The Tajik authorities should reinstate access to web resources, including online media and social platforms, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir said in a statement.
“I appeal to the authorities to provide citizens with full and unrestricted access to the online news media, both national and international, as well as social platforms and search engines,” Desir said.
“There can be no freedom of expression and freedom of information without unhindered access to the internet,” he said.
Desir said citing reports that most social media and messenger applications in Tajikistan had been “intermittently blocked” over the previous ten days and that “Asia Plus, Avesta, and the Ozodi websites are among some of the publications that remain unavailable.”
Reporters Without Borders and the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan had urged the Tajik authorities at the end of April to stop blocking news web resources.
Tajikistan is ranked the 161st on the World Press Freedom Index including 180 countries compiled by Reporters Without Borders in 2019.
