According to the latest annual International Religious Freedom Report published by the U.S. Department of State, cases such as that of the Full Gospel Church is actually becoming more prevalent in Uzbekistan,

"Some Christian groups applied for registration at local, regional, and national levels and were denied or never received an official answer during the period covered by this report," stated the new report released last week. Some of the examples include the Greater Grace Christian Church in Samarkand, the Mir (Peace) Presbyterian Church in Nukus, the United Church of Evangelical Christians/Baptists in Tashkent, the Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Andijon and the Pentecostal Church in Chirchik.

"The 1998 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations requires all religious groups and congregations to register and provides strict and burdensome criteria for their registration," the report said further.

To fulfill the requirements, each religious group must present a list of at least 100 citizen members to the local branches of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and a valid legal address. In this way, "the government is able to ban any group by finding technical grounds for denying its registration," the report added.

"The situation for Christians remains tense," an anonymous Protestant told Forum 18 in early November. "Harsh measures have been targeted at Christians, especially at Protestant denominations."

"Unfortunately in Uzbekistan today there is no Protestant church that doesn't face persecution, whether registered or not."

Currently, the Emmanuel Full Gospel church will continue to pursue its legal status and is preparing to present its case to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Uzbek government's human rights center, the general prosecutor's office and even the National Security Service secret police, according to Forum 18.

In the light of the rising persecution against Christians in Uzbekistan, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended the U.S. Department of State to designate it as a "country of particular concern" (CPC) for particularly severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act. Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam are the eight countries currently listed as CPCs.

Eunice Or
Christian Today Correspondent