E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.2 page 12 allowing Jehovah’s Witnesses to give religious lessons in State schools. In this connection, the Orthodox Church strongly criticized proselytizing by some religious minorities, with some of its members feeling that such activities were an attack on the Church itself. 49. It therefore seems that, with a few exceptions, the inter-faith dialogue between the Orthodox Church and religious minorities in general is struggling to get under way. More specifically, the inter-faith dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church has been thoroughly poisoned by the issue of restitution (see below). V. SITUATION OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES 50. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur met with many representatives of the religious minorities in Romania. Generally speaking, he found no serious violations of freedom of religion or belief or serious acts of religious intolerance or violence. Most religious minorities considered that they had good relationships with the central Government, including with the office of the Minister of State for Religious Affairs. However, they have some problems with the local authorities, who, according to them, are much more under the influence of the Orthodox Church. It is particularly, though not exclusively, non-recognized religions that experience the most problems, as a number of them are considered as “sects” by the Orthodox clergy. A. Violence and other acts of religious intolerance 51. Some minorities from both recognized and non-recognized religions complained about being described in the media in erroneous and slanderous terms. In an article by a journalist from Cluj, for example, the Baha’i community, which is often described as a sect, was linked with the Unification Church (followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon) or the Church of Scientology. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists and Seventh-Day Adventists have found themselves in similar situations. Some religious minorities also denounced certain publications that incite racial or religious hatred, such as the România Mare magazine. Such behaviour is rarely prosecuted effectively by the Romanian authorities. 52. The Special Rapporteur was also told about certain acts of violence against religious minorities. In September 2001, for example, members of the Baha’i community who were organizing an exhibition in a park were attacked by a group of individuals who threw tomatoes and eggs at them. Despite the community’s efforts to find the attackers and initiate judicial proceedings, the authorities took no action. Seventh-Day Adventists have also been intimidated on a number of occasions but the authorities have not prosecuted anyone, despite the complaints lodged. B. Construction of places of worship 53. Under Romanian legislation, non-recognized religions may not build places of worship as such. At best, they can construct buildings that are not intended to be places of worship. 54. There is a special commission that grants recognized religions permission to build places of worship. The commission takes decisions on the appropriateness and other aspects of such buildings. Only the Orthodox Church is represented among the members of the commission. Most of the representatives of religious minorities reported relatively long delays in obtaining