Domestic violence remains rife

The death of 27-year-old Sanam (not her real name) from Jabarrasul district in the northern Tajik province of Sogd was initially presented as a suicide by her husband's family. However, forensic experts concluded that she was suffocated to death and then hung in the barn. The search for the suspected murderer did not last long; it was her husband. Sanam's two pre-school age children were left without care or family. Mavzuna Khakimbayeva, a psychologist with the Gulrukhsor women’s crisis centre in Khujand, capital of the Sogd province, said that during the court hearings it turned out that arguments between Sanam and her husband were quite common and that before she was murdered, her husband was reportedly looking for an excuse to get her and the children out of the house, beating her constantly. "She [Sanam] apparently did her best to save her marriage and refused to get divorced and go to her parents, enduring beatings and humiliation," Khakimbayeva explained. While her husband was convicted of murder and sentenced to 13 years in prison, the case highlights an ongoing problem as many cases of domestic violence go unreported in the Central Asian state. In another example, in the capital Dushanbe, a 20-year-old woman died in the intensive care unit of the National Clinic Hospital No 3 because her kidneys failed. One day earlier she was brutally beaten by her husband, according to her parents. "Domestic violence exists not only in Tajikistan, but in other countries in the world as well. There can be numerous reasons for that, including social, economic and legal," Guljakhon Bobosadykova, head of the local 'Women's University Graduates' NGO, said, adding that it could also be related to upbringing, with children who witnessed domestic violence during their childhood susceptible to exerting violence when they become adults. But the issue of poverty and the lack of economic empowerment of women cannot be denied. "It is the economic dependence of Tajik women, many of whom have neither [higher] education nor profession," she said. National traditions were also cited as one of the factors contributing to the problem. "In 20 years of my judicial practice, there were only a few cases when women filed complaints against their attackers if that person was their husband. Usually, they endure beatings and traumas hoping that one day the husband will come to his senses," Isrofil Bobojonov, a civil court judge in Dushanbe, noted. Many women do not dare to think about getting a divorce or any other civilised means of resolving conflicts within the family, Bobojonov agreed, pointing to the traditions and mentality of Tajik society. For the majority of women, particularly in rural areas, divorce is a socially unacceptable move associated with shame, stigma and a fear of being left without a means for survival. In an effort to tackle the problem, a number of crisis centres has been established and helplines are operating in the capital and regions as part of projects aimed at preventing domestic violence. One such institution is a shelter for victims of domestic violence at the Gulrukhsor centre in Khujand - the only one of its kind in the former Soviet republic. The shelter is run by the National Association of Businesswomen of Tajikistan and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), with support from the US government. The shelter is operating within the framework of a project on establishing and organising temporary shelter for domestic violence victims in Tajikistan, which is scheduled to run for three years. Currently, there are places for 12 women at the shelter, Dilorom Khaidarova, an assistant on gender issues at the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, said. "Victims can stay at the shelter while their divorce case is under way, or when they cannot go to their parents due to long travel distances. They can also stay at the shelter when they are going through hard times or undergoing a psychological crisis. They are taken care of by psychologists and lawyers, who counsel them on various issues," Khakimbayeva explained.