UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has assessed Tajikistan’s implementation of its urgent recommendations. Following the review of the state report of the Republic of Tajikistan back in August 2017 the Committee had made its recommendations to Tajikistan, including two, which required an urgent government report. The first of these recommendations was about measures aimed at increasing the participation of members of ethnic minorities, and in particular women, in local and higher state administration, in the political processes and public life of the country. The second recommendation concerned adopting special strategies, plans and measures to overcome discrimination and improve the position of the Jughi (Mugat) ethnic minority.
Anti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” has noted earlier that Pamir ethnic groups did not figure in the statistics on the involvement of ethnic minorities in state administration, which had been presented by the government of the Republic of Tajikistan, which indicated the country’s non-recognition of these ethnic minorities, inadequate participation of the latter in public administration and disregard for the cultural rights of Pamiri peoples. Meanwhile, the tensions in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan, a new round of which was associated with the recent visit of the country’s president there, the introduction of military contingent in this region and the replacement of the heads of administration of this region, all indicated the gravity of the problems there.
Based on the results of the evaluation of the urgent report, which had been provided in due time, the Committee sent a letter to the Tajik authorities, which completed the cycle of reviewing the state report of the Republic of Tajikistan.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on the authorities of Tajikistan to take further steps to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in all spheres of public and political life.
The Committee regretted the unwillingness of the Tajikistan authorities to adopt an action plan to improve the situation of Mughat (Jughi) and encouraged the authorities to change their position, pointing out the urgent need to overcome discrimination of this ethnic minority, to ensure access to education for all children, especially girls, as well as to provide for equal rights for housing, access to public services and medical care.
The Committee expressed its hope for a constructive dialogue with the authorities of Tajikistan and for an effective action on the part of the latter to implement the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.