Law Enforcement Reforms in Kazakhstan

Overview

As part of the ‘Hearing state’ concept announced by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the government of Kazakhstan has been implementing systemic reforms aimed at modernising law enforcement to ensure protection of citizens' rights consistent with high international standards. The reforms are being implemented in line with the roadmap for the modernisation of internal affairs bodies 2019-2021.

Optimisation

The overall structure has been optimised, and the number of bodies and divisions of the Ministry of Interior has been reduced. Specifically:

106 managerial and 1,483 other senior positions abolished
Excessive reporting reduced by almost 2.5 times

Key reforms

In accordance with the Global Peace Index 2020, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Kazakhstan ranks 70th among 163 countries in the global ranking and is classified as a “relatively safe” state.
A new system of assessment of police activities has been introduced, the main criterion of which is the level of security of citizens and public confidence
The procedure for receiving citizens has been revised. As such, “reception rooms for citizens” have been widely established to provide assistance to the population
Anti-corruption work has been under way, which so far has resulted in a 43% decrease in corruption cases in the last two years
Measures are being taken to continuing automating public services. Currently, 95% of the services of the Ministry of Interior are provided electronically
Consultative work with the population (of 18.9 million, March 2021) has been increasing: 361,000 consultations were provided in 2020 and 205,000 appeals were considered
A news media portal “Polisia.kz”, as well as a departmental TV channel have been launched to promptly inform the public about the functioning of the police
It is planned to gradually upgrade and reconstruct the prisons and gradually implement room-by-room placement of inmates
Currently, 80 prisons function in Kazakhstan, operated by the Ministry of Interior, with 32,000 inmates. Gradual renovation of prisons has been conducted with six decrepit ones closed in 2018-19.

Legal status of convicted persons

The Ministry of Interior is actively working to improve the legal status of convicts. The following reforms have been introduced in this regard:

Elimination of the requirement for “positive behaviour” characteristic by the prison’s authority to allow a convict’s transfer to the place of his or her residence;
An increase in the weight of a parcel for convicts from 14 kg to 20 kg;
Transfer of medicines and medical devices without restriction;
Reduced time for consideration of applications for release due to illness (from one month to ten days);
Expansion of the list of permitted items in minimum security facilities;
Budget for food for convicted persons has been nearly doubled;
Convicted persons are able to purchase food, clothing and books through terminals using payment cards;
In order to maintain social ties, video conversations with relatives are being introduced into practice. This became especially relevant during the quarantine period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when visits were limited;
The number of convicts who are employed while serving their sentence has increased from 38% to 49%.

Transition to a service model of work

To promote the principle of police “within walking distance”, work is underway to ensure police presence in public places;
Based on the experience of highly developed countries (Japan, South Korea, Singapore), modern police booths are being established. There are currently 50 such posts around the country. It is planned to establish another 170;
Necessary conditions have been created there for receiving and assisting citizens around the clock.

To learn more, visit the webpage of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Kazakhstan – https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/qriim/projects/details/145?lang=en.