A/HRC/45/13/Add.1
within 10 days of an individual being moved to a penitentiary or of any other transfer.
Reportedly, even that provision is not always upheld.
29.
The Working Group’s visits to a number of places of deprivation of liberty
demonstrated that registration systems in those facilities are run manually and are otherwise
outdated. The Working Group also learned that and there is no national system of detention
registration. The Government of Tajikistan should introduce legislative and regulatory
measures to address that systemic problem. The introduction of a centralized and digitalized
system and improvements to current practices locally in all facilities will ensure the
traceability of any person deprived of their liberty and therefore contribute to the prevention
of enforced disappearances of persons detained in pretrial facilities and in the penitentiary
system.
30.
The Working Group regrets to conclude that there has been a complete lack of effort
to embark on developing legislation and supporting institutions to address the painful
consequences of the civil war. Such institutions and legislation should be in place to secure
the rights of both society and the families of forcibly disappeared persons to know the truth
about what happened; the right of families to have the remains of their loved ones found,
identified and returned to them; their right to reparation, including compensation, restitution,
rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition; and the right to memory, as
well as the right to access to justice. The Working Group believes that in order to come to
terms with the painful legacy of the civil war, Tajikistan could benefit from the experience
of other post-conflict States that have successfully employed mechanisms developed within
the concept of transitional justice. Tajikistan could also benefit from a visit from the Special
Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
V. Assessment of the situation
A.
Enforced disappearances as the legacy of civil war
1.
Truth and justice
31.
While official figures are not publicly available, it is estimated that thousands of
individuals may still be unaccounted for from the armed conflict. During the Working
Group’s visit, officials were reluctant to discuss the issue of enforced disappearances from
that period, or the civil war generally. Some officials noted that individuals might have
been abducted and killed by the “other side”, and several specifically referred to killings at
a farm in the Vahdat district in 1992, where the remains of individuals were exhumed by
the authorities. References were also made to a special investigative brigade that
investigated some cases of enforced disappearance during the conflict and to the fact that,
following the conflict, individuals could apply to the Ministry of the Interior for assistance
in searching for their relatives. The Working Group was also informed that the Ministry of
Defence has lists of soldiers who have not been accounted for and those who were killed
during that period, and that the Ministry of the Interior has similar lists of civilians.
However, despite multiple requests, none of the lists or any details of their contents were
provided to the Working Group.
32.
Despite the lack of official information, there are credible reports from the conflict
period regarding patterns of disappearances, particularly in the early stages of the civil war,
including disappearances that took place with the involvement or acquiescence of the
authorities. There are also credible reports of the existence of “informal prisons” or
clandestine detention centres, of which the authorities were aware, including one allegedly
located in the village of Varzob.
33.
The Working Group also received reports of the existence of a number of unopened
mass graves, including five mass graves containing 2,600 bodies discovered in Shakhrinau
near Dushanbe in 1998.3 Very little information is available on those graves and there are
no indications that they have been properly investigated or preserved or that any
exhumations have been carried out.
3
8
See www.icmp.int/the-missing/where-are-the-missing/tajikistan/.
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