Human Rights in Kazakhstan

Human Rights In Kazakhstan

The human rights situation in Kazakhstan has been an area of concern for many outside governmental and non-governmental observers. Observer group Freedom House ranks this former Soviet state with a 6 in Political Rights and a 5 in Civil Liberties (scale of 1-7; 1 is the highest), denoting it as "Not Free."

The website of the US Embassy in Kazakhstan notes that in 2004-2005 the Kazakhstan government's human-rights record "remained poor," and "the Government continued to commit numerous abuses."

Kazakhstan's political structure concentrates power in the presidency. Current President Nursultan Nazarbayev was elected to a 7-year term in a 2006 election that, many observers note, fell far short of international standards. The legislature and judiciary, as well as regional and local governments are not independent from executive control, and changes or amendments to the Constitution require presidential consent. No opposition parties are represented in the Lower House of Parliament. Corruption remains systemic.

While civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security forces, members of the security forces are reported to have committed human rights abuses. On some occasions, members of the security forces, including police, tortured, beat, and otherwise mistreated detainees; some officials were punished for these abuses. Prison conditions remained harsh; however, the Government took an active role in efforts to improve prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners. The Government continued to use arbitrary arrest and detention and to selectively prosecute political opponents; prolonged detention was a problem. Amendments to several laws governing the authority of procurators further eroded judicial independence. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights.

In November 2005, a former minister in the Nazarbayev government, Zamanbek K. Nurkadilov, who had stated he planned to speak publicly about high-level corruption, was found shot dead according to accounts by police and an opposition leader, the New York Times reported. His death came three weeks prior to upcoming presidential elections. Nurkadilov had been fired from his position as minister of emergency situations in 2004, after saying that President Nazarbayev ought to answer allegations that Kazakh officials had accepted millions of US dollars in bribes from an intermediary for U.S. oil firms in the 1990s.