CEDAW NGO Alternative Report on Tajikistan (Dushanbe, 2006)

The 2006 NGO Alternative Report on Tajikistan’s implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) — compiled in Dushanbe (Душанбе) by a 25-NGO working group, consolidated by Tatyana Bozrikova (Татьяна Бозрикова, OF “Panorama”), Larisa Kabilova (Лариса Кабилова, League of Women Lawyers of RT) and Alla Kuvatova (Алла Куватова, NGO “Traditsii i sovremennost” / «Традиции и современность») with OSCE Dushanbe support — sets out civil-society commentary on state compliance. The report reports that from 1993 to 2006 Tajikistan adopted a range of laws, state programmes and international instruments on gender equality, but states that implementation mechanisms are weak and many planned measures are not carried out. The article-by-article structure covers CEDAW Articles 1–16 (discrimination, obligations, development, acceleration of equality, gender roles, exploitation, political/public life, international representation, citizenship, education, employment, healthcare, social/economic benefits, rural women, equal rights, marriage and family). The report reports specific findings: women’s representation in all branches of power is below 30%, falling sharply at higher levels; no women hold ministerial or ambassadorial posts; female enrolment drops from 47% in 7th grade to 39% in 11th, worse in rural areas, with only 25% of university students being women; occupational gender segregation sees women concentrated in low-paid sectors (agriculture 75.1%, education 85.5%), earning 4–7 times less than in male-dominated industries; access to healthcare is declining, with rising domestic births without qualified help and breast cancer the leading female oncological cause; trafficking and prostitution are growing; rural women face weak infrastructure, unequal land access, patriarchal norms and low awareness of rights; polygyny (second-wife marriages / двоежёнство) is rising, particularly among young women. The report reports that existing legislation has not eradicated violence against women — especially domestic violence — and that no Law on Social-Legal Protection from Family Violence has been adopted; 12 NGO crisis centres and 1 state centre provide the main response, receiving mostly psychological, physical and economic-violence reports. The report sets out 18 concrete recommendations, including drafting a Law on Prevention of Family Violence, criminalising all forms of violence against women, creating an Ombudsperson for Women, introducing a 30% quota for women in power, amending the Family Code to raise marriage age to 18, and requiring state registration of all nikoh (никох) marriages before religious ceremonies. Sources cited: 25 NGOs (listed), 12 crisis centres’ statistical data for 2001–2005, ILO/CARE/Kuvatova (2003) “Family Survival Strategies in Tajikistan,” UNIFEM, UN CEDAW Convention text.