Madurez sexual, reproducción y fecundidad

Review on the Opinion of the Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee's conclusion that religious freedom is largely guaranteed in Serbia, but that there are certain differences in approach to different religions in the army and in other contexts139_{, is corroborated by the information about requests of persons belonging to the Bunjevac} and Macedonian national minorities to have religious services in their own language. It is important to mention here that, in both cases, at issue are not conflicts between different churches and religions, but rather conflicts between “sister” Orthodox Churches and within the Catholic Church over the language of religious services and the issue of the autonomy of churches. They are in connection with the ethnicity, and not the religion of believers: the Bunjevacs who are Catholics are requesting religious services in the Bunjevac language instead of the Croatian language, while the Macedonians, who are Orthodox, want to have religious services in the Macedonian, and not in the Serbian language.

There is the danger that, apart from the mentioned conflicts between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the tensions between Orthodox Churches will spread to a conflict between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church in the future, all the more so since the Montenegrins became a national minority in Serbia when the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist. Over the previous years, there were also conflicts between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church in APV, due to the fact that it was not possible to introduce religious teaching in the Romanian language in schools, while the current disputes between the mentioned churches concern the denial of the rights of Vlachs- Romanians to have religious service in the Romanian language in eastern Serbia.

This policy of the Serbian Orthodox Church is fully reflected in Article 19 of the Law on Churches

and Religious Communities140 _{laying down that “no religious organisation, whose name includes a}

notion, or part of a notion expressing the identity of a church, religious community or religious organisation entered in the Register earlier, or which submitted an application for an entry earlier, may be entered in the Register.”

The Advisory Committee's opinion that where such differences exist, particular attention must be paid to the situation of persons belonging to national minorities with a view to guaranteeing them

139 _{Opinion, article 8/66}

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their rights under the present Article as well as their right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law (guaranteed under Article 4 of the Framework Convention)141 _{still deserves}

special attention.

In the period between two reports, the Law on Churches and Religious Communities was adopted142_, but its implementation has so far had no effect on the resolution of conflicts between the quarreling churches, mentioned in this report.

The dissatisfaction of the Croats belonging to the Catholic religion because of the imposition of the obligation to celebrate St. Sava's Day, devoted to an Orthodox saint, as the patron saint's day of schools, is once again expressed. The Bosniaks in Sandžak have the same objections.

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The claims that there is no “official religion”, “state religion” or in some other form institutionalized “majority religion”, i.e. church in Serbia143_{, are simply not true, since the Law on}

State and other Holidays144 _{(article 2) stipulates that the first day of Christmas and the Easter}

holidays are to be celebrated in Serbia. This means that state bodies, as well as other bodies, companies and forms of organizing which perform activities or services are not to work during these days (article 3).

National Council of the Bunjevac national minority

Even though the new the Constitution and Law on Churches and Religious Communities145 guarantee everyone the right to the freedom of conscience and religion, the Bunjevac national community is prevented from enjoying in its own language the religious rights belonging to it. This is so because the LCRC has granted the church a high degree of autonomy, including in the choice of the language in which church services and religious rituals are to be performed.

The Bunjevacs are Catholics by religion, but since the Bunjevac language is not officially recognized, church services are held in the Croatian language.

Implementation

National Council of the Bunjevac national minority

• Tavankut. Cases of discrimination were also registered when presents were handed out to children at the «Matija Gubec» primary school for religious holidays (Mother-Gives-Presents Day, the Mikulaš holiday, Christmas), when the local priest failed to give presents to children of the Bunjevac nationality, but did give them to children of the Croatian nationality, even though they are all Catholics.

Croatian Cultural and Educational Society “Matija Gubec” and the Croatian Cultural and Educational Society “Tomislav”

Even though religious teaching can be organized in the system of public education for children who are Roman Catholics, Saint Sava's Day, the day celebrating a Serbian saint, has quite inappropriately been declared the patron saint's day of schools.

As part of the policy of naming school institutions, present is the tendency of favoring Serbian names: the primary school in Subotica's district of Aleksandrovo, the part of the town with a considerable Croatian population, carries the name of a Serbian saint, St. Sava, even though the school is attended by a large number of children belonging to the Roman Catholic religion. For this

141 _{Opinion, article 8/67}

142 _{Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 36/2006}

143 _{Note accompanying the First Report of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 2002, article 8/1.1} 144 _{Official Gazette of RS, no. 43/2001}

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reason, there is fear among parents to sign their children up for Catholic religious teaching at school, and they rather opt for the neutral form, so-called civil education.

National Council of the Macedonian national minority

Unlike other national minorities in Serbia, persons belonging to the Macedonian national minority do not have their own religious institutions, organizations or associations where they can express their religious feelings in their mother tongue. Due to this, the religious identity of persons belonging to the Macedonian national minority has been called into question. The Macedonians use facilities of the Serbian Orthodox Church which does not recognize the Macedonian Orthodox Church, even though the religious dispute between the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) and the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) which has been going on for years should not jeopardize the right to the religious expression and religious feelings of persons belonging to this national minority in Serbia.

For the purpose of reconciling the SOC and MOC, the National Council of the Macedonian national minority has issued a public statement and sent it to all relevant written and electronic media in Serbia and Macedonia. Despite all insistence, no medium in Serbia published it, except the Pančevačke Novine newspaper, which printed only certain parts. Contrary to this, in Macedonia, the statement was published in a number of daily newspapers and on several TV stations.

National Council of the Roma national minority

The Roma in APV freely express and cherish their religious orientations and, in this sense, they are divided into Roma of the Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim religion. There are also those who belong to smaller religious communities, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses (this is a more recent occurrence and it is the result of the environments in which the Roma live).

In certain places where the Roma of the Muslim religion are concentrated in a larger number (the case in Beočin and Subotica), there is a separate cemetery and the first prayer house for Muslim believers has been built.

National Council of the Romanian national minority

The introduction of religious teaching, as an obligatory optional subject in the system of public education, was denied to children of the Romanian nationality who were able only to attend classes in civil education over the past 3 years146_{. Religious teaching in the Romanian language was}

introduced in an indirect manner in the school year of 2006/2007, and a textbook for religious teaching in the Romanian language for the first, second and the third grade of primary school was published.

Recommendations

National Council of the Bunjevac national minority

ƒ The ministry of religion of the Republic of Serbia should, together with the Bunjevac National Council, find a joint solution that would also satisfy the interests of the Bunjevac national minority as regards church service in the Bunjevac language.

ƒ Church service in Roman Catholic churches on the territory of the Republic of Serbia should be conducted in both the official language and the languages of national minorities in environments where this is necessary and where they live in a larger number.

Croatian Cultural and Educational Society “Matija Gubec” and the Croatian Cultural and Educational Society “Tomislav”

ƒ To eliminate religion from part of school classes.

146 _{Over the past 3 years, religious teaching in the Romanian language were held in only a few schools, thanks to the enthusiasm of}

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