DUSHANBE, January 10, Asia-Plus -- in 2006, 43 women, who attempted to commit suicide by self-immolation, underwent treatment at a republican burn-treatment facility at City Hospital # 3 in Dushanbe, according to official data from the facility.

A source at the burn-treatment facility that this number is only those women who were hospitalized and did not keep the real cause of burns from medical workers.   

“It is very hard to establish the real number of self-immolations because the majority of families conceal such cases and name careless use of fire the cause of burns,” the source noted.   

However, the source claims that the number of self-immolations in the country has shown a downward tendency.   

According to the Tajik prosecutor-general’s office, more than 90 women attempted to burn themselves to death in Tajikistan in the first six months of 2003 alone, while the number of self-immolations attempted in 2005 reduced to 47. 

Experts say that more than 70 percent of the women who omitted suicide by self-immolation were between the ages of 18 and 40, and most were caused by family and economic problems. 

According to estimates of a number of women’s NGOs, from 50 to 100 local women annually commit suicide by self-immolation.