Religious Discrimination and Related Violations of Helsinki Commitments. Kazakhstan
Report to the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Religion

Vienna, 22 March 1999

Kazakhstan has a history of religious tolerance. In addition to the majority religions - Islam and Orthodox Christianity – members and supporters other Christian religions, Buddhism, the Hare Krishna Movement and others have traditionally been able to carry out their activities relatively freely.

Article 22 of the Kazakh constitution guarantees freedom of conscience provided that the "exercise of such a freedom does not preclude [people] from performing [their] duties and obligations to the state." The law on the freedom of religion was adopted in 1992 and revised in 1997.

Both the constitution and the law on the freedom religion contain restrictions on the practice of religions, which are not "traditional" in Kazakhstan. In recent years, such restrictions have been implemented more strictly, also resorting to violations of the law. Local authorities have often interfered in the activities of religious organizations under various pretexts. Particularly those communities whose leaders are foreigners have been targeted. They have not been allowed to register, they have been subjected to various forms of checks, and their members have been harassed. Local authorities and media have even called for bans on their activities.

• The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Alamlinskiy District in Almaty carried out checks over six weeks in the Charismatic Evangelic Church of Christ. Then the prosecutor initiated judicial proceedings to suspend its activities. The prosecutor cited violations of tax laws, the lack of obligatory accreditation for the Kyrgyz pastor, and the failure of the church to re-register after several of its founding members had left the community. The Public Prosecutor’s act was illegal as, by law, only agencies under the Ministry of Justice are authorized to perform control over the activities of religious organizations. The Prosecutor’s Office may ask a court to ban the activities of a religious organization only at the request of such agencies and only if the activities have exceeded the scope set forth in the statutes of the organization. According to the prosecutor, the suspension was justified because his office had found "…that eight founding members of this religious organization did not attend their church meetings during a long period owing to various reasons." According to the Almaty Helsinki Group, the public prosecutor had himself "advised" several founding members to write letters of resignation, which were then used as "evidence" against the church. Moreover, even if the Prosecutor’s Office had found irregularities in the churches activities, it should first have ordered the organization to straighten them out within as certain period of time. The Bostandykskiy District Court initiated proceedings.
• Two female lecturers at the University of the city of Taraz (Southern Kazakhstan), both former Muslims but now active members of a Christian minority church, were moved to other positions because their conviction did not "comply with the state ideology." For this reason, they were deemed as unsuitable to instruct young people. At the same their working time and salaries were reduced. They were also warned that their labor contracts would not be prolonged.

As of early 1999, the Kazakh government was preparing amendments to the current law to provide for further restrictions on the activities of religious minority groups. The proponents of such amendments have stated that there is need to enforce the role of the state in controlling the activities of non-traditional religions.