E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1 page 4 Introduction 1. From 31 August to 7 September 2003, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief paid a visit to Georgia in fulfilment of his mandate, at his request and at the invitation of the Georgian Government. 2. For the most part, he worked in the capital of the country, T’bilisi, where the great majority of the religious activity in the country takes place and where most religious communities are based. He made one trip, on 11 September 2003, to Gori, some 60 km to the west of the capital. 3. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur held talks with Georgian officials: the Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Justice, the President of the Supreme Court, the mayor of T’bilisi, the deputy secretary for human rights issues of the National Security Council, the Vice-Minister of the Interior, the Deputy Ombudsman, the Vice-President of the Parliament and members of the parliamentary committee on human rights. He also had a meeting with a member of Parliament, the president of the political party “Georgia Above All”. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur had the honour of an interview with the President of the Republic. 4. The Special Rapporteur also had talks with representatives of religious communities, including His Beatitude Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Church (Georgian Orthodox Church); Father Basil Kobakhidze of the Georgian Orthodox Church; representatives of the Orthodox Church in Georgia (a dissenting school), the T’bilisi and Kuthaisi Roman Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Baptist Church, the Lutheran Evangelical Church, the Russian Pentecostal Church and the Word of Life Church; a representative of the Muslim community; a representative of the Jewish community, representatives of the Baha’i community and Jehovah’s Witnesses. 5. Non-governmental human rights organizations were also consulted, among them the Liberty Institute and Human Rights Watch, as were representatives of various international organizations such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary-General in Georgia. 6. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur attended an international seminar on religious freedoms in Georgia put on in T’bilisi on 5 September 2003 by the International Center on Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN). 7. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Georgian authorities for their invitation and cooperation. He is also very grateful to the fine non-governmental interlocutors he met. Lastly, he expresses his deep thanks to the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative and staff in T’bilisi for their excellent cooperation throughout his visit. 8. During his visit and in this report, the Special Rapporteur has concentrated on the status and importance of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the situation of non-Orthodox religious minorities and government policy on freedom of religion or belief, especially as regards the incidents of intolerance and religious violence which have taken place in recent years.