A/HRC/7/10/Add.2 page 12 D. Registration 32. Some local authorities have allegedly tried to use the registration process to hinder the activities of religious minorities. In the city of Tursunzade, the local community of Jehovah’s Witnesses has repeatedly been denied local registration as a legal entity. Obtaining all necessary official documents for registration is cumbersome and in some cases authorities reportedly obstruct this process. 33. Unlike current legislation, article 16 of the draft law on freedom of conscience and religious association would forbid the activity of unregistered religious associations. Since the notion of “religious activity” may be construed broadly, this could lead to the prohibition of all manifestations of religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. Members of religious minorities voiced concerns that the new legal framework might also entail the re-registration of their communities, even if such a requirement would not be written into law explicitly. Article 18 of the draft law, which requires the signatures of 200 citizens supporting the establishment of a local religious association and those of 600 citizens for a centralized religious association, would make registration difficult for religious minorities, especially in rural areas. For their registration, small religious groups might ultimately depend on obtaining the approval and signatures of people from different faiths. E. Proselytism 34. The local authorities claimed that proselytism is authorized, but that religious pamphlets should be handed out in the respective places of worship. Pamphlets distributed in the streets may be confiscated because, according to the local authorities, “extremists” usually take such an approach. Islamic publications would need the approval of the Council of Ulemas and of the licensing authority. Furthermore, there are reports that the State Committee on Religious Affairs has required certain religious minorities to wait for permission before importing any literature into Tajikistan or even to submit, in advance, samples of literature they wished to import. 35. Members of religious minorities highlighted the problem that missionary work could, in practice, and usually at the request from local authorities, only be performed within the churches and not on the streets. Owing to the increased scrutiny of public activities, most religious minorities adopt a low-key attitude and work in privacy because otherwise they would encounter problems. The Special Rapporteur sent an allegation letter (E/CN.4/2004/63, para. 96) concerning a Baptist in Khujand who was fined five times the minimum wage for talking to passers-by about God and threatened with property confiscation if he failed to pay the fine. The fine was imposed even though the 1994 Religion and Religious Organizations Act did not prohibit street evangelization. 36. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur received allegations that police in Kairokkum briefly detained and verbally abused two Jehovah’s Witnesses on 4 November 2006 for talking to people about the Bible. Subsequently, the department head of the security service allegedly justified their detention with their lack of identification documents and the lack of permission from the local administration to preach in Kairokkum, when in fact the State registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses permits them to carry out their activity throughout Tajikistan.