This is a compilation of reports from Tajikistan’s media and private reports from the NANSMIT monitoring network in the country

Coordinator of the Monitoring Network in Tajikistan:
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Head of the Legal Service:
Orifjon Azimov

Head of the Project in Tajikistan:
Nuriddin Karshibayev

Freedom of Speech in Tajikistan
July 2009

In July 2009 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 18 reports. Eleven of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; three reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and four reports describe conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.

I. PECULIARITIES OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY DEFINING THE FACTUAL SITUATION IN THE MEDIA

1. Public speeches and statements of government officials defining factual situation in the media

21 July
Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan, Dushanbe

“Specific and interesting broadcasts dedicated to the Tajik language on central and local radio and TV channels, promotion of its distinctive character, and mainstreaming the mass media into the state language is one of the most relevant tasks”, — said Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan in his public message on the occasion of the 20-th anniversary of the adoption of the National Language Law.

Rakhmon noted that the state language should be reinforced on the basis of literary norms, and freed from artificial and extraneous models and dialectisms. The President expressed criticism regarding some Tajik periodicals, “which language does not meet requirements of the lingual standards and healthy taste”. “Certain journalists – deliberately or ignorantly – use sophisticated and strange words and terms”, — said Rakhmon.

2. Factual status of the media and freedom of speech

2 July
All media, Dushanbe

Speaking at a round table on 2 July in Dushanbe, Akbarali Sattorov, chairman of the Tajik Union of Journalists, said that the Tajik media community is going to approach the government with an appeal to support the Tajik media in the period of financial crisis.

Sattorov stressed the necessity of creating an anti-crisis journalistic unit.

Many newspapers in Khatlon province are published irregularly; they are issued mainly on the occasion of national events or celebrations. Most of the periodicals in Khatlon have affiliation to the government, but the authorities have stopped their financing.

The situation in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous province (GBAO) is similar.

10 July
Muso Dinorshoev, Vice President, Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe

Vice President of the Tajik Academy of Sciences Muso Dinorshoev suggested to hold press conferences in three main scientific directions. There are about 30 subordinate structures and scientific-research institutions under the Academy. Dinorshoev suggested to regularly update journalists on main achievements in the spheres of humanitarian, economic and exact sciences. The official said that the financing of science in the country at present amounts only to 0,03% of the national budget.

II. VIOLATION OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA

1. Impediments to professional activities in the media

10 June
Paikon weekly, Dushanbe

A policeman confiscated an ID card from a correspondent of the Paikon weekly in Dushanbe, when the journalist came to the dwelling facilities of the National Conservatory of Music. The full story on that is published in the Paikon issue #17, 08.07.09.

The policeman did not get into any explanations, advising the journalist to ask his editor to come and pick up the ID. After a while, the officer returned the document.

2. Ungrounded limitations in access to public information

2 July
State Statistics Committee, Dushanbe

Freelance journalist Gulnora Nosirova approached the Justice Council’s statistical unit requiring information on the number of journalists bound to pay fines for defamation. Head of the statistics unit Zaragul Abdukodirzoda advised the journalist to apply to the State Statistics Committee.

The official stated that the requested information refers to national security, and she is not in the position to make it public.

3 July
Minister of Health, Dushanbe

The Minister of Health forbade all employees of the Ministry to communicate with the media. This order is related to the recent death of Khurshed Bobokalonov, who allegedly was killed in an incident with the police. Bobokalonov was a well-known physician.

Fotima Yakubova, head of the Ministry’s press center advised journalists to approach the Minister with a written request if they need any particular information.

III. CONFLICTS. VIOLATIONS INCRIMINATED TO THE MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS

1. Claims for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation affected by publication of certain information

12 July
Khudoyor Valiev, correspondent, TV Kulyab, Khatlon province

Karakhon Makhmudov, head of the province education department came into conflict with Khudoyor Valiev, correspondent of the local TV station. On 9 July private newspapers SSSR and Pazhvok published detailed stories on that conflict.

Representatives of NANSMIT monitoring service in Kulyab officially approached Juraboi Sobirov, head of the Khatlon province education department with a request to discuss the actions of the official, and to inform about the results.

23 July
Ozodagon weekly, Dushanbe

Tabassum Tagaeva, professor of the Tajik State University sent an open letter to the editor of Ozodagon weekly requiring refutation on the recently published article, which allegedly was published on her behalf.

Tagaeva says that the published article may be wrongly interpreted by her colleagues and students, who may think that she had sordid motives.

14 July
Ikrom Mirzoev, Somonion TV, Khatlon province

On 14 July the Khatlon province Economic Court made a decision to deny the legal claim of Ikrom Mirzoev, director of Somonion TV against the TV and Radio Committee under the government.

According to Mirzoev, the claim was initiated upon the decision of the Supreme Economic Court (20 September 2007), which acknowledged illegal the refusal of the Committee’s licensing commission to prolong the TV station’s broadcasting license. Mirzoev in his claim asked the court to acknowledge the losses caused by the licensing commission in the amount of 86 thousand Somoni (about $20 thousand).

This report is based on compiled materials from the media and private information presented by correspondents of the NANSMIT Monitoring Network

Coordinator of the Monitoring Service
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Project Manager
Nuriddin Karshibaev

Tajikistan is considering a bill that would prohibit the use of Russian by government agencies in the former Soviet republic. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon is urging lawmakers in the Central Asian country to speed passage of the measure, which some people in Russia view as a hostile act.

Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon told a nationwide television audience last week the greatness of a nation can be judged, first of all, by the amount of protection and respect its official representatives give to their national language.

Tajik Association of Free Media member Abdufattokh Vokhidov agrees with Mr. Rakhmon’s assessment. He says the Tajik language was relegated during the Soviet period to home use, and many people in Tajikistan neglected their native tongue.

Vakhidov says people of his generation were born under Soviet rule and educated in the spirit of the Russian language. He notes some people who do not know Tajik have no respect for it; they think the only language in the world is Russian and cannot imagine life without it.

In Moscow, lawmaker and nationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky said adoption of the Tajik language law would be considered an act of hostility toward Russia. He threatened the Central Asian republic with retaliatory measures, including denial of visas for unemployed Tajiks looking for jobs in Russia.

The Interfax news agency quotes a member of the Parliament’s Commonwealth of Independent States Committee, Alexei Ostrovsky, as saying dissatisfaction among unemployed Tajiks could then erupt in street protests.

The head of the Tajik Migrant Workers Union in Moscow, Karomat Sharipov, says remittances sent by Tajik migrant workers in Russia help maintain the social and economic stability of Tajikistan, where unemployment runs high.

Sharipov says more than 120,000 Tajik citizens in Russia have children born of mixed marriages, more than 800,000 have obtained Russian citizenship, and they will return to their native country speaking Tajik and Russian.

The director of Russian language testing at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Svetlana Melnikova, told VOA she agrees with President Rakhmon about the need to protect all national languages. But she says many of them are being affected by globalization, particularly in the areas of business and science.

Melnikova says technical terminology in CIS countries exists basically in Russian and English, and Tajiks will need to choose one of them. She predicts it will take more than a decade before Tajikistan develops its own scientific vocabulary.

Abdulfatah Vakhidov says the Tajik language, which is similar to Persian, was influenced throughout the 20th century by Russian, and does not correspond to the needs of its speakers. At the same time, he says no one is suggesting that Tajik cannot borrow foreign technical terms.

Vakhidov says languages constantly develop and so does Tajik, because new technologies emerge and those who speak the language accept foreign terms that reflect the advance of high technology. He says Tajik speakers do not make up new words, but rather accept terms from English, Russian, Persian, Arabic and other languages, which no one opposes.

Vakhidov says Russian is currently used very widely in Tajik science, industry, and government. If passed, the language law would require the exclusive use of Tajik in national courts, armed forces, police and other agencies of government.

While Svetlana Melnikova questions the practical considerations of the measure, she says it would not infringe on anybody’s legal rights.

Melnikova says she would not go so far as to talk about any violation of rights for Russian speakers just because a country declines use of another language. After all, she says, Russia does not demand that Americans speak Russian just because there is a Russian diaspora in the United States.

Ethnic Tajiks comprise about 80 percent of Tajikistan’s population. Fifteen percent are Uzbeks, one percent Russian and the remainder belong to various other ethnic groups.

Karomat Sharipov says Russian should remain the language of international communication among countries of the former Soviet Union. Abdulfatah Vakhidov says the languages spoken in those countries should be allowed to develop by those who speak them, free of outside interference.

There is no word on when lawmakers will consider the Tajik language bill.

Peter Fedynsky, Moscow

Источник: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-28-voa19.cfm

The Tajik party has accomplished its obligations on creating an international Persian-language TV channel. The new media enterprise will be jointly ran by Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

So far, Tajikistan has allocated premises for the TV company, prepared its charter and developed other relevant legal procedures. However, according to Asadullo Rakhimov, chairman of the Tajik Broadcasting Committee under the government, Afghanistan and Iran are lagging behind in fulfilling their obligations. The tripartite agreement on the Persian TV channel was reached February 2009.

Iran has been failing to ship certain broadcasting equipment and send its engineers for the installation, as it had been agreed at the beginning.

It should be noted that negotiations on launching a joint TV company lasted for two years. The formal agreement was reached only after the tripartite meeting of foreign ministries in Dushanbe in March 2008.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service

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Tajik President Imomali Rahmon’s administration is discouraging believers in the impoverished Central Asian nation from making the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, this year. Instead, authorities are asking that would-be pilgrims make a donation to charity.

Tajikistan is coming under growing economic strain during the global financial crisis, with officials struggling to provide essential services as they confront the implosion of the industrial and agricultural sectors. Rahmon’s call for donations to charities underscores the tenuous nature of the country’s economy.

«I call on future pilgrims from Tajikistan during the global economic and financial crisis to donate their savings to charity,» he announced in late June. Every year 4,500 Tajiks perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Islam’s holy sites in Saudi Arabia — a journey that costs an average of $3,000 per person. Rahmon targeted his appeal at Tajiks who have already made a pilgrimage, and were intent on returning. «In a time of crisis, your savings could go to needy families,» the president stressed.

For the past two years, Tajikistan’s State Religious Affairs Committee has been controlling the number of pilgrims traveling to Mecca. The official limit is 4,500 a year. In 2008, the committee denied 1,500 applications, though local observers say this is not viewed as a violation of believers’ rights. The 2009 Hajj falls in November.

Rahmon is known for his efforts to regulate behavior, and for trying to alter social customs. In May 2007, for example, he endorsed a law regulating the way weddings, funerals, circumcisions and other family events were celebrated, mandating the maximum number of guests at any given event and time limits, as well as financial penalties and administrative punishments for violators. Prior to endorsing the Law on Squaring Traditions and Rites, Rahmon explained that Tajiks spent too much on both secular and religious celebrations, adding that the money spent could serve more essential purposes.

In June, Rahmon led by example, hosting a small wedding party for his eldest son, Rustami Imomali. Local press reports described the celebration as modest and state television showed Rahmon and his family donating goods to orphanages.
But, just as some back in 2007 said the limits on party size were designed to prevent mass gatherings that could turn political, now some see ulterior motives in the president’s appeal concerning the Hajj.

«Tajik authorities’ advice on how to properly spend private money is just an attempt to distract the attention of people from the government’s inability and reluctance to resolve domestic problems,» said a local university professor, speaking on condition of anonymity. «Instead of tackling these problems and countering corruption, authorities criticize religion and superstition.»
The 2007 «traditions act,» as it is popularly known, as well as other sweeping Rahmon initiatives — such as the abolition of school graduation celebrations — continue to face criticism, both in public and private. Many Tajiks believe the government could do more to improve social services. More than half of the population lives in poverty, but at the same time, locals are quick to note, Dushanbe is awash in expensive private cars and ringed by hundreds of luxurious private villas.

Some see the recent Hajj declaration as part of a wider crackdown on expressions of Islamic faith. Citing the widespread problem of corruption, one Dushanbe resident called the new directive «total cynicism.» He indicated that few Tajiks were receptive to the president’s appeal. «All we see now are summer houses and private hotels under construction. I am sure that nobody will make any donations to a public charity,» he said.

While he certainly has a fair share of critics, Rahmon is applauded by many poorer Tajiks, who say the president’s directives helped lift a huge financial burden off hard-pressed families. Political analyst Parviz Mullojanov feels that this time media outlets are perhaps being unfair to Rahmon. «This statement by the president has caused more feedback in the media that it deserves. It does not go beyond any other of Rahmon’s messages regarding the frugal use of funds during the crisis. On the one hand, the Hajj is a duty of every Muslim; on the other hand, there is a traditional message in Islam saying that a Muslim cannot go on Hajj while leaving behind hungry children and relatives,» he said.

«This statement of the president will definitely be interpreted in different ways by different social groups — depending on their political sympathies and antipathies, as well as on their extent of religiousness,» Mullojanov added.

Konstantin Parshin

Источник: http://eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav071609.shtml

“Many local journalists know very little about the domestic laws”, — says Akbarali Sattorov, head of the Tajik Union of Journalists.

This statement was made on 15 July at a thematic round table “The Tajik Code on Administrative Violations in the Media”. The event was organized by the Legal Support Center for the Media and the Tajik National Association of Independent Media (NANSMIT) under support of the Tajik Union of Journalists.

Sattorov stressed the necessity of conducting regular events targeted to improving legal literacy among Tajik media professionals. He promised that his organization will facilitate broadcasting of these events through the Tajik TV companies.

Junaid Ibodov, independent Tajik legal expert says that “the problems of legal illiteracy are typical not only among young journalists, but also among public at large”. He added that “one-time events would hardly alter the situation, and pubic awareness activities should become systematic”.

www.asiaplus.tj

On 2 July, Gulnora Nosirova, a freelance journalist approached the statistical unit of the Tajik Council of Justice with a request about a number of journalists who had to pay penalties for defamation according to court resolutions.

Head of the statistical unit Zaragul Abdukodirzode advised the journalist to approach the State Statistics Committee, having explained that this information is considered a state secrecy, and she is not in the position to make it public. She added that all data on court hearings is submitted by the Council of justice to the State Statistics Committee.

www.nansmit.tj

Speaking at a round table on 2 July in Dushanbe, Akbarali Sattorov, chairman of the Tajik Union of Journalists, said that the media community of Tajikistan is going to approach to the government with an appeal to support the Tajik media in the period of financial crisis. Sattorov also stressed the necessity of creating an anti-crisis journalistic headquarters.

Many newspapers in Khatlon province are published irregularly, mainly on the eve of important national events or celebrations. Most of the printing outlets in Khatlon belong to the government, and the authorities have stopped funding them.

The situation in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast is similar. For example, the Bomi Jakhon newspaper has not been published since last year.
The round table in Dushanbe was organized by the Tajik Union of Journalists and the NGO “Tajik Assistance Foundation”.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service

Transitions (TOL) is searching for participants in an online course on covering the education beat, developed in cooperation with the Guardian Foundation and the BBC World Trust. The course will be led by Linda Christmas, former journalist at The Guardian and respected journalism trainer.

Interested applicants should be from Central and Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. They should have at least two years of journalistic experience, either already covering the education beat or hoping to. In some exceptional cases, education professionals, such as teachers, who are interested in branching out and writing about education will be considered. The course will feature three online modules, each with a lesson plan and interactive questionnaire:
1) Specialist Reporting
2) Reporting education
3) Interviewing Children Participants in the online course will be required to complete each module.

They will also be asked to write one news story and one feature on education-related topics. The trainer will provide supervision at all stages of the course, as well as detailed feedback on the articles. The best articles will be published on the TOL website www.tol.organd their authors will be paid a writer’s fee. The course will run 13 July to 2 August. Participants will write two short assignments (one education news story and one feature story) and will be expected to meet their deadlines. Late assignments will not be accepted. The most successful participants will be invited to Prague for a fall workshop on covering education with all expenses paid by the organizers.

Linda Christmas began her journalistic career as a writer on education with The Times Educational Supplement. She worked for more than a decade with The Guardian and left to write two books. She then ran a post-graduate course for newspaper journalists at London’s City University and is now Senior Adviser to the Guardian Foundation. For the last two years she has been training journalists in the Arab world.

How do I apply?To apply, fill out the online APPLICATION FORM: http://forms.tol.cz/form/37/You should submit your application as soon as possible but no later than Wednesday, July 8. Successful applicants will be contacted by email. For any questions, please contact TOL’s Kristy Ironside at ironsidek@tol.org, with «Online Training» in the subject line. TOL’s program for education journalists is sponsored by the Open Society Institute with the contribution of the Education Support Program (ESP). The ESP aims to facilitate change in education and national policy development in line with the Soros foundation network’s mission of promoting open society.

www.tol.cz