The Constitution of Uzbekistan provides for freedom of religion and separation of church and state, although in practice this is not always the case. According to Human Rights Watch "authorities restrict religious freedom by preventing registration of religious communities, subjecting former religious prisoners to arbitrary controls, and prosecuting Muslims on broad and vaguely worded extremism-related charges." There is no restriction on mainstream religious practice by Muslims, Jews and Christians. Uzbek society is tolerant of Christian churches as long as they do not attempt to win converts among ethnic Uzbeks; the law prohibits or severely restricts proselytizing, importing and disseminating religious literature, and offering private religious instruction.
Using new criminal statutes enacted in 2006, criminal charges were brought against two pastors. One was sentenced to 4 years in a labor camp; the other received a suspended sentence and probation. The government has waged a campaign against Islamic groups suspected of extremism, sentencing members of these groups to lengthy jail terms. Many were suspected members of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), a banned extremist Islamic political movement, the banned Islamic group Akromiya (Akromiylar), or Wahhabi groups. A Pentecostal deacon was beaten after his church was featured in a documentary on state television against Christian evangelicals.
Since the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan has enjoyed greater religious freedom and the country was removed from an American list of problematic countries for religious tolerance.
Religious demography
The country has an area of and an estimated population of about 34 million. International experts believe the population has sustained a loss of 2 to 3 million in recent years due to the growing trend of labor migration from Uzbekistan to neighboring countries, Russia, South Korea, and the Middle East. Approximately 80 percent of the population is ethnic Uzbek; 5.5 percent Russian; 5 percent Tajik; 3 percent Kazakh; 2.5 percent Karakalpak; and 1.5 percent Tatar. There are no official statistics on membership in various religious groups; however, it is estimated that up to 90 percent of the population is nominally Sunni Muslim, of the Hanafi school. Shi'a Muslims, who are concentrated in the provinces of Bukhara and Samarkand, constitute an estimated 1 percent of the population. Approximately 5 percent of the population is Russian Orthodox, a percentage that declines as the number of ethnic Russians and other Slavs continue to emigrate. A growing number of Muslims and Russian Orthodox adherents actively practice their religion. Outside of Tashkent, practicing Muslims are now in the majority. During the period covered by this report, mosque attendance noticeably increased, particularly among younger men, who tend to constitute the majority of worshippers. The remaining 3 percent of the population includes small communities of Roman Catholics, Korean Christians, Baptists, Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists, evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Baháʼís, and Hare Krishnas, as well as atheists. In addition, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Ashkenazi and Bukharan Jews remain in the country, concentrated in the cities of Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand. At least 80,000 others have emigrated to Israel and the United States over the past two decades.
Status of religious freedom Legal and policy framework The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government and laws restricted these rights in practice. The Constitution also establishes the principle of separation of church and state. The Government prohibits religious groups from forming political parties and social movements.
The Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations (1998 Religion Law) provides for freedom of worship, freedom from religious persecution, separation of church and state, and the right to establish schools and train clergy; however, the law grants those rights only to registered groups. It also restricts religious rights that are judged to be in conflict with national security, prohibits proselytizing, bans religious subjects in public schools, prohibits the private teaching of religious principles, and requires religious groups to obtain a license to publish or distribute materials. The Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA), an agency accountable to the Cabinet of Ministers, must approve all religious literature.
The 1998 Religion Law requires all religious groups and congregations to register, and provides strict and burdensome criteria for their registration. Among its requirements, the law stipulates that each group must present a list of at least one hundred citizen members to the local branch of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). This provision enables the Government to ban any group by finding technical grounds for denying its registration petition. The CRA oversees registered religious activity. New mosques continued to face difficulties gaining registration, as did those closed previously that reapplied.
The law prohibits religious groups from training religious personnel if they do not have a registered central administrative body. Registration of a central body requires registered religious groups in 8 of the country's 13 provinces, an impossible requirement for most religious groups. There are six such entities that may legally train religious personnel. The law limits religious instruction to officially sanctioned religious schools and state-approved instructors. The law permits no private instruction and provides for fines for violations. The law prohibits the teaching of religious subjects in public schools.
Article 14 of the Religion Law prohibits the wearing of "cult robes" (religious clothing) in public places by all except "those serving in religious organizations."
The Criminal and Civil Codes contain stiff penalties for violating the Religion Law and other statutes on religious activities. In addition to the prohibited activities that include organizing an illegal religious group, the law also proscribes persuading others to join such a group and drawing minors into a religious organization without the permission of their parents. Any religious service conducted by an unregistered religious organization is illegal.
The Criminal Code formally distinguishes between "illegal" groups, which are those that are not registered properly, and "prohibited" groups, such as the extremist Islamist political party Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), Tabligh Jamoat, and other groups branded with the general term "Wahhabi" that are banned altogether. The code makes it a criminal offense, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, to organize an illegal religious group or to resume the activities of such a group after it has been denied registration or ordered to disband. In addition, the code punishes participation in such a group with up to 3 years in prison. The code also provides penalties of up to 20 years in prison (if the crime results in "grave consequences") for "organizing or participating" in the activities of religious extremist, fundamentalist, separatist, or other prohibited groups. In the past, courts often ignored the distinction between illegal and prohibited groups, and frequently convicted members of unapproved Muslim groups under both statutes. There were no reports of such practices during the reporting period.
The main laws under which authorities charge citizens for religious activity are article 159 (anti constitutional activity); article 216 (illegal establishment of public associations or religious organizations); article 216, section 2 (violation of legislation on religious organizations, including proselytism); article 244, section 1 (production and distribution of materials that create a threat to public security and public order); and article 244, section 2 (establishment, direction of, or participation in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist, or other banned organizations) of the Criminal Code. Citizens charged under these sections (particularly article 244, Section 2) are frequently charged with being members of HT.
December 2005 amendments to both the Criminal Code (article 217 Part 2) and Administrative Code (article 201) increased fines for repeated offenses of violations of the law on religious activity, raising them to 200 to 300 times the minimum monthly wage of $10 (12,420 soum) under the Criminal Code and 50 to 100 times the minimum wage under the Administrative Code.
June 2006 amendments to the Administrative Code punish "illegal production, storage, import or distribution of materials of religious content" with a fine of 20 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage for individuals, or 50 to 100 times the minimum monthly wage for officials of organizations, together with confiscation of the materials and the "corresponding means of producing and distributing them." Criminal Code article 244-3 addresses the same offense, punishing those already convicted under the corresponding article of the Administrative Code with a fine of 100 to 200 times the minimum monthly wage, or corrective labor of up to 3 years. Other changes introduced simultaneously to the Criminal and Administrative Codes punish the production and distribution of "literature promoting racial and religious hatred."
Although the law treats all registered religious denominations equally, the Government funds an Islamic university and the preservation of Islamic historic sites. In 2007, to mark Tashkent's designation as one of four Capitals of Islamic Culture by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the Government funded a major expansion of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan (Muftiate) offices and a large new mosque and library in the complex. The Government provided logistical support for 5,000 selected Muslims to participate in the Hajj, an increase from 4,200 the previous year, but the pilgrims paid their own expenses. The Government controls the Muftiate, which in turn controls the Islamic hierarchy, the content of imams' sermons, and the volume and substance of published Islamic materials. The Kurbon Hayit and Roza Hayit Islamic holy days are observed as national holidays.
The Government still did not implement any of the recommendations of a 2003 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) expert panel that reviewed the 1998 Religion Law and associated statutes and concluded that they were in violation of the international norms for religious freedom. The OSCE recommended lifting the bans on proselytizing and private religious instruction and decriminalizing activities of unregistered religious organizations.
Restrictions on religious freedom There were significant governmental restrictions on religious freedom during the period covered by this report. The Government, by continuing to deny registration to some religious groups and by deregistering others, deprived them of their legal right to worship. The Government restricted many religious practices and activities, punishing some citizens because they engaged in religious practices in violation of the registration laws.
While somewhat supportive of moderate Muslims, the Government, citing national security concerns, bans Islamic organizations it deems extremist and criminalizes membership in them. Chief among the banned organizations are Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Akromiya, Tabligh Jamoat, and various groups the Government broadly labeled Wahhabi. The Government states that it does not consider repression of persons or groups suspected of extremism to be a matter of religious freedom, but rather of preventing armed resistance to the Government.