WASHINGTON, May 27 – The United States says several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Haiti and the Bahamas, are engaged in discriminatory practices against Rastafarians, voodoo practitioners and Muslims, according to a report.
In its International Religious Freedom Report for 2012, the Department of State says while there were no reports of abuses of religious freedom in Haiti, some members of the voodoo and Muslim communities “complained they did not enjoy the same legal protections as Christians”.
Voodoo, which is widely practiced in Haiti, is often blended with elements of other religions, usually Catholicism.
In the report, the leader of a prominent multi-denominational group reported that half the Haitian population practices some form of voodoo and that leaders and civil society representatives have expressed concern that the passage of a constitutional amendment in May, could criminalise the practice of voodoo and lead to increased discrimination. But the report says government officials, including the prime minister, immediately responded to these concerns and stressed that the new amendment would not limit the freedom of religious expression.
It says government officials noted that a 2003 presidential decree recognizing voodoo as a religious practice remained in force.
The report says that some Muslim religious leaders claimed that the Haitian government was reluctant to recognize Islam, and that Muslims married in a religious ceremony did not receive the same government recognition accorded to Christians who married in the church.
