DUSHANBE, September 14, 2011, Asia-Plus – The US State Department’s latest “Report on International Religious Freedom,” which spans July to December 2010, identifies widespread challenges in its survey of nearly 200 countries.
The stated goal of the report, released on September 13, is to “bear witness to those who are persecuted because of their faith and shine a light on governments and societies that promote or tolerate such abuses.”
The report identifies eight countries — including Iran, Uzbekistan, China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia — as “countries of particular concern.” The designation is applied to countries that have “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” and where the abuses are “egregious, ongoing, and systematic.”
Beyond the worst offenders, the report identifies nations including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as facing significant challenges in upholding religious freedoms.
In Tajikistan, the constitution protects religious freedom; however, other laws and policies place restrictions on religious freedom and, in practice, the government enforces these restrictions, the report notes. According to the report, the government”s level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice was poor and declined during the reporting period.
“The March 2009 Law on Religion expanded the government”s power to regulate religious communities and required all registered religious organizations to reregister with the government by January 1, 2010. Most religious groups completed the re-registration process by the deadline, although at least 28 mosques were “temporarily closed” by the government, and some religious minority communities continued to report that local officials obstructed their efforts to register new churches.
“In August 2010, the president ordered the government to return all local students who were studying religion in foreign madrassahs without the approval of the government. The government also maintained bans on religious groups it has classified as “extremist.” Over the report period, restrictions existed on forms of religious expression. The Ministry of Education maintained a dress code that banned the hijab (women”s headscarf) in schools and universities. Officials defended the ban, saying it was needed to preserve the secular education system. Women wearing a traditional local head covering, a scarf which covers the hair but not the neck, were allowed to study in schools and universities. Government officials, including the Minister of Education, made public statements deriding women who wore the hijab.”
