RELIGIONS

 In mid-February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, said that the country had begun the work on returning its citizens from Syria and Iraq. In recent years, nearly two thousand people departed for there. However, the situation in the country is uneven: in some districts, a large number of people join the ranks of extremists, and in other districts, there is not a single person who has departed. (more…)

A journalist based in Tashkent, Louiza Atabayeva, was wearing a headscarf for a week and told what it was like to hold business meetings, travel by underground, meet boyfriend’s friends and hear personal insults when you wear a headscarf.
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The ability to distinguish extremist propaganda, violent media-leading xenophobia and hate speech in information consumed will help young users to become resistant to radical narratives.

The report “New Media Culture and Information Literacy as an Early Warning of the Radicalization of Youth” offers recommendations and educational methods for training young users.

«To achieve the goals set by the authorities of Kazakhstan, religious studies in schools should not become an ordinary school subject for the sole purpose of acquiring new knowledge, but should lead to an increase in tolerance among the youth and unity through diversity», – notes an independent researcher Meruert Seidumanova in her article written specifically for analytical platform cabar.asia. 

Русский Қазақша

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“Last year Kazakstan adopted many legislation amendments, including law on media, which recognises some statements as propaganda. It means that journalists preparing some material now should think whether it will be taken as propaganda,” said Gulmira Birzhanova, lawyer of Legal Media Centre, in the interview to cabar.asia.
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NGO Search for common ground presents a webinar on the topic: “What is freedom of religion and faith?”

Speaker – Galina Kolodzinskaya, Religion expert, Master of Political Science, Executive Director of Interfeit Kansil. (more…)

NGO Search for common ground presents a webinar on the topic: “History of development of the right to freedom of religion and belief?”

Speaker – Galina Kolodzinskaya, Religion expert, Master of Political Science, Executive Director of Interfeit Kansil. (more…)

A bill banning hijabs wearing in public and private institutions is being developed in Tajikistan. Experts say this initiative interferes with people’s rights and freedoms and that “secularism” is not so much about the external form, as about content.
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According to the Open Doors international organisation, which serves persecuted Christians worldwide, Kazakstan, along with three other Central Asian states, has been listed as a country where it’s “most dangerous to follow Jesus”. Meanwhile, Astana positions the country as a “model of religious freedom and tolerance”.
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Lack of knowledge and information gap are the main causes of religious conflicts, leaders of various organisations said. They tell about difficulties and build up dialogue with each other within the framework of the interreligious council.

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