Dushanbe, Tajikistan, July 26, 2012 — The United States Embassy is deeply concerned by the recent violence and reported loss of life in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. We offer our sincere condolences for the loss of life and express our concern for the safety of civilians in the conduct of operations by Tajik authorities. We urge that all measures be taken to allow the safe evacuation of civilians from the combat zones, including foreigners currently trapped in the city of Khorugh.

Under these circumstances, we reiterate our call for Tajikistan to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the protection of freedom of expression and the free flow of information at all times. We strongly encourage Tajikistan to fulfill its international commitments by conducting transparent investigations of the incidents that have occurred in Khorugh, and guaranteeing the rights of any detainees, including access to legal counsel, humane treatment, and fair trial.

US Embassy in Dushanbe

New York, July 24, 2012-Authorities in Tajikistan blocked domestic access to the independent regionalnews website Asia-Plus on Monday after the outlet reported on the murder of a high-ranking security official and its aftermath, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the government to immediately restore access to the site.

The Tajik state communications agency told local Internet service providers to block access to the site, the Tajik service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Asia-Plus reported that authorities had not provided them with an official explanation for the blocking. The censorship order was imposed after Asia-Plus reported on the murder of Abdullo Nazarov, a top regional security official, in Khorog, the capital of the southeastern Gorno-Badakhshan region, news reports said.

After the murder, Tajik authorities sent military forces to Khorog, where at least 40 people were killed in clashes with local militants reportedly responsible for Nazarov\\\\\\\’s death, news reportssaid. Authorities had accused Tolib Ayombekov, a local border guard commander, of being involved in the murder plot and refusing to hand over the suspected killers, the reports said. But in an interview with Asia-Plus, published Monday, Ayombekov denied it all and called for an independent probe into the murder.

Asia-Plus was the only local news outlet that reported on both sides of the conflict in Gorno-Badakhshan, according to Nuriddin Karshiboyev, head of the Dushanbe-based National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan. Karshiboyev told CPJ that the blocking was related to the outlet\\\\\\\’s independent coverageof the clashes. \\\\\\\»It is not the first time that the state agency acts as a censor, and imposes restrictions against the independent media without an official probe or a court order,\\\\\\\» he said.

\\\\\\\»The murder of a security agent and the ensuing violence demand independent reporting that reflects all sides, and Tajik authorities should not be blocking this information from reaching the public,\\\\\\\» CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. \\\\\\\»We call on the government to restore access to Asia-Plus without delay.\\\\\\\»

It is the second time this year that authorities censored the independent press, CPJ research shows. In March, the state communications agency temporarily blocked domestic access to several independent news websites as well as Facebook, citing scheduled technical maintenance as the reason, news reports said. Authorities did not explain why those particular websites had to be shut down.

Tajik authorities have also imposed media blackouts in the past, CPJ research shows. In September 2010, the government told local Internet providers to temporarily block access to Asia-Plus, Ferghana News, and several other news websites after they accused the defense ministry of botching a counterinsurgency operation.

· For more data and analysis on Tajikistan, visit CPJ\\\\\\\’s Tajikistan page here: http://cpj.org/europe/tajikistan/

http://cpj.org/europe/tajikistan/

EUROPEAN UNION

OSCE Permanent Council Nr 922

Vienna, 26 July 2012

EU statement on Tajikistan

The European Union expresses its concern about the recent events and reported loss of life in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. We hope that the current clashes will end as quickly as possible and that further casualties will be avoided. We call on the Tajik authorities to restore means of communication, to ensure the safety and allow for the provision of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population, and to establish a corridor for civilians wishing to leave the area of violence.

The European Union expresses its concern about the possible consequences of these events, urges all parties to exercise restraint and calls on the Tajik government to take appropriate and proportionate measures and actions for ensuring stability in the region.

We also stress the need to respect freedom of expression, as well as the right of people to have access to information. In this context, the European Union shares the concern expressed by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media in her press statement of 24 July 2012 about the temporary blocking of the Asia-Plus News Agency website in Tajikistan. We reiterate the position expressed in our statement of 8 March 2012 in response to the blocking of a number of other websites by the Tajik authorities. We agree with the Representative on Freedom of the Media that security concerns, however legitimate, should not be used to restrict the free flow of information.

www.deltjk.ec.europa.eu

Photographers interested in water conservation issues can enter a contest.

Australia’s savewater! awards are calling for amateur and professional photographers worldwide to share their photos about the importance of water and conserving it for the future.

Three awards will be presented; junior student (up to 12 years old), senior student (13 to 17 years old) and open.

Prizes include digital cameras and iPods, with selected images to be used in international water conservation campaigns.

The deadline for entries is July 20.

For more information, click here: http://www.savewater.com.au/programs-and-events/savewater-awards/2012-categories

http://www.savewater.com.au/programs-and-events/savewater-awards/2012-categories

Journalists with extensive editing experience can apply for this position in London.

BBC Media Action is seeking a writer and editor to sit in the central communications team and work closely with colleagues in the policy and insight teams, who monitor, analyze and share the evidence base for BBC’s work.

As part of this, you’ll identify strong stories from our research, and draw insights, testimony and multimedia from research teams based in UK, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.

The successful candidate will also be responsible for developing a strategy for research communications, including developing procedures and providing training to build skills and processes. This is a 12-month fixed-term contract.

The application deadline is Aug. 1.

For more information, click here: https://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc01.asp?newms=jj&id=43646&newlang=1

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A court in the Kyrgyz capital has fined an ethnic Russian journalist the equivalent of $1,100 for publishing articles it considers to be incitements to ethnic hatred.

The Pervomaysky district court in Bishkek ruled that Vladimir Farafonov had insulted the Kyrgyz people, but it rejected the eight-year jail sentence sought by prosecutors.

Farafanov did not attend the July 3 court session out of concerns for his safety.

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic expressed regret at the verdict.

“I have been following this case since its onset and raised it in a letter to Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbayev on 14 March. Although I am relieved that the court did not follow the recommendations of the public prosecution and did not sentence Farafonov to eight years in a penal colony, I believe that yesterday’s verdict might negatively influence the journalistic community in Kyrgyzstan,” Mijatovic was quoted as saying in a statement.

“I commended the Kyrgyz authorities when they decriminalized defamation in July last year, which was an important step forward. I strongly believe that while following standards of professional ethics, journalists should be able to write on sensitive issues.”

Ethnic tensions have been high in Kyrgyzstan since major clashes in the south between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbek communities left hundreds dead and many thousands homeless.

Based on reporting by AP, RFE/RL, and ITAR-TASS

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan-court-fines-journalist-inciting-hatred/24634789.html

Tajikistan has repealed a law criminalizing libel and defamation, downgrading the offenses to civil violations.

The office of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said on July 4 that Rakhmon had signed the proposal into law.

Independent journalists in that Central Asian republic have come under pressure from authorities since the country gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Media freedom advocates and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomed plans to adopt the law earlier this year.

Tajikistan, however, retains controversial legal provisions that make publicly insulting the president an offense punishable by a fine or up to five years in jail.

Based on reporting by AFP and ITAR-TASS

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan-president-rahmon-repeals-law-criminalize-libel/24634761.html

The Russian parliament has approved a contentious bill that activists fear will introduce Internet censorship by blacklisting sites deemed undesirable.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at a meeting with ruling United Russia party leadership in Moscow Oblast, strongly backed the law.

«The Internet must be free. Secondly, it should be regulated by a set of rules, which mankind has yet to work out, and it’s a very difficult process because we cannot regulate everything, nor can we leave [the Internet] outside the legal realm,» Medvedev said.

«Thirdly, the people’s basic rights and freedoms must be upheld, including the right to information on the one hand and the right to be protected against harmful content on the other hand.»

The bill was rushed through the parliamentary process after the initial reading on July 6.

It has to be signed by the president and is expected to become law in November.

The amendments to an existing information law are being promoted as a crackdown on child pornography but many fear they will have broader implications.

Russian newspapers report the final version has narrowed a previously broad term of «harmful information,» saying only child pornography, suicide how-to instructions, and drug propaganda can lead to website closure without trial.

However, in all other cases, court rulings will be needed to add a site to the register.

Site owners will also have the right to petition against the decisions to include their sites in the register.

Critics Fear Crackdown

The decision to mitigate provisions of the bill likely came as a reaction to an outburst of indignation, which the emergence of the bill produced among leading Internet companies like Yandex, the Mail.ru Group, Google, and human rights groups.

State Duma lawmakers are also expected this week to debate legislation that aims to control nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Russia’s lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval on July 6 to a law that would brand many rights and campaign groups «foreign agents,» a move opponents say is an attempt to stifle the anti-Putin movement.

The measure, presented by United Russia, would tighten controls on NGOs that receive foreign funding by forcing them to submit reports on their activities twice a year.

The amendments to the Russian information law and the law on NGOs follow the rapid passage of a law that increased the potential fines for protesters.

They also follow June police raids on the homes of protest organizers, who are accused by authorities of fomenting unrest in connection with protests against Putin’s May 7 return to the Kremlin to start his unprecedented third term as president.

With reporting by AFP and Interfax

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-passes-internet-bill/24642146.html

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has used an appearance at a conference in Turkmenistan to urge member states not to block Internet resources from public access.

OSCE media representative Dunja Mijatovic made the remarks at the gathering on online media in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on July 5.

«What my office is working on in particular is the reform of media law [in Turkmenistan],» Mijatovic told RFE/RL via telephone. «We are actively engaged and we do hope to be able to see the draft very soon in order for my office and also independent consultants to evaluate it and offer recommendations so that Turkmenistan would have a law that is a modern and liberalized media freedom law, also following everything that is happening in relation to new technology.»

Many websites, including social media platforms and foreign-based opposition news sites, are inaccessible in Central Asia, particularly in authoritarian Turkmenistan.

Advocacy group Freedom House has listed Turkmenistan, an OSCE member, as one of eight «worst of the worst» nations for media freedom.

Noting that the July 5-6 conference was the first of its kind in Ashgabat, Mijatovic said, «that is why it’s even more important to discuss issues of media freedom.»

«We plan to adopt a joint declaration [at the conference] that I intend to send to all foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states in order to [draw their] attention to the issues that are core values of the OSCE’s media freedom commitments,» Mijatovic added.

A correspondent for RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service was barred from attending the conference.

Mijatovic told RFE/RL that she was unaware of that incident.

With reporting by AP

http://www.rferl.org/content/osce-calls-for-open-internet-access-central-asia-turkmenistan/24636005.

EUROPEAN UNION
DELEGATION TO THE REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN

Local EU Statement on decriminalisation of libel in Tajikistan

The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement
with the EU Heads of Mission

The EU Delegation to Tajikistan welcomes the adopted amendments to the Criminal
Code of the Republic of Tajikistan abolishing two articles providing for criminal defamation. The EU Delegation trusts that this measure will make a positive contribution to the respect of the freedom of the media and freedom of expression in Tajikistan.

At the same time, the EU Delegation notes that the Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan still foresees criminal charges in certain cases and encourages the Tajik Government to abolish the remaining provisions and thus entirely decriminalise defamation.

The EU will continue to support the development of media freedom and freedom of
expression in Tajikistan.

In Dushanbe on 05 July 2012

EU Delegation to Tajikistan