last updated December 4, 2003

Introduction
Grinding poverty and a destructive civil war have contributed to deplorable living conditions in Tajikistan. The country’s ethnic minority communities bear the additional burdens of political and economic marginalization, while Tajik women, including a large population of war widows, face pervasive gender discrimination.

History and current situation of minority groups
Approximately one quarter of Tajikistan’s population is ethnic Uzbek, with significant concentrations of Uzbeks in northern Tajikistan. Ethnic Russians are another important minority group. Under Soviet rule, the Russian population enjoyed a privileged position, which it lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of the country’s ethno-regional minorities fled abroad during the country’s civil war in 1992 - 1993. Though most returned after the signing of a 1997 peace accord, minorities as a percentage of the country’s population are currently declining due to emigration.

Tajikistan’s ethnic minorities suffer under the country’s generally poor living conditions. An estimated 80 percent of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. Living standards are particularly low in rural areas, where women traditionally do not work outside the home. Discrimination against women is prevalent, with conditions being of particular concern in rural areas. Conditions worsened as a result of a brutal civil war waged by regional, ethnic and ideological factions from May 1992 to January 1993. At the peak of the conflict, as much as 1% of the population (50,000) was killed and another 10% (500,000) became refugees and forced migrants. War-related deaths of as many as 25,000 male heads of household left a large number of widows in the country. The war also provoked massive emigration of all ethnic groups.

Tajikistan’s ethnic minority communities are experiencing additional hardships, due to their minority status. Ethnic Uzbeks face societal discrimination in Tajikistan, as well as some formal restrictions. There is strong anti-Uzbek sentiment in Tajikistan, much of it condoned by the government. A string of murders of ethnic Uzbeks, and the disappearance of an ethnic Uzbek mayor in 1999, remain unsolved. Despite the country’s large ethnic Uzbek population, Uzbek-language television and radio broadcasts are not widely available, although Uzbek-language elementary education is available. Ethnic Uzbeks have little political power: They are sorely underrepresented in political bodies, and President Rahmonov’s government has actively sought to keep ethnic Uzbek leaders out of political life. Economic grievances of ethnic Uzbeks center on the need for increased economic opportunities and development assistance.

The Tajik authorities’ crackdown on the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a non-violent movement which advocates the establishment of an Islamic state in Central Asia, has fallen largely on ethnic Uzbeks, who constitute a substantial part of the movement’s following. Authorities have characterized Hizb-ut-Tahrir as a major national security threat, although there is no convincing evidence that its members have used violent methods. In 2000, at least 200 suspected supporters of Hizb­ut­Tahrir faced criminal proceedings in Tajikistan, on charges ranging from anti­constitutional activity to fuelling religious strife and calling for the overthrow of the existing state system. Most Hizb-ut-Tahrir activists who have been imprisoned are under the age of 30 and of Uzbek nationality. Amnesty International has expressed concern at reports of arbitrary detentions, denials of representation, unfair trials, long prison sentences, and intimidation of detainees and relatives seeking to exercise their rights.

An estimated 380,000 ethnic Russians emigrated from Tajikistan during and following the civil war, and emigration continues steadily. Institutional changes favoring the rights of the ethnic Tajiks, along with the country’s economic woes, have prompted the emigration of most ethnic Russians, many of whom were the country’s leading technical experts. The small number of ethnic Russians remaining in Tajikistan are politically marginalized. They also complain that Russian families remaining in formerly all-Russian apartment buildings are being harassed and driven out of their homes by Tajiks who have occupied apartments vacated by emigrating Russians.

The Tajik government has tried to encourage ethnic Russians, an important source of skilled labor, to remain in the country. However, these efforts have been largely unsuccessful as the country’s poor economic conditions continue to fuel ethnic Russian emigration.

Compiled from:

US Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Background Notes: Tajikistan, April 2003.

Minorities at Risk, Minority Group Assessments: Russians in Tajikistan, last update October 2002.

Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2003: Tajikistan, 2003.

Minorities at Risk, Minority Group Assessments: Uzbeks in Tajikistan, last updated October 2002.  

International Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2003 (Events of 2002): Tajikistan, citing Human Rights Watch World Report 2003 and Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Vladimir Davlatov, “Tajikistan: Islamic Radicals Lying Low,” Reporting Central Asia, No. 119, 10 May 2002.

Amnesty International, Central Asia, 11 October 2001.