An international conference on the protection of human rights was held in Astana

Judges of the Constitutional Court represented by Elvira Azimova and Sergey Udartsev took part in the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Implementation of international legal norms ensuring human rights into national legislation", organized by the Office of the Kazakh Ombudsman and the Commission on Human Rights under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 7-8 December this year in Astana.

The conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Declaration) brought together members of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, heads of state bodies, experts of national and international human rights organizations, ombudsmen of Turkic states and others.

In her welcoming speech, Elvira Azimova noted that this year the very theme of human rights is accompanied by the slogan "Dignity, equality and justice for all", and this reflects the work that should be at the head of the projects that are being implemented. The Chairperson drew the participants' attention to the active work of the reconstituted Constitutional Court, and emphasized the importance of realizing the rights of citizens, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Prosecutor General through the possibility of direct appeal to this body. She noted that constitutional control is an integral attribute of a democratic and legal state, and its realization plays a key role in maintaining legal order. According to Azimova, more than five thousand citizens have applied to the Constitutional Court for protection of their rights since the beginning of the year. Of these, more than 27% were considered by the judges of the Constitutional Court and 36 normative rulings were issued.

In the first session of the conference on the experience of implementing international human rights standards into national legislation, Judge of the Constitutional Court S. Udartsev made a report. In his speech he dwelt on the significance of the Declaration. He singled out the main creators of this document - the American public figure Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the French eminent jurist René Cassin (1887-1976) and the Canadian international lawyer John Humphrey (1905-1995). The report gave examples of the use of the Declaration and other international acts in the normative rulings of the Constitutional Court of the RK in 2023. It was also noted that the provisions of international legal acts, to which the body of constitutional control pays attention, cites in its rulings are inextricably linked to its positions on the issues under consideration, serve as a reference point in amending and supplementing the legislation.

At the same time, the judge of the Constitutional Court drew attention to some contemporary challenges related to artificial intelligence (AI). The rapporteur noted that the Declaration will serve as a reference point for a long time and, at the same time, the human rights and freedoms outlined by it will probably be supplemented and clarified by new international acts and legislation of states as humanity, its national and international political and legal institutions co-evolve with AI systems.