Religious Freedom and the European Convention on Human Rights: The Case of the Baltic States

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century my great-grandparents emigrated from Vilnius, Lithuania, to Great Britain, primarily to escape persecution. It was therefore an emotional occasion for me when I visited Vilnius in the summer of 1999. I stayed in the city of Kaunas and viewed the monument to those who died in the concentration camp on the outskirts of the town during the Second World War. It was also my privilege to visit Estonia in October 1999 to attend a conference on 'Law, Religion and Democratic Society' at the University of Tartu and to meet government and religious representatives from all three Baltic states. As a lawyer with a keen interest in religious freedom, especially in the Baltic states, I have written this article in an attempt to clarify what the minimum standards of religious freedom are as promulgated in international law and to ascertain to what extent the Baltic states are meeting those standards. The Baltic states are emerging from many years of totalitarian oppression. They have the difficult task of drafting and implementing laws which will guarantee fundamental rights and freedoms whilst striving to preserve their respective cultures. Difficulties tend to arise with regard to laws relating to religious freedom, in particular in the context of avoiding potential religious and ethnic conflicts. As I shall show later, the Baltic states have introduced legal provisions on freedom of religion analogous to those granted under the European Convention on Human Rights. In this article I discuss the implications of the European Convention on Human Rights as far as the recognition, registration and tax exemption of religions and religious associations are concerned. I shall show that some countries in Central and Southern Europe, including some which are members of the European Union (EU), are abusing the rights of religious minorities by imposing arbitrary and discriminatory registration and recognition requirements. I shall also show that some other EU countries appear to be consistently breaching the European Convention with regard to the legal status of religious minorities and the rights of individual members of such minorities, despite the fact that these countries also guarantee freedom of religion. I shall discuss the current situation and future prospects in the Baltic states in this wider European context.