Human Rights Council makes recommendations to Kazakhstan
The Human Rights Council has made recommendations to countries that have just reported on their human rights situation. Among them was Kazakhstan, which earned praise for the abolition of the death penalty and steps to protect women. At the same time, the government received recommendations to address a number of problems.
Kazakhstan recently decided to abolish the death penalty and toughened the punishment for human trafficking. In the light of previous UN recommendations on expanding the participation of women and youth in decision-making processes in the country, a law is being prepared on a 30 percent quota for membership in political parties for women and youth. This was reported by Zhanar Aitzhanova, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN Geneva Office.
She added that the country is reviewing the law on peaceful assembly, and following 17 recommendations to eliminate discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation, Astana is considering a draft law in the field of family and gender policy. According to the representative of Kazakhstan, the country is taking measures to respect the rights of migrants, refugees and stateless people.
Participants in the discussion welcomed Kazakhstan’s steps to simplify the process of registration of newborns, as well as in the field of eliminating discrimination against women. They emphasized the need to criminalize, without exception, all forms of violence against women and girls.
A number of speakers commended the Government for ensuring equal access to health care and helping citizens find work. The adoption of a moratorium on the death penalty, as well as the creation of an interdepartmental commission to combat human trafficking were also encouraging. Delegates, however, are concerned about the fact that, along with the decision to prohibit physical punishment of children, the country rejected the UN recommendation to strengthen the protection of migrant children.
Referring to reports of threats against lawyers by members of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, some speakers called on the government to immediately take measures to ensure the independence of lawyers. In general, during the review of 245 recommendations, Kazakhstan accepted 214, and took note of 31.
The procedure of the so-called periodic universal review assumes that each state regularly submits a report on the observance of human rights, which is reviewed by members of the UN Human Rights Council. At the current session, in addition to Kazakhstan, Angola, Iran, San Marino and Fiji reported.