Compensation for Hazing and a Cessation of Forced Recruitment Raids Called for in Tajikistan

A human rights group in Tajikistan has urged the government to compensate families of army conscripts killed in hazing incidents.  At least two conscripts have been killed and one left paralysed in bullying incidents this year.  In June, a Tajik Army sergeant was sentenced to nine years in jail for beating a conscript to death during a hazing incident in the northern Khujand Province.  The group also said that raids across Tajikistan to round up young men avoiding conscription have decreased in frequency but continue.  Two years of military service is mandatory for men aged 18-27 in the Central Asian nation.  Source here.

Tajikistan’s ‘all powerfull’ president, Emomali Rahmon, has also reportedly expressed a desire for the forced recruitment raids to stop, but their continuation continues to be a source of anger and frustration to many of the people of Tajikistan, even while others blame young men themselves for them, because they do not join the military voluntarily.  Read more views here.