Evangelicals at the UN call for a new religious freedom law for Italy

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has used its time at the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council to call on Italy to review its religious freedom policies and address cases of unfair treatment of two evangelical churches.

Nadia van der Sar, on behalf of the World Evangelical Alliance, said in her oral statement on 30 June at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Italy that both the WEA and the Italian Evangelical Alliance call on the government to "establish a Religious Freedom Act that does not discriminate against religious minorities".

Members of religious minorities, academics and politicians already proposed in February 2025 in Rome at a conference dedicated to this issue the need to modernise the law and establish clear criteria to be applied by all municipalities in the country.

Nadia van der Sar will soon be reading an oral statement at the #UPR adoption on #Italy calling for review of discriminatory zoning restricting evangelical churches. ⁦@WEAnews⁩ #HRC59 pic.twitter.com/aFI4wZm8Mc

— World Evangelical Alliance at the United Nations (@WEA_UN) June 30, 2025

In Italy, "opening new places of worship and keeping existing ones open remains difficult due to the unfair nature of zoning regulations", the WEA said at the UN Human Rights Council on 30 June.

At this session in Geneva, attended by all kinds of NGOs and civil society organisations, the evangelical body specifically referred to the case of the Breccia Di Roma church, which is involved in a court case after being required to pay taxes despite the fact that as a place of worship it should be exempt, and the case of a Pentecostal church in Albano Laziale (near Rome) that has not been granted permission to build its temple.

The World Evangelical Alliance has status with the UN Human Rights Council that allows it to make recommendations to all countries when they go through the UPR process.