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The Constitution of Burundi provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. Government policy contributes to the generally free practice of religion. In a 2007 US Government study, there were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice. [1]
The country has an area of 10,747 square miles (27,830 km2) and a population of 8,390,500. Although reliable statistics on the followers of various religious groups are not available, sources[ who? ] estimate the Christian population to be 67 percent, with Roman Catholics representing the largest group at 62 percent. Protestant and Anglican practitioners comprise the remaining 5 percent. The local representative of the Holy See estimates the Catholic population to be closer to 65 percent. An estimated 23 percent of the population adheres to traditional indigenous religious beliefs; some of the traditional indigenous groups promoted cures for HIV, AIDS and other ailments. The Muslim population is estimated to be as high as 10 percent, the majority of whom live in urban areas. Sunnis make up the majority of the Muslim population, and the remainder is Shi'a.
Foreign missionary groups are active in the country.
The Constitution, promulgated in March 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 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 nature 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. Although the representative of the religious institution or association can be jailed for 6 months to 5 years for failing to comply with these instructions, during the reporting period no representative received this penalty.
The Government requires that all 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 on the importation by religious institutions of goods destined for social development purposes. The Finance Ministry negotiates these exemptions 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 Islamic holy days of Eid al-Fitr, commemorating the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated at the end of the Hajj.
Government policy and practice contributed to the generally free practice of religion.
There were no known abuses of religious freedom by the Government during the period covered by this report.
In the past, the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People-National Liberation Force (PALIPEHUTU-FNL) was considered responsible for the killings of religious adherents, including five civilians attending a religious service in Bujumbura Rural Province in June 2005 and Catholic priest Gerard Nzeyimana in Makamba Province in October 2004. No one has been charged in these killings.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country.
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.
There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
In 2022, Freedom House rated Burundi religious freedom as 3 out of 4, [2] noting that relations between the government and the Roman Catholic Church have worsened in recent years.
A 2021 report noted that the government recognizes and registers religious groups through a 2014 law governing the operational framework of religious groups, which states these organizations must register with the Ministry of Interior. [3]
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice, and prominent societal leaders took positive steps to promote religious freedom.
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
The Constitution of Burkina Faso provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. Government policy contributes to the generally free practice of religion. There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice; however, at times community members forced old women falsely accused of being witches to flee their villages.
The Constitution of Cameroon provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Government policy contributes to the generally free practice of religion. There were no reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious belief or practice. The country is generally characterized by a high degree of religious tolerance.
The constitution of Cape Verde provides for freedom of religion, and the government has generally respected this right in practice. Government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
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; however, witchcraft is a criminal offense under the penal code. Private actors continued to abuse and discriminate against those accused of witchcraft.
The Constitution of Chad provides for freedom of religion; however, at times, the Government limited this right for certain groups. There are seldom reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice. The different religious communities generally coexisted without problems, although some tensions between different Muslim groups and between Muslims and Christians were reported.
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government has generally respected this right in practice. Buddhism is the state religion. There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government during the period covered by this report, and government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. There were limited reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
Freedom of religion in Taiwan is provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of China, which is in force on Taiwan. Taiwan's progressive government generally respects freedom of religion in practice, with policies which contribute to the generally free practice of religion. Taiwan's strong human rights protections, lack of state-sanctioned discrimination, and generally high regard for freedom of religion or belief earned it a joint #1 ranking alongside The Netherlands and Belgium in the 2018 Freedom of Thought Report. Freedom House also gave Taiwan the top score for religious freedoms in 2018. Possibly the only coercion to practice a certain faith in Taiwan comes from within the family, where the choice to adopt a non-traditional faith can sometimes lead to ostracism "because they stop performing ancestor worship rites and rituals."
Freedom of religion in South Korea is provided for in the South Korean constitution. The South Korean government has generally respected this right in practice, although it provides no exemption or alternative civilian service for those who have a religious objection to serve in the armed forces.
The Basic Law, in accordance with tradition, declares that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is the source of legislation. It also prohibits discrimination based on religion and provides for the freedom to practice religious rites as long as doing so does not disrupt public order. The government generally respected this right, but within defined parameters that placed limitations on the right in practice. While the government continued to protect the free practice of religion in general, it formalized previously unwritten prohibitions on religious gatherings in locations other than government-approved houses of worship, and on non-Islamic institutions issuing publications within their communities, without prior approval from the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs (MERA). There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.
The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. There were few reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice, and prominent societal leaders took positive steps to promote religious freedom.
The Constitution of Guyana provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice, except in schools where Christianity is the only religion being practiced; children are asked to recite Christian prayers at least four times per day. The U.S. government could locate no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice during 2007 because it ignores the situation in public schools.
Christianity is the largest religion in Cape Verde, with Roman Catholics having the most adherents. Different sources give varying estimates on the relative sizes of various Christian denominations. More than 93% of the population of Cape Verde is Christian, with almost 80% being Roman Catholic, according to an informal poll taken by local churches. About 5% of the population is Protestant. The largest Protestant denomination is the Church of the Nazarene. Other groups include the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Assemblies of God, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, the New Apostolic Church and various other Pentecostal and evangelical groups.
The majority of the population of East Timor is Christian, and the Catholic Church is the dominant religious institution, although it is not formally the state religion. There are also small Protestant and Sunni Muslim communities.
Freedom of religion in Paraguay is provided in the Constitution of Paraguay, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion. The law at all levels protects this right in full against abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The government generally respects religious freedom in practice; however, it occasionally fails to enforce religious freedom laws when abuses occurred. There were some reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice; however, prominent societal leaders took positive steps to promote religious freedom.
Freedom of religion in Ecuador is guaranteed by the country's constitution, and the government generally respects this right in practice. Government policy contributes to the generally free practice of religion.
Freedom of religion in Montenegro refers to the extent to which people in Montenegro are freely able to practice their religious beliefs, taking into account both government policies and societal attitudes toward religious groups. Montenegro's laws guarantee the freedom of religion and outlaw several forms of religious discrimination, as well as establishing that there is no state religion in Montenegro. The government provides some funding to religious groups.
The status of religious freedom in Africa varies from country to country. States can differ based on whether or not they guarantee equal treatment under law for followers of different religions, whether they establish a state religion, the extent to which religious organizations operating within the country are policed, and the extent to which religious law is used as a basis for the country's legal code.