Children May Lose Religious Rights in Tajikistan

As reported by Forum 18, these documents are to be forwarded to
President Emomali Rahmon for his approval. If Rahmon signs
these legal documents, it could spell out increased suppression of
parent and child religious rights in the country.

Joel Griffith with Slavic Gospel Association
says: “Apparently the presidential administration was sort of behind
[the effort] to put this kind of a law through to begin with, so the
initiative came from there. So if it’s not signed, it would certainly be
a miracle.”

Specifically, the two measures adopted are the Parental Responsibility
Law and the Criminal Code amendments. These would affect many religious
organizations, including churches in Tajikistan supported by Slavic
Gospel Association.

The Parental Responsibility Law, in practice, would place a ban on most
children under 18 from participating in religious activities. The Office
of Human Rights in Tajikistan told Forum 18 that the law is needed
especially for parents who lose control of their children to extremist
religious groups.

“I’m sure the government would say that it’s aimed basically at
extremism,” says Griffith. “It’s really difficult to know what their
real motivation is for passing such a thing, because it goes beyond
targeting just what everybody would agree maybe would be extremist
elements and ends up impacting mainstream as well. … As the law is
worded, it would seem to impact everybody.”

On top of that, the Parental Responsibility Law also calls for parents
to restrict certain types of jewelry, tattoos and even names they can
choose for their kids.

This, paired with the amendments to the Criminal Code, demonstrates the
type of penalty given to violators. A maximum of two years’ imprisonment
would be sentenced to organizers and participants in things such as
unapproved gatherings, meetings, and demonstrations.

Griffith says: “You’ve got local churches themselves that would be
impacted by this; there’s question whether children would even be
allowed to go to a worship service until they’re 18 years old. … It’s a
matter of deep concern to the churches.”

If the laws are enacted and put into practice, state religious affairs
officials told Forum 18 that they have specialists who would be in place
at religious services to be sure the laws are being followed. If they
find kids or teens in religious activities, higher structures will be
appealed to.

“Evangelical churches are going to continue to
proclaim the gospel no matter what, and I’m sure that they are going to
continue to teach their children the things of the Lord,” Griffith assures. “But obviously
as they proceed to do that, it would put churches and their families at
great risk if this [proposed law] is enforced aggressively.”