Kazakstan Ignores Human Rights Concerns
Region: KazakhstanEconomics count for more than rights, and western governments have little leverage anyway. By Gaziza Baituova Despite harsh words from the United States and European Union about Kazakstan’s worsening human rights record, the country’s leaders are unlikely to modify their behaviour, local analysts say. It is a simple equation – placed in the balance against economic and secu... more
Views: 173Free Speech at Risk in Kazakstan
Region: KazakhstanLondon event highlights use of criminal law to punish dissent. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova - Central Asia RCA Issue 696, 28 Feb 13 As part of the ongoing media crackdown in Kazakstan, the authorities are deploying laws against incitement and extremism to discredit their critics an... more
Views: 500Back Yard Space Travel: Now and In the Future
Region: KazakhstanPrivate space travel has taken a huge leap in the past few years. Expensive government agencies like ESA and NASA are being scaled back in favor of private companies who can send people into space for millions instead of billions. The first space tourists still paid millions to be shot into space from Baikonour spaceport in Kazakhstan, but affordable space travel is right around the corner according to Richard B... more
Views: 497Kazakstan: Struggle Ahead for Wives of Janaozen Convicts
Region: KazakhstanStruggling to support families, they believe their husbands were made scapegoats for 2011 bloodshed. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova, Almaz Kumenov - Ayno Daryabaeva, a mother of four from Janaozen in western Kazakstan, does not know how long she can keep her children from knowing their father is in jail. Her husband Kanat Jusipbaev was among dozens of m... more
Views: 649Kazak Information Bill Reaches Stalemate
Region: KazakhstanLegislation is seen as much-needed step forward, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. By Saule Mukhametrakhimov A long-awaited bill on access to information in Kazakstan is now highly unlikely to be passed this year as planned. Some of the civil society groups that invested great hopes in the law fear it has run out of steam, in part because of institutional resistance to greate... more
Views: 530Bid to Silence Critical Media in Kazakstan
Region: KazakhstanProsecutors seek to wipe out opposition TV and press at a stroke. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova - Central Asia RCA Issue 690, Media rights groups are warning that official moves to ban major opposition TV and press in Kazakstan will destroy the limited amount of pluralism that s... more
Views: 651Kazakstan Legal Case Viewed as Too Flawed to be Fair
Region: KazakhstanProsecutors accuse three defendants of plotting against state, though little solid evidence has been presented. By Andrei Grishin The legal case against three leading opposition figures in Kazakstan is so full of holes that it recalls the Soviet show trials held under Joseph Stalin, supporters of the defendants say. Court observers argue that the trial of Vladm... more
Views: 1091Kazakstan: Disabled Women Face Obstacles
Region: KazakhstanEnduring prejudices limit access to family planning and reproductive health services. By Almaz Kumenov Disabled women in Kazakstan face many obstacles in fighting for their rights, not least when it comes to accessing reproductive health services in the state sector. Alima Beysenbaeva is deputy chair of the Shyrak Association of Disabled Women, and was confined to a wheelc... more
Views: 942Kazakstan: Labor Disputes Politicized
Region: KazakhstanExiled trade union leader says his activism led inevitably to confrontation with government. By Saule Mukhametrakhimova Trade unions that represent their members properly in Kazakstan cannot avoid entering into confrontation with the government, as labour rights essentially count as a political issue, a leading union leader forced into exile says. Esenbek Ukteshbaev, ... more
Views: 976Curbing Human Trafficking in Kazakstan
Region: KazakhstanGovernment needs to do more to combat sexual exploitation and forced labour. By Almaz Kumenov People-smuggling and forced labour are thriving in Kazakstan, and lacklustre responses from government, police and the legal system are part of the problem, a leading anti-trafficking activist says. Kazakstan’s geographical location as Central Asia’s gateway to Russia ... more
Views: 1671
