IPHR: Campaign against foreign clothing

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) statement dated 19 August 2024 documenting Tajikistan’s legal and administrative campaign against “foreign clothing.” The document reports that amendments to the 2007 Law on the Regulation of Traditions and Rites, adopted on 8 May 2024 and signed by the president on 20 June 2024, prohibit importing, selling and wearing clothing “perceived to be inconsistent with national culture” (Article 18), with administrative fines of 8,000-54,000 Somoni (approximately 680-4,600 EUR) under Article 481 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The statement documents that on 26 July 2024 the Islamic Council of Ulema issued a fatwa prohibiting women from wearing black, tight-fitting and transparent clothes, published in the official press. IPHR names Sulaimon Davlatzoda, head of the State Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, as announcing in August a joint task force from the Culture Ministry, Women’s Committee and Religious Affairs Committee. Deputy Foreign Minister Farrukh Sharifzoda is cited from a press conference on 13 August. The document reports that on 22 May 2024 a group of women wearing hijabs were detained in Dushanbe, fingerprinted, photographed, and required to pledge not to wear “foreign” clothing. IPHR invokes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UN Human Rights Committee General Comment 28, and Article 5a of CEDAW.