Internet: SERBIA: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, in www.forum18.org (February 2009)

:: Drasko Djenovic, SERBIA: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY (FEBRUARY 2009)

In its survey analysis of freedom of thought, conscience or belief in Serbia, Forum 18 News Service notes that the most serious remains violent attacks, especially on Jehovah’s Witness and Adventist property. The numbers of these attacks have been declining, and a crucial factor in this has been positive changes in media portrayals of non-Serbian Orthodox communities. Gaining legal status is difficult for communities defined by the Religion Law as “non-traditional” who must apply for recognition, and may face apparently arbitrary denials of status. This leads to practical problems for some communities, such as an inability to employ people.
Restitution of confiscated property is a problem for most religious communities, including the Serbian Orthodox Church which suffered most communist-era confiscations. Legally, restitution of Jewish property confiscated in the Second World War is also difficult. Education is a sensitive issue, with problems such as negative portrayal of “non-traditional” communities in school religious education.

Forum 18, Oslo Norway, www.forum18.org

Forum 18 is an instrument for promoting the implementation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and concentrates on serious and obvious breaches of religious freedom, and particularly on situations where the lives and welfare of individual people or groups are being threatened and where the right to gather around one’s faith is being hindered.

The Board of Forum 18 will arrange at least one annual conference or convention, which is to be open to representatives of churches, organisations, free groups and individuals. Financial support for such conferences or conventions will be sought primarily from external sources.

The members of the Board of Forum 18 are: Jostein Nesvåg (Chairman), Ed Brown (Secretary), Per Ove Stige, Eva Olsvold Sandar, Are Mjanger

News Service: f18news@editor.forum18.org