Support to Development of Social Services in Tajikistan

Publication reference: EuropeAid/132-291/C/G/TJ

The European Union is seeking proposals for the development of Social Services in Tajikistan with financial assistance of 2.2 million Euros from the Human Development Support Programme.

The full Guidelines for Applicants are available for consultation at the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Tajikistan, Adkhamova Ulitsa 74, 734013 Dushanbe – Tajikistan and on the following internet site:

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome and http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/tajikistan/index_en.htm.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 13.07.2012 at 16:30 local time.

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome and http://eeas.eu

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Tajikistan has told lawmakers that promoting human rights and helping strengthen Dushanbe’s support for Afghanistan will top her agenda if confirmed.

Susan Marsh Elliott, a career diplomat and current deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 6 that she would encourage the Tajik government to take «concrete steps» on their troubling rights record.

Elliott acknowledged that pushing Dushanbe on rights would have to be balanced with strategic priorities in Afghanistan, which Tajikistan supports as a Northern Distribution network country.

She also expressed confidence that Tajikistan would come into compliance with U.S. sanctions on Iran and vowed to advance that goal.

Elliott’s nomination must be approved by the committee and then the full Senate.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik-envoy-nominee-says-rights-priority/24606256.html

DUSHANBE – Tajikistan’s Association of Internet Service Providers says the cost of accessing the Internet in the Central Asian country is set to increase by four percent starting July 1.

According to the independent group, the price hike is being implemented in the wake of a Dushanbe court’s order that Internet service providers follow tax rules introduced in 2011.

Last year, Tajikistan’s state tax committee raised duties for Internet service providers by three percent.

The providers, however, refused to accept the increase, calling it «illegal.»

The association said the court on June 4 ordered the providers to pay all overdue taxes accumulated since the new tax rules were announced.

The group said the increased tariff was likely to have a negative impact on the development of the Internet sector in the impoverished nation.

http://www.rferl.org/content/cost-of-tajik-internet-access-going-up-by-four-percent/24605434.html

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, June 6, 2012 — On June 5, 2012, Senior Law Enforcement Advisor Dennis Cosgrove from the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Office (INL) and First Deputy Director General Vaisiddin Azamatov from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan officially opened a two-day roundtable event for Press Center representatives from local law enforcement agencies and members of the press.

The roundtable at the DCA Headquarters in Dushanbe provided a unique opportunity for law enforcement press center staff to meet their media counterparts to discuss issues relating to the delivery of breaking news, the organization of press conferences, the handling of crisis communications, and the use of social media. The roundtable also served as a refresher course for participants of last year’s Public and Media Relations course organized by INL and conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Office of Public Affairs representatives.

During the roundtable, U.S. Ambassador Ken Gross was interviewed as part of a role play scenario to demonstrate techniques for interviewing senior government officials in a “one-on-one” unrehearsed and informal setting. The interview was recorded at the new DCA mini-studio and participants had the opportunity to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the scenario.

The event concluded a two-week visit of the FBI Office of Public Relations Special Assistant to the Assistant Director who was embedded at the DCA and worked closely with the DCA Press Center. To assist the DCA Press Center in keeping the public informed about their work and achievements, INL donated office equipment on the DCA’s 13th Anniversary ceremony on June 1, 2012. INL has invited a second FBI Office of Public Affairs Supervisory Special Agent to work at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Press Center for the next two weeks (June 6-18, 2012) in a program similar to the FBI – DCA Press Office embedding project.

The U.S. Government is committed to supporting Tajikistan’s law enforcement agencies and justice sector institutions and will continue to collaborate with the Government of Tajikistan to ensure safety and security for all citizens. Since 2003, the U.S. Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program has provided more than $52 million to support security and justice reform programs for the people of Tajikistan.

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/

While cloned websites are nothing new in Uzbekistan, the latest attempt to set up a local social network in the Central Asian country pulls out all the stops. Youface.uz’s resemblance to Facebook is hard to overlook, and it doesn’t stop with the welcome page.

The site’s founder, who gave his name as Ayub Abdulloh in an Internet chat with RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, admits that at «first glance» his new website may look like the world’s biggest social-networking site, but this is just to help it gather new members, and as his site gets more users, «this will be changed.»

Launched on May 21, Youface has just 300 members so far (no word on how many of them are New York comedians). But Abdulloh, who gives his age as 22 and didn’t want to give an interview, has high hopes for his website.

Abdulloh says that Youface is intended to «develop the patriotic spirit in our youth.» He also says the network is intended to promote the Internet among young Uzbeks and the «concept of finding information on the Internet.»

However, when RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service attempted to post material from its website, it was promptly deleted.

While Uzbekistan blocks the websites of many foreign and independent news sources (the BBC, RFE/RL’s Uzbek site, among many), for the most part social networks are permitted, with the exceptions of the Russian blogging platform LiveJournal and Wikipedia, of all things.

In fact, the state telecom monopoly even makes access to the Russian-based social network Odnoklassniki free for mobile-phone users. Odnoklassniki recently added Uzbek as its second available language for translation after Ukrainian.

But after the role social media played in the Arab Spring, as well as in organizing opposition protests in Belarus and Russia, «social media» has become something of a dirty word in the Uzbek state media. Many wonder if the day isn’t coming when foreign social networks will be blocked and local sites might be the only option for Uzbekistan’s Internet users, whose numbers have surged in recent years to almost 8 million out of a population of 28 million.

It’s likely no coincidence that Youface’s Abdulloh makes pains to promote his new social network as «clean» in addition to «patriotic.» It may not be Iran or China just yet, but betting on a more restricted future for Internet users in Uzbekistan is hardly a risky undertaking.

http://www.rferl.org/content/newest-uzbek-social-network-looks-like-facebook/24599461.html

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev has condemned online social networks and information technologies for what he describes as “spreading lies and propagating violence and evil.”

Speaking at the Fourth Congress of the World’s Traditional Religions in Astana, Nazarbaev said that “instead of distributing real knowledge, social networks often pour floods of lies, split societies, and create walls within countries.”

The president proposed the creation of an online portal that could help people get involved in the work of the world’s traditional religions.

In April, speaking to the Russian television channel Rossia-24, Nazarbaev criticized Western countries for “pushing their values to other countries via social networks and information technologies.”

He blamed social networks for triggering the Arab Spring movement and pushing Arab nations back 15 years economically.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-nazarbaev-social-networks-lies/24597621.html

DUSHANBE — Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament has passed a draft law decriminalizing libel.

The proposed legislation, proposed in March by President Emomali Rahmon, removes libel and insult from the Criminal Code and places it under the bailiwick of administrative law.

That means journalists accused of libel would face an administrative court rather than criminal prosecution. Administrative courts could issue fines for a libel conviction but not a prison sentence.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomed the decision. The OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed hope that all remaining criminal provisions related to defamation would eventually be abolished.

The draft law must be approved by the upper chamber of parliament and signed by the president.

Under the existing legal code, Tajik journalists face the possibility of several years in jail for a libel conviction.

The new draft legislation would not alter a criminal law calling for up to five years in prison for those who libel or insult the president.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-lower-house-passes-bill-to-decriminalize-libel/24599087.html

BISHKEK — The owner of the pro-opposition «Maidan.kz» newspaper in Kyrgyzstan has been arrested.

Interior Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Nurgazy Anarkulov was detained in Bishkek on May 30 in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a local citizen.

No further details about the case were given.

The chief editor of «Maidan.kz,» Gulzada Turdalieva, has confirmed that Anarkulov was detained.

She said officials have not yet provided his relatives and colleagues with details about the reasons for his arrest.

According to Turdalieva, the newspaper has recently published several articles critical of President Almazbek Atambaev and other officials. But it was not immediately clear if there was any link between those pieces and Anarkulov’s arrest.

Kyrgyzstan is generally considered by human rights groups to have freer media than other autocratic Central Asian countries.

http://www.rferl.org/content/owner-of-kyrgyz-opposition-newspaper-website-maidan-arrested/24599048.h