The report titled Their last stand? How human rights defenders are being squeezed out in Tajikistan, published today by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, outlines how the authorities have increasingly restricted the legal space for human rights organisations and independent lawyers to provide assistance to victims of human rights violations, including torture.
“ We fear that human rights defenders in Tajikistan are in the middle of the worst oppression yet. So it beggars belief when the international community fails to stand up for those brave women and men. On a recent visit to Tajikistan EU Council President Donald Tusk poured lavish praise on Rahmon but failed to speak out publicly on his human rights record. This is unacceptable ”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
The report finds that amendments to, among others, the Law on Public Associations - allegedly introduced to combat money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorism - severely restricted the ability of human rights defenders and others to set up and run civil society organisations without undue interference. At the same time various official bodies were handed tremendous powers to conduct frequent and intrusive inspections of NGOs.
Furthermore, the authorities bear responsibility for causing an acute shortage of lawyers in the country, with grave implications for the right of access to a lawyer of one’s choice and other fundamental human rights. New legislation sets unreasonably high admission criteria for the bar and mandates a body presided by a Deputy Minister of Justice with testing and periodically re-testing all lawyers, giving the executive authority additional grounds for exclusion of lawyers from the bar on an arbitrary basis.
Finally, journalists and lawyers have been criminally prosecuted for defending victims, including the 28 years jail sentence for prominent human rights lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov.
“ These developments pose a fundamental threat to the existence of a free and independent civil society and legal profession in Tajikistan ”, concluded Dimitris Christopoulos, FIDH President.
Context
The report is released ahead of Tajikistan’s review by the UN Human Rights Committee from July 1 to 3, 2019. The Committee oversees State parties’ compliance with their legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by OMCT and FIDH. The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
For more information, please contact:
• OMCT: Iolanda Jaquemet / Roemer Lemaitre: + 41 79 539 41 06 / + 41 22 809 49 39
• FIDH: Eva Canan: + 33 6 48 05 91 57