While human rights have long proven a source of concern in
the five Central Asian nations, the issue of religious freedom has gone largely
unreported. Felix Corley, the editor of Forum 18 News Service, an agency
monitoring religious freedom in the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe,
is endeavouring to change that. In an interview with
IRIN from London, he called on the international community to pay greater
attention to this pressing issue.
QUESTION: How would you describe the state of religious freedom in Central Asia
today?
ANSWER: The majority of citizens in Central Asia do not enjoy religious
freedom. Especially in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, there are severe limits on
the rights to gather freely for worship in religious communities organised as members see fit, to register religious
communities with the authorities if members wish to, to spread one's faith, and
to publish and receive religious literature of their choice in the language of
their choice.
As Forum 18 News Service has reported, Turkmenistan in effect has outlawed all
faith communities except for Sunni Muslim mosques and Russian Orthodox
parishes. Uzbekistan - which criminalised
unregistered religious activity in 1998 - has closed down most of the country's
mosques, and severely restricts Protestant, Jehovah's Witness and other
minority communities. Prior compulsory censorship of religious literature is in
force. Although religious freedom problems are not as serious in Kazakhstan,
minority religious communities - especially Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses
and Hare Krishna communities - have had difficulty registering or have been
punished for functioning without registration. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have
also seen official pressure on such minority religious communities.
Q: Since these countries gained independence in 1991, would you say the situation
with regard to religious freedom has improved or worsened?
A: Definitely worsened. Governments have been working hard in the last five or
six years to roll back the religious freedom that grew up in the early years
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Forum 18 has documented. Although
there was not the extent of religious freedom in Central Asia in the early
1990s as existed in the European parts of the CIS [Commonwealth if Independent
States], religious communities had freedom to function far more openly than
today. But as authoritarian rule was consolidated in the mid-1990s, religious
freedom suffered, and restrictive new religious laws were imposed in
Turkmenistan in 1996 and in Uzbekistan in 1998.
Q: Religious intolerance can take many forms. What are the main examples that
can be found in Central Asia?
A: The worst religious intolerance comes not from rival faiths, but from the
government and its officials at all levels. Muslims are treated with great
suspicion as a source of any potential political challenge to the regime, while
members of minority faiths are often viewed as "traitors" to their
ancestral faith (Islam for native people, Russian Orthodoxy for ethnic Slavs).
Officials, particularly in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, often
insult and threaten members of minority faiths, Forum 18 has heard, and even
sometimes try to coerce them into changing faith.
At the same time, there is some genuine popular concern - especially in
Kyrgyzstan - about the numbers of people reportedly converting to other faiths.
Converts of Kyrgyz and Uzbek ethnicity in Kyrgyzstan have shunned members of
minority faiths, tried to expel them from villages and refused to allow their
dead to be buried in communal graveyards.
Q: Given the human rights dimension, why hasn't this issue received more
attention? Surely there must be a reason.
A: This remains a mystery. All five Central Asian states are members of the
United Nations and the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, and Kazakhstan would like to join the Council of Europe.
As members of these organisations, the governments
have pledged themselves to abide by human rights commitments that they
shamelessly flout.
Q: How open is discrimination based on faith in the region?
A: During interviews with Forum 18, government officials often make no attempt
to hide their actions that restrict the rights of religious minorities. In
Turkmenistan, members of minority faiths have even been sacked from their jobs,
for example as teachers or doctors, in retaliation for their faith.
Q: Are there religious groups more vulnerable than others? What about the
Jehovah's Witnesses?
A: The Jehovah's Witnesses have suffered for their faith in Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and, to a lesser extent, Kazakhstan. But in a sense their cases are
well known around the world as the Jehovah's Witnesses make known the cases of
their followers. Other faiths with fewer connections around the world - such as
local Protestant churches, or Hare Krishna devotees, even members of the Baha'i faith - have been less able or willing to make their
cases known, often out of well-justified fear that publicising
their cases might make the situation worse.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is one of the many faiths effectively banned in Turkmenistan,
but the church has so far not complained publicly of this, forcing local
Armenian believers to attend Russian Orthodox churches, although the Armenian
Church is of the Oriental, not the Orthodox tradition. Even Muslims, whose
rights are widely violated in Turkmenistan (Shi'ah
mosques in particular have been denied registration) and Uzbekistan, have no
system for publicising violations.
Q: What in your opinion have been the worst incidents you have documented over
the past 13 years?
A: The saddest cases have been when places of worship have been bulldozed. In
November 1999 - not long after two Hare Krishna temples were destroyed in
Turkmenistan - the government bulldozed the Adventist church in the capital,
Ashgabat. "As I write this letter I mourn, my heart is crying," wrote
Alexander Shvarts, the head of the Central Asian
Adventist Union, as he reported the news. "One of the most beautiful
church buildings in our Union has been demolished." A mosque was torn down
soon after.
Q: Your group has been particularly critical of Turkmenistan. Can you update us
on the situation there?
A: Turkmenistan remains the worst violator of religious freedom. During the
summer, the authorities have continued their raids on unregistered places of
worship. Forum 18 News Service has this week reported on a Baptist church in Balkanabad, all of whose members were fined in the summer,
are now seeing further fines - at double the previous rate.
Q: What role do you feel the international community can play, if any, in
mitigating the problem?
A: The first thing is for everyone - individuals, human rights groups,
religious communities, governments and international organisations
- to have accurate information about religious freedom issues in the region.
One way is via news agencies like Forum 18 News Service (our website
http://www.forum18.org allows anyone to subscribe to our news articles on email
free of charge). The one thing officials who violate religious freedom hate is
for their actions to be made public around the world. We make sure that those
violating religious freedom have the opportunity to explain to the rest of the
world why they are doing so. We leave it to readers to decide what attitude to
take to the violations Forum 18 reports and what action to take, but we hope
readers will respond and help promote religious freedom for citizens of the
region and elsewhere.
Q: How hopeful are you on the issue of religious freedom in Central Asia?
A: The fact that religious believers continue to meet for worship, discussion
and study despite the risks shows that religious belief remains a powerful
force in people's lives. People who are prepared to suffer for their faith are
an inspiration to the rest of the world and show that individuals cannot be
subjugated to the will of governments.