Nusa Dua, 29 April - 4 May 2007
First Standing Committee on Peace and International Security
Ensuring respect for and peaceful co-existence
between all religious communities and beliefs in a globalized world
Senator SOGOR Csaba
Romanian Inter-Parliamentary Group
Mr. Chairman,
Dear colleagues,
I appreciate very much the opportunity to take the floor on such a topical theme.
I’m coming from Romania. In the North-West part of this country, in Transylvania, 450 years ago in 1557, the freedom of religious belief was proclaimed for the first time in the world. People with different faith - Christians, Antitrinitarians, Sabbatists, Jews - lived together in peace till the 20th century. We had the example of a small village, Bezidu-Nou/Bozodujfalu, where it was possible even for Christians to convert into Judaism. Alongside the Jewish community they where 5 other religions represented, in a village with 400 inhabitants.
We have before us a most comprehensive resolution, highly illustrative of the need, urgency and ways of protecting the diversity of belief, religion, culture and language.
The draft recommendations are fully in line with our national approach. In this sense, let me give you some concrete examples of constitutional and legislative nature.
Fundamental values, including respect for human rights and the freedom of conscience and expression are guaranteed by the Romanian Constitution, which stipulates that “Freedom of thought, opinion and religious beliefs shall not be restricted in any form whatsoever”.
The relevant legislative framework was substantially strengthened in December 2006, with the adoption by Parliament of the Law on the freedom of religion and the general regime of cults. The main areas falling within the scope of this piece of legislation are: the relations between State and cults, the requirements and procedures for obtaining the quality of a State recognized cult, the cults’ personnel and patrimony, education organized by cults, and the legal status of religious associations.
My last example is one of affirmative action, designed to enable national minorities living in Romania to express and promote their interests and needs in the best possible way, namely within parliament. According to the Constitution, the organizations of persons belonging to national minorities, which fail to obtain the required number of votes for representation in parliament have the right to one Deputy seat each, under the terms of the electoral law.
Only we Hungarians reach the 5 % threshhold. Together with the Hungarians we have 18 other minorities, represented by one Deputy each. Unfortunately, in the 20 century some minorities almost disappeared, like Germans, Jews. Although we are one of the governing parties we couldn’t solve all our problems. We are still waiting for consensus regarding a minority law that include a minimal autonomy, a cultural one. Despite all difficulties, we always tried to solve our problems just through a parliamentary way.
This brings me to a key aspect that we would like to see reflected in the final resolution: the importance of a representative and inclusive parliament.
It is obvious that the more the parliament is representative, the more it will act effectively to promote understanding for and protection of cultural, religious, linguistic or ethnic diversity. Therefore, when we approach the role of parliament in ensuring respect for and peaceful co-existence between religious communities and beliefs, we need to devote utmost attention to measures aimed at increasing the representativity of our respective institutions, in particular by means of free and fair elections and inclusive parliamentary procedures.
Thank you !