DEPUTY RIGHTS CHIEF ENDS VISIT TO KAZAKHSTAN

11 March 2003



Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan continued an official trip to Central Asia with a visit to Kazakhstan from 7 to 11 March 2003.
During the visit, the Deputy High Commissioner held talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State, Kasymzhomart Tokaev; and with the Ombudsman, Bolat Baikadamov, among other officials. During his meeting with Mr. Tokaev, Mr. Ramcharan strongly urged the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the International Covenant on Economic social and Cultural Rights. Mr. Tokaev said it is expected that the signature process of the two Covenants will be concluded in the very near future. This will be followed by ratification by the Parliament, he added. The Deputy High Commissioner also called for the early adoption of a law concerning the granting of refugee status in Kazakhstan.
In his meeting with the Ombudsman, the Deputy High Commissioner noted the efforts of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and others to support the Ombudsman’s office and stated that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was ready to provide advice and practical support. The OHCHR Regional Expert for Central Asia, which will be established within the framework of OHCHR’s regional project for the region and who will have an office in Almaty, could be particularly helpful in this regard, he went on. The Deputy High Commissioner suggested that the Ombudsman’s office have a unit on the rights of women, a unit on child rights, and a unit on the rights of minorities. The Deputy High Commissioner was accompanied in his meeting by the regional Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) based in Almaty.
The Deputy High Commissioner also called for the speeding up of the law on the office of the Ombudsman so as to strengthen it and give it greater independence in accordance with international standards such as the Paris Principles on national institutions endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly.
In his meetings with officials concerned, the Deputy High Commissioner suggested that activities be pursued to make judges, prosecutors and lawyers aware of international human rights norms and standards. He called for urgent attention to practices by law enforcement officials and prosecutors resulting in ill treatment of individuals.
The Deputy High Commissioner noted that Kazakhstan has around 100 nationalities or ethnic groups and called for the wide dissemination, including in local languages, of United Nations and OSCE norms on the protection of minorities.
The Deputy High Commissioner was also briefed on the activities in support of human rights capacity-building carried out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), UNDP, UNIFEM and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). OSCE was particularly active in the area of judicial reform and support for the office of the Ombudsman, the organizations representative in the country said. UNDP’s local representative said the Programme had a project in support of the Ombudsman and a United Nations Volunteer working on human rights was serving in Astana. The Deputy High Commissioner expressed the hope that his services would continue to be available in the period ahead. UNICEF, an agency official said, was undertaking activities to develop awareness of the rights of the child at the provincial and grass roots level and to work with the Government in the application of indicators on the protection of children’s rights in practice. UNIFEM was following up on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Mr. Ramcharan met with the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country, Fikret Akura, and had fruitful discussions with the Head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Liaison Office, the Director of the UNIFEM Regional Office for Commonwealth of Independent States Countries, the Area Representative of UNICEF CARK, the UNAIDS Inter Country Aids Adviser for Central Asia Countries, and with relevant programme officers of the United Nations Country Team. He further held very informative meetings with representatives of the OSCE, other international organizations, and local non-governmental organizations which presented to him several areas of concern as regards the protection of human rights.
In all his meetings, the Deputy High Commissioner highlighted OHCHR’s Regional Project for Central Asia, which will focus on human rights education though a training of trainers approach, support the development and dissemination of human rights education materials, and foresees the establishment of an OHCHR Regional Expert to work at the policy level. Possible links between this project and ongoing and future projects implemented by United Nations counterparts and others in the country were also explored.
From Kazakhstan Mr. Ramcharan travels to Uzbekistan to continue his five-nation trip. The visit is part of an effort to enhance dialogue and technical cooperation between the governments of the region and OHCHR, and a follow up to the Secretary-General’s visit to the region in October 2002. Mr. Ramcharan has also visited Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The trip will end with a visit to Turkmenistan from 14 to 15 March.



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