WARSAW, September 25, 2012, Asia-Plus — Some Tajik media outlets were releasing reports justifying actions of criminals (the matter is the events that took place in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region in July and August this year).
Muzaffar Ashourov, the head of the constitutional human rights department at President’s Executive Office, remarked this at the opening of this year’s OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on September 24.
Accusations against Tajik media were made after a statement delivered at the conference by the Asia-Plus correspondent.
In her statement dedicated to freedom of media and information, the Asia-Plus representative noted that practically each deterioration of economic or political situation in the country resulted in blocking news websites.
“Over the past several months, the Tajik authorities have blocked several local and Russian news websites. Among them is the Asia-Plus website
www.news.tj
,” said the Asia-Plus correspondent, “During the military operation in Khorog, the state-run media have not released any report about this operation. The national TV channels broadcast perpetual concerts and celebrations. In the meantime, the operation in Khorog has left dozens of people killed, including civilians, whom the authorities did not evacuate before the beginning of the operation.”
For his part, Muzaffar Ashourov stated that the national TV had prepared 60 reports about the Khorog events.
We will recall that the clashes began in Khorog on July 24 when government forces launched a military operation against what it called “militants” following the murder of the regional security chief on July 21. According to some sources, the operation left some 70 people dead.
In a report released at the conference, Ms. Nargis Zokirova, the chairperson of the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR) of Tajikistan, noted that according to the data of the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), the country’s communications service agency has restricted access to 15 news websites in recent months. Ms. Zokirova called on the Government of Tajikistan to unblock those news websites.
The Asia-Plus representative noted that actions of the Tajik authorities on blocking news websites had caused criticism from the European Union, the OSCE, the United States and many other countries and international organizations. However, this has yielded no results.
Some 1,000 government representatives, experts and human rights activists are attending the two-week meeting in Warsaw, which reviews the progress states have made in putting their international commitments into practice.
In addition to regular working sessions, more than 50 side events are focusing on specific human rights concerns and country situations. Special sessions at the event are focusing on the empowerment of Roma women; freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief; and the rights of persons belonging to national minorities.
