ANALYSIS REPORT BY THE STANDING COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL ISSUES, FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF THE BILL AMENDING LAW N° 1/35 OF DECEMBER 31, 2014 ON THE ORGANIC FRAMEWORK OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

I.INTRODUCTION

On August 9, 2022, members of the standing committee responsible for institutional and legal issues, fundamental rights and freedoms met to analyze the bill whose purpose is the one mentioned above.

The session was marked by the presence of the Minister of Interior, Community Development and Public Security who had represented the Government in order to present the bill to the members of the said committee and enlighten them on the most important aspects.

During the analysis of the bill, the senators members of the referred committee used the following documents:

1. The Constitution of the Republic of Burundi;

2. Law No. 1/08 of March 17, 2005 on the Code of Judicial Organization and competence;

3. Law No. 1/27 of December 29, 2017 revising the Criminal Code;

4. Law No. 1/12 of May 12, 2020 on the Code of Social Protection in Burundi;

5. Law No. 1/35 of December 31, 2014 on the organic framework of religious denominations;

6. The bill as sent by the Government and its preamble;

7. The bill as adopted by the National Assembly.

This report includes the following points:

1. Introduction;

2. The importance of the bill;

3. The content of the bill;

4. The questions put to the representative of the Government as well as the answers given;

5. Proposed amendments;

6. The conclusion.

II. IMPORTANCE OF THE BILL

Law No. 1/35 of 31 December 2014 on the organic framework of religious denominations is clear as to the procedure for their approval and their operation.

But curiously, some have derailed from the primary objective of giving their followers morality on faith and instead of being markers of morality, of doing good and avoiding evil, they become grounds for conflict and clashes between the faithful.

These controversies stem either from a misunderstanding due to the management of the property of these churches, or from the mandate of the governing bodies. Some leading bodies within these churches are unwilling to give in after their term expires, which ultimately causes a confrontation that suggests that the intention is not good management but rather self-interest tending towards embezzlement and appropriation of the property of these churches.

There is also an establishment of churches in places that do not comply with the law in force, such as dwelling houses, places serving as bistros, rented plots and often in makeshift shelters made of straw or tarpaulins, but also the non-compliance with the relevant provisions relating to the conditions of approval and distance between two distinct religious denominations.

Although religious denominations are privileged partners in the organization of the society and must also participate in the spiritual and socio-economic development of their followers, their activities must follow the standards in force while respecting the objective of the Government to ensure the continued existence of public order, respect for good morals by guaranteeing public freedoms, etc.

III. CONTENT OF THE BILL

This bill under analysis is subdivided into 73 articles divided into 10 chapters including:

1. The first chapter discusses the scope and definitions in Articles 1 and 2;

2. The second chapter dealing with the approval procedure covers articles 4 to 14;

3. The third chapter focusing on statutes and statutory bodies extends from articles 15 to 24;

4. The fourth chapter deals with the rights of a religious denomination, organization or movement and extends from article 25 to article 33;

5. The fifth chapter dealing with the financing of a religious denomination, organization or movement covers articles 34 to 42;

6. The sixth chapter relates to the elements of the annual activity report of a religious denomination, organization or movement and is contained in articles 42 and 43;

7. The seventh chapter speaks of the obligations of a religious denomination, organization or movement in articles 44 to 60;

8. The eighth chapter sets out the system of sanctions, in articles 61 to 67;

9. Chapter IX speaks of dissolution in Articles 68 and 69;

10. The tenth and last chapter is devoted to the transitional and final provisions, articles 70 to 73.

IV. QUESTIONS PUT TO THE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE AND THE ANSWERS GIVEN

QUESTION 1

In the paragraph 2 of the preamble, it is indicated that since the promulgation of the law on religious denominations, various churches have shown behavior which disturbs public order by transforming these churches into a terrain of conflict and clash between their followers, and derailing from the primary purpose of being markers of morality, doing good and avoiding evil.

Your Excellency,

Why all these irregularities during the seven years of application of the law in force whereas there is a body in charge of the application of the latter?

RESPONSE

It is true that the law currently being amended provided in its article 6 for the establishment of a body for the regulation and conciliation of religious denominations. The last body was set up by Ordinance No. 530/025 of April 02, 2019 revising Ordinance No. 530/2181 of December 08, 2016 on implementing measures for Law No. 1/35 of the December 31, 2014 on the organic framework of religious denominations. Under article 3, the body is composed of seven members, five of whom are leaders of religious denominations.

The missions of the body under article 5 show very well that the Ministry had stripped itself of its missions since the religious denominations have by this ordinance the missions of approving others. We have found that this body has been the source of problems and the multiplication of churches, instead of being really a body of regulation and conciliation.

For example, if conflicts, often linked to problems of leadership arose, this body proposed the separation of the protagonists and the creation of new religious denominations instead of working for unification. This was partly the origin of the multiplicity of churches. The services of the Ministry had henceforth become places of palaver and conflict resolution instead of being really services for monitoring the functioning of the churches.

In addition, even the functioning of this body was problematic since, according to article 10, the operating costs were given by the religious denominations themselves through the quarterly contribution of 30,000 Fbu.

• Could you reassure us that the bill under analysis cannot suffer the same fate as the law of 31 December 2014?

RESPONSE

We will do our best to ensure that the mistakes of the past do not happen again. With this new law which requires compliance with the new provisions as provided for in article 70 of this bill, all the conditions relating to the approval procedure will have to be respected, which will make it possible to bring religious denominations back to respecting the law both in terms of hygiene conditions and location.

QUESTION 2

The procedure for approving and creating a religious denomination or a religious movement requires a lot of documents, as specified in article 4 of this bill.

Your Excellency,

Would you have carried out sufficient inquiries in all the churches through the national territory to verify whether this provision has been respected?

b. If not, what do you recommend to do for those who have not complied with the provisions of this article?

RESPONSE

During these last two years, the services of the Ministry in collaboration with the territorial administration have worked and found that certain churches operate in violation of the law, especially with regard to the conditions of approval as they were mentioned in chapter III on the approval procedure and in Chapter V on the obligations of a religious denomination.

We would like to mention here in particular that we have found churches that hold services using accreditation ordinances from other churches or that use false documents. This is the reason why, throughout the country, actions have been taken to close the “churches” which were in this kind of irregularity. Administrative measures of closure have been taken and the people involved in the falsification of the documents have been brought to justice.

QUESTION 3

Article 42 provides that no later than September 30 of the following year, religious denominations, organizations or movements are required to send the Minister in charge of religious denominations an annual activity report for the previous financial year.

Your Excellency the Minister, what sanctions do you plan to impose on religious denominations or movements that do not provide their activity reports within a reasonable time?

RESPONSE

A church or religious denomination that does not want to provide activity reports would like to show the Ministry having religious denominations in its attributions as well as other partners that it does not work in transparency. The sanction in such situations would be the suspension of activities to bring the leaders of these churches to show accountability while favoring partnership.

QUESTION 4

Article 46 specifies that each religious denomination must have its own place which cannot be built within the premises of educational establishments and prohibits the organization of worship services during working hours without authorisation.

Your Excellency the Minister,

What special effort are you going to make to ensure the regular and constant control of religious denominations and movements?

RESPONSE

Once this bill has been adopted by Parliament and promulgated by His Excellency the President of the Republic, we will have no problem implementing this provision. The work already accomplished by the administration in collaboration with the police during the last operations to verify the regularity of religious denominations and churches in the various provinces of the country sufficiently proves that the work will be easy. For the moment, the Ministry has the database on churches and religious denominations as well as their mapping of establishment throughout the country. It is everyone’s responsibility to denounce what could constitute a breach and the optimism at the level of the Ministry is considerable.

In addition to this administrative work, we will make special efforts in the follow-up by ensuring that regular descents are made. We will now have to ensure that any new requests for approval from a religious denomination or a religious movement are analyzed before we have carried out physical visits on the scene in order to clearly define the location and condition of the hygiene conditions among many others as required in the conditions of approval and the obligations of religious denominations.

What is the fate of churches that do not respect the prescriptions of this article, given that there are even those who organize services in classrooms or reception rooms without prior authorization?

RESPONSE

The fate that will be reserved for churches that do not comply with the conditions required in this article is that they will see their activities suspended and, if necessary, the ordinances of approval will be withdrawn from them. In addition, measures have already been taken regarding the operation of churches using reception halls or schools.

New churches seeking approval will not be able to obtain legal personality if the conditions of approval, hygiene, public order and distancing are not respected.

Speaking of churches that have already been licensed, they will be granted a grace period of twenty-four months from the date of enactment of this bill to enable them to comply with the very conditions of existence of a church in Burundi.

QUESTION 5

Article 60 provides that celebrations and prayer sessions led by religious denominations must respect the environment, the tranquility of the surrounding population, public order and prohibits the use of loudspeakers.

Your Excellency the Minister,

What about churches planted in residential areas?

RESPONSE

The law is put in place for general application. The implementation of this bill will concern all churches in order to enforce the order, security and tranquility of the population. The idea of this article is that any church that wants to operate without respecting the provisions of this or that other article will be sanctioned in accordance with this new law.

What do you recommend to do with religious denominations or movements organizing worship in places called “IVYUMBA VY’AMASENGESHO” outside the hours regularly authorized for this kind of activity?

RESPONSE

If you observe people’s perception of the way prayers are organized in some churches, you see that there is a need to put some order in this area. While recognizing freedom of religion and worship to the population, this freedom must nevertheless be regulated in the interest of the population. We therefore find that each activity that would be organized outside the regulations would meet the rigor of the law.

QUESTION 6

It is stated in article 67 that celebrations that disturb the tranquility of neighboring populations and the public order of the place of worship lead to the temporary closure of the place of worship.

Your Excellency the Minister, on what criteria do you base yourself to affirm that there is disturbance of the tranquility of the neighboring populations?

RESPONSE

As long as religious celebrations reach the degree of being considered nocturnal disturbances which themselves are sanctioned by criminal law, you find that the Ministry having the management of religious denominations in its attributions cannot remain hands crossed. We would urge the leaders of the various churches and religious denominations to also be concerned about the neighboring population at their places of worship who also need a rest after going about the various activities.

VI. CONCLUSION

The bill under analysis comes at the right time. The various irregularities that are observed today in certain religious denominations do not come from the absence of legislation but rather from non-respect of the law. It is in this concern that the Government of Burundi brings innovations to the law in force to find a lasting solution to the problems which haunt the organization and the functioning of religious denominations.

These innovations will allow religious denominations that perform acts that disturb order in society to adopt behavior that serves as benchmarks of morality, to do good and to avoid disorder that tends to lead to bickering between their leaders.

For all these reasons, the Standing Committee on Institutional and Legal Issues and Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which initially endorses the amendments of the National Assembly, asks the plenary assembly of the Senate to adopt this draft law as presented.