Collection of Signatures for Amending Law “On Freedom of Conscience” Started in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

A campaign to protect rights of freedom of conscience has started on April, 22, 2007 in Belarus. Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox believers have joined their efforts and started collecting signatures to bring to the Constitutional Court an appeal to change the current law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, the press-service of the New Life church informs.

This law is putting restrictions on the rights of Christian denominations and some communities to have their legitimate activities that are connected first of all with the preaching of the Gospel (it concerns especially small and young communities).

Four years of law enforcement practice after editing this law have shown many violations of the rights and freedoms of the Belarusian citizens in the field of religious freedom. Priests of different denominations are being punished with fines, and sometimes with administrative arrests for holding services. State officials systematically don’t give permissions to build religious buildings or to change designation the status of the buildings into religious one. Religious communities are being closed on formal reasons. The foreign ministers are being expelled from the country.

Many clauses of this law contradict Article 31 of the Belarusian Constitution that guarantees freedom of worship for each citizen of the country. They also contradict a number of the international laws like the Universal declaration of human rights and International covenant on civil and political rights in particular, and others.

“The freedom of conscience is one of the main rights of a man. This right is given by God and is legitimated by the Constitution and we are responsible for the laws our children will be living with,” the New Life church states.