Unresolved land disputes, property restitution claims and problems with registering new religious denominations are some of the faith-related problems that the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report, published by the US Department of State on Tuesday, noted in the Balkan region.
It said incidents such vandalism of religious sites, hate speech and anti-Semitism, as well as discrimination against particular minority faiths, occurred sometimes in the region, and noted deficiencies in the prosecution of hate crimes.
Albania
The report said Albania legalised fewer mosques in 2017 than the year before, with 41 legalised during last year after a peak of 137 in 2016.
Like most countries in the region, Albania reportedly did not process any claims for restitution of property seized during the communist era and approved only one claim for compensation, with 112 claims pending.
Some minority faiths reported difficulties in acquiring land to construct places of worship while the Protestant organisation, the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania, VUSH, complained about a continued lack of financial support from the government, despite repeated requests for the government to amend the law and add the provision of financial support for it.
The report said Albania was also training teachers to combat radicalisation.
“Between January and May, the government trained 29 teachers at 15 schools as part of a pilot educational program to help prevent radicalisation and promote religious tolerance; however, implementation of the full program stalled in May and its future appeared uncertain,” it noted.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Discrimination against smaller religious groups was noted as the most significant religious problem in Bosnia.
Individuals not belonging to one of the three major ethnic and religious groups reported being still unable to obtain government positions or seats in parliament, while minority religious groups continued to report discrimination by municipal authorities regarding the use of religious property and the issue of permits for new religious properties.
Banja Luka municipal authorities in Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s mainly Serbian entity, continued to refuse to return previously nationalised properties to the Catholic Church, the report noted.
The Interreligious Council, IRC, noted that of the 198 attacks on religious officials and sites in the past eight years, the police had identified only 55 perpetrators, with the courts only prosecuting 23.
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