On March 25, USCIRF released its annual report for 2024, providing assessments of religious freedom violations and progress in 28 countries. The report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries. First, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should designate as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom under IRFA. Second, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should place on its Special Watch List (SWL) for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom. Looking at the map, most countries that severely violate religious freedom are located in Asia and the Middle East, with a few in Africa and Central America. Systemic violations of religious freedom are not prevalent in Europe, North and South America, or Australia.
Notably, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan—the Central Asian countries where the LYN Community carries out its educational and multi-faith engagement initiatives—are surrounded by some of the world’s most severe violators of religious freedom, which have already been designated as Countries of Particular Concern—Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Nevertheless, among the few countries worldwide that are showing meaningful progress in advancing religious freedom, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan stand out among them.
The traditional advocacy approach—based on monitoring and the “name, blame, and shame” strategy—often fails to capture the subtle yet meaningful progress occurring within societies. Reports focusing solely on violations and formal assessment criteria tend to overlook essential shifts in mindset among government officials and leaders of the religious majority. These gradual changes can lead to policy reforms, dismantling entrenched stereotypes, and developing multi-faith cooperation.
LYNC’s approach in Central Asia, which focuses on building religious freedom, requires sustained effort and time to foster multi-faith engagement, cross-cultural religious literacy, and trust-based, collaborative relationships between government actors and religious communities. This long-term investment enables deeper, strategic change—where societies and governments begin to achieve interreligious peace and social cohesion by empowering citizens to cooperate for the common good and respect one another across cultural and doctrinal differences. Instead of severe restrictions and excessive control, a new kind of religious policy takes inspiration from the concept of covenantal pluralism.
In recent years, Kazakhstan has demonstrated visible positive trends in the evolution of its religious policy. For example, as of March 13, 2025, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan came into force, reducing fines by half for violations related to religious activities. These changes affected cases involving the holding of worship meetings, the distribution of religious literature, online religious activity, and missionary work conducted without state authorization. Notably, the amendments introduced—for the first time—the option of issuing a warning as the most lenient form of administrative liability.
This development may indicate a growing willingness by the Kazakh authorities to engage in dialogue rather than exert financial pressure on religious communities and believers as individuals. Moreover, approximately 15% of administrative proceedings in 2023 (31 out of 203 cases) were terminated or dismissed, often due to the absence of a legal violation or lack of evidence. This statistic suggests that although the officials remain active in enforcing legislative restrictions, the Kazakh judiciary has the capacity to rule in favor of believers, taking into account the specific circumstances of each case.
Throughout 2024, courts in various regions of Kazakhstan reviewed complaints from parents challenging the actions of school administrations that barred students from attending classes while wearing head coverings associated with Islamic beliefs (hijabs). In September 2024, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan ruled in favor of the parents for the first time, emphasizing that the national law does not provide grounds for denying access to education based on non-compliance with school uniform requirements. Although the Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Minister of Education and Science’s Order of June 14, 2016, which introduced such restrictions, it affirmed the right of religious children to receive an education.
In Kazakh social and news media, reports have emerged highlighting state funding of religious associations during 2022–2024. Most of this funding was allocated through government-sponsored educational programs, primarily directed to organizations under the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan. However, state grants were also awarded to the Catholic charity Caritas Kazakhstan for social projects—an encouraging sign of growing government trust in the charitable work of various faith-based communities.
My optimism is further inspired by the stance of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, who in March 2024 reaffirmed his commitment to the principle of “unity in diversity” in his official address. According to the Head of State, Kazakhstan “will continue to fulfill its honorable mission of bringing together various religions and denominations and fostering dialogue on the most pressing issues of our time.”
While the USCIRF report reminds us of concerns regarding Kazakhstan’s religious legislation and its enforcement, the examples above reflect incremental progress in the country’s response to religious issues. Under such circumstances, the LYN Community’s efforts to build religious freedom in Central Asia remain especially valuable. Our approach includes relationship-building initiatives and training programs on cross-cultural religious literacy, bringing together local religious leaders and government officials. Over the past decade, LYNC has organized over 60 events across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
In addition, the positive indices developed by LYNC for assessing religious legislation and pluralism will serve as the following key instrument in supporting progress toward building religious freedom in Central Asia and beyond. While monitoring reports—such as those prepared by the USCIRF—tend to focus on documenting violations and identifying policy shortcomings in specific countries, LYNC seeks to chart a constructive path forward. Our aim is to foster safe and thriving societies where religious diversity is viewed not as a source of conflict, but as a foundation for social cohesion.
About the Author
Dr. Maksym Vasin is a seasoned expert in religious freedom and human rights advocacy, contributing to LYNC projects since September 2023. He brings over 16 years of leadership experience as Executive Director of the Institute for Religious Freedom (Ukraine). Specializing in religious legislation, multi-faith dialogue, and church-state cooperation, he has led training sessions on human rights and religious freedom for the United Nations, OSCE, and the Council of Europe. Dr. Vasin holds a Ph.D. in law and completed the Religion and the Rule of Law program at the University of Oxford (UK). His current research focuses on developing positive indices and metrics to assess religious freedom and advancing multi-faith engagement globally.
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