Kazakh draft law could shut out minorities
Kazakhstan has passed a draft law that imposes greater restrictions on religious groups, part of moves to crack down on Islamic militancy, news reports said. Rights groups are concerned it could hurt religious minorities.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev
- Kazakhstan
- September 30, 2011
Kazakhstan's upper house of parliament has passed a draft law that imposes greater restrictions on religious groups, part of a raft of measures designed to crack down on growing Islamic militancy, reports Telegraph.co.uk.
The bill approved by the Senate will require existing religious organizations in the mainly Muslim nation to dissolve and register again through a procedure that is virtually guaranteed to exclude smaller groups, including minority Christian communities, said an AP report in the Washington Post.
"The bill prohibits religious associations that are bent on the destruction of families, force the abandonment of property in favour of religious communities ... and that are harmful to the morals and health of citizens," the upper chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament said this week in a statement, according to the AP.
The authorities have barred access to some websites that it accuses of stoking militant Islam and they see restrictive laws on religion as a natural extension of the battle against extremism, the Telegraph report says.
But rights groups disagree.
"These provisions are very troubling, as they grossly curb Kazakhstani citizens' right to freely practice and express their faith" said Susan Corke, senior program manager for Eurasia at the US-based lobby group Freedom House, in a statement earlier this week.
Under the new law a group will be refused registration at a local level if it has fewer than 50 members. At a regional level a religious group is required to have more than 500 members for registration and at a national level more than 5,000.
Kazakhstan is an ethnically diverse, nominally secular state. The majority of Kazakhstan's 17 million people are Muslims although there are a number of smaller religious groups, including Christians, which would be affected by the new draft law.
The draft laws also restrict where people can worship and bans prayer rooms from government buildings.
The AP report in the Washington Post adds that the bill needs approval from President Nursultan Nazarbayev before it can become law, but says it is a mere formality - since he urged parliament earlier this month to introduce tighter controls over religious groups.
FULL STORY
New laws in Kazakhstan to restrict religious groups (Telegraph.co.uk)
Kazakhstan passes restrictive religion law expected to shut out minority groups (Washington Post/AP)
PHOTO CREDIT
Wikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0
The bill approved by the Senate will require existing religious organizations in the mainly Muslim nation to dissolve and register again through a procedure that is virtually guaranteed to exclude smaller groups, including minority Christian communities, said an AP report in the Washington Post.
"The bill prohibits religious associations that are bent on the destruction of families, force the abandonment of property in favour of religious communities ... and that are harmful to the morals and health of citizens," the upper chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament said this week in a statement, according to the AP.
The authorities have barred access to some websites that it accuses of stoking militant Islam and they see restrictive laws on religion as a natural extension of the battle against extremism, the Telegraph report says.
But rights groups disagree.
"These provisions are very troubling, as they grossly curb Kazakhstani citizens' right to freely practice and express their faith" said Susan Corke, senior program manager for Eurasia at the US-based lobby group Freedom House, in a statement earlier this week.
Under the new law a group will be refused registration at a local level if it has fewer than 50 members. At a regional level a religious group is required to have more than 500 members for registration and at a national level more than 5,000.
Kazakhstan is an ethnically diverse, nominally secular state. The majority of Kazakhstan's 17 million people are Muslims although there are a number of smaller religious groups, including Christians, which would be affected by the new draft law.
The draft laws also restrict where people can worship and bans prayer rooms from government buildings.
The AP report in the Washington Post adds that the bill needs approval from President Nursultan Nazarbayev before it can become law, but says it is a mere formality - since he urged parliament earlier this month to introduce tighter controls over religious groups.
FULL STORY
New laws in Kazakhstan to restrict religious groups (Telegraph.co.uk)
Kazakhstan passes restrictive religion law expected to shut out minority groups (Washington Post/AP)
PHOTO CREDIT
Wikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0
