New controls on religious travel and literature ignore OSCE recommendations and violate Kazakstan’s international human rights commitments.
When on December 22, 2016, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed into law amendments to the already repressive 2011 statutes governing expression of religion and belief in the country, he solidified his intent to use “national security” as a rallying cry to restrict religious freedom.
It is not permissible under international human rights agreements—to which Kazakhstan is a party—to cite “national security” as cause to restrict freedom of religion or belief. The President’s action reflects his heavily promoted campaign to position exercise of religion or belief as a state security issue.
After killings in the city of Aqtobe in June 2016, the President announced to the Security Council that legal changes would be forthcoming “to ensure national security.” He gave the government two months to come up with legislative initiatives, to be enacted in 2016, “in the sphere of countering terrorism and extremism, production, storage and sale of weapons, in the area of regulating migration and religious associations.”
The new restrictions, embedded in the Law on Amendments and Additions to Various Laws on Questions of Countering Extremism and Terrorism, prepared by the National Security Committee (KNB) secret police, are in force as of this week—10 days after the law’s official publication December 27.
Five Codes and 20 laws were amended, including the 2011 Religion Law, but removed none of the existing restrictions on religion already imposed by the 2011 Religion Law, and put in place new prohibitions on free expression.
Numerous recommendations from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to remove existing restrictions and refrain from adding new provisions were ignored—particularly censorship of religious literature and restrictions on foreign travel for religious purposes.
“The amendments removed none of the existing restrictions on exercising freedom of religion or belief already enshrined in the 2011 Religion Law and punishable under the Administrative Code or Criminal Code. These restrictions and punishments already violated Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments,” said Felix Corley in an analysis for the Christian religious freedom Forum 18 News Service in Oslo, Norway.
For his full report and analysis, see http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2243
