DUSHANBE, August 5, 2011, Asia-Plus — A roundtable, formally titled “Applications of Citizens as Way of Participation in Public Affairs,” took place in Dushanbe on August 8.
Organized by the Center for Anticorruption Education and Propagation (CAEP) in cooperation with National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), the meeting brought together representatives from human rights organizations, lawyers and media experts to discuss issues related to participation of the population in public administration and seeking solution to existing problems.
According to the Nansmit head Nouriddin Qarshiboyev, the fact that officials are frequently ignoring applications lodged by citizens and official circumlocution force people to appeal to media. “However, media outlets must not act for the government bodies and resolve existing problems,” said the media watchdog head, “Journalists just inform the authorities of existing shortcomings, but the authorities have not always considered journalists’ opinion, and this exclusive circle is probably fueling corruption in the country.”
The meeting participants, in particular, noted that population’s lack of trust in the authorities was observed in Tajikistan. They consider the distrust has resulted from, first of all, inefficiency and excessive closure of the public management system.
Head of the Independent Center for Protection of Human Rights, Sergey Romanov, noted that the applicable law on citizens’ applications has become obsolete ad requires improvement.
Speaking at the meeting, the CAEP head Aliakbar Abdulloyev noted, “Representatives from international organizations and human rights associations consider that it is necessary to establish open and transparent relations between the authorities and citizens in order to ensure an efficient dialogue between them.”
