Speech by an expert from the SOVA Center at the OSCE conference in Warsaw

From September 24 to October 6, 2012 in Warsaw takes place annual conference of the OSCE. October 1 expert Information and Analytical Center "SOVA" Olga Sibireva took part in the working session 11 - "Freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief." We publish the text of the submitted report.

Dear chairman, dear participants of the conference!

In my speech, I would like to touch upon problems in the field of freedom of conscience, relevant for Russia, but, as it seems to us, also for a number of other OSCE countries.

With the formal equality of religious associations before the law, de facto, the attitude of the authorities towards them differs markedly. Many of them are most often Protestant organizations, new religious movements, a number of Muslim movements are discriminated against by the authorities.

The strongest pressure from officials and security forces departments exposed Jehovah's Witnesses and followers of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi. Pressure on them is carried out in different ways, the main one of which - the unlawful application of anti-extremist legislation: judicial recognition of the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses and Nursi's books as extremist, a ban on the distribution of literature and the persecution of those who distribute, and sometimes and just keep it. In 2011 alone, 9 people were convicted of membership in the organization of Nursi's followers banned by the court - "Nurcular", although these people did nothing but distribute Nursi's books, and the very existence of such an organization in Russia raises serious doubts. In the public rhetoric of officials, replicated media, Islam and new religious movements are often identified with extremism, emphasizes their alienness. It is important to emphasize that the only argument in favor of recognizing these movements as extremist is that their texts affirm the truth of their religious teachings.

This resulted in an increase in the negative attitudes towards Jehovah's Witnesses among a significant part of the population. If quantity attacks motivated by hatred against members of other faiths are notably decreases, cases of attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses are still recorded quite often in different regions of the country.

In Russia there is a list of printed and other materials banned for distribution as extremist. In some cases, these restrictions obviously illegal. There are many religious texts on the list, including texts which were written in other eras (it came to the prohibition of the book of the founder Sufism al-Ghazali).

Cases have been recorded when the authorities provide preferences to certain religious organizations, most often the Russian Orthodox Church. These preferences may include financial support, transfer of property, previously not belonging to a religious organization, to the detriment of other organizations, including cultural institutions, as well as the use of administrative pressure to defend the interests of any religious organization. It seems that one of the causes of such unequal treatment is too wide freedom officials in these matters.

Reaction to preferences in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church, which are understood by many as a departure from the principle of secularism of the state, has become the growth of anti-clerical sentiments in society. Public discussion on issues related to freedom of conscience is becoming increasingly confrontational character, especially against the backdrop of the case of the punk band "Pussy Riot".

provided by the SOVA Center See also the recommendations .

Sources

• Inc. inf.