The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is surprised by the latest draft Act on Churches and Religious Communities submitted by the Government to the Assembly for adoption. The Centre had gained the impression that the practice of formulating important laws had significantly improved in Serbia when a draft Act, the fruit of nearly three years of constructive consultations between the Ministry of Religion, religious communities and NGOs and reflecting a consensus of the parties concerned, was produced in June 2005. Unfortunately, the Centre’s optimism proved unfounded. The June 05 draft disappeared and a new Draft Act, problematic in many ways, was tabled. This leads to the conclusion that the Government was merely going through the motions of consultations and public debates and that it genuinely does not realise the vital necessity of passing good and lasting laws. Not even the numerous comments by the Venice Commission, whose advice was sought, were taken into account.Many of the provisions in the Draft Act give the executive authorities discretion to decide on issues of essential importance to religious communities. This is per se contrary to the very idea of human rights. The authorities, for instance, can decide whether to allow tax relief to all or only specific religious communities, whether to subsidise the pension and social insurance contributions of the priests of all or only some religious communities, whether or not to organise local community referenda on the construction of religious temples at the initiative of religious communities. But the major shortcoming of the Draft Act is that it gives the state authorities the discretion to decide whether it will register a religious community or not.
The Draft Act contains numerous discriminatory provisions, like the ones preventing registration of religious organisations the name of which includes the name or part of the name reflecting the identity of the church. One cannot conclude from the text of the Draft whether unregistered organisations, which thus do not enjoy the status of a legal person, have the right to preach and rally believers. Registration requirements lead to the conclusion that such activities are prohibited.
Regulation of the autonomy of religious communities is also disputable as the Draft Act contains a number of provisions obliging the religious communities to act on specific issues in accordance with their internal regulations. It remains unclear who – the state courts or religious community bodies – is charged with monitoring and ensuring the compliance with such obligations.
The Belgrade Centre shall forward its comments on and its amendments to the Draft Act on Churches and Religious Communities to all relevant institutions in the country and abroad. The Centre does not aim to halt the adoption of this important systemic law; rather, it wants to help make it fully compatible with international standards related to the freedom of religion, constitutional guarantees and genuine social needs.
