Press Releases 2009

Release of the 2009 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

October 26, 2009

Today the State Department released the 2009 International Religious Freedom (IRF) report, covering the period July 1, 2008- June 30, 2009.  The report, mandated by the United States Congress, promotes religious freedom and reviews the status of religious freedom in 198 countries.
 
Religious freedom is of particular importance in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country such as Macedonia.  Religious freedom in a multi-faith society requires both citizens and institutions to respect individuals’ freedoms to practice religion and to ensure the full legal rights of religious groups and communities.
 
Macedonia has a very good legal basis for religious freedom in the 2007 Law on the Legal Status of Churches, Religious Communities and Religious Groups, which allows individuals to practice religion freely and allows multiple religious groups and communities of a single faith to register and gain legal status.  It is no small achievement that people in Macedonia generally feel free to practice their religion in public and in private.  We remain concerned, however, that rights of religious organizations to register, guaranteed under the law, are not being fully respected.  The Court tasked with handling the registrations of religious organizations under the new 2007 law, Skopje Court II, repeatedly missed deadlines for registering new applications and has registered only a small percentage of religious organizations that have applied in more than a year since the court took responsibility for the registration.
 
The U.S. Embassy in Skopje had a number of opportunities over the past year to contribute to the dialogue on religious freedom in Macedonia, including through an International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on “Religious Life and the Public Sphere” that brought together a diverse mix of religious community and NGO representatives to explore the interplay between religion and state, through presentations in our American Corners on topics related to religion and society, and through dialogue with Macedonian officials and with religious groups and communities regarding the implementation of the law on religious communities.  The United States will continue our active promotion of religious freedom and mutual respect here in Macedonia and throughout the world.  
The full text of the report is available on the web at www.state.gov/g/drl/irf.