Mechanism for consideration of requests and views of human rights treaty bodies recognized by the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has always been committed to the values and principles of human rights protection and today is proud to present the latest achievements in the field of ensuring the protection of persons from torture and ill-treatment.

Kazakhstan has entered a new era of its development. The large-scale transformations, initiated by the President, marked the beginning of fundamental changes.

In 2022, Kazakhstan launched a mechanism for reviewing requests and views from human rights treaty bodies recognized by the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Thus, Kazakhstan has regulated its own procedure for considering requests and considerations, an Interministerial Working Group (IWG) has been established, and the Regulation and the Composition of the working group have been approved.

The creation of the IWG served as a legal basis for the Republic to fulfil its international obligations in the field of human rights and to increase the level of interaction with international organizations.

During the official visit, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Volker Turk expressed gratitude to the President K.Tokayev for the work with the UN human rights mechanisms within the established IWG.

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Since the establishment of the IWG on consideration of requests and views of the human rights treaty bodies, whose competence has been recognized by the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – the IWG), 16 meetings have been held during which 37 requests and views of the UN human rights treaty bodies were considered.

The Republic of Kazakhstan, by acceding to the Conventions and Optional Protocols, recognized the competence to consider individual communications of the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Most of the requests and opinions come from the Human Rights Committee (33), the Committee against Torture (1), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1).

According to the Rules for the Consideration of Requests and Opinions of human rights treaty bodies, the competence of which has been recognized by the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – the Rules), from the moment of receipt of a verbale note from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights through diplomatic channels, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notifies the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice and sets procedural deadlines for the consideration of individual communications and considerations.

Within the framework of the issues raised in the request or consideration the Prosecutor General's Office conducts a legal analysis of compliance with the rule of law.

In accordance with the provision of the Joint Order, following the submission of a legal analysis by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Justice holds a meeting of the IWG.

Following the results of the IWG meeting, the state bodies develop the position of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the measures taken in relation to the views of the UN Human Rights Committee and send it to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Thus, the Ministry of Justice is an advisory body that provides information on the admissibility and unacceptability of complaints solely on the basis of the legal analysis provided by the Prosecutor General's Office.

Since the signing of the Joint Order on consideration of requests and views of the treaty bodies, the positions of the state on implementation of human rights treaty bodies recommendation concerning 10 views have been sent.

For reference:

In the above-mentioned considerations, the Committee recommends the State to provide the complainants with effective remedies, to ensure the retrial of the court case, to pay material and/or moral compensation, to amend and supplement the national legislation, and to take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.

In the process of reviewing community enforcement actions the following actions have been implemented:

- informing the human rights treaty bodies on up-to-date information on reforms addressing gaps in the legislation (a new law on peaceful assemblies was adopted to include notification of peaceful assemblies; amendments were made to the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Criminal Executive Code on human rights in criminal justice, execution of punishment and prevention of torture and ill-treatment; medical care for convicts was transferred to the Ministry of Health);

- consideration of issues of compensation to authors of communications (within the framework of the meetings of the IWG, it was noted that the judicial acts against the authors were recognized as lawful. Therefore, there are no grounds for compensation);

- publishing of treaty bodies` considerations on official websites of state bodies.

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Thus, the timely provision of information on the measures taken to implement the considerations, informing the UN human rights treaty bodies about adopted reforms and changes in the legislation within the framework of the IWG activity made it possible to continue work on the conscientious implementation of international human rights treaties, as well as to prevent negative political consequences and criticism toward the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The analysis of the work of the IWG has shown new opportunities to improve the mechanism. Proposals on the internal rules of procedure for dealing with such requests and views, as well as on application of the rules in the national legislation are under consideration.

To summarize, these steps demonstrate Kazakhstan's commitment to democratic values and the rule of law.

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