DUSHANBE, May 24, Asia-Plus — Over the past 15 years, the situation of Tajik women has deteriorated, Professor Yakin Erturk, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, remarked at a press conference in Dushanbe on May 23.
Speaking to reporters, she, in particular, noted that despite the fact that Tajikistan’s legislation guarantees equality and equal opportunities for women and men, in practice the situation is much worse.
Women do not participate actively in social life and are not properly involved in education, according to her. Tajik women live in a cobweb of poverty, patriarchate and weak system of protection that increase their vulnerability to violence and discrimination both in family and society, the Special Rapporteur said.
According to her, since sectors, in which mainly women worked, fell into decay and other sectors were restructured, women were left without jobs and deprived of the right of property. “The majority of women is employed in agrarian sector and try to earn meager means of subsistence in informal sector. Those who are employed in formal sector work mainly in low-paid sectors such as education, culture and health,” MS. Erturk said.
Dwelling on the domestic violence, she noted that domestic violence, not including severe bodily injures, is taken by men and women in Tajikistan as normal aspect of private life and not considered as the problem requiring public attention.
On the ways to tackle the problem of violence against women, the Special Rapporteur noted that it is necessary to set up a protective infrastructure, including crisis centers, shelters and hot lines, in the country.
We will recall that Ms. Erturk arrived in Dushanbe for an official visit on May 15. During her stay in Tajikistan, the Special Rapporteur met with Tajik officials, representatives of a number of women’s NGOs, civil society members, representatives of United Nations agencies and international organizations, as well as religious leaders and individual victims of violence against women to assess the types of violence against women in Tajikistan as well as the State response to address such violence.
