International Religious Freedom Commission Reports on Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Hate Speech in Africa

In the current political climate, two of the most controversial issues are freedom of opinion and expression along with freedom of religion or belief. What is interesting is just how often these two basic, fundamental – but surprisingly contentious – rights often intersect.

To mark the December 10 Human Rights Day last month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a briefing about restrictions on civic space in Africa and ways U.S. policy can help address these concerns. At the briefing, which took place at the Cannon House Office Building, they released a report regarding apostasy, blasphemy and hate speech laws in Africa.

A panel of experts, including the report’s authors, USCIRF policy analyst Ferdaouis Bagga and international legal specialist Kirsten Lavery, presented their findings. Some of these findings are downright chilling.

Across the continent of Africa there are, according to Pew Research and the Library of Congress, currently:

• Nine countries that have laws addressing apostasy (the act of renouncing one’s faith)
• Twenty-six countries that have laws addressing blasphemy. For instance, in South Africa blasphemy is a very common criminal offense.
• Twenty-nine countries that have laws addressing hate speech.
• Currently four nations, South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia, have either pending legislation or proposed legislation to criminalize hate speech.
• There are several countries that have laws restricting the free press or prevent hate speech on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion and other factors.

The overall intention of these restrictions is to protect these identifying characteristics, but restrictions have sometimes been misused for political purposes. The report says that countries that are known to use this practice include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Kenya, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.

In addition, there are many countries that have laws both addressing blasphemy and hate speech. This list includes Cameroon, Malawi, Morocco, Mauritius, The Gambia, Uganda, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Some countries have had elections recently so it is too early to determine whether or not any change will take place.

But there has been a change of government in one country that has the potential to bring badly-needed change.

In 2019 after protests and uprisings, Sudan ousted long-standing tyrant President Omar al Bashir. Already, as a result of the toppling of the head of the regime and the force of public pressure, the draconian Public Order Law has been abolished.

There are still apostasy and blasphemy laws on the books, however, and citizens, particularly in the marginalized, black African Christian and Muslim populations are still under threat from these laws. It was under Sudan’s apostasy law that the Islamist regime originally had sentenced Christian woman Meriam Ibrahim to death. Rescinding both of these repressive laws should be encouraged by advocates in order for there to be any change in U.S. policy towards the Government of Sudan.

During their assessment of the blasphemy laws, USCIRF determined that the law currently in force in the West African Nation of Mauritania was more repressive than similar laws enforced in either Iran or Pakistan.  This was startling news considering such cases as that of Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi and other Christians accused of blasphemy. Both Pakistan and Iran’s repressive laws are noted for generating press coverage. Not so much Mauritania!

One potential avenue to address this repression in Mauritania is for civil society groups to engage with the UN Human Rights Council when Mauritania goes through the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) in 2020. It is possible through this mechanism that the country could be held accountable for both its blasphemy laws and apostasy laws as well.

After reporting on its findings, USCIRF offered the a number of recommendations:

Push for the repeal of blasphemy and apostasy laws and engage in high level dialogue on their impact despite the level of engagement. And call for the release of those individuals who are held under apostasy and blasphemy laws.

Congress should pass H Res 512 introduced by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) which calls for the repeal of these laws.

The United States should push African partners to assess and reform hate speech laws and provide funding to support programs that engage civil society to combat hate speech-based discrimination.

Finally, they recommended that when regulating US-based social media and communication platforms, take into account the potential impact of regulation strategies on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and on religious minorities, not just in Africa but globally.