DASH publishes the report on religious freedom/ What are the problems in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia?

2023-05-16 19:28:30, Aktualitet CNA

DASH publishes the report on religious freedom/ What are the problems in

Secretary of State Antony Blinken presenting the Annual Report on Religious Freedom

The US State Department on Tuesday released its annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world in 2022. In the foreword to the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken notes that while significant restrictions by governments around the world on religious practices continue, people continue to immigrate to the United States and other democratic countries in search of religious freedom.

The report contains separate chapters on the state of freedom of belief in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

Albania

In the section on Albania, the report notes that the Albanian government has agreements in force with five religious communities, through which it recognizes these groups as the main faith communities in the country and deals within this framework with property restitution issues and other issues. The Albanian government, however, financially supports only four of them. The report mentions that in August Jehovah's Witnesses filed a lawsuit because the Albanian government had not responded to the request to reach a similar agreement as with the other five faith communities.

All five religious communities that have an agreement with the Albanian government reported problems with the property restitution process, while the relevant state agency mentions limitations due to the occupation of the territory by legal and illegal constructions, as well as the limited spaces available.

Overall, religious communities in Albania describe interfaith relations as positive, although Jehovah's Witnesses say they continue to be reported in a negative light by some media outlets in the country, and that four defamation lawsuits filed against these media outlets in the previous year continue to were in court proceedings.

The United States Embassy in Tirana continued to call on Albanian government officials to speed up the process of returning property and other objects confiscated during the communist era. The Embassy continues to support programs for young people, to promote inclusiveness and strengthen the role of women in religious communities.

KOSOVO

Although the country's constitution prohibits religious discrimination and guarantees freedom of belief, the country's legislation does not provide the possibility for religious groups to gain legal status.

Police stopped the Serbian Orthodox Church from holding a liturgy in a contested church, and some schools in the country continued to enforce a government directive banning religious clothing, denying students wearing the hijab access to classes. There were reports of discrimination in public places or in the workplace against Muslim women who wear religious clothing.

The Kosovo government continues to not implement a 2016 court decision recognizing the Serbian Orthodox Church's ownership of the area around the De?ani Monastery, while the Evangelical Protestant Church of Kosovo, Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups said the lack of institutional support for dedicated cemeteries denied them the right to burial according to their faith.

The United States Embassy in Prishtina continues to encourage the government of Kosovo to draft legislation that would allow religious groups to obtain legal status, that would create mechanisms to protect freedom of belief and resolve ownership disputes. In one of the interfaith meetings of the American embassy, ??for the first time leaders of tariqas, Bektashis and others were involved.

NORTH MACEDONIA

Although the country's constitutional and legal framework guarantees equality before the law for all individuals regardless of their religious beliefs, five religious groups Christian, Muslim and Jewish are designated as automatic beneficiaries of exemption from taxes and other duties. A working group established by the Macedonian government in 2021 continued to consider legal amendments to enable individual churches and mosques to obtain status as legal entities. The Macedonian government and the Bektashi Community of Tetova continued to have differences regarding the registration of this religious group. This community did not resubmit its request for registration in 2000, due to concerns that it could be forced to change its name, thereby jeopardizing the continuity of this community.

Christian and Muslim groups say the property restitution process continues to be slow and incomplete. Although the government worked to resolve some of the accreditation issues of religious high schools run by the Muslim Religious Community of North Macedonia, the issue was not resolved, thus preventing students from enrolling in the country's secular universities.

The recognition through canonization by the Ecumenical Partiarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church ended a long period of non-recognition of the country's Orthodox Church, thus opening the way to achieving autocephaly.

The US Embassy continues to emphasize the importance of interfaith dialogue and maintains regular contact with government representatives and religious community leaders to discuss issues of religious freedom, including the perception of a Macedonian government favoring certain religious groups, or the way of the treatment of smaller religious groups from the main communities in the country./ VOA