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DE RUEHPS #0392/01 1291652
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091652Z MAY 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6085
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0676
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000392 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BBRAUN, 
USUN FOR DSCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR SSTEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO'S DRAFT LAW ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM STILL 
CONTENTIOUS 
 
REF: 05 PRISTINA 170 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Drafted by Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi's 
government in 2004, Kosovo's draft law on religious freedom 
remains a point of contention between the government and 
religious communities in Kosovo.  Kosovo's Islamic Community 
opposes the internationally approved draft because it 
arguably would formally recognize as "official" minor 
religions and sects with few adherents.  Although all 
involved support the general principle of religious 
tolerance, there is no consensus on implementation.  The head 
of the Assembly committee responsible for compiling 
amendments and moving legislation to plenary sessions has 
proposed breaking the impasse by dividing the statement of 
general support for religious tolerance from the more 
difficult implementing provisions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) An internationally acceptable draft law on Religious 
Freedom and the Legal Status of Religious Communities in 
Kosovo passed its first reading in Kosovo's Assembly in May 
2005, but remains dogged by complaints from the influential 
Islamic Community of Kosovo (BIK).  Kosovo's Mutfi, Naim 
Ternava, has demanded both in public hearings and at Kosovo's 
landmark May 2, 2006, interfaith conference hosted by the 
Pec/Peja monastery, that the law specifically list the 
"official religions" of Kosovo as well as include provisions 
for a minimum number of adherents and a listing of their 
names and affiliations in order for government authorities to 
register them as religious organizations in Kosovo. 
According to Hydajet Hyseni, the head of the parliamentary 
legislative committee, because of the BIK's protestations of 
the current draft, the committee has chosen to let the law 
languish, potentially until Kosovo's final status is decided. 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Initially drafted by Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi's 
government in 2004, the draft law has been contentious since 
its inception.  An UNMIK-led 2004 working group established 
to comment upon the government's draft removed references to 
"official religions" of Kosovo, a minimum number of 
adherents, and a provision requiring a group to have been 
registered as a legal entity for five years before it can be 
registered with the government as a religious organization. 
BIK demanded these amendments be included and they found 
their way back into the law when the working group received 
it back from the government in March 2005 (reftel).  UNMIK, 
OSCE and the Council of Europe protested and the current 
draft contains none of these problematic provisions. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although the current draft is internationally 
accepted, the BIK is still adamant that it will not accept 
the legislation without its requested amendments.  In 
December 2005, representatives of the BIK, the Serbian 
Orthodox Church (SOC), the Catholic Church and Kosovo's 
Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) met in 
Vienna and proposed amendments again re-introducing 
problematic provisions, but also included onerous criteria 
for registering religious communities in Kosovo such as 
demanding the names, signatures and identification documents 
of members, and that the name of the organization must not 
conflict with any other on record in Kosovo. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Artur Krasniqi, leader of the Protestant Evangelical 
community, told poloff May 5 that no one from Kosovo's 
Protestant community attended the Vienna meeting and that he 
disagreed with its recommendations.  He is particularly 
concerned with amendments the group proposed on "special 
rights" vis-a-vis the government:  that public authorities 
must cooperate with official religious communities by 
inviting them to render their opinions on government and 
legislative decisions, and that "special status" religious 
communities "will have the right to charge persons with the 
provision of spiritual services, and make use of facilities 
of security forces, in hospitals, and social training 
 
PRISTINA 00000392  002 OF 002 
 
 
facilities."  Krasniqi believes the latter provision to be 
designed to authorize teaching of religion in schools, a 
proposal he says Ternava reiterated at the May 2 inter-faith 
conference hosted at the Pec Patriarchate. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ternava told poloff on April 28 that he signed on to 
these Vienna suggestions to restrict the May draft law's 
scope.  Without these provisions, Ternava warned Kosovo will 
open a door to "destructive Saudi elements" around which "any 
Saudi with money can buy a religious community."  The last 
time the Assembly's Legislative Committee debated the issue 
in June 2005 Ymer Muhaxheri of the Democratic League of 
Kosovo (LDK) voiced similar concerns and demanded amendments 
that would seem to satisfy the BIK's problems with the draft. 
 Ternava invoked criticism for Kosovo's government as well, 
saying that the government should "help the Islamic Community 
because by doing this, they help Kosovo." 
 
¶7. (SBU) The draft law has been stuck in committee since May 
¶2005.  In June 2005 the Assembly's Committee on Juridical and 
Legislative Matters debated the draft law internally and 
tabled the decision to accept or refuse amendments.  It held 
a public hearing on the draft law later that same month. 
According to Krasniqi, no one from the SOC attended, and 
Ternava used the platform to reiterate his desire for 
religious teaching in public schools.  The committee's head, 
Hydajet Hyseni, told poloff May 5 that he prefers to table 
the legislation until a decision on Kosovo's final status, 
saying "Kosovo cannot enforce a separation of church and 
state without a state."  Hyseni said he has tasked members of 
his committee with canvassing religious communities to 
determine concerns and support, but is inclined to send the 
draft law back to the government "if the law is critical to 
final status talks."  (NOTE:  The government's legal office 
drafts most all PISG legislation.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶8. (SBU) Hyseni told poloff that since the contentious issue 
is the practical provision of registering religious 
communities and not the importance of ensuring religious 
freedom, he may propose dividing the legislation for separate 
approval by the Assembly:  the first stating a general 
assurance of the rights of religious freedom and the second 
subsidiary piece containing the contentious registration 
provisions. 
 
¶9. (SBU) A joint statement released following the May 2-4 
interfaith conference hosted by the Pec Patriarchate clearly 
outlines a commitment by the participants to engage in the 
drafting of the religious freedom law.  We will continue to 
push the government to pass draft laws without pernicious 
amendments as the international community looks to it to 
deliver concrete results on a commitment to multi-ethnicity 
and tolerance in Kosovo. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Post clears this message in its entirety for 
release to Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. 
GOLDBERG