LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, including the freedom to practice religion in public and manifest religious opinions, as long as no crime is committed in exercising that freedom. While the constitution provides for the right to assemble peacefully without prior authorization, it stipulates open-air religious or other meetings are subject to laws and police regulations. The constitution prohibits compulsory participation in or attendance at church services or observance of religious days of rest and stipulates that a civil marriage ceremony must precede a religious marriage ceremony for the state to recognize it. The constitution provides for the regulation of relations between religious groups and the state, including the role of the state in appointing and dismissing religious clergy and the publication of documents by religious groups, through conventions between the state and individual religious groups. These conventions are subject to parliamentary review.

The constitution provides a framework for combating Holocaust denial and revisionism as well as any form of hate speech. In 2020, the government adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.

On April 7, a law went into effect that amended the penal code to make it an aggravating circumstance to commit a crime against a person because of political or philosophical opinions or religion. The amendment provides for the doubling of prison sentences and fines incurred in felonies and misdemeanors committed on the basis of, among other factors, the victim’s actual or assumed membership or nonmembership in a particular religious group. Crimes or misdemeanors committed due to one or more covered characteristics are deemed to cause greater harm to social cohesion, therefore justifying increased penalties.

Under the penal code, antireligious and antisemitic statements are punishable by imprisonment for a period ranging from eight days to six months or a fine of €251 to €25,000 ($280 to $28,000) or both. On February 17, the Digital Services Act went into effect, obliging certain online platforms and search engines to publish usage data that improves tracking of incidents of hate speech online; the act does not, however, provide substantive standards against which the legality of such manifestations may be assessed.

There is no procedure for granting religious groups legal status as religious groups. Religious groups are free to operate in the form they wish, with many choosing to operate as nonprofit associations. The government has formally approved conventions with six religious groups, which it supports financially with a fixed amount that is adjusted yearly for inflation. The six groups receive funds based partly on the number of their adherents in 2016; other funding is a direct contribution fixed under a revised law adopted in 2016. The six groups are the Roman Catholic Church; the Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Serbian Orthodox Churches as one community; the Anglican Church; the Reformed Protestant Church of Luxembourg and the Protestant Church of Luxembourg as one community; the Jewish community; and the Muslim community. To qualify for a convention with the state, a religious community must be a recognized world religion and have established an official and stable representative body with which the government can interact.

Groups without signed conventions, such as the New Apostolic Church, operate freely but do not receive state funding. The Baha’i Faith does not have a convention with the state but has a foundation that allows it to receive tax-deductible donations.

Government funding levels for the six religious groups are specified in each convention. By law, clergy of recognized religious groups hired in 2016 or earlier receive their salaries from the government and are grandfathered into the government-funded pension system.

Religious groups receiving funds from the government must submit their accounts and the report of an auditor to the government for review to verify they have spent government funds in accordance with laws and regulations. The government may cancel funding to a religious community if it determines the community is not upholding any of the three mutually agreed principles of respect for human rights, national law, and public order stipulated in the conventions.

The law prohibits covering the face in certain specific locations, such as government buildings and public hospitals, schools, or on public transportation. The prohibition applies to all forms of face coverings, including, but not limited to, full-body veils. Violators are subject to a fine of €25 to €250 ($28 to $280). There is no prohibition against individuals wearing face coverings on the street.

The law requires animals to be stunned before slaughter, with exceptions only for hunting and fishing. Violators are subject to a fine of €251 to €200,000 ($280 to $221,000) and possible imprisonment for a period ranging from eight days to three years. The law does not prohibit the sale or import of halal or kosher meat.

By law, public schools may not teach religion classes, but students are required to take an ethics course called “Life and Society.” The course covers religion, primarily from a historical perspective.

There are laws and mechanisms in place to address property restitution, including for Holocaust victims.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

According to the government, the law that came into effect on April 7 amending the penal code to make it an aggravating circumstance to commit a crime against a person because of religion strengthened authorities’ ability to combat antisemitic hate crimes and fell within the framework of the EU strategy to combat antisemitism and support Jewish life.

The government continued to decline to create a legislative framework for formal recognition of religious groups, stating it did not have the authority and competence necessary to define religion and that codifying such a definition would impede religious freedom. As a result, religious groups without a convention with the government continued to operate as nonprofit organizations. Religious minority groups, including the New Apostolic Church, again stated the government’s continued failure to create a legislative framework discriminated against groups that did not have a convention with the government. The government stated the aim of having conventions was to create a transparent funding mechanism and that the conventions were not tools for the state to legally recognize religions.

The Consistoire Israelite de Luxembourg (the group representing the Jewish community in dealings with the government) and members of the Muslim community stated they remained concerned that the law requiring the stunning of animals prior to slaughter infringed on their religious rights. They said they continued to import meat because there were no halal or kosher slaughterhouses in the country.

The Ministry of Education continued to excuse from school children wishing to attend religious celebrations, provided their legal guardian notified the school in advance and the absence was for a major religious holiday (i.e., not recurring normal weekly prayer services).

Pursuant to a 2021 agreement on Holocaust issues between the government and the Consistoire Israelite de Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah, and the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the government continued to make an annual payment of €120,000 ($133,000) to the foundation. During the year, Interministerial Delegate Michel Heintz coordinated policy on combating racism, antisemitism, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) hatred and finalized a national action plan on combating antisemitism. On September 26, Prime Minister Bettel announced the National Action Plan to Combat Antisemitism (PANAS). The plan called antisemitism “a scourge that every democratic society has a duty to eradicate” and included 19 specific measures to raise Holocaust awareness in society and shape how it was to be remembered. Among these, it called for developing a mechanism to collect and analyze data on antisemitic incidents. The plan also outlined concrete steps to enhance the security of the country’s two synagogues. In addition, the plan called for legislation to combat antisemitic and racist speech and ideas online, such as the Digital Services Act that came into force on February 17.

Also pursuant to the 2021 agreement, three working groups continued to research, identify, and restitute dormant bank accounts, unpaid insurance claims, and looted art related to the Holocaust era. The government committed €2 million ($2.2 million) until 2025 dedicated to university academic research, provenance research to restore items seized by the Nazis to their rightful owners, and to facilitate access to National Archives files relating to World War II and the Holocaust. The government awarded Arkhenum, a company known for its expertise in heritage preservation and digitization, the contract to assist the National Archives with the Inventory and restoration of archives related to World War II. For this project, the government allocated a budget of approximately €660,000 ($729,000).

According to the latest information from the Ministry of State in charge of religious affairs, of the six religious groups with conventions with the government, the Muslim community received €450,000 ($497,000) and the Anglican community received €125,000 ($138,000) during the year, the same amounts as received in 2022. The Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox communities together received a total of €25 million ($27.6 million), the same amount as received in 2022.

During the year, the Ministry of Higher Education provided €690,481 ($763,000) to the LSRS, to promote, among other objectives, research, education, and collaboration with the six religious groups that have signed agreements with the state.

According to the government, as of November, it had granted refugee status to 655 persons, the majority of them Muslim, compared with 775 persons in 2022. The organization Welcome and Integration, an entity of the Ministry of Family Affairs and Integration, stated the government provided Muslim refugees access to mosques, halal meals, and, for those who requested it, same-sex housing.