Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considers report of Kazakhstan

Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights

11 May 2010

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has considered the initial report of Kazakhstan (E./C.12/KAZ/1) on how that country implements the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Introducing the report, Assel Nusupova, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Kazakhstan, said some of the basic policies of Kazakhstan in implementing the Covenant were based on placing a high value on individual rights and freedoms. The State had radically changed its social and economic model for development to overcome the financial crisis of 1998 and was successfully emerging from the global crisis of 2008-2009. Despite these economic troubles, Kazakhstan had avoided a drop in the economy, the standard of living and a roll back of social services. Over the last 10 years there had been an eight fold increase in per capita GDP, the population living below the poverty level had fallen from 50 per cent to 10 per cent, life expectancy had increased from 65 to 68 years of age, and child mortality rates had improved as well. All of this had been made possible because of State policies and large-scale State programmes aimed toward ensuring economic, social and cultural rights of citizens. For example, money had been allocated to support the emerging banking system, and a special road map for economic development had been laid out with money allocated to it. As a result, a quarter of a million jobs had been created, with particular emphasis placed on finding jobs for young people and providing training for people. These policies were reflected in a low unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent. The State had also allocated large scale assistance for rural parts of the country to support the agricultural sector to the tune of $1.5 billion.

Ms. Nusupova went on to say that this sound economic approach to development had helped ensure stronger rights for citizens because this had led to an increase in social security resources, including pensions, a universal system of social assistance for deprived families, an increase in expenditures on healthcare and education, and free medical assistance including free medication for women and children.

Among the questions and issues raised by Committee Experts were grave concerns about corruption in the country, particularly among the police, and its impact on the judiciary. The Committee also expressed concerns about the rights of migrant workers, the high rates of intravenous drug use in the country, human trafficking, child labour and the rights of children, environmental degradation, and the rights of persons with disabilities.

The delegation of Afghanistan consisted of representatives from numerous Government agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Prosecutor’s Office, and the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 12 May, when it will begin its consideration of the combined second to fourth periodic report of Afghanistan. It is scheduled to consider the reports of Afghanistan over three meetings, concluding on Friday, 14 May at 1 p.m.

Report of Kazakhstan

The initial report of Kazakhstan (E./C.12/KAZ/1) states that the country endorses the goals of the World Programme for Human Rights Education recommended by the United Nations General Assembly and notes that human rights education makes an enormous contribution to the human rights cause. Human rights are becoming rooted in and realized throughout the education system at all its levels in Kazakhstan. The post of Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) was established in Kazakhstan by a presidential decree of 19 September 2002 in order to ensure respect for human rights and freedoms and the rights of citizens; the Ombudsman is empowered, within the limits of his jurisdiction, to take measures to restore such rights in the event of their violation. The Office of the Ombudsman is a national human rights institution providing additional safeguards with respect to violated rights. The Ombudsman’s fundamental tasks are to consider applications concerning violations of rights, verify the information contained therein, and restore the rights in question if they are found to have been violated.

A Gender Equality Strategy for 2006-2016 was drafted as part of the effort to secure gender equality; it was approved by Presidential Decree No. 1677 of 29 November 2005. This Strategy constitutes a core document and tool for implementing the State’s gender policy and for monitoring by the State and civil society; it is an important factor in the development of democracy. Kazakhstan has a National Commission on Family and Gender Affairs, established by Presidential Decree No. 56 of 1 February 2006 as a consultative/advisory body attached to the Office of the President. Kazakhstan’s social problems are due to the fact that while previously the State had borne a considerable part of social spending (on education, health, social security, etc.) and, in general terms, the services in question were available to the whole population regardless of individual material situations, with the switch to a market system under which people have to pay for social services, the problem of protecting social rights became more acute, for many of the services are beyond the means of the poorer members of the population. As is apparent from the applications made to the Human Rights Ombudsman, one serious obstacle to the resolution of complaints filed by persons with disabilities is the absence in practice of effective arrangements to protect their rights, together with the inertia and the unresponsive attitude of State organs. And the Ombudsman continues to receive reports of violations of the rights of children with disabilities.

Presentation of Report

ASSEL NUSUPOVA, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Kazakhstan, introducing the initial report of Kazakhstan, said becoming a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights demonstrated the striving of Kazakhstan toward sustainable development and its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the basic policies of Kazakhstan in implementing the Covenant were based on placing high value on individual rights and freedoms. The State had radically changed its social and economic model for development and overcome the financial crisis of 1998 and was successfully emerging from the global crisis of 2008-2009. Despite these economic troubles, Kazakhstan had avoided a drop in the economy, the standard of living and a roll back of social services. Over the last 10 years there had been an eight fold increase in per capita GDP, the population living below the poverty level had fallen from 50 per cent to 10 per cent, life expectancy had increased from 65 to 68 years of age, and child mortality rates had improved as well. All of this had been made possible because of State policies and large-scale State programmes aimed toward ensuring economic, social and cultural rights of citizens. For example, money had been allocated to support the emerging banking system, and a special road map for economic development had been laid out with money allocated to it. As a result, a quarter of a million jobs had been created, with particular emphasis placed on finding jobs for young people and providing training for people. These policies were reflected in a low unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent. The State had also allocated large-scale assistance for rural parts of the country to support the agricultural sector to the tune of $ 1.5 billion.

Kazakhstan had also taken measures to support the housing industry, with particular attention given to protecting the rights of vulnerable people in housing project schemes and these policies had helped 350,000 families acquire apartments and houses. The State had a comprehensive programme to give support to entrepreneurs because by expanding the economic possibilities this would help society by accelerating development and making the most of human capital.

Ms. Nusupova said that a sound economic basis had helped ensure stronger rights for citizens because this had led to an increase in social security resources, including pensions, a universal system of social assistance for deprived families, an increase in expenditures on healthcare and education, and free medical assistance including free medication for women and children.

Ms. Nusupova said that Kazakhstan was one of the first countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of full accessibility to free education for both boys and girls, and almost all schools had Internet access. Kazakhstan had given the opportunity of education to all children and services were available in 19 languages in the country.

The State supported childhood, motherhood and paternity with subsidies for children and newborn babies, along with support for working mothers who received social security payments, and there were also subsidies for disabled children.

Legislative improvements had been made as well, according to Ms. Nusupova, including the ratification of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption and additional measures to ensure the protection of destitute children. There was also an interdepartmental commission to protect the rights of minors from things like alcoholism and violence. As a result, the State had seen a decrease in crime among minors.

The State had done a great deal of work to ensure equal rights between men and women through the country’s strategy on gender equality. There was a network of women leaders to ensure that gender examination was taken at every level of national legislation and efforts had been made to increase the number of women in public positions to 30 per cent.

Ms. Nusupova said that in order to preserve the cultural and social heritage of Kazakhstan, everyone had the right to participate in the cultural life of the country. The country had over 50 theatres where numerous languages could be heard, TV stations in 8 languages, books were published in over 11 languages and radio was broadcast in over 7 languages. As a result, the country enjoyed multi-ethnic and multi-religious harmony and there was no racial discord in the country. This great degree of ethnic and religious tolerance could also be seen in the makeup of the legislature as well.

The State was committed to protecting the economic, social and cultural rights of its people through national legislation and institutions that ensured broad respect for the fundamental rights of people. Ms. Nusupova said that the main guidelines to make sure this happened were laid out in a strategic development plan for Kazakhstan where the individual was the main treasure of the State and the country would do everything possible to improve this human capital.

In closing, Ms. Nusupova said that Kazakhstan was open to international dialogue and it had set for itself the ambitious goal of sustainable development, the core of which was the individual, his rights and freedoms.

Questions by Experts

The Committee wanted to know if the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had been invoked in courts of law in any cases.

Numerous Committee Experts raised grave concerns about corruption in the country, particularly among the police, and its impact on the judiciary. The delegation was asked what steps the country would be prepared to take to ensure the independence of the judiciary and to combat corruption in the police ranks and other parts of society.

The Committee asked for clarification on what rights migrant workers enjoyed in the country, whether they were irregular or legal, particularly their economic, social and cultural rights. The delegation was also asked if the State had signed the 1990 Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. An Expert wanted to know if Kazakhstan was a country of emigration or immigration. Pointing out that Kazakhstan had signed a number of agreements with neighbouring countries on migration, the Expert wanted to know how this would impact migration flows.

One Committee Expert raised the point that the data on health, housing, education and indicators in rural territories was not very complete and asked if the delegation could provide more information on these areas.

The topic of combating environmental degradation within the context of the Covenant was raised and the delegation was asked how the State incorporated economic, social and cultural rights into these policies.

An Expert asked the delegation whether Kazakhstan was planning to adopt a non-discrimination bill, adding that there seemed to be very comprehensive strategy and machinery in place for ensuring gender equality, but how were the various bodies coordinated and how exactly did they combat gender inequality?

Along these same lines of gender equality, the Committee asked what percentage of women were in high positions in the public sector and what was the status of the proposed law that would establish a quota of 30 per cent for women in the public sector. Also, what was done if a woman had a complaint about unequal treatment? Who was responsible for addressing these complaints and enforcing these rights?

Numerous Committee members had questions about the country’s National Commission on Human Rights. How did they hear cases, how were Commissioners chosen, how did they ensure the body was independent, what was their mandate and what powers did they have, what was the relationship between the ombudsman and the Commission and how did they harmonize their work?

Several Committee members asked if Kazakhstan planned to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

An Expert said the problem of human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation was a serious problem in the country and wanted to know whether there was data available on this issue and if there was specific legislation criminalizing human trafficking.

An Expert pointed out that according to the State’s report, Russian was the official language and Kazakh was the language of the State. The delegation was asked to explain what the distinction between the two was and what were the legal implications of this distinction?

A Committee Expert asked if there was sufficient awareness in the population as to their rights under the Convention.

How did Kazakhstan ensure the rights of persons with disabilities and how many people made up this community, an Expert asked.

Response by Delegation

The delegation first responded to the issue of judicial independence that was raised by numerous members of the Committee, saying that Kazakhstan had adopted a number of programme actions including a National Plan of Action and had introduced several amendments to the Constitution, including one to consolidate the independence of the judiciary in the country. Judges were elected by senators based on nominees put forward by the President while local judges were appointed on the basis of recommendations of the Supreme Court. These changes had not been in place when Kazakhstan submitted their report to the Committee. Regarding the transparency and openness of the judicial process, pains had been taken to ensure the electronic reporting of all the proceedings and there was an electronic database where legislation and legal proceedings were accessible to all. The country had also implemented many of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary so that the independence of the judiciary was substantially strengthened.

Regarding the National Commission on Human Rights and the Ombudsman, it was true that they both dealt with human rights. The National Commission on Human Rights was a consultative body governed by the Paris Principles whose main aim was to strengthen State policies on human rights as well as serve as a link between the State and the public on human rights issues. The Office of the Ombudsman was also set up by presidential decree and as pointed out by Committee experts in many ways it did not correspond to the Paris Principles, but legislation had been introduced to change that. The Commission was empowered to accept complaints by citizens and last year they received 1,500 petitions, of which 30 per cent were upheld and the person’s rights were reinstated. The Commission on Human Rights was also empowered to examine the activities of any person regardless of position. The delegation pointed out that both institutions worked together and they often held joint conferences, seminars, training courses, and worked with civic society to address various issues such as torture.

The delegation went on to explain the functioning of the Constitutional Council, whose members were appointed by the President with the exception of two who were appointed by the senate. This Council was empowered to examine any constitutional amendments adopted by the legislature, aspects of election law, and court cases that dealt with constitutional matters. The delegation said it was true that the President could veto decisions taken by the Constitutional Council, although this power had never been invoked and it had to be supported by two thirds of the Constitutional Council itself.

The delegation then turned to the issue of whether international treaties prevailed over national legislation in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan was party to 60 international human rights treaties and these treaties did in fact prevail over national law. When national laws were in conflict with treaty obligations, lawmakers were required to introduce legislation to harmonize these laws with international treaty obligations.

Turning to the numerous questions raised about corruption, the delegation said that fighting corruption was an important priority for the Government. In terms of fighting corruption in the judiciary specifically, there were very strict laws against it and anyone found to be participating in corruption was immediately stripped of their powers and prosecuted. As a result, the country had seen a drop in its corruption index. They were also developing a reform law regarding law enforcement bodies to ensure there was no corruption among the ranks of the judiciary.

On the issue of migration and migrant workers, the delegation said foreigners were required to register within five days of crossing the border into Kazakhstan and they had to have a passport in which they would be issued a visa. Kazakhstan had bilateral agreements with some countries which meant no visas were required for citizens of those countries. There were over 1 million foreigners registered, mostly from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. According to the International Organization for Migration, Kazakhstan was a country with one of the highest migration flows and as a result they needed special resources to deal with the high rates of migration. The country had a special need for skilled workers because they could not meet this demand with their population alone. There were also irregular migrant workers who entered the country as tourists and then took on work which infringed on the country’s labour laws. These workers could be taken to court for such infractions. This year they passed labour legislation that would correspond with international norms in terms of employing and monitoring migrant workers. The delegation said that generally, Kazakhstan was a country that took in migrant workers rather than exported them to other countries.

On the topic of trafficking in persons, there was a law passed in 2003 which made changes to the criminal code to criminalize human trafficking, particularly trafficking in children, kidnapping and forced labour.

Unemployment was currently very low in Kazakhstan at about 1.8 per cent for the population. In terms of real wages they were 4 per cent higher than last year and this was increasing from year to year. This indicated that despite the economic crisis the real wages of Kazakhstani people were rising. About 10 per cent of people in the country lived below the poverty line and Kazakhstan had reached the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty in 2004, one of the first countries to do so.

Looking at healthcare indicators, the delegation said that demographic data illustrated that Kazakhstan had seen an increase in births and a decrease in deaths, although there had been a rise in the morbidity and mortality rates from tuberculosis. Major projects had been launched to combat this disease and all affected persons received free medical care.

Questions had been raised about environmental issues and how these policies were reconciled with economic, social and cultural rights in the country. The delegation answered this by saying they had undertaken a number of special projects to provide clean drinking water.

The delegation then responded to the questions of bilingualism in Kazakhstan and ethnic tensions in the country. The use of the Kazak and Russian languages was something that had been established over many centuries as Kazakhstan had been a member of the Russian empire and then the Soviet Union. The decision to have two languages was formulized in a 1998 law which confirmed Kazak as the State language, but Russian was also used in the functions of all State bodies. Russian was the language of most of the media working in Kazakhstan and almost all residents could speak it. As a matter of integrating into the international community, the Government was considering having three languages; Russian as an official language, Kazak as a state language and English as the language of international communication.

In terms of ethnic tensions, the delegation said that at this time they could not point to any tensions that posed a threat to the community. Currently, there was a policy to resurrect the Kazakh culture, but at this point there were no problems with tensions.

Regarding gender equality, the National Commission on Gender and Family Matters had a great deal of power to coordinate all Government efforts and to intervene on federal and local levels. Resources had been allocated from the national budget for their work. In the case of stereotypes, these were not a major problem but as in any other State they existed. A national survey on gender roles showed that attitudes were changing and that the work that was being done to overcome gender stereotypes was working. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars had been allocated to raise awareness of the problem of negative gender stereotypes. The number of women in high posts in Parliament had more than doubled from 8 to 19 and legislation had been passed on equal rights between men and women. On the topic of wage disparities between men and women, they were aiming to make sure that women received at least 80 per cent of the pay that men received. Currently the rate was 64 per cent, but this was not due to discrimination, but because women often took on lower paid work than men. In terms of how the National Commission on Gender and Family Matters responded to complaints by women, it was empowered to pass these complaints to the appropriate bodies and monitor them to ensure that the complaints were resolved.

The delegation then turned to questions on how the citizenry was made aware of its rights under the Covenant. The delegation said that the National Plan of Action for Human Rights included an awareness raising component for bodies responsible for implementing and enforcing the Convention and the information was also available online on numerous websites and in printed materials at the federal and local levels in both Russian and Kazak. They had also adopted a world programme on human rights and currently in secondary schools children were required to take courses on human rights as well as courses on civil society. Television and radio also played a part in disseminating this information.

Regarding the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, the delegation was happy to inform the Committee that Kazakhstan had initiated the procedure in January 2010 to ratify that treaty.

In terms of the Office of the Ombudsman, last year that office had received an invitation to receive accreditation but as the State had been planning to institute changes and adopt new laws for the office so that it would more fully correspond to the Paris Principles, they had opted to start the accreditation procedure after these legislative changes had taken effect.

It had been suggested that Kazakhstan adopt the law on the eradication on all forms of racial discrimination and they had begun steps to do so and it would be considered by the legislature this fall. There were already laws on the books prohibiting discrimination, such as the Universal Law on Discrimination as well as protections in the Constitution, but the passage of this additional law would help strengthen these rights.

The delegation addressed concerns about the power of the President and said that the Government was subordinate to the Parliament, not the President. As such the President did not dominate the Government, but rather made sure all branches worked well together.

In terms of harmonizing national laws with international treaties, the delegation said that when Kazakhstan adopted treaties those standards became the legal norm and were applied as law in the country so that the national law was subordinate to international agreements. They also took a proactive approach and modified their national laws so that at the moment of ratification of an international document there was no discrepancy between national laws and international agreements.

Looking at the questions the Committee raised regarding the rights of people with disabilities, the delegation said the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan had established a working group to draft a proposal to look at institutional and budgetary requirements to respond to the needs of people with disabilities and from this they could establish an exact timeline of when they could expect to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. There was also an Act on Special Services established whose aim was to provide a new model of services for people with disabilities by providing government funding for non-governmental organizations, providing more opportunities for private services, and providing day care centres for people with mental illness. In terms of statistics on people with disabilities, there were 400,000 disabled people currently living in Kazakhstan or about 3 per cent of total population and the number of people who had registered as having a disability was decreasing every year.

Questions by Experts

In follow-up comments one member of the Committee suggested that Kazakhstan should go beyond a law against racial discrimination and broaden it to include other forms of discrimination. The Committee Expert also provided details on where they had received certain figures pertaining to Kazakhstan’s unemployment.

The Committee raised the issues of how the Covenant was used in the court system, specifically were articles of the Covenant directly applicable in legal procedures in Kazakhstan or was there some curtailment of these laws?

Response by Delegation

Responding to the issue of the use of international law in court cases, the delegation said there was the possibility of the direct implementation of the norms of the Covenant in legal cases, but that the norms of the Constitution already included many of these protections and changes were made to the relevant national legislation so that those national laws could be the basis for legal cases as well.

Questions by Experts

Regarding the unemployment rate in Kazakhstan, the Committee wanted to know how the unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent was calculated, whether it took into account the informal sector, and what were the raw numbers of unemployed people?

Turning to the issue of forced labour, the report of Kazakhstan stated that the freedom of labour and free choice in type of labour were guaranteed and forced labour was only allowed as part of the execution of a court sentence or in the case of military actions. The Committee pointed out that forced labour under any circumstances was illegal and then went on to ask what the situation was with migrant workers because there had been reports that in certain sectors workers were forced to work long hours for little or no remuneration and had their passports taken away to prevent them from seeking other work or leaving.

Keeping on the topic of labour practices, the Committee asked how much the minimum wage was and if it provided a decent standard of living for workers. The Committee also suggested Kazakhstan could do better in terms of parity in pay between men and women than the goal of 80 per cent parity for women in ten years and it wanted to know where the country stood now in terms of pay for women in comparison to men. Also, was there a law dictating equal pay for equal work in Kazakhstan? On the issue of maternity leave, the delegation was asked whether taking maternity leave had a negative impact on a woman’s advancement in the workplace. The Committee wanted to know as well how maternity leave payments were funded and dispersed to working mothers.

The Committee noted that the number of occupational accidents was rising in the country and wanted to know what was being done to ensure workplace safety. The Committee also wanted to know whether there were sectors that did not have the right to strike and it noted that some of the requirements for declaring a strike seemed excessive, such as the 15 day warning period as well as the need to garner 50 per cent of the union vote to invoke a strike. This exceeded the International Labour Organization standard. Also, the Committee wanted clarification on whether workers lost their right to pensions during a strike because there was some language in the report that suggested this was the case. The Committee also asked for details about a strike in March 2010 that was declared illegal.

A Committee member pointed out that figures available from the United Nations Development Programme and other reports regarding unemployment differed from the numbers provided by the delegation and the Expert asked for a clarification on the unemployment figures. The delegation was applauded for requiring companies to provide the same pay and benefits to expatriates as to citizens and they were also congratulated for encouraging a better work life balance. The Committee wanted to know how businesses had responded to this challenge of a better work life balance and what else the State could do to encourage this. The delegation was asked to identify its best labour practices that it was most proud of.

In terms of the pension system, an Expert noted that there had been a pension reform programme since 1998 and there were 14 pension funds available in the country. But there was something in the report that raised concerns in the Committee regarding people taking personal responsibility for investing their pension funds and this was troubling to the Committee. What safeguards were in place for pensions, particularly in light of the troubled financial markets? Also, was there a minimum pension amount and was there a difference in payments received by people who retired before 1998 and those who retired after 1998? The Committee also wanted to know how unemployment benefits were handled and what social protections were available for people who worked in the informal sector. Were these workers eligible for pensions in their old age?

In terms of persons with disabilities, less than 1,000 of them had received jobs under a quota scheme established by the Government. Did the delegation think this was sufficient and what more could be done to integrate them further into society?

Response by Delegation

Responding to the issue of disparities in pay between men and women, the delegation said that women currently earned 64 per cent of what men made and this was up 3 per cent from last year. The labour code dictated equal pay for equal work, and the difference in pay could be accounted for by the fact that women tended to be engaged in different types of work than men. In terms of maternity leave, women were entitled to three years of maternity leave and their salary and jobs had to be kept for them. This maternity leave was paid and when the woman went back to work she would receive both her salary and child subsidies. Men were also entitled to paternity leave.

In terms of increasing work life balance, subsidies were paid to men and women to ensure women had the possibility to work, the State was expanding their school and day care institutions to take care of children ages one through six, and the State was encouraging telecommuting and work from home schemes to allow people to work and still look after their children.

The delegation then addressed the issues of workplace accidents and industrial injuries. In Kazakhstan there were many different branches of industry that were very dangerous such as mining and there had been an increase in injuries in those areas. Workplace deaths reached a peak in 2006 when 475 people were killed and since then there had been a steady decrease. Last year there was a tremendous amount of activity in the construction sector and as a result there was an increase in accidents in this sector. They had ratified a convention on workplace safety and hygiene that made the contractor responsible for overall aspects of safety and security in the workplace and they were applying all the standards dictated by the International Labour Organization treaties to which they were party. They also held seminars and awareness raising campaigns about workplace safety.

In terms of trade unions in Kazakhstan, there was genuine democracy when it came to the right to strike, according to the delegation. However, strikes were not always carried out in conformity with legislation. There was a concept of safety at work and in terms of the oil, gas and nuclear industries they had specific measures outlined by the State in terms of union responsibilities and so that was why there was a 15 day rule applied to all strikes in certain industries, to insure safety of the sector. All their large scale industries had collective bargaining agreements and they were aware of the rules regarding this 15 day rule. If a strike was carried out without following the rules and a court ruled it was an illegal strike, then the workers were not entitled to their salaries and benefits if they were involved in an illegal action.

The delegation then turned to the issue of pensions and retirement, saying that there was a minimum social security pension and there were cases in which an employer could get rid of a worker before retirement age, for example in cases of mine workers who might be too old to work in the mine but were not yet of retirement age, and payments would have to be made according to the collective bargaining agreement until the person was of retirement age.

The issue of forced labour had been raised and the delegation responded to the Committee’s concerns by saying that Kazakhstan had adopted a labour code in 2006 that contained the standards of the Covenant and included provisions of non discrimination and no forced labour. Forced labour was only possible as a result of a sentence handed down by a court or as the result of mobilization in the army. Thus far, the delegation had not been able to find a single case in which the sentence of forced labour had been handed down by a court, but the delegation also pointed out that many developed democracies imposed the sentence of community service and that was forced labour.

The delegation said that the March 2010 strike that was declared illegal was done so by the court after it found that a number of requirements had not been met, but the workers continued to strike for ten days and no repressive measures were taken by the State or the organizers of the strike. The workers kept their pay and benefits and there were procedures underway to resolve the issues between the employer and employees that led to the strike.

Looking at unemployment in Kazakhstan, the delegation offered the Committee more detailed numbers. Currently the unemployment rate was 6.3 per cent which translated to 554,000 unemployed people. The number of unemployed people had significantly decreased in the last five years from 13.5 per cent or a decrease of 86,000 people. Long term unemployment was low at just over 1 per cent for men and 3 per cent for women and targeted social assistance was provided to people who suffered from long term joblessness. Every year 200,000 jobs were created in the country and 7.9 million people were employed in Kazakhstan; 3.5 million people worked for private enterprises, while 2.7 million were described as self-employed. The delegation said that they only kept statistics on self-employed people rather than the informal sector. Unemployment benefits were available to workers who had a history of paying into the system.

The Committee had asked whether the employment quota for people with disabilities was adequate or not, and the delegation said that the majority of people with disabilities were children who could not be employed so the targets were adequate.

Regarding concerns about the privatized pension system, the delegation said this system was introduced in 1998 and while there was concern about the effective management of those assets, they had not had any problems with it thus far. Even in the economic crisis of 2007-2008, only one pension plan suffered losses. In terms of personal responsibility, in the long term the Government was still responsible for those people who were working up until 1998 and after that people were responsible for managing their own portfolio.

On the topic of migrant workers, the delegation asserted that they had the same rights as citizens so any infringement on their rights did not exist. Irregular migrants who were there illegally did not go to the courts or authorities when their rights were infringed so raids were constantly being carried out by police and the Ministry of Labour to address this problem. Thus far about 500 Kazak employers had been taken to court and people who had violated immigration laws had been deported or had their stays cut short. There was a labour reform law under consideration that would address many of the issues surrounding irregular workers.

Questions by Experts

The Committee asked follow up questions to get clarification on the difference between the basic and minimum pensions and whether they covered everyone and how they were calculated. The Committee also wanted to know whether there was protection for self-employed people or people in the informal sector.

The delegation was asked how they defined equal pay for equal work and it was suggested by the Committee that diversifying the economy outside of oil and gas could help to reduce unemployment in Kazakhstan. It was also pointed out that a lesson of the international monetary crisis was not to take too many risks with pensions and social security.

Response by Delegation

The delegation said that the minimum pension was calculated according to a minimum number of working years, which were 20 years for women and 25 years for men. If a worker did not work this number of years they would not be eligible for the maximum pension amount. Pensions were also adjusted for inflation. Currently, they were revising their pension laws, but there were no plans to increase the pensionable age beyond 58 years for women and 63 years for men. The basic pension was provided for everyone who reached the age of 58 and 63 respectively. In terms of allowing women to work past the age of 58 and to not discriminate against those who were older than that age and wanted to continue working, the delegation said that women had the option of retiring at 63 if they wanted to, but they had found that most people wanted to retire even earlier than the government retirement age, especially those people living in rural communities and working in the agricultural sector.

Again, regarding private pension systems and the 1998 reform, they introduced a new system based on personal pension savings and they had no intention of changing it. They wanted everyone to think about their future and make contributions to their pension so they could have a decent living when they retired. The Government still financed a huge part of the pension system for those people who retired before 1998 and would continue to play a huge role in the future.

In terms of protections of people in the irregular economy and self-employed people, the delegation said that self-employed people represented various groups of the population so they could be individual enterprises or small enterprises and they were registered with the tax authorities and made contributions to the social assistance and pension funds so they would benefit from these funds in the future. Seventy per cent of self employed people were covered by the private pension schemes.

Questions by Experts

The Committee noted that the rate of economic growth was very high in Kazakhstan, but this could lead to income inequality and inflation. What was the Government doing via its tax system to reduce income inequality and control the rate of inflation?

What information could be provided on domestic violence? For example, how widespread was the problem, what legislation was there to deal with this issue and how many cases had been prosecuted?

The Committee raised the issue of rural poverty, which showed that 63 per cent of people were living below the poverty line. Also, the poverty line was fixed at less than $ 1 per day and the Committee wanted to know why it was so low. Also, did Kazakhstan’s poverty reduction strategy incorporate economic, social and cultural rights?

An Expert pointed out that life expectancy seemed to have declined since 1990 when it was 68 years and had fallen to 65 in 2009. Could the delegation explain this gap considering the economic development of Kazakhstan as well as the 11 year gap in life expectancy between men and women?

Regarding the right to health, what was the per cent of the population who had access to healthcare in the country? What was being done to train medical professionals and what was being done to reduce the morbidity rate? Also, the delegation was asked if they could describe the quality of healthcare and whether it differed between rural and urban areas. The Committee also raised concerns about reports that people had been falsely interned in psychiatric facilities. Could the delegation also address the link between liver, kidney and respiratory diseases and air pollution, the lack of access to water and desertification?

The delegation was asked if there were continued health effects from nuclear explosions carried out during the Soviet years and what impact the depletion and pollution of the Aral Sea had on the population and if there was a plan of action to address this issue.

The Committee was also interested in knowing what the scale of drug use was in the country and what treatment was afforded to addicts, including medical or punitive treatments. Also, did the delegation have any data on how effective methadone treatment centres had been in drug addiction treatment?

Concerning the rights of children, the Committee wanted to know if a special children’s ombudsman had been established, if so was it independent, could children report directly to the office and did its powers also include a mandate regarding child labour?

Regarding family law, the Committee asked if was it applied equally to both men and women or were there exceptions made, for example for Muslim families. What was the age of marriage?

The Committee said there seemed to be a serious problem with human trafficking and wanted to know what was being done to address this issue.

The delegation was asked what issues faced people in terms of housing, for example people defaulting on mortgages due to the financial crisis. What had been done to help them? There was also a migration from rural areas to the city, creating slums and shanty towns on the edge of towns and leaving people in a very vulnerable position. The Committee asked the delegation for data on homelessness, forced evictions and people living in inadequate housing. There were reports that forced evictions were widespread in the State party and yet their response to the list of issues made absolutely no mention of this. Was the State party prepared to create a general framework to deal with this widespread problem?

The Committee asked if more specific data could be provided regarding child labour. What was the extent of the problem in the country and what measures had been taken to ameliorate it?

The delegation was asked what was being done to combat domestic violence, including whether the draft law against domestic violence had been enacted. It was also pointed out that the draft law did not seem to focus on the prosecution of perpetrators and there were reports that women brought very few cases of domestic violence as perpetrators operated with impunity and there was a great deal of red tape in filing claims and launching investigations. There had also been allegations that female prisoners were abused by prison officials and were cut off from their families while incarcerated. The Committee asked if these allegations were true.

The Committee wanted to know what happened in the cases of unregistered marriages, particularly of minors, vis-à-vis the various cultures and religions.

The delegation was asked to elaborate on what was being done regarding human trafficking and the nexus between this crime, drug trafficking, corruption and organized crime.

Also, was it a state policy to use substitution treatments such as methadone in the treatment of drug abuse?

An Expert noted that there were a large number of orphans in the State and asked what was being done on the adoption front to address this issue and what was being done to ensure that orphans received the funds they were entitled to from the State. The Expert also wanted to know how the issue of street children was being dealt with.

A Committee Expert asked what was being done in the area of sexual and reproductive health education.

A Committee Expert asked if the delegation could further explain what measures the State was taking to address urgent environmental problems, what they would do to lower the environmental risk and how they would manage these risks on both the legal and technical levels.

The Committee said that the report of Kazakhstan did not include information on what the country was doing to provide sanitation services to the populace, and the delegation was asked to please elaborate on this point.

Response by Delegation

The delegation began with the question regarding measures to combat inflation. The State had a very robust macroeconomic fiscal and monetary policy. The purpose of all these policies was to ensure economic equilibrium and they had worked up until now, as evidenced by the country’s economic growth. The Government took active measures to protect the country from inflation, including increasing the treasury’s reserves, keeping the deficit low and encouraging savings and investments in pension funds.

With regards to domestic violence, there was a special department dealing with the protection of women from violence. There had also been an additional article added to the law to allow for prosecutions for assault within domestic relations and more than 42,000 people had been brought to court under this law and domestic violence crimes had decreased by 80 per cent. In 2005 there were 1,600 domestic violence cases, and last year there were 887 cases. In 2010, 194 cases had been reported. The law against domestic violence entered into force in December 2009 and it included a standard on prevention so that any police officer who responded to a domestic violence call had the responsibility of taking action and issuing a protection order against the perpetrator. Judges could also prohibit the perpetrator from contacting the victim in any way and could also prohibit access to guns. Any person who was subject to any such protection provision was included on a list at the police station, and the protection order could be extended up to two months. The delegation felt the law offered a very real opportunity for preventing domestic violence.

On the issue of drugs, the President had entered a decree in 2005 on the strategy against drugs and drug trafficking, and the decree defined competencies and responsibilities of all State departments in that matter. The illegal production and storage of drugs were the major crimes they tracked and many different measures had been employed to combat the transit of drugs through Kazakhstan. As a result of these measures, 27 million tons of drugs had been confiscated including marijuana, hashish and heroin. There had also been a decrease in the number of women and minors committing crimes.

On the matter of life expectancy, the delegation conceded that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic crisis did adversely affect life expectancy, but they had recovered to their 1990 levels of 68 years of age. They had employed programmes from the Ministry of Health and other departments to address this issue. Men suffered disproportionately from cardiovascular disease, died from injuries more and were more likely to engage in bad habits so that was why they had a life expectancy that was 11 years less than women.

Regarding health insurance, there was a guaranteed package of medical assistance that was covered by the State budget and private employers and the like were encouraged to offer health insurance to their workers. A great deal of attention was being given to primary and preventive health care including vaccinations, and the training of medical staff had been increased. There were also laws proposed to improve mental healthcare standards and to protect the rights of people interned in psychiatric hospitals.

In terms of children’s rights, there was an office within the Human Rights Ombudsman’s office that dealt with this issue, in addition to nine other offices that dealt with the human rights of children and they provided social, medical, and legal help when required. Work was also being done to prevent the worst forms of child labour and to inform children and parents of their rights.

According to the delegation, there were over 42,000 orphans and abandoned children in Kazakhstan. Many of those children had been placed with families and 2,000 children had been placed in foster care. Over 15,000 children were being taken care of by several of the 213 organizations and orphanages that dealt with this issue. The State had started an experiment with the United Nations Children's Fund to help families overcome destitution and avoid children being given away to institutions. They were also encouraging alternative avenues such as adoption and foster care. They had also harmonized their national adoption laws with international standards and that had resulted in fewer children living in orphanages.

The legal marriage age was 18, which could be lowered under certain circumstances and marriage and motherhood were protected by the State. There were no prohibitions on religious marriages, but they were not as widespread as civil marriages.

On the question of migration from rural areas to urban areas and its impact on adequate housing and homelessness, the delegation said these migrants usually built their own accommodation as that was the least costly and most accessible form of housing. The State had set for itself as a major objective the providing of communications, heat, water, and electricity to these homes. They had also planned to build schools and hospitals to meet the needs of these communities, while private enterprises would contribute businesses, shops and stores. Regarding assistance for people who defaulted on their mortgages, money had been earmarked for loan forgiveness and assistance. Kazakhstan was also planning a programme where it would lease government lands to people for 13 years and they would pay only for the community services during this 13 year rental period.

Turning to the matter of forced evictions, according to the Constitution confiscation of property was possible if the State required it and it could only take place when there were no other alternatives to meeting State interests. Homes that were demolished were those that were found in places where homes should not have been built and those people were paid adequate compensation or were relocated and re-housed.

As far as methadone drug treatment was concerned, the delegation said the Government had started a pilot programme last year enabling the use of methadone in substitution therapy. Data would be available later this year as to the effectiveness of this treatment.

The delegation said that the State was paying great attention to the issue of providing drinking water to a majority of the population. Over $ 1 billion had been allocated to a clean drinking water programme from 2002-2010 and water now reached 66 per cent of the population and they hoped to raise this number to 75 per cent. The State was continually carrying out work on sanitary measures to better the quality of drinking water as well as access. Bodies responsible for safe drinking water were empowered to impose fines and halt production to ensure the quality and safety of the water supply.

Several Experts had raised the issue of the former Soviet nuclear test site in Kazakhstan and the delegation said this issue was very vital to the country. The Government had paid special attention to the rehabilitation of the nuclear test site area including addressing environmental problems, economic problems and healthcare problems.

A great deal of attention had also been paid to the restoration of the Aral Sea. At the time, the economic situation of the country meant that it was difficult to allocate money to these problems, but the problems were addressed nonetheless. According to the delegation, the problem of the Aral Sea was not one of pollution, but one of a link between water levels in the Caspian Sea and the Aral. Despite this, the measures taken by the Government helped slow the decline of water levels of the sea and revitalize the economies of the area. In 1994 the Central Asian countries established the Aral Sea Foundation and they joined with the World Bank to realize a rehabilitation project for the sea. This fall there would be a conference of potential donors to bring more funds to the restoration of the Aral Sea.

With regard to sexual and reproductive health, health clinics had been set up around the country where people could get information and education from doctors, sociologists and psychologists. People who lived near the nuclear test sites could also be seen at clinics and if it was determined that their health problems stemmed from radiation or other nuclear by-products, there were funds set up to pay for their medical bills and disabilities.

The delegation wanted to point out that human trafficking was not a systemic problem in Kazakhstan and they knew of only isolated cases, for example 20 in 2008. The Government had taken legislative steps to combat this issue by criminalizing human trafficking in the criminal code, ratifying a number of conventions on human trafficking, and establishing 21 crisis centres throughout Kazakhstan for victims of trafficking, two of them dealing specifically with men. The State also offered legal help to victims of trafficking.

Concerning women in prisons, the delegation said special attention was given to pregnant women and women with children under two years of age. Women could leave prison to go visit their children for up to seven days, they were allowed to receive food parcels and they could have visitors.

The delegation said that no extreme poverty existed in Kazakhstan so perhaps the Committee had been misinformed.

Questions by Experts

In follow-up questions the Committee asked the delegation to explain the large number of orphans in the country and how did the State monitor their well-being in orphanages and foster care? In terms of the raids on businesses for child labour, had any of these cases been prosecuted?

Was there any attempt to hold the former Soviet Union responsible for the impact of the nuclear testing?

Response by Delegation

The delegation clarified the number of orphans in the country and said the Committee had been mistaken in the number of orphans sited. The Office of the Attorney General monitored the safety of children and the orphanages were more open and transparent than they had been in the past so it was easier to monitor children in their care. There were also a number of hotlines and emergency numbers that had also been set up so children could report any abuse.

Regarding child labour, the delegation said only 35 cases had been found thus far, but they were very active in monitoring this issue.

On the question of who should be held responsible for problems stemming from the nuclear test site, the delegation said the problems were not due to bad decisions made during the Soviet era, but rather they were the outcome of the arms race during the Cold War. In reality, if they wanted to politicize the issue they would have invited a number of world powers here today to ask them to make good on this issue, but would that have gotten them any positive results? They decided on another way, which was to work with the world community to take all possible measures to prevent the future appearance of any such nuclear test site anywhere else in the world. Kazakhstan was the first country to decide to get rid of all its nuclear weapons.

Concerning the problem of the Aral Sea, this was partly man made and the result of poor agricultural and irrigation policies, but it was not helpful to blame another country or the proper way to solve the problem, so they decided it was best to work with world bodies to address these problems.

Questions by Experts

Several Committee members asked what rights were enjoyed by ethnic minorities and what sort of measures were taken to ensure they had full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

What access did vulnerable groups have to the Internet?

The Committee asked if education was totally free in terms of implementation, and whether funds would be increased to support access to culture and cultural life.

The Committee asked if in the future the delegation could provide disaggregated data along the lines of race, gender, age and economic status.

Response by Delegation

Responding to the issues on education, the delegation said that indeed they did have free education in accordance with the Constitution, but there were in fact some parents who paid for extra enrichment for their children and made voluntary contributions to their kids’ school in order to improve facilities for their children.

On the topic of cultural identity, the delegation said Uzbeks had their own theatres, television stations, books and newspapers. There were also Uyghurs and Germans who had their own theatres, schools and TV channels as well and similar data could be quoted for almost all minorities living in Kazakhstan. Textbooks and instruction were available in numerous languages as well.

On the development of the Internet in Kazakhstan, the official data showed 30 per cent of the population used the Internet, but numbers from non-governmental organizations indicated this number was closer to 20 per cent. The majority of schools were connected to the Internet free of charge so children from all backgrounds had access to the World Wide Web, including those from vulnerable groups. In terms of increasing funding for cultural activities, the delegation said at this point the Ministry of Culture already paid a great deal to support cultural activities and did not have the budget to do more.

The delegation believed that Kazakhstan’s cultural and economic progress was due to the country’s multi-ethnic and pluralistic society, and this could be seen across society, including the legislature.

Closing Remarks

In closing remarks, ASSEL NUSUPOVA, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Kazakhstan, thanked the Committee for their active interest in Kazakhstan’s progress on economic, social and cultural rights. Kazakhstan was a young country keen to follow international standards and complete all the legislative, administrative and institutional changes necessary to become a prosperous country. The delegation realized that they had some issues and problems, but they were trying to solve those issues despite financial and economic constraints. Ms. Nusupova said Kazakhstan would address and fully complete the provisions of the Covenant.

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