How does Tajikistan respect children’s rights?

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all people under the age of 18 are considered children and have the rights described in the Convention. Tajikistan ratified this document 28 years ago – in 1993.

Every child has the right to life. Governments must do all they can to ensure that children survive and develop to their full potential (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child).

Experts from the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) believe that it is necessary to provide an adequate system of water supply, sanitation and hygiene in maternity hospitals and maternity wards of medical institutions. Lack of basic conditions, essential drugs, equipment, vaccines, and an unfriendly attitude towards the child in maternity hospitals are among the main causes of neonatal (within the first month of life) and infant death.

According to the World Bank, the neonatal mortality rate in Tajikistan in 2019 was 15 per 1000 children – the highest rate in Central Asia, excluding Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

The mortality rate of children under 5 years old in Tajikistan in 2019 also was one of the highest in the region – 33.8 deaths per 1000 live births. In neighboring countries, the situation was much better – Uzbekistan (17.4), Kyrgyzstan (18.3) and Kazakhstan (10.5). Turkmenistan (42 deaths) and Afghanistan (60.3) again were outsiders.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Tajikistan is optimistic about the child death situation. At a press conference on February 12, 2021, Minister of Health Jamoliddin Abdullozoda said that the infant mortality rate (within 1 year of life) in 2020 was 13.4 deaths per 1,000 liverbirth, and among children under 5 years old the rate was 16.5 per 1,000 children.

Children have the right to healthy food for their full development. The government must help families and children who cannot afford to exercise this right. (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child).

The second important problem for children in Tajikistan after child mortality is child nutrition. Chronic nutritional deficiencies lead to anemia, iodine deficiency and stunted growth. In 2020, the situation has worsened further due to the pandemic and the decline in migrant remittances, which is the main source of income for many Tajik families.

According to a 2017 demographic survey, 18% of Tajik children under the age of 5 had stunted growth, more than 8% were underweight, and 6% were starving. Children under 2 years of age especially suffer from emaciation and underweight, and frequent and varied meals are available only for 40% of children aged 6 to 2 years. The highest prevalence of stunting (24%) is in the Districts of Republican Subordination  – 13 regions, which are mainly located on the east from Dushanbe.

Another reason is the lack of access to a basic safe and reliable drinking water supply, especially among the rural population. According to USAID data from February 2021, more than 40% of the population of Tajikistan does not have access to clean drinking water, which is the cause of 16% of deaths among children under 5 years of age.

Every child has the right to an education. Primary education should be free. Secondary and higher education should be available to every child. In addition to helping children develop their personality, talents and abilities, education should help them live peacefully in society, know their rights and protect the environment (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child).

Most of the problems in the field of education in Tajikistan are associated with the complicacy of the early, preschool development of the child. More than 84% of children aged 3 to 6 in Tajikistan do not receive preschool education. This is over 726 thousand children, most of them live in rural and remote areas.

According to UNICEF, this problem is caused by insufficient allocation of public resources, constant demographic growth, dependence on external funding, and lack of funds from parents. Employees of the preschool education system, due to lack of funding from the state, are forced to collect money from their parents. More than 70% of teachers working in preschool institutions have not been trained to teach children under 6 years old and therefore do not have sufficient competence.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Tajikistan, state budget income decreased and spending on the social and health sectors increased, which ultimately led to the budget deficit. It was decided to cover this deficit by attracting external credits.

The repayment of external loans is a huge risk for achieving one of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2025 – the coverage of up to 30% of children with preschool education. To pay off the external debt, insufficient state allocations for the preschool education system can be further reduced. In 2019-2020 it amounted to about 300 million somoni (~ 26.3 million US dollars), which is ~0.3% of Tajikistan’s GDP.

All children are equal to the rights they have been given. Every child should be treated without discriminated, whatever their religion, beliefs, appearance, gender, whether they have a disability, whether they are rich or poor, or what their parents or their families do. No child should be treated unfairly (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child).

In the realities of Tajikistan, we see that it is more difficult for girls to get a higher education, and often even a secondary one. They are forced to marry early and live in the custody of a spouse. Girls’ desire to get education and work is not taken into account, because as a potential breadwinner in a family is a priori considered only a boy.

This trend is especially typical for rural areas, where access to any education is very difficult and the education of children is an unaffordable expense for parents.

See also: Tajik Girls’ Dilemma: Marriage or Education?

Children with mental and physical disabilities are also discriminated against by society. In Tajikistan, there are laws that recognize the rights of children with disabilities to access education, housing, vocational training, medical care and leisure activities on an equal basis with able-bodied people, but they are not implemented in practice.

Tajikistan lacks a widespread system that promotes positive attitudes towards people with disabilities, that allows them to receive inclusive education or rehabilitation services. Even parents try to hide the fact that someone in their family is disabled – they fear a negative reaction from society. This kind of attitude reduces chances of children with special needs to participate in social life.

Parents have the right to place their child at preschool age in a specialized institution, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on the social protection of disabled people, where the government will take care of child.

See also: Tajikistan: Early Engagements Warp Girls’ Lives

However, Lola Nasriddinova, doctor, ADOS consultant, director and founder of the IRODA public organization, believes that children with disabilities do not receive the proper approach in specialized institutions.

“The problem is that employees of special schools and boarding schools do not always take advanced training courses, international internships, and do not apply modern approaches in education, which have long been used in public organizations around the world,” says Nasriddinova.

Another problem is the approach to teaching people with different functioning disorders.

“It turns out that children and adults with severe communication disabilities who have behavioral problems receive drug treatment rather than educational and therapeutic services, because they need training, additional staff and volunteers,” the doctor said.

According to her, the third problem is related to the education of children.

“For example, for a person with a severe form of autism, education is learning how to go to the store, learn simple skills of independent living, get professional hand-on experience, etc.,” Nasriddinova said.

See also: Rights of Children in Tajikistan: Ample Room for Improvement

Many children with disabilities receive no education at all. This is due to the inaccessibility of buildings (there are simply no ramps for wheelchair users), unprepared teachers, negative attitudes and the lack of adapted teaching materials. For example, a deaf child needs a gestural language teacher, while a blind child needs textbooks written using Braille alphabet.

Educational institutions in Tajikistan do not have such resources. Without education, even if we do not take into account the fact that there are a lack of job offers, it is more difficult for children with disabilities to find a job. Therefore, they are more limited in their livelihood than their able-bodied peers.