[CivilSoc] CivilSoc Member Comments on Tajikistan Greed and Corruption Block Humanitarian Aid

[Civil Society International]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John and Nancy Barbee" <jnbarbee@sopris.net>
To: "Center for Civil Society International" <ccsi@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2001 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: [CivilSoc] Tajikistan Greed and Corruption Block Humanitarian
Aid
I would like to comment in the situation in Tajikistan.  I have worked
directing programs there for most of the past seven years and what the PHR
bulletin says is not a bit surprising.  Indeed, the Government leadership is
not interested in helping to aid the Afghans.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the civil conflict in Tajikistan,
refugees from Afghanistan have been abused and targeted as fair game by
every armed element in Tajikistan and the Government has refused to allow
refugees entry in the last five years.  This does not mean that they have
merely been turned away, but have been actively targeted and attacked by
border elements.  The only Afghans allowed into Tajikistan lately have been
those accompanying drug transport and from which transport money goes to
cooperating officials in Tajikistan.
The biggest single problem that has allowed Government restrictive practices
to be promulgated and sustained has been the lack of coordinated response
from the international entities with interests in Tajikistan: embassies, UN,
World Bank, ADB, IMF and NGOs.  There has been no common voice (with aid
money behind it) to speak with one voice and to give aid CONDITIONED on the
improved performance of the Government on key human rights and civil society
issues.  The World Bank and IMF stoutly refuse to become involved in any
aspects of civil society building and actually contribute to the corrupt and
illegal practices.  They even tolerate violation of many of their own
monetary and fiscal conditions--making excuses that "well, they tried."
The other point is that Afghan refugees have been at the tender mercies of
the governments of their neighbors to the north for the past 10 years, and
most of them have utterly no options.  In Aug 2000 the government of
Tajikistan issued an edict that said that any and all Afghans living in
Dushanbe would be evicted and moved to a "security camp" outside of the
city.  This edict basically declared open season on all Afghans and their
families in Dushanbe.  Many had become business people with stores and
restaurants.  These were seized and harassed by any and every possible crook
and armed bully in the city.  A store front bombing of an Afghan-owned shop
on a busy square resulted in the death of as many as 15 and injury to over
50  people on the sidewalk and at the bus stop in front of the store.  The
government response was to suppress the media coverage and deny any
involvement.
This is the reality of the state of civil society in the governmental sector
in Tajikistan--utterly greedy and disdainful of their people's needs and
rights. We cannot expect that they will treat Afghans any better.
We must do our best to educate our governments and agencies to the problems
in Central Asia and make every effort to get them to work together to bring
real pressure on the completely corrupt leaders to change.  I am convinced
it can be done but will take a concerted effort over a long period of
time--we have already ignored the problem for nearly 10 years.
Sincerely,
John W. Barbee
1202 Walz Avenue
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Email: jnbarbee@sopris.net