A/HRC/55/51/Add.2 education in other languages may be provided. Subsequent initiatives have focused on developing the use of the Tajik State language and its study by minorities, with little attention paid to minority languages in public service or education. 27. Legislation and policies affecting minorities and civil society generally are extensive and are, unfortunately, problematic with regard to international human rights. A sextet of legislation (the Law on regulating traditions, celebrations and rituals, the Law on public associations, the Law on freedom of conscience and religious associations, the Law on parental responsibility, the Law on countering extremism of 2020 and the Law on combating terrorism of 2021) have resulted in all civil society and minority organizations and activities being highly regulated and, especially in the case of religious minorities, severely restricted or even completely banned. Many communications have been sent by special procedure mandate holders to the Government of Tajikistan in relation to the latter two laws,5 which, in combination with anti-terrorism provisions in the Criminal Code, 6 result in a definition of terrorism that has been deemed overly broad and may have a negative and disproportionate impact on particular groups, on due process, on the right to liberty and security of person, which may lead to enforced or involuntary disappearances, and on the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association, particularly in relation to the Pamiri minority.7 28. The above legislation and other legislation also result in severe restrictions on human rights defenders and civil society organizations involved in human rights work. It is sometimes overlooked but needs to be emphasized that those working on behalf of or raising concerns involving minorities are specifically targeted and have been, in recent years, more at risk of being restricted, subjected to surveillance, closed down or, in the case of some activists, even arrested, imprisoned and subjected to brutal treatment, especially during and after the violent events in the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province, starting in 2021, affecting the Pamiri minority. All but one of the six communications from special procedure mandate holders in 2022 and 2023 at the time of the writing of the present report involved minority human rights defenders, activists or journalists, the most recent involving allegations of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the criminalization of human rights defenders Daler Bobiev, Avazmad Ghurbatov, Zavqibek Sohibov, Abdusattor Kotibov, Abdulmajid Rizoev, Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva, Manuchekhr Kholiknazarov, Faromuz Irgashovand Khushruz Djumaev, most of whom are members of the Pamiri minority or covered events in the Kŭhistoni Badakhshon Autonomous Province.8 29. For religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities, the amendments of 2018 to the Law on regulating traditions, celebrations and rituals imposed rules that may severely limit their human rights, such as freedom of expression and freedom of religion, or their right to enjoy their own cultures, use their own languages or practise their own religion among themselves under article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, since the law sets out new rules for conducting a variety of events and festivities, including weddings, funerals and anniversaries, ostensibly to prevent excessive spending, with breaches constituting misdemeanours punishable by heavy fines. Most of those events must be conducted in the Tajik State language, however, thus excluding minority languages, and must demonstrate respect for the national dress and traditional Islamic attire, which again seems to preclude other cultural or religious traditions. 30. As for the implementation of the international human rights obligations that Tajikistan has accepted, the Special Rapporteur notes that, when he inquired about the status of international treaty law, which in theory supersedes national law, officials at the Constitutional Court were unable to identify even a single instance of a judgment in which international provisions had been recognized over national ones. 5 6 7 8 GE.24-00946 See, for example, communications TJK 1/2022, TJK 2/2022, TJK 3/2022 and TJK 5/2022. All communications mentioned in the present report are available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments. Terrorist crimes are offences envisaged in articles 179–182, 185, 187, 310 and 402 of the Criminal Code. See communication TJK 5/2022. See communication TJK 1/2023. 7