Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

The members of the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP) and other NGOs are concerned that the Tajikistani authorities have imposed an internet shutdown in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan (GBAO), which deprives people of their right to access to information and has serious implications for the economy, trade, mobility, as well as access to health care and education.

The authorities blocked the internet on 25 November 2021 when protesters took to the streets in the regional capital of Khorog for several days. While internet connection has been reestablished to some state bodies, law enforcement agencies and banks, the general population and international organizations based in GBAO such as the Aga Khan Foundation, the World Food Programme, the University of Central Asia still have no access.

The organizations issuing this statement are concerned that the current internet shutdown violates the right to freedom of expression and information.

We call on the Tajikistani authorities to immediately reestablish internet connection in the region and ensure that the local population has access to other sources of information to complement the information broadcast on state television channels.

Read the full statement here.