The purpose of this report is to assess implementation of the provisions under Chapter 11 of the Action Plan of the Government of Georgia on the Protection of Human Rights and present recommendations to the government for future development of policies and a new Action Plan.

The protection level for freedom of religion in a country is an indicator of democracy and pluralism and affects political and social inclusion of various ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic groups as well as social stability and peace in the society.

In Georgia, challenges concerning freedom of religion are of a systematic nature and result from years of non-secular and discriminatory government practices. The legislation in force and the government’s relationship with religious organizations is mainly based on an approach that gives exclusive preference to the Christian Orthodox Church, which is recognized at the legislative level and institutionalized in everyday policies.

Beyond an asymmetrical legal and institutional environment, non-dominant religious groups frequently face discrimination practices. Moreover, wider problems exist concerning political and social exclusion and marginalization of large and densely populated settlements of religious groups.

Religious freedom issues have been acutely present on the agenda since 2012 and have now acquired even more urgency. A series or religious conflicts against the Muslim community, a tendency of increase in religious persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a policy of instrumentalization and control of religious organization by the State Agency for Religious Issues, unsecure public rhetoric and attitudes by the political government, are among the clearest indicators of the current situation. It should be noted that recent cases of restriction in freedom of religion were not isolated and largely consisted in conflicts between different religious and social groups, which indicates the complexity of the problem and requires the government to adopt systematic policies. Unfortunately, the government has failed to respond to these challenges with an effective policy, which is why most of the religious conflicts remain conserved at this time. The government’s loyalty to the dominant religious group and the ensuing environment of impunity has left a deep trail of exclusion of the non-dominant religious groups.

The government’s response to the challenges concerning freedom of religion was the creation of a State Agency for Religious Issues, and from the very beginning, this agency’s mandate, vision and work strategy became subject to criticism by religious organizations and organizations working on protection of human rights. The agency’s work created risks of formalization and institutionalization of non-progressive practices and approaches (inter alia, hierarchization of religious organizations, intervention in the autonomy of religious organizations, strengthening the safety paradigm in the religious freedom policy).

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