A New Moment for Defamation Law Reform in Northern Ireland?
Two weeks ago, on 14 May 2021, the UK Government gave its consent to a Private Member’s Bill introducing defamation law reform in Northern Ireland, welcoming it as a step…
Articles, Briefings and Essays
The views expressed in the articles are those of each respective author and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of the Foreign Policy Centre.
British media speak out about legal threats from the super-rich, while UK commitments to tackle financial crime and corruption appear to disappear
Last week, three British media outlets – the Financial Times, openDemocracy and The Observer - published articles regarding the impact of legal threats against journalists. The importance of media speaking…
Stuck between underinvestment, government authoritarianism and corruption: The healthcare system in Tajikistan and the risks for the population
As the COVID-19 virus spread in Eurasia in early 2020, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and his government chose to deny the crisis for more than four months, then acknowledged on…
Tajik civil society during and after the pandemic: Main challenges and development prospects
In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 and the economic crisis have brought a whole range of new phenomena and events into society, the significance and consequences of which we have yet…
Loss of harmony: The rise of a new Tajikistan and the fall of old aspirations for the better
In the past ten years, almost every Central Asian republic has been demonstrating its sovereignty and independence through redevelopment of the architectural image of its capital city and the creation…
“In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – The challenges facing free media in Tajikistan
The authorities in Tajikistan have taken George Orwell’s words to the letter, as they have increasingly come to regard media outlets and independent journalists who ask probing questions, attempt to…
Academic freedom in Tajikistan: From suppression of scholars to incorporation into Rahmon’s regime
On March 3rd 2021, presidential aide, Abdujabbor Rahmonzoda, called on intellectuals to wage an ‘information war’ on the opposition.[1] A month earlier, the Government of Tajikistan had issued a directive…
Ill-treatment and torture: Something about which women choose to remain silent
Over the past decade, the Coalition of Civil Society against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan has documented numerous cases indicating that women and girls in Tajikistan are regularly victims of…
Low women’s political participation in Tajikistan: Will the anti-discrimination law be a solution?
Setting the scene: gender (in)equality in Tajikistan Among Central Asian countries, Tajikistan rates lowest in internationally comparable indices of gender equality. With the score of 0.626 in the Global Gender…
Human rights of people living with HIV in Tajikistan
HIV is a disease that affects various spheres of people's life, including healthcare, legal, labour and other aspects. Tajikistan, being a rule of law based secular and social state, adopted…