The Kazakhstan human rights agenda is widely covered in Europe

The Kazakhstan human rights agenda is widely covered in Europe

 

Within the framework of the working visit to Strasbourg the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan Artur Lastayev met with representatives of the Council of Europe, in particular with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Björn Berge, head of Cooperation Programmes Department Liliya Gretarsdottir, director of Department for Programme Coordination Klaus Neukirch, head of Venice Commission Department Sergey Kuznetsov, advisor of the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights Geraldina Mattioli-Zeltner.

Mr. А.Lastayev informed the representatives of the Council of Europe about the constitutional reform aimed at transforming the whole state model implemented in Kazakhstan into a progressive law-based society based on the rule of law as well as about other human rights measures adopted in the country.

The Commissioner also spoke in detail about the activities and mission of the National Human Rights Centre, including its regional offices, including the forthcoming evaluation and planned accreditation by the Global Alliance of Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) system for compliance with the Paris Principles. In their turn, the representatives of the Council of Europe highly appreciated the democratic reforms carried out by the President of the country K.K. Tokayev, especially emphasizing the importance of the adoption of the constitutional law, which took into account most of the recommendations of the Venice Commission (the European Commission for Democracy through Law).

Besides, the Ombudsman answered the questions of interest of the representatives of the Council of Europe on certain cases which, in their opinion, caused a public resonance.

During the meetings the parties discussed further prospects for cooperation, including the provision of technical support to strengthen the expertise of law enforcement officials, prosecutors, members of the national preventive mechanism, as well as regional representatives of the Ombudsman to conduct training activities on combating torture, holding peaceful assemblies and bringing the national human rights institution in line with European human rights standards.

At the end, the parties decided to continue further fruitful cooperation in order to improve the effectiveness of human rights activities in Kazakhstan.