E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1 page 8 situation in Georgia. Other informants felt that some simple amendments, for example to the parts of the Civil Code governing the legal personality of religious communities and associations, would suffice to guarantee the various aspects of freedom of religion. 27. In any event, the problem seems to be what the bill will say when it is finally adopted, since the Orthodox Church wants to be granted special status and left beyond the scope of the law on religions, which it regards as “sects”, while the religious minorities would like the law to establish that all religions are equal. It was emphasized that while the bill as currently worded was acceptable as far as respect for religious freedoms went, it might be amended by Parliament in a manner inconsistent with international law in order to win the support of political parties not favourably disposed towards religious minorities. IV. THE ORTHODOX CHURCH 28. Orthodoxy is not a State religion in the formal sense. Nonetheless, the importance of the Georgian Orthodox Church at all levels of Georgian society and the constitutional agreement (see below) make it a State religion de facto. The results of a recent poll by a non-governmental organization show that the Orthodox Church is the institution in which Georgians place most trust - far more than in political institutions. More than just being a member of a church, many Georgians consider that being Orthodox is an essential feature of the Georgian national identity. 1. The constitutional agreement 29. On 14 October 2002, the Orthodox Church signed a constitutional agreement with the Georgian State. This agreement gives the Orthodox Church special status, defines the relationship between the Church and the State, delimits the authority of the Church and defines its rights and obligations. It exempts members of the clergy from military service, institutes army and prison chaplains and makes provision for Orthodox Christianity to be taught in public schools. Being of constitutional rank, the agreement sits above laws and international treaties in the hierarchy of Georgian rules, but the Special Rapporteur has not been given precise, consistent information on the exact relationship between the Constitution and the agreement: whether, in other words, the agreement ranks on a par with the Constitution or just below it. 30. The Constitutional agreement raises various issues. As regards the status of religious minorities in Georgia, the agreement does not prima facie contain any provision liable to violate international law on freedom of religion or belief or prove discriminatory except in certain special situations such as the one described below. Indeed, the draft of the agreement was submitted to an international organization so that it could assess whether it was consistent with international law. Most of the country’s religious minorities, moreover, were consulted while the text was being drafted, and they do not appear to have raised major objections; some even issued joint statements with the Orthodox Church hailing the new text. Even so, a number of informants emphasized that the Government was said to have suggested that various religious minorities should enter into similar agreements, but nothing has been done as yet. More recently, the Government is reported to have broken off talks on such an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church.