Project report: “Homes without violence!”

Grantee:  Association of Public Assessors, Tajikistan 
Project: “Homes without violence!”: training for paralegals and publication of articles and information booklets on judicial proceedings and prevention of domestic violence.  

The Association of Public Assessors of the Republic of Tajikistan implemented the project “Homes without violence”, with the support of The BEARR Trust’s Small Grant Scheme from July to December 2020. 

Photo by Habiba Hamidova

During the first month, the project group developed handout modules on the following training topics: 

  1.  “Domestic violence: types, forms, consequences” (with a particular emphasis on women’s rights) 
  2. “Protecting the rights of victims of violence in court.” 

Handouts in the form of an information booklet and a poster were developed, printed and prepared. 

Most of the training sessions discussed issues relating to the mechanism for implementing the provisions of the law of the Republic of Tajikistan, “On the Prevention of Domestic Violence”, and the pros and cons of this law. The issue of suicide rates in the region was also discussed in detail, since the Sughd region continues to rank first in terms of the number of suicides committed, in particular among girls and women.  

Photo by Habiba Hamidova

The participants also discussed what measures should be taken to prevent early marriage. Women without higher education (and sometimes secondary education) often become victims of domestic violence. This affects their worldview, the attitudes of other family members towards them, and means that sometimes they see no way to solve the difficulties they currently face, apart from suicide.  

During the training, the participants studied the provisions of the law, “On the Prevention of Domestic Violence”- in particular, the aspects aimed at preventing domestic violence. These include the competence of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan to prevent domestic violence, and that of local government bodies, state bodies for women and family affairs, commissions for the protection of the rights of the child, internal affairs bodies, education authorities, health authorities, bodies in the sphere of social protection of the population, and self-government bodies of settlements and villages, public initiative, enterprises, institutions and other organisations. The law also covers support centres and centres or departments for the medical and social rehabilitation of victims. 

Additionally, participants were taught about responsibility for the use of domestic violence, including explaining the provisions described in the “Protective Order”, and what happens in case of failure to comply with “Administrative Detention”. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Tajikistan, takes precedence over national provisions and in the case of any conflict between them, the provisions of the Convention apply. 

“Mechanisms for protecting the rights of victims of violence (national, regional and international)” were also considered during the training. All the issues discussed during the training sessions were very topical and were vigorously discussed by the participants. 

Photo by Habiba Hamidova

As a result of the training sessions, the participants developed recommendations and proposals which, in their opinion, can contribute to the future prevention of domestic violence. Additionally, within the framework of the project, three articles were published: 

  1. An article on the topic, “Exacerbation of domestic violence during a pandemic: causes and effects”, was posted on the website www.ombudsman.tj on May 27, 2020. This article was written by Nurullo Abduvahobovich Khamidov, a resident expert of the Association of Public Assessors of the Republic of Tajikistan. 
  2. An article on the topic, “Role and responsibility of family members in preventing domestic violence”, which was published in “Bulletin of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Tajikistan No. 3 (35) 2020, page 3. 
  3. Article on the topic, “Mechanisms for protecting victims of domestic violence”, which was published in the newspaper Sogdiyskaya Pravda № 99 (16913) on 5 December 2020, also by Nurullo Abduvahobovich Khamidov. 

Contact:
Habiba Hamidova – Executive director  
Association “Public assessors of the Republic of Tajikistan” 
Email: apart.tj@gmail.com 
Facebook: fb.me/publicassessors 
Websites: http://notorturetj.org/en/page/association-public-assessors-republic-tajikistan; https://hlp.tj/associaciya-narodnyh-zasedateley/

Get involved

Share This