Tajikistan is working on a draft of a new "Program to combat domestic violence for 2024-2030", which does not exclude the criminalization of domestic violence, including causing minor harm to health. This was reported to Asia-Plus by the Committee on Women and Family Affairs under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.

"One of the key points of this program is to review and clarify exactly how crimes related to domestic violence, including mild forms of violence, will be punished. We understand that minor harm to health also requires attention, and it is possible that criminalization of such cases may be included in the final version of the program," the department noted.

The action plan currently being developed for 2024-2026 for the implementation of this program includes the issue of "criminal recognition of factors directly leading to domestic violence." "According to the plan, this issue should be fully resolved by 2025," the committee added.

The ministry pointed out that in the Criminal Code of Tajikistan there are already articles punishing violent acts, including domestic violence, these are articles 109 ("Incitement to suicide"), 117 ("Torture"), 111 ("Intentional infliction of moderate harm to health") and 112 ("Intentional causing minor harm to health").

"According to the law on the prevention of domestic violence, four types of violence are distinguished: psychological, physical, economic and sexual. In this regard, a working group has been formed to monitor this issue," the ministry said.

However, it remains to be determined how the mechanism for accounting for these cases will be implemented, which of them will be classified as violence, and how they will be punished.

According to the committee, 1,569 complaints of domestic violence were registered in Tajikistan in the first six months of this year, which is 65 more cases compared to the same period last year. Of the total number of complaints, 1,291 were received from men (11 more than in 2023), and 278 from women (61 more cases).

Statistics show that the number of applications from men is higher than from women, but this figure does not reflect the true state of affairs, since Tajik women do not apply to government agencies due to their mentality and other reasons.

Meanwhile, the draft of the new Criminal Code of Tajikistan already has a separate article specifically on domestic violence. This is article 153 – "Domestic violence". This was told to Asia-Plus by gender specialist Larisa Alexandrova, who participated in one of the meetings of the working group on the development of a new criminal code.

The new Criminal Code has not been adopted yet, which means that the article is not working yet. But you can read more about what it says here.