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Doc. 9409
16 April 2002
Russia's law on religion
Opinion1
Committee on Culture, Science and Education
Rapporteur: Mr Pedro Roseta, Portugal, Group of the European People's Party
I. Conclusions of the committee
The committee generally agrees with Mr McNamara’s opinion that this law is an acceptable basis for relations between the state and the religious communities. However the situation with regard to the media is worrying: different religious groups complain that they are often denied the right of reply. Moreover, religious groups are not given regular air time on state-controlled media.
The committee proposes to present the following amendments to the excellent draft resolution presented by Mr McNamara on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights:
Amendment 1
– At the end of sub para 6 (i), add the following phrase “and in particular their insistence in certain districts that religious organisations obtain prior agreement for their activities from the Russian Orthodox Church”
Amendment 2
– After sub para 6 (iv, add a new sub para to read “as regards the media, attention is paid to guaranteeing religious organisations their right to reply”
Amendment 3
- At the end of para 6, add a new sub para as follows “as regards state media, religions are guaranteed regular air time”
Amendment 4
– Amend para 7 to read “… the principles contained in Recommendations 1396 (1999) on religion and democracy and 1412 (1999) on illegal activities of sects …;”
II. Explanatory memorandum by the rapporteur
1. The Committee on Culture, Science and Education has on several occasions given an opinion on the role of religion and its impact on politics. In this connection I refer to the reports on religious tolerance (Recommendation 1202 (1993)), on religion and democracy (Recommendation 1396 (1999)), the two opinions on sects (Recommendation 1178 (1992) and Recommendation 1412 (1999)) and the report on religion and change in central and eastern Europe (Doc. 9399) which will be submitted for debate by the Assembly in April 2002.
2. With a view to preparing the present opinion, I accompanied the Rapporteurs of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Mr McNamara, and the Political Affairs Committee, Ms Gatterer, to Moscow in October 2001.
3. I generally agree with Mr McNamara’s opinion that this law is an acceptable basis for relations between the state and the religious communities.
4. I also agree with him that the main problem appears to be discrimination in the implementation of the law at local and regional levels. There is a huge disparity in the way the law is applied in the different regions of the Russian Federation and the Assembly should definitely urge the Russian authorities to ensure that the law is uniformly applied.
5. It should be noted that the Russian Orthodox Church sometimes plays a very dominant role and is often seen to be the cause of discrimination in the implementation of the law. Moreover, the concept of “canonical territory”, which the Orthodox Church often uses - whether it be orthodox or non-orthodox - to refer to a region or a so-called “traditional” religion which allegedly has different (ie more extensive) rights than other religions, is unacceptable by human rights standards as we in the Council of Europe understand them.
6. Under our committee’s terms of reference, I have been given specific responsibility for education and access to the media. Although the situation with regard to education is acceptable, particularly where the right of religious groups to open private schools is concerned, the situation with regard to the media is worrying: different religious groups complain that they are often denied the right of reply. Moreover, religious groups are no longer given regular air time on state-controlled media.
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Committee for report: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (Doc. 9393)
Committee for opinion : Committee on Culture, Science and Education
Reference to the committee: Doc. 7957 and Reference No 2238 of 7 November 1997
Secretatiat of the committee : Mr. Grayson, Mr Ary, Mrs Theophilova-Permaul, Mr Torcatoriu