A/HRC/55/51/Add.2 V. Legal and institutional framework A. International framework 13. The Special Rapporteur congratulates the Government of Tajikistan for its very high level of engagement in recent years with the United Nations human rights mechanisms, its ratification of a large number of treaties, its reporting to human rights treaty bodies and the universal periodic review process and its active engagement with the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. Tajikistan should be commended for its efforts and the progress that it has made while facing unique geopolitical, economic and social challenges. In particular, it recently accepted, in quick succession, country visits by the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders, on freedom of religion or belief and on minority issues in 2022 and 2023. 14. In terms of its commitment to the international human rights instruments, Tajikistan has an overall positive record, being a party to almost all the core human rights treaties. The country most recently, in 2014, ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Nevertheless, the country still has not ratified either the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The former, in particular, would be significant for the users of sign languages as members of a linguistic minority. Its ratification would be an important step towards eliminating the specific barriers that they face in the implementation of a non-discriminatory approach to the use of their language and access to public services, where possible and appropriate, in a sign language. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities sets out important provisions concerning human rights in that area that could assist both government officials and members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities to better understand and implement their human rights in that regard. 15. While the Government of Tajikistan has engaged significantly with various international human rights mechanisms in recent years, it has not always responded to communications from special procedure mandate holders, who have often raised grave allegations of breaches of human rights generally and those of minorities in particular. For example, it has responded to only 3 such communications out of 11 in the past three years. 16. Furthermore, the reality on the ground paints a picture that is far removed from the commitments entered into at the international level. The observations of the other special rapporteurs conducting country visits in 2022 and 2023 point to practices inconsistent with the international obligations of Tajikistan. The request of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to visit the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province was not accommodated by the Government and she concluded that the situation of human rights defenders was deteriorating. She noted that lawyers, journalists and others were being targeted for their human rights work and that they had been confronted with a range of difficulties ranging from onerous administrative burdens to harassment, threats, criminalization, closed unfair trials and imprisonment. She added that a climate of corruption, the fear of persecution and a stranglehold on human rights defenders working on difficult issues had forced some to leave the country.2 Similarly, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who was able to visit the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province but not to meet any State official or civil society representative there, noted that the scope for the exercise of freedom of religion or belief fell alarmingly short of the guarantees of international human rights law, to which Tajikistan was bound.3 17. There appears to be a significant disconnect between the desire of the Government of Tajikistan to be more positively perceived by the international community and its understanding of what its newfound desire to engage with the global human rights 2 3 4 OHCHR, “Tajikistan: human rights defenders face increasing threats in climate of fear, says UN expert”, 9 December 2022. OHCHR, “UN expert urges Tajikistan to leave past behind and uphold freedom of religion and belief”, 20 April 2023. GE.24-00946