UN judicial expert stresses need for further legal reforms in Tajikistan

Tajikistan needs to undertake further legal reforms to ensure its peaceful development, including measures to strengthen human rights enforcement and guarrantee an independent judiciary, a United Nations judicial expert said today.

Tajikistan needs to undertake further legal reforms to ensure its peaceful development, including measures to strengthen human rights enforcement and guarantee an independent judiciary, a United Nations judicial expert said today.

“Following independence and, in particular, after the civil war, the country has undertaken a series of reforms,” Leandro Despouy, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, said in a statement concerning his visit to Tajikistan at the invitation of the Government.

Among reforms already achieved, he cited the introduction of a moratorium of the death penalty, the adoption of new civil and criminal codes and, most importantly, the ratification of all major international human rights treaties.

“In order to continue to make progress in this direction, the country needs to undertake further reforms,” he said. He called upon the international community to support such efforts “to ensure the sustainable and peaceful development of the country.”

Reforms should include, he stressed, equalizing the stature of prosecutors and defence lawyers as well as measures to fight corruption in the judiciary. He suggests that the low level of judges’ salaries may be one of the factors that undermine an independent judiciary.

In that context, he expressed hope that the Parliament will adopt civil and criminal procedural codes in compliance with international standards as a matter of priority. He also suggested the establishment of a single, independent and self-governing body in charge of all issues concerning lawyers.

While welcoming the creation of the Council of Justice, he also encouraged the Government to strengthen its independence through the inclusion of additional judges in its composition.

Finally, he said there is a need for continued human rights training and education programmes for judges, lawyers and prosecutors, and for the process of reforms to be accelerated.