Tag: freedom of assembly

In the weeks of 26 September – 7 October the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held its 2022 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, serving as a summit, or plenary session, of the OSCE’s human rights institution. The conference was attended by OSCE […]

This report provides an analysis of Kazakhstan’s implementation of the European Parliament Resolution of 14 March 2019 on the human rights situation in the country (2019/2610(RSP).

Between Monday 16 and Friday 27 September 2019, representatives of the Open Dialogue Foundation Xheni Dani, Joanna Cuper and Maksym Sytnikov participated in the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting held in Warsaw. Our representatives delivered several statements in which they raised is

On the occasion of snap Presidential election in Kazakhstan announced for June 9, the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) has listed a set of recommendations on the human rights record in Kazakhstan for the EU, OSCE PA and foreign missions on the ground.

ODF, FIDU and KHISR present this Submission with recommendations within the framework of the consideration of the UPR of Kazakhstan. Over more than nine years, ODF has presented expert opinion on human rights in Kazakhstan, obtaining information from first hand and in-country experience.

In February 2019, mass peaceful protests, unprecedented in their scale and nature of demands, were held in different regions of Kazakhstan. Protesters complained of poverty and corruption, demanding reforms, improvement of social security and the resignation of the President.

During the 2019 Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE members touched upon various different issues of global interest, from problems of objectivity to media freedom and legal tools to enable the Council of Europe’s governments to adopt sanctions programmes.

On 9 October 2018, over 150 Kazakhstani representatives of human rights organisations and Kazakhstani citizens signed an open letter to Ambassador T. Greminger, General Secretary of the OSCE, in view of his visit to Astana to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the OSCE office in Kazakhstan.

On 12 July 2018, eight MEPs signed an open letter addressed to President Nazarbayev decrying the human rights situation in Kazakhstan. MEPs J. Stetina, P. Austrevicius, T. Kelam, W. Klinz, A. Gomes, H. Hautala, V. Mazuronis and J. Nart denounced the reduction of the space for civil liberties.

On 3 March 2018, the police used brutal force to disperse a many-months-long protest near the Ukrainian parliament building. As a result of clashes between police and protesters, more than 100 people were detained.

On 12 October, 2017 the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy adopted a report by Axel Fischer (Germany, EPP/CD) “The relations of the Council of Europe with Kazakhstan”

In modern Kazakhstan, activists and journalists receive prison terms for civil and trade union activities, for public criticism of the authorities, for participating in peaceful rallies, for publishing and sharing posts on social networks, and for conducting journalistic investigations.

On 28 November, 2016, a Kazakh court sentenced activists Maks Bokayev and Talgat Ayan to five years in prison. The court also banned them for three years from engaging in social activities and ordered them to pay 530,250 tenge (approximately 1,500 euros).

The Kazakh authorities have detained more than 1,000 and arrested more than 30 protesters. Several activists, who, via social networks, expressed their intention to attend rallies faced criminal charges of ‘attempting to seize power’, ‘inciting social and national hatred’.

While rejecting criticism from the international community, Kazakhstan is tightening its grip on civil society. However, a desire to preserve its image forces authorities to resort to making some concessions in the cases of political prisoners.