Since the outbreak of civil war in 1992 and subsequent economic collapse, the government of Tajikistan has faced the challenge of combating a robust and growing illegal narcotics trade. The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention reports that during 1997about 4,500 kilograms of raw opium, heroin, and hashish were seized in Tajikistan alone. But testimony taken in Tajikistan at several different customs points reveals that suspicion of drug smuggling has become a catch-all excuse for government officials to extort money and violate civil rights, including freedom from arbitrary searches and cruel and degrading treatment.

In typical testimony, Khanifa Burieva, a citizen of Tajikistan who often visits relatives in Uzbekistan, reports that she is always searched at the border. In December 1999, she stated: "I was on my way to a wedding with my two-year-old daughter. At customs they searched me and my things… The guard ordered me to take everything out of my pockets and then searched my whole body, including my vagina…When we got to the Uzbek customs they began searching me very thoroughly. They even made my daughter undress… When the guard searched down to my sexual organs she asked why I had padding there, and I told her I was menstruating. She forced me to untie the padding, threatening (sic) that I was hiding narcotics there, and I was forced to do what she said. It was with this humiliation that I crossed the border."

At least one westerner living in Dushanbe reports that she is routinely searched at border crossings and that on at least one occasions a customs official searched her sexual organs, although there was no cause for suspicion of any illegal activity.

Men are also routinely required to strip naked and submit to physical examinations. Perhaps even more often than women, they are forced to pay a bribe or face being detained or having their passport confiscated. One victim, Khomid Irodai, claimed the following about his regular trips between Dushanbe and Khojand in an article in Sadoi Mardum (The Voice of the People) of January 26: "First, they check through our things and our clothes at the train station and ask rudely, ‘Where are you hiding the narcotics?’… Last time… in mid-January, they found 50 grams of heroine on someone in our car, so they held the train for four hours. They took all the passengers in that car, including me, out to the station building, separated the men and the women into different rooms and made us all strip naked… It’s appropriate that they arrested the guy who had the heroin on him, but why for the sake of one do they humiliate and insult everyone?"

The answer is simple: humiliation and intimidation, felt keenly during strip searches and examination of sexual organs, make the victim feel powerless and more willing to pay a bribe simply to be released. A local human rights defender who has researched the issue comments that "the reaction of those who undergo [these searches] the reaction is always negative."

"They feel humiliated and offended during the searches," The researcher said. "Although they all endure it -- since there’s no point in arguing with the customs officials or soldiers, who are carrying automatic weapons and hand guns, and they fear them -- after the searches they are all upset and curse the government, the president."

Victims report that officials from the Customs Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan, which is the only agency, authorized to conduct inspections and searches, as well as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are the primary abusers. A 1992 law on the Customs service was superceded by the 1996 Customs Code as the legal basis for these inspections and searches. In the absence of supporting legislation, however, there are no instructions on how the Code should be implemented. Customs officials, who generally are trained in legal and taxation matters, receive no formal training on the determination of probable cause, or in conducting searches. As a result, their authority is vaguely defined and professional skills are limited or nonexistent. Because of widespread graft and apathy, judicial remedies are currently unrealistic.

Local officials confirm that the searches net some small-time traders and "mules," but that larger drug shipments routinely cross virtually untouched via mountain passes where the government posts few or no customs officials. Regardless of the need, the effort to combat the narcotics trade in Tajikistan cannot justify human rights abuse.

End Note: Part two of the series will examine the response of the government, and of the international community, to human rights abuses in connection with border searches.

Editor’s Note: This report was compiled with information provided by local sources, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals by Tajik authorities.

Editor’s Note: Erika Dailey is an editorial consultant to the Central Eurasia Project, covering human rights-related issues in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. Between 1992 and 1998, Ms. Dailey worked as a researcher and human rights advocate for Human Rights Watch, based in New York and Moscow, covering principally the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation. Since 1998, Dailey has worked as a human rights advocate for Human Rights Watch, the International League for Human Rights, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. She has a BA in Slavic Studies from Princeton (1986) and an MA in Central Asian Studies from Columbia (1991). She has lived in and traveled to the Caucasus and Central Asia regularly since 1987

Email this article
Posted February 18, 2000 ©Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org

	The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, politcal and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.