Assessing Religious Freedoms in Central Asia, USCIRF Delegations Visit Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

The Diplomat

3 days ago

In late June, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Chair Vicky Hartzler led delegations to both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, joined by Vice Chair Asif Mahmood in the former and Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi in the latter, to assess the state of religious freedoms in the two countries.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal body established by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which monitors the status of freedom of religion abroad in order to make policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Each year, USCIRF releases an annual report covering the previous year's developments and making recommendations on the designation of 'countries of particular concern' (CPCs) where there is 'systematic, ongoing, and egregious' violations of religious freedoms.
In its 2025 report, released in March, USCIRF recommended that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, among others, be designated as CPCs and subject to sanctions, and Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan be listed on the special watch list (SWL), which entails no immediate punishments, but indicates concern.
The Diplomat interviewed USCIRF Chair Hartzler about her recent visits to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, the reasons USCIRF is concerned about religious freedoms in these countries, and the commission's encouraging the Trump administration to consider lifting the national security waiver typically paired with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan's CPC designations.
You recently led a USCIRF delegation to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to assess religious freedoms in these states. Can you tell us about what kinds of people you meet with on these sorts of trips? Whose voices are you taking into consideration?
We met with a wide range of stakeholders, including leaders and members of majority and minority religious communities, human rights activists, non-governmental organizations, and relevant government officials. To understand the religious freedom situation in any country, it is essential to speak with a wide range of individuals and, in particular, representatives of diverse religious communities. This is particularly true for Central Asian countries, where broad and vague laws restrict freedom of religion or belief. Officials enforce such legislation arbitrarily, resulting in some individuals being unable to freely practice their religion.
In USCIRF's most recent annual report (2025), the Commission recommended that the U.S. State Department include Kyrgyzstan in the Special Watch List for 'engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.' USCIRF first recommended that Kyrgyzstan be included in the SWL in 2024. What changed in Kyrgyzstan that triggered its inclusion in USCIRF's recommendations?
In its 2024 and 2025 Annual Reports, USCIRF recommended Kyrgyzstan's inclusion on the State Department's Special Watch List due to the government's ongoing and systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief. Over the past few years, the Kyrgyz government increasingly enforced long-existing restrictive legislation regulating religion. Authorities rigorously penalized religious practices, including online religious expression, collective religious worship and studies, and the possession of unauthorized religious materials, through raids, forced renunciations of faith, administrative fines, and prison sentences. In January 2025, a new religion law was passed, further restricting religious activities, including requiring religious groups to obtain registration from 500 people and places of worship to obtain registration, as well as continuing to ban the distribution of religious literature, among other things.
Kazakhstan has also been recommended for the SWL for several years, though the State Department has never designated it as such. Can you discuss some of the conditions that led to USCIRF recommending Kazakhstan's inclusion in the SWL again?
Since 2013, and most recently in our 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF has recommended Kazakhstan for inclusion on the State Department's Special Watch List due to the government's ongoing and systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief. The Kazakh government restricts the religious activities of all groups, including Muslims who deviate from the state's preferred interpretation of Hanafi Sunni Islam. For example, the government continues to target activities such as peaceful religious expression through observing religious holidays or gathering for religious services, and distributing religious materials with fines, detainments, and, in some cases, prison sentences.
The 2011 religion law includes broad and vague provisions that authorities arbitrarily enforce. The law requires government approval to engage in virtually any religious activity and includes administrative burdens that allow officials ample opportunities to deny permission. This essentially permits the government to use the same law to approve the religious activities of those groups it finds favorable, while preventing or penalizing the activities of 'unfavorable' groups.
How can vague or broadly applied definitions of 'extremist' harm religious communities? And do you think that this has an adverse effect on security as well?
Each Central Asia government applies a broad and vague definition of 'extremism' under its extremism law. Within such legislation, 'extremist' acts are not limited to those that involve violence or calls to violence. This gives authorities broad discretion to investigate and prosecute individuals for a range of peaceful religious activities.
There are several individuals imprisoned under 'extremism' charges for peaceful religious activities. In Kazakhstan, there are at least three Muslim men who are imprisoned related to their peaceful, online religious activities: Anatoli Zernichenko, Beket Mynbasov, and Ernar Samatov. In Kyrgyzstan, USCIRF monitors two religious prisoners of conscience, a Muslim man named Asadullo Madraimov, who criticized an official religious policy, and a Christian man named Pavel Schreider.
The outgoing Biden administration did not make Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) or SWL designations by the end of 2024, leaving in place the 2023 designations. Do you expect the Trump administration to make designations? Have you had any productive interactions with the Trump administration on religious freedom issues?
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency tasked under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) to monitor freedom of religion or belief globally and make policy recommendations to the U.S. government, including the president. Since its creation, USCIRF has consistently held meetings with the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. We look forward to working with the next Ambassador-at-Large once confirmed. Currently, former Congressman Mark Walker has been nominated and is waiting for Senate confirmation.
Under IRFA, the President is required to make designations 90 days after the State Department submits its annual International Religious Report. However, Secretary Blinken failed to make the required designations before the change in administration. In January 2025, USCIRF welcomed Marco Rubio's confirmation as Secretary of State and called for him to review USCIRF's recommendations for designations, most recently updated in the 2025 Annual Report.
To reiterate USCIRF's recommendations in Central Asia, USCIRF recommends Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan for inclusion on the Special Watch List, recommendations that the State Department has not traditionally implemented. In addition, USCIRF recommended that Turkmenistan and Tajikistan be designated as CPCs. While we applaud the State Department for implementing these recommendations, USCIRF encourages the Trump administration to lift the national security waiver paired with these CPC designations not only to reinforce that religious freedom is a priority for U.S. foreign policy, but also to emphasize the severity of religious freedom violations in these countries. Under IRFA, the administration may waive any presidential action typically paired with a CPC designation if it furthers U.S. policy on religious freedom or if it is in the important national interest of the United States.