The Commitee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women held a "frank and constructive" dialogue with representatives from Tajikistan, who made their first-ever periodic report in the year that Tajikistan's fourth report was due. The Committee pointed out that Tajikistan’s Law on State Guarantee of Equal Rights for Men and Women and Equal Opportunities in the Exercise of Such Rights of 2005 contains no “operational aspects” regarding realization of the law and remedies for violations of the law. It urged the government to establish linkages to existing laws to make it enforceable. It made note of the fact that there have been very few court cases in the areas of domestic violence against women, polygamy and trafficking.
The Committee pointed out that the “… national machinery for the advancement of women is insufficiently resourced in terms of budget, staffing and coordination capacity, and is therefore unable to fully and effectively carry out its wide-ranging functions…” and recommended that the State strengthen the Committee on Women and the Family and give it adequate resources to advance women on all political levels, and to draft legislation and policy in support of same.
The Committee said it was “concerned about the resurgence of patriarchal attitudes subordinating women and of strong stereotypes regarding their roles…These…present a significant impediment to the implementation of the Convention and are a root cause of…the continuing existence of polygamy, domestic violence and the high dropout rates of girls from school.” It called upon the State to implement public awareness campaigns and media education to change these attitudes.
The Committee urged Tajikistan to give priority to eliminating domestic violence, and to adopt comprehensive measures to address it, including passing the draft law, which should provide redress and protection, protective orders, an adequate number of shelters and prosecution of perpetrators. It also recommended training for judges, law enforcement personnel and medical providers.
The Committee called on the State to implement its anti-trafficking program, to implement various programs to encourage women’s participation in political life, and to place a high priority on educating women and girls. It noted that “there is a noted rate of non-attendance by girl children at the primary school level, there is a sharp decline in the enrollment of girls at the secondary school level…[and ]…high dropout rates of girls.” It urged that this situation be redressed in various ways.
The Committee also addressed the situation of women in the labor market and in the health care system, the area of land ownership and property rights, particularly in rural areas. It “is concerned at the increasingly high number of women in monogamous unions based only on a religious ceremony without any legal effect…that polygamous marriages are not uncommon… and… that second and subsequent wives do not have any rights concerning property, inheritance or maintenance. It is also concerned that the legal age of marriage in Tajikistan has been reduced to 17.” It offered a number of suggestions to improve this situation, including reviewing legal and administrative regulations in order to prevent religious unions from taking place without verification that a civil marriage has been registered first.
Tajikistan is next due to report to the Committee, in a combined 4th and 5th periodic report, in 2010.
Compiled from: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw37/concludingcommentsAU/Tajikistan