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The Religion-State Relationship Relationship Religion-State the — Their Own People to Live SpecialPOLICYReportFOCUS UNITED STATE S C O M M I SS I O N O N I NTERNATIONAL R ELIGIO US F R E E D O M SUDAN M O 2012F ALL Update 2 0 1 1 F R E E D IOUS G The Religion-State Relationship LI THE U.S. COMMISSION E R L ON INTERNATIONAL NA IO and the Right to Freedom of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM was created by the N I N T E R N AT Religion or Belief: O N International Religious ISSIO Freedom Act of 1998 MM O to monitor the status U . S . C A Comparative Textual Analysis of the of freedom of thought, Constitutions of Majority Muslim Countries conscience, and religion and Other OIC Members or belief abroad, as Refugees from Southern Kordofan, Sudan at Yida refugee camp in South Sudan greet international visitors. defined in the Universal Declaration of Human ere are no reports about the killings Under the control of Sudanese President Omar Rights and related al-Bashir, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and in Sudan but we hear on the radio Khartoum’s paramilitary Popular Defense Forces international instruments, about the killings everywhere else (PDF) have targeted persons based on religion, and to give independent in the world. We don’t feel like the ethnicity, and political aliation in Southern policy recommendations international community cares, we are Kordofan and Blue Nile states. e government also has bombed and denied humanitarian assis- not a priority. to the President, tance to civilians, creating an urgent humanitarian —SPLM-N ELECTION VOLUNTEER, KADUGLI crisis in the two states. Such actions in Southern Secretary of State, and Kordofan and Blue Nile states constitute a violation Congress. ey want to arrest us, they don’t want of international human rights and humanitarian their own people to live. law by the government of Sudan. SUDAN —TEACHER, TALLIE e U.S. Commission on International Reli- OIC Constitutions gious Freedom (USCIRF) traveled to South Sudan and visited the Yida refugee camp in late October to investigate reports of violations of international human rights law, including freedom of religion or visit our web site at belief, and persons being targeted based on their www.uscirf.gov Table of Contents INTRODUCTION______________________________________________________ 3 I. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND THE STATE __________ 8 A. ISLAM AS STATE RELIGION ____________________________________________ 8 B. CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE FOR ISLAMIC LAW, PRINCIPLES, OR JURISPRUDENCE ____ 10 i) Islam as a Source of Legislation _____________________________________ 10 ii) Other Provisions for Recognition of Islamic Principles __________________ 10 II. GUARANTEE OF THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF12 A. MINIMUM INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS _____ 12 B. RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS _________________ 12 i) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) _______________________ 12 ii) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)_____________ 13 C. IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IN MAJORITY MUSLIM COUNTRIES _________________________________________________________ 13 i) Freedom of Religion or Belief as a Right of Every Individual ______________ 13 ii) Constitutional Safeguards Against Coercion in Matters of Religious Belief ___ 14 iii) Constitutional Provisions that Do Not Comply with International Standards _ 14 Table: Comparison of Constitutional Provisions on Freedom of Religion to International Standards _____________________________________________ 15 D. CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF _____________________________________________________________ 16 E. PERMISSIBLE LIMITATIONS ON FREEDOM TO MANIFEST A RELIGION OR BELIEF UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW ___________________________________________ 17 III. RELATED RIGHTS: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION, AND ASSEMBLY__________________________________________________________ 19 A. OVERVIEW _______________________________________________________ 19 B. APPLICATION OF RELATED RIGHTS _____________________________________ 19 IV. EQUALITY AND PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION ______________ 21 A. OVERVIEW _______________________________________________________ 21 B. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS ON EQUALITY AND NONDISCRIMINATION ________ 21 C. CONSTITUTIONAL AND OTHER LIMITATIONS ON THE RIGHTS TO EQUALITY AND NONDISCRIMINATION _________________________________________________ 22 V. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: SUPREMACY, REMEDIES FOR RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, AND REVISIONS _______________________________________ 24 A. LAWS INCONSISTENT WITH FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS MAY BE VOID ____________ 24 B. CONSTITUTIONALLY RECOGNIZED RIGHTS MAY BE SUPERSEDED BY ORDINARY LAW __________________________________________________________________ 24 C. REVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONALITY MAY IMPLICATE THE CONFORMITY OF LEGISLATION WITH ISLAM _________________________________________________________ 25 D. PROHIBITIONS ON CERTAIN REVISIONS TO THE CONSTITUTION _______________ 25 VI. REFERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS ______________________________________________ 27 A. OVERVIEW _______________________________________________________ 27 B. AFFIRMATIVE OBLIGATION OR GENERAL REFERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS _________________________________________________ 27 VII. APPENDICES ____________________________________________________ 28 A. SUMMARY TABLE OF MAJORITY MUSLIM COUNTRIES (BY REGION) AND OTHER OIC MEMBERS ______________________________________________________ 28 B. TABLE OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS ADDRESSING RELIGION, SPEECH, INTERNATIONAL LAW & EQUALITY FOR MAJORITY MUSLIM COUNTRIES (BY REGION) AND OTHER OIC MEMBERS ____________________________________________ 30 C. ABOUT THE U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ______ 155 ii Introduction Current developments in constitutional drafting are spurring renewed analysis of the existing constitutional landscape in majority Muslim countries. New constitutions are being drafted in Egypt, Somalia,1 Libya, Sudan, Tunisia, and Turkey, among others. Although the drafting and approval processes will no doubt be markedly different in each of these countries, international legal norms are clear about religious freedom standards. In each country, questions will be raised, as they have been in the past, about the relationship between international legal/human rights norms and existing political arrangements in Muslim countries—especially with respect to the internationally recognized right of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief. This study compiles and analyzes constitutional provisions currently in place concerning the relationship between religion and the state, freedom of religion or belief, and related human rights in the 46 majority Muslim countries and in 10 other countries that, while not majority Muslim, are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (―OIC‖).2 Table: Majority Muslim and Other OIC Member Countries Majority Muslim Countries Other OIC Member Countries 1. Afghanistan 1. Benin 2. Albania 2. Cameroon 3. Algeria 3. Gabon 4. Azerbaijan 4. Guinea-Bissau 5. Bahrain 5. Guyana 6. Bangladesh 6. Ivory Coast 7. Brunei 7. Mozambique 8. Burkina Faso 8. Suriname 9. Chad 9. Togo 10. Comoros 10. Uganda 11. Djibouti 12. Egypt 13. Gambia 14. Guinea 15. Indonesia 1 On August 1, 2012, the National Constituent Assembly approved the Provisional Constitution of Somalia. The document still requires adoption in a national referendum, at a time to be determined, following citizen consultations. Like the previous constitution, the Provisional Constitution declares Islam the state religion and requires that all laws comply ―with the general principles of Shari‘ah.‖ For USCIRF‘s analysis of the draft Provisional Constitution, see here: http://www.uscirf.gov/images/Somalia%20Policy%20Brief%20Summer%202012%20Final(1).pdf. 2 It is an update of a similar study published by USCIRF in 2005 entitled ―The Religion-State Relationship and the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Constitutions of Predominantly Muslim Countries,‖ Tad Stahnke & Robert C. Blitt (March 2005). This study does not address whether the issues raised herein are unique to majority Muslim and other OIC countries, as it was occasioned by constitutional development in several of these countries and does not survey the constitutions of all countries in the world. Religious freedom violations are not limited to Muslim countries, but can be found around the world, including in Europe. USCIRF has and will continue to address violations its work. 3 16. Iran 17. Iraq 18. Jordan 19. Kazakhstan 20. Kosovo 21. Kuwait 22. Kyrgyzstan 23. Lebanon 24. Libya 25. Malaysia 26. Maldives 27. Mali 28. Mauritania 29. Morocco 30. Niger 31. Nigeria 32. Oman 33. Pakistan 34. Qatar 35. Saudi Arabia 36. Senegal 37. Sierra Leone 38. Somalia 39. Syria 40. Tajikistan 41. Tunisia 42. Turkey 43. Turkmenistan 44. United Arab Emirates (UAE) 45. Uzbekistan 46. Yemen The area considered to be the ―Muslim world‖ stretches from Europe to Africa, through the Middle East and into Asia. Indeed, its geographical diversity mirrors a central finding of this study, that majority Muslim countries and other OIC member countries encompass a variety of constitutional arrangements addressing the role of Islam and the scope of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, and other related human rights. The documents surveyed here establish a broad assortment of constitutional views—ranging from Islamic republics with Islam as the official
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