Legal Reform in Uzbekistan: Prospects for Freedom of Religion or Belief and Covenantal Pluralism

Abstract

This article examines religious legislation reform in Uzbekistan since 2017, when President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took power after the death of his predecessor Islam Karimov. The article evaluates to what extent the reforms that the Uzbek government has been trying to implement in recent years are advancing religious freedom in Uzbekistan, and to what extent they are helpful in developing covenantal pluralism. The article argues that Uzbekistan has made some progress in furthering freedom of religion or belief for all, thereby improving prospects for covenantal pluralism. However, there are still serious obstacles preventing believers, and especially religious minorities, from full enjoyment of freedom of religion and liberty of conscience.

Keywords:

• religious freedom
• covenantal pluralism
• legal reform
• law and religion
• Uzbekistan
• Central Asia

Acknowledgements

This article is part of this journal's Covenantal Pluralism Series, a project generously supported via a grant to the Institute for Global Engagement from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Notes

1 Other enabling conditions identified by Stewart, Seiple, and Hoover (forthcoming) include (a) religious literacy, and (b) the embodiment and expression of virtues necessary for positive relationships across religious/worldview lines.

2 See Art. 29 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan (“Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of thought, speech and convictions. Everyone shall have the right to seek, obtain and disseminate any information except that which is directed against the existing constitutional system and some other instances specified by law. Freedom of opinions and their expression may be restricted by law if any state or other secret is involved.”), Art. 31 (“Freedom of conscience shall be guaranteed to all. Everyone shall have the right to profess or not to profess any religion. A compulsory imposition of religion shall be impermissible.”), Art. 18 (“All citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall have equal rights and freedoms, and shall be equal before law without discrimination by sex, race, nationality, language, religion, social origin, convictions, individual and social status.”), and Art. 61 (“Religious organizations and associations shall be separated from the state and equal before law. The state shall not interfere in the activity of religious associations.”).

3 See Art. 18 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”).

4 According to Art. 19 of the 1998 Uzbek Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, “The central managerial bodies of religious organizations are entitled to produce, export, import and distribute articles used for religious purposes, religious literature and other information religious materials in keeping with the procedure established by the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Religious literature published abroad is delivered and sold in the Republic only after preliminary examination of its contents in keeping with the procedure established by the legislation. The central managerial bodies of religious organizations have and exclusive right to issue and distribute religious articles provided an appropriate license is available. Production, storing and distribution of publications, cine-, photo-, audio-, video-production and other materials containing ideas of religious extremism and separatism entail responsibility under the law.”

5 The fee for registering a local religious organization was reduced from 50 to 10 20 times the minimum monthly wage (from $1,100 to $220), while in 2019 the average monthly wage in the country was $225.

6 See the Federal Law of The Russian Federation on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations No 125-FZ, 26 September 1997, and the ECtHR’s case Kimlya v. Russia.

7 See also Art. 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. 2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice).

8 The OSCE states reaffirmed that, “[E]veryone will have the right to freedom of expression including the right to communication. This right will include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. The exercise of this right may be subject only to such restrictions as are prescribed by law and are consistent with international standards. In particular, no limitation will be imposed on access to, and use of, means of reproducing documents of any kind, while respecting, however, rights relating to intellectual property, including copyright” (OSCE 1991). See also OSCE (1994) (“The participating States reaffirm that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and a basic component of a democratic society.”); OSCE (1999, para. 26) (“We reaffirm the importance of … the free flow of information as well as the public’s access to information. We commit ourselves to take all necessary steps to ensure the basic conditions for … unimpeded transborder and intra-State flow of information … ”).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth A. Clark

Elizabeth A. Clark is Associate Director of Brigham Young University’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. She has published widely on law and religion topics. Professor Clark has given over 65 presentations in the U.S. and 15 other countries, and has testified before the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has drafted legal analyses of pending legislation and developments affecting religious freedom for the OSCE, the U.S. State Department, USAID, and numerous other governments and NGOs.

Dmytro Vovk

Dmytro Vovk runs the Center for Rule of Law and Religion Studies at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine). He is an academic adviser on religious freedom to several Ukrainian and international institutions. In 2019, Vovk was appointed to the OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Among his recent publications is the edited volume Religion during the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict (Routledge 2020, with Elizabeth A. Clark). He co-edits the “Talk About: Law and Religion” blog.