Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan presents an interesting opportunity for us to expand to a new region that is very

different than the ones we currently work in. Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian countries,

has an oppressive regime headed by an authoritarian president who has been in power for

the last 19 years. It is the richest of the Central Asian countries due to its petroleum

resources, and it is of high importance to United States strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan

because much of the army’s resources are shipped by land over Kazakhstan. Although there

has been clear documentation of human rights violations and limitations of basic democratic

rights (like freedom of the press), Kazakhstan has not gotten the reputation for brutality that

its neighbors Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have. Analysts are concerned that continued

government oppression may lead to future instability as was seen in Kyrgyzstan last April.

In regards to violent extremism and terrorism, there has been more concern about terrorist

cells in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, although there are certainly Islamist cells (like Hizb ut-

Tahrir and Jamaat Mojahedin) in Kazakhstan. Currently, Kazakhstan’s government is

inconsistently tolerant towards religious practices. It has hosted the Congress of World

Religions three times (2003, 2006, 2009), has created a government-sponsored spiritual

committee for the Muslims of Kazakhstan, and has allowed the growth of Islamic universities

and mosques (funded mostly by Arab foundations, but also by the state). However, some

claim that discrimination against Muslims is widespread, and accusations that Muslims are

terrorists are common. Other religions have seen more formal governmental discrimination,

as a law was recently debated but not passed to limit the activities of Baptists, Jehovah’s

Witnesses, and Hare Krishnas.

Muslims constitute the largest religious group in the country, with 47% of the population,

although members of the Russian Orthodox are almost equal, at 40% of the population.

Muslim identity is seen as an issue of nationalism by many who are eager to cast off their

former identity as a Soviet Republic and redefine a distinctive Kazakh identity.

According to the Kazakh constitution, women have equal legal rights as men—including the

right to own, inherit, and manage property—but in practice, women face considerable

discrimination. Domestic violence is common, and Kazakh still lacks legal guidelines for what

constitutes rape. However, there seems to be an active community of female-driven NGOs

and organizations to deliver social services, especially around the issues of domestic

violence. I have included a list of female organizations and community activists under the

“Kazakhstan and Women’s Rights” section.

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Basic informationCapital: Astana

Size: 2,724,900 km2 (9th largest in the world, largest landlocked)

Population: 15,399,437 according to CIA Factbook (62nd in the world), 21.8% younger than 15. Other estimates of the population put it between 14 and 16 million.

Ethnic background: about 50% Kazakh, 30% Russian, small percentages of Ukrainian, Uzbek, German, Tatar, Uyghur, and others (in that order)

Religion: 47% Muslim, 44% Russian Orthodox, 2% Protestant

Language: the official state language is Kazakh (Qazaq), but Russian is used in everyday business and is the official “language of interethnic communication”

Other facts:

High literacy rates for men and women

Was a Soviet Republic from 1936-1991

President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev has been in power since 1 Dec. 1999

The “spiritual committee for the Muslims of Kazakhstan” (DUMK) is the national umbrella organization for the country’s Muslims

Currently, Kazakhstan has the chairmanship of the OSCE in Europe

According to the CIA World Factbook, current issues include:

developing a cohesive national identity;

expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets;

achieving a sustainable economic growth;

diversifying the economy outside the oil, gas, and mining sectors;

enhancing Kazakhstan's competitiveness;

strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers.

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Kazakhstan and Violent Extremism

An article by Robert Templer, Asia Programme Director of the Intl. Crisis Group, on

Qantara.de says that “Militant Islamism is flourishing in the forgotten prisons of the former

Soviet Republics.” He claims that “Radical Islamists shrewdly exploit the weaknesses of the

prison system, which is undermined by corruption, a lack of personnel and inadequate

governmental support.”

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-1321/i.html

In “How Not To Run An Empire” (published in Foreign Policy magazine), Tom Malinowski

claims that the recent uprising in Kyrgyzstan is indicative of tensions throughout the region,

where “people have felt betrayed by a government that came to power promising democracy

and reform, but… delivered repression and nepotism instead.” Regarding Islamism in the

region, he says “the government’s heavy-handed police methods have, according to some

analysts, helped radicalize a growing part of the Muslim population in southern Kyrgyzstan.”

Regarding Kazakhstan in particular, Milanowski describes the rule of Nazarbayev as one that

“maintains an atmosphere of quiet repression, stifling opposition media and manipulating the

political process.” He also notes that the country’s leading human rights defender, Yevgeny

(also spelled Evgeniy and Evgenii) Zhovtis, is currently in jail. He does not refer to any

specific concerns regarding violent extremism in Kazakhstan. However, he says more

generally that continued human rights abuses and poverty in Central Asia have the potential

to undermine the stability of the area.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/09/how_not_to_run_an_empire

A report by Human Rights Watch lists Kazakhstan’s primary human rights violations as

“maintaining restrictive legislation on freedom of assembly, the media, and the internet, and

at times blocking a number of websites and weblogs… refusing to register the main

opposition party Alga!, and… turning down appeals to reopen a case against the country's

leading human rights defender, Evgenii Zhovtis, who is in prison following an unfair trial.”

However, their report clearly shows that there have been international cries for reform, which

although Kazakhstan does not seem interested in, perhaps would give us a platform from

which we could deliver SAVE—not threatening to the regime, a good token project for them,

and for us a real opportunity to take Mothers for Change! to Central Asia.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/04/10/kazakhstan-us-should-press-rights-reform

In 2009, Kazakhstan hosted the Congress of World Religions for the third time (previously in

2003 and 2006). In his opening address, President Nazarbayev said the global financial

crisis offered the potential of restructuring the world order. Despite the Congress, which was

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meant to highlight Kazakhstan’s commitment to interreligious harmony, Edda Schlager

reports that “the Kazakh parliament has plans to tighten the country's law on religion. In

February of this year [2009] a proposed amendment was only stopped by the Kazakh

constitutional council, which deemed it unconstitutional.” The proposed law would mandate

that children receive permission from both parents to participate in religious events and that

“introducing, publishing, or disseminating religious literature” would be punished. Schlager

says that Baptists, Jehova's Witnesses, and members of Hare Krishna would be the primary

targets of the amendment.

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-923/i.html

Saltanat Berdikeeva’s article, “Myth and Reality of Islamist Extremism in Central Asia” argues

while “Islam is gaining a strong foothold in the region… political and extremist forms of Islam

have not received popular support, making the appeal of subversive Islamist groups limited.”

The article further claims that there is “a direct correlation between repressive policies of the

region’s governments and the growth of radical Islam in Central Asia.” Some of the major

groups in Central Asia are Hizb ut-Tahrir, Akramiyya (a splinter group of HT), Hizb an-Nasra

(another splinter group of HT), and Jamaat Mojahedin (related to al Qaeda). Berdikeeva says

that the appeal of HT is partially related to the poverty of the region, as HT membership

comes with financial awards, but that psychological factors are more important. Berdikeeva

says, “seeing the future fraught with uncertainty, failures, and endemic corruption, young

people with no jobs find ideological guidance, a sense of belonging, and something to do by

becoming a member of HT or other Islamist groups.” (This sounds right up our alley).

Berdikeeva does not consider HT as a serious threat because it has “a decentralized and

loose cell-like structure,” but I don’t agree that this is a reason to discredit HT—in fact, the

loose cell-like structure has been an asset to many terrorist groups in the past. This may be

the only way for HT to survive in repressive regimes typical of Central Asia.

The Jamaat Mojahedin are linked to Kazakhstan in particularly. A cell was dismantled in Nov.

2004. Berdikeeva reports that “the Kazakh security forces stressed that the group did not

plan terrorist actions inside the country but planned a series of attacks in neighboring

countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. It also sought to establish training

bases in southern Kazakhstan.” Kazakhstan has banned Usbat al-Ansar, the Muslim

Brotherhood, the Taliban, Boz Gurd, Lakshar-i-Toiba, the Social Reform Soceity, Hizb ut-

Tahrir, the People’s Congress of Kurdistan (PKK), the IMU, and the Islamic Party of East

Turkestan.

Something of interest in Kyrgyzstan is that Berdikeeva cites “Interfax-Kazakhstan News

Agency, June 21” (a source that I could not verify) as saying the more women are being

actively involved in Islamist activities.

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Berdikeeva writes that “general intolerance of religion in [Central Asia] is common” and that

“the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘extremist’ have long been used cavalierly and deliberately to

denigrate moderate Muslims, political opponents, and even journalists.” Berdikeeva’s

recommendations for Central Asian countries are: “First, the states must allow freedom of

expression for moderate Muslims to teach Islam… Second, Central Asian states should

avoid naming HT a terrorist organization… Third, the states must change repressive

measures and abide by the international commitments to respect human rights… Fourth,

comprehensive socio-economic reforms, including education, employment, and governance,

must be intensified… Finally, the Central Asian states need to improve information sharing

on extremist groups.”

http://www.eurasia21.com/cgi-data/document/files/Islamist_extremism_1.pdf

Edda Schlager’s article “A Pragmatic Islam” discusses the growth of Islam in Kazakhstan.

She quotes Yershat Ongarov, head of the education department of the spiritual committee

for the Muslims of Kazakhstan (DUMK) as saying “Kazakhstan is a Muslim state, but not

Islamic… Religion and state are strictly separate in this country.” In 2001, the Nur-Mubarak

University of Islamic Culture was founded with financial assistance from the Egyptian

government. Imams may be trained there or at another university run by the DUMK. Arab

foundations have helped to fund two universities (Kazakh-Arab and Kazakh-Kuwait) in

strongly-Muslim Shymkent, in the South. The largest mosque in the country is in Astana, the

capital, and was a present from the Emir of Qatar. (I am excerpting Schlager’s article word-

for-word… none of this should be considered my own writing).

Schlager reports that in the 1990s, there was talk of establishing an independent Islamic

state on territory occupied by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, although

it is no longer being seriously discussed. There is a Kazakh anti-terrorist center in Almaty

(ZAP), and in 2007, 167 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir were imprisoned and charged.

One interesting point that Schlager makes is that Islam is becoming caught up in the desire

for a Kazakh identity separate from Russia—as Kazakhs are trying to figure out who they are

and what their culture is like without the oppressive influence of Russia, Islam is becoming a

characteristic that distinguishes the present from their Communist/atheist past.

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-838/_p-2/i.html

Kazakhstan and Women’s Rights

The Social Institutions and Gender Index reports that the Kazakh constitution includes legal

equality for women. There are no specific provisions, and violence against women is

widespread. The Kazakh Civil Code guarantees equal ownership rights for women and men,

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making provisions for them to possess, use, and inherit property, but women still face

widespread discrimination and limited access to resources. There are no reported restrictions

on their freedom of movement or freedom of dress.

Domestic violence is common. SIGI writes that “Police tend to consider such violence as a

family matter and intervene only if the victim’s life is in danger; thus, one-third of domestic

violence complaints are never investigated. In addition, economic uncertainty often prompts

victims to drop their charges.” Also, SIGI reports that “female genital mutilation does not

appear to be practiced in Kazakhstan.”

http://genderindex.org/country/kazakhstan

The Alliance for International Women’s Rights writes that “Kazakhstan leads the way in

women's rights in Central Asia. The 1995 constitution defends women's rights by

guaranteeing citizens the right to work and forbidding discrimination on the basis of

geographic origin, gender, race, nationality, religion, political belief or language. The Alliance

also reports that “although many Kazkhs are Muslim, at least by tradition (the Soviet Union

restricted religious practices for many years), Muslims in Kazakhstan are less conservative

and women do not traditionally wear a yashmak (the face veil worn by women in other

Islamic countries) and have much more independence than women in other Islamic

countries.” Finally, the Alliance reiterates previous reports on domestic violence, saying that

as much as 30% of the female population may experience violence within the home, and

also claims that sex trafficking is a growing problem in Kazakhstan.

http://www.aiwr.org/kazakhstan/overview

EU delegation to Kazakhstan working with women’s NGOs, lists the four leading NGOs as

the Feminist League of Kokchetav, Taraz Initiative Center, Chimkent Women Resource

Center and the International Ecological Association of Women of the Orient of Enbekshi-

Kazakh region. The goal is to teach the women to create a long-term strategy, identify and

approach potential donors and media, formulate convincing messages and construct

successful partnerships. In particular, the participants will learn how to make a project

proposal with justified budget, optimize it to the needs of their communities and fill dossier of

potential donors. It will help to increase the quality of partnerships between women NGOs

and various state and non-state institutions, funding agencies and private donors. The overall

project "Boosting a culture of women's rights in Kazakhstan" is implemented by FORMAPER

(Agency of the Milan chamber of Commerce, Industry, Craft, & Agriculture) in consortium

with Differenza Donna (Women’s Association Against Violence based in Rome) and the

Feminist League of Kazakhstan. The European Union allocates about 190,000 EUR to this

project from its Institution Building and Partnership Programme (IBPP). The project's main

target is to reduce social marginality and empower vulnerable women groups in various

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regions of Kazakhstan.

http://ec.europa.eu/delegations/kazakhstan/press_corner/all_news/news/

2010/20100205_02_en.htm

BBC article “Kazakh women see familiar limits” reports that “For a country in a region where

feminism is at best a Western oddity, Kazakhstan is positively teeming with successful,

independent and enterprising women. The biggest city, Almaty, is awash with fashionable

clothes shops. Beauty salons are on virtually every corner, and many bars and clubs have a

predominantly female clientele. Those in power are also anxious to promote the role of

women, as part of what they see as an enlightened society in Kazakhstan.” However, at the

time of the article’s publication (2005), the leading candidates for gubernatorial positions are

all men, and all espouse masculinist views. Author Robert Greenall claims that “women are

more in evidence in business than politics.” The article also discusses the problem of

domestic violence and says that there are not enough crisis centers or shelters to adequately

administer to the number of victims.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4485204.stm

A comprehensive discussion of women in Kazakhstan can be found as a PDF at

http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/kz/kazakhstan.pdf. This report seems to be about 10

years old. Topics covered include gender equality, women’s social and economic rights,

women’s political rights and participation in public life, violence against women, women’s

status within distinctive groups (sexual orientation and prison inmates), and women and

armed conflict/refugees. Some highlights of the report include:

As a rule, women are more likely to be dismissed from jobs than men, and are less

likely to be hired.

37% of women officially registered as unemployed live in rural areas. However, the

real number of unemployed is much higher than official figures show, especially in

rural areas where registration is more difficult.

minimum age for marriage as 18 years for both men and women

Property acquired by spouses during marriage has the legal status of common

property, including the incomes of each spouse, incomes from common and

separately-owned properties, together with movable and immovable belongings,

securities, shares, deposits, shares in capital investments made in loan institutions or

any other commercial organisation, and any other property acquired by spouses

regardless of who has legal title and who paid to acquire the property. The spouse

who, during the marriage, maintains the household, raises the children and for valid

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reasons has no income, is also entitled to common property. Possession, use and

distribution of common property are decided by the mutual consent of spouses.

The social status of unmarried couples in Kazakhstan depends on the community to

which the couple belongs.

Illegal abortions, abortions performed outside medical institutions, are widespread

because the cost of legal abortion is very high (between USD 50 and 300, depending

on the clinic) and results in a public record.

The Government has repeatedly called for the representation of women at all levels of

decision-making, but both the Government and the President have expressed their

opposition to introducing a quota system… The electoral system contains no

incentives for political parties to involve women in politics or assign them to public

positions.

Women work in the mass media and although a large number of journalists (50%) are

women, few hold important positions. The President of the largest Kazakhstan

television and radio company ”Khabar” is a woman and according to the Ministry of

Information and Public Accord, women make up 18% of the management in state and

independent Kazakh mass media.

In general, the representation of women in public life has gradually declined, mainly

due to the general economic problems, the dependence of the economy upon raw

industries, which employ mainly men, increased poverty and the increased Islamic

influence in the southern rayons.

There are no special programmes for victims of rape, although programmes for

victims of domestic violence also assist rape victims. One women’s NGO in Almaty,

the Women’s League of Creative Initiatives, opened a gynaecological examination

room at the Women’s Pedagogical Institute of Kazakhstan.

A list of women’s organizations and contact information can be found at

http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/kz/kzorgs.htm, but in brief, they are:

Almaty Women's Information Center: AWIC addresses issues of gender discrimination in Kazakstan and works to promote equal rights through education and leadership training. It sponsors conferences and talks, works with the media, and publishes its own journal to disseminate information about violations of women's rights and the activities of women's organizations in countries around the world. AWIC is also lobbies for legislation in protection of women's rights.

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Center for Women's Support Crisis Center "Girlfriends" Feminist League  "Green Women" Ecological News Agency: Founded in June 1995 by journalists from

different newspapers and news agencies, this Ecological News Agency (ENA) is an independent non-governmental, non-profit organization that promotes public awareness of environmental issues, disseminates ecology-related information and environmental education in Kazakstan.

Kokshetau Feminist League International Association of Women of the East Kazakstan Women Information Network League of Feminists Najada Women's Network Almaty: Its main aim is to inform women in Kazakhstan

about the existence of women's projects, women's initiatives and women's NGOs to get more information about what they need.

Society for the Promotion of Women's Initiatives The Fund "Women's Election Bloc": founded by five women organizations of

Kazakhstan, involved in women's participation in elections and electoral policy. The Coalition of NGOs "Women's Election Initiatives": comprised of twenty non-

governmental organizations engaged into women rights protection activities The Center for Gender Issues Research: involved in research and education on

gender issues. The Women's Union of the Kazak State National University  The Union of Women of the Ural region The Association of Women  UN Gender in Development Bureau  Women's League of Creative Initiative 

You can also find another list of women’s organizations on Association of Independent

Women’s Organizations’ homepage, here: http://www.owl.ru/eng/women/aiwo/index.htm.

Female Organizers in Kazakhstan

Margarita Zobnina, social worker, works with self-help groups. Helped organize

female postal workers to confront discrimination. The grouping to which Zobnina's

self-help group belongs is called Moldir. The women's groups that make up Moldir are

supported by Christian agencies such as the Netherlands-based InterChurch

Cooperation Organization (lCCO), DanChurchAid from Denmark, Norwegian Church

Aid, and Britain's Christian Aid.

http://www.danchurchaid.org/where_we_work/central_asia_eastern_europe/

kyrgyzstan_kazakhstan/read_more/

kazakhstan_women_met_to_combat_loneliness_then_tackled_government

Ms Yevgenia Kozyreva, President of Kazakhstan's Feminist League at

+7(727)2610241, kazfemline@gmail.com; or Ms Madina Bakieva, EU Delegation

Press officer at + 7(7172) 971148, madina.bakieva@ec.europa.eu

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Gulnara Kusherbaeva has been a volunteer for the women's group Nayada Women's

Network of Almaty since December 1998. Previously she was part of a large project

called "Women's Rights are Human Rights", carried out by the Almaty Women's

Information Centre. One of the initiators of this project was Meral Akkent, a sociologist

from Germany, who Gulnara believes played an important role in establishing and

developing the women's movement in Kazakhstan. She inspired Gulnara to volunteer

in other projects, wrote many articles about the voluntary work of women's groups in

Germany, Turkey, and the US, and told people about her work in various women's

projects. She taught people how to design interesting flyers and notices and where to

post them to catch women's attention, and organized meetings and exhibitions to

support talented women. In December 1998 Gulnara and three other women

registered the women's NGO Nayada, using their own money, without seeking foreign

or other sponsors.

http://www.unv.org/en/perspectives/doc/womens-rights-are-human.html

Raushan Sarsembayeva, head of the Association of Kazakh Businesswomen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4485204.stm

More information about Kazakhstan

New York Times article by William Courtneyhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/opinion/21iht-edcourtney.html

Kazakhstan excelled in interethnic relations. Unlike other former Soviet republics that suffered separatist conflicts, Kazakhstan reassured the seven million Russians and Ukrainians living there. Slavs who ran industry kept their jobs or were replaced gradually. Ethnic Kazakh political leaders touted inclusion and tolerance and embraced a moderate Islam.

Unlike Russia, Kazakhstan nurtured good relations with all its neighbors, mutually dependent because of supply routes, and it treated energy investors — a key enabler of Kazakhstan’s economic success and improved living standards — better than Russia.

Corruption in Kazakhstan is debilitating. I recall how several U.S. companies were scared away when told to partner with local firms linked to organized crime. Over time, corruption has worsened. A U.S. court has named Nazarbayev an unindicted co-conspirator in a vast money laundering and bribery case. His children and their spouses have influence in many parts of the economy.

According to BBC country reports http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1298071.stm#media

Poverty is… widespread and Kazakhstan continues to face major economic challenges, particularly with unemployment and inflation. At the same time, a small minority of Kazakhs grew very rich after independence through privatization and other business deals which opposition politician alleged to have been corrupt.

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The people of Kazakhstan also have to live with the aftermath of Soviet-era nuclear testing and toxic waste dumping, as well as with increasing drug addiction and a growing incidence of HIV/Aids. Inefficient Soviet ion projects led to severe shrinkage of the heavily polluted Aral Sea.

Human Rights Problems reported by US State Department http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78820.htm

severe limits on citizens' rights to change their government; an incident of unlawful deprivation of life; military hazing that led to deaths; detainee and prisoner abuse; unhealthy prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of government opponents; lack of an independent judiciary; increased restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association; pervasive corruption, especially in law enforcement and the judicial system; restrictions on the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); discrimination and violence against women; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination. 

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