TAJIKISTAN-SOGI-TBs-CCPR

Concluding Observations on Report 3 (2019) (Link)

Anti-discrimination framework

13. While noting that article 17 of the Constitution and other legislative acts guarantee equality before the law and the rights of every person without discrimination on several grounds, the Committee is concerned that the existing legal framework does not afford comprehensive protection against discrimination on all the grounds prohibited under the Covenant and regrets the lack of information, inter alia on the prohibition of discrimination in the private sphere and on effective remedies for all forms of discrimination. The Committee notes that a working group was set up in 2018 to prepare a bill on the prohibition of discrimination and regrets that no further details have been provided regarding the bill and the timeline for its adoption (arts. 2 and 26).

14. The State party should take all the measures necessary, including by adopting a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, to ensuring that its legal framework provides adequate and effective substantive and procedural protection against all forms of direct, indirect and multiple discrimination, including in the private sphere, on all the prohibited grounds under the Covenant, including colour, opinion, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity and other status, as well as access to effective and appropriate remedies for victims of discrimination.

Discrimination and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity

15. The Committee is concerned about reports of deep-rooted discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, including homophobic and transphobic rhetoric by public officials, violence and harassment, including arbitrary arrest, detention and extortion by law enforcement officials. The Committee is concerned about reports, although they are denied by the State party, that individuals suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender were identified following special operations entitled “Morality” and “Purge” and placed on a registry, which exacerbates their social stigmatization. The Committee is also concerned at the statement made by the Commissioner for Human Rights in January 2019 that international recommendations regarding the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights would not be followed because they would be contrary to the “moral and ethical norms of relationships among people in the country” (arts. 2, 7, 9, 17 and 26).

16. The State party should: (a) provide effective protection against all forms of discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, both in law and in practice, and ensure that no such discrimination or violence is tolerated and that such conduct is properly addressed and remedied; (b) combat homophobic and transphobic discourse, including by providing appropriate training to law enforcement and other officials on combating discriminatory attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and by conducting similar awareness-raising activities aimed at the general public; and (c) investigate law enforcement practices to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals are not registered and end any such practices that unduly interfere with their rights, including to privacy and to liberty and security.

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Concluding Observations on Report 2 (2013) (Link)

[no mention]

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Concluding Observations on Report 1 (2005) (Link)

[no mention]

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