While repression affects the entire country, the state’s targeting of the Pamiri minority in the GBAO is exceptionally harsh and discriminatory. Unlike the nationwide suppression of dissent, which focuses primarily on political opponents and independent voices, the crackdown in the GBAO involves deliberate cultural, ethnic and religious persecution.

Pamiris are banned from speaking their language in public and practising their Ismaili Shia faith, even during home prayer meetings. Their cultural institutions have been dismantled, and they are largely excluded from state employment. Security forces treat the region as a militarised zone, deploying non-local units and conducting operations under the guise of counterterrorism. This starkly contrasts with the standard police tactics used elsewhere in Tajikistan. The response in the GBAO has involved mass killings, internet blackouts and road closures.

The 2022 operation clearly demonstrated this disparity. While critics in other parts of the country are imprisoned and harassed, Pamiris are subjected to collective punishment and extrajudicial killings. Several Pamiri activists and journalists, including human rights defender and journalist Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, have received especially harsh sentences. Pamiri communities abroad have also experienced harassment.

Tajik civil society continues to find ways to operate. Within the country, civil society organisations (CSOs) monitor human rights violations, provide legal aid to detainees and offer support to families of imprisoned activists, often at enormous personal risk. Activists face surveillance, arbitrary arrests and torture, and trials are frequently held in secret and without basic procedural safeguards.

Public protest is virtually impossible, but CSOs continue to issue statements and appeal to international bodies, demanding accountability and justice for victims, particularly in the GBAO. Groups such as the International Commission of Human Rights Protection persist in their advocacy despite harassment, forced closures and prosecutions.

Exiled activists and diaspora groups also play crucial roles. Organisations such as Group 24 and the National Alliance of Tajikistan organise protests abroad, engage with international bodies and collaborate with foreign media to highlight abuses. Exiled journalists document repression and expose cases of transnational repression, such as forced returns and threats to activists’ families in Tajikistan, a common practice recently denounced by protesters in Berlin.

While Tajikistan technically maintains domestic mechanisms to address abuses such as torture and arbitrary detention, these are essentially non-functional in practice, which leads to widespread impunity.

Courts lack independence and judges operate under pressure from political authorities, rendering fair trials impossible. Security forces continue to operate with impunity, with no credible investigations into extrajudicial killings, torture or other abuses linked to protest crackdowns. Convictions are often based on coerced confessions or fabricated evidence, while acquittals are practically unheard of. Government-led reforms, such as recent updates to prison legislation, have been superficial and carried out without transparency or civil society involvement.

International accountability mechanisms have also proven largely ineffective. The European Union has repeatedly urgedindependent investigations into the 2022 GBAO crackdown and called for the release of political prisoners, but these calls have been ignored. Similarly, while Tajikistan accepted key recommendations during its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council, including those related to fair trials and the protection of lawyers, it has failed to implement any meaningful changes.

Faced with this climate of impunity, a coalition of exiled activists led by Freedom for Eurasia has recently submitted a case to the ICC, presenting extensive evidence of state-sponsored violence and persecution, particularly against the Pamiri community. The submission draws on witness testimonies and documentation by human rights organisations and media outlets, describing patterns of killings, torture, arbitrary detention and the targeting of an ethnic group, which may constitute crimes against humanity under international law.

Although international bodies have long expressed concern over human rights in Tajikistan, this has produced virtually no results. Diplomatic engagement and human rights dialogues have failed to bring about meaningful reforms or ensure accountability. The Tajik government has repeatedly ignored recommendations and continues to silence critics at home and abroad.

This means the international community must fundamentally change its approach and escalate pressure. This should include targeted sanctions on officials responsible for abuses, support for international investigations and stronger engagement with countries willing to prioritise human rights. States should urge the ICC to launch a formal investigation into atrocities committed in Tajikistan, and international donors should make financial and technical cooperation strictly conditional on tangible improvements in civic space and the rule of law.