The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Report: Religious Freedom in the Balkans
Skopje | 27 October 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic
John Caneo Church, Lake Ohrid
This according to the 2009 International Religious Freedom report, released this week by the US State Department.
The report, mandated by the US Congress, reviews the status of religious freedoms in 198 countries worldwide.
Here is a brief rundown of the country reports for Balkan states:
Macedonia
The report, mandated by the US Congress, reviews the status of religious freedoms in 198 countries worldwide.
Here is a brief rundown of the country reports for Balkan states:
Macedonia
Macedonia has a solid legal basis for the protection of religious freedoms in the Law on the Legal Status of Churches, Religious Communities and Religious Groups, that was adopted in 2007, the report says.
This allows individuals to practice their religion freely and multiple religious groups and communities of a single faith to register and gain legal status, the report says.
“We remain concerned, however, that rights of religious organisations to register, guaranteed under the law, are not being fully respected,” the State Department cautions.
The survey shows that the court tasked with registering new religious groups was inefficient and constantly delayed such decisions.
Most Macedonians are Orthodox Christians, while their are large minorities of practicing Muslims and Catholics.
The report stresses that religious freedom is of particular importance in a multiethnic country with many faith communities, such as Macedonia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The report notes that the government in Bosnia generally respects religious freedom in practice. However, local authorities continue to restrict the religious freedoms of minority religious groups at times.
"Societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice persisted and discrimination against religious minorities occurred in nearly all parts of the country," the report reads.
"However, the number of incidents targeting religious symbols, clerics, and property in the three ethnic majority areas decreased," it adds.
According to the report, local religious leaders and politicians contributed to intolerance and an increase in nationalism through public statements, while religious symbols were often misused for political purposes.
Serbia
The report underlines that the government's respect for religious freedoms in Serbia remained problematic because of a law on religion and the Religion Ministry's arbitrary implementation of the same.
"The Ministry of Religion continued to deny registration to the League of Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna Movement, Pentecostal Church, Protestant Evangelical Church of Leskovac, Protestant Evangelical Church of Subotica, and Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement," the report reads.
Police investigations of acts of hate speech and vandalism tended to be slow and inconclusive. Isolated reports that officials made public, negative statements against minority religious groups continued to appear during the reporting period.
"There were fewer reports of societal abuse or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice," the report notes.
Nevertheless, "leaders of minority religious communities reported acts of vandalism, hate speech, physical attacks, and negative media reports", it adds.
Croatia
The report notes that the Croatian government has generally respected religious freedom in practice and that there were only sporadic reports of vandalism, particularly in war-affected areas, directed against Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) property.
The "restitution of property nationalised or confiscated by the Yugoslav communist regime remained a problem", the report says.
"Many religious communities identified property return as their top priority and complained of the lack of progress," thereon, it adds.
The Islamic Community reported that some women continued to face obstacles when attempting to obtain identity cards with photographs in which they were wearing a headscarf. Currently, the law allows local police to determine their own policies on details related to identity card issuance.
Bulgaria
The US State Department says that the government of Bulgaria generally respected the religious freedom of registered religious groups during the reporting period. However, concern was expressed regarding the government registration of religious groups and its interference in religious disputes.
There were also continuing reports of intolerance from local authorities,ongoing reports of societal abuse or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice, and discrimination, harassment, and general public intolerance, particularly in the media, directed towards some religious groups.
Romania
The report notes that there was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom of the government during the period covered by this report.
Despite this, minority religious groups continued to claim, credibly, that low-level government officials impeded their efforts at proselytising and interfered with other religious activities.
"The government continued to differentiate between recognised and unrecognised religious groups, and registration and recognition requirements continued to pose obstacles to minority religious groups," the report says.
"Some international organisations, domestic nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and minority religious groups criticised a December 2006 religious freedom law (which took effect in January 2007) for institutionalising discrimination against minority religions and creating impediments for many such groups to obtain official recognition," the report adds.
The restitution of Greek Catholic properties seized by the communist-era government in 1948, and transferred to the Romanian Orthodox Church, also remained a problem. The Greek Catholic Church was the only denomination outlawed under communist rule and whose churches were confiscated and given to another denomination.
The government continued to make progress in recognising the history of the Holocaust in the country. Some minority religious groups continued to allege that local authorities delayed granting construction permits on the basis of religious affiliation.
Kosovo
In Kosovo, the government generally respected religious freedom in practice and
societal violence decreased marginally. However, tensions between communities remained high, especially following the country's declaration of independence in February 2008.
"Although societal discrimination and violence appeared to be generally ethnically motivated, the close link between ethnicity and religion made it difficult to determine if events were motivated by ethnic or religious animosity," the report says.
Kosovo religious leaders have complained that they should have a special status rather than being lumped in with NGOs.
Albania
The government of Albania generally respected religious freedom in practice and there were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice, the report notes.
"The government continued to address claims from each of the four traditional religious groups regarding the return or restitution of property seized during the former communist era; however, many of the property claims remained unresolved," the report says.
With newly signed bilateral agreements, the State Agency for the Restitution and Compensation of Property was instructed to give priority to properties owned by religious communities.
Montenegro
The government of Montenegro generally respected religious freedom in practice, but
there were some instances of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.
"In contrast with previous reporting periods, there were no reports that SPC Bishop Filaret, who resides in Serbia, had any difficulties travelling to Montenegro to perform his religious services as he had in the past," the US State Department finds.
Filaret was allegedly associated with Hague Tribunal fugitives Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb war time political leader, and Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military commander, during the 1990s. Montenegrin authorities prevented him from entering the country on three occasions in 2007, based on his inclusion on a list of persons suspected of assisting war criminals.
2009-11-06 11:04:28