[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Workers injured while working at the Anzob mining and processing plant demand the resumption of compensation payments, 25 April 2022

Vohid Zokhidov, a resident of the Ayni district, says that about 30 years ago he lost his sight as a result of an explosion at the Anzob mining and processing plant. He is now 67 years old. “Until 2015, I received monthly compensation for damage to health. Seven years ago the payments stopped. The management of the plant refers to bankruptcy and says that it is not obliged to pay us compensation. For seven years now we have been contacting various government agencies. Everyone listens to us, but no one hears,” says the disabled person.

According to Vohid Zohidov, until 2015, he and other disabled workers received monthly compensation for damage to health in the amount of 230 somoni.

9 more former workers who received various injuries while working at the Anzob Mining and Processing Plant are demanding the resumption of payment of compensation for damage to health. After their appeals to trade unions and government agencies remained unanswered, they wrote a statement to the court...

The representative office of the Social Insurance and Pension Agency of Tajikistan in the Sughd region came to the defense of disabled people, stating that the Anzob Mining and Processing Plant joint-stock company is the legal successor of the Anzob Mining and Processing Plant and until May 2015, no documents about its bankruptcy exist.

Khurshed Akhmedov, an employee of the Social Insurance and Pension Agency of Tajikistan, in an interview with Radio Ozodi, said that the court has not made a final decision on the payment of compensation to former disabled workers. According to him, disabled people have the right to receive monthly compensation, but it is unknown from which department...

...Payments stopped after violations were discovered during an inspection by the prosecutor's office of the work of the Social Insurance and Pension Agency of Tajikistan. Our interlocutor did not say exactly what violations were identified, only noting that the prosecutor’s office considered it illegal to accept documents of former workers by the social protection department of the Aininsky district...