This monitoring presents 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
Situation in October 2008

In October 2008 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 27 reports. Twenty one of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; five reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and one report describes 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 superior officials defining the factual situation in the mass media

9 October
Media in Khatlon province

“The absence of modern printing facilities, the lack of periodicals, insufficient tools for communication, plagiarism in the media, impediments to journalists created by the authorities are the main reasons for poor development of the media and the freedom of speech in the south of Tajikistan”, — Ozodagon weekly, #40, 9.10.2008.

17 October
Turko Dikaev, Asia Plus news agency, Kulyab, Khatlon province

Correspondent of the Asia Plus news agency in Khatlon province Turko Dikaev failed to send important information from the city of Nurek.
The city with the population of 50 thousand has only one Internet center serviced by the Babylon mobile company. Residents complain that the Internet communication was absent for more than two weeks, and the Internet provider took no measures to restore the connection.

22 October
All media, Dushanbe

Tajikistan is rated 106 among 173 countries in the global Freedom of Press rating published by Reporters Without Borders. Tajikistan is neighboring to Uganda and Mauritania.
Among the countries of the former Soviet Union Tajikistan is close to the Baltic states and the Ukraine.

27 October
All media

Last week the former Kazakh capital Almaty hosted the 10-th Central Asia Conference “New challenges in the sphere of broadcasting, and transition to digital broadcasting”.

The Conference was organized under support of the OSCE regional office. It was attended by representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as by international experts.

According to the Tajik President’s Office, the Ministry of Justice has in its registry 28 TV organizations, 8 of which are state TV companies and 20 are non-government ones (private, commercial, corporative, etc.).

2. Actions of officials defining the factual status of the media

30 October
All media

The meeting of the Council of the CIS state and public TV organizations is scheduled for 31 October in Moscow.

Participants of the Council are planning to discuss the issues of creation of an Inter-State Information Pool, namely, the agreement, regulations and standards.

Members of the pool will provide information on important events and developments in their countries, which will be formed in packages for further transmission to other countries’ TV companies.

It is expected that the Inter-State TV Company Mir will play the role of coordinator in this pool.

3. Journalists protecting their civil and professional rights

5 October
Independent School of Journalism

From 3 to 5 October the Independent School of Journalism “Tajikistan – XXI Century” held the second training session for journalists and official public press secretaries.

According to Safo Safarov, executive director of the journalism school, participants of the training analyzed such topics as “Legal and ethical principles of interaction between the authorities and the media”, “National and international standards of access to information”, “New media technologies”, etc.

The training was organized within the framework of the project “Access to information: cooperation and transparency” supported by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

9 October

Somoniyon TV, Dushanbe

On 9 October the Economic Court in Dushanbe started hearings on the appeal from the Somoniyon TV against the State Committee on Television and Radio under the government.

TV Somoniyon submitted two applications: on compensation of a material loss in the amount of 88 thousand Somoni inflicted by the State Broadcasting Committee, and on the revocation of the resolution of the State licensing commission, which entailed the denial of broadcasting license to the TV company.

The court hearings were postponed until 14 October after public statements made by lawyers.

9 October
All media, Dushanbe

On 9-10 October the public organization “Khoma” held an international conference “Decriminalization of defamation is a major step towards democratic development of the society”. The conference was supported by the OSCE Center in Dushanbe and the US-based NGO Internews Network. More than 100 representatives of Tajik courts, the media, universities and human rights organizations took part in the conference.

Participants voiced the necessity of involving the civil society and the authorities in discussions of the legislation establishing criminal responsibility for publications containing “libel and defamation against government officials”. Certain legal provisions create obstacles for journalists, especially those “treading on forbidden ground”, i.e. criticizing high-ranked public servants.

II. VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA

1. Censorship

2 October
TV Safina, Dushanbe

Working on a project implemented jointly by the NGO Save the Children and TV Safina, journalist Farangis Nazrieva produced a TV story “When I was a child”. The 18-minute story shows and describes the being of children working in markets and other public places to make their living.

The video story had been shown to Mr. Pirov, director of TV Safina. Right before the scheduled broadcast he prohibited the story, saying that he is not in favor of showing negative phenomena in Tajikistan. The manager also referred to his “patriotic feelings”.

COMMENT

Article 30 of Tajikistan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the right to use the mass media. Only propaganda of social, racial, ethnic, religious and language animosity is prohibited by law. State censorship and persecution for criticism are also prohibited. Thus, the actions of the TV Safina official can be interpreted as “internal censorship”, which is illegal.

2. Ungrounded denial of publicly important information

6 October
Radio Khatlon, Kurga-Tube

Mehrubon Sattorova, correspondent of Radio Khatlon required information from Tajiktelecom mobile company regarding the enterprise’s development plans. Fozil Mallaev, deputy director of the company’s branch in Khatlon province refused to share any information with the journalist referring to the prohibition from his senior managers.

16 October
Nargis Bozorova, Radio Khatlon

Nargis Bozorova, correspondent of Radio Khatlon approached Tolib Zubaidulloev, deputy chief physician of the city hospital in Kurgan-Tube. The doctor refused to share any information with the journalist without preliminary permission from the province health officials.

COMMENT

Freedom of speech and the right to use the mass media are guaranteed by Article 30 of the Constitution. There might be certain exceptions – if the data contains state security secrets. But it does not concern the cases described above.

Article 31 of the Tajik law “On printing and other mass media” enables journalists to seek and disseminate information by any legal means. Article 5 of the law in question obliges state, political and public organizations and their persons in charge to provide the media with any requested information.

3. Violation of labor rights

2 October
Farangis Nazrieva, freelance journalist, Dushanbe

Journalist Farangis Nazrieva accused director of TV Safina Makhmadsaid Pirov of non-paying her honorarium for an accomplished assignment. According to Nazrieva, in March 2008 TV Safina and the international NGO Save the Children signed an agreement in order to produce a series of TV programs about child labor in Tajikistan. One of the programs had been prepared by Nazrieva, but Pirov banned it from broadcasting.

According to the agreement, Save the Children had to wire the amount of six thousand Somoni to TV Safgina’s banking account. The TV crew was expected to receive 3,280 Somoni out of this amount, but nobody received the honoraria.

COMMENT

The case described above refers to violation of labor rights. Labor disputes are investigated in court according to the legislation. We recommend the journalist to apply to court for collecting her honorarium from the employer.

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 Karshibayev