Police Reform

Audit of Women and Children Safety in the “Korvon” market

Today, on December 9, the representative of the Police Reform National Team of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan has participated in a roundtable discussion of the results of "Audit of Women and children safety in the “Korvon” market."

The roundtable was held in the metropolitan business center of Dushanbe with involvement of representatives from Hukumat of Dushanbe, international organizations, “Korvon” market, state agencies and entrepreneurs.

Audit was conducted by the State Institution "Centre for self-knowledge of Dushanbe women" with the support of UN Women. This study was conducted within the framework of the UN Global Initiative "Safe and friendly cities for all".

Reference: Global Initiative, supported by UN agencies such as UN Women, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT, will support and facilitate the development of partnership between local authorities and women, youth and children's organizations on taking measures to increase the level of violence prevention, increase safety and reduce vulnerability in all forms of violence. The program will also promote comprehensive awareness on effective options of prevention and reduce the violence against women, children and youth in public places of cities. In general, eight cities of the world were selected for the project implementation: Beirut (Lebanon), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Metro Manila (Philippines), Marrakech (Morocco), Nairobi (Kenya), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), San Jose (Costa Rica) and Tegucigalpa (Honduras).

As the First Deputy Chairperson of Dushanbe city, Mr. Nasrullo Khayrulloyev, noted in the his opening speech: "during the first two years (Phase 1), the program envisages improvement of the data collection on children (particularly girls), young people and women on the violence issue, including sexual violence and harassment, raising awareness and increasing the commitments to protect the rights and opportunities, social protection and safety measures for women, children and youth among municipal and state security agencies; increase the capacity of resources and efforts dedicated to the empowerment of women and protection of children (especially girls) in high-risk groups of municipalities." That is why the Government of Dushanbe has supported conducting of safety audit at the biggest market of Dushanbe "Korvon."

Gender expert Margarita Khegai, who has presented the results of the audit, and was introduced as a Doctor of Economy, told that the research methodology was developed "just a few days ago, therefore, some results of the audit should be further investigated.

Thus she said that "the majority of the respondents-entrepreneurs either answered they did not face the phenomena of physical, mental and sexual violence in the bazaar or preferred not to answer to these questions." Such "result" has raised questions amongst the roundtable participants, who wanted to get at least some statistics, however they were explained that due to the tight schedule of the audit, statistics cannot be submitted yet.

Such an outcome of the study as insurance issues in the market also raises questions. Stating the results in words that entrepreneurs now "have not a choice, as there is not an insurance system at all," nevertheless the expert reiterated that market - a commercial organization and "all risks of the goods’ loss shall be imposed on entrepreneurs."

It seems that in a civilized market conditions and entrance of Tajikistan to the WTO, introduction of goods insurance system should be an objective of the state. Indeed, a need for insurance multiply increases in a market economy and becomes necessary in all economic sectors, including the retail trade.