- Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz
- Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD)
- Wiedner Hauptstraße 32, 1041 Wien
- T +43 1 589 00 583
- F +43 1 589 00 589
- info@ecoi.net
Dokument #2111853
USDOS – US Department of State (Autor)
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but mandates equality for persons of all faiths. Religious groups must register with the government, which conducts lengthy background checks as part of the registration process. In a change from previous practice, foreign religious workers are no longer required to obtain work permits but still must purchase annual residency cards.
The government continued to maintain tight control over Islamic institutions, including hiring of personnel for all mosques and providing scripts for their Friday sermons. Government representatives stated that such control was necessary to preclude political activity on the part of mosques and to counter foreign influences deemed extremist. The government continued to mandate a civic and moral education course based on Islam for all students in public schools as well as in private schools run by non-Muslim religious organizations. The government-sponsored Institute of Peace, established in 2022, held events aimed at fostering a moderate interpretation of Islam and partnered with an Egyptian university on a program to increase the capacity of local imams to make a closer connection of religious precepts with daily life.
Norms and customs discouraged conversion from Islam. Muslim and Christian religious leaders noted traditional social networks often ostracized converts from Islam.
In a meeting with the secretary general of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs, U.S. embassy officials discussed the ministry’s workshop on the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) where religious leaders again affirmed the practice has no religious grounds. They also met with the director of Al-Mutasaweqa Institute of Peace to explore possible connections with similar institutes in the United States.
The U.S. government estimates the total population at 956,000 (midyear 2023), of whom 94 percent are Sunni Muslim. According to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Shia Muslims, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Ethiopian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus, Jews, Baha’is, and atheists constitute the remaining 6 percent. Non-Muslim populations are generally concentrated in Djibouti City and include foreign-born citizens and expatriates.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates the registered refugee population at 31,000, of whom 43.4 percent are from Somalia, 41.2 percent from Ethiopia, 10.7 percent from Yemen, and 4.5 percent from Eritrea. Refugees are predominantly Muslim, although no precise data exist on religious breakdown.
Islam is the religion of the state, according to the constitution. The constitution mandates the government respect all faiths and guarantees equality before the law, regardless of one’s religion. The constitution prohibits religiously based political parties.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs (a form of charitable trust or endowment) has authority over all Islamic matters and institutions, including mosques, religious events, and private Islamic schools. Imams are civil service employees of the ministry; the government owns mosque properties and other assets. The ministry’s High Islamic Council vets all Friday prayer service sermons.
The president swears an Islamic religious oath.
The government requires all foreign and domestic religious groups to register by applying to the Ministry of Interior, which conducts a lengthy background investigation of the group. The investigation reviews group leadership, religious affiliation, sources of finance, and the group’s objectives within the country. Ties to religious groups considered extremist, strong political agendas, and relations with unfriendly foreign nations are factors that could cause a group’s application to be rejected. Domestic and foreign Muslim religious groups must also inform the High Islamic Council at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs of their existence and intent to operate. Muslim and non-Muslim foreign religious groups must also gain approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to operate in the country. Once approved, every foreign religious group signs a one-year agreement detailing the scope of its activities. Workers from foreign religious groups must purchase an annual residency card, but in a change from the previous requirement, no longer have to obtain work permits. Foreign religious groups must submit quarterly reports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and renew their agreements every year. The quarterly report details activities, origin of funding for activities, scope of work completed, and identifies beneficiaries. Religious groups may not operate in the interim while awaiting registration.
Muslims may bring personal status matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance either to family courts, whose code includes elements of civil and Islamic law, or to civil courts, although Islamic law is predominant in these instances. Civil courts address the same matters for non-Muslims. Citizens are officially considered Muslims if they do not specifically identify with another religious group. Cases in family courts, referred to as sharia courts, have two stages. The complainant first brings the grievance to the neighborhood council, which either issues a judgment or transmits the case to the family court. If the complainant is not satisfied with the decision of the qadi court, which is the first stage of the sharia court, or the family court, he or she may appeal in the family trial court or to the Supreme Sharia Council.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs and the Ministry of Education jointly oversee the curricula and teacher certification of approximately 40 Islamic schools, which represent a small percentage of the country’s schools, except for two religious schools run by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which follow the Saudi curriculum. Other international schools are permitted to offer their own curriculum. The public school system is secular and offers no courses on specific religions; religion in general is taught, along with other subjects. All public-school students are required to take a civic and moral education course based on Islamic principles. Private schools run by religious organizations must offer the same course to all students, including non-Muslims.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs also ensures that imams trained in Islamic institutes abroad follow an interpretation of Islam that aligns with government views on religious tolerance. The High Islamic Council supervises their preaching and provides training to imams who were trained abroad before they begin their duties to ensure they continue to remain in line with the government’s interpretation of Islam.
The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs continued to oversee all Islamic matters, including providing imams with their Friday sermons; imams were not permitted to stray from their approved scripts. The government also maintained authority over hiring of imams for all mosques and of mosques’ assets. According to ministry representatives, government control and oversight of mosques remained necessary to preclude political activity from mosques and counter what it termed foreign extremist influence. To further this aim in the country and in the region, and to foster moderate Islamic beliefs, the ministry continued to coordinate strategy with Somalia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia through meetings and exchanges of experiences.
The government-sponsored Al-Mutasaweqa (moderate thoughts) Institute of Peace, established in 2022, hosted regional conferences and religious gatherings, and conducted training sessions aimed at bringing together religious leaders of the region to discuss a peaceful interpretation of Islam and interfaith exchanges. During the year, the institute partnered with Al-Azhar University in Cairo to prepare local students for study in Egypt and to increase the capacity of imams to explain religious precepts in such a way as to connect with daily life. The director of the institute participated in a countering violent extremism workshop organized by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
The government continued to permit registered non-Islamic groups, comprising Catholic, Protestant, Greek Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches, to operate freely, according to Christian leaders. Muslim citizens were permitted to enter Christian churches, although societal pressure continued to discourage conversion. There were no limitations on the importation of religious literature for registered non-Islamic groups. Following a rejection of a request to open a second Ethiopian Orthodox church in late 2022, the government did not register any other Christian or non-Christian groups during the year. The Church of Scientology maintained its registration as a commercial entity. The government subsidized the cost of utilities at certain church properties of registered non-Islamic groups, since it considered these church properties to be part of the national patrimony. Religious groups not registered with the government, including the Ethiopian Protestant and non-Sunni Muslim congregations, continued to operate without government sanction. Shia Muslims remained unable to register.
With the stated aim of emphasizing the absence of any religious connection with the practice, in September, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, with funding from the UN Population Fund, held a workshop against FGM with the participation of scholars from Al-Azhar University in Egypt.
The government continued to allow non-Islamic religious groups to host events and proselytize on the groups’ private property but not elsewhere. The government continued to permit a limited number of Christian missionaries to sell religious books and pamphlets at a bookstore in Djibouti City.
The government continued to issue visas to foreign Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant clergy and missionaries, but only those belonging to registered religious groups could work in the country or operate nongovernmental organizations. There were an estimated 20-30 foreign religious workers in the country during the year. The government continued to require foreign religious leaders to regularize their status by purchasing an annual residency card for 24,000 Djiboutian francs ($136). Religiously affiliated NGOs, similar to other NGOs, are only permitted to have two foreign staff while registered religious organizations are not subject to this restriction.
Local public schools continued to observe only Islamic holidays, but under the direction of the Ministry of Education, schools in refugee camps continued to permit students of other religious groups to miss class for their respective religious holidays. For the schools it oversees, the ministry put in place a curriculum that includes historical perspectives on religion as a way to foster religious inclusivity.
Christian religious leaders continued to report that private schools run by non-Muslim religious groups were required to follow the national curriculum, which includes courses on Islam, but that non-Muslims were not required to take those courses.
Societal norms and customs discouraged conversion from Islam, but conversions reportedly occurred, particularly for marriages with non-Muslim partners. Muslim and Christian leaders stated conversion from Islam was detrimental to a person’s social status; Muslim religious leaders said traditional social networks often ostracized converts from Islam.
Imams regularly worked together to counter violent extremism related to religion in the country and continued to identify high unemployment as the main driver of radicalization. One other factor cited was the spread of violent extremist beliefs on social media. Imams advocated for increased civil society empowerment to engage in community-based efforts to combat violent extremism such as by providing additional outlets and community connections for the unemployed or underemployed.
Religious leaders of all faiths said societal religious tolerance remained high in the country, with members of different religious groups living side by side without friction.
U.S. embassy officials met with the secretary general of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Waqfs to discuss the ministry’s perspectives on interfaith relations and its position on social issues, such as FGM, as well as with the director of Al-Mutasaweqa Institute of Peace to discuss the center’s goal of becoming a regional think tank on religious matters and to explore possible connections with similar institutes in the United States.
Several embassy officials met with Caritas officials to discuss the organization’s interfaith and humanitarian work with vulnerable unaccompanied minor migrants and the impact on countering trafficking in persons.
ecoi.net wird vom Österreichischen Roten Kreuz (Abteilung ACCORD) in Kooperation mit dem Informationsverbund Asyl & Migration betrieben. ecoi.net wird durch den Asyl-, Migrations- und Integrationsfonds, das Bundesministerium für Inneres und die Caritas Österreich kofinanziert. ecoi.net wird von ECRE und UNHCR ideell unterstützt.
