Kazakhstan: Restrictions on meetings

Kazakhstan | 02 June 2020

On 4 May 2020, Amnesty International sent an open letter to President Tokayev concerning the draft Law on Peaceful Assemblies which was passed by parliament on 23 March 2020 and is currently awaiting Senate approval. In the letter, Amnesty International stated: ‚ "The draft Law as it stands falls short of international human rights standards in several important respects which are listed below, and which have already been highlighted by prominent Kazakhstani human rights experts. For this reason we join them in calling on you to reopen the public consultation of this document and to seek the advice of international human rights experts while it is still not signed into law. As you are no doubt aware, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in protected by Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Kazakhstan is a state party."‚ Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at World Watch Research believes the proposed Law on Peaceful Assemblies may also affect the meetings of Christians, especially of those who are not registered with the authorities: "This new law may become another tool for the government to impose further restrictions on the Christian community. Over the last few years Christians in Kazakhstan have noted a steady deterioration of their freedom."