Kazakhstan pledge on human rights

Date: 05/12/02

By David Cronin

ROMANO Prodi has won a pledge from Kazakhstan that it will listen to the international community and improve its human rights record.

The European Commission chief secured the agreement from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev following his visit to Brussels last Friday (29 November).

As the talks took place, Democratic Choice for Kazakhstan - an alliance of opposition parties - claimed the country's human rights record 'has been in steady decline in the past few years' and that its rulers were still actively clamping down on their critics.

Prodi urged Nazarbaev to hold talks with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - the UN-sponsored body which has previously attacked Kazakhstan's human rights record. 'He accepted it [this call],' added Prodi. 'This is a constructive way of making progress in this very delicate field.'

In recent months, the Kazakh authorities have received strong criticism from human rights campaigners over the treatment of journalist Sergei Duvanov.

In July, Duvanov was prosecuted over articles he wrote for an online publication about alleged government efforts to muzzle a probe into corruption claims against Nazarbaev and his family.

A month later Duvanov sustained a head injury and knife wounds after being attacked outside his home in Almaty; his assailants have not been identified.

And then in October, the journalist was arrested and charged with raping a child.

There have been suggestions that he is the victim of a trumped-up charge, but Nazarbaev dismissed this idea on his visit to Brussels. He said that the evidence against Duvanov was bona fide and that he would not be released from detention because of the gravity of the charges involved.

'We have 1,600 sources of mass media in Kazakhstan,' Nazarbaev added. '95% of the mass media is independent. We also have 2,500 non-governmental organisations. Do you know any other ex-Soviet country where you have this number of organisations?'

The EU imported €3 billion worth of Kazakh products last year, making it the state's largest trading partner. Both sides agreed to examine ways of further broadening trade - now mostly in oil, mineral fuels, copper and precious stones.

Romano Prodi has won a pledge from Kazakhstan that it will listen to the international community and improve its human rights record.