Hello all; first of all, I am sorry for my hiatus from posts (paucity of posting) for such a long time, but also, I am happy to say that I have found a new home on the web, and I will be once again posting much more frequently!
From now on, I will be posting about Tajikistan at
http://studentdigitalus.org/TajikistanFocus/
I hope you will head over and check us out.
Over on Global Voices there is a really interesting post and discussion on LGBT rights and discrimination in Tajikistan (hit the link for more):
Gay issues are a taboo subject in Tajikistan. Although the country decriminalized homosexuality fifteen years ago, there is still very little tolerance toward sexual minorities within its conservative society. In addition to homophobic attitudes, those rare individuals who dare to disclose their ‘unconventional’ sexual orientation become easy targets of physical and psychological abuse, including from police (pdf). As a result, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community remains ”one of the most closed and secretive parts of Tajik society”.
A recent discussion in the country’s blogosphere offers a rare glimpse into what it means to be gay in Tajikistan and how the country’s people view members of the LGBT community.
‘It means PAIN…’
The discussion started after blogger Rishdor wrote [ru] about a violent incident at his university. Students there found out that one of their classmates was a gay. Rishdor writes [ru]:
Как-то все восприняли это как личную обиду. Гомика решили проучить. Человек 8 однокурсников избили его в туалете. Жестоко избили, у него все лицо и костюм были в крови…
For some reason, everyone took it as a personal offence. It was decided that the [gay] should be taught a lesson. About eight of our classmates beat him up in the bathroom. They beat him up badly; there was a lot of blood on his face and clothes…
Tajikistan in 2012: A Year in Review
The past year was an eventful one in Tajikistan on the economic, political and military fronts, with both domestic and regional ramifications. Importantly for Tajikistan’s economy, in May 2012, construction on the controversial hydroelectric Rogun Dam on the Vaksh River—a tributary of the Amu Darya river—was suspended following an order from the World Bank. The suspension reportedly put 5,000 people out of work and will remain in effect until the ecological impact study of the dam is completed. It is expected that the Word Bank’s feasibility study will be published this summer. Rogun is commonly seen to be at the heart of the hostility between Tajikistan and downstream Uzbekistan, which fears that the dam would severely damage Uzbekistani farmers’ ability to irrigate their cotton crops and would accelerate the ecological disaster in the Aral Sea. Uzbekistan has retaliated by periodically not allowing Tajikistan-bound rail and truck cargo to cross its borders and cutting off the flow of natural gas, exacerbating Tajikistan’s perennial energy shortages (Ozodi, January 1).
The year 2012 did however bring some good news for Tajikistan’s hopes of energy security with the news of the discovery of potentially huge hydrocarbon reserves in the Bokhtar region. The find was announced earlier this summer by the Canadian firm Tethys Petroleum and was deemed credible enough to attract investment from both the French energy giant Total and China’s National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation (CNODC) (Asia Plus, December 24, 2012). While further exploration needs to be done, the potential reserves of oil and gas are estimated to be more than enough to make Tajikistan a net exporter of hydrocarbons. Such a development would free Dushanbe from its energy reliance on Russia and Uzbekistan and no doubt influence its foreign policy calculations.
In December, Tajikistan joined the World Trade Organization, which local economists hope will lower domestic customs tariffs, curb the power of monopolies in certain sectors such as aviation, lower prices on domestic goods, and encourage foreign investment (BBC Tajik, December 11, 2012). On the other hand, some critics have raised concerns over the potential negative short-term effects on the competitiveness of Tajikistan’s two chief exports, aluminum and cotton. The country’s cotton industry is not only an important economic force but, given the continued existence in Tajikistan of Soviet-style collective farms (kolkhozy), an important socio-political institution as well.
On the political front, the big story looming in 2013 is the presidential election slated for November. The election will mark the first in Tajikistan since 2006 when Emomalii Rahmon secured his third term in office. That vote was boycotted by several opposition parties including the largest, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP). However, this time the opposition parties are expected to participate and possibly put forth a coalition candidate. Nonetheless, 2012 was a rough year for the opposition as both religious and political figures such as Muhiddin Kabiri (the head of the IRP) and Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda (prominent cleric and former deputy prime minister) were legally harassed, imprisoned (such as Umarali Quvatov, businessman and head of the exiled opposition group “Group 24”), and even killed (notably, Sabzali Mamadrizoev, head of the IRP in the remote Gorno-Badakhshan region). Since the last presidential vote in 2006, Rahmon has seen neighboring states and allies embroiled in contested elections and subsequent hostility (witness Iran’s 2009 presidential election, the 2010 coup in Kyrgyzstan as well as the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011-2012). Despite assurances from some quarters that the country’s civil war has bred a war-weary and politically disinterested population, the regime will likely increase the pressure on the opposition and consolidate its power during the run-up to the elections in anticipation of potential unrest. President Rahmon may attempt to secure his rule by exaggerating the threat of Islamic extremism and proffering himself as a bulwark against regional instability in the context of a post-2014 Afghanistan. However the unrest this summer in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan that killed dozens was a sobering reminder of at least three things: 1) not all Tajikistanis are war weary, 2) not all threats to the regime are inspired by Islam, and 3) the regime underestimates the domestic and international backlash against such heavy-handed tactics.
via UNHCR | Refworld | Tajikistan in 2012: A Year in Review.
Authorities in Tajikistan have ordered Internet service providers, again, to block access to Facebook, local news agencies report. The blocking orders (which this time also target the local service of Radio Liberty) have become so familiar in the past year that there’s little new to say. So let’s look at how the man in charge of Internet access has explained his thinking in recent months.
Last March, the head of the communications service, Beg Zukhurov, after denying any order to block Facebook, said his office had actually blocked the site for “prophylactic maintenance.”
Internet service providers have said they were ordered to block Facebook last weekend, along with three or four news portals, by the state communications service, after one of the portals published an article severely criticizing [President Emomali] Rakhmon and his government. When queried by news agency Asia-Plus, the head of the service, Beg Zukhurov, denied any order to block Facebook, but said the authors of offensive online content “defaming the honor and dignity of the Tajik authorities” should be made “answerable.” Tajikistan frequently uses libel cases and extremism charges to silence critical journalists.
In November, Zukhurov again flipped the switch and memorably called Facebook a “hotbed of slander” when he sought a meeting with the social network’s founder and chairman, Mark Zuckerberg.
“Does Facebook have an owner? Can he come to Tajikistan? I’d meet him during visiting hours. If he does not have time, I’d talk to his assistants,” the BBC’s Russian service quoted Zukhurov as saying. (Zukhurov’s visiting hours are Saturday’s from 10am to noon.)
Zukhurov would like to discuss with Zuckerberg his theory that Facebook users are being paid to complain about their leaders, which is keeping them from discussing more important issues: “For example, somewhere in Tajikistan there is no water or roads are bad or the weather forecast is incorrect. But users do not write about these [topics]. They write especially about money issues. I was told that the users who post critical comments about officials and entrepreneurs are paid $5,000 to $10,000 for doing this. I’m very surprised about how expensive the comments are.”
The following month, over a long weekend in December, Zukhurov blocked 131 sites, seemingly chosen at random, for “technical” reasons.
The latest, short-lived mass blockade lasted from December 21- 25, and had observers scratching their heads. Some believe Zukhurov is honing techniques intended for use during elections this coming November, when President Imomali Rahmon is expected to seek another seven-year term. Tajikistan has no independent television outlets and no daily newspapers, leaving the Internet as the sole outlet open to Tajiks to air criticism of the government. Others say Zukhurov is trying to demonstrate his value to Rahmon.
[…]
Zukhurov’s actions may have unintended consequences, contends former education minister Munira Inoyatova. “The blocking of web resources – especially social networks – is widely seen as impeding access to information and prohibiting free communication. These prohibitions always increase social tensions,” Inoyatova told EurasiaNet.org.
For many, the most memorable Zukhurovism was his explanation for a communications blackout in the restive Gorno-Badakhshan province last summer, scene of heavy fighting between government troops and local warlords: A stray bullet had taken out a cable, he said, severing all phone and Internet connections to the region for a month (he did not explain the simultaneous YouTube block).
The repeated attempts to cut Tajiks’ access to the Internet – and the nonsensical explanations – have drawn widespread criticism from diplomats, press freedom watchdogs, and Tajiks embarrassed for their country. Whatever Zukhurov’s motivations, he’s helping turn isolated Tajikistan into a black hole for media freedom.
16 January 2013 Last updated at 04:49 ET Help
Afghanistan is the world’s biggest opium producer and it is estimated about a third of the drugs produced there go to Russia and Europe via Tajikistan.
Tajikistan is the poorest country in Central Asia and the rewards that come with trafficking the drugs are hard to resist for its people struggling to make a living along its long and open border with Afghanistan.
With Nato troops preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 there are fears Tajikistan may become even more vulnerable to the trade.
The BBC’s Rustam Qobil travelled to one Tajik village on the border between the two countries where drug dealers try to recruit couriers for their trade.
Listen to the full report on Thursday, 17 January on Assignment on the BBC World Service.
Tajikistan is a transit point for one of the most lucrative drugs routes in the world.
Illegal drugs from neighbouring Afghanistan flood into the country on their way to Russia and Western Europe.
The rewards that come with trafficking the drugs can be hard to resist for Tajik people, who struggle to make a living along the country’s long and open border with Afghanistan.
In many Tajik villages on the border, villagers are sometimes recruited to help smuggle drugs along their journey into lucrative markets.
Prison sentences
Shadia (not her real name), a woman I met in a remote region near the Afghan border, knows only too well about the risks people in her village take when they give in to temptation.
“My husband wanted to buy some flour to make bread and agreed to carry some drugs,” she says.
“The police caught him along with his two brothers. Now they are all in prison.”
Unemployed and with no income, she is looking after her children by herself.
In this remote and impoverished rural community it is virtually impossible to find a job.
DUSHANBE, January 14 (RIA Novosti) – Tajik law-enforcers seized some six metric tons of drugs in the country in 2012, up 41.1 percent since 2011, a spokeswoman for the country’s drug control agency said on Monday.
“Cannabis-based drugs – weighting 4.8 metric tons in total – accounted for the bulk of the seizures. A total of 630 kilograms of raw opium and 515 kilograms of heroin were also seized,” Drug Control Agency spokeswoman Umeda Yusupova said.
A total of 895 drug-related crimes were registered in the country in 2012, and citizens of Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were detained.
As of 2012, the country had more than 7,200 registered drug users, including 4,882 heroin addicts.
About 90 percent of heroin consumed in Russia is smuggled from Afghanistan, the world’s largest heroin producer, via former Soviet republics, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
via Six Tons of Drugs Seized in Tajikistan in 2012 | Crime | RIA Novosti.
MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) – Taking care of facial hair became a murky affair in Tajikistan after local authorities, known for their fight against long beards, also urged local barbers to stop giving their clients a clean shave.
The measure should help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the nation, Tajik Health Minister Nusratullo Salimov said at a press conference in Dushanbe on Thursday, CA-News.org regional news website reported.
The number of HIV-positive people in Tajikistan grew 17 percent to 4,500 over 2012, according to official statistics, which gave no separate figures for the number of cases where the infection was transmitted through barber razors.
UNAIDS estimated the real number of HIV-positive Tajikistan residents at 11,000 in 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available. The country’s government won some praise in its anti-HIV efforts, but prevention and statistics are both hampered by negative public attitude to the disease and a drug epidemic blamed on an inflow of Afghan heroin.
via Beard-Fighting Tajikistan Urges Ban on Barber Shaving | World | RIA Novosti.
08 January 2013, Dushanbe, Tajikistan – With the financial support of the European Union, the World Health Organization (WHO) Country office in Tajikistan launched a new project “Technical assistance in support of health care reform in Tajikistan” aiming to enhance the health system reform in Tajikistan.
The project is a part of the EU Delegation support to Republic of Tajikistan, namely technical assistance to the health sector to ensure the effectiveness of the health care reforms planned by the Government.
The overall objective of the project is to improve the health status of the population with a focus on the most vulnerable groups through strengthening of the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health to deliver population based and results orientated service with focus on primary health care.
“WHO is committed to continue the work in the field of health systems strengthening jointly with the Development Partners to support the Ministry of Health in improving the quality, access, equity of health services in line with the National Health Sector Strategy 2010-2020, in particular for building of capacity of the health care reform in the country”– said Dr Pavel Ursu, WHO Representative/Head of WHO Country office in Tajikistan.
via EU contributes to WHO health reform project in Tajikistan | ReliefWeb.
Not long ago Tajik police were forcing men to shave their beards, convinced a terrorist lurked behind every whisker. Now the health minister has recommended salons stop trimming Tajikistan’s chins lest dirty razors spread HIV.Nusratullo Salimov said barbers are not doing enough to disinfect their shaving equipment, RIA Novosti quoted him as saying on January 10. The health minister emphasized, however, that the majority of Tajikistan’s new HIV infections are transmitted via dirty needles and unprotected sex. He gave no statistics for new infections from tainted razors.Facial hair is a popular topic of official chatter in Tajikistan. In late 2010, a number of bewhiskered men told local media outlets they were being harassed by police. Some reported being stopped and forced to shave. At the time, an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed police were detaining “suspicious” men sporting long beards as part of their search for members of banned Islamic sects. Muslim men, moderate and radical alike, often wear beards out of reverence for the Prophet Muhammad.More recently, in November, a new injunction sponsored by the State Committee on Religious Affairs reportedly prohibited men from wearing beards longer than their fists, though some officials later denied the existence of any rules. (Ironically, across the border in Afghanistan, the Taliban were once said to forbid men from wearing beards shorter than fist-length.)The beard vs razor debate will likely overshadow a more pressing issue. HIV is spreading rapidly along the heroin trafficking routes that transit Tajikistan. And in Russia, where a million-odd Tajiks work as temporary laborers – and often engage in risky sex before returning home to their wives – the UN says there are 200 new HIV infections every day. Salimov said the number of new cases in Tajikistan shot up by 17 percent in 2012.
DUSHANBE, January 4 (RIA Novosti) – A large batch of drugs containing some 122 kilograms has been seized by Tajikistan’s special services in an operation conducted in the Central Asian country’s northern Sughd Province, the State Committee for National Security said.
“A Kamaz truck driven by 46-year-old Sadriddin Safarov has been detained in a special operation,” the committee said in a statement on Thursday. “During the truck’s search, 120 kg of drugs, including 70 kg of hashish and 50 kg of opium, have been seized.”
via Over 120 Kg of Drugs Seized in Tajikistan | Crime | RIA Novosti.
DUSHANBE – The year 2013 promises change in Tajikistan as it is set to join the second World Trade Organisation (WTO) member in Central Asia after Kyrgyzstan.
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy on December 10 in Geneva signed a protocol adding Tajikistan to the WTO this summer. The Tajik parliament has until June 7 to ratify the protocol, and Tajikistan will become a full WTO member 30 days later. Tajikistan will join Kyrgyzstan as the two Central Asian countries in the WTO.
Tajikistan first applied for membership in 2001 and for the past 11 years has worked to liberalise its foreign trade and investment laws and reduce customs duties in an effort to be admitted.
“Tajikistan’s accession to the WTO will mark the beginning of a new creative stage,” Rakhmon said at the protocol signing ceremony. “The country will continue to carry out constructive reforms in all spheres of the economy and will focus on developing a free and transparent trading system.”
Two opinions on membership
While some observers agree membership will boost economic development, others are discussing changes that the Tajik domestic market can expect and whether the country will be able to compete on the world stage.
Tajikistan’s accession would help make small and medium-sized business more competitive, Tajik Chamber of Commerce and Industry Deputy Chairwoman Larisa Kislyakova told Central Asia Online.
“Considerable opportunities will open up for small manufacturing companies producing high-value-added products,” she explained. “This business sector will grow, as the main tariff concessions provided by the WTO go to these product groups.” Indeed, Tajikistan’s economy already has benefited from legal reforms mandated by the WTO, according to Saifullo Safarov, deputy director of the Presidential Centre for Strategic Studies.
“Institutionally the republic made automatic progress by adjusting its laws,” he said. “In this respect, Tajikistan is becoming more attractive to investors, whose interests will enjoy protection both under national law and from a global organisation.”
Still, some say that change could be difficult, especially for agriculture.
“Small businesses set up by local entrepreneurs in rural areas hardly will be able to compete with foreign companies,” Social-Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Shokirjon Khakimov predicted, adding that, under the terms of the WTO, agricultural subsidies in developing countries should not exceed 10% of the government budget.
Kislyakova rejected that argument, saying that Tajik agricultural subsidies presently amount to only 4% of government spending, so the cap shouldn’t be a problem. Some farmers will abandon certain crops for others, economist Khodzhimukhammad Umarov said, predicting a decrease in cotton farming and adding, “Tajik farmers will … switch to more profitable crops.”
via Tajikistan’s WTO membership offers pros and cons – Central Asia Online.
Kazakhstan, Astana, Jan.4 / D. Mukhtarov /
An earthquake measuring 4.8 occurred on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, in 462 kilometers from the Kazakh city of Almaty, website of Seismological Experimental Methodological Expedition of the Science Committee of the Ministry Education and Science of Kazakhstan reported.
“Network of seismic stations of the State Institution “Seismological Experimental Methodological Expedition of the Science Committee of the Ministry Education and Science of Kazakhstan” recorded an earthquake at 04:10 on Jan.4 (Almaty time),” the report says.
The earthquake epicenter was in 462 kilometers of south-west of the Almaty city on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
via Earthquake hits border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – Trend.Az.
Mike Perdue loves the Soviet bloc.
The 54-year-old from Griswold owns a hostel in Georgia (the republic, not the U.S. state) and has visited Armenia. And he recently traveled to Tajikistan to assist dairy farmers there produce a better product.
“I don’t know,” Perdue said when asked why the area intrigues him. “A combination of reading I’ve done and interest in going beyond western Europe.”
Despite the reason, his love of the region and his love of agriculture made him a perfect fit for the Washington D.C.-based CNFA’s Farmer-to-Farmer program, which enlists volunteers to assist farmers in developing nations.
While in Tajikistan Perdue worked with farmers outside Isfara, near the country’s border with Uzbekistan. The majority of his work was in cattle rationing – ag talk for what to feed the animals and how much.
The 46 milking cows at the operation, Mirsaid, were producing about 16 pounds of milk per day, Perdue said, “about one-fourth of what they should be doing.”
via Griswold farmer helps Tajikistan dairy production – SouthwestIowaNews.com: News.
Total announced that it had signed an agreement with Kulob Petroleum, a subsidiary of Tethys Petroleum, to farm into the Bokhtar PSC Area in Tajikistan with a 33.335% interest. Under the agreement, signed jointly with state-owned CNODC (a subsidiary of CNPC) of China, Total and CNODC will each hold a 33.335% interest in the PSC, while Kulob will retain a 33.33% stake. The agreement is subject to the approval of the Tajikistan government.
The Bokhtar PSC covers an area of 35,000 square kilometers at the eastern end of the prolific Amu Darya Basin. A number of giant gas discoveries have already been made in the basin’s Jurassic carbonate reservoirs.
On completion of the transaction, Total will acquire an interest in the Tajikistani sector of the Amu Darya Basin, it will be partnered with CNPC.
Operations will be conducted jointly, through an operating company. Tethys has already acquired seismic data with the intention of identifying the location of the first exploration well by end-2014.
2.5 million children and young people will be vaccinated against diphtheria
Dushanbe, September 24, 2012 – The Government of Tajikistan, with support from UNICEF and WHO, starts the second phase of a national diphtheria vaccination campaign today. It will be carried out in two rounds: from 24-29 September 2012 for 7-21 years and round from 29 October – 3 November for 13-21 years.
In April of this year, the country conducted the first phase of the campaign for children aged 3-6 years, while the current phase targets a higher age group.
The Government of the Russian Federation made a generous grant of US$1 million through UNICEF, thus matching the Government of Tajikistan’s own allocation to this campaign amounting to TJS 5 million.
The contribution from the Russian Federation is used for procurement of auto-disable syringes and safety boxes, to ensure safe, single-time use for syringes or needles, as well as provision of additional cold chain equipment for safe storage and transportation of vaccines.
“This vaccination is essential and important in protecting the health of children and young people. It is one of the most cost-effective health interventions available, saving many people from illness, disability and death each year. The immunization saves lives! – said Dr Pavel Ursu, WHO Representative/Head of WHO Country office in Tajikistan.
UNICEF and WHO worked closely with the Government to raise public awareness about the diphtheria vaccination campaign through various social mobilization activities, including broadcasting of public service announcements on TV and radio, to ensure that every child in the country is reached.
Early in 2012, Tajikistan joined 113 governments as well as numerous organizations to sign a pledge “Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed”. This campaign reiterates a global, multi-stakeholder commitment to unite around a clear and compelling goal: to give every child the best possible start in life. “The diphtheria vaccination campaign is one practical way in which Tajikistan is demonstrating its renewed promise to prioritise child survival. We know that children are insufficiently protected against diphtheria and the campaign gives us a good opportunity to rectify this situation and improve the health, development and survival of children”, said Mr. Arthur van Diesen, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Tajikistan.
via A Promise Renewed: Diphtheria Immunization Campaign launched in Tajikistan | ReliefWeb.
KHUJAND, October 9, 2012, Asia-Plus — Suicides are continuing to show an upward trend in the northern Sughd province.
An official source at the Interior Ministry’s office in Sughd says 222 cases of suicide, including 73 suicide attempts, have been reported in the province over the first nine months of this year, which is 34 cases more than in the same period last year.
Men, including fourteen minors, have reportedly committed suicide in 118 cases and women, including twenty-six minors, have committed suicide in 104 cases.
via Suicide statistics for Sughd province evoke serious concern | Tajikistan News-NA «Asia-Plus».
TAJIKISTAN’S president, Emomali Rakhmon, likes things big. He has built the world’s tallest flagpole. Last year he opened the region’s largest library (with few books in it so far). But one gigantic project is proving contentious with the neighbours: building the world’s tallest hydroelectric dam.
Islam Karimov, the strongman who rules downstream Uzbekistan, says the proposed 335-metre Rogun dam, on a tributary of the Amu Darya, will give Tajikistan unfair control over water resources and endanger millions in the event of an earthquake. On September 7th, he said such projects could lead to “not just serious confrontation, but even wars”.
Mr Karimov wasn’t talking only about Tajikistan. Upstream from Uzbekistan on a tributary of the region’s other major river, the Syr Darya, Kyrgyzstan is seeking investment for a project of its own, called Kambarata. The two proposed dams (Rogun at 3.6 gigawatts and Kambarata at 1.9) would theoretically end their respective countries’ frequent power shortages and provide badly needed export earnings.
Both were conceived in the twilight of the communist era and stalled when subsidies from Moscow evaporated at independence. Soviet leaders envisioned managing the region’s water flows, energy trades and competing interests, and their Russian successors still maintain an interest. During a visit to Bishkek on September 20th, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, promised help with Kambarata in exchange for, among other things, an extension of military-basing rights in Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan has sought Russian help for Rogun, too. Mr Putin promised $2 billion for the dam in 2004. But that deal fell apart three years later, when the two countries could not agree about the dam’s height.
Spurring on both projects is Uzbekistan’s bad behaviour, egregious even in a tetchy region. Unlike Uzbekistan, neither Tajikistan nor Kyrgyzstan, the two poorest former Soviet republics, has reliable access to oil or gas. Uzbekistan’s Mr Karimov has a habit of changing gas prices and cutting deliveries during the coldest months. He has prevented electricity supplies to his indigent neighbours from transiting his country’s Soviet-era grid. Uzbekistan has also unilaterally closed most border checkpoints with both upstream countries, set mines along parts of the boundary with Tajikistan, and often holds up commercial traffic. When a rail bridge in southern Uzbekistan mysteriously exploded last autumn, depriving southern Tajikistan of its rail connections, few believed Uzbek claims of a terrorist attack. Indeed, rather than fix the track, the Uzbeks dismantled it. Tajikistan calls the actions a blockade.
via Water wars in Central Asia: Dammed if they do | The Economist.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
by Hayrullo Mirsaidov
Tajikistan’s media organisations and mass media outlets are beginning a joint action called “100 days of freedom in Tajnet”. The reasons for the joint action are regular blocks of websites and many violations of the rights of journalists.
The media’s problems in Tajikistan began with special military operations in Khorog in July 2012 aimed at neutralising illegal armed gangs and catching the killers of Abdullo Nazarov, the General of the Committee of National Security. From the first days of the operations, the website of information agency Asia-plus was blocked. According to the agency’s director Zebo Tadjibayeva, site providers blocked their site following a verbal order from the Communications Service head Beg Zuhurov. “Operators who did not listen to this, received official letters telling them to block sties for technical reasons,” said Ms Tadjibayeva.
The Asia-plus site was unblocked only on 21 September, and the head of the Communications Service said that she has no idea why operators blocked the site. Beg Zuhurov said that a special organisation takes care of sites in Tajikistan, which creates lists of web resources which publish “black PR” about the country, however Asia-plus is not on that list. Currently, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru, Fergananews.com, Centrasia.ru and the world’s largest video hosting site Youtube are not available in Tajikistan. Recently, the management of another national information agency Tojnews also announced that its site was blocked.
As well as blocking sites, journalists’ work was impeded by the country’s security agencies. Journalists are often detained and taken to police stations, some have their cameras and other equipment taken away and some even experience physical violence.
To root out these situations, media outlets have developed a series of actions to defend the rights and interests of the media and harness solidarity among journalists. Head of the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT) Nuriddin Karshibov said that the main features were organising meetings with the heads of the security structures and an appeal to the General Prosecutor by the media about the wrongful treatment of journalists by security agencies. The campaign will also includes on-line events, like adverts on social networking sites, the radio and creating banners for all the media outlets. The campaign will also work with internet cafй owners, distribute leaflets and hold round tables. Media organisations are also going to ask the Constitutional Court of Tajikistan to look into the legality of blocking websites.
The head of the Tajikistan Media Alliance Hurshedi Atovullo said that every year, the pressure on journalists is increasing and that this is only the beginning. “Through my personal bitter experiences I know that before every election in Tajikistan, constraints on the media increase and this has already become a tradition. The authorities could close down certain newspapers again for different reasons and block websites, and maybe beating up journalists will also become a tradition.”
The next presidential election is planned for the end of 2013. Current president Emomali Rahmon will stand as candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party of Tajikistan. If is selected, he will be in charge of the country for the third decade.
via Tajik Journalists Attempt to Defend Their Rights again and again , 27 September 2012 Thursday 14:33.
Whether it’s Israel maybe pre-emptively striking Iran, Afghanistan spiralling into sectarian violence, Libya becoming home base for Al-Qaeda, or Syria continuing to be the site of a government-led genocide, there’s no shortage of potential dirty wars and ominous harbingers in the Middle East and Central Asia. While everyone is focusing on the recent turmoil in Benghazi, a new kind of conflict is rising in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that could eventually lead to the first water war of the 21st century.
It’s fair to say that when Louise Arbour, the hard-ass former UN prosecutor of war criminal Slobodan Milošević, lists her bets on future wars, the rest of us should take her seriously. In December 2011, writing for Foreign Policy, Arbour predicted Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two obscure Central Asian countries to most westerners, as potential combatants in a war over quickly depleting water resources. Judging by current tensions between the two, she might be right.
Basically the Tajiks, who are already plagued by an Islamic insurgency, plan to build the Rogun dam on the Vakhsh River. The river is a major tributary to the Amudarya—the main water vein for downstream Uzbekistan. While the hydroelectric power from the proposed dam would make the Tajiks rich, it’ll make the Uzbeks thirsty. This has been a problem for Uzbekistan since Stalin’s failed plan for the Transformation of Nature during the 1940s drained the Aral Sea (Uzbekistan’s main water reserve) to irrigate cotton fields.
Pissing off the Uzbeks, however, may not be what the Tajiks want to do. Besides being geopolitical wildcards, Uzbek President Islam Karimov is widely considered a tyrant, ruling over his country’s oil reserves and national wealth since a questionable 1991 election. He’s also a cheap imitation Saddam. And like any delusional dictator, he’s known for his outlandish behavior: like rewriting history books to make himself the spiritual descendant of the warlord Tamerlane, owning a soccer team in the national league (who are conveniently champions nearly every year), and allegedly ordering the assassination of a political dissident hiding in Sweden. Human Rights Watch even accused his regime of systematic torture, including boiling rebels alive.
One former diplomatic employee of a country in the region, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says the lack of western sanctions on Karimov is no surprise: “There’s the general feeling that Karimov gets off very lightly from the International community because of his violent campaign against Islamic extremists and the war on terror, which is really an excuse for a political crackdown.” Meanwhile, the Karimovs enjoys total rule over the state: “It’s modern tribalism. One family rules the country for two decades, keeping the population poor so they can use them as a cheap labor force under the loose tenants of communism,” the source added.
When or if a war will erupt is unknown. “I don’t want to speculate on the probability of a war breaking out,” says David Trilling of Eurasianet, “but Islam Karimov did up the ante [recently] by suggesting that attempts by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to build giant hydropower dams upstream could lead to war.”
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) — The president of the impoverished Central Asian nation of Tajikistan has urged his countrymen to store two years’ worth of food reserves ahead of what is expected to be a harsh winter.
In a statement Wednesday, Emomali Rakhmon’s office cited him as saying that rising global commodity prices have made effective use of agricultural resources imperative.
The World Bank estimates that three-quarters of Tajikistan’s population is engaged in farming, but food scarcity still remains an acute problem.
Many observers attribute economic troubles in Tajikistan, a nation of 7 million on Afghanistan’s northern border, to rampant corruption and the enduring impact of the civil war in the 1990s.
Hundreds of thousands of working-aged men have left the country for work, mainly in Russia, leaving behind a largely female rural workforce.
via Tajik leader urges population to build food stores – Businessweek.
Officials say Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon had dinner prepared for 10,000 people in a restless region where dozens died in a security operation in July.
A spokesman for the Gorno-Badakhshan regional administration said residents of the regional capital, Khoruq, were offered pots of the national dish, plov, to express the president’s thanks for the welcome they had given him during a visit earlier this week.
Cooks reportedly prepared three tons of the food at the city’s main stadium on September 22.
The special operation conducted in July by security forces in Gorno-Badakhshan left some 70 people dead.
Rahmon has said it targeted criminal groups and was meant to ensure the population’s safety.
Local residents claim the majority of those killed were ordinary people, not militants.
Based on reporting by dpa and ITAR-TASS
via Tajik President ‘Thanks’ Restless Region With Mass Dinner.
The rugged eastern region of Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan has been the scene of violence in recent months, with about 70 people having been killed in a government operation lasting to late August.
As President Emomali Rahmon arrives for a working visit, many questions remain as to how the violence started, and more importantly, who was behind it.
The violence began after an opposition leader from the 1990s Tajik Civil War who had become a top regional security official, Abdullo Nazarov, was stabbed to death on July 21. After protests erupted the next day, 3,000 government troops were deployed to the region on July 24.
After a week of fighting, those resisting the government forces agreed to lay down their arms on July 28 following negotiations that included representatives of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect of Islam. A majority of the region’s population of 250,000 belong to the Shi’ite Muslim sect, while the rest of the country is mostly Sunni.
The situation appeared calm until late on August 22, when Imomnazar Imomnazarov, another former opposition civil war commander, was killed in an early-morning attack at his home in Khorugh, the Badakhshan region’s administrative capital. Imomnazarov had been wanted in connection with Nazarov’s killing. He reportedly had diabetes and was confined to a wheelchair.
Protesters gathered at the regional administrative building in Khorugh to demand officials fulfill promises to restore order, pelting the building with rocks and even attempting to storm the building.
On August 24, again after negotiations involving representatives of the Aga Khan, government forces announced they would withdraw from the Gorno-Badakhshan region completely.
Addressing the primary cause of mortality
In Tajikistan, like in the majority of countries in the Region, nutrition-related health problems and foodborne diseases represent a considerable public health burden. Undernutrition is still a serious but least addressed health problem. The human and economic costs are enormous, falling hardest on the poor and on women and children. Cardiovascular disease is indisputably the main cause of death in Tajikistan – accounting for 39% of total deaths. This is related to the high salt intake in the diet together with the high level of trans fats.
In addition, overweight is becoming more important in Tajikistan and is a key risk factor causing diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases among 28% women – 42% of those are of reproductive age.
A multisectoral national strategy in the making
Tajikistan started work on a national strategy to address these challenges in January 2011. The strategy focusing on two key issues:
the double burden of malnutrition (stunting, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight)
prevention of foodborne diseases and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases
The Nutrition and Food Safety Strategy for Tajikistan (2012-2020) is developed to establish nutrition and food safety goals and provide a coherent set of integrated actions, spanning different government sectors and involving public and private actors and to be considered in the national policies and health system governance.
Suggested actions and ambitious goals
The suggested actions include improving nutrition and food safety in early life, ensuring a safe, healthy and sustainable food supply, provision of capacity building and education to citizens and consumers, integrating actions to address the burden of foodborne diseases and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases, strengthening surveillance, prevention and control of foodborne and nutrition related diseases in Tajikistan for the period of 2012-20.
The result is an impressive, comprehensive programme – a strategy which focuses on delivering a minimum food supply to families, eradicating malnutrition without hindering progress in combatting NCDs and linking up poverty and equity.
Earlier this week, President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan indicated that efforts by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to build hydroelectric power stations on rivers that flowed into Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan could “spark war.”
Water wars are a hot topic right now, with conflicts or potential conflicts brewing literally all over the world. US policy makers seem most concerned with conflicts in Yemen and Pakistan, in times at the expense of seeing water wars in the broader context of their respective regions. A report drawn up for the Committee of Foreign Relations warns about the danger of narrow focus, saying:
“While the focus of the United States is appropriately directed toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is important to recognize that our water-related activities in the region are almost exclusively confined within the borders of these two countries. We pay too little attention to the waters shared by their Indian and Central Asian neighbors—Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. For example, in 2009 the United States provided approximately $46.8 million in assistance for water-related activities to Afghanistan and Pakistan compared with $3.7 million shared among all five Central Asian countries for these efforts.”
‘Water wars’ refers to the idea that some countries, which hold enough water to be able to export it, control headwaters of a river, or hold reservoirs/large sources of water, have an extremely strong source of leverage over water-scarce countries. At times, this causes water to be thought of in simplistic terms as a commodity, rather than a basic building block of life, access to which is detailed in several international human rights conventions, but not explicitly recognized as a self-standing human right in international treaties. When countries deny other states water or imply they might use water as leverage for political gain, this is water conflict, and it’s brewing in Central Asia.
Within the context of Central Asia, to simplify, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have it, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan need more of it. The latter two are very nervous about the resource imbalance. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are upstream of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, giving them control of two trans-border rivers.
Eurasianet points out that one of the central issues facing the five Central Asian republics is that leaders there are more known for rivalry than cooperation, which could greatly complicate any resolution on water scarcity in the overall region.
….
This precedent of water being used as leverage bodes poorly for water being seen as external to political gain, or as simply a human right. The leaders of Central Asia are already deeply suspicious of each other, and border skirmishes are a common occurrence. With Karimov already warning about water wars between the Central Asian countries, and the coming reverberations of the NATO pullout from Afghanistan, there is the looming possibility of more instability in Central Asia.
via Central Asia Could Go To War Over Water – Business Insider.
The World Bank recently released a policy research paper on the “shifting comparative advantages in Tajikistan”- below is the summary, and a link to the whole paper.
The future development of the Tajik economy will be shaped by its comparative advantage on world markets. Exploiting comparative advantage enables an economy to reap gains from trade. Tajikistan’s most important comparative advantage is its hydropower potential, which is far larger than the economy’s domestic requirements. Yet, high capital costs of building hydropower plants and the unstable geopolitical situation in the transit region to reach South Asian export markets are constraining the realization of this potential. In the short term, the sector, which provides the greatest opportunity for Tajikistan to diversify its exports, appears to be agro-industry and, to a lesser extent, clothing. For both sectors, the main export market is likely to be the regional market. Tajikistan also has a comparative advantage in labor exports, which it has successfully exploited since the mid-2000s. To harness the full potential for labor exports will require improving the skills base of migrant workers and, in particular, their command of the Russian language. In the medium term, the paper argues that an export diversification strategy should tap the agglomeration economies generated by cities. More specifically, establishing Tajikistan’s two leading cities, Dushanbe and Khujand, and their surroundings as enclave economies, linked to each other and to major regional markets through improved transport infrastructure so as to minimize production and transportation costs. The two enclave economies should provide the supporting services (finance, logistics, transport and storage) for private sector businesses. In the long term, regional cooperation on trade and transport facilitation could be pursued to reduce transport costs to attractive regional markets such as China, India, Russia and Turkey.
via Shifting comparative advantages in Tajikistan : implications for growth strategy, Vol. 1 of 1.
The police told me “If we kill you we’ll chuck your body in the canal and no one will ever find you and we won’t get punished”
Torture survivor 2012
Torture, beatings and other ill-treatment are routine in places of detention in Tajikistan and thrive in a climate of widespread corruption and impunity, Amnesty International said in a new report in which it urged the authorities to roundly condemn and stamp out the practice.
Shattered Lives: Torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials in Tajikistan describes the risks people face in the early stages of detention, the inadequate investigations into allegations of torture, and the failure of the Tajikistani authorities to hold those responsible to account.
“The torture methods used by the security forces are shocking: involving electric shocks, boiling water, suffocation, beatings, burning with cigarettes, rape and threats of rape – the only escape is to sign a confession or sometimes to pay a bribe ,” said Rachel Bugler, Amnesty International’s expert on Tajikistan.
“Such treatment leaves victims suffering not only from the physical injuries such as burst ear drums, broken teeth, dislocated jaws; but also from the symptoms of post-traumatic stress such as depression, chronic insomnia, and nightmares. Their ill-treatment has lasting repercussions on their lives and the lives of their families.
via Tajikistan: Torture unchecked in the absence of rule of law | Amnesty International.
Makhfirat Dadaboeva, a young mother, cradles the youngest of her three children as she waits in front of the Municipal office in Hissar District in central Tajikistan. Forced to drop out of university when her first child was born a few years back, she is now determined to change her future by finishing her education and getting a job. Bolstering her confidence is the local District Task Force, a legal aid centre supported by UN Women, which provides much needed services to underserved community members, many of them women.
via Better services opening new doors for women in Tajikistan | UN Women.
Just noticed this ad for a big opportunity position in Tajikistan for trained health services experts…
AlmavivA is looking for the following experts:
Key Expert 1: Team Leader/ HIS Expert (minimum 700 working days)
This expert will be responsible for leading the management and implementation of the project.
Qualification and skills:
· University degree in Public Health and/or Epidemiology and/or HIS Management, or a relevant, directly related discipline.
· Fluent in written and spoken English.
· Knowledge of Russian and/or Tajik would be an asset.
General Professional Experience:
· Minimum of 10 years, but preferably more than 12 years, professional experience in the health sector.
· At least 3 years professional experience in developing countries4, covering preferably countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and/or former Soviet republics.
Specific Professional Experience:
· Minimum of 5 years of professional experience as technical adviser in projects in support of health policy design and/or health policy implementation, more than 5 years preferred.
· Minimum of 2 years of in-country work in developing countries (as defined in footnote 4) as technical adviser in projects whose primary goal is to develop quality health data and health indicators, more than 2 years preferred.
· Project management experience with at least 2 years of in-country leadership position.
Key expert 2: Senior ICT expert (minimum 600 working days)
Qualification and skills:
· University degree in ICT and/or Medical Informatics, or a relevant, directly related discipline or equivalent.
· Fluent in written and spoken English.
· Knowledge of Russian and/or Tajik would be an asset.
General Professional Experience:
· Minimum of 10 years general professional experience
· Minimum 3 years of professional experience in developing countries5, including countries
preferably of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and/or former Soviet republics.
· Project management experience, with at least 1 year in a leadership position.
Specific Professional Experience:
· At least 5 years of experience in the areas of ICT and information systems development.
· At least 3 years of experience in developing health information systems, preferably using DHIS2 or other open source applications in health.
via International Development – Tajikistan Health Information System.
DUSHANBE, May 23, 2012 (IPS/EurasiaNet) – Four years ago, Farida Hajimova’s husband left Tajikistan to work in Russia. After a time, he stopped calling. Ultimately, he never returned. She was left at home in Dushanbe with two daughters and not a lot of options.
Now she says she has no choice but to follow in her ex-husband’s footsteps – not to find him, but to find work herself.
Hajimova is one of an increasing number of Tajik women journeying abroad, mostly to Russia, as labour migrants. Until relatively recently, the overwhelming majority of migrant workers leaving Tajikistan were men.
But desperation and poverty are forcing tens of thousands of women to hit the road. Experts voice concern that many female migrants are at risk of being abused and trafficked for sex.
“I have only been able to find part-time work here in Dushanbe,” said 28-year-old Hajimova, who plans to follow two friends who work as cleaning ladies in Moscow. “My oldest daughter will go to school in September and I need to be able to afford to buy her the necessary supplies. The children will stay with their aunt and I will go to Moscow.”
Tajikistan’s dependence on remittances from labour migrants abroad is well-documented. Last year, Tajiks working in Russia sent home 2.96 billion dollars, the equivalent of 45 percent of the country’s GDP, according to the National Bank. That makes Tajikistan the world’s most remittance-dependent country.
(Read More) via TAJIKISTAN: Divorce Spurs Female Labour Migration – IPS ipsnews.net.
A group of agricultural specialists from Tajikistan in Central Asia left Montana on Saturday after spending a week learning about Montana ag operations.
The specialists traveled halfway around the world to learn how to diversify their crops and how technology can help in that effort.
Tajikistan is just north of Afghanistan; it’s 93% mountainous, leaving just 7% of the land available for farming.
With little arable land, Tajikistan relies heavily on water-thirsty cotton crops.
According to the Great Falls Advisory Commission on International Relations, out-of-date agricultural techniques, improper irrigation, and a lack of agricultural diversity threatens the area’s economy and soil.
During the group’s visit, they got a tour of the Big Stone Hutterite colony near Sand Coulee, where they learned how a cow merry-go-round makes milking more efficient as well as how eggs are produced.
Muhiddin Sharipov of the Tajikistan Agriculture Information Service said, “We saw a lot of technologies are used in farming system here in this area.”
via Tajikistan visitors leave MT with new agricultural expertise | KXLH.com | Helena, Montana.
TEHRAN – Iran is in talks with Tajikistan to import as much as one billion cubic meters of potable water, Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on Sunday.
The volume to be imported has not been yet finalized, but it is anticipated that one billion cubic meters of water will be imported, Namjou added.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the 9th meeting of the Iran-Tajikistan Joint Economic Commission, which opened in Tehran on Sunday.
The Iranian energy minister also stated that Iran, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan have agreed to create a joint water and electricity corridor.
via Iran may import 1bn cubic meters of potable water from Tajikistan – Tehran Times.
Standing above her greenhouse, Sayohat Hakimova proudly shows off her onions, cilantro, and dill. This year, in her family’s first greenhouse, she was able to plant these greens two months earlier than usual. A 36-year old mother of four and the head of her household, Sayohat is a beneficiary of canning and greenhouse training under Feed the Future.
Her family lives on approximately $100 per month, growing their primary food sources of wheat, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, beets, and turnips. While their small orchard of fruit trees allows them to enjoy greater food diversity during the summer, in the winter the family is limited to consuming non-perishable goods that they have preserved during the summer and fall. They don’t have enough income to purchase preserved food at the market.
With assistance and training from Feed the Future, Sayohat and her family worked together at the end of winter to construct a greenhouse that works well in the region’s windy conditions and learned to preserve a greater variety of produce that they can use next winter or trade with their neighbors. Sayohat has plans to preserve apricots, cherries, onions, and jam. Her family’s success has been a model for the community, which intends to replicate the design of greenhouse among more families.
via In Tajikistan, Food Diversity Yields Good Dividends | Feed the Future.
Feed the Future caught up with maternal health advocate and model Christy Turlington Burns at the recent launch of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. Christy is founder of Every Mother Counts. She attended the Commission as part of the U.S. delegation. We asked for her thoughts on the importance of advancing opportunities for women and girls worldwide. A transcript is available at feedthefuture.gov/media-gallery.
via Christy Turlington Burns Talks Women’s Empowerment with Feed the Future – YouTube.
Focusing on Tajikistan 