Ladies and gentlemen!

I want to talk about discrimination against women in Tajikistan. Among Central Asian countries, Tajikistan has the lowest gender equality index at the international level. In 2020, Tajikistan ranked 137 out of 158 countries in the global list of gender discrimination.

Now let’s look at the issue of gender discrimination in Tajikistan from another angle. In addition to the fact that Tajikistan is among the 20 worst countries in the world ranking of discrimination against women, the situation of some women is many times more serious.

In particular, there is serious discrimination against wives and mothers of political prisoners in Tajikistan. Unfortunately, wives and mothers of political prisoners are always under pressure from the authorities.

For example, Rahmatullah Rajab’s daughter (a political prisoner from the IRPT) and his wife were repeatedly subjected to pressure and torture by the authorities.

Also, Mahmadali Hait’s wife (a political prisoner of the IRPT, who was sentenced to life imprisonment) also disappeared for 2 days in 2016, and later it became known that she along with her son, Firuz, who is a participant in this hall, were arrested by the security authorities.

There are many cases, where women and girls of political prisoners in Tajikistan have been subjected to pressure, persecution and even torture.

Another issue is the pressure, harassment, torture of women and mothers of political activists. For example, the Tajik authorities did not allow the mother of Abdusattor Boboev, who is also a participant in this hall, to leave Tajikistan and she was really sick.

In June 2022, the security authorities arrested the mother of Anora Sarkorova, an independent journalist a native of Badakhshan, from her home. The question is, what is wrong with the mother of this journalist, that she is being arrested and put under pressure?

It is true that in general being a mother, sister, lady and a woman is a pride, but in Tajikistan being a mother, sister or wife of a political activist is not an easy task, because you will always be subject to pressure and persecution and you will have to pay the price of your son or husband or father’s activities.

In the end, I would like to announce this: Well done to the mothers, sisters and daughters of prisoners and political activists who endure so much oppression and persecution and say: “Continue and bring a change in the country!”

Thank you for your attention!

Gulbarg Sayfova at the OSCE/ODIHR conference, 09/29/2022. Warsaw