Tajikistan: Religious freedom continues to get worse

Tajikistan | 24 February 2016

On 7 January 2016, Forum 18 released their Religious freedom survey January 2016 on Tajikistan. The introductory paragraph of this survey sums up a long list of issues that indicate the sad situation for Christians and other religious minorities in Tajikistan. Forum 18 slams the fact that state permission is needed for all religious activities and that people under 18 are not allowed to attend religious meetings at all. Forum 18 concludes that the Tajik regime is after complete control of religion in the country. Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, sees the Forum 18 survey as a confirmation of the fact that things are getting worse for Christians in Tajikistan as reported in the country Persecution Dynamics of the World Watch List 2016. He states: "The biggest persecution of Christians in Tajikistan comes indeed from the government and it is becoming more and more dictatorial in its attempts to stay in power. The regime sees any independent form of religion as a direct threat to its existence."