Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

Freedom to practise religion in Azerbaijan has been affected by a change in
legislation in 2009 that required all religions to register with the authorities to retain
their status. Thirty communities and religions have still not been approved, including
Jehovah’s Witnesses. Our Embassy in Baku remains in close contact with a number
of religious and civil society groups on these issues and we have raised these
concerns with the Azerbaijani government.
We continue to urge the government of Turkey to take positive steps to resolve a
range of concerns, including difficulties with opening seminaries for the training of
religious figures and establishing places of worship for minority religious groups.
The Turkish government has taken steps to address these issues by introducing a
new law on foundations which facilitates the ownership of property by minority
groups, but there have been problems with implementation of this law.
In April, in Kyrgyzstan, the government of President Bakiev, which had introduced a
prescriptive religious law in 2009, was overthrown following a period of unrest. A
provisional government subsequently took power and promised to restore
democracy and human rights in the country, but members of some minority religious
organisations have continued to experience difficulties. During the UN Universal
Periodic Review of Kyrgyzstan in May, we encouraged the provisional government to
ensure freedom of religion and belief, in particular amongst minority and nontraditional
groups. The UK continues to monitor events closely and we will raise our
concerns both bilaterally and through the EU with the new government that was
formed in December.
Indonesia’s constitution provides for “all persons the right to worship according to
his or her own religion or belief”. In practice, all Indonesians are required to identify
themselves with one of six faiths: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism,
Buddhism and Confucianism. Although Indonesia has a strong tradition of religious
diversity and tolerance, there was a rise in the number of attacks on places of
religious worship with links to minority faiths during 2010. We frequently raise
freedom of religion with the government of Indonesia. In a meeting with the
Indonesian foreign minister at the Asia–Europe Meeting Summit in Brussels on 4
October, Nick Clegg stressed the need for Indonesia to address concerns about
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