Executive Summary
Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose…we also remember that religious liberty is not just an American right; it is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and without it our world cannot know lasting peace. President Barack Obama Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Congress took a momentous step in support of religious freedomwhen it passed the International Religious Freedom Act, establishing within the Executive Branch the position of Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. With this measure, the U.S. government made a bold statement on behalf of those who were oppressed, those who were persecuted, and those who were unable to live their lives at the most basic level, for the simple exercise of their faith. Whether it be a single deity, or multiple deities, or no deities at all, freedom to believe–including the freedom not to believe–is a universal human right.
Freedom of religion and belief and the right to worship as one choosesfulfill a deep and abiding human need. The search for this freedom led the Pilgrimsto flee Europe for America’s shores centuries ago, and is enshrined in our own Constitution. But it is by no means exclusively an American right. All states are committed to freedom of thought, conscience and belief in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has been the touchstone and the global standard for the protection of human rights around the world since 1948.
The right to religious freedom is inherent in every human being. Unfortunately, this right was challenged in myriad ways in 2012. One of the basic elements of the International Religious Freedom Act is the requirement that the Department of State publish an annual report on the status of religiousfreedom in countries around the world, and the record of governments in protecting–or not protecting–this universal right.
This year’s report tells stories of courage and conviction, but also recounts violence, restriction, and abuse. While many nations uphold, respect, and protect religious freedom, regrettably, in many other nations, governments do not protect this basic right; subject members of religious minorities to violence; actively restrict citizens’ religious freedomthrough oppressive laws and regulations; stand by while members of societal groups attack their fellow citizens out of religious hatred, and fail to hold those responsible for such violence accountable for their actions. The immediate challenge is to protect members of religious minorities.
The ongoing challenge is to address the root causes that lead to limits on religious freedom. These causes include impunity for violations of religious freedom and an absence of the rule of law, or uneven enforcement of existing laws; introduction of laws restricting religiousfreedom; societal intolerance, including anti-Semitism and lack of respect for religious diversity; and perceptions that national security and stability are best maintained by placing restrictions on and abusing religious freedom.
This comprehensive report comprises almost two hundred individual reports on countries and territories. Each report sets forth the laws, policies, and practices of governments; describes the nature of societal respect for religious freedom; and highlights the specific efforts that the U.S. government made in each country to promote respect for religious freedom. Some reports document religious bigotry, hatred, and oppression. Others describe examples of religious freedom, societal respect, and interfaith dialogue. Whatever the case, the Secretary of State has been clear that these reports should be accurate, objective, detailed, and frank.
For 2012, some common themes regarding the status of religious freedom around the world emerged. In general, these themes reveal negative trends, and often cut across national and regional boundaries. The individual reports provide the details, but these worrying trends–and the authoritarian governments that restrict their citizens’ ability to practice their religion–merit highlighting.
Government Restrictions and Abuses
Laws and policies that impede the freedom of individuals to choose a faith, practice a faith, change their religion, tell others about their religious beliefs and practices, or reject religion altogether remain pervasive. Numerous governments imposed such undue and inappropriate restrictions on religious groups and abused their members, in some cases as part of formal government law and practice.
In China,religious affairs officials and security organs scrutinized and restricted the religious activities of registered and unregistered religious and spiritual groups.
The government harassed, detained, arrested, or sentenced to prison a number of religious adherents for activities reportedly related to their religious beliefs and practice. These activities included assembling for religious worship, expressing religious beliefs in public and in private, and publishing religious texts. The government continued to strictly regulate the religious activities of Uighur Muslims. Authorities sentenced one Uighur Muslim to ten years in jail for selling “illegal religious material;” harassed or detained Catholic clergy not affiliated with the government “Catholic Patriotic Association,” including auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daquin; and indicted seven house church Christians accused of being members of a banned group, “the Shouters,” a charge they denied. In response to a prolonged period of progressively more repressive government actions and religious policies in Tibetan areas, including intense official crackdowns at monasteries and nunneries resulting in the loss of life, arbitrary detentions, and torture, Tibetan monks, nuns, and laypersons increasingly sought to express despair and dissent by self-immolating, often at or near a monastery, usually resulting in death. There were reportedly 83 self-immolations in 2012.
In North Korea, the government severely restricted religious freedom, including discouraging organized religious activities, except those controlled by officially recognized groups. The government dealt harshly with all opponents, including those who engaged in religious practices it deemed unacceptable.
Religious and human rights groups outside the country provided numerousreports in previous years that members of underground churches were arrested, beaten, tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 political prisoners were believed to be held in prison campsin remote areas, some for religious reasons. In Vietnam, although authorities made some progress in expanding registration of religious groups, government practices and bureaucratic impediments restricted religious freedom. Unregistered and unrecognized religious groups were potentially vulnerable to harassment, as well as coercive and punitive actions by national and local authorities. Authorities in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces continued to harass and abuse followers of the unsanctioned Traditional Hoa Hao Buddhist Church. The government continued to imprison individuals for their religious beliefs, including Hoa Hao activist Bui Van Tham.
In Burma, the government maintained restrictions on certain religious activities, limited freedom of religion, and actively promoted Theravada Buddhism over other religions, particularly among certain ethnic minority populations. Some government officials encouraged or enticed non-Buddhists to convert to Buddhism in southern Chin State. Authorities subjected religious organizations to restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly, and continued to monitor the meetings and activities of religious organizations. Muslims in Rakhine State, particularly those of the Rohingya minority group, continued to be subjected to lethal violence and to experience severe forms of legal, economic, educational, and social discrimination. Villages of Kaman people, an officially recognized Muslim national race group distinct from the Rohingya, also were burned to the ground.
In Saudi Arabia, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited, and the government enforced restrictions on religious freedom. The government reportedly deported foreigners for worshipping privately. Shias continued to face discrimination, and authorities restricted public Shia celebrations, even in some areas with large Shia populations. At least one individual was beheaded for engaging in “sorcery.” In Syria, the government increased its targeting and surveillance of members of faith groups it deemed a “threat,” including members of the country’s Sunni majority. Such targeting included killing, detention, and harassment. There were credible reports that the regime targeted citizens based on religious affiliation in mixed neighborhoods in Homs and rural Aleppo. Violent extremist activity intensified as the civil conflict escalated, including the targeting of religious minorities by groups such as the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra. In Iran, the arrest and harassment of members of religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, increased significantly. There continued to be reports that the government imprisoned, harassed, intimidated, and discriminated against people because of their religious beliefs. Authorities placed U.S.-Iranian citizen and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini under house arrest in July to investigate previous charges of undermining national security by leading a network of house churches. In September Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials raided his residence and took him to Evin prison, where he remained in detention at year’s end. Seven Bahai leaders remained in detention at the end of 2012, serving sentences extended by the authorities in 2011 to 20 years. The government charged them in 2011 with “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
In Russia, government restrictions targeted members of minority religious groups through the use of extremism charges to ban religious materials and restrict groups’ right to assemble. Authorities also restricted religious minorities through detention,raids, denial of official registration with the Ministry of Justice, denial of official building registration, and denial of visas to religious workers. In Uzbekistan, the government continued to imprison individuals on charges of “extremism,” raided religious and social gatherings of unregistered and registered religious communities, confiscated and destroyed religious literature, and discouraged minors from practicing their faith. There were numerous reports of beatings and abuse of prisoners serving sentences for religious convictions. In Turkmenistan, government authorities at times disrupted meetings of unregistered religious groups, and subjected individuals suspected of unauthorized or unregistered activity to search, detention, confiscation of religious materials, seizure of private property, verbal abuse, fines, pressure to confess to holding an illegal meeting, and beating. In Tajikistan, the government generally enforced legal restrictions on religious freedom, interpreting its right to restrict religious activity very broadly, and requiring that any religious activity be approved by the government to be legal. The law prohibits people under the age of 18 from participating in public religious activities, and effectively bars most women from attending Muslim religious services. In Afghanistan, members of minority religious groups continued to suffer discrimination, and the government often did not protect members of minorities from societal harassment. The government enforced existing legal restrictions on religious freedom selectively and in a discriminatory manner. In Azerbaijan, the government placed restrictions on members of religious groups it considered “nontraditional,” including Jehovah’s Witnesses and unsanctioned Muslim religious organizations. Religious registration requirements left unregistered groups–particularly those considered “nontraditional” by the government–vulnerable to police harassment, fines, and closures mandated by court decisions.
In Cuba, the Communist Party, through its Office of Religious Affairs, continued to monitor and control most aspects of religious life. Although many religious groups reported reduced interference from the government in conducting services, importing religious materials, receiving donations from overseas, and in traveling abroad, serious restrictions to the freedom of religion remained. The government regularly prevented peaceful human rights activists, including members of the Ladies in White,from attending religious services, and routinely used governmentsponsored protest groupsto assault or detain them. Before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, authorities arrested many members of the peaceful political opposition or prevented themfrom leaving their homes to participate with the Pope in celebrating mass. A number of religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, continued their years-long wait for a decision from the Ministry of Justice on pending applications for official recognition.
In Sudan, there were credible reports that state governments and local authorities razed two churches. In June, authorities in Khartoum State overrode a longstanding informal agreement and destroyed a building used as an Episcopal church, and two days later, a Catholic church. In Eritrea, the government continued to harass members of unregistered religious groups, and detained many without due process, occasionally for long periods of time, sometimes by informally charging them with threatening national security. At year’s end, NGOs estimated the total of those imprisoned because of their religious beliefs at 1,500, including several dozen members of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions were clearly on the rise–particularly in Europe and Asia. Government restrictions, which often coincided with societal animosity, resulted in anti-Muslim actions that affected everyday life for numerous believers.
The impact ranged from education, to employment, to personal safety within communities. Government restrictions on religious attire also remained an issue, as Muslim women faced increasing restrictions on head coverings in schools, in public sector employment, and in public spaces. In Belgium, the Constitutional Court ruled that the nation’s 2011 ban on face-covering attire, with no exception for religious garments, did not violate religious freedom. In India, several educational institutions in Mangalore, Karnataka, reportedly banned Muslim girls from wearing headscarves. Since 2009, schools and colleges run by both Hindu and Christian administrations have prevented Muslim female students and teachers from covering their heads, citing a uniform dress code. In contrast, in November,
Turkey lifted a ban on female students wearing headscarves in schools that provided religious education.
In both Sunni and Shia majority countries, officials and society repressed groups whose members viewed themselves as part of branches or offshoots of Islam.
Authorities in a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia, harassed, abused, detained, or banned Ahmadi Muslims from practicing their faith. In some countries in which the Sunni branch of Islam made up the majority of the population, or otherwise held political power, authorities targeted Shias and other members of minorities for discrimination, undue restriction, and/or abuse, and members of society often followed their lead. For example, in Saudi Arabia, Muslims who did not adhere to the government’s interpretation of Sunni Islam faced significant political, economic, legal, social, and religious discrimination, including limited employment and educational opportunities, underrepresentation in official institutions, restrictions on religious practice, and restrictions on places of worship and community centers. In Bahrain, members of the Shia community continued to face official discrimination, detention, excessive use of force, and alleged torture. The government revoked the citizenship of 31 Shias, including three clerics, on charges of “damage to state security.” In Pakistan, the law prohibits Ahmadi Muslims from identifying themselves as Muslims or risk imprisonment for up to three years and a fine. Those wishing to be listed as Muslims on their national identity card, which is needed to vote, must swear their belief that the Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet, and denounce the Ahmadiyya Muslim movement’s founder as a false prophet and his followers as non-Muslim. This provision prevents Ahmadi Muslims from obtaining legal documents and puts pressure on members of the community to deny their beliefs to enjoy citizenship rights, including the right to vote. In the Maldives, the government restricted religious freedom and pressured citizensto conform to a stricter interpretation of Islamic practice, particularly following the change of government in February. The law prohibits citizens’ practice of any religion other than Islam and requires the government to exert control over all religious matters, including the practice of Islam.
In Iran, a country with a Shia majority, authorities targeted Sunnis and members of other minorities in similar fashion. Government rhetoric and actions created a threatening atmosphere for nearly all members of non-Shia religious groups, most notably for Bahais, as well as for Sunni Muslims including Sufis, evangelical Christians, Jews, and Shia groups that did not share the government’s religious views. Christian pastors Behnam Irani and Farshid Fathi remained in jail at year’s end. Officials reportedly pressured them to renounce theirChristian faith throughout their ordeals and threatened and harassed their friends and families.
Zoroastrians also reported detentions and harassment.