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Written by Madina Abdullayeva

                                                                                     February 23, 2021

Although Uzbekistan adopted the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations(hereafter, “Law”) in 1998, the Law did not adequately guarantee freedom of conscience. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s objections show that the issue is even more complicated.  In that sense, ongoing discussion of the new version of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations on August 19, 2020 (hereafter, ‘Draft Law’) can be viewed as a milestone in protecting the rights and interests of citizens. The new version of the bill consists of 6 chapters and 49 articles (23 in force) and includes a number of amendments. Since, the structure of the Draft Law has been sufficiently covered in a previous blogpost, we will analyze in depth two other equally important issues.

The first problem: the dress of worship

       The fact that this Law, which is very important for believers, has not yet been commented on, also leads to controversies on certain points.  Article 14 of the Law contains the following norm:

 Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan (except for those in the service of religious organizations) are not allowed to walk in public places in the dress of worship.

 Wearing a headscarf by Muslim females/women, is firmly enshrined in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.  In verse 31 of Surah An-Nur, Allah commands Muslims to cover their chests with their headscarves.  That is, the headscarf worn by women should cover not only their hair, but also their throats, chests and breasts.

The guarantee of freedom of conscience means that everyone can choose a particular religion, as well as the freedom to follow the teachings of that religion. This is reflected in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, the Law should guarantee Muslims to believe in and practice their religion without violating their religious freedom.

An important positive change is the removal of “the dress of worship”section of the Draft Law. However, under the current law, government agencies and organizations that used to object to the fact that headscarves are not allowed in their internal charters and regulations. That is why it is widely reported that many of Muslim women and girls are under pressure due to their headscarves in educational institutions and workplaces. However, internal regulations or charters adopted by state institutions and organizations have no legal force. Reason is that according to Article 5 of the Law on Regulatory Legal Acts, a statute(law) is the highest legal document after the Constitution. According to Article 16 of above statute, the legal act must comply with the normative legal acts of higher legal force, i.e. schools, institutes, and other public authorities are required to comply with the law. Furthermore, Article 7 of this law stipulates the unconditional recognition of the primacy of the Constitution and laws of Uzbekistan. In addition, according to Article 16 of this Law in case of discrepancies between regulatory legal acts, the application of normative legal acts with higher legal force is strengthened. Otherwise, government agencies and educational institutions not only seriously violate the freedom of conscience of Muslims due to restrictions in their charters on headscarves, but also violate Muslim women’s right to work and study under Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The second problem: free religious education

The next problem has been raised in Article 9 of the Law. In principle, this norm prohibits private religious education. However, the right to free religious education is an integral part of the right to freedom of conscience and religion. It was noted that access to religious education with only 11 Islamic schools, including 10 madrassas, does not meet demand in Uzbekistan. Currently, 1497 boys and girls study in 9 secondary special and two higher religious educational institutions. That’s a small number for 34 million people, most of whom are Muslims. Author believes that if citizens obtain ample opportunity to receive religious education inside the country, they will not be an easy object for illegal, extremist routes, and do not easily choose to join in extremist forces in countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.

Against such background, it is pleasant to see that Article 12 of the Draft Law under discussion includes following norm:

Everyone has the right to receive professional religious education in religious educational institutions.

However, this norm is currently impossible to implement in practice, as there are clear quotas in religious educational institutions. For example, for the academic year of 2020-2021, 30 quotas have been allocated for Kokaldosh Secondary Specialized Islamic School. In order to exercise their right under this article, 1,050 applicants applied for religious education. If only 50 of them are accepted, how can the rest of the applicants exercise their right to receive religious education? Lack of admission quotas inevitably prevents citizens from receiving religious education. Because private religious education in Uzbekistan is prohibited by Article 12 of this law. Well, where do the rest of our people, who are almost 90% Muslim, get their religious education? In fact, the term illegal hujra (banned by government on above-mentioned law), where private religious education is given, came into existence because the government failed to fill in the gaps in the legislation.

Comparative analysis

Hence, do these two important changes in the legislation mean that citizens’ religious freedom will be guaranteed in practice?

It should be noted that the removal of the concept of prayer clothes in the law alone does not fully guarantee the wearing of headscarves by Muslims. The right of women in Uzbekistan to wear headscarves should be guaranteed by a separate article of the above-mentioned law. At the same time, laws regulating labor relations and protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens in the field of education should include norms which provide for education and employment in fair conditions, that can be freely used by all citizens wearing Muslim headscarves. For example, Article VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits the dismissal, denial of employment, or punishment of an employee because of the hijab. Given that, the headscarf is a matter of faith for Muslims; the above problem can be solved by establishing responsibility for any situation that threatens their freedom of conscience.

On one hand, the inclusion in Article 12 into a new Law is a positive change. On the other, however, it is clear that in practice this norm does not create fully-fledged conditions for citizens to practice religion due to the lack of religious education in Uzbekistan. In my opinion, it is expedient to use the experience of countries that are far ahead of Uzbekistan. In Germany, in particular, there are two types of classes in primary schools: Ethics and Religion. These subjects are taught two hours a week. Before enrolling in school, parents decide which class to send their child to. The child has the right to choose classes from the age of 14. There are also Catholic schools in Germany, where more emphasis is placed on religious education in and out of school. In the Canadian province of Quebec, having at least three hours of religious instruction per week is mandatory in primary and secondary schools. During the school year, these classes should be no less than 60 hours in primary school and 50 hours in secondary school. Only upon establishing such a working mechanism, Article 12 of the Draft Law would be enforced. Otherwise, the Draft Law will not be reflected in the life of people of Uzbekistan, but will remain on paper.

Conclusion

There are many positive changes in the Draft Law which is currently under discussion.  In particular, forthcoming removal of the dress of worship  and inclusion of freedom for religious education are among the major achievements of the Draft Law. Educational institutions, government agencies should also recognize this norm and make changes to their internal documents accordingly. At the same time, the inclusion of the issue of responsibility in the legislation, which provides for the elimination of any discrimination against women in Uzbekistan for wearing headscarves, plays an important role in protecting their interests. Otherwise, violation of the rights of women in Uzbekistan, such as education, free and fair working conditions, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will persist.

Cite as: Madina Abdullayeva, “Draft Law on Freedom of Conscience: ~religious clothes and private religious education~”, Uzbekistan Law Blog, 23.02.2021