On November 2018, at the ‘United Nations Forum on Minority Issues’, Dr. Liviu Olteanu, the Secretary General of the AIDLR, took the floor and addressed the issue of the freedom of religion law that has been proposed by the Bulgarian Parliament.
Under the title “When dignity and rights of religious minorities are not being respected, they can feellike stateless people even in their own country”, Secretary General of the AIDLR startedhis speech by congratulating the UN, at its 70thAnniversary of UDHR, for what it is doing in favor of human rights, peace and minorities.
Dr. Olteanu followed,“I’m honored to represent the AIDLR at the UN; my organization was founded in 1946 by Dr. Jean Nussbaum and receivedthe special support of Eleanor Roosevelt, the first president of the Honorary Committee of the AIDLR.”
He continued, “Excellencies, we don’t defend a religion, but we defend the principle of freedom of religion or belief for all people. We live in timesof insecurity and crisis. According to António Guterres, UN Secretary General,‘around the world, we see how religion is being manipulated to justify incitement to violence’. Adama Dieng, Under-Secretary-General, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Genocide Prevention, also stresses that‘religious minorities, migrants and refugees are often used by parties by fueling divisions’.
In recent years, we have witnessed the spread of violent extremism, which misuses religion to justify discrimination against religious minorities, or creating laws based on national security’. Sometimes, and in some countries, the laws are used as pretextagainst religious minorities such as Muslims, Jews, and Christians, by not respecting their dignity and rights.
At this time, the Bulgarian Parliament is preparinga law on religious freedomwhich, if it isvoted for,can affect seriously religious minorities, including:Evangelicals, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Jews, Muslims and others.”
The Secretary General of the AIDLR publiclyrequested, at the UN on November 2018,that the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, the European Union, and European countries use their diplomatic tools to present urgent requests to Bulgaria. The emphasis would be that Bulgarian Parliament adequately modifythe religious freedom law, according the UDHR art 18, ICCPR art 18, EU’ Guidelines on religious freedom and other relevant international and regional documents. Bulgarian Parliament was also asked to listen the voices of religious minorities and correct the draft law, giving up all proposed restrictions on religious freedom.
See below the link of the AIDLR Secretary General’ Speech at the UN in Geneva, at1:04:46 – 1:07:00
On this very concerninglaw of Bulgarian Parliament, Dr. Olteanu continued to be in touch with European diplomats and politicians, as well as religious leaders of Bulgaria belonging to the Evangelical Alliance, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and other churches. He also sent letters to Tsveta Karayaneva,the President of Bulgarian Parliament;Krasimir Velchev,the President of the Commission of Human Rights and Religions from Parliament;and Boiko Borisov, the Prime Minister of the Government of Bulgaria.
In the letters sent to the Bulgarian change agents regarding ‘the Law on Amending and Supplementing the Religious Confessions Law’, Dr. Liviu Olteanu underlined:“Defense of justice – focusing on human rights, peace, and security - is a challenge today and one of the great difficulties resides in reconciling cultural identity and respect for differences in a society where religions, beliefs, and cultures coexist. Being a personis what gives humans a peculiar dignity, under which they cannot be exchanged for a price.
People differ from each other by the political community to which they agree to belong, religious affiliation, cultural background and by countless dimensions, that together build up a whole personal being. And multiculturalism requires teaching how to live with differences, respecting and protecting by laws, the Other’s conscience and beliefs. But unfortunately, today, fundamental freedoms in some parts of the world have been degraded to benefit arbitrary ideologies and populism.
The AIDLR, which monitors worldwide legislation on religious liberty and also speaksup on behalf of the discriminated and persecuted, hopes and desires that Bulgaria will be an international example of good practice by its legislation on religious freedom. For this to happen,we are looking with special attention at the Religious Confessions Law, and we are concerned about the current form of this Law versusinternational laws/articles of human rights/religious freedom, democracy, and rule of law of the modern countries;we hope that Bulgaria will decide to follow. Even though there have been changes after the first reading of the law into Parliament, unfortunately, many amendments of the Law still affect freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of people, while discriminatingagainst religious minorities.”
“We are concerned, too, because the concept of national securitywhich started to be used by some States as a political multipurpose tool, capable of being adapted to the needs of ‘any’ state and based on the political will to fight against extremism and terrorism, unfortunately creates suspicion of religion and limits concretely religious minorities and fundamental freedoms of believers,” stated Dr. Olteanu.“We can see how the threat based on so called ‘national security’ can, many times, be used as a limiterfor fundamental freedoms, and some of these freedoms being indicated above. We really want and hope that this will not be thecase regarding Bulgaria. We desire that Bulgaria willvery soon become a Schengen member for the benefit of their country, filledwith wise people.”
Consequently, some concrete requests directed onbehalf of the AIDLR to the official agents from Bulgaria, have been:
- We urge the Bulgarian Parliament to prevent the completion of yet another attempt to limit fundamental freedoms as freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly under the disguise of a concern about ‘combatting terrorism’;
- We urge the listening to of the voices of religious leaders, religious minorities, and civil society (NGOs) on correcting the law by giving up all violations and proposed restrictions on religious freedom that are contrary to Bulgarian Constitution and international laws;
-We ask for the non-acceptance of any limitations and state interferences that affect religious organizations, all Evangelical communities on church services/worship, sermons, education, teaching, legal funds or donations for religious communities/organizations received from foreign correspondent organizations, along with acceptance of visits and exchanges between national and foreign leaders and teachers;
- We ask that the organization and administration of churches not be under state control, but rather keeping the separation between Church and state without any interference from the state authorities into the life and activities of churches;
- We ask for not affecting the right of assembly by prohibiting the use of buildings by religious organizations if these buildings have not been approved by the state, and not impeding the recognition of religious communities/churches and ‘registration’ of religious entities with less of 300 people;
-Finally, we ask for the adequate adaptation ofthe Religious Confessions Law according the UDHR art. 18-20, the ICCPR art 18 -19, 21- 22 and 27, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief from 1981 art 1- 6, European Convention art 9-11, the OSCE/ODIHR resolution on Religious freedom and Security, and the EU’ Guidelines from 2013 on Religious Freedom.
On the 70thAnniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every country and people can honor, through its legislation and practices, the milestone document in the history of human rights, stressing art 1 that underlines: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignityand rights…”.
“I invite the Bulgarian Parliament, the Commission on Religions and Human Rights, the Government of Bulgaria, and other international and regional actors to update or monitor the ‘Religious Confessions Law’ to be based on ‘dignity and rights’ of every human being,” urged Dr. Olteanu.
“This is the best ‘tool’ that contributes to peace, security and a better understanding in every society, including Bulgaria. We express our hope, and we wait with anticipation, for this concerned Law to become a good and balanced Law, not affecting dignity of any human being and freedoms of religious minority from your nice country”.
Some weeks ago, it was communicated that the vote for the Law will be postponed until 2019; but, suddenly, new information came that the law will be voted on 21 of December. Let us continue to work and to pray, too, for Bulgaria on the Religious Freedom Law, hoping that it will finally be a balanced one, not affecting any person, especially the religious minorities.
The result of the vote will be published shortly on EUDNews.
