Defending Women's Rights in Tajikistan
Gulbahor Rajabova knows what it means to fight for her land. She became the chairwoman of the Nurobod dehkan farm in northern Tajikistan when a state-owned farm was reorganized in 2007. As part of the reorganization process, the farm allocated equal land shares to its 50 members, and the newly constituted farm was left responsible for some $40,000 USD in debt left over from the former state-owned farm.
One of the farm’s members, a well-connected businessman, used improper means to persuade local authorities to reassign half of the Nurobod farm’s land to him. This unlawful redistribution allowed him to start his own farm with the more arable land in the Nurobod farm. The remaining half of the land was largely undesirable land, and without access to irrigation. The other members of the Nurobod farm – mostly women, including Gulbahor – found themselves kicked off the most desirable land and left holding the bill for the entire $40,000 of the inherited debt.
To reclaim the land, Gulbahor submitted numerous requests to local authorities to see the documentation the businessman used to gain control of the land. After repeated denials and administrative hurdles, Gulbahor eventually obtained the documents, and it became clear they were fraudulent. The businessman had failed to list the correct number and names of people in his newly created farm. Despite this evidence, the authorities took no action.
