Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

The Almaty Helsinki Commission and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (formerly the Kazakhstan-American Bureau on Human Rights) are the most active of a small number of local human rights organizations. They cooperate on human rights and legal reform issues. Although these groups operated largely without government interference, limited financial means hampered their ability to monitor and report human rights violations. In November a fire destroyed the main office and all the archives of the Bureau for Human Rights in Almaty. The Almaty fire department concluded that arson was the probable cause of the fire and referred the case to prosecutors, who brought no charges before the end of the year. Some human rights observers complained that the Government monitored their movements and telephone calls.

The Civil Code requires NGO's to register with the Government, and most NGO's are registered; however, some continue to operate without legal standing. Although some government officials made an effort to work with domestic and foreign NGO's, others persisted in asserting that foreign NGO's promote instability. Some NGO's chose not to register because they objected to the requirement of registration in principle or because they did not have the money to pay the registration fee. Others believe that they were not eligible to register because they promoted the interests of one ethnic group or religion and are considered by some to violate the constitutional ban on inciting social, racial, national, religious, class, and tribal enmity. The new Criminal Code that took effect in 1998 criminalized the activity of NGO's that are not registered. In 1998 five leading opposition figures were convicted for participating in a meeting of an unregistered NGO, the For Fair Elections group (see Sections 1.d., 2.b., and 3).

The Government permitted international and foreign NGO's dealing with human rights issues to visit the country and meet with local human rights groups as well as government officials. The International Labor Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the UNHCR have permanent offices in the country. The OSCE, of which Kazakhstan is a member, opened an office in Almaty in January. The Constitution forbids "the financing of political parties and trade unions by foreign legal entities and citizens, foreign states and international organizations." In January 1998, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions and its leader, Leonid Solomin, were charged for the second time within a year with violating these provisions. However, during the year, the Government dropped all charges in both cases.

The Presidential Commission on Human Rights is a consultative body. It prepares annual reports to the President that can be released to the public only with the President's consent. For the first and only time the Commission made public its annual report to the President by publishing an expurgated version of its report for 1997 at the end of 1998. The report focused almost exclusively on "economic and social rights," for example, the right to a decent standard of living. It concluded that the country consistently abides by human rights principles and suggested that those who blame the Government for social problems should realize that individual well-being ultimately is the responsibility of the individual. The Commission reached out to independent human rights organizations but made little progress in establishing itself as an ombudsman. In general the Government tended to deny or ignore charges of specific human rights abuses that were levied by human rights monitors and individual citizens. In its report to the President for 1997, the Commission charged that many domestic NGO's are oriented towards developed countries' standards and do not realize that progress towards a market economy and civil society is a slow, gradual process. It said that NGO's sympathetic to "left-wing radicals" have nothing constructive to offer.

The Presidential Commission on Human Rights and OSCE cohosted a roundtable discussion on the draft religion law in March.

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Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language, or Social Status

Section 6 Worker Rights