocean
southwest of India, with a population estimated at 350 thousand.
The population was a distinct ethnic group with historical roots in
South Indian, Sinhalese, and Arab communities. The vast majority of the
Muslim population practiced Sunni Islam. Non-Muslim foreigners,
including more than 500 thousand tourists who visited annually
(predominantly Europeans and Japanese) and approximately 31 thousand
foreign workers (mainly Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Indians, and
Bangladeshis), were in general allowed to practice their religions only
in private. While Muslim tourists and Muslim foreign workers were
allowed to attend local mosque services, most practiced Islam in
private or at mosques located at the resorts where they worked and
lived.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Freedom of religion is restricted significantly. The 1997
Constitution designates Islam as the official state religion, and the
Government interprets this provision to impose a requirement that all
citizens be Muslims. The constitution also stipulates that the
president must be Sunni and has the ``supreme authority to propagate
the tenets of Islam.'' Non-Muslim foreign residents are allowed to
practice their religions only if they do so privately and do not
encourage local citizens to participate.
The Government follows civil law based on Shari'a. In the event a
situation is not covered by civil law, as well as in certain cases such
as divorce and adultery, Shari'a is applied.
Foreigners were not allowed to import any items deemed ``contrary
to Islam,'' including alcohol, pork products, or idols for worship.
Alcoholic beverages were available to tourists on resort islands, but
it remains against the law to offer alcohol to a local citizen.
Muslim holy days were generally national holidays.
Mosques were not required to register with the Government. Most
mosques were also funded and maintained by the Government.
The primary responsibility of imams was to present Friday sermons.
They used a set of government-approved sermons on a variety of topics
and were not legally empowered to write sermons independently. No one,
not even an imam, may publicly discuss Islam unless invited to do so by
the Government. According to government officials, this rule was in
place to maintain a moderate Islamic environment rather than a
fundamentalist one.
Men who wish to act as imams must sit for public exams and present
their scores and credentials to the Supreme Council for Islamic
Affairs, chaired by the chief justice. The supreme council is the body
empowered to certify imams; however, if the supreme council denies
certification, the petitioner can appeal to the Board of Education.
Islamic instruction was a mandatory part of the school curriculum,
and the Government funded the salaries of instructors of Islam. While
Islamic instruction was only one component of the curriculum used in
the majority of schools, there was one school which used Arabic as its
medium of instruction and focused primarily on Islam. Many people who
sought further religious education obtained it in Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, or other Islamic countries. Schools offered religious
education for women; however, there were no female imams.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom stated repeatedly that no religion
other than Islam should be allowed in the country. During previous
reporting periods, the Home Affairs Ministry announced special programs
to safeguard and strengthen religious identity. The Government
established the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs to provide guidance
on religious matters. The Government also set standards for imams who
conduct Friday services at mosques so that they have adequate
theological qualifications and to prevent fundamentalism from gaining
ground.
There were no places of worship for adherents of other religious
groups. The Government prohibited the importation of icons and
religious statues, but it generally permitted the importation of
religious literature, such as Bibles, for personal use. The sale of
religious items, such as Christmas cards, was restricted to the resort
islands patronized by foreign tourists.
Parents must raise their children to be Muslim because citizens
must be Muslim. Foreigners can raise their children to follow any
religion as long as they practice only privately in their homes or
hotel rooms and do not try to include local citizens in their worship.
The Government prohibited non-Muslim clergy and missionaries from
proselytizing or conducting public worship services. Islamic
proselytizing was also illegal unless the Government invited someone to
discuss the religion. Conversion of a Muslim to another faith is a
violation of Shari'a and may result in a loss of the convert's
citizenship; however, there were no known cases of the Government
discovering converts and rescinding citizenship as a result of
conversion. Faith-based nongovernmental organizations were not
specifically excluded by law from operating; however, in March 2006,
the local press reported that the fisheries minister called on citizens
to raze a marketplace structure constructed by a British firm. The
organization had received funding from the UK-based charity Maldives
Aid. According to the press, the minister claimed the building was
donated by a ``Christian missionary'' group, a label Maldives Aid
strongly refuted. Maldives Aid made public appeals to the people and
the Government to retain the market building in order to benefit the
populace. On May 3, 2006, Maldives Aid held a small ceremony to
transfer the building's ownership to island residents. There was no
action taken against the marketplace building by the end of the
reporting period.
In the previous reporting period, when Friends of Maldives, a
United Kingdom-based charity, had British school children pack buckets
of school materials for children in the country, the Government
inspected the packages, found Christmas stories, and removed the
stories before the buckets were distributed.
The law prohibits public statements that are contrary to Islam.
The Government registered only clubs and other private associations
that do not contravene Islamic or civil law.
By law the president and cabinet ministers must be Sunni Muslims.
Members of the People's Majlis (parliament) must be Muslim; however,
they are not required to be Sunni.
Under the country's Islamic practice, the testimony of two women is
required to equal that of one man in matters involving Shari'a such as
adultery, finance, and inheritance. In other cases, the testimony of
men and women is equal. Shari'a also governs estate inheritance,
granting male heirs twice the share of female heirs. The constitution
provides that an accused person has the right to defend himself ``in
accordance with Shari'a.''
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Most citizens regarded Islam as one of their society's most
distinctive characteristics and believed that it promotes harmony and
national identity. The president regularly encouraged all citizens to
seek unity through shared religious beliefs.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government does not maintain an embassy in the country.
The U.S. ambassador in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is also accredited to the
Government in Male, and Embassy Colombo officers traveled frequently to
the country. The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues
with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
__________
NEPAL
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The constitution
describes the country as a ``Hindu Kingdom,'' although it does not
establish Hinduism as the state religion. The Government generally did
not interfere with the practice of other religious groups and religious
tolerance was broadly observed; however, there were some restrictions.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
When King Gyanendra handed power back to the political parties in April
2006, the reinstated parliament declared the country to be a secular
state; however, no laws specifically affecting freedom of religion were
changed.
Article 19 of the Constitution of 1990 states that ``Everyone shall
have the freedom to profess and practice his own religion as handed
down to him having due regard to ancient practices; provided that no
person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to
another,'' thus effectively prohibiting proselytism.
Members of minority religions occasionally reported police
harassment.
Authorities limited the location of and otherwise restricted many
public celebrations by the Tibetan community, especially those with
political overtones. The Government did not allow the registration of
an office to look after Tibetan refugees or an office to represent the
Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Both offices were shut
down by the Government in 2005 based on claims that the organizations
had failed to comply with nongovernmental organization (NGO)
registration requirements.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Adherents of the country's
many religious groups generally coexisted peacefully and respected all
places of worship. Those who converted to another religious group at
times faced isolated incidents of violence and occasionally were
ostracized socially, but generally they did not fear to admit their
affiliations in public.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintains regular contact with Hindu, Christian, Buddhist,
Jewish, and other religious groups.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 54,363 square miles, and its population
was estimated at 27 million. It was estimated that Hindus constituted
81 percent of the population; Buddhists, mostly ethnic Tibetan, 11
percent; Muslims, in their majority Sunni, 4.2 percent; and
practitioners of Kirant (an indigenous animist religion) and others, 4
percent, of which 0.45 percent were Christian. Christian denominations
were few but growing. Christian leaders estimated the number of
adherents at approximately 400 thousand. Press reports indicate that
170 Christian churches operated in Kathmandu alone. The growth of other
religious groups was harder to document because the last census was
taken in 2001. Twenty thousand Tibetan Buddhist refugees resided in the
country.
Proselytism is illegal; therefore, there were no missionaries
officially located in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and permits the
practice of all religions; however, there are some restrictions. The
newly restored parliament declared the country a secular state in May
2006; however, the country's constitution had not been amended by the
end of the period covered by this report and continues to describe the
country as a ``Hindu Kingdom,'' although it does not establish Hinduism
as the state religion. The constitution does protect the rights of all
religious groups by guaranteeing the individual the right ``to profess
and practice his own religion as handed down to him from ancient times
having due regard to traditional practices.'' It also states ``no
person shall be entitled to convert another person from one religion to
another.''
The constitution stipulates that the ``state shall not discriminate
among citizens on the basis of caste. No person shall on the basis of
caste be discriminated against, be denied access to any public place,
or be deprived of the use of public utilities. Any contravention of
this provision shall be punishable by law.'' In March 2002, the
Government constituted a National Dalit Commission charged with
protecting and promoting dalit (formerly called ``untouchable'')
rights, and ensuring active participation of the dalit community in the
development of the country by uplifting all the dalits. The commission
devises legal and policy arrangements for dalit rights, makes
recommendations to implement international documents to which the
country is a party, monitors and coordinates NGOs on efforts to uplift
dalits, and launches programs on social awareness to end social
discrimination and untouchability. The Press and Publications Act
prohibits the publication of materials that create animosity among
persons of different castes or religions.
There are no specific laws favoring the Hindu majority; nor does
the Government control the expression of Hinduism.
Although there were no registration requirements for religious
groups, there were registration requirements for NGOs. As a result of
the constitutional prohibition against proselytism, it appears the
Government does not allow organizations to register using religious
words within their titles. Christian religious organizations claim that
unless registered, such organizations are restricted from owning land,
an important step for establishing churches or burial sites. Other non-
Hindu groups have not made similar claims.
In view of the illegality of proselytism, there were officially no
foreign missionaries; however, for decades dozens of Christian
missionary hospitals, welfare organizations, and schools have operated
in the country. These organizations did not proselytize and otherwise
operated freely. Missionary schools were among the most respected
institutions of secondary education; many members of the governing and
business elite graduated from Jesuit high schools. Foreign workers in
the missionary hospitals and schools entered the country with visas
designating them as technical workers for local or international NGOs
sponsoring the hospitals and schools. If foreign workers were found to
proselytize, they were expelled from the country. The Government
applied these laws on immigration closely. Many foreign Christian
organizations had direct ties to local churches and sponsor pastors for
religious training abroad.
Some holy days, most of them Hindu, were recognized as national
holidays. These were Mahashivaratri, Buddha Jayanti, Falgun Purnima,
Krishna Asthami, Dasain, and Tihar.
Public schools did not teach religion.
The Government had no formal policy on interfaith understanding. A
local NGO, the Inter-religious Council Nepal, consisting of
representatives of the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Baha'i
faiths, was active in promoting peace in the country.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Tibetan Buddhists faced various restrictions on their celebrations.
Local authorities generally restricted celebration of Tibetan religious
festivals to private property. Police in Kathmandu prohibited Tibetans
celebrating the New Year from carrying pictures of the Dalai Lama
around the Bhouddhanath stupa as part of religious ceremonies. The
Government restricted to private places (school grounds or inside
monasteries) all of the local Tibetan celebrations (Tibetan New Year,
the Dalai Lama's birthday, Democracy Day, and International Human
Rights Day). In 2005, the Government closed two unregistered offices in
Kathmandu associated with the Dalai Lama: The office of the Dalai
Lama's representative and the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office, claiming
that the organizations did not comply with registration requirements.
During the reporting period, the Government did not allow the
registration of an office to look after Tibetan refugees or an office
to represent the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The
welfare office looked after more than 20 thousand Tibetan refugees who
left their homeland after the Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959.
Christian groups reported that government officials refused to
register any religious organizations whose titles contained the words
``Jesus, Bible, Christian, or church.'' These groups noted that, unless
registered, such organizations could not own land, important for
establishing churches or burial of members. However, by removing
Christian related words from their titles, some groups were able to
register their organizations and practice their faith. Some Christians
buried their dead in Christian cemeteries in Kathmandu and other areas
around the country, and others used cremation.
Parents were not prevented from teaching their religion of choice
to their children, who also may live a religious life.
Article 113.3 of the 1991 Constitution states ``the election
commission shall not register any political organization or party that
discriminates in membership against any citizen on the basis of
religion, caste, tribe, language, or sex, or that has a name, insignia,
flag, or objective that is religious or tends to fragment the
country.''
The law prohibits converting others and proselytizing; these
activities are punishable by fines, imprisonment, or, for foreigners,
expulsion. However, personal conversion is allowed. NGOs or individuals
were allowed to file charges of proselytism against individuals or
organizations.
Some Christian groups were concerned that the ban on proselytism
limited the expression of non-Hindu religious belief. The Government
investigated reports of proselytism. There were no incidents of
punishment for conversion or proselytism during the reporting period.
On April 27, 2005, police arrested a couple and investigated them for
allegedly forcibly converting children. After being held in custody for
several days, they were released by police on May 9, 2005. No charges
were filed against them.
Muslim religious schools (madrassahs) but not mosques, must
register with local District Administration Offices (part of the Home
Ministry) and supply information about their funding sources in order
to operate; they receive no government funding. Some Muslim leaders
criticized the move as discriminatory; however, the registration
requirement has not been enforced. Muslims were not restricted from
participating in the Hajj, although the Government did not subsidize
the pilgrimage.
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste;
however, the caste system strongly influences society. While the
Government has stressed that caste-based discrimination is illegal and
temple access for ``lower castes'' has improved in some areas, caste
discrimination remains frequently practiced at Hindu temples, where
dalits are forbidden from entering by some Hindu priests. Lower castes
also experience discrimination in many other areas of life, including
education, employment, and marriage. Other religious communities do not
practice caste discrimination. Entrance into many Hindu temples is
often restricted for persons not of South Asian ethnicity, who are
unlikely to be Hindu.
There were no restrictions on the selling or possession of
religious literature.
Civil servants can take off religious holidays and celebrate them
on private property without government interference.
There were no laws that apply only to certain religious groups.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no substantiated reports of forced religious conversion,
including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally
removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such
citizens to be returned to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is a designated terrorist
organization on the U.S. Government's ``Terrorist Exclusion List'' of
the Immigration and Nationality Act and under Executive Order 13224.
During the period covered by this report, Maoist insurgents
restricted religious freedom in parts of the country. There were
regular reports of Maoists enforcing a ``people's calendar'' in schools
that did not allow for religious holidays. Maoists sometimes demanded
the use of religious organization grounds for their indoctrination
programs, threatening to padlock the buildings if their demands were
refused.
There were scattered reports of Maoist insurgents attacking Hindu
temples and harassing Hindu priests during the reporting period.
The National Churches Fellowship of Nepal reported several cases
where Maoists extorted cash from churches, including in Dhading and
Surkhet Districts. The Maoists threatened retribution against church
property and church members if the congregations did not meet their
demands.
On May 17, 2004, a group of Maoists abducted a Royal Nepal Army
priest from Ramechhap District. He was held for several days before
being released unharmed.
On September 12, 2004, Maoists exploded a bomb and forced the
closure of St. Joseph's school in Pokhara. The school's 551 students
mostly were from underprivileged ethnic communities. No case was filed.
In September 2004, Maoist threats prompted the temporary closing of
twenty-one churches in Sankhuwasabha District.
On December 29, 2004, Maoists shot dead Arun Budhathoki, Chief of
Shiv Sena Nepal, a Hindu religious organization, in Nepalgunj, Banke
District. No one was charged with the crime.
In May 2005, Narayan Pokharel, president of the country's branch of
the World Hindu Council, was killed in the District of Rupandehi,
approximately 300 kilometers (175 miles) from Kathmandu. Although no
one claimed responsibility, police suspected the involvement of Maoist
rebels. No one was charged in the case.
On September 21, 2005, a group of armed Maoists attacked and
vandalized Ramchandra Temple in Muga village of Dhankuta District.
In addition to attacking regular schools, Maoists reportedly
attacked Christian schools, orphanages, and homes in efforts to
forcibly conscript children.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Adherents of the country's many religious groups generally
coexisted peacefully and respected all places of worship. Most Hindus
respected the many Buddhist shrines located throughout the country;
Buddhists accorded Hindu shrines the same respect. Buddha's birthplace
was an important pilgrimage site, and his birthday was a national
holiday.
In September 2004, an Iraqi militant group killed twelve Nepalese
expatriate workers in Iraq. The result was mob violence in Kathmandu
and other areas of the country. Mosques and businesses owned by Muslims
as well as manpower agencies and press houses were targeted. Seven
persons were killed, four by mob violence because they were, or were
believed to be, Muslim. Immediately following the riots, the prime
minister made a nationwide address calling on citizens to eschew
communal violence and maintain religious harmony. A government
investigation resulted in no arrests, but the Government compensated
affected manpower agencies. Subsequent to the communal rioting, leaders
of multiple faiths organized a rally in Kathmandu and called on their
followers to maintain religious harmony.
Some Christian groups reported that Hindu extremism has increased
in recent years. Of particular concern were the local affiliates of the
India-based Hindu political party Shiv Sena, locally known as Pashupati
Sena, Shiv Sena Nepal, and Nepal Shivsena. Government policy does not
support Hindu extremism, although some political figures have made
public statements critical of Christian missionary activities. Some
citizens were wary of proselytizing and conversion by Christians and
viewed the growth of Christianity with concern. There were unconfirmed
reports that Maoists suppressed religious observance in areas under
their control through intimidation and harassment.
Those who chose to convert to other religions, in particular Hindu
citizens who converted to Islam or Christianity, sometimes were
ostracized socially. They occasionally face isolated incidents of
hostility or discrimination from Hindu extremist groups. Some
reportedly were forced to leave their villages. While this prejudice
was not systematic, it was at times vehement and occasionally violent.
Nevertheless, converts generally were not afraid to admit in public
their new religious affiliations.
Although such discrimination is prohibited by the constitution, the
caste system strongly influenced society. Societal discrimination
against members of lower castes and dalits remained widespread and
persistent. Such incidents occurred despite the Government's efforts to
protect the rights of disadvantaged castes.
In December 2004, approximately a dozen persons were injured in a
scuffle when the management committee of a Hindu temple in Chitwan
District tried to stop ``low caste'' persons from entering the temple.
On October 06, 2005, ``upper caste'' locals stopped dalit women
from using public facilities like shops and rice mills as a punishment
for praying at the local Dihibar Temple in Siraha District.
On October 13, 2005, ``upper caste'' locals in Saptari District
imposed a blockade on a dalit hamlet to punish the residents for not
playing drums during a local fete. Villagers prevented six dalit
families in the area from using the public path and denied them access
to rice mills, medical shops, and public water taps.
On December 26, 2005, after a local dalit activist entered a temple
in Saptari District, ``upper caste'' villagers fined him to cover the
expenses of performing a ceremony to purify the temple.
On March 14, 2006, after learning he was a dalit, a landlord in
Bharatpur District evicted a tenant who had come to the area to take
the nationwide school exam and had been staying at the house for
fourteen days.
On March 21, 2006, ``upper caste'' locals barred dalit youths from
entering the famous Saileshwori Temple in Dipayal by padlocking the
temple door.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintained contact with Hindu, Christian, Buddhist,
Jewish, Muslim, and other religious groups. The embassy closely
monitored religious freedom and raised the issue with the Government
when appropriate. In April 2006, the embassy sponsored a religion
teacher from Tribhuvan University for an international visitor program
in the United States entitled ``Religious Diversity in America.''
__________
PAKISTAN
The country is an Islamic republic. Islam is the state religion and
the constitution requires that laws be consistent with Islam. The
constitution states that ``subject to law, public order and morality,
every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate
his religion;'' however, in practice the Government imposes limits on
freedom of religion. Freedom of speech is constitutionally ``subject to
any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory
of Islam.'' The country was created to be a homeland for Muslims,
although its founders did not envisage it as an Islamic state.
The Government took some steps to improve the treatment of
religious minorities during the period covered by this report, but
serious problems remained. The Government failed to protect the rights
of religious minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the
Government's failure to take action against societal forces hostile to
those who practice a different faith fostered religious intolerance and
acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.
Due to the 1974 constitutional amendment declaring them non-Muslim,
the Ahmadiyya community continued to face legal bars to the practice of
its faith. While other minority religious communities generally were
able to worship freely, their members faced governmental
discrimination. Members of certain Islamic schools of thought also
claimed governmental discrimination. While law enforcement personnel
allegedly abused religious minorities in custody, there were no reports
of deaths while in custody during the reporting period. Security forces
and other government agencies did not adequately prevent or address
societal abuse against minorities.
Specific government policies that discriminate against religious
minorities include the use of the ``anti-Ahmadi laws,'' the blasphemy
laws, and the Hudood Ordinances. In 1984, the Government added Section
298(c), commonly referred to as the ``anti-Ahmadi laws,'' to the penal
code. The section prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims or
posing as Muslims, from referring to their faith as Islam, from
preaching or propagating their faith, from inviting others to accept
the Ahmadi faith, and from insulting the religious feelings of Muslims.
The blasphemy laws provide the death penalty for defiling Islam or its
prophets; life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the
Qur'an; and ten years' imprisonment for insulting the religious
feelings of any citizen. These laws are often used to intimidate
reform-minded Muslims, sectarian opponents, and religious minorities,
or to settle personal scores. The Hudood Ordinances impose elements of
Qur'anic law on both Muslims and non-Muslims and different legal
standards for men and women.
The provincial government in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP)
continued to pass directives and legislation in accordance with the
conservative Islamic vision of its supporters. Despite the Hisba Bill's
passage by the NWFP Provincial Assembly in 2005, the Supreme Court
overturned the bill, declaring it to be unconstitutional.
During the reporting period, the Government maintained its public
calls for religious tolerance, worked with moderate religious leaders
to organize programs on sectarian harmony and interfaith understanding,
maintained its ban on and actively attempted to curb the activities of
sectarian and terrorist organizations, implemented a registration
scheme for Islamic religious schools known as madrassahs, and proceeded
with reform of the public education curriculum designed to end the
teaching of religious intolerance. On July 1, 2006, President Musharraf
instructed the Council on Islamic Ideology (CII) to prepare a revised
Hudood Ordinance that eliminates discriminatory treatment of women and
minorities not later than August 2006. In addition, the president
ordered the release of all women detained under the current ordinance.
According to local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), approximately
700 women had been released by the end of the period covered by this
report.
Relations between religious communities were tense. Societal
discrimination against religious minorities was widespread and societal
violence against such groups occurred. Societal actors, including
terrorist and extremist groups and individuals, targeted religious
congregations. More than 110 deaths accrued from sectarian violence,
including terrorist attacks by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), during the
period covered by this report. Large numbers of victims came from both
Sunni and Shi'a sects. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a coalition
of Islamist political parties, continued in its political rhetoric to
call for the increased Islamization of the government and society. At
the end of the period covered by this report, the MMA led the
opposition in the national assembly, held a majority in the NWFP
Provincial Assembly, and was part of the ruling coalition in
Balochistan.
However, some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their
rhetoric against Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and Parsis.
Under government pressure, many of its leaders joined various
interfaith efforts to promote religious tolerance. Religious leaders,
representing the country's six major Shi'a and Sunni groups, issued a
religious injunction in May 2005 banning sectarian violence and the
killing of non-Muslims. While there was a decline in sectarian violence
during the previous reporting period, this reporting period's levels
remained unchanged. Sectarian violence and discrimination continued
despite contrary calls from the Government, Islamic religious leaders,
and some parts of the MMA. Anti-Ahmadi and anti-Semitic rhetoric
continued unabated, although rhetoric against Ismaili followers of the
Aga Khan was largely abandoned.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, U.S. embassy officials
closely monitored the treatment of religious minorities and took a
number of steps to improve their treatment. As part of its education
reform initiative, the U.S. Government continued to help the Education
Ministry revise its curriculum, including eliminating the teaching of
religious intolerance. Embassy officials remained engaged with all
parties involved in madrassah reform to encourage similar changes.
Embassy officials pressed members of parliament and the Government to
revise blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances to minimize abuses. The
embassy also expanded contacts with all religious groups to promote
moderation, end sectarian strife and religiously motivated violence,
and support efforts at interfaith dialogue.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 310,527 square miles, and its population
was approximately 162 million. Official figures on religious
demography--based on the most recent census, taken in 1998--showed that
approximately 96 percent of the population or 148.8 million persons
were Muslim, 2.02 percent or 2.44 million persons were Hindu, 1.69
percent or 2.09 million were Christian, and 0.35 percent or 539,000
were ``other,'' including Ahmadis.
The majority of Muslims in the country were Sunni. Ten percent or
approximately 14.9 million were Shi'a. The Shi'a claimed these figures
were inaccurate and that at least 20 percent of the Muslim population
were Shi'a followers, split between the Qom (approximately 40 percent)
and Najaf (approximately 60 percent) schools of thought. Government
estimates on Shi'a counted approximately 750,000 Ismailis, most of whom
were spiritual followers of the Aga Khan. An estimated 80 thousand
Ismailis belonged to the Bohra or other smaller schools of thought.
Shi'as were found nationwide but had population concentrations in
Karachi, Gilgit, and parts of Balochistan. Ismailis were found
principally in Hunza, Karachi, and Baltistan. The majority Sunni Muslim
community was divided into three main schools of thought (Brailvi,
Deobandi, and Ahl-e-Hadith) and a socio-political movement, the Jamaat
Islami (JI), which had its own theology, schools, and mosques. Ahl-e-
Hadith adherents comprised, at most, 5 percent of Muslims, and were
concentrated in Punjab. No reliable figures on JI adherents existed, as
its membership always claimed adherence to another school. Its
adherents, however, were generally found in urban centers. Brailvi and
Deobandi leaders both claimed that their schools comprised up to 80
percent of the overall Muslim population. Most disinterested observers
believed that the Brailvi remained the largest school, approximately 60
percent of all Muslims, with the Deobandi at approximately 20 percent
but growing. The Brailvi were the dominant majority in Sindh and
Punjab. Deobandi were generally found in the Pashtun belt from northern
Punjab, across the NWFP, and into northern Balochistan, although there
were increasing numbers in Karachi and the Seraiki areas of Punjab.
Several smaller self-described Muslim groups existed, most notably
approximately 200 thousand Zikris found in Gwadar, Balochistan. Most
Sunnis considered Zikris to be non-Muslims due to their unique
religious ceremonies, including a separate Hajj held in Turbat,
Balochistan. Ahmadis have been officially declared non-Muslim due to
their belief that a prophet came after Muhammad to revive the religion.
Ahmadis have boycotted the census since 1974, rendering official
numbers inaccurate. They claimed at least 2 million adherents centered
on their spiritual town of Chenab Nagar, Punjab (referred to as Rabwah
by Ahmadis).
Non-Muslims were officially 4 percent of the population, although
their leaders claimed the actual figure was approximately 10 percent.
Christians, officially numbered at 2.09 million, claimed to have 4
million members, 90 percent of whom lived in Punjab. The largest
Christian denomination was the umbrella Protestant Church of Pakistan,
a member of the Anglican Communion. Roman Catholics were the second-
largest group, and the remainder belonged to various evangelical
denominations. The Catholic diocese of Karachi estimated that 120
thousand Catholics lived in Karachi, 40 thousand in the rest of Sindh,
and 5 thousand in Quetta, Balochistan. A few tribal Hindus of the lower
castes from interior Sindh have converted to Christianity. Hindus were
officially numbered at 2.44 million adherents, but their leaders
claimed an actual membership of approximately 4 million. Most Hindus
lived in Sindh, where they comprised approximately 8 percent of the
population. Parsis, Sikhs, and Buddhists each had approximately 20
thousand adherents, while the Baha'i claimed 30 thousand. The tiny but
influential Parsi community was concentrated in Karachi. Some tribes in
Balochistan and NWFP practiced traditional animist religions.
Less than 0.5 percent of the population was silent on religion or
claimed not to adhere to a particular religious group. Social pressure
was such that few persons would claim not to be affiliated with any
religion.
No data were available on active participation in formal religious
services or rituals. Religion often played an important part in daily
life. Most Muslims offered prayers on Friday, Islam's holy day. Many
also prayed at least once during the five prayer times each day. During
the month of Ramadan, even many less observant Muslims fasted and
attended services. Approximately 70 percent of English-speaking
Catholics worshiped regularly; a much lower percentage of Urdu speakers
did so.
Many varieties of Hinduism were practiced. Hindu shrines and
temples were scattered throughout the country, although most of them
were used as residences. Attendance at religious services was much
greater during Hindu festivals, such as Diwali and Holi.
The Sikh community regularly held ceremonial gatherings at sacred
places in Punjab. Prominent places of Sikh pilgrimage included Nankana
Sahib (where the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, was born in
1469), Hasan Abdal (a shrine where an imprint of his hand is kept), and
Kartar Poora (also known as Daira Baba Nanak Sahib) in Narowal District
(where Guru Nanak died).
Parsis, who practice the Zoroastrian religion, had no regularly
scheduled congregational services except during a ten-day religious
festival in August called Naurooz (``new day''). All Parsis were
expected to attend these services; most reportedly did. During the rest
of the year, individuals offered prayers at Parsi temples.
Foreign missionaries operated in the country. The largest Christian
mission group engaged in Bible translation for the Church of Pakistan.
An Anglican missionary group fielded several missionaries to assist the
Church of Pakistan in administrative and educational work. Catholic
missionaries, mostly Franciscan, worked with persons with disabilities.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion. It also
states that adequate provisions shall be made for minorities to profess
and practice their religions freely; however, in practice the
Government imposes limits on freedom of religion, particularly on
Ahmadis.
Due to Ahmadis not accepting that Muhammad was the final prophet of
Islam, a 1974 constitutional amendment declares this self-described
Islamic community to be non-Muslim. In 1984, the Government added
Section 298(c), commonly referred to as the ``anti-Ahmadi laws,'' to
the penal code. The section prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves
Muslims or posing as Muslims, referring to their faith as Islam,
preaching or propagating their faith, inviting others to accept the
Ahmadi faith, and insulting the religious feelings of Muslims. The
constitutionality of Section 298(c) was upheld in a split-decision
supreme court case in 1996. The punishment for violation of the section
is imprisonment for up to three years and a fine. The Government has
blocked similar movements to restrict both Zikris and Ismaili followers
of the Aga Khan. Other religious communities were generally free to
observe their religious obligations; however, religious minorities are,
in some places, legally restricted from public display of certain
religious images and, due to discriminatory legislation, are often
afraid to profess their religion freely.
Freedom of speech is subject to ``reasonable'' restrictions in the
interests of the ``glory of Islam.'' The consequences for contravening
the country's ``blasphemy laws,'' are the death penalty for defiling
Islam or its prophets; life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or
desecrating the Qur'an; and ten years' imprisonment for insulting
another's religious feelings. To end the filing of frivolous charges,
the Government enacted a law in January 2005 that requires senior
police officials to investigate any blasphemy charges before a
complaint is filed. In addition, any speech or conduct that injures
another's religious feelings, including those of minority religious
groups, is prohibited and punishable by imprisonment. However, in cases
where the religious feelings of a minority religion were insulted, the
blasphemy laws were rarely enforced and cases rarely brought to the
legal system.
The Hudood Ordinances criminalize rape, extramarital sex, property
crimes, alcohol, and gambling. They apply equally to Muslims and non-
Muslims. Hudood violations can be tried on either Qur'anic or secular
standards of evidence. If Qur'anic standards are used, Muslim and non-
Muslim and male and female testimony carries different weight, and
harsh Qur'anic punishments can be applied. No successful cases have
been brought under this standard. Cases have been successfully
prosecuted under secular standards, in which testimony has equal
weight, and jail terms and fines have been applied. In January 2005,
the Government adopted new legislation requiring a court order prior to
detention of women on Hudood charges. Approximately 246 women were
imprisoned under the Hudood Ordinances as of the end of the reporting
period. On July 1, 2006, President Musharraf instructed the CII to
prepare a revised Hudood Ordinance that would eliminate discriminatory
provisions against women and minorities not later than August 2006.
President Musharraf ordered the release of all women imprisoned under
the Hudood Ordinances at the end of the reporting period.
Under the Anti-Terrorist Act, any action, including speech,
intended to stir up religious hatred is punishable by up to seven years
of rigorous imprisonment. Under the act, bail is not to be granted if
the judge has reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is guilty;
however, the law is applied selectively.
Pressure from societal, religious, or political leaders routinely
prevented courts from protecting minority rights. These same pressures
forced justices to take strong action against any perceived offense to
Sunni Islamic orthodoxy. Discrimination against religious minorities
was rarely placed before the judiciary. Courts would be unlikely to act
objectively in such cases. Resolving cases is very slow; there is
generally a long period between filing the case and the first court
appearance. Lower courts are frequently intimidated and therefore,
delay decisions, and refuse bail for fear of reprisal from extremist
elements. Bail in blasphemy cases is almost always denied by original
trial courts on the logic that since defendants are facing the death
penalty, they are likely to flee. Defendants can appeal the denial of
bail (and many do), but bail is often times not granted by the high
court or the supreme court in advance of the trial.
The country's penal code ostensibly incorporates a number of
Islamic law (Shari'a) provisions, applying to all, Muslims and non-
Muslims, that allow victims to carry out physical retribution. The
judicial system encompasses several different court systems with
overlapping and sometimes competing jurisdictions that reflect
differences in civil, criminal, and Islamic jurisprudence. The federal
Shari'a court and the Shari'a bench of the supreme court serve as
appellate courts for certain convictions in criminal court under the
Hudood Ordinances, and judges and attorneys in these courts must be
Muslims. The federal Shari'a court also may overturn any legislation
judged to be inconsistent with the tenets of Islam; however, in March
2005, the supreme court chief justice, issuing a stay in the Mukhtaran
Mai rape case, ruled that the federal shari'a court had no jurisdiction
to review a decision by a provincial high court even if the Shariat
court should have had initial appellate jurisdiction, marking a blow to
the power of the Shariat appellate benches.
The Government designates religion on passports and national
identity documents. In November 2004 the Government began issuing new
machine-readable passports without the religion column. A conservative
backlash and Islamist party protests led the Government to reverse
course and restore the column in March 2005. Those wishing to be listed
as a Muslim on such documents had to swear a belief in the finality of
the prophethood and denounce the Ahmadiyya movement's founder as a
false prophet and his followers as non-Muslims.
The constitution provides for the ``freedom to manage religious
institutions.'' In principle, the Government does not restrict
organized religious groups from establishing places of worship and
training members of the clergy. In practice, however, religious
minorities suffered from restrictions on this right.
State funding was provided for construction and maintenance of
mosques and for Islamic clergy. The provincial and federal governments
have legal responsibility for certain religious properties belonging to
minority communities that were abandoned during partition. Minority
communities claimed the Government did not spend adequate funds on
their protection and upkeep. The Government collected a 2.5 percent tax
on all Sunni Muslims, which was distributed to Sunni mosques and
charities. No similar service was provided for other religious groups.
The Government nationalized all church schools and colleges in
Punjab and Sindh in 1972. The Government of Sindh oversaw a piecemeal
denationalization program from 1985 to 1995, and the Government of
Punjab began a similar program in 1996. In 2001 the federal Government
and the courts ordered the provincial governments to move forward with
a complete denationalization process. Teachers' unions strongly
objected, fearing for their job security, and have attempted to tie up
denationalization in the court system. The 2003 denationalization of
Forman Christian College, arguably the most prominent Christian-founded
educational institution in the country, and its successful December
2003 handover to its original owners, the Presbyterian Church USA
(PCUSA), helped remove the legal hurdles. On May 9 and 10, 2005, the
Sindh Government handed over St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's colleges to
the Catholic Board of Education. The cases of Gordon College in
Rawalpindi and Murray College in Sialkot (both PCUSA) remained
unresolved.
Government policies do not afford equal protection to members of
majority and minority religious groups. The Ministry of Religious
Affairs, which is mandated to safeguard religious freedom, claims it
spends 30 percent of its annual budget to assist indigent minorities,
repair minority places of worship, set up minority-run small
development schemes, and celebrate minority festivals. However,
religious minorities questioned these figures, observing that
localities and villages housing minority citizens go without basic
civic amenities. The ministry had on its masthead a Qur'anic verse:
``Islam is the only religion acceptable to God.''
Sunni Muslims appeared to receive favorable consideration in
government hiring and advancement. In addition, all those wishing to
obtain government identification documents as Muslims had to declare an
oath on belief in the finality of the prophethood, a provision designed
to discriminate against Ahmadis. Initial voter registration no longer
required such an oath, but the Election Commission claimed that any
Muslim registrant whose religion was challenged by the public would
have to take the oath. As a result, Ahmadis continued to boycott
elections.
Several Muslim religious holidays were considered national
holidays, including Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Azha, Ashura (the ninth and
tenth days of the month of Muharram) and the Birth of the Prophet
Muhammad. Most businesses had limited hours during the month of
Ramadan. Non-Muslim holidays were not observed, although Mohammad Ali
Jinnah's birthday was celebrated as a holiday on Christmas Day.
The constitution safeguards ``educational institutions with respect
to religion.'' No student can be forced to receive religious
instruction or to participate in religious worship other than his or
her own. The denial of religious instruction for students of any
religious community or denomination is also prohibited.
``Islamiyyat'' (Islamic studies) was compulsory for all Muslim
students in state-run schools. Although students of other faiths
legally were not required to study Islam, they were not provided with
parallel studies in their own religions. In some schools, non-Muslim
students could study ``Akhlaqiyyat,'' or Ethics. In practice, teachers
induced many non-Muslim students to complete Islamic studies.
The constitution specifically prohibits discriminatory admission to
any governmental educational institution solely on the basis of
religion. Government officials stated that the only factors affecting
admission to governmental educational institutions were students'
grades and home provinces; however, students must declare their
religion on application forms. Muslim students must declare in writing
that they believe in the unqualified finality of the prophethood of
Muhammad, a measure designed to single out Ahmadis. Non-Muslims must
have their religion verified by the head of their local religious
community.
Parents were free to send children to religious schools, at their
expense, and many did.
Private schools were free to teach or not teach religion as they
choose. Many private schools run by minority religious groups catered
to students from both the Islamic and non-Islamic communities and
therefore chose to teach Islamic studies as well as studies in a
minority religion.
Islamic private schools known as madrassahs came to the forefront
after September 11, 2001, due to their perceived use as training and
recruiting grounds for extremist and terrorist organizations.
Subsequent studies showed that only a small fraction of schools fell
into this category. In accordance with the 2002 Madrassah Registration
Ordinance, all madrassahs were required to register with the Government
or with one of the five independent madrassah boards (wafaqs), cease
accepting foreign financing, and accept foreign students only with the
consent of their government. In July 2005, President Musharraf
announced a deadline of December 31, 2005, for the expulsion of all
foreign students from madrassahs and their direct registration with the
Government. According to the Interior Ministry, 95 percent of foreign
students had departed by the deadline, some following deportation
proceedings organized by the ministry and registration of all schools
remained in progress. According to the Religious Affairs Ministry,
approximately 11 thousand out of an estimated 13 thousand to 15
thousand madrassahs had registered by the end of April 2006. No
unregistered madrassahs were shut down at the end of the period covered
by this report. In December 2005, President Musharraf issued a second
amendment to the Societies Registration Act following negotiations
between the Government and the five wafaqs. This amendment laid out the
framework for cooperative registration of madrassahs with the
Government, including provision of financial and educational data to
the Government, and prohibited the teaching of sectarian or religious
hatred and violence. The Government and the independent madrassah
boards agreed to a phased introduction of modern subjects, including
math, English, and science at all madrassahs. While the boards have
required their affiliated madrassahs to move forward, disbursement of
promised government funding to support the process has been slow. The
wafaqs that oversaw most of the country's madrassahs had already agreed
with the Government to undertake substantial reforms. All wafaqs
mandated the elimination of teaching that promoted religious or
sectarian intolerance and terrorist or extremist recruitment at
madrassahs. They appointed inspectors to ensure compliance. All
inspectors mandated that affiliated madrassahs supplement religious
studies with modern subjects, including English, math, and science.
Phased-in approaches were underway at each wafaq's members.
Bureaucratic delay continued to stymie release of government funds for
this purpose. Wafaqs also restricted foreign private funding of
madrassahs. Examination concerns remained under active discussion with
the Government. Some unregistered and Deobandi-controlled madrassahs in
the FATA and northern Balochistan continued to teach extremism.
Similarly, the Dawa schools run by Jamat-ud-Dawa continued such
teaching and recruitment for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a designated foreign
terrorist organization.
The MMA-led provincial government in NWFP continued to pass
directives and legislation in accordance with the conservative Islamic
vision of its supporters. If implemented, many of these initiatives
would impose Islamic law on all citizens, regardless of religious
affiliation. Existing laws include: Antiobscenity measures, under which
advertising has been torn down and stores have been fined for selling
certain western recordings; a complete ban on alcohol; a requirement
for civil servants to pray five times daily, which has never been
enforced; bans on public displays of women's photos and dancing, also
not enforced; and a Shari'a bill that mirrored one already in place at
the federal level since 1991 which requires that all existing
legislation, including in the education and financial sectors, be
reviewed in light of Shari'a. On August 31, 2005, the supreme court
declared unconstitutional large sections of a second MMA-sponsored
provincial Hisba bill, under which a provincial authority is appointed
and empowered to create, implement and enforce regulations to promote
Islamic laws and values, and prohibited its implementation.
The Government, at its most senior levels, continued to call for
interfaith dialogue and sectarian harmony as part of its program to
promote enlightened moderation. It was instrumental in organizing the
inaugural meeting of the World Council of Religions, an interfaith body
of clerics and religious scholars devoted to interfaith dialogue.
Clergy from all Islamic schools of thought and minority faith
communities, with the exception of the Ahmadis, who were not invited,
joined the council. The Religious Affairs Ministry and the Council on
Islamic Ideology, a constitutionally mandated government body,
continued to sponsor interfaith and inter-sectarian workshops and
meetings. The Religious Affairs Ministry played an active role in
negotiating the inter-sectarian injunction against sectarian violence
and the killing of non-Muslims in the country issued in May 2005. The
primary responsibility of the Religious Affairs Ministry is to organize
participation in the Hajj and other Muslim religious pilgrimages and to
distribute the zakaat (the religious tax on Sunni Muslims).
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government discouraged and severely restricted public practice
of the Ahmadiyya faith both by law and in practice. The 1974
constitutional amendment and 1984 changes to the Penal Code Section
298(c), commonly referred to as the ``anti-Ahmadi laws,'' were used by
the Government and anti-Ahmadi religious groups to target and harass
Ahmadis. The vague wording of the provision that forbids Ahmadis from
``directly or indirectly'' posing as Muslims enabled mainstream Muslim
religious leaders to bring charges against Ahmadis for using the
standard Muslim greeting form and for naming their children Muhammad.
An Ahmadiyya Muslim community report claimed that during the period
covered by this report, twenty-six Ahmadis faced criminal charges under
religious laws or because of their faith: Four under the blasphemy
laws, seventeen under Ahmadi-specific laws, and four under other laws
but motivated by their Ahmadi faith. At the end of April 2006, five
Ahmadis were in prison on blasphemy charges and three were in prison on
murder charges that the Ahmadiyya community claimed were falsely
brought due to their religious beliefs.
The Government gave tacit endorsement to Islamic clerics' campaigns
against the perceived dangers of the Ahmadiyya faith by permitting the
annual conference on the finality of the prophethood. Ahmadis were
prohibited from holding any public conferences or gatherings, and since
1983 they have been denied permission to hold their annual conference.
Ahmadis were banned from preaching and were prohibited from traveling
to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj or other religious pilgrimages. Since July
2003, anyone wanting to travel on the Hajj must denounce the founder of
the Ahmadiyya faith as a ``cunning person and an imposter'' on a
printed oath that is part of the government registration process,
thereby effectively preventing Ahmadis from fulfilling this tenant of
the Islamic faith. Additionally, Ahmadi publications were banned from
public sale; however, Ahmadis published religious literature in large
quantities for a limited circulation.
While the constitution guarantees the right to establish places of
worship and train clergy, in practice, Ahmadis suffered from
restrictions on this right. According to press reports, the authorities
continued to conduct surveillance on the Ahmadis and their
institutions. Several Ahmadi mosques reportedly have been closed;
others reportedly have been desecrated or had their construction
stopped. For example, on June 18, 2005, police ordered the Ahmadiyya
community in Pindi, Bhatian, Hafizabad, Punjab to stop construction on
a mosque on a site acquired for the purpose some twenty years
previously. Police were reportedly acting on the request of the local
Islamic cleric.
The Government did not prohibit, restrict, or punish parents for
raising children in accordance with religious teachings and practices
of their choice, nor did it take steps to prevent parents from teaching
their children religion in the privacy of the home.
There was no law against apostasy; however, societal pressure
against conversion from Islam was so strong that any conversion almost
certainly would take place in secret.
There are no legal requirements for an individual to practice or
affiliate nominally with a religion. The Government did not penalize or
legally discriminate against those not affiliated with any religion. In
practice, societal pressure was such that very few persons would admit
to not belonging to a religious group since doing so would likely lead
to significant discrimination.
Religious belief or specific adherence to a religion was not
required for membership in the ruling party or the moderate opposition
parties, which did not exclude members of any religion. The MMA had
non-Muslim members of parliament; however, in practice, each of its
constituent parties generally restricted membership to its sectarian
adherents. It would be virtually impossible for Ahmadis or Jews to join
the MMA or its constituent parties. In practice, neither Ismailis nor
Zikris could join the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman, Jamiat Ulema-
e-Islam Sami ul-Haq, or JI. Shi'a claimed they were not welcome in JI,
although JI leadership denied the assertion. The political arm of the
sectarian extremist group Sunni Tehrik accepted only Brailvi members.
The Government did not restrict the formation of political parties
based on a particular faith, religious belief, or interpretation of
religious doctrine. The Government monitored the activities of various
Islamist parties and affiliated clergy due to prior links to terrorist
and extremist organizations. Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith leaders claimed
the Government harassed their members due to political stances.
Brailvis and Ahl-e-Hadiths claimed the Government, hoping to appease
political extremists, favored the Deobandis and JI for jobs in state
mosques, Islamic studies faculties at state schools, and government
jobs with religious responsibilities. The Government denied such
charges.
Missionaries were allowed to operate in the country, and
proselytizing, except by Ahmadis, was permitted as long as there is no
preaching against Islam and the missionaries acknowledge that they are
not Muslim; however, all missionaries were required to have specific
visas, valid from two to five years and allowing only one entry into
the country per year. Only ``replacement'' visas for those taking the
place of departing missionaries were available, and long delays and
bureaucratic problems were frequent.
The constitution allows ``reasonable'' restrictions on freedom of
speech for the ``glory of Islam.'' The penal code includes specific
provisions that restrict speech and action against other religions.
These ``blasphemy laws,'' as they are collectively known, were often
used to harass and intimidate reform-minded Muslims, sectarian
opponents, and religious minorities. They were also used to settle
personal scores and business rivalries. While no accused persons have
been executed under this law, the accused often spend years in prison.
Blasphemy suspects were not routinely granted bail and were often
convicted by trial courts following threats to judges by extremists. In
contrast to previous reporting periods, there was no record of deaths
by inmates or security forces within prison. At the end of the
reporting period, twenty-two remained in detention awaiting trial on
blasphemy charges, and nine were in prison following conviction.
In 2005, the Government enacted a law that requires senior police
officials to investigate any blasphemy charges before a complaint is
filed. Human rights organizations had called for such changes since
2000. Initial indications on the law's impact were positive. There were
only twenty-four blasphemy cases filed during the reporting period, a
decline from fifty-four during the previous years' reporting period.
According to figures compiled by local NGOs, between 1986 and April
2006, 695 persons were accused of blasphemy: 362 Muslims, 239 Ahmadis,
86 Christians, and 10 Hindus. In many cases filed during the year, the
accused were either released on bail or charges were dropped. Of the
695 individuals accused of blasphemy at the end of the reporting
period, 22 remained in detention awaiting trial on blasphemy charges,
and 9 were in prison following conviction.
The Government does not restrict religious publishing in general;
however, Ahmadi religious literature is banned. Publishing any
criticism of Islam or its prophets or insults to another's religion is
prohibited. Insults against minority religious groups were rarely
prosecuted. For example, the weekly newspaper Ghazwa published in Azad
Jammu Kashmir with the financial support of the terrorist organization
Jamaat-ud-Dawa was not prosecuted for publishing offensive, insulting,
and inaccurate articles about earthquake relief efforts undertaken by
NGOs linked to the Ahmadiyya community. Christian scriptures and books
are readily available, but Christians have reported concerns about
pressure leading to self-censorship. While most Christian books are
imported, there are Christian publishing houses operating within the
country. Ahmadis charge that they suffer from restrictions on their
press. For example, on August 7, 2005, the Punjab provincial government
ordered two Ahmadi printing presses in Jhang, Punjab, shut down. Police
took the editor of the Ahmaddiya community magazine al-Fazl, Sami Khan,
into protective custody and later released him. The move followed
complaints from a local Islamic leader that the publications insulted
the religious sentiments of Muslims. The provincial home department
ultimately gave permission for the presses to reopen.
In July 2003, Tanvir Ahmed Asif and Abdul Qadir were charged with
blasphemy, as well as violating the anti-Ahmadi law, for writing a book
which explained the situation of Ahmadis around the country. In
November 2004, the Peshawar High Court overturned the blasphemy
conviction of former Frontier Post copy editor Munawar Mohsin. Mohsin
had published a letter to the editor in 2001 that was critical of
Muhammad. There have been no new developments in this case.
Publication of the Qur'an must include the original Arabic text. In
May 2005, the Government confiscated Urdu translations of the Qur'an
published in Canada that did not include the original Arabic.
Foreign books must pass government censors before being reprinted.
Books and magazines may be imported freely but are subject to
censorship for objectionable sexual or religious content. In November
2004, an Islamabad magistrate ordered the destruction of an issue of
Newsweek containing objectionable photos alongside an article on the
killing of Theo Van Gogh.
Many local and district governments restricted the distribution and
display of certain religious images, such as the Holy Trinity and Jesus
Christ; however, such images were readily available in other parts of
the country.
The Government funded and facilitated Hajj travel but had no
similar program for pilgrimages by religious minorities. In addition to
prohibiting Ahmadi travel for the Hajj, the Government de facto
prevented Baha'is from traveling to their spiritual center in Israel
due to nonrecognition of that country.
The Government designates religion on passports and national
identity documents. Those wishing to be listed as a Muslim on such
documents had to swear a belief in the finality of the prophethood and
denounce the Ahmadiyya movement's founder as a false prophet and his
followers as non-Muslims, resulting in further discrimination and
harassment against the community.
Links with coreligionists in other countries were maintained
relatively easily. The Catholic Church and the Church of Pakistan
reported no difficulties. Ismailis communicated regularly with their
headquarters; their officials, including Prince Karim Aga Khan, visited
the country. Under reciprocal visa arrangements, Indian Hindu and Sikh
leaders and groups traveled frequently to the country.
The constitution requires that the country's president and prime
minister must be Muslims. All senior officials, including members of
parliament, must swear an oath to protect the country's Islamic
identity. Government employees are not prohibited from displaying or
practicing any elements of their faith. In NWFP, provincial regulations
require all civil servants to pray five times daily; however, this was
not enforced.
Sunni Muslims appeared to receive favorable consideration in
government hiring and advancement. Religious minorities, including
Shi'a, contended that the Government persistently discriminated against
members of their communities in hiring for the civil service and in
admissions to government institutions of higher learning. Promotions
for all minority groups appeared limited within the civil service.
These problems were particularly acute for Ahmadis, who contended that
a ``glass ceiling'' prevented them from being promoted to senior
positions and that certain government departments refused to hire or
retain qualified Ahmadis.
Religious minorities claimed the Government failed to provide their
areas with equal public services and criticized the Religious Affairs
Ministry for failing to take adequate steps to improve their
socioeconomic development. The ministry rejected these charges,
claiming it spent 30 percent of its annual budget on minorities.
Ahl-e-Hadith and Brailvi leaders contended that their groups were
underrepresented in the hiring of clergy for government mosques and on
the Islamic faculties of government colleges. They charged that members
of JI dominated both the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Islamiyyat
wing of the Education Ministry. Ahl-e-Hadith complained of under-
representation on government-sponsored religious boards such as the
Zakat and Ush'r Council.
Ahmadis continued to contend that they were denied voting rights
through requirements that they register as non-Muslims. Members of the
public can challenge any Muslim on the voter rolls to take an oath
swearing to the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad and denouncing
the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. For this reason, Ahmadis refused
to register. There are reserved seats for religious minority members in
both the national and provincial assemblies. Such seats are allocated
to the political parties on a proportional basis determined by their
overall representation in the assembly.
Members of minority religious groups volunteered for military
service in small numbers, and there were no official obstacles to their
advancement; however, in practice non-Muslims rarely, if ever, rose
above the rank of colonel and were not assigned to politically
sensitive positions. A chaplaincy corps provided services for Muslim
soldiers, but no similar services were available for religious
minorities.
The public school curriculum was Islamized during the 1980s. This
included the adoption of a number of textbooks that included derogatory
remarks against minority religious groups, particularly Hindus and
Jews, and the generalized teaching of religious intolerance as
acceptable. The curriculum continued to undergo a major revision to
eliminate such teachings and to remove Islamic teaching from secular
subjects. The Education Ministry cooperated with international donors
and NGOs in this multiyear effort and professed its intention to
proceed despite objections from conservative religious elements.
Students were free to practice their faith. Many Ahmadis and Christians
reported discrimination in applying to government educational
institutions due to their religious affiliation. Christians and Ahmadis
reportedly have been denied access to medical schools, and societal
discrimination against Ahmadis persisted at many universities.
All religious groups experienced bureaucratic delays and requests
for bribes when attempting to build houses of worship or to obtain
land. These were similar to what nonreligious groups faced. Ahmadis
were prevented from building houses of worship. Sunni Muslim groups
built mosques and shrines without government permission and at times in
violation of zoning ordinances.
The provincial and federal governments had legal responsibility for
the upkeep of religious property abandoned during partition. Disputes
with minority communities over the property and its upkeep may be
reviewed by civil courts. While the Government funded the upkeep and
repair of some properties, minority communities continued to charge
that its efforts in many cases were inadequate.
Criminal law allows offenders to offer monetary restitution to
victims and allows victims to carry out physical retribution rather
than seek punishment through the court system. This supposedly Islamic
provision applied to all. Minorities claimed that minority offenders
faced far higher, and minority victims received far lower, amounts of
monetary restitution than did Muslims.
Also supposedly based on Islamic law, a fact much in dispute, the
Hudood Ordinances were used to discriminate against women. Women were
often spuriously charged with extramarital sex under this law and
forced to remain in detention for long periods awaiting trial. To
address this issue, the Government adopted new legislation in January
2005, requiring a court order prior to detention of women on such
Hudood charges. Human rights activists charged that this change was
insufficient and continued to campaign for the repeal of the Hudood
Ordinances. On July 1, 2006, President Musharraf instructed the CII to
prepare a revised Hudood Ordinance to eliminate such discriminatory
provisions against women not later than August. In addition, he ordered
the release of all women detained under the current ordinance.
Civil marriages do not exist; marriages are performed and
registered according to one's religion. The marriages of Hindu or
Christian men remain legal upon conversion to Islam but are considered
dissolved for marriages of Hindu or Christian women or of other non-
Muslims that were performed under the rites of the previous religion.
Children born to Hindu or Christian women who do not separate from
their husbands, yet convert to Islam after marriage, are considered
illegitimate unless their husbands also convert. Children of non-Muslim
men who convert are not considered illegitimate. Under Islamic law, a
Muslim man can marry a woman of the Book (Jews or Christians) but
cannot marry a Hindu woman. Muslim women may only marry Muslim men.
There is no law concerning the children of a Muslim man and a Muslim
woman who convert to another religion, nor is there a law dealing with
a Muslim woman whose husband converts to a minority religion.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Police torture and mistreatment of those in custody remained a
serious and common problem throughout the country and at times resulted
in extrajudicial killings. It was usually impossible to ascertain
whether religion was a factor in cases in which religious minorities
were victims; however, both Christian and Ahmadi communities claimed
their members were more likely to be abused. Prison conditions, except
those for wealthy or influential prisoners, were extremely poor. Non-
Muslim prisoners generally were accorded poorer facilities than Muslim
inmates. There were no reports of police or inmates killing those
accused of blasphemy in custody during the reporting period.
The policeman charged in the May 2004 death-in-custody of Samuel
Masih, a Christian, remained in detention pending trial. Charges were
pending against two officers charged in the July 26, 2004, torture of
Manu Kholi, a Hindu.
While murder charges were pending against police officers involved
in the August 2004 death-in-custody of Nasir Mukhtar, a Christian, no
arrests were made during the period covered by this report.
Human rights groups charged that police in Nowshera severely
mistreated Christian Yousaf Masih following his June 28, 2005,
detention on spurious blasphemy charges. They contended that ongoing
mistreatment in prison led to a severe deterioration in his health.
Police released Masih on August 8, 2005, and charges against him were
dropped.
On April 7, 2006, two prison staff at the central jail in Sahiwal,
Punjab, joined Muslim inmates in attacking four Christian prisoners who
had gathered for prayer and Bible study. Prison staff stripped the
Christians of their clothing and physically tortured them. The four
were then locked up in solitary confinement. No action was taken
against the prison officials.
The Government was not responsible for disappearances based on a
person's religion; however, police did not always effectively respond
to complaints of disappearances of members of minority religious
groups. Police made no arrests in the November 2004 kidnapping and
killing of eight-year-old Samuel Sethi, a Christian, and in the
February 2005 kidnapping of thirteen-year-old Fozia Zafar, also a
Christian, who remained missing at the end of the period covered by
this report.
There were no reports of security forces engaging in rape or
mutilation based on religion.
Minority religious groups continued to complain of police inaction
in cases of attacks by extremists against congregants and property
belonging to minorities.
On November 4, 2005, after a dispute between Christians and Muslims
in the village of Niale da Wara in the District of Sheikhupura, in
Manawala, thirteen armed men attacked Pastor Indrias Masih, beating him
severely. Women and children were also reportedly attacked. The police
made no arrests in this case during the period covered by this report.
On the evening and night of November 12, 2005, a mob of
approximately 2,500, urged on by local clergy, attacked and destroyed
Christian churches, religious properties, and houses in the town of
Sangla Hill. According to witnesses, police took no action to control
or disperse the mob or to protect Christian property.
The blasphemy laws were routinely used to harass religious
minorities and reform-minded Muslims and to settle personal scores or
business rivalries. Individuals were detained and convicted on spurious
charges. Judges and magistrates, seeking to avoid a confrontation with
or violence from extremists, often continued trials indefinitely. As a
result, those accused of blasphemy often faced lengthy periods in jail
and were burdened with increased legal costs and repeated court
appearances, before acquittal, generally at the appellate level. At the
end of the reporting period, twenty-two remained in detention awaiting
trial on blasphemy charges, and nine were in prison following
conviction.
There were no developments during the reporting period in the case
of Ranjha Masih, who continued to serve a life sentence on blasphemy
charges.
In July 2004, a Christian girl was accused of throwing a copy of
the Qur'an into a local dump. A Muslim mob threatened to burn down the
family residence and tried to kill the girl. Local elders and police
intervened and arrested the girl and her father. They were eventually
released and the family moved to ensure their safety.
In October 2004, blasphemy charges were filed against Mohammad Ali,
a Muslim and owner of a paper mill, for allegedly desecrating the
Qur'an. Police dismissed the charges.
In November 2004, Muhammad Iqbal, an Ahmadi, received a life
sentence following his conviction on blasphemy charges for allegedly
referring to Muhammad as a false prophet. His appeal was pending at the
end of the period covered by this report.
In December 2004, blasphemy charges were filed against Shahdat Ali,
an Ahmadi, and his two alleged accomplices for allegedly setting fire
to the Qur'an. Police dismissed the charges without trial.
In December 2004, Anwar Masih, a Christian, was acquitted of
blasphemy charges. Upon his release, members of Lashkar-i-Mujahideen
vowed to kill him. Masih remained in hiding at the end of the period
covered by this report.
In April 2005, Ashiq Nabi was killed by a mob of approximately 400
individuals after an Islamic religious leader issued an edict declaring
Nabi an infidel whose punishment for allegedly desecrating a copy of
the Qur'an should be death. Police did not make any arrests in this
case.
On June 29, 2005, police in Nowshera, NWFP, arrested illiterate
Christian janitor Yousaf Masih on blasphemy charges. Witnesses claimed
Masih had burned pages of the Qur'an while disposing of trash for his
employer. Following his arrest, a mob of between 300 and 500 protesters
destroyed a Hindu temple and houses belonging to Christian and Hindu
families in the city. While police arrested some perpetrators after the
fact, under the terms of a deal negotiated between Islamic religious
leaders and the Hindu/Christian communities, police released all of
them without charge. Police released Masih from custody on bail on
August 6, 2005, and dropped charges against him. Human rights groups
claimed that he and his family were in hiding for fear of Islamic
extremist groups that threatened to kill him.
On September 2, 2005, in Gandalf, Swabi, NWFP, police arrested a
Hindu couple, Chaman Lal and his wife Krishna Wanti, on charges of
defiling the Qur'an. Locals alleged that they had seen the couple throw
a Qur'an into a field near their home. Lal had converted to Islam seven
years previously but readopted Hinduism at his wife's insistence. The
Peshawar High Court granted bail to Lal after he converted to Islam in
the presence of the chief justice. The Mardan Anti-Terrorism Court, on
December 12, 2005, granted bail to Wanti after she made a similar
conversion. The presiding Anti-Terrorism Court judge faced judicial
reprimand from the supreme court for granting the bail under these
conditions when Wanti had a bail petition pending with the supreme
court.
On September 9, 2005, in Lahore, Younis Masih, a Christian,
confronted a local Islamic cleric about loud music accompanying a night
time religious ceremony. During the course of their altercation, Masih
allegedly insulted Muhammad. The clerics' supporters reportedly
severely beat Masih before leaving him unconscious at his residence.
The next morning, police arrested Masih on charges of blasphemy. In
response to the blasphemy allegations, a mob of approximately 200
Muslims attacked the Christian community where Masih resided, damaging
houses and a local church. Masih remained in detention, facing
blasphemy charges at the end of the reporting period.
On November 11, 2005, in Sangla Hill, Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Yousaf
Masih, a Christian, fought with a local Muslim over a gambling debt. In
the course of the altercation, the Muslim accused Masih of setting fire
to a warehouse containing copies of verses from the Qur'an. Masih
departed the scene; however, the following day, the local Muslim
demanded that police charge Masih with blasphemy in violation of
established procedures. Local Islamic clerics began issuing
announcements over their loudspeakers that a Christian had defiled the
Qur'an and calling for retribution. In response, a mob of approximately
2,500 formed and attacked Christian areas of the town, forcing local
residents to flee and burning 3 churches, 2 parish houses, a convent, a
Christian high school, and the houses of 3 Christian families. Police
reportedly took no action to disperse or subdue the mob. Islamic
religious leaders issued death threats against local Christians should
they return. Police ultimately arrested eighty-eight protesters on
charges of destruction of property and Masih on charges of blasphemy.
As part of an understanding that local officials negotiated, Christians
were allowed to return, and those accused of the violence were
released. On February 12, 2006, courts dropped all charges against
Masih for lack of evidence.
On April 11, 2006, an appellate court acquitted Christian school
teacher Pervez Masih of blasphemy charges and released him after five
years in detention.
In addition to experiencing prosecution under the blasphemy laws,
Ahmadis were often charged, detained, and convicted under the so-called
anti-Ahmadi laws. According to Ahmadiyya publications, police charged
seventeen Ahmadis under these laws during the year. All were released
by the end of the reporting period. Ahmadi leaders also claimed that
the Government used regular sections of the penal code against their
members for religious reasons. They claimed three Ahmadis were in
detention on such charges at the end of the reporting period. The three
had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Their cases were
under appeal at the end of the period covered by this report.
In July 2004, a Muslim mob attacked Ghulam Ahmad Tahir, an Ahmadi
youth, following an anti-Ahmadi conference. Tahir was charged with
assault and was later released. In August 2004, Muhammad Ehsan, a
mentally ill Ahmadi, was charged with possession of Ahmadi literature
and climbing the roof of a mosque. Ehsan was later released. In
November 2004, Zulfiqar Goraya, an Ahmadi, was charged under the anti-
Ahmadi law for posing as a Muslim by distributing wedding cards
containing a common Islamic greeting printed on them. Goraya was also
released.
On September 9, 2005, a local rickshaw driver in Faisalabad,
Punjab, parked his vehicle in front of the home of the head of the
local Ahmadiyya community. The vehicle was painted with insulting,
anti-Ahmadi slogans. The two sons of the local community head
confronted the rickshaw driver and told him to move his vehicle. The
rickshaw driver physically attacked the two Ahmadis. Police intervened
and charged the driver and the two Ahmadis with assault. Charges were
pending at the end of the reporting period, but the Ahmadis were
released on bail.
On October 12, 2005, in Mianwali, Punjab, police and postal
officials jointly charged Irfan Ahmad, an Ahmadi subscriber to the
community magazine Khalid, with receiving a banned publication. The
community magazine is not, in fact, banned, although certain editions
have been. Ahmad was released on bail pending trial.
According to media reports and local Ahmadi leaders, on June 23,
2006, in Mirpur Khas, Sindh, at the instigation of two mullahs, police
registered a criminal case against five Ahmadis following a complaint
by an individual that the accused had tried to convert him. Two of the
accused, Maula Bakhsh and Muhammad Akbar, who were fresh converts, were
arrested by police. The other three went into hiding and applied for
bail before arrest. At a court hearing, Baksh and Akbar admitted that
they had converted but denied that they had tried to convert the
complainant, claiming that they had merely defended their own beliefs
in a conversation on religious matters. The magistrate rejected the
request for bail by Baksh and Akbar, an action local Ahmadis attributed
to immense social pressure generated by the case; this decision was
under review by the district court at the end of the period covered by
this report. The other three accused applied for bail in the higher
sessions court, which granted the plea. A hearing on their case was
scheduled for September 5, 2006.
According to media reports, on June 24, 2006, a mob attacked an
Ahmadi locality in Jhando Sahi Village in Daska near Sialkot and
injured two persons following allegations that some Ahmadis had
desecrated the Qur'an. The mob also set fire to a few vehicles, two
shops, and a few houses belonging to Ahmadis. The district police
arrived at the scene and arrested seven Ahmadis. They also removed
approximately seventy-five Ahmadis from the village for fear of more
attacks. Four Ahmadis were booked under section 295C of the penal code
for Qur'an desecration, and two were arrested and held in the Sialkot
District jail. Later, hundreds of persons belonging to surrounding
villages demonstrated against the alleged desecration and chanted anti-
Ahmadi slogans and damaged an Ahmadiyya house of worship. The situation
in the village remained tense and a large contingent of police was
deployed to avert any more damage. Members of the Ahmadi community
claim that the men were burning their own journals and papers.
The Government did not impose onerous financial penalties due to
religion.
The Government did not abuse converts to minority religious groups.
Converts to the Ahmadiyya community were often accused of blasphemy,
violations of the anti-Ahmadi laws, or other crimes. The Government
arrested and prosecuted such individuals. Conversion to other minority
religious groups generally took place in secret to avoid a societal
backlash.
Conservative Islamists (generally Deobandis or JI) claimed the
Government unjustly searched their homes, schools, and mosques as part
of its continued crackdown on extremist and terrorist groups. The
Government denied such allegations, noting the complainants all had
previous ties to banned groups, making them reasonable targets.
Minority communities charged the Government was complicit in
seizures of their property by Muslims and that the government policy of
dismantling illegal slum settlements disproportionately targeted
minority communities. These groups also accused the Government of
inaction in cases of attacks by extremist groups on places of worship
belonging to minority groups.
In July 2004, local government officials in the Bahawalpur District
allotted land occupied by twenty-six Hindu families to local Muslims.
The Hindu families were evicted from the land.
Following July 2004 protests, police in Chenab Nagar (Rabwah)
continued to retain property of the local Ahmaddiya community on which
a makeshift mosque had once existed.
On November 29, 2005, Catholic Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-
Rawalpindi alleged that the Government evicted approximately forty
Christian families of approximately 200 persons from their homes in
Joharabad, Sindh. The Government was giving these families' homes to
victims from the October 8, 2005, earthquake.
The Government did not subject individuals to forced labor or
enslavement based on religious beliefs; however, minority community
leaders charged that the Government failed to take adequate action to
prevent bonded labor in both the brick-making and agricultural sectors.
Christians and Hindus were disproportionately victims of this practice.
In June 2005, police raided sites in Sheikhupura district, Punjab
Province, and freed more than 300 mostly Christian workers performing
forced labor in brick kilns.
Islamists charged without proof that government forces damaged
mosques and religious schools during military operations in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The Government vigorously
denied the allegations.
Forced Religious Conversion
Forced and coerced conversions of religious minorities to Islam
occurred at the hands of societal actors. Religious minorities claimed
that government actions to stem the problem were inadequate. Several
human rights groups have highlighted the increased phenomenon of Hindu
girls, particularly in Karachi, being kidnapped from their families and
forced to convert to Islam.
Kidnapping charges were pending against a Muslim man who abducted a
fifteen-year-old Christian, Samina Izhaq, and forced her to convert in
August 2004.
On September 2, 2005, Ghulam Abbas and Mohammad Kashif reportedly
drugged and kidnapped Riqba Masih, a Christian woman, from the village
of Chak, Punjab, and took her to Lahore. The kidnappers repeatedly
raped Masih and threatened to kill her and her family if she did not
convert to Islam but Masih refused. On September 3, 2005, another
unidentified accomplice took Masih into custody and detained her until
September 6, 2005, raping her repeatedly. Later that day, the
kidnappers took Masih to Faisalabad and abandoned her at a bus stop
from where she made her way to her parents' home. Police arrested
Ghulam Abbas and Mohammad Kashif and charged them with kidnapping and
rape. Following an October 24, 2005, hearing in which a Faisalabad
court denied bail, Kashif escaped from the courtroom and remained at
large at the end of the reporting period. Abbas remained in police
custody, and police are attempting to find Kashif.
On October 18, 2005, Sanno Amra and Champa, a Hindu couple residing
in the Punjab Colony, Karachi, Sindh returned home to find that their
three teenage daughters had disappeared. After inquiries to the local
police, the couple discovered that their daughters had been taken to a
local madrassah, had been converted to Islam, and were denied
unsupervised contact with their parents.
On February 16, 2006, six unknown assailants attacked well-known
Christian singer A. Nayyar in Lahore. After beating and robbing him,
they forced him to recite the prayer for conversion to Islam.
On March 3, 2006, a trial court convicted Maulvi Ghulam Rasool and
Mohammed Tayyab on torture and murder charges, stemming from the 2004
abduction, torture, and death of student Javed Anjum, and sentenced
them to twenty-five years in prison. Maulvi Rasool kidnapped Anjum and
held, tortured, and killed him at his religious school in an attempt to
convert him to Islam.
There were no reports of forced conversion of minor United States
citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United
States. However, there were reports of the refusal to allow such
citizens to return to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
There were several incidents involving the abuse of specific
religious groups carried out by individuals or organizations designated
as terrorist organizations by the Secretary of State under Section 219
of the Immigration and Nationality Act and by armed sectarian extremist
groups with strong links to such organizations.
Nationwide, the sectarian violence situation remained unchanged
over the period covered by this report, except for notable improvements
occurring in the Federally Administered Northern Areas.
Targeted assassinations of clergy remained a key tactic of several
groups including, the sectarian organization Sipah-i-Sahaba (SSP),
banned under the law, the terrorist organization Lashkar-i-Jhangvi
(LJ), and the sectarian organizations Sunni Tehrike (ST) and Sipah-i-
Mohammad (SMP). SSP and LJ targeted both Shi'as and Brailvis, whereas
ST and SMP targeted Deobandis.
In October 2004 unknown gunmen in Karachi killed Deobandi Mufti
Jameel Ahmed Khan and an associate in their vehicle. The assassination
might have been linked to a Deobandi-versus-Shi'a cycle of violence
playing out at the same time in Punjab.
On January 8, 2005, Deobandi extremists shot and killed Shi'a
cleric Agha Ziauddin Rizvi in Gilgit, Federally Administered Northern
Areas, leading to demonstrations in which Shi'a and Sunni sectarian
opponents assaulted each other and Ismaili followers of the Aga Khan.
SSP and SMP moved into the area following the demonstrations.
On May 30, 2005, unknown assailants kidnapped, severely tortured,
and killed JI senior official Aslam Mujahid in Karachi. The motives
were unknown, but the killing appeared to be linked to political
violence.
On July 9, 2005, unidentified men believed to be linked with ST
abducted, shot, and killed Deobandi cleric Maulana Shamsuddin in the
Orangi Town area of Karachi, Sindh.
On July 17, 2005, unidentified, motorcycle-riding gunmen, believed
to be linked to SMP, ambushed the vehicle of Deobandi cleric Mufti
Muhammad Ahmed Madni in Karachi. Mufti Madni was seriously injured and
his son Maulana Abdulla Ahmed Madni was killed.
On December 2, 2005, unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and
killed Shi'a cleric Allama Badar-ud-Din in Dera Murad Jamali,
Balochistan. LT claimed responsibility for the attack.
On April 18, 2006, unidentified motor-cycle riding gunmen, believed
to be linked to SSP, ambushed the vehicle of Shi'a cleric Fazl Hussain
Alvi and his driver in Faisalabad, Punjab. The assailants' gunfire
caused the vehicle's tank to explode, killing both occupants.
Both LJ and SSP also continued attacks on houses of worship and
religious gatherings during the period covered by this report.
In October 2004, a cycle of sectarian violence in the Punjab, which
had not seen any for several years, broke out. LJ and SM attacked Shi'a
and Deobandi places of worship, respectively, killing many and injuring
hundreds.
On May 30 2005, a Shi'a mosque in Karachi was attacked; five
persons were killed and at least thirty injured. The Government termed
it a sectarian attack and blamed LJ. These cases have all been
effectively closed. In addition, there appeared to be a new wave of
attacks on celebrations at Sufi shrines in 2005, likely led by Deobandi
extremists who long had termed the celebrations ``idolatrous.'' In
March and May 2005, many died and hundreds were injured when the shrine
to Pir Syed Rakheel Shah and the Bari Imam Shrine were bombed.
On October 7, 2005, two armed assailants opened fire during Friday
prayer at an Ahmadiyya mosque in Mong village, Punjab, killing eight
and injuring nineteen. The Government attributed responsibility to LJ.
On February 9, 2006, a suicide bomber, linked with SSP, attacked a
Shi'a religious procession commemorating the month of Muharram in
Hangu, NWFP, killing at least forty and injuring at least fifty. Three
more died in sectarian clashes that followed the attack on February 10
and 11.
On April 11, 2006, a suicide bomber attacked a Brailvi religious
commemoration of the Prophet's Birthday in Nishtar Park, Karachi,
Sindh, killing fifty seven persons, including prominent Brailvi clerics
and ST leaders, and injuring more than fifty. LJ and SSP have been
implicated in the attack, despite unfounded assertions by JI
attributing responsibility to its political rival the Muttahida Quami
Movement.
Armed clashes between SSP and SMP in the Northern Areas' capital of
Gilgit in July, August, September, and October 2005, left at least
twenty-five dead, including two members of the Rangers paramilitary
force, and at least forty-three injured. Following the final sectarian
clash on October 13, 2005, the Government launched a major crackdown
against both SSP and SMP in the region. Police and paramilitary forces
arrested the leadership of both groups as well as clerics backing the
respective organizations. These leaders remained in detention in
Rawalpindi at the end of the reporting period. Violence in Gilgit has
abated after the crackdown.
Unlike in the previous reporting period, there were no incidents of
terrorist or extremist attacks against Ismaili followers of the Aga
Khan. During the last period, Ismaili followers of the Aga Khan came
under threat of societal violence for the first time. Deobandi
extremist groups conducted attacks against community members in Gilgit
and vandalized schools and health clinics in the Northern Areas and the
neighboring Chitral district of NWFP that the Aga Khan Foundation had
established. In addition, in December 2004, two Ismaili employees of
the Aga Khan Health Service Office in Chitral were killed.
Al-Qa'ida-linked organizations maintained networks in the country,
and its supporters periodically issued anti-Semitic statements. Hafiz
Saeed, leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a designated foreign terrorist
organization, consistently issued statements calling for holy war
against Jews and Hindus. The Government placed Saeed under house arrest
from February 17 to 20, 2006, and then restricted his travel within the
country to prevent his agitation during protests against cartoons of
Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper.
On February 21, 2006, a court sentenced eleven members of
Jandullah, an extremist group linked to al-Qa'ida, to death for their
involvement in a June 2004 attack on the Corps Commander Karachi. The
same individuals remained under trial for the January 2004 attack on
the Pakistan Bible Society Office in Karachi.
In accordance with the Anti-Terrorist Act, the Government banned
the activities of and membership in several religious extremist and
terrorist groups. The Anti-Terrorist Act allows the Government to use
special streamlined courts to try violent crimes, terrorist activities,
acts or speech designed to foment religious hatred, and crimes against
the state; however, many of the groups that the Government banned
remained active.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
The Government took steps to bolster religious freedom during the
period covered by this report.
There was a significant decline in new blasphemy and Hudood cases,
approximately 44 percent and 164 percent from the previous reporting
period, respectively. It appears that this decline could be due to the
implementation of the 2005 revision to the procedures for the
implementation of both the blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances.
Under the new procedures, senior police officials must investigate all
blasphemy cases before charges are filed, and a court order must
precede women's detention under the extramarital sex provisions of the
Hudood Ordinances. Human rights campaigners had agitated for such
changes since 2000 and continued to press for outright repeal of the
laws. On July 1, 2006, President Musharraf instructed the CII to revise
the Hudood Ordinances to address such concerns by August, and ordered
the release of women detained under the ordinances. Approximately 700
women have already been released, many of whom were detained on Hudood
charges.
The Government maintained its existing ban on terrorist and
sectarian organizations known to be active in the country. The assets
of such organizations remained frozen, and their identified leaders
were under surveillance. Although most of the banned organizations
continued to try and operate, the Government policies of monitoring,
periodic raids on safe houses, periodic detention of leaders and
activists, and denial of financial resources were effective in
diminishing such groups' impact. During the period covered by this
report, the Government launched another crackdown against such groups.
On July 19 and 20, 2005, police detained approximately 320 individuals
believed to have links to terrorist or extremist organizations. The
Government released these individuals over the ensuing six-month
period. On September 29, 2005, the Government dismantled the LJ
Islamabad/Rawalpindi cell and arrested Asif Choto, a senior LJ leader.
On March 29, 2006, the Government detained Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman
Khalil, head of the designated terrorist organization Harakat-ul-
Mujahideen, after he checked into an Islamabad hospital for medical
treatment.
The Government remained in active negotiations with the sectarian
boards, or wafaqs, which oversee the vast majority of the country's
Islamic religious schools, or madrassahs. During the period covered by
this report, the Government expelled foreign students from the
country's madrassahs and arrived at agreement on registration
provisions that require madrassahs to share information on finances and
curricula. The Government included in the registration ordinances a
legal ban on the teaching of sectarianism, religious hatred, and/or
militancy. While it was too early to measure the success of these
reforms, it was generally held that the impact would be positive.
Wafaqs oversaw an ongoing phase-in of modern subjects such as English,
math, and science at the government's request and continued to utilize
inspectors to ensure that their member madrassahs adhered to bans on
the teaching of religious and sectarian hatred. Wafaqs complied with
government reporting requirements on audited accounts. Despite these
improvements, some challenges remain. The Religious Affairs Ministry
and the wafaqs continued to discuss examination requirements without
resolution, and the Madrassah Reform Committee failed to make progress
in disbursement of $100 million (approximately 5.8 billion rupees) in
available funds to qualified madrassahs.
Draft legislation for the creation of a National Human Rights
Commission remained with the national assembly. The Government
continued to work with the international community to revise the draft
legislation to ensure a strong, independent monitoring body.
The Government continued to include human rights awareness as part
of its police training program.
The World Council of Religions in Islamabad continued with its
efforts to promote increased interaction and dialogue among various
religious groups. The council, assisted by leaders from Islamic,
Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Parsi communities and backed by
President Musharraf, continued to organize sessions throughout the
country with the support of local and provincial governments. In
addition, the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Islamic Ideology
Council continued to organize a number of smaller intersectarian and
interfaith meetings and dialogue sessions. As a result of these
meetings, Deobandi and JI religious and political leaders significantly
toned down anti-Christian and anti-Hindu rhetoric.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Relations between the country's religious communities remained
tense. Violence against religious minorities and between Muslim sects
continued. Most believed that a small minority were responsible for
attacks; however, discriminatory legislation and the teaching of
religious intolerance in public schools created a permissive
environment for attacks. Police at times refused to prevent violence
and harassment or refused to charge persons who commit such offenses.
Mobs occasionally attacked individuals accused of blasphemy, their
family, or their religious community prior to their arrest. When
blasphemy and other religious cases were brought to court, extremists
often packed the courtroom and made public threats against an
acquittal. Judges and magistrates, seeking to avoid a confrontation
with or violence from extremists, often continued trials indefinitely.
As a result, those accused of blasphemy often faced lengthy periods in
jail and were burdened with increased legal costs and repeated court
appearances. Religious extremists continued to threaten to kill all
those acquitted of blasphemy charges. High-profile accused persons
often went into hiding or emigrated after acquittal.
Ahmadi individuals and institutions long have been victims of
religious violence, much of which is instigated by organized religious
extremists. Ahmadi leaders charged that militant Sunni mullahs and
their followers sometimes staged marches through the streets of Rabwah,
a predominantly Ahmadi town and spiritual center in central Punjab.
Backed by crowds of between 100 and 200 persons, the mullahs reportedly
denounced Ahmadis and their founder, a situation that sometimes led to
violence. The Ahmadis claimed that police generally were present during
these marches but did not intervene to prevent violence.
In July 2004, unknown assailants attempted to shoot Shahid Ahmad
Dar, an Ahmadi, in Lahore. No arrests were made.
In August 2004, following a mob attack, police issued a ban on the
construction of a new house of worship for the Ahmadiyya community in
Tatlay Aali, Gujranwala. The ban continued during the reporting period.
In August 2004, unknown assailants killed Barkatullah Mangla, an
Ahmadi lawyer and president of the Sargodha Ahmadiyya community. Police
did not arrest suspects.
In November 2004, Muhammad Ishaq Danish was killed after he became
a member of the Ahmadiyya community. Police did not file charges.
In December 2004 a mob attacked the construction site of an
Ahmaddiya house of worship in Sahiwal. Police did not file charges.
On September 10, 2005, in Quetta, Balochistan, unknown assailants
shot and killed Wasim Ahmad, an Ahmadi, en route to his business.
Witnesses claimed that one of the assailants appeared to be a member of
a conservative religious organization based on his dress and conduct.
Prior to his killing, Ahmad had received threats from various extremist
organizations demanding that he convert to Islam.
On February 12, 2006, local Islamic clerics from Rahim Yar Khan,
Punjab, held a procession against cartoons of Muhammad that had been
published in a Danish newspaper. As the protesters came to an
electronics shop owned by two Ahmadi brothers, Shakil Ahmad and Tariq
Mahmud, clerics pointed out the shop's ownership by Ahmadis and led a
group of protestors in attacking the store, damaging glass and
inventory. Police, who were present, did not intervene to stop the
protestors.
On March 16, 2006, a local Islamic cleric in Chanda Singh Wala,
Kasur, Punjab, demanded that police disinter the remains of the
daughter of Muhammad Hanif, a member of the local Ahmadiyya community,
from the community's Muslim graveyard. Although police initially
refused the request, they ultimately complied after further pressure,
disinterred the remains, and handed them over to the local Ahmadiyya
community for reburial in the separate Ahmadi cemetery.
On March 19, 2006, two unidentified armed men attacked and killed a
prominent member of the Ahmadiyya community in Manzoor Colony, Karachi,
Sheikh Rafiq Ahmad, at his store. Community leaders believed that the
killing was motivated solely by Ahmad's religion.
On April 10 and 11, 2006, the Government permitted the anti-Ahmadi
organization Majlis Ahrar Islam to organize a conference in the Ahmadi
spiritual center of Rabwah, Punjab. Islamic clerics addressing the
conference repeatedly stated that Ahmadis were traitors to Islam and
rebels against the country and its constitution. Shari'a law deemed all
Ahmadis apostates, and they should therefore be killed. Following the
conclusion of the conference, several anti-Ahmadi participating
organizations marched through the streets of Rabwah demanding death to
Ahmadis.
Ahmadis suffered from societal harassment and discrimination. Even
the rumor that someone might be an Ahmadi or had Ahmadi relatives could
stifle opportunities for employment or promotion. Most Ahmadis were
home-schooled or went to private, Ahmadi-run schools. Ahmadi students
in public schools often were subject to abuse by their non-Ahmadi
classmates. The quality of teachers assigned to predominately Ahmadi
schools by the Government reportedly was poor. In 2002, in response to
a question from Islamic clerics, President Pervez Musharraf, who had
been accused of favoring Ahmadis, declared that he believed Ahmadis to
be ``non-Muslims.''
Acts of violence and harassment against Christians continued during
the period covered by this report.
In August 2004, a portion of a Christian cemetery in Basti Bohar
was seized by local Muslims who refused to return it.
In October 2004, unknown assailants twice attempted to bomb a
Christian church in Rawalpindi. The police did not make arrests.
In November 2004, a local Muslim leader in Loghur, Kasur demolished
Christian houses in violation of a court order. Police took no action
in this case.
In March 2005, a mob of approximately 150 individuals attacked a
gathering of women at a Christian church in Islamabad, beating the
women and destroying property. The police made no arrests.
In March 2005, two assailants attacked Christians as they were
leaving Easter services at a church in Lahore. Charges remained
pending.
In April 2005, Pastor Shamoor Babar and his Catholic driver, Daniel
Emmanuel, were kidnapped and killed. Police made no arrests.
In April 2005, Shahbaz Masih, a Catholic, was assaulted by unknown
assailants. Police made no arrests.
On February 3, 2006, Muslim vandals attacked a Catholic church in
Kawanlit, district Sialkot. Furniture, windows, and religious books
were destroyed. The attack was prompted by a dispute between local
Christians and Muslims over a piece of land. A court had issued an
order in favor of the Christians immediately before the attack.
Islamic protesters angered over the publication of cartoons of
Muhammad in the Danish press attacked local Christian institutions. On
February 13, 2006, protesters vandalized the missionary-run Edward's
College in Peshawar, NWFP, by smashing windows in various buildings. On
February 15, protestors in Peshawar, NWFP, damaged St. Michael's
Convent School, St. Elizabeth Girls' College and a mission hospital run
by the Church of Pakistan. Protesters also damaged a United
Presbyterian girls' school in Kasur, Punjab and tried to attack the
city's Catholic church but were stopped by police.
On February 16, 2006, Islamic clerics kidnapped Christian cleric
Rev. Joseph Praim from the Full Gospel Assemblies. Rev. Praim's
abductors held him for five days without food and water, during which
time his captors severely beat him and threatened him with death. The
kidnappers told Rev. Praim that they were torturing him because
Christians had published derogatory cartoons of Muhammad in Denmark.
On February 19, 2006, hundreds of Muslims ransacked and burned St.
Mary's Catholic Church and St. Xavier Church in Sukkur, Sindh. The
attack was reportedly in response to allegations that a Christian
convert to Islam, Irfan Gill, had burned part of a Qur'an in an attempt
to frame his father-in-law for blasphemy.
On March 1, 2006, a church was set on fire in Sargodha. The
building suffered damages, but no one was injured. Minority groups
called on the country's Muslim political and religious authorities to
stop the violence and punish the culprits.
On March 30, 2006, unknown individuals attempted to burn down a
Christian church in Mian Channu, Punjab. Local residents extinguished
the fire, but it damaged some of the church's furnishings.
While many Christians belonged to the poorest socioeconomic groups
and faced discrimination, the reason might have more to do with ethnic
and social factors than with religion. Many poor Christians remained in
the profession of their low-caste Hindu ancestors, most of whom were
``untouchables.'' Their position in society, although somewhat better
than in the past, did not reflect major progress despite more than one
hundred years of consistent missionary aid and development. Christian
students reportedly were forced to eat at separate tables in public
schools that are predominately Muslim.
Hindus faced societal violence, often directed at their temples,
during the period covered by this report. Criminals targeted Hindu
businessmen for kidnap, particularly in Karachi. Hindus claimed they
were forced to pay ransoms after police did little to recover kidnap
victims.
In October 2004, unidentified persons occupied a Hindu temple in
Hyderabad. Police took no action to oust the illegal occupiers.
In May 2005, unknown assailants killed Bhagat Mohan Bheel, the
caretaker of a Hindu temple, and destroyed temple statues. Police made
no arrests.
Societal violence against the Sikh community remained comparatively
rare. Charges remained pending against several persons involved in the
September 2004 attack on Sikh Gurdwara Junam Asthan in Nankana Sahib.
Ismailis reported that they were the objects of resentment of Sunni
Muslims due to the comparative economic advances they had made. The
Government did not harass Ismailis; however, they reported that they
frequently were pressured to adopt certain practices of conservative
Muslims or risk being ostracized socially.
Although there were very few Jewish citizens in the country, anti-
Semitic press articles were common in the vernacular press. NGO sources
pointed out that since India's 1992 establishment of diplomatic
relations with Israel, the media, both mainstream and Islamic,
sometimes referred to India as the ``Zionist threat on our borders.''
Nonetheless, the attitude of the media was not reflected in the actions
of the Government. In 2005, the Pakistani and Israeli Foreign Ministers
met in Istanbul and President Musharraf greeted former Israeli PM
Sharon at the United Nations in September 2005. President Musharraf has
publicly discussed the possibility of diplomatic recognition of Israel
after the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Government also
cooperated in the capture of those responsible for the 2002 abduction
and killing of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
Some Sunni Muslim groups published literature calling for violence
against Ahmadis, Shi'a Muslims, other Sunni sects, and Hindus. Some
newspapers frequently published articles that contained derogatory
references to religious minorities, especially Ahmadis, Hindus, and
Jews. Sermons at mosques frequently railed against Ahmadis, other
Muslim groups, and Hindus.
Proselytizing generally was considered socially inappropriate among
Muslims; missionaries faced some difficulties due to this perception.
For example, some Sunni Muslim groups opposed missionary activities and
at times issued verbal threats against missionaries to discourage them
from working.
Human rights groups claimed that rape was often used against women
to humiliate and dishonor them. Minority rights groups claimed that
Hindu and Christian women were especially vulnerable. Due to
prosecutions under the Hudood Ordinances and the high social stigma
attached to rape, very few cases are reported.
Discrimination in employment based on religion appeared widespread.
In particular, Christians had difficulty finding jobs other than those
involving menial labor, although Christian activists stated that the
employment situation had improved somewhat in the private sector in
recent years. Christians and Hindus also found themselves
disproportionately represented in the country's most oppressed social
group, bonded laborers; illegal bonded labor was widespread.
Agricultural, brick-kiln, and domestic workers often were kept
virtually as slaves. The majority of bonded laborers in those sectors
were non-Muslim. All were subject to the same conditions, whether they
were Muslim, Christian, or Hindu. In June 2005, police raided sites in
Sheikhupura district, Punjab Province, and freed more than 300 mostly
Christian workers performing forced labor in brick kilns. Although the
Government removed colonial-era entries for religious affiliation from
government job application forms to prevent discrimination in hiring,
the faith of some, particularly of Christians and Hindus, often could
be ascertained from their names.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discussed religious freedom with the Government
as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S. Government
representatives met and spoke regularly with major Muslim and minority
religious groups. Embassy officers also maintained a dialogue with
government, religious, and minority community representatives to
encourage religious freedom and to discuss problems. Chief concerns
during this reporting period included the blasphemy laws, the Hudood
Ordinances, curriculum reform in the public education and madrassah
education systems, treatment of the Ahmadiyya and Christian
communities, and sectarian violence. Embassy officials, including the
ambassador, met with leaders from communities of all faiths and NGOs
working on religious freedom problems.
The embassy continued to raise concerns about the abuse of the
blasphemy laws and Hudood Ordinances with the Government, members of
parliament, and officials. Embassy officials participated in a number
of seminars that NGOs organized to discuss these concerns with a wide
spectrum of stakeholders. During all of these discussions, embassy
officials continued to stress the need for the Government to end
abusive and excessively harsh implementation of these laws. The new
legislation that the Government enacted in January 2005 represented an
important positive step in this direction. In addition to general
advocacy on the law, the embassy continued to monitor a number of high-
profile ongoing blasphemy cases and appeals and provided information to
interested parties in the United States.
As part of its overall public education reform program, valued at
$100 million (5.8 billion rupees), the United States provided
substantial financial support to the Government's curriculum reform
initiative, which included eliminating the teaching of religious
intolerance.
Embassy officials regularly monitored progress on madrassah reform
and encouraged such progress. During the period covered by this report,
the ambassador met with the religious affairs minister to obtain his
views on progress toward reform and to urge government cooperation.
Senior officials from the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department
of Education also raised concerns about the need for swift reform of
the madrassah system with the education minister. Embassy officials
encouraged and facilitated study by those involved in madrassah reform
of the relationship between religious schools and state authorities in
the United States, as a possible model for the country.
The embassy carefully monitored treatment of the Ahmadiyya
community. During discussions with Islamic religious leaders, embassy
officials urged reconciliation with the Ahmadiyya community and an end
to persecution of this minority group. Embassy officials also raised
and discussed treatment of the Ahmadis with members of parliament,
encouraging an eventual repeal of anti-Ahmadi laws and a less severe
application in the interim.
Embassy officials regularly met with religious and political
leaders from all major Islamic groups. During these meetings, they
raised the need to end sectarian violence and to define a more
cooperative relationship between the sects. Embassy officials
encouraged interfaith and intersectarian dialogue initiatives, such as
the World Council of Religions. In meetings with officials from the
Islamic Ideology Council and the Ministry of Religion, embassy
officials encouraged them to play an active role in promoting sectarian
harmony.
The embassy continued to monitor developments in high profile
violence against minorities, such as the Sangla Hills case, and
provided information to interested parties in the United States. The
embassy also assisted local and international human rights
organizations to follow up specific cases involving religious
minorities.
__________
SRI LANKA
The constitution accords Buddhism the ``foremost place,'' but
Buddhism is not recognized as the state religion. The constitution also
provides for the right of members of other faiths to freely practice
their religion. While the Government publicly endorses this right, in
practice there were problems in some areas.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report.
Anti-conversion legislation first introduced in 2004 remained under
consideration. In May 2004, the Jathika Hela Urumaya Party (JHU)
presented to parliament a bill that would criminalize ``unethical''
conversions and on May 6, 2005, despite a supreme court ruling that
some sections of the bill were unconstitutional, the JHU presented the
bill for a second reading. Subsequently, the proposed bill was referred
to a special parliamentary committee, which in April 2006, met for the
first time. The bill remained under consideration within the committee
at the end of the period covered by this report.
In June 2004, the then-minister of Buddhist affairs presented a
separate draft anti-conversion bill to the cabinet. It was not formally
approved; however, it was sent to the attorney general for review. In
April 2005, the cabinet approved a revised version of the bill and in
June 2005, the bill was formally ``gazetted,'' the first step toward
introducing it in parliament. By the end of the reporting period, it
had not been introduced.
In October 2004, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Party formally
proposed a constitutional amendment that would declare Buddhism the
state religion. While the amendment remained on parliament's ``order
paper,'' the bill never reached parliament's formal agenda and made no
progress over the reporting period.
Although previously the courts had generally upheld the right of
Christian groups to worship and to construct facilities to house their
congregations, a supreme court decision promulgated in 2003 ruled
against recognizing a Roman Catholic group and determined that its
medical services constituted ``allurement.'' At the same time, the
supreme court ruled that although the constitution supports the right
of individuals to practice any religion, it does not support the right
to proselytize. The group protested the ruling to the UN Human Rights
Committee (HRC), which in October 2005, stated that the supreme court
did not uphold International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) standards.
Since late 2003, the country has witnessed a spate of attacks on
Christian churches and sometimes pastors and congregants. Approximately
250 attacks have been alleged since 2003, with several dozen confirmed
by the U.S. Embassy. In response, major political and religious leaders
have publicly condemned the attacks, and police have arrested and
prosecuted close to a dozen persons in connection with the incidents.
Despite generally amicable relations among persons of different
faiths, there has been an ongoing violent resistance by some Buddhists
to Christian church activity, in particular that conducted by
evangelical groups. There were sporadic attacks on Christian churches
by Buddhist extremists and some societal tension due to ongoing
allegations of forced conversions and debate on anti-conversion
legislation. In May 2005, at the invitation of the Government, the UN
Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom visited and met with various
religious groups and civil society.
The U.S. Government discussed religious freedom issues as part of
its overall policy to promote human rights. Embassy officials conveyed
U.S. Government concerns about church attacks to government leaders and
urged them to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators. Embassy officials
also expressed concern to the Government about the negative impact
anti-conversion laws could have on religious freedom. The U.S.
Government continued to discuss general religious freedom concerns with
religious leaders and with the Government as part of its overall policy
to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 25,322 square miles and a population of
19.4 million. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity all are
practiced. Approximately 70 percent of the population was Buddhist, 15
percent Hindu, 8 percent Christian, and 7 percent Muslim. Christians
tended to be concentrated in the west, with much of the east populated
by Muslims and the north almost exclusively by Hindus.
Most members of the majority Sinhala community were Theravada
Buddhists. Most Tamils, who made up the largest ethnic minority, were
Hindu. Almost all Muslims were Sunnis; there was also a small minority
of Shi'a, including members of the Borah community. Almost 80 percent
of Christians were Catholics, with Anglican and other mainstream
Protestant churches also present in the cities. Seventh-day Adventists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Methodists, Baptists, Dutch Reformed, Pentecostal,
and the Assemblies of God were also present. Evangelical Christian
groups have grown in recent years, although membership was still small.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution gives Buddhism a ``foremost position,'' but it
also provides for the right of members of other faiths to practice
their religions freely. The Government's respect for religious freedom
varied, and there was no improvement in the status of religious
freedom.
Prior to the November 2005 presidential election, each religion had
a ministry to oversee its affairs; however, after President Mahinda
Rajapaksa took office, he replaced them with a single Ministry of
Religious Affairs with four departments, one each to deal with
Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian affairs. According to the
legislation defining the mandates, each department should formulate and
implement programs that inculcate religious values and promote a
virtuous society.
On October 29, 2004, the JHU proposed a constitutional amendment
declaring Buddhism to be the state religion. The JHU stated that the
purpose of the amendment was strictly to protect Buddhism; however, the
amendment also contained clauses restricting conversion of Buddhists.
On November 25, 2004, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Center
for Policy Alternatives (CPA) challenged the amendment, and in December
2004 the CPA's petition was heard before a three-judge bench of the
supreme court. The court determined that the proposed amendment was
inconsistent with the constitution. The court also determined that
since the amendment sought to repeal parts of the constitution,
approval from a two-thirds majority in parliament and a referendum
endorsing it would be required for passage. The bill remained on
parliament's ``order paper,'' the document from which agenda items are
drawn; however, the JHU made no attempt to put the amendment on
parliament's agenda, and the bill made no progress during the reporting
period.
In May 2004, the JHU proposed a ``Prohibition of Forcible
Conversions'' bill before parliament. The bill carries penalties,
including fines or jail sentences, for anyone convicted of or assisting
in ``unethical'' conversion, with heavier penalties for converting
women and children. In August 2004, the supreme court found key parts
of the bill to be unconstitutional but upheld sections that would
criminalize forced conversion, conversion by deceit, or conversion by
``allurement.'' On May 6, 2005, the JHU presented the same bill,
without amendments, for its second reading. The bill was referred to a
parliamentary standing committee for review. The standing committee has
six months from the date of its composition to consider the bill and
any proposed amendments to it. In April 2006, the speaker of parliament
appointed the members of the standing committee, composed of seven
Buddhists, six Christians, five Hindus, and two Muslims. At the end of
the reporting period, the committee continued to hear testimony from
religious and civil society leaders.
In June 2004, the then-Minister of Buddhist Affairs also presented
a draft anti-conversion bill to the cabinet. It was not formally
approved, but it was sent to the attorney general for review. The
cabinet approved a revised bill in April 2005 and formally ``gazetted''
it in June 2005, the first step toward introducing the bill in
parliament; however, the bill never reached parliament, and it was not
the subject of public debate during the reporting period.
The 2004 JHU and government-sponsored bills are substantially
similar. Both bills carry penalties, including fines or jail sentences,
for anyone convicted of or assisting in ``unethical'' conversion. The
private member bill has heavier penalties for converting women and
children, whereas the ministerial bill has such penalties only for
converting children. The ministerial bill holds that for any group
found guilty of performing ``unethical'' conversion, all its members
may also be found guilty, and that any foreigner found guilty under
this act would be deported and may be labeled a ``prohibited visitor.''
Despite the constitutional preference for Buddhism, a number of
major religious festivals of other faiths were celebrated as national
holidays. These included the Hindu Thai Pongal, New Year, and Deepawali
festivals; the Muslim Hadji and Ramzan festivals and the Prophet
Muhammad's birthday; and Christian Good Friday and Christmas. The year
2006 also marks the 2,550th death anniversary of the Buddha. In
commemoration, the Department of Buddhist Affairs within the Religious
Affairs Ministry organized an ordination ceremony for 2,550 novice
monks.
Some Christian denominations resisted greater government
involvement in their affairs; as a result, they were allowed to
register through acts of parliament or as corporations under domestic
law. Any religious group that wishes to register as a corporation must
submit forms to do so. Registration gives a group legal standing as a
corporate entity in financial and real estate transactions. There was
no tax exemption for religious organizations as such; however, churches
and temples were allowed to register as charitable organizations, which
were entitled to some tax exemptions. There was no option for
registering as a ``religious group.'' Such groups must either register
as a corporation or as a charitable organization by having a bill put
forward in parliament on their behalf.
In 2003, the Teaching Sisters of the Holy Cross of the Third Order
of Saint Francis requested incorporation as a non-profit organization
through a bill in parliament. A citizen raised an objection to the
bill, and the case went to the supreme court, which ruled against the
incorporation bill. The court claimed the order could not be
incorporated if it was involved in proselytizing and providing material
benefit. The supreme court deemed that incorporation under such
circumstances would violate the constitution. The Teaching Sisters
lodged a complaint with the HRC and in April 2004, the HRC asked the
Government to provide a response. The Government raised technical
objections. In October 2005, the HRC provided a ruling that the supreme
court decision did not meet ICCPR standards. The Government was given
ninety days to respond but did not do so. Officials noted that the
supreme court's decision was a constitutional determination, and as
such could not be over-ridden by a HRC decision. The current
constitution does not bring government policies fully in line with
ICCPR obligations. The incorporation bill's parliamentary session ended
in April 2004 when a new parliament was elected, and the country's law
requires all bills that have not completed the legislative process be
re-introduced if they are to be considered; no one has sought to re-
introduce the bill.
Religion is a mandatory subject in the public school curriculum.
Parents and children may choose whether a child studies Buddhism,
Islam, Hinduism, or Christianity. Students of other religious groups
can pursue religious instruction outside of the public school system,
since no instruction is provided for other religions. Schools teach
religion from an academic point of view. Most private schools followed
curricula similar to public schools because all students had to take
national exams administered by the government.
The Government placed renewed emphasis on the work of national
councils for interfaith understanding in the wake of the attacks on
Christian churches and evangelical groups' property.
Matters related to family law, including divorce, child custody,
and inheritance, were adjudicated according to the customary law of the
concerned ethnic or religious group. The minimum age of marriage for
women is eighteen years, except in the case of Muslims, who continued
to follow their customary religious practices of girls attaining
marrying age with the onset of puberty and men when they are
financially capable of supporting a family.
The application of different legal practices based on membership in
a religious or ethnic group may result in discrimination against women.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Foreign clergy may work in the country, but for the last three
decades the Government has limited the issuance of temporary work
permits. Permission to work was usually restricted to denominations
that were registered formally with the Government. Most religious
workers in the country were indigenous.
After the supreme court ruled against the Teaching Sisters of the
Holy Cross' 2003 incorporation bill, a complaint was lodged before the
HRC, which considered the case and requested a response from the
Government. In October 2005, after assessing the government's response,
the HRC found that the supreme court's actions did not meet ICCPR
standards. Government officials remarked that the supreme court upheld
the constitution, which also does not fully conform to ICCPR
requirements. The Teaching Sisters have not sought to re-introduce the
incorporation bill, which was made void when its legislative session
ended in April 2004 due to the election of a new parliament.
The Government also limited the number of foreign religious workers
granted temporary residence permits.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Since 1983 the Government has fought the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organization fighting for a separate state
for the country's Tamil minority. However, in 2001, the Government and
the LTTE each announced unilateral ceasefires, and in 2002 a joint
ceasefire accord was agreed to by the parties. The peace process has
stalled since escalating violence in late 2005 has challenged the
Ceasefire Agreement and put both parties at risk of returning to open
conflict. Religion did not play a significant role in the conflict,
which was rooted in linguistic, ethnic, and political differences.
Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians all have been affected by
the conflict, which has claimed more than 60 thousand lives. The
military issued warnings through public radio before commencing major
operations, instructing civilians to congregate in safe zones around
churches and temples; however, in conflict areas in the north, the
Government occasionally was accused of bombing and shelling Hindu
temples and Christian churches. In 2003 some Buddhist clergy were
allowed to visit shrines in LTTE-controlled areas for the first time in
many years. Some Christians also visited holy sites in LTTE-controlled
areas that had not been accessible to them during the period of armed
conflict.
During the reporting period, some human rights abuses were
committed against individuals at places of worship in the north and
east. While these incidents had an impact on religious freedom, they
were not religiously motivated; instead, they were a product of the
conflict situation. On December 24, 2005, Joseph Pararajasingham, a
Member of Parliament for the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and
a Christian, was assassinated while attending midnight mass at a church
in Batticaloa in the east. His killing was assumed to be politically
motivated. On May 6, 2006, eight Tamil men were abducted from a Hindu
temple in the north; this incident was also likely politically
motivated. The men had been decorating the temple for a religious
festival; they were reported missing on May 7, 2006, and their
whereabouts were unknown at the end of the period covered by this
report. NGOs remained concerned for the men's safety. On June 17, 2006,
in Pesalai, Sri Lankan troops were accused of storming a church, Our
Lady of Victory, and opening fire where hundreds of civilians,
including both Christian and Hindu Tamils, were seeking shelter from an
exchange of fire between the Government and the LTTE.
There was some harassment of Christians and attacks on their
property and places of worship by Buddhist extremists opposed to
conversion. The police investigated many of these incidents when
complaints were made, but were occasionally reluctant to pursue
criminal charges against the suspected perpetrators, some of whom were
Buddhist monks. Law enforcement officials believed that a majority of
the attacks were conducted by a small number of extremist Buddhists. By
early 2005, several alleged attackers had been arrested.
At the height of the attacks on Christian churches in 2005, several
government leaders, including then-President Kumaratunga and then-
minister of Christian affairs, publicly denounced the attacks. In
February 2005, at a ceremony held at the Buddhist and Pali University,
Kumaratunga stated that such attacks would not be tolerated and ordered
police to fully investigate each incident. The president also pledged
to act against extremists.
In November 2004, the first meeting of the newly formed National
Advisory Committee for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR), formed by
then-President Kumaratunga, took place. The committee was due to
deliberate on matters pertaining to the peace process and to promote
understanding and reconciliation among different communities; however,
the NACPR failed to function during the reporting period.
In May 2004, leading Catholic and Buddhist clergy met to continue a
dialogue on religious tolerance.
Since late 2003, police have arrested almost a dozen persons
connected with various attacks. Former Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe also convened regular meetings of the four ministers
dealing with religious concerns as part of their portfolios and
established religious ``amity'' committees around the island; however
these committees did not function during the reporting period.
On August 7, 2005, the Horana Police ordered Christians from the
Foursquare Gospel Church in the Kalutara District to stop meeting for
worship and prayer. The verbal order was issued by the Head Quarters
Inspector after a mob threatened the worshippers on two consecutive
Sundays--July 31 and August 7, 2005. As a result, congregants took to
meeting at an alternate location.
During the commemoration of the Buddha's 2550th death anniversary
in May, the Ministry of Education issued a notice instructing public
schools without a Buddhist shrine room to build one. In a
clarification, the Ministry of Education amended the notice to note
that Christian, Muslim, or Hindu schools under the ministry's purview
would not have to build a Buddhist shrine room.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor United States citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed
from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
The LTTE has been listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the
United States since 1997. While Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and
Christians all have been victimized by the LTTE, religious persecution
has not played a major role in the conflict.
In 1990 the LTTE expelled some 46 thousand Muslim inhabitants--
virtually the entire Muslim population--from their homes in the
northern part of the island. Most of these persons remained displaced
and lived in or near welfare centers. Although some Muslims returned to
the northern town of Jaffna in 1997, they did not remain there due to
the continuing threat posed by the LTTE. There were credible reports
that the LTTE warned thousands of Muslims displaced from the Mannar
area not to return to their homes until the conflict is over. It
appears that the LTTE's actions against Muslims were not due to
Muslims' religious beliefs but rather that they were part of an overall
strategy to clear the north and east of persons unsympathetic to the
LTTE. The LTTE made some conciliatory statements to the Muslim
community, but many Muslims viewed the statements with skepticism. The
LTTE continued to encourage Muslim internally displaced persons (IDPs)
in some areas to return home, asserting they would not be harmed.
Although some Muslim IDPs returned home, the vast majority did not and
was waiting for a government guarantee of safety in LTTE-controlled
areas. Since the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, the LTTE also carried out a
number of attacks in the east in which Muslims have been killed. No
arrests were made in these cases by the end of the period covered by
this report. In 2003 four Muslims were killed; while the LTTE denied
any involvement, this incident fueled tensions between the Hindu and
Muslim communities in the area.
Unlike in previous years, the LTTE did not target Buddhist sites
during the period covered by this report; however, the LTTE did not
indicate that it would abstain from attacking such targets in the
future. The Government continued to keep security at a number of
religious sites island-wide following the 1998 bombing of the Temple of
the Tooth.
In December 2004 a group of men in the LTTE-controlled area of
Vakeneri in Batticaloa District attacked and damaged what was described
as a Christian family church. The police reported two men inside the
church were assaulted and the church was damaged. The police claimed
they were unable to take any action against the accused since the area
was under LTTE control.
On April 24, 2005, the chief priest of Annapani Hindu temple at
Ariyampathi in Batticaloa was shot, allegedly by an armed LTTE gang,
while attending to religious activities in the temple. The priest and
two others were admitted to Batticaloa hospital with serious injuries.
The police continued their investigation during the period covered by
this report, but because the area was controlled by the LTTE, no other
action was taken.
On May 17, 2005, during an LTTE-sponsored strike over the erection
of a Buddha statue on public land in Trincomalee in the eastern
province, a Sinhala youth was killed, and four members of the same
family were injured when a grenade was thrown at them. On May 18, 2005,
the Trincomalee magistrate instructed the authorities to remove the
Buddha statue. On June 17, 2005, the court of appeals in Colombo issued
a suspension of that order. At the end of the period covered by this
report, the statue remained at the contested site. On April 7, 2006, an
unidentified gunman shot and killed Mr. Vigneswaran, organizer of the
LTTE-sponsored strike over the Buddha statue, for unknown reasons.
The LTTE has been accused in the past of using church and temple
compounds, where civilians were instructed by the Government to
congregate in the event of hostilities, as shields for the storage of
munitions.
On July 7, 2005, In LTTE-controlled Kayankerny near Batticaloa in
the east, assailants attacked the newly built Christian Family Church.
Unidentified attackers dug three holes in the ground near the
foundation of the building and detonated dynamite. The explosions
caused damage to the walls, roof, and floor of the church. The church
building was also set on fire. Police in Batticaloa assessed that it
was most likely LTTE members who perpetrated the attack.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
Discrimination based on religious differences was much less common
than discrimination based on ethnicity. In general, the members of the
various faiths tended to be tolerant of each other's religious beliefs.
Harassment of Christians and attacks on their property and places of
worship by Buddhist extremists opposed to conversion continued during
the period covered by this report. Some leaders of different faiths
publicly condemned these attacks.
During the period covered by this report, Christians, both of
mainstream denominations and evangelical groups, sometimes encountered
harassment and physical attacks by some local Buddhists who believed
they were threatened by these groups. Some Christian groups
occasionally complained that the Government tacitly condoned harassment
and violence aimed at them. In some cases, the police response was
inadequate, and local police officials reportedly were reluctant to
take legal action against individuals involved in the attacks.
The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka stated
that during the reporting period, there were approximately seventy-five
attacks on Christian churches, organizations, religious leaders, or
congregants, 90 percent of which were reported to the police. The U.S.
Embassy confirmed some of these attacks.
Allegations by Buddhist extremists of Christian involvement in
``unethical'' or forced conversions continued to be a source of tension
between the two communities. Christians denied this charge, responding
that people undergo conversion of their own free will. There were
reports that members of some evangelical groups made disparaging
comments about Buddhism while evangelizing. Some groups also alleged
that Christians engaged in aggressive proselytism and took advantage of
societal ills such as general poverty, war, and lack of education.
Christians countered that their relief efforts were in earnest and were
not targeted at converting aid beneficiaries.
In May 2005, at the invitation of the Government, UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion Asma Jahangir held several meetings
in the country on religious freedom. She concluded that while
allegations of forced conversion remained vague and no direct
testimonies were available, second-hand accounts by credible sources
indicated that conversions through ``improper'' means have sometimes
occurred.
No action was taken during the period covered by this report in the
2003 attack against a member of the Assembly of God Church in
Thanamalwila or the 2003 attack against Pastor Rozario in Galle. The
Assemblies of God group in Thanamalwila abandoned the building, part of
which was burned. Police have not made any arrests in either case.
No action was taken in the three separate attacks that occurred in
Ratnapura in 2003. Investigations continued into 2005 but yielded no
results.
No action was taken in the 2004 attack against the World Vision
office in Kebithigollwa, or the 2004 arson attack against the Our
Mother Most Pure Catholic shrine in Mattegoda.
In 2004, a large crowd attacked an Apostolic church in Kurunegala.
The church and workers' quarters were burned. Five men were arrested
but remained free on bail at the end of the period covered by this
report. A hearing on this case was scheduled for July 2005. The
attackers sought to settle out of court, but another hearing is
scheduled for October 2006. The Apostolic church also filed a civil
suit seeking compensation for damages.
In 2004, the Christian Fellowship Church at Wadduwa in Kaluthara
District was attacked by a mob led by a Buddhist monk. The attackers
threw rocks, attempted to assault worshippers with sticks, and damaged
a police vehicle. Police have not taken any action to settle the
dispute between the church and the monk. The problem was not resolved
during the reporting period.
In 2004, a crowd threatened the pastor of the Prayer Tower Church
in Mahawewa in reaction to a rumor that he was building a Bible school.
Police made no arrests during the period covered by this report.
In May 2004, a mob of armed men attacked the Assembly of God Church
in Yakkala and assaulted the church members. Police officials arrested
three persons, and an initial hearing was held in September 2005. The
next hearing is scheduled for August 2006. In October 2004, the same
church had human excrement thrown at its outer wall. In November 2004,
police arrested two men allegedly involved with the attack and referred
the matter to the mediation board for settlement. On February 8, 2006,
three unidentified men in masks assaulted the church's pastor. The
pastor lodged a complaint with the police and gave the name of a likely
perpetrator. The police took the case to court on February 15, 2006,
when the magistrate remanded both the suspect and the pastor. The
pastor was shortly released on bail; prosecutors did not obtain
sufficient evidence to pursue the case against the suspected attacker.
On June 19 and 20, 2004, following the introduction of the
ministerial anti-conversion draft bill, large groups, including
Buddhist monks, attacked the Christian Fellowship Church in Wadduwa. In
response to the June 19 incident, police remained at the church to
provide protection. On June 20, police also were attacked while they
attempted to guard the church. Police issued an arrest warrant for one
of the Buddhist monks involved in the June 20 attack, but by the end of
the period covered by the report they had not located him. In November
2004, the police filed a case against four monks and one layperson who
were identified in a police line-up. The accused were granted bail
after a court appearance and did not spend any time in police custody.
The presiding judge referred the case to the attorney general, upon
whose advice the case was dismissed in 2005.
In August 2004, three days after receiving a death threat, a pastor
of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Gampola, Kandy discovered a fire at
his bedroom window. Police investigated; however, no further action was
taken during the period covered by this report. After the fire, the
pastor moved to a new location in Gampola. In May 2006, the same pastor
received a death threat. Shortly thereafter, a local social welfare
officer and three Buddhist monks insisted the pastor go to the police
station with them. At the station, the pastor showed his official ID
and a copy of his church's incorporation act. The police strongly
advised the welfare officer and the monks not to further harass the
pastor; however, when the pastor sought a copy of his official
complaint regarding the death threat, police were unresponsive and gave
a series of excuses. When Foursquare Gospel Church headquarters in
Colombo raised the incident with local police contacts, they were
informed there was no record of the pastor's complaint.
In December 2004, a concert in Colombo featuring Indian film stars
was forced to close down after a hand grenade was thrown at the
performers, killing two spectators and injuring several others. Some
Buddhist monks demanded that the concert be cancelled because the
proposed date coincided with the first death anniversary of a prominent
monk. Police continued to investigate and offered monetary rewards for
information leading to an arrest; however, no action was taken during
the period covered by this report.
In December 2004, St. Michael's Catholic Church in Kutwana was set
on fire. This was the third attack against the church since 2003.
Police made no arrests during the period covered by this report. The
church used its own funds to repair the facility.
On April 25, 2005, police arrested Mohamed Nilam, a Muslim, for
stoning and damaging a statue of Buddha in Nugegoda in the outskirts of
Colombo. The magistrate released Nilam on bail and ordered him to
report to the police every Sunday morning. A hearing was held on August
23, 2005, and Nilam publicly apologized and was released with a
warning.
On May 1, 2005, a Buddhist monk-led mob attacked the Zion Prayer
Center in Balapitiya, in Galle District. The pastor's wife and two
other women were seriously injured in the attack, and furniture and the
electric sound system were damaged. The pastor, who was away from the
center at the time of the attack, filed a complaint, which was referred
to the mediation board. No further action was taken during the period
covered by this report.
On the evening of June 5, 2005, villagers threw bottles at the
newly purchased home of the pastor of the Assembly of God church in
Ambalangoda in Galle District. On June 6, following an argument between
a mob of approximately thirty and the pastor, the mob attacked the
pastor's home, causing damage to the windows and fence. The mob, which
later grew to more than fifty persons, assaulted the pastor and his
brother and stole the pastor's mobile telephone and more than $2,000
(200,000 rupees) from him. The home also was vandalized and a Buddha
statue and lamps were placed on the property. Police investigated,
promptly removed the statue and lamps, and arrested six persons who
remained free on bail at the end of the period covered by this report.
The initial hearing was held in January 2006. The pastor reported that
subsequently stones were thrown at his house, and villagers occupying
the building he meant to use as a community center were effectively
stopping him from using the facility. Another hearing is scheduled for
October 2006.
On July 16, 2005, in Pulasthigama, Polonnaruwa the Holy Cross Roman
Catholic Church was attacked during the night and set on fire. The
central crucifix, holy altar, sacrificial items, and other valuable
items were destroyed because the church was almost completely burnt
down. One of the caretakers was stabbed with a knife by the attackers.
On December 20, 2005, in Lunugala (Uva Province), a group of
Buddhists told a Christian family's pastor that a deceased Christian
man could not be buried in the local cemetery. The National Christian
Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka intervened on the family's behalf,
after which the burial was permitted.
On December 25, 2005, parishioners of the King's Revival Church in
Alawwa in the Kurunegala Distric were attacked on their way to
services. Four persons were injured. Police arrived on the scene
immediately after being informed of the attack and the mob was
dispersed. Soon after the attack, oil was dumped in the pastor's
drinking well, and on January 16, 2006, assailants threw stones at the
pastor's home, breaking a window.
On January 21, 2006, in Alpitiya, a mob of approximately twenty
armed men walked into the pastor of the Assembly of God Church's home.
The pastor's wife was home alone with their three young children during
this time. The mob issued an ultimatum that the pastor stop services
and all Christian activity. The men overturned a table, chairs, and
other furniture in the house before leaving, threatening that if the
pastor continued his work, the group would destroy all of the family's
belongings. The police were alerted and the Sunday service was held
with police protection.
On February 14, 2006, the same pastor was summoned to the Police
station, where a crowd of approximately eighty persons including five
Buddhist monks accused him of conducting unethical conversions. He was
told not to gather congregants for prayers and the mob threatened him
and hit him with an umbrella in police presence. Later that same day,
the mob attempted to storm the pastor's house. The pastor fled with his
wife and children and alerted the police, who arrived and dispersed the
crowd. Throughout February 2006, the pastor faced harassment including
death threats and a poster campaign threatening anyone who helped the
pastor or his family. Congregants faced harassment when they visited
the pastor. In March 2006, a family that had sheltered the threatened
pastor and his family during a previous tense situation, found burnt
oil and human excrement thrown at their house. On March 22, 2006, after
an investigation into their children's illness, the same family
discovered that their well had been contaminated with trickle seeds and
burnt oil. The family filed a complaint with the police. The
congregation has not been meeting and the pastor no longer conducts
services.
On January 22, 2006, in Bolaththa in the Gampaha District, a group
of church-goers faced a large mob including Buddhist monks and a
Catholic priest. The mob carried placards and shouted threats,
demanding that church services be stopped. The mob insisted that the
pastor only accept Christians from his own village into his church, and
under duress, the pastor agreed. On January 23, 2006, the pastor's
house was stoned, causing damage to the windows. On February 12, 2006,
the mob monitored church attendees and discovered the church organist
came from a neighboring village. The mob grew threatening, and the
pastor called the police. Police dispersed the crowd, but asked the
pastor to limit services to congregants within his own village. The
pastor has not conducted regular Sunday services since then.
On February 6, 2006, a man arrived at the Dutch Reformed Church in
Galle looking for the pastor in charge, who was not there at the time.
The assailant then told the pastor's wife that if the pastor visited
the neighboring town of Hikkaduwa, people would kill him. The man also
made derogatory and obscene statements about Jesus Christ and
Christians.
On April 23, 2006, a Methodist Church in Pilyandala re-opened for
the first time since 2003, when threats from Buddhist monks caused the
church to close. At the re-opening, the same group of monks led a mob
who let air out of congregants' tires, pushed over motorcycles, and
damaged vehicles. The congregants continued to face threats, and on
April 30 burning tires were placed on the road outside the church. A
court hearing was scheduled for June 16.
On May 2, 2006, the United Christian Fellowship began constructing
a community hall on land they purchased in Poddala in the Galle
District. On May 6, a mob led by a Buddhist monk entered the premises
and threatened the construction worker and the pastor. The worker was
grabbed by his collar and both he and the pastor were verbally abused.
The mob threatened to demolish the building or set fire to it if a
church were constructed, although the pastor explained the building was
meant to be a community center. The pastor reported the incident to
local police. Construction stopped and has not resumed.
According to media reports, on May 13 and 14, 2006, in Hatton, a
mob threatened to stop a youth camp sponsored by a Ceylon Christian
Youth Mission since it did not stop its activities in honor of the
Buddhist holy day of Wesak. The Hatton police have no record of a
complaint filed.
In 2003 Brother Manoharan, a member of the Ceylon Pentecostal
Mission, was arrested in connection with the death of an eleven-year-
old girl. The young girl, who had been sick, was prayed for by Brother
Manoharan. He, along with the victim's parents, were taken into police
custody on charges of ``culpable homicide,'' tantamount to
manslaughter. The three were released on bail on June 2, 2006, and a
hearing was set for July 28, 2006.
In May 2006, the pastor of the Godagama Prayer Centre in a Colombo
suburb, Maharagama, was threatened by a local Buddhist monk-led mob to
stop services. When he went to the police, he was told he should stop
the services if the people of the area did not like it.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials regularly met with representatives of all the
country's religious groups to review a wide range of human rights,
ethnic, and religious freedom concerns. During the period covered by
this report, embassy representatives met with government officials at
the highest level to express U.S. Government concern about the attacks
on Christian churches and to discuss the anti-conversion issue. On
several occasions, the assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor and the ambassador at large for International
Religious Freedom discussed the anti-conversion issue with the
country's ambassador to the United States.
The U.S. Government is a strong supporter of the peace process
launched by the Government, and the U.S. embassy encourages the
interfaith efforts by religious leaders to promote a peaceful
resolution of the conflict.
__________
TAJIKISTAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
were some areas of concern.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Government policies reflected
a concern about Islamic extremism, a concern shared by much of the
general population. The Government monitors the activities of religious
institutions to keep them from becoming overtly political. There were
no closures of officially registered mosques during the period covered
by this report, although the State Committee on Religious Affairs
(SCRA) announced that a number of unregistered mosques were operating
and closed several unregistered mosques and prayer rooms. The SCRA
removed two imams from their mosque positions. Local governments used
the registration process to hinder some organizations' religious
activity. The Government, including President Emomali Rahmonov,
continued to enunciate a policy of active secularism, which it tended
to define in antiextremist rather than in religious terms.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some minority
religious groups continued to experience local harassment. Some
mainstream Muslim leaders occasionally expressed, through sermons and
press articles, their opinion that minority religious groups undermine
national unity.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy has promoted a message of tolerance not only among, but
also within, religious groups through public diplomacy efforts. In
addition, embassy staff, including the ambassador, meet regularly with
community leaders of different confessions. Embassy staff investigate
instances of potential discrimination and advocate strongly for
government tolerance of all religious groups. The embassy worked with
international organizations to assist religious minorities and
organized special events to promote religious tolerance.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 55,300 square miles and a population of
approximately 7.3 million, although it was difficult to determine an
accurate figure due to absence of birth registrations in some rural
areas. An estimated 97 percent of citizens considered themselves
Muslims, although the degree of religious observance varied widely.
Overall, active observance of Islam appeared to be increasing. An
estimated 30 to 40 percent of the rural population and 5 to 10 percent
of urban residents regularly followed Muslim practices or attended
services at mosques. The vast majority of Muslim inhabitants
(approximately 90 percent of the population) were Sunni. Approximately
7 percent of Muslims were Shi'a, 40 percent of whom were Ismailis. Most
Ismailis resided in the remote eastern Gorno-Badakhshan region as well
as certain districts of the southern Khatlon region and in Dushanbe,
the capital. In 2006 a new unregistered Islamic group of the Salafi
sect began worshipping in Friday mosques in Dushanbe, Sughd, and
Khatlon. Between one and two thousand Salafis practiced in Dushanbe.
Other Muslims and the Government were tolerant of their activity.
There were eighty-four non-Muslim groups registered with the SCRA.
Approximately 230 thousand Christians, mostly ethnic Russians and other
Soviet-era immigrant groups, resided in the country. The largest
Christian group was Russian Orthodox, but other registered
organizations included Baptists (five organizations), Roman Catholics
(two), Seventh-day Adventists (one), Korean Protestants, which included
the SunMin Church (two), Jehovah's Witnesses (one), and Lutherans (no
data available). Other religious minorities were very small and
included Baha'is (four registered organizations), Zoroastrians (no data
available), Hare Krishnas (one), and Jews (one). Each of these groups
was estimated to total less than 1 percent of the population, and
nearly all of their members lived in Dushanbe or other large cities. An
estimated 0.01 percent of the population was atheist or did not belong
to any religious denomination.
Christian missionaries from western countries, Korea, India, and
elsewhere were present in small numbers. The SCRA estimated the number
of Christian converts since independence at up to three thousand
persons. Some small groups of Islamic missionaries from Saudi Arabia
and other Middle Eastern states also visited the country during the
period covered by this report.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, the
Government monitors the activities of religious institutions to keep
them from becoming overtly political or espousing ``extremist
tendencies,'' and some local administrative offices misinterpret the
term ``secular state'' as involving a bias against religion.
The extremist Islamist political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir is
banned, and its members are subject to arrest and imprisonment for
subversion. Although there is no official state religion, the
Government recognizes two Islamic holy days, Eid AlFitr and Idi
Qurbon (Eid al-Adha in Arabic), as state holidays.
According to the Law on Religion and Religious Organizations,
religious communities must be registered by the SCRA, which is under
the council of ministers and monitors the activities of all religious
establishments. While the official justification for registration is to
ensure that religious groups act in accordance with the law, the
practical purpose is to ensure that they do not become overtly
political. To register with the SCRA, a national religious group must
submit a charter, a list of at least ten members, and evidence of local
government approval of the location of a house of worship, if one
exists. Religious groups are not required to have a physical structure
in order to register, but they cannot hold regular meetings without
one. Individual believers--up to ten persons--do not have to register
with the SCRA in order to worship privately.
Responsibility for registration of neighborhood mosques is divided
between the SCRA and local authorities, who must agree on the physical
location of a given mosque. The SCRA is the primary authority for
registration of non-Muslim groups; however, such groups must also
register their place of worship with local officials. According to the
SCRA, local authorities may object to the registration of a place of
worship only if the proposed structure does not meet sanitation or
building codes, or if it is located on public land or immediately
adjacent to government buildings, schools, or other places of worship.
If the local government objects to a proposal, the religious community
requesting permission is required to suggest an alternative. In the
absence of registration, local authorities can force the closure of a
place of worship, and members can be fined administratively.
There were no cases of the SCRA permanently denying registration to
religious groups during the period covered by this report. There were
no reports of groups declining to apply for registration out of a
belief that it would not be granted; however, the SCRA rejected several
applications on technical grounds, stalling registration. There were
isolated cases of local government refusal to register religious groups
in their areas, such as in the city of Tursonzade, where the SCRA
demanded local registration for a branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses in
addition to their national registration.
The country has 2,885 registered mosques for daily prayers. So-
called ``Friday mosques'' (larger facilities built for weekly Friday
prayers) must be explicitly registered with the SCRA. There are 238
such mosques registered, not including Ismaili places of worship. Only
one such mosque is authorized per fifteen thousand residents in a given
geographic area. Many observers contend that this is discriminatory
because no such rule exists for other religious groups.
There are eighteen madrassahs, twenty Islamic colleges, and one
Islamic university. Private religious schools are permitted and must be
registered. Parents are allowed to homeschool their children; however,
parents are not allowed to teach others' children in their home in a
group setting.
During the period covered by this report, President Rahmonov
continued to strongly defend ``secularism,'' a politicized term that
carries the strong connotation of being ``antiextremist'' rather than
``nonreligious.'' In national speeches the president cautioned against
outsiders unfairly linking Islam to terrorism. While the vast majority
of citizens consider themselves Muslim, there is a significant fear of
Islamic extremism, both in the Government and among the population at
large.
A 1999 constitutional amendment permits religiously based political
parties, although a 1998 law specifying that parties may not receive
support from religious institutions remained in effect. Two
representatives from a religiously oriented party, the Islamic
Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), were members in the lower house
of the national parliament during the period covered by this report.
There also were fourteen deputies from the IRPT in district parliaments
around the country. The Government incorporated the IRPT in 1997 at the
end of the civil war. It is the only legal Islamic political party in
Central Asia.
An executive decree generally prohibits government publishing
houses from publishing anything in Arabic script; however, some have
done so in special cases without government interference if they
presented the material for review prior to printing. They generally do
not publish religious literature but have done so on occasion,
including producing copies of the Qur'an. There is no restriction on
the distribution or possession of the Qur'an, the Bible, or other
religious works. There were no reported restrictions on the religious-
oriented press.
In January 2006 the SCRA introduced a new draft law on religion
entitled, ``On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations,''
intending to replace the current law on religion. The draft would add
restrictions to the existing law, such as increasing the number of
worshippers required to form a mosque, forbidding children under the
age of seven to study religion, and prohibiting religious associations
from participating in political activities. The draft was distributed
domestically for review but had not been sent to parliament by the end
of the reporting period.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Official government policy contributed generally to the free
practice of religion, but local governments sometimes misapplied this
policy. The Government did not explicitly prohibit or discourage
specific religious groups. Although the SCRA did not refuse any group
registration during the period of this report, it declined to accept
some applications, citing missing documentation or other
technicalities. Some religious groups, unable to register, claimed the
excuses were false and were a way to deny registration. Local
authorities in some cases used the registration requirement to prevent
activities by some groups. During the period covered by this report,
local authorities detained and fined representatives of a religious
group for organizing because it was not registered at the local level,
even though it was registered with the national SCRA. Eventually the
representatives were released.
Although the SCRA reported it did not close any registered mosques
or praying rooms during this reporting period, it stated that twenty-
six unregistered mosques operated in the Sughd, Khatlon, and Gorno-
Badakhshan regions. Unconfirmed reports stated that authorities closed
down several unregistered prayer groups. The Government was no longer
actively pursuing a registration campaign, but it continued to close
unregistered mosques and praying rooms.
In 2004 the local government of Tursonzade used administrative
barriers to prevent the registration of a place of worship for the
Jehovah's Witnesses, in spite of its national registration. The SCRA
intervened on behalf of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but the city
administration had not registered the group by the end of the period
covered by this report.
The SCRA controlled participation in the Hajj and imposed furthered
restrictions on pilgrims (``hajjis'') undertaking the pilgrimage during
the period covered by this report. The Government continued to require
air travel for the Hajj and controlled local tour operators, citing
hygiene and safety concerns as reasons for limiting other means of
travel. Hajjis are required to register with the SCRA and deposit
$2,300 (7590 Tajik Somoni) prior to departure. Each local district
``unofficially'' had a quota for hajjis, and government officials
registering them were known to take bribes. As a result, 3,450 citizens
participated in the Hajj in 2006, indicating a steady decrease from
4,072 in 2005 and approximately 5,000 in 2004.
The Government continued to carry out ``attestations'' of imams,
through which all imams were tested on their knowledge of Islamic
teachings and religious principles. Imams could be dismissed if they
did not ``pass'' the test. On April 3, 2006, the Government organized a
seminar for Imam-Khatibs of Friday mosques in Dushanbe to teach them
about the various sects of Islam. The Government also issued a textbook
to schools in May 2005 on the history of Islam. Observers interpreted
such government-imposed instruction as a way of controlling religious
indoctrination.
In 2004 the Government allegedly used the Council of Ulamo, an
ostensibly nongovernmental body that monitors and standardizes Islamic
teaching, to hand down a fatwa prohibiting women from praying in
mosques. This was considered by some to be a political move under the
guise of religious law to reduce the access women have to IRPT
messages. Some local officials forbade members of the IRPT to speak in
local mosques; however, this restriction reflected political rather
than religious differences.
There were unconfirmed reports that in some cases local government
officials prohibited Muslim women from having their photographs taken
for an internal identification document while wearing the hijab, a
Muslim head covering. The SCRA claimed that this occurred rarely and
that it interceded with the identification agencies in each case to
make an exception. Reportedly, this was attributable to overzealous
interpretation of what it meant to be a secular country. In 2004
officials refused to issue passports to approximately one hundred women
in Isfara who did not want to be photographed without a hijab.
According to press reports, the minister of education announced on
October 19, 2005, that girls were not permitted to wear hijabs in
public educational institutions. Some school officials then expelled
girls who wore hijabs to school; however, the SCRA claimed that this
was neither official law nor policy.
In the fall of 2005 international organizations reported that
government militia positioned themselves outside of some mosques to
restrict children from entering; however, no militia were seen guarding
mosque entrances after January 2006. This action was taken after
government officials declared children should be studying in schools,
not in mosques, during the day. Citizens spoke out against militia
guarding the mosques, prompting their removal.
Missionaries of registered religious groups are not restricted by
law, and they continued to proselytize openly. Missionaries are not
particularly welcomed by some local communities, and some religious
groups experienced harassment in response to their evangelical
activities. During the period covered by this report, there were no
reports of visa restrictions for Muslim missionaries.
In June 2005 city police found parishioners of a Christian church
in Dushanbe distributing religious pamphlets and detained them for less
than twenty-four hours. The church members agreed to stop distributing
the brochures. Although religious advertising and literature are not
against the law, church members feared local communities might not
welcome the distribution and could complain to authorities,
jeopardizing their organization. In May 2006 police detained nine
Jehovah's Witnesses' members and confiscated their truck full of
religious literature. After questioning the group for three hours, the
members and literature were released.
The ``ban'' on printing in Arabic script was thought to be an
attempt to prevent the publication of extremist literature, such as
flyers circulated by the extremist Islamic political organization Hizb
ut-Tahrir.
Authorities in Isfara continued to restrict private Arabic language
schools (including restrictions on private Islamic instruction) based
on past reports that one such school was hosting a suspected terrorist.
Restrictions on home-based Islamic education remained in place. While
these restrictions were primarily due to political concerns, they
affected religious instruction.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that for the past three years the
Government prohibited two popular Islamic scholars from becoming
members of the IRPT because it disagreed with their conservative
ideology. The Government has confiscated hundreds of audio and video
cassettes of their sermons from public shops. Militia also stopped
Muslims from outside their districts from coming to their mosques to
worship, in an attempt to restrict their teachings.
Between November 2004 and February 2005, Christian Iranian refugees
fled Iran into the country. During their stay, the Government did not
permit them to reside in the city of Dushanbe, instead relegating them
to the city's outskirts. The refugees faced harassment from local
citizens. Their children were verbally abused in schools and in some
cases were physically harassed. The Iranian embassy also threatened and
harassed the refugees. The Government was complacent towards this
behavior and did not offer protection. The state migration service
attempted to extract bribes from the refugees during each
reregistration process. The Christian Iranian refugees left the country
in April 2006 through the U.S. Government's resettlement program.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government reported ninety-nine persons were detained in 2005
as Hizb ut-Tahrir suspects. Some speculate that the Government may use
the Hizb ut-Tahrir label to arrest those not in its favor, including
members of the intelligentsia and teachers.
On May 4, 2006, IRPT member Sadullo Marupov died after falling from
the third story of a police station in Isfara, a town in the northern
Sughd region known for its strong Islamic roots. Officials stated that
Marupov committed suicide; however, IRPT members refuted the official
statement and claimed that police killed Marupov. Marupov had been
detained previously by the police and had told IRPT members that he was
tortured with electroshock during his earlier detention. Officials
alleged he was a member of Bay'at, a group the Government has labeled
as extremist. The IRPT denied this claim, and media reports and local
contacts have questioned whether Bay'at even exists. The Government
arrested three guards in connection with the case and was investigating
the incident at the end of the reporting period.
Along with several mosques and administrative buildings, Dushanbe's
only synagogue was partially torn down February 8, 2006, by municipal
officials in a land dispute unrelated to religious discrimination. The
synagogue is located in the middle of a planned park area. The city and
Jewish community leaders were unable to reach a suitable compromise to
relocate the synagogue or pursue an alternative solution. The city
government offered land for a new synagogue but stated it could not
itself provide compensation for the partially razed building, citing
``separation of church and state.''
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of arrests of
high-profile Muslims, such as the 2003 arrest and sentencing of the
IRPT's deputy chairman, Shamsiddin Shamsiddinov. The IRPT stated that
this arrest was politically motivated but did not allege it was part of
a larger government campaign against religion.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious
Freedom
Gradually throughout the reporting period, officials suspended 2001
prohibitions on use of loudspeakers by mosques, issued by the mayor's
offices in Dushanbe. These prohibitions apparently were not based on
any central directive. Dushanbe city authorities permitted mosques to
use loudspeakers, provided the sound was directed towards the interior
of the mosque and not out towards the public. Mosques in the Sughd and
Khatlon regions openly used loudspeakers directed away from the mosque
for the daily call to prayer without facing prosecution.
During the reporting period, women were increasingly permitted to
be photographed for official identification while wearing hijabs,
particularly to participate on the Hajj.
The Government also relaxed the ``ban'' on printing in Arabic
script by government publishing houses. The Government permitted the
printing of materials presented to the director of the publishing
house, if submitted for review prior to printing, and deemed to be non-
threatening.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Conflict between different
religious groups is virtually unknown, in part because there are so few
non-Muslims; however, some Muslim leaders occasionally expressed the
opinion that minority religious groups undermine national unity and
complained that laws and regulations give preference to religious
minorities. While most citizens consider themselves Muslim and most of
the inhabitants are not anti-Islamic, there is a pervasive fear of
Islamic extremism, felt both by the Government and the general
population.
In 2004 a Baptist missionary was killed in his church in Isfara. A
police investigation uncovered two suspects, one of whom fled the
country. In late February 2005 court officials sentenced one suspect of
the alleged Islamic group, Bay'at, to twenty-four years in prison for
the murder. The other was arrested and in April 2005 was sentenced to
fifteen years in prison. Although government officials claimed the two
men were members of Bay'at, media reports and local contacts questioned
whether the men actually belonged to such a group and if Bay'at even
existed. Some claimed the Government fabricated the group as a
scapegoat.
During the period covered by this report, there were no events
similar to the vandalism in 2003 that included fires set in the homes
of two imams.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. embassy intervened on behalf of the Jehovah's Witnesses
with the SCRA and the government of Tursonzade, holding meetings and
writing letters advocating for its registration. The embassy also
worked with UNHCR and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to
facilitate the Christian Iranian refugees' departure from the country
and resettlement in the United States.
Between April 5 and 8, 2006, the embassy invited Ahmed Younis,
national director of the U.S.-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, to
the country to speak about Muslims in America, promote religious
tolerance, and emphasize the importance of religious freedom.
The embassy supported a Central Asia regional conference for
religious leaders and government officials, which was held in Dushanbe
on June 8 and 9, 2006, to discuss regional problems, related to
religious freedom.
The embassy monitored ongoing religious freedom problems and issues
that could potentially become abuses of religious freedom, including
matters relating to religious legislation, registration problems and
the destruction of the synagogue.
Embassy officers regularly met with religious leaders from across
all religious groups, the Government, and international organizations
to discuss religious freedom issues and to underscore the U.S.
Government's commitment to religious freedom. The embassy supported
programs designed to create a better understanding of how democracies
address the issues of secularism and religious freedom.
__________
TURKMENISTAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and does not
establish a state religion; however, in practice the Government
continued to monitor all forms of religious expression. All groups must
register in order to gain legal status. Until 2004 the only religious
groups that were registered successfully were the government-controlled
branch of Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodox Christianity; by April 2005
nine additional minority religious groups had registered. The 2004
amendments to the law on religious organizations and subsequent
presidential decrees enabled the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to
facilitate registration of some religious congregations and engendered
a noticeable reduction in harassment of minority congregations,
although some harassment persists. During the reporting period, the
Government introduced a temporary procedure for registering branches of
registered religious groups located outside of the capital, Ashgabat.
However, the procedure was not clear and the implementation by
government officials was not consistent. The Government limited the
activities of unregistered religious congregations by prohibiting them
from gathering publicly, proselytizing, and disseminating religious
materials. Government officials outside the capital often interpreted
the law more strictly than those in Ashgabat.
The status of government respect for religious freedom improved
during the period covered by this report. The Government's Council for
Religious Affairs (CRA) was more willing to assist minority religious
groups in resolving conflicts with other government agencies. On
October 20, 2005, several government agencies hosted a roundtable
discussion with leaders of registered religious groups to discuss
registration procedures for branch religious groups and other related
concerns. In 2004 the president signed a decree pledging to register
all religious groups and to adhere to generally accepted international
norms and rules concerning treatment of religious minorities; however,
the registration process was onerous, and additional requirements for
minority congregations to register and operate existed and remained
burdensome in practice. The president signed a decree in 2004
disavowing harsh requirements in an unpublished regulation and
eliminating criminal penalties for belonging to an unregistered
religious group. In 2004 the president granted amnesty to six Jehovah's
Witnesses serving prison sentences for conscientious objection to
military service and to four more on April 16, 2005.
Although the level of harassment continued to decrease for
registered religious groups during the period covered by this report,
most unregistered religious groups continued to experience official
harassment similar to that in previous reporting periods, including
detention, arrest, confiscation of religious literature and materials,
pressure to abandon religious beliefs, and threats of eviction and job
loss. There were reports of abuse for religious belief or observance,
and there were several accounts of persons being detained for
questioning in connection with practicing their faith. The Government
replaced a number of Sunni Muslim imams with individuals believed to be
less independent in their interpretations of Islam, to better
facilitate government control of mosques. Many experts agree that
official restrictions on religious freedom, a holdover from the Soviet
era, reflect the Government's concern that liberal religious policies
could lead to political dissent, importing of uncensored ``Western''
ideas, and the emergence of extreme political interpretations. The
Government appears to view active participation in, or sponsorship of,
both traditional and nontraditional religious groups as a threat to its
own stability.
There is no general societal discrimination or violence based on
religion. The overwhelming majority of citizens identify themselves as
Sunni Muslim; ethnic Turkmen identity is linked to Islam. Ethnic
Turkmen who choose to convert to other faiths, especially the lesser-
known Protestant faiths, are viewed with suspicion and sometimes
ostracized, but society historically has been tolerant and inclusive of
different religious beliefs. The Government's restrictions on
nontraditional religious groups do not stem from doctrinal differences
or societal friction between the majority Muslim population and non-
Muslim communities.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, U.S. embassy representatives
and U.S. State Department officials raised specific cases of religious
freedom abuses in meetings with government officials and urged greater
support for religious freedom. The U.S. ambassador, a Department of
State deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, and
the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) urged senior Government officials to cease minority
religious group harassment, assist them with establishing places of
worship, stop the demolition of mosques, and simplify the branch
registration process for religious groups. An embassy officer attended
the Government's October 20, 2005 religious group leaders roundtable
discussion. In addition the U.S. ambassador repeatedly urged the
Government to make specific improvements with respect to religious
freedom. Improving registration for nongovernmental groups, including
religious organizations, and permitting them to meet regularly was a
top U.S. Government priority. Embassy officers met with representatives
of unregistered and registered minority religious groups on a continual
basis and such groups expressed an increased willingness to meet with
the Government.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 188,457 square miles and a population of
five million. Statistics regarding religious affiliation were not
available. According to figures from the Government's most recent
census (1995), ethnic Turkmen constituted 77 percent of the population.
Minority ethnic populations included Uzbeks (9.2 percent), Russians
(6.7 percent), and Kazakhs (2 percent). Armenians, Azeris, and other
ethnic groups comprised the remaining 5.1 percent. The majority was
Sunni Muslim, and the largest religious minority was Russian Orthodox
Christian. The level of active religious observance was unknown.
Since independence there has been a tightly controlled revival of
Islam. During the Soviet era, there were only four mosques operating;
now there are 398. Ethnic Turkmen, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Baloch living
in Mary province were predominantly Sunni Muslim. There were small
pockets of Shi'a Muslims, many of whom were ethnic Iranians, Azeris, or
Kurds living along the border with Iran and in Turkmenbashy City.
While the 1995 census showed that ethnic Russians comprised almost
7 percent of the population, subsequent emigration to Russia and
elsewhere has reduced considerably this proportion. The majority of
ethnic Russians and Armenians were Christian. Practicing Russian
Christians were generally members of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).
There were thirteen Russian Orthodox churches, three of which were in
Ashgabat. A priest resident in Ashgabat lead the ROC within the
country. He served under the religious jurisdiction of the Russian
Orthodox archbishop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The president appointed
him to represent the Orthodox Church on the Government's CRA. There
were no Russian Orthodox seminaries.
Russians and Armenians also comprised a significant percentage of
members of unregistered religious congregations, although ethnic
Turkmen appeared to be increasingly represented among these groups as
well. There were small communities of the following unregistered
denominations: The Roman Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews,
and several evangelical Christian groups including ``Separate''
Baptists, charismatic groups, and an unaffiliated, nondenominational
group. Small communities of Baha'is, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists,
and the Society for Krishna Consciousness were registered with the
Government. In May 2005 the Greater Grace Church of Turkmenistan, the
International Church of Christ, the New Apostolic Church of
Turkmenistan, and two groups of Pentecostal Christians were able to
register. A very small community of ethnic Germans, most of whom lived
in and around the city of Saragt, were reportedly practicing Lutherans.
Approximately one thousand ethnic Poles lived in the country, although
they had been largely absorbed into the Russian community and
considered themselves Russian Orthodox. The Catholic community in
Ashgabat, which included both citizens and foreigners, met in the
chapel of the Vatican nunciature. Foreign missionaries, typically
representing evangelical Protestant denominations, operated, although
the extent of their activities was unknown.
An estimated one thousand Jews lived in the country. Most were
members of families who came from Ukraine during World War II. There
were some Jewish families living in Turkmenabat, on the border with
Uzbekistan, who were known as Bukharin Jews, referring to the Uzbek
city of Bukhara. There were no synagogues or rabbis and Jews continued
to emigrate to Israel, Russia, and Germany; however, the Jewish
population remained relatively constant. The community gathered for
religious observances but did not opt to register as a religious group,
nor were there reports of harassment.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, in
practice the Government placed some restrictions on these rights. The
criminal code outlaws violations of religious freedom or persecution by
private actors; in practice it is not enforced. In 2004 the Government
published amendments to the 2003 law on religion that reduced numerical
thresholds for registration from five hundred members to five, and made
all minority groups eligible to register. The amendments establish two
categories of religious assemblies: Religious groups (comprising at
least five and fewer than fifty members of legal age) and religious
organizations (comprising at least fifty members). The amendments leave
significant gray areas in the law.
The 2003 law required all religious organizations to register, made
operation of unregistered religious organizations a criminal offense,
further restricted religious education, and monitored financial and
material assistance to religious groups from foreign sources. Parallel
amendments to the criminal code imposed penalties of up to one year's
imprisonment for a number of violations for which minority groups
traditionally had faced administrative fines. In response to
international pressure, criminal penalties were lifted in 2004, but the
remaining law continues to allow the Government to control religious
life and to restrict the activities of all religious groups. The 2003
law did not codify religious activities in localities other than where
a group was registered. In October 2005 the Government announced a
temporary procedure for the registration of religious groups' regional
branches by issuing powers of attorney. MOJ representatives also stated
that amendments would be made to the 2003 law on religion that would
codify the branch registration issue, but this did not happen during
the reporting period.
The president signed a decree in 2004 that strengthened the 2003
law on religious practice and religious organizations. A prohibitive
requirement introduced in the new registration rules increased
registration fees for religious organizations to $100 (2.5 million
manat at the unofficial rate). In addition the MOJ was no longer
obliged to publish in the local media a list of registered religious
organizations, limiting the transparency of legally registered groups,
isolating them from other religious communities, and limiting the
ability of the public to respond when authorities harassed them. The
law also gave the MOJ the right to cancel a group's registration based
on vaguely defined charges.
In March 2004 the Government adopted but did not publish an
implementing regulation and recommended standard charter, which
stipulated onerous requirements for religious groups wishing to
register. The decree imposed financial and travel restrictions on
registered religious organizations. Following international pressure,
these regulations were rescinded in a May 2004 presidential decree.
Until June 2004 government entities at all levels, including the
courts, had interpreted the laws in such a way as to discriminate
against those practicing any faith other than Sunni Islam or Russian
Orthodox Christianity, whose congregations represented the only two
religious groups to successfully register. However, since the 2004
decree reducing the minimum required number of adherents for
registration, nine new religious groups have registered: The
Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Turkmenistan; Seventh-day
Adventist Church of Turkmenistan; Baha'i Community of Turkmenistan;
Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishnas); Full Gospel
Christian Church of Turkmenistan (Pentecostals); Light of the East
Church (Dashoguz Pentecostal Church); Greater Grace Church of
Turkmenistan; International Church of Christ (Church of Christ); and
New Apostolic Church of Turkmenistan. Shi'a Muslims were not registered
by the end of the reporting period, and there were no reports that they
tried to register since the March 2004 decree, although they remained
in contact with the CRA, which reported to President Niyazov and
ostensibly acted as an intermediary between the government bureaucracy
and registered religious organizations.
In practice, government policies, including those at the city level
such as zoning regulations on the use of private residences, have
created difficulties for some groups in finding places to hold worship
services. According to the national residential code, no religious
activity is allowed in private homes or in public halls located in
residential areas. However, two registered religious groups, the Baha'i
community and the Krishna Consciousness Society, were permitted to
conduct worship meetings in homes.
Some groups remained either fearful of registering, citing the
amount and type of information the Government required, or refused on
principle to do so. During the reporting period, at least two minority
religious groups applied for registration, but had not been successful
by the end of the reporting period; during previous years, the
Government would delay or deny applications citing unsubstantiated
technical reasons. Unregistered religious groups and unregistered
branches of religious groups are forbidden to conduct religious
activities, including gathering, disseminating religious materials, and
proselytizing. Government authorities have disrupted meetings of
unregistered religious groups. According to the amended law,
participants in those groups are subject to fines and administrative
(not criminal) arrest under the administrative code. The Government
prohibits foreign missionary activity and foreign religious
organizations; however, the law does not restrict the worship choices
of foreigners.
The Government has incorporated some aspects of Islamic tradition
in its effort to redefine a national identity. For example the
Government has built large, monumental mosques, such as the ones in
Ashgabat, Gokdepe, and Gypjak. Despite its embrace of certain aspects
of Islamic culture, the Government is concerned about foreign Islamic
influence and the interpretation of Islam by local believers. The
Government promotes moderate Islam, mostly based on religious and
national traditions. To further regulate Islamic teaching, in January
2006, the Government published the book National and Religious
Traditions of Turkmen Since Ancient Times, which contains numerous
references to following the president's spiritual guides Ruhnama and
Ruhnama II. The president publicly encouraged all clerics to ``read the
book in mosques,'' and declared, ``he doesn't want Turkmen religious
rituals to create disagreements among believers.''
The CRA includes imams, an ROC priest, and government
representatives. In practice the CRA acts as an arm of the state,
exercising direct control over the hiring, promotion, and firing of
both Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy, as well as helping to
control all religious publications and activities. Its writ is enforced
by security forces, specifically the Sixth Department of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs, and it has no role in promoting interfaith
dialogue. Although the Government does not officially favor any
religion, it has provided financial and other support to the CRA for
the construction of new mosques. The Government pays most Muslim
clerics' salaries, approves all senior cleric appointments, and
requires the latter to report regularly to the CRA.
Throughout the reporting period the CRA continued to urge imams to
accord greater attention to President Niyazov's spiritual-social books
on culture and heritage, Ruhnama and Ruhnama II, by teaching them as
religious texts and placing them next to the Qur'an in some mosques.
Phrases from the Ruhnama were inscribed on the large mosque in
President Niyazov's home village of Gypjak. In 2003 the former mufti of
the country, Nasrullah Ibn Ibadullah, was replaced, secretly tried, and
sentenced in 2004 to twenty-two years in prison. Ibn Ibadullah's
replacement, Kakageldi Wepayev, was subsequently placed under house
arrest for ``misbehavior''--allegedly including drinking and
womanizing--and replaced in 2004 by then twenty-seven-year-old recent
seminary graduate Rowshen Allaberdiyev.
The Government recognizes only Sunni Muslim holy days as national
holidays. These include Gurban Bairam (Eid al-Adha), a three-day
holiday commemorating the end of the Hajj, and Oraza-Bairam (Eid al-
Fitr), commemorating the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.
The Government does not offer alternative civilian service for
conscientious objectors; individuals who want to refuse military
service for religious reasons are offered noncombatant roles within the
military. During the period covered by this report, one member of the
Jehovah's Witnesses was placed in a psychiatric hospital for refusing
to serve in the military; he was subsequently released.
There is no official religious instruction in public schools;
however, the Government requires all public schools and institutes of
higher learning to hold regular instruction on the Ruhnama. The
Ministry of Education requires that each child bring a personal copy of
the Ruhnama to school.
Article Six of the November 2004 law allows mosques to provide
religious education to children after school for four hours a week with
the approval of parents. Persons who graduate from institutions of
higher religious education (the law does not specify domestic or
international institutions) and who obtain CRA approval may provide
religious education. Citizens have the right to receive religious
education individually or with other persons; however, the law
prohibits providing religious education in private, and those who do so
are subject to punitive legal action. Although some independent
religious education exists, the Government has done nothing to promote
religious education beyond the official version incorporating the
Ruhnama. Some Sunni mosques have regularly scheduled classes on the
Qur'an.
The 2003 law prohibits the ROC from conducting religious education
programs without CRA and presidential approval, and there were no
reports that either the CRA or the president approved such programs.
Homeschooling usually is allowed only in cases of severe illness or
disability and not for religious reasons.
The Government, through the CRA, does little to promote interfaith
understanding or dialogue beyond that between Muslims and Russian
Orthodox Christians. In 2003 a Ministry of Justice newspaper, Adalat,
published a vitriolic attack against Hare Krishnas and Jehovah's
Witnesses, describing the groups as foreign and implying they were
dangerous. There were confirmed reports that several district-level
government officials and a local imam attempted to force an ethnic
Turkmen Christian convert to renounce his faith.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Almost all registered religious minority groups in the country
reported fewer instances of harassment than in the previous reporting
period. However, regional affiliates of registered groups experienced
harassment by provincial and district law enforcement agencies. The
Government officially has banned only extremist groups advocating
violence, but it also categorized Islamic groups advocating stricter
interpretation of Islamic religious doctrine as ``extremist.'' The
activities of unregistered religious groups remain illegal, with
violators subject to fines and administrative arrest under the
administrative code.
The Government restricts unregistered religious groups from
establishing places of worship, and violations constitute an
administrative offense. Registered groups also experienced difficulties
establishing and maintaining places of worship. Two registered minority
groups renting worship centers were asked by landlords, one public and
one private, to vacate their premises after the landlords received
visits by security service and municipal officers. Both groups found
alternative places of worship. Several minority religious groups said
that the largest remaining obstacle was a lack of funds to rent a
public hall. Several groups said they would prefer to buy a worship
center or land to establish a permanent one, but municipal authorities
raised insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles. Five registered minority
religious groups have established public places of worship; three are
rented and two are private residential homes of group members. The
Government did not restrict some worship services in private homes, and
the CRA assisted several registered minority groups in locating
suitable worship locations. The Government forbids unregistered
religious groups or unregistered branches of registered religious
groups from gathering publicly or privately and can punish individuals
or groups who violate these prohibitions. Some unregistered
congregations continue to practice quietly, largely in private homes.
During the period covered by this report, the Government replaced a
number of experienced imams with younger ones who had attended
government-approved training, thus facilitating government control. In
October 2005, Ata tribe Muslims, one of the six sacred tribes, reported
that government officials required all imams serving at one of the Ata
tribe shrines to give all financial donations to the Government.
One mosque in Turkmenbashy City was destroyed during the reporting
period. In 2004 at least six mosques were destroyed, some for no stated
reason, others ostensibly for Ashgabat city ``beautification'' plans.
In 2004 a Sunni cemetery north of the capital was leveled. Another
cemetery in Ashgabat was being encroached upon by a high-rise
development. In 2004 Muslims in Bagyr, a suburb of Ashgabat, reported
they can no longer bury their family members in traditional cemeteries
but instead need to do so at a centralized location. The Government
restricts the number of mosques by requiring government permission for
construction. Government policy is that every community should have one
mosque; however, in 2004 President Niyazov ordered that no more mosques
were to be built without CRA approval and stated mosques would
henceforth be led by state-appointed imams. Prior to 2003, the Abu
Bekir mosque in Ashgabat was closed, and ethnic Uzbek imams from three
mosques were ousted for resisting the council's pressure.
There are at least three Shi'a Muslim places of worship, two near
Ashgabat and one in Turkmenbashy. Other Shi'a mosques still stand, but
the Government does not permit imams to work in them. The Government
continued to restrict their construction.
In 2006 the Government continued to limit participation in the
annual pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj), specifying that only 188
pilgrims (one plane load), personally approved by the president, out of
the country's quota of 4,600 would be allowed to journey to Mecca.
Transportation was provided free of charge by the national airline.
The Government also controls access to Islamic education. The
theology faculty at Turkmen State University in Ashgabat had been the
only academic faculty to conduct Islamic education. In July 2005 the
president dissolved the theology faculty and incorporated the theology
students and curriculum into the university's history department,
leaving no official Islamic academic faculty. Also in 2005 the
Government replaced the Turkish head of the Turkmen Turkish
International University with a Turkmen national, stating the
university was conducting unauthorized religious education. In 2004 an
Islamic secondary school operating under the auspices of the sole
remaining theological faculty was closed, reportedly in part because
school administrators and teachers refused to promote the Ruhnama as an
orthodox Islamic text.
The Government does not officially restrict persons from changing
their religious beliefs and affiliation, but ethnic Turkmen members of
unregistered religious groups accused of proselytizing and
disseminating religious material generally receive harsher treatment
than non-ethnic Turkmen. In December 2005 the local district supervisor
accused an ethnic Turkmen Baptist leader in Galkynysh district of
betraying his national culture by not practicing Islam. According to
the Norway-based religious news organization Forum 18, in December 2005
a commission of government officials and a local imam pressured an
ethnic Turkmen convert to Christianity to renounce his faith, but he
refused and was subsequently released.
There were several high-level officials in the Government with
Russian Orthodox heritage. No representatives of other minority
religious groups were known to be working at senior- or mid-level
government positions during the reporting period. Some minority
religious group adherents remained members of the only political party
but feared openly acknowledging their faith out of concern for
political reprisal.
The Government monitors peaceful minority religious groups,
particularly those perceived to have connections with or support from a
supranational hierarchy. The law prohibits foreign missionary activity,
although in practice both Christians and Muslims working in the country
in other capacities engage in religious outreach. The Government denies
visas to foreigners suspected of conducting or intending to conduct
missionary activity. Forum 18 reported on June 14, 2006 that Russian
citizen Aleksandr Frolov was deported on June 10, 2006 for engaging in
illegal religious activity and noncompliance with immigration laws. In
May 2006 a foreign citizen worshipping with an unregistered religious
group was requested to leave the country. That group is attempting to
register. In January 2006 a Ukrainian worshipper at the registered
Church of Christ was deported for affiliating with a religious minority
group. In 2004 President Niyazov warned the newly appointed mufti (who
was subsequently replaced) against accepting money from foreigners
seeking to influence mosques to propagate a more fundamentalist
message. The 2003 law on religion stipulated that religious groups must
report any financial or material assistance received from foreign
sources.
In June 2006 the registered Church of Christ pastor was cautioned
by the deputy chairman of the CRA against distributing business card
invitations for the Church of Christ worship services. The deputy
chairman said the practice was not a good idea although he admitted it
was not illegal.
By decree, publishing religious literature is prohibited, limiting
the availability of Qur'ans, Bibles and other religious literature.
Sacred religious books are rarely available for purchase.
The Government enforces the use of President Niyazov's spiritual
books, Ruhnama and Ruhnama II, in educational institutions, government
offices, and mosques. Copies of the book are kept in some mosques, and
authorities have pressured religious leaders to place it alongside the
Qur'an and to preach Ruhnama in their services. In 2003 the Ministry of
National Security (MNB) closed down a mosque for failing to place the
Ruhnama on the same stand with the Qur'an for Friday prayer.
In practice the CRA must approve imported religious literature.
Since all members of the CRA are government officials, and either Sunni
Muslims or members of the ROC, minority religious groups were
disadvantaged regarding importing of religious materials. When the CRA
approves the importation of a publication, the number of imported
copies cannot exceed the number of registered group members. During the
reporting period, one minority religious group had received permission
to import thirty Bibles; however, two groups were denied permission to
import religious literature. On two occasions the State Customs Service
confiscated religious books and disks that unregistered minority group
members were carrying for personal use.
In 2005 the MNB and regional government officials harassed some
members of minority religious groups for not sending their children to
school on Saturdays, their day of worship. The Government reportedly
threatened to revoke their registrations if their children did not
attend. Public school is held Monday through Saturday and by law
children must attend.
The Government continued to discriminate against members of
religious groups with respect to employment.
During 2005 and 2006 the Jehovah's Witnesses, an unregistered
group, were harassed repeatedly. The Jehovah's Witnesses reported that
members/believers in all five welayats (provinces) were harassed,
detained, and interrogated during the reporting period. According to
their report, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted for proselytizing and
having religious literature in their homes. On August 5, 2005 Anew
(near Ashgabat) police threatened to fine Tatyana Khodzhamukhamedova if
she continued preaching. On September 8, 2005, Oksana Khamrakulyeva and
Vadim Ivakhnik were apprehended by police for proselytizing in
Ashgabat. On December 7, 2005 police from Garagum Etrap, Mary Welayat
threatened Maya Mukhametniyazova and unsuccessfully attempted to force
her to renounce her faith. In 2004 officials harassed a member in
Ashgabat; throughout the year, authorities confiscated Bibles at the
border and from private homes.
Forum 18 reported on November 9, 2005, that two women affiliated
with an unregistered religious minority group were denied permission to
leave the country in October 2005 to attend a Bible College in
Azerbaijan. Immigration officers in Turkmenbashy City prevented their
travel although they had the requisite documents certifying they had
their parents' consent to travel.
In 2004 the Government formally lifted the exit visa requirement,
theoretically permitting travel by all those who wished to participate
in the Hajj or other travel for religious purposes; however, the
Government maintained a ``black list'' of individuals and continued to
limit freedom of movement. Forum 18 reported on May 31, 2006, that
unregistered Council of Churches Baptist group member Shageldy Atakov
was prohibited from leaving the country on May 25, 2006. In October
2005 three members of two minority religious groups were prevented from
traveling outside the country. One of the three was told that he was
restricted from leaving because he had previously taken an extended
international trip. A Ministry of National Security officer told him he
should be eligible to travel abroad again in one year. In January and
July 2005 a Pentecostal pastor was restricted from international
travel, but not given an explanation. In 2004 two Jehovah's Witnesses
were prevented from boarding a flight to Kiev. In 2004 Deutsche Welle
Radio reported that five Jehovah's Witnesses were removed from a flight
from Ashgabat to Moscow because they were blacklisted and forbidden to
leave the country.
Foreign members of registered and unregistered religious groups
continued to be denied entry visas. A request for a foreign visitor
from the Seventh-day Adventist Church was denied for nine months. The
head of the Bible Society from Uzbekistan reportedly was barred from
visiting in 2004. According to Forum 18, in 2004 a group of Seventh-day
Adventists was denied entry visas, although their sponsors were members
of a registered church. In recent years Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare
Krishnas have also been denied entry.
Reportedly, the Moscow ROC patriarch denied the Government's
request to circumvent the Tashkent patriarch and allow the local church
to be directly subordinate to Moscow.
During the reporting period, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was
denied compensation pursuant to a court decision for a church building
demolished in 1999.
Several registered religious minority groups reported that the
Government monitors them by attending their gatherings; nonetheless,
communities continue to engage in regular activities. The level of
harassment has remained constant over the past year. Officers from the
Sixth Department in Ashgabat, the division charged with fighting
organized crime and terrorism, still occasionally question members of
religious minorities.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The mistreatment of some unregistered religious minority members,
which began in 2003, continued and was extended to the Muslim
community. In 2004 the country's popular and respected former mufti,
Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, was secretly tried and sentenced to twenty-two
years in prison, reportedly for his alleged role in a failed 2002 coup
plot. Ibadullah had been dismissed as mufti in 2003, reportedly in part
for his refusal to teach the president's book, Ruhnama, as a sacred
text. Little is known about the whereabouts or the condition of
Ibadullah, despite calls from the international community for access to
him and for his release.
Muslim religious leader Hoja Ahmed Orazgylyjov remained isolated in
internal exile in Tejen for alleged criminal activity. Some believe his
refusal to publicly support the Niyazov regime, and his own strict
religious beliefs, contributed to his exile.
The Government threatened members of minority religious groups with
fines, loss of employment and housing, rape, and imprisonment because
of their beliefs. There were also reports of beatings and raids.
A member of Jehovah's Witnesses in Mary was held for a few weeks in
November 2005 because of his conscientious objection to military
service. The president announced in June 2004 that all imprisoned
conscientious objectors should be released. Subsequently, four
Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced to prison because of their objection
to military service but were released in April 2005. In 2004 the
Turkmenistan Helsinki Initiative (an opposition group operating out of
Vienna) reported that three unnamed Baptists had gone into hiding to
avoid arrest for refusing conscription on religious grounds.
On March 2, 2005, Jehovah's Witnesses member Nazikgul Orazova was
called to the Internal Affairs Ministry for questioning, and was beaten
and threatened with fines. She was detained on four additional
occasions in March 2005, and on April 5, 2005 was ordered to pay an
approximately fifty-dollar fine (1,250,000 manat) for proselytizing and
possessing religious literature. A Forum 18 report indicated that
another member of Jehovah's Witnesses was fined a large sum in 2004. In
2004 Jehovah's Witnesses Gulkamar Dzhumayeva and Gulsherin Babkuliyeva
were arrested for proselytizing. The women were threatened and held
overnight. Also in 2004, based on her affiliation with the Jehovah's
Witnesses, Bilbil Kulyyeva was forcibly evicted from a hostel by an
Ashgabat official of the CRA.
Two raids on meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses occurred in 2004, one,
according to a report from Forum 18 News Service, in a private home in
Ashgabat the day after the 2004 presidential decree pledging adherence
to international standards for respect of religious freedom. In the
other raid, a female member was taken to a police station, forced to
write a statement dictated by the police, and was sexually harassed by
a district police officer.
In 2004 authorities entered the home of a member of Jehovah's
Witnesses and demanded he immediately pay a fine from 2001 that
allegedly remained unpaid.
The CRA pressured a member of Jehovah's Witnesses in Ashgabat to
renounce his faith; he was fired from his job when he refused. In 2003
as many as forty members of the group, male and female, were taken to
the Sixth Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The males
were beaten, all were required to renounce their faith in writing, and
their passports were confiscated until fines were paid.
There were no reports of authorities beating Hare Krishnas;
however, in November 2005, Hare Krishna devotee Cheper Annaniyazova was
sentenced to seven years in prison for having illegally crossed the
border in 2002. In July 2005 she was forcibly detained in a psychiatric
hospital until she was tried and sentenced to seven years imprisonment
for her 2002 crime. In April 2005 for violating a city ordinance,
Ashgabat city officials threatened the Krishna Consciousness Society
with the confiscation of their place of worship, a privately owned
residence that was used as a temple. In 2003, according to Forum 18,
authorities raided a meeting of the Krishna Consciousness Society in
Ashgabat and beat one member during an interrogation. Authorities
reportedly filmed the occupants of the home, confiscated all religious
articles and literature, and fined the group.
Local officials occasionally continued to harass religious
minorities, often because these authorities were not aware of the 2004
presidential decree. In 2004, according to the Turkmenistan Helsinki
Initiative, secret police officers, representatives of the city
administration for religious affairs, and police officers raided a
meeting of the Krishna Consciousness Society in a private home in Mary.
In 2003 Geldy Khudaikuliev, a Baptist congregation leader in
Gokdepe, was detained without charge for six days, and was released as
a result of international pressure. In April 2005, according to Forum
18, five members of a Baptist Church in Turkmenabat were fined
approximately sixty dollars (1.5 million manat) for holding a small
service.
According to a Forum 18 report, in 2003 a deaf and mute Baptist
woman was summoned to court where she was threatened with fines and a
fifteen-day imprisonment. Forum 18 also reported that another deaf and
mute Baptist woman was summoned to court in 2003. She was also
threatened with fifteen days' imprisonment if she failed to pay a fine.
Individuals were also fined in 2003, after authorities raided a
Baptist prayer meeting in Turkmenabat. That same year police raided the
meeting of an unregistered Christian group, confiscated its Bibles, and
fined its leaders twelve dollars (approximately 300,000 manat). Two
court decisions supported the actions.
According to Forum 18, in 2004 a Hindu was forced by police
officers to sign a statement renouncing his beliefs after being
threatened with physical violence and criminal punishment.
Reports of authorities arbitrarily arresting and interrogating
members of unregistered minority religious groups who met to worship
continued. During such incidents, authorities took a range of actions
including: Filming those present; recording the names, addresses, and
places of work of the congregants; threatening fines and imprisonment;
confiscating religious literature; and detaining members.
In 2004 a small group of Baha'is were detained and questioned for a
brief period by local security officials.
Forum 18 reported on May 23, 2006 the demolition of an Armenian
Apostolic church (the structure had not been used as a church in recent
memory) and of a Sunni mosque in Turkmenbashy.
On July 19, 2005, police interrupted an unregistered Baptist
group's worship service in Turkmenabat and hit member Asiya
Zasedatelevaya with a Bible. In July 2005, police also raided an
unregistered Baptist branch meeting in Mary and questioned members in
attendance. On August 14, 2005, police raided an outdoor meeting of an
unregistered Baptist branch in Dashoguz.
In August 2005 an estimated thirty suspected ``Wahabbis'' were
reportedly detained in Ashgabat.
On September 10, 2005, a Seventh-day Adventist branch meeting was
raided in Turkmenabat and members were threatened with fines, but the
CRA intervened to positively resolve the issue for the threatened
members.
On October 18, 2005 and January 13, 2006, Jehovah's Witnesses
leader Andrey Zhbanov was detained by the police to prevent him from
attending a U.S. embassy religious group reception and then a meeting
with a senior U.S. Government official.
On December 17, 2005, a police officer, district government
representative, and a local CRA representative raided a meeting of an
unregistered branch of Baptists in Galkynysh Etrap of Lebap Welayat.
The officials confiscated Bibles, threatened group members, and
reportedly forced them to sign letters proclaiming they would not
continue to read the Bible, but would only read the Ruhnama.
The Jehovah's Witnesses reported numerous cases of harassment,
detention, and abuse. They reported that on October 13, 2005, the home
of Dzhamilya Kerimov, one of their members in Ashgabat, was searched
without a warrant for religious literature. During her subsequent two-
day detention she was beaten and fined approximately six dollars (150
thousand manat). In March 2006 Azatlyk Etrap, Ashgabat police hit and
forced a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Vladimir Muratov, into a
police car and confiscated his Bible and religious literature.
Forced Religious Conversion
In December 2005 an ethnic Turkmen Baptist leader in Galkynysh
district was humiliated by the local governor, who accused him of
betraying his national culture by not practicing Islam.
In January 2006 there was a report of local government officials
and an imam pressuring an ethnic Turkmen convert to Christianity to
renounce his faith, but he refused.
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Since the 2004 presidential decree amending registration
requirements, nine religious minorities have registered: The
Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Turkmenistan; the Seventh-day
Adventist Church of Turkmenistan; the Baha'i Community of Turkmenistan;
the Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishnas); the Full Gospel
Christian Church of Turkmenistan (Pentecostals); the Light of the East
Church (Dashoguz Pentecostal Church); the Greater Grace Church of
Turkmenistan; the International Church of Christ; and the New Apostolic
Church of Turkmenistan.
Minority religious groups reported that harassment continued to
decrease, and that conditions were much better than in 2003-2004.
Numerous representatives of registered minority religious groups stated
that the MOJ and security services had started to display a more
helpful and positive attitude. Some minority religious leaders
commented that the attitude of the CRA was more helpful. Several
religious groups continued to search for places of worship; some stated
financial difficulty rather than government interference was the major
obstacle in their search. In September 2004 police returned Bibles that
had been confiscated from a Baptist group and apologized for their
actions. During the reporting period, the CRA facilitated the return of
confiscated Seventh-day Adventists' Bibles; customs officers had
interrupted the delivery of the foreign mailed books.
In response to international pressure, President Niyazov pardoned
conscientious objectors in 2004 and 2005. Unlike in previous years,
incarcerated Jehovah Witnesses were not singled out for abuse in prison
and were permitted to pray and to have access to Bibles.
On October 20, 2005, the Government hosted a minority religious
group roundtable to discuss pressing concerns. During the meeting the
Government announced a temporary procedure to register branches of
registered religious groups via powers of attorney.
The Government assisted some minority religious groups in locating
appropriate places of worship and refrained from interfering with
registered groups that met in private homes. The CRA intervened and
resolved a misunderstanding between local law enforcement agents and a
minority branch religious group in Turkmenabat.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
There were no reports of general societal discrimination or
violence based on religion during the period covered by this report.
Restrictive government control, indigenous Islamic culture, and
seventy years of Soviet rule have meant that traditional mosque-based
Islam does not play a dominant role in society. Local interpretations
of Islam place a heavy premium on rituals associated with birth,
marriage, and death (``sadakas''), featuring music and dancing that
more traditional Muslims view as unorthodox. Together with shrine
pilgrimage, such rituals play a greater role in local Muslims'
expression of Islam than regular prayer at mosques.
Many Muslims do not regularly attend mosques; however, the
overwhelming majority of the population identify themselves as
``Muslim,'' and national identity is linked to Islam. (Turkmen society
considers an individual to be born into an ethno-religious group.)
Departures from the pattern are rare and either receive little support
or are criticized. Ethnic Turkmen who choose to convert from Islam to
other faiths are viewed with suspicion and sometimes ostracized. Ethnic
Turkmen members of unregistered religious groups accused of
disseminating religious material receive harsher treatment than members
of other ethnic groups, particularly if they received financial support
from foreign sources.
Despite strong ties between Islam and national identity, the
society historically has been tolerant and inclusive of different
religious beliefs. For example, in the early part of the 20th century
Ashgabat was a refuge for Baha'is escaping persecution in Iran, and a
Baha'i temple was built in the city at that time. Government repression
of minority religious groups does not reflect doctrinal or societal
friction between the Muslim majority and minority religious groups.
Rather, it reportedly reflects the Government's concern that the
proliferation of nontraditional religious groups could undermine state
control, promote civil unrest, facilitate undue influence by foreign
interests, and destabilize the Government. There is also a societal
distrust of foreign-based religious groups and the belief that Islam
from outside the country is ``Wahhabist''--extremist.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
During the period covered by this report, U.S. embassy
representatives and visiting U.S. Department of State officials raised
cases of religious freedom abuse in meetings with government officials
and urged greater support for religious freedom. The embassy conveyed
to the Government specific steps it should take in order for the
country to improve its standing in regards to respect for freedom of
religion. Visits in 2004 and October 2005 by staff of the U.S.
Department of State's Office of International Religious Freedom, who
met with government officials and members of faith groups, underscored
the importance of the issue to the U.S. Government. U.S. embassy
representatives continued to encourage the Government to explain to
local authorities--and encourage implementation of--presidential
decrees and the laws passed in 2004.
The ambassador and embassy officers raised specific reports of
abuse and urged greater respect for religious freedom in meetings with
the president, foreign minister, minister of justice, and the CRA.
Embassy officials also requested that the Government assist registered
religious groups in finding places to hold services.
The embassy encouraged the Government to host the October 20, 2005
roundtable meeting with minority religious groups. A U.S. deputy
assistant secretary for European affairs raised the issue of religious
freedom during his meeting with President Niyazov in January 2006 and
he also held a roundtable discussion with leaders of minority religious
groups. In May 2006 the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE raised religious
freedom issues during meetings with the minister of foreign affairs,
the minister of justice, and the CRA.
In September 2005 embassy officers held meetings with each of the
five regional imams, who are also the regional representatives of the
CRA, and made visits to many mosques in all five regions of the
country.
The ambassador and embassy officers met regularly with the staff of
the OSCE center in Ashgabat, the U.K. Embassy, and other diplomatic
missions in order to maximize cooperation in monitoring abuses of and
promoting greater respect for religious freedom.
Embassy officers regularly met with representatives of registered
and unregistered religious groups to monitor their status, receive
reports of abuse, and discuss measures to raise their cases with the
Government. These representatives have been much more willing to meet
with embassy officials due to the reduced registration requirements and
elimination of criminal penalties for religious activities, another
indication that, for some, the religious freedom situation improved.
__________
UZBEKISTAN
The constitution provides for freedom of religion and for the
principle of separation of church and state; however, the Government
continued to restrict these rights in practice. The Government permits
the operation of what it considers mainstream religions, including
approved Muslim groups, Jewish groups, the Russian Orthodox Church, and
various other Christian denominations, such as Roman Catholics,
Lutherans, and Baptists. Uzbek society generally tolerates Christian
churches as long as they do not attempt to win converts among ethnic
Uzbeks; the law prohibits or severely restricts activities such as
proselytizing, importing and disseminating religious literature, and
offering private religious instruction.
There was a decline in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report. A number of minority religious groups,
including congregations of a variety of Christian denominations, had
difficulty satisfying the strict registration requirements set out by
the law. As in previous years, Protestant groups with ethnic Uzbek
members reported operating in a climate of harassment and fear. Law
enforcement officials raided and harassed some registered groups,
several of which were subsequently deregistered and closed. The
Government continued its campaign against unauthorized Islamic groups
suspected of extremist sentiments or activities, arresting numerous
alleged members of these groups and sentencing them to lengthy jail
terms. Many of these were suspected members of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), a
banned extremist Islamic political movement. The Government pressured
the banned Islamic group Akromiya (Akromiylar), especially in Tashkent
and Andijon, with those actions spilling over into violence and deaths
in Andijon in May 2005. The Government generally did not interfere with
worshipers attending sanctioned mosques and granted approvals for new
Islamic print, audio, and video materials. During the period covered by
this report, the Government announced a release of an unknown number of
prisoners of conscience as part of a large-scale amnesty. The number
arrested remained below the levels reported in 1999-2001. A small but
growing number of ``underground'' mosques operated under the close
scrutiny of religious authorities and the security services. Mosques
operating without registration are technically illegal and operate only
with the indulgence of the local government. Although mosque attendance
in some locations declined for a short time after the May 2005 violence
in Andijon, overall attendance has risen significantly since 2004, and
even more sharply since May 2005.
The generally tolerant relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, neighbors, family,
and employers often continued to pressure ethnic Uzbek Christians,
especially recent converts and residents of smaller communities. On at
least two occasions during the period of this report, sermons against
missionaries and Uzbeks who convert from Islam were noted. Unlike in
previous years, there was only one report of individuals being charged
with the distribution of HT leaflets, which often contain strong anti-
Semitic rhetoric, during the period of this report.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government
as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. embassy
is actively engaged in monitoring religious freedom and maintains
contact with government and religious leaders and human rights
activists. The embassy sponsored exchange and educational programs
designed to promote religious tolerance and to expand religious
freedom. The programs included the three-year University of Washington
partnership program for Cultural and Comparative Religious Studies and
Community Connections exchange programs on the topic of Islam in a
Religiously Diverse United States. The Government closure of the
Tashkent office of the U.S. Government-funded International Research
and Exchanges Board (IREX) has hindered administration of its program
on Cultural and Religious Pluralism in Uzbekistan. The Government also
closed two of the embassy's other program-implementing organizations
during the period of this report, ABA/CEELI and Freedom House, whose
human rights programming included components on protecting religious
freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 172,742 square miles, and an estimated
population of 27.3 million. International experts believe the
population has sustained a loss of 2 to 3 million people in recent
years due to the growing trend of labor migration from Uzbekistan to
neighboring countries, Russia, South Korea, the Middle East, and the
United States. Approximately 80 percent of the population is ethnic
Uzbek; 5.5 percent Russian; 5 percent Tajik; 3 percent Kazakh; 2.5
percent Karakalpak; and 1.5 percent Tatar. There are no official
statistics on membership in various religious groups; however, it is
estimated that 88 percent of the population is nominally Muslim.
Approximately 9 percent of the population is Russian Orthodox, though
this percentage steadily declines as the number of ethnic Russians and
other Slavs remaining in the country decreases. A growing number of
Hanafi Muslims and Russian Orthodox adherents actively practice their
religion. Outside of Tashkent, Muslim believers may now outnumber
nonbelievers. During the period covered by this report, mosque
attendance has noticeably increased, particularly among younger men,
who tend to constitute the majority of worshipers. The remaining 3
percent of the population includes small communities of Roman
Catholics, Korean Christians, Baptists, Lutherans, Seventh-day
Adventists, Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Buddhists, Baha'is, and Hare Krishnas. In addition, an
estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Ashkenazi and Bukharan Jews remain in the
country, concentrated in the cities of Tashkent, Bukhara, and
Samarkand. At least 80,000 others have emigrated to Israel and the
United States since 1991.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the
Government restricted these rights in practice. The constitution also
establishes the principle of separation of church and state. The
Government prohibits religious groups from forming political parties
and social movements.
Although the law treats all religious denominations equally, the
Government shows its support for the country's Muslim heritage by
funding an Islamic university and the preservation of Islamic historic
sites. As in prior years, the Government provided logistical support
for 5,000 selected Muslims to participate in the Hajj, but the pilgrims
paid their own expenses. The Government controls the Muslim Board of
Uzbekistan (the Muftiate), which in turn controls the Islamic
hierarchy, the content of imams' sermons, and the volume and substance
of published Islamic materials. Kurbon Hayit and Roza Hayit are holy
days that are also considered national holidays.
On June 22, 2006, President Karimov signed into law a series of
amendments concerning religious literature. An amendment to the
Administrative Code, Article 184-2, punishes ``illegal production,
storage, import or distribution of materials of religious content''
with a fine of 20 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage for
individuals, or 50 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage for officials
of organizations, together with confiscation of the materials and the
``corresponding means of producing and distributing them.'' A new
article of the Criminal Code, Article 244-3, addresses the same
offense, punishing those already convicted under the corresponding
article of the Administrative Code with a fine of 100 to 200 times the
minimum monthly wage, or corrective labor of up to 3 years. Other
changes introduced simultaneously to the Criminal and Administrative
Codes punish the production and distribution of ``literature promoting
racial and religious hatred.''
On December 28, 2005, President Karimov signed into law amendments
to both the Criminal Code (Article 217 Part 2) and Administrative Code
(Article 201), increasing fines for repeated offenses of violations of
the law on religious activity, such as illegal meetings, processions,
and ceremonies. The fines are now 200 to 300 times the minimum monthly
wage of $8 (9,500 soum), under the Criminal Code and 50 to 100 times
under the Administrative Code, raised from 50 to 75 times and 5 to 10
times respectively.
The 1998 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations
(1998 Religion Law) requires all religious groups and congregations to
register, and provides strict and burdensome criteria for their
registration. Among its requirements, the law stipulates that each
group must present a list of at least one hundred citizen members to
the local branches of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), thus suppressing
the activities of those groups seeking to worship outside the state-
sanctioned system. This provision enables the Government to ban any
group by finding technical grounds for denying its registration
petition. The Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA), under the Cabinet
of Ministers, oversees registered religious activity. New mosques
continued to face difficulties gaining registration, as did those
closed previously that re-applied.
To register, groups also must report in their charter a valid legal
address. Local officials, on occasion, have denied approval of a legal
address to prevent religious groups from registering. The MOJ has also
cited this requirement in explaining local officials' decisions. The
Jehovah's Witnesses' Tashkent congregation had its registration
application denied on these grounds. The Jehovah's Witnesses Ferghana
congregation encountered problems renting property when a new city
administration cancelled its rental agreement. Some groups, such as the
Tashkent International Church, have been reluctant to purchase property
without assurance that their registration would be approved. Others
claim that local officials arbitrarily withhold approval of the
addresses because they oppose the existence of Christian churches with
ethnic Uzbek members. Even the Architecture Administration and Land
Registry must approve the construction buildings for religious
entities.
Some Christian groups applied for registration at local, regional,
and national levels and either received a denial or no official answer
during the period covered by this report, including the Mir (Peace)
Presbyterian Church in Nukus, the United Church of Evangelical
Christians/Baptists in Tashkent, the Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in
Andijon, the Pentecostal Church in Chirchik, and the Jehovah's
Witnesses. In May 2005 the MOJ deregistered Emmanuel, once the only
registered Protestant church in Nukus, in the Autonomous Republic of
Karakalpakstan and ordered it to close. The Greater Grace Christian
Church in Samarkand has temporarily suspended its five-year quest for
registration. Some churches, particularly evangelical churches with
ethnic Uzbek members, did not apply for registration because they did
not expect local officials to register them. Other groups, including
those with too few members, have reported that they prefer not to bring
themselves to the attention of authorities by submitting a registration
application that obviously does not meet legal requirements. There are
a few groups that refuse on principle to seek registration because they
challenge the Government's right to require registration.
As of June 30, 2006, the Government had registered 2,224 religious
congregations and organizations--an increase of 24 from 2,200 recorded
in July 2005. Mosques, Muslim educational institutions, and Islamic
centers comprised 2,042 of the total registered, an increase of 27,
while the number of registered Christian groups decreased by 3. The 182
registered minority religious groups include 59 Korean Christian, 36
Russian Orthodox, 23 Baptist, 21 Pentecostal (``Full Gospel''), 10
Seventh-day Adventist, 8 Jewish, 5 Roman Catholic, 6 Baha'i, 3
Lutheran, 4 ``New Apostolic,'' 2 Jehovah's Witnesses, 1 Krishna
Consciousness group, 1 Temple of Buddha, 1 Christian ``Voice of God''
Church, and 1 Armenian Apostolic.
A 2003 decree of the Cabinet of Ministers outlining a change in
registration requirements for international nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) restricted the activities of faith-based entities.
Partly on the basis of the new requirements, the Government denied
accreditation or visas to more than a dozen employees and volunteers
from various faith-based organizations during the period covered by
this report. Statements by government officials, as well as documents
disseminated to the NGOs by the MOJ, indicated that the Government
intended the new requirements, in part, to curtail the activities of
international NGOs that proselytize as part of their charitable
activities.
The Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations (1998
Religion Law) provides for freedom of worship, freedom from religious
persecution, separation of church and state, and the right to establish
schools and train clergy; however, the law also severely limits
religious activity. It restricts religious rights that are judged to be
in conflict with national security, prohibits proselytizing, bans
religious subjects in public schools, prohibits the private teaching of
religious principles, and requires religious groups to obtain a license
to publish or distribute materials. The CRA must approve all religious
literature. Article 14 of the law prohibits the wearing of ``cult
robes'' (religious clothing) in public places by all except ``those
serving in religious organizations.'' Authorities did not appear to
enforce this provision during the period covered by this report.
The Criminal Code formally distinguishes between ``illegal''
groups, which are those that are not registered properly, and
``prohibited'' groups, such as the Islamic political party HT, Tabligh
Jamoat, and other groups branded with the general term ``Wahhabi'' that
are banned altogether. The code makes it a criminal offense, punishable
by up to five years in prison, to organize an illegal religious group
or to resume the activities of such a group after it has been denied
registration or ordered to disband. In addition, the code punishes
participation in such a group with up to three years in prison. The
code also provides penalties of up to twenty years in prison (if the
crime results in ``grave consequences'') for ``organizing or
participating'' in the activities of religious extremist,
fundamentalist, separatist, or other prohibited groups. In the past,
courts often ignored the distinction between illegal and prohibited
groups, and frequently convicted members of unapproved Muslim groups
under both statutes. In contrast with past years, there were few
reports of such practices during the reporting period.
The Criminal and Civil Codes contain stiff penalties for violating
the Religion Law and other statutes on religious activities. In
addition to the prohibited activities that include organizing an
illegal religious group, the law also proscribes persuading others to
join such a group and drawing minors into a religious organization
without the permission of their parents. Any religious service
conducted by an unregistered religious organization is illegal.
The law prohibits religious groups that do not have a registered
central administrative body from training religious personnel. There
are six such entities that may legally train religious personnel. The
law limits religious instruction to officially sanctioned religious
schools and state-approved instructors. The law permits no private
instruction and provides for fines for violations. There are ten
madrassahs (including two for women), which provide secondary
education. In addition, the Islamic Institute and Islamic University in
Tashkent provide higher educational instruction. The Cabinet of
Ministers considers diplomas granted by madrassahs equivalent to other
diplomas, thus enabling graduates of those institutions to continue
their education at the university level. The curriculum in the
madrassahs and Islamic Institute is oriented towards those planning to
become imams or religious teachers. This is not the case with the
government-funded and established Islamic University, where students
pursue religious studies from a secular perspective, although, in
practice, graduates from the Islamic University have been appointed
imams after graduation, which provides another mechanism for the
Government to directly influence mosques.
The Government restricts Shi'a Islamic education by not permitting
the training of Shi'a imams inside the country, and not recognizing
such education received outside the country. There is no officially
sanctioned religious instruction for individuals interested in learning
about Islam. An increasing number of imams informally offer religious
education; although this is technically illegal, local authorities
rarely took legal action. The Russian Orthodox Church operates two
monasteries (one for women, one for men) and a seminary and offers
Sunday school education through many of its churches. The government
Jewish school operates in Tashkent's Yakkasaroy District. Other
religious faiths offer religious education through their religious
centers.
The law prohibits the teaching of religious subjects in public
schools, the private teaching of religious principles, and the teaching
of religion to minors without parental consent. Nevertheless, a course
called ``Comparative Religion'' is taught at the Andijon Foreign
Languages Institute, and likely other institutes around the country,
for students of university age. On June 26, 2006, according to the
newspaper Novy Vek, authorities closed a religious school for children
in Tashkent Province and charged two teachers with involvement in a
religious extremist organization. The report alleged that the school
was providing radical religious education to young children. In March
2005, authorities closed an unlicensed Islamic kindergarten in Ferghana
Province, according to the newspaper Voice of Uzbekistan.
In 2003 a panel of experts convened by the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), reviewed the 1998 Religion Law
and associated criminal and civil statutes and concluded that they were
in violation of the international norms for religious freedom. The OSCE
submitted a number of recommendations, including lifting the bans on
proselytizing and private religious instruction and decriminalizing
activities of unregistered religious organizations. The Government,
through the CRA, agreed to consider the ODHIR recommendations but took
no action by the end of the period covered by this report.
The main laws under which authorities charge citizens for religious
activity are Article 159 (anti-constitutional activity); Article 216
(illegal establishment of public associations or religious
organizations; Article 216, Section 2 (violation of legislation on
religious organizations, including proselytism); Article 244, Section 1
(production and distribution of materials which create a threat to
public security and public order); and Article 244, Section 2
(establishment, direction of, or participation in religious extremist,
separatist, fundamentalist, or other banned organizations) of the
Uzbekistan Criminal Code. Citizens charged under these sections
(particularly Article 244, Section 2) are frequently charged with being
members of the extremist Islamist political organization HT, which
promotes hate and praises acts of terrorism, although HT maintains that
it is committed to nonviolence. The party's virulently anti-Semitic and
anti-Western literature and websites call for the overthrow of secular
governments, including those in Central Asia, to be replaced with a
worldwide Islamic government referred to as the Caliphate.
Because HT is primarily a political organization, albeit one
motivated by religious ideology, and because it does not condemn
terrorist acts by other groups, authorities' actions to restrict HT and
prosecute its members are not a restriction on religious freedom per se
(although the failure to observe due process and other norms constitute
human rights violations). However, in thousands of cases authorities
have asserted HT membership based solely on outward expressions of
devout belief or have made false assertions of HT membership as a
pretext for repressing the expression of moderate religious belief.
Estimates from credible sources suggested that as many as 4,500 of the
estimated 5,000 to 5,500 political prisoners being held in detention
were members of the political movement HT. It is difficult to estimate
precisely the number of persons arrested on false charges of extremism
and difficult to know how many of those were under suspicion because of
their religious observance. As in previous years, authorities
arbitrarily arrested a large percentage of those taken into custody on
charges of extremism.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
There were significant governmental restrictions on religious
freedom during the period covered by this report. The Government, by
continuing to deny registration to some religious groups and by
deregistering some religious organizations, deprived them of their
legal right to worship. The Government restricted many religious
practices and activities, punishing some citizens because they engaged
in religious practices in violation of the registration laws, and
generally providing ethnic Russians, Jews, and foreigners greater
religious freedom than Muslim ethnic groups, particularly ethnic
Uzbeks. The Government tolerates Christian churches, for the most part,
as long as they do not attempt to win converts among ethnic Uzbeks.
Ethnic Uzbek Christians are often secretive about their faith and
sometimes do not attempt to register their organizations out of fear of
restrictive reprisals, such as observing to see if they are meeting
without benefit of registration, which would lead to arrest under
criminal charges. Christian congregations of mixed ethnic background
often face difficulties including rejection of registration or delays
in response, or are reluctant to list their ethnic Uzbek members on
registration lists for fear of incurring harassment by local officials.
The Government, citing national security concerns, has conducted a
repressive campaign against persons perceived as Islamic extremists.
Government employees generally feel less free to perform their
religious responsibilities than do citizens in the private sector, as
the state maintains a policy of secularism, and government employees
are under greater scrutiny than others to maintain the separation
between religion and state structures.
While somewhat supportive of moderate Muslims, the Government is
intolerant of Islamic groups that it perceives to be extremist. A small
but growing number of unofficial, independent mosques are allowed to
operate quietly under the watch of official imams. Some sources have
claimed that imams of registered mosques are required to submit lists
of individuals in their congregations who may have extremist
tendencies. Unlike the past reporting period, there were no new reports
that the Government pressured some mahalla (neighborhood) committees
and imams to report on those who prayed daily or otherwise demonstrated
active devotion. The Government controls the content of imams' sermons
and the volume and substance of published Islamic materials.
The Government's harsh treatment of suspected religious extremists
has generally suppressed outward expressions of religious piety.
Following the May 2005 violence in Andijon, authorities arrested some
journalists and human rights activists on charges of religious
extremism. There were also credible reports of mahalla committee
chairmen delivering special lectures to community gatherings in which
they actively discouraged worshipping in mosques. Many sources report
that the atmosphere among the Muslim community has improved, with many
mosques overflowing into the streets for lack of space during Friday
prayer. The Government, while controlling the imams' message and
monitoring mosque activities closely, has loosened its grip on those
whose appearance or behavior suggests they are observant Muslims,
allowing individuals to practice their faith within the confines of a
controlled environment. Nevertheless, there is an apparent reluctance
to appear overly observant, as hardly any young men attending Friday
prayers are bearded.
Unlike during the weeks immediately following the July 2004
terrorist attacks, when Muslim women reported feeling unease about
wearing the hijab and several female students were reportedly suspended
from Tashkent's Pedagogical University for wearing it, there were no
reports of women feeling uncomfortable about doing so during the
reporting period. Nevertheless, there were credible reports that some
students were prohibited from wearing headscarves at schools.
The Government states that it does not consider repression of
persons suspected of extremism to be a matter of religious freedom, but
of preventing armed resistance to the Government. Contrary to the
previous reporting period, however, there were few reports that
authorities were highly suspicious of those with more religiously
observant behavior than average, such as frequent mosque attendance,
bearded men, and veiled women. Nevertheless, reports suggest that law
enforcement and national security officers actively monitored and
reported on mosque activities and those of worshippers.
Some mosques continued to have difficulty registering. The Panjera
mosque in Navoi, where approximately 500 persons meet for prayer on
feast days, has been trying unsuccessfully for 7 years to register, as
have several mosques in the southern and eastern Ferghana Valley,
despite having the required number of congregants to register.
Worshipers of the locally funded Tuman mosque in Akhunbabayev District
of Ferghana continued to function after court-enforced registration in
early 2004.
In Margilan, Ferghana Province, local government authorities
appropriated and converted a madrassah built through private community
contributions into a medical training facility, preventing its
scheduled fall 2005 opening. Thus, the Government has prevented
Ferghana Province, one of Uzbekistan's most populous and observantly
Muslim areas, from having a madrassah to train imams. Similarly, the
Government appropriated and converted a madrassah in Andijon into a
hospital, despite petitions in 2004 by community members to have it
reopened.
On October 20, 2005, authorities denied the pastor of Bethany
Baptist Church in the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent an additional
appeal to keep his church open. This decision prolongs the local
pastor's five-year quest to register the church.
On September 8, 2005, the economic court of Karakalpakstan rejected
an appeal by the Emmanuel Church of Nukus to overturn the May 2005 MOJ
decision to close the church, citing among other reasons, a charge that
church members promoted Christianity to children without their parents'
permission. Out of approximately twenty Protestant churches that had
operated in the region, this was the last to close. Local authorities
continued to pressure Baptist churches associated with the
International Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians/Baptists, a
denomination that rejects registration on principle, with demands to
register their congregations. Forum 18 reported that on April 12, 2006,
police and National Security Service (NSS) officials raided a service
of Council Baptists at a member's home in the town of Kuvasai in
Ferghana Province. Police reportedly interrogated three congregants,
and on May 5, 2006, an Administrative Commission fined one congregant
$8 (9,400 soum) for hosting the service in her home. On May 7, 2006,
police and NSS officers reportedly returned to raid the church's Sunday
service, recorded the names of those present, and threatened members
with legal consequences if they did not register.
The International Church of Tashkent, a Protestant
nondenominational church that ministers exclusively to Tashkent's
international community, has tried unsuccessfully to obtain
registration, but now holds services in an officially registered
Baptist church. The MOJ and the CRA have signaled a willingness to
assist the International Church, but note that the law requires at
least 100 congregants be citizens of Uzbekistan. The International
Church meets regularly, without obstruction. However, the Government
subjects many of its members to visa and accreditation delays.
Local authorities have continued to block the registration of
evangelical Christian congregations, particularly those that attempt to
minister to ethnic Uzbeks. In January 2005, congregants of the
Pentecostal Church in Chirchik reported that the Department of Justice
in Tashkent Region denied their church's registration application
because of ``grammatical errors in the Uzbek text of their charter.''
Authorities revoked without explanation the registration of a Baptist
congregation in 2003; the last successful Baptist registration occurred
in 1999. Despite a number of international appeals and formal legal
appeals, the Mir (Peace) Church of Nukus, the Hushkhabar Church in
Guliston, the Pentecostal Church in Andijon, and the Baptist Church in
Gazalkent remained unregistered, apparently because they have ethnic
Uzbek members. Church leaders reported that officials cite a multitude
of reasons for refusing to register them, ranging from claims of
falsified congregation lists to problems certifying addresses,
``technicalities,'' and improper certification by fire inspectors,
sanitation workers, and epidemiologists.
The Jehovah's Witnesses continued to try to register in Tashkent
where city authorities have refused to approve the address of the
congregation's place of worship. Out of the eleven Jehovah's Witnesses
churches in the country, those in Chirchik and Ferghana remained the
only registered congregations. In Ferghana, they continued to pursue a
new legal address with a larger space because they continued to have
difficulties renting space for larger meetings. In November 2005, the
Jehovah's Witnesses reported that the Tashkent district office revoked
its previous approval, which had allowed a congregation of Jehovah's
Witnesses to apply for registration after the local mahalla had blocked
registration by refusing to approve the group's application. Many in
the Government express suspicion of the Jehovah's Witnesses, viewing it
as an extremist group.
Internal police training documents have listed the Jehovah's
Witnesses, along with the terrorist Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(IMU) and HT, as security threats. Local officials and representatives
of the religious establishment continued to express apprehension about
the group's missionary activities. According to a Forum 18 report, CRA
chairman Shoazim Minovarov specifically cited the Jehovah's Witnesses
in a statement saying that the Government needed to take measures
against proselytism.
There were reports that the MOJ, which administers accreditation
for employees of NGOs, refused to accredit the administrative director
of the Tashkent Institute of Asian Culture and Development and one of
his staff members due to accusations of missionary activities. Proper
accreditation, a necessity for anyone attempting to work in Uzbekistan,
is controlled by the MOJ, which has the ability to force out, without
bringing formal charges, those it believes are proselytizing.
In April 2006, after the Government levied administrative fines for
improper registration of the Samarkand branch of an American-based
education NGO, the organization and its U.S.-citizen volunteers closed
and withdrew its staff. Members of the National Security Service and
the local police had raided the volunteers' homes and confiscated
personal literature and videos. Although the MOJ never charged the
organization with proselytizing to local youths in English language
clubs, the MOJ had announced it would conduct a detailed monitoring of
them.
There were unconfirmed reports that the Government continues to
monitor a Presbyterian church in Tashkent Oblast, visiting
approximately every three months to discuss church activities,
reiterating that proselytizing is illegal, and scrutinizing the
pictures and names of new church members. The Government requires the
church to file monthly reports on its activities.
In January 2005, authorities denied Russian Orthodox Church
officials permission to bring relics of two Orthodox saints into the
country. There were no similar reports during the period covered by
this report.
Unlike previous years, there were no credible reports of heads of
mahalla committees threatening converts that they would not be given a
cemetery burial if they did not stop attending church.
For historical and cultural reasons, evangelical pastors generally
preach in Russian while offering limited services in the Uzbek
language--the official national language and the one linked most
closely to the majority Muslim population. Presumably because Christian
materials, such as the New Testament and selected scripture readings,
in the Uzbek language would make the faith more accessible to the
ethnic Uzbek population, the CRA tries to restrict the publication and
distribution of such materials, allowing some limited concessions and
materials such as some Uzbek-language coloring books with Bible themes.
The Government requires the Bible Society to file regular reports on
its printing, importing, and translating activities. The CRA apparently
informally restricts the quantity of Uzbek-language materials that
groups may import.
Although the Government requires that the CRA approve all religious
literature, in practice a number of other government entities,
including the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), NSS, Customs Service,
and police may suppress or confiscate religious literature of which
they do not approve. The CRA, in accordance with the law, has given the
right to publish, import, and distribute religious literature solely to
registered central offices of religious organizations of which seven
now exist: A nondenominational Bible society; the Muslim Board of
Uzbekistan; two Islamic centers; and Russian Orthodox, Full Gospel,
Baptist, and Roman Catholic offices. However, the Government uses
bureaucratic obstacles, such as preventing registration of churches
with Uzbek names on their membership rosters, and occasionally has
blocked registered central religious organizations from producing or
importing Christian literature in the Uzbek language, even though
Bibles in many other languages are available in Tashkent bookstores.
The Government may confiscate and destroy illegally imported
religious literature. Examples of this, reported by Forum 18, include:
The seizure, reported in April 2006, of 126 religious videos from a
member of the Pentecostal church traveling to Nukus; the confiscation
of religious materials from a member of Jehovah's Witnesses during a
raid of his apartment in Tashkent in August 2005; the seizure of
fifteen Bibles from a Protestant pastor in Gulistan on June 17, 2005;
and the confiscation of ninety Hare Krishna books from a devotee in a
small town outside of Nukus in the same month. Although the CRA denies
it, authorities often incinerate confiscated literature. On August 12,
2005, a Tashkent regional judge ordered the destruction of 33 Bibles,
160 copies of the Gospel of Mark, and approximately 600 Christian
leaflets for children, all of which were printed in the Uzbek language.
Authorities had seized the literature outside of Tashkent on July 20,
2005, from a group of four Baptists whom authorities subsequently
detained and interrogated for eight hours.
The Uzbekistan International Post Office in Tashkent scrutinizes
all incoming packages and sends examples of any religious material to
the CRA for further examination and approval. In the event that the CRA
bans the materials, it mails a letter to the intended recipient and the
sender explaining the rejection by the committee. The CRA has denied
entrance into Uzbekistan of both Christian and Muslim titles.
Access to Muslim publications is also tightly controlled by the
State, which requires a statement in every domestic publication (books,
pamphlets, CDs, and movies) indicating the source of its publication
authority. Many books are published with the phrase ``permission for
this book was granted by the CRA,'' or ``this book is recommended by
the CRA,'' thus indicating official sanction. Generally, only books
published under the Muslim Board's imprint, ``Movarounnahr,'' contain
these phrases. Other works published under the imprint of the state-
owned Sharq or Adolat Publishing Houses do not appear to require CRA
approval, even when they deal with Islamic law. A very small number of
works in Arabic, imported from abroad, is sometimes available from book
dealers. More controversial literature, if being offered, is not
displayed, but only available upon request. Possession of literature by
authors deemed to be extremists may lead to arrest and prosecution. The
Government categorically prohibits HT leaflets.
Previously, in March 2005, members of a Tashkent-based Baptist
church reported that police confiscated over 1,000 CRA-approved
religious booklets and detained seven church members for questioning.
In August 2004, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported that authorities
detained a member and confiscated religious literature. In February
2004, according to press reports, police in Karakalpakstan confiscated
religious literature from a Jehovah's Witness in Nukus. In January
2004, police searched the home of a Jehovah's Witnesses member in
Jizzakh and confiscated religious literature.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government continued to commit serious abuses of religious
freedom. The Government's campaign against extremist Muslim groups
resulted in numerous serious human rights abuses during the period
covered by this report. The campaign was directed at three types of
Muslims: Alleged Wahhabists, in particular those educated at madrassahs
abroad or those followers of either Imam Abduvali Mirzaev of Andijon,
who disappeared in 1995, or Imam Abidkhan Nazarov of Tashkent, who fled
to Kazakhstan in 1998 to avoid arrest and was granted refugee status by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on March 15,
2006; those suspected of being involved in the 1999 Tashkent bombings
or of being involved with the IMU, a Namangan-rooted group on the U.S.
list of international terrorist organizations; and suspected members of
the extremist Islamic political party HT. This ongoing campaign has
resulted in the arrest of many observant, non-extremist Muslims, as
well as allegations, dozens of them confirmed, that law enforcement has
physically mistreated or tortured hundreds, perhaps thousands over the
years. Persons accused of involvement with HT, which often involved
nothing more than having attended one of its meetings or passing along
banned HT leaflets, continued to be subject to prison sentences of up
to fifteen, sometimes twenty years.
Authorities appeared to suspect individuals belonging to Islamic
organizations and Muslims who meet privately to pray or study Islam of
extremism. People accused of ``Wahhabism'' faced abuse ranging from job
loss to physical abuse and long imprisonment.
The Government branded the Islamic missionary group Tabligh Jamoat
(``Outreach Society'') as extremist. The group's worship, dress, and
grooming practices are in accordance with their interpretation of
Islamic practice during Muhammad's time. Various religious experts
assert that there is no indication that Tabligh Jamoat seeks to
overthrow the regime; members claim to be exclusively religious and
apolitical. There were several reports that regional leaders have
appeared on local television channels stating that schoolchildren may
not attend mosques, and in Bukhara, there was a report that police have
not allowed schoolchildren into the mosque.
In March 2005 Radio Liberty reported a trial of six Tabligh Jamoat
members; four were amnestied and two were fined. In January 2005 a
Tashkent court took the unusual action of granting amnesty to seven of
eight Tabligh Jamoat members on trial for extremism. This immediately
followed a number of cases between July and December 2004 in the
Ferghana Valley: The November 2004 sentencing of two followers to six-
month terms, four of which were credited as time served, and the
October 2004 sentencing of eleven members to five-year prison terms in
Andijon.
The Government continued to prosecute persons suspected of
involvement in the Islamic group Akromiya. According to religious
experts, Akromiya is a religious movement that promotes business, not
extremism. On July 25, 2005, the Tashkent criminal court convicted
three alleged Akromiya members Akhad Ziyodkhojayev, Bokhodir Karimov,
and Abdubosid Zakirov of participation in a religious extremist group,
conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional order, establishing a
criminal group, and disseminating materials constituting a threat to
public order. The three received sentences of 15.5 to 16 years
imprisonment. Trial observers noted that the convictions were based
almost entirely on defendants' confessions and witness testimony, and
that evidence presented in court did not suggest that the defendants
were involved in criminal activity. In March 2005 a Syrdarya court
sentenced seven food vendors from the town of Bakht to prison sentences
of eight to nine years based on their alleged membership in Akromiya,
though their families claimed their convictions were based on coerced
testimony.
In May 2005 peaceful demonstrations in support of twenty-three
alleged Akromiya members led to civil unrest in Andijon. On the evening
of May 12, 2005, an unknown number of individuals, possibly supporters
of the men facing trial, attacked a police garrison, seized weapons,
and broke into a nearby prison and released several hundred inmates. On
the evening of May 13, according to several witnesses, military
vehicles drove into Bobur Square, where several thousand civilians had
gathered, and fired indiscriminately into the crowd multiple times and
without warning. The total number of dead as a result was estimated
from 170 to more than 700. In subsequent public statements, the
Government referred to all on trial, in prison, and those killed on May
13 as religious extremists. By the end of the reporting period,
approximately 257 individuals had been convicted of various charges,
including Islamic extremism, murder, terrorism, and anti-constitutional
activity in connection with the Andijon events.
Following the terrorist attacks of March, April and July 2004, the
Government detained at least 500 persons, the overwhelming majority of
whom were accused of membership in HT or Wahhabi groups. The Government
also detained relatives of persons already in jail on charges of
extremism. The Government released the majority of those taken into
custody after questioning; some detainees made credible allegations of
torture. The court convicted all eighty-five of those charged in
connection with the terrorist acts, sentencing them to prison terms
ranging from three to eighteen years.
Authorities often severely mistreat persons arrested on suspicion
of extremism, using torture, beatings, and particularly harsh prison
conditions, typically sentencing these individuals to between seven-
and twelve-year terms, though some defendants, particularly those also
accused of involvement with HT or terrorist activity, received
sentences of up to twenty years. Prison authorities reportedly do not
allow many prisoners suspected of Islamic extremism to practice their
religion freely and, in some circumstances, do not allow them to own a
Qur'an. Prison authorities often do not permit inmates to pray five
times a day or to adjust work and meal schedules for the Ramadan fast.
Last year, authorities reportedly punished inmates who attempted to
fulfill their religious obligations against prison rules or who
protested the rules, with solitary confinement and beatings. This year,
as authorities did not allow visits by independent outside monitors to
places of detention, there was no reliable way of verifying whether
such punishments took place.
During the period of this report, there were two allegations of
deaths in detention. According to human rights activists, on May 1,
2006, thirty-four-year-old Kakhramon Teshaboyev died in a Tashkent
prison medical facility, four years after he was convicted and
sentenced to eighteen years in prison on charges of anti-constitutional
activity and membership in a criminal organization. Authorities
reportedly delivered Teshaboyev's body to his family and pressured them
to bury it as soon as possible. A local imam died within three days of
his September 14, 2005, sentencing after allegedly receiving injections
of an unknown substance while in prison. His family requested an
investigation into the imam's death, but no such investigation had
taken place by the end of the reporting period. In March 2004
Abdurrahman Narzaullayev, a convicted religious extremist serving a
sixteen-year sentence in Karshi prison, died of a pulmonary infection
after prison authorities allegedly attempted to break his hunger strike
by force-feeding him. Although specific information is difficult to
obtain, human rights and other observers maintain that prisoners
frequently die of diseases directly related to the conditions of their
confinement.
On September 24, 2004, the Supreme Court issued a decree
definitively banning the use of evidence obtained by torture or other
illegal means. The Government has since taken limited administrative
steps to eliminate torture in detention, but there were numerous
reports that such treatment remains routine and systematic.
There were no new developments in the following cases: The February
2005 case in which two followers of Sufi Islam were given six-year
sentences while claiming that authorities planted HT leaflets on them
during their arrest and tortured them; the internationally monitored
October 2004 convictions of twenty-three alleged extremists in which
witnesses and defendants stated that police extracted their testimonies
through torture; or the October 2004 conviction on criminal charges of
the imam of a Navoi mosque and sixteen members, in which the defendants
admitted only to being adherents of Islam.
In May 2004 members of the security services allegedly abducted
Husnuddin Nazarov while on his way to evening prayer services;
according to Nazarov's family, authorities are holding him in detention
at an undisclosed location. Husnuddin Nazarov is the eldest son of Imam
Abidkhan Nazarov, an influential religious figure in Tashkent who was
dismissed from his position at the Tokhtabay mosque in 1995, fled to
Kazakhstan, and was resettled as a refugee by the UNHCR in March 2006.
Imam Nazarov's followers were principal targets of the Government's
effort to end extremism. Several of the Imam's followers were deported
from Kazakhstan in late November 2005. Most were tried, convicted, and
sentenced to an average of six years imprisonment on charges of Islamic
extremism, while one defendant, Rukhitdin Fakhrutdinov, was awaiting
trial at the end of the reporting period.
Authorities often harass or arrest family members of persons wanted
in connection with Islamic political activities or already jailed in
connection with those activities. Though there are exceptions, in many
cases the relative's only crime is association.
Authorities continued to detain women for participating in or
organizing demonstrations demanding the release of male relatives
jailed on suspicion of Islamic extremism. On April 20, 2006,
authorities arrested and charged six women with possession and
dissemination of HT materials, according to Andijon television reports.
Authorities claimed that 300 leaflets, 100 books, 100 magazines, and
other media were confiscated from the homes of the women, who lived in
different towns in Andijon Province.
Authorities usually hold most detained women for a short period of
time, releasing them with an administrative fine after a short period
of time, and driving them home. There were reports that police insulted
or forced some women to remove their head coverings. Although the
police generally did not arrest women simply for taking part in
demonstrations, many Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) offices
maintained a list of women who participated in protests and detained
many for questioning in the aftermath of the March, April, and July
2004 bombings. According to the Initiative Group of Independent Human
Rights Activists of Uzbekistan, in December 2004, authorities amnestied
four women who had been charged with anti-constitutional activity,
possession of banned religious materials, and religious extremism.
On April 19, 2006, the Tashkent Province Criminal Court convicted
eight men from the town of Yangiyul on charges of membership in an
unregistered religious organization and sentenced seven of them to
three years of compulsory labor in addition to paying 20 percent of
their earnings to the state during that time. The court sentenced the
eighth man to two years in prison. Prosecutors initially charged the
men with membership in a banned extremist organization, which would
have carried a maximum penalty of fifteen years imprisonment; however,
for unspecified reasons, prosecutors reduced the charges while the
trial was in progress. Observers reported that prosecutors may have
reduced the charges in part because the evidence rested entirely upon
testimony by a convicted thief, and that other court testimony did not
indicate that the defendants were involved in any illegal activity. The
defendants testified that investigators had beaten them and subjected
them to other forms of physical mistreatment and threats of violence in
detention. The judge disregarded the testimony regarding torture,
saying that the men had made the allegations to avoid responsibility
for their crimes. Family members of defendants reported that law
enforcement officers threatened them with violence and harassed them
during the investigation and trial.
There were continued reports from human rights activists that
prison officials beat and isolated prisoners convicted of extremism who
refused to sign letters renouncing what the authorities deemed
religious extremism, or who refused to accept visiting imams' moderate
interpretations of Islam. In April 2005, courts sentenced nine persons
convicted of religious extremism to prison terms ranging from six to
thirteen years, amid allegations that law-enforcement officials
tortured them to provoke confessions. On January 20, 2005, in Tashkent
City Court, authorities accused eight Muslims of using and distributing
banned Islamic audio recordings.
As in previous years, there were reports that police planted
narcotics, ammunition, and religious leaflets on citizens to justify
their arrests. According to human rights activists, the police arrested
many of those with outward signs of religious observance, such as
traditional clothing or beards. There were also reports that
authorities tortured, and beat evangelical Christians or failed to
punish community members who did so. In June 2005 police arrested a
Pentecostal Christian in Tashkent and reportedly tortured him in an
attempt to force him to abandon Christianity. In April 2005 Forum 18
reported that authorities failed to respond to Christian convert
Khaldibek Primbetov's complaint that his neighbors in Karakalpakstan
had beaten him and told him to ``return to Islam'' or leave the
village. In June 2004 Forum 18 reported that an NSS officer in Khorezm
questioned two members of an unregistered Baptist church and beat one
of the men. Local authorities denied the allegations.
Any religious service conducted by an unregistered religious
organization is illegal. Police occasionally broke up meetings of
unregistered evangelical congregations and detained their members. With
a few exceptions, authorities often charged those detained with
administrative fines which were reportedly increased from five to ten
times the minimum wage to fifty to one-hundred times the minimum wage.
During the reporting year, the Government also harassed Christians
in the Andijon area. Forum 18 reported on June 20, 2006, that a
Protestant pastor from Andijon, Dmitry Shestakov, leader of a
registered Full Gospel Pentecostal congregation, went into hiding for
fear of arrest. He faces between ten and twenty years in prison if
found guilty of treason charges.
As in previous years, there were several allegations that Christian
evangelicals were detained. Even if they are not taken into custody,
pastors who conduct unauthorized religious services still run the risk
of arrest, which can have an effect on their activities. There was a
report that on February 7, 2006, authorities fined five members of the
``Gen-Khyan'' Presbyterian Church, including the church's pastor, for
congregating without proper registration of their religious
organization. Local officials continued to harass Bakhtiyor Tuychiyev,
the ethnic Uzbek pastor of a Full Gospel Pentecostal church in Andijon.
He has tried unsuccessfully to register his church since 2002. In
November 2005 there were reports that the local authorities
interrogated the pastor, and on December 23, 2005, that unidentified
assailants attacked him, reviling him as a ``traitor to the faith.''
On August 10, 2005, a criminal court in Navoi convicted a member of
Jehovah's Witnesses, Azim Klichev, of teaching religion without
government authorization and fined him approximately $70 (78,350 soum),
ten times the minimum monthly wage. A local appeals court later upheld
the decision. On August 30 a criminal court in Karshi convicted members
of Jehovah's Witnesses, Bakhrom Pulatov and Feruza Mamatova, of
conducting illegal religious meetings and proselytizing. Authorities
fined Pulatov approximately $640 (705,150 soum), or 90 times the
minimum monthly wage, and Mamatova approximately $500 (548,450 soum),
seventy times the minimum monthly wage. The fines, although within the
amount the law prescribed, were far beyond that normally imposed for
religious crimes. A local appeals court upheld the decisions.
In May 2005 authorities detained and questioned 20 of the 125
members of an unregistered Baptist church in the Surkhandarya Region.
Also in 2005 authorities detained and administratively punished six
parishioners of Bethany Baptist congregation in Tashkent for
unregistered activity. In June 2005 police reportedly arrested two
Baptist pastors and four church members after raiding their Tashkent
church. In 2005 courts sentenced Baptist Farkhod Khamedov to ten days
of administrative punishment, but authorities disciplined law
enforcement officers in connection with his treatment. In October 2004
a district court in Tashkent fined a Baptist pastor $65 (65,000 soum)
for unregistered religious activity. In 2003 authorities imprisoned and
fined Baptists in Khalkabad for worshiping privately, and fined a
Baptist pastor in Urgench for allegedly conducting religious work among
children without their parents' permission.
Authorities continued to raid other Christian denominations as
well. On September 23, 2005, according to Forum 18 reports, authorities
arrested sixteen Baptists from the Council of Churches who were
conducting an evangelistic meeting in Kagan outside of Bukhara, and
detained them for a day. Authorities also confiscated the Baptists'
Christian literature, including Gospels in the Uzbek language. On April
21, 2006, in the Shaikhantahur District of Tashkent, Government
authorities arrested three members of the Jesus Christ Charismatic
Church who were engaged in humanitarian activities at a children's
hospital. Although the authorities later released them, the prosecutor
is carrying out a criminal investigation on one member for teaching
religion.
During the period of this report, the Government particularly
targeted Full Gospel churches. Forum 18 reported an incident involving
a member of the Full Gospel Church in Syrdarya in which authorities
summoned Andrei Li to court on April 7, 2006. The court completed the
proceedings without his knowledge and convicted him and fined him
approximately $42 (50,400 soum) for illegal religious activity.
Authorities fined the Fores Full Gospel pastor from Tashkent
approximately $4 (4800 soum) after Government authorities raided his
home while fifteen members of his church arrived to celebrate the
holidays on January 11, 2006. On November 14, 2005, authorities
arrested the pastor of the Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Jizzak,
who faced charges of ``participation in the activity of an illegal
religious organization'' and possible imprisonment of up to three
years, after raiding his home in October 2005, when other members of
his congregation had met for dinner.
Additionally, in June 2005, authorities took into custody
approximately twenty Full Gospel Pentecostal Church members in
Tashkent; several credible media outlets reported that authorities
verbally and physically abused, and threatened to rape, the members
during several days of interrogations. Under the guise of the murder
investigation of an American citizen who belonged to the church,
Government authorities harassed church members for allowing ethnic
Uzbeks into their congregation. Internet websites reported that on
April 30, 2006, 160 congregants from the formerly sanctioned Emmanuel
Full Gospel Church in Nukus were celebrating Easter in a local hotel
when approximately 50 policemen stormed the premises, arresting at
least 8 individuals, including the pastor. During the raid, Government
officers threatened many of the children into signing statements
renouncing their faith while parents faced similar pressure to
discourage their family's involvement with the church. After hours of
questioning, the eight church members were released without charges or
fines. In a related incident, also on April 30, 2006, local police
officers attacked the caretaker of the land owned by the church,
beating him and breaking his arm, in an attempt to intimidate leaders
of the Full Gospel church to relinquish the property to the Government.
On April 24, 2006, numerous press reports indicated that Urgench
City criminal investigators raided the home of the pastor of the Union
of Independent Churches as twelve of his congregants met for lunch.
Investigators seized the pastor's computer and Christian literature,
along with another member's digital camera and laptop. The pastor and
one church member faced administrative charges for allegations of
proselytizing. The Government deported three Turkmen citizens present
during the police raid, and reportedly prohibited them from returning
by placing black stamps in their passports. On April 11, 2006,
Government authorities raided a local Protestant's apartment while she
was meeting with two other church members. Authorities took all three
members along with one small child to Tashkent's Yunusobod District
police headquarters, where officers attempted to force them to sign
confessions of illegal religious activity. They refused and, after
several hours, were eventually released.
In October 2004 police disrupted services of an unregistered
Christian denomination in Tashkent and questioned several dozen
members. In September 2004 authorities disrupted a prayer meeting of
the Greater Grace Church in Samarkand, confiscated literature, and
forced members to sign confessions. When the pastor traveled abroad,
the Government warned him not to return and threatened him and his
family. In March 2004 a criminal court fined six members of a
Protestant church in Tashkent for holding unauthorized meetings in a
private home. In August 2003 Nukus police raided the Peace Protestant
Church and fined two church leaders for holding illegal religious
services. According to Forum 18, in September 2003, police in Chirchik
disrupted Sunday services of the unregistered Friendship Protestant
Church.
In October 2004 a Surkhandarya court fined Pentecostal Pastor
Bakhrom Nazarov $312 (326,500 soum) for proselytizing; police had
earlier raided the homes of Nazarov's relatives, without identifying
themselves, and confiscated Christian literature. In July 2004 a Termez
court sentenced Nazarov to ten days in prison and fined ten members of
his church $5 to $31 (5,440 to 32,680 soum).
Although the authorities tolerate the existence of many Christian
evangelical groups, they enforce the law's ban on proselytizing. The
Government often monitors and harasses those who openly try to convert
Muslims to Christianity. Jehovah's Witnesses have come under particular
scrutiny. On December 12, 2005, two Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced
to several days' imprisonment and nine others were fined $11 (13,200
soum) for unauthorized religious activity. Also during the period
covered by this report, a Member of Jehovah's Witnesses faced
prosecution for proselytizing in the western city of Navoi. The church
member was charged with attempting to convert a believer from one
religious group to another. He was convicted on October 6, 2005, and
fined approximately $77 (92,400 soum). On August 31, 2005, two
Jehovah's Witnesses were fined a total of more than $1,300 (1,320,000
soum) for illegal religious activity. This was the largest fine levied
on Christians by the Government in recent history. On August 10, 2005,
courts convicted a member of Jehovah's Witnesses from Prigovor (near
Navoi) of providing unauthorized religion instruction and fined him $44
(52,800 soum), as Forum 18 reported. In September 2004, courts charged
Jehovah's Witnesses member Dilshod Akhmedov with proselytizing, but
authorities later dropped the charges. In July 2004 one member was
detained for distributing religious literature, but the court in
Takhiatash quickly closed the case. In December 2003, two members of
Jehovah's Witnesses in Karshi were arrested while preaching door-to-
door.
On May 29, 2006, authorities deported a member of Jehovah's
Witnesses to Kazakhstan. On April 27, 2006, authorities arrested and
sentenced a member of Jehovah's Witnesses to 10 days in prison for
illegal religious activity. On April 12, 2006, authorities coordinated
country-wide raids of homes of Jehovah's Witnesses during their annual
holy day, which commemorates the death of Jesus, and detained more than
500 people. Reports claimed that authorities beat some members and
threatened women with rape or other humiliating acts unless they signed
confession statements. Most of those arrested were released within a
day, several with administrative fines. Following these prosecutions,
on April 26, a Russian citizen traveled to the country to represent
Jehovah's Witnesses facing trial. Authorities detained him at Tashkent
airport, then denied him entry and deported him. The Witnesses then
sent an Uzbek citizen attorney to Karshi to defend members on trial. On
May 22, while in court working, authorities sent him to a cell and
detained him for more than twenty-four hours.
In June 2005 the Karshi city prosecutor filed criminal charges
against three Jehovah's Witnesses in Karshi for proselytizing, meeting
as an unregistered group, and distributing banned religious materials.
In March 2005, on the same liturgical occasion as the April 2006 raids,
authorities carried out a similar coordinated raid against Jehovah's
Witnesses meetings in Tashkent and eight other cities, arresting
approximately 200 church members and releasing most soon afterwards,
but subjecting some to longer detention, police beatings, and small
fines. In January 2005, authorities raided an unauthorized Jehovah's
Witnesses religious meeting in Karshi and questioned forty-two members.
Courts sentenced two members to ten days in prison and fined seven
more.
In 2004 police fined two Jehovah's Witnesses in Kogon $10 (10,900
soum) and $13 (14,170 soum) respectively for allegedly conducting
illegal religious teaching. Also in 2004, authorities sentenced
Jehovah's Witness Vladimir Kushchevoy of Samarkand to three years of
corrective labor, later reduced to one year probation, for providing
unauthorized religious instruction, and in June 2004, in Uchkuduk,
detained Jehovah's Witnesses member Tolkin Hankildiev and fined him $26
(27,200 soum).
Credible reports alleged that authorities arrested two Baptist
pastors and four church members in June 2005, after plainclothes police
officers raided their church in Tashkent. In May 2005 authorities
detained and questioned 20 of the 125 members of the unregistered
Baptist church in Surkhandarya Province. In March 2005 police raided an
unauthorized Protestant meeting involving citizens and South Korean
missionaries outside Tashkent; the citizens were fined.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom
Since 2003 the Government has allowed former Mufti Muhammad Sodiq
Muhammad Yusuf to publish widely on a variety of religious topics in
both print and electronic formats. His popular Islamic website remains
unblocked by the Government and he continues to host a popular radio
program on Islam and to teach at the Islamic University.
Authorities have allowed a small but growing number of unregistered
mosques to reopen, both in cities and in the countryside. In addition,
non-state sanctioned imams continued to work, particularly in rural
areas, under the close watch of religious officials. Reports note that
the atmosphere in the Muslim community has improved somewhat, as
observant Muslims are being allowed to practice their faith within
these controlled environments.
During the year covered in this report, the number of Hajj pilgrims
increased from 4,200 to 5,000.
The Government continued to respect the military pacifism of
Jehovah's Witnesses. The draft board routinely gave exemptions.
On April 30, 2005, an official at the MVD confirmed reports that
authorities disciplined a Chilonzor District inspector in connection
with a case involving actions taken against Baptist members Flyura
Valitova and Farkhod Khamedov (see above).
In March 2006, the Government completed the annual year-end amnesty
of an indeterminate number of prisoners of conscience from the 2005-
2006 amnesty, the vast majority of whom had been convicted of Islamic
extremism. This followed an amnesty in 2004-2005 of 361, as well as the
2003-2004 amnesty of 704 such prisoners. Imams met with amnestied
prisoners convicted of extremism upon their return to their
communities.
During the period covered by this report, there continued to be
increased tolerance in general for the use of head coverings by Muslim
women. The hijab was seen more frequently in Tashkent, the more
religiously conservative parts of the Ferghana Valley, and the southern
provinces of Kashkadarya and Surkhondarya. The CRA has taken the
position that women should not be barred from educational institutions
on the basis of their religious dress and has actively assisted women
who have been previously expelled to gain re-admission to their
universities. The CRA's support of the re-admission of these women may
be attributed to the January 2005 UN Human Rights Committee decision in
favor of an Uzbek woman whom the Tashkent State Institute for Eastern
Languages had expelled in 1999 in connection with her wearing of the
hijab. In response to the woman's petition, the committee found that
the Government had violated her rights under the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. During the period covered by this
report, it was more common to see women on the street wearing the hijab
and, less frequently, the veil.
Authorities gave Greater Grace Church in Samarkand a permit to meet
once a week as a congregation in a Korean Church, as well as in
people's homes. At Christmas, authorities permitted the youth choral
group to present a concert for the public Children's home.
There have been reports of some recent cases where authorities have
dismissed charges against Protestants after their lawyer protested
procedural matters or evidence. For example, the Urtachirchik district
court in Tashkent Province tried to bring charges against two members
of the Pentecostal church for teaching religion. On May 15, 2006, the
court dropped the case. Likewise, on May 5, 2006, the Gulistan district
court dropped the administrative case of a member of the Evangelical
Charismatic Church, releasing her from punishment.
On January 21, 2006, the court also intervened on behalf of four
ethnic-Uzbek students whom the Nukus Pediatric Medical Institute
expelled from student housing for ``promoting Christianity among fellow
students.'' Reports indicate that all students are back in the
institute's housing.
On January 7, 2006, the civil court of Tashkent city in the Mirabad
district dismissed the case against a volunteer of the Uzbekistan Bible
Society. On January 6, 2006, in Termez city, the court ruled illegal
the January 1, 2006 detention of the pastor of an unregistered
Pentecostal church and confiscation of his car, releasing him and the
car.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relations among religions in society
contributed to religious freedom.
There was no pattern of discrimination against Jewish persons.
Synagogues, Hebrew education, Jewish cultural events, and the
publication of a community newspaper take place openly and undisturbed.
Many Jews have emigrated to the United States and Israel, most likely
because of bleak economic prospects and connections to families abroad,
rather than anti-Jewish sentiment. The diminished numbers make it
impossible to attain the provisions of the 1998 revised religion laws,
which require registration of eight synagogues in eight different
cities in order to establish a rabbinate. The chief rabbi continues to
press the Government unsuccessfully to allow for an exception. There
are Jewish kindergartens in Tashkent and Samarkand officially teaching
Jewish ``culture.'' In the past, HT members have distributed anti-
Semitic fliers with text generally originating abroad and not
representative of feelings of the vast majority of the population;
there were no reports of such fliers being distributed in the current
reporting period. Although the religious press carried initial stories
speculating on anti-Semitic motives for the February 25, 2006 death
from head injuries of a Tashkent Jewish community leader, Avraam
Yagudayev; as well as the June 8, 2006 murders of a twenty-year-old
secretary to prominent Tashkent-based Rabbi David Gurevich, Karina
Loifer and her mother, preliminary investigation did not indicate that
anti-Semitism motivated these deaths. The investigations were ongoing
at the end of the reporting period.
Society generally tolerated Christians, provided they did not
actively proselytize and were not converted ethnic Uzbeks, who suffer
discrimination. Evangelical Christian churches and churches with ethnic
Uzbek converts encounter difficulties stemming from discrimination.
On December 5, 2005, an article entitled ``Our Faith is Not for
Sale'' appeared in a weekly newspaper. Its author passionately
denounced missionary activities, characterizing missionaries as
dangerous and subversive. Implicit was the notion that missionaries are
working on behalf of foreign governments hostile to Central Asia
Muslims. At least one Tashkent-based imam applauded the sentiments
voiced in the article and urged his congregation to read it.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy actively engages in monitoring religious freedom issues
and maintains contact with numerous sectors of society including
government and religious leaders, academicians, think-tank experts, and
human rights advocates. High-level executive branch officials met with
Uzbek officials abroad and in the country during the period covered by
this report, and expressed strong concerns regarding human rights,
including the U.S. stance on freedom of religious expression.
The U.S. ambassador and other embassy officials met with local
religious leaders, human rights activists, and country officials to
discuss specific issues of human rights and religious freedom.
Officials in Washington met on several occasions with embassy officials
of the country to convey U.S. concerns regarding religious freedom.
U.S. officials traveled around the country meeting with religious
leaders and groups as well as with government officials. Embassy
officials maintain contact with the CRA, as well as with religious
leaders and human rights activists. When the embassy learned of
difficulties faced by religious groups, it intervened on their behalf
when possible as in the past, taking such actions as attempting to
contact Government officials and attending trials. These actions were
for observant Muslims and Christians, and faith-based foreign aid
organizations. All but two of the approximately fifty Jehovah's
Witnesses detained in Tashkent's Chilonzor District on March 24, 2005
were released within hours, a fact they credited to the embassy's
presence. The embassy continues to raise concerns, despite a downturn
in our bilateral relationship with Uzbekistan.
The ambassador and other embassy officials met with numerous Muslim
clergymen and other religious figures. Members of the religious
community, as well as other Uzbek opinion leaders, routinely receive
information from the embassy's Information Resource Center. Outreach
events included visits by the ambassador and embassy officials to
mosques and madrassahs. Embassy officials urged the Government to allow
more freedom of religious expression and more mosque registrations.
U.S. officials, both in Washington, D.C. and in Tashkent, have
encouraged the Government to revise its laws on religion, including
revising the 100-member minimum required to form a religious group,
repealing the ban on proselytizing, lifting restrictions on the
importation and publication of religious literature, and eliminating
legal provisions prohibiting the private teaching of religion, which
the U.S. Government believes is an essential element for preventing
further radicalization of young Muslims.
The U.S. sponsors exchange and educational programs that are
specifically designed to promote religious tolerance and to expand
religious freedom. Since 2004, the Community Connections and Cultural
and Religious Pluralism projects, programs conducted in cooperation
with the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), brought
eighty local Islamic leaders to the United States. A three-year
Comparative Religious Studies Program, funded by the U.S. Government
and managed by the University of Washington, provides for exchange of
experts and professors from five local universities in order to promote
religious tolerance.
The U.S. Government promotes religious freedom generally as part of
its human rights programming, although the Government of Uzbekistan's
closure of NGOs during the reporting period seriously hampered these
efforts. In 2006, the U.S. Government sponsored training in three
cities in Uzbekistan for defense advocates and human rights activists
on international religious freedom standards, as well as a follow-up
roundtable, and a regional conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on the
role of religion in promoting peace and social partnerships, which
included religious leaders from Uzbekistan. In 2005, the U.S.
Government sponsored the participation of an Uzbek specialist on human
rights in the International Summer School on Religion and Public Life
in Jerusalem. In 2006, the U.S. Government sponsored Uzbeks'
participation in the ``Law, Religion and Social Change'' conference at
the National University in Canberra, Australia.
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
----------
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 170 square miles and a population of
77,000. Seventy-four percent of the population was Christian. The
Anglican Church was the largest religious denomination, accounting for
an estimated 26 percent of the population. The Methodist, Moravian, and
Roman Catholic churches accounted for approximately 10 percent each.
The United Evangelical Association, an organization that included most
independent evangelical churches, claimed an estimated 25 percent of
the population, and Jehovah's Witnesses numbered more than 1,000
members. The total number of non-Christians was small; they included an
estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Rastafarians, more than 200 adherents of
Islam, nearly 200 Hindus, and approximately 50 members of the Baha'i
Faith. According to the 2001census report, there were more than 4,000
atheists or persons who did not follow a particular religion.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government is secular; however, the Government maintained a
close relationship with the Antigua Christian Council. The prime
minister is responsible for the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs,
whose role is to coordinate and facilitate greater interaction between
churches, other religious organizations, and the Government, and to
facilitate the free movement of pastors into the country.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday,
and Christmas are national holidays.
Ministers of religion are constitutionally prohibited from running
for elected office.
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government;
however, groups are required to incorporate to own property. Tax and
duty-free concessions, especially for building and development, are
available to groups that are registered.
Public schools are secular; religious education is not part of
their curriculum.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, an aspect of
their religious ritual, is prohibited. Rastafarian representatives met
with the prime minister in 2004 and submitted a petition to
decriminalize the use of marijuana; however, no known changes to
existing laws were made during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Antigua Christian Council
conducted activities to promote greater mutual understanding and
tolerance among adherents of different denominations within the
Christian faith.
Rastafarians complained of widespread discrimination, especially in
hiring and in schools.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy also discussed these issues with local religious groups.
__________
ARGENTINA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. In
October 2005, following complaints from some non-Roman Catholic
Christian groups, the Government eased the requirements for
registration of religious groups.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1,068,302 square miles and a population
of approximately thirty-seven million, according to the 2001 census.
Accurate estimates of religious affiliation were difficult to obtain;
however, information supplied by the National Registry of Worship and
representatives of various religious groups, as well as statistics from
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), produced the following estimates,
which do not necessarily imply active religious practice: Catholics, 70
percent of the population; Protestants, 9 percent; Muslims, 1.5
percent; Jews, 0.8 percent; other religious groups, 2.5 percent; and
the remainder, no declared religious affiliation. Available estimates
often were based on outdated census data and questionable presumptions,
such as assuming that immigrants of Middle Eastern origin were Muslim.
The Islamic Center estimated that only one of three Middle Eastern
immigrants was Muslim, particularly those of Syrian or Lebanese origin;
the majority of these immigrants were Maronites (Orthodox Catholic). Of
the Muslim population of 500,000 to 600,000, the Islamic Center
estimated that 93 percent were Sunni and 7 percent Shiite.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
grants all residents the right ``to profess their faith freely'' and
states that foreigners enjoy all the civil rights of citizens.
The constitution states that the federal government ``sustains the
apostolic Roman Catholic faith,'' and the Government provides the
Catholic Church with a variety of subsidies not available to other
religious groups. These subsidies, estimated at approximately four
million dollars per annum, have been described as compensation for
expropriation of properties that belonged to Catholic institutions in
the colonial era. The Secretariat of Worship in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, International Trade, and Worship is responsible for conducting
the Government's relations with religious organizations in the country.
The National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and
Racism (INADI), an independent government agency under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Justice, is charged with promoting social and
cultural pluralism and combating discriminatory attitudes. INADI, which
includes representatives of the major religious groups on its board,
investigates violations of a 1988 law that prohibits discrimination
based on ``race, religion, nationality, ideology, political opinion,
sex, economic position, social class, or physical characteristics.''
The agency also conducts educational programs, supports victims, and
promotes proactive measures to prevent discrimination. In 2005 INADI
released its national plan against discrimination, providing an
analysis of the situation and discriminatory social practices as well
as strategic recommendations to address the identified problems,
including religious discrimination.
Three Christian holy days are observed as national holidays: Good
Friday, Immaculate Conception, and Christmas. Legislation passed in
April 2006 extended authorized paid leave from three days to seven for
those observing the Jewish holy days of New Year, the Days of
Atonement, and Passover, and also for those observing the Islamic holy
days of the Muslim New Year.
Religious organizations that wish to obtain tax-exempt status must
register with the Secretariat of Worship and report periodically to
maintain their status. Possession of a place of worship, an
organizational charter, and an ordained clergy are among the criteria
the secretariat considers in determining whether to grant or withdraw
registration. In October 2005 the Government relaxed the restrictions,
granting registration to groups that formerly did not meet the
necessary requirements, including the Amerindian mbya guarani,
signifying the first instance in which the Government officially
recognized an indigenous religion.
Registration is not required for private religious services, such
as those conducted in homes, but it is necessary for public activities.
Registered religious organizations may bring in foreign
missionaries by applying to the Secretariat of Worship, which in turn
notifies immigration authorities so that appropriate documents may be
issued. There were no reports from any groups that their affiliated
foreign missionaries were denied visas.
Public education is secular; however, students may request
instruction in the religion of their choice, which can be conducted in
school or at a religious institution. Many churches and synagogues
operate private schools, including seminaries and universities.
The Secretariat of Worship sought to promote religious harmony by
sending official representatives to events such as religious freedom
conferences, rabbinical ordinations, Rosh Hashana and Eid al-Fitr
celebrations, and religious activities held by Protestant and Orthodox
churches.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In February 2005 the Government called for the removal of the
military's chaplain general, Bishop Antonio Baseotto, due to
controversial comments the bishop made regarding the Government's
reproductive health policies. (The position of chaplain general is
appointed by the Vatican, although it is subsidized by the Government.)
The Vatican refused to remove the bishop, and at the end of the period
covered by this report, the bishop remained nominally in his position
but was not providing any of the services or duties of the office, and
the Government had removed its subsidies.
Jewish authorities expressed their concern over a judge's decision,
in apparent contradiction of nondiscrimination laws, that a landlord
could refuse to rent an apartment to a Jewish couple because of the
landlord's fear of a possible (terrorist) attack. INADI issued a
determination that the judge's decision violated antidiscrimination
laws. The Delegation of Israeli Argentine Associations (DAIA) appealed
the judge's decision and was considering requesting the judge's removal
from the bench.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. NGOs actively promoted
interreligious understanding. Ecumenical attendance was common at
important religious events.
NGOs promoting religious fraternity included the Argentine Jewish-
Christian Brotherhood (an affiliate of the International Council of
Christians and Jews), the Argentine Council for Religious Freedom, the
Foundation for Education for Peace, and the Federation of Arab Entities
(Latin America), known as FEARAB. Cooperation was particularly notable
between FEARAB (Latin America), representing Muslims and Christians of
Arab origin; the Islamic Center of the Republic of Argentina; and DAIA
to prevent religious tensions stemming from political conflicts in the
Middle East.
The DAIA reported an increase in anti-Semitic comments and
graffiti. DAIA also noted its concern over increased receipt by
individuals of threatening and anti-Semitic e-mails, although they
attributed this activity to individuals rather than any organized
group.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officers met periodically with various religious leaders and
attended events organized by faith-based organizations and NGOs that
addressed questions of religious freedom.
__________
THE BAHAMAS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 13,939 square miles and a
population of approximately 340,000, including those residing in the
country illegally. The country was ethnically diverse and included a
Haitian minority of legal and illegal immigrants estimated at 40,000 to
60,000 persons and a white/European minority nearly as large.
More than 90 percent of the population professed a religion, and
anecdotal evidence suggested that most attended services regularly. The
country's religious profile reflected this diversity. Protestant
Christian denominations, including Baptists (35 percent), Anglicans (15
percent), Presbyterians, Methodists, evangelicals, and Seventh-day
Adventists were in the majority, but there were also significant Roman
Catholic (14 percent) and Greek Orthodox populations. Smaller Jewish,
Baha'i, and Muslim communities also were active. A small number of
Bahamians and Haitians, particularly those living in the Family
Islands, practiced Obeah, a version of voodoo. A small but stable
number of citizens identified themselves as Rastafarians, while some
members of the country's small resident Guyanese and Indian populations
practiced Hinduism and other South Asian religions. Although many
unaffiliated Protestant congregations were almost exclusively Black,
most mainstream churches were integrated racially.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution requires the Government to guarantee respect for
Christian values, and there is often reference to the country's strong
Christian heritage and Christian themes in general in political and
public discourse. The constitution specifically forbids infringement of
a person's freedom to change religion.
Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Whit Monday are national holidays.
Churches and other religious congregations do not face any special
registration requirements, although they must incorporate legally to
purchase land. There are no legal provisions to encourage or discourage
the formation of religious communities, which are required to pay the
same tariffs and stamp taxes as for-profit companies once they legally
incorporate.
The Government permits foreign clergy and missionaries to enter the
country and to proselytize and practice their religion without
restriction.
Religion is recognized as an academic subject at government
schools, and it is included in mandatory standardized achievement and
certificate tests for all students. The country's Christian heritage
has a heavy influence on religion classes in government-supported
schools, which focus on the study of Christian philosophy, biblical
texts, and, to a lesser extent, comparative and non-Christian religions
in a Christian context. The constitution allows students, or their
guardians in the case of minors, to decline to participate in religious
education and observance in schools; this right, although rarely
exercised, was respected in practice.
The Government meets regularly with religious leaders, both
publicly and privately, to discuss social, political, and economic
concerns. Christian pastors exerted significant influence over politics
and society.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The practice of Obeah is illegal, and those caught practicing it or
attempting to intimidate, steal, inflict disease, or restore a person
to health under the guise of Obeah are liable to three months'
imprisonment.
Some Rastafarians claimed discrimination by the Government, citing
forced cutting of hair, police harassment, and unequal treatment of
Rastafarian students. In August 2005 police raided the Ethiopia Africa
Black International Congress True Church of Divine Salvation during a
Rastafarian religious service, disrupting the ceremony, demonstrating a
lack of respect for church practices and sanctuary, and briefly
detaining worshippers.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There were several
interdenominational organizations and ecumenical movements. These
groups freely expressed their opinions on social, political, and
economic topics.
Society was at times less tolerant of religions perceived as
foreign, particularly Rastafarianism, Obeah, and voodoo. Some citizens
publicly called the poverty and political unrest in Haiti signs of
God's disapproval of the practice of voodoo.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discussed religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
BARBADOS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 166 square miles and a population of
approximately 277,000. More than 95 percent of the population was
considered Christian, although persons may not have been active in any
particular denomination. The Anglican Church constituted the largest
religious group, with approximately 70,000 members; an estimated 65
percent were active in the Church. The next largest denomination was
the Seventh-day Adventists, numbering approximately 16,000 members,
10,000 of whom were active. There were approximately 11,000 Roman
Catholics; an estimated 20 percent were active. Pentecostals numbered
approximately 7,000; more than 50 percent were active. Methodists
numbered an estimated 5,000, according to church officials, although
many more claimed Methodist affiliation in the previous official
census; an estimated 60 percent of members were active. There were
approximately 2,500 members of Jehovah's Witnesses; more than 95
percent were active. Baptists, Moravians, and members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) were present in small
numbers.
The number of non-Christians was small. There were an estimated
2,700 Muslims, most of whom were immigrants or descendants of
immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat. A few immigrants from
Guyana, Trinidad, South Asia, and the Middle East, as well as
approximately 200 Barbadians, comprised the rest of the growing Muslim
community. There were three mosques and an Islamic center. Other
minority religious groups included Rastafarians, Hindus, Buddhists, and
members of the Baha'i Faith.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday,
and Christmas are national holidays.
Religious groups were required to register with the Government to
obtain duty-free import privileges or tax benefits, but no complaints
were received that the process was onerous.
Foreign missionaries were required to apply for entry visas. These
were obtained easily, and there were no other special requirements
imposed to acquire them.
Religious instruction is included in the public school curriculum
as ``values education.'' The focus is on Christianity, but
representatives from minority religious groups are also invited to
speak to students.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Adherents to the Rastafarian faith complained that the use of
marijuana, pertinent to their religious rituals, is illegal and that
their members were victims of societal discrimination, especially in
hiring. No new developments were reported concerning complaints that in
March 2005, following a prison riot, prison officials shaved the
dreadlocks of Rastafarian prisoners after the discovery of contraband
in the hair of some members of that religious group. Likewise, no new
developments were noted regarding the Rastafarian community's request
for government assistance in setting up a primary school, on the
grounds that the government schools instilled beliefs in Rastafarian
children that conflicted with their faith.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The Barbados Christian Council and the Caribbean Conference of
Churches conducted activities to promote greater mutual understanding
and tolerance among adherents of different denominations within the
Christian faith.
Representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventist,
and Muslim communities stated that they experienced occasional
criticism for their religious beliefs and practices, but they generally
believed that society was very tolerant. Rastafarians complained that
there was widespread discrimination against their members, especially
in hiring and in schools.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives also discussed freedom of religion with local
groups and other organizations.
__________
BELIZE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 8,867 square miles and a population
estimated at 290,000. There was a growing mestizo population (48.7
percent), a diminishing Creole component (24.9 percent), a stable Mayan
element (10.6 percent), and a Garifuna component (6.1 percent). The
balance of the population (9.7 percent) included Europeans, East
Indians, Chinese, Arabs, and North Americans.
According to a 2000 census, Roman Catholics constituted 49.6
percent of the population, Pentecostals 7.4 percent, and Anglicans 5.3
percent. Other faiths and denominations included Baptists (3.5
percent), Methodists (3.5 percent), Seventhday Adventists (5.2
percent), and Mennonites (4.1 percent). There were approximately 6,000
Nazarenes and modest numbers of Hindus, Baha'is, Buddhists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), Muslims, Rastafarians, and Salvation Army members. Except
for the Mennonites and Pentecostals, who lived mostly in the rural
districts of Cayo and Orange Walk, members of these minority groups
tended to live in Belize City. Catholics were numerous throughout the
country and constituted the majority faith in all but two of the
country's six districts, Belize and Cayo, where they held a plurality
of the population but did not constitute a majority. Approximately 10
percent of citizens identified themselves as nonbelievers or members of
no religious congregation.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion; however, the preamble to the
constitution reads that ``the nation of Belize shall be founded upon
principles which acknowledge the supremacy of God.'' A 2002 amendment
to the constitution expanded the appointed senate to twelve persons,
one of whom is appointed by the governor general acting in accordance
with the advice of the Belize Council of Churches and the Evangelical
Association of Churches. The membership of these organizations includes
several Christian denominations, among them Anglican, Catholic,
Methodist, Presbyterian, and Seventh-day Adventist.
Under the constitution, freedom of religion is part of a broader
protection--that of freedom of conscience. In addition, the
constitution provides that no one shall be compelled to take an oath
that is contrary to a person's religion or belief. Discrimination on
religious grounds is illegal and rarely occurs. To help maintain
religious harmony, the constitution reserves the right of the
Government to intervene in religious matters ``for the purpose of
protecting the rights and freedoms of other persons,'' including the
right to observe and practice any religion ``without the unsolicited
intervention of members of any other religion.''
The traditional Christian holy days of Good Friday, Holy Saturday,
Easter Monday, and Christmas are observed as national holidays.
There are no special registration requirements or fees for
religious organizations, and legal incorporation for a religion or
denomination is a simple matter. Property taxes are not levied against
churches and other places of worship. However, property taxes are
levied against other church-owned buildings occupied on a regular
basis, such as the pastor's or priest's residence.
Foreign religious workers are permitted to enter the country and
proselytize; however, they must be registered and purchase a religious
worker's permit. The yearly fee is modest.
The constitution stipulates that religious communities may
establish ``places of education'' and states that ``no such community
shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for persons of
that community.'' Although there is no state religion, the educational
system maintains by statute a strong religious curriculum. The
curriculum ties ``spirituality'' with social studies courses. It
requires in both public and private schools that students from
kindergarten through sixth grade receive 220 minutes of religious
instruction and chapel every week, but school exit exams do not have a
section on religion. Catholic holy days are routinely observed as
school holidays. The constitution prohibits any educational institution
from compelling a child to receive religious instruction or attend any
religious ceremony or observance without the child's consent or, if
under the age of eighteen, the consent of the child's parents. This
constitutional safeguard is particularly important because most of the
country's primary and elementary schools, high schools, and colleges
are church-affiliated. There are occasional instances where
administrators either do not know the law or misapply it. These are
usually corrected through parent-school consultations. In rare cases,
the Ministry of Education intervenes to correct the situation.
The constitution also stipulates that no one shall be required to
receive religious instruction or attend services without his or her
consent while serving in the armed forces, or while being detained in
prison or in any correctional institution. The 850-member Defense Force
supported one Catholic chaplain but did not restrict the practice of
other religions.
Although the Government has oversight authority over the country's
single prison, the institution was managed, and largely financed, by
the Kolbe Foundation, a nondenominational Christian nongovernmental
organization. Missionaries were active in daily programs at the prison,
and at least one lived within the prison compound. Religious conversion
was in no way mandatory, but it was part of the primary focus of the
prisoner rehabilitation program. Prisoners of any faith could request
and receive visits from ministers of their choice.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religious groups occasionally
joined forces in ecumenical efforts to distribute goods to the needy,
clean up neighborhoods, alert the public to the dangers of promiscuity,
fight crime, protect children, and carry out similar endeavors. The
Government also occasionally sought input from a cross-section of the
religious community in addressing these problems.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives also discussed religious freedom with leaders
of various religious groups.
__________
BOLIVIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Roman
Catholicism is the official religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 424,164 square miles and a population
estimated at nine million. According to a 2001 survey conducted by the
National Statistical Institute, 78 percent of the population was
Catholic. Of the remaining population, 16 percent was Protestant or
evangelical, 3 percent followed other religions of Christian origin,
2.5 percent practiced no religion, and less than 0.2 percent claimed
affiliation with other non-Christian faiths, including Islam, the
Baha'i Faith, Judaism, Buddhism, and Shinto. Of those who habitually
practiced their religion, 56.5 percent were Catholic, 36.5 percent
Protestant or evangelical, and 7 percent other Christian religions. In
urban areas, 80 percent of the population was Catholic, while 14
percent was Protestant or evangelical. In rural areas, 74 percent of
the population was Catholic, while 20.5 percent was Protestant or
evangelical. Mennonites, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists,
Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, and several evangelical groups
maintained an active foreign missionary presence. Atheists were
estimated to constitute an insignificant percentage of the population.
Approximately 55 percent of the population identified itself as
indigenous, with 30 percent identifying itself as Quechua and 25
percent as Aymara. Approximately 30 percent of the population
identified itself as mestizo (of mixed indigenous and European
ancestry) and 15 percent as white. Several other indigenous groups,
including Guarani and Chiquitano, were also present.
The indigenous population was higher in rural areas, where the
formal Catholic Church tended to be weaker due to a lack of resources
and to indigenous cultural resistance to church efforts to replace
traditional attitudes with more orthodox Catholic practices and
beliefs. For many individuals, identification with Catholicism for
centuries coexisted with attachment to traditional beliefs and rituals,
with a focus on the Pachamama or Mother Earth figure, as well as on
Ekeko, a traditional indigenous god of luck, harvests, and general
abundance, whose festival was celebrated widely on January 24. Some
indigenous leaders have sought to discard all forms of Christianity;
however, this effort has not led to a significant increase in the
number of ``indigenous-belief only'' worshippers.
Mormons were present throughout the country and had a particularly
large presence in Cochabamba. The Mormon temple in Cochabamba was one
of the largest in the world. Mormon sources estimated the number of
their adherents at more than 150,000. The Jewish community was spread
throughout the country and had synagogues in La Paz, Cochabamba, and
Santa Cruz. Muslims had cultural centers that also served as mosques in
La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz that welcomed both Shi'ite and Sunni
Muslims. Korean immigrants had their own church in La Paz. The majority
of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants settled in La Paz,
Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz, where there was a university, founded by
Korean immigrants, that had evangelical and Presbyterian ties. There
were Buddhist and Shinto communities, as well as a substantial Baha'i
community, throughout the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government respected this right in practice. The Government at all
levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its
abuse, either by governmental or private actors. A successful movement
to convene a new constituent assembly occurred in 2005, and the
election of constituent assembly members was scheduled for July 2006.
Roman Catholicism predominated, and the constitution recognizes it
as the official religion. The Catholic Church exercised a limited
degree of political influence through the Catholic Bishops' Conference.
By custom the Catholic Church was sometimes called upon to arbitrate
political disagreements, but the custom was not formalized in law.
Four Christian holy days are observed as national holidays: Good
Friday, Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day, and Christmas.
Non-Catholic religious organizations, including missionary groups,
must register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship and
receive authorization (personeria juridica) for legal religious
representation. There were no reports that the Government restricted
gatherings of nonregistered religious groups, but registration is
essential to obtain tax, customs, and other legal benefits. The
ministry may not deny legal recognition to any organization based on
its articles of faith; however, the procedure typically requires
significant legal assistance and can be both costly and time-consuming,
which has led some groups to forgo registration and operate informally.
Religious groups receiving funds from abroad may enter into a framework
agreement (marco convenio) with the Government that lasts three years
and permits them to enjoy judicial standing similar to that of other
NGOs and have tax-free status. Members of less prominent religious
communities have objected to the Government's lack of understanding
regarding the activities and worship of these faiths, which allegedly
has resulted in additional delays when attempting to finalize legal
registration.
Only Catholic religious instruction is provided in public schools.
By law, it is optional and is described as such in curricular
materials; however, students face strong peer pressure to participate.
Non-Catholic instruction is not available in public schools for
students of other faiths.
The Government did not take an active role in promoting interfaith
understanding, although it was represented at interfaith meetings. It
worked with Catholic and Protestant organizations on social, health,
and education programs. If the president attended Mass as part of his
official functions, it was traditional for all cabinet members,
regardless of their faiths, to accompany him.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, and ecumenical dialogue
between various religious groups continued. Leaders from Muslim,
Jewish, Baha'i, Catholic, and indigenous communities continued to hold
interfaith meetings throughout the period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and other embassy officials continued to meet regularly
with officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship,
principal religious leaders, and the papal nuncio.
21_______
BRAZIL
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 3,287,673 square miles and a population
of approximately 186 million. Nearly all major religions and religious
organizations were present in the country. Many citizens worshipped in
more than one church or participated in the rituals of more than one
religion. The 2000 census indicated that approximately 74 percent of
the population identified themselves as Roman Catholic, although only a
small percentage regularly attended Mass. Approximately 15 percent of
the population was Protestant, an estimated 85 percent of whom were
Pentecostal or evangelical. Denominations included the Assemblies of
God, Christian Congregation of Brazil, and Universal Church of the
Kingdom of God. Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Baptists accounted for
most of the remaining Protestants and were centered in the south. There
were approximately 427,000 adherents of ``Buddhism and other oriental
religions.''
Shintoism was practiced to a limited degree in the Japanese-
Brazilian community. There were 27,239 Muslims (which probably
undercounts the actual total), 39,840 practitioners of Spiritualism,
10,723 adherents of indigenous traditions, and 2,979 Hindus. Followers
of African and syncretic religions such as Candomble, Xango, Macumba,
and Umbanda constituted an estimated 0.4 percent of the population.
Followers of spiritism, mainly Kardecists--adherents of the doctrine
expounded by Frenchman Allan Kardec in the nineteenth century--
constituted approximately 1.3 percent, with 2,337,432 followers. An
estimated 7 percent did not practice any religion, and approximately
384,000 participants did not respond to the census.
Leaders of the Muslim community estimated that there were between
700,000 and three million Muslims, with the lower figure representing
those who actively practiced their religion, while the higher estimate
would include also nominal members. These figures were much higher than
the 27,239 Muslims reported in the 2000 census. Muslim leaders have
never taken a formal count of the number of Muslims; however, they
believed that the official census greatly underestimated the size of
their community. Sunni and Shi'a Islam are practiced predominantly by
immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt who arrived during the past
twenty-five years. A recent trend has been the increase in conversions
to Islam among non-Arab citizens. There were approximately fifty-five
mosques and Muslim religious centers.
Approximately 101,062 citizens identified themselves as Jewish.
There were an estimated 35,000 Jews in Rio de Janeiro and 29,000 in Sao
Paulo. Many other cities had smaller Jewish communities.
Foreign missionary groups, including the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and several evangelical organizations,
operated freely throughout the country. The Institute for Religious
Studies indicated there were 2,981 foreign Protestant missionaries and
approximately 3,000 foreign Catholic priests in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There are no registration requirements for religions or religious
groups. There is no favored or state religion, although the Government
maintains a concordat with the Vatican. All religious denominations are
free to establish places of worship, train clergy, and proselytize.
There is a general provision for access to religious services and
counsel in all civil and military establishments. The law prohibits
discrimination based on religion.
The following religious holy days are observed as national or
regional holidays: Saint Sebastian's Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday,
Corpus Christi, Saint John's Day, Our Lady of Carmen (``Carmo''),
Assumption Day, Our Lady Aparecida, All Souls' Day, Evangelicals Day,
Immaculate Conception, and Christmas.
Public schools are required to offer religious instruction, but
neither the constitution nor legislation defines how this should be
done. Religious instruction is optional for students. Each school is to
define how to offer religious instruction and in which religion. This
is usually done in agreement with parent councils. Education is
mandatory for all children, so they must attend either a private or a
public school, but parents are free to send their children to the
school of their choice.
The Government restricts the access of nonindigenous persons,
including missionaries, to indigenous reserves and requires visitors to
seek permission from the National Indian Foundation to enter official
indigenous areas.
It is illegal to write, edit, publish, or sell books that promote
anti-Semitism or racism. The law enables courts to fine or imprison
anyone who displays, distributes, or broadcasts anti-Semitic or racist
paraphernalia and mandates a two to five-year prison term for
violators.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. There was no national
ecumenical movement; however, the National Commission for Religious
Dialogue brought together Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders.
Anti-Semitism was rare; however, there were signs of increasing
violence against Jewish persons. Leaders in the Jewish community
expressed concern over the continued appearance of anti-Semitic
material on Internet web sites compiled by neo-Nazi and ``skinhead''
groups. There were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti, harassment,
vandalism, and threats via telephone and e-mail.
In May 2005 four ``skinheads'' were arrested and charged with
attempted murder, gang formation, and racism for attacking three Jewish
students in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State. During the
investigations, the police identified a second group, with fascist
orientation, that participated in the attacks. By the end of the period
covered by this report, an additional ten persons had been arrested and
charged with attempted homicide and gang formation; one person under
the age of seventeen also was arrested. After spending more than one
hundred days in jail, all fifteen were freed and awaiting the testimony
stage of the process, which started in May 2006.
No further information was available on the 2004 incident in which
anti-Semitic graffiti was found in a bathroom at Pontificia
Universidade Catolica in Rio de Janeiro State (PUC-RJ); six students
were under police investigation. PUC-RJ had approximately ten thousand
students, 5 percent of whom were Jewish.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
CANADA
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 3,855,101 square miles and a population
of approximately thirty-three million. According to a 2001 census,
approximately 77.1 percent of the population belonged to Christian
denominations or claimed Christianity as its religion. Roman Catholics
(44 percent of the population) constituted the largest denomination,
followed by Protestant denominations (29 percent). United Church,
Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, and Pentecostal were the
largest Protestant groups. The Muslim population stood at 2 percent,
and approximately 1.1 percent of the population was Jewish. Other
religious groups included Buddhists, Hindus, and Sikhs, each with
approximately 1 percent of the population. Several other religions,
such as Scientology, Baha'i, Shinto, Taoism, and aboriginal
spirituality, each accounted for less than 1 percent. A total of 17
percent claimed no religious affiliation, an increase from 12 percent
in the 1996 census.
An April 2006 Ipsos Reid Survey of Christian religious attitudes
indicated that, while Christian beliefs had remained largely unchanged
since 1996, fewer persons (17 percent) attended church on a weekly
basis. A 2002 Pew Research Center poll on religious attitudes found
that approximately 21 percent of the population attended church on a
weekly basis.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in
full and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private
actors.
The following Christian holy days are national holidays: Good
Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas Day.
Religious groups are not required to register with the Government.
The Government grants tax-exempt status to religious institutions
through the Charities Directorate of the tax authority, Revenue Canada.
This status provides religious institutions with certain federal and
provincial sales tax reductions, rebates, and exemptions, and it
requires them to be nonpolitical, send donations only to approved
overseas recipients, and undergo periodic audits. Through this same
government-approved charitable status, clergy receive various federal
benefits, including a clergy housing deduction under the tax code and
fast-tracking through the immigration system. Individual Canadians who
donate to religious tax-exempt institutions receive a federal tax
receipt entitling them to deductions for federal income tax purposes.
The constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect the
rights or privileges possessed by religious minorities in their public,
but denominational, schools at the time of national union in 1867. In
practice this protection has meant that some provinces have funded
Catholic school education, and some provinces (such as Quebec) have
funded Protestant education but under the category of ``public,'' not
``private,'' education. Education falls under the purview of the
provinces, not the Federal Government. As such, levels of direct
funding and indirect tax benefits for all schools, public as well as
private, religious and nonreligious, ranged across the country from 0
to 75 percent.
On November 2, 2005, the UN Human Rights Committee reiterated its
1999 ruling that called on the Federal Government to ``adopt steps in
order to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the
funding of schools in Ontario.'' The ruling, which resulted from a 1996
complaint filed under Article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights on behalf of an Ontario Jewish parent who was
sending his child to a Jewish private school, concluded that Ontario's
policy of full and direct public funding for only Catholic but not
other religious schools was discriminatory. While the issue of public
funding for non-Catholic religious schools in Ontario has been the
subject of domestic litigation since 1978, a 1996 Supreme Court ruling
confirmed the constitutionality of funding for Catholic separate
schools.
On September 11, 2005, Ontario's premier announced his government's
intention to end civil enforcement of religious arbitration decisions
in the province. Since 1991 the Ontario Arbitration Act had permitted
religious organizations to hold tribunals in which marriage, family,
and business disputes could be settled according to religious law. The
tribunals were voluntary, and tribunal decisions had to comply with the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and could be appealed through the court
system. With the Family Statute Law Amendment Act of February 23, 2006,
religious arbitration in family matters ended, making all family law
arbitration subject to civil law. At the end of the period covered by
this report, the Ontario government was developing regulations to
implement the legislation.
There was no official government council for interfaith dialogue,
but the Government provided funding for individual ecumenical projects
on a case-by-case basis.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In April 2005 the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that a
fourteen-year-old girl, who was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, could
not refuse a blood transfusion as part of her treatment for cancer,
despite the girl's protest that her religious beliefs did not allow for
blood transfusions. In May 2005 she appealed the decision to a court in
Ontario, but the judge refused to hear her arguments and ordered her to
return to British Columbia. Subsequently, the government of British
Columbia allowed the girl to travel abroad to receive treatment. She
returned home in August 2005 after being treated without requiring a
blood transfusion.
In September and October 2005, a Sikh law student was twice
prohibited from riding on national rail carrier trains because he was
wearing a kirpan (ceremonial dagger). Railway company officials,
responding to another passenger's complaint and referring to its
baggage policy that bans weapons, required that the Sikh passenger
disembark, enforcing a company policy that makes no exceptions for
religious symbols. The student's appeal to the Ontario Human Rights
Commission for redress was pending at the end of the period covered by
this report.
In January 2006 the Ontario Human Rights Commission ruled in favor
of a woman who alleged she had been the target of discrimination for
her belief in Falun Gong. The ruling expanded the commission's working
definition of ``creed'' to include Falun Gong. The claimant had
complained that she was harassed about her beliefs at the Ottawa
Chinese Cultural Association and ultimately ejected from the group. The
association was found liable for breaching Ontario's human rights code
on the basis of religion. The claimant received $15,500 (C$18,000) in
damages for the loss of dignity and ``mental anguish.''
In March 2006 the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in
the case of a Sikh student whose Montreal school had prohibited him
from wearing his kirpan under its ``no weapons'' policy. The court
ruled in favor of the student, ruling that his religious rights had
been infringed. Previously, the Board of Education had alleged that the
kirpan presented a safety problem, while the student's family argued
that banning the kirpan violated his religious rights. The Ontario
Human Rights Commission argued in favor of balancing freedom of
religion and safety and security.
Also in March 2006 the Quebec Human Rights Commission decided that
a Montreal engineering school must allow its Muslim students to pray in
dignity, although the school is not obligated to provide students with
a dedicated prayer space. The school had previously blocked Muslim
students from praying in school hallways and stairways, leading to the
2003 filing of a complaint. During the sixty-day period provided by the
commission, the two sides failed to reach a ``reasonable
accommodation'' regarding the students' prayer space. Discussions
between Muslim representatives and the school continued at the end of
the period covered by this report. In December 2005 Muslim students at
McGill University filed a similar complaint with the commission, which
had not issued a decision on the second complaint.
In March 2005 two complaints were filed with the Alberta Human
Rights Commission against the Catholic bishop of Calgary after he
stated in a pastoral letter his opposition to proposed same-sex
marriage legislation by the Federal Government. Both complaints were
later dropped.
In 2004 the police began a continuing investigation of the
polygamous community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (FLDS), as a result of allegations of child abuse and
statutory rape. The FLDS openly practices polygamy, a criminal offense
according to the criminal code. British Columbia attorneys general have
stated that the statute violates the Charter of Freedoms and is
unenforceable as a restriction on the practice of religion. At the end
of the period covered by this report, a complaint by former FLDS
members based on denial of human rights was pending before the British
Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. The Government issued deportation
orders on the grounds of illegal extended residence in the country for
three foreign wives who alleged they were married to a former FLDS
bishop. The women alleged that the Government's refusal to grant them
residence based on their claimed marriage to a Canadian citizen
constituted religious persecution. Citizenship and Immigration Canada
denied their petition for humanitarian and compassionate parole, and
the women filed appeals in court, which were pending at the period
covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
According to the June 2005 Council of American-Islamic Relations
Canada's report, Presumption of Guilt: A National Survey on Security
Visitations of Canadian Muslims, there was increasing concern in the
Muslim community about visits by security officials, both at home and
in the workplace. According to the report, authorities made a
disproportionate number of visits to Arab males between the ages of
eighteen and thirty-five. The report detailed seven specific cases in
which security officials were alleged to have discouraged legal
representation, failed to provide proper identification, or used
threats and threatening behavior in the course of their interviews.
Throughout the period covered by this report, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP) continued its outreach program, established in
April 2005 in major cities, to ensure that all persons are treated
equally and with respect in national security investigations. The
program included community-based committees with members of the Muslim
and Arab minorities to serve as avenues for communication on national
security and cultural sensitivity matters. It also contained
sensitivity training programs taught by individual ethnic and religious
community members that were used to address allegations of
insensitivity.
The B'nai Brith Canada League for Human Rights received 829 reports
of antiSemitic incidents in 2005, a 3.3 percent decrease
compared to 2004. The highest number of reports came from Ontario
Province (544 incidents, 418 of which took place in the Greater Toronto
area), followed by Quebec Province (133 incidents, 127 of which took
place in Montreal); approximately 80 percent of the Jewish population
resided in these two provinces. B'nai Brith also reported significant
regional increases in reports received in British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and the Maritime Provinces. Both Montreal and Winnipeg
showed significant decreases from the 2004 numbers. The 829 reports
included 531 cases of harassment, 273 cases of vandalism, and 25 cases
of violence. Of these, 167 cases involved attacks on synagogues, Jewish
homes, or communal buildings. Jewish students reported 48 cases of
anti-Semitic incidents that occurred on campus, and another 48 involved
school settings. The B'nai Brith League also noted a marked increase in
web-based hate, with 161 reports, including 34 cases of targeted hate
by e-mail.
On July 8, 2005, a Saskatoon court found the former leader of the
Assembly of First Nations guilty of willfully promoting hatred against
Jews under the hate propaganda provisions of the criminal code and
fined him $850 (C$1,000). The charges stemmed from remarks made in a
2002 public address to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.
Claiming that the defendant's remarks were part of a private
conversation, the defendant's lawyer launched a successful appeal in a
Saskatchewan court that on June 8, 2006, set aside the earlier ruling
and ordered a new trial. On June 19, the Saskatchewan Justice
Department announced its plans to appeal the decision to the
Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
In November 2005 the attorney general of Ontario charged a man with
committing hate crimes, as well as with seven counts of mischief under
$4,250 (C$5,000) and two counts of threatening death. The charges
stemmed from incidents in 2004 targeting Muslims, Arabs, and Jews at
Ryerson University in which the accused spraypainted anti-
Muslim graffiti in the multifaith prayer room on campus and anti-
Semitic graffiti elsewhere around the university campus. The case was
pending at the end of the period covered by this report.
A number of mosques were vandalized, including several mosques in
the Montreal area, in February and March 2006. At the end of the period
covered by this report, police had not identified suspects in these
incidents. This followed media coverage of the international reaction
to publication in Denmark of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In
April 2006 a mosque in the Quebec city of Trois Rivieres, home to
approximately 300 Muslims, was targeted with racist posters.
During the same period, approximately forty-five acts of vandalism
against Christian cemeteries and churches were identified in the media.
On June 27, 2006, a Manitoba court sentenced three individuals to
prison terms of two years minus one day to three years for the arson
destruction of a 105-year-old church. An amount of $1 million (C$1.2
million) was levied against the three as restitution. The individuals,
followers of a Norwegian musician jailed for a 1993 murder and for the
destruction of several churches in Europe, set the church ablaze on
February 12, 2006, the Norwegian convict's birthday. The individual
receiving the stiffest sentence had previously been charged with arson
in an April 2004 fire that destroyed another church and with the
vandalism of tombstones in Manitoba and Alberta. He was scheduled to
appear in court on August 3, 2006.
In May 2006 St. Alban's Anglican Church, located in a Victoria,
British Columbia, suburb was vandalized. Church lights and stained
glass windows were smashed, Bibles and other religious objects were
desecrated, and cigarette butts and empty wine bottles were left in and
around the church. Police made arrests in the case, but by the end of
the period covered by this report, authorities had not charged anyone.
Church officials indicated they did not plan to press charges.
Following the June 2, 2006, arrests of seventeen individuals with
``Muslim'' names in the Toronto area on alleged terrorism charges,
several anti-Muslim incidents occurred in various locations, including
in Montreal and Toronto. On June 9 a Montreal imam was threatened with
a knife outside his mosque, leading to the arrest of the alleged
attacker. Police charged the individual with armed assault, uttering
threats, and possession of a dangerous weapon; the suspect was released
on bail while the investigation continued. On June 3 vandals broke
windows and damaged cars parked at the Rexdale mosque in northwest
Toronto. Police classified the attack as a hate crime and continued
their search for the perpetrators while increasing patrols at all
mosques in the city to prevent further vandalism. Muslim and non-Muslim
community leaders and government officials were among those who urged
calm and referred to the averted criminal acts as ``motivated by
politics and hatred, not by any religion or faith.''
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses with the Government ways to promote
religious freedom and other human rights throughout the world.
__________
CHILE
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 292,260 square miles and a population of
slightly more than fifteen million. According to a 2002 census, 70
percent of the population age fourteen or older was identified as Roman
Catholic, and evangelicals totaled 1,699,725 persons, or 15.1 percent
of the population over the age of fourteen. In the census, the term
``evangelical'' referred to all non-Catholic Christian churches with
the exception of the Orthodox Church (Greek, Persian, Serbian,
Ukrainian, and Armenian), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), Seventhday Adventists, and Jehovah's
Witnesses. Approximately 90 percent of evangelicals were Pentecostal.
Also present were traditional Protestant churches, including Wesleyan,
Lutheran, Reformed Evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist, Presbyterian,
Anglican, and Methodist.
Other affiliations recorded in the 2002 census were Jehovah's
Witnesses (119,455 persons), Mormons (103,735), Jews (14,976), Orthodox
Christians (6,959), and Muslims (2,894). All other religions totaled
493,147 persons, or 4.4 percent. Atheists and those ``indifferent''
regarding religion constituted approximately 8.3 percent (931,990) of
the population over the age of 14. The Baha'is were not mentioned in
the census, but adherents estimated the number of practitioners at six
thousand. There was also a small Buddhist population as well as a very
small number of Unification Church members.
Members of the largest religious groups were numerous in the
capital; Catholic, Pentecostal, and other evangelical churches were
also active in other regions of the country. Jewish communities were
located in Santiago, Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Valdivia, Temuco,
Concepcion, and Iquique (although there was no synagogue in Iquique).
Mosques were located in Santiago and Iquique.
Indigenous people made up 5 percent (780,000) of the population. Of
this group, 65 percent identified themselves as Catholic, 29 percent as
evangelicals, and 6 percent as ``other.'' Mapuche communities,
constituting 87 percent of indigenous citizens, continued to respect
traditional religious leaders (Longkos and Machis), and anecdotal
information indicated a high degree of syncretism in worship and
persistence of traditional healing practices. Many indigenous people
considered these cultural rather than religious practices.
Foreign missionaries operated freely, and many Catholic priests
were of foreign origin.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Church and state
are officially separate. The 1999 law on religion includes a clause
that prohibits religious discrimination; however, the Catholic Church
enjoys a privileged status and occasionally receives preferential
treatment. Government officials attend Catholic events and also major
Protestant and Jewish ceremonies.
In addition to Christmas and Good Friday, four Catholic holy days
are celebrated as national holidays: Corpus Christi, the Feast of
Saints Peter and Paul, the Feast of the Assumption, and the Feast of
the Immaculate Conception.
The law allows any religious group to obtain legal public right
status (comprehensive religious nonprofit status). The Ministry of
Justice may not refuse to accept a registration petition, although it
may object to the petition within ninety days on the grounds that all
legal prerequisites for registration have not been satisfied. The
petitioner then has sixty days to address objections raised by the
ministry or challenge the ministry in court. Once a religious entity is
registered, the state cannot dissolve it by decree. The semiautonomous
Council for the Defense of the State may initiate a judicial review;
however, no organization that has registered under the 1999 law has
subsequently been deregistered.
In addition, the law allows religious entities to adopt a charter
and by-laws suited to a religious organization rather than a private
corporation. They may establish affiliates (schools, clubs, and sports
organizations) without registering them as separate corporations.
At the end of the period covered by this report, 1,068 religious
groups and related organizations had registered under the 1999 law and
gained legal public right status. This number included the Catholic
Church, Greek and Ukrainian Orthodox churches, a wide range of
Protestant churches (evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal,
Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Episcopalian), several Buddhist
temples, Jewish congregations, Islamic mosques, Mormons, Seventh-day
Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Schools are required to offer religious education twice a week
through middle school; participation is optional (with parental
waiver). Religious instruction in public schools is almost exclusively
Catholic. Teaching the creed requested by parents is mandatory;
however, enforcement is sometimes lax, and religious education in
faiths other than Roman Catholicism is often provided privately through
Sunday schools and at other venues. Local school administrations decide
how funds are spent on religious instruction. Although the Ministry of
Education has approved curricula for fourteen other denominations, 92
percent of public schools and 81 percent of private schools offered
instruction based only on the Catholic faith.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The 1999 law on religion grants other religions and denominations
the same right that the Catholic Church possesses to have chaplains in
public hospitals, prisons, and military units. Hospital regulations
continue specifically to permit Catholic chaplains in hospitals, and if
requested by a patient, to provide access to chaplains and lay
practitioners of other faiths. There were thirty-five Catholic chapels,
thirtynine paid Catholic chaplains, and more than one thousand
volunteers authorized to conduct religious activities in the prison
system. Prison authorities have established two evangelical Christian
chaplain positions at a national level, and every prison has designated
evangelical Christian pastoral workers. Non-Catholic pastors reported
that their access to prisons and hospitals was generally good during
the period covered by this report.
The celebration of a Catholic Mass frequently marks official and
public events. If the event is of a military nature, all members of the
participating units are obliged to attend. The armed forces
unofficially integrated a number of Protestant and evangelical
Christian chaplains but continued to block efforts by non-Christian
religious groups to provide military chaplains, and regulations
implementing the 1999 law had not been promulgated. Military recruits,
whatever their religion, are required at times to attend Catholic
events involving their unit. Membership in the Catholic Church is
considered beneficial to a military career; in the navy, it is said to
be almost a requirement for advancement to the highest posts.
On September 15, 2005, the Supreme Court upheld a March 2005
appeals court ruling that the Unification Church could be denied
religious nonprofit organization status on grounds that the Church
represented a threat to public order and the family. This was the first
time under the 1999 law that an organization's registration was
contested for other than technical reasons. The Unification Church
continued to operate and worship under a more limited nonprofit
organization status and was considering filing a new registration
request.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, some discrimination
occurred.
Ecumenical groups existed, including the Ecumenical Brotherhood of
Chile, bringing together diverse Christian churches; the Abrahamic
Forum, bringing together Jews, Christians, and Muslims; and the Judeo-
Christian Confraternity. These groups organize periodic dialogues to
address specific social matters. Universities and seminaries also
organize interreligious dialogues and events.
There were isolated reports of anti-Semitic incidents, including
spray-painted graffiti of swastikas and derogatory comments directed at
Jewish individuals. In April 2006 Rodrigo Goldberg, a non-Jewish soccer
player, requested that the Federation Internationale de Football
Association impose sanctions on five fans who directed anti-Semitic
epithets at him during a soccer match in Santiago. Street gangs
identifying themselves as neo-Nazis or ``skinheads'' were involved in
violence and attacks against non-Jewish victims in Santiago and other
urban areas.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives met with a wide range of religious leaders,
including Santiago's Catholic archbishop and key representatives of
evangelical and Jewish organizations. The embassy also continued to
maintain informal contact with representatives and leaders of several
other faiths. In addition, the embassy closely followed the denial of
religious nonprofit status to the Unification Church.
__________
COLOMBIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. There is no
state religion; however, the Roman Catholic Church retains a de facto
privileged status.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
Terrorist organizations, especially the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), killed, kidnapped, and extorted religious leaders and
practitioners, inhibiting free religious expression. Terrorist
organizations generally targeted religious leaders and practitioners
for political rather than religious reasons. Paramilitary
organizations, including the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC), also targeted representatives and members of religious
organizations.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, although some indigenous
leaders reportedly were intolerant of nonsyncretic forms of worship.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 439,735 square miles and a population of
41.2 million. Although the Government does not keep official statistics
on religious affiliation, a June 22, 2006, article in the daily
newspaper El Pais cited that 95 percent of the population was Catholic
(with the footnote that not all are active practitioners of the faith),
3 percent was Protestant, and the remaining 2 percent belonged to other
religions, such as Islam and Judaism. However, religious leaders cited
different numbers. According to the Colombian Evangelical Council of
Churches (CEDECOL), for example, approximately 12 percent of the
population was Protestant, while the Catholic Bishops' Conference
estimated that 90 percent of the population was Catholic. According to
data provided by their respective national headquarters, the Seventh-
day Adventist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses had 180,000, 130,000, and 110,000
members respectively, totaling approximately 1 percent of the
population. Other religious faiths and movements with a significant
number of adherents included Judaism, estimated at between 5,000 and
10,000, Islam, animism, and various syncretic belief systems.
Adherents of some religions were concentrated in specific
geographic regions. For example, the vast majority of practitioners of
syncretic beliefs that blend Catholicism with elements of African
animism were Afro-Colombian residents in the western department of
Choco. Jews were concentrated in major cities, Muslims on the Caribbean
coast, and adherents of indigenous animistic religions in remote, rural
areas. A small Taoist commune existed in a mountainous region of
Santander Department.
Jewish leaders estimated that as many as one-third of their
community had emigrated by the end of 2000. The principal cause was
economic hardship caused by the country's recession, which resulted in
increased violence against Jewish businesses. However, since the
security situation has improved in recent years, members of the
community have returned, although specific numbers were not available.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
specifically prohibits discrimination based on religion.
The following Christian holy days are national holidays: Epiphany
Day, Saint Joseph Day, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter,
the Ascension, Corpus Christi, Sacred Heart Day, Saints Peter and Paul
Day, Feast of the Assumption, All Saints' Day, the Immaculate
Conception, and Christmas.
The constitution states there is no official church or religion,
but it adds that the state ``is not atheist or agnostic, nor
indifferent to Colombians' religious sentiment.'' Some interpret this
to mean that the state unofficially sanctions a privileged position for
Catholicism, which was the country's official religion until the
adoption of the 1991 constitution. A 1973 concordat between the Vatican
and the Government remains in effect, although some of its articles are
unenforceable because of constitutional provisions on freedom of
religion. A 1994 constitutional court decision declared
unconstitutional any official government reference to a religious
characterization of the country.
The Government extends two different kinds of recognition to
religious organizations: Recognition as a legal entity (personeria
juridica) and special public recognition as a religious entity.
Although the application process is often lengthy, the Ministry of
Interior and Justice readily grants the former recognition; the only
legal requirements are submission of a formal request and basic
organizational information. In addition, any foreign religious group
that wishes to establish a presence must document official recognition
by authorities in its home country. The Ministry of Interior and
Justice may reject requests that do not comply fully with established
requirements or that violate fundamental constitutional rights.
Since 1995 the Ministry of Interior and Justice has approved 787 of
the 2,562 applications for special public recognition as a religious
entity; an estimated 90 percent of the approvals were for evangelical
churches. According to the ministry, 1,775 applications failed to meet
constitutionally established requirements and thus were not approved.
In cases in which individual churches or schools affiliated with a
nationally registered church applied separately for special public
recognition, the Government granted those organizations affiliate or
associate status. More than forty churches have asked the Government to
sponsor legislation establishing less exacting standards for special
public recognition and formally codifying religious freedoms provided
for in the constitution. Although the Ministry of Interior and Justice
has statutory authority over recognizing religious entities, there is
no government agency to monitor or enforce laws governing religious
freedom.
Accession to a 1997 public law agreement between the state and non-
Catholic religious groups is required for such organizations to
minister to their adherents in public institutions such as hospitals or
prisons, provide chaplaincy services and religious instruction in
public schools, and perform marriages recognized by the state. When
deciding whether to grant accession to the 1997 agreement, the
Government considers a religious group's total membership, its degree
of popular acceptance within society, and other relevant factors, such
as the content of the organization's statutes and its required
behavioral norms. At the end of the period covered by this report,
thirteen non-Catholic churches had been granted accession. No non-
Christian religious group was a signatory to the 1997 public law
agreement. Some prominent non-Christian religious groups, such as the
Jewish community, have not sought to accede to the 1997 public law.
Many churches that are signatories reported that some local authorities
failed to comply with the accord.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations issues visas to foreign
missionaries and religious administrators of denominations that have
received special public recognition. Foreign missionaries are required
to possess a special visa, valid for a maximum of two years. Applicants
must have either a certificate from the Ministry of Interior and
Justice confirming that the religion is registered with the ministry or
a certificate issued by the religious organization itself confirming
the applicant's membership. In both cases, applicants must explain the
purpose of the proposed sojourn and provide proof of economic means.
The Government permits proselytizing among the indigenous population
provided the indigenous group welcomes them and visitors do not induce
members of indigenous communities to adopt changes that endanger their
survival on traditional lands.
The constitution recognizes parents' right to choose the type of
education their children receive, including religious instruction. It
also states that no student shall be forced to receive religious
education in public schools. The Catholic Church and religious groups
that have acceded to the 1997 public law agreement may provide
religious instruction in public schools to students who wish to receive
it, but students may opt out of sectarian religious instruction.
Religious groups that have not acceded to the public law agreement may
establish parochial schools, provided they comply with Ministry of
Education requirements. For example, the Jewish community operates its
own schools. The Catholic Church has an agreement with the Government
to provide education in rural areas that have no state-operated
schools. The schools are tax-exempt.
According to an October 2005 report in the daily newspaper El
Tiempo, a Seventh-day Adventist student tried unsuccessfully to reach
an agreement with her instructor for permission to miss a class on
Friday evenings at a public school to practice her religion. After
being dismissed from the class, the student filed suit in a regional
level court, which subsequently backed the school's decision. However,
the constitutional court overturned it on appeal and ordered the school
to reenroll the student and accommodate her worship schedule.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Although the 1991 constitution mandated the separation of church
and state, the Catholic Church retains a de facto privileged status.
Accession to the 1997 public law agreement is required for non-Catholic
groups to minister to soldiers, public hospital patients, and prisoners
and to provide religious instruction in public schools. However, Muslim
and Protestant leaders claimed they faced difficulties in gaining
military chaplain positions and access to prisoners. The state
recognizes as legally binding only those religious marriages celebrated
by the Catholic Church and the thirteen non-Catholic churches that are
signatories to the 1997 public law agreement. Members of religious
groups that are not signatories to the agreement must marry in a civil
ceremony in order for the state to recognize the marriage. Some
signatories to the agreement have complained of discrimination at the
local level, such as refusal by municipal authorities to recognize
marriages performed by these groups. In addition, CEDECOL claimed that
two state-operated television channels refused to allow evangelical
groups to buy or receive airtime, while the Catholic Church received
two minutes daily without cost.
All legally recognized churches, seminaries, monasteries, and
convents are exempt from national and local taxes and customs duties.
However, some Protestant churches reported that municipal governments
required them to pay property and other local taxes. Local governments
may exempt religiously affiliated organizations such as schools and
libraries. However, according to the Christian Union Movement, an
association of evangelical Christian churches, only ten municipalities
have exempted non-Catholic churches from local taxes.
Congress did not act on legislation, sponsored by the human rights
ombudsman, that evangelical leaders said would limit their freedom of
religious expression. However, the Bogota municipal government
introduced a city planning proposal that would restrict the number of
churches in residential areas and place stringent building codes on
church facilities. CEDECOL claimed that such a regulation, to be
applied retroactively, would close 70 percent of the 1,500 Protestant
churches in the capital. Evangelical, Muslim, and Anglican leaders
complained that the proposal showed favoritism toward Catholicism,
since many Catholic churches are historic monuments in central
locations and thus exempt from the proposal's requirements. In November
2005 national leaders from the Anglican, Muslim, Seventh-day Adventist,
Baptist, and evangelical communities formed the Colombian Confederation
of Religious and Conscience Freedom to encourage government cooperation
in strengthening religious freedom and combating the proposal.
There were setbacks in the case against the leaders of a small
Taoist commune in Santander Department, who were accused of multiple
killings, rape, extortion, kidnapping, and aiding paramilitary
organizations. In May 2005 a suspect in custody thought to be one of
the commune's principle leaders, Diego Leno Agudelo (``Saidamandan''),
was released due to mistaken identity, and another suspect escaped from
custody. At the end of the period covered by this report, neither
suspect had been apprehended.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U. S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from
the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Persecution by Terrorist Organizations
The FARC, the AUC, and the National Liberation Army guerilla group
(ELN) generally targeted religious leaders and practitioners for
political or financial, rather than religious, reasons. The FARC and
the AUC were responsible for the majority of such attacks and threats,
killing, kidnapping, extorting, and inhibiting free religious
expression.
The Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that nearly all
killings of priests by terrorist groups could be attributed to leftist
guerrillas, particularly the FARC. According to the Mennonite Church
organization Justicia, Paz y Accion Noviolenta (or Justapaz) and
CEDECOL's La Comision de Restauracion, Vida y Paz, at least 134
evangelical church leaders were killed in the past four years.
According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, terrorist groups have
killed seven priests since 2003. Catholic and Protestant church leaders
stated that killings of religious leaders in rural communities were
generally underreported because of the communities' isolation and fear
of retribution. Justapaz and CEDECOL claimed that paramilitaries and
guerrillas equally committed violence against evangelical church
leaders but said the ELN leadership had agreed not to target
evangelicals for political or religious reasons.
Religious leaders generally chose not to seek government protection
because of their pacifist beliefs and fear of retribution from
terrorist groups. Nevertheless, in response to the increased risks
faced by church members, local citizens living near Catholic churches
have set up more than 750 local security fronts to protect priests and
officials. The national police designed the program following the 2002
assassination of Monsignor Isaias Duarte Cancino, the Catholic
archbishop of Cali. The protection plan was not extended to include
other religious groups.
In August 2005 Catholic priests Vicente Rozo Bayona and Ramon
Emilio Mora were killed when their vehicle came under attack in Norte
de Santander Department. The ELN later admitted responsibility for the
killing, claiming they had mistaken the priests' vehicles for those
used by paramilitaries, and apologized for the killings.
In August 2005 in Tolima Department, gunmen pulled Catholic priest
Jesus Adrian Sanchez from a classroom and shot him in front of his
students. According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, the FARC
killed Sanchez for his activism against the group's recruitment of
child soldiers. Caracol television news later reported that FARC leader
``Mono Jojoy'' had ordered his troops to ``kill all pastors.'' The
television report indicated that Sanchez's killing was part of this
FARC campaign, based on a taped conversation obtained from a FARC
deserter.
In September 2005 authorities captured FARC intelligence operative
Omar Segundo Contreras Chamorro in Sucre Department. Contreras was
wanted for his participation in the 2002 killing of Catholic priest
Jose Luis Cardenas Fernandez.
Catholic priest Cesar Dario Pena, whom the FARC kidnapped in 2004,
was reportedly killed in September 2005, according to a captured a FARC
leader; however, a body had not been recovered at the end of the period
covered by this report.
In January 2006 a court sentenced FARC commander John Fredy Jimenez
and hired gunman Alexander de Jesus Zapata for their role in the 2002
killing of Archbishop Isaias Duarte. Jimenez and Zapata were sentenced
to thirty-five years and thirty-six years, respectively.
In March 2006 evangelical pastor Oscar Munoz Perea was shot and
killed in Buenaventura, Valle de Cauca Department. Witnesses identified
the killers as belonging to the AUC.
In May 2006 El Colombiano, a Medellin-based daily newspaper,
reported that the body of Catholic priest Javier Francisco Montoya had
been found and identified. The FARC, who kidnapped Montoya in Choco
Department in 2004 and later killed him, had previously refused to hand
over the body.
There were no developments in the case of the FARC's killing of
three persons in Puerto Asis, Putumayo Department, in 2004. Justapaz
claimed, however, that the FARC was threatening a witness to the
massacre.
The Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office continued
to investigate the killings in past years of fourteen members of the
clergy believed to have been slain because they were outspoken critics
of terrorist organizations.
Religious leaders and practitioners were the targets of threats and
kidnappings by guerrilla groups and paramilitaries. Five members of the
religious organization Justicia y Paz in Choco Department kidnapped in
April 2005 were liberated fifteen days after they were initially
captured. Justicia y Paz said the incident was a case of mistaken
identity.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference reported that sixty-four Catholic
churches had been seriously damaged or destroyed in the last decade.
Catholic churches generally were not attacked intentionally, but often
they were affected by guerrilla attacks on police stations and mayors'
offices located nearby.
According to the Christian Union Movement, advances by government
security forces against the FARC have resulted in the reopening of
approximately 350 of the more than 450 evangelical churches closed
since 2002. However, guerrillas and paramilitaries continued to attack
rural evangelical churches and schools because they suspected the
churches were fronts for U.S. Government activities. Mormon Church
leaders and facilities remained under threat for the same reason.
Due to threats from guerrillas or paramilitaries, many religious
authorities were forced to refrain from publicly discussing the
country's internal conflict. Illegal armed groups, especially the FARC,
threatened or attacked religious officials for opposing the forced
recruitment of minors, promoting human rights, assisting internally
displaced persons, and discouraging coca cultivation. The Catholic
Bishops' Conference also reported that paramilitaries and guerrillas
issued death threats against rural priests who spoke out against them.
In response to such threats, some religious leaders relocated to other
communities.
Guerrillas or paramilitaries harassed some indigenous groups that
practiced animistic or syncretic religions. However, such harassment
appeared generally motivated by political or economic differences
(whether real or perceived) or by questions of land ownership, rather
than by religious concerns.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Catholic Church and some
evangelical churches reported that some indigenous leaders were
intolerant of nonsyncretic forms of worship.
A number of faith-based nongovernmental organizations promoted
human rights, social and economic development, and a negotiated
settlement to the country's armed conflict. The most influential of
these organizations were either affiliated with the Catholic Church or
founded by Church officials. The Catholic Church continued to be the
only institutional presence in many rural areas and conducted important
social work through its Social Pastoral Agency.
There were isolated reports of anti-Semitism, including graffiti
painted on exterior walls of synagogues. Anti-Semitic statements in
pamphlets and books published by small xenophobic organizations also
were distributed and sold on limited scales. The Government condemned
these acts and worked with members of the Jewish community to
investigate the incidents, although laws guaranteeing freedom of
expression have impeded actions against the publishers. Jewish leaders
stated that relations between the Government and the Jewish and Muslim
communities were generally stronger than those between the government
and the evangelical community. The Jewish community has taken a number
of steps to combat anti-Semitism by advancing dialogue with other
religious groups and by holding educational forums on Judaism at
Christian churches, private and public schools, and universities.
In May 2006 the Catholic cardinal of Bogota threatened to
excommunicate five constitutional court justices for voting to
partially decriminalize abortion. However, at of the end of the period
covered by this report, the Catholic Church had not taken such action.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintained regular communication with representatives of
the Catholic Church and other religious groups.
__________
COSTA RICA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 19,730 square miles and a population of
approximately 4.25 million, according to the National Institute of
Census and Statistics. The most recent nationwide survey of religion,
conducted in 2004 by the University of Costa Rica, found that 47
percent of the population identified themselves as practicing Roman
Catholics, 25 percent considered themselves nonpracticing Roman
Catholics, 13 percent said they were evangelical Protestants, 10
percent reported that they did not have a religion, and 5 percent
declared that they belonged to ``another religion.''
Apart from the dominant Catholic religion, there were several other
religious groups in the country. Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and
other Protestant groups had significant membership. The Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter-day Saints (Mormons) had a temple in San Jose that
served as a regional worship center for Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua,
and Honduras. Although they represented less than 1 percent of the
population, Jehovah's Witnesses had a strong presence on the Caribbean
coast. Seventh-day Adventists operated a university that attracted
students from throughout the Caribbean Basin. The Unification Church
maintained its continental headquarters for Latin America in San Jose.
Non-Christian religious groups, including Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Hare
Krishna, Scientology, Tenrikyo, and the Baha'i Faith, claimed
membership throughout the country, with the majority of worshippers
residing in the Central Valley (the area of the capital). While there
was no general correlation between religion and ethnicity, indigenous
peoples were more likely to practice animism than other religions.
Foreign missionaries and clergy of all denominations worked and
proselytized freely. Mormons had the most active mission program, with
148 full-time missionaries. Many churches had short-term missions that
could last a month or less and comprise up to twenty persons.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution provides the right to practice the religion of
one's choice, and the Government generally observed and enforced this
provision. In the event of a violation of religious freedom, a victim
may file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme
Court. A victim may also file a motion before the Constitutional
Chamber to have a statute or regulation declared unconstitutional.
Additionally, a victim may appeal to the Government's administrative
court for permission to sue the Government for alleged discriminatory
acts. Laws are generally applied and enforced in a rigorous and
nondiscriminatory fashion.
While the constitution establishes Catholicism as the state
religion and requires that the state contribute to its maintenance, it
also prohibits the state from impeding the free exercise of other
religions that do not impugn universal morality or proper behavior. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for managing the
Government's relationship with the Catholic Church and other religious
groups in the country.
In September 2005 the constitutional court rejected a motion filed
by a private citizen alleging that Article 75 of the constitution,
which establishes Catholicism as the official state religion, was
unconstitutional because it violated international instruments such as
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Inter-American
Convention on Human Rights.
At the end of the period covered by this report, no legislative
action had been taken on a 2003 proposed constitutional amendment to
remove language in the constitution declaring Roman Catholicism the
official state religion.
The law allows for the Government to provide land to the Catholic
Church. This practice was established in part to restore the Church's
land seized by the Government during the nineteenth century. Although
records of these seizures existed and were being relied upon for
certain land restoration cases, the Government also has a
constitutional obligation to support the Church as the official state
religion. Land conveyance takes two forms: Right of development grants,
with ownership retained by the state, and outright title grants, a
method commonly used to provide land for the construction of local
churches. These methods did not meet all the needs of the Church, which
also buys some land outright. Government-to-church land transfers are
not covered under any blanket legislation but rather by specific
legislative action once or twice per year.
Besides notary publics, only officials of the Catholic Church can
perform marriages that are automatically recognized by the state. Other
religious groups can perform wedding ceremonies, but the marriage must
then be legalized via a civil union. Couples may also choose to have
only a civil ceremony.
Various traditional Catholic religious holy days are considered
national holidays; including Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Our Lady
of Los Angeles (August 2). Christmas is also a national holiday.
However, if an individual wishes to observe another religious holy day,
the labor code provides the necessary flexibility for that observance
upon the employer's approval.
The Government does not require religious groups to register, nor
does it inhibit the establishment of religious groups through taxation
or special licensing requirements. Such groups may incorporate to
acquire legal status and must have a minimum of twelve members to do
so. As stipulated in the law governing associations, religious groups
must register to be eligible for residence permits for their
missionaries and employees and to petition for legal recognition of
religious holidays. Also, religious groups, as any other association,
must register with the Public Registry of the Justice Department if
they are involved in any type of fundraising activity. At the end of
the period covered by this report, there were 2,700 registered
religious associations, representing 200 denominations.
According to the General Directorate of Immigration, applications
by foreign missionaries seeking permission to work in the country are
studied on a casebycase basis. They may be given a
temporary permit that is granted for a maximum, nonrenewable term of
six months. The missionary may enter the country as a tourist and then
apply for the permit upon arrival. Alternatively, foreign missionaries
may apply for an annually renewable temporary residence. This status is
granted by a special migration council that consists of representatives
from the Ministries of Public Security, Foreign Affairs, Labor, and
Justice. In either case, missionaries must be accredited to an
officially recognized church to receive the permit.
Catholic religious instruction is provided in the public schools;
however, it is not mandatory. Students may obtain exemptions from this
instruction with the permission of their parents. The school director,
the student's parents, and the student's teacher must agree on an
alternative course of instruction for the exempted student during
instruction time. Religious education teachers in public schools must
be certified by the Catholic Bishops' Conference, which does not
certify teachers from other religious groups.
According to the education code, the Catholic Church has sole
authority to select teachers of religion within the public school
system. The Church maintains an office within the Ministry of Education
expressly to carry out this function. According to the Department of
Religious Education, only Catholic University graduates are eligible to
teach religion in public school.
Private schools are free to offer any religious instruction they
choose. Parents do not have the option of home schooling their
children.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Applications to establish a place of worship must be submitted to
the local municipality and must comply with safety and noise
regulations as established by the general health law. In the past,
several evangelical churches were closed by municipalities, local
health departments, or police as a result of noise violations.
Representatives from the Evangelical Alliance Federation alleged that
the noise pollution claims were baseless and that local officials
closed down the churches simply because they did not like them. At the
end of the period covered by this report, the President's Office was
working with the Health and the Housing Ministries to draft regulations
regarding the building codes for places of worship that would apply to
all places of worship, regardless of their religious affiliation. The
Human Rights Ombudsman reported that adequate regulations were already
in place but stated that the Government must work on equitable
enforcement of the regulations so as not to appear to favor any
particular religion.
Despite the official status of the Catholic Church, the
constitution prohibits clergymen or secular individuals from engaging
in political propaganda motivated by religion. There is no prohibition
on clergymen or other religious individuals serving in political
office; however, the constitution establishes that the president, vice
president, cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices may not be
members of the clergy.
A Catholic priest who had been threatened with deportation for
working without the proper visa was granted reprieve in July 2005, when
the Supreme Court cancelled the deportation order.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
At the end of the period covered by this report, authorities had
neither filed charges nor released information regarding potential
suspects in the 2003 beating of a priest who was the spokesperson of
the Catholic Bishops' Conference. The priest blamed the followers of a
breakaway Catholic group, The Queen and Lady of All Creation, for the
attack, claiming that it was in retaliation for the Church's decision
to disavow the group.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom problems with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy representatives had regular contact with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs' director of religion. The embassy also maintained
contact with the Catholic archbishop and dioceses for situation-
specific consultation.
__________
CUBA
The constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess and
practice any religious belief within the framework of respect for the
law; however, in law and in practice the Government continued to place
restrictions on freedom of religion.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report. Overall human rights
conditions remained poor. Some religious figures who criticized the
Government's totalitarian system in sermons were subjected to intense
harassment. In general, unregistered religious groups continued to
experience varying degrees of official interference, harassment, and
repression. The Government maintained its policy of permitting
apolitical religious activity to take place in government-approved
sites. However, state security forces continued to subject to
surveillance citizens worshipping in officially sanctioned churches,
and the Government's continued its efforts to maintain a strong degree
of control over religion. During the period covered by this report, the
Government implemented new regulations that restricted the operation of
house churches but eased its policy on issuing work permits to foreign
Catholic clergy.
The relationship among religious groups in general was amicable.
The U.S. Government attempted to raise human rights issues,
including religious discrimination and harassment, with government
officials; however, the Government refused to discuss such matters. The
U.S. Government continued to urge international pressure on the
Government to cease its repressive practices. In Havana, officers
assigned to the U.S. Interests Section engaged a broad range of
religious leaders in discourse and on many occasions invited them to
representational events.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 68,888 square miles and a population of
11.2 million. There was no independent authoritative source on the size
or composition of religious institutions and their membership. A 1953
survey indicated that 93 percent of the population identified
themselves as Roman Catholic. According to more recent information from
the U.S.-based Puebla Institute, approximately 40 to 45 percent of the
population were believed to identify themselves, at least nominally,
with the Catholic Church. Some sources estimated that as much as 70
percent of the population practiced Santeria, which has its roots in
West African traditional religions.
The Baptists, represented in four different conventions, were
possibly the largest Protestant denomination, followed closely by the
Pentecostal churches, particularly the Assemblies of God. Membership in
the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC) increased to twenty-three when
World Wide Missions, a Pentecostal church, joined in March 2006. Other
members included Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Methodist groups, but
not the Catholic Church. The CCC was structured into five ``zones''
across the island and, according to the CCC's leadership, represented
approximately 100,000 Christians. Most CCC members were officially
recognized by the state, although several, including the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, lacked legal status and were recognized through their
membership in the CCC. Other officially recognized groups, including
Jehovah's Witnesses and the small Jewish and Muslim communities, did
not belong to the CCC.
Catholic Church officials estimated that approximately 10 percent
of baptized Catholics attended Mass regularly. Membership in Protestant
churches increased and was estimated at 530,000 persons. No figures on
the number of Pentecostals were available, but their numbers were
believed to be increasing sharply. Jehovah's Witnesses claimed more
than 86,000 active members, and the Seventh-day Adventists reported
approximately 30,000 persons. Anglicans were estimated to number 22,000
members, and Presbyterians 14,000. The Jewish community had
approximately 1,000 members, around half of them resident in Havana.
The Muslim population was estimated at no less than 300. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) had an estimated active
membership of fifteen.
There were approximately 344 Catholic priests, 61 permanent
deacons, and 628 nuns in the country, many fewer than the total prior
to 1960. Fewer than half of all Catholic ``religious'' priests, as
opposed to ``diocesan'' priests, were of Cuban origin; most of the
others were from Spain or Mexico. Most new arrivals replaced retiring
priests or those whose time of service in the country had ended.
Foreign missionary groups operated in the country through
registered churches. Visits by religious figures, including that of
Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan in March 2006, are handled by
the Religious Affairs Office of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess and
practice any religious belief within the framework of respect for the
law; however, in law and in practice, the Government places
restrictions on freedom of religion. The constitution has provided for
the separation of church and state since the early twentieth century.
In 1992 the constitution was changed, and references to scientific
materialism or atheism were removed. The Government does not officially
favor any particular religion or church, but it appeared to be most
tolerant of those churches that maintained close relations with the
state through the CCC.
The Government requires churches and other religious groups to
register with the provincial Registry of Associations within the
Ministry of Justice to obtain official recognition. Registration
procedures require groups to identify where they will carry out their
activities, demonstrate that they have the funding for these
activities, and obtain certification from the Registry of Associations
that they are not duplicating the activities of a previously registered
organization. Registration allows church officials to obtain official
permission to travel abroad and receive foreign visitors, receive
imported religious literature through the CCC, and meet in officially
recognized places of worship. Conversely, members of unregistered
religious groups must request exit permits on an individual basis,
obtain religious materials through extralegal means, and risk closure
of their technically illegal meeting places.
The Government appeared to have halted registration of new
denominations; however, no groups were known to have applied for and
been denied registration during the period covered by this report.
Authorities continued to ignore religious groups' pending applications
for legal recognition, thereby subjecting members of such groups to
potential charges of illegal association; however, no such charges had
been filed by the end of the period covered by this report.
The Government tolerated some religions, such as the Baha'i Faith
and a small group of Mormons, that were relatively new in the country.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed to proselytize quietly
door-to-door and generally were not subject to overt government
harassment; however, there continued to be reports of discrimination in
schools.
Religious literature and materials must be imported through a
registered religious group and can be distributed only to officially
recognized religious groups. The CCC controls distribution of Bibles to
its members and to other officially recognized denominations. On some
occasions, churches or church groups distributed Bibles without
government permission. In early 2006 a Presbyterian youth group in
Santa Clara passed out copies of the New Testament at a public park
without being arrested or detained. Similarly, a small number of
fundamentalist Christians were reported to have occasionally given
impromptu testimonials at certain parks in Havana; no one was arrested.
Since 1992 the Communist Party has admitted as members persons who
openly declare their religious faith.
The Government does not permit religious education in public
schools and does not permit the operation of private schools of any
kind, including religious schools, although several international
schools in Havana are given considerable leeway in setting their
curricula. The Government has allowed the Catholic Church and the
Havana Jewish community center to administer small charities and to
offer religious education classes and self-improvement courses on
subjects such as computers and foreign languages.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government's main interaction with religious denominations is
through the Office of Religious Affairs of the Cuban Communist Party.
The office is intended to encourage dialogue between churches and the
Government, but many religious figures believed that its real role is
to assert the Government's power. The Ministry of Interior, through its
state security apparatus, continued to engage in efforts to control and
monitor the country's religious institutions, including surveillance,
infiltration, and harassment of religious professionals and laypersons.
In 2004 an independent journalist interviewed a former Ministry of
Interior official who reported widespread government infiltration of
civil and religious organizations. The former official reported that
Afro-Caribbean religious groups were even more heavily targeted for
infiltration than political opposition organizations. Some estimates
stated that 70 percent of the population practiced these religions in
some form, and therefore these groups were seen as a more grassroots
threat to the power and authority of the Government.
The law allows for the construction of new churches once the
required permits are obtained; however, the Government rarely has
authorized construction permits, forcing many churches to resort to
expanding existing houses of worship. According to CCC President Rhode
Gonzalez, none of the group's member churches or church confederations
received government permission to construct a new church building
during the period covered by this report. However, the CCC president
said many churches were expanded during this period. The process of
obtaining a permit for an expansion or repair project and purchasing
construction materials from government outlets remained lengthy and
expensive.
Most registered religious groups were able to hold services in
private homes. However, during the period covered by this report, the
Government implemented a controversial directive that many religious
groups viewed as restricting the operation of house churches. Such
facilities have grown in number in recent years, and many religious
leaders attributed this to the Government's refusal to authorize the
construction of new churches. The vast majority of house churches were
unregistered with the Government and thus technically illegal.
Directive 43 and Resolution 46 require house-church operators to
register their house churches with the Government, thus ``legalizing''
their existence. House churches were difficult to quantify, but
Christian Solidarity Worldwide estimated their number at no less than
10,000 nationwide. According to a leading Baptist Church official, of
the 1,500 Baptist house churches in the western region, no more than 20
had been ``legalized'' by the time the directive was issued in April
2005. To register one's house church, an operator must meet a number of
requirements, some of which infringe on religious freedom: The house
church must host no more than three meetings per week; it must not be
located within two kilometers of another house church; and it may be
open only between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. on workdays, and between 9 a.m.
and 10 p.m. on other days. The new regulations also state, among other
things, that the use of a sound system requires permission from
neighbors and that no house church can operate in a multifamily
residence.
Church officials from a number of denominations said that the
Government had made the new regulations widely known but had not
undertaken sweeping action to implement the new rules. Some Pentecostal
church officials considered themselves singled out by the directive,
and a Baptist church leader also judged it a threat. The Pentecostals
said that unlike members of other denominations, who seldom meet in a
house church more than once or twice a week, many Pentecostals attend
such meetings three or four times a week. They also noted that
Pentecostal church membership has risen sharply in recent years. At
least one Baptist church leader criticized the requirement that a house
church not be located within two kilometers of another house church,
arguing that the directive would be difficult to obey in a congested
city.
The Government continued to allow foreign priests and religious
workers into the country to replace foreign priests and nuns who had
died or whose residence permits had expired. Previously, the Government
adhered to a policy of approving new applicants only to the extent that
they replaced clergy who had stopped working in the country. However,
in June 2005 the Government eased this policy, and during the period
covered by this report it granted work permits to at least eight
foreign priests and fourteen foreign nuns who entered the country as
nonreplacements. In addition, for the first time in many years the
Government allowed into the country three new Catholic congregations,
or orders, including Franciscan nuns from Colombia. The applications of
104 priests and nuns remained pending.
Government officials criticized the Catholic Church for refusing to
register church and lay group publications with the Ministry of
Culture, as required by law of all publications. The Cuban Conference
of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) indicated that the Church has declined to
register because registration would force it to concede control to the
state regarding the content and format of church publications. Several
Catholic dioceses and lay groups published magazines, including Palabra
Nueva of the Havana archdiocese and Vitral of the Pinar del Rio
diocese.
The Government has not blocked printing or distribution of Catholic
magazines; however, the state impedes access to printing by making
equipment costly or placing restrictions on sales. The Government has
accused the editor of one religious magazine of subversive behavior for
writing about sensitive political and social issues.
Catholic priests and other clergy were able to deliver sermons
without advance screening by government censors, and some made pointed
references to the totalitarian state. However, those who did were
sometimes subjected to intense harassment. In January and February
2006, unknown assailants repeatedly stoned the home of outspoken
Santiago priest Jose Conrado Rodriguez Alegre. Rodriguez's church was
robbed at least six times during the period covered by this report. One
robbery cost the church its microphones and ventilator, and the police
arrived to investigate at the start of Mass on Sunday morning. Police
confiscated the vehicle Rodriguez used, and his dog was poisoned.
Rodriguez, who has called attention to the country's human rights
record, was watched closely by state security and received a citation
to appear before government authorities.
The Government generally did not allow the Catholic Church access
to public media, but church officials revealed in February 2006 that
the Government had offered it the opportunity to broadcast a radio
program on the FM band, via a small, low-power radio station. The
Church rejected the offer because the transmitter and the proposed hour
of use were ``inconvenient.'' However, in April 2006 authorities
allowed two Catholic bishops, in Holguin and Bayamo, to broadcast a
Holy Week radio message. In Holguin the twelve-minute program was the
first such message in forty-six years.
Senior Catholic Church officials occasionally gained an audience
with senior government leaders. The highest-level meeting known to have
occurred during the period covered by this report was on February 17,
2006, between Fidel Castro and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, head
of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. During the
visit, the Vatican made public a letter from Pope Benedict XVI, calling
on Cubans to show more tolerance.
The Jewish community had a modus vivendi with the regime that
allowed the main synagogue and community center to function with
foreign charities based mostly in the United States and Canada. Jews
were permitted to emigrate to Israel through a liaison office in the
Canadian embassy.
Religious officials were allowed to visit prisoners; however,
prison officials sometimes refused visits to certain political
prisoners. For a religious visit to take place, the prisoner must
submit a written request, and the prison director must grant approval.
Some prisoners reported that prison officials ignored repeated written
requests for religious visits. In punishment cells, prisoners were
denied access to reading materials, including Bibles. At the end of the
period covered by this report, human rights activist Rene Gomez
Manzano, detained on July 22, 2005, had been held at three prisons and
at all three was denied visits from Catholic priests. However, he was
allowed to receive and read a Bible provided by a visiting family
member.
Churches found it exceedingly difficult to purchase computers, fax
machines, photocopiers, and other equipment, since the Government
required a special permit for such purchases. Government decisions were
officially made on a case-by-case basis, but in practice very few
churches received permits.
The Government controls the Internet, and any group seeking legal
access is subject to its controls. The Government denies Internet
access to some religious groups that it deems unreliable. Following a
November 2005 meeting with Castro, the country's thirteen bishops were
allowed access at the CCCB's Havana headquarters. However, they lacked
access at their homes and offices.
Members of the armed forces do not attend religious services in
uniform, probably to avoid possible reprimand by superiors.
Education is secular, and no religious educational institutions are
allowed. Religious instruction in public schools is not permitted.
Churches provide religious education classes to their members, as well
as seminars to wider audiences. Catholic Church officials reported that
the number of children attending catechism classes continued to drop,
mostly because of other activities, usually scheduled by local school
authorities. There were no reports of parents being restricted from
teaching religion to their children. However, during the period covered
by this report some Jehovah's Witness children were denied
participation in school field trips because of their religion.
Officials of various groups have reported cases of religious
persons experiencing discrimination because of ignorance or personal
prejudice by a local official. Religious persons have encountered
employment problems in certain professions, such as education.
Religious groups are required to submit a request to the local
ruling official of the Communist Party before being allowed to hold
processions or events outside of religious buildings. The Catholic
Church has decided to stop requesting permits for processions in areas
where they historically have not been permitted. There were smaller,
local processions throughout the provinces during the period covered by
this report.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Government monitored all religious groups, including registered
and established institutions. The authorities also monitored church-run
publications. Government harassment of private houses of worship
continued.
The Ministry of the Interior continued to engage in efforts to
control and monitor religious activities and to use surveillance,
infiltration, and harassment against religious groups, religious
professionals, and laypersons. There were continued reports that local
Communist Party and government officials harassed Jehovah's Witnesses.
State security agents or their Communist militant proxies warned
the wives of several political prisoners that they would be arrested if
they joined other wives of political prisoners for Mass at Havana's
Santa Rita Catholic Church. In March 2006 government-directed mobs
physically prevented at least five such wives from traveling to Havana
for the Mass, keeping them from leaving the cities of Puerto Padre,
Sancti Spiritus, and Ciego de Avila; two of the five were removed from
buses. At Santa Rita Church, state security officers sat near the
spouses of political prisoners during Mass in an attempt to intimidate
them. Many of the women belonged to the Ladies in White organization,
joint winner of the European Parliament's 2006 Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought. Many of the group's members expressed concern about
government retaliation against them or their jailed husbands. The
Government also impeded access by political prisoners' spouses to Mass
at Santa Rita Church by scheduling phone calls and prisoner visits at
inconvenient times.
Guards at the Villa Clara Youth Prison in Santa Clara destroyed
Santeria altars and other religious articles on December 17, 2005, the
Day of Saint Lazarus, a date celebrated not only by those who practice
Santeria but also by many Catholics. The altars, a throne, and other
items crafted by inmates, among them Lester Gonzalez Penton, were
kicked to pieces by the guards. At the same facility, guards forced
prisoner Cosme Manuel Chamizo Moreno to take down an altar he had
established for his own worship.
Also in December 2005 the Government reportedly gave the order for
the destruction of a Protestant church in the eastern Havana community
of Alamar. The congregation did not have government permission to build
the church, allegedly used by hundreds of worshippers.
In February 2006 at Havana's Combinado del Este prison, prison
authorities broke up a prayer group of more than fifteen inmates
without explanation. The incident was revealed in a note smuggled out
of the prison. The Government continued to deny access to the country's
prisons to international groups focused on fundamental rights,
including religious rights.
There were reports that independent Santeria priests were pressured
to join the government-sanctioned Yoruba Cultural Association.
There were no reports of persons being detained on religious
grounds, but at least three religious figures were in prison on other
grounds. Ricardo Santiago Medina Salabarria, an Orthodox Church
clergyman, was held without formal charges in connection with a protest
in which he took part outside the French embassy in Havana.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The relationship among religious groups in general was amicable,
and organized religious groups were widely respected in society.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
U.S. Government policy toward the country is to promote a rapid,
peaceful transition to democracy and respect for human rights,
including religious freedom, and the U.S. Government encourages the
development of civil society, which includes the strengthening of
religious institutions.
The U.S. Government attempted to raise human rights issues,
including religious discrimination and harassment, with government
officials, but the Government refused to discuss such matters. The U.S.
Interests Section in Havana continued to maintain regular contact with
the various religious leaders and communities and to support
nongovernmental organization initiatives that aided religious groups.
The U.S. Government regularly sought to facilitate travel to and from
the country by religious persons as well as delivery of donated goods
and materials that in some cases were provided to religious
institutions. The Interests Section continued to raise issues of human
rights, including religious discrimination and harassment, with
government officials; however, the Government refused to discuss these
concerns. As in the past, the U.S. Government continuously urged
international pressure on the Government to cease its repressive
practices, including religious discrimination and harassment.
__________
DOMINICA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 291 square miles and an estimated
population of 70,000. Approximately 61 percent of the population
adhered to the Roman Catholic faith. According to the 2001 population
and housing census, followers of evangelical churches represented 18
percent of the population. Seventh-day Adventists and Methodists
represented the next largest denominations, accounting for 6 percent
and 3.7 percent of the population, respectively. Minority religious
groups and denominations, whose members ranged in number from 1.6
percent to 0.2 percent of the population, included Rastafarians,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Anglicans, and Muslims. According to the census,
1.4 percent of the population belonged to ``other'' religious groups,
including Baptist, Nazarene, Church of Christ, Brethren Christian, and
the Baha'i Faith; 6 percent of the population claimed no religious
affiliation.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government is secular and does not interfere with an
individual's right to worship; however, the Government maintains a
close relationship with the Christian churches.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday, Whit Monday, and Christmas
are national holidays.
All religious organizations are required to register with the
Government. Organizations must register their buildings through an
application to the government registrar, and they then must register as
nonprofit organizations with the attorney general. Such recognition
affects a church's nonprofit organization status, its ability to hold
public meetings, and the work status of the church's missionaries. Any
organization denied permission to register has the right to apply for
judicial review.
On February 21, 2006, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons) received approval of its application to operate in the
country and filed its articles of incorporation. The Church submitted
its application in 2003 and ultimately had to pursue the matter through
legal channels to obtain recognition.
The public school curriculum includes Christian education, and
students are led in prayer during morning assembly. Non-Christian
students are not required to participate. There are Catholic,
Methodist, and Seventh-day Adventist schools, and the Government
subsidizes teachers' salaries at religiously affiliated schools.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, used in their
religious rituals, was illegal and that their members were victims of
societal discrimination, especially in hiring.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Dominica Christian
Council and the Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches conducted
activities to promote peace, greater mutual understanding, and
tolerance among adherents of different denominations within the
Christian faith.
Rastafarians complained that there was widespread discrimination
against their members, especially in hiring and in schools.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, which occupies two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola,
has an area of 18,815 square miles and a population estimated at 9.1
million. The largest religious denomination was the Roman Catholic
Church. Traditional Protestants, evangelical Christians (particularly
Assemblies of God, Church of God, Baptists, and Pentecostals), Seventh-
day Adventists, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) had a much smaller but generally
growing presence. According to Demos 2004, a population survey taken in
2004 by the Center for Political and Social Studies of the Pontifical
Catholic Mother and Teacher University and the Center for Social
Studies and Demographics, the population was nominally 64.4 percent
Catholic and 11.4 percent Protestant (under which category the survey
grouped evangelicals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and traditional
Protestants). In the same study, 22.5 percent of the sample said they
had no religion. Demos 2004 also reported that 55.1 percent of
respondents considered themselves religiously observant, while 44.3
percent did not practice actively. The Dominican Council of
Evangelicals claimed that evangelicals represented 16 percent of the
population. Anecdotal evidence suggested that individuals who
identified themselves as Protestants and evangelicals were
significantly more likely to be religiously observant than Catholics.
There were approximately 300 Jews in the country, of whom 200 were
observant. Most lived in Santo Domingo, which had a synagogue and a
community leader but no ordained rabbi. There was a synagogue for the
small Jewish community in Sosua, descended from the resettlement of
more than 600 European Jewish refugees before the Second World War.
Both synagogues were led by the same individual. Various government
sources estimated that there were between 5,000 and 10,000 Muslims in
the country. There was an active Sunni mosque in Santo Domingo, with
approximately 250 regular worshippers. A few adherents practiced
Buddhism and Hinduism. Many Catholics practiced a combination of
Catholicism and Afro-Caribbean beliefs (santeria) or witchcraft
(brujeria), but because these practices were usually concealed, the
number of adherents was unknown.
Organized foreign missionary groups working in the country included
Mormons, Mennonites, Episcopalians, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Other
missionaries were nondenominational or affiliated with independent
churches.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The constitution specifies that there is no state religion. The
Government signed a concordat in 1954 with the Vatican, making
Catholicism the official religion of the country and extending to the
Catholic Church special privileges not granted to other religious
groups. These include the use of public funds to underwrite some church
expenses, such as rehabilitation of church facilities, and a complete
exoneration from customs duties.
Religious groups are required to register with the Government.
Religious groups other than the Catholic Church may request
exonerations from customs duties from the Office of the Presidency.
This process can be lengthy; however, no requests for tax exoneration
were denied during the period covered by this report. Evangelical
Protestant leaders have regularly urged the Government to provide their
churches privileges equivalent to those granted to the Catholic Church.
Catholic weddings are the only religious wedding ceremonies that the
Government recognizes.
The law requires that the Bible be read in public schools, but it
was not enforced. Private schools are not obliged to include Bible
reading among their weekly activities.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall promotion of human rights.
Representatives of the U.S. embassy met with leaders of various
religious communities, including those of minority groups.
__________
ECUADOR
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 109,483 square miles and a population
estimated at 12.2 million in 2001. The Catholic Episcopal Conference
estimated that 85 percent of the population was Roman Catholic, with 35
percent of Catholics actively practicing. Some groups, particularly
indigenous people who lived in the mountains, followed a syncretic form
of Catholicism that combined indigenous beliefs with orthodox Catholic
doctrine. Saints often were venerated in ways similar to indigenous
deities. In the Amazonian jungle region, Catholic practices were often
combined with elements of shamanism.
The Evangelical Missionary Union estimated that there were one
million Protestants in the country. While Protestant conversions
traditionally have been among the lower classes, there were growing
numbers of professionals converting to Protestantism. Southern
Baptists, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
Jehovah's Witnesses, Presbyterians, and Pentecostals have successfully
found converts in different regions, particularly among indigenous
people in the Sierra provinces of Chimborazo, Bolivar, Cotopaxi,
Imbabura, and Pichincha, especially among persons who practiced
syncretic religions, as well as in groups marginalized by society.
Other popular evangelical groups included the Assembly of God in urban
areas and the Church of the Word of God, which was growing rapidly in
indigenous areas. In general, rural indigenous areas tended to be
either entirely Catholic or entirely Protestant.
Hundreds of evangelical churches existed, and many of them were not
connected with a particular denomination. Some multidenominational
Christian groups, such as the Gospel Missionary Union, the Christian
and Missionary Alliance, and Hoy Cristo Jesus Bendice, have been active
for more than sixty years.
Many of the religious groups registered with the Government had
very small numbers; these included Anglicans, Baha'is, Episcopalians,
Lutherans, Presbyterians, and the Unification Church. Other groups
present in small numbers were Muslims, Jews, and adherents of Eastern
Orthodox religions. There were also followers of Inti, the traditional
Inca sun god, and some atheists, but there were no reliable statistics
on the size of these smaller groups.
In big cities, Protestant mega-churches, with more than ten
thousand members, were a growing phenomenon. There was a high
percentage of mestizo Protestants in the Guayaquil area.
Protestant organizations were usually divided between predominantly
indigenous organizations, such as the Council of Evangelical Indigenous
People and Organizations (FEINE), and mestizo organizations.
Organized foreign missionary groups working in the country included
Southern Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostals.
Other missionaries were nondenominational or affiliated with
independent churches.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
grants all citizens and foreigners the right to practice the faith of
their choice freely, in public or in private; the only limits are
``those proscribed by law to protect and respect the diversity,
plurality, security, and rights of others.'' The constitution prohibits
discrimination based on religion.
The Government requires religious groups to be licensed or
registered if they engage in proselytizing activity. Religious
organizations that do not engage in such activity may still choose to
register to obtain a legal identity, which is useful when entering into
contracts. Any religious organization wishing to register with the
Government must possess a charter and be in nonprofit status, include
all names used by the group (to ensure that names of previously
registered groups are not used without their permission), and provide
signatures of at least fifteen members. In addition, groups must file a
petition with the Ministry of Government, using a licensed attorney,
and pay a $100 registration fee. During the period covered by this
report, the Government worked to standardize the registration process
for religious groups.
The Government permits missionary activity and public religious
expression by all religious groups.
The Government does not generally permit religious instruction in
public schools; private schools have complete liberty to provide
religious instruction, as do parents in the home. However, there were
some schools offering religious instruction that received both private
funds from the Catholic Church and public funds from the Ministry of
Education.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government and civil society as part of its overall efforts to promote
human rights. U.S. embassy staff met with leaders of numerous religious
communities, including representatives of the Catholic Church, the
Jewish community, and Protestant groups, to monitor the status of
religious freedom in the country.
__________
EL SALVADOR
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 8,108 square miles and an estimated
population of approximately 6.7 million. The country was predominantly
Roman Catholic, with a sizeable Protestant minority, plus small
communities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), Hare Krishna, Muslims, and Jews, among others. A very small
segment of the population practiced an indigenous religion.
According to a 2003 survey by the Technological University Public
Opinion Center, approximately 57.1 percent of the population was Roman
Catholic. Additionally, 21.2 percent were members of Protestant
churches. (Among Protestants, informal church estimates suggested
approximately 35 percent were Baptists and members of Assemblies of
God.) Members of Jehovah's Witnesses accounted for an estimated 1.9
percent of the population, 0.7 percent were members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2.3 percent were associated with
other churches and religious groups, and 16.8 percent were not
affiliated with any church or religion.
Several missionary groups were active, including Mormon, Catholic,
Seventh-day Adventist, and Assembly of God.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
states that all persons are equal before the law and prohibits
discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, or religion.
The constitution requires the president, cabinet ministers and vice
ministers, supreme court justices, judges, governors, attorney general,
public defender, and other senior government officials to be
laypersons. In addition, the electoral code requires judges of the
supreme electoral tribunal and members of municipal councils to be
laypersons.
A 1940 law established Holy Week as holidays for public employees,
and each year the legislative assembly issues a decree establishing
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday as official holidays
for the private sector.
The constitution explicitly recognizes the Roman Catholic Church
and grants it legal status. In addition, the law governing nonprofit
organizations and foundations states that such groups may register for
official status. A religious group is not required to register with the
Government but must do so if it wants to incorporate formally. The
civil code gives equal status to churches as nonprofit foundations. For
formal recognition, they must apply through the Office of the Director
General for Nonprofit Associations and Foundations (DGFASFL) within the
Ministry of Governance. Each group must present a constitution and
bylaws that describe, among other things, the type of organization,
location of offices, goals and principles, requirements for membership,
type and function of ruling bodies, and assessments or dues. Before the
DGFASFL can grant registration to a group, it must determine that the
group's constitution and bylaws do not violate the law. Once a group is
registered, notice of DGFASFL approval and the group's constitution and
bylaws must be published in the official government gazette.
The law for nonprofit organizations and foundations charges the
Ministry of Governance with registering, regulating, and overseeing the
finances of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), non-Catholic
churches, and other religious groups in the country. The law
specifically exempts unions, cooperatives, and the Catholic Church.
During the period covered by this report, there were 118 requests for
new registration, of which 94 were approved, 22 were pending, and 2
lacked the necessary documentation for approval.
Regulations implementing the tax law grant tax-exempt status to
recognized non-Catholic churches and other religious groups. The
regulations also make donations to recognized churches tax-deductible.
Noncitizens seeking actively to promote a church or religion must
obtain a special residence visa for religious activities. Visitors to
the country are not allowed to proselytize while on a visitor or
tourist visa. There were no allegations of difficulties in obtaining
visas for religious activities during the period covered by this
report.
Public education is secular. Private religious schools operate
freely in the country. All private schools, whether religious or
secular, must meet the same standards to be approved by the Ministry of
Education.
The president attends different religious ceremonies to promote
interfaith understanding.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to the free practice of religion. On January 23,
2006, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders founded the Council of
Religions for Peace. Leaders of the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican,
Baptist, evangelical, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist religious groups
participated.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy continued to maintain a regular dialogue with principal
religious leaders, church officers, church-sponsored universities, and
NGOs. During the period covered by this report, the embassy sponsored
three U.S. scholars in their studies of the small Jewish community, the
Anglican Church and its work in social justice, and Catholic religious
artwork in the country.
__________
GRENADA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, including Carriacou and Petite Martinique, has an area
of 133 square miles and a population of slightly more than 100,000.
Approximately 93,000 persons live on the island of Grenada, 7,000 on
Carriacou, and 900 on Petite Martinique. Sixty-four percent of the
general population was Roman Catholic, 22 percent was Anglican, 3
percent Methodist, and 3 percent Seventh-day Adventist. Other
denominations included Presbyterian, Church of God, Baptist,
Pentecostal, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
and Mennonite. There were an estimated 5,000 Rastafarians. There were
also approximately 500 Muslims, including foreign medical students at
St. George's University, and an estimated 150 Baha'is.
Reportedly more than 60 percent of the population regularly
participated in formal religious services.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government is secular and does not interfere with an
individual's right to worship.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday, Corpus Christi, Easter,
Whit Monday, and Christmas are national holidays.
Religious groups must register with the Prime Minister's Office,
which is responsible for issuing licenses for religious groups,
buildings, and events. Registration entitles them to some customs and
import tax exemptions.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Hurricane Ivan damaged 98 percent of the churches on the island in
2004. Faith-based organizations worked together to repair or refurbish
most of the damaged churches; however, at the end of the period covered
by this report, the largest in St. George's remained roofless.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
GUATEMALA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, traditional Mayan
leaders continued to report discrimination from some nongovernmental
sources.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 42,043 square miles and a population of
approximately 12.7 million. Official census data indicated that the
country's indigenous population was 43 percent, although unofficial
estimates were higher.
Historically, the country has been overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.
However, in recent decades Protestant groups have gained a significant
number of members. Although there was no accurate census of religious
affiliation, some sources estimated that between 50 and 60 percent of
the population was Catholic and approximately 40 percent was
Protestant, primarily evangelical. Leaders of Mayan spiritual
organizations maintained that many indigenous Catholics and some
Protestants also practiced some form of indigenous spiritual ritual.
The largest Protestant denomination was the Full Gospel Church,
followed by the Assembly of God, the Central American Church, and the
Prince of Peace Church. Other Protestant denominations included
Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Episcopalian, as well as many
independent evangelical denominations. Other religious groups were
represented, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, and, primarily in the capital, small
communities of Jews and Muslims. Few citizens considered themselves
atheists. There were no accurate statistics on church attendance,
although various sources reported that it was very high in the
evangelical community and somewhat lower among Catholics.
Catholic and Protestant churches were distributed throughout the
country, and their adherents were distributed among all major ethnic
groups and political parties.
U.S. and Latin American Christian missionaries worked in both
religious and social capacities, although there were no reliable
statistics as to their numbers.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion; however, the constitution recognizes
explicitly the distinct legal personality of the Catholic Church.
The Government does not establish requirements for religious
recognition, nor does it impose registration requirements for religious
members to worship together. The Government requires religious
congregations as well as nonreligious associations and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) to register as legal entities if they wish to
transact business. Such legal recognition is necessary, among other
things, for a congregation to rent or purchase premises, enter into
contracts, and enjoy taxexempt status. The Government does not
charge religious groups a registration fee.
The Catholic Church does not have to register as a legal entity; it
is so recognized in the constitution. Any other congregation may file a
copy of its bylaws and a list of its initial membership with the
Ministry of Government to receive formal recognition. The congregation
must have at least twenty-five initial members, and the bylaws must
reflect an intention to pursue religious or spiritual objectives.
Applications are rejected only if the organization does not appear to
be devoted to a religious objective, appears to be in pursuit of
illegal activities, or engages in activities that appear likely to
threaten the public order. There were no reports that the Government
rejected any group's application during the period covered by this
report; however, Protestant leaders reported that their churches have
found the process lengthy (lasting from six months to several years),
and they estimated that, due to these difficulties, 8,000 Protestant
churches in the country either had not applied for registration or had
not completed the process.
Foreign missionaries are required to obtain tourist visas, which
are issued for renewable periods of three months. After renewing their
tourist visa once, they may apply for temporary residence. Specific
missionary visas are not issued or required.
The Government does not subsidize religious groups, and no groups
reported receiving national funding. The constitution permits, but does
not require, religious instruction in public schools. There is no
national framework for determining the nature or content of religious
instruction in public schools. Accordingly, when provided, such
instruction tends to be programmed at the local level. During the
period covered by this report, the Ministry of Education consulted with
the Catholic Church and Protestant groups on the integration of general
values, although not specific religious teachings, into school
curricula.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Although registered religious entities are legally exempt from
taxes, Protestant leaders noted that local officials sometimes required
their churches to pay property taxes.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Leaders of the Catholic,
evangelical Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim communities reported that
complaints from their followers of discrimination based on religion
were rare.
The ecumenical movement was focused on discussion of social
questions rather than interfaith discourse. For several years,
representatives of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and traditional Mayan
spirituality have participated in the Interreligious Dialogue and the
Foro Guatemala (the former meets every two to three months, the latter
irregularly) to communicate primarily on social and political topics.
Evangelical Protestant churches were split between a majority
group, which avoided ecumenical engagement with other religious
traditions, including Roman Catholicism and Mayan religious practices,
and a minority group, which actively promoted an ecumenical and
multicultural viewpoint.
Indigenous people historically have been dominated by ladinos
(citizens of mixed European and indigenous descent) and generally have
not participated fully in the mainstream of social, economic, and
political activity.
Mayan religious leaders continued to note widespread disagreements
with evangelical Protestants, and to a lesser extent, charismatic
Catholics. Protestant churches historically have been less tolerant of
indigenous practices than the Catholic Church, whose approach in many
areas of the country is to tolerate traditional practice not directly
in conflict with Catholic dogma. During the Spanish colonial period,
some Catholic churches were built on sacred Mayan sites. Mayan leaders
reported that in a few areas of the country Catholic priests have
forbidden followers of Mayan spirituality access to these sites.
Although many members of evangelical congregations are indigenous,
some local evangelical leaders have denounced traditional religious
practices as ``witchcraft'' or ``devil worship'' and have discouraged
their indigenous members from being involved with traditional religious
practices.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy officials, including the ambassador, met on many occasions with
leaders of major religious institutions as well as religious-based
NGOs. The embassy promoted dialogue between leaders of Mayan and ladino
groups within civil society and within diverse religious communities.
__________
GUYANA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
Despite ethnic tensions, the generally amicable relationship among
religious groups in society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 83,000 square miles and a population of
approximately 751,000. The country is religiously and ethnically
diverse. Nearly half of the population could trace its ancestry to the
Indian subcontinent, and more than one-third of the population was of
African descent. These two ethnicities, along with smaller native South
American groups and persons of European and Chinese descent, practiced
a wide range of religions.
Data from a 2002 census on religious affiliation indicated that
approximately 57 percent of the population was Christian, including the
following faiths: 17 percent Pentecostal, 8 percent Roman Catholic, 7
percent Anglican, 5 percent Seventh-day Adventist, and 20 percent other
Christian faiths. Approximately 28 percent was Hindu, an estimated 7
percent was Muslim (both Sunni and Shi'a), and 2 percent practiced
other beliefs, including Rastafarianism and Baha'ism. Approximately 4
percent of the population did not profess any religion.
Members of all ethnic groups were well represented in all religious
groups, with two exceptions: Almost all Hindus were Indo-Guyanese, and
nearly all Rastafarians were Afro-Guyanese. Foreign missionaries from a
wide range of denominations were present.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Members of all religious groups were allowed to worship freely.
There is no state or otherwise dominant religion, and the Government
practiced no form of religious favoritism or discrimination.
The Government recognizes religious groups of all faiths present in
the country. All such groups are required to register with the
Government to receive formal recognition. Religious groups seeking to
establish operations require permission from the Ministry of Home
Affairs before commencing their activities. This permission does not
allow access to the interior; for such access, all nonofficial persons
not resident in the interior require special permission from the
Ministries of Home Affairs and of Amerindian Affairs. The ministries
review the scope of proposed activities submitted by a religious body
and grant approval on a case-by-case basis. There is no formal
monitoring of religious groups.
The following holy days are national holidays: Christian--Good
Friday, Easter, and Christmas; Hindu--Phagwah and Diwali; Muslim--the
Birth of the Prophet Muhammad and Eid Al-Adha.
Both public and religiously affiliated schools exist, and parents
are free to send their children to the school of their choice without
sanction or restriction. The Government imposes no requirements
regarding religion for any official or nonofficial purposes.
The Government promoted cooperation among religious communities to
address long-standing racial tensions. In early 2004 the president
announced that the Government would provide financial support,
including no-cost spectrum on the radio frequency band, for an all-
faith television station. The Inter-Religious Organization (IRO), a
nongovernmental umbrella organization for Christian, Hindu, and Muslim
organizations, was mandated to work out the modalities for establishing
such a station. The IRO's activities were somewhat limited due to
infrequent meetings, and not all denominations were represented in its
voluntary membership. At the end of the period covered by this report,
the IRO had completed a proposal for an all-faith television station,
but the Government had not acted on it.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The Guyana Defense Force (GDF) did not have a chaplaincy; however,
efforts were made to coordinate with civilian religious groups to
provide personnel with access to religious services. Leaders of all
major faiths provided prayer and counseling, although generally only
Christian sermons were given on GDF bases. Attendance at religious
services depended on the discretion of individual commanders, although
in many cases it was mandatory. Membership in a particular religion did
not confer any advantage or disadvantage; however, general military
practice tended to be biased in favor of Christians. For example, no
allowance was made for Muslim observance of Friday as a special prayer
day, nor was provision made for Hindu dietary preferences.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Although significant problems
existed between the country's two main ethnic groups, tensions were
generally racially, not religiously, based. Religious leaders
frequently have worked together to attempt to bridge these differences.
Despite its limitations, the IRO took a prominent role in trying to
reduce tensions in the period before the 2006 national elections. It
organized a peace march that took place on January 16, 2006, and a code
of conduct for the parties contesting the elections to sign on May 2,
2006.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and other embassy officials met on numerous occasions
with leaders of religious groups and with foreign missionaries. The
embassy continued to pursue a policy of active engagement with the
Islamic community. The ambassador and other embassy officials spoke
before various religious groups promoting religious and racial harmony.
__________
HAITI
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with
the Dominican Republic, has an area of 10,714 square miles and a
population of 8.4 million.
A U.N. Population Fund census released in May 2006 (based on 2003
data) revealed the following religious demographics: 54.7 percent of
the population was Roman Catholic, 15.4 percent was Baptist, 7.9
percent Pentecostal, 3 percent Adventist, 2.1 percent voodoo (vodun),
1.5 percent Methodist, 0.7 percent Episcopalian, 0.5 percent Jehovah's
Witnesses, 0.07 percent Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday
Saints (Mormons), 0.02 percent Muslim, and 0.4 percent other religious
affiliation; 10.2 percent reported they followed no religion. Census
data did not account for the remaining 3.51 percent of the population.
The figure for voodoo represented only those who selected voodoo as
their primary religion. A much larger segment of the population
practiced voodoo alongside Christianity (most commonly with
Catholicism) and considered Christianity their primary religion. While
the Government officially recognized voodoo as a religion in 2003, it
continued to be frowned upon by the elite, conservative Catholics, and
Protestants. The Government provides no legal status for voodoo except
for its recognition as a legitimate religious practice.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, provided that
practices do not disturb law and order, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice. The Government at all levels sought
to protect this right in full and did not tolerate its abuse, either by
governmental or private actors.
The constitution directs the establishment of laws to regulate the
recognition and operation of religious groups. The administration and
monitoring of religious affairs falls under the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Cults. The Bureau of Religious Affairs within the ministry
is responsible for registering churches, clergy, and missionaries.
The following holy days are observed officially as national
holidays: Good Friday, Corpus Christi, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day,
and Christmas.
Recognition by the Bureau of Religious Affairs affords religious
groups standing in legal disputes, protects churches' tax-exempt
status, and extends civil recognition to church documents such as
marriage and baptismal certificates. Requirements for registration with
the bureau include information on qualifications of the group's leader,
a list of members of the religious organization, and a list of social
projects of the organization. Registered religious groups are required
to submit an annual report of their activities to the bureau. Most
Catholic and Protestant organizations were registered with the
ministry. Many nondenominational Christian groups and voodoo
practitioners have not sought official status; however, there were no
reports of any instance in which this requirement hampered the
operation of a religious group. According to the Government, many
groups--Christian and voodoo--do not seek official recognition simply
because they operate informally.
Goods brought into the country for use by registered churches and
missionaries are exempted from customs duties, and registered churches
are not taxed. Some church organizations have complained that customs
officials sometimes refused to honor a church's tax-exempt status;
however, it appeared that these refusals generally were attempts by
corrupt officials to extort bribes rather than to limit religious
practices.
For many years Roman Catholicism was the official religion of the
country. While this official status ended with the enactment of the
1987 constitution, neither the Government nor the Holy See has
renounced the 1860 concordat, which continues to serve as the basis for
relations between the Catholic Church and the state, as well as for the
operation of Catholic religious orders. In many respects, Catholicism
retains its traditional primacy among the country's religions. Official
and quasi-official functions are held in Catholic churches and
cathedrals, such as ``Te Deum'' Masses for Independence Day, Flag Day,
and Founders Day. However, in the past several years the Government has
recognized the growing role of Protestant churches. For example,
Protestant and Episcopal clergy and voodoo practitioners have been
invited to participate when the religious sector is asked to play an
advisory role in politics.
Many foreign missionaries are affiliated with U.S.-based
denominations or individual churches. Others are associated with
independent, nondenominational Christian groups. Missionary groups
operate hospitals, orphanages, schools, and clinics throughout the
country. According to a 2004 survey, eighty-three religious groups sent
temporary missions on a regular basis to participate in relief and
humanitarian activities.
Foreign missionaries enter on regular tourist visas and submit
paperwork similar to that submitted by domestic religious groups to
register with the Bureau of Religious Affairs. While some missionaries
were concerned by the slowness of the Government to issue residence
permits, there was no indication that the delay was due to
obstructionism.
The constitution stipulates that persons cannot be required to join
an organization or receive religious instruction contrary to their
convictions. Therefore, in Catholic or Protestant parochial schools,
the school authorities may not permit proselytization on behalf of the
church with which they are affiliated.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Religion plays a prominent
role in society. Many citizens display a keen interest in religious
matters and freely express their religious beliefs.
Ecumenical organizations existed. Interfaith cooperation was
perhaps most effective in the National Federation of Private Schools.
While society generally was tolerant of the variety of religious
practices that flourish, Christian attitudes toward voodoo varied. Many
Christians accept voodoo as part of the country's culture, but others
regard it as incompatible with Christianity. This difference in views
led to isolated instances of conflict in the past; however, no such
instances were reported during the period covered by this report. The
Bureau of Religious Affairs managed periodic tension between some
Protestant and voodoo groups effectively. Tensions between Protestant
and voodoo groups were local in nature and usually involved land
disputes or conflicts over proselytizing. In some cases, the bureau
sends representatives to assist local authorities in settling such
disputes. The parties in conflict usually accept the ministry's
mediating role.
Some Protestant and Catholic clergy were politically active. One
Protestant pastor led the Christian Movement for a New Haiti political
party, and another led the National Union of Christians for the
Renovation of Haiti political party. Several Catholic priests remained
among the leadership of the Fanmi Lavalas party of past president Jean
Bertrand Aristide, a former Catholic priest. The Conference of Catholic
Bishops and the Protestant Federation occasionally issued statements on
political matters.
Particularly in rural areas, past accusations of sorcery were known
to lead to mob violence resulting in deaths. Women generally were
targeted in these cases, which usually were precipitated by the death
of a child from unknown causes. In view of the prevalence of voodoo in
rural areas, it appeared likely that voodoo practitioners were targeted
in some of these cases, although no examples were reported during the
period covered by this report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives routinely met with religious and civil society
leaders to seek their cooperation in the political process. The
Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Protestant Federation, and the
Episcopal Church each had a seat on the Provisional Electoral Council,
with which the embassy worked regularly as the council prepared for and
conducted elections from February to April 2006.
__________
HONDURAS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 43,278 square miles and a population of
approximately seven million. An estimated 90 percent of the population
was mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European), with small numbers of
Amerindians (approximately 7 percent); persons of European, African,
Asian, and Arab descent made up the rest.
There were no reliable government statistics on the distribution of
membership in churches. The Roman Catholic Church reported a total
membership of slightly more than 80 percent of the population. In a
2002 survey, the Le Vote Harris reported that 63 percent of respondents
identified themselves as Catholics, 23 percent as evangelical
Protestant Christians, and 14 percent as ``other'' or provided no
answer. Anecdotal evidence and unreleased poll results suggested that
the number of Protestant, including evangelical, Christians appeared to
be growing to more than one-quarter of the population. The principal
religious groups included Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Episcopal,
Lutheran, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mennonite, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and approximately 300 evangelical
Protestant churches. The most prominent evangelical churches included
the Abundant Life, Living Love, and Great Commission churches. The
National Association of Evangelical Pastors represented the evangelical
leadership. There were significant numbers of Christian missionaries
from the United States. There were small numbers of Muslims and Jews.
There was a mosque and a synagogue in San Pedro Sula and a synagogue in
Tegucigalpa.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There is no state religion. However, the armed forces have an
official Catholic patron saint. The Government consults with the
Catholic Church and occasionally appoints Catholic leaders to quasi-
official commissions on key subjects of mutual concern, such as
anticorruption initiatives. Two of the prominent evangelical Protestant
churches were represented on the board of the National Council of
Anticorruption.
The Christian holy days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and
Christmas are national holidays.
The Government does not require religious groups to register. The
constitution grants the president the power to grant ``juridical
personality'' to associations, including religious organizations. This
status is a prerequisite to being accorded certain rights and
privileges, such as tax exemptions. Associations are required to submit
an application to the Ministry of Government and Justice describing
their internal organization, bylaws, and goals. In the case of
evangelical churches, the application then is referred to a group of
leaders from the Evangelical Fraternity of Churches for review. This
group has the power to suggest, but not require, changes. All religious
applications also are referred to the Solicitor General's Office for a
legal opinion that all elements meet constitutional requirements. The
president signs the approved resolutions granting juridical
personality. There were no reports that the Ministry of Government and
Justice turned down any such application submitted by a religious group
during the period covered by this report. The Catholic Church and other
recognized religious organizations are accorded tax exemptions and
waivers of customs duty on imports.
The Government requires foreign missionaries to obtain entry and
residence permits. A local institution or individual must sponsor a
missionary's application for residency, which is submitted to the
Ministry of Government and Justice. The ministry generally grants such
permits.
There are religious schools that provide professional training,
such as seminaries, and church-operated schools that provide general
education, such as parochial schools. They receive no special treatment
from the Government, nor do they face any restrictions.
The law allows deportation of foreigners who practice witchcraft or
religious fraud. There were no known cases of deportation under this
law during the period covered by this report. In the fall of 2005, the
Government issued a regulatory announcement to the application of
Article 148 of the Law of Social Harmony that the press characterized
as a crackdown on witchcraft in the countryside. (There is a
longstanding tradition in the countryside of folk healers and fortune-
tellers.) During the end of the period covered by this report, there
were no complaints that the measure constituted a violation of freedom
of religion.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
In 2000 the Congress adopted a controversial measure requiring
that, beginning in 2001, all school classes begin with ten minutes of
readings from the Bible. However, at the end of the period covered by
this report, the legislation had not been put into effect.
The Catholic Church continued to seek the return of former
properties of historic interest confiscated by the Government at
independence in 1825; however, the Church has not submitted a formal
request to the Government.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Catholic Church
designated the archbishop of Tegucigalpa as the national-level official
in charge of ecumenical relations, and the archbishop has established
an ecumenical and interreligious dialogue section within his
archdiocese.
There were a few reports of discriminatory popular attitudes
against persons of Arab descent, both first-generation immigrants and
those whose families have resided in the country for generations. These
attitudes occasionally resulted in negative media coverage of Islam and
in unsubstantiated public statements by government officials linking
Arab citizens to terrorist activities; this occurred despite the fact
that most Arabs in the country were Christian.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy also maintained a regular dialogue with religious leaders,
church-sponsored universities, and religious organizations.
__________
JAMAICA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 4,244 square miles and a population of
approximately 2.7 million. According to the most recent census (2001),
the population's religious affiliation was: Church of God, 24 percent;
Seventh-day Adventist, 11 percent; Pentecostal, 10 percent; Baptist, 7
percent; Anglican, 4 percent; Roman Catholic, 2 percent; United Church,
2 percent; Methodist, 2 percent; Jehovah's Witnesses, 2 percent;
Moravian, 1 percent; Brethren, 1 percent; unstated, 3 percent; and
``other,'' 10 percent. The category ``other'' included 24,020
Rastafarians, an estimated 5,000 Muslims, 1,453 Hindus, approximately
350 Jews, and 279 Baha'is. The census reported that 21 percent claimed
no religious affiliation.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. There is no state
religion.
Shortly after being sworn into office at the end of March 2006,
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller instructed her cabinet to ensure
that each government board had a pastor appointed to it. It was clear
this initiative was directed at Christians; however, it appeared that
religious leaders of all faiths could be eligible for appointment. Some
criticized the initiative as an attempt to curry favor with Christians
rather than as a practical proposal for effective government. Other
critics argued that persons should be appointed to boards based on
their expertise rather than their religious affiliation.
The Christian holy days of Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter
Monday, and Christmas are national holidays.
Parliament may act freely to recognize a religious group; however,
registration is not mandatory. Recognized groups receive tax-exempt
status and other privileges, such as the right of their clergy to visit
members in prison.
Foreign missionaries are subject to no restrictions other than the
same immigration controls that govern other foreign visitors.
Religious schools are not subject to any special restrictions, nor
do they receive special treatment from the Government. Most religious
schools are affiliated with either the Catholic Church or Protestant
denominations; there also is at least one Jewish school.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Members of the Rastafarian community continued to complain that law
enforcement officials unfairly targeted them; however, it was not clear
whether the police actions reflected religious discrimination or were
due to the group's illegal use of marijuana, which is an element of
Rastafarian religious practice. In 2003 a parliamentary joint select
committee on marijuana recommended decriminalization of possession of
small quantities for adult personal use in private. Parliament
considered the committee's recommendations but took no further action.
In April 2006 the Senate passed a resolution to have the committee
reconvene and conclude its deliberations, but by the end of the period
covered by this report the committee had not met.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Local media outlets continued
to provide a forum for extensive, open coverage and debate on matters
of religion.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
MEXICO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
were some restrictions at the local level in certain areas.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The
Federal Government continued to strengthen efforts to promote
interfaith understanding and dialogue and to mediate cases of religious
intolerance.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, in certain areas,
particularly in the south, political, cultural, and religious tensions
continued to limit the free practice of religion within some
communities. Most such incidents occurred in the state of Chiapas, but
government officials, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and
evangelical and Roman Catholic representatives agreed that the roots of
these conflicts sometimes lay in political, ethnic, or land disputes.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1,220,663 square miles and a population
of approximately 107 million.
According to the Government's 2000 census, approximately 88 percent
of respondents identified themselves as at least nominally Roman
Catholic. There were an estimated 11,000 Catholic churches and 14,000
ordained Catholic priests and nuns. An additional estimated 90,000
laypersons worked in the Catholic Church system. Other religious groups
for which the 2000 census provided estimates included evangelicals
(including Pentecostals, neopentecostals, and Pentecostal Roots, which
in turn included Live God Church, Truth Column and Support, and the
World's Light), with 1.71 percent of the population; other Protestant
evangelical groups, 2.79 percent; members of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1.25
percent; ``historical'' Protestants (defined by the Government as
Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Del Nazareno, Mennonites, and
others), 0.71 percent; Seventh-day Adventists, 0.58 percent; Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 0.25 percent; Jews, 0.05
percent; and other religions, 0.31 percent. Approximately 3.52 percent
of respondents indicated ``no religion,'' and 0.86 percent did not
specify a religion.
There were no definitive statistics on membership in various
Protestant denominations. A 2000 press report indicated that
Presbyterians accounted for 1 percent of the total population,
Anglicans 0.1 percent, Baptists 0.1 percent, Methodists 0.04 percent,
and Lutherans 0.01 percent. Official figures sometimes differed from
membership claims of religious groups. For example, the
Seventhday Adventist Church claimed a nationwide membership of
600,000 to 700,000 persons; however, according to the 2000 census, only
488,945 persons identified themselves as such. Also according to the
2000 census, 205,229 persons identified themselves as Mormons, whereas
the Mormon Church claimed a nationwide membership of approximately 1.2
million. Some Protestant evangelical groups claimed that their
coreligionists constituted close to 60 percent of the population in
Chiapas; however, in the 2000 census only 21.9 percent of respondents
in that state identified themselves as Protestant. The exact number of
evangelical and Protestant churches and pastors was unknown, but as of
May 31, 2006, the Director for Religious Associations of the Federal
Secretariat of Government (DAR) had registered 3,404 evangelical and 79
Protestant associations.
Non-Catholic Christians were concentrated primarily in the south.
Chiapas State, with a large indigenous population and approximately 4
percent of the country's population, had the largest percentage of non-
Catholics, 36.2 percent, compared to the national average, estimated at
12 percent. Non-Catholics represented 29.6 percent of the population of
Tabasco State, followed by Campeche State with 28.7 percent, and
Quintana Roo State with 26.8 percent.
The Jewish community claimed approximately 50,000 members; by far
the largest number lived in Mexico City, although there also were
organized congregations in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana, and Cancun.
There was a small Muslim population in the city of Torreon, Coahuila,
and there were an estimated 300 Muslims in the San Cristobal de las
Casas area in Chiapas. Some indigenous people in the states of Chiapas,
Oaxaca, and Yucatan practiced a syncretic religion that mixed Catholic
and pre-Hispanic Mayan religious beliefs.
In some communities, particularly in the south, there was a
correlation between politics and religion. A small number of local
leaders often reportedly manipulated religious tensions in their
communities for their own political or economic benefit, particularly
in Chiapas.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Federal
Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there
were some restrictions. State and municipal governments generally
protected this right, but some local officials, particularly in the
south, infringed on religious freedom, using religion as a pretext for
conflicts related to political, ethnic, or land disputes.
The constitution states that all persons are free to profess their
chosen religious belief and to practice its ceremonies and acts of
worship. Congress may not enact laws that establish or prohibit any
religion. The constitution also provides for the separation of church
and state. The 1992 Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship
defines the administrative remedies that protect the right to religious
freedom. In 2001 a provision was added to the constitution that
establishes a prohibition against any form of discrimination, including
discrimination against persons on the basis of religion.
The law permits religious groups to operate informally without
registering with the Government. However, if a religious community
wishes to take on a legal personality, which is necessary for it to
enter into contracts and purchase or rent land, it must register with
the DAR as a religious association. The registration process is
routine. The most recent statistics showed that 6,585 religious
associations were registered, of which the vast majority were
evangelical Protestant or Catholic. During the period covered by this
report, the DAR registered 213 associations, some of which had applied
for registration previously. In addition, at the end of the period
covered by this report, 360 applications either awaited further
supporting documentation or were not in compliance with registration
criteria.
To be registered as a religious association, a group must
articulate its fundamental doctrines and religious beliefs, not be
organized primarily for profit, and not promote acts that are
physically harmful or dangerous to its members. Religious groups must
be registered to apply for official building permits, receive tax
exemptions, and hold religious meetings outside of their places of
worship.
In April 2005 the DAR revoked the registry of MEX-USA for changing
its statutes, the first revocation since the establishment of the law
of religious associations. While having originally registered as a
Catholic organization, MEX-USA later incorporated members who
worshipped the Saint of Death (Santa Muerte). During the period covered
by this report, the members of the organization continued to meet and
worship informally as an unregistered religious group.
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which the DAR fined in
April 2005 for profiting from its activities, continued to operate,
although it reportedly no longer conditioned promises of salvation on
the receipt of donations in particular amounts.
The DAR promotes religious tolerance and investigates cases of
religious intolerance. All religious associations have equal access to
the DAR for registering complaints. Its officials generally are
responsive and helpful in mediating disputes among religious
communities. When parties present a religious dispute to the DAR, it
attempts to mediate a solution. If mediation fails, the parties may
submit the problem to the DAR for binding arbitration. If the parties
do not agree to this procedure, one or the other may elect to seek
judicial redress. Municipal and state officials generally are
responsive and helpful in mediating disputes among communities.
However, when a mediated solution cannot be found, officials have not
always been aggressive in pursuing legal remedies against offending
local leaders (see section III).
Five states--Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Veracruz, and Mexico
State--have their own under secretaries for religious affairs. In Nuevo
Leon the position of Under Secretary for Citizens' Services includes
Religious Affairs as part of the portfolio.
Of eight official holidays, Christmas Day is the only Christian
holy day. Most employers give holiday leave on Holy Thursday, Good
Friday, All Souls' Day, Virgin of Guadalupe Day, and Christmas Eve.
The Government requires religious groups to apply for a permit to
construct new buildings or convert existing buildings into houses of
worship. Religious groups reported no difficulty in obtaining
government permission for these activities. Any religious building
constructed after 1992 is the property of the religious association
that built it. All religious buildings erected before 1992 are
classified as national patrimony and owned by the state and exempt from
taxes.
The constitution provides that public education must be secular,
but religious associations are free to maintain private schools.
Primary-level homeschooling for religious reasons is not explicitly
prohibited or supported by the law; however, to enter a secondary
school, one must have attended an accredited primary school.
Homeschooling is allowed at the secondary level after schooling at an
accredited primary school has been completed.
Missionaries representing a wide variety of groups were present.
Although the Federal Government limits the number of visas each
religious group is allowed, the application procedure is routine and
uncomplicated.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The constitution bars members of the clergy from holding public
office, advocating partisan political views, supporting political
candidates, or opposing the laws or institutions of the state. The work
of religious clergy in public institutions such as jails or hospitals
is neither explicitly prohibited nor supported by law.
Religious associations must notify the Government of their intent
to hold a religious meeting outside of a licensed place of worship.
Thousands of notifications are typically submitted every year. The
Government routinely approves such requests.
According to the law, religious groups may not own or administer
broadcast radio or television stations. Government permission is
required to transmit religious programming on commercial broadcast
radio or television, and the Government routinely grants permission.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The Federal Government generally respects religious freedom in
practice; however, poor enforcement mechanisms allowed local
authorities in Chiapas and several other states to discriminate against
persons based on their religious beliefs. Federal and local governments
often failed to punish those responsible for acts of religiously
motivated violence. In parts of Chiapas, leaders of indigenous
communities sometimes regarded evangelical groups and Catholic lay
catechists as unwelcome outside influences and as potential economic
and political threats. As a result, these leaders sometimes acquiesced
in or ordered the harassment or expulsion of individuals belonging
chiefly to Protestant evangelical groups. The DAR estimated that 15
percent of reported religious conflicts--115 since the beginning of the
Fox administration in 2000--were abuses by local authorities. Often
these authorities were unpaid officials of small, rural municipalities.
Religious differences frequently were the cited feature of such
incidents; however, the disputes frequently involved several underlying
factors, including ethnic differences, land disputes, and struggles
over local political and economic power. In past years, expulsions
involved burning of homes and crops, beatings, and, occasionally,
killings. During the period covered by this report, there were no known
deaths in incidents that had a religious dimension. These incidents
usually occurred in predominantly Catholic-Mayan communities, and they
mostly involved Catholics harassing or abusing evangelicals or other
Protestants. On several occasions, village officials imposed sanctions
on evangelicals for resisting participation in community festivals or
refusing to work on Saturdays.
The Chiapas-based Evangelical Commission for the Defense of Human
Rights (CEDEH) claimed that municipal authorities have expelled 30,000
persons from their communities in the last thirty years. Some of these
persons were displaced at least partly on religious grounds. A
representative from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH)
reported that there were no official statistics on the displaced.
However, the Diagnostic on Human Rights in Mexico, published in 2003 by
the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, cited
religious conflict as one of the principal reasons for internal
displacement in Chiapas.
In August 2005 members of the Huichol ethnic group belonging to the
Seventh-day Adventist, Baptist, and Apostolic Churches were driven from
their homes in the community of Agua Fria, Mezquitic Municipality,
Jalisco. Village leaders charged that evangelicals did not follow
community by-laws, which require partaking in native religious
practices, including the use of liquor and peyote. Most Huichol
practiced these native customs alongside Catholicism. According to
press reports, at least 120 persons fled their homes and sought refuge
in the neighboring state of Nayarit. According to the National
Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, many of those who
fled settled in Nayarit permanently, while others intended to return to
their village in Jalisco. Local authorities in Jalisco denied charges
of religious intolerance and referred to the conflict as a land
dispute.
In October 2005 an estimated forty families (approximately 150
persons) were threatened with expulsion from the village of San
Nicolas, Ixmiquilpan Municipality, in the state of Hidalgo, allegedly
for defying the ``customs of th[e] town.'' According to press reports,
during an August 28 town assembly it was decided not to permit
evangelicals in the town. In November the governor of Hidalgo and
officials from the Secretariat of Government met with representatives
of the evangelical families and publicly reassured them of their safety
and right to remain. Although a formal resolution had not been reached
by the end of the period covered by this report, tension in the
community had decreased, and newly elected local officials were
reportedly more accommodating of religious differences. While a dispute
concerning official permission for the construction of an evangelical
church had not been resolved, construction materials were reportedly
located at the building site.
According to a Chiapas newspaper, Cuarto Poder, in November 2005 an
evangelical leader in Santa Rita, La Trinitaria Municipality, denounced
a series of attacks on local evangelicals, including assaults,
vandalism, and land seizures. A representative of Jehovah's Witnesses
reported that one of its members in Santa Rita had been incarcerated on
several occasions for not participating in Catholic feast days. Local
authorities seized his farmland, distributed it to other villagers, and
threatened to evict him from the community. The State Directorate for
Religious Affairs in Chiapas, however, categorized this situation as a
land dispute, and legal proceedings were underway to resolve the
problem.
By the end of the period covered by this report, the Tojolabal
Christian families who fled their homes in 2004 after being attacked by
a mob including local officials linked to the Democratic Revolution
Party had not returned. The families joined approximately 300 to 400
Tojolabal Christians expelled from their farms in Las Margaritas
Township in the previous ten months.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom; however, there continued to
be cases of alleged religious intolerance and expulsions from certain
indigenous communities. This was particularly common in Chiapas, where
many residents follow unique and centuries-old syncretistic (Catholic-
Mayan) religious practices and beliefs. Endemic poverty, land tenure
disputes, and lack of educational opportunities also contributed to
tensions in many communities, which at times have resulted in violence.
The most common incidents of intolerance related to traditional
community celebrations. Protestant evangelicals often resisted making
financial donations demanded by community norms that go partly to local
celebrations of Catholic religious holidays, and they also resisted
participating in festivals involving alcohol. News reports estimated
that 10,000 evangelical Christians lived in segregated areas
surrounding San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas.
On March 14, 2006, Obeth Lorenzana Velazquez was convicted of
murder and sentenced to twenty-five years' imprisonment for the 2003
killing of pastor Jairo Solis Lopez, from the Chiapas municipality of
Mapastepec. He confessed that the crime was related to a personal
quarrel. From the beginning of the investigation, the attorney general
ruled out motivation for religious reasons, and the under Secretary for
Religious Affairs in Chiapas did not challenge this conclusion.
At the end of the period covered by this report, two men detained
for the 2003 killing of evangelical Christian pastor Mariano Diaz
Mendez, near the town of San Juan Chamula in Chiapas, had not been
tried. They confessed that the crime was politically motivated. The
attorney general ruled out motivation for religious reasons, and the
Under Secretary for Religious Affairs in Chiapas did not challenge this
conclusion.
In Chiapas traditionalist local leaders have denied approximately
150 children access to the local public schools in six indigenous
communities every year since 1994 because they are evangelicals. The
students receive instruction in separate classrooms under a program
that began in 2001 to provide education for children who are
marginalized due to their religious affiliation.
In October 2005, during contentious contract negotiations,
demonstrators supporting workers of the Mexican Social Security
Institute (IMSS) put up signs and painted graffiti at the IMSS
headquarters that included swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs in
reference to IMSS Director Santiago Levy. The incident was condemned by
public figures, including President Fox and Secretary of Government
Carlos Abascal. The leadership of the IMSS workers' union disavowed the
action, and approximately 300 of its members were required to take a
tolerance sensitivity course.
The DAR reported that since the beginning of the Fox administration
in 2000, it had received 115 reports of conflicts related to religious
intolerance in the country and that 93 such conflicts had been
resolved. Government officials, the national human rights ombudsman,
and interfaith groups continued to conduct discussions about incidents
of intolerance to promote social peace. An Interfaith Council included
representatives from the Anglican, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Mormon,
Lutheran, other Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh Dharma, and
Sufi Islam communities.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy representatives discussed these issues with the government
offices for religious affairs and human rights on federal and state
levels. Embassy officers also met with members of religious groups and
NGOs, including the chair of the human rights committee for an
interfaith council and NGOs for freedom of religion and conscience.
__________
NICARAGUA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 49,998 square miles and a population of
approximately 5.5 million. More than 90 percent of the population
belonged to Christian groups. According to a 1995 census, 72.9 percent
of the population was Roman Catholic, 15.1 percent was evangelical
Protestant, 1.5 percent belonged to the Moravian Church, and 0.1
percent was Episcopalian. Another 1.9 percent was associated with other
religious groups, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), Amish and Mennonite communities, and Jehovah's
Witnesses. Approximately 8.5 percent professed no religious affiliation
or were atheists. The Episcopal Church claimed a membership nearly
twice that indicated in the census, and evangelical churches also made
credible claims of higher current membership ranging between 20 and 30
percent of the population.
According to a March 2005 CID-Gallup poll, 57 percent of
respondents were Catholic, 29 percent were members of evangelical or
other Protestant churches, 3 percent belonged to other groups, and 11
percent claimed no religious affiliation.
Non-Christian communities were few and small. The Jewish community
counted fewer than fifty persons (including expatriates). They gathered
for religious holidays and Sabbath dinners but did not have an ordained
rabbi or a synagogue. In March the Jewish community established the
Israelite Community of Nicaragua with a board of directors. The new
organization aimed to eventually reestablish a synagogue in Nicaragua
and was seeking a rabbi. According to community members, the last
synagogue was firebombed by the Sandinistas in 1978.
There were approximately 1,200 Muslims, mostly Sunnis and primarily
resident aliens or naturalized citizens from Iran, Libya, and Palestine
who immigrated in the 1980s. There was a mosque and an Islamic cultural
center in Managua, the capital, with approximately 200 members.
Minority religious groups also included the Baha'i Faith and the
Church of Scientology. Other immigrant groups included Turcos,
Palestinian Christians whose ancestors came to Central America in the
early 1900s, and Chinese, who either arrived as Christians or
frequently intermarried with citizens and converted to Christianity.
There were no longer any pre-Columbian religions in the country,
although there was a ``freedom movement'' within some Moravian churches
to allow indigenous Amerindian spiritual expression, often through
music. The Catholic Church frequently incorporates syncretic elements
and does not criticize or interfere with pre-Colombian aspects of
Christian religious festivals.
Moravian and Episcopal communities were concentrated on the
Atlantic coast, while Catholic and evangelical churches dominated the
Pacific and central regions. There was a strong correlation between
ethnicity and religion; blacks and Amerindians, who generally lived
along the Atlantic coast, were more likely to belong to the Moravian or
Episcopal Church. Some evangelical churches focused on the remote towns
of the central South Atlantic Region and had a strong presence there.
Evangelical churches were growing rapidly, particularly in poor or
remote areas. In 1980 the Assemblies of God had 80 churches and fewer
than 5,000 members, but according to Church leader Saturnino Cerrato,
as of April 2006 there were more than 860 churches and 200,000 baptized
members. The evangelical churches operated two private universities
without interference from the Government.
Anecdotal evidence pointed to proportionally higher church
attendance among members of the new evangelical churches than in
Catholic and traditional Protestant churches. In poorer neighborhoods,
the small evangelical churches were filled to capacity nearly every
evening. According to a Catholic official, the Catholic Church was
growing numerically but losing ground proportionally.
Foreign missionaries were active. The Mormons had 191 missionaries
and 42,000 members in the country, and the Mennonites had a handful of
missionary families and close to 8,000 members, mostly in the central
Boaco region and rural areas around Waslala in the north. Nearly all of
the non-Catholic denominations had at least one missionary family
present.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
also states that no one ``shall be obligated by coercive measures to
declare their ideology or beliefs.'' The constitution prohibits
discrimination on the basis of religion.
There is no official state religion; however, the Catholic Church
enjoys a close relationship with the Government. It is the most
politically active religious group and has significant political
influence. Catholic Church leaders routinely meet with senior
government officials. There were allegations that state funds have been
used to support purely religious Catholic Church activities; however,
under the current administration the Government and Catholic Church
maintained more distant relations. The historical position of the
Church is such that most religiously affiliated monuments, memorials,
and holidays are Catholic-related. However, the dominance of the
Catholic Church did not have a negative effect on the religious freedom
of others.
The following holy days are recognized as national holidays: Holy
Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Immaculate Conception, and Christmas.
The Festival of Santo Domingo (August 1 and 10) is also celebrated, but
only in Managua.
The Government's requirements for legal recognition of a religious
group are similar to requirements for other nongovernmental
organizations. A church must apply for personeria juridica (legal
standing), which the National Assembly must approve. Following
approval, a church must register with the Ministry of Government as an
association or a foundation. Groups that do not register cannot obtain
tax-exempt status and technically do not have standing to incur legal
obligations and make contracts. However, a number of groups did not
register and continued to operate without penalty.
A recognized church may be granted tax-exempt status, known as
exoneration. Because of perceived unequal treatment for different
religious groups, exoneration was a contentious issue. This was
particularly true with regard to exemption from customs duties on
imported goods donated for humanitarian purposes. Goods donated to
established churches and other nonprofit religious organizations
recognized by the Government that are intended for the exclusive use of
the church or organization are eligible for exoneration. Groups must
receive clearance from the Office of External Cooperation, the Ministry
of Finance, the Customs Office, and the municipality in which the
donated goods would be used before a tax exemption is approved and the
goods are released.
In the past some churches and other nonprofit religious
organizations, among them the Assemblies of God, reported bureaucratic
delays in obtaining customs exemptions, and some complained that the
Catholic Church received preferential treatment and did not face the
same requirements applied to other religious and humanitarian
organizations. However, some Catholic groups, including Catholic Relief
Services, reported similar bureaucratic problems in obtaining customs
exemptions. A 2003 tax equity law, designed to facilitate the
exoneration process, required all groups to requalify for exoneration.
Many churches and other nonprofit religious organizations reported that
the law generally streamlined the process in practice; however, some
maintained that the Catholic Church continued to receive preferential
treatment and did not have to meet the same requirements as other
religious and humanitarian organizations.
Missionaries did not face special entry requirements other than
obtaining religious worker visas, which were routinely provided. During
the period covered by this report, there were no reports of
difficulties in obtaining religious worker visas. However, the process,
which must be completed before the missionary arrives, continued to
take several months.
Religion is not taught in public schools, but private religious
schools operate in the country. The Government provides financial
support to a number of Catholic primary and secondary schools by paying
teacher salaries.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Relations among religious
groups differed between the two coasts. On the Atlantic side, where the
three dominant churches were the Moravian, Episcopal, and Catholic,
there was an ecumenical spirit, which many observers attributed to the
long history and mutual respect of the three predominant Christian
groups on the Atlantic side of the country. However, on the Pacific
side, ecumenism was rare, and there was continuing and energetic
competition for adherents between the Catholic and evangelical
churches.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy continued to maintain a regular dialogue with the
principal religious leaders and organizations.
__________
PANAMA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, with some
qualifications, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 30,193 square miles and a population of
approximately 3.2 million. The Government does not collect statistics
on the religious affiliation of its citizens, but various sources
estimated that 80 to 85 percent of the population identified itself as
Roman Catholic and 15 percent as evangelical Christian. A 2003 CID-
Gallup poll indicated that approximately 24 percent of the adult
population was evangelical Christian. Smaller religious groups included
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) with an
estimated 20,000 to 40,000 members, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Episcopalians with between 7,000 and 10,000 members, Jewish
and Muslim communities with approximately 10,000 members each, Hindus,
Buddhists, and other Christians. The Baha'is maintained one of the
world's seven Baha'i Houses of Worship in the country. Indigenous
religions included Ibeorgun (among Kuna) and Mamatata (among Ngobe).
There was also a small number of Rastafarians.
Members of the Catholic faith were found throughout the country and
at all levels of society. Evangelical Christians also were dispersed
geographically and were becoming more prominent in society. The
mainstream Protestant denominations, which included Southern Baptist
Convention and other Baptist congregations, United Methodist, Methodist
Church of the Caribbean and the Americas, and Lutheran, derived their
membership from the Antillean black and the expatriate communities,
both of which were concentrated in Panama and Colon Provinces. The
Jewish community was concentrated largely in Panama City. Muslims lived
primarily in Panama City and Colon, with smaller but growing
concentrations in David and other provincial cities. The vast majority
of Muslims were of Lebanese, Palestinian, or Indian descent.
Several religious organizations had foreign religious workers in
the country. The Mormon Church had the largest number. Lutherans, the
Southern Baptist Convention, Seventh-day Adventists, and Episcopalians
each had a much smaller number of missionaries; many were from other
Latin American countries.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, provided that
``Christian morality and public order'' are respected, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Catholicism enjoys certain state-sanctioned advantages over other
faiths. The constitution recognizes Catholicism as ``the religion of
the majority'' of citizens but it does not designate it as the official
state religion.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday and Christmas Day are
national holidays.
The constitution provides that religious associations have
``juridical capacity'' and are free to manage and administer their
property within the limits prescribed by law, the same as other
``juridical persons.'' The Ministry of Government and Justice grants
``juridical personality'' through a relatively simple and transparent
process. Juridical personality allows a religious group to apply for
all tax benefits available to nonprofit organizations. There were no
reported cases of religious organizations being denied juridical
personality or the associated tax benefits.
Most foreign religious workers are granted temporary three-month
missionary worker visas. A one-year extension customarily is granted,
but one religious group complained that the extension could take up to
four months. Foreign missionaries who intend to remain longer than
fifteen months must repeat the entire application process. Such
additional extensions usually are granted. Catholic priests and nuns
and Jewish rabbis are eligible for a special five-year visa.
The constitution dictates that Catholicism be taught in public
schools; however, parents have the right to exempt their children from
religious instruction. The numerical predominance of Catholicism and
the consideration given to it in the constitution generally have not
prejudiced other religions.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The constitution limits the type of public offices that religious
leaders may hold to those related to social assistance, education, or
scientific research.
During the period covered by this report, the Ombudsman's Office
mediated the case of four Rastafarian children denied access to public
school because they refused to cut their hair. A similar complaint
occurred in the previous period. According to the ombudsman, the
children were allowed to return to school without having to cut their
hair.
A Protestant group reported that the Government had been
selectively applying the requirements for religious worker visas to
favor some groups over others. The Protestant and other groups
complained to the Government, and by the end of the period covered by
this report, officials had resolved the problem.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Christian groups, including the Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist,
Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, and Eastern Orthodox
churches, participated in a successful ecumenical movement directed by
the nongovernmental Panamanian Ecumenical Committee. The committee
members also had an interreligious committee that included Jewish
Reform, Islamic, Buddhist, Baha'i, Hindu, and Ibeorgun religious
groups. The committee sponsored conferences to discuss matters of faith
and practice and planned joint liturgical celebrations and charitable
projects. The committee was a member of the Panamanian Civil Society
Assembly, an umbrella group of civic organizations that conducts
informal governmental oversight and has been the driving force behind
ethical pacts on the treatment of women and youth, civil society,
responsible journalism, and decentralization.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
The U.S. embassy continued its outreach efforts to the Muslim
communities by hosting two dinners at the ambassador's residence to
observe Islamic holy days and two meetings to discuss problems
encountered at U.S. airports by Muslims. In addition, an embassy
delegation visited the Arab community center and mosque in Colon.
The ambassador hosted a Purim dinner for the Jewish community, and
embassy officials attended Holocaust remembrance services. They also
took part in events marking the visit of the Patriarch of
Constantinople to Panama's Eastern Orthodox community. The ambassador
and embassy officers met with world leaders of the Jewish B'nai B'rith
organization who were in the country in June 2006 for their annual
conference.
__________
PARAGUAY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 157,047 square miles and an estimated
population of 6.3 million. According to the Government's 2002 national
census, the population was 89.6 percent Roman Catholic, 6.2 percent
evangelical Christian, 1.1 percent other Christian, 0.6 percent
indigenous religions, and 0.3 percent other (non-Christian) religions;
1.1 percent of respondents claimed no religious preference, and 1
percent did not provide information regarding their religious
preference.
There were active Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline
Protestant, Jewish (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform), Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Baha'i communities.
There was an Islamic community concentrated in the department of Alto
Parana, an area that received substantial immigration from the Middle
East, particularly from Lebanon. There was also a substantial Mennonite
community, principally in the western department of Boqueron.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
and other laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion.
The constitution recognizes the historical role of the Catholic
Church in public life, and Catholic priests often performed Mass at
government functions.
The following holy days are official national holidays: Maundy
(Holy) Thursday, Good Friday, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(now known as the Founding of Asuncion), Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary (now known as the Virgin of Caacupe Day), and
Christmas. The Government also observed the death of Pope John Paul II
as a public holiday on the day of his funeral.
All religious groups must be registered with the Ministry of the
Interior. The criteria for recognition consist of completing required
paperwork, being certified as a nonprofit organization, passing
financial and criminal background checks, and paying a small fee. The
Government enforced few controls on religious groups, and there were
many unregistered churches. The latter were typically small, Christian
evangelical churches with few members.
The Government is secular. Most government officials were Catholic,
but adherence to a particular creed confers no legal advantage or
disadvantage. The armed forces have an extensive Catholic chaplain
program. The Catholic Church considers this chaplaincy as a diocese and
appoints a bishop to oversee the program on a full-time basis.
Both public and religiously affiliated schools exist, and parents
were free to send their children to the school of their choice without
sanction or restriction. The Government imposes no curriculum
requirements regarding religion.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
In January and early February 2006 in several locations around the
city of Asuncion, there were reports of approximately seventy incidents
of graffiti conveying messages or depicting symbols commonly associated
with anti-Semitism and pro-Nazism. However, some of these incidents
were patently against the United States or former dictator Alfredo
Stroessner, insinuating the groups were fascists. Some of the graffiti
was spray-painted on the private property of a well-known radio
commentator of Jewish descent and at the home of the Jewish son-in-law
of an ABC Color newspaper executive. The Government investigated the
incidents, but police made no arrests during the period covered by this
report.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S.
ambassador and embassy officials met regularly with representatives of
different religious groups. Representatives of the embassy raised
concerns with the Government over the graffiti incidents.
__________
PERU
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 496,225 square miles and a population of
approximately 27.2 million. Among the major religious communities were
the Roman Catholic, various Protestant denominations (including
Baptists, Anglican, Assembly of God, and many others), Seventh-day
Adventist, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons),
Jehovah's Witnesses, Judaism, Baha'i Faith, Hare Krishna, and Islam.
There also were indigenous communities practicing various forms of pre-
Columbian and syncretistic (blending Christian and pre-Columbian)
beliefs, as well as a unique and well-organized local faith, the
Israelites of the New Universal Pact, which is not connected to Israel
or the Jewish faith. The 2006 Continuous National Census performed by
the National Statistics Institute (INEI) found that 85 percent of the
population that identified with a religion was Catholic, 11 percent was
evangelical, and the remaining 4 percent included Adventists, Mormons,
Jehovah's Witnesses, and Israelites of the New Universal Pact. Based on
1993 census data, INEI estimated that adherents of non-Christian faiths
accounted for approximately 2.5 percent of the population, while
agnostics and atheists constituted 1.4 percent. The Catholic
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Episcopal Commission for Social
Action (CEAS) estimated that only 15 percent of Catholics regularly
attended weekly church services.
The memberships of most religious groups remained at fairly
constant levels; however, various evangelical Christian denominations
had rapidly increasing congregations. According to some estimates, in
the last twenty years their representation grew from 2 to 3 percent of
the population to 10 to 15 percent.
The National Evangelical Council (CONEP) estimated that
evangelicals represented at least 15 percent of the population.
Historically, evangelicals resided in areas outside of Lima, the
capital, and in rural rather than urban areas; however, in the last
fifteen years, their numbers in urban areas increased significantly.
There were small Jewish populations in Lima and Cuzco and small Muslim
populations in Lima (mostly of Palestinian origin) and Tacna
(predominantly of Pakistani origin).
Some Catholics combined indigenous worship with Catholic
traditions. This type of syncretistic religion was practiced most often
in the Andean mountain highlands. Indigenous peoples in the remote
eastern jungles also practiced traditional faiths. The founder of the
Israelites of the New Universal Pact organized the group in 1960 in
Junin Department; most adherents were concentrated in and near Lima.
Foreign missionary groups, including Mormons and several
evangelical organizations, operated freely throughout the country,
although they did not receive the same treatment in the areas of
customs, immigration, and taxation given to the Catholic Church.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Article 50 of
the constitution establishes separation of church and state but
recognizes the Catholic Church's role as ``an important element in the
historical, cultural, and moral development of the nation.'' The
government acts independently of Catholic Church policy. Nonetheless,
it maintains a close relationship with the Church, and a concordat
signed with the Vatican in 1980 grants the Catholic Church special
status. Non-Catholic critics complain that the concordat was executed
between the Vatican and the last military government and thus does not
reflect the current democratic vision of equality. Officials of the
Church sometimes play a high profile role in the public sector.
The constitution specifically prohibits discrimination based on
religion; however, preferential treatment is given to the Catholic
Church in education, tax benefits, immigration of religious workers,
and other areas in accordance with the concordat. All work-related
earnings of Catholic priests and bishops are exempt from income taxes.
Real estate, buildings, and houses owned by the Catholic Church are
exempt from property taxes; other religious groups (depending on the
municipal jurisdiction) must pay property taxes for schools and clergy
residences. Some Catholic clergy receive state remuneration in addition
to the stipends paid to them by the Catholic Church. This applies to
the country's fifty-two bishops as well as priests whose ministries are
located in towns and villages along the country's borders. In addition,
each diocese receives a monthly institutional subsidy from the
Government. According to Catholic Church officials, none of these
payments are substantial.
The executive branch formally interacts with religious communities
on issues of religious freedom through the Ministry of Justice. The
ministry issues resolutions that implement laws, and interacts with the
public through an office of relations with the Catholic Church and an
office for non-Catholic religions. Both offices, constituting a
Religious Affairs Unit, maintain a continuing dialogue with the
Catholic Church and other organized religious groups on concerns of
religious freedom. The primary functions of the Religious Affairs Unit
are to process complaints of religious discrimination and to assist
religious groups in relations with the state, such as seeking
exemptions from import taxes and customs duties.
In 2004 the Ministry of Justice promulgated a regulation designed
to enhance religious freedom and equality by registering churches and
assisting them in receiving state benefits similar to the Catholic
Church; however, this registration process has provoked controversy.
Before 2006 some evangelical Christian churches complained that the
Government made it difficult for them to register because new,
independent churches continued to be founded, while government
regulations require that a church be operating for several years before
it can register. In addition, because many evangelical churches do not
have central lines of authority and lack sufficient doctrinal
similarities for the Government to group them together, evangelical
organizations complained that the registration process required each
individual evangelical church to register as a separate religion. Other
groups, which were more hierarchical and established, supported strict
registration requirements as a deterrent to fraudulent or misleading
registrations.
In 2005 the Ministry of Justice convened an interfaith workgroup of
representatives from the religious faiths to discuss the reform of laws
that infringe upon the rights of religious communities and to
strengthen relations between the state and non-Catholic religions. The
Ministry of Justice and the religious groups together clarified the
registration policies. The regulations permit the major evangelical
umbrella organizations, CONEP, and the Union of Evangelical Christian
Churches of Peru to register their member churches as one group. The
registration is not intended to recognize churches officially but to
identify which should receive administrative assistance from the
Religious Affairs Unit in relations with the state (for example, tax-
free donations). By the end of 2005 the interfaith workgroup developed
a draft law to promote further religious freedom and equality. The
Ministry of Justice sent this legislation to Congress for its
consideration. Independently, congressmen have proposed at least three
other draft laws on religious freedom. At the end of the period covered
by this report, Congress had not taken actions on these draft laws.
All religious groups are free to establish places of worship, train
clergy, and proselytize. During the period covered by this report, the
unit did not receive any discrimination complaints.
The law mandates that all schools, public and private, impart
religious education as part of the curriculum throughout the education
process (primary and secondary), ``without violating the freedom of
conscience of the student, parents, or teachers.'' Catholicism is the
only religion taught in public schools. Many non-Catholic religious or
secular private schools have been granted exemptions from this
requirement. The Education Ministry has made it mandatory for public
school authorities to appoint religious education teachers upon
individual recommendations and approval by the presiding Catholic
bishop of the area.
Parents who do not wish their public school children to participate
in the mandatory religion classes must request an exemption in writing
from the school principal. Non-Catholics who wish their children to
receive a religious education in their own faith are free to organize
such classes, at their own expense, during the weekly hour allotted by
the school for religious education; however, they must supply their own
teacher.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
The Freedom of Conscience Institute (PROLIBCO), an NGO that favors
strict separation of church and state and opposes the preferential
treatment accorded to the Catholic Church, claimed that the financial
subsidies and tax benefits given to the Church were far more widespread
and lucrative than publicly acknowledged. Some groups complained that
Catholic bishops, for example, received government expense allowances
for which the bishops do not have to account. Ministry of Justice
officials stated the highest payment was for bishops at $300 (990
soles) per month, while other Catholic Church officials received a
fraction of that amount.
Catholic charities do not have to pay customs duties; however, non-
Catholics with extensive charitable activities complained that
donations of goods from abroad are taxed at commercial rates. Ongoing
registration reform and Ministry of Justice assistance is designed to
facilitate duty-free import of charitable goods.
In 2004 and 2005 some evangelical missionaries cited immigration
discrimination as impinging on religious freedom. Residency documents
show an immigrating Catholic priest to be in a ``Religious--Catholic''
category, but there is no category for non-Catholic religious
officials. As a result, clergy or missionaries from non-Catholic faiths
may go through a lengthy immigration process from which Catholics are
exempt, including a requirement to leave the country every six months
and reapply for a visa. According to evangelical leaders and the
Justice Ministry, the immigration problems have become less common
thanks to flexibility from the immigration agency on the need for
missionaries to represent religions registered with the Ministry of
Justice. There were no reports that non-Catholic clergy were denied
admission because of their religious status. At the end of the period
covered by this report, religious groups and the Ministry of Justice
were working to add a category for ``Non-Catholic Religious Worker'' to
immigration regulations.
Non-Catholic organizations complained that although their adherents
may be exempted from attending Catholic instruction, the students who
do so lose academic credits. Students who graduate from primary and
secondary schools without these credits cannot be at the top of their
class regardless of other academic achievements they attain. These
students are then disadvantaged in competitions for scholarships or for
admission to universities with competitive entry requirements.
By law the military may employ only Catholic clergy as chaplains,
and Catholicism is the only recognized religion of military personnel.
A 1999 government decree creating forty Catholic military chaplaincies
obliges members of the armed forces and the police, as well as their
civilian coworkers and relatives, to participate in such services.
There have been no reports of discrimination or denials of promotion
for non-Catholic members of the military, nor have there been any
reports of personnel refusing to participate in Catholic services.
However, as the number of non-Catholic Christians increases in the
military, reflecting the increase in the number of evangelical
Protestants nationwide, non-Catholic soldiers segregated in barracks
have found it difficult to attend religious services when no chaplains
or chaplains' assistants exist for them.
Some non-Catholic missionary groups claimed that the law
discriminated against them by taxing religious materials, including
Bibles that they bring into the country, while the Catholic Church was
not taxed on such items.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
Religious groups occasionally joined forces on ecumenical projects
on behalf of the poor. The Catholic Church and evangelical churches
collaborated closely in the area of human rights. The Catholic Church
used evangelical church staff in rural areas to minister to its
congregations when there was no priest available. The Catholic Church
(through the CEAS) and CONEP (through its loosely affiliated Peace and
Hope Evangelical Association) have conducted joint national campaigns
on behalf of prison inmates and detainees wrongly charged or sentenced
for terrorism and treason.
The fringe political movement Ethnocacerism published a bimonthly
newspaper which included anti-Semitic statements as well as accounts
that minimized the Holocaust and promoted admiration for Adolf Hitler's
strong ``nationalist'' leadership. The paper received increased
attention because it was named Ollanta after Ollanta Humala, who
subsequently declared his candidacy for the presidency. In late 2005
publishers changed the paper's name to Antauro after Ollanta Humala
distanced himself from his brother, Antauro, the newspaper's editor and
one of its main contributors.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. U.S.
embassy staff met with leaders of numerous religious communities,
including representatives of the Catholic Church, Protestant groups,
and the Jewish community. The embassy also continued to maintain
regular contact with religious organizations involved in the protection
of human rights, including the CEAS, the Interreligious Committee of
Peru, the Peace and Hope Evangelical Association, and the Freedom of
Conscience Institute.
__________
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 104 square miles and a population of
approximately 46,000. Christianity was the dominant religion. An
estimated 50 percent of the population adhered to Anglican beliefs, and
25 percent were Roman Catholic. Methodist, Moravian, Seventh-day
Adventist, and Jehovah's Witnesses denominations were also present.
Evangelical Christian denominations have been gaining followers. There
was a small Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
community. Minority religious groups included Rastafarians and members
of the Baha'i Faith. There was no organized Jewish community, although
there is a Jewish cemetery on Nevis.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Government is
secular and did not interfere with an individual's right to worship.
The Ministry of Social Development is responsible for the
registration of religious groups.
The Christian holy days of Good Friday, Easter, Whit Monday, and
Christmas are national holidays.
There were two Catholic schools and a Seventh-day Adventist school.
The Government did not contribute financially to these schools. The
Government requires all schools to conduct morning Christian prayers
and hymns.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. However, Rastafarians complained that the use of
marijuana, pertinent to their religious rituals, was illegal.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The St. Kitts Christian Council, which included Anglican, Catholic,
Methodist, and other traditional Christian religious groups, conducted
activities to promote greater mutual understanding and tolerance among
adherents of different Christian denominations. The Evangelical
Association united eleven churches in the evangelical community and
promoted their interests.
Rastafarians complained that there was widespread discrimination
against their members, especially in hiring and in schools.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
SAINT LUCIA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 238 square miles and a population
estimated at 163,000. Christianity was the dominant religion. Roman
Catholics accounted for approximately 67 percent of the population, and
the Catholic Church described 40 percent of these members as
``active.'' The second largest group was evangelical Christians,
including Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, and members of
Jehovah's Witnesses. The Anglican Church had approximately 6,000
members, with 50 percent being active, while Baptists and Methodists
represented smaller numbers.
The total number of non-Christians was very small. There were an
estimated 350 Muslims, primarily local converts, but some were also
immigrants from the Middle East, South Asia, and other Caribbean
countries. Muslims worshipped in two musallahs (informal places of
worship); there were no mosques in the country. Other minority
religious groups included Rastafarians and members of the Baha'i Faith.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
The Government is secular and did not interfere with an
individual's right to worship. The Government maintains a close
relationship with the Christian Council, an organization comprised of
the Roman Catholic Church and mainline Protestant denominations.
Christian holy days, including Good Friday, Easter, Whit Monday,
and Christmas, are national holidays.
The Government requires a list of at least one hundred members to
register a religious group. Official recognition allows a religious
organization to have duty-free import privileges and the right to
register births, deaths, and marriages within the community. Any
citizen can register life events with the Government; however,
registration of a religious group allows its officials to act in this
capacity as well. Muslim leaders have applied for official recognition;
their application was pending at the end of the period covered by this
report because the Government was in the process of revising
registration procedures. A number of other religious groups were
awaiting registration as well.
The public school curriculum includes Christian education; however,
non-Christian students are not required to participate. There also are
private schools sponsored by both the Catholic and Anglican churches.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, pertinent to
their religious rituals, was illegal.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom, although some tension existed
between the historically dominant Catholic Church and the rapidly
growing evangelical denominations. Some evangelicals allegedly
criticized Catholics and mainline Protestants for adherence to ``slave
religions'' and for not accepting a literal interpretation of the
Bible. Muslim leaders claimed that some recent converts to Islam hid
their new religion from non-Muslim friends and family to avoid
criticism and discrimination. The St. Lucia Christian Council conducted
activities to promote greater mutual understanding and tolerance among
adherents of different denominations within the Christian community.
In April 2006 a man was remanded to custody, accused of attempting
to assassinate the Eastern Caribbean's Catholic archbishop. The accused
was to be sent for psychological evaluation before being formally
charged. Government officials denounced the attack as reprehensible and
called for tolerance among religious groups. At the end of the
reporting period, no further developments had taken place.
Two Rastafarian men, found guilty in 2003 of murder and arson in a
2000 attack on the Catholic cathedral in Castries and sentenced to
hang, remained in prison awaiting execution.
Rastafarians complained that there was widespread discrimination
against their members, especially in hiring and in schools.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
__________
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 150 square miles and a population of
117,000. Christianity was the dominant religion. The Anglican Church
consisted of approximately 24,000 members, with one-third described as
active. Approximately 11,000 citizens were Roman Catholic, with a
majority of them being active. The Seventh-day Adventist Church also
claimed 11,000 members and described 50 percent as active. The
Methodist Church had 4,500 active members registered with
congregations, although more claimed affiliation in the previous
census. There were twenty to thirty different Pentecostal denominations
in the country, with the largest, the Pentecostal Assembly of the West
Indies, claiming approximately twenty congregations. There was a small
Salvation Army presence estimated at seventy members. The number of
non-Christians was small; the Baha'i Faith had approximately 1,500
adherents, and there was a smaller number of Rastafarians.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
Christian holy days, including Good Friday, Easter, Whit Monday,
and Christmas, are national holidays.
Students in public schools receive nondenominational religious
instruction based on Christianity; however, students are not forced to
participate in religious instruction. Representatives from different
religious groups are occasionally invited to speak to students. Most
speakers represent the Anglican or Catholic churches. Teachers are also
allowed to provide information on other religious groups.
The Government occasionally organizes interfaith services through
the Christian Council, an organization comprised of the Anglican, Roman
Catholic, and Methodist churches and the Salvation Army.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
Rastafarians complained that the use of marijuana, pertinent to
their religious rituals, was illegal.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The Christian Council of Churches conducted activities to promote
greater mutual understanding and tolerance among adherents of different
denominations within the Christian religious groups, although no
evangelical church has joined.
Rastafarians complained that there was widespread discrimination
against their members, especially in hiring and in schools. Tension
continued to exist among some Christian denominations, with evangelical
Christians allegedly criticizing Catholics and mainstream Protestants
for adhering to ``slave religions.'' Baha'i representatives noted that
some followers hid their religious affiliation to avoid criticism and
discrimination.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy also discusses religious freedom with local groups and
other organizations.
__________
SURINAME
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 63,037 square miles and a population of
approximately 493,000. According to the 2004 census, an estimated 27
percent of the inhabitants traced their ancestry to the Indian
subcontinent, another 18 percent identified themselves as Creoles of
African descent, 15 percent claimed Indonesian ancestry, and 15 percent
were of maroon descent, or descendants of escaped slaves. Smaller
percentages of the population claimed Chinese, Amerindian, Portuguese,
Lebanese, or Dutch descent.
According to recent census data, 40.7 percent of the population was
Christian, including Roman Catholics and other Protestant groups--among
them Moravians, Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, evangelical, Baptist, and
Methodist; 20 percent was Hindu, 13.5 percent was Muslim, 3.3 percent
followed indigenous religions, 15 percent claimed to not know their
religion, 4.4 percent claimed no faith, and 2.5 percent declared other,
unspecified faiths. Indigenous religions were practiced by the
Amerindians and the Afro-descendant maroon populations. The
Amerindians, concentrated principally in the interior and to a lesser
extent in coastal areas, practiced shamanism, a worship of all living
things, through a medicine man, or piaiman. Maroons, who inhabited the
interior, worshipped nature through a practice that had no special
name, and they also worshipped their ancestors through a rite called
wintie. Citizens of Amerindian and maroon origin who classified
themselves as Christian often simultaneously followed indigenous
religious customs, which was known to and accepted by their Christian
church leaders.
The Jewish community numbered 150, and there were small numbers of
Baha'is and Buddhists. There were also other groups, such as the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the World Islamic
Call Society.
Several Christian denominations, including Canadian and U.S.-based
church groups, operated missionary programs throughout the country.
There were an estimated twenty U.S. missionaries; approximately 90
percent were affiliated with the Baptist or Wesleyan Methodist
churches.
Many political parties had strong ethnic ties, and members tended
to adhere to or practice one faith. Six of the eight governing
coalition parties were ethnically based. For example, within the
governing coalition, the majority of members of the mostly Creole
National Party of Suriname were Moravian, members of the mostly ethnic
Indian United Reformed Party were Hindu, and those of the mostly ethnic
Javanese Pertjaja Luhur Party tended to be Muslim. However, parties had
no requirement that political party leaders or members adhere to a
particular religion.
There was no direct correlation between religious affiliation and
socioeconomic status; however, those who practiced indigenous religions
in the small villages of the interior generally had a lower
socioeconomic status. With the exception of those following indigenous
practices, religious communities were not concentrated in any
particular region of the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
There are five holy days that are celebrated as official holidays:
Holi Phagwa (Hindu), Good Friday (Christian), Easter Monday
(Christian), Eid al-Fitr (Muslim), and Christmas (Christian). Citizens
of all faiths tended to celebrate these holidays.
The Government does not establish requirements for recognition of
religious faiths, nor are religious groups required to register with
the Government.
Aside from the standard requirement for an entry visa, foreign
missionaries face no special restrictions.
The armed forces maintain a chaplaincy with Hindu, Muslim,
Protestant, and Catholic clergy available to military personnel of all
faiths. While the chaplaincy provides interfaith services, personnel
are also welcome to attend outside religious services.
The government education system provides limited subsidies to a
number of public elementary and secondary schools established and
managed by various religious organizations. While the teachers are
civil servants and the schools are public, religious groups provide all
funding with the exception of teachers' salaries and a small
maintenance stipend. Religious instruction in public schools is
permitted but not required for all students. Schools offer religious
instruction in a variety of faiths.
Parents are not permitted to home school their children for
religious or other reasons; however, they may enroll their children in
private schools, many of which have a religious affiliation. Students
in public schools are allowed to practice all elements of their faith,
including wearing headscarves, crosses, or yarmulkes.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Most citizens, particularly
those living in the capital of Paramaribo, celebrated to varying
degrees the religious holidays of other groups.
There is an interreligious council composed of representatives of
various religious groups. Council members meet at least twice per month
to discuss planned ecumenical activities and their position on
government policies.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. embassy maintained a regular dialogue with leaders of various
religious communities.
Following the 2006 controversy and subsequent violence surrounding
a Danish cartoon depicting Muhammad, embassy officials engaged in a
dialogue with one of the largest Islamic organizations in the country
to discuss freedom of religion in the context of human rights. In
February 2006 the embassy delivered equipment worth approximately
$30,000 (84,000 Surinamese dollars) to support a project to preserve
Moravian church archives.
__________
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 1,980 square miles and a population of
approximately 1.3 million. Approximately 40 percent of the population
was of African descent and 40 percent of East Indian descent. The
balance was mostly of European, Syrian, Lebanese, or Chinese descent.
According to the latest official statistics (2000), 26 percent of
the population was Roman Catholic, 24.6 percent Protestant (including
7.8 percent Anglican, 6.8 percent Pentecostal, 4 percent Seventh-day
Adventist, 3.3 percent Presbyterian or Congregational, 1.8 percent
Baptist, and 0.9 percent Methodist), 22.5 percent Hindu, and 5.8
percent Muslim. A small number of individuals subscribed to traditional
Caribbean religions with African roots, such as the Spiritual Baptists
(sometimes called Shouter Baptists), 5.4 percent; and the Orisha, 0.1
percent. The smaller groups were Jehovah's Witnesses (1.6 percent),
atheists (1.9 percent), or those listed as ``other,'' which included
numerous small Christian groups as well as Baha'is, Rastafarians,
Buddhists, and Jews (10.7 percent), or undeclared (1.4 percent).
Afro-Trinidadians were predominantly Christian, with a small Muslim
community, and were concentrated in and around Port-of-Spain and the
east-west corridor of Trinidad. The population of Trinidad's sister
island, Tobago, was overwhelmingly of African descent and predominantly
Christian. Indo-Trinidadians were primarily concentrated in central and
southern Trinidad and were principally divided between the Hindu and
Muslim faiths, along with significant Presbyterian and some Catholic
representation.
Ethnic and religious divisions were reflected in political life,
with most Afro-Trinidadians voting for the governing People's National
Movement party, and most Indo-Trinidadians supporting the opposition
United National Congress (UNC) party. Religious overtones were
sometimes present in the messages and ceremonies of these political
parties, particularly those of the UNC, which occasionally incorporated
Hindu references and cultural expressions into their public events.
Foreign missionaries present included members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Baptists, Mennonites, and
Muslims. The Mormons maintained approximately thirty foreign
missionaries, while other denominations averaged between five and ten
foreign missionaries in the country during the period covered by this
report.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors.
To receive tax-exempt donations and gifts of land or to perform
marriages, religious groups must register with the Government, which
requires them to demonstrate that they are nonprofit organizations.
Religious groups have the same rights and obligations as most legal
entities, regardless of whether they are registered. They can own land,
but they must pay property taxes; they can hire employees, but they
must pay government-mandated employee benefits. Some religious groups
register their organizations for increased visibility and to attract
wider membership.
The Government subsidizes both public and religiously affiliated
schools. It permits religious instruction in public schools, setting
aside a time each week when any religious organization with an adherent
in the school can provide an instructor in its faith. Attendance at
these classes is voluntary, and the faiths represented are diverse.
Parents may enroll their children in private schools for religious
reasons. Home schooling is not allowed, since the Education Act
mandates formal schooling for all children, whether in public or
private schools.
During the second half of 2005, the Ministry of Social Development
became responsible for ecclesiastical affairs. The ministry administers
annual financial grants to religious organizations and issues
recommendations on land use by such organizations.
The law prohibits acts that would offend or insult another person
or group on the grounds of race, origin, or religion or which would
incite racial or religious hatred, and it provides for prosecution for
the desecration of any place of worship. Government officials routinely
speak out against religious intolerance and generally do not publicly
favor any religion. The process of judicial review is available to
those who claim to be victims of religious discrimination.
The Government has set aside public holidays for every religious
group with large followings. The Christian holidays are Good Friday,
Easter Monday, and Christmas; the Hindu holiday is Divali; and the
Muslim holiday is Eid al-Fitr. In addition, the Government recognizes
the Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day, associated with the Spiritual
Baptist religion. The Government grants financial and technical
assistance to various organizations to support religious festivals and
celebrations.
The Government does not formally sponsor programs that promoted
interfaith dialogue; however, it supports the activities of the Inter-
Religious Organization (IRO). This organization serves as an interfaith
coordinating committee for public outreach, governmental and media
relations, and policy implementation. It also provides the prayer
leader for several official events, such as the opening of Parliament
and the annual court term. The IRO liaises with the Ministry of Social
Development as well as the Ministry of Education in its governmental
relations.
Ministers, members of Parliament, and public figures represented
every faith and denomination and the broad spectrum of religious
beliefs in the country. They often participated in the ceremonies and
holidays of other religions and actively preached religious tolerance
and harmony.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. Foreign missionaries operated freely in the
country; however, the Government limited the number of foreign
missionaries allowed to be in the country to thirty per religious
denomination at any given time. Missionaries must meet standard
requirements for an entry visa, must represent a registered religious
group, and may not remain in the country for more than three years at a
time. They may reenter the country after at least one year of absence.
Members of the military force were predominantly Afro-Trinidadian
and Christian, and the military maintained a part-time chaplain to
provide Christian religious services. Military personnel also had
access to other religious services in their local communities.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. Society is multiethnic and
multireligious, and religious tolerance is instilled very early in
life. Political leaders attended celebrations of all groups and often
delivered speeches on religious tolerance that highlight the country's
diversity.
The IRO, which was composed of leaders of nearly all faiths with
significant followings in the country, promoted interfaith dialogue and
tolerance through study groups, publications, and cultural and
religious exhibitions. The bylaws of the IRO do not exclude any groups
from membership. However, the Pentecostals and Seventh-day Adventists
did not participate for doctrinal reasons. The Mormons joined the IRO
during the period covered by this report.
Occasionally, a religious group complained about conversion efforts
undertaken in neighborhoods that predominantly belonged to another
faith. Most commonly, Hindu religious leaders raised this complaint
against evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. These complaints may
stem from underlying ethnic tensions between the Afro-Trinidadian and
Indo-Trinidadian communities.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
embassy maintained contacts with most congregations and invited
representatives to official functions.
__________
URUGUAY
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom
during the period covered by this report, and government policy
continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 68,039 square miles and a population
estimated at 3.2 million. While the Government keeps no statistics
concerning religious affiliation, a 2004 survey published in the daily
newspaper El Pais reported that 54 percent of those interviewed
designated themselves as Roman Catholics, 6 percent as evangelical
Protestants, 5 percent as Protestants, 9 percent as believers without a
religious affiliation, and 26 percent as nonbelievers. The mainline
Protestant minority was composed primarily of Anglicans, Methodists,
Lutherans, and Baptists. Other denominations and branches included
evangelicals, Pentecostals, Mennonites, Eastern Orthodox, and Jehovah's
Witnesses. In 2006 a religious-based nongovernmental organization (NGO)
estimated that 400,000 persons considered themselves to be evangelical
Protestants. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
claimed 100,000 members. There were approximately 25,000 Jews.
According to local Jewish leaders, since 2002 the number of Jews has
declined due to emigration. An April 2006 newspaper report indicated
that approximately 850 families practiced Buddhism. The Unification
Church was active in the country and had major property holdings,
including a daily newspaper. There was a Muslim population that lived
primarily near the border with Brazil. An Islamic cultural
representative estimated approximately 300 to 400 Muslims in the
country but noted that the majority were minimally observant. The
estimated 4,000 Baha'is were concentrated primarily in Montevideo.
Many Christian groups performed foreign missionary work. Groups
reported no difficulties obtaining visas for religious work. Statistics
indicated that there were an estimated 780 Mormon missionaries from
neighboring countries and the United States in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
at all levels sought to protect this right in full and did not tolerate
its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The constitution
and law prohibit discrimination based on religion. The penal code
prohibits mistreatment of ethnic, religious, and other minority groups.
There is strict separation of church and state. All religious
groups are entitled to tax exemptions on their houses of worship, and
there were no reports of difficulties in receiving these exemptions. To
receive the tax exemptions, a religious group must register as a
nonprofit entity and draft organizing statutes. It then applies to the
Ministry of Education and Culture, which examines the legal entity and
grants religious status. The group must reapply every five years. Once
the ministry grants religious status, the church can request an
exemption each year from the taxing body, which is usually the
municipal government.
The religious holy days of Three Kings Day, Carnival (the Monday
and Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday), Holy Thursday, Good Friday, All
Souls' Day, and Christmas are celebrated as official national holidays
but with secular names.
Muslims may obtain an optional identity card that identifies their
religious affiliation to employers and allows them to leave work early
on Friday. A Muslim representative stated that employers generally
respected this practice.
Religious instruction in public schools is prohibited. Public
schools allow students who belong to minority religious groups to miss
school for religious holidays without penalty. There are private
religious schools, which are mainly Catholic and Jewish.
Foreign missionaries faced no special requirements or restrictions.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom. The Christian-Jewish Council
met regularly to promote interfaith understanding. In addition, the
mainstream Protestant denominations met regularly among themselves and
with the Catholic Church. There were several NGOs that promoted
interfaith understanding.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Embassy staff met with human rights and religious NGOs, including B'nai
B'rith and the Israeli Central Committee of Uruguay. They also met with
the leaders of religious communities, including representatives of the
Catholic Church, the Jewish community, the Islamic community, the
Mormon Church, and Protestant groups.
__________
VENEZUELA
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice.
There were some efforts by the Government, motivated by political
reasons, to limit the influence of religious groups in certain
geographic, social, and political areas. During the period covered by
this report, the Government ordered the departure of a U.S. evangelical
group from indigenous areas.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 352,144 square miles and a population of
approximately twenty-seven million. According to government estimates,
70 percent of the population was Roman Catholic, 29 percent was
Protestant (usually defined as all non-Roman Catholic Christians), and
the remaining 1 percent practiced other religions or was atheist. The
Venezuelan Evangelical Council estimated that evangelical Protestants
constituted approximately 10 percent of the population. A variety of
foreign missionary groups operated in the country, including Catholics,
evangelicals, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons).
There were small but influential Jewish and Muslim communities. The
Jewish community numbered approximately 15,000 and was most active in
the capital, Caracas. The Muslim community was concentrated among
citizens of Lebanese and Syrian descent living in Nueva Esparta State
and the Caracas area.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution provides for freedom of religion on the condition
that the practice of a religion does not violate public morality,
decency, and the public order; the Government generally respected this
right in practice.
The Directorate of Justice and Religion (DJR) in the Ministry of
Interior and Justice is mandated to maintain a registry of religious
groups, disburse funds to religious organizations, and promote
awareness and understanding among religious communities. Each group
must register with the DJR to have legal status as a religious
organization. Requirements for registration are largely administrative,
the key exception being that groups serve the community's social
interests. Some groups have complained that the process is slow and
inefficient. However, in contrast with the previous report, there were
no accounts of the Government refusing to register certain religious
groups in the period covered by this report.
A 1964 concordat governs relations between the Government and the
Vatican and provides the basis for government subsidies to the Roman
Catholic Church. All registered religious groups are eligible for
funding to support religious services, but most money goes to Catholic
organizations because their assigned shares are fixed. While the
Government continued to provide funding to Catholic-operated schools as
usual, there were significant cutbacks to funding given directly to the
Episcopal Conference of Venezuela (CEV). There were reports that
funding increased to certain evangelical groups, although much of this
was related to social projects implemented via the Government's social
programs, and the specific amounts were not available.
Foreign missionaries require special visas to operate in the
country. The Government estimated that there were approximately 3,000
such missionaries in 2005. Missionaries generally complained of
increased refusal rates for first-time religious visas as well as for
renewals. Missionary groups also generally complained that the
religious visa process had become more difficult and prone to delays.
After a temporary freeze in all religious visa applications, the
Government returned to issuing visas, although reportedly at a slower
pace than before.
In October 2005 the Mormons withdrew 219 U.S. missionaries, citing
difficulties in receiving religious visas. The growing crime rate was
also a factor, especially considering that the young missionaries
worked in poor, high-crime neighborhoods.
The Government continued to provide annual subsidies to Catholic
schools and social programs that help the poor. Other religious groups
are free to establish and operate their own schools.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free
practice of religion. The constitution forbids the use of religion to
avoid obeying the law or interfere with the rights of others; however,
there were efforts by the Government, motivated by political reasons,
to limit the influence of the Catholic Church and missionary groups in
certain social and political areas.
In October 2005 President Chavez accused missionaries from the
U.S.-based religious group New Tribes Mission (NTM) of contaminating
the cultures of indigenous populations as well as carrying out illicit
activities with the group's small aircraft. The Ministry of Interior
subsequently rescinded the group's permission, granted in 1953, to
conduct its social programs among indigenous tribes. The NTM appealed
the order to the Supreme Court, which denied an injunction but admitted
the case, which remained pending at the end of the period covered by
this report. More than 100 NTM missionaries withdrew from the
indigenous areas in compliance with the Government's order, abandoning
properties held for decades. The Government reportedly seized some of
these properties, without compensation, for its own social programs.
Other foreign missionary groups working in the indigenous areas
departed voluntarily after government officials warned that all such
missionary activity would be stopped. Despite being duly registered
religious and civil society groups, at the end of the period covered by
this report foreign missionary groups were prohibited from entering
indigenous areas.
In April 2006 the Government's telecommunication regulator
reassigned the frequencies that had been used since 1999 by a Catholic-
operated station, Vale TV. The Government contended that the frequency
was needed for other purposes and had reportedly offered the Church a
different frequency. Church officials said in May 2006 they hoped to
reach a compromise with the Government; however, at the end of the
period covered by this report no compromise had been achieved, and the
station continued to broadcast.
Public confrontation between Catholic bishops and government
officials continued. In April 2006 a Catholic priest working for the
CEV was kidnapped and killed in Caracas under unclear circumstances.
The Catholic Church clashed with government officials after the
attorney general engaged in repeated public commentary on the case,
blaming the priest for being partly responsible for his own death. Both
sides accused the other of using the case for political gain. As of May
2006 the Government had formally charged one person for the crime but
had not resolved several open questions surrounding the investigation.
In July and August 2005, government officials traded attacks with
retired Catholic Cardinal Castillo Lara over human rights and press
freedom problems. The CEV also issued its annual statement in January
2006 criticizing the Government for not addressing persistent poverty.
President Hugo Chavez publicly attacked the bishops and challenged
their conclusions. Church officials again criticized the Government in
March 2006 for the deteriorating security conditions and rampant crime,
exacerbated by the kidnapping and killing of three Catholic school
students and their driver with alleged participation by Caracas police.
In February 2006 there was a report that an educational video used
by the Government's high school education ``mission'' depicted NTM
missionaries and other groups operating in the indigenous areas as
promulgating a doctrine of ``terror,'' ``fanatical preaching,'' and
``espionage.'' The video was used in a program that reportedly serves
two million youths. Religious groups raised their complaints to the
Government, which reportedly agreed to discontinue use of the video.
The military chaplain corps was comprised exclusively of Catholic
priests. Although armed forces members of other religious groups were
allowed to attend services of their faith, they did not have the same
access to clergy members that Catholic service members enjoyed. In
October 2005 the Ministry of Interior and Justice permitted the entry
of evangelical chaplains to several of the prisons, positions that
formerly had been open only to Catholics.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the
country.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned
to the United States.
Anti-Semitic Acts
The president, the Government, and their supporters occasionally
made comments that were either clearly anti-Semitic or could have been
construed as anti-Semitic. In December 2005 speech, President Chavez
referred to ``descendants of those who crucified Christ and threw
founding father Simon Bolivar out of Venezuela.'' Although an
international Jewish group criticized Chavez' remarks as anti-Semitic,
local Jewish groups accepted the president's subsequent explanation
that he was not making an intentionally anti-Semitic remark. Jewish
leaders later met with the president and senior government officials to
discuss concerns about anti-Semitism among government sympathizers.
These included frequent anti-Semitic remarks on opinion shows broadcast
on the official television station and radio as well as in a
progovernment national daily newspaper. Jewish leaders also expressed
concern over the Government's growing relations with Iran, whose
president called repeatedly for the termination of the country of
Israel.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in
society contributed to religious freedom.
During the period covered by this report there were reports that
citizens harassed Mormon missionaries in poor areas. The verbal and
physical harassment appeared motivated by the Government's accusations
against the NTM missionaries.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
However, the Government's frequent refusal to meet with U.S. embassy
officials generally impeded bilateral communication on this and other
topics.
The embassy maintained close contact with various religious
communities. The U.S. ambassador met regularly with religious
authorities and sought to raise their concerns with appropriate
government officials when appropriate and when government officials
agreed to meet with embassy representatives.
APPENDIX A
----------
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation
of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in
barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the
advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech
and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the
highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have
recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and
oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly
relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter
reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and
have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life
in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-
operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect
for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of
the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore, The General Assembly, proclaims this Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all
peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every
organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall
strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights
and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international,
to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance,
both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the
peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in
this Declaration, without distinction of a kind, such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the
political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or
territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust,
non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave
trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before
the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to
equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent
national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted
him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing
by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his
rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public
trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
2. No one shall be held guilty without any limitation due to race,
of any penal offence on account of nationality or religion, have the
any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under
national or international law, at the time when it was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his
privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour
and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.
Article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries
asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions
genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to
the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor be
denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race,
nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.
They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and
at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society
and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in
association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,
and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice,
worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of his
country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his
country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of
government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine
elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security
and is entitled to realization, through national effort and
international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and
resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his
personality.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay
for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration insuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of
human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social
protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable
limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and
the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and
assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall
enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at
least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education
shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made
generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to
all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human
personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and
friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall
further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of
peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that
shall be given to their children.
Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural
life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and
material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic
production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which
the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully
realized.
Article 29
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and
full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be
subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for
the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and
freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality,
public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary
to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to
perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and
freedoms set forth herein.
--------------
Hundred and eighty-third plenary meeting
Resolution 217(A)(III) of the United Nations General Assembly,
December 10, 1948
(This material is in the public domain and may be reprinted without
permission; citation of this source is appreciated.)
APPENDIX B
----------
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND
POLITICAL RIGHTS
and
THE DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND OF
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF
______
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Preamble
The States Parties to the present Covenant,
Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in
the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity
and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world,Recognizing that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of
the human person,
Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and
political freedom and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved
if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his civil and
political rights, as well as his economic, social and cultural rights,
Considering the obligation of States under the Charter of the
United Nations to promote universal respect for, and observance of,
human rights and freedoms,
Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals
and to the community to which he belongs, is under a responsibility to
strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the
present Covenant,
Agree upon the following articles:
PART I
Article 1
1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of
that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their
natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations
arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the
principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a
people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
3. The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those
having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and
Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-
determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the
provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
PART II
Article 2
1. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect
and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to
its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status.
2. Where not already provided for by existing legislative or other
measures, each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take
the necessary steps, in accordance with its constitutional processes
and with the provisions of the present Covenant, to adopt such laws or
other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rights
recognized in the present Covenant.
3. Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes:
(a) To ensure that any person whose rights or freedoms as
herein recognized are violated shall have an effective remedy,
notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by
persons acting in an official capacity;
(b) To ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall
have his right thereto determined by competent judicial,
administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other
competent authority provided for by the legal system of the
State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy;
(c) To ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce
such remedies when granted.
Article 3
The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the
equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and
political rights set forth in the present Covenant.
Article 4
1. In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the
nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States
Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their
obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required
by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not
inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and
do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour,
sex, language, religion or social origin.
2. No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs I and 2), 11,
15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.
3. Any State Party to the present Covenant availing itself of the
right of derogation shall immediately inform the other States Parties
to the present Covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, of the provisions from which it has
derogated and of the reasons by which it was actuated. A further
communication shall be made, through the same intermediary, on the date
on which it terminates such derogation.
Article 5
1. Nothing in the present Covenant may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or
perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and
freedoms recognized herein or at their limitation to a greater extent
than is provided for in the present Covenant.
2. There shall be no restriction upon or derogation from any of the
fundamental human rights recognized or existing in any State Party to
the present Covenant pursuant to law, conventions, regulations or
custom on the pretext that the present Covenant does not recognize such
rights or that it recognizes them to a lesser extent.
Part III
Article 6
1. Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right
shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
life.
2. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty,
sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in
accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the
crime and not contrary to the provisions of the present Covenant and to
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide. This penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final
judgement rendered by a competent court.
3. When deprivation of life constitutes the crime of genocide, it
is understood that nothing in this article shall authorize any State
Party to the present Covenant to derogate in any way from any
obligation assumed under the provisions of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
4. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or
commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the
sentence of death may be granted in all cases.
5. Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by
persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on
pregnant women.
6. Nothing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent
the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present
Covenant.
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be
subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific
experimentation.
Article 8
1. No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in
all their forms shall be prohibited.
2. No one shall be held in servitude.
3. (a) No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory
labour;
(b) Paragraph 3(a) shall not be held to preclude, in countries
where imprisonment with hard labour may be imposed as a punishment for
a crime, the performance of hard labour in pursuance of a sentence to
such punishment by a competent court;
(c) For the purpose of this paragraph the term ``forced or
compulsory labour'' shall not include:
(i) Any work or service, not referred to in subparagraph (b),
normally required of a person who is under detention in
consequence of a lawful order of a court, or of a person during
conditional release from such detention;
(ii) Any service of a military character and, in countries
where conscientious objection is recognized, any national
service required by law of conscientious objectors;
(iii) Any service exacted in cases of emergency or calamity
threatening the life or well-being of the community;
(iv) Any work or service which forms part of normal civil
obligations.
Article 9
1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one
shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be
deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with
such procedure as are established by law.
2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest,
of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any
charges against him.
3. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be
brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to
exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a
reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule that
persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be
subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the
judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the
judgement.
4. Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention
shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that
court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and
order his release if the detention is not lawful.
5. Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention
shall have an enforceable right to compensation.
Article 10
1. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with
humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
2. (a) Accused persons shall, save in exceptional circumstances, be
segregated from convicted persons and shall be subject to separate
treatment appropriate to their status as unconvicted persons;
(b) Accused juvenile persons shall be separated from adults and
brought as speedily as possible for adjudication.
3. The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners
the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social
rehabilitation. Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and
be accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status.
Article 11
No one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to
fulfil a contractual obligation.
Article 12
1. Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within
that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to
choose his residence.
2. Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own.
3. The above-mentioned rights shall not be subject to any
restrictions except those which are provided by law, are necessary to
protect national security, public order (ordre public), public health
or morals or the rights and freedoms of others, and are consistent with
the other rights recognized in the present Covenant.
4. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his
own country.
Article 13
An alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present
Covenant may be expelled therefrom only in pursuance of a decision
reached in accordance with law and shall, except where compelling
reasons of national security otherwise require, be allowed to submit
the reasons against his expulsion and to have his case reviewed by, and
be represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a
person or persons especially designated by the competent authority.
Article 14
1. All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In
the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights
and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair
and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal
established by law. The press and the public may be excluded from all
or part of a trial for reasons of morals, public order (ordre public)
or national security in a democratic society, or when the interest of
the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly
necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where
publicity would prejudice the interests of justice; but any judgement
rendered in a criminal case or in a suit at law shall be made public
except where the interest of juvenile persons otherwise requires or the
proceedings concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of
children.
2. Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to
be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.
3. In the determination of any criminal charge against him,
everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full
equality:
(a) To be informed promptly and in detail in a language which
he understands of the nature and cause of the charge against
him;
(b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation
of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own
choosing;
(c) To be tried without undue delay;
(d) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in
person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be
informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right;
and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where
the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him
in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay
for it;
(e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him
and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on
his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
(f) To have the free assistance of an interpreter if he
cannot understand or speak the language used in court;
(g) Not to be compelled to testify against himself or to
confess guilt.
4. In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as
will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their
rehabilitation.
5. Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to his
conviction and sentence being reviewed by a higher tribunal according
to law.
6. When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a
criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed
or he has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered
fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice,
the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction
shall be compensated according to law, unless it is proved that the
non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partly
attributable to him.
7. No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an
offence for which he has already been finally convicted or acquitted in
accordance with the law and penal procedure of each country.
Article 15
1. No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account
of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence,
under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.
Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable
at the time when the criminal offence was committed. If, subsequent to
the commission of the offence, provision is made by law for the
imposition of the lighter penalty, the offender shall benefit thereby.
2. Nothing in this article shall prejudice the trial and punishment
of any person for any act or omission which, at the time when it was
committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law
recognized by the community of nations.
Article 16
Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person
before the law.
Article 17
1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful
attacks on his honour and reputation.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such
interference or attacks.
Article 18
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a
religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or
in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his
freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject
only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to
protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental
rights and freedoms of others.
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have
respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal
guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children
in conformity with their own convictions.
Article 19
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without
interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this
right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing
or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this
article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may
therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be
such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public
order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.
Article 20
1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that
constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall
be prohibited by law.
Article 21
The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions
may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in
conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society
in the interests of national security or public safety, public order
(ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the
protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
Article 22
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with
others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the
protection of his interests.
2. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right
other than those which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in
a democratic society in the interests of national security or public
safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or
morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This
article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on
members of the armed forces and of the police in their exercise of this
right.
3. Nothing in this article shall authorize States Parties to the
International Labour Organization Convention of 1948 concerning Freedom
of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize to take
legislative measures which would prejudice, or to apply the law in such
a manner as to prejudice, the guarantees provided for in that
Convention.
Article 23
1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society
and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
2. The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to
found a family shall be recognized.
3. No marriage shall be entered into without the free and full
consent of the intending spouses.
4. States Parties to the present Covenant shall take appropriate
steps to ensure equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses as
to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of
dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of
any children.
Article 24
1. Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race,
colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or
birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his
status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.
2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and
shall have a name.
3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality.
Article 25
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any
of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable
restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly
or through freely chosen representatives;
(b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections
which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the
will of the electors;
(c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public
service in his country.
Article 26
All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the
law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons
equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground
such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Article 27
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities
exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the
right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy
their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to
use their own language.
PART IV
Article 28
1. There shall be established a Human Rights Committee (hereafter
referred to in the present Covenant as the Committee). It shall consist
of eighteen members and shall carry out the functions hereinafter
provided.
2. The Committee shall be composed of nationals of the States
Parties to the present Covenant who shall be persons of high moral
character and recognized competence in the field of human rights,
consideration being given to the usefulness of the participation of
some persons having legal experience.
3. The members of the Committee shall be elected and shall serve in
their personal capacity.
Article 29
1. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot
from a list of persons possessing the qualifications prescribed in
article 28 and nominated for the purpose by the States Parties to the
present Covenant.
2. Each State Party to the present Covenant may nominate not more
than two persons. These persons shall be nationals of the nominating
State.
3. A person shall be eligible for renomination.
Article 30
1. The initial election shall be held no later than six months
after the date of the entry into force of the present Covenant.
2. At least four months before the date of each election to the
Committee, other than an election to fill a vacancy declared in
accordance with article 34, the Secretary-General of the United Nations
shall address a written invitation to the States Parties to the present
Covenant to submit their nominations for membership of the Committee
within three months.
3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall prepare a list
in alphabetical order of all the persons thus nominated, with an
indication of the States Parties which have nominated them, and shall
submit it to the States Parties to the present Covenant no later than
one month before the date of each election.
4. Elections of the members of the Committee shall be held at a
meeting of the States Parties to the present Covenant convened by the
Secretary General of the United Nations at the Headquarters of the
United Nations. At that meeting, for which two thirds of the States
Parties to the present Covenant shall constitute a quorum, the persons
elected to the Committee shall be those nominees who obtain the largest
number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the
representatives of States Parties present and voting.
Article 31
1. The Committee may not include more than one national of the same
State.
2. In the election of the Committee, consideration shall be given
to equitable geographical distribution of membership and to the
representation of the different forms of civilization and of the
principal legal systems.
Article 32
1. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four
years. They shall be eligible for re-election if renominated. However,
the terms of nine of the members elected at the first election shall
expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election,
the names of these nine members shall be chosen by lot by the Chairman
of the meeting referred to in article 30, paragraph 4.
2. Elections at the expiry of office shall be held in accordance
with the preceding articles of this part of the present Covenant.
Article 33
1. If, in the unanimous opinion of the other members, a member of
the Committee has ceased to carry out his functions for any cause other
than absence of a temporary character, the Chairman of the Committee
shall notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall
then declare the seat of that member to be vacant.
2. In the event of the death or the resignation of a member of the
Committee, the Chairman shall immediately notify the Secretary-General
of the United Nations, who shall declare the seat vacant from the date
of death or the date on which the resignation takes effect.
Article 34
1. When a vacancy is declared in accordance with article 33 and if
the term of office of the member to be replaced does not expire within
six months of the declaration of the vacancy, the Secretary-General of
the United Nations shall notify each of the States Parties to the
present Covenant, which may within two months submit nominations in
accordance with article 29 for the purpose of filling the vacancy.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall prepare a list
in alphabetical order of the persons thus nominated and shall submit it
to the States Parties to the present Covenant. The election to fill the
vacancy shall then take place in accordance with the relevant
provisions of this part of the present Covenant.
3. A member of the Committee elected to fill a vacancy declared in
accordance with article 33 shall hold office for the remainder of the
term of the member who vacated the seat on the Committee under the
provisions of that article.
Article 35
The members of the Committee shall, with the approval of the
General Assembly of the United Nations, receive emoluments from United
Nations resources on such terms and conditions as the General Assembly
may decide, having regard to the importance of the Committee's
responsibilities.
Article 36
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the
necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the
functions of the Committee under the present Covenant.
Article 37
1. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall convene the
initial meeting of the Committee at the Headquarters of the United
Nations.
2. After its initial meeting, the Committee shall meet at such
times as shall be provided in its rules of procedure.
3. The Committee shall normally meet at the Headquarters of the
United Nations or at the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Article 38
Every member of the Committee shall, before taking up his duties,
make a solemn declaration in open committee that he will perform his
functions impartially and conscientiously.
Article 39
1. The Committee shall elect its officers for a term of two years.
They may be re-elected.
2. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure, but
these rules shall provide, inter alia, that:
(a) Twelve members shall constitute a quorum;
(b) Decisions of the Committee shall be made by a majority
vote of the members present.
Article 40
1. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to submit
reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the
rights recognized herein and on the progress made in the enjoyment of
those rights:
(a) Within one year of the entry into force of the present
Covenant for the States Parties concerned;
(b) Thereafter whenever the Committee so requests.
2. All reports shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, who shall transmit them to the Committee for
consideration. Reports shall indicate the factors and difficulties, if
any, affecting the implementation of the present Covenant.
3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations may, after
consultation with the Committee, transmit to the specialized agencies
concerned copies of such parts of the reports as may fall within their
field of competence.
4. The Committee shall study the reports submitted by the States
Parties to the present Covenant. It shall transmit its reports, and
such general comments as it may consider appropriate, to the States
Parties. The Committee may also transmit to the Economic and Social
Council these comments along with the copies of the reports it has
received from States Parties to the present Covenant.
5. The States Parties to the present Covenant may submit to the
Committee observations on any comments that may be made in accordance
with paragraph 4 of this article.
Article 41
1. A State Party to the present Covenant may at any time declare
under this article that it recognizes the competence of the Committee
to receive and consider communications to the effect that a State Party
claims that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations under
the present Covenant. Communications under this article may be received
and considered only if submitted by a State Party which has made a
declaration recognizing in regard to itself the competence of the
Committee. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it
concerns a State Party which has not made such a declaration.
Communications received under this article shall be dealt with in
accordance with the following procedure:
(a) If a State Party to the present Covenant considers that
another State Party is not giving effect to the provisions of
the present Covenant, it may, by written communication, bring
the matter to the attention of that State Party. Within three
months after the receipt of the communication the receiving
State shall afford the State which sent the communication an
explanation, or any other statement in writing clarifying the
matter which should include, to the extent possible and
pertinent, reference to domestic procedures and remedies taken,
pending, or available in the matter;
(b) If the matter is not adjusted to the satisfaction of both
States Parties concerned within six months after the receipt by
the receiving State of the initial communication, either State
shall have the right to refer the matter to the Committee, by
notice given to the Committee and to the other State;
(c) The Committee shall deal with a matter referred to it
only after it has ascertained that all available domestic
remedies have been invoked and exhausted in the matter, in
conformity with the generally recognized principles of
international law. This shall not be the rule where the
application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged;
(d) The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining
communications under this article;
(e) Subject to the provisions of subparagraph (c), the
Committee shall make available its good offices to the States
Parties concerned with a view to a friendly solution of the
matter on the basis of respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms as recognized in the present Covenant;
(f) In any matter referred to it, the Committee may call upon
the States Parties concerned, referred to in subparagraph (b),
to supply any relevant information;
(g) The States Parties concerned, referred to in subparagraph
(b), shall have the right to be represented when the matter is
being considered in the Committee and to make submissions
orally and/or in writing;
(h) The Committee shall, within twelve months after the date
of receipt of notice under subparagraph (b), submit a report:
(i) If a solution within the terms of subparagraph
(e) is reached, the Committee shall confine its report
to a brief statement of the facts and of the solution
reached;
(ii) If a solution within the terms of subparagraph
(e) is not reached, the Committee shall confine its
report to a brief statement of the facts; the written
submissions and record of the oral submissions made by
the States Parties concerned shall be attached to the
report. In every matter, the report shall be
communicated to the States Parties concerned.
2. The provisions of this article shall come into force when ten
States Parties to the present Covenant have made declarations under
paragraph I of this article. Such declarations shall be deposited by
the States Parties with the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
who shall transmit copies thereof to the other States Parties. A
declaration may be withdrawn at any time by notification to the
Secretary-General. Such a withdrawal shall not prejudice the
consideration of any matter which is the subject of a communication
already transmitted under this article; no further communication by any
State Party shall be received after the notification of withdrawal of
the declaration has been received by the Secretary-General, unless the
State Party concerned has made a new declaration.
Article 42
1. (a) If a matter referred to the Committee in accordance with
article 41 is not resolved to the satisfaction of the States Parties
concerned, the Committee may, with the prior consent of the States
Parties concerned, appoint an ad hoc Conciliation Commission
(hereinafter referred to as the Commission). The good offices of the
Commission shall be made available to the States Parties concerned with
a view to an amicable solution of the matter on the basis of respect
for the present Covenant;
(b) The Commission shall consist of five persons acceptable to the
States Parties concerned. If the States Parties concerned fail to reach
agreement within three months on all or part of the composition of the
Commission, the members of the Commission concerning whom no agreement
has been reached shall be elected by secret ballot by a two-thirds
majority vote of the Committee from among its members.
2. The members of the Commission shall serve in their personal
capacity. They shall not be nationals of the States Parties concerned,
or of a State not Party to the present Covenant, or of a State Party
which has not made a declaration under article 41.
3. The Commission shall elect its own Chairman and adopt its own
rules of procedure.
4. The meetings of the Commission shall normally be held at the
Headquarters of the United Nations or at the United Nations Office at
Geneva. However, they may be held at such other convenient places as
the Commission may determine in consultation with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations and the States Parties concerned.
5. The secretariat provided in accordance with article 36 shall
also service the commissions appointed under this article.
6. The information received and collated by the Committee shall be
made available to the Commission and the Commission may call upon the
States Parties concerned to supply any other relevant information.
7. When the Commission has fully considered the matter, but in any
event not later than twelve months after having been seized of the
matter, it shall submit to the Chairman of the Committee a report for
communication to the States Parties concerned:
(a) If the Commission is unable to complete its consideration
of the matter within twelve months, it shall confine its report
to a brief statement of the status of its consideration of the
matter;
(b) If an amicable solution to the matter on tie basis of
respect for human rights as recognized in the present Covenant
is reached, the Commission shall confine its report to a brief
statement of the facts and of the solution reached;
(c) If a solution within the terms of subparagraph (b) is not
reached, the Commission's report shall embody its findings on
all questions of fact relevant to the issues between the States
Parties concerned, and its views on the possibilities of an
amicable solution of the matter. This report shall also contain
the written submissions and a record of the oral submissions
made by the States Parties concerned;
(d) If the Commission's report is submitted under
subparagraph (c), the States Parties concerned shall, within
three months of the receipt of the report, notify the Chairman
of the Committee whether or not they accept the contents of the
report of the Commission.
8. The provisions of this article are without prejudice to the
responsibilities of the Committee under article 41.
9. The States Parties concerned shall share equally all the
expenses of the members of the Commission in accordance with estimates
to be provided by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
10. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be empowered
to pay the expenses of the members of the Commission, if necessary,
before reimbursement by the States Parties concerned, in accordance
with paragraph 9 of this article.
Article 43
The members of the Committee, and of the ad hoc conciliation
commissions which may be appointed under article 42, shall be entitled
to the facilities, privileges and immunities of experts on mission for
the United Nations as laid down in the relevant sections of the
Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
Article 44
The provisions for the implementation of the present Covenant shall
apply without prejudice to the procedures prescribed in the field of
human rights by or under the constituent instruments and the
conventions of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies and
shall not prevent the States Parties to the present Covenant from
having recourse to other procedures for settling a dispute in
accordance with general or special international agreements in force
between them.
Article 45
The Committee shall submit to the General Assembly of the United
Nations, through the Economic and Social Council, an annual report on
its activities.
PART V
Article 46
Nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing
the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and of the
constitutions of the specialized agencies which define the respective
responsibilities of the various organs of the United Nations and of the
specialized agencies in regard to the matters dealt with in the present
Covenant.
Article 47
Nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing
the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully and freely
their natural wealth and resources.
PART VI
Article 48
1. The present Covenant is open for signature by any State Member
of the United Nations or member of any of its specialized agencies, by
any State Party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice,
and by any other State which has been invited by the General Assembly
of the United Nations to become a Party to the present Covenant.
2. The present Covenant is subject to ratification. Instruments of
ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the
United Nations.
3. The present Covenant shall be open to accession by any State
referred to in paragraph 1 of this article.
4. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of
accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
5. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all
States which have signed this Covenant or acceded to it of the deposit
of each instrument of ratification or accession.
Article 49
1. The present Covenant shall enter into force three months after
the date of the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United
Nations of the thirty-fifth instrument of ratification or instrument of
accession.
2. For each State ratifying the present Covenant or acceding to it
after the deposit of the thirty-fifth instrument of ratification or
instrument of accession, the present Covenant shall enter into force
three months after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of
ratification or instrument of accession.
Article 50
The provisions of the present Covenant shall extend to all parts of
federal States without any limitations or exceptions.
Article 51
1. Any State Party to the present Covenant may propose an amendment
and file it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The
Secretary-General of the United Nations shall thereupon communicate any
proposed amendments to the States Parties to the present Covenant with
a request that they notify him whether they favour a conference of
States Parties for the purpose of considering and voting upon the
proposals. In the event that at least one third of the States Parties
favours such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the
conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment
adopted by a majority of the States Parties present and voting at the
conference shall be submitted to the General Assembly of the United
Nations for approval.
2. Amendments shall come into force when they have been approved by
the General Assembly of the United Nations and accepted by a two-thirds
majority of the States Parties to the present Covenant in accordance
with their respective constitutional processes.
3. When amendments come into force, they shall be binding on those
States Parties which have accepted them, other States Parties still
being bound by the provisions of the present Covenant and any earlier
amendment which they have accepted.
Article 52
Irrespective of the notifications made under article 48, paragraph
5, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States
referred to in paragraph I of the same article of the following
particulars:
(a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under article
48;
(b) The date of the entry into force of the present Covenant
under article 49 and the date of the entry into force of any
amendments under article 51.
Article 53
1. The present Covenant, of which the Chinese, English, French,
Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in
the archives of the United Nations.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit
certified copies of the present Covenant to all States referred to in
article 48.
______
DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND OF
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF
The General Assembly,
Considering that one of the basic principles of the Charter of the
United Nations is that of the dignity and equality inherent in all
human beings, and that all Member States have pledged themselves to
take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization to
promote and encourage universal respect for and observance of human
rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to
race, sex, language or religion,
Considering that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenants on Human Rights proclaim the principles of
nondiscrimination and equality before the law and the right to freedom
of thought, conscience, religion and belief,
Considering that the disregard and infringement of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, in particular of the right to freedom of thought,
conscience, religion or whatever belief, have brought, directly or
indirectly, wars and great suffering to mankind, especially where they
serve as a means of foreign interference in the internal affairs of
other States and amount to kindling hatred between peoples and nations,
Considering that religion or belief, for anyone who professes
either, is one of the fundamental elements in his conception of life
and that freedom of religion or belief should be fully respected and
guaranteed,
Considering that it is essential to promote understanding,
tolerance and respect in matters relating to freedom of religion and
belief and to ensure that the use of religion or belief for ends
inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, other relevant
instruments of the United Nations and the purposes and principles of
the present Declaration is inadmissible,
Convinced that freedom of religion and belief should also
contribute to the attainment of the goals of world peace, social
justice and friendship among peoples and to the elimination of
ideologies or practices of colonialism and racial discrimination,
Noting with satisfaction the adoption of several, and the coming
into force of some, conventions, under the aegis of the United Nations
and of the specialized agencies, for the elimination of various forms
of discrimination,
Concerned by manifestations of intolerance and by the existence of
discrimination in matters of religion or belief still in evidence in
some areas of the world,
Resolved to adopt all necessary measures for the speedy elimination
of such intolerance in all its forms and manifestations and to prevent
and combat discrimination on the ground of religion or belief,
Proclaims this Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of
Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief:
Article 1
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion. This right shall include freedom to have a religion or
whatever belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his
religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his
freedom to have a religion or belief of his choice.
3. Freedom to manifest one's religion or belief may be subject only
to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to
protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental
rights and freedoms of others.
Article 2
1. No one shall be subject to discrimination by any State,
institution, group of persons, or person on the grounds of religion or
other belief.
2. For the purposes of the present Declaration, the expression
``intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief'' means
any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on religion
or belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nullification or
impairment of the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights
and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis.
Article 3
Discrimination between human being on the grounds of religion or
belief constitutes an affront to human dignity and a disavowal of the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and shall be condemned
as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enunciated in detail
in the International Covenants on Human Rights, and as an obstacle to
friendly and peaceful relations between nations.
Article 4
1. All States shall take effective measures to prevent and
eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the
recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedoms in all fields of civil, economic, political, social and
cultural life.
2. All States shall make all efforts to enact or rescind
legislation where necessary to prohibit any such discrimination, and to
take all appropriate measures to combat intolerance on the grounds of
religion or other beliefs in this matter.
Article 5
1. The parents or, as the case may be, the legal guardians of the
child have the right to organize the life within the family in
accordance with their religion or belief and bearing in mind the moral
education in which they believe the child should be brought up.
2. Every child shall enjoy the right to have access to education in
the matter of religion or belief in accordance with the wishes of his
parents or, as the case may be, legal guardians, and shall not be
compelled to receive teaching on religion or belief against the wishes
of his parents or legal guardians, the best interests of the child
being the guiding principle.
3. The child shall be protected from any form of discrimination on
the ground of religion or belief. He shall be brought up in a spirit of
understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal
brotherhood, respect for freedom of religion or belief of others, and
in full consciousness that his energy and talents should be devoted to
the service of his fellow men.
4. In the case of a child who is not under the care either of his
parents or of legal guardians, due account shall be taken of their
expressed wishes or of any other proof of their wishes in the matter of
religion or belief, the best interests of the child being the guiding
principle.
5. Practices of a religion or belief in which a child is brought up
must not be injurious to his physical or mental health or to his full
development, taking into account article 1, paragraph 3, of the present
Declaration.
Article 6
In accordance with article I of the present Declaration, and
subject to the provisions of article 1, paragraph 3, the right to
freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief shall include, inter
alia, the following freedoms:
(a) To worship or assemble in connection with a religion or
belief, and to establish and maintain places for these
purposes;
(b) To establish and maintain appropriate charitable or
humanitarian institutions;
(c) To make, acquire and use to an adequate extent the
necessary articles and materials related to the rites or
customs of a religion or belief;
(d) To write, issue and disseminate relevant publications in
these areas;
(e) To teach a religion or belief in places suitable for
these purposes;
(f) To solicit and receive voluntary financial and other
contributions from individuals and institutions;
(g) To train, appoint, elect or designate by succession
appropriate leaders called for by the requirements and
standards of any religion or belief;
(h) To observe days of rest and to celebrate holidays and
ceremonies in accordance with the precepts of one's religion or
belief;
(i) To establish and maintain communications with individuals
and communities in matters of religion and belief at the
national and international levels.
Article 7
The rights and freedoms set forth in the present Declaration shall
be accorded in national legislation in such a manner that everyone
shall be able to avail himself of such rights and freedoms in practice.
Article 8
Nothing in the present Declaration shall be construed as
restricting or derogating from any right defined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human
Rights.
APPENDIX C
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TRAINING AT THE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE RELATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT
I. Summary of Major Developments
Since the first report on International Religious Freedom was
issued in September 1999, the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has
worked continuously with the Office of International Religious Freedom,
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, in implementing H.R. 2431
(the International Religious Freedom Act). The result of this
cooperation has been the integration of religious freedom issues into
the regular curriculum at FSI. During the period covered by this
report, members of the FSI training staff took part in conferences
dealing with religious freedom, persecution, conflict, and
reconciliation hosted by academic institutions, think tanks, and
nongovernmental organizations. The Political Training Division at FSI
has continued to work with the staff of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom to ensure that their insights are
reflected in FSI's course offerings.
II. Courses Offered
The School of Professional and Area Studies (SPAS) at FSI offers
training relevant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
(IRFA) in a variety of courses. The following are brief descriptions of
courses offered by the divisions of Political Training, Orientation,
Consular Training, and Area Studies.
Foreign Service Officer Orientation (A-100)
During the A-100 Course, a senior State Department official from
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) presents a
session on international religious freedom. Additionally, students are
provided key background materials on religious freedom on a CD Rom
distributed to each officer. They are also directed to key websites
containing related materials.
Political/Economic Tradecraft (PG-140)
This is a 3-week-long course. The students have been assigned for
the first time to work in an embassy's or consulate's political,
economic, or combined political/economic section overseas. Political/
Economic Tradecraft is essentially a required course, in that State
Department officers are assigned to take it by the personnel system and
exceptions are rare. The State Department expects that a large
proportion of these officers/students during their careers will be
directly responsible for preparing their post's human rights and
religious freedom reports.
As part of required consultations during the course, each student
is asked to obtain the Annual Report on Religious Freedom and the
report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom listed
in Section III. In addition the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor provides a session during which religious freedom issues are
featured prominently.
Global Issues (PP-510)
This 3-day course is given twice a year and is geared toward mid-
level foreign affairs and national security professionals working for
the Department of State and other agencies. In the fall, this course is
combined with a separate module on human rights.
As in the Tradecraft courses, the Bureau of Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor provides presentations during which religious freedom
issues are featured together with other aspects of U.S. human rights
policy.
International Conflict Workshop (PP-519)
This 4-day workshop focuses on various aspects of international
conflict, especially the enhancement of skills needed to analyze the
causes of conflict and develop a plan for preventive diplomacy. This
course trains up to 30 foreign affairs and national security
professionals at all levels working for the Department of State and
other agencies.
Multiple segments in this course address the factors that drive
ethnic conflict, which include questions of religious identity and
religious and ethnic persecution.
Basic Consular Course (PC-530)
PC-530 is a prerequisite for serving as a Consular Officer in the
Foreign Service. It is designed primarily for Foreign Service Officers
preparing to go overseas to fill consular positions, dependents of U.S.
government employees who will work as Consular Associates overseas, and
domestic employees of the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
The Immigrant Visa portion of PC-530 addresses refugee and asylum
issues as they pertain to consular officers. Role-plays and other
scenarios involving religious minorities have been incorporated into
the American Citizen Services portion of the course.
Area Studies
The Foreign Service Institute and the Appeal of Conscience
Foundation annually sponsor a major symposium focused on religious
freedom and the role of U.S. diplomats overseas. Officers in FSI
language training and area studies courses take part in this symposium.
The symposium brings together leading experts on religious issues and
foreign affairs practitioners who can speak to the job related aspects
of religious freedom issues to provide our officers with a clear
understanding of the importance of these issues and the challenges and
responsibilities they will face.
Throughout the year, the course chairs in the Area Studies
Division, in cooperation with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor, ensure that their courses address both regional and country
specific issues of religion, religious freedom, and human rights.
Participants receive substantial information encompassing the full
range of issues affecting particular regions, including religious
freedom and human rights, religious history and religious traditions.
Students also receive reading lists (and internet guidance) that direct
them to even more detailed material.
Ambassadorial Training
The Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs regularly
speaks to the Ambassadorial Seminar on the importance of this topic.
III. Background Material on Religious Freedom
The following background materials related to religious freedom are
made available (as hard copy or through website address) to FSI
students:
Religious Freedom
Background Materials Provided to Students at FSI
Mission Statement for the State Department Office of
International Religious Freedom
``Preparing the Annual Report on Religious Freedom for
2006''
2005 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom
(Executive Summary)
Main Web Page of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom
List of current Members of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom
Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom
Highlights from Key International Documents:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 18)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Articles 18, 26 & 27)
Links to International Religious Freedom Background Materials
1. 2005 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (Executive
Summary): http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35335.html
2. Main Web Page of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom, an independent, congressionally funded commission: http://
www.uscirf.gov
List of Members (current) for the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom: http://www.uscirf.gov/about/
commissioners.html
Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom May 2006. http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/publications/
currentreport/2006annualRpt.pdf#page=1
3. Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/
Overview/rights.html
4. International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights http://
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a--ccpr.html
APPENDIX D
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) AND THE INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM ACT (IRFA)
The Department of Homeland Security has assumed responsibilities
formerly charged to the Immigration and Naturalization Service under
the IRFA. The DHS is committed to ensuring that all claims for refugee
and asylum protection are treated with fairness, respect, and dignity
and that all mandates of IRFA for these programs are properly
implemented. This appendix summarizes the Department's actions during
the Fiscal Year 2005, as required under Section 102 (b)(1)(E) of IRFA.
I. Training of Asylum Officers and Refugee Adjudicators
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provides
extensive training to Asylum Officers to prepare them to perform their
duties of adjudicating asylum claims. The training covers all grounds
on which an asylum claim may be based, including religion. Asylum
Officers receive approximately five weeks of specialized training
related to international human rights law, non-adversarial interview
techniques, and other relevant national and international refugee laws
and principles.\1\ During the five-week course and in local asylum
office training, USCIS provides Asylum Officers with specialized
training on religious persecution issues. With the passage of IRFA in
1998, the five-week training program expanded to incorporate
information about IRFA as a part of the regular curriculum. In
addition, a continual effort is made to include further discussion of
religious persecution whenever possible in both the five-week course
and in local asylum office training. The Asylum Division regularly
updates its training materials and conducts training in local asylum
offices to reflect any recently issued papers on religious persecution
from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the US Commission
on International Religious Freedom, or other organizations as well as
any recent developments in case law or country conditions on this
issue.
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\1\ Asylum Officers are required to complete two five-week training
courses, the Adjudication and Asylum Officer Basic Training Course
(AAOBTC), and the Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC). The
AAOBTC covers the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and basic
immigration law. The AOBTC includes international human rights law,
asylum and refugee law, interviewing techniques, decision-making and
decision-writing skills, effective country conditions research skills,
and computer skills. In addition compulsory in-service training for all
asylum officers is held weekly.
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USCIS developed specialized training for refugee officers, the
Refugee Application Adjudication Course (RAAC) as mandated by IRFA.
When initially developed, the course consisted of two-weeks of
intensive instruction in refugee law and overseas refugee processing
procedures, paying special attention to religious persecution issues.
USCIS officers responsible for adjudicating refugee applications were
required to attend the course. The refugee law portion of RAAC was
largely adapted from the Asylum Officer Basic Training Course (AOBTC)
and new modules were developed specifically for overseas refugee
processing.
More recently, with the creation of the Refugee Corps and hiring of
full-time Headquarters staff dedicated to refugee adjudications in the
fall of 2005, the refugee training was expanded to three weeks and the
content was augmented. New refugee officers must successfully complete
the Refugee Officer Training Course (ROTC) to conduct overseas refugee
adjudications. The course consists of in-depth training on refugee law,
and much of the material is drawn from the Asylum Officer Basic
Training Course. This three-week training covers all grounds, including
religion, on which a claim for refugee status may be based, and
involves specialized training on international human rights law, non-
adversarial interview techniques, and other relevant national and
international refugee laws and principles. During the training,
students receive specialized instruction on religious persecution
issues. For example, as part of the last two sessions, members of the
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (UCIRF)
conducted presentations on IRFA. In addition, the training encourages
further discussion of religious persecution whenever possible. USCIS
has updated the primary lesson plan to reflect recent guidelines issued
by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) on religious persecution claims, as well as recent developments
in refugee law. More than 30 officers have completed the training to
date.
In addition to ROTC, USCIS also provides preparatory training to
officers who are embarking on short-term overseas refugee-related
assignments. This training includes detailed information on religious
topics that will be encountered on the overseas assignment.
The Resource Information Center (RIC) in the Asylum Division of the
Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations Directorate serves both
Asylum Officers and Refugee Adjudicators, and is responsible for the
collection and/or production and distribution of materials regarding
human rights conditions around the world. The RIC has published an
online guide to web research that is posted on the internal DHS
website. This online internet guide includes links to government and
non-government websites that contain information on religious
persecution, as well as other issues relevant to asylum adjudications.
The RIC separately catalogues religious freedom periodicals and
separately codes RIC responses to field queries that involve religious
issues.
II. Guidelines for Addressing Hostile Biases
In the affirmative asylum context, applicants for asylum who cannot
proceed with the asylum interview in English must provide their own
interpreter. Prior to conducting any interpretation for the interview,
the interpreter must take an oath to translate fully and accurately the
proceedings of the asylum interview. The asylum officer may terminate
the interview to be rescheduled at a later date if the interpreter is
found to be misrepresenting the applicant's testimony, is incompetent,
or otherwise displays improper conduct.
Starting in 2002, USCIS included specific anti-bias provisions in
the interpreter services contract used by Asylum Officers in the Asylum
Pre-Screening Program. The contract and interpreter oath also include
special provisions that ensure the security and confidentiality of the
credible fear process. Asylum Officers report to the Asylum Division
any concerns about the accuracy or neutrality of the interpretation,
which in turn are raised to the management of the interpreter services
company.
APPENDIX E
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OVERVIEW OF U.S. REFUGEE POLICY
The world's refugee population is estimated to be nearly 13 million
persons. Nearly 24 million more are displaced within their own
countries by war, famine, and civil unrest. The United States works
with other governments and international and nongovernmental
organizations to protect refugees, internally displaced persons, and
conflict victims, and strives to ensure that basic human needs for
food, health care, water and sanitation, education, and shelter are
met. The United States has been instrumental in mobilizing a community
of nations to work through these organizations to protect and assist
refugees worldwide, supporting major humanitarian relief operations, as
well as seeking durable solutions for refugees. For the vast majority
of refugees, voluntary return to their homelands is the preferred
solution. Where voluntary repatriation in safety and dignity is not
feasible, other durable solutions are sought, including local
integration in countries of asylum or resettlement in third countries.
Resettlement, including in the United States, is appropriate for
refugees in urgent need of protection and for refugees for whom other
durable solutions are inappropriate or unavailable. The United States
considers for admission as refugees persons of special humanitarian
concern who can establish that they experienced past persecution or
have a well-founded fear of future persecution in their home country on
account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular
social group, or political opinion. The legal basis of the refugee
admissions program is the Refugee Act of 1980, which embodies the
American tradition of granting refuge to diverse groups suffering from
or fearing persecution. The act adopted the definition of ``refugee''
contained in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Over the past decade, the U.S. Refugee
Admissions Program has been adjusting its focus away from the large
refugee admissions programs that had developed during the Cold War for
nationals of Communist countries and toward more diverse refugee groups
that require protection for a variety of reasons, including religious
belief. The following describes the program's efforts, by region, in
meeting the needs of refugees worldwide who have faced religious
persecution.
The U.S. admissions program processes refugee cases referred by
UNHCR, U.S. embassies, and certain non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) whose claims are based on persecution due to religious beliefs
(in addition to race, nationality, membership of a particular social
group, or political opinion). It has worked closely with UNHCR and NGOs
to strengthen this referral process.
Africa
For the majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, religious
freedom and peaceful coexistence are the rule, even where other
conflicts hold sway or where there has been communal violence along
sectarian lines as in Nigeria. The primary exceptions to the rule have
been Sudan and periodic harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses--e.g., in
Eritrea. During the 22-year civil war between ``north'' and ``south,''
the government conducted or tolerated attacks on civilians,
indiscriminate bombing raids, and slave raids in the south, all with a
religious as well as an ethnic dimension. Though the conflict in Darfur
has featured its own human rights abuses based on ethnic differences,
it lacks the religious dimensions of the North-South conflict. In
Northern Sudan, Islam is treated as the state religion and a Muslim
majority runs the government. In areas controlled by the government,
access to education, as well as other social services, is far easier to
obtain for Muslims than for non-Muslims. The government has restricted
the activities of Christians, practitioners of traditional indigenous
religions, and other non-Muslim religions. However, under the January
9, 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the North-South
conflict, a new constitution was drafted to include specific religious
freedom guarantees based on a series of negotiated protocols. The
interim National Constitution entered into force on July 9, 2005, and a
new Government of National Unity took office in September of that year.
The country remains in a state of political transition; however, the
Government of National Unity has continued to impose restrictions on
non-Muslims in the north, while permitting the Government of Southern
Sudan (GOSS) to develop a secular administration respecting the rights
of Christians, Muslims, and others in the south. During FY 2005, 2,205
Sudanese refugees who had found refuge in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya
(primarily) were resettled in the United States. With the end of the
North-South conflict and the current peace prospects in southern Sudan,
efforts are now focused primarily on repatriation for approximately
550,000 Sudanese refugees. However, UNHCR continues to refer a limited
number of Sudanese refugees in need of protection for consideration by
the U.S refugee admissions program.
East Asia
While many governments in East Asia permit freedom of worship,
religious believers face serious persecution in some countries. The
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) severely restricts
religious freedom, including organized religious activity, except that
which is supervised tightly by officially recognized groups linked to
the government. While the DPRK Constitution provides for ``freedom of
religious belief,'' genuine religious freedom does not exist.
Consistent with the intent of the North Korean Human Rights Act, the
United States has recently resettled some North Korean refugees in the
United States.
The situation in other countries such as China, Vietnam, Burma, and
Laos is mixed. The Chinese constitution provides for freedom of
worship; however, it restricts activities of religious organizations.
In China, most independent religious activities are either prohibited
or severely restricted. Despite dramatic increases in religious
observance in China, the government continues to suppress, intimidate,
harass, detain and imprison followers of those religions or spiritual
movements it cannot directly control, most notably the (underground)
Catholic Church loyal to the Vatican, Protestant ``house churches,''
some Muslim groups, Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama, and the Falun
Gong spiritual movement. In Vietnam, the constitution provides for
freedom of worship; however, it also restricts activities of religious
organizations. There were a number of significant improvements in law
and practice, and a vast majority of Vietnamese who wish to practice
their religion do so freely, without harassment or interference.
However, official oversight of recognized religions and harassment or
repression of followers of some non-recognized religions continued.
Some religious practitioners, especially ethnic minorities in the
Northwest Highlands, continue to suffer harassment, arbitrary
detention, and physical intimidation, though reports of such incidents
have declined. Vietnam has released a number of religious prisoners,
but others face administrative and civil restrictions. In Laos,
Protestants in particular suffer periodic arrest and imprisonment. In
Burma, the government maintains a pervasive internal security apparatus
that generally infiltrates or monitors meetings and activities of all
organizations, including religious groups. The government actively
promotes Buddhism over other religions as a means of boosting its own
legitimacy, and continues harsh discrimination against members of
minority religions.
Former Soviet Union
The breakup of the Soviet Union initially led to a resurgence of
religious practice throughout the region, but in recent years the fear
of newer religious groups, many of them with ties to coreligionists in
other countries, has led to a backlash in a number of the newly
independent states. Most post-Soviet states regulate religious groups
and activities, specifying a set of ``traditional'' religions with
certain privileges denied to other groups. They require registration
and use this as a mechanism of control; by refusing to register new
denominations it makes them vulnerable to charges of illegal
association. In Belarus, and to a lesser degree in Russia, some
minority religious groups suffer harassment and difficulties finding
places to meet. In some countries, such as Belarus, groups with
international ties are sometimes accused of being security threats. In
some countries, one's faith may be associated with ethnicity,
patriotism, nationalism, or even with terrorism; and authorities may be
suspicious of religious groups perceived as having political agendas
and organizations. This is especially true in some of the Central Asian
republics where support for political Islam and terrorism may be found
in small segments of the population. In the case of Uzbekistan, members
of Islamic groups not approved by the State are often seen as potential
terrorists and suffer harassment or imprisonment; members of Christian
groups with ethnic Uzbek members are seen as politically and socially
de-stabilizing and also suffer severe harassment. In the case of
Turkmenistan, the government continues to monitor all forms of
religious expression. Although the level of harassment continued to
decrease in the last year, most religious groups continued to
experience the types of government harassment similar to years past,
including detention, arrest, confiscation of religious literature and
materials, pressure to abandon religious beliefs, and threats of
eviction and job loss. The U.S. refugee admission program provides
resettlement opportunities to religious minority members (as identified
in the Lautenberg Amendment) with close family ties to the United
States. In addition, UNHCR has recently increased the number of
referrals to the program. Refugee admissions based on grounds of
religious persecution have been significant in both the Bosnia and
Kosovo resettlement efforts. The Department of State will continue to
work with the UNHCR, nongovernmental organizations (both faith-based
and non-sectarian), human rights groups, and U.S. missions to identify
persons who qualify under the 1980 act on religious grounds for whom
resettlement is appropriate. The U.S. refugee admissions program has
provided protection to Muslims, Jews, Evangelical Christians,
Catholics, and Orthodox Christians as well as individuals of other
religious minorities.
Latin America/Caribbean
In general, religious freedom is widely recognized and enjoyed in
Latin America. The key exception is Cuba, where the Government engages
in active efforts to monitor and control religious institutions,
including surveillance, infiltration, and harassment of clergy and
members; evictions from and confiscation of places of worship; and
preventive detention of religious activists. It also uses registration
as a mechanism of control; by refusing to register new denominations,
it makes them vulnerable to charges of illegal association. However,
despite these obstacles to religious expression, church activity has
grown in recent years. The U.S. refugee admissions program specifically
includes religious minorities and other human rights activists among
the list of eligible groups.
Near East and South Asia
Repression of religious minorities is common in some countries in
the Near East and South Asia. In Pakistan, the government fails to
protect the rights of religious minorities. Discriminatory legislation
and the government's failure to take action against societal forces
hostile to those who practice a different faith fostered religious
intolerance and acts of violence and intimidation against religious
minorities, including Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, and Zikris. In
India, the government sometimes in the recent past did not act swiftly
enough to effectively counter societal attacks against religious
minorities and attempts by some leaders of state and local governments
to limit religious freedom. In Afghanistan, despite constitutional
guarantees, years of Taliban rule and weak democratic institutions,
including an unreformed judiciary, have contributed to a culture of
intolerance manifested in acts of harassment and sometimes violence
against reform minded Muslims and religious minorities, including
Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. In Saudi Arabia public non-Muslim worship
is prohibited, as is conversion of a Muslim to another religion. In
Iran, members of minority religious groups continue to face arrest,
harassment, and discrimination. Iranian refugees who belong to
religious minorities (Baha'is, Sufis, Jews, Zoroastrians, and
Christians) are able to apply directly for U.S. resettlement. In
addition, the UNHCR and U.S. embassies in the region facilitate access
to the admissions program for individuals of other nationalities who
may qualify on religious grounds. Congress passed the Specter Amendment
which adds ``members of a religious minority in Iran'' to the list of
categories of aliens who may benefit from the reduced evidentiary
standards for demonstrating a well-founded fear of persecution in
refugee processing, established pursuant to the ``Lautenberg
Amendment'' contained in Section 213 of the foreign Operations, Export
Financing, and related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 (P.L. 101-
167). The Department of State will continue efforts to improve access
to refugee processing through dialogue with nongovernmental
organizations and human rights groups who may identify victims with
valid claims based on grounds of religious persecution. The UNHCR also
has addressed religious persecution issues in several regional
workshops to increase the sensitivity of protection and resettlement
officers to victims of religious persecution.