Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
Article 41 (1) of the Constitution of Armenia states that everyone “shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This right shall include the freedom to change religion or belief and, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private, the freedom to manifest them in preaching, church ceremonies, other rites of worship or in other forms.”[1]
Under Armenian law, all men between the ages of 18 and 27 are required to serve two years in the armed forces. However, under Article 41 (3) of the constitution, every citizen has “the right to replace military service with alternative service, as prescribed by law, if it contradicts the religious faith or belief thereof”.
A law on alternative service has been in place since 2004, but its provisions have not always been applied.[2] A new law was introduced in 2014, improving the situation for conscientious objectors, but abuses still occur.[3]
Article 17 (1-2) of the constitution provides that “the freedom of activities of religious organisations shall be guaranteed in the Republic of Armenia” and that religious organisations “shall be separate from the State”.
The 1991 Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Organisations (LRAFCRO) does not require religious groups to register with the government. However, a group must register in order to own or rent property and conduct regular religious services.[4]
Although the constitution guarantees freedom of religion to everyone, it recognises the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC) as the national Church. It highlights the “exclusive mission” that the AAHC has “in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of their national culture, and preservation of the national identity”. The same constitutional provision stipulates that “the relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church may be regulated by law”. The AAHC may appoint representatives in various institutions such as boarding schools, hospitals, orphanages, military units, and prisons, while other religious groups must ask for permission to access them. The AAHC is also permitted to promote its message without state interference, and monitors school textbooks, teacher training, and courses on the history of the Armenian Church.[5] It can also provide extracurricular religious instruction in state schools.[6]
The LRAFCRO clarifies the scope of Armenia’s constitutional protections and enumerates rights related to religious freedom. Article 3 (Section 7) guarantees to a registered religious group the right to “rally their faithful around them; satisfy the religious-spiritual needs of their faithful; perform religious services, rites, and ceremonies; establish groups for religious instruction aimed at training members; engage in theological, religious, and historical and cultural studies; train members of clergy for scientific and pedagogical purposes; obtain and utilize objects of religious significance; make use of news media in accordance with the law; establish ties with religious organizations in other countries and get involved in charity.”[7]
While permitting these activities, this law prohibits proselytism or “soul hunting”, a concept which includes forced conversion.[8] However, the law fails to define “proselytism” and provides preferential treatment to the AAHC.[9] The term “soul-hunting” has on occasion become synonymous with “stealing believers from the Armenian Apostolic Church”.[10]
Although the law mandates secular state education, the state school curriculum used to include a “History of the Armenian Church” course. In September 2023, the authorities removed this course, incorporating the historical content into a broader course of Armenian studies. While the Yazidi community welcomed the removal of the course,[11] the Supreme Leader of the AAHC, Catholicos Karekin II, criticised the move, calling it “short-sighted”.[12]
In March 2018, the Council of Europe raised concerns about the way Armenia was trying to ensure that its legislation, institutions, and practices met European Union (EU) human rights standards. The Council recommended that privileges granted to the AAHC be objectively justified and not discriminatory.[13]
Following this recommendation, the Council formally adopted a fourth Action Plan for Armenia in late 2022, to ensure that the country “further bring legislation, institutions and practice in line with European standards in the areas of human rights”.[14] Although the plan addresses a wide range of human rights, Goal 10 focuses on a program specifically intended to “empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of […] religion”.[15]
In its Sixth Report to the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe, submitted on 16 September 2024, Armenia enumerated a long list of measures taken between 2020 and 2024 to protect the rights of minorities, including religious minorities.[16]
Incidents and developments
Nagorno-Karabakh war
The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known under the Armenian name of Artsakh, has long been disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Though internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, the mountainous territory, until recently home to about 120,000 ethnic Armenians, became de facto independent as the Republic of Artsakh in the early 1990s. From 12 December 2022 to 19 September 2023, Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only route that linked the Republic of Artsakh to Armenia, provoking a “humanitarian disaster”,[17] condemned by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).[18]
The blockade ended with a large-scale military offensive by the Azerbaijani army, which took control of Nagorno-Karabakh in its entirety, sparking the flight of its population to Armenia in just two days (19-20 September). After taking full control of the region, Azerbaijan implemented “a policy of destroying Armenian heritage”.[19] Since 2021, nearly 80 ethnic Armenian historical, religious, political and residential sites have been reportedly destroyed in and around the enclave.[20] In particular, satellite images confirm that in 2024, Azerbaijan destroyed the Ghazanchetsots cemetery[21] and the historic Armenian Church of St John the Baptist in Shushai.[22]
Some 98 percent of those driven from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh identified with the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (AAHC).[23] It had been experiencing renewal in the mountainous region in the lead-up to the 2020 Second Karabakh War, with many churches being built and young people attending them.
Conflict between the government and the AAHC
Since the takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan have tried to reach a peace deal. On 9 December 2024, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that “15 out of the 17 articles in the draft peace treaty have been agreed upon”.[24] The relationship between the government and the AAHC has seriously deteriorated in the past two years over this issue. The AAHC strongly criticised the government led by Prime Minister Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan for its handling of the conflict and the peace negotiations, in particular for making unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan, such as returning four Armenian villages in the Tavush region.[25]
In June 2024, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, in front of thousands of protesters in the capital Yerevan, called for Pashinyan’s resignation.[26] In May 2024, the Prime Minister said: “We are not in conflict with the Church. Whether or not the Church is in conflict with us, they should answer that question. If some clergy make a political bid, it means that they admit their failure or inability to exercise spiritual guidance”.[27]
Archbishop Galstanyan has repeatedly said that while “the Church has no political interest or motivation or ambitions”, it has to speak out as “the moral, ethical pillar of our nation” regardless of how much repression falls on the Church as a result.[28]
Yazidis
In October 2020, Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) initiated a criminal investigation into Sashik Sultanyan, Chairman of the Yazidi Center for Human Rights, in response to an interview in which he highlighted issues facing members of the Yazidi ethnic minority. On 29 July 2021, the NSS concluded its investigation, sending the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office with an indictment for inciting enmity among Yazidis. In 2022, Sultanyan left the country, and the following year the case was suspended, However, the authorities have not dropped charges against him.[29]
Jews
The Jewish Community of Armenia is estimated to include over 400 families, or approximately 800 to 1,000 people.[30] In spite of widespread resentment against Israel, mainly due to the pivotal role that Israeli weapons played in Azerbaijan’s defeat of Armenia in the 2020 Second Karabakh War, the local Jewish community has not seen a major rise in antisemitism.
Nevertheless, two attacks were reported in 2023 against the country’s only synagogue, the Mordechai Navi Synagogue in Yerevan. On 3 October 2023, a Molotov cocktail was hurled into the synagogue but did little damage since it failed to ignite. In the other attack, on 15 November 2023, an unknown person set fire to the doors on the first and second floors of the building. Gershon Meir Burstein, Armenia’s Chief Rabbi, said that the attacks were acts of “provocation” rather than an expression of Armenian antisemitism.[31]
On 1 January 2025, a group of approximately 15 neo-Nazis gathered in the centre of Yerevan to hold a rally honouring the birthday of Garegin Nzhdeh, an Armenian statesman and military leader. Joel Lion, Israel’s Ambassador to Armenia, expressed his concern, stating on X: “Deeply disturbed by the march in #Yerevan on 1.1.2024, echoing ‘Sieg Heil’ chants. Glorifying Garegin Nzhdeh, a Nazi collaborator is unacceptable. Authorities must take a firm stand against any form of neo-Nazism & antisemitism.”[32]
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Around 11,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses currently live in Armenia.[33] Hundreds of them have spent time in jail time over the last 20 years for refusing to serve in the military. Since 2014, when the alternative civilian service was introduced, over 450 Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken advantage of the new law.[34]
In the period under review, Jehovah’s Witnesses have reported several instances of verbal and physical abuse for displaying religious materials. A group of protesters tried to disrupt a large regional meeting held from 2-4 June 2023 at Yerevan’s Nairi Children’s and Youth Sports Stadium, shouting, playing loud religious music, and throwing stones at those present. Despite this, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were able to continue with their meeting; no physical clashes between them and the protesters occurred. Although police arrived at the scene, they did not intervene.[35]
On 7 June 2023, Jehovah’s Witnesses representatives met with police and raised their concerns about this lack of intervention. From 9-11 June 2023, the group held an event at the same location, this time without incidents, and with increased police presence to discourage further disruptions.[36]
Russian Orthodox Church
On 23 March 2023, the Ministry of Justice registered the Yerevan-Armenian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church made the decision to establish a diocese in Armenia in October 2021.[37]
Other Christians
On 20 August 2024, Yerevan police arrested a 21-year-old Baptist conscientious objector, Davit Nazaretyan, and took him to the city’s Nubarashen Prison after he was sentenced to a two-year jail term for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. The law gives conscientious objectors the possibility of alternative civilian service, which Nazaretyan had applied for, unsuccessfully, because the Alternative Service Commission was not convinced by his claim. He was convicted on 25 October 2023, a decision upheld by the Court of Cassation, without a hearing, on 10 July 2024.[38] In September 2024, he was transferred to Sevan open prison. Nazaretyan is the only conscientious objector known to be currently in jail under Part 1 of Article 461 of the Criminal Code (avoidance of mandatory military or alternative service or conscription).[39]
Some members of the Molokan Spiritual Christian sect have also faced criminal prosecution in recent years for refusing to serve in the military on grounds of conscience.
On 11 November 2019, Ivan Nikolai Mikhailov, a Molokan from Dilijan who was refused alternative civilian service in 2018, was handed a two-year jail term by the Tavush Regional Court. On 5 April 2023, the Court of Cassation overturned the conviction and sent the case back to the regional court for a retrial. On 6 October 2023, a judge closed the case because of the statute of limitations, lifting restrictions on Mikhailov’s movements.
The last known convicted conscientious objector before Nazaretyan was Maksim Mikhaili Telegin, a Molokan from Yerevan who was refused alternative civilian service in 2016. The Yerevan City Court sentenced him for one year in prison on 23 March 2021, although he was freed after only three months.[40]
Prospects for freedom of religion
The most significant factor challenging religious freedom in Armenia is the impact of the territorial conflict with Azerbaijan, threatening the Armenian religious heritage in the presently depopulated region of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the right of return of its Armenian population. Apart from this, the right to religious liberty in Armenia is by and large upheld, and during the period under review, the government took some steps to reduce the preferential treatment of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. Although groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Molokans are still at odds with the authorities over their opposition to compulsory military service, the overall prospects for religious freedom remain positive.
Sources
Armenia