HUMAN RIGHTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS

RUE DE LA PRESSE 5

B-1000 BRUSSELS

PRESS AND INFORMATION SERVICE

Section "Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"

October 29, 1998

OSCE

IMPLEMENTING MEETING IN WARSAW STATEMENT OF THE U.S. DELEGATION ON FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE, RELIGION OR BELIEF BY Dr LEILA AL-MARAYATI

HRWF (29.10.98) - At previous OSCE meetings, the U.S. Delegation has applauded the expansion of religious liberty in this historic decade. At the same time, we want to address concerns we have regarding the increasing intolerance toward religious and belief groups in many OSCE participating

States. The U.S. Delegation has three areas of concern:

1) laws that hinder religious practice and discriminate among religious groups;

2) governmental actions that perpetuate discrimination against minority religious groups and

3) increasing manifestations of intolerance toward Muslims and other religious minorities.

First, Laws That Hinder Religious Practice and Discriminate Among Religious Groups

During the past year, several participating States have enacted legislation that hinders the religious activities of minority religious communities. Probably the most serious development was in Uzbekistan. In Uzbekistan, a new law was passed in May 1998, which, among other restrictions, requires 100 Uzbek citizens to sign a religious community's application for registration and criminalizes any unregistered religious activities.

Less serious, but of very significant concern, are the new laws on religious associations of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and of Russia. In 1997, both Macedonia and Russia passed laws restricting the rights of "unrecognized" religious groups by instituting numerical requirements and, in the case of Russia, the law now requires proof of 15 years of existence as a prerequisite for registration. Both Turkey and Greece for years have had laws and constitutional provisions restricting

the religious liberty of minority communities in the region. The enactment of the new laws noted above, and the progression toward more state control of minority religions, reveals a disturbing trend of intolerance against minority faiths.

The United States also takes note that even among states with a longstanding tradition of support for human rights and fundamental freedoms, there have been unfortunate developments legalizing

discrimination among religious groups. For example, the Austrian Parliament passed a law in December 1997, which futher institutionalizes a system that grants several important privileges to certain (favored) religious groups that it denies to other religious groups.

Second, Governmental Actions that Perpetuate Discrimination Against Minority Religious Groups

Several western European parliaments, most notably France, Belgium and Germany, have created commissions to investigate and report on the activities of minority religious groups. Some of these commissions have published lists of minority religions and belief groups. These lists, directly or indirectly, often lead the public to believe that the religions on the list are dangerous or otherwise suspect. These parliamentary investigations have sometimes had a chilling effect on religious liberty and have sometimes fueled a public resentment against groups being investigated or labeled "dangerous" in government reports. We note that the Government of France, only this month, created a new "Interministerial Mission to Battle Against Sects" ("Mission interministerielle de lutte contre les sectes"). The very name of this mission suggests confrontation with religious minorities rather than tolerance. Governments have also established or are considering establishing so-called information centers, particularly in Austria, France, and Belgium, to disseminate information on these groups. By their very existence, these information centers instill in the public the sense that the government is combating "dangerous" groups through telephone hotlines and official literature. These information centers call into question the commitments that these countries have made as participating States of the OSCE to "foster a climate of mutual tolerance and respect" and excessively entangle the government in the public discussion on religious beliefs.

Third, Religious Liberty of Muslims and Other Minorities in the OSCE Participating States

The status of both immigrant and indigenous Muslim minorities and majorities in the OSCE participating States is often precarious. Religious persecution and intolerance of Muslims is closely linked to racial and ethnic hatred, xenophobia, social malaise, and international political conflicts. Fear of potential violence or terrorism spawned by "Islamic" extremism is often used as a pretext to justify violations of the human rights of Muslims who are practicing their faith. This has been seen most recently in the violent repression of Muslims in Uzbekistan. There were arrests of Muslim activists in France before the World Cup and more recently in Britain. A combination of ethnicity and religion underlie human rights violations against Muslim populations in Europe, seen most recently, the Kosovar Albanians have suffered mass killings, arbitrary detention, rape, destruction of property, and forced migration at the hands of Belgrade.

Elsewhere, ethnic minorities and immigrants who are Muslim, such as North Africans in France and Turks in Germany, are disproportionately subjected to violent crimes that often are perpetrated by racists and sometimes by the police. Indo-Paksitanis have occasionally been the subject of racist attacks in the United Kingdom. Indeed, even in the United States Muslims experience societal discrimination and stereotyping. Of concern are infringements on religious education in Turkey and Uzbekistan. There also is economic and political discrimination in Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey, which is exemplified by the loss of promotional opportunities, confinement to low-paying jobs, inadequate political representation, and prevention from advancement in the military. Finally, Muslim women and girls in countries such as Turkey, Uzbekistan and France often suffer discrimination for wearing head scarves in compliance with their faith.

The US Delegation

Calls on the Government of Uzbekistan, Russia and Macedonia, to repeal or amend significantly their laws on religious associations to comply with OSCE commitments;

Calls on the Governments of Turkey and Greece to ensure that their laws and practices conform with OSCE principles of freedom of belief, association and expression;

Calls on the Government of Austria to recognize the potential that its law has for encouraging other states to enact prejudicial legislation and urges the Government to amend its current law;

Calls on the Government of Austria, Belgium, France and Germany to foster a climate of tolerance and respect toward minority religion or belief groups and insure through law and governmental practice that religious freedoms for minorities are protected;