DUSHANBE, May 4, 2014, Asia-Plus – With support from the European Union the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)’s in Tajikistan conducted two day training workshops on human rights defenders and media cooperation in Kulob (Khatlon province) and Khorog the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region or GBA) on April 29-30.
According to IWRP’s Office in Tajikistan, thirty young journalists and human rights activists from the cities of Kulob and Khorog as well as the other districts of Khatlon and Gorno Badakhshan provinces participated in the workshop. They reportedly learned how to jointly develop analytical reports on human rights violations and acquired skills in interviewing victims, as well as knowledge of the legal aspects of human rights violations.
Nouriddin Qarshiboyev, Chairman of the National Association of Independent Mass Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), and Sergey Romanov, Head of the Independent Center for Protection of Human Rights, led the training workshops.
The workshops were the last ones in its series that IWPR has carried out throughout the country within the framework of the three-year project, Empowering Media and Civil Society Activists to Support Democratic Reforms in Tajikistan.
Previously, such trainings were conducted in Dushanbe, Khujand, and Qurghon Teppa. In May 2014 IWPR will start another series of its trainings for journalists and HR defenders on “Investigative Journalism.”
The project, Empowering Media and Civil Society Activists to Support Democratic Reforms in Tajikistan, is supported by the European Union under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) as well as Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
The project aims at promoting democratic reforms in Tajikistan by encouraging closer cooperation between leading human rights activists and independent media; improving the capacity of independent media to conduct investigative journalism projects and analytical reporting; and stimulating constructive dialogue within and between human rights CSOs, media, and local and national government officials concerning a variety of issues affecting the socio-economic life of the country.
