The 2009 Religion Law and State Control of Islam in Tajikistan

Tajikistan's 2009 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations names Islam the country's traditional religion while subjecting every religious organization, mosques included, to a demanding regime of state oversight. Religious groups must register with the government, clergy appointments require state approval, imported and published religious literature is subject to government review, and the law restricts where and how children may receive religious instruction as well as the wearing of religious dress in public institutions.

The government has defended the law as a response to the trauma of the 1992 to 1997 civil war and to the regional spread of violent extremism, but international religious freedom monitors have documented its practical effect as tight control over ordinary religious life well beyond any security rationale. The United States has designated Tajikistan a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom every year since 2016, placing it among the small number of states judged to be engaged in particularly severe violations, a documented record that has not altered the law's core provisions in the years since.