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Human Rights Watch Statement: Freedom of Religion
On the Occasion of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Warsaw
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(September 12, 2002)
Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the OSCE’s active engagement to promote freedom of religion in the region. Regrettably, though, this precious freedom is imperiled in many member states. Today, some of the most egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion take place in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia, but serious abuses have grown in the past year in the region’s more developed democracies.
Uzbekistan
For nearly five years now, the government of Uzbekistan has imprisoned and persecuted those whose peaceful practice of Islam falls beyond government controls. Since last year’s implementation meeting, this campaign against independent Muslims has been unrelenting. Hundreds more people have been arrested or sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their religious practices and affiliations. Among them are people released under last year’s amnesty. Police beat and torture religious detainees to coerce testimony. After conviction, prison officials torture religious inmates and compel them daily to renounce their faith and ask the state’s forgiveness. Earlier this month, two religious prisoners died in custody under circumstances that clearly indicated they had been tortured.
For years, the Uzbek government had justified its brutal suppression of independent Islam as a legitimate response to security threats; after the September 11 attacks, the Uzbek government justified it as a legitimate measure in the war on terrorism. But in the wake of September 11, as in previous years, victims have been non-violent Muslims whose beliefs, practices, and affiliations do not conform to the strict parameters established by the Uzbek government on religion. They prayed at home or in mosques unregistered by the government, possessed or distributed literature not sanctioned by the government, belonged to unregistered Islamic organizations, or were followers of Islamic clerics who fell out of favor with the government. Many of the victims are members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamic organization with a strict interpretation of the Koran that advocates the peaceful removal of the Karimov government and reinstatement of the Islamic Caliphate. Significantly, Hizb-ut-Tahrir does not espouse and has not resorted to violent or terrorist methods to achieve political change.
Turkmenistan
The past year has, likewise, seen no improvement in religious freedom in Turkmenistan, one of the most repressive countries in the OSCE region. Since 1997, the government has officially allowed only two religious denominations, Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodox Christianity, and has viciously persecuted those who follow other faiths, which it considers illegal. Among those most affected have been Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentacostalists, Baptists, Adventists, and Hare Krishnas. Islamic groups also suffer state harassment. Only the department of theology at Ashgabad University, which is under strict police surveillance, has the right to teach Islamic studies. The Shiite community has been denied registration since 1997.
Georgia
In Georgia, throughout the past year, organized groups of civilian militants have staged dozens of attacks on non-Orthodox Christian faiths, primarily Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evangelists, Pentacostalists and Baptists. Human Rights Watch has documented many of these through first-hand testimony. Victims described in detail bodily injuries they sustained and theft or vandalization of their property. They described several cases in which police failed to intervene when they could have stopped attacks that were underway. Where police have responded to victim complaints, they often fail to collect evidence, question suspects, or detain perpetrators, even when the perpetrators have been identified. On numerous occasions, police displayed open hostility to the victims.
The authorities’ response to these attacks has been meager. While religious believers have suffered more than 100 assaults throughout the past two and a half years, only one criminal trial has begun, that of Vasili Mkalavishvili and Petre Ivanidze, for five violent attacks perpetrated in late 2000 and early 2001. Even while they were on trial, they continued to lead further attacks. Their ability to do so, combined with the intimidating atmosphere at the trial, indicate that the Georgian government has no serious commitment to breaking the cycle of impunity or to protecting non-Orthodox Christian believers.
As a result of government inaction, what began as an isolated stronghold of intolerance in one neighborhood of Tbilisi has quickly escalated into a nationwide wave of mob assaults. The government’s expressions of concern about religious violence are welcome, but are no substitute for accountability and protection. Leading Georgian officials have argued unconvincingly that the violence can be adequately addressed only after the adoption of a law on religion.
The U.S. and Western Europe
Against the backdrop of the war against terrorism and the conflict in the Middle East, the past year has seen a rise in violence and hate crimes in the U.S. and Western Europe targeting Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, and Jews on account of race, national origin and religion. Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned about these trends and the failure of some OSCE governments to take prompt and effective measures to protect vulnerable groups and curb the violence. We strongly urge all participating states to make every effort to publicly set a tone of interethnic and inter-religious respect and tolerance and ensure that those perpetrating crimes of ethnic and religious hatred and violence are swiftly brought to justice.
Human Rights Watch appreciates the OSCE’s firm commitment to religious freedom, reflected in its many activities surrounding this issue. We are concerned that despite these commendable efforts, however, conditions have worsened in much of the region. Accordingly, we recommend that:
- The OSCE organize a supplementary human dimension meeting on religious freedom and tolerance, to follow up on the 1999 meeting, evaluate the degree to which its recommendations have been implemented, and develop new strategies for fostering religious tolerance in light of new challenges. The meeting should have as one of its aims the elaboration of OSCE commitments pertaining to combating impunity for discrimination, violence and other crimes perpetrated on the basis of religion by both state agents and non-state actors.
- The OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, established under the auspices of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, should engage those OSCE participating states in which urgent reforms are needed, including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia, to amend and/or adopt, as appropriate, legislation pertaining to religion that guarantees freedom of religion and belief and brings it into compliance with international human rights standards.
On a final note, Human Rights Watch notes with appreciation the ongoing ODIHR-sponsored human rights awareness raising programs in Georgia, one series of which has focused on the problem of widespread religious intolerance in the country. We encourage the continuation and further expansion of this initiative, to target also more specific professional groups, such as law enforcement officials and the judiciary. The ODIHR might also consider duplicating this program in other participating states marked by systematic violations of religious freedom.
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