OSCE Centre to hold conference on domestic violence in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, 24 November 2005 - Ways of combating domestic violence will be the focus of a conference that opens tomorrow in the Tajik capital.

Organized by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, the two-day event will bring together over 150 participants representing governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), independent experts and the media.

Participants are expected to lobby for the adoption of the draft law on social and legal protection of victims of domestic violence, drafted in 2003 by NGOs and independent experts, as well discuss ways to provide psychological help to victims of domestic violence, including through special educational and training programmes for psychologists and lawyers.

The conference is also expected to support legislative amendments to the Tajik Family, Civil, and Land Codes, which would help improve and guarantee women's property rights.

"Women's economic dependence is the root of domestic violence," said Ambassador Alain Couanon, Head of the OSCE Centre.

"In July, the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe opened the first-ever shelter for women-victims of domestic violence in Tajikistan. In addition, between 2004 and 2005, it opened 10 resource centres for women, which offer legal and psychological help, and training on gender equality and the prevention of domestic violence."

The conference was funded by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Act Central Asia.

It has been co-organized by the Tajik Government's Committee on Women and Family Issues, the Tajik Association of Psychologists, the Tajik Association of Young Lawyers, the NGO Gender Equality and the Prevention of Violence against Women, and other associations.