Tunisia
(2004)
The Constitution provides for the free exercise of religions that do
not disturb the public order, and the Government generally respects
this right; however, there were some restrictions and abuses. The Constitution
declares that Islam is the official 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 Government
does not permit the establishment of political parties on the basis
of religion, prohibits proselytizing, and restricts the wearing of hijab
(a type of headscarf worn by some Muslim women) in offices, on the street,
and at certain public gatherings.
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 a total area of 63,170 square miles, and its population
is approximately 10 million. Approximately 99 percent of the population
is nominally Muslim. There is no reliable data on the number of practicing
Muslims. There is a small indigenous Sufi Muslim community; however,
there are no statistics regarding its size. Reliable sources report
that many Sufis left the country shortly after independence when their
religious buildings and land reverted to the Government (as did those
of Orthodox Islamic foundations). Although the Sufi community is small,
its tradition of mysticism permeates the practice of Islam throughout
the country. During annual Ramadan festivals, Sufis provide public cultural
entertainment by performing religious dances. There are 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, numbers approximately
25,000 and is dispersed throughout the country. According to church
leaders, the practicing Christian population is approximately 2,000
and includes a few hundred native-born ethnic Arab citizens who have
converted to Christianity. According to the Diocese of Tunis, the Catholic
Church now operates 11 churches, 9 schools, several libraries, and 2
clinics. There are approximately 500 practicing Catholics. In addition
to holding religious services, the Catholic Church also freely organizes
cultural activities and performs charitable work throughout the country.
There is one Protestant church, located in Tunis, with a few hundred
members. Catholic and Protestant religious services also are held in
a few other locations, such as private residences, on an occasional
basis. The Russian Orthodox Church has approximately 100 practicing
members and operates a church in Tunis and another in Bizerte. The French
Reform Church operates a church in Tunis, with a congregation of 140
primarily foreign members. The Anglican Church has a church in Tunis
with a few hundred predominantly foreign members. There is a small Seventh-day
Adventist community with approximately 50 members. The 30-member Greek
Orthodox Church maintains 3 churches (in Tunis, Sousse, and Djerba).
There are also 50 members of Jehovah's Witnesses, of which approximately
half are foreign residents and half are native-born citizens. The Government
also allowed a small number of religious charitable nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) to operate and provide social services.
Judaism is the country's second largest indigenous religion with approximately
1,500 members. One-third lives in and around the capital and is descended
predominantly from Italian and 16th-century Spanish immigrants. The
remainder lives on the island of Djerba where the Jewish community dates
back 2,500 years.
Foreign missionary organizations and groups function in the country;
however, they are not permitted to proselytize.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution provides for the free exercise of religions that do
not disturb the public order, and the Government generally respects
this right; however, it does not permit the establishment of political
parties based on religion, forbids proselytizing, and restricts the
wearing of hijab. The Constitution declares that Islam is the official
state religion and stipulates that the President must be a Muslim.
The Government controls and subsidizes mosques and pays the salaries
of prayer leaders. 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 other authorized religious
ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals. 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 religious holidays are considered national holidays:
Aid El-Kebir, Ras Al-Am El-Hejri, Mouled, and Aid Essighir. The Government
also recognizes the sanctity of non-Muslim religious holidays.
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 14 churches "serving all sects" of
the country, the Government recognizes land grants signed by the Bey
of Tunis in the 18th and 19th centuries that allow other churches to
operate. The Government has not acted on a request for registration
of a Jewish religious organization in Djerba; however, the group continues
to operate and perform religious activities and charitable work unhindered.
The Government allows the Jewish community freedom of worship and pays
the salary of the Grand Rabbi. It also partially subsidizes restoration
and maintenance costs for some synagogues. In 1999 the president of
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 yet to register the new association, the
president and board of governors continue to meet weekly. During the
period covered by this report, the Government permitted the association
to operate and perform religious activities and charity work unhindered.
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 émigrés
to return for the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the historic El-Ghriba
Synagogue on Djerba.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding by sponsoring regular
conferences and seminars on religious tolerance and by facilitating
and promoting the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the El-Ghriba Synagogue
on Djerba.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Although the Government generally respects the right to practice religion
freely, there were some restrictions. Baha'is regard their faith as
a religion distinct from Islam; however, 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, but it
prohibits them from organizing local councils. The Ministry of Interior
periodically met with prominent Baha'is to discuss their activities,
and Baha'i leaders said that, as a result, their community's relationship
with the Government improved during the period covered by this report.
Although there have been reports of cases in which the Government punished
individuals who converted to another faith from Islam by denying them
a passport, no confirmed cases occurred during the period covered by
this report. No statutory prohibitions against conversion exist; however,
the Government uses bureaucratic hurdles to dissuade potential converts.
In previous years, the Government denied converts the right to vote
and serve in the military, among other rights.
The Government does not permit the establishment of political parties
on the basis of religion, and it uses this prohibition to refuse to
register the Islamist party An-Nahdha and to prosecute suspected party
members. The Government maintains tight surveillance over Islamists.
The Government revoked the identity cards of an estimated 10,000 to
15,000 Islamists, which among other consequences prevents them from
being employed legally. The Government refused to issue passports to
Islamists. In several cases, including during the period covered by
this report, the Government seized the passport of a close relative
of an Islamic activist, allegedly for the sole reason that the person
was related to an Islamic activist. The Government maintained that only
the courts possess the power to revoke passports; however, reports indicate
that the Government rarely observed this separation of powers in politically
sensitive cases.
The Government does not permit Christian groups to establish new churches,
and proselytizing is viewed as an illegal act against public order.
Foreign missionary organizations and groups are active; however, they
are not permitted to proselytize. Theoretically, authorities deport
foreigners suspected of proselytizing and do not permit them to return,
but there were reports that the Government prefers not to renew the
visas of suspected missionaries or to pressure their employers not to
extend their contracts. However, there were no reported cases of official
action against persons suspected of proselytizing during the period
covered by this report.
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 3 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. Primary among these restrictions
is "dépôt légal," which requires that
printers and publishers provide copies of all publications to Ministry
of Interior censors prior to publication. 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 an illegal "threat to public order."
The Government forbids the wearing of hijab in government offices,
and there were reports of police requiring women to remove their hijabs
in offices, on the street, and at certain public gatherings. However,
some female government employees wore the hijab in their offices. The
Government characterized the hijab as a "garment of foreign origin
having a partisan connotation" and prohibits its use in public
institutions to "observe impartiality required of officials in
their professional relations with others." There also were reports
that police sometimes detained men with beards whom the Government considered
Islamic and compelled them to shave off their beards.
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 Koranic School is
part of the Government's national university system.
Customary law based on Shari'a forbids Muslim women from marrying outside
their religion. Marriages of Muslim women to non-Muslim men abroad are
considered common law and thus void when the couple returns to the country.
Muslim men and non-Muslim women who are married may not 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 are known to override codified
family or inheritance laws if their interpretation of Shari'a contradicts
it. For example, codified laws provide women with custody over their
minor children; however, judges have refused to grant women permission
to leave the country with them, holding that Shari'a appoints the father
as the head of the family, and he must grant permission for the children
to travel. In addition the Government routinely prevents Christian U.S.
citizen mothers from taking their U.S. citizen children back to the
United States without the express agreement of the children's Muslim
citizen fathers. The U.S. Embassy was attempting to resolve three such
cases during the period covered by this report.
Generally, Shari'a-based interpretation of civil law is applied only
in some family cases. Some families avoid the effects of Shari'a on
inheritance by executing sales contracts between parents and children
to ensure that sons and daughters receive equal shares of property.
There were reports that the Government did not allow married couples
to register the birth of their children and receive birth certificates
if the mother was Christian and the father was Muslim and the parents
tried to give their children non-Muslim names.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, credible sources estimated
that approximately 600 persons were serving prison sentences because
of their membership in the illegal Islamist group 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.
According to human rights lawyers, the Government regularly questioned
Muslims who were observed praying frequently in mosques. The authorities
instruct imams to espouse government social and economic programs during
prayer times in mosques. Sources indicated that an imam in the city
of Kairouan issued a fatwa against former Education Minister and human
rights activist Mohamed Charfi in 2002. The reasons for such an edict
are unclear, but Charfi is a prominent activist and potential government
opponent and many in civil society circles believe the edict was aimed
at intimidating him.
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.
Abuses by Terrorist Organizations
There were no reported abuses targeted at specific religions by terrorist
organizations during the period covered by this report. However, in
2002, a terrorist attack outside the historic El-Ghriba synagogue on
the island of Djerba killed 21 persons and damaged the interior of the
synagogue. Two weeks before the annual El-Ghriba pilgrimage (See Section
II), the driver of a truck transporting liquefied flammable gas detonated
an explosive device while the truck stood at the synagogue's compound
wall. The explosion killed 17 tourists and 4 citizens, including the
driver. An Islamic group claiming al-Qa'ida sympathies announced responsibility
for the attack.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relationship between religions in society contributed
to religious freedom.
There were unconfirmed reports of a few incidents of vandalism directed
against the property of members of the Jewish community.
There is great societal pressure against Muslim conversion to other
religions, and conversion from Islam is relatively rare. Muslims who
convert may face social ostracism for converting. There is some conversion
among individuals in the Christian and Jewish communities.
Despite a history of social pressure by middle and upper class secularists
to discourage women from wearing the hijab, anecdotal evidence suggests
that the number of young middle class urban women choosing to wear the
hijab continued to rise during the period covered by this report. Notably,
many observers consider this trend to be less a sign of increasing religiosity
among young citizens than a reaction to perceived increasing pressure
from modernity on traditional Arab/Muslim 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.
The U.S. Embassy maintains good relations with leaders of majority
and minority religious groups throughout the country, and the U.S. Ambassador
and other Embassy officials met regularly with Muslim, Christian, Jewish,
and Baha'i religious leaders throughout the period covered by this report.
The Embassy fostered regular exchanges that included components designed
to highlight U.S. traditions of religious tolerance and pluralism. The
Embassy regularly disseminated the publication "Muslim Life in
America," and Embassy officials discussed religious freedom issues
with government officials and members of civil society on various occasions
during the year. The Embassy helped organize a conference on religious
tolerance and encouraged the development of academic studies in comparative
religions.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |