«The government restrictions on religion and the social hostilities involving religion» study indicates that the use of force against religious groups increased in 2015 compared to the previous years. The report published yesterday 11th of April by the Pew Research Center puts Morocco among the countries with the highest government restrictions on religion. The Pew Research Center's recent study entitled «Global Restrictions on Religion Rise Modestly in 2015, Reserving Downward trend», reveals that Government restrictions on religion and social hostilities against religious groups have increased in 2015. Based on several factors, the study puts Morocco as one of the countries with the highest government restrictions on religion. The research features 198 countries, investigates their policies and laws that restrict religious beliefs and practices, it also measures the acts of hostility that individuals or communities hold against a certain religion or belief. According to the report released on the 11th of April, the number of countries with high government restrictions on religion rose from 24% in 2014 to 25% in 2015. Similarly, the level of social hostilities directed at religious groups increased by 4% moving from 23% in 2014 to 27% in 2015. The Kingdom is the 10th country in the world with the toughest limitations linked to religion, however the report shows that Morocco is socially tolerant to religious differences as it is among the list of moderate social hostilities against religious groups. The situation kept deteriorating for the Middle Eastern and North African countries, the region, as pointed out by the authors of the report «has seen the largest increase in government restrictions since 2007 and continued to have the highest level of these restrictions in 2015, with the region's median score increasing to 5.9 to from 5.4 in 2014». On the other hand, the list of the countries with very high government restrictions on religion is topped by Egypt followed by China and Iran. Europe is less tolerant towards religious groups As surprising as it may seem, government harassment and use of force is on the rise in Europe along with social hostilities against Muslims. Between 2014 and 2015, the continent led the list of the regions with the largest increase in government harassment and use of force against religious groups with a percentage of 53. It is also featured second (89%) on the list of the regions that experienced strong governmental limitations on religion and witnessed mob violence and assaults against individuals because of their faith. According to the report, France and Russia had more than 200 cases of government force against religious groups mostly because of the use of face veils in public spaces and government buildings. The study indicates that a huge part of the incidents related to government harassment is linked to Europe's struggle with refugees. On the other hand, many European governments employed force against religious groups, namely Muslims and Jews. Statistical estimates in 2015 show that 32 European countries experienced social hostilities towards Muslims (71%) while 33 countries (73%) targeted Jews in the form of mob violence.
