Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March, Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, as well as on a number of Russian nationals in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. In response, on Aug. 6 Putin imposed year-long food bans on the United States, European Union member states, Australia, Canada and Norway. Russia has also banned the transit of agricultural goods from Belarus and Kazakhstan following its embargo on EU food imports.
From the $43 billion of agricultural products Russia purchased abroad in 2013, $25 billion are now banned. According to Russian statistics, imports accounted for about 40 percent of household spending on food.
For the older Russian consumers this echoes memories of empty Soviet supermarkets, while the ban will likely spur inflation, currently hovering at about 7 percent this year.
Tag: Women
Russia’s Meltdown Will Shake The World, From Tajikistan To Tokyo – BuzzFeed News
The meltdown of Russia’s currency, brought on by falling oil prices, collapsing confidence in the central government, and international financial sanctions, is now manifesting itself as a panic. It’s “the most incredible currency collapse I think I have ever seen in the 17 years in the market, and 26 years covering Russia,” wrote Timothy Ash, Standard Bank’s head of emerging market research, in a note this morning. “No one expected the ruble to hit 60 this year against the dollar, let alone 70 or 80 even. And no one is positioned for this. This will impart huge short term damage to Russia.”
And the reverberations will be felt beyond the country’s borders, globally, but most acutely by its neighbors, where the oil-fueled Russian boom of the last decade has rained cash upon exporters and economic migrants alike.
Consider Tajikistan. Remittances — cash sent home from citizens working abroad — make up 42% of the Central Asian republic’s GDP, according to World Bank data, with almost 60% of those remittances coming from Russia. In the course of just a few months, the value of those remittances has been chopped in half. The results will be devastating.
Russia’s Meltdown Will Shake The World, From Tajikistan To Tokyo – BuzzFeed News.
As Ruble Falls, Tajik Village Suffers
The Russian ruble has collapsed, but the effects are not only being felt in Russia. In the Tajik village of Eloki, marriages are being canceled and houses left half-built as remittances from migrant laborers dry up. Nearly every family has been affected — this is one family’s story. It was filmed when the ruble had lost around 40 percent of its value against the dollar, but before the dramatic plunge that shook markets on December 15-16. (RFE/RL)
Voter Education Campaign in Tajikistan | OSCE
Before Tajikistan’s presidential elections in 2013, the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, in co-operation with the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda conducted a door-to-door, person-to-person voter education campaign throughout the country. The campaign targeted women and potential first-time voters. From 22 October until 4 November, 60 voter educators reached 115,037 voters explaining procedures for casting a ballot and that proxy voting is prohibited.
Tajik Parliament Approves Law Against Domestic Violence
DUSHANBE — Tajikistan’s parliament has passed the country’s first law specifically targeting domestic violence.
Lawmakers on December 19 approved the law, which aims to give greater protections to women’s rights.
It sets up administrative measures to deal with domestic violence, including up to 15 days’ imprisonment and fines for offenders.
The law includes a statement that the elderly should play an active role in preventing domestic violence among young families.
The advice of elders carries significant weight in traditional Tajik society.
According to official statistics, more than 200 women took their own lives in 2010 and a majority of the cases were related to domestic violence.
via Tajik Parliament Approves Law Against Domestic Violence.
Advancing Legal Protection for Women in Tajikistan | IREX – Civil Society, Education and Media Development
Mufara Hamidova provides legal assistance to women in Tajikistan on issues ranging from domestic violence to early marriage. As a manager at the League of Women Lawyers of Tajikistan, she addresses domestic issues through litigation and mediation and also uses media and trainings to inform community groups about the legal status of young girls getting married and the legal and psychological consequences of early marriage. For more on early marriage in Tajikistan, click here.
As a 2011 LEAD fellow, she is studying at the University of Missouri-Kansas City this year and is accompanied by her husband and three-year-old son. Recently Mufara answered IREX’s questions about her legal work assisting women in Tajikistan and how she juggles a demanding legal career, family responsibilities, and coursework for a graduate degree in the US.