Tajikistan: Shortcomings in legislation prevent protection of victims of domestic violence
In Tajikistan, 3485 facts of domestic violence were registered in 2021, which is 176 facts less than in 2020.
However, according to the Chairman of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan, Khilolbi Kurbonzoda, the official statistics provided by the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs don’t reflect the real picture of this problem. “Taking into account the oral statements and appeals of women to women’s resource centers and support centers under the local committee bodies, the number of cases of domestic violence in the country has increased significantly,” Kurbonzoda said.
According to experts, the words of the Chairman of the Committee on Women’s Affairs indicate that the requirements of the law “On the prevention of domestic violence” and the State Program for the prevention of domestic violence for 2014-2023 are not being met. The country hasn’t yet created a single centralized database to collect national statistics on cases of domestic violence.
“All the positive steps taken by the government to combat domestic violence are nullified due to gaps in the protection mechanism, legislation, the criminal justice system, as well as due to the inability of the authorities to systematically and completely eliminate the causes of domestic violence,” was noted in the report of Notabene Public Foundation, prepared jointly with the International Partnership for Human Rights and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Domestic violence itself is still not criminalized in Tajikistan, although in accordance with the law “On domestic violence in the family”, which was adopted in 2013, the victim of violence is considered a victim.
One of the indicators of the State Program was to be an increase in the appeals of victims of domestic violence to law enforcement agencies and the registration of these facts, an increase in the staff of special district inspectors for the prevention of domestic violence. By the way, in 2010, before the adoption of the law and the State Program, there were 10 such inspectors in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, today there are only 15 inspectors for the prevention of domestic violence, while there are more than 70 territorial Departments of Internal Affairs in Tajikistan.
The situation is the same with the support centers established under local authorities; they are too few to somehow affect the overall picture of domestic violence.
According to WHO, every third woman in the world experiences physical or sexual violence from a partner during her life.
Domestic violence is a serious violation of human rights, including the right to life and physical integrity, the right to freedom from gender discrimination, and the right to healthy and safe development.
