FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 13, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) calls on the government of Burma to protect religious and ethnic minorities during the post-election period and beyond.  Although Election Day largely was peaceful, the underlying electoral process was deeply flawed given the disturbing interjection of religion, the 25 percent reservation for the military of unelected seats, and the disenfranchisement of Rohingya Muslims. 

“While political transitions can spur positive transformations, uncertainty during times of change also can lead to unrest and instability.  The government of Burma must do everything in its power to stave off violence and protect those who could become targets, particularly religious and ethnic minorities,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.

Notwithstanding their eventual outcome, Burma’s elections took place in an environment of diminished rights and protections for religious and ethnic minorities.  For example, along with the many voters from the beleaguered Rohingya Muslim community who were disenfranchised and Rohingya candidates disqualified, polls were postponed or canceled in several villages throughout ethnic areas, including Kachin, Karen, Mon, and Shan states.

Additionally, a group of revered Buddhist monks manipulated religion for political ends, thereby flagrantly violating a constitutional ban on such actions.  In the weeks and months ahead of the elections, these monks, known by their local acronym Ma Ba Tha, orchestrated the passage of four discriminatory “race and religion bills” that diminish the rights of all non-Buddhists and women.  Ma Ba Tha used these laws, including those that regulate interfaith marriage and religious conversions, to promote fear and hatred against Muslims, seeking to unduly influence the political debate.  USCIRF publicly criticized these actions in August and January of this year.

“Burma cannot expect to build a democracy while sowing religious and ethnic hatred and divisions.  With these elections, the country moved the needle in its political transition, but it has not yet become a rights-respecting nation that genuinely adheres to international standards for religious freedom and related human rights,” said Chairman George. “While we congratulate Burma on this first step, we also urge the Burmese government to begin healing deep-seated divisions by protecting vulnerable religious and ethnic communities.”

USCIRF again recommended in 2015 that Burma be designated as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act for its particularly severe violations of religious freedom.  The State Department has designated Burma as a CPC since 1999, most recently in July 2014.  For more information, see the Burma Chapter (in English and Burmese) in USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report. 

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today criticized the Tajik government’s ongoing efforts to control religious activities, especially those of the country’s majority Muslim population. These efforts include the recent ban of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) due to allegations of extremism, the arrest of some 200 IRPT activists, and the alleged torture and other human rights abuses committed against IRPT detainees. 

“The government’s suppression of independent religious activities provides yet another example of the Tajik government using its overly broad extremism law against peaceful and independent Islamic religious activity or affiliation, a counterproductive approach that risks increasing radicalization rather than reducing it.  USCIRF believes that these actions, along with its ban of the IRPT, should guarantee Tajikistan a CPC designation from the State Department, a designation which USCIRF recommends in our 2015 Annual Report.  Official efforts to suppress the IRPT often have been intertwined with government repression of Islamic practice.  USCIRF urges Secretary of State Kerry to raise religious freedom concerns when he arrives tomorrow in Tajikistan,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.

The legal environment for religious freedom in Tajikistan has deteriorated recently, largely to the implementation of the 2009 religion law which: establishes onerous registration requirements for all religious groups; criminalizes all unregistered religious activity as well as private religious education and proselytism; requires official permission for religious groups to provide religious instruction and communicate with foreign co-religionists; and imposes state controls over the content, publication, and import of all religious materials.

The Tajik government imposes additional restrictions on Muslims such as: limiting the number and size of mosques; closing hundreds of unregistered mosques and prayer rooms; and demolishing three unregistered mosques in Dushanbe. The Tajik government pays imams’ salaries in the largest mosques and restricts the preaching of sermons to these mosques.  Muslim prayer officially is allowed only in mosques, cemeteries, homes, and shrines. As of October 2015, Tajik authorities reportedly are prohibiting government employees from attending Friday prayers.

The IRPT was the only legal Islamist political party in the former Soviet Union.  It was granted such status as part of the country’s post-civil war peace settlement, and for 15 years was represented in Tajikistan’s parliament. The IRPT called for respecting Tajikistan’s secular constitution and international religious freedom commitments.  It opposed the government’s decision in 2005 to close eight mosques near the Uzbek border and its destruction in 2007 of mosques in the capital, Dushanbe.  Last year, the IRPT backed a parliamentary initiative that would allow children to attend mosques, which Tajik law currently forbids, and in 2015 it criticized a government campaign against beards and headscarves. 

The 200 IRPT members imprisoned since September include former parliamentarian Saidumar Husaini, IRPT Deputy Chair Mahmadali Hait, journalist Hikmatulloh Saifullohzoda, Islamic scholar Zubaidullah Roziq, and many IRPT regional activists. They have been denied access to their families, doctors, and lawyers.  The day after jailed IRPT deputy chairman Saidumar Husain told Buzurgmehr Yorov, his defense attorney, that he had been tortured, Yorov was arrested as was another IRPT attorney.  Jailed IRPT lawyer Zarafo Rahmoni reportedly has been severely abused and had threatened to commit suicide unless she was released.  IPRT leader Muhiddin Kabiri, forced into foreign exile, asserted that official extremism charges against his party were false and politically motivated. Several days ago, many of Kabiri’s relatives and his driver were tortured into confessing involvement in a deputy Tajik defense minister’s violent attack on a police station.    

The U.S. delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others, also have expressed concern about the Tajik government’s actions against the IRPT.  USCIRF has recommended since 2012 that Tajikistan be named a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) because of its numerous harsh laws and policies that severely restrict freedom of religion or belief. 

To read USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report chapter on Tajikistan, click here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres participated in a timely conversation yesterday hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  The conversation focused on the urgent refugee crisis taking place in Syria and across many parts of the world, the role of religious freedom violations in this crisis, and policies that best would address conflicts and their humanitarian consequences.

USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George gave opening comments and USCIRF Vice Chairman Eric Schwartz moderated the conversation with High Commissioner Guterres. 

According to UNHCR, by the end of 2014 almost 60 million people forcibly were displaced from their homes, the highest number since World War II.  Displaced people worldwide are fleeing war, political oppression, and religious persecution.  Syria’s 4 million refugees and 7.5 million internally displaced people makes that nation the largest producer in the world of displaced persons. 

For more information on USCIRF’s refugee recommendations please click here.  The conversation can be accessed here.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact Travis Horne at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.