Description
Summary: In many parts of Asia, attacks on religious minorities have been on the rise, perpetuated by both state and non-state actors. Abuses include failure to investigate acts of religious violence, restrictions on the right to worship, and the use of laws and policies as instruments of political and social coercion. As domestic space for debate on discrimination and violence shrinks in many countries, Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigates these issues, attempts to raise their media profile and heighten public awareness, and builds pressure on public officials to protect those who practice minority religions.
With grants from the HRLI in 2012 and 2014, HRW researched, documented and disseminated reports about religious intolerance in Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, and Central Asia. The problems addressed in these reports are arguably more serious now, as HRW notes: “The mainstreaming of exclusionary rhetoric is especially chilling for religious minorities” at a time when “xenophobia and intolerance move from the fringe to the political center in many countries.”
With renewed Luce Foundation support, HRW proposes to continue its investigations in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Central Asia.
In Indonesia, the application of a 1965 blasphemy law has attracted national attention, most dramatically in 2016 when the governor of Jakarta, a Christian, was charged with blasphemy against Islam and subsequently sentenced to two years in prison. These events are widely seen as part of broader trends threatening religious pluralism in Indonesia.
In Myanmar, the 2015 transition to civilian rule following free elections did not resolve problems of intolerance and violence against Muslim minorities. The new government inherited a set of discriminatory “race and religion laws” as well as a legacy of attacks against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine state, who have effectively been denied citizenship. Since August 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh, while members of the international community increasingly describe the government security forces’ campaign of killings and arson as ethnic cleansing. HRW will continue to document these abuses, as well as less dramatic events such as the shuttering of Islamic schools in Rangoon and continued activities of Buddhist ultra-nationalist groups.
In Central Asia, HRW will focus particularly on Tajikistan, where authorities suppress and punish nearly all religious activity independent of state control and imprison individuals on unproven criminal allegations linked to religious activity or affiliation. HRW will also monitor repressive measures taken in the context of countering terrorism in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and changing conditions in Uzbekistan. As it is likely that several key Central Asia policy positions at the U.S. State Department will remain unfilled for some time, HRW’s role in reporting this region is increasingly important.
Over two years HRW will produce reports, news releases and policy recommendations that will be shared with academics, journalists, diplomats, UN special rapporteurs, military leaders and law enforcement officials. Findings will be presented at academic conferences, and multimedia products will be created and promoted on social media. In recent years HRW has participated in several HRLI-supported conferences on Central Asia.
HRW was founded in 1978 as “Helsinki Watch” to support and protect individual dissidents and citizens’ groups in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The organization took its current form as Human Rights Watch in 1991, with a mission to address human rights violations around the world.
Luce Foundation funds would cover personnel, research, travel, publications and outreach.
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a two-year grant of $300,000 to Human Rights Watch for renewed support for research about and documentation of religious intolerance and violence in Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
