Tajikistan’s civil society prepares to engage with the Human Rights Committee
Published on 25 Feb 2019, 09:10 AM
Tajikistan will be reviewed by the Human Rights Committee in July 2019
National consultation on the implementation of the ICCPR in Tajikistan, 13 February 2019
Tajikistan’s implementation of the ICCPR will be examined by the Human Rights Committee in July 2019 in Geneva. The last review of Tajikistan by the Human Rights Committee took place in 2013.
In this context, the Centre together with its local partners, Notabene and the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law, organised a national consultation on the implementation of the ICCPR in Tajikistan. The workshop took place in Dushanbe on 13 to 15 February 2019, with the participation of 20 representatives of civil society.
The training focused on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Human Rights Committee, and the civil society participation during this reporting process. The participants worked in groups to identify the main concerns and to assess the implementation of the previous recommendations.
Main concerns of civil society regarding civil and political rights in Tajikistan
Among others, these areas of concern were highlighted by civil society representatives during the national consultation:
- Discrimination of women, LGBTI persons, people with disabilities and people with HIV, both in law and in practice
- Torture and ill-treatment
- Corruption in medical facilities, in the judiciary and regarding the registration of organisations and assocations
- Freedom of expression and harassment of journalists
- Right to privacy
- Restrictions to freedom of assembly and association, as civil society organisations often do not get permission to carry out a peaceful demonstration or other public events and do not obtain the permits to register their organisations
- Lack of independence of the judiciary and fair trial
Next steps
The participating NGOs will submit a civil society report to the Human Rights Committee, with the support of the Centre, Notabene and the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law, to contribute to the review of Tajikistan. A number of representatives of civil society will participate in the 126th session of the Human Rights Committee in Geneva to present their report to the members of the Committee.
Find out here the State report submitted to the Human Rights Committee in November 2017 and the List of Issues adopted by the Committee in November 2018.