Retreating Rights: Examining the pressures on human rights in Tajikistan Executive Summary After almost 30 years of independence, Tajikistan finds itself in a very difficult place, combining extreme poverty with a system that brooks no dissent. Tajikistan’s descent into authoritarianism has taken place gradually but inexorably since the end of the Civil War in 1997 as the President has consolidated power into his own hands and those of his family and close associates, repressing dissent, no matter how minor, with often overwhelming force. Tajikistan now finds itself close to the bottom of the global freedom rankings for political competition, civic space, media and religious freedom as the regime has effectively deployed its multi-track ‘suppress, acquiesce and incorporate’ approach to neutralise alternative voices with a widespread culture of self-censorship. There are real challenges deciding whether, when and how to engage with the country, which come with difficult trade-offs for those involved, where development and human rights imperatives do not always align in the short-term. Western international actors have limited opportunities to influence the situation in a positive direction but it is important that they seek to use what leverage they have to resist further backsliding and put pressure on the regime to curb its excesses. Though diplomatic pressure can sometimes make a difference at the margins, money remains the most important tool available to those seeking to make a difference on the ground. This is both looking at what more can be done to condition or review international aid, investment and lending, as well as taking action where corrupt financial flows from the Tajik elite penetrate the international financial and economic system. Beyond the country there is a lot more to do to protect activists in exile from harassment and extradition by a regime that does not see national borders as a barrier to repression. Key Recommendations The Government of Tajikistan should: End the harassment of regime critics at home and abroad, and end the use of torture; Remove laws that prohibit the ‘insult’ of the President and public officials; Limit the application of anti-extremism legislation to prevent its use against political rivals; Address widespread corruption at the heart of the state; Create genuinely independent oversight mechanisms to investigate abuse; End mandatory medical examinations for every citizen seeking to get married and HIV tests as a de facto requirement for many jobs and education institutions; Cease the blocking of websites of independent news outlets; End the propiska system of internal movement registration and restrictions; Make the General Plans of cities more accessible and involve citizens in their development; Reform and expand the listing process for properties of architectural and heritage value; and Develop measures to promote women’s participation in employment and public office, tackle domestic violence, sexual harassment and abuse by law enforcement. Western countries and international organisations should: Review investments by International Financial Institutions and aid schemes that provide budget support to the Government of Tajikistan; Implement Magnitsky sanctions and other anti-corruption measures against abusers; Urge social media companies to improve complaint handling and Tajik content moderation; Pause EU efforts to add Tajikistan to the GSP + scheme and create a new Enhanced PCA; Add Tajikistan to the UK’s list of Human Rights Priority Countries; and Improve access to asylum and temporary refuge for Tajiks at risk, including measures to assist family reunification where the relatives of activists have been targeted for abuse. 2 Retreating Rights: Examining the pressures on human rights in Tajikistan Contents 1. Introduction: How rights have retreated in Tajikistan ................................................................... 4 By Adam Hug What our authors say .................................................................................................................... 30 2. Stuck between underinvestment, government authoritarianism and corruption: The healthcare system in Tajikistan and the risks for the population ................................................ 32 By Dr Sebastien Peyrouse 3. Tajik civil society during and after the pandemic: Main challenges and development prospects ........................................................................................................................................ 39 By Dr Parviz Mullojanov 4. The broken promises of development in Tajikistan ..................................................................... 46 By Shoira Olimova 5. Loss of harmony: The rise of a new Tajikistan and the fall of old aspirations for the better ..... 53 By Xeniya Mironova 6. “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – The challenges facing free media in Tajikistan ................................................................................................................. 63 By Anne Sunder-Plassmann and Rachel Gasowski 7. Academic freedom in Tajikistan: From suppression of scholars to incorporation into Rahmon’s regime ............................................................................................................................................ 69 By Dr Oleg Antonov, Dr Edward Lemon and Dr Parviz Mullojonov 8. Ill-treatment and torture: Something about which women choose to remain silent................. 76 By Favziya Nazarova and Nigina Bakhrieva 9. Low women’s political participation in Tajikistan: Will the anti-discrimination law be a solution? ......................................................................................................................................... 82 By Dilbar Turakhanova 10. Human rights of people living with HIV in Tajikistan ................................................................... 88 By Larisa Alexandrova 11. Conclusions and recommendations .............................................................................................. 96 By Adam Hug 12. Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 103 Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are those of the individual authors alone and do not represent the views of The Foreign Policy Centre. Each individual author is only responsible for their own contribution and they have not had input into the content of other essays. The publication’s executive summary, conclusions and recommendations, while drawing on the ideas raised by other essay contributors, are attributable to editor Adam Hug alone. 3 Retreating Rights: Examining the pressures on human rights in Tajikistan 1. Introduction: How rights have retreated in Tajikistan …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... By Adam Hug1 This publication, the second in the Foreign Policy Centre’s Retreating Rights series, seeks to provide a detailed overview of the situation in Tajikistan finds itself in, a country facing significant human rights and governance problems, as well as real development challenges. However, before moving to the present day to examine what now can be done, it is worth briefly setting out how the country got here. A brief history of Tajikistan Tajikistan is situated between Kyrgyzstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Afghanistan to the south and China to the east, comprising parts of the Ferganna Valley in the north and the Pamir mountain range. While many cultures had settled the area throughout history the modern Tajik people trace their ancestry back to the Samanid Empire (875-999 AD), who ruled the area from nearby Samarkand and Bukhara, with post-Independence Tajikistan naming its currency, the somoni, after Samanid leader Ismail Samani.2 Unlike the rest of Central Asia, the Tajik language, given the link back to the Samanids, is closely related to Persian (Farsi) rather than being Turkic in origin. The land that comprises Tajikistan today was gradually taken by the Russian Empire from the Emirate of Bukhara and Khanate of Kokand in the period between 1864 and 1885. During the First World War, 1 Adam Hug became Director of the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) in November 2017. He had previously been the Policy Director at the FPC from 2008–2017. His research focuses on human rights and governance issues, particularly in the former Soviet Union. He also writes on UK and EU foreign policy. Image by Rjruiziii under (CC). 2 Kamoludin Abdullaev and Catherine Barnes, Politics of compromise: The Tajikistani peace process, Conciliation Resources, April 2001, https://www.c-r.org/accord/tajikistan/tajik-civil-war-causes-and-dynamics; Francisco Olmos, State-building myths in Central Asia, FPC, October 2019, https://fpc.org.uk/state-building-myths-in-central-asia/ 4 Retreating Rights: Examining the pressures on human rights in Tajikistan opposition to forced conscription helped spark a revolt by the Basmachi movement that would wage both conventional and guerrilla war against both Imperial Russian and then Soviet forces into the early 1920s with the goal of Muslim independence from Russian control in Central Asia. As Soviet control strengthened, the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was created in 1924 (as part of the Uzbek SSR) and it would ultimately become a full constituent Republic (the Tajik SSR) in 1929 though the then predominantly ethnic Tajik cities of Samarkand