Berlin, Brussels (12/5 – 40)

In the vast mountain lands of Central Asia, a small ethnic group located at the crossroads of Afghanistan, China, and Russia is struggling for its very survival in the face of a national program that, some experts argued, is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.  The Pamiris of Tajikistan were granted autonomy by the USSR and reside in Gorno-Badakhshan region known as the GBAO. For years, the Pamiris’ ancient traditions, peaceful religious faith, and highly educated populace, accused by Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon of being “inbred” and run by “criminals”, have faced a state campaign that replaces the Pamiri society with ethnic Tajiks. This re-engineering of the GBAO climaxed in May and June 2022, when security forces stormed up the Pamiri Highway that leads to China and killed, wounded, arrested, and tortured hundreds of Pamiris who had been protesting the government’s abuse of human rights in GBAO. Nekkadam Muborakshoev was one of the victims.

Nekkadam Muborakshoev was a geologist by training and had returned from Russia four months earlier to build a house in the village of Rushan. He was a father of three. 

Akbarsho Muborakshoev, Nekkadam’s brother, said that he went to the bank in the district center of Vamar on the morning of May 18 to withdraw money which was sent by his daughter from Russia. He was later killed by the regime and they brought his body back to his family. He was badly burnt and his body was scorched and unrecognizable. Akbarsho said that the soldiers treated his brother like an animal. He believed that his brother was a peaceful civilian and did not even carry a pocketknife.

Nekkadam died at the age of 58. He was building a house next to his brother’s house in the village. His three children were living in Russia and they had sent money to him to build the house. After his death, the house was left empty. 

Source

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You are not Forgotten.

Berlin, Brussels (12/5 – 40)

In the vast and remote mountain lands of Central Asia, the Ismaili Pamiris have long faced systemic discrimination and persecution at the hands of the Tajik government. Despite their proud history, rich cultural traditions, and highly educated populace, they have been targeted for cultural extermination in a chilling campaign of ethnic cleansing. Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon has demonized them as “inbred” and “criminals” and launched a brutal program to replace their community with ethnic Tajiks. In May and June 2022, the government launched a final assault on the Pamiris to end their autonomy and bring them under the total control of the state. Heavily armed security forces rampaged into the town of Vanj, where protestors calling for respect for human rights had peacefully blocked the Pamiri Highway. There and in other towns of the Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO), protestors and passers-by were shot dead, maimed, and taken to prisons to be tortured and degraded. Asliddin Khursandov was just one of the many innocent victims of this genocidal campaign.

Asliddin Khursandov had participated in the public protests in Vamar on May 18, 2022. According to reports, Asliddin and his friend, Mukhiddin Kurbonasenov, sought refuge in the mountains to evade the gunfire and brutality of Rahmon regime’s security officers in town. While hiding there, helicopter snipers found them and he was shot to death.

Asliddin died at the age of 30 and was buried in the town cemetery, along with some of the other 21 Derzud victims of the Tajik security forces.

Asliddin was a graduate from the school in Rushon district. His parents are from the middle working class. His only brother, 28-year-old Ibrahim Khursandov, was also arrested by the regime.

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Berlin, Brussels (11/5 – 40)

The Ismaili Pamiris of Tajikistan are a tiny minority group in Central Asia, whose ancient homeland lies in the remote and forbidding mountains that straddle the borders of Afghanistan, China, and Russia. Despite their small numbers, they have long been targeted for persecution by the authoritarian government of Tajikistan. In recent years, this has escalated into a full-blown campaign of ethnic cleansing, with President Imomali Rahmon seeking to eradicate this community and replace them with ethnic Tajiks. The Pamiris reside in the Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO), which became a warzone in May 2022. Government security forces had swept through Vanj, indiscriminately killing, torturing, and jailing Pamiris whom they accused of committing “terrorist acts”. Mukhiddin Kurbonasenov was one of the many peaceful Pamiri activists who fell victim to this brutal onslaught.

Mukhiddin was from the village of Vamar in Rushan, Tajikistan. A single man, he engaged in seasonal and temporary work, mostly in the field of construction.

According to reports, Mukhiddin and his friend, Asliddin Khursandov, sought refuge in the mountains to evade the gunfire and brutality of Rahmon regime’s security officers in town. While hiding there, helicopter snipers found them and he was shot to death.

Mukhiddin was reported to have died at the age of 35.

Source

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‘Closed’ is the worst rating a country can receive by the CIVICUS Monitor. In reality, it means that an atmosphere of fear prevails in Tajikistan, where people are routinely imprisoned and attacked for exercising their fundamental rights of freedom of association, free assembly and expression. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria are also rated closed.

Mass protests took place in GBAO in May 2022 when people took to the streets in the city of Khorog to demand the resignation of the regional leader as well as justice for a young man killed during a police operation. These protests followed earlier mass protests held in the region on similar issues in November 2021. In both cases, authorities cracked down on protests and carried out special security operations in the region marred by allegations of excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings of detainees.  In addition, they imposed weeks-long internet shutdowns throughout the region.  To date, authorities have failed to carry out impartial investigations into human rights violations reported in the region.

The CIVICUS Monitor and its research partner International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) are particularly concerned about  a widening crackdown on dissenting voices seen in Tajikistan in connection with the GBAO events. At  least 20 human rights activists and journalists critical of the government’s policies in the GBAO have been detained and prosecuted. In a recent case, on 9 December 2022, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court handed down lengthy prison sentences to several human rights activists who were targeted for their efforts to monitor, document and assist victims of the government’s crackdown in GBAO. Among those convicted were human rights lawyer Manuchehr Kholiknazarov, Director of the Pamiri Lawyers Association, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and human rights defender and journalist Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva who was convicted to 21 years behind bars. 

“We are dismayed that several Tajikistani human rights defenders and journalists were sentenced to long periods behind bars following politically motivated, sham trials which fell short of international standards. They were convicted in apparent retaliation for their human rights activities and journalistic work around the Tajikistani government’s repressive policies in the GBAO and should be immediately released,’’ Brigitte Dufour, Director of IPHR.

There is less and less space for dissenting voices in Tajikistan as journalists, civil society activists, independent lawyers and human rights activists continue to face  growing intimidation and harassment. The operating environment for CSOs deteriorated further with many organisationsexperiencing difficulties with registration, threats of closure and pressure to refrain from working on issues that are perceived as sensitive by those in power. The security services are often behind intimidation and harassment targeting CSOs.

Recent arbitrary closures of NGOs are of particular concern. In January 2023 the NGO Independent Centre for Human Rights Protection (ICHRP) was liquidated by court order on spurious and unsubstantiated grounds. In recent years, the ICHRP has mainly worked on issues which the authorities perceive as sensitive, such as housing rights, and the provision of legal assistance to victims of forced evictions. The NGO has also provided legal assistance to journalists and victims of torture. Human rights activists believe that ICHRP has been a thorn in the side of the authorities because of its independent and critical human rights work and that the decision to liquidate it is a retaliatory measure. 

“The forced closure of ICHRP is contrary to Tajikistan’s international human rights obligations and at odds with its bid to join the EU’s GSP+ trade preference regime, which requires compliance with core international human rights treaty obligations, including those protecting the right to freedom of association”, says Brigitte Dufour, Director of IPHR. 

Another human rights NGO, the Pamiri Lawyers Association was informed by the Ministry of Justice at the end of 2022 that it had been  liquidated, without any court review. 

The CIVICUS Monitor and IPHR are also concerned that media freedoms are severely constrained in Tajikistan. There is hardly any space in which  independent media can operate and the arbitrary blocking of independent news sites and social media networks remains an ongoing concern.

At the end of her visit to Tajikistan in December 2022, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor expressed serious concerns about the current climate for  civic engagement  in the country. She stressed that “the government must recognise that human rights defenders are not the enemy, they are also working towards peaceful, just and fair societies and should not be conflated with actual extremists and terrorists.”

The worrying picture in Tajikistan is mirrored across the world; CIVICUS Monitor data shows that year after year, there is significantly less space for people to exercise fundamental freedoms: only 3% of the world’s population lives in countries rated as ‘open’.

Over twenty organisations collaborate on the CIVICUS Monitor, providing evidence and research that help us target countries where civic freedoms are at risk. The Monitor has posted more than 490 civic space updates in the last year, which are analysed in People Power Under Attack 2022. 

Civic freedoms in 197 countries and territories are categorised as either closed, repressed, obstructed, narrowed or open, based on a methodology that combines several sources of data on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.

In addition to Tajikistan, there are 26 other countries that now are rated as ‘’closed’’ on the Monitor (see all). Visit Tajikistan’s homepage on the CIVICUS Monitor for more information and check back regularly for the latest updates. 

Source: Eurasiareview

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