Violence against women in Tajikistan increases

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RUMI, Tajikistan – In the region of Rumi, Khatlon Oblast, Gulrator said her husband beat her daily.

Gulrator, 28, turned to the League of Women Lawyers of Tajikistan, which helped her gather evidence to present before the courts. She said a court subsequently sentenced her husband to prison.

“Violence against women in Tajikistan is increasing”, said Zebo Sharifova, executive director of the League. “(Women) approach us with this dilemma every day. Every third woman who approaches us for help complains that (some family member) subjects her to beatings”.

Shakhlo Jurayeva, the director of the nonprofit Jakhon, said 99.9% of women have experienced violence. “I think if someone claims this is not so, this assertion is based only on ignorance of the forms or types of violence”, Jurayeva said.

Jakhon collaborates with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to improve the legal literacy of its employees, including clarifying issues in domestic violence.

Farangez has a higher education and works in the capital. She said she routinely suffered psychological humiliation: “My husband started insulting me with or without cause", she recalled. "I endured it for the sake of the children. I very much wanted my children to have a father”.

Farangez said her husband was jealous of nonexistent lovers, which prompted the assaults. She hid her husband’s behaviour from the family. After her parents noticed bruises from the beatings, however, they took her into their home.

“If it were not for the mentality of our society, I would not have endured my husband’s humiliation for a day”, said Farangez. “My children became eyewitnesses to the episodes of beatings”.

Lola Otabayeva, a police lieutenant colonel and the head inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department of Legal Security and International Co-operation, said, “There was, is and will be a problem with violence against women if concrete measures are not taken to eradicate it”.

According to her, ‘violence against women’ does not exist as a separate type of crime within Tajik law. But the Criminal Code does have 20 articles on women’s rights. The Ministry of Internal Affairs supports the introduction of a separate article to make "domestic violence" a crime.

“Once there is a separate article on the problem at hand, we will be more informed on the statistics of domestic-violence crimes”, said Otabayeva. “Many women, especially in rural areas, believe that if a husband beats (you), it means he loves (you)”.

She said that in order to eliminate domestic violence, it is necessary to increase Tajik women’s legal awareness. According to her, women must know that they will be able to receive protection.

Zaitoona Naimova, national gender officer at the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, said that according to the constitution and a number of laws, women should occupy a decent position in society. “But in fact, from an economic point of view, the situation of Tajik women is not easy”, said Naimova.

The OSCE supports a Women’s Resource Centre in each of the country’s 11 regions. Women can turn to them for legal and psychological consultation and for financial support. In the centres, women can acquire skills in literacy, pattern-making, sewing, knitting and national embroidery. The centres also hold meetings with the populations to improve awareness of women’s rights and violence against women.

Aziza Faramuzova, a former employee of a number of gender-based programmes, believes that when women have jobs and can stand up for themselves, the problem becomes rarer.

Faromuzova sees outdated moral foundations as the cause. “Early wifehood and marriage at the insistence of parents also lead to women becoming victims of domestic violence”, she said.

Another reason is society’s expectations.

“The main reason for the existence of the problem of violence against women lies in our people’s method of upbringing and mind-set”, said Ghamkhori General Director Bakhodur Toshmatov.

Toshmatov suggested that men should be involved in educational and training seminars on gender issues: “I realised that my thinking on women was wrong only in 1997, when I first took part in a seminar on gender”, he said.

Toshmatov said that the gender-training seminar influenced him to establish the nongovernmental organisation Ghamkhori to help women in Khatlon Oblast. He also created the Crisis Centre for Women. “In the framework of this centre, we provide legal assistance and post-traumatic and psychological aid to victims of domestic violence”, he said, adding that the centre helps 3,500 women yearly.

In 2007, the public association Mairam conducted a survey among 240 women in the Kulyab, Khatlon Oblast. It showed that 55% of the women suffered violence at the hands of their husbands and the husbands’ relatives.

About 20% said they face domestic violence “because of the lack of separate housing”, said Mairam Director Makhbuba Sharipova. “Many young couples have to live in the same home with their parents and other relatives”.