CSCE Still Concerned Over Romania's Draft Religion Law

The U.S. Helsinki Commission (CSCE) last week expressed continuing concern about the draft legislation being considered by the Judicial Committee and the Human Rights Committee of Romania's lower house of Parliament, after the bill's rushed passage last year by Romania's Senate. (See prior posting.) It is reported that legislative committees have approved an amendment criminalizing "aggressive proselytizing" with fines or jail terms of up to three years. The Senate-passed draft would create a burdensome registration system. In order to gain the most preferential status, religious communities would need to wait 12 years and show their membership exceeds 0.1% of the population of Romania, or 23,000 persons. Approximately 25% of the 18 currently registered religious groups would not have enough members to meet that requirement.