Statement at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Item 4: General Debate
Delivered by Sigrid Lipott, CIVICUS
Mr President,
We remain deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Tajikistan. The country’s civic space rating was downgraded by the CIVICUS Monitor from “repressed” to “closed” following a crackdown on civil society which worsened in the wake of the repression of protests in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) in 2022.
Following the violent quelling of protests, the Tajikistani authorities have failed to conduct an independent and impartial investigation into credible allegation of excessive and lethal force, torture and other serious violations.
State repression continues against CSOs, journalists, lawyers and activists exposing grave human rights violations. Freedom of expression is severely limited, with journalists jailed, and frequent criminal prosecutions based on social media activity. Extremism-related charges continue to be abused to target human rights defenders and activists.
Numerous activists and human rights defenders have been arbitrarily detained and sentenced to long prison terms on politically-motivated charges - including lawyers Buzugmehr Yorov and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov. Journalists serving long sentences behind bars for their coverage of the GBAO events and issues like social injustice and corruption include Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, Abdullo Ghurbati, Daler Emomali, Zavqibek Saidamini, Khurshed Fozilov, and Rukhshona Khakimova.
There are ongoing reports of prisoners being subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including denial of adequate medical care, which has led to the death of at least six activists in prison in the last year alone.
Civil society organisations nationwide face closure or prosecution - in the last 5 years over 700 CSOs have been closed or forced to dissolve. In 2025, another 85 CSOs ceased their operations, whilst seven of them were liquidated by court order for alleged violations.
We call on this Council to establish a UN Independent Investigative Mechanism on Tajikistan, and to investigate the events in GBAO. We also urge the Tajikistani authorities to unconditionally release all activists imprisoned for political reasons, including those referenced by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) and several Special Rapporteurs. Furthermore, we request the Council to keep the situation of human rights in Tajikistan under close review under the complaint procedure established pursuant to resolution 5/1.
Thank you.
For more information about other human rights issues in Tajikistan, see also our written statement.
Photo by Anton Rybakov on Unsplash
