The Russian Federation and Western Standards of Religious Freedom: The 1997 Act on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations and Its International Reception
Abstract
The article analyses the origins, content, and consequences of the Russian Federal Act No. 125-FZ of 26 September 1997 “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, with particular attention to the international community’s reaction in light of Western standards of religious freedom protection. The research problem concerns the extent to which the new Russian legislation on religion was compatible with the principles of a democratic state governed by the rule of law (above all, respect for human rights, including the right to freedom of religion) and with Russia’s international obligations (especially after its accession to the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights), as well as how this law was received by Western institutions concerned with the protection of religious freedom. The article aims to show that the 1997 act marked a deliberate shift in state policy: away from the liberalisation of the perestroika period and towards an increasingly controlled model of state–religion relations, one that favoured “traditional” communities (in particular the Russian Orthodox Church) and restricted the activities of religious minorities labelled as “non-traditional” or “foreign”. The results of the analysis show that the act introduced discriminatory mechanisms, which in practice limited the freedom of activity of many communities, especially Protestant groups, Scientologists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This prompted criticism from, among others, the United States and the Council of Europe, as well as numerous applications to the European Court of Human Rights, which repeatedly held that Russia had violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The main conclusion of the article is that the 1997 Act was not only an instrument of religious control, but also a symptom of Russia’s broader departure from its initially declared commitment to democratic standards and human rights, foreshadowing the further evolution of the political system towards authoritarianism.
Keywords:
freedom of conscience and religion, Russian Federation, Russian law on religion, Council of Europe, Article 9 of the ECHR, ECtHR, 1997 Act on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, State-Church relations, ECHR case lawReferences
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University of Warsaw
Law student, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland
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