Asia and Oceania

Asia and Oceania Joshua Castellino, Irwin Loy, AsiaMatthew Naumann, Maruscaand Perazzi Oceaniaand Jacqui Zalcberg Dawood Ahmed, Nicole Girard, Hanna Hindstrom, Gabriel Lafitte, Katya Quinn-Judge, Jacqui Zalcberg French Polynesia (FR.) ARCTIC OCEAN Wallis and Futuna (FR.) FIJI ISLANDS NEW ZEALAND NEW RUSSIA New Caledonia (FR.) SOLOMON ISLANDS Bougainville JAPAN KAZAKHSTAN NORTH KOREA MONGOLIACIFIC UZBEKISTAN SOUTH OCEAN PAPUA NEWPAPUA TURKMENISTAN KOREA GUINEA KYRGYZSTAN PA TAJIKISTAN PACIFIC Jammu and AUSTRALIA AFGHANIS- Kashmir CHINA TAN OCEAN PAKISTAN TIBET TAIWAN NEPAL TIMOR-LESTE N BHUTAN PA BANGLADESH Hong Kong JA Sulawesi INDIA BURMA LAOS PHILIPPINES PHILIPPINES TAIWAN THAILAND VIETNAMng SOUTH KOREA Ko NORTH KOREA CAMBODIA Andaman Borneo va BRUNEI and Hong Ja INDONESIA Nicobar BRUNEI SIA VIETNAM Bougainville SRI LANKA Islands AY MALAYSIA PAPUA NEW SOLOMON ISLANDS MALDIVES GUINEA SINGAPORE Borneo SulawesiMAL Wallis and CAMBODIA OS SINGAPORE Futuna (FR.) CHINA Sumatra LA INDONESIA TIMOR-LESTESumatra FIJI ISLANDS French Polynesia (FR.) THAILAND Java MONGOLIA BURMA New Caledonia (FR.) INDIAN BHUTAN Andaman and Nicobar Islands OCEAN AUSTRALIA BANGLADESH TIBET RUSSIA OCEAN NEPAL ARCTIC OCEAN INDIAN INDIA SRI LANKA Jammu and Kashmir KYRGYZSTAN NEW ZEALAND TAJIKISTAN KAZAKHSTAN MALDIVES N UZBEKISTAN PAKISTAN AFGHANIS- TA TURKMENISTAN themselves. Meanwhile, law enforcement often classifies probable hate crimes against minorities Central as acts of ‘hooliganism’. High-level politicians, furthermore, have been known to employ hate Asia speech against minorities with impunity. Kazakhstan Katya Quinn-Judge Although Kazakh majority chauvinism has been a perennial concern for minorities since he year 2013 proved a particularly Kazakhstan’s independence, the country has difficult one for cross-border relations enjoyed greater freedom of religion than some T in the Ferghana Valley, which is shared of its neighbours. While its Constitution pays among Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. tribute to the importance of its ‘traditional’ Among other events, this border region witnessed religions, Sunni Hanafi Islam and Orthodox roadblocks, violent clashes, hostage crises and Christianity, until recently Kazakhstan had a shoot-out with Kyrgzystani border guards not systematically suppressed ‘non-traditional’ in which at least one Uzbekistani soldier was movements. However, after a spate of alleged killed. While conflicts over disputed territory are terrorist attacks in 2011, an October 2011 law not minority issues per se, they have markedly introduced onerous registration requirements for strained inter-ethnic and cross-border relations. religious organizations similar to those present For example, animosity between the leadership in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan has the potential to Subsequently, a large number of religious negatively impact the status of Uzbekistani Tajiks congregations and faith-based civic organizations and Tajikistani Uzbeks alike. were denied registration and thus prohibited from While the Central Asian countries vary in operating. These included groups dominated terms of their political openness, there is a general by ethnic Kazakhs as well as groups consisting tendency within the region to avoid public almost entirely of ethnic minorities, including discussion of ethnic strife or inequality. This at Azeri Shi’a congregations and a prominent Tatar- times translates into a reluctance to acknowledge Bashkir mosque. As a result of these and other when crimes may in fact be motivated by developments, in 2013 the US Commission perceived ethnic differences. Accusations of on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) inciting hatred levelled at those who speak out named Kazakhstan a Tier two country of concern against ethnic inequality to some degree reflect for the first time since it began monitoring general intolerance of dissent within these Kazakhstan in 2008. countries, but may also reflect a widely held view The year 2013 saw continued pressure on that discussions of ethnic issues, rather than the ‘non-traditional’ religious establishments. The inequalities themselves, are the cause of much Norway-based Forum 18 reported in March that social strife. a district court had ordered items of religious Countries in Central Asia have mixed records literature, including a Bible, to be burned after when it comes to protecting minorities from they were confiscated from a local evangelical acts that could be characterized as hate speech Baptist. According to the Forum, this was the and hate crimes. All have acceded to the UN first official order to destroy religious material in Convention on the Elimination of All Forms independent Kazakhstan’s history; though the of Racial Discrimination (CERD). All have decision was subsequently overturned in a legal legislation prohibiting discrimination on ethnicity ruling. In May, Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev, head or religion, as well as incitement to hatred and of the Astana branch of the Baptist congregation violence on these grounds. Yet in many cases, Grace, was arrested on charges of grievous bodily such legislation is used against critics of the harm and sent for forced psychiatric evaluation. government’s stance towards ethnic and religious Authorities claimed he had sought to hypnotize minorities – who often belong to minorities congregants through administering psychotropic 108 Asia and Oceania State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2014 substances. Kashkumbayev, an ethnic Kazakh ‘repeatedly called on Kazakh authorities to amend convert to Baptism, faced up to 15 years in or repeal the charge of “inciting social, national, prison. In October, the accusations were extended clan, racial, or religious discord or enmity”… to include an additional charge of spreading as this provision is vague, broad, and criminalizes extremism. According to an October news behavior and speech protected under international report, church attendance had shrunk as many human rights law.’ In July, Bolat Amirov, an members had experienced police harassment, observant Sunni Muslim and former employee of while congregants working in the public sphere the state prosecutor’s office who claimed he left had been told to choose between work and their disillusioned with corruption, was also charged church. Following Kashkumbayev’s arrest, two with incitement for lending an acquaintance ethnic Korean stateless Baptist pastors, one of several DVDs on the study of Islam. This was the whom headed a branch of the Grace Baptist second attempt to charge Amirov, after a court congregation, were deported in the latter half determined in 2012 that the disks contained no of the year on dubious charges. Human rights incriminating material. defenders report that authorities had been By contrast, authorities may fail to recognize preparing to accuse the deported Grace pastor, hate incidents against minorities and classify Viktor Lim, of hypnotizing congregants, as they them as a general disturbance rather than a bias- have Kashkumbayev. motivated crime. In November, for instance, Provisions against inciting hatred on political the building that housed Aktobe’s Protestant and religious grounds are often aimed at those congregation New Life was vandalized on the critical of the government. However, securing day of a planned holiday service, its windows prosecution for inflammatory language directed smashed and noxious-smelling liquid poured on at minority groups is more difficult. For instance, its floors and walls. The pastor announced that human rights defenders have expressed particular his congregants had been receiving threatening concern about discrimination towards oralman text messages from unknown numbers prior to communities – ethnic Kazakhs who resided the attack, warning them that they would soon outside of Kazakhstan prior to the Soviet collapse, ‘end up in the insane asylum’ and other forms of who have repatriated at the government’s abuse. Despite suggestions that the crime was a invitation. In 2011, oil tycoon Timur Kulibayev, religious attack, however, the Ministry of Internal the president’s son-in-law, helped lend anti- Affairs launched an investigation under the oralman overtones to a labour conflict that later category of ‘hooliganism,’ claiming the attack had culminated in police opening fire on protesters: no discernible religious motive. he stated that most of the protesters were oralmans who had ‘played, let’s just say, secondary roles in Kyrgyzstan their own countries’. Members of the political Roughly a quarter of Kyrgyzstan’s 5.6 million opposition petitioned unsuccessfully to have him inhabitants are members of ethnic minorities. charged with inciting inter-group hatred. Ethnic Uzbeks make up the most sizable minority, Officials did, however, level several high- at about 14 per cent of the population, with profile charges of ‘inciting religious hatred’ in ethnic Russians making up another 8 per cent. 2013. In March, human rights activist Aleksandr Dungans, Uyghurs, Turks and ethnic Tajiks each Kharlamov was charged with ‘inciting religious make up around 1 per cent, with Ukrainians, discord’ after publishing a series of atheistic Tatars and Kazakhs also making up a smaller posts on a social network, and sent for forced proportion. All these groups remain politically psychiatric evaluation. The charge carries a marginalized. Although Kyrgyzstan’s 2013 report possible sentence of up to seven years in jail. to the UN Committee on the Elimination of

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