Eritrea-Report-Final

5. Religion
According to official information, Christians (in particular Orthodox Christians) and Muslims account for roughly
equal portions of the population (396). Estimations of foreign organisations however believe that there is a higher
proportion of Christians . The latter live mainly in the highlands, whereas Muslims live predominantly in the west
and in the coastal lowlands (397).
Eritrea is a secular state that officially allows freedom of religion. However, only the four denominations that are
recognised and registered may be freely followed for the most part: the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Sunni Islam (398). All religious communities have been required
to register since 2002; several non-recognized churches have applied for registration since then but received no
response from the authorities (399). Since 2002, the practising of non-registered religions is unlawful and according
to human right reports (on which the information below is based, cf. Chapter ‘Introduction and source assessment’)
people who do so are persecuted (400). This mainly affects various Christian churches (Evangelical and Pentecostal
churches, Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, though, it also includes the Anglican Church and other
Protestant denominations, some of which had churches in Asmara before 2002) and the Wahhabi Muslims, who
reject PFDJ ideology because the latter views martyrdom for the state as of greater merit than spiritual values (401).
The authorities also claim that these denominations could lead to divisions within society and that they are foreign
to Eritrea’s traditions (402).
A joint prayer session at home, a wedding or a funeral may lead to arrests of members of these religious communities,
although the authorities do not always follow a uniform approach. Refusals to participate in national service or the
People’s Army on grounds of faith frequently result in imprisonment (403). Jehovah’s Witnesses are fundamentally
opposed to the use of weapons and they were therefore stripped of significant civic rights by presidential decree in
October 1994 (404). According to reports by Christian and human rights NGOs, there are between 1,200 and 3,000
people in prison due to their faith, although the basis and timeliness of these unverifiable reports is unknown (405).
Most religious prisoners are kept in Maeter prison near the city of Nakfa (406). Prison sentences differ greatly in
length, ranging from a few weeks to several years (407). According to the US Department of State, members of nonregistered
religions find it harder to obtain passports and exit visas (408).
(396) US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, p. 1.
(397) USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2013 — Countries of Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2013; US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious
Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, pp. 1-2; Europa Regional Surveys of the World, Africa South of the Sahara 2015, 44th edition, 2014, p. 455; Connell, D.,
‘Escaping Eritrea. Why They Flee and What They Face’, Fall 2012, p. 5.
(398) US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, pp. 1-3; Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2014:
Eritrea, 2014.
(399) USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2014, — Countries of Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2014, p. 55; Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence,
but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 21; HRW, Service for Life. State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea, 16 April 2009, p. 59; Connell, D., ‘Escaping
Eritrea. Why They Flee and What They Face’, Fall 2012, p. 5.
(400) Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 21; USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2014, — Countries of Particular
Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2014, p. 55; US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, p. 3; Tronvoll, K., The
lasting struggle for freedom in Eritrea, 2009, pp. 95-98.
(401) Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2014. Eritrea Country Report, 2014, p. 7; USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2014, — Countries of Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April
2014, p. 55; Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2014: Eritrea, 2014, US Department of State, 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea,
20 May 2013.
(402) USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2013, — Countries of Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2013, p. 66.
(403) US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, pp. 3-5; Kibreab, G., The Open-Ended Eritrean National Service:
The Driver of Forced Migration, 15-16 October 2014, p. 13; Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 21.
(404) Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 22; Kibreab, G., The Open-Ended Eritrean National Service: The
Driver of Forced Migration, 15-16 October 2014, p. 13.
(405) Open Doors, Persecution in Eritrea at its Highest Level Ever, 30 May 2013; Christian Solidarity Worldwide, CSW — Stakeholder Submission, Universal Periodic
Review — 18th Session, June 2013; International Christian Response, Eritrea Again Persecutes Christians of Officially Recognized Faith, 1 May 2014; US
Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, p. 3; USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2014, — Countries of
Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2014, p. 56; Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 22; Freedom
House, Freedom in the World 2014: Eritrea, 2014.
(406) US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, p. 4.
(407) Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 21; USCIRF, USCIRF Annual Report 2013, — Countries of
Particular Concern: Eritrea, 30 April 2013, p. 64.
(408) US Department of State, 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom — Eritrea, 28 July 2014, p. 6.