A/HRC/55/47/Add.1 accomplished its objectives and was terminated in 2000. The United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peacebuilding operated from 2000 to 2007. 6. Several amendments to the Constitution of 6 November 1994, including the legalization of political parties based on religion, were approved by national referendum in September 1999. This permitted the religiously affiliated Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan to participate in elections and ultimately to be represented in the national legislature. The Islamic Renaissance Party was the only legal Islamic political party in the former Soviet Union until it was banned as “extremist” and “terrorist” in 2015 for alleged involvement in several violent incidents. An additional 56 constitutional amendments were adopted on 22 June 2003, following a referendum. 7. Emomali Rahmon came to power in 1992, during the civil war, and was re-elected for a fifth term of office in the most recent presidential elections, held in 2020. In December 2015, he was declared Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, entitled to limitless terms of office and given lifelong immunity through constitutional amendments ratified in a referendum. 8. The total population of Tajikistan is estimated at 10 million. It is reported that more than 90 per cent of the population is Muslim, of whom the majority (around 86 per cent) adheres to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam. Approximately 3 to 4 per cent of Tajik Muslims are Shia Ismaili; most of them live in Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province in the east of the country. Of the remaining 10 per cent, the largest Christian group is Russian Orthodox. There are smaller communities of evangelical Christians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lutherans and non-denominational Protestants, as well as Jews, Baha’is, Buddhists and Zoroastrians. 9. The Special Rapporteur notes that the rich culture of Tajikistan, at the crossroads of civilizations over the centuries, is visible in the diversity of its population. The authorities highlight broader geopolitical, strategic, security and economic concerns as rationales for the country’s laws and policies. Those concerns include the situation in Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban to power and the joint 1,400 km border shared with that country, relations with the Russian Federation after the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine, tensions with Kyrgyzstan and economic cooperation with China. The Special Rapporteur also notes that Tajikistan remains the poorest country in Central Asia with a high level of public sector corruption.3 III. International human rights obligations of Tajikistan 10. Since independence in 1991, Tajikistan has ratified seven core international human rights instruments.4 According to the Constitution, international legal instruments ratified by Tajikistan form an integral part of the national legal system (art. 10). In the event of a conflict, the norms contained in international legal instruments apply. 11. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Tajikistan is a party, enshrine the universal right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. In its general comment No. 22 (1993), the Human Rights Committee provided guidance on the obligations of States parties to the Covenant pursuant to article 18. 12. The fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief includes: (a) the right to have, hold or change one’s theistic, non-theistic, atheistic or non-religious beliefs (forum internum); and (b) the right, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest one’s religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching (forum externum). The two aspects of the right are interdependent; both protect people in their ability to think independently and to develop identity while shaping religious 3 4 GE.24-00093 Tajikistan is ranked at 150 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index. See https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022/index/tjk. See https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx? CountryID=171&Lang=en. 3