Amnesty International: “Degradation of human rights situation” in Kazakhstan

Politically motivated criminal prosecution and torture, stigma and violence against LGBTI people, violation of the rights of persons with disabilities and the use of child labor are rife in Kazakhstan. This summary is contained in the report of the international human rights organization Amnesty International “Human rights in the modern world 2020/21”.

Amnesty International’s Annual report provides an overview of the human rights situation in 24 countries around the world, as well as regional overviews for Africa, North and South America, Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Middle East. A separate chapter in the report is devoted to Kazakhstan.

It should be noted that the Amnesty International’s report included almost all the flagrant violations of human rights and freedoms reported by ACCA, just like in the report on the observance of human rights in the world in 2020, published recently by the US Department of State.

The report on Kazakhstan is divided into 8 sections: freedom of assembly; freedom of expression; prisoners of conscience; torture and other forms of cruel treatment; human rights defenders; rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI); children’s rights; the rights of people with disabilities.

Each section contains facts of human rights violations by the authorities of Kazakhstan and law enforcement agencies.

Thus, in the section “Freedom of assembly” it is said that the President of Kazakhstan, in May 2020, signed a new law “On the procedure for organizing and holding peaceful assemblies”. However, this law doesn’t meet international standards, because, according to it, assemblies can actually be held only with the approval of the authorities and in specially given places.

“The law openly discriminates against non-citizens, people with mental and “psychosocial” disabilities and unregistered organizations,” the report says.

Among the violations are the facts of the arrest and subsequent sentencing of human rights activist Asiya Tulesova, as well as the dispersal of a peaceful protest in Almaty in June last year under the pretext of the need to disinfect the territory.

In the opinion of Amnesty International, things are not in the best way in Kazakhstan with regard to freedom of expression too. Despite the fact that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law decriminalizing libel last June, the authorities continue to fight dissent, and now with the help of the article of the Criminal Code “Dissemination of knowingly false information”.

“From January to August, 81 cases were initiated under this article, five of which went to court. On June 22, the court found Alnur Ilyashev guilty of this crime for three publications on social networks, where he criticized the actions of the authorities in the fight against COVID-19 and corruption. The court sentenced him to three years of restriction of freedom, and also banned him from engaging in social and public activities for five years,” the authors of the report note.

As for the “prisoners of conscience”, Amnesty International ranked Max Bokayev as such, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison for participating in organizing peaceful meetings and publishing on social networks.

The authors of the report didn’t forget to mention the rape of transgender Victoria Berkhodzhaeva by an employee of the National Security Committee. In addition, the section “Torture and other forms of cruel treatment” also mentions the murder of shepherd Azamat Orazaly on October 17 last year, who was detained by the police in the village of Makanchi in the East Kazakhstan region.

According to the authors of the report, it’s quite difficult for Kazakh human rights activists, especially Elena Semenova, against whom the administrations of six colonies filed eight civil lawsuits for disseminating information discrediting reputation in connection with her work to expose presumptive cases of torture.

With regard to violations of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI), as an example, Amnesty International cites the story of LGBTI activist Nurbibi Nurkadilova, who was threatened by well-known MMA fighter Kuat Khamitov for publishing for publishing the May statement of the Delegation of the European Union and several foreign embassies in Kazakhstan, made in honor of the International Day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia.

“He started to incite attacks against LGBTI people. The authorities didn’t take any measures in this regard,” the authors of the report emphasize.

It also mentions that the authorities of Kazakhstan tried to silence NPOs with the help of tax authorities by suspending activities due to alleged violations in the reporting of foreign funding sources.