Aug 6, 2021
The Kazakhstani government is implementing promising reforms that could make Kazakhstan Central Asia’s leading example of religious freedom. USCIRF has recommended the U.S. State Department place…
Sep 30, 2021
For many years, USCIRF has been deeply concerned about religious freedom conditions in Central Asia, and more recently the impact of the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan on the surrounding region.
Since 2012…
Sep 16, 2022
In 2018, Kazakhstan arrested a group of men for participating in a WhatsApp group chat about Islam and sentenced them to multiple years in prison on fictitious terrorism and incitement-related charges. Last fall,…
Nov 10, 2022
Tajikistan’s population is majority Sunni Muslim, with a small Shi’a Muslim community which primarily consists of ethnic Pamiris located in the mountainous eastern part of the country known as the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO).…
Jan 5, 2023
Authoritarian states promote religious tolerance without necessarily ensuring freedom of religion or belief. Last month, USCIRF released a report distinguishing between these two concepts and explains the origins of religious tolerance…