February 12, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC – Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council today ruled that an onerous draft religion law under consideration for months is unconstitutional, a pronouncement that follows intensive advocacy against the bill by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy and other groups.

Despite recent moves by the Kazakh government against minority religious groups, the rejection of the draft law represents a tremendous step towards respecting religious freedom in the country. The draft law contained several draconian restrictions on religious communities. For example, groups would have been allowed to register only if they had at least 50 members; the state would have reviewed the beliefs of registered groups; and denominations that worked across several regions only, such as Russian Orthodox or Roman Catholic dioceses, would not have been allowed to register at all.

"Individual acts of persecution against religious believers are troubling, but this draft law would have made life extremely difficult for all kinds of faith communities across Kazakhstan," said Institute President Joseph K. Grieboski. "Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council has done the right thing in throwing it out, and kept the country in line with its international commitments to human rights."

The draft law had made almost unassailable progress in 2008: it first came up for consideration in parliament last June, was passed in November, and reached President Nursultan Nazarbaev's desk for signing in December.

Throughout the process, the Institute consistently engaged Kazazkh officials in person and in writing on the draft law. The Institute sent a letter to Nazarbaev analyzing the fallout of the bill if it were passed, and also called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to rescind the country's scheduled 2010 chairmanship of the group.

Institute on Religion and Public Policy