Legal status of a pilgrim and pilgrimage activities

A new article may appear in the law “On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations” establishing a special legal status for pilgrims and pilgrimage activities. The corresponding law-in-draft was prepared by the deputies of the Committee on Education, Public Associations and Mass Media Igor Buga, Andrey Safonov and Pavel Shinkaryuk. The initiative was considered today at the first meeting of the profile committee after the parliamentary recess.

The law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations" correction is necessary for the adoption of the law-in-draft "On tourism in the PMR" that passed the first reading. The deputies specify that pilgrimage trips to visit temples, cathedrals and other religious sites are significantly different from ordinary tourist trips. If a pilgrim participates in worship, can live and work at monasteries and religious communities, then a tourist, visiting a shrine and other local attractions, such as museums, wants to receive information of interest and does not pursue the goal of participating in worship, living at monasteries, etc.

Thus, with the adoption of the bill of deputies, the legislation will stipulate that visiting religious places by tourists during travel is not a pilgrimage activity. According to the law-in-draft, only religious organizations have the right to organize pilgrimage trips, not travel companies.

The deputies of the profile committee decided to recommend the law-in-draft on introducing an amendment to the law “On freedom of conscience and on religious associations” for adoption in the first reading.