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Section" Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"

18 October 1998

BULGARIA

RECOGNITION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

HRWF/ Tolerance Foundation (18.10.1998) - On October 7th the Council of Ministers in Bulgaria granted legal recognition to Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian Association under art.6 of the Law on Religion. This event took place seven months after the Human Rights Commission in Strasbourg had ratified the friendly settlement reached by the religious organization and the Bulgarian government.

In the spring of 1994, Jehovah’s Witnesses together with more than 50 other religious organizations were denied their right to be registered as juridical persons. This was done according to the ill-famed art.133A, which is an amendment to the Law for the Persons and the Family. In the summer of 1995 the Supreme court rejected Jehovah’s Witnesses appeal against their denial of registration. The religious organization then addressed the European Court of Human Rights. After the complaint passed successfully through the admissibility level and the Commission, the new Bulgarian government in which the former Communists were absent proposed a friendly settlement to avoid a public condemnation by the European Court and also probably to become fit for integration into the European Union. Since the last government has been installed, a number of Protestant denominations have also been recognized by the Bulgarian state.

In 1995-1996, Human Rights Without Frontiers had got a grant from the European Commission to promote the rights of religious minorities in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. Publications in English, Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, seminars in Tirana, Sofia and Bucharest were part of the Phare programme. Human Rights Without Frontiers congratulates the democratic parties participating in the governement for their efforts to respect the religious freedom standards enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Tolerance Foundation, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and other human rights organizations also did their best to help minority religions in their quest for justice. However, there are still steps to be made:

- the vote of a new, democratic Law on Religion to replace the old one, enforced by the Communists in 1949;

- the abolishing of the discriminative art.133A of the Law for the Person and the Families;

- the vote of the Law for Alternative Service;