Voice of Democracy
Published by Kazakhstan 21st Century Foundation · Washington, D.C. · Aug. 4, 2003

KAZAKH GOVERNMENT FANS AIDS EPIDEMIC -- "Human rights abuse against injection drug users and sex workers in Kazakhstan is fueling one of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world," according to Human Rights Watch. A newly published 54-page report documents instances of violent police brutality, lack of due process, harassment and stigmatization that drive drug users and sex workers underground and impede their access to life-saving HIV prevention services. "The Kazakhstan government can still turn the epidemic around," said Joanne Csete, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at HRW. "Government officials must stop victimizing drug abusers and help prevent discrimination against them in Kazakhstan society." http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/06/kazakhstan063003.htm

CRIMINAL LAW IS GROWTH INDUSTRY -- If you're a lawyer specializing in rescuing overseas clients facing federal corruption charges, business is looking up, reports The American Lawyer. The U.S. government is stepping up enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, writer Daphne Eviatar notes in "Corruption's Upside," and one of the most prominent cases snared in the widening government net are executives caught in the Kazakhgate scandal. "We've certainly had more prosecutions in the last two years than in a number of years preceding," said Peter Clark, deputy chief of the U.S. Justice Department's fraud section. And two of the biggest fish they've landed are J. Bryan Williams and James Giffen. Williams pled guilty to tax evasion in June on $7 million, including $2 million which prosecutors called a "kickback" linked to Mobil's business in Kazakhstan; he is now said to be cooperating in further investigations. Giffen, a close confidante and advisor of Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been charged with paying $78 million in bribes to Kazakh officials, reportedly including the dictator himself. With investigations increasing and some big fish in their paths -- reportedly including Nazarbayev himself -- the law is "a gift to the lawyers who specialize in keeping their clients out of just this sort of trouble," Eviatar writes. http://www.americanlawyer.com/

DON'T BLAME ME IF I'M CROOKED -- With local elections scheduled for September 20 and in light of the government's well-established reputation for electoral fraud, rigged balloting and voter intimidation, members of election commissions in some areas of Kazakhstan have asked the government to pass a law protecting them from public criticism. The commission members have proposed a draft law to protect their "honor and dignity… against unfounded accusations," reports Khabar.kz. Central Election Commission Chairman Zagipa Balieva approved the proposal. http://www.khabar.kz/news_eng/

CLEAN UP YOUR ACT -- Kazakhstan's desire to chair the OSCE in 2009 faces a number of major obstacles, all of them erected by the Astana government it self. The European Union told the Nazarbayev regime that if it wants to be a candidate it must first greatly expand the process of democratization, particularly in ensuring free and fair elections, freedom of the media and public organizations, and the independence of the judiciary, according to RIA-Novosti. The EU also told the Nazarbayev regime to ratify the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic and Social Rights, to institute a moratorium on application of the death penalty and improve the country's investment climate. The message was delivered during a meeting in Brussels of the Commission for Cooperation Between the European Union and Kazakhstan on that country's lack of progress in democratization, the rule of law, and the implementation of international human rights standards. http://en.rian.ru/rian/

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