DUSHANBE, February 6, 2012, Asia-Plus — Monitoring by the National Association of Independent Mass Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit) of the freedom of speech situation in Tajikistan in 2005-2010 has shown that the main problems facing freedom of speech and media in Tajikistan include imperfection of the legal foundation, lack of clear strategy of development of media in the country, lack of a civilized media market in Tajikistan and improper training of journalists.
Lack of uniform law in the field of media is also one of problems facing media in Tajikistan. Demand for a broadcasting license, non-transparency and complex mechanism of issuance of licenses by the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting put activities of some media in dependence on special permission from the government body. This leads to state-run media’s dominance and deprives citizens of access to alternative source of information.
The survey notes that cases when government bodies file lawsuits against media have become more frequent in the country. Six such lawsuits against eight media outlets for a total amount of 1.42 million euros were registered in Tajikistan in 2010-2011 alone.
The Tajik Penal Code criminalizes defamation and insult laws: Article 135 – defamation; Article 136 – insult; and Article 137 – publicly insulting the President of the Republic of Tajikistan. Thereby, the legislation provides a special protection to the public authorities against criticism. In this connection, the question of decriminalization of defamation and insult laws arises, the survey says.
The survey also notes that despite legally established guarantees the problem of access of media and journalists to the socially significant information remains topical.
