Discriminatory State policy targeting the authors’ religious faith and practice- violation found

Facts

The authors are all nationals of Kyrgyzstan. The claim that the State party’s refusal to register the three local religious organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the regions of Jalal-Abad, Naryn and Osh has violated article 2(3) (a) (b), read in conjunction with articles 14(1), 18(1) and (3), 22(1) and (2), and article 26, read in conjunction with articles 18 and 22 of the Covenant.

The “Religious Centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Kyrgyz Republic” (RCJW), a national religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kyrgyzstan was registered on 30 April 1998 with the State Commission on Religious Affairs (SCRA). In 2008, the rules regarding the registration of religious organizations were amended, and to protect Jehovah’s Witnesses from harassment, the authors established a local RCJW in each of the regions and prepared all legal documents required to register the organizations.

The authors’ applications for the approval of lists by the city councils of Naryn, Osh and Jalal-Abad were rejected on 22 September 2010, 18 October 2010 and 7 December 2010 respectively, on the grounds that there was no government order in place prescribing the criteria and process to be followed. On 20 and 22 December 2010, the authors applied to the SCRA. On 16 February 2011, the SCRA refused to register the three religious organizations (Decision No. 02-16/24). It held that, without the approval of the list of founding members by the local council, it was not possible to proceed with the registration. The authors filed a complaint with the court but it ruled that it had no competence to order the SCRA to register their organization. They appealed this decision before the Supreme Court, which ruled against them.

Admissibility

The Committee found that the authors had sufficiently substantiated the claims under articles 2 (3) (a) and (b), read in conjunction with article 14 (1), articles 18 (1) and (3), articles 22 (1) and (2) and article 26, read in conjunction with articles 18 and 22, of the Covenant, for the purposes of admissibility.

Merits

The Committee noted that by refusing to register the authors’ religious organization, the State party denied their rights to jointly manifest their religious beliefs, including the right to conduct religious meetings and assemblies, to own or use the property for religious purposes, to produce and import religious literature, to receive donations, to carry out charitable activities and to invite foreign citizens to participate in religious events. Consistent with its general comment No. 22, the Committee considered that these activities form part of the authors’ right to manifest their beliefs.

The Committee concluded that the refusal to register the authors’ religious organizations amounts to a limitation of the authors’ right to manifest their religion under article 18 (1). The Committee, therefore, concluded that the authors’ rights under article 18 (1) of the Covenant have been violated. The Committee noted the authors’ claim that the process for obtaining registration under the law on freedom of religion and religious organizations was not applied equally, citing official statistics indicating that, within the same period, 135 Islamic and 3 Russian Orthodox organizations had been registered. The State party has provided no reasonable and objective grounds for distinguishing the authors’ religious organization from other registered organizations. It found that the State party discriminated against the authors on the basis of their religious belief, in violation of their rights under article 26 of the Covenant, by providing no reasonable and objective grounds for refusing the authors’ registration application and distinguishing the authors’ religious organization from other registered organizations. Furthermore, the Committee decided not to examine separately the authors’ claims under article 2 (3) (a) and (b), read in conjunction with article 14 (1), and article 22 (1) and (2) of the Covenant.

Recommendations

The State party is obligated, inter alia, to:

• review the refusal by the SCRA of the registration application by the local religious organizations of Jehovah’s Witnesses of the Jala-Abab, Naryn and Osh regions, 
• provide the authors with adequate compensation. 

The State party is also under an obligation to take all steps necessary to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.

Implementation

Deadline: 10th January 2022

 

By Sugandha Sawhney