Tajikistan: Survival of Human Rights Community at Stake Amid Deepening Repression – New Report

The space for independent human rights work in Tajikistan has shrunk dramatically over the past two decades, leaving the country’s once vibrant human rights community struggling for survival, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) warns in a new report.

The 37-page report, On Unsteady Ground – Human Rights Defenders in Tajikistan, traces the developments that have led to the current situation and examines the increasingly precarious environment in which human rights defenders and civil society organisations operate. It also sets out why sustained international support is critical to preserving Tajikistan’s remaining human rights expertise and capacity.

Over the past two decades, the Tajikistani authorities have progressively restricted independent civil society and suppressed critical voices. Human rights groups working on issues considered politically sensitive have faced mounting pressure, while human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, bloggers and activists have been prosecuted for peacefully carrying out their professional work and exercising their fundamental rights. Some are currently serving lengthy prison terms on politically motivated charges.

The crackdown has intensified particularly at key moments, including during the suppression of political opposition in the mid-2010s and following mass protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in 2021 and 2022. Human rights defenders who investigated allegations of serious violations committed during the authorities’ response to the GBAO protests were among those targeted.

At the same time, increasingly restrictive legislation governing civil society organisations, targeted inspections and other forms of administrative scrutiny, intimidation and threats by State Committee for National Security (SCNS) officers, and official rhetoric portraying human rights defenders as “traitors” and “agents of foreign governments” have further constrained the operating environment.

Human rights activists interviewed for the report described how issues they could previously discuss openly have effectively become off-limits. Those who speak out on sensitive human rights concerns risk imprisonment, harassment and intimidation, as well as reprisals against family members. This system of persecution and control has forced activists, human rights lawyers, independent journalists and other critical voices to leave Tajikistan or abandon their work, while placing those who remain in an exceptionally vulnerable position.

The situation has been compounded by geopolitical changes and a weakening international commitment to human rights and the rule of law. Funding cuts affecting civil society, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, China’s growing presence in Tajikistan and broader challenges to the international rules-based order have further undermined the sustainability of independent human rights work. At the same time, fewer international actors are prepared to speak out forcefully about violations in Tajikistan, reducing external pressure on the authorities to uphold their international human rights obligations.

The report is based on IPHR’s ongoing research and monitoring, including more than two dozen interviews conducted in 2025 with human rights activists from urban and rural areas across Tajikistan.

Preserving Tajikistan’s human rights community

Despite the severe pressure, Tajikistan retains an experienced human rights community with substantial expertise in legal aid, human rights monitoring and documentation, public advocacy and engagement with international human rights mechanisms. Civil society groups also provide essential assistance to victims of torture and domestic violence, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups and have contributed to important reforms, including the adoption of the country’s Law on Non-Discrimination in 2022.

The report warns that the loss of this community would have far-reaching consequences. When human rights defenders cannot work safely, serious violations are more likely to go undocumented and unchallenged, leaving victims with fewer avenues for protection and redress. If organisations disappear and experienced activists are imprisoned, forced into exile or pushed out of the profession, decades of institutional knowledge, professional expertise and networks risk being lost.

Tajikistan’s human rights defenders also retain valuable knowledge about improvements that are achievable within the existing system, as well as longer-term measures needed to strengthen human rights protections should future opportunities for reform arise. Preserving this expertise, analytical capacity and commitment to human rights and the rule of law is therefore important not only for those currently facing violations, but for Tajikistan’s future.

International actors should step up support

Following Tajikistan’s civil war, international support played a vital role in enabling the emergence of the country’s human rights movement and developing its expertise and influence. At a time when this community faces an existential threat, the report calls on the international community to renew and strengthen its support in ways that respond to the increasingly severe risks faced by human rights defenders on the ground.

In particular, IPHR calls on intergovernmental organisations, foreign governments and diplomatic representations to:

• Consistently call on the Tajikistani authorities to respect and facilitate peaceful civil society activity and uphold the right to freedom of association, including by ensuring that legislation governing civil society organisations complies with international human rights standards and does not impose undue control.
• Raise individual cases of imprisoned human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, writers and bloggers, calling for the unconditional release of those imprisoned for their peaceful human rights, journalistic and other legitimate activities, and for the quashing of wrongful convictions, rehabilitation and adequate reparation.
• Urge the authorities to cooperate meaningfully with civil society, draw on its expertise and include civil society representatives in relevant processes for developing new legislation.
• Provide long-term funding opportunities for civil society, including both established organisations and grassroots groups, helping preserve the expertise, networks and institutional capacity built up over decades.

The report also calls on international financial institutions (IFIs) operating in Tajikistan to systematically consider risks to human rights defenders and civic space in their country strategies and investments; ensure that consultations with civil society are safe, inclusive and based on “do no harm” principles; apply human rights and non-discrimination requirements to financial intermediaries; and use their policy dialogue with the Tajikistani authorities to raise the operating environment for civil society as an important element of sustainable development and institutional governance.

At this critical juncture, sustained international engagement can help ensure that Tajikistan does not lose a generation of human rights expertise that has taken decades to build — and that independent civil society remains able to protect victims, document violations and contribute to the country’s future development.

The full report, On Unsteady Ground – Human Rights Defenders in Tajikistan, can be downloaded below.