 Kazakhstan in the Hot Seat Transitions Online, 20.02.2009  Mixed signals out of Kazakhstan as the Central Asian country prepares for its OSCE chairmanship.It looks as though the pressure on Kazakhstan to pay heed to human rights just might be starting to pay off. In less than a year Kazakhstan will begin its stint as head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, becoming the first ex-Soviet republic to chair the 56-country grouping that monitors human rights along with continental security and economic affairs. Bending to OSCE pressure, a Kazakh state body this week found that some of the most restrictive measures of a new religion law were unconstitutional. STEPS FORWARD, STEPS BACK Backed by Russia and other former Soviet states, Kazakhstan’s campaign to demonstrate its democratic credentials to the OSCE’s other members finally paid off with the decision to award it the chairmanship in 2010, a year later than Astana had originally hoped. Astana and, mainly, Moscow have been insisting for years that the OSCE has grown too concerned with issues such as religion, election fraud, and press freedom, which they see as dragging it away from its true mission as a security monitor and facilitator of economic ties among its members. Dreaming of membership in an exclusive club? Photo: Official Kazakh presidency website. By no stretch of the imagination has the country come close to the OSCE’s principles of open, competitive elections. In 2007 the Kazakh constitution was amended to allow President Nursultan Nazarbaev to in effect govern for life. Shortly afterward the president’s party won every seat in parliamentary elections. In choosing the country as its chair for 2010, some analysts said, the OSCE overlooked these facts in hope that Kazakhstan’s year in office could help bridge the growing ideological gap between Russia and the ex-Soviet states on the one hand and the U.S.-led “liberal” majority. As for press freedom, Kazakh media have generally been less harassed than in some neighboring states. Until the last few months. Late in December, Artem Miusov, a reporter for a newspaper linked to the opposition, Taszhargan, was stabbed by an attacker. In January, Yermek Boltai of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kazakh service Azattyq was beaten up; and on 5 February, a cub reporter suffered severe injuries in a beating. Bakhytzhan Nurpeisov, 19, who writes for another paper critical of the government, Obshchestvennaya Pozitsiya (Public Position), was hospitalized with a concussion and head injuries after the attack. One journalist in Kazakhstan said that none of the victims was robbed, suggesting that political motives lay behind each of the attacks. OSCE REPORT HITS HOME Perhaps offsetting some of the mood of foreboding that has descended on the Kazakh press, news came late this week of the government’s retreat on a controversial new religion law after criticism from the OSCE. Like a number of other former Soviet states, Kazakhstan has been trying to tighten the rules on registration of new religions and dissemination of religious books and teachings. A draft religion law passed by the parliament in November was submitted to a 44-page critique by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the branch of the organization that takes the brunt of Russia’s and its allies’ accusations of meddling in the sovereign affairs of OSCE members. The report, released last week, listed a number of areas where the draft law appeared to violate Kazakhstan’s commitments under OSCE principles (which are not legally binding) and relevant international law. The OSCE review was especially critical of the registration requirements for religious organizations and limitations on the distribution of religious material. “Many provisions of the Proposed Draft Law are vague, and fail to give clear notice to organizations and individuals and invite abuse of authority and discrimination by officials,” the report said. And lo, the government heard. On 11 February a deputy foreign minister told the Constitutional Council, a state body that ensures legislation is consistent with the constitution, that parts of the law would negatively affect Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship next year, the Kazakhstan Today news service reported. The next day the council ruled that some of the provisions concerning freedom of worship and religious associations were unconstitutional. But where this semi-autocratic state may be easing its control over citizens’ private lives in one area, the recent attacks on journalists suggest the culture of official impunity remains very much alive. The OSCE, or rather the dwindling elements of it that still dare to point out human-rights abusers in the organization’s ranks, should keep the pressure on Astana to show that it meets all its commitments. That way, a few more of them might actually be kept. TOL |
