VZCZCXRO1271
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1329/01 3310617
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270617Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0940
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2039

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001329 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/RA AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV SMIG TI
SUBJECT: CULTURE CLASH AT ROUNDTABLE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 
 
DUSHANBE 00001329  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: At a UN-sponsored roundtable to discuss the 
endemic problem of violence against women in Tajikistan, 
representatives of NGOs and the international community 
forcefully argued for passage of a comprehensive, national law 
against domestic violence.  An American Bar Association (ABA) 
attorney, working under a DRL project, presented recommendations 
to strengthen a draft law that has languished for three years. 
Government officials dug in their heels, said they needed more 
time to study a draft, and argued that financial and cultural 
factors should be studied in greater detail.  Despite a walk-out 
staged by President Rahmon's representative, the roundtable 
passed a resolution to recommend passage of a family law "to 
fight against all forms of discrimination against women and 
girls."  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
STOPPING GENDER VIOLENCE: "WE CAN'T DO EVERYTHING IN ONE DAY" 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) On November 24, the International Day for the Elimination 
of Violence Against Women, Amnesty International released a 
report documenting widespread psychological, physical, and 
sexual abuse of women in Tajikistan.  That same day, the United 
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) held a roundtable in 
Dushanbe to discuss measures to prevent violence against women 
and assess a long-delayed draft law on domestic violence.  The 
acting representative of the UN High Commission on Human Rights 
delivered an overview of the UN Special Rapporteur's May 2008 
report on violence against women, which estimates that between 
one-third and one-half of women suffer violence at the hands of 
their husbands or in-laws.  The report documents cases of 
battered women resorting to suicide, including self-immolation 
and discusses the Rapporteur's visits to women imprisoned for 
killing their abusive husbands.  The Rapporteur recommended 
passage of a comprehensive law on domestic violence and violence 
against women, as there is no such law in the Tajik legal code. 
A draft Law was completed in 2006, but it has not been 
introduced to Parliament for debate and passage. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Asked to respond on behalf of the government, Yusuf 
Salimov, Head of the Department on Constitutional Guarantees of 
its Citizens, mumbled through an extended laundry list of Tajik 
achievements in women's rights, including ratification of the UN 
Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 
President Rahmon's law "On Guarantees of Equality Between Men 
and Women," and the appointment of ten women as Tajik diplomats. 
 When the roundtable moderator noted that Salimov had failed to 
answer any of the questions raised by the Rapporteur's report, a 
representative of the Presidential Apparatus, Naurus Samadov, 
intervened.  He said the government had not yet completed its 
official response to the 2008 UN report, but insisted that they 
were working on it.  "We have a lot of information that 
contradicts the Rapporteur's report.  You can't ask us to do 
everything in one day!  We are trying to do what we can, when we 
can.  We are working thoroughly." 
 
 
 
GOVERNMENT CRITIQUE OF LAW: CULTURAL MORE THAN FINANCIAL 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) When Poloff asked Samadov what was delaying passage of 
the law, Samadov replied, "There are big financing problems 
being considered" in establishing additional crisis centers for 
battered women in cities and district centers as mandated in the 
draft.  He called for further study of the draft, as well as the 
general problem of domestic violence, declaring, "Our society is 
very traditional.  We can't force the people to make changes 
overnight.  And regarding the Rapporteur's remarks about women 
who are in jail for murdering their husbands, we cannot simply 
release these women.  Society will not accept it." 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) American Bar Association (ABA) attorney Joshua 
Friedman, working under a DRL-funded rule of law program, 
briefed the group on the ABA's proposed revisions to the draft 
law.  Proposals include providing funding and registration 
details for both Crisis Centers and Centers for Medical-Social 
Rehabilitation of Victims of Family Violence; and specifying 
that officers have the authority to remove an offender from the 
 
DUSHANBE 00001329  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
family household and to require the offender to stay away from 
the victim.  Friedman said the draft law should recognize, even 
if only implicitly by using the term "domestic violence," that 
the vast majority of violence within family and romantic 
relationships is perpetrated by men against women. 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) While UNIFEM and NGOs in attendance praised the ABA's 
proposals, representatives of the working group preparing the 
draft law argued that their work should proceed slowly in a 
"passive, Muslim society."  One member of the working group 
argued that the law should not be formulated to specifically 
benefit women, asking, "Why should women be granted special 
rights?  Why should there be shelters only for women?  Men are 
also beaten."  He went on to suggest that the ABA's 
recommendations would lead to men getting kicked out of their 
homes.  At times, criticism by government officials verged on 
the bizarre.  After a legal expert delivered a presentation on 
the effective implementation of family law in Austria, a female 
Tajik MP countered, "Why would we take an example from Austria, 
when they lock their children in the basement to sexually abuse 
them?"  (She was evidently referring to the 2008 Fritzl case.) 
She later added that government hydro-electric projects are a 
much higher priority than funding new shelters as part of the 
draft law. 
 
 
 
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WALKS OUT AS PRO-FAMILY LAW MOTION PASSES 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) At the close of the roundtable, organizers tabled a 
non-binding resolution to "agree to develop and adopt at the 
national level a law to fight against all forms of 
discrimination against women and girls."  During discussion of 
the resolution, in which NGO representatives forcefully argued 
for the need to pass a domestic violence law, Presidential 
apparatus representative Samadov walked out of the room in a 
huff.  Yusuf Salimov remained behind with his hands on the table 
as the symbolic motion was passed by the majority. 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Tajikistan UNIFEM Director Nargis Azizova told Poloff 
that despite the walk-out, the roundtable was a success as it 
put the government on notice that the international community 
and local NGOs are following the family law issue and will 
continue to advocate for the law's passage.  She said the main 
obstacle to passage of the law is not the government's inability 
to finance its provisions, but the opposition of a select number 
of high-ranking officials with traditional views.  She called 
for more active engagement, especially from NGOs, to lobby for 
the law's passage. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: Based on the Neanderthal remarks of government 
representatives, it is clear that the biggest challenge to 
Tajikistan's draft domestic violence law is opposition by old 
school government officials.  Embassy sources report that the 
Minister of Justice has been the biggest opponent to the bill 
and has prevented its submission to the Parliament for debate. 
It is encouraging, however, that local NGOs have begun to 
advocate for movement on the law.  The November 24 report by 
Amnesty International should give them additional ammunition as 
they lobby against entrenched views.  The government will need 
to be reminded that it should take concrete action by adopting 
the long-awaited domestic violence law, rather than touting 
toothless presidential decrees of gender equality.  END COMMENT 
QUAST