Oinihol Bobonasarova

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Ojnihol Bobonasarowa 2014

Oinihol Bobonasarowa ( Tajik Ойниҳол Бобоназарова ; Russian Ойнихол Бобоназарова Oinichol Bobonasarowa ; alternative transliterations include Oinikhol , Oynihol and Ojnihol or Bobonazarova * 10. June 1948 in Jowon , Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic ) is a Tajik lawyer , former high school teacher and political activist for human and women's rights . In 2014 she was honored with the International Women of Courage Award by the United States Department of State for her courageous and outstanding commitment .

Live and act

Education and employment

Bobonasarowa was born in 1948 in the city of Jowon in the province of Chatlon in southwest Tajikistan. She completed her law studies at the Tajik National University in Dushanbe in 1971 and, after completing her postgraduate studies at the Tajik Academy of Sciences, obtained the scientific degree of Candidate Science ( Russian Кандидат наук ) in 1976 . From 1976 to 1992 she was a professor at the Tajik National University. During this period, she was dean of the law faculty there from 1989 to 1992 . She then worked as a lawyer.

Political and social engagement

In 1989/1990 Bobonasarova was one of the founders of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) ( Tajik Ҳизби демократии Тоҷикистон ), the country's first democratic opposition party. In 1993 she was suspended from her post at the National University on the grounds that she had planned a coup , arrested and convicted of treason . She was the first political prisoner in Tajikistan after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan. After a few months in prison, she was pardoned in 1994 by President Emomalij Rahmon . After this experience, she began to deal increasingly with human rights issues in her home country.

From 1996 to 2004 Bobonazarova worked as a human rights advisor for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Tajikistan. She also worked from 1996 to 2007 for the Tajik branch of the Open Society Foundations of the US billionaire and philanthropist George Soros . Since 2013 she has been head of the human rights group Perspektiva Plus , which works in Tajikistan for the rights and improvement of the situation of prisoners, women and Tajik migrant workers in Russia and Kazakhstan . She is a member of the non-governmental organization Coalition Against Torture in Tajikistan , an association of more than twenty organizations, foundations, initiatives and individuals. She fought tirelessly for the abolition of torture in Tajik prisons and played a key role in establishing the first independent surveillance program for prisons in Tajikistan since they were no longer accessible to outsiders in 2004 and were therefore no longer under any control.

Presidential candidacy

In the run-up to the 2013 presidential elections in Tajikistan , the two major opposition parties, the Islamic Party of the Rebirth of Tajikistan (IRP) and the Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT), surprisingly agreed on the non-party Bobonasarova as a common opponent of President Emomaly Rahmon , who has been in power continuously since 1992 was. The decision was made on September 9, 2013 at a meeting of the Union of Reformist Forces , an electoral coalition formed in July that included the recently founded New Tajikistan Party , Group 24 , the National Movement of Tajikistan and the Vatandor Movement . The then 65-year-old was seen as having good opportunities because it was hoped that, as a well-known “veteran of the NGO scene” and as an “apolitical person”, she would also be able to convince people who would otherwise have voted for other parties. In addition, Bobonasarova, who ran as the only opposition candidate in the otherwise hardly competitive field of candidates, managed to unite the opposition in Tajikistan and for the time being to prevent the widespread practice of electoral boycott through her candidacy in favor of active political participation by the opposition.

Bobonazarova was the first and so far only woman who tried to run for president. She was hindered in several ways in collecting the required 210,000 signatures from supporters of her candidacy. Ultimately, her election campaign failed because she only received 201,236 signatures in the short time available up to the cut-off date and was unable to register as a candidate because of the missing 8,764 signatures. The IRP accused the state and regional authorities of deliberately obstructing the opposition politician's candidacy and as a consequence announced that it would not take part in the presidential election. This finally ended with a clear victory for the incumbent Rahmon in the first ballot.

International Women of Courage Award

Honor 2014 with Michelle Obama

In 2014, Bobonazarova was one of ten women from around the world to be honored with the International Women of Courage Award (IWOC) by the US State Department for their outstanding and exemplary commitment in the field of human and women's rights . The award ceremony took place on March 4, 2014 as part of a solemn ceremony at the US State Department in Washington , at which the First Lady Michelle Obama gave a speech and congratulated the honorees. Bobonazarova was honored with the following words:

" Since the Tajik Civil War ended in 1997, Oinikhol Bobonazarova has worked tirelessly to draw attention to women's rights, torture and detention centers, and the plight of Tajik migrant laborers. In September 2013, Ms. Bobonazarova became the first-ever female candidate for president of Tajikistan when the only Islamic political party in central Asia nominated her as its standard bearer. Despite an unsuccessful bid, her nomination shattered one of the highest of glass ceilings and set an important precedent for women in politics. In the time since, she has continued to speak out against torture and has been instrumental in working to establish the first independent prison-monitoring program since prisons were closed to outside access in 2004. For fearlessly advocating the rights of women and labor migrants and fighting to end torture in Tajik detention centers, we name Oinikhol Bobonazarova a Woman of Courage. "

Bobonasarova was the first Tajik woman to receive this award. When asked in an interview three years later how this honor had changed her work, she replied that she saw the award as a great responsibility, that it stimulated her work and had a positive effect on the women's movement in Tajikistan.

honors and awards

  • 2013: Best Human Rights Defender of the Year ( Russian Лучший правозащитник года )
  • 2014: International Women of Courage Award

Web links

  • Rustam Majidov: Bobonazarova Woman of Courage on YouTube , March 14, 2020, accessed on May 14, 2020 (Bobonazarova with Michelle Obama at the presentation of the International Women of Courage Award).
  • NoTorture Tj: Oynihol Bobonazarova on YouTube , June 26, 2014, accessed on May 14, 2020 (Interview of a group of journalists with Bobonazarova during a photo exhibition entitled "No to Torture!", Initiated by the NGO coalition against torture in Tajikistan on June 26, 2014 in Dushanbe).
  • Interview with Bobonasarova on April 17, 2015 on the subject of "Unnecessary legislation in Tajikistan"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kamoludin Abdullaev: Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan . Rowman & Littlefield , 2018, ISBN 978-1-5381-0252-7 , pp. 77 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Bios of 2014 Award Winners. State.gov, October 18, 2014, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b Tajik Opposition Taps Candidate to Run Against Strongman President. In: sputniknews.com. Sputnik International, September 10, 2013, accessed on May 14, 2020 .
  4. ^ The Civil Society Coalition against Torture in Tajikistan - Coalition of civil society of the Republic of Tajikistan against torture and impunity. In: notorturetj.org. December 16, 2019, accessed on May 14, 2020 .
  5. ^ Tajik leader set to win another term . In: BBC News . November 6, 2013 ( bbc.com [accessed May 31, 2020]).
  6. ↑ a b Galim Faskhutdinov: Surprise Candidate for Tajik opposition. In: iwpr.net. Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), September 19, 2013, accessed May 14, 2020 (Russian).
  7. ↑ Thomas: No surprise: Oynihol Bobonazarova is not allowed to play against Rahmon. In: tethys.caoss.org. Thethys: Central Asia Everyday, October 11, 2013, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  8. ^ Tajikistan holds presidential election. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  9. ↑ IFES Election Guide | Elections: Tajikistan Pres Nov 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2020 .
  10. ^ Remarks at the International Women of Courage Awards. In: 2009-2017.state.gov. January 20, 2009, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  11. ↑ IWOC Alumna Promotes Human Rights and Fights Prison Torture. In: alumni.state.gov. United States Department of State, March 28, 2017, accessed May 14, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Ойнихол Бобоназарова удостоена звания «Лучший правозащитник года». In: bhr.tj. June 8, 2013, accessed May 14, 2020 (Russian).
personal data
SURNAME Bobonasarowa, Oinihol
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Бобоназарова, Ойниҳол (Tajik); Бобоназарова, Ойнихол (Russian); Bobonasarowa, Oinichol; Babanazarova, Oinikhol
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tajik lawyer, university professor and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Jowon , Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic