Gabon

The Gabonese Republic is a presidential republic, with a population of around 1.5 million people. It gained independence from France in 1960, and has had only three presidents in the intervening years. However, a multi-party system under a democratic Constitution is now in place. Being petroleum-rich with a low population density has made Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As a result of the influence of colonial era missionaries in Gabon, it is estimated that around 80% of the population today is Christian (around two-thirds are Roman Catholic and one-third are Protestant). Traditional animist beliefs remain strong in Gabon, and beliefs in superstition and witchcraft exist alongside Christianity. Around 10% of the population is Muslim.[ref]https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/GABON-2018-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf[/ref]

Constitution and government Education and children’s rights Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
Expression of core humanist principles on democracy, freedom or human rights is severely restricted
The state is secular, with separation of religious and political authorities, not discriminating against any religion or belief
No formal discrimination in education
No condition holds in this strand
Constitution and government
The state is secular, with separation of religious and political authorities, not discriminating against any religion or belief
Education and children’s rights
No formal discrimination in education
Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals
No condition holds in this strand
Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
Expression of core humanist principles on democracy, freedom or human rights is severely restricted
The state is secular, with separation of religious and political authorities, not discriminating against any religion or belief
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in all or most state-funded schools with no secular or humanist alternative
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: Angola, South Sudan, Tuvalu

Religious courts or tribunals rule directly on some family or ‘moral’ matters; it is legally an opt-in system, but the possibility of social coercion is very clear
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report
No fundamental restrictions on freedom of expression or advocacy of humanist values
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

No condition holds in this strand

Countries: Lesotho, Uzbekistan

No condition holds in this strand

Countries: Andorra

No condition holds in this strand
No condition holds in this strand

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

Localised or infrequent but recurring and widespread social marginalisation or prejudice against the non-religious

This condition is unusual in that it is applied in cases where there is some social discrimination, but it is not pervasive or nationwide. This condition is applied when there is sufficient background evidence to warrant the assertion that discrimination is not anomalous but widespread, and this condition may be applied for example even where if there is no legislative discrimination or where the non-religious may have legal recourse against such discrimination. However, societal discrimination (i.e. discrimination by peers, as opposed to state or legal discrimination) is not easily measured, and for this reason the Report does not currently have similar more severe boundary conditions to capture higher levels of social discrimination per se. In principle these may be introduced in future. However, we consider that countries with actual higher levels of social discrimination against the non-religious will generally already meet other higher level (more severe) boundary conditions under this thematic strand.

Countries: Albania, Botswana, Greece, United States of America

The dominant influence of religion in public life undermines the right to equality and/or non-discrimination

Applied when the influence of religion on public life undermines others’ rights, such as SRHR, women’s rights, LGBTI+ rights.

May be applied when the influence is overt (i.e. when religious laws are applied to undermine others’ rights) or covert (i.e. where religious pressure groups exert influence to affect policy)

Countries: Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Chile, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Liberia, Lithuania, Mali, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Zambia

Use of Conscientious Objection clauses resulting in the denial of lawful services to women and LGBTI+ people
Complete tyranny precludes all freedoms of expression and thought, religion or belief

Applied when overriding acts of oppression by the State are extreme, to the extent that the question of freedom of thought and expression is almost redundant, because all human rights and freedoms are quashed by authorities.

Countries: Afghanistan, North Korea

The non-religious are barred from some government offices (including posts reserved for particular religions or sects)
There is a nominal state church with few privileges or progress is being made toward disestablishment

Countries: Bulgaria, Norway, Peru, Rwanda

Religious or ideological indoctrination is utterly pervasive in schools
Expression of non-religious views is severely persecuted, or is rendered almost impossible by severe social stigma, or is highly likely to be met with hatred or violence
The non-religious are persecuted socially or there are prohibitive social taboos against atheism, humanism or secularism
There is significant social marginalisation of the non-religious or stigma associated with expressing atheism, humanism or secularism
Expression of core Humanist principles on democracy, freedom and human rights is brutally repressed
Religious authorities have supreme authority over the state

Countries: Iran

State legislation is partly derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general

This condition is applied where there are miscellaneous indicators that organs of the state offer various forms of support for a religion, or to religion in general over non-religious worldviews, suggesting a preference for those beliefs, or that the organs of that religion are privileged.

Countries: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Cape Verde, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

Religious or ideological instruction in a significant number of schools is of a coercive fundamentalist or extremist variety

This condition highlights countries where schools subject children to fundamentalist religious instruction with no real opportunity to question fundamentalist tenets, or where lessons routinely encourage hatred (for example religious or ethnic hatred). The wording “significant number of schools” is not given a rigid quantification (sometimes the worst-offending schools are unregistered, illegal, or otherwise uncounted); however the condition is not applied in cases where only a small number of schools meet the description and may be anomalous, as opposed to being indicative of a widespread problem.

Countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

State-funded schools provide religious education which may be nominally comprehensive but is substantively biased or borderline confessional
There is a pattern of impunity or collusion in violence by non-state actors against the non-religious
Some religious courts rule in civil or family matters on a coercive or discriminatory basis
‘Apostasy’ or conversion from a specific religion is outlawed and punishable by death
‘Apostasy’ is outlawed and punishable with a prison sentence

Countries: Bahrain, Comoros, Jordan, Kuwait

State legislation is largely or entirely derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Anomalous discrimination by local or provincial authorities, or overseas territories
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
Government figures or state agencies openly marginalize, harass, or incite hatred or violence against the non-religious
Government authorities push a socially conservative, religiously or ideologically inspired agenda, without regard to the rights of those with progressive views
‘Blasphemy’ or criticism of religion is outlawed and punishable by death
Quasi-divine veneration of a ruling elite is enforced, or a single-party regime holds uncontested power, subject to severe punishment
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of religion or belief
It is illegal to register an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization, or such groups are persecuted by authorities
Prohibitive interreligious social control (including interreligious marriage bans)
It is illegal to advocate secularism or church-state separation, or such advocacy is suppressed
The non-religious are barred from holding government office
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
It is illegal or unrecognised to identify as an atheist or as non-religious
Some concerns about children's right to specifically freedom of religion or belief

This condition may apply if specifically religious education, religious materials, or specific religious denominations are so tightly controlled that children are in fact over-protected from exposure to religion and are likely unable to explore or construct their own worldview in accordance with their evolving capacities. This condition helps us to classify states (perhaps with secular constitutions) which have criminalized specifically religious beliefs or practices. This condition is not applied if the restricted beliefs or practices are found to be outlawed due to their being of an extremist variety. While this condition does not directly reflect discrimination against non-religious persons or non-religious ideas, it does represent an overall threat to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief; such restrictions could spill over to affect non-religious beliefs later; and they pose a risk of backlash against over-zealous secular authorities or even against non-religious individuals by association.

Countries: China, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Cuba, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guyana, Italy, Kazakhstan, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, North Macedonia, Romania, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe

It is made difficult to register or operate an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization
Legend
 
Severe Discrimination
Free and Equal
No Rating
More information about rating table

Constitution and government

Gabon defines itself as a secular state. The Constitution and other laws and policies protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as freedom of expression, assembly and association.[ref]https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Gabon_2011.pdf?lang=en[/ref] However, in practice there is oppressive censorship and harassment of any criticism of the government.

All religious groups are subject to registration requirements. To register, they must present copies of founding documents and internal rules, a letter attesting to publication of these documents in the applicable local administrative bulletin, a formal letter of request for registration addressed to the minister of interior, a property lease, the police records of the group’s leaders, and the group’s bank statements. A registration fee or 10,000 CFA francs ($17) must also be paid.

Education and children’s rights

Public schools in Gabon do not provide religious instruction. Though under the constitution of Gabon, parents do have the option to choose to send their child to a private religious school. Muslim, Catholic and Protestant groups operate primary and secondary schools. Such schools are required to register with the Ministry of Education, who is responsible for ensuring that these schools maintain the same standards as public schools.[ref]https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-religions-are-practiced-in-gabon.html[/ref]

Family, community and society

LGBTQ+ Rights

After passing revisions to its penal code in 2019 which criminalized same-sex relationships for the first time, Gabon decided to repeal this law less than a year later. On 23 June 2020, the National Assembly approved a bill to decriminalize same-sex sexual activity, making it one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa to adopt this stance.[ref]https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/07/08/gabon-formally-decriminalizes-homosexuality/[/ref] Nonetheless, members of the LGBTQ+ community in Gabon still face harassment and discrimination, as societal views on LGBTQ+ relationships remain conservative. LGBTQ+ activists have reported that they fear a homophobic backlash in the wake of the decriminalisation.[ref]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gabon-lgbt-lawmaking-trfn/lgbt-community-in-gabon-fears-backlash-after-vote-to-legalise-gay-sex-idUSKBN23V2XE[/ref]

Freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values

Media control

Press freedom is guaranteed by law but restricted in practice. State-controlled outlets dominate the media, and are routinely biased in favour of the governing party. There are some independent media and journalists, but they are sometimes threatened with legal and physical harassment.

The government-controlled National Communication Council frequently suspends news outlets following critical reporting. In January 2012, the broadcaster TV+ was suspended for three months for broadcasting a national address by opposition politician Mba Obame. TV+, which is closely associated with Mba Obame, has also been pushed off the air by repeated acts of sabotage. Also in 2012, the newspaper Echos Du Nord was suspended for two months, while the newspapers, Embozolo and La Une, were suspended for six months over articles criticizing the president.

According to Reporters Without Borders, the appointment of a new media regulator in 2018 (the High Authority for Communication (HAC)) has further eroded press freedoms in Gabon. The HAC imposes arbitrary sanctions, including suspending news sites and banning journalists, for publishing critical commentary on the government or the President. In 2019 alone, suspended sites included media outlets Gabon Review (for publishing ‘malicious rumours’ about the President’s health) and Gabon Media Time (for alleging a two-year old girl was turned away from Gabon’s cancer institute due to a shortage of beds), as well as newspapers Fraternité (for making ‘defamatory’ remarks in an article titled ‘Who Governs Gabon’) and L’Aube (for ‘insulting’ the HAC itself).[ref]https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2019/08/29/gabon-several-media-outlets-journalist-accreditation-suspended/[/ref]

Journalists have also been arrested and harassed for reporting on alleged criminal activity by politicians and government officials, including the alleged role of politicians in widespread ritual killings in Gabon.