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A.C.N - Aid to the Church in Need Italian Office |
Religious Freedom in
the Majority Islamic Countries |
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Kyrgyzstan Population:
4,595,000
Religious liberty is recognised. The Constitution declares that Kyrgyzstan is a secular state and as such separate from religion. Liberty of worship and of conscience is protected under Article 16 of the Constitution and by Article 146 of the penal code. However, all organisations must be registered, and on occasion this permission is refused. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is not viewed favourably. According to the organisation Human Rights Without Frontiers, the religious laws in Kyrgyzstan were sufficiently tolerant up to 1996, with 120 communities registered. In 1996 the Commission for Religious Affairs was re-established (it was formed under communism and abolished in 1992) with the intention of controlling and reinforcing inter-religious tolerance and protecting liberty of conscience. The result was the banning of a large proportion of the Islamic community in order to create a new one, closer to the Government. According to the Keston News Service at the end of November 1997, a draft law is thought to have been discussed on the religious minorities. The newspapers have recently promoted the opinion that the excessive religious freedom has permitted the flourishing of a variety of sects and the strengthening of fundamentalism, thereby creating divisions within society. As a result they are calling for restrictions on "non-traditional religions". Likewise, the organisation Human Rights Without Frontiers of April 14 1998 reported that for some months a committee in Kyrgyzstan had been meeting to draw up a new law on religion. The part of the text that is known includes a number of ambiguities which could involve pressure on non- traditional religious groups. Article 5 promises complete liberty and equality, but a series of clauses reveal that any benefits and rights are principally to be accorded to the "traditional religious organisations", which are not specified in any part of the text. To give one example, although the educational system is considered as separate from religion, some groups have the possibility of participating in the moral education of the pupils. The non- traditional groups cannot preach in state or private schools, nor promulgate their message in public places or via the mass media. On paper some aspects appear less restrictive than the Russian version, but the ambiguities remain. The religious groups may import sacred literature only in cases where it does not instigate racial or social hatred, as was the case with the "Church of Christ" which distributed publications attacking ancestor worship and the national culture. This religious committee can seem to act in a tolerant or restrictive manner, according to one’s interpretation. In addition there are articles of the Penal Code (147, 259 and 299) which prohibit the actions of religious groups who persuade people to refuse participation in social activities or civil duties. At the end of 1997 there were some 103 religious organisations registered; in reality there are over 200. The larger religious denominations receive a sort of state recognition, the Islamic and Orthodox Christian religious festivals are declared public holidays. The State Commission has passed three provisions requiring the registration of foreign organisations, missions and of those citizens who arrive in the Republic in order to make "propaganda", and hence also religious instruction. Registration can be refused if the activities are not conducive to public security and social stability, or inter-ethnic and inter-religious order and harmony. In January 1987 a Council for Religious Affairs was established on the orders of the Vice Premier, on which the sole representative of the organisations are those of Islam and the Orthodox Church. The penal code of this republic forbids the evasion of military service without legal basis. Desertion, however, is a serious problem; a large number of men called to arms seek any form of escape to avoid military service, risking sentences of one to three years and of one to five years if they are convicted of false statements. There is no right under the constitution to an alternative to military service on the basis of a different creed. With regard to the right to religious liberty, according to Human Rights Without Frontiers of December 8 1998, there are numerous restrictions, which relate above all to the Muslim "fundamentalists" defined as "Wahabi" by the authorities. The Ministry of national security set up special units in December 1997 to control the activities of such groups; these forces have, among other things, confiscated 400 copies of a religious book published in Saudi Arabia. In February 1998 Colonel Talan Razakov, who heads the department for the religious organisations within the Ministry of National Security, expressed his own disappointment with the constitutional ruling guaranteeing the freedom to choose one’s own religion, since he did not consider that it helped in preventing the activities of the "Wahabi". The action of the authorities is supported by the Muslim Spiritual Table of Kyrgyzstan, whose conflict with the former mufti Sadykyan Kamalov has led to the closure of the Islamic Centre which followed him. A number of Muslims have been expelled from the country recently; they include 20 Pakistanis in 1997, the Imam Karimov, who had sought refuge there from Tajikistan, and an Uzbek citizen in 1998. In April and May 1998, some 20 or so Uighurs were arrested for possession of illegal arms and "Wahabi" videos. |
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