Uzbekistan’s New Draft Law Could Lift Longstanding Restrictions on Religious Practice

The new law would remove bans on religious clothing (NeedPix).

Legislators in Uzbekistan approved a draft bill in its first reading that would expand religious freedom rights in the country on September 15. This new version of the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations Law is set to include, among other provisions, a lifting of the ban on wearing religious clothing in public.

The ban on religious clothing was introduced by Article 184-1 of the Code of Administrative Liability in 1998. Former Uzbek President Islam Karimov implemented it as part of his many restrictions on religious practice, as he wanted to discourage any public religious affiliation. With the exception of religious officials, any citizens wearing religious clothing in public risked fines or up to 15 days of administrative arrest. Additionally, violators often ended up on the country’s blacklists of suspected religious extremists, although use of the blacklists has since ended. 

Due to pushback from religious freedom advocates, government officials promised for years a replacement of the old law with a new, more permissive religious law. Sadyk Safoyev, the First Deputy Chair of the Senate (Uzbekistan’s upper chamber of parliament), announced that a draft of a new religion law had been prepared as early as September 2018. Earlier that year, Justice Minister Ruslanbek Davletov commented on how the definition of religious clothing was left up to judge interpretation and how “as a result, even in ordinary situations, people were brought to justice." The approval of the draft bill has accompanied a broader liberalization of religion in Uzbekistan, as the Interior Ministry announced the lifting of a ban on minors attending prayer at mosques on August 1.

Along with allowing citizens to wear religious clothing in public, this new draft law will also allow for the right to receive education from religious educational institutions, the right for parents to teach children the basics of religion at home, exemption from state duty payment when religious organizations apply to court to dispute the actions of officials, exclusion of Mahalla (fundamental administrative units in Uzbekistan) participation in the registration of a religious organization, and a reduction in the number of people needed to register a religious organization from 100 to 50. These steps seem to satisfy additional issues regarding long standing trends that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had when it removed Uzbekistan from its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in April. 

Some human rights activists are not satisfied with the proposed changes, however, as the new allowances for religious practice are still conditional on state permission. Activist Bahodyr Eliboyev, from the Fergana region in Eastern Uzbekistan, has gone as far as to say, “There's not much difference between the draft law and the current law.” Exercise of religious practice at home is still limited, as the law still states that “religious rites and ceremonies” are to be conducted in registered places of worship and pilgrimage, while only allowing for practice at home “in cases of ritual necessity.”  While parents are now allowed to teach their children the basics of religion and ethics, further undertaking of religious educational activity on a private basis is still included as illegal religious activity under the new law. And, while the conditions for religious organization registration have been relaxed somewhat, Uzbekistani activist Abduvohid Yakubov claims that the process is still burdensome and lacks transparency. 

Deputy Minister of Justice Khudoyor Meliyev said that the bill was developed as a “roadmap” in accordance with Uzbek President Mirziyoyev’s National Human Rights Strategy, which has taken into account the requirements of international standards and the concerns of the people of Uzbekistan. There is still room for public opinion to influence changes to the draft bill, as it has only passed through one reading and will still require two more in the lower chamber of parliament before it is sent to the Senate for further approval.