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Freedom of Religion Or Belief in Georgia 2010-2019

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Freedom of Religion Or Belief in Georgia 2010-2019 FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF IN GEORGIA Report 2010-2019 FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF IN GEORGIA REPORT 2010-2019 Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) 2020 The report is prepared by Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) within the framework of East-West Management Institute’s (EWMI) "Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia" (PROLoG) project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The report is published with the support from the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). The content is the sole responsibility of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Government, East-West Management Institute (EWMI) or Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF). Authors: Mariam Gavtadze, Eka Chitanava, Anzor Khatiashvili, Mariam Jikia, Shota Tutberidze, Gvantsa Lomaia Project director: Mariam Gavtadze Translators: Natia Nadiradze, Tamar Kvaratskhelia Design: Tornike Lortkipanidze Cover: shutterstock It is prohibited to reprint, copy or distribute the material for commercial purposes without written consent of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI). Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI), 2020 Web: www.tdi.ge CONTENTS Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................................10 Summary and Key Findings .............................................................................................................................11 Chapter I. The State and Religion ..................................................................................................................20 1.1. The Problem of Separation of State and Church in Georgia .............................................20 The principle of separation of State and Religion in a legal framework ............................20 The influence of the Patriarchate of Georgia over political decisions and legislative initiatives .................................................................................................23 The State’s response to violence committed by the Georgian Orthodox clergy in the name of religion .......................................................................................26 Financial and property privileges of the Georgian Patriarchate ...........................................27 The State’s attempt to intervene in the autonomy of minority religious organizations ...........................................................................................................................................28 1.2. Assessing the mandate and work of the State Agency for Religious Issues ................29 1.3. Registration of religious organizations .......................................................................................38 1.4. Restricting public space to minority religious communities .............................................41 1.5. Problems related to border-crossing and carrying religious literature across the state border .................................................................................................................................44 1.6. The policy and practice of financing religious organizations by the State ...........................47 Material goods transferred to the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church and its purpose ...................................................................................................47 Transferring material goods to other religious organizations ...............................................55 Chapter II: Legislative Initiatives Limiting Freedom of Religion or Belief ................................60 2.1. Amendments to the Constitution of Georgia and potential threats to freedom of religion ...................................................................................................................................60 2.2. Initiatives to adopt the law on religion ........................................................................................62 2.3. Discriminatory initiative against clergy of different faiths ................................................64 2.4. Legislative Initiatives about “offending religious feelings” ...........................................................65 Chapter III. Inequality in the Georgian Legislation and Judgments of the Constitutional Court of Georgia .......................................................................................................69 3.1. Discriminatory Legal Framework for Purchasing State-owned Property ...................71 Constitutional Court on Discrimination Norms of the Law on State Property ................74 3.2. Inequality in Taxation ...........................................................................................................................76 The Constitutional Court regarding inequalities in the tax system ....................................78 3.3. Privileges granted to the Patriarchate by the legal framework for higher education ......................................................................................................................................80 3.4. Discriminatory policy on holidays and religious celebrations .........................................82 Chapter IV. Crimes motivated by religious intolerance and State policy ..................................84 4.1. General Overview ...................................................................................................................................84 4.2. Investigation of violation of Muslims’ rights in 2012-2016 ................................................86 4.3. Case of Vagif Akperov, former Sheikh of the Administration of All Muslims of Georgia .............................................................................................................................95 4.4. Analysis of the human rights violations of Jehovah’s Witnesses .....................................96 4.5. Court Statistics of crimes committed on the grounds of religious intolerance ..... 101 4.6. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights .......................................................... 102 Chapter V. Problems related to property of religious organizations ....................................... 106 5.1. Problem of restitution of property confiscated by Soviet authorities ...................... 106 Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church ....................................................................................... 109 The Catholic Church ........................................................................................................................... 113 The Evangelical-Lutheran Church ................................................................................................. 114 Muslim community ............................................................................................................................ 116 Jewish community ............................................................................................................................. 118 5.2. Problems related to the construction of new houses of worship ................................. 119 Case of Savior’s Bible Church .......................................................................................................... 119 Construction of a new mosque in Batumi ................................................................................. 121 Difficulties faced by the Catholic Church in obtaining a church construction permit ......................................................................................................... 124 Obstacles for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Terjola ............................................................................. 126 Chapter VI. Religion in Public Schools ..................................................................................................... 128 6.1. Violation of Religious Neutrality and Discrimination in Public Schools ................... 128 Ineffectiveness of the work carried out by the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Education and Science .................................................................................. 129 Alleged discrimination and violation of the rights of a Muslim student in Mokhe village ................................................................................................................. 131 6.2. School teachers’ participation in lectures dedicated to “Georgia’s Allotted to Virgin Mary” ............................................................................................................................................... 133 6.3. Intolerance and lack of religious/cultural diversity in school textbooks ................. 134 Content of school textbooks .......................................................................................................... 134 Selection and approval of school textbooks ............................................................................ 137 Society and I: Review of the subject standards and respective changes ....................... 137 Recommendations ...........................................................................................................................................
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