ANNEXED CRIMEA PLANS TO ADOPT LAW AGAINST "TOTALITARIAN SECTS" AND "DESTRUCTIVE CULTS"
Religiia v Ukraine, 3 June 2015
The draft of a republican law on freedom of conscience and religious associations has been introduced into the state council of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia. It is supposed to expand the authority of the state in this sphere. The text of the document was published on the website of the state council, Religiia v Ukraine reports citing RIA FederalPress.
The explanatory note says that in the last years of Ukrainian rule, "the system of state-confessional relations in the republic of Crimea was methodically destroyed." It cites the examples of the liquidation of the Committee on Religious Affairs and the position of psychiatric physician specializing in sectarians. As a result, Crimea was visited by numerous missionaries from abroad, particularly Mormon missionaries. The author of the draft law, the chairman of the state council Committee on Culture, Svetlana Savchenko, thinks that this was "a manifestation of geopolitical interest."
As a way out of the situation, Savchenko and her colleagues propose to create within the republican Ministry of Culture a Department for Religious Affairs (there now exists there only a department that simultaneously deals with national cultural associations). In particular, the organizations will be required to inform this body about the arrival of foreign preachers. Other powers of the department are rather vaguely defined ("forecasting the development of the religious situation," "facilitating the strengthening of mutual understanding and toleration," and so forth).
The draft of the law contains definitions of traditional religion ("a religion having formative cultural significance for the historical community") and a totalitarian sect, also called a destructive cult ("an organization that uses a complex of special techniques (mind control) with the goal of suppressing the will of an individual and controlling feelings and conduct, causing harm to the individual and society"). However, these terms are not used a single time in the main text of the document. The explanatory note speaks about "radical and esoteric" sects.
It is known that the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, back in the fall introduced into the state council a draft of a law "On freedom of conscience, religious associations, and manifestations of religious extremism," but it was quickly withdrawn. Some of the provisions, (for example, a prohibition of national religious organizations) made it into the new draft and some did not. Thus, Aksenov's draft suggested banning the distribution of religious literature without an indication of the organization publishing it and the opening of night clubs near houses of worship, as well as requiring missionaries to have special licenses.
Recently the state council adopted on first
reading the draft of a law on administrative violations of law. It
subjected to a fine, in particular, street preachers and
prognosticators. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 June 2015)
DOCUMENT: Draft
introduced by the Committee on
Culture and Issues of Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the
GSRK [State
Council of the republic of Crimea]
LAW
OF THE REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA
On
freedom of conscience and religious associations
The
State Council of the Republic of Crimea,
recognizing
the civilizational and sacral significance of Crimea in the
historical fate of
Russia, and
considering
the facilitating of the achievement of mutual understanding,
toleration, and
respect in issues of freedom of conscience and freedom of
religious confession
to be important
adopts
the present law.
Chapter
1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article
1. The present law's subject of regulation
The
present law, in accordance with the constitution of the
Russian federation, the
federal law of 26 September 1997 "On freedom of conscience and
religious
associations," the Civil Code of the Russian federation, other
normative
legal acts of the Russian federation, the constitution of the
republic of
Crimea, and other normative legal acts of the republic of
Crimea, regulates
legal relations arising in the area of the rights of
individual and citizen to
freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession and
the activity of
religious associations in the republic of Crimea.
Article
2. Basic concepts employed in the present law
In
the present law the following basic concepts are employed:
freedom
of conscience—the right of individual and citizen to choose
one's own attitude
toward religion: to be a believer or not to confess any
religion;
freedom
of religious confession—the right of an individual to choose a
religious faith;
religion—the
aggregate of views on the world, which most often are based on
belief in god,
creator of the universe and humankind, given to people in the
revelation of
knowledge; religious beliefs constitute the worldview and
intellectual
component of religion and the rituals and other forms of
practical
demonstrations of worship;
traditional
religion—a religion having formative cultural significance for
historical
communities;
totalitarian
sect or destructive cult—an organization employing a complex
of special
techniques (mind control) with the goal of suppressing the
will of a person and
controlling feelings and conduct, causing harm to the
individual and society.
Article
3. State agency of the republic of Crimea on religious affairs
The
state agency of the republic on religious affairs is an
informational,
analytical, consultative, and organizational institution.
The
state agency of the republic of Crimea for religious affairs:
analyzes
the state and forecasts the development of the religious
situation in the
republic of Crimea;
coordinates
the activity of executive bodies of state authority of the
republic of Crimea
on matters of implementing state policy with respect to
religion and religious
associations;
provides
help to government agencies in implementing legislation on
freedom of
conscience, freedom of religious confession, and religious
associations;
facilitates
the strengthening of mutual understanding and toleration among
religious
associations of various religious confessions and provides
them assistance in
accordance with legislation;
develops
contacts and coordinates communication with similar government
agencies and
religious associations outside of the borders of the republic
of Crimea; and
considers
appeals of citizens within the bounds of its competence.
Chapter
2. RELATIONS
BETWEEN AGENCIES OF
STATE AUTHORITY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA, AGENCIES OF LOCAL
ADMINISTRTION, AND
MUNICIPALITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA AND RELIGIOUS
ASSOCIATIONS
Article
4. Agencies of state authority of the republic of Crimea,
agencies of local
administration and municipalities in the republic of Crimea
and religious
associations
1.
The republic of Crimea is a secular state. In the republic of
Crimea no
religion can be established in the capacity of a dominant or
obligatory
religion.
2.
Relations between agencies of state authority of the republic
of Crimea
(hereafter, agencies of state authority), agencies of local
administration of
municipalities in the republic of Crimea (hereafter agencies
of local
administration) and religious associations are conducted on
the basis of the guarantee
of the rights of individual and citizen to freedom of
conscience and freedom of
religious confession and principles of the separation of
religious associations
from the state and their equality before the law.
3.
Agencies of state power and agencies of local administration
cooperate in the
achievement of mutual understanding, toleration, and respect
in matters of
freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession on
the territory of
the republic of Crimea; they have the right to form bodies for
communication
with religious associations.
4. Agencies
of state power and agencies of
local administration provide financial, material, and other
help to religious
organizations for the restoration, maintenance, and
preservation of houses of
worship and other objects that are monuments of history and
culture and they
regulate the grant to religious organizations of tax and other
privileges in accordance
with existing legislation.
5.
Officials of agencies of state power, other state agencies,
and agencies of
local administration do not have the right to use their office
for creating one
or another relationship with religion.
6. Agencies
of state authority and
agencies of local administration provide cooperation with the
charitable
activity of religious organizations and also with their
achievement of socially
significant cultural and educational programs and events.
7.
Religious organizations that are registered in the established
procedure in the
republic of Crimea have the right to participate in the
consideration by
agencies of state power and agencies of local administration
of matters that
pertain to their activity.
8.
Agencies of state power cooperate with agencies of power of
the city with
federal significance Sevastopol and agencies of local
administration and
religious associations of the city with federal significance
Sevastopol.
9.
Interference by political parties in the activity of religious
organizations is
prohibited on the territory of the republic of Crimea.
10.
At the request of religious organizations, agencies of
government power have
the right to declare religious feasts as nonworking (holiday)
days in the
republic of Crimea.
Chapter
3. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Article
5. Citizens' right to receive religious education
1.
Each person has the right to receive religious education in
accordance with
one's choice individually or in common with others.
2.
Training and education of children (up to 18 years of age) is
conducted by
parents or their surrogates, taking into consideration the
rights of the child
to freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession.
3.
Religious training and education may be conducted in religious
educational
organizations. Religious associations also have the right to
conduct teaching
of religion and religious education immediately within
religious associations.
4.
The state provides financial, material, and other aid to
religious organizations
in providing the teaching of general educational disciplines
in educational
organizations created by religious organizations in accordance
with the
legislation on education of the Russian federation.
Article
6. Relations between religion and the state system of
education
1.
Agencies of state power and agencies of local administration
ensure the secular
character of education in state and municipal educational
organizations.
2.
For the goals of the formation and development of the
individual in accordance
with family and public spiritual and moral and socio-cultural
values, basic
educational curricula may include, inter alia on the bases of
the requirements
of corresponding federal state educational standards, academic
subjects,
courses, and disciplines (modules) aimed at the receipt of
educational
knowledge of the basic religious and moral culture of peoples
of the Russian
federation and ethical principles of the historical and
cultural traditions of
world religions or alternative academic subjects, courses, and
disciplines
(modules).
The
choice of academic subjects, courses, disciplines (modules)
included in basic
general education curricula is made by the parents (legal
representatives) of
the pupils.
Sample
basic educational curricula in terms of academic subjects,
courses, and disciplines
(modules) intended for providing pupils knowledge about the
foundations of the
religious and moral culture of the peoples of the Russian
federation, about
moral principles, and historical and cultural traditions of
world religion
(world religions) go through expert analysis in a centralized
religious
organization to determine correspondence of their contents to
the confession
and historical and cultural traditions of that organization,
in accordance with
its internal regulations by a procedure provided by federal
law of the Russian
federation of 29 December 2012 "On education in the Russian
federation."
3.
Upon written request from parents or persons in loco parentis,
and with the
consent of the children enrolled in state or municipal
educational
organizations of the republic of Crimea, said educational
organizations, on the
basis of a decision of a collective body of the administration
of the
educational organization and with the consent of the founders,
may offer to a
religious organization the opportunity to teach religion to
children outside of
the framework of the educational curriculum.
4.
Children have the right to refuse to attend events connected
with the study of
religion.
Chapter
4. RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS
Article
7. State registration of a religious organization
1.
The legal capacity of a religious organization as a legal
entity arises in
accordance with federal legislation from the moment of its
state registration.
2.
State registration of a local religious organization in the
republic of Crimea
is performed by a federal agency empowered to make decisions
about registration
in accordance with the federal law of 8 August 2001 "On state
registration
of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs", taking into
account the
special procedure of state registration of religious
organizations established
by the federal law of 26 September 1997 "On freedom of
conscience and
religious associations."
3.
State registration of a centralized religious organization as
well as religious
organizations formed by centralized religious organizations
whose activity
extends to the territory of the republic of Crimea is
conducted by a federal
agency authorized to make decisions about registration.
4.
The chief administration of the Ministry of Justice of the
Russian federation
for the republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol sends
copies of
registration materials to the state agency of the republic of
Crimea for
religious affairs and to bodies of local administration.
5.
In the republic of Crimea, the creation of a religious
organization on the
basis of national identity as a part of confessions or
religious movements is
not permitted.
6.
On the territory of the republic of Crimea, activity of
centralized religious
organizations without state registration and activity of
unregistered
institutions and religious organizations formed by centralized
religious
organizations is not permitted.
Article
8. Liquidation of a religious organization, suspension and
prohibition of the
activity of a religious association in the event of its
violation of
legislation
1.
In the event of the discovery of circumstances that are
grounds for the
liquidation of a religious organization, or suspension or
prohibition of the
activity of a religious association, measures established by
federal
legislation are adopted.
2. Agencies
of the prosecutor's office of
the republic of Crimea and a federal agency that is authorized
to make
decisions about the registration of religious organizations
and bodies of local
administration have the right, in accordance with federal
legislation, to file
in court a petition for the liquidation of a religious
organization and the
suspension or prohibition of its activity.
3.
The activity of a religious association may be suspended, a
religious
organization may be liquidated, and the activity of a
religious association
that is not a religious organization may be prohibited by a
procedure and on grounds
provided by the federal law of 25 July 2002 "On combating
extremist
activity."
Chapter
5. RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES OF THE ACTIVITY OF RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATIONS
Article
9. Internal regulation of religious organizations
Religious
organizations act in accordance with their own internal
regulations, if they do
not violate the legislation of the Russian federation and the
legislation of
the republic of Crimea.
Article
10. Religious rituals and ceremonies
1.
Religious organizations have the right to establish and
maintain houses of
worship, structures and other places and objects especially
designated for
worship services, prayer and religious meetings, and for
religious devotion
(pilgrimage). The conduct of public events and the posting of
texts and images
that offend religious feelings of citizens are prohibited.
2.
Worship services and other religious rituals and ceremonies
are performed
without interference in premises indicated in point 2 of
article 16 of the
federal law of 26 September 1997 "On freedom of conscience and
religious
associations."
3.
In other cases, public worship services and other religious
rituals and
ceremonies (including prayer and religious meetings) that are
held in public
places, in conditions that require the adoption of measures
aimed at ensuring
public order and safety both of the participants in religious
rituals and
ceremonies themselves and of other citizens, are conducted in
accordance with
the procedure established for conducting rallies, marches, and
demonstrations.
4.
Issues of the conduct of religious ceremonies and rituals
outside of houses of
worship are resolved in accordance with federal legislation.
Article
11. International ties and contacts
1.
The preparation of the invitation of foreign citizens in order
to engage in
professional, including preaching and teaching, activity in
religious organizations
of the republic of Crimea is conducted by the Department of
the Federal
Migration Service of Russia for the republic of Crimea in
accordance with
federal legislation, and the procedure for the visit and
invitation of foreign
citizens is determined by the Council of Ministers of the
republic of Crimea.
2.
A religious organization notifies the state agency of the
republic of Crimea
for religious affairs about the visit of a foreign citizen in
said religious
organization.
Article
12. Transfer of property to religious organizations for
religious purposes that
is under state or municipal ownership of the republic of
Crimea
1.
The transfer of houses of worship and structures with attached
land and other
property for religious purposes, that is under state or
municipal ownership, to
religious organizations for ownership or use is carried out
free of charge.
2.
The transfer of property for religious purposes that is under
the republic of
Crimea ownership to religious organizations is carried out in
accordance with
the federal law of 30 November 2010 "On transfer of property
to religious
organizations for religious purposes that is under state or
municipal
ownership" and with the legislation of the republic of Crimea
on the basis
of application from a religious organization.
The
Ministry of Property and Land Relations of the republic of
Crimea is the agency
authorized to make decisions about the transfer of property to
religious
organizations for religious purposes which is under state
ownership of the
republic of Crimea, in accordance with legislation of the
Russian federation on
freedom of conscience, freedom of religious confession, and
religious
organizations and with normative legal acts of the republic of
Crimea.
3.
In the republic of Crimea, the unauthorized seizure of houses
of worship and
structures, parcels of land for construction, territories of
sacred places, and
places of devotion is forbidden.
Article
13. Construction of houses of worship
The
construction of houses of worship and the erection of
veneration crosses,
religious monuments, and other objects of small architectural
forms is carried
out in accordance with federal legislation.
Chapter
6. OVERSIGHT AND MONITORING OF FULFILLMENT OF LEGISLATION ON
FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE, FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS CONFESSION, AND RELIGIOUS
ASSOCIATIONS
Article
14. About the existence of oversight and monitoring
1.
Oversight of the fulfillment of legislation on freedom of
conscience, freedom
of religious confession, and religious associations is
conducted by agencies of
the prosecutor's office of the republic of Crimea.
2.
The agency that made the decision regarding state registration
of a religious
organization in the republic of Crimea conducts monitoring of
its observance of
its charter relative to the goals and procedure of its
activity.
3.
Monitoring of the observance of legislation on freedom of
conscience is
conducted by bodies of local administration and by ministries
and agencies,
within the parameters of their competence.
Article
15. Responsibility for violation of legislation on freedom of
conscience,
freedom of religious confession, and religious associations
Violation
of legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religious
confession, and
religious associations incurs criminal, administrative, and
other liability in
accordance with legislation of the Russian federation.
Chapter
7. CONCLUDING PROVISIONS
Article
16. Entry into force of the present law
The
present law takes effect ten days after its official
publication.
Article
17. Transitional provisions
1.
The registration or reregistration of religious organizations
in the republic
of Crimea, with respect to which there exist grounds for their
liquidation or
their prohibition, is not performed, in accordance with
federal legislation.
2.
Religious organizations that do not have a document confirming
their existence
on the territory of the republic of Crimea for at least
fifteen years exercise
the rights of legal entity provided that they reregister
annually until the end
of said fifteen-year period.
S.
Aksenov
Head
of the republic of Crimea
City
of Simferopol
Russian original posted on website of State Council of
the republic of Crimea
DOCUMENT: EXPLANATORY
NOTE
to the draft of
a law of the republic of Crimea
"On freedom
of conscience and religious associations"
For ensuring
efficient operation in the sphere of religious relations in the
republic of
Crimea it is necessary in the first place to formulate a model
of
state-confessional relations and the structure of an agency for
religious
affairs in the republic of Crimea.
In the Russian
federation, for a population of 150 million persons, 27 thousand
religious
organizations are functioning. If one takes as a base of such an
indicator as
the number of religious organizations per 10,000 persons, then
in Russia is
constitutes 1.8, but in Crimea it is 10.4.
For purposes of
comparison, one may consider three regions of the Russian
federation: the city
of St. Petersburg, the republic of Tatarstan, and the republic
of Dagastan. And
it is necessary to emphasize that in the above indicated
component entities of
the Russian federation, the structures for religious affairs
deal only with
relations with religious organizations, while issues of national
and cultural
communities, the return of property to religious organizations,
and other
matters are decided by other executive bodies.
Saint Petersburg:
Board for Relations with Religious Organization (a part of the
administration
of the governor of St. Petersburg); 446 religious organizations;
staff of 5
individuals; 89 religious organizations for one worker;
Republic of
Tatarstan: Board for Relations with Religious Organizations (a
part of the
administration of the president of the republic of Tatarstan);
1440 religious
organizations; staff of 14 individuals; 102 religious
organizations per worker;
Republic of
Dagestan: Committee on Freedom of Conscience and Relations with
Religious
Organizations of the Republic of Dagestan; 2500 religious
organizations; staff
of 24 individuals; 104 religious organizations per worker;
Republic of Crimea:
Department for Affairs of Religious and National Cultural
Communities of the
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea; 2083 religious
organizations;
staff of 5 individuals; 416 religious organization per worker.
Since 2009 the
system of state-confessional relations in the republic of Crimea
has been
methodically destroyed. The republican committee for religious
affairs of the
autonomous republic of Crimea was liquidated. Its functions were
transferred to
the Ministry of Culture. The number of employees upon
liquidation was reduced
from 8 to 4 individuals.
In addition, the
Crimean affiliate of the Institute of Strategic Studies and
Academic Research
Center "Crimea" was liquidated, which conducted research
activity in
the indicated area. The position of psychiatric physician in the
republican
health center, who specialized in problems of the study of the
effect of
radical sects on human health, was liquidated.
In the cities
and regions of the republic there occurred a constant change of
persons
responsible for a certain portion of work, which led to a
complete loss of
information and monitoring of the activity of religious
organizations.
All work in the
province and the center came down to conducting image-building
events and thus
the development of plans remained undone.
The Department
for Religious Affairs in this period was effectively deprived of
the
possibility and resources to conduct profound analytical work.
At the present
time, problems connected with the activity of national and
cultural societies
have been added to the functioning of the department.
It should be
noted that in the Russian federation, a combining of the
functions for work
with religious and ethnic organizations is typical for component
entities with
calm circumstances and a small number of these organizations.
In the period
while Crimea was a part of Ukraine, the autonomous republic of
Crimea was
second in the number of religious organizations and it regularly
led in the
number of problems.
The termination
of analytical work led to the creation of a logical chain:
curtailment of resources—absence
of objective and complete information—problems do not
exist—there is no basis
for making administrative decisions for allocation of resources
for the structural
subdivision for religious
affairs.
However in
recent years there has appeared a number of movements requiring
profound study
and presenting a threat for national security. In the first
place this pertains
to a diverse kind of nontraditional, radical, esoteric
organizations (Wahhabis,
Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jaamat-Tabligh, Habashites, Nurdzhular, Al-Takfir_wal-Hijra, Falun Gong [Dafa],
Maharishi, a number
of modernized offshoots from traditional religions, mystical
schools of various
movements [Star of Transfiguration, School of Tiger and
Dragon, and others])
It
should
be noted that because of shortage of information about these
movements, these
organizations are not accounted for in official Ukrainian
statistics of the
number of religious organizations.
This condition
has been the result not only of the reduction of resources and
minimizing of
monitoring of the religious situation. Interest in Crimea has
grown on the
geopolitical scale from abroad. Since the mid-2000s, every year
from 150 to 600
foreign missionaries have come to Crimea (during the holiday
season the
republic has been visited by missionaries who were not
identified and in the
off-season tourist camps have been rented by various religious
groups for
conducting festivals, seminars, and other events).
Dubious
situations have arisen under the influence of official Kiev.
Thus, Mormons (the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: center in USA) were
granted wide
opportunities for inviting missionaries and conducting
ideological work, and
maximum hindrances for the passage of humanitarian goods were
created.
Thus there are
grounds to assert that processes occurring in religious
organizations of Crimea
are significantly more complicated than is reflected in reports,
and
statistical data about the number of religious organizations are
understated.
Summarizing the
aforesaid and with the goal of restoring the functions that
previously were
performed by the republican committee for religious affairs of
the autonomous
republic of Crimea, after the adoption of the present draft law
it will be
appropriate to create within the Ministry of Culture of the
republic of Crimea
a Department for Cooperation with Religious Organizations and to
increase the
size of its staff and to cooperate in the solution of the
question of material,
technical support of the above named department. The work of
this governmental
agency will permit the formation of an effective mechanism for
legal regulation
in the sphere of religion.
The draft of the
law of the republic of Crimea "On freedom of conscience and
religious
associations" (hereafter, draft law) was developed with the goal
of
regulating the legal relations arising within the area of the
rights of
individual and citizen to freedom of conscience and freedom of
religious
confession and the activity of religious associations in the
republic of
Crimea.
The draft law was
developed by a working group formed on the basis of a decision
of a session of
the standing committee and it includes seven chapters:
Chapter 1
"General Provisions" defines the object of regulation of the
present
law, basic concepts, and the governmental agency of the republic
of Crimea for
religious affairs, and its tasks are indicated.
Chapter 2 "Relations between agencies of state
authority of the republic
of Crimea, agencies of local administration, and municipalities
in the republic
of Crimea and religious associations" states the basic powers
for the
implementation of relations of the indicated agencies with
religious
organizations in matters of freedom of conscience and freedom of
religious
confession on the territory of the republic of Crimea.
Chapter 3
"Religious Education"
defines the right of citizens to receive religious education and
regulates the
relations of religion and the state system of education.
Chapter 4
"Religious
Associations" regulates the procedure of state registration and
of
liquidation of a religious organization, and suspension and
prohibition of the
activity of a religious association in the event of its
violation of
legislation.
Chapter 5
"Rights and guarantees
of the activity of religious organizations" describes the right
and
strengthens the guarantees of religious organizations to
internal regulations, establishes
the place for conduct of religious rituals and ceremonies and
the procedure for
visits by foreign citizens for purposes of engaging in
professional, including
preaching and teaching, activity in religious organizations of
the republic of
Crimea in the sphere of international ties and contacts, and it
defines the
mechanisms of transfer of property to religious organizations
for religious
purposes that is under state or municipal ownership of the
republic of Crimea
and the construction of houses of worship.
Chapter 6 " Oversight and monitoring of
fulfillment of legislation on
freedom of conscience, freedom of religious confession, and
religious associations"
defines and regulates the existence of oversight and monitoring
between state
agencies of the republic of Crimea and the responsibility for
violation of
legislation on freedom of conscience, freedom of religious
confession, and
religious associations.
Chapter 7 sets
out concluding
provisions.
The adoption
of this draft law seems to
be reasonable and appropriate.
S. Savchenko
Chairman of
the Committee on Culture
and Issues of the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of the
State Council of
the republic of Crimea
(tr. by PDS,
posted 5 June 2015)
Russian
original posted on website of
the State
Council of the republic of Crimea
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.