Overview:

• There is a system of vertical recognition split between “religious organisations” which corresponds to a denomination (e.g. Catholic Church) and “religious groups” which corresponds to a specific place of worship or congregation of persons whose share the same belief identity.

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated with a focus placed on the latter; there are few to no provisions for existential recognition.

• The stipulation during the registration process of declaring ties to international groups and organisations is dubious as to whether groups with foreign are discriminated against within the system.

• The rule of mandatory registration for religious organisations as NGOs violates the Bielefeldt provision.

• There exists a bilateral cooperation agreement between the government and the Catholic Church; the degree of opportunity for other groups to establish similar accords remains unclear.

• Ongoing issues of Islamic extremism need to be resolved through the promotion of more sophisticated forms of religious education and the use of mutual recognition as a diplomatic and social tool to promote the values of religious pluralism.

Positive elements:

• Close to being classified as receptive.

Recommendations:

• Establish a new recognition system whose procedures are exclusive to religious entities and which provides for both existential recognition and legal registration for all belief systems and their derivatives and at multiple levels of activity.