Overview:

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated rather than ideally differentiated; the terminology of “religious group” remains ambiguous although the one-submission policy does reduce administrative bureaucracy; legal registration is primarily the focus with existential recognition made secondary and few procedures put in place to achieve that type of recognition.

• The provisional approval policy is not inappropriate but should be monitored for its misuse to inhibit the ability for religious groups to gain registration without unnecessary obstacles.

• The rule of mandatory registration violates the Bielefeldt provision.

• Violence directed towards religious groups can be reduced through more widespread use of the mechanism of recognition to reaffirm the validity of these groups.

Positive elements:

• Horizontal recognition is in effect.

Recommendations:

• Dismantlement retributions for unregistration.

• Remove all instances of political involvement in the registration process, namely the requirement for the Presidency to approve religious groups of foreign origin.

• Revoke the mandatory registration rule and other restrictive policies part of the registration process.