Catholic Charity head denounces violations of religious liberty in European summit speech

Warsaw, Poland, Oct 17, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Attilio Tamburrini, Director of the Italian section of the German-based Charity "Aid to the Church in Need," lamented to 18 countries, who are either full members of or associates with the European Union, several countries which continue to allow discrimination against and even persecution of Christians.

During the meeting of the Organization for Security and Collaboration in Europe (OSCE) recently held in Poland, Dr. Tamburrini, who took part in the conference as an independent contributor, decried that even in Europe Christians are disadvantaged.

"Even in 18 member states of the OSCE itself, which have enshrined the basic right to religious liberty in their constitutions, this right is not accorded unrestrictedly", he said.

As examples, he cited Belarus, Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Italian office of ACN publishes an annual report on the situation of religious liberty around the world.  The report has been published in Italian since 2000 and since 2004 in Portuguese as well.  Tamburrini, hopes to publish the 400-page work in English and Spanish starting next year.

Tamburrini also noted the  October 12th decision, at the conclusion of the 10-day conference of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) representatives of the 56 member states, which was made to establish an information service at the ODIHR to document instances of discrimination, xenophobia, and offences against religious liberty.