The Milli Majlis Committee for Public Associations and Religious Entities held on 27 January its first meeting of the spring parliamentary session of 2022.

Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and committee chairman Fazail Ibrahimli congratulated the MPs on the start of the session and wished them every success in their work during it before telling them that the agenda of the meeting dealt with the past-session work account, the scope for the current session as well as a set of amendments to the Freedom of Faith Law.

The account of the work done during last session followed. Mr Ibrahimli mentioned the four committee meetings and the six matters reviewed at them. He added that the committee members had been active in the parliamentary deliberations upon all the three readings of the 2022 State Budget Bill, too.

The whole incoming correspondence of the said period, consisting of applications and letters from citizens, various offices and organisations, both hard-copy and electronic ones, was processed and forwarded to appropriate departments and units for subsequent actions. Because the COVID-19 pandemic had forced receptions of citizens in the reception room of the parliament, be it individual or group ones, out of the IRL, such meetings had been held either online or over the telephone, Mr Ibrahimli continued. All the applicants had been given appropriate explanations and their concerns had been resolved as legally prescribed.

The committee chairman and members also met the guests arriving in our country during the autumn session; they monitored the presidential elections that were conducted in Uzbekistan. The committee members joined the wakes of the Patriotic War shahids, met their families and the gazies alike, and joined the events arranged in various parts of the country to honour the first anniversary of our Victory.

Having completed the introduction of the past-session report, Mr Ibrahimli moved on to the work plan for the current session. The Bills that are due to arrive as various legislative initiatives will be discussed. There will also be hearings dedicated to different subjects, amongst them the restoration of the religious monuments in the de-occupied lands; the hearings will go with the attendance of non-governmental organisations. Besides, the committee will be inspecting the citizens’ and appropriate departments’ feedback, analysing and generalising their proposals. The spring-session scope also includes reception of citizens and consideration of their appeals.

The review of the plan for the spring session was followed by the discussion of the draft amendments to the Freedom of Faith Law. Fazail Ibrahimli described the amendments. He said that it was proposed to replace the wording ‘in organisational matters’ with the wording ‘in religious matters’ in Article 8 of the law. Further, the wording ‘the clergymen in administrative positions, having informed the appropriate executive authority body… the Caucasus Muslim Department’ in the first sentence of Part III is to be replaced with ‘the clergymen, whilst informing the Caucasus Muslim Department… a representative of the organ (entity) designated by the appropriate executive authority body’. Next, it is suggested that the wording ‘a representative of the organ (entity) designated by the appropriate executive authority body’ in the second sentence of the same Part III of the same chapter of the law should be edited to read ‘the representatives and specialists of the Caucasus Muslim Department’. Last but not least, Part VII of the same article is deleted in the amended draft.

Furthermore, Article 9-1.4 is edited to stipulate that a change in a legal address of a religious entity shall be reported to the appropriate executive authority body within 10 days.

The Bill also introduces certain changes in the Parts II and III of Article 12 of the law. Specifically, the new edition postulates that religious entities intending to become registered by the State are required to accompany their registration applications being submitted to the appropriate executive authority body with their inception protocols, charters and the other documents provided for in the Law ‘On the State Registration and the State Register of Legal Entities’ of the Azerbaijan Republic. An application being served by a faith community shall also be accompanied with the list of the names of at least fifty persons of legal age who have formed the community (or of their authorised representatives) and the list of the community founders detailing their citizenship(s), place(s) of abode and DOBs c/w copies of their respective IDs. In addition to that, the communities shall present the basics of their religious teachings, indicate their establishment dates, specify the form and methods of activity and state their attitude(s) towards the traditions, the institutions of family and marriage and towards education. And, lastly, a faith community intending to become registered by the State is required to submit information about restraints, if any, that it is imposing on the rights and obligations of its members.

It follows from the addendum to Article 18 of the same law that it is for an office to be appointed by the appropriate executive authority body to determine the procedure whereby religious entities are to receive benefactions. Also, it being in pace with the times, monetary donations may be accepted not only in the orthodox forms but also via banks, by post, plastic cards, e-payment systems and online platforms.

The review of the Bill was over. Head of the Department of State Building, Administrative and Military Legislation of the Milli Majlis Staff Haji Seyid Mirhashim and Sarvan Sadigov who heads the same Department’s section spoke of the essence of the amendments.

The deputy chairman of the committee Sahib Aliyev and the MPs Azay Guliyev, Sevinj Fataliyeva, Jeyhun Mammadov, Javanshir Pashazade, Anar Isgandarov and Azer Badamov were active during the discussions. They commended on the work that the committee had done last session and found that the scope set for the current one was adequate to the current goals. Some proposals were made. 

The MPs also commented on the amendments to the Freedom of Faith Law, which, in their concerted opinion, could help streamline activities in the relevant realm and mattered in terms of the state-religion interaction.

The deputy chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations Gunduz Ismayilov shared his view upon the Bill, responded to the comments made by the MPs and answered their questions.

In the end, the assembly endorsed the 2021 autumn session work report, adopted the scope as set for the spring session of 2022 and recommended that the amendments to the Freedom of Faith Law be tabled before the House in the first reading at a plenary sitting.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis