TADIC SIGNS DISCRIMINATORY LAW ON RELIGION

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000678

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PGOV PHUM PREL SR
SUBJECT: TADIC SIGNS DISCRIMINATORY LAW ON RELIGION



1. (U) Summary: President Tadic signed a problematic Law
on Religion on April 27, despite uproar from smaller
religious communities and pressure from the international
community to veto the bill. The law, passed hastily
through Parliament without public debate, discriminates
against religious groups not belonging to the
"traditional" seven by, inter alia, requiring them to re-
register through a tedious and invasive process. Having
engaged Tadic directly on this issue, we will now work at
the highest levels of the government (which sponsored the
law) and parliament to try to roll back or amend the most
egregious elements of this legislation. End summary.


2. (U) On April 20, the Serbian Parliament hurriedly
pushed through a deeply flawed Law on Religion. The Law
was the sixth iteration of a bill that has long been
under development. Previous versions had similar
problems, but it appeared the government was committed to
working with religious communities and the international
community to iron out major sticking points. This sixth
version, though, was submitted without opportunity for
comment. More troubling, key articles of the law that
would "grandfather in" pre-existing religious
communities, including many smaller Protestant churches,
were inexplicably dropped from the text at the last
minute.


3. Many NGOs, religious communities, the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the
Council of Europe's Venice Commission are highly critical
of the law. It recognizes the "traditional" seven
religious communities (the Serbian Orthodox Church, the
Roman Catholic Church, the Slovak Evangelical Church, the
Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Christian
Church, the Islamic community and the Jewish community),
while all other religious groups must now re-register
with the Ministry of Religion, which has the discretion
to decide whether to grant approval.


4. (U) The registration requirements, deemed invasive by
the Council of Europe, include submitting names, identity
numbers and signatures of members; proof that it meets
the threshold of 0.001 percent of adult citizens of
Serbia (roughly 60 people); the group's statute and
summary of its religious teachings, ceremonies, religious
goals and basic activities; and information on sources of
funding.


5. (U) The government's decision to rush the legislation
through to passage is even more troubling. Serbia's
National Assembly approved it with 120 votes for the law,
four votes against and five abstentions on April 20, a
day prior to the Serbian Orthodox Easter weekend.
Religious groups and international organizations who had
long been engaged on the issue were not informed of last-
minute changes in the draft and were blind-sided by the
Parliament's passage.


6. (SBU) The Ambassador delivered letters expressing
concerns that the law does not conform to international
standards on religious tolerance and freedom to both
President Tadic and PM Kostunica immediately upon
learning of the last-minute changes to the bill and its
rushed passage. The Ambassador also intervened directly
with Tadic on April 26 and urged him not to sign the
bill. Tadic was also pressed by other resident
Ambassadors, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe not to
sign. Tadic nevertheless signed the legislation April 27
(a local holiday),acknowledging to local press that the
law had its drawbacks and did not conform to the European
Convention on Human Rights, but saying he hoped all the
law's defects would be eliminated through amendments.


7. (SBU) COMMENT: The Embassy is now pressing the
Ministry of Religion, members of parliament, the
President and the Prime Minister to adopt measures to
blunt the more discriminatory aspects of this
legislation, and we are working with like-minded missions
in Belgrade to coordinate responses from the
international community to passage of the law. We will
continue to register our concern at the highest levels
and will follow this issue closely, including through
appropriate treatment in the upcoming Report on
International Religious Freedom.

POLT