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FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
===============================================
Wednesday 8 December 2010
ARMENIA: GROWING CONCERN OVER PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE CHANGES ON RELIGION
Human rights defenders and religious communities have harshly criticised
proposed amendments to several Laws imposing new restrictions on and
punishments for religious activity. The state would conduct a "theological
expert examination" before granting registration to religious communities,
while those that fail to provide full information about all their
activities could be liquidated. Sharing faith is a particular target, with
penalties for violations of up to three months' imprisonment. "If adopted,
they will create two kinds of citizens in Armenia - those of the Armenian
Apostolic Church on one side, and then the rest," Pastor Rene Leonian of
the Evangelical Church told Forum 18 News Service. "It is difficult for us
to accept in an independent and democratic state that there can be two
classes of citizen." The amendments, prepared by the Justice Ministry, only
became known when placed on the Council of Europe's Venice Commission
website on 30 November. "Such secrecy and silence is unacceptable," Larisa
Minasyan of Armenia's Open Society Foundation told Forum 18.
ARMENIA: GROWING CONCERN OVER PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE CHANGES ON RELIGION
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Concern is mounting among human rights defenders and many of Armenia's
religious minority communities about proposed amendments to the Religion
Law, the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offences and the Charity
Law, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "All these laws so closely
regulating religious activity represent an intrusion on the part of the
government," one religious leader, who asked not to be identified, told
Forum 18 from the Armenian capital Yerevan on 6 December. "We are very
worried, as several points are a very real threat to religious freedom,"
Armen Lusyan of Yerevan's Word of Life Protestant Church told Forum 18 on 8
December.
To the distress of many religious communities and human rights activists,
the proposed amendments - which have not yet been approved by the
government and are yet to reach Parliament - only became known when they
appeared in English on the website of the Venice Commission of the Council
of Europe on 30 November
( and
).
Armenia's Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan presented the texts in English
to the Venice Commission on 26 October, asking them to prepare a legal
review, Tatiana Mychelova of the Venice Commission told Forum 18 from
Strasbourg on 3 December. She said the Commission is preparing the review
jointly with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
She added that the review is expected to be formally adopted at the Venice
Commission plenary meeting on 17 and 18 December in Venice.
Pastor Rene Leonian, head of the Evangelical Church, which has 45
congregations across Armenia, told Forum 18 on 7 December they are "very
surprised" that the Armenian Government sent the proposed amendments to the
Venice Commission without first informing and consulting local religious
communities and civil society. "We were not happy to learn about this only
from the Venice Commission website."
Echoing this concern is Larisa Minasyan, head of Armenia's Open Society
Foundation. "Such secrecy and silence is unacceptable," she told Forum 18
from Yerevan on 6 December. "This has been done in a completely closed and
unaccountable way." She calls for open, public discussion of the proposed
amendments before they reach Parliament.
The proposed amendments to various laws on religion come at the same time
as Armenia's Defence Ministry has prepared proposed amendments to the
Alternative Service Law, which in its current version fails to establish a
genuinely civilian alternative to military service. Armenia has been
repeatedly criticised by the Council of Europe for failing to meet its
obligation to introduce a genuinely civilian alternative service and for
continuing to imprison conscientious objectors - of whom 73 were serving
prison sentences as of 1 December (see F18News 7 December 2010
).
Armenian original texts not made public
Karen Hakopyan, head of the Department of Normative Acts at the Justice
Ministry, said that Minister Danielyan and his advisors had prepared the
texts. "It's not certain they will be adopted by the Government and by
Parliament," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 6 December. "We are waiting
for the Venice Commission review, and if that is negative we'll look at the
texts again."
Hakopyan said he was unable to make available to Forum 18 the
Armenian-language originals of the proposed amendments, insisting that they
will only be published when the "final text" is approved by the government
and sent to Parliament. Asked why the proposed amendments have not been
discussed with civil society and religious communities, he said it was
better done as a "single package" once the government has approved the
final text.
Continuation of previous attempts for new legal restrictions?
Many commentators have told Forum 18 that these fresh proposed amendments
are a continuation of the failed previous attempt to introduce new legal
restrictions on religious activity. The proposed amendments to the Religion
Law and to the Criminal Code began their passage through Parliament in
February 2009 and were approved in their first reading the following month.
The amended Religion Law would have banned the sharing of faith, required
500 adult citizen members before a religious community could gain legal
status, banned non-Trinitarian Christian communities from gaining legal
status, given broad reasons for banning religious communities, and
recognised the "exclusive mission" of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The
new Criminal Code Article 162 would have punished the sharing of beliefs.
However, in a review made public in June 2009, the Council of Europe and
OSCE strongly criticised the proposed amendments. Work on them then
appeared to have halted, although officials insisted that the amendments
had not been abandoned (see F18News 2 July 2009
).
The latest Justice Ministry texts differ from the 2009 proposed amendments,
even though many of the issues they deal with are identical.
New restrictions and punishments in proposed amendments
In the current proposed amendments, a revised Article 5 of the Religion Law
specifies that registration of a religious organisation "would be on the
basis of an expert opinion of its religiousness", which would include a
review "of the doctrine of their faith provided by an organisation".
Attached to the registration application would have to be "information on
the basics of the doctrine and the practice based thereon, including the
characteristics of the given belief and history of origin of the given
organisation, characteristics of the forms and methods of its activities,
characteristics of attitude towards family, marriage and education,
characteristics of the attitude towards the health of the followers of the
given religion, on limitations of civil rights and obligations envisaged
for the members and servants of the organisation".
A far more detailed Article 14 specifies that the state body which conducts
the "theological expert examination" of all applications has the right to
seek further information from the applicant if it needs it. A "negative
expert opinion" by this body would prevent an organisation from gaining
legal status.
The revised Article 5 would however remove a provision of the current Law
that religious communities must be based on "historically canonised Holy
Scriptures".
The amendments would leave unchanged the requirement (introduced in the
1997 amendments) to have 200 adults to found a religious organisation.
A new Article 7.1 would oblige a religious organisation "not to engage in
activities conflicting with the objectives envisaged by its statute or
prohibited by law, not to damage the uninhibited mental and physical
development of an individual, including of children and teenagers, the
property of a person, not to intervene in family affairs arbitrarily". It
would also oblige it "not to damage property of the state, legal persons
and citizens when implementing its statutory objectives".
The Article would also oblige each religious organisation to submit
detailed annual reports on its activity, including "on cooperation with
other religious organisations" and on "implemented projects (charity,
construction, medical, educational) and events (celebrations, pilgrimage,
concerts, camping)".
A new Article 24 would introduce wide-ranging possibilities to "terminate"
the activities of a religious organisation and strip it of legal status:
"Breach of public security and public order; Damaging human health and
morality; Encroachment of human rights and freedoms; Arbitrary intervening
in family affairs; Abetting persons 'being in a state dangerous for life
and health' to refuse medical aid based on religious motives; Instigate
persons to refuse performing civil obligations prescribed by law and to
commit other illegal actions."
Article 8, which already bans sharing of faith (proselytism or
"soul-hunting"), would have a further clause added: "Any direct or indirect
attempt of persuasion aimed at distortion of religious convictions (views)
of persons through a reward or promise thereof or moral assistance or
material aid or deceit, as well as through exploitation of their lack of
experience, trust, need, low mental abilities, shall be deemed
proselytism."
The new Article 24 would specify: "Religious advocacy (preaching) in
kindergartens, schools and other educational, learning, social institutions
shall be prohibited. Proselytism and performance of functions of religious
organisations in violation of the requirements of the legislation of the
Republic of Armenia shall be prohibited."
A new Article 162.1 would be added to the Criminal Code: "Distortion of
religious convictions of persons in any direct or indirect form of
persuasion through a reward or a promise thereof or moral assistance or
material aid or deceit, as well as through exploitation of their lack of
experience, trust, need, low mental abilities shall be punishable by a fine
in the amount of 500-fold to 1000-fold of the minimum salary or by
detention for a maximum term of three months or by deprivation of the right
to hold certain positions or carry out certain activities for a maximum
term of three years."
Three new Articles are proposed for the Code of Administrative Offences.
Article 178.1 would punish preaching in educational establishments, with
fines of 500 times the minimum monthly wage, doubled for repeat "offences".
Article 178.2 would punish "Performance of functions of religious
organisations and registration in violation of the requirements of the
legislation of the Republic of Armenia, failure to submit information,
falsification or concealment thereof" with similar fines.
Article 178.3 would punish "Failure to provide information or provision of
incomplete or false information on charity works carried out by religious
organisations" with a fine of 100 times the minimum monthly wage (150 times
for repeat "offences").
An amendment to the Charity Law would add a ban on charity "for the
purposes of religious advocacy".
Strong criticism
Many of these proposed amendments have provoked strong criticism from human
rights defenders and religious communities. "As in last year's proposed
amendments, we fear the limitations on freedom of conscience, freedom of
expression of our faith and limitation on human rights generally," Pastor
Leonian told Forum 18.
He warns that the amendments could create intolerance and hatred in society
and conflict between different religious communities. "If adopted, they
will create two kinds of citizens in Armenia - those of the Armenian
Apostolic Church on one side, and then the rest," he said. "It is difficult
for us to accept in an independent and democratic state that there can be
two classes of citizen. I don't want to see this kind of Armenia."
Lusyan of Word of Life Church warns that the restrictions on and penalties
for sharing one's faith would have a chilling effect. "Normal religious
activity could be regarded as proselytism, while all churches which preach
- using books or websites, which is all of them - could be banned," he told
Forum 18. "It will criminalise such activity. How can churches then spread
their faith and preach?"
He especially fears the new Criminal Code punishments for "proselytism".
Jehovah's Witnesses too are concerned. They pointed out to Forum 18 on 8
December that many of the proposed provisions have already been deemed
unlawful in decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in
Strasbourg. In the June 2010 judgment on the Moscow Jehovah's Witness
community's denial of registration (which the Russian government has
challenged), the ECtHR ruled that "the State's duty of neutrality and
impartiality prohibits it from assessing the legitimacy of religious
beliefs or the ways in which those beliefs are expressed or manifested".
They also pointed out that the same judgment reiterated earlier ECtHR
decisions upholding the right to preach one's faith, which "has to be
distinguished from improper proselytism that takes the form of offering
material or social advantages with a view to gaining new members for a
church, exerting improper pressure on people in distress or in need or even
using violence or brainwashing".
Several human rights defenders and religious leaders complained to Forum 18
of what they regard as the vague formulations which they fear could lead to
wide interpretation on the part of officials and courts. "Civil society is
at a loss as to how to interpret some of these provisions," Minasyan of the
Open Society Foundation told Forum 18. "Moreover, many provisions put the
burden of proof on religious organisations that they are not violating the
law, which is the wrong way round."
Justice Ministry defends amendments
Asked why Armenia's 1991 Religion Law (as amended in 1997 and 2001) and the
other laws need to be amended further, Hakopyan of the Justice Ministry
insisted to Forum 18 that "it is not correctly written" and the current
legal regulation of religion "carries a risk of corruption".
Asked to explain, he said during the election money was paid to political
parties, while money was also spent on charity. "We want this to be under
the law." Asked to explain clearly who had done something that required
these Laws to be tightened, Hakopyan admitted that "no incidents were
officially recorded", but repeated his insistence that these Laws need to
be tightened.
Hakopyan also insisted that it is wrong that the current Law does not ban
people from paying others to change their faith. "We're opening up this
possibility." Asked whether such cases have occurred in Armenia and how
often, say, in the past year, he responded: "I've seen myself in a
children's home in 2009 when people from a religious community came in with
presents and prayed." Despite Forum 18's repeated questions he would not
explain which religious community had brought the presents and prayed, and
how this had violated the rights of the children.
Hakoyan complained that some religious communities "take a family under
their care" if they join them, arguing that such "proselytism" is bad.
However, he was unable to say how widespread this is, despite citing as
evidence of such "proselytism" that "many religious sects" are operating in
Armenia.
The office of Vardan Astsatryan, head of the government's Department on
National Minority and Religious Issues, declined to put Forum 18 through to
him on 6 December, saying he could not speak on the proposed amendments.
(END)
Further coverage of Armenian-related religious freedom issues is at
A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
From: A. Papazian
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
===============================================
Wednesday 8 December 2010
ARMENIA: GROWING CONCERN OVER PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE CHANGES ON RELIGION
Human rights defenders and religious communities have harshly criticised
proposed amendments to several Laws imposing new restrictions on and
punishments for religious activity. The state would conduct a "theological
expert examination" before granting registration to religious communities,
while those that fail to provide full information about all their
activities could be liquidated. Sharing faith is a particular target, with
penalties for violations of up to three months' imprisonment. "If adopted,
they will create two kinds of citizens in Armenia - those of the Armenian
Apostolic Church on one side, and then the rest," Pastor Rene Leonian of
the Evangelical Church told Forum 18 News Service. "It is difficult for us
to accept in an independent and democratic state that there can be two
classes of citizen." The amendments, prepared by the Justice Ministry, only
became known when placed on the Council of Europe's Venice Commission
website on 30 November. "Such secrecy and silence is unacceptable," Larisa
Minasyan of Armenia's Open Society Foundation told Forum 18.
ARMENIA: GROWING CONCERN OVER PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE CHANGES ON RELIGION
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Concern is mounting among human rights defenders and many of Armenia's
religious minority communities about proposed amendments to the Religion
Law, the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offences and the Charity
Law, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. "All these laws so closely
regulating religious activity represent an intrusion on the part of the
government," one religious leader, who asked not to be identified, told
Forum 18 from the Armenian capital Yerevan on 6 December. "We are very
worried, as several points are a very real threat to religious freedom,"
Armen Lusyan of Yerevan's Word of Life Protestant Church told Forum 18 on 8
December.
To the distress of many religious communities and human rights activists,
the proposed amendments - which have not yet been approved by the
government and are yet to reach Parliament - only became known when they
appeared in English on the website of the Venice Commission of the Council
of Europe on 30 November
( and
).
Armenia's Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan presented the texts in English
to the Venice Commission on 26 October, asking them to prepare a legal
review, Tatiana Mychelova of the Venice Commission told Forum 18 from
Strasbourg on 3 December. She said the Commission is preparing the review
jointly with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
She added that the review is expected to be formally adopted at the Venice
Commission plenary meeting on 17 and 18 December in Venice.
Pastor Rene Leonian, head of the Evangelical Church, which has 45
congregations across Armenia, told Forum 18 on 7 December they are "very
surprised" that the Armenian Government sent the proposed amendments to the
Venice Commission without first informing and consulting local religious
communities and civil society. "We were not happy to learn about this only
from the Venice Commission website."
Echoing this concern is Larisa Minasyan, head of Armenia's Open Society
Foundation. "Such secrecy and silence is unacceptable," she told Forum 18
from Yerevan on 6 December. "This has been done in a completely closed and
unaccountable way." She calls for open, public discussion of the proposed
amendments before they reach Parliament.
The proposed amendments to various laws on religion come at the same time
as Armenia's Defence Ministry has prepared proposed amendments to the
Alternative Service Law, which in its current version fails to establish a
genuinely civilian alternative to military service. Armenia has been
repeatedly criticised by the Council of Europe for failing to meet its
obligation to introduce a genuinely civilian alternative service and for
continuing to imprison conscientious objectors - of whom 73 were serving
prison sentences as of 1 December (see F18News 7 December 2010
).
Armenian original texts not made public
Karen Hakopyan, head of the Department of Normative Acts at the Justice
Ministry, said that Minister Danielyan and his advisors had prepared the
texts. "It's not certain they will be adopted by the Government and by
Parliament," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 6 December. "We are waiting
for the Venice Commission review, and if that is negative we'll look at the
texts again."
Hakopyan said he was unable to make available to Forum 18 the
Armenian-language originals of the proposed amendments, insisting that they
will only be published when the "final text" is approved by the government
and sent to Parliament. Asked why the proposed amendments have not been
discussed with civil society and religious communities, he said it was
better done as a "single package" once the government has approved the
final text.
Continuation of previous attempts for new legal restrictions?
Many commentators have told Forum 18 that these fresh proposed amendments
are a continuation of the failed previous attempt to introduce new legal
restrictions on religious activity. The proposed amendments to the Religion
Law and to the Criminal Code began their passage through Parliament in
February 2009 and were approved in their first reading the following month.
The amended Religion Law would have banned the sharing of faith, required
500 adult citizen members before a religious community could gain legal
status, banned non-Trinitarian Christian communities from gaining legal
status, given broad reasons for banning religious communities, and
recognised the "exclusive mission" of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The
new Criminal Code Article 162 would have punished the sharing of beliefs.
However, in a review made public in June 2009, the Council of Europe and
OSCE strongly criticised the proposed amendments. Work on them then
appeared to have halted, although officials insisted that the amendments
had not been abandoned (see F18News 2 July 2009
).
The latest Justice Ministry texts differ from the 2009 proposed amendments,
even though many of the issues they deal with are identical.
New restrictions and punishments in proposed amendments
In the current proposed amendments, a revised Article 5 of the Religion Law
specifies that registration of a religious organisation "would be on the
basis of an expert opinion of its religiousness", which would include a
review "of the doctrine of their faith provided by an organisation".
Attached to the registration application would have to be "information on
the basics of the doctrine and the practice based thereon, including the
characteristics of the given belief and history of origin of the given
organisation, characteristics of the forms and methods of its activities,
characteristics of attitude towards family, marriage and education,
characteristics of the attitude towards the health of the followers of the
given religion, on limitations of civil rights and obligations envisaged
for the members and servants of the organisation".
A far more detailed Article 14 specifies that the state body which conducts
the "theological expert examination" of all applications has the right to
seek further information from the applicant if it needs it. A "negative
expert opinion" by this body would prevent an organisation from gaining
legal status.
The revised Article 5 would however remove a provision of the current Law
that religious communities must be based on "historically canonised Holy
Scriptures".
The amendments would leave unchanged the requirement (introduced in the
1997 amendments) to have 200 adults to found a religious organisation.
A new Article 7.1 would oblige a religious organisation "not to engage in
activities conflicting with the objectives envisaged by its statute or
prohibited by law, not to damage the uninhibited mental and physical
development of an individual, including of children and teenagers, the
property of a person, not to intervene in family affairs arbitrarily". It
would also oblige it "not to damage property of the state, legal persons
and citizens when implementing its statutory objectives".
The Article would also oblige each religious organisation to submit
detailed annual reports on its activity, including "on cooperation with
other religious organisations" and on "implemented projects (charity,
construction, medical, educational) and events (celebrations, pilgrimage,
concerts, camping)".
A new Article 24 would introduce wide-ranging possibilities to "terminate"
the activities of a religious organisation and strip it of legal status:
"Breach of public security and public order; Damaging human health and
morality; Encroachment of human rights and freedoms; Arbitrary intervening
in family affairs; Abetting persons 'being in a state dangerous for life
and health' to refuse medical aid based on religious motives; Instigate
persons to refuse performing civil obligations prescribed by law and to
commit other illegal actions."
Article 8, which already bans sharing of faith (proselytism or
"soul-hunting"), would have a further clause added: "Any direct or indirect
attempt of persuasion aimed at distortion of religious convictions (views)
of persons through a reward or promise thereof or moral assistance or
material aid or deceit, as well as through exploitation of their lack of
experience, trust, need, low mental abilities, shall be deemed
proselytism."
The new Article 24 would specify: "Religious advocacy (preaching) in
kindergartens, schools and other educational, learning, social institutions
shall be prohibited. Proselytism and performance of functions of religious
organisations in violation of the requirements of the legislation of the
Republic of Armenia shall be prohibited."
A new Article 162.1 would be added to the Criminal Code: "Distortion of
religious convictions of persons in any direct or indirect form of
persuasion through a reward or a promise thereof or moral assistance or
material aid or deceit, as well as through exploitation of their lack of
experience, trust, need, low mental abilities shall be punishable by a fine
in the amount of 500-fold to 1000-fold of the minimum salary or by
detention for a maximum term of three months or by deprivation of the right
to hold certain positions or carry out certain activities for a maximum
term of three years."
Three new Articles are proposed for the Code of Administrative Offences.
Article 178.1 would punish preaching in educational establishments, with
fines of 500 times the minimum monthly wage, doubled for repeat "offences".
Article 178.2 would punish "Performance of functions of religious
organisations and registration in violation of the requirements of the
legislation of the Republic of Armenia, failure to submit information,
falsification or concealment thereof" with similar fines.
Article 178.3 would punish "Failure to provide information or provision of
incomplete or false information on charity works carried out by religious
organisations" with a fine of 100 times the minimum monthly wage (150 times
for repeat "offences").
An amendment to the Charity Law would add a ban on charity "for the
purposes of religious advocacy".
Strong criticism
Many of these proposed amendments have provoked strong criticism from human
rights defenders and religious communities. "As in last year's proposed
amendments, we fear the limitations on freedom of conscience, freedom of
expression of our faith and limitation on human rights generally," Pastor
Leonian told Forum 18.
He warns that the amendments could create intolerance and hatred in society
and conflict between different religious communities. "If adopted, they
will create two kinds of citizens in Armenia - those of the Armenian
Apostolic Church on one side, and then the rest," he said. "It is difficult
for us to accept in an independent and democratic state that there can be
two classes of citizen. I don't want to see this kind of Armenia."
Lusyan of Word of Life Church warns that the restrictions on and penalties
for sharing one's faith would have a chilling effect. "Normal religious
activity could be regarded as proselytism, while all churches which preach
- using books or websites, which is all of them - could be banned," he told
Forum 18. "It will criminalise such activity. How can churches then spread
their faith and preach?"
He especially fears the new Criminal Code punishments for "proselytism".
Jehovah's Witnesses too are concerned. They pointed out to Forum 18 on 8
December that many of the proposed provisions have already been deemed
unlawful in decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in
Strasbourg. In the June 2010 judgment on the Moscow Jehovah's Witness
community's denial of registration (which the Russian government has
challenged), the ECtHR ruled that "the State's duty of neutrality and
impartiality prohibits it from assessing the legitimacy of religious
beliefs or the ways in which those beliefs are expressed or manifested".
They also pointed out that the same judgment reiterated earlier ECtHR
decisions upholding the right to preach one's faith, which "has to be
distinguished from improper proselytism that takes the form of offering
material or social advantages with a view to gaining new members for a
church, exerting improper pressure on people in distress or in need or even
using violence or brainwashing".
Several human rights defenders and religious leaders complained to Forum 18
of what they regard as the vague formulations which they fear could lead to
wide interpretation on the part of officials and courts. "Civil society is
at a loss as to how to interpret some of these provisions," Minasyan of the
Open Society Foundation told Forum 18. "Moreover, many provisions put the
burden of proof on religious organisations that they are not violating the
law, which is the wrong way round."
Justice Ministry defends amendments
Asked why Armenia's 1991 Religion Law (as amended in 1997 and 2001) and the
other laws need to be amended further, Hakopyan of the Justice Ministry
insisted to Forum 18 that "it is not correctly written" and the current
legal regulation of religion "carries a risk of corruption".
Asked to explain, he said during the election money was paid to political
parties, while money was also spent on charity. "We want this to be under
the law." Asked to explain clearly who had done something that required
these Laws to be tightened, Hakopyan admitted that "no incidents were
officially recorded", but repeated his insistence that these Laws need to
be tightened.
Hakopyan also insisted that it is wrong that the current Law does not ban
people from paying others to change their faith. "We're opening up this
possibility." Asked whether such cases have occurred in Armenia and how
often, say, in the past year, he responded: "I've seen myself in a
children's home in 2009 when people from a religious community came in with
presents and prayed." Despite Forum 18's repeated questions he would not
explain which religious community had brought the presents and prayed, and
how this had violated the rights of the children.
Hakoyan complained that some religious communities "take a family under
their care" if they join them, arguing that such "proselytism" is bad.
However, he was unable to say how widespread this is, despite citing as
evidence of such "proselytism" that "many religious sects" are operating in
Armenia.
The office of Vardan Astsatryan, head of the government's Department on
National Minority and Religious Issues, declined to put Forum 18 through to
him on 6 December, saying he could not speak on the proposed amendments.
(END)
Further coverage of Armenian-related religious freedom issues is at
A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
.
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
From: A. Papazian