FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
========================================== ======
Wednesday 30 April 2008
KAZAKHSTAN: ALARM AT STATE-BACKED PLANNED NEW RELIGION LAW
Kazakhstan is planning more restrictions on freedom of thought, conscience
and belief, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Human rights activists and
some religious communities have expressed alarm at a planned new Religion
Law penalising "unapproved" religious activities. The proposals include
banning missionary activity by people who do not both represent registered
religious communities and have state accreditation, and banning small
religious communities from maintaining public places of worship or
publishing religious literature. Prime Minister Karim Masimov has backed
the latest draft, writing that "perfecting" legislation at the
"contemporary phase of state-confessional relations" is "timely and
necessary." Fr Aleksandr Ivlev of the Russian Orthodox Church vigorously
defended the proposals, telling Forum 18 that "the current Law has allowed
sectarians to spread in the country." He complained that "the proposed
amendments do not at all restrict the rights and freedoms of religious
organisations – those that say otherwise are lying." Accompanying the draft
Law, the mass media is being used by officials and parliamentary deputies
to promote intolerance of religious communitioes they dislike.
KAZAKHSTAN: ALARM AT STATE-BACKED PLANNED NEW RELIGION LAW
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;, and
Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service <;
Kazakhstan’s government has backed moves by parliamentary deputies to
increase restrictions on religious communities and spell out further
penalties for "unapproved" religious activities. Human rights activists and
some religious communities are already gearing up for a new campaign for
religious freedom, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Many are unhappy not
only at the proposed new restrictions but at the restrictions on religious
activity that already exist.
The new initiative – prepared by four deputies of the lower house of
parliament, the Majilis, and two from the upper house, the Senate – was
approved for consideration on 2 April. The draft Law on Amendments and
Additions to Several Legislative Acts on Questions of Freedom of Conscience
and Religious Organisations – if adopted – would tighten numerous articles
of the current Religion Law, the controversial Article 375 (see F18News
< icle_id=608>) and one other article
of the Code of Administrative Offences, as well as several other laws.
Many of the restrictions envisaged in the new draft Law echo earlier
proposals (see F18News 21 February 2007
< e_id`6>).
Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister, Karim Masimov, formally backed the new draft
in a letter to the Majilis [parliament’s lower chamber], which Forum 18 has
seen. He declared that "perfecting" legislation at the "contemporary phase
of state-confessional relations" is "timely and necessary", though without
explaining why. His only demand was that the formulation of the proposed
new crimes in the Code of Administrative Offences be aligned with those
specified in the proposed revised Religion Law.
"The draft Law is now with a working group, which has not yet begun to
discuss it," parliamentary deputy and working group member Serik
Temirbulatov told Forum 18 from the capital Astana on 28 April. "It will
then be presented to parliament’s committees. Only when all their views are
taken into account will it be presented to the full lower house of
parliament. A parliamentary resolution earlier this month has given 1
December as the deadline by which this will be adopted."
Temirbulatov declined to discuss any specific provisions in the draft Law
or any of the concerns that human rights activists and religious
communities have already expressed.
Ninel Fokina of the Almaty Helsinki Committee told Forum 18 on 15 April
that her and other local human rights groups have "many points of concern"
about the new draft Law. She worries in particular that it would make it
hard for smaller religious groups to develop or even survive.
Concerns among religious communities focus on the draft Law’s ban on
missionary activity by individuals who do not represent registered
religious communities and do not have state accreditation; the institution
of a national quota for missionaries; the ban on small religious
communities from maintaining public places of worship or publishing
religious literature; and the requirement that state officials must monitor
all financial contributions to religious organisations (see forthcoming
F18News article).
Roman Podoprigora, a law professor at the Adilet (Justice) Law School in
the commercial capital Almaty, who studies the legal position of religious
communities, says he does not understand the necessity for a new Religion
Law. "Senior officials have stated numerous times from different podiums
that there is perfect peace and accord between the State and religious
confessions and also between religious communities themselves in
Kazakhstan," he told Forum 18 from Almaty on 16 April. "What is the reason
for a new law then?"
Natalya Kotenko, the head of the Social and Economic Department who is
handling the issue of the new Law in the Prime Minister’s Office, refused
to explain to Forum 18 specifically why a new Religion Law is needed. "It’s
an old law and like any law needs to be perfected," she told Forum 18 from
the capital Astana on 29 April. However, she declined to explain Masimov’s
assertion that amending the Law is "necessary". "I won’t comment on the
Prime Minister’s statement."
Kotenko claimed that the proposed new Law is entirely an initiative of
individual deputies. "These deputies are working with state agencies, such
as the Religious Affairs Committee." She declined to say how closely they
are or are not working with the government.
Kayrat Tulesov, the deputy Chair of the Justice Ministry’s Religious
Affairs Committee, also stressed to Forum 18 on 15 April that the
initiative for the draft Law came from Parliament. Asked why the government
wants to amend the law, he said he sees nothing surprising as the law was
adopted more than a decade ago. "It probably needs some brushing up
technically and theoretically," he maintained.
Some religious communities have already declared their opposition to the
new restrictions in the draft Law. Some Protestants have told Forum 18 that
various Protestant churches have already discussed how to oppose the new
Law and have announced a joint fast across Kazakhstan from 8 to 11 May.
Franz Tissen, the head of the Baptist Union, criticised several provisions
of the draft Law in a 16 April statement and called on churches to hold a
one-day fast on 21 April.
Also highly critical of the draft Law was the Council of Churches, another
Baptist network which refuses on principle to register its congregations
with the authorities. In a detailed letter to President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, the Council of Churches complained that the draft Law unveiled
to parliament on 2 April contains "absurd demands of believers that did not
even exist in the years of Soviet rule". "How can this be termed a law on
freedom of conscience?" they ask. "This Law puts believers in Kazakhstan
outside the law."
The Baptists complained of more than a hundred court cases against their
members since the Religion Law was last amended in 2005. It said fines
since then have amounted to more than 3,000,000 Tenge (127,525 Norwegian
Kroner, 16,010 Euros or 24,905 US Dollars). "We didn’t have such
astronomical fines even in the Soviet period," they complained. They quoted
one judge as declaring at a court case that Kazakhstan is returning to
Soviet times.
Also highly concerned is the Hare Krishna community, which has long faced
opposition from officials, particularly to its commune near Almaty. "The
draft Law has so many restrictions that it will produce many problems for
us, as well as for Protestants, minority Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and
others," Maksim Varfolomeyev told Forum 18 from Almaty on 30 April. "All
will suffer. We’ll be closed down, but that will be just the start." He
said the turn for the worse began with the 2005 amendments to the Religion
Law and conditions have continued to worsen since then.
Varfolomeyev said the Hare Krishna community is already working with other
religious communities to try to get their views heard. However, he said he
remains pessimistic. "I don’t know if we will have any impact," he told
Forum 18. "I fear this draft will be adopted more or less as it is."
The Russian Orthodox Church is more measured in its response. Fr Aleksandr
Ivlev maintained that the current law needs revisions, but said the new
draft – which he has read – also needs some revisions. "Some provisions
could be better phrased," he told Forum 18 from Almaty on 30 April, but
added that the Church is waiting to discuss the draft with the initiators.
He declined to specify any provisions that the Church might want rephrased.
However, Fr Ivlev vigorously defended restrictions on what he called
"pseudo-Christian" and "anti-Christian" groups. "The current Law has
allowed sectarians to spread in the country," he complained. "Those that
criticise the current law are lying. The proposed amendments do not at all
restrict the rights and freedoms of religious organisations – those that
say otherwise are lying."
Asked about the state-favoured Muftiate’s [the Islamic Spiritual
Administration] attitude to the new draft Law, a representative told Forum
18 from Almaty on 30 April that this was "both a simple and a complicated
question". He declined to expand by phone but promised to give the
Muftiate’s views in writing.
Some Kazakh Muslims disagree with the Muftiate, an independent community
losing its mosque in the western city of Atyrau in summer 2007 (see F18
News 12 December 2007
< e_id=1060>). A group of 15
independent Muslims were given heavy prison sentences for belonging to a
terrorist organisation. 14 of the 15 Muslims were given prison sentences of
between 14 and 19 and a half years at a closed trial. The fifteenth
received a three-year corrective labour sentence. The terrorist allegations
by the authorities were not proven, according to independent legal experts
(see F18 News 8 April 2008
< e_id=1110>)
Kazakhstan’s Religion Law was first adopted in 1992 and imposed hardly any
restrictions on individuals’ or communities’ religious freedom. However,
the Law was amended in 1995, 1997, 2004 and 2005, with ever increasing
restrictions. In 2005 further restrictions on freedom of thought,
conscience and belief were imposed in "extremism" and "national security"
legal amendments (see F18News 8 December 2005
< =701>). Despite these
increasing restrictions, government officials at all levels and
pro-government parliamentary deputies have repeatedly spoken of the need to
make the Religion Law even tighter.
Further drafts since 2005 concentrated on trying to ban "missionary"
activity, restrict the right to publish religious literature, impose
controls on receipt of funds and restrict charitable activity (see F18News
21 February 2007 <` 6>).
Officials and parliamentary deputies who support the draft Law have been
vigorously promoting it. On 28 April, a group of deputies met local
residents in the southern city of Shymkent to present the text. Khabar
Television reported that local people praised the deputies for their
attempt to curtail the activities of some "non-traditional" religious
groups, including the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
One of the deputies who initiated the new draft Law, Berik Bekzhanov, told
the meeting that it also aims to curb the activities of missionaries in the
area, which he criticised as "undermining family traditions and social
principles". The deputies argued that the existing Religion Law is "too
flexible", and asserted that "some religious organisations have started
posing a threat to the principles of tolerance and inter-religious accord".
The media have been full of stories in recent months highlighting what
officials claim to be law-breaking by religious organisations. A 10 April
report by Kazakhstan Today quoted Saparbek Nurpeisov of the General
Prosecutor’s Office as claiming that representatives of 1,870
"occult-mystical religious teachings" have been conducting "active
destructive activity". Among the groups he named in this category – which
he said bring "harm" to the country and are "dangerous" to individuals –
was the New Life Protestant Church. The mass media is often used by the
state to promote intolerance against religious communities the authorities
dislike (see eg. F18News 22 February 2008
< e_id=1091>).
Nurpeisov added that 50 leaders of "non-traditional faiths" and
"occult-mystical" groups had been punished under the Criminal or
Administrative Codes in 2007-8, while 13 foreigners had been expelled for
"missionary" activity. As usual in such official statements, peaceful
religious communities are deliberately mentioned in the same breath as
Al-Qaida and other violent groups.
Speaking at a conference on terrorism on 25 April, Majilis deputy Erzhan
Isakulov said the Religion Law must be strengthened to help counter
terrorism and extremism. Kazakh authorities have in the past sought to link
terrorism and serious crime with peaceful religious activity through the
mass media (see F18News 28 February 2007
< e_id’1>). Isakulov too quoted
the figure of 1,870 religious communities out of the more than 4,000
officially registered religious communities which he claimed "represent a
danger to national security and stability".
He quoted unnamed experts as claiming (wrongly) that Kazakhstan’s Religion
Law "is the most liberal law in the area of religion" of all twelve CIS
states. He complained that it is currently possible to register a religious
community in Kazakhstan with just a few members. Isakulov appears to be
unaware that Georgia has no Religion Law, while Ukraine, Russia, Armenia
and Moldova do not ban unregistered religious activity or impose such tight
restrictions as in Kazakhstan.
Law professor Podoprigora told Forum 18 that he is perplexed by how little
Parliament seems to care about initiatives such as the new restrictive
draft Law, despite the international human rights commitments Kazakhstan
took on and the country’s forthcoming chairmanship in 2010 of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Asked what he thought were the motives behind the new draft Law,
Podoprigora gave two possible reasons. "First it is the old problem of the
Soviet legal mindset, where the State must control every activity right
down to the very lowest level," he told Forum 18. "Second, this new law
might be an initiative from a few parliamentarians who want to make some
political gain." He maintained that there could be bona fide reasons to
fight terrorism but on a different level and with different methods.
Podoprigora commented that it seems that some officials are thinking about
democracy and freedoms while others are going against it. "It is like the
saying that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing."
(END)
For a personal commentary on how attacking religious freedom damages
national security in Kazakhstan, see F18News
< icle_id=564>.
For more background, see Forum 18’s Kazakhstan religious freedom survey at
< id=701>.
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kazakhstan
can be found at
< mp;religion=all&country=29>.
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
< id=806> and a survey of
religious intolerance in Central Asia is at
< id=815>.
A printer-friendly map of Kazakhstan is available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=kazakh& gt;.
(END)
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