Pompeo notes Uzbekistan’s progress in ensuring religious freedom

According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, the document is published annually and on its basis, the U.S. Secretary of State makes a decision to classify a state as a “country of particular concern”.

Introducing the report, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo emphasized the priority importance of religious freedom in the U.S. foreign policy agenda and assessed the situation in several countries.

“Serious steps have been taken in Uzbekistan to improve the situation with religious freedom, and these steps are continuing. “I had a wonderful conversation with religious leaders when I was in this country at the beginning of the year,” said Michael Pompeo.

Speaking about positive trends in the field of religious freedom, the head of the State Department separately noted the progress made by Uzbekistan.

“We have not recorded a single case of law enforcement raids against unregistered religious groups in 2019, compared with 114 such raids in 2018 and 240 a year earlier. These are great successes, real progress,” the U.S. Secretary of State emphasized.

Speaking separately on special missions in the field of religious freedoms, Samuel Brownback also emphasized that due to progress, Uzbekistan was excluded from the list of countries of particular concern in the field of religious freedoms.

It should be recalled that in December 2018, the head of the State Department officially removed Uzbekistan from this category by a relevant decision, thereby recognizing the country’s significant progress in ensuring freedom of religion.

Commenting on the announcement of the report, Nadine Maenza, deputy chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, noted that not many states are taking the same measures as Uzbekistan to ensure freedom of religion.

“It is gratifying to see the recognition of the progress and achievements of Uzbekistan by the head of the State Department,” Nadine Maenza said.

Elizabeth Clark, Deputy Director of the International Center for Law and Religious Studies at Brigham Young University, who is actively involved in the development of a new bill on freedom of conscience and religious organizations, also praised Uzbekistan’s achievements in this area.

“Uzbekistan really deserves attention for the efforts undertaken to ensure religious freedom,” said Professor Clark.