Anyone with Courage Can Become a Human Rights Defender Even in Authoritarian Countries, Tajikistan’s Bobonazarova Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 29 – Many Central Asians think that only lawyers can become human rights defenders, Oynikhol Bobonazarova says; and some of them do. But because the state licenses them and can end their careers, a large number of them don’t. The situation is similar in many other professions.

            “Not everyone is capable of making the sacrifices” that human rights work requires, the 77-year-old Tajik woman who has been decorated internationally for her work in Tajikistan says; but everyone needs to remember that “anyone can become a human rights advocate.” It isn’t a path that is limited to only those in a few professions (asiaplus.news/2026/08/29/ne-kazhdyj-sposoben-vyderzhat-takuyu-zhertvu-ojnihol-bobonazarova-o-pravozashhitnikah/).

            The closure of more than 2,000 independent organizations in Tajikistan in recent years has certainly reduced the number of those speaking out on human rights issues, often because of state intervention and the decision of the government not to provide them with grants, she continues.

            But that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t achieve a great deal in helping Tajiks to overcome their fears of what will happen if they dissent and at the same time, albeit more slowly, to convince the Tajikistan government that actions in defense of human rights helps the state correct problems before they grow into threats.

            Among the successes she and those working with her have achieved in recent years are ensuring that migrant workers pay alimony to ex-wives left behind in their homeland, reducing torture in the military, and securing the ability of rights activists to visit prisons and publicize problems there.

            One of her greatest worries now is that attacks on the media in the United States and other Western countries, places that had been models for human rights activists in Central Asia, are being exploited by officials to impose even tighter controls over their populations without regard to anyone’s opinion.

            According to Bobonazarova, “until the developed nations of the world restore their former positions and authority in this sphere, it will be extremely difficult to change the situation.”