Kazakhstan decides in favor of religious freedom

ASTANA, Kazakhstan—Kazakhstan has officially recognized Jehovah’s Witnesses’ signature journals The Watchtower and Awake! as being educational and primarily religious. This written conclusion from the Department of Internal Policy of the City of Almaty came after the facts were clearly presented in meetings with governmental officials and human rights organizations.

Earlier, local authorities in Taldykorgan, Almaty region, initiated steps to label the most widely translated and internationally distributed religious magazines in the world as dangerous and extreme, which would have banned their distribution in Kazakhstan.

Polat Bekzhan of the Religious Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Republic of Kazakhstan reacted to the development: “We are happy to report that the letter of the Committee of Religious Affairs making the unfounded claim that our magazines present a ‘potential threat for the security of the state’ has been cancelled. Believers can continue to receive our magazines without hindrance and may share and discuss the same religious information as the more than seven million other Jehovah's Witnesses do worldwide.”

The corrective steps taken in this matter by officials in Kazakhstan protect fundamental rights of belief and worship. The steps are also in accord with the “National Human Rights Action Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan,” an initiative Kazakhstan set out to implement in the years 2009-2012.

The Watchtower and Awake! magazines have a circulation of over 36,000,000 each month. Both are available to the public in print in 82 languages, many also online. The October 2009 issue of Awake! covers “Secrets of Family Success.”