The US State Department has published a regular Report on human rights in the world for 2023, which provides an overview of human rights violations in various countries of the world, including Kazakhstan.
In his comments on the report, US Secretary of State E. Blinken reiterated the priority of promoting human rights for US foreign policy, which is based on the countries' compliance with the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He elaborated on the human rights situation in Russia, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and the Gaza Strip, recognizing Israel's right to ensure its security.
The United States noted improvements only in those countries where LGBT rights protection packages have been adopted.
In the text of the Report on Kazakhstan, the American Foreign Ministry gave not bad assessments of Kazakhstan's work to ensure the socio-economic rights of our citizens.
In a positive way, it was noted that no woman was restricted in her right to participate in the political life of the country. The Government has taken measures to remove barriers for people with disabilities. There are crisis centers for victims of domestic violence in each region. The standards of responsibility for domestic violence have been tightened. The working conditions have been brought into line with international standards.
For the first time, the United States stopped calling the criminal and thief M. Ablyazov "the true opposition of Kazakhstan." However, Americans continue to classify his supporters and proxy structures created by him around the world as so-called "political prisoners", victims of "cross-border repression" and opposition movements in Kazakhstan.
My greatest surprise is on the verge of perplexity, in this regard, the inclusion of the Mendygaziev brothers in these lists of the State Department, known for their criminal activities long before the United States and the EU listed them as political refugees, and then political prisoners.
The Americans validate their statements with the opinion of the alliance of Kazakhstani non-governmental organizations "Tirek", not without the participation of, of course, the respected Bakhytzhan Toregozhina. By the way, Bakhytzhan Toregozhena, having become a laureate of the US State Department award "For Women's Courage" in 2023, maintains warm friendly relations with the Mendygaziev brothers and other fugitive oligarchs from Kazakhstan. Ms. Toregozhina refuses to work for state grants and the agenda of Fair Kazakhstan.
For such love, Toregozhina receives millions of grants annually from USAID, the EU, and other US institutions, including the National Endowment for Democracy. For example, such grants, NGOs like me, cannot be obtained just like that – our Western partners agreed to consider my applications only in 2026-2027, referring to the planned budget.
The second perplexity was caused by the position of the US State Department to use unofficial statistics on the Tragic January, created by non-governmental organizations whose names are not mentioned in the report. Then 238 people tragically died in the country. The State Department gives different statistics – a lot more and calls them killed. He places information on this issue in the chapter entitled "Politically motivated murders", and calls the Tragic January itself an "internal conflict of the elites".
This is a serious flaw in the experts of the State Department, or an erroneous interpretation that completely does not correspond to the spirit of the "Enhanced Strategic Partnership" between Kazakhstan and the United States, within which our country, perhaps, remains the only country in the region where US assistance and support programs are implemented directly with the civil sector on issues of political development.
The third perplexity, and perhaps the most exciting one here, was caused by the very approach in the State Department report to assessing the efforts of political construction in Kazakhstan. They were completely leveled. Five consecutive years of work by the country's civil society, and the same thing that they finance, on the implementation of Kazakhstan's international obligations in the political life of the country, were not taken into account. They were not even mentioned in the report, but on the contrary.
Thus, the institution of the National Preventive Mechanism is bad, the liberalization of registration of political parties is bad, and the participation of non–partisan candidates in parliamentary elections is an insufficient measure. And such fundamental things as one presidential term, a ban on the President's relatives from holding high political positions, the Constitutional Court, etc. are not mentioned in the report at all.
Gentlemen, experts of the US State Department, the political reforms taking place in Kazakhstan are taking place in a complex geopolitical context, and many people do not like them.
Every reform comes with blood and sweat. As an NGO, I am directly involved in this process and I see how the country is systematically moving towards high standards of democracy.
It is a pity that the US Embassy in Kazakhstan does not notice this and does not report to its colleagues in Washington that Kazakhstan is creating historical precedents for political culture in Central Asia and throughout the post-Soviet space. In this, the country should be supported, and not ignored or openly criticized, using someone's incomprehensible opinion, which the State Department report mentions, but does not say whose.
The standards of developed democracy in conditions of political transit are applied to Kazakhstan. At the same time, these standards are systematically ignored by the United States itself, as well as other Western countries, including the United Kingdom, in the interests of national security.
And here I would like to go back to the comments of US Secretary of State E. Blinken on April 22, when, having reconfirmed the priority of promoting human rights for US foreign policy, he referred to the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the main measure. I fully support Mr. Blinken in this and urge the experts of the US State Department to comply with this norm when assessing Kazakhstan's efforts.
In his comments on the report, US Secretary of State E. Blinken reiterated the priority of promoting human rights for US foreign policy, which is based on the countries' compliance with the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He elaborated on the human rights situation in Russia, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and the Gaza Strip, recognizing Israel's right to ensure its security.
The United States noted improvements only in those countries where LGBT rights protection packages have been adopted.
In the text of the Report on Kazakhstan, the American Foreign Ministry gave not bad assessments of Kazakhstan's work to ensure the socio-economic rights of our citizens.
In a positive way, it was noted that no woman was restricted in her right to participate in the political life of the country. The Government has taken measures to remove barriers for people with disabilities. There are crisis centers for victims of domestic violence in each region. The standards of responsibility for domestic violence have been tightened. The working conditions have been brought into line with international standards.
For the first time, the United States stopped calling the criminal and thief M. Ablyazov "the true opposition of Kazakhstan." However, Americans continue to classify his supporters and proxy structures created by him around the world as so-called "political prisoners", victims of "cross-border repression" and opposition movements in Kazakhstan.
My greatest surprise is on the verge of perplexity, in this regard, the inclusion of the Mendygaziev brothers in these lists of the State Department, known for their criminal activities long before the United States and the EU listed them as political refugees, and then political prisoners.
The Americans validate their statements with the opinion of the alliance of Kazakhstani non-governmental organizations "Tirek", not without the participation of, of course, the respected Bakhytzhan Toregozhina. By the way, Bakhytzhan Toregozhena, having become a laureate of the US State Department award "For Women's Courage" in 2023, maintains warm friendly relations with the Mendygaziev brothers and other fugitive oligarchs from Kazakhstan. Ms. Toregozhina refuses to work for state grants and the agenda of Fair Kazakhstan.
For such love, Toregozhina receives millions of grants annually from USAID, the EU, and other US institutions, including the National Endowment for Democracy. For example, such grants, NGOs like me, cannot be obtained just like that – our Western partners agreed to consider my applications only in 2026-2027, referring to the planned budget.
The second perplexity was caused by the position of the US State Department to use unofficial statistics on the Tragic January, created by non-governmental organizations whose names are not mentioned in the report. Then 238 people tragically died in the country. The State Department gives different statistics – a lot more and calls them killed. He places information on this issue in the chapter entitled "Politically motivated murders", and calls the Tragic January itself an "internal conflict of the elites".
This is a serious flaw in the experts of the State Department, or an erroneous interpretation that completely does not correspond to the spirit of the "Enhanced Strategic Partnership" between Kazakhstan and the United States, within which our country, perhaps, remains the only country in the region where US assistance and support programs are implemented directly with the civil sector on issues of political development.
The third perplexity, and perhaps the most exciting one here, was caused by the very approach in the State Department report to assessing the efforts of political construction in Kazakhstan. They were completely leveled. Five consecutive years of work by the country's civil society, and the same thing that they finance, on the implementation of Kazakhstan's international obligations in the political life of the country, were not taken into account. They were not even mentioned in the report, but on the contrary.
Thus, the institution of the National Preventive Mechanism is bad, the liberalization of registration of political parties is bad, and the participation of non–partisan candidates in parliamentary elections is an insufficient measure. And such fundamental things as one presidential term, a ban on the President's relatives from holding high political positions, the Constitutional Court, etc. are not mentioned in the report at all.
Gentlemen, experts of the US State Department, the political reforms taking place in Kazakhstan are taking place in a complex geopolitical context, and many people do not like them.
Every reform comes with blood and sweat. As an NGO, I am directly involved in this process and I see how the country is systematically moving towards high standards of democracy.
It is a pity that the US Embassy in Kazakhstan does not notice this and does not report to its colleagues in Washington that Kazakhstan is creating historical precedents for political culture in Central Asia and throughout the post-Soviet space. In this, the country should be supported, and not ignored or openly criticized, using someone's incomprehensible opinion, which the State Department report mentions, but does not say whose.
The standards of developed democracy in conditions of political transit are applied to Kazakhstan. At the same time, these standards are systematically ignored by the United States itself, as well as other Western countries, including the United Kingdom, in the interests of national security.
And here I would like to go back to the comments of US Secretary of State E. Blinken on April 22, when, having reconfirmed the priority of promoting human rights for US foreign policy, he referred to the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the main measure. I fully support Mr. Blinken in this and urge the experts of the US State Department to comply with this norm when assessing Kazakhstan's efforts.