Comments from the Friends - Online Edition - January-March 1999

[Watchtower reneges on Human Rights blood agreement]

According to the March 1998 Information Note No. 148 issued by the European Commission of Human Rights, representatives of the Jehovah's Witness organization made a formal legal agreement with the government of Bulgaria:

"The applicant undertook with regard to its stance on blood transfusions to draft a statement for inclusion in its statute providing that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association."
--Official European Commission on Human Rights site, http://194.250.50.201/eng/E276INFO.148.html

The commission published this on the Internet for all the world to see. (See excerpts reproduced on the facing page, or full documentation in our booklet Blood, Human Rights and Jehovah's Witnesses.) As we did ourselves, anyone may obtain the complete printed agreement from the Secretary to the European Commission of Human Rights, F-67075 Strasbourg, Cedex, France, telephone +33 (0)3 88 41 20 18 or fax +33 (0)3 88 41 27 30.

Communiqué issued by the Secretary
to the European Commission of Human Rights
INFORMATION NOTE No. 148
on the 276th Session of the
European Commission of Human Rights
(Strasbourg, Monday 2 March - Friday 13 March 1998)

__________
The 276th Session of the European Commission of Human Rights (Council of Europe) was held at the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg from 2 to 13 March 1998. At the close of the session the Secretary gave the following information on matters dealt with in the Commission:
The Commission dealt with 715 applications under Article 25 of the Convention and also examined one application under Article 24 of the Convention. Among the applications examined by the Commission were the following: ...
...II. Reports adopted
(i) Reports adopted under Article 28 para. 2 of the Convention (friendly settlement)
(a) One Report was adopted by the plenary Commission under Article 28 para. 2 of the Convention, concluding that a friendly settlement had been secured:
- KHRISTIANSKO SDRUZHENIE "SVIDETELI NA IEHOVA" (CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES) v. Bulgaria (Application No. 28626/95)
The case concerned the refusal to re-register the applicant association pursuant to a 1994 law, and the alleged suppression of its activities and those of its members. In settlement, the Government agreed to introduce legislation as soon as possible to provide for civilian service for conscientious objectors, as an alternative to military service, and to register the applicant association as a religion. The applicant undertook with regard to its stance on blood transfusions to draft a statement for inclusion in its statute providing that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association. [emphasis added]

But now it is clear that the Watchtower Society has reneged on that agreement and apparently never intended to be governed by it.

In a letter dated August 27, 1998, the Society claims the government of Bulgaria agreed to make concessions in exchange for nothing from the JWs, and reveals that the organization will continue to control members on the blood issue by using the sanction of disfellowshipping to punish violators:

"The phrasing that is to be incorporated into the statutes of the Christian Association of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bulgaria describes the manner in which Jehovah's Witnesses have traditionally handled these matters.... ...misuse of blood, then this may at times lead to the Scriptural action of disfellowshipping."

The Watchtower letter is reproduced here:

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