DUSHANBE, December 15, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan’s upper chamber (Majlisi Milli) today seconded the law requiring amendments to the country’s family code.

The law, in particular, stipulates that guardianship for children whose parents do not live with them more than three months is given to their close relatives.  If these children do not have relatives, the state takes responsibility for upbringing of them.

This law was adopted by the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) in early November.

Adoption of such a law indicates that the problem of neglected children, which has become more acute in the country in connection with the civil war (1992-1997) and labor migrations, evokes serious concern of the Tajik authorities.

Experts consider that the Tajik authorities have been forced to make amendments to the Family Code because of increase in the number of crimes committed by minors.

The human rights organizations note that more than 30 percent of Tajik children do not attend school.

According to the data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, more than 176,000 working children have been registered in Tajikistan; more than a half of them are children of labor migrants.