News from May 2021
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, a supplement to the constitution, guarantees freedom of religious conviction and states everyone has the right to change, abstain from, and freely practice religion. The Ministry of Culture (MOC) registered one religious group, rejected two, and left one...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits religious organizations from exercising any political authority or receiving privileges from the state. Falun Gong members continued to report difficulty in renting performance spaces, which they attributed to People’s Republic of China...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides protections for religious freedom with “reasonable restrictions" to ensure public order and the rights of other individuals. The constitution provides for the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and belief and to the free exercise of religion.
By DOE Newswire | May 12, 2021
News Release: With funding from the Building Technologies Office, researchers at Columbia University are capturing unique electricity-use data from hundreds of New York City apartments during the state-mandated shelter-in-place orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their ongoing study collects submetering data every...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides the right to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, or teaching, either individually or in community with others, and either in public or in private. The law prohibits discrimination based on religious belief. In August, a court sentenced the individual...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and protects the freedom of individuals to profess their religion or belief. It is a crime to engage in public speech inciting religious hatred. In a January letter to parliament, Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Wouter Koolmees expressed the...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of thought and religion, as well as the right to practice and change one’s religion or belief. While its restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic were in effect, the government on occasion granted curfew exemptions to religious leaders to perform religious rites. Some members of the Rastafarian community said they objected to the government’s requirement of vaccinations for all children attending public schools.
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides for freedom of conscience and worship. The law prohibits religious discrimination and provides civil remedies to victims of discrimination. Religion and state are officially separate. The National Office of Religious Affairs (ONAR), an executive government agency, is charged...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution protects freedom of religion and the right of religious communities to establish their own institutions. It specifies the state and the Roman Catholic Church are independent, with their relations governed by treaties, including a concordat granting the Church a number of specific privileges ...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution states there shall be “absolute freedom of conscience" and guarantees the free exercise of religious rites for all religious groups provided they do not disturb the public order. The constitution also states there shall be a “just and equitable balance" in the apportionment of cabinet...
By Commerce Newswire | May 12, 2021
News Release: In the American Rescue Plan, the Ways and Means Committee provided the backbone of a critical relief package that helped Americans weather the pandemic. Now, as Congress prepares to work with the Biden Administration to build on the progress we have made, we also need to consider how our tax system is impacting our efforts to foster a fair and inclusive economic recovery-and level the playing field for all taxpayers going forward.
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution states no law may be passed to establish a state religion or impair the free exercise of religion. The government provides assistance to all religiously affiliated schools for nonreligious purposes. All such schools are either Catholic or Protestant.
By Interior Newswire | May 12, 2021
News Release: Update as of June 22, 2021: Virtual Camp for 2021 has been cancelled due to low participation. We look forward to seeing you in person in 2022!.
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution provides for the free practice of religious beliefs and self-governance by religious groups without government interference. By law, all faith-based organizations must register with the government to acquire legal status as an association. The government continued a campaign to combat...
By DOJ Newswire | May 12, 2021
News Release: WASHINGTON - Folashade Adufe Horne, 52, of Laurel, Maryland, was sentenced today to 13 months in prison for defrauding the D.C. Medicaid program out of more than $370,000.
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of religion and worship consistent with public order, social peace, and national unity. It provides for the separation of state and religion and prohibits religiously affiliated political parties. Implementation of the 2019...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion; provides for freedom of belief, religion, and worship; and states no one “shall be obligated by coercive measures to declare his or her ideology or beliefs." In June, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) approved the resolution “Promotion...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
Release: The constitution recognizes Roman Catholicism as the state religion; the law requires the state to contribute to the Catholic Church’s maintenance. The constitution prohibits the state from impeding the free exercise of religions that does not impugn “universal morality or proper behavior," and it provides...
By State Newswire | May 12, 2021
News Release: WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave remarks at a hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic and the international response. The committee heard witness testimony from the Honorable Gayle E. Smith, coordinator for global COVID response and health security, and Mr. Jeremy Konyndyk, executive director of the COVID-19 task force.
