“The ongoing persecution and human rights violations against the Pamiri minority in Tajikistan reached an alarming scale years ago. But there is almost no one to ring the alarm bell. The Tajikistani authorities stifle virtually all information from the region, while the international community has largely overlooked this serious human rights crisis. It demands immediate attention and action from the international community to safeguard the rights and dignity of the Pamiri people,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 

The ongoing persecution and human rights violations against the Pamiri minority in Tajikistan reached an alarming scale years ago. But there is almost no one to ring the alarm bell

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Tajikistan: Reprisals against Pamiri minority, suppression of local identity, clampdown on all dissent highlights the violations of economic, social and cultural rights resulting from: the crackdown on Pamiri languages, cultural practices, and identities; the heavy presence of security forces from other regions of Tajikistan; violent repression of protest and widespread arbitrary detention; and socioeconomic marginalization faced by the Pamiri Ismaili community in Gorno-Badakhshan. 

Discrimination and securitization 

The central authorities have promoted a culture of prejudice against Pamiris. A state-sponsored narrative depicts them negatively, particularly Ismailis, leading to widespread discrimination. This policy manifests in repressive practices, including suppressing the use of Pamiri languages in media, education, and public life, excluding Pamiris from influential positions within the state administration and security apparatus, and extortion and destruction of local employment opportunities and Pamiri businesses. 

The heavy presence of security forces from other parts of Tajikistan reflects the authorities’ contempt for the Gorno-Badakhshan population. “The word ‘Pamiri’ [for the security forces] means […] separatist, oppositionist, main enemy,” said one of the interviewees. 

The presence of security agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), has significantly increased in GBAO. Security forces have set up armed cordons on roads and in city squares, including the capital city of GBAO, Khorugh, patrolled by heavily armed police and military. “The security forces in Khorugh behave like wolves looking after sheep. ‘You should not walk like this; you should not laugh!’” said one of the interviewees. 

Security operations in GBAO include surveillance, intimidation, and the excessive use of force — often justified as combating terrorism and organized crime — accompanied by arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of local informal leaders and ordinary Pamiris, despite a lack of credible evidence.  

“The heavy-handed securitization in Gorno-Badakhshan is beyond any scrutiny. The local population is perceived as hostile by the central government, and people are harassed and discriminated against on a daily basis,” said Marie Struthers. 

The heavy-handed securitization in Gorno-Badakhshan is beyond any scrutiny. The local population is perceived as hostile by the central government, and people are harassed and discriminated against on a daily basis

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

2021-2022 crackdown and its aftermath 

Mounting tensions erupted after the killing of prominent Pamiri figure Gulbiddin Ziyobekov in November 2021. Officially described as the result of a shootout with law enforcement, evidence points to an unlawful killing of an unarmed man, which may amount to an extrajudicial execution. In response to a four-day protest in Khorugh, security forces used firearms against a crowd that had been peaceful until that point, killing two protesters and allegedly injuring around a dozen.  

“We escorted the women away […] to a safer location. At that time, a bullet hit me. They were shooting from the entrance of the building, wearing uniforms. Some of them were standing directly in the entrance, some of them were on the second or third floor,” said one protester, describing the indiscriminate use of lethal force by law enforcement officials. 

After false promises to effectively investigate, the authorities instead persecuted informal community leaders, harassed civil society, and intimidated and prosecuted ordinary Pamiris.  

A second outbreak of violence occurred in May 2022 when authorities violently dispersed peaceful protests in Khorugh and Rushan, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Pamiris, including informal leader Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov, shot by unidentified gunmen in a pickup — a likely extrajudicial execution. According to independent reports, 24 civilians died, some during the crackdown and some in alleged retaliatory unlawful killings.  

A subsequent crackdown on civil society followed with the arbitrary detention of more than 200 human rights defenders, dissenters, and influential figures such as journalist and activist Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva and lawyers Faromuz Irgashev and Manuchehr Kholiknazarov. In December 2023, they received 21, 29 and 15-year sentences respectively, in secret trials, with the details of the charges made public only six months later.  

Arbitrary detentions and torture 

The Tajikistani authorities routinely arbitrarily detain, allegedly torture, and engage in other ill-treatment of Pamiris, with reports of coerced confessions and fabricated charges of crimes against “public safety,” “fundamentals of the constitutional order” or “order of administration.” Legal proceedings lack transparency and due process, with many trials lasting only a few days. During the 2021-2022 crackdown, reports of torture and other ill-treatment were common.  

One of the detainees in the aftermath of the May 2022 protests said he was deprived of sleep for two days, beaten with fists and batons and hit on the head with a thick book. 

“When they asked and I did not answer, they wrapped wet tissues around my fingers, then [fixed it with] tape. They put clips and switched something on. The [electric] current was strong. They did it with different fingers. They did it twice every day, four times in all,” he said. 

The international community must urgently raise concerns about the human rights violations faced by Pamiris with the Tajikistani authorities

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

“After the 2021-2022 protests in Gorno-Badakhshan, the systemic discrimination against the Pamiri community has become ever more entrenched, resulting in fear, harassment and violation of human rights. The international community must urgently raise concerns about the human rights violations faced by Pamiris with the Tajikistani authorities, in all possible fora not the least international fora, stand in solidarity with the Pamiri people, give protection to those who seek it abroad, and take decisive action to oppose this vicious system in Tajikistan,” said Marie Struthers. 

Source

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According to the Tajik MFA information department, the parties discussed the prospects for the expansion of cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and Italy in the political, economic, trade, water and energy, environmental protection, transport, tourism and educational sectors.

They reportedly also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest, including current threats and challenges, the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy says Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani welcomed the Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to Villa Madama in Rome on March 29 for the 3rd Italy-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting.

“Italy views with great interest the opportunities presented to Italian companies in Central Asia: establishing a strategic partnership with Central Asian countries and strengthening economic and industrial cooperation in the fields of water resources, the environment, and higher education is a priority. For this reason, over 30 of the most important Italian companies and trade associations will attend today’s meeting,” commented Mr. Antonio Tajani

The Italian Government has reportedly promoted the intensification of relations with countries in the region, as demonstrated by the business forums organized with Uzbekistan (in June 2023), Kazakhstan (in January this year) and Tajikistan (last April).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy says these initiatives are in line with the growth diplomacy action carried out by the Ministry and its diplomatic network on the initiative of Minister Tajani.  Business activities with other states in the region are currently being planned. Particular attention is being paid to regional projects in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, machinery and energy involving all the countries of Central Asia.

Meanwhile, the Tajik MFA information department says that day prior to this meeting, Tajik representatives participated in separate thematic sessions were held on issues of water and energy, transport and education.

Source: Asia Plus

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Expert Analysis

“Bringing in Palestine Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa and pushing out the current prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is the rearranging of the deck chairs on the Palestinian Titanic. Both men are part of the problem. They are both cronies of Mahmoud Abbas. Neither figure has the power or will to reform the PA. This is not a serious effort to bring better governance to the West Bank, let alone Gaza. The United States must demand more.” — Jonathan Schanzer, FDD Senior Vice President for Research
“The PA has become largely irrelevant and desperately needs to be reformed. Palestinians overwhelmingly reject the authority’s corruption and repression. Replacing one Abbas loyalist with another is not the reform the Palestinians need.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst

PA Failing to Reform

Washington has repeatedly said that a “revitalized” PA should govern Gaza after the war. However, concerns remain over the PA’s ability to govern an independent Palestinian state, especially one ruled in coordination with Hamas. Abbas, who is in the 20th year of a four-year term, has presided over a corrupt and ineffective government that has lost legitimacy among the Palestinian people. The PA also continues to provide controversial welfare payments for Palestinian terrorists or their surviving families, and allows Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups to operate in the West Bank without significant limitations.

In Search of Palestinian Unity

The West Bank-based terrorist organization Hamas dismissed Shtayyeh’s resignation and said that it “only makes sense if it comes within the context of national consensus arrangements for the next phase.” Hamas is expected to participate in talks with other Palestinian factions in Moscow from February 29 through March 2. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy for the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov invited as many as 14 Palestinian groups, including Fatah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, from various Middle Eastern countries to participate.

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Shodiev — not his real name — says that every week he treats about 15 clients who ask him to expel what they believe is an evil spirit, or jinni, possessing them, or to rid them from “an evil eye.”

The 53-year-old cleric has been practicing exorcisms — which he learned to do from his father — for more than two decades. Most of Shodiev’s clients come from Dushanbe and nearby districts, but some to travel from faraway regions to seek his help.

Shodiev says he doesn’t have a set fee for performing the Islamic rite. “It’s up to the clients how much to pay.”

Three Tajik clerics who spoke to RFE/RL claimed the demand for exorcisms is on the rise in the predominately Muslim country.

There are no official statistics in Tajikistan on exorcisms or the number of people performing the centuries-old practice, which survived decades of religious crackdowns during the atheistic Soviet era and most recently the Tajik government’s attempts to restrict exorcisms.

Tajik laws do not ban the procedure. But several men who perform exorcisms have been jailed in recent years on charges of fraud, sexual molestation, or practicing the occult.

Some Tajiks see the ongoing efforts by the secular government as a way to keep a tab on “all things religious.” As part of that campaign, Islamic hijabs have been banned in schools and offices, while growing a long or bushy beard is frowned upon for young men.

Exorcisms are practiced among the followers of Islam, Christianity, and some other world religions.

There is a belief among Muslims that an evil spirit or jinni can possess a person but can be driven out of the possessed person’s body through an exorcism that includes reciting certain verses from the Koran.

But several Tajik clergymen told RFE/RL that many clerics in the country refrain from performing exorcism because it requires special training.

In the meantime, the spike in demand for exorcisms has led to a rise in the number of self-proclaimed exorcists, and charlatans, according to the clerics and officials. Many of them perform exorcisms and do faith healings.

Some also mix in elements of the occult, which is outlawed in Tajikistan and prohibited within Islam.

Tajikistan’s Religious Affairs Committee said, “Muslims believe that the Koran has healing powers, therefore they seek help [from exorcisms] to treat certain mental health issues, but unfortunately there have been cases in which some [self-proclaimed exorcists] tried to take advantage of people’s [religious] beliefs.”

Exorcism Gone Wrong

Tajik law-enforcement agencies in recent years released what they called footage of self-proclaimed exorcists and faith healers molesting their female clients. The incidents were allegedly recorded by hidden cameras, which police installed after receiving complaints.

In 2021, police in the northern Sughd Province released a video that purportedly shows Alijon Ghaniev, a 50-year-old self-proclaimed exorcist and faith healer, performing an unusual ritual on a female client that ends with sexual intercourse.

According to local media, Ghaniev charged his 21-year-old client the equivalent of $14 for three exorcism and faith healing sessions.

State television showed what it described as Ghaniev’s exorcism tools, including several knives, tarot cards, various herbs, and a bunch of dried tree branches. Once in police custody, Nabiev told the TV channel that he regretted his actions “getting out of control under the devil’s temptation.”

It is not clear if Nabiev’s confession was voluntary or was made under pressure.

In a similar case in 2019, a court in Hisor district handed a prison sentence to Juraboi Sochaev, who was accused of sexually harassing his female clients during exorcism rites. Sochaev charged his clients up to $270 for a session, prosecutors said.

A probe is under way in the northern city of Khujand against a self-proclaimed exorcist, Abduvali Nabiev, 68, who was arrested in October on sexual harassment charges.

Police and prosecutors said none of the men has had religious education or medical training but claimed to have special abilities to expel jinni and treat ailments.

Exorcisms made shocking headlines in Central Asia recently when a woman died due to severe beatings during the ritual in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.

Court documents say two men used a hammer, chain, and stakes in the procedure that broke several of the woman’s ribs and caused internal bleeding. The exorcists were sentenced to 2 1/2 and three years in prison.

Gone Underground

Asked about the tragic Uzbek case, Shodiev said he has never performed or heard of an exorcism that led to physical harm.

“We do use some tools, but we don’t beat the clients to death, we just tap their elbow, for example, with the blunt side of a knife,” Shodiev said.

Shodiev and many others in Tajikistan no longer perform exorcisms openly, fearing what they see as the government’s campaign against the practice.

About five to seven years ago, clients used to come to Shodiev’s house for the procedure, but nowadays he visits them in the evenings in their homes to perform the ritual.

“I don’t want to get accused of some made-up charges, like practicing the occult, for example,” he said.

For some Tajiks — such as Akmal Halimov, a 34-year-old resident of the Vadhat district — the scandals surrounding the exorcists have done little to erode their faith in the religious ritual.

Halimov believes an exorcism saved him after he “was possessed by an evil spirit” during his student years in Dushanbe.

“My relatives took me to a mullah who treated me for 10 days. After that I felt that something bad had left my body,” he said.

But in the rural district of Mastchoh, Zuhro Mukhtorova isn’t optimistic about receiving any benefits from an exorcism.

About a decade ago, the 34-year-old Mukhtorova developed an illness that affects her ability to speak. When medical treatments didn’t help, relatives suggested she must have been “possessed by jinni.” Mukhtorova has been to several exorcists, but despite her faith in them the rituals have not helped her.

She still speaks with difficulty and has given up on exorcisms.

Source: RFERL

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President Kassym-Joomart Tokayev approved the new government of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Olzhas Bektenov. The names of the ministers were published on primeminister.kz.

Most of the ministers remained from the old government.

Four ministers were replaced: Nurlan Baibazarov was appointed Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy instead of Alibek Kuantyrov, Madi Takiyev became Minister of Finance instead of Erulan Zhamaubaev, Akmaral Alnazarova was appointed Minister of Healthcare instead of Azhar Giniyat, and Chingis Arinov became the new Minister for Emergency Situations instead of Syrym Shariphanov.

Members of the government who remained in their positions included First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu, Chief of Staff of the Government Galymzhan Koishybayev, Deputy Prime Minister Tamara Duisenova, Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, Minister of Defense Ruslan Zhaksylykov, Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov, Minister of Justice Azamat Yeskarayev, Minister of Energy Almassadam Satkaliyev, Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin, Minister of Education Gani Beisembayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Minister of Tourism and Sports Yermek Marzhikpayev, Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population Svetlana Zhakupova, Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapaev, and Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev.

There are currently 26 members of the government. The composition was renewed for 16%. There are six deputy prime ministers left. 16% remained women.

President Kassym-Joomart Tokayev decided to resign the government of Kazakhstan on February 5. The duties of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan were temporarily assigned to Roman Sklyar. The next day, the president said the government’s resignation was aimed at providing new impetus and meeting public expectations. In addition, the president promised that the new government will use new approaches.

The head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan, Olzhas Bektenov, headed the government of Kazakhstan on February 6. His candidacy was proposed by the Amanat party, it was supported by the president, the majority of factions of political parties in the Parliament agreed to the appointment. Olzhas Bektenov replaced Alikhan Smailov, who had headed the Cabinet of Ministers since January 2022.

Source: Akipress

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar met on Monday with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

Noting that he first met with Japarov one-on-one and then at an inter-delegation dinner, Tatar told the press: “It was a cordial meeting.”

The Northern Cypriot leader also said that he told Japarov about the Cyprus issue, the injustices perpetrated against Northern Cyprus, its problems on the international stage, the reasons for the two-state solution policy, and the current state of the Cyprus issue.

Describing his visit to Kyrgyzstan as “very successful,” Tatar said that they requested that Kyrgyzstan “increase its support for us.”

Erhan Arikli, the TRNC public works and transport minister, who accompanied Tatar at the dinner with the Kyrgyzstan president, shared a photo from the meeting between Tatar and Japarov on social media.

Earlier on Monday, Tatar spoke at the opening ceremony of the Energy Investments and Cooperation Conference in Kyrgyzstan hosted by Kyrgyzstan-Türkiye Manas University, where he was the guest of honor.

Thanking those who contributed to his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Tatar said: “Today is a historic day. I am pleased to meet you and satisfy your longing in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan-Türkiye Manas University, at the foothills of Mount Tengri, in the homeland of Kyrgyzstan, where you welcomed me with such excitement.”

Source: AA News

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Turkmenistan picked the lowest possible of hanging fruit at the ongoing COP-28 climate summit in Dubai by announcing it will sign up to the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary agreement that commits adherents to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

In his speech to the UN Climate Change Conference on December 1, President Serdar Berdymukhamedov made out that this was the natural outcome of his country’s long-standing concerns over dangers posed by emissions of the greenhouse gas.

“As you know, at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow [in 2021], Turkmenistan announced its support for this new Global Methane Pledge initiative and expressed interest in a detailed study of the document and participation in its implementation,” he said.

Turkmen officials must have been so busy poring over the document that they failed to notice that – as one Guardian report framed it – leaks of methane from two field gas fields alone contributed more to global warming in 2022 than all the carbon emissions in the United Kingdom.

What was particularly egregious, according to Kayrros, the monitoring institute that calculated the scale of this problem, was that the situation could have been mitigated with relatively straightforward technical fixes.

“It’s very simple to do, it has no cost for the citizen, and for the producers, the cost is completely marginal,” Kayrros president Antoine Rostand told the Guardian.

In any case, Turkmenistan has joined the party, so thoughts must now turn to implementation. This should notionally be an easy feat for Turkmenistan to accomplish given how delinquent it has been in the recent past. As the official Global Methane Pledge website notes, however, 30 percent “is a global, not a national reduction target.”

The expectation among anybody in the international community paying attention is doubtless that Turkmenistan will need to undertake an especially Stakhanovite effort.

A theoretically more arduous objective is contained in Turkmenistan’s commitment under the terms of the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty adopted in 2015 and ratified by Ashgabat the following year.

Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, outline each countries strategy for pursuing the global aim of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Turkmenistan approved its national strategy its May 2022 but only got around to making a revised version public in January 2023. The document describes Turkmenistan’s objective as reducing “[greenhouse gas] emissions in 2030 under the [business-as-usual] scenario by 20 percent compared to the level of emissions in 2010.”

This sounds ambitious, but the authors of the document, which appears to have been assembled with heavy input from the always-amenable UN Development Program, are weaselly to a fault.

First of all, there is not a great deal of clarity about the raw numbers. What Turkmenistan’s strategy document reveals is that the total amount of greenhouse gases released into the air rose from 48,000 gigagrams measured in CO2 equivalents in 2005 to 66,400 gigagrams in 2010.

No fresher information is available. As the strategy document feebly explains, “unfortunately, the next GHG [greenhouse gases] inventory began only in 2020 … and therefore, it was impossible to provide updated GHG inventory data in full.”

And that 20 percent reduction figure is knowingly misleading, as carefully explained in a rigorous analysis authored by Progres Foundation, a Turkmenistan-focused research outfit based in the United States.

“It is important to note that this target is not referring to a reduction in the annual total greenhouse gas emissions, as the wording might suggest. Instead, the goal is to decrease the GHG intensity of the economy, which means the government aims to increase GDP at a faster rate than greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, there will be a lower CO2 equivalent/manat by 2030,” writes the author of the Progres Foundation report, which is very much worth reading in its entirety.

Sure enough, even Turkmenistan’s climate change strategy does not try to circumvent this fact and admits freely that “by 2030, GHG emissions can reach 135,800 [gigagrams measured in CO2 equivalents]. i.e., they will increase … 2 times compared to 2012.”

There is a methane cloud-sized issue here, though, since Turkmenistan cannot be relied upon to provide proper figures. Its emissions data is collated by the State Statistics Committee, the fantasy factory that annually submits magically round GDP growth figures – the very same figures, as it turns out, that will allow Ashgabat to ignore its climate change obligations.

Despite these shenanigans, Turkmenistan is eager to wrap itself in the cloak of virtue on climate issues. Accordingly, Deputy Vepa Khajiyev used the occasion of the OSCE Ministerial Council held in North Macedonia on December 1 to claim that Ashgabat wants to see the creation of a Regional Climate Technology Center.

What this center would do is anybody’s guess. And it is not as though Turkmenistan has invested much in environmentally sustainable electricity generation, despite its considerable potential for developing wind and solar power.

On the more traditional energy front, representatives of Afghanistan’s self-styled Islamic Emirate were in Ashgabat on December 2 with a new bid to revive the fortunes of the trans-Afghan TAPI natural gas pipeline.

Russian state news agency TASS cited Mohammad Haroon Saidi, the emirate’s trade attaché, as saying that the government in Kabul is hopeful that Afghanistan’s access to interbank financing channels – and frozen funds – can be reinstated. Saidi noted that Afghanistan has a $150 million stake in the TAPI project. Turkmenistan has been supportive of Kabul’s calls for financial sanctions to be eased.

In other evidence that the Taliban-led regime in Afghanistan aspires to a return to pre-takeover normality, Saidi said that his government is in talks with Turkmenistan and also Kazakhstan on establishing trading houses for dealing with those two countries.

Amsterdam-based Turkmen.news carried a report on December 1 about the latest cycle of personnel bloodletting behind the scenes. The hero at the center of the drama is Nyyazly Nyyazlyev, a former chief of state chemicals company Turkmenkhimiya, who was apparently arrested in August on embezzlement and corruption charges.

What makes the story particularly compelling is that Nyyazlyev appears to have tried to evade his fate by putting in a call to President Berdymukhamedov’s similarly corrupt cousin, Hajymyrat Rejepov, who is said to have enriched himself through various schemes in the chemicals sector. While Rejepov’s family links mean he will likely avoid incurring too much pain for his sins, other officials who have snuffled at the Turkmenkhimiya trough over the years are reportedly in a state of panic.

Source: Oil Price

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Women with HIV are one of the most discriminated groups in Tajikistan. The entire society, including their closest relatives, turns away from them; they can’t find work or get health care. Moreover, most often these women do not pose any risks to the health of others.

In honor of the international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and World AIDS Day, Asia Plus talks about the discrimination they face.

In Tajikistan, there is a whole list of various laws and documents that directly or indirectly protect people living with HIV from discrimination.

Last year, another law “On Equality and the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination” was added to this list. It introduced, to the satisfaction of human rights activists, the concept of “indirect discrimination”, which is most often faced by vulnerable groups in Tajikistan. However, women living with HIV, this important description in the law, are not reassured, because it is this group of the population that faces direct discrimination every day.

“Despite the fact that HIV is not transmitted through everyday contact, and modern AVR therapy (therapy that slows down the development of the virus and the disease – ed.) reduces the viral load to a minimum, a woman with HIV is discriminated against at every step,” says Takhmina Khaidarova , head of the Network of Women Living with HIV. – First of all, within the family

As soon as it turns out that she has a positive status, her relatives reduce contact with her and avoid her. Over time, this attitude will accompany her wherever her status is known.”

Oddly enough, notes Takhmina, women living with HIV often complain of discrimination on the part of medical workers: dentists, surgeons, obstetricians, and gynecologists. Doctors refuse to provide assistance to women with HIV and they have to look for friendly specialists through friends.

“At the same time, modern medicine has removed all risks: HIV today is the same chronic disease as diabetes. With adequate AVR therapy and medical care, women with HIV become mothers of healthy children, but even medical workers do not have up-to-date information on this matter, explains Takhmina Khaidarova.

Local journalists also discriminate against women with HIV. Content dedicated to women with HIV often contains derogatory language, the media broadcast stereotypes, stigma and prejudice, and do not explain to the audience what HIV is today.

“To this day, in the materials of local journalists there are such expressions as “HIV/AIDS is the plague of the 21st century,” “HIV terror” and other statements that have nothing to do with reality,” says Khaidarova.

Journalists often use intimidating language when covering cases of criminal charges (Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan – ed.) against women with HIV who allegedly knowingly infect men.

Source: Asia Plus TJ

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The capital’s police officers detained a group of young people suspected of hooliganism, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan.

According to the source, a 43-year-old local resident contacted department 1 in the Sino district of Dushanbe with a statement that on November 29, 2023, at approximately 19:15 in the evening, not far from the “Khalovat” store, located on the territory of the Giprozem mahalla capital, an unknown group of young people who, out of hooligan motives, beat his 23-year-old son, stabbed him in the stomach and fled the scene.

As a result, the victim was seriously injured. During operational search activities, police officers detained 21, 24, 21 and 27-year-old residents of Dushanbe on suspicion of hooliganism. An investigation into this fact is underway.

Source: Avesta TJ

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AKIPRESS.COM – Schools with Russian language of instruction lack teachers, Minister of Education and Science Dogdurkul Kendirbaeva said at the joint meeting of Ata Jurt Kyrgyzstan, Ishenim parliamentary factions and Mekenchil group.

None of universities prepare specialists of exact sciences, she said.

Shortage of teachers in Russian schools and teachers of exact sciences was discussed with Russian Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov in the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University.

“The Ministers of two countries reached agreement on active work in three areas: pre- and in-service training of specialists, development of professional skills of teachers. The Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University was given respective tasks,” Minister Kendirbaeva stated.

Shortage of equipment and laboratories for STEM subjects is one of the main problems of education for the last 30 years, Minister Kendirbaeva stated.

Source: Akipress

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