Amnesty International 23 May 2013 Torture and other ill-treatment remained widespread and impunity for perpetrators continued. There was no access to detention facilities for independent monitoring bodies. Freedom of expression was still under attack, despite some liberalization in the law. Read full report here.
Freedom House 9 May 2013 The government of Tajikistan in 2012 conducted a large-scale military operation in the autonomous Gorno-Badakhshan province. After a ceasefire in early August, a local strongman and former opposition commander was killed in his home. The assassination sparked riots in Khorog, the region’s largest city, forcing Dushanbe to withdraw forces from the region. Authorities took new steps to cut off public access to information and communication networks during and after the fighting. Read full report here.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 30 April 2013 Tajikistan’s restrictions on religious freedom remained in place during the reporting period, and systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief continue. The government suppresses and punishes all religious activity independent of state control, and imprisons individuals on unproven criminal allegations linked to religious activity or affiliation. These restrictions and abuses primarily affect the country’s majority Muslim community, but also target minority communities, particularly Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses community has been banned since 2007. In recent years, the Tajik government has destroyed a synagogue, Read the full article…
United States Department of State 19 April 2013 Tajikistan is an authoritarian state that President Emomali Rahmon and his supporters, drawn mainly from one region of the country, dominated politically. The constitution provides for a multiparty political system, but in practice the government obstructed political pluralism. The 2010 parliamentary elections were marked by widespread fraud to ensure the continued rule of the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT). Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problems included torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by security forces, restrictions on freedoms of expression and the Read the full article…
Human Rights Watch 31 January 2013 The human rights situation in Tajikistan remains poor. The government persisted in 2012 with enforcing a repressive law on religion, and introduced new legislation further restricting religious expression and education. Authorities restricted media freedoms and targeted journalists for their work. Domestic violence against women and children and torture remain widespread human rights concerns. Tajik authorities took positive steps during the year, including accepting a visit by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture. They also removed slander and insult from the criminal code, making them misdemeanors subject to fines. However, the government also restricted Read the full article…
Amnesty International Annual Report 2012: the state of the world’s human rights Tajikistan Published on 24 May 2012 Safeguards against torture enshrined in domestic law were not always adhered to. Freedom of expression remained restricted. The authorities failed to effectively prevent and prosecute violence against women and to protect survivors. Torture and other ill-treatment Police and security forces continued to use torture and other ill-treatment with almost total impunity, despite changes to the law in 2010. The European Court of Human Rights issued emergency measures to prevent the extradition of a man to Tajikistan, due to the prevalence of torture Read the full article…
Institute for War and Peace reporting, via RefWorld 2 February 2012. When Alisher’s father discovered his son was gay, he beat him with an army belt, kept him at home for a month, then sent him from Tajikistan to a religious college in Iran to “knock the nonsense out of him”. It did not end there. While in Iran, Alisher learned that his father had hired men to beat up his boyfriend, so he fled the college for Russia, where he now works on a market stall. Alisher’s story may seem extreme, but the homophobic attitudes he faced are not Read the full article…
In May 2011 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms published its annual report (covering 1st April 2010 - 31st March 2011). The Commission placed Tajikistan on its Watch List. Here is the Commission’s summary of religious freedom in Tajikistan: “The religious freedom situation in Tajikistan continued to deteriorate during the reporting period, as it has sharply over the past several years. The state suppresses and punishes all religious activity independent of state control. The government’s restrictions on the freedom of religion or belief primarily affect the country’s majority Muslim community, but also target minority communities viewed as foreign-influenced, Read the full article…