A/HRC/46/57/Add.1 VII. Religious or belief minorities6 66. Generally speaking, religious or belief minorities broadly enjoy the human rights guarantees of freedom of religion and non-discrimination on the grounds of religion in the country, though there are areas of concern. 67. The Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Organizations, of 2009, includes provisions which may limit the activity of religious minorities in the country. According to this law, religious organizations are required to have at least 200 founding members in order to register with State authorities. A registration application needs to be submitted to the State Commission on Religious Affairs, which decides on whether the group can operate as a religious organization. For an application to the State Commission on Religious Affairs, a long list of documents is apparently required, including assessments from the relevant local self-government authorities, the local prosecutor’s office and the local national security office. If the religious organization also wishes to acquire a legal identity, then its members also need to submit an application to the Ministry of Justice. 68. Obstructions to the registration of religious organizations representing smaller or nontraditional religious minorities in Kyrgyzstan, such as the Baha’í, Protestants, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Tengrists and Zoroastrians, have been reported. In some cases, local self-government authorities use provisions of the Law on Countering Extremist Activity, of 2005, in their assessments of some of these minority religious organizations, which are submitted for review and a final decision to the State Commission on Religious Affairs. 69. Jehovah’s Witnesses have, for example, been registered in Kyrgyzstan since 1998. However, since the adoption in 2009 of the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Organizations, they have not succeeded in registering any new branches in cities and villages. The Special Rapporteur was informed during his visit that there were still pending registrations in Naryn, Osh, Jalalabad and Batken Regions. 70. Additionally, in 2019 the Human Rights Committee issued a decision (CCPR/C/125/D/2312/2013) in which it found that the failure to grant registration in Batken was discriminatory and violated the right to freedom of religion and freedom of association. It also stated that the requirement for 200 founding members was a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the Constitution, and that it imposed an unnecessary and arbitrary bureaucratic and financial burden on the applicants, whereas it was allegedly designed to prevent small religious organizations from obtaining registration. The Special Rapporteur received information during his visit that the Office of the Ombudsperson was currently reviewing the case of the registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization in Batken Region. 71. In addition, the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Organizations, of 2009, is vague as regards its definition of “proselytism”, describing it as “insistent actions directed at turning believers of one faith to another”, and stipulates that any distribution of literature or printed, audio or video materials of a religious character in public places or in private apartments, children’s institutions, schools or higher educational establishments is banned. 72. Recently, the State Commission on Religious Affairs proposed amendments to the Law on Freedom of Religion and Religious Associations further restricting house-to-house dissemination of religious materials and requiring that all 200 founding members be residents of the region (oblast) where a religious organization was based. Once again, some of these requirements seem onerous in relation to the activities of smaller religious denominations. 6 12 In conformity with the results of the Special Rapporteur’s 2020 annual report to the General Assembly on the scope and significance of the four categories of minorities under the United Nations human rights system (national or ethnic, religious and linguistic), the more inclusive expression “religious or belief minorities” will be the preferred expression used throughout the present report and other reports.