President Emomali Rahmon was elected to a fourth consecutive term in November in an election that was widely seen as neither free nor fair. In recent years, Rahmon has presided over the deterioration of the status of Tajikistan's ethnic and religious minorities. Ethnic Uzbeks, who at about 15 per cent of the population make up Tajikistan's largest minority, are politically marginalized and occupy only 2 of 63 seats in parliament. While they consider themselves native to these areas, Tajikistan's Uzbeks are regularly referred to as members of the 'Uzbek diaspora'. One political commentator expressed the opinion in late 2013 that Uzbeks were 'deprived of access ... to political resources' because authorities considered them 'a potential fifth column'.

A 2013 report by the League of Women Lawyers of Tajikistan found that the 2009 law 'on the state language' – ruling that all citizens must know Tajik and that state employees who do not speak Tajik can face fines – may have reduced ethnic minority members' access to justice. The report notes that the law's wording allows room for citizens who seek public legal aid to be fined for not knowing Tajik. The report found that, in practice, many courts still accepted citizens' appeals in Russian, while Kyrgyz-language documents were accepted in Kyrgyz-majority areas such as Jirgital. However, Uzbek-language documents were accepted less frequently. While the law can be overruled by the Constitution's provisions for language equality, the report points out that the authorities have not made this clear to the country's judges – let alone to private citizens. As a result, members of ethnic minorities may have to mount time-consuming efforts to exercise their constitutional rights when seeking legal aid. This state of affairs compromises access to legal aid for Uzbek women in particular, who are less likely to speak Tajik or Russian than their male counterparts.

Government measures against unregistered religious groups, such as the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir, sometimes contain anti-Uzbek overtones. This may be a reflection of widespread prejudice at an official level.

Outspoken critics of Tajikistan's government experience regular harassment by state organs, according to numerous domestic and international human rights groups. Those who criticize the government's policies towards ethnic minorities are no exception. Salim Shamsiddinov, head of the Uzbek minority society in Khatlon, disappeared in March 2013 after he appealed to the Uzbek minority to support an opposition candidate in the then-upcoming presidential election. In July, authorities claimed that a drowned body they had recovered was Shamsiddinov's, and that it bore no signs of violence. His family has since denied that the body is his.

Online hate speech against members of ethnic and religious minorities is widespread. Ostensibly in response to this problem, a working group headed by the presidential administration produced an online code of ethics in October 2013, aimed at cutting down on 'uncivilized' internet speech. The code obligates internet users to 'respect human rights and freedoms, national law, and international legal norms in virtual space', and warns that 'discrimination along national, linguistic, racial, cultural and gender lines is prohibited'. However, the code also notes that online speech must 'respect the norms of the state language and national values', raising questions as to the sincerity of its anti-discrimination clause. The code is not yet legally binding, meaning its provisions cannot in theory be enforced. Observers suggest the code is at best a knee-jerk response to isolated online criticism of the government, and at worst part of a longer-term plan to limit freedom of speech on the internet.

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