Freedom House: Nations in Transit TJ

Freedom House’s Nations in Transit 2024 country report on Tajikistan, authored by Ruslan Norov and covering events in 2023, classifies the country as a “Consolidated Authoritarian Regime” with a democracy score of 1.00/7.00. The report states that Emomali Rahmon, in power since 1992, continued to concentrate power, and that his 36-year-old son Rustam Emomali has served as speaker of the parliament’s upper house since 2020. The ruling People’s Democratic Party controls 50 of 63 seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon. The document reports a conviction rate over 99 percent, fabricated charges, and use of torture to extract confessions. In March 2023, journalist Khurshed Fozilov was arrested on charges of “participating in a banned group.” The report documents closure of 239 NGOs in the first half of 2023 following more than 500 closures in 2022. In the Pamir/GBAO region, the government nationalised an Aga Khan Development Network park and lycée between June and August 2023, and began nationalising the Aga Khan Medical Center in Khorog (built at a cost of USD 24 million, operating since 2018). In April, law enforcement raided the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board (ITREB). A UN report in 2023 found 32 soldiers were tortured while on active duty between January 2022 and August 2023. HRW is cited as reporting at least 47 detentions of protesters’ relatives after September 2023 Berlin protests.