The US Department of State published its annual report on the current state of religious freedom around the globe, which included data on 200 countries and territories while also documenting cases when this freedom was abused by governments, terrorist groups or individuals.
The report was divided into separate chapters which detail the current state of religious freedom in both Albania and Kosovo.
For Albania, one of the main concerns was the fact that 5 of our religious communities which have an agreement with the Albanian Government had their private properties confiscated during the communist regime and less than 30% has been given back to them since then.
KOSOVO
The report on Kosovo states that the Constitution prohibits religious discrimination and ensures religious freedom, but it criticizes the fact that the law does not allow religious groups to be registered as legal entities.
A draft bill to grant them such status, submitted to parliament in 2020, remained pending at year’s end. The Islamic Community of Kosovo said some schools continued to enforce a Ministry of Education directive prohibiting religious attire, denying school access to Muslim students who wore a hijab.
In September, the Constitutional Court referred the government’s continued refusal to implement that court’s 2016 decision recognizing the Serbian Orthodox Church’s (SOC) ownership of land around the Visoki Decani Monastery to the state prosecutor. In response to the government’s continued nonimplementation of both that ruling and a 2020 arrangement on road work within the Visoki Decani Monastery Special Protective Zone (SPZ), the SOC ceased official communication with the government in May
In October, media reported the MES and police were investigating a Christian nongovernmental organization (NGO) following complaints the organization published photographs of children along with religious content without parental permission.
For the full report on Kosovo click here.
ALBANIA
The report outlines that the constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religion. It stipulates there is no official religion and the state is neutral in matters of belief, recognizes the equality and independence of religious groups, and prohibits discrimination based on religion.
The government has distinct agreements with the Sunni Muslim and Bektashi communities, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and the Evangelical Brotherhood of Albania (VUSH), a Protestant umbrella organization.
The agreements recognize each group as one of the country’s main faith communities and address property restitution and other arrangements.
The government legalized 92 buildings owned by religious groups during the year, compared with 164 in 2019, while the status of 32 additional properties remained under review.
Corruption, lack of knowledge of competencies and jurisdiction on property cases, and large caseloads in the court system hampered religious communities’ ability to claim their property, according to numerous civil society sources.
The U.S. Government estimates the total population at 3.1 million.
According to the most recent census conducted in 2011, Sunni Muslims constitute nearly 57 percent of the population, Roman Catholics 10 percent, members of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania nearly 7 percent, and members of the Bektashi Order (a form of Shia Sufism) 2 percent. Other groups include Protestant denominations, Baha’is, Jehovah’s Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a small Jewish community.
Nearly 20 percent of respondents declined to answer an optional census question about religious affiliation.
For the full report on Albania click here.
