On June 1, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia has published a Draft law on making amendments to the Law on Freedom of Conscious and Religious organizations through the www.e-draft.am website.

It was, however, unclear whether the rights, obligations and limitations introduced by the Draft law were equally applicable to activities of all religious organizations, including the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church. In response to EPF’s inquiry the Ministry has informed that the Armenian Apostolic Church is a religious organization under the Draft law and that the latter regulates its activities along with other religious organizations (the Ministry’s written response and its unofficial translation into English is attached to this post).  The clarification provided by the Ministry is significant in terms of equal enjoyment of the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion by everyone in Armenia.

The draft law and other related draft laws are still at the stage of public discussion and each person can read them and submit recommendations to the Ministry by July 31, 2017 at https://www.e-draft.am/projects/246.