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Cattle herding, Tajikistan © Paulita Sedgwick

Somoni Statue in Dushanbe © Chidi Ugonna

Millennium Development Goals in Tajikistan

Wakhan Corridor, Tajikistan © Chidi Ugonna

Assessing progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Tajikistan is complicated by the dramatic events in the years immediately following the MDG baseline year of 1990. The disintegration of the Soviet Union prompted a collapse in the economy which was exaggerated further by a civil war between 1992 and 1997. By 1999 over 80% of the population were living below the country’s poverty line which is defined as the purchasing power of $2.15 per day; 36% fell into the category of extreme poverty, below $1 per day. By 2005 a more stable economy had reduced these figures significantly to 42.8% and 7.4% respectively.

However, the World Food Programme describes Tajikistan as a food deficit country, where 27% of the population experience degrees of food insecurity and 36% of children under 5 years suffer from chronic malnutrition. After two consecutive poor harvests, an energy and food crisis brought about exceptionally cold weather in early 2008 has led to an emergency UN appeal for $25 million. It illustrates how infrastructure and supply routes are threatened regularly by floods, landslides, and other natural disasters, compounding the struggles of an already vulnerable population.

Milk yurt, Tajikistan © Chidi Ugonna

A needs assessment conducted in 2005 by government working groups in collaboration with the United Nations provides an overview of the structural reforms and resources required if Tajikistan is to meet the MDGs by 2015. Even on optimistic economic assumptions, the projected funding gap over this period is of the order of $2 billion and donors have been encouraged to double their existing aid commitments. For example, the targets for education require the construction of hundreds of new schools alongside very substantial increases in teachers’ pay. In the meantime attendance of girls is reported to be declining putting at risk the gender MDG.

Health in Tajikistan

Ishkashim girl, Tajikistan © Chidi Ugonna

Health is another area requiring massive investment to meet the MDGs, with particular concern over child and maternal malnutrition, tuberculosis, and nascent HIV/AIDS. The Tajikistan health system is closely modelled on the Soviet system which placed great emphasis on central planning and hierarchical management. The long drawn-out civil war triggered a mass emigration of talented physicians and crippled the infrastructure of the system. The quality of medical training in the country is poor, with allegations that students can buy medical degrees without completing the full course. Government spending on health in 2005 was only 1.5% of GDP.

Russian patronage before 1991 provided a generous supply of primary health care and tertiary health care facilities but now in most cases these are dysfunctional entities lacking in qualified staff and in basic medical resources. Patients often have to pay "out of pocket" to supplement the wages (US$10 a month) of doctors and nurses in the system - a financial burden which most patients can ill afford. There is no independent ombudsman to ensure that health workers are following best practice and in many cases physicians have been known to deliberately exaggerate their diagnosis to obtain more money from oblivious patients. The Government, major donors and NGOs are embarking on Health Sector Reform to iron out inefficiencies from the system.
The Environment in Tajikistan

Aggravating desertification in Tajikistan © Paulita Sedgwick

The crisis of the cold winter of 2008 may rapidly become an ironic footnote to the more fundamental threat of climate change to the glaciers of Tajikistan. Glacier melt contributes up to 20% of the run-off to local rivers which in turn are critical to Tajikistan’s hydropower, agriculture (the major crop – cotton – is particularly dependent on irrigation), and provision of safe drinking water. The major glaciers are reported to be retreating by about 20 metres each year and the implications for integrated water management are uncertain. The MDG to provide 74% of rural Tajikistan with safe drinking water is regarded as unlikely to be achieved without very significant investment. Hopes that untapped hydropower could bring relief to rural households accustomed to electricity for about 2 hours per day may founder on the unpredictable impact of climate change.

Unfortunately, conservation of depleted water resources is already an area of concern along the international boundaries of Central Asia where competition for scarce irrigation canal water can result in ethnic conflict between groups. The sensitive ecology of freshwater does not recognise national boundaries and there is an urgent need for Central Asian countries to work together to manage the fallout from global warming.
Conflict in Tajikistan

Tajikistan, the "land of the Tajiks", came into existence as an autonomous country in 1920 when it officially joined the Soviet Republic. In 1991 after the collapse of the USSR the incumbent government was ineffectual in handling the tinderbox situation of inter-ethnic distrust, resulting in a bloody and crippling civil war in which 50,000 lives were lost. United Nations efforts alongside Russian, Afghan, and Iranian diplomatic support enabled a rapprochement in 1997 between the warring factions.

Tajikistan has to contend with the removal of landmines and cluster bombs, a deadly legacy of the civil war. Due to lack of funding the de-mining programme coordinated by the Tajikistan Mine Action Centre (TMAC) may struggle to achieve its target of clearing all mines by 2010. According to TMAC, over 300 people have been killed by landmines since 1992.

The border with Afghanistan is a major smuggling route for opium and heroin to Russia and the West, a lucrative trade that could be a source of instability for Tajikistan and which ensures that the country is not forgotten by the major powers. Repeated efforts to secure the withdrawal of Russian troops patrolling these borders were countered by fears that this would lead to a glut of drug smuggling. However, to the surprise of many, the replacement of Russian border guards with Tajik troops was completed in 2006.
Politics in Tajikistan

A peace treaty signed in 1997 decreed that Tajikistan should be a democratic secular state but permitted an overtly Islamist opposition party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRP) to play a role in parliament. The leader of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, Emomali Rahmon (formerly Rahmonov), remains the current president of Tajikistan.

Dushanbe Winter © Chidi Ugonna

Unlike many of its Central Asian neighbours, Tajikistan has enjoyed considerable security since 1997, a rare example of a country in this region in which the Islamic opposition has chosen to work harmoniously within the secular government system without becoming radicalized. Public fear of a return to the violence of the 1990s and the perception of Rahmon as the critical figure in bringing about the peace have combined to sustain the president in power. Any shortcomings in democracy or personal freedoms have not as yet created the upheavals experienced in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Rahmon has exploited this desire for stability by amending the constitution to permit two additional 7-year terms which could prolong his rule until 2020.

Parliamentary elections conducted in February 2005 followed by a presidential vote in November 2006 have duly returned massive victories for Rahmon and his party. The main opposition parties, the IRP and the Communist Party of Tajikistan, were entitled to feel aggrieved about the pre-election shenanigans which stacked the odds in favour of the president’s party in 2005. Both elections were ruled as not “free and fair” by observers from The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe who concluded that the lack of choice offered to voters in the presidential election “did not test democracy”. Rahmon did not bother to campaign nor to present his policies.

In an environment of such limited political accountability, it is inevitable that corruption will flourish and Tajikistan is rated by Transparency International as one of the worst offenders in the world. Despite the president’s protestations to the contrary, bribery is an unavoidable part of everyday life and equally ingrained at institutional level. Although civil society is striving to draw attention to injustice, new regulations in 2007 to monitor public associations dictate that every NGO must undergo re-registration, a device increasingly adopted in the region to clamp down on any exposure of government malpractice.
Culture in Tajikistan

Badakhshani Wedding, Tajikistan © Chidi Ugonna

Since the 2006 election, President Rahmon has been testing the tolerance threshold of his citizens with a series of unconventional measures. These began with the elision of his former name from its more Russian equivalent of Rahmonov, marking a directive for others to follow suit when registering births of children. Students have been ordered to be less casual in their dress, schools are to buy history books written by the president, and Soviet era statues are disappearing.

At risk of upsetting Russia and other important partners, the president appears engaged in an attempt to create a post-communism national identity in Tajikistan by anchoring Tajik origins at the time of the Samanid empire. The historic cities of Bukhara and Samarkand were important places in this empire but are currently part of Uzbekistan, an inconvenience which at one stage seemed to threaten relations between the two countries. Tajiks are gradually rediscovering their Persian heritage and entering into a mature dialogue with their Soviet past.

Ishkashim family; Eastern Tajikistan © Paulita Sedgwick

Tajik (a variant of Persian) is the official national language spoken by the majority of the population; however Russian is the main language of discourse in political and business settings. The main religions in Tajikistan are Sunni Islam (85%) and Shia Islam (5%). Apparently anxious to protect the secular principles of the state, Rahmon has introduced draft legislation to restrict the number of mosques available for worship. With many religious denominations already banned and no Islamic political parties allowed beyond the IRP, human rights observers suggest that anti-terrorist measures are too easily being adapted in Tajikistan to suppress political opposition.
Human Rights in Tajikistan

A related concern to most Tajiks is the state of the justice system. There are prisoners languishing in brutal and dispiriting conditions for crimes which they have not committed or serving sentences that are very disproportionate to the alleged crimes. Once sentencing has occurred it is very difficult to reappraise individual cases without going through "unofficial" channels. A visit from the UN Committee Against Torture in 2006 made recommendations for new legislation to make torture a crime and to prohibit the admissibility of evidence obtained under torture. The government has not responded. The International Committee of the Red Cross is not allowed to visit prisons in Tajikistan, an unusual restriction. A more positive development in human rights law in Tajikistan was the abolition of the death penalty in February 2005.

The Press used to be wholly government owned but a number of private and NGO publications are now available as well as private radio and TV stations. Prior to the elections in February 2005, the printing presses of three opposition papers were shut down for tax-evasion reasons and in the run-up to the 2006 presidential election it was the turn of five websites to be blocked. Harrassment of independent media sources has continued and laws are in place to impose prison sentences for libel in print or online.
The Economy in Tajikistan

Tourism in Murghab, Tajikistan © Kate Straub

Tajik goods find it hard to compete with Russian, Chinese, Iranian and Turkish products and, with a weak and indebted economy that relies on cotton and limited metal reserves for foreign currency, creating jobs for Tajikistan’s youthful population is a major challenge. A key livelihood strategy for many Tajik households is the remittances from relatives who have migrated and are working abroad in places like Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In 2006, these remittances may have totalled $800 million from as many as one million migrant workers.

Although 70% of the population lives in rural areas, only 7% of the country is arable land. A background of state ownership of farmland with low investment and yields prompted the government to embark on land reform intended to enable private ownership. This has not yet generated the intended enterprise or efficiency as the deep culture of interference by public officials proves hard to shift.



The OneWorld Tajikistan Guide was first published in September 2004 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Chidi Ugonna.


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