[WCAR] CERD 65th session: Report of Kazakhstan

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release
16 August 2004


The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered
the report of Kazakhstan on its implementation of the provisions of the
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination.

Presenting the report was Zhabaikhan Abdildin, Chairman of the Commission
on Human Rights attached to the Office of the Head of State of Kazakhstan,
who said that given Kazakhstan's multi-ethnic nature, ever since
independence, the Government had understood that the only way to ensure
successful development in the country was to ensure that there was
inter-ethnic harmony, justice and concessions.

Also presenting the report was Oleg Ryabchenko, First Vice-Minister of
Information of Kazakhstan, who said that the Constitution provided that no
one may be subjected to discrimination on grounds of origin, social, sex,
race, nationality, language, among other things and the principle of
equality was at the centre of all its legislation. There was a separate
article in the Criminal Code which provided for criminal punishment for
such discriminatory acts. Kazakhstan's Labour Law contained a set of
articles intended to eradicate discrimination in the workplace or in
employment practices. And the Culture Act of the State provided that all
persons of any nationality had the right to participate in the development
of their national culture.

In the course of the discussion, which was held over two meetings, issues
concerning the use of national languages, the status of refugees, human
trafficking and legal provisions pertaining to racial and related
discrimination were raised, among other subjects.

In preliminary remarks, the country Rapporteur for the report, Committee
Expert Luis Valencia Rodriguez, noted that a number of Kazaks had left the
country before independence for security purposes and that many were now
returning as a result of independence and more economic stability and
security in the country. Also appreciated was the openness with which
Kazakhstan had been welcoming refugees. However further efforts were needed
to avoid the rejection of Uighars and Chechens in particular. Mr. Valencia
Rodriguez also noted the religious freedom exercised in Kazakhstan and
noted the World Conference on Religion which took place recently in the
country.

The Committee will present its final conclusions and recommendations on the
initial to third periodic reports of Kazakhstan, which were presented in
one document, at the end of its session, which concludes on 20 August.

The delegation of Kazakhstan also included representatives of the
Commission on Human Rights of Kazakhstan, the Office of the Public
Prosecutor, the Ministries of Information, Internal Affairs and Justice and
the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
During the course of the morning meeting, the Committee decided to postpone
its consideration of the country situation in Mexico under its review
procedure, after having taken note the State party would submit a report to
it before 31 December 2004. The review procedure is used to consider the
situation in a State party whose periodic reports are seriously overdue.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m. this afternoon, it will resume its
discussion in response to the request from the Intergovernmental Working
Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and
Programme of Action.


REPORT OF KAZAKHSTAN

The initial to third periodic reports of Kazakhstan, contained in one
document CERD/C/439/Add.2, state that Kazakhstan has a migration deficit;
in 2001, 414,984 people departed from the country and 326,824 arrived. The
migration deficit was 88,160. The Migration Act states the inadmissibility
of discrimination on the grounds of origin, race, nationality or language
when regulating migration of the population. The Act provides for the
granting of refugee status to foreigners who are at risk of persecution on
the grounds of race or nationality and are therefore forced to remain
outside their country of citizenship, the report states.

In 1994, the President of Kazakhstan established the Commission on Human
Rights as a consultative advisory body attached to the Office of the Head
of State. One of the activities in the field of human rights is the
adoption of enforceable enactments aimed at the introduction into the legal
system of international standards and principles for the observance of
human rights. The social and political stability achieved during the years
of Kazakhstan's independence has created conditions for the comprehensive
establishment of human rights and freedoms in society and for their
observance and implementation. The Constitution provides that no one may be
subjected to discrimination on grounds of origin, social, professional or
property status, sex, race, nationality, language, attitude to religion,
belief, place of residence or other circumstances. The Criminal Code and
Civil Code also prohibit all forms of discrimination.

The report also refers to the presidential decree of 19 June 1995 on the
legal status of aliens which has the force of law. It provides that foreign
citizens in Kazakhstan are equal before the law irrespective of their
origin, social or property status, race, nationality, sex, education,
language, attitude to religion or type or nature of occupation.


PRESENTATION OF REPORT

ZHABAIKHAN ABDILDIN, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights attached to
the Office of the Head of State, said Kazakhstan at the time of its
independence had had serious problems. The Government had decided to pursue
a course of development in terms of inter-ethnic relations within the State
in line with human rights standards. Since Kazakhstan was a multi-ethnic
country, from the outset it understood that the only way to ensure
successful development in the country was to ensure that there was
inter-ethnic harmony, justice and concessions.

According to Kazak law, it was the right of any citizen to live where they
wanted to and the Government had formulated the idea in its Constitution
that any individual who previously was a citizen of the Soviet Union had
the right to become a citizen of Kazakhstan.

Mr. Abdildin noted that at the time of the Soviet era, the official
language for all the Republics was Russian but when they gained their
independence they wanted their own language, that being Kazak in
Kazakhstan. However, Russian was declared by the Constitution to have
official status as well, like Kazak, and it was also used for education and
in other parts of public life.

At the beginning of the 1990s there was quite a big migration movement but
after the economic situation improved and both the economic and political
situation became stable, people began to return. Up to 1999, people were
leaving the country but now they were returning.

The delegate referred to the establishment of the Assembly of the People's
which had 340 members representing 200 organizations from various ethnic
groups; every year it had session. The Assembly constituted the best medium
for interaction between the State and associations representing ethnic
groups and provided a means for State support of the process of revival of
ethnic cultures. Each national group had an opportunity to raise questions
on their own national concerns. Moreover, any ethnic group living in
Kazakhstan had the right to be educated in its own language and to study
its own culture.

OLEG RYABCHENKO, First Vice-Minister of Information, said Kazakhstan, which
became independent in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
was the ninth largest country in the world in terms of geographic size and
had over 130 nationalities and ethnic groups represented in the country.
There were some 15 million inhabitants in 1999.

The term racial discrimination was not provided in national legislation
however it was a term commonly applied in legal practice and was referred
to in various legislation; there was no definition of ethnic groups or
languages either. The Constitution provided that no one may be subjected to
discrimination on grounds of origin, social, sex, race, nationality,
language, among other things and the principle of equality was at the
centre of all its legislation. There was a separate article in the Criminal
Code which provided for criminal punishment for such discriminatory acts.
Furthermore, the Code on Administrative Violations established
responsibility for administrative violations on the same grounds and
qualified them as aggravating circumstances. The Vice-Minister stated that
any action in Kazakhstan likely to upset inter-ethnic harmony was
recognized as unconstitutional by the State which based its policy on
citizenship and not on origin.

As of July 2004, there were more than 2,000 media organizations operating
in various languages and 26 regional newspapers in 11 languages used by
ethnic groups. Moreover, radio and television transmitted programmes in
various languages. Kazakhstan condemned all propaganda and all
organizations which were based on ideas or theories of superiority of one
race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or which promoted
racial discrimination in any form.

The delegate noted that there were some 65 ethnic groups represented in the
labour force; that it was the right of any citizen of Kazakhstan to freedom
of movement and residence within the border of the State; and that no
immigrant could be discriminated against on the grounds of origin, race,
nationality or language when regulating migration of the population.
Furthermore, the Migration Act provided for the granting of refugee status
to foreigners who were at risk of persecution on the grounds of race or
nationality and were therefore forced to remain outside their country of
citizenship.

Mr. Ryabchenko indicated that since independence a host of religious
communities had all lived peacefully together in Kazakhstan as a result of
the State's position on the subject. More than 70 per cent of Kazaks were
believers of a particular faith. The basis of the religious policy of the
State lay on the idea of promoting and protecting a religious community. An
important step in building inter-religious harmony was the holding of a
National Congress in September 2003. At present there were over 2,300
places of worship in Kazakhstan; more than 1,700 Muslim, 250 Orthodox and
85 Catholic.

Kazakhstan's Labour Law contained a set of articles intended to eradicate
discrimination in the workplace or in employment practices. The Law on
Employment provided for the right to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment,
to equal pay for equal work, and to just and favourable remuneration.
Moreover, foreigners and stateless persons, had the right to receive pensions.

The Culture Act of the State provided that all persons of any nationality
had the right to participate in the development of their national culture,
and that all citizens must respect the language, culture, customs and
traditions of the Kazak people and of the other peoples of Kazakhstan.

The Government of Kazakhstan had fostered a relationship of close
cooperation between itself and the non-governmental organization (NGO)
community with the aim of ensuring human rights and freedoms. There had
been a programme of State support for NGOs and a draft law was currently
being considered to give a legal basis for financing local NGO projects.

In conclusion, the Vice-Minister affirmed that the State was faced with
certain problems in terms of the social adaptation and integration of
contemporary Kazak society with others of Kazak origin returning to
Kazakhstan after having been away for several years. Kazakhstan was also
faced with a problem of illegal migration and human trafficking was of
increasing concern. The Government, Mr. Ryabchenko added, had been working
in close conjunction and with the support of international organizations to
reduce these problems.


DISCUSSION

LUIS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ, the Committee Expert serving as Country Rapporteur
to the report of Kazakhstan, thanked the delegation, among other things,
for having provided detailed information on statistics on the ethnic
composition in Kazakhstan and for clarifying the legal concepts of ethnic
groups.

The Rapporteur referred to the information contained in the report that
according to the 1999 census the population had decreased by 7.7 per cent
from the population recorded in 1989. The Rapporteur asked how this
reduction had impacted ethnic groups.

Mr. Valencia Rodriguez noted that according to the 1989 census, 98 per cent
of the Kazak people used the Kazak language. Also noted was that the use of
languages was guaranteed by the Constitution and that there was a decrease
in child mortality. On both these matters the Rapporteur asked for more
information on how this situation affected national minorities.

Mr. Valencia Rodriguez welcomed that education in minority languages was
available in Kazakhstan and requested additional information on education
in general. Other information was sought on the cause of the migratory
flow, the reasons for massive arrests; and the arrests of 400 individuals
on 20 Sept 2001.

Among other things, the Rapporteur welcomed the accession to the Convention
on the Status of Refugees while noting that there were some 16,000 persons
with refugee status in Kazakhstan; the impact on ethnic groups of the
State's economic reform measures; the definition of racial discrimination;
the status of women; the right to marriage; the birth registration of
children of repatriated Kazaks; and the law on labour banning racial
discrimination. In this latter regard, the Rapporteur asked whether
minorities enjoyed social protection in terms of welfare and right to join
labour unions.

The Rapporteur welcomed comments made on the possibility of refoulment for
Chechens and Uighurs and asked for more information on the powers of the
President in appointing judges. Concerning the Commission on Human Rights,
Mr. Valencia Rodriguez asked whether this body contained representatives of
minority groups and the body had standards to combat racial discrimination.
The Rapporteur noted the creation of the Office of the Ombudsman in
September 2002 and asked for information in terms of its mandate and level
of independence.

In conclusion, the Rapporteur noted with satisfaction the establishment of
33 ethno cultural organs and recommended that the State party promote the
establishment of similar organizations specifically for ethnic groups.

In response to an orally posed question on languages and education, the
delegation noted that Russian had been the language of Kazakhstan during
the Soviet era. Russian had been taught nationwide during this era and the
use of the Kazak language had been minimal; not even newspapers were
published in Kazak. There was much repression around culture as per the
policy of the Soviet party. In Kazakhstan there were some 3,400 Kazak
language schools, 2,000 Russian schools, and 2,000 mixed schools; in
addition, there were Uighur, Uzbek, Tajik, Ukrainian and German schools.
There were also over 300 Sunday schools where ethnic groups could pursue
studies in their own national languages and on their culture. The
delegation added that the ethno-cultural policy of Kazakhstan was designed
to maintain and develop all languages of different ethnic groups and
national cultures. In addition to education, the State's cultural policy
aimed to support ethnic groups with State funding. In short, the term of
integration meant assimilation, but also a synthesis of all cultures.

Asked for more information on the Government's Commission on Human Rights,
the delegation said the Commission was an advisory body for the President
set up in 1992; according to the Constitution, the President was the
guarantor of all rights and freedoms of all nationalities; the Commission
assisted the President in that function. There were 21 members of the
Commission, including the Prosecutor General, members of Parliament and
almost 50 per cent was made up of representatives of non-governmental
organizations. Every year a report was issued to the President on the
situation of human rights in the country including substantial information
on violations of human rights. Many individual complaints were also
submitted; approximately 600 every year. The Office of the Ombudsman, which
worked hand in hand with the Commission, also received complaints of this
nature. This Office was created last year and proceeded with an enormous
amount of work generated by the Commission. Legislation was currently being
prepared on the Ombudsman's Office with assistance from the United Nations
Development Programme and other international bodies to ensure that the
Office was up to international standards; the main priority was to ensure
the independence of the Ombudsman and to give it the right to intervene in
any proceeding.

On the issue of women's rights, the delegation mentioned that there were no
restrictions on who could stand for election to public office in
Kazakhstan. In general women had a higher level of education than men and
made up 56 per cent of the population.

Concerning economic development, the delegation noted that over the last
four years Kazakhstan had seen economic growth of the GNP – around 9 to10
per cent per year. The level of unemployment also went down from 13 per
cent in 1989 to 8.8 per cent last year. Moreover, unemployment was often of
a seasonal nature in the rural areas. All citizens of Kazakhstan were
drawing the benefits of economic recovery. On privatization, no preference
was given to any particular ethnic group.

The delegation provided a brief response to a question on the Roma
indicating that there were currently over 5,000 living in 10 to 12 major
cities in Kazakhstan.

Asked for information on violations of human rights related to the
Convention, the delegation said in 2003 the Ombudsman heard two complaints
from Kazak citizens concerning ethnic discrimination and four complaints on
the right to profess religion; another 900 general complaints were heard
during the course of the year. The complaints on grounds of ethnic
discrimination were found to be unfounded and the Ombudsman had not been
able to confirm the religious complaints. In general, these cases were
deemed to be insignificant in nature and did not show a pattern of
discrimination in Kazakhstan.

With regard to Government control over human rights organizations, in
Kazakhstan at present there were some 4,000 non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and according to data, human rights organizations made up some 10 to
15 per cent of these. The delegation recalled that the Government policy
with respect to NGOs was to support them as an important element of civil
society. A law was being considered to fund NGO projects from the State's
budgets; some 20 NGO projects had received Government grants this year.

In response to a question on the population of Kazakhstan, the delegation
provided some historical information stating that between 1921 and 1940,
Kazakhstan was transformed from an agrarian to an industrial-agricultural
society. When independence was obtained, Kazakhstan opened up its borders
and at the same time many people living in the country left for their
historic homelands.

In response to another question, the delegation stated that in Kazakhstan
there were some 30,000 Kazak citizens of Chechen origin of whom about
12,000 had moved to Kazakhstan as a result of the aggression in their
homeland.

Asked what counter-terrorism measures the Government of Kazakhstan had
taken, the delegation said Kazakhstan was in a region where a number of
conflicts existed and as a result the Government had acceded to several
related international instruments and had adopted counter-terrorism
national legislation. The delegation affirmed that no nationality or ethnic
group was singled out by its national legislation.

On the subject of human trafficking, the State party had recently been
active in tackling this problem, the delegation said. In 2003, amendments
had been made to Kazak legislation further defining the offences related to
human trafficking and providing for extra sanctions. An inter-departmental
commission was set up to combat trafficking. Twice a year, the commission
reported to the Government and informed the President of the state of
affairs on this subject. Rehabilitation centres had been set up to provide
the necessary assistance to victims. Despite Government efforts, the
problem of identifying such crimes still existed due to their covert
nature. The Government and NGOs were now focusing on preventive measures,
also in conjunction with the media.

Concerning minors, the delegation said apart from Government legislation
protecting the rights of the child, just two weeks ago it had adopted a law
addressing the issue of street children.
The delegation said although the Kazak Constitution and several legal
provisions referred to the prohibition of racial and related discrimination
and prevented any person from being discriminated against, there was no
definition on racial discrimination as per the Convention in its national
legislation. On a similar issue, the delegation noted that last year three
people were brought to court and four people this year on the grounds of
the intent to pronounce racial hatred. Moreover, the Government was aiming
to establish a uniform practice to combat such acts in law.

In response to questions, the delegation said in Kazakhstan there had been
a major development in legal court reform. On 25 December 2000, a
Constitutional law was adopted on the status of judges enhancing the
independence of the judicial system and stating that no person had the
right to interfere in court proceedings; interference of any form in the
Courts was sanctioned by up to two years imprisonment. A disciplinary
committee was also created to look at the work of judges; the selection of
candidates was carried out on the recommendation of qualified legal experts
and was based on equality standards.


PRELIMINARY REMARKS

LUIS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ, the Committee Expert serving as Country
Rapporteur, noted the importance of the presentation of the delegation
which fulfilled its reporting obligations. The Committee was enriched by
the knowledge imparted by the delegation with professional replies to
comments and questions both in writing and posed orally.

While noting that a number of Kazaks had left the country before
independence for security purposes, the Rapporteur said that many were now
returning as a result of independence and more economic stability and
security in the country. The issue of multiple national languages being
used in the State was also a positive point, however a legal provision was
needed on their use. While the Constitution referred to racial
discrimination and the Convention was placed above domestic law, a new law
was needed to include a definition of racial discrimination. There was also
a need to guarantee on an equal basis access to civil service positions for
all minority groups. The functions of the Human Rights Commission should be
expanded so that it was able to hear complaints of racial discrimination in
an independent manner and in accordance with the Paris Principles. The
Rapporteur also noted with satisfaction the creation of the Ombudsman's
Office yet there was a need to speed up its work.

Also appreciated was the openness with which Kazakhstan had been welcoming
refugees, however further efforts were needed to avoid the rejection of
Uighars and Chechens, in particular. Mr. Valencia Rodriguez also noted the
religious freedom exercised in Kazakhstan and noted the World Conference on
Religion which took place recently in the country. He also noted the
information provided by the delegation on the access of ethnic groups to
education and the country's recent economic growth, and welcomed the
information provided on non-governmental organizations, particularly those
working in the area of human rights.

In conclusion, the country Rapporteur said there was a need for a full
dissemination of information on the remedies available to citizens in the
event of a violation of their human rights in order to make it possible for
them to feel better protected.



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