STATEMENT BY NGO “Freedom for Eurasia”
NGO Freedom for Eurasia states that the killing of Kobiljon, a 10-year-old boy, a citizen of Tajikistan, who was murdered at school in Moscow, Russian Federation in a xenophobic, Nazi-motivated attack by another teenager, is not a “domestic incident” or an isolated act of juvenile violence. It constitutes a structural killing, made possible by the mutually reinforcing effects of two repressive systems: state-endorsed xenophobia in Russia and systematic state violence by the authorities of Tajikistan against their own citizens.
In the Russian Federation, under the political leadership of Vladimir Putin, an environment of institutionalized dehumanization of people from Central Asia—including children—has been cultivated for many years. Migrants and their families are portrayed publicly and through state practices as “outsiders” and as a threat, normalizing hatred, lowering the threshold for violence, and undermining the state’s obligation to prevent and effectively investigate hate-motivated crimes. It must be emphasized that this concerns a child, killed within an educational institution, which under international law must constitute a space of heightened protection and safety.
Responsibility, however, does not rest solely with the receiving state. The regime of Emomali Rahmon is itself an active initiator of violence and dehumanization against its own citizens. The authorities of Tajikistan systematically equate criticism of the government with “terrorism” and “extremism,” fabricate criminal cases against journalists, human rights defenders, civic activists, and political opponents, and publish lists of thousands of alleged “terrorists and extremists” on official state websites. These lists overwhelmingly include individuals who have no connection to violence and who are, in fact, critics of the regime, independent journalists, and human rights defenders. This deliberate practice of stigmatization and dehumanization constructs Tajik citizens—including families and children—as “dangerous,” stripping them of the presumption of innocence and undermining their protection abroad.
At the intersection of these policies, a closed cycle of violence emerges: Tajik authorities pre-emptively deprive their citizens of legal and human status; Russian state rhetoric and practice reproduce and amplify this narrative; and racist and Nazi violence becomes possible, foreseeable, and ultimately lethal.
Kabuljon was not killed only by a specific teenager. He was killed by a political and institutional system in which xenophobia and racial hatred are structural and effectively sanctioned by the state; in which the dehumanization of migrants and their children is systematic and predictable; and in which the life of a migrant child is not treated as a protected supreme value under international law. In these circumstances, the state failed to meet its positive obligations to protect the right to life, to prevent hate-motivated violence, and to ensure special protection for children, as required by international treaties to which it is a party. The killing of Kabuljon, committed in an educational institution, must therefore be assessed not as an isolated crime, but as a consequence of the state’s failure to exercise due diligence, to prevent discrimination, and to effectively counter racist and Nazi violence.
Freedom for Eurasia calls for an immediate, independent, and effective investigation into the killing of Kabuljon, with proper legal qualification as a xenophobic hate crime; for a public legal assessment of xenophobic policies and the environment of hatred in the Russian Federation; for an end in Tajikistan to the practice of mass criminalization of government critics and the publication of “extremist lists” that place citizens at mortal risk abroad; and for action by international organizations and states, including consideration of individual responsibility of officials involved in creating conditions of impunity and dehumanization.
The killing of a child on xenophobic grounds is not an “incident.” It is the result of a systemic propaganda by the state of racist and Nazi violence and a direct consequence of policies that normalize hatred, legitimize dehumanization, and permit lethal violence against people and children belonging to vulnerable and stigmatized groups.