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Countries & Regions


Tajikistan

Tajikistan has a population estimated at 7 million (UN, 2009) with an area of 143,100 sq km (55,251 sq miles). The capital is Dushanbe. The major languages are Tajik, Uzbek and Russian. Tajiks are the country's largest ethnic group, with Uzbeks making up a quarter of the population, over half of which is employed in agriculture and just one-fifth in industry. Nearly half of Tajikistan's population is under 14 years of age.

Tajikistan is a former Soviet republic and is Central Asia's poorest nation. Tajikistan experienced civil war following independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The five-year civil war between the Moscow-backed government and the Islamist-led opposition, in which up to 50,000 people were killed and over one-tenth of the population fled the country, ended in 1997 with a United Nations-brokered peace agreement.

  • Tajikistan ratified The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on October 26, 1993
  • Tajikistan does not have a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325)
  • Tajikistan had a UN peacekeeping mandate: United Nations Observer Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) from December 1994 to May 2000

Sources:BBC; Amnesty International; UNIFEM

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  • April 10, 2013 (UNWomen)
    In Tajikistan, Rural Women Gain Business Skills and Independence Through Self-Help Groups “I earn money and it makes me happy,” says Anjira Ashurova, a 46-year-old woman who lives in the small village of Shahraki Somoniyon in Sughd Province, northern Tajikistan. “I spend it on my basic needs and those of my children. I feel strong. I learned new skills and am practicing them in my daily life. I enjoy my work and the most important thing is that I enjoy working as a team. We support each other.”
  • September 19, 2012 (UN Women )
    TAJIKISTAN: Partners in Law: Legal Help Leads to Brighter Futures for Tajikistan's Rural Women For Maksad Nodirova , legal aid has meant more than a financial foothold in rural Tajikistan. It has helped her forge a path through trauma, disempowerment and loss – and emerge both a breadwinner and businesswoman.
  • July 23, 2012 (Institute for War and Peace Reporting)
    TAJIKISTAN: Tajik Women Hit Glass Ceiling Despite legislation designed to secure gender equality, women rarely make it beyond deputy positions in the Tajik government, and instead remain stuck in the lower ranks or hit a glass ceiling after reaching middle management.
  • June 26, 2012 (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
    TAJIKISTAN: Postwar Tajik Fatwa Helped Women Start New Lives It was the onset of winter, still in the early stages of a bloody civil war, and Aziza Saidova couldn't imagine things getting any worse. "It was like my world was falling apart," Saidova recalls of those dark days in 1992, seven months into a Tajik civil war that would end up lasting five years. "My town was devastated by war, my husband had been shot dead, and at the age of 26 I was a widow with a 2-month-old baby." By war's end Saidova's situation was hardly unique for women, with more than 25,000 widowed in Tajikistan's southern and eastern regions, and the spouses of thousands more missing.
  • January 4, 2011 (Telia Sonera)
    TAJIKISTAN: Mobile Communication Helps Empower Women in Tajikistan In 2009, Tcell launched a special tariff plan for women in Tajikistan, to empower and enable women to stay better connected with family and friends, improve their safety, and help them obtain paid work.

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  • The Impact of Crisis on Women in Central Asia , Nurgul Djanaeva, Forum of Women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan (AWID), 2009 | Download PDF

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Sources

BBC Countries Profiles

Amnesty International

United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

 

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