DUSHANBE, August 7, Asia-Plus — Oleg Panfilov, the director of Russia’s Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES), who is participating in the ongoing seminar in Dushanbe on transparency of Tajik state bodies, considers that Tajikistan has good prospects for development of freedom of speech.
According to him, the legislative work in the filed of media is more or less going on in Tajikistan. “Besides, there is political will in Tajikistan. At least, Tajik president is speaking publicly about the necessity of development of democratic institutions in Tajikistan, which is of no small importance for development of the freedom of speech in the country,” said Panfilov, “The factor of no small importance is that a new generation of journalists has appeared in the country and they are trying to dispute their rights and their point of view.”
The situation in other Central Asia’s states is different. “In Kazakhstan, where president’s family owns the main capital, there will always be a strict control of media, and in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, media are traditionally under the rigid control,” said the CJES director, “For example, to organize such a seminar in these countries is practically impossible. As far s Kyrgyzstan is concerned, after the so-called revolution the new authorities have failed to offer any political reforms and four leading journalists that were singing of this “revolution” got government positions, and lets say straight, betrayed journalism.”
“However, it does not mean that Tajikistan has already become really democratic state,” Panfilov said.
According to him, the fact that Tajik parliament has approved legislation making it a criminal offence to publish false or offensive information on the Internet is a move backwards.
The Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations was established on February 1,2000, as a human rights organization within the Russian Union of Journalists.
The Center”s main activities include: monitoring violations of journalists” and media rights on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the CIS republics; investigating especially grave forms of violations of journalists” rights: murder, attempted murder, beatings, threats etc, and creating journalistic investigation groups; researching the conditions and legal status of journalistic work in “hot spots” and on the territory on unilaterally declared states such as Chechnya, Nagorny Karabakh, Abkhazia and Transdniester; preparing and publishing handbooks and specialized literature; offering legal assistance; studying legislation related to mass media in the CIS republics and offering recommendations; and conducting training seminars for journalists working under extreme conditions.
