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1 1 (January 12, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekgd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con res&on I Research Serv!c Iiifo~ in~j t Iej Ia ~ve d 'e 1914 Updated January 12, 2023 Tajikistan Overview Tajikistan is a landlocked Central Asian country that borders four other states, including China and Afghanistan, and maintains close ties with Russia. Formerly a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan became independent in 1991. The country's long border with Afghanistan and the specter of spreading regional instability draw interest in Tajikistan from China, Russia, and the United States, as well as some Members of Congress. Because Tajikistan depends heavily on remittances, primarily from Russia, the COVID-19 pandemic and repercussions from Russia's war in Ukraine are causing significant economic strain. Tajikistan is becoming increasingly dependent on China, which is Tajikistan's largest foreign creditor. Tajikistan has faced violent attacks attributed to the Islamic State (IS), but the government also uses the prospect of insurgent activity as a pretext for stifling opposition. President Emomali Rahmon and his family control the government and significant sectors of the economy, and corruption is pervasive. Politicai Background Government: Tajikistan is a presidential republic with power heavily concentrated in the executive. The president serves as both head of state and head of government; the role and influence of the legislature is limited. President Rahmon has been in power since 1992. He was exempted from term limits in a 2016 constitutional referendum that also granted him and his family immunity from prosecution. Tajikistan under Rahmon has been termed a nepotistic kleptocracy, as a small group of families close to the president dominate the political and economic spheres. All six parties in parliament support Rahmon. As speaker of the parliament's upper chamber, the president's son, Rustam Emomali, is first in the line of presidential succession. No elections in Tajikistan have been deemed free and fair by observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Stifled Opposition: Shortly after Tajikistan became independent in 1991, the country fell into a five-year civil war (1992-1997) that claimed over 50,000 lives and displaced more than half a million people. The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which fought with anti-government forces, was legalized following the 1997 peace deal and adopted an agenda of democratization. It went on to become Tajikistan's second-largest party. In 2015, the government outlawed the IRPT and labelled it a terrorist organization in what the U.S. State Department characterized as steps to eliminate political opposition. Some of the party's leaders have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, while others have fled the country. The March 2020 parliamentary elections, the first since the IRPT was banned, included candidates from one opposition party, but it failed to secure any seats. International analysts questioned the integrity of the electoral results. Figure 1. Map of Tajikistan Source: Graphic created by CRS. Human Rights: According to the U.S. State Department, significant human rights issues in Tajikistan include politically motivated reprisals against its citizens living in foreign countries, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, and a non-independent judiciary, as well as significant restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, religious freedom, and political participation. Since 2021, Tajikistan's government has been engaging in what some analysts term an unprecedented crackdown on local leaders and activists in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), a remote, mountainous region whose inhabitants are primarily Pamiris, an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically distinct group. The United States and other governments have expressed concern about the human rights situation in GBAO, as have nongovernmental organizations including Human Rights Watch. Tajikistan severely curtails media freedom. Reporters Without Borders ranked Tajikistan 152 out of 180 countries in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index. Members of Congress have expressed concerns about government pressure on independent media outlets, particularly the congressionally-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Tajikistan has faced criticism, including from some in Congress, for engaging in transnational repression of government critics, including targeting dissidents through International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) wanted persons notices. In response to such actions by Tajikistan and other countries, the 117th Congress introduced the Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention Act to counter politically-motivated abuse of INTERPOL; the bill did not emerge from committee.

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