The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), along with the Anglican Communion, the World Council of Churches, Open Doors International, and Stefanus Alliance, organised a side event on “Registration & legal status of places of worship: Negative impacts on religious minorities”, during the Human Rights Council 58th session in Geneva.

“Freedom of religion includes the ability to have a legally recognized place of worship. When Christians cannot rent, buy or build a place to hold a legal worship service, we see pastors fined or arrested for holding informal meetings because these are considered illegal meetings by government officials”, stresses the WEA.

That is why they held this roundtable was organised. Itincluded “speakers from several countries where Christians find it difficult to secure legal status or obtain the required church registration to hold legal worship services”.

Janet Epp Buckingham, director of the Geneva office of the WEA, moderated the event. Two European representatives Christian leaders also spoke at the event. Samuil Petrovski, general secretary of the Serbian Evangelical Alliance, and the pastor of the Antalya Evangelical Churches of Antalya in Turkey, Ramazan Arkan.

Nazila Ghanea, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, also participated in the event.

The rest of the panelists include Susan Kerr, senior adviser on Freedom of religion or belief at Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR); Mike Gabriel, head of the religious liberty commission of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL); and Fikiru Mehari, East Africa sub-regional research manager of Open Doors International.

‘Traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ churches in Serbia

Samuil Petrovski, general secretary of the Serbian Evangelical Alliance, explained spoke about the religion law of 2006 which “distinguishes between traditional ethnical religious groups and others which mostly include Protestant Evangelical churches from different nationalities”.

in Serbia, the traditional churches do not need to register in order to receive all the rights granted by the law, while the others have to do it “with the signatures and the personal ID numbers of at least 100 of their members”.

That is not easy for most of the churches, because some people are concerned that their ID number is registered in an government file, and “when they apply for some state jobs, they can lose the position to get those jobs”, pointed out Petrovski.

Churches that have less than 100 signatures are forced to register as a religious NGO, and therefore “cannot access to some resources and funds to rent to buy or build a place, in order to hold the legal worship of services”.

“Although religious freedom has improved in Serbia since 2006, and we don't have any religious attacks, sometimes we feel discrimination through the law, but also in society and media, as many still consider evangelicals to be a cult, because they are not part of the main traditional religious groups”, underlined the Serbia Evangelical Alliance leader.

Discrimination and harassment in Turkey

Ramazan Arkan, pastor of the Antalya Evangelical Churches of Antalya in Turkey, denounced that “Turkish churches face many difficulties and much discrimination, and unfortunately, when we have tried to address those issues with the Turkish authorities, we have most often been ignored because Christians are a religious minority in Turkey”.

He explained that some churches have rented or purchased their own buildings, “but none of them are recognized as an official place of worship according to official Turkish zoning plan” and “they have not been able to obtain permission to gather and worship in most of those buildings”, many of which “have been converted into a mosque”.

Furthermore, “Turkish Christian who have converted from Islam constantly face false accusation and hate speeches both in society and through the media”, as well as “discrimination in schools and the workplace. Many have lost their jobs or not have been hired”.

Arkan pointed out that in Turkey “it is forbidden to open a Christian college or university, to provide official diplomas for those who want to serve as a pastors or religious leaders”. There are also hurdles to invite foreign Protestant clergy and some who leave the country are not allowed back in.

That is why some “religious leaders are leaving the country”, and curches and Christian entities  many churches and Christian Ministries in Turkey are closing up”, concluded the Turkish pastor.

The right of religious freedom

The United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea, was the last to speak, after all the panelists exposed the situation of the religious freedom in their countries.

Ghanea stressed the importance of “having places to worship and assemble, to publish and produce publications, to be able to teach religion, receive voluntary contributions, train appropriate representatives or elect them, and celebrate religious holidays and ceremonies”.

She also spoke about the situation of asylum seekers and refugees, who “also have the right of religious freedom and need to have access to places to gather according with their beliefs”.

“Freedom of religion or belief does not rest on recognition, it should be guaranteed. it gives independence it reduces surveillance and harassment and it acknowledges a level of societal acceptance”, concluded Ghanea.