REGIONAL ANALYSIS
Middle East and North Africa
Despite some positive developments in the region compared to the previous period under review, there is still not one Muslim majority country that provides for full freedom of religion. The impact of pandemic restrictions and persistent political instability in some of the larger countries severely curtailed human rights. In most countries where Islam is the official religion, freedom of religion is limited to different degrees of freedom of worship. Over the two-year period several major trends can be identified that, naturally, do not apply to all countries.
Government gestures toward religious minorities
While comprehensive religious liberty is nowhere to be found in this region, some Muslim majority states have shown greater inclination to recognize that religious pluralism is still a necessary part of the societal mosaic. The Iraqi government, for example, made important gestures towards its Christian and Yazidi citizens. In December 2020, the Iraqi Parliament unanimously recognized Christmas as a national public holiday; in 2021 it passed the Yazidi Survivor Law, acknowledged as an important step to overcome the injustice inflicted upon minorities by ISIS; and in March 2021, Pope Francis, the first Pope ever to visit Iraq, was welcomed by the heads of state with interreligious highlights including a meeting with Shi’a leader Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Al-Husayni Al-Sistani.[1] In the same month, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi, announced that 6 March would become a “National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence” in Iraq.[2]
Also, in the United Arab Emirates, encouraging signs such as the opening of a Hindu temple or the establishment of the Dubai based Association of Gulf Jewish Communities are of note. In the North of Africa, the results are mixed. In most cases, stringent policies against the practice of any non-Islamic religion remain strictly enforced. Some countries, however, for example Egypt, have more recently taken positive steps such as encouraging greater national unity between Muslims and Christians,[3] interfaith dialogue and tolerance,[4] protecting religious heritage sites, and legalising hundreds of churches. Deeply rooted social intolerance and institutionalised discrimination against non-Muslims, or those considered as deviant Muslims, however, remain a serious societal problem.
In Pakistan, despite Prime Minister Imran Khan promising a New Pakistan (Naya Pakistan) in which “civil, social and religious rights of minorities”[5] were to be guaranteed, religious communities continued to be strongly discriminated against. Examples of civil discrimination are rife including public job advertisements for sanitation workers, street sweepers, and sewer cleaners “reserved for non-Muslims”[6] and flood protection initiatives disregarding Christian and Hindu communities.[7]
Systemic persecution too remains a grave issue, increasing over the two-year period to include: Christian and Hindu girls abducted and sexually enslaved under the pretence of conversion to Islam and marriage to their abductor; blasphemy laws violating the rights of Hindus, Christians and Muslims (Shi’as the majority jailed) with mobs perpetrating extrajudicial attacks; and an increasingly Islamo-centric education, exacerbated by the recent Single National Curriculum, contributing to discrimination and negative attitudes towards members of religious minorities.
Islamist terrorism on the rise again
While Islamist terrorism in the region peaked before the period under review with Daesh (the so-called Islamic State) more or less dormant after its defeat as a land holding entity, the jihadist group is again increasingly claiming responsibility for ongoing terrorist attacks in Iraq and Syria. For example, since 2020, the Islamist radicals have stepped up attacks on Shi’a majority areas in Iraq. But the group is still far from what it was after 2014 regarding its possibilities and its appeal. The atrocities committed by Daesh alienated many who had previously sympathized with the group, regarding it as a champion of Sunni rights in Iraq and Syria. Other than Daesh, several armed Islamist groups continued to terrorise people of non-Muslim faiths including in north-western Syria, where different Islamist factions like Hayat Tahrir al Sham control the Idlib region.
With the seizing power in Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, terrorist activities restarted in Pakistan. Numerous atrocities were committed by the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) against Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyya and Shi’a Muslims, of note the March 2022 attack on a Shi’a Mosque in Peshawar, which claimed more than 60 lives.[8]
Secularizing trends
Several surveys over the two-year period revealed that secularizing trends are growing throughout the region. Already in 2019, the Arab Barometer indicated that generally the practice of faith had diminished and moreover an increasing number of Arab Muslims had lost faith in Islamist parties and their leaders.[9]
Although not an Arab country, Iran, is no exception to this development. A 2020 survey found that no less than 47 percent of the interviewees reported “having transitioned from being religious to non-religious”.[10] The poll also discovered that, in stark contrast to official census figures, only 32 percent of Iranians identified as Shi’a Muslims. That the demographic basis of the Shi’a regime is eroding became evident in late summer 2022 when protests erupted on an unprecedented scale across the country. This occurred following the death of a 22-year-old woman held in religious police custody for allegedly failing to wear her hijab in full compliance with mandatory requirements. Protesters were not demanding a reform of the current political system but for its outright abolition. The Iranian regime has yet to curb the demonstrations despite the use of violence.
Tensions in the Holy Land reach worrying levels
Tensions in Israel and Palestine, ongoing since 2021, have once again spiralled into a vicious cycle of terrorism and counterterrorism. While Israel’s right to self-defence against Islamist terror groups like Hamas is undisputed, some counter measures were criticized as disproportionate by Catholic leaders.[11] Additionally, the social cohesion between extremist Orthodox Jews and secular Jews is further disintegrating.
In 2021, Israel faced civil war-like scenarios between Jews and Muslims in some of its cities. The Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif in Jerusalem was a focal point of hostilities between Hamas and other violent Islamist groups claiming to protect the site against alleged Jewish attempts to change the status quo. Also in the same year, relations with Christians have considerably worsened. In an unprecedented manner, Christian leaders warned that extremist Jewish groups were driving Christians out of the Holy Land.[12] The then Israeli government dismissed the accusations.
The incoming Israeli government under the leadership of Benyamin Netanyahu introduced radical and anti-pluralistic Jewish politicians into the administration responsible for Israel’s Jewish identity.[13] Prospects for the easing of interreligious tensions are thus poor.
These internal tensions limit the value of diplomatic normalization efforts between the Jewish State and Muslim majority countries across the region that started with the so-called Abrahamic Accords in 2020. For example, in the United Arab Emirates, Jewish life is flourishing since the accords.[14] But the normalization at a political level will not be followed by a societal rapprochement as long as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians remains unresolved.
Socio-economic living conditions worsening
While the legal framework regarding religious freedom and its actual application are most important, the survival of religious minorities also depends on the socio-economic living conditions. And these conditions have worsened or show no signs of improvement. Lebanon is a case in point. According to the World Bank, Lebanon is almost three years into an unprecedented economic and financial crisis that has been described as among the worst the world has seen.[15] Home to the largest Christian population, it has for centuries been a centre of Christian culture in the region, and a highly important base for independent media and academia. The current economic and political turmoil, therefore, not only negatively affects the situation of Christians in Lebanon but also throughout the whole region. Like Lebanon, inflation has impacted neighbouring war-torn Syria, with the already dire living conditions of people further deteriorating due to rising prices for essential goods and rationing.[16] And, although prospects are better in Iraq due to rising oil prices,[17] Christians continue leaving the country at a rate of 20 families a month.[18]
Conclusion
Perhaps thanks to repeated visits by Pope Francis in the region, the situation of religious freedom has not become worse, but there is little room for optimism despite some positive developments. The Middle East and North Africa region remains precarious, and legal progress towards full religious liberty is minimal, if there is progress at all. Some countries, like Pakistan since the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have regressed in matters of human rights with full persecution against minorities persisting in both Afghanistan and Iran.
[1] “Apostolic journey of his Holiness Pope Francis to Iraq,” Vatican.va, https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2021/outside/documents/papa-francesco-iraq-2021.html (accessed 3rd September 2022).
[2] “Iraq declares 6 March "National Day of Tolerance and Coexistence",” Vatican News, 6th March 2021, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-03/ayuso-joy-over-meeting-with-grand-ayatollah-al-sistani.html (accessed 3rd September 2022).
[3] Sami Hegazi, “Egypt adopted comprehensive approach to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Daily News, 2nd March 2022, https://dailynewsegypt.com/2022/03/02/775207/ (accessed 11th November 2022).
[4] National Human Rights Strategy, Supreme Standing Committee for Human Rights, The Arab Republic of Egypt 2021-2026, pp. 38-42, https://sschr.gov.eg/media/gapb5bq4/national-human-rights-strategy.pdf (accessed 13th November 2022).
[5] “The road to Naya Pakistan - PTI Manifesto 2018,” p. 22, Prime Ministers Office, https://pmo.gov.pk/documents/manifesto-pti.pdf (accessed 19th November 2022).
[6] “Appello di un politico cattolico: ‘No’ a norme e annunci di lavoro che discriminano e disonorano le minoranze religiose,” Agenzia Fides, 7th July 2021, , http://www.fides.org/it/news/70461-ASIA_PAKISTAN_Appello_di_un_politico_cattolico_No_a_norme_e_annunci_di_lavoro_che_discriminano_e_disonorano_le_minoranze_religios (accessed 19th November 2022).
[7] Z.A. Khan, “The displaced,” The News, 31st March 2021, https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/807271-the-displaced (accessed 18th November 2022).
[8] “Pakistan bombing kills dozens in Shi’a mosque in Peshawar,” BBC News, 4th March 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60617108 (accessed 29th January 2023).
[9] “Arabs are losing faith in religious parties and leaders”, Arab Barometer, 5 December 2019, https://www.arabbarometer.org/2019/12/arabs-are-losing-faith-in-religious-parties-and-leaders/ (accessed 13th December 2022).
[10] Ammar Maleki, Poyan Tamimi Arab, “Iranians’ Attitudes Toward Religion: A 2020 Survey Report, Gamaan”, August 2020, https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GAMAAN-Iran-Religion-Survey-2020-English.pdf (accessed 13th December 2022).
[11] ASIA/HOLY LAND - Christian homes also bombed in Gaza. Bishop Marcuzzo: the Israeli reaction is not "proportionate", Fides, 14th May 2021, http://www.fides.org/en/news/70118-ASIA_HOLY_LAND_Christian_homes_also_bombed_in_Gaza_Bishop_Marcuzzo_the_Israeli_reaction_is_not_proportionate (accessed 14th December 2022).
[12] Stuart Winer, Jerusalem church leaders: ‘Radical’ Israeli groups driving Christians from Holy Land, The Times of Israel, https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-church-leaders-warn-radical-groups-driving-christians-from-holy-land/ (accessed 13th December 2022).
[13] Carrie Keller-Lynn, Netanyahu puts extremist homophobic politician in charge of Israel’s Jewish identity, The Times of Israel, 27th November 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-puts-extremist-homophobic-politician-in-charge-of-israels-jewish-identity/ (accessed 14th December 2022).
[14] Rabih Damaj, Jews thrive in UAE following Abraham Accords, Al Monitor, 1st October 2022, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/09/jews-thrive-uae-following-abraham-accords (accessed 13th December 2022).
[15] Lebanon's Economic Update — April 2022, The World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/lebanon/publication/economic-update-april-2022 (accessed 14th December 2022).
[16] Syria's Economic Update — April 2022, The World Bank, 14th April 2022, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/syria/publication/economic-update-april-2022 (accessed 14th December 2022).
[17] The World Bank In Iraq, World Bank, 1st June 2022, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/iraq/overview (accessed 14th December 2022).
[18] ASIA/IRAQ - Around 20 families a month: Patriarch Sako laments the emigration of Iraqi Christians, Fides, 25th November 2022, http://www.fides.org/en/news/73095 (accessed 14th December 2022).
