A/51/542/Add.1 English Page 7 (c) Legislation concerning identity cards 26. Act No. 1899/1986 (art. 3, para. 1, subpara. 12) provides that identity cards must indicate the religion of the bearer. Unless a declaration to that effect is made, the identity card is not issued. 27. On 6 April 1993, the Greek Parliament adopted a new law on the matter obliging citizens to declare their religious affiliation on their identity cards. A draft amendment making the reference to religion optional on personal identity documents was withdrawn. 28. According to the Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, the indication of religion on identity cards has no legal force and the notion of citizenship alone is paramount. The reference to religion apparently reflects a religious tradition and satisfies the demands of the Greek Orthodox Church. According to the Ministry of Justice, what is involved is the right to declare one’s religion in accordance with international law. The religious identification of citizens would, for instance, be necessary in matters of inheritance or of funeral rites. The representatives of the Orthodox Church echoed the latter argument and said that they favoured an optional indication of religion on identity cards. 29. All non-governmental representatives were opposed to any indication of religion on identity cards because it might become a basic source of discrimination and intolerance based on religion or belief (see chap. II). They underscored the unconstitutionality of the existing law and its incompatibility with international law. 30. Attention was drawn in particular to the resolution of the European Parliament on the compulsory mention of religion on Greek identity cards: "... C. whereas the compulsory mention of religion on identity documents violates the fundamental freedoms of the individual as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, "... E. recalling that freedom of opinion and religious freedom are part of the foundations of a constitutional State and are the exclusive province of human conscience, 1. Calls on the Greek Government to amend the current legal provisions once and for all to abolish any mention, even optional, of religion on new Greek identity cards and not to bow to pressure from the Orthodox hierarchy ...; 2. Considers that the role which religion has played or still plays in any society, however important it may be and without value judgements, in no way justifies the requirement to mention religion on an identity card." /...