A/HRC/55/51/Add.2 architecture involves. To put it starkly, the Special Rapporteur observed little understanding, other than in Dushanbe, that State officials had any international human rights obligations. Even when officials with whom the Special Rapporteur met in the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province were confronted with claims of torture, extrajudicial killings and other grave human rights violations committed mainly against members of the Pamiri and Ismaili minorities and with the lack of any independent investigations into those atrocities, the responses all followed the same line. The reality on the ground in Tajikistan appears to be one of denial and refusal to consider any international human right obligations, particularly if doing so interferes with any perceived threat to national unity and the established order or with religious “extremism”. 18. Government officials asserted on more than one occasion to the Special Rapporteur that there was a need to help a country such as Tajikistan, with its limited resources and growing human rights commitments, especially as it transitioned towards a rights-oriented society based on the rule of law. The Special Rapporteur concurs that, while the current regime has widely been described as authoritarian by outside observers and that the practice on the ground is currently largely disconnected from any understanding of what its international human rights obligations entail, there is a younger and more globally oriented generation of officials and future political leaders that need to be supported as Tajikistan begins to turn towards the international community and become more engaged with it. The Special Rapporteur is of the view that the Government of Tajikistan, despite its failure to live up to its human rights commitments, should receive greater support in the light of the many challenges it faces and its willingness to engage with the global human rights architecture. B. 1. National framework Constitutional framework 19. The Constitution of Tajikistan of 1994 contains several human rights provisions with specific relevance for minorities, such as freedom of religion, including the freedom not to have any religion (art. 26) and the right to equality (art. 17). However, the latter does not actually guarantee that individuals have the right to demand to be treated without discrimination in general but only more narrowly as, under the Constitution, the State guarantees the rights and freedoms of every person regardless of nationality, race, sex, language, religious beliefs, political persuasion, social status, knowledge and property. Furthermore, under article 14, State authorities can limit any of those rights, among others, to safeguard the constitutional structure and the territorial integrity of the country. Such limitations are not permissible under international human rights standards. 20. Of significance for linguistic minorities is article 2, which, in addition to designating Tajik as the State language, adds that Russian is a language of communication between nationalities and that all nationalities and peoples are entitled to use their mother tongue freely. 21. Nevertheless, the actual substantive recognition of human rights in the Constitution is far from sufficient, particularly when it comes to the effective protection of minorities. The Constitution, in fact, prohibits the establishment of religious political parties, a provision that might have been of significance for putting forth and protecting the rights of religious minorities. There is also no specific constitutional provision for the recognition and protection of the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities beyond vague references to the free use of the languages of nationalities, freedom of religion and the prohibition of discrimination. That is problematic in practice, especially for linguistic minorities, whose languages are decreasingly used in the public sphere, such as in education. It is also problematic for religious or belief minorities, who are facing significant restrictions on the practices of their faith, and ethnic minorities, such as the Mugat, also known as the Jughi or Roma, who face long-standing prejudices and obstacles to equal access to basic public services. GE.24-00946 5