Report
on free expression in Tajikistan shows situation worsened
for media in 2004
SOURCE: National Association of Independent
Mass Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT), Press Release (7 February
2005)
"Access to information, which is also guaranteed under
Tajik law, is not protected in practice. In fact, the most
common infringement of journalists' rights is the restriction
of access to information. Violations may take the form of
direct denial of access to information or barring journalists
from events. In 75 cases, journalists were denied information
of public interest." Read
more.
The
Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan states:
Article
25: Governmental organs, social associations, and officials
are obligated to provide each person with the possibility
of receiving and becoming acquainted with documents that
affect her or his rights and interests, except in cases
anticipated by law.
Article
30: Each person is guaranteed the freedoms of speech and
the press, as well as the right to use information media.
Governmental censorship and prosecution for criticism
are forbidden. A list of information considered secrets
of the state is determined by law.
•
Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary,
secondary and tertiary schools, 2002/03: 75.9
•
GDP per capita (PPP US$) (HDI), 2003: 1,106
•
Total population (millions), 2003: 6
•
Total fertility rate (births per woman), 2000-05:
3.8
•
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births),
2003: 118
•
Net primary enrolment ratio (%), 2002/03: 94
•
HIV prevalence (% ages 15-49), 2003: <0.1
[<0.2]
•
Undernourished people (% of total population),
2000/03: 61
•
Population with sustainable access to an improved
water source (%), 2002: 58
Source:
UN Development Program, Human Development Reports
Data
The
Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Information was signed
by President Rahmonov in May 2002. The law provides for
a right of access to official documents by citizens to state
bodies. Citizens, state bodies, organizations and associations
can ask for access to information on the activities of legislative,
executive and judicial authorities and their officials.
The request must be in writing and bodies have thirty days
to respond. The requestor must pay the costs for the searching,
collection, preparation and providing of requests.
There
are exemptions for official documents which contain information
which is: secret as defined by the Law on State Secrets;
confidential including information "of a professional
business, industrial, banking, commercial and other nature"
as determined by the owners of the information; on operational
and investigations; relating to the personal life of citizens;
intradepartmental correspondence prior to a decision being
adopted; or protected by other Acts.
Denials
must include the name of the official and the reasons for
denial. Appeals are to a higher-level body in the Ministry
or organization and to the courts. Courts have the right
to access all of the official documents and can order the
release of the information if it is withheld without cause.
There are sanctions for unjustified denials, releasing incorrect
information, untimely delays, deliberate hiding of information,
and destroying information.
State
bodies are to provide access to "open information"
through publication in official bulletins, the mass media
and providing direct access to citizens, state bodies and
legal entities.
The
law also includes some privacy provisions. The collection,
storage and use of information about private life of citizens
(which includes documents that they have signed) is prohibited
unless it is allowed by law or with the consent of the person.
Citizens also have the right to know why information is
being collected, by whom and for what purpose and to access
personal information held about themselves and demand that
it is complete and accurate.
Media
organizations report that there are continuing serious problems
with access to information. A review by National Association
of Independent Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT) of media freedom
from 1999 to 2004 found that denial of access by the media
to official information was the most common form of denial
of media rights. NAMSMIT said the reasons were a low professionalism
and competence of officials, fear of officials in giving
information, a lack of adequate sanctions in the legislation,
the low professional level of journalists who do not want
to clash with officials, and mistrust of journalists by
officials. A monitoring project in 2005 found many denials
of basic information including the number of persons sick
from typhoid fever, anthrax, brucellosis and flu, statistics
of divorce cases, the number of suicides, funds spent for
events on Day of the Youth, the total amount of drugs seized
by the police, bathing deaths, and natural disasters. The
government itself admitted problems in a report to the UNECE
stating that access to environmental information was limited,
"due to the legal illiteracy of the public itself and
the exploitation of the situation by officials."
The
OECD's Anti-Corruption Network for Transition Economies
recommended in January 2004 that the Government:
Consider
creating an independent office of an Information Commissioner
to receive appeals under the Law on Access to Information,
conduct investigations, and make reports and recommendations.
Revise the Access to Information legislation, to limit
discretion on the part of the public officials in charge,
and to limit the scope of information that could be withheld.
The
Law on State Secrets was adopted in April 2003. It is largely
unchanged from the 1996 version. The law defines state secrets
as including "state protected information in the fields
of defence, economics, external affairs, state security
and protection of public order, the dissemination of which
may bring damage to the security of the [Republic of Tajikistan]."
This does not include information on natural disasters and
other emergencies, environmental conditions and health,
and unlawful actions of state bodies. It is overseen by
the Main Administration on State Secrets. The "Law
on checklist of information referred to state secret"
sets out the types of secret information. The law gives
broad discretion to officials to classify information including
related to the use of the death penalty. The Law allows
to appeal the unreasonable classification of information
by public officials to a higher level at the agency concerned
and then to a court.
The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
issued a declaration in September 2004 calling on Tajikistan
and other Central Asian countries to amend their state secrets
laws to only apply to "information whose disclosure
would significantly threaten the national security or territorial
integrity of a nation", to publish the associated state
secrets regulations, shorten time durations for classifying
information and limit liability for journalists publishing
state secrets in cases of public interest.
Tajikistan
acceded to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information
in June 2001. An Aarhus Center sponsored by the OSCE was
opened in Dushanbe in 2003. The Environmental Protection
Act gives citizens a right to obtain environmental information.
Access is through the Information Act.
[Footnotes
for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted
the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also
available in the full study, available
here.]
[Footnotes
for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted
the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also
available in the full study, available
here.]
Accountability
and Public Voice: 1.77
Civil Liberties: 2.74
Rule of Law: 2.84
Anticorruption and Transparency: 1.40
"Dominated
by deputies who follow Rakhmonov's lead, the legislature
has functioned as a pliant appendage of the executive
branch. The prime minister and his cabinet serve
at the president's behest and have shown themselves
similarly devoid of real authority or autonomy.
Despite constitutional requirements for transparency
and public access to information, the processes
of developing legislation and making political
decisions are extremely secretive and rarely open
to citizen input. However, some nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) have succeeded in influencing
draft legislation. . . .
The
trustworthiness of the information sporadically
released by the government about its funding
and expenditures (and by the same token, the
accuracy of statistics or estimates offered
in this report) is compromised by the secrecy
of its budgets, which are not subject to public
scrutiny or independent auditing. Funding priorities,
or even the rationale behind budgetary allocations,
are barely debated by the legislature, which
effectively rubber-stamps the executive's submissions.
Most of the information gathered at the state
statistical agencies is classified as secret
and impossible for the public to obtain. In
any case government agencies massage their data
to head off possible criticisms of their operations
or results."
"The
law affirms the right to free speech, and interfering
with a journalist's work is a crime; however,
journalists reported that government officials
improperly limited their access to information
or provided "friendly advice" on what
news should not be covered. Fearing reprisals
and the kind of violence committed against journalists
during the civil war, editors and reporters often
exercised self-censorship. Under the law, a person
can be imprisoned for up to 5 years for insulting
the President. The few publications that published
articles highly critical of the Government subsequently
experienced harassment or ceased publishing, particularly
before major political events."
1)
Voice and Accountability: -1.12
2) Political Instability and Violence: -1.19
3) Government Effectiveness: -1.05
4) Regulatory Burden: -1.16
5) Rule of Law: -1.18
6) Control of Corruption: -1.11
