All American Patriots (press release), Sweden
World : Armenia: International Religious Freedom
Report 2006
Posted by Patriot on 2006/9/16 14:23:01 (42 reads)
Armenia: International Religious Freedom Report 2006
Released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in
compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom
Act (IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that the secretary of state, with
the assistance of the ambassador at large for international religious
freedom, shall transmit to Congress “an Annual Report on International
Religious Freedom supplementing the most recent Human Rights Reports
by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters
involving international religious freedom.”
Armenia: The constitution, as amended December 8, 2005, provides for
freedom of religion; however, the law places some restrictions on the
religious freedom of adherents of minority faiths, and there were some
restrictions in practice. The Armenian Apostolic Church, which has
formal legal status as the national church, enjoys some privileges not
available to other religious groups.
There was no overall change in the status of respect for religious
freedom during the period covered by this report. Some denominations
reported occasional acts of discrimination by mid- or low-level
government officials and isolated incidents of police harassment. An
amendment to the 2004 law on alternative military service took effect
on January 26, 2006, criminalizing evasion of alternative labor
service. Conscientious objectors maintained, however, that military
control of the alternative labor service amounted to unacceptable
military service.
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, societal attitudes toward
some minority religious groups were ambivalent.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights. During these discussions, the U.S. government emphasizes to
authorities that continued eligibility for the $235 million Millennium
Challenge Compact remains contingent upon the Government’s performance
in meeting good governance indicators, which include standards of
respect for religious freedom.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 11,500 square miles and a population of 3
million.
The country is ethnically homogeneous; approximately 98 percent of the
population was ethnically Armenian. Many Azeris left the country
during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994,
increasing the country’s religious and ethnic homogeneity. Religious
observance was strongly discouraged in the Soviet era, leading to a
sharp decline in the number of active churches and priests, the
closure of virtually all monasteries, and the nearly complete absence
of religious education. As a result, the number of active religious
practitioners was relatively low. For many citizens, Christian
identity was an ethnic trait, with only a loose connection to
religious belief. An estimated 90 percent of citizens nominally
belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Eastern Christian
denomination with its spiritual center at the Etchmiadzin cathedral
and monastery. The head of the church, Catholicos Garegin II
(alternate spelling Karekin), was elected in 1999 at Etchmiadzin with
the participation of Armenian delegates from around the world.
There were comparatively small communities of other religious
groups. There was no reliable census data on religious minorities, and
reports from congregants themselves varied significantly. The
Government does not provide official figures for numbers of religious
adherents, but congregants offered the following unconfirmed
estimates: Catholic, both Roman and Mekhitarist (Armenian Uniate)
(120,000); Yezidi, an ethnically Kurdish cultural group whose religion
includes elements derived from Zoroastrianism, Islam, and animism
(40,000 nominal adherents); unspecified “charismatic” Christian
(10,000); Jehovah’s Witnesses (8,750); Armenian Evangelical Church
(8,000); Molokan, an ethnically Russian pacifist Christian group that
split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century (5,000);
Baptist (2,000); the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) (2,000); Greek Orthodox (1,200); Seventh-day Adventist
(950); Pentecostal (700); Jewish (600); and Baha’i (200). There was
no estimate of the number of atheists.
Yezidis were concentrated primarily in agricultural areas around Mount
Aragats, northwest of the capital, Yerevan. Armenian Catholic and
Greek Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the northern region,
while most Jews, Mormons, and Baha’is were located in Yerevan. In
Yerevan there was also a small community of Muslims, including Kurds,
Iranians, Indians, and temporary residents from the Middle East.
Several minority religious groups sponsor missionary programs in the
country, including both expatriate and local participants. Levels of
membership in minority religious groups remained relatively unchanged.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The constitution, as amended on December 8, 2005, provides for freedom
of religion and “the exclusive mission of the Armenian Apostolic Holy
Church as a national church in the spiritual life, development of the
national culture and preservation of the national identity of the
people of Armenia.” The law stipulates some restrictions on the
religious freedom of adherents of faiths other than the Armenian
Apostolic Church. The constitution also provides for freedom of
conscience, including the right either to believe or to adhere to
atheism. The 1991 Law on Freedom of Conscience, amended in 1997 and
again in 2001, establishes the separation of church and state but
grants the Armenian Apostolic Church official status as the national
church.
Extended negotiations between the Government and the Armenian
Apostolic Church resulted in a 2000 memorandum providing a framework
for the two sides to negotiate a concordat. Although they had not
concluded negotiations by the end of the period covered by this
report, the Government and the church used the memorandum as a basis
for dispute resolution and policy agreements.
The law requires all religious denominations and organizations to
register in order to operate without restrictions. There were no
reports of the Government refusing registration to religious groups
that were qualified for registration under the law. The Department of
Religious Affairs and National Minorities, which replaced the former
Council on Religious Affairs (CRA), oversees religious affairs and
coordinates activities with the cabinet’s chief of staff. A
high-ranking official from the former CRA serves as the prime
minister’s advisor on religious affairs. The Office of the State
Registrar registers religious entities, and the Department of
Religious Affairs and National Minorities performs a consultative role
in the registration process. To qualify for registration, petitioning
organizations must “be free from materialism and of a purely spiritual
nature,” and must subscribe to a doctrine based on “historically
recognized holy scriptures.” A religious organization must have at
least 200 adult members. Religious groups are not required to
register, but unregistered religious organizations may not publish
newspapers or magazines, rent meeting places, broadcast programs on
television or radio, or officially sponsor the visas of visitors. By
the end of the period covered by this report, the Government had
registered fifty-six religious organizations, some of which were
individual congregations within the same denomination.
Yerevan’s one surviving eighteenth-century mosque, which was restored
with Iranian funding, was open for regular Friday prayers. Although
not registered as a religious facility, the Government did not
restrict Muslims from praying there.
The law permits religious education in state schools. Only personnel
authorized and trained by the Government may teach in schools. The
history of the Armenian Apostolic Church forms the basis of this
curriculum; many schools cover global religions in elementary school
and the history of the Armenian Apostolic Church in middle
school. Students may choose not to attend religious education
classes. Religious groups are not allowed to provide religious
instruction in schools, although registered groups may do so in
private homes to children of their members. On occasion, priests from
the Armenian Apostolic Church teach classes in religious history;
however, the use of public school buildings for religious
“indoctrination” is illegal.
The military employs Armenian Apostolic chaplains for each division,
but no other religious groups are represented in the chaplaincy.
The Government’s human rights ombudsman and the head of the Department
of Religious Affairs and National Minorities met with many minority
religious organizations during the period covered by this report.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report, most registered religious
groups reported no serious legal impediments to their
activities. However, the 1991 freedom of conscience law prohibits
“proselytizing” (undefined in the law) and restricts unregistered
groups from publishing, broadcasting, or inviting official visitors to
the country. The prohibition on proselytizing applies to all groups,
including the Armenian Apostolic Church; however, the term used for
proselytizing implies that someone has been taken away from a “true”
faith, and the prohibition effectively restricts only minority
religious groups.
According to the head of the Department of Religious Affairs and
National Minorities, some minority religious groups, including the
Molokans and some Yezidi groups, have not sought registration.
Although the law prohibits foreign funding of foreign-based
denominations, the Government has not enforced the ban and considers
it unenforceable. A 1991 law required all religious organizations,
except the Armenian Apostolic Church, to obtain prior permission to
engage in public religious activities, travel abroad, or invite
foreign guests to the country. In 2001 this law was rescinded by
presidential order and, in practice, no travel restrictions were
imposed on any religious denomination.
On July 13, 2005, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
officials reported that police officers briefly detained, harassed,
and threatened two foreign missionaries. The missionaries said that
one of the officers, after warning them to leave the country, placed
the barrel of his unloaded gun against one missionary’s head and
pulled the trigger. Church officials filed a police report, and the
Government opened an investigation. According to the Department of
Religious Affairs and National Minorities, Armenian Apostolic Church
officials filed a counter-complaint against the Mormons within a week
of the incident, alleging the missionaries were illegally
proselytizing on church grounds. Police officials claimed the officers
questioned the missionaries and asked them to stay away from the
church but denied that the questioning constituted harassment. On
October 4, 2005, a police inspector sent Mormon representatives a
letter informing members that the national police intended to drop the
investigation and leave the incident unresolved. Other religious
groups reported isolated events involving police officials questioning
missionaries and their acquaintances about their activities.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
The law on alternative military service took effect in 2004 and
allowed conscientious objectors, subject to government panel approval,
to perform either noncombatant military or civil service duties rather
than serve as conscripted military personnel. The law was applied to
subsequent draftees and those serving prison terms for draft
evasion. Conscientious objectors maintained, however, that military
control of the alternative labor service amounted to unacceptable
military service. An amendment to the law, which took effect on
January 26, 2006, criminalized evasion of alternative labor service.
According to leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Yerevan, twenty-five
members of their religious group remained in prison for refusal, on
conscientious and religious grounds, to perform military service or
alternative labor service. An additional eighteen members signed
statements saying they would not leave the country pending the
completion of preliminary investigations, and six more were assigned
conditional punishment ranging from one to three years.
Representatives of the Jehovah’s Witnesses stated that all of the
prisoners were given the opportunity to serve an alternative to
military service rather than prison time, but that all refused because
the military retained administrative control of alternative
service. Twelve of those in prison reportedly received two-year
sentences.
There were reports that hazing of new conscripts was more severe for
minority group members such as Yezidis and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some
Yezidi leaders reported that police and local authorities subjected
their religious community to discrimination. Other Yezidi leaders
denied the allegations.
There was no officially sponsored violence reported against minority
religious groups during the period covered by this report. Other than
Jehovah’s Witnesses who were conscientious objectors, there were no
reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from
the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination
The generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom; however, societal attitudes toward
some minority religious groups were ambivalent.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is a member of the World Council of
Churches and, despite doctrinal differences, has friendly official
relations with major Christian denominations, including the Eastern
Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and
some Protestant churches.
Suppressed through seventy years of Soviet rule, the Armenian
Apostolic Church has trained priests and committed material resources
to fill the spiritual void created by the demise of communist
ideology. Nontraditional religious organizations are viewed with
suspicion. Representatives of foreign?based denominations frequently
cited as evidence statements including “one God, one country, one
church,” noting they had been warned against “stealing souls” from the
Armenian Apostolic Church.
Societal attitudes toward most minority religious groups were
ambivalent. Many citizens were not religiously observant, but the link
between religion and Armenian ethnicity is strong.
According to some observers, the general population expressed negative
attitudes about Jehovah’s Witnesses, because the latter refused to
serve in the military, engaged in little understood proselytizing
practices, and because of a widespread but unsubstantiated belief that
they pay the desperately poor to convert. Jehovah’s Witnesses
continued to be targets of hostile sermons by some Armenian Apostolic
Church clerics and experienced occasional societal discrimination. The
press reported a number of complaints for allegedly illegal
proselytizing lodged by citizens against members of Jehovah’s
Witnesses.
Some members of the press stoked suspicion of nontraditional religious
organizations. On April 4, 2006, an opposition newspaper published a
short editorial alleging that “a top police official” had information
that “religious sects” including Mormons and Pentecostals had enlisted
well-known criminals to protect the “sects'” interests against the
Government. The paper’s publishers claimed the unnamed source of the
article was “credible” and that the allegations were factual, but
despite repeated requests, they declined to elaborate on them.
On April 5, 2006, a pro-government tabloid published a short editorial
entitled, “Is the American University of Armenia being Mormonized?”
The writer claimed that the newspaper had learned from sources that “a
Mormon” would be appointed vice rector of the American
University. According to the authors, if the rumors were true, the
country would have taken a serious step, negative in the tabloid’s
view, toward “Mormonization.”
Flanked by Armenian Apostolic priests during an April 19, 2006, press
conference, Armenian Center for Rehabilitation and Assistance to
Victims of Destructive Cults Director Alexander Amaryan continued his
public assertions that the presence of nontraditional religious
institutions “threatens the spiritual life of Armenia.” Armenian
Apostolic priests alleged “religious sects,” which they identified as
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, “conquered members of our flock” by
“abducting children and church members, and criticizing national
traditions.”
Unlike in previous years, the Jewish community reported no incidents
of verbal harassment during the period covered by this report. On
March 18, 2005, a court issued a three-year suspended sentence to the
leader of the Union of Armenian Aryans, in response to his conviction
on charges of public hostility for calling for the country to be
“purified” of Jews and Yezidis.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom issues with the
Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The
U.S. ambassador and embassy officials maintain close contact with the
Catholicos at Etchmiadzin and with leaders of other religious and
ecumenical groups in the country. During the period covered by this
report, U.S. officials consistently raised the issue of alternatives
to military service with government officials. The embassy also
maintained regular contact with resident and visiting regional
representatives of foreign-based religious groups such as the Mormons
and raised their concerns with the Government. Embassy officials
closely monitor trials related to issues of religious freedom and take
an active role in policy fora and nongovernmental organization
roundtables regarding religious freedom.
The U.S. embassy hosted several roundtable meetings and receptions in
honor of U.S. representatives of religious organizations. Leaders of
local minority religious groups were regularly welcomed at these
events.
Released on September 15, 2006
Source: US State Dept.