Tajikistan’s authorities systematically discriminate against the Pamiri minority, and grossly violate their rights, through suppression of cultural and religious institutions, political exclusion and violent repression, according to a new report by Amnesty International released on Wednesday.

The Pamiris are a separate ethnic group that lives in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, mostly practicing the Shia Ismaili branch of Islam and differing from Tajiks in language and culture. The government of Tajikistan has persecuted the minority, the report finds, violating their economic, social and cultural rights. Violations include the suppression of the cultural heritage of the Pamiris, such as the prohibitions on the use of Pamiri languages, the exclusion of members of the group from political positions, and the destruction of local businesses.

It is further indicated that security forces from other regions of Tajikistan are present in Gorno-Badakhshan, treating Pamiris with hostility, making arbitrary arrests and suppressing opposition actions under the guise of combating terrorism and organized crime.

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “The international community must urgently raise concerns about the human rights violations faced by Pamiris with the Tajikistani authorities.”

For most of their history, Pamiris have been isolated due to the geographical remoteness of the Pamir Mountains in which they lived. The region faced instability in the late years of the 20th century with the emergence of a separatist movement that gained control of the territory, and subsequent military operations.

Tensions began to rise again in 2021-2022, after the killing of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, a prominent Pamiri figure. In response to protests in Khorugh, caused by resonating events, security forces used firearms against peaceful demonstrators, killing two people. Instead of conducting the promised investigation, the authorities launched a crackdown on informal leaders, civil society and ordinary Pamiris. In May 2022, the authorities violently dispersed peaceful protests, killing many people, including informal leader Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov. A crackdown on civil society followed, arresting more than 200 human rights defenders and influential figures who were later sentenced in December 2023 to lengthy prison terms on the charges against them, which only came to light six months later.

The human rights situation in Tajikistan has not only been unstable but deteriorated for the last 20 years as stated by the Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting (CABAR) in the report of 2000-2021. Corruption level has increased significantly as well as the number of government interventions in the work of journalists, arrests have become more frequent and the situation with women’s rights has not improved, despite attempts by the authorities to improve their status in social and political life. The absence of explicit actions by the state to improve the situation of local minorities remains among other major issues as of today.