E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1 page 11 1. Jews and Muslims 43. The Muslim and Jewish communities in Georgia face few serious obstacles to the practice of their religions. They say they have not encountered religious intolerance on the part of the Orthodox Church and do not believe that the authorities have taken any action that might restrict their freedom of religion and belief. Similarly, the Special Rapporteur has not been told of any anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic incidents. The Muslims did mention problems when it came to building new mosques. 2. Lutherans, Baptists, Armenians, Anglicans and Roman Catholics 44. Among the Christian communities, the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Anglicans have set up an association, Traditional Christian Churches, with the primary objective of mutual protection against actions that might encroach upon their freedom of religion or belief. It was for this reason that they wished to meet the Special Rapporteur together. They have nevertheless been confronted by very different problems, because in the eyes of the Georgian Orthodox Church some of them are not “traditional”. 45. The Lutherans, who number around 1,000, have had very few problems with practising their religion and have not really encountered any problems in such matters as building places of worship. They do not, however, have any relations with the Orthodox Church. 46. The Roman Catholics, who number around 50,000, also say they have encountered few obstacles in exercising their right to freedom of religion, citing just one incident which occurred during a pilgrimage in 2002. They do refer to some difficulties with the ownership of certain places of worship, especially in regions far from the capital. Five Roman Catholic Churches (in Bathumi, Kuthaisi, Gori, Ude and Ivlita), said to have been confiscated during the Soviet period and handed over to the Orthodox Church, have not yet been returned. The Catholics also face numerous obstacles when seeking permission to build places of worship, sometimes having to wait 5 to 10 years for a building permit. In some cases the local authorities are said to have told representatives of the Catholic Church that they needed to obtain permission from the Orthodox Church to build a church. 47. The Special Rapporteur was notified of an incident on 28 March 2003 in which individuals armed with axes destroyed the antenna of the independent radio station Dzveli Kalaki, probably because of its weekly Catholic programme which annoyed the local Orthodox Bishop. 48. The Armenians, one of the largest minorities in the country, have not often suffered religious intolerance, probably because they have lived side by side with the Georgians for many centuries and their religion is regarded by the Orthodox as “traditional”. They have nevertheless had problems with the ownership of property, some of their churches having been confiscated during the Soviet period. 49. The Special Rapporteur was informed by other sources that Armenians are often discriminated against, but more on the grounds of their nationality than their religion.