Dilrabo Samadova shortlisted for Martin Ennals Award

Dilrabo Samadova, a prominent human rights lawyer and advocate for the rights of marginalised groups from Tajikistan, has been shortlisted for the 2024 Martin Ennals Award (MEA). This award recognises the work of human rights defenders in either high-risk or under-reported contexts, with a specific focus on those individuals who work with or inspire youth to defend democratic freedoms and the rule of law. With over a decade of experience, Dilrabo has become a leader for youth activism and a successful advocate for those most affected by human rights violations in Tajikistan, such as women and LGBT+ individuals, as Dilrabo’s MEA profile reads. While operating in one of the most hostile environments for human rights defenders, in a country where societal and legal structures often hinder progress in these matters.

Having witnessed the 1992-1997 civil war in her country, Samadova developed a need to do justice and protect fundamental civil rights. After finishing law school in 2005, Dilrabo co-founded the ‘Young Lawyers Association Amparo’, an organisation that fought to protect the rights of young people, working on issues such as forced labour, arbitrary detention, and torture in the Tajik army. Major wins included the adoption of legislation to end child’s and student’s forced labour in the cotton industry and successful campaigns exposing widespread torture and ill-treatment of soldiers in the military. This success did not go unnoticed and in 2012, Amparo was forcibly closed down following a motion by the Ministry of Justice citing several ‘technical violations’ of Amparo’s operating license, seemingly in retaliation for their work.

Not much later, in 2013, Dilrabo founded the ‘Office for Civil Freedoms’, a human rights organisation promoting civil and political rights. She has a unique and refreshing approach to this. Her organisation does not only work within the legal frameworks, it also engages in cultural activities and spaces, particularly involving the younger generation. For example, it has been instrumental in providing legal education and resources to young girls, to raise awareness of their rights under both national and international law.

As a human rights defender in Tajikistan, she and her colleagues face a lot of pressure and are at constant risk of persecution. Similar to other Central Asian countries, there are no mechanisms or laws to protect the work of human rights defenders, making the risks inherent to the work they do.  To increase visibility and impact, Dilrabo regularly engages with international organisations in the region, thereby also highlighting the unsafe situation of lawyers and other human rights defenders in Tajikistan. Lawyers for Lawyers is proud to have nominated Dilrabo Samadova for the MEA and hopes to see her important work get the recognition it deserves, and the attention it needs.