[women-rights] Taking steps against discrimination of women in Tajikistan

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DUSHANBE, 7 August 2002  Participants in a roundtable on equality between
men and women in Tajikistan have stressed the need for accessible and fast
mechanisms for enforcing legal provisions. The roundtable, organized on 5
August by the OSCE Mission to Tajikistan, in co-operation with the UN
Office of Peace-Building to Tajikistan (UNTOP), focused on the compliance
of Tajik legislation with the UN Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Shanthi Dairiam, Director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch
Asia Pacific  facilitated the roundtable and discussed and presented,
together with a national lawyer, preliminary findings on the compliance of
the national legislation and its implementation mechanism. Besides the
legislation, emphasis was given to governmental policies, special measures
and the institutional framework. The analysis, findings and
recommendations will be published in a report thanks to the financial
support of the government of Switzerland.

There was a strong focus in the discussion on Tajikistan's national
programme for ensuring equal rights and opportunities between men and
women for the years 2001-2010, which was seen as the necessary framework
for a progressive implementation of the convention. As affirmed by
Ms. Dairiam, Tajikistan has strong institutional settings that would
enable such a progressive implementation.

Shortcomings were pointed out in the absence of an equality act that would
operationalize the constitutional guarantee on equality; in the criminal
code not fully protecting particularly domestic violence and in the
absence of temporary special measures for the most vulnerable layers of
society, in particular female-headed households, by guaranteeing them
facilitated access to key resources. A lively discussion was held on the
family code and on the problem of women not being guaranteed a range of
civil rights in unregistered marriages.

In general, the national legislation was considered as progressive,
however, a strong need for accessible and fast mechanisms for enforcing
the legal provisions particularly on the local level was pointed out.

The Republic of Tajikistan ratified the CEDAW convention in 1993 but so
far has not presented a report on the convention's implementation. With
the creation of a National Commission on Human Rights at the beginning of
the current year, the Government is undertaking the fulfilment of its
obligation under the main human rights treaties.

For further information, please contact:
 
Simone Troller 
Gender Issues Officer 
OSCE Mission to Tajikistan  
12, Zikrullo Khojaev Str.  
734017, Dushanbe  
Tajikistan  
GMT + 4  
Tel.:  +992 372 21 40 63
Fax:  +992 372 24 91 59
E-mail:  simone@osce.tojikiston.com