KAZAKHSTAN: A PARTNER FOR DEMOCRACY?
Abstract
The decision reached in Madrid to hand over OSCE chairmanship in 2010 to Kazakhstan focused international attention on Kazakhstan’s human rights record and, by extension, on the whole of the Central Asian region. This decision stirred debates about the merits of awarding OSCE chairmanship to a country with a widely recognized problematic human rights record. However interesting they may have been, the discussions concentrated only on short-term objectives that could be addressed during the chairmanship.1 In light of the fact that Kazakhstan has come under close international scrutiny due to the forthcoming chairmanship, one of the legitimate priorities of the international community might well have been to sustain this momentum beyond the OSCE chairmanship.
Among the European organizations, the OSCE, by virtue of its extensive membership, and the EU, due to its well-acknowledged stakes in Central Asia,2 are the most natural contributors to Kazakhstan’s democratic transition. However, the Council of Europe, the oldest pan-European organization active in human rights protection and standard setting, can add value to the overall democratization of Central Asia and of Kazakhstan in particular. While the role of the Council of Europe and especially of the Venice Commission in terms of technical assistance and cooperation with Central Asia is duly acknowledged,3 its other tools, especially the mechanisms offered by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), have not received proper attention. The recent initiatives launched by the Assembly demonstrate that it too can contribute to the process by offering sustainable political scrutiny of the democratization efforts in Kazakhstan, thus deepening Kazakhstan’s sense of international accountability with respect to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Below is a brief account of the relations between the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Republic of Kazakhstan, which shows a considerably high level of mutual interest and potential for cooperation. It is argued that the Assembly, in tandem with other international actors, can become a valuable player, especially by providing general guidelines and overseeing the course of the reforms being carried out in Kazakhstan. Although, for understandable reasons, the PACE monitoring procedure, designed for the Council of Europe Participating states, cannot be applied to Kazakhstan, and therefore the Assembly’s input will lack rigor and depth of involvement. Making use of the PACE tools of political oversight can, nevertheless, produce long-term results if linked and synchronized with the policies of other international actors.
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References
See: Security and Human Rights, No. 1, 2009, de-voted to Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairmanship.
See: J.M. Neil, “The European Union, Kazakhstan and the 2010 OSCE Chairmanship,” Security and Human Rights, No. 1, 2009.
European Union and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership, Council of the European Union, General Secretariat, European Communities, 2007.
Resolution 1506 (2006), “External Relations of the Council of Europe,” Assembly debate on 26 June, 2006 (16th Sitting), Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 June, 2006, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/
doptedText/ta06/ERES1506.htm].
Resolution 1680 (2009), “Establishment of a Partner for Democracy Status in the Parliamentary Assembly,” Assem-bly debate on 26 June, 2009 (26th Sitting), Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 June, 2009, available at [http://assembly.
oe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta09/ERES1680.htm].
Ibidem.
The CoE Statute stipulates that only European states can become CoE members (see the CoE Statute at [http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=001&CM=8&DF=11/09/2009&CL=ENG]).
See: Information Report on the Enlargement of the Council of Europe, Rapporteur: Mr. Reddemann, Germany,Christian Democrat, Doc. 6629, 16 June, 1992, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/Working-Docs/Doc92/EDOC6629.htm]; Report on the Enlargement of the Council of Europe, Rapporteur: Reddemann, Doc. 6975,13 December, 1993, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc93/EDOC6975.htm];Opinion on the Enlargement of the Council of Europe, Rapporteur: Mr. Atkinson, UK, European Democratic Group, Doc.
, 13 September, 1994, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc94/
DOC7148.htm].
See: Recommendation 1247 (1994) “On the Enlargement of the Council of Europe,” Assembly debate on 4 Octo-ber, 1994 (26th Sitting), available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta94/EREC1247.htm].
Currently there are three observer parliaments in the Assembly: Israel’s Knesset was granted observer status in
; the Parliament of Canada (since 1997); and the Mexican Parliament (since1999) (see: PACE Resolution 1600 (2008),
The Council of Europe and Its Observer States: The Current Situation and a Way Forward,” Assembly debate on 23 Jan-uary, 2008. Text adopted by the Assembly on 23 January, 2008, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Doc-uments/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1600.htm].
See: Situation in Kazakhstan and its Relations with the Council of Europe, Report, Political Affairs Committee,Rapporteur: Mr. Tadeusz Iwiñski, Poland, Socialist Group, 7 July, 2006, Doc. 11007, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/
ain.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11007.htm].
See: Progress Report of the Bureau and the Standing Committee (27 April-25 June, 2001), Doc. 9133, 23 June,2001, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc01/EDOC9133.htm].
See: Agreement on Cooperation between the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Strasbourg, 27 April, 2004, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/President/InfoBase/
inalAgreement_KAZ_CoEPA_E.pdf].
See the first report of Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan at a PACE session presented by Mr. K.S. Sultanov,
former Chairman of the Committee for Social and Cultural Development, Senate of Parliament, Republic of Kazakhstan,Strasburg, 27 January, 2006, in the Progress Report of the Bureau of the Assembly and the Standing Committee (27 Janu-ary-10 April, 2006), Doc. 10874, 10 April, 2006, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/Working-Docs/Doc06/EDOC10874.htm].
See: PACE Report on 2004 Parliamentary Elections in Kazakhstan, Rapporteur: Mrs Tana de Zulueta, Italy, So-cialist Group, Doc. 10306, 4 October, 2004, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/
doc04/edoc10306.htm] (see also the website of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, available at [http://
ww.osce.org/odihr-elections/14471.html]).
See: Situation in Kazakhstan Report…, supra note 11.
Resolution 1526 (2006), Situation in Kazakhstan and Relations with the Council of Europe, Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 17 November, 2006, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/
ain.asp?Link=/documents/adoptedtext/ta06/eres1526.htm].
See: Situation in Kazakhstan Report…, supra note 11.
Resolution 1526 (2006), supra note 17.
Rule 59, Assembly Rules of Procedure, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/RulesofProcedure/2009/
eglement_2009.pdf].
See: Committee of Ministers Statutory Resolution (93) 26 on Observer Status, adopted by the Committee of Min-isters on 14 May, 1993 at its 92nd session, available at [http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/Resol9326.htm].
The argument that Kazakhstan should be granted Special Guest Status was based mainly on the fact that part of
its territory lies within the geographic boundaries of Europe, as in the case of Russia and Turkey (see: Situation in Kaza-khstan Report…, supra note 11).
Explanatory Memorandum by Mr. Van den Brande, Rapporteur, Establishment of a Partner for Democracy sta-tus with the Parliamentary Assembly, Doc. 11913, 14 May, 2009, available at [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/ documents/WorkingDocs/Doc09/EDOC11913.htm].
Ibidem.
Resolution 1680 (2009), supra note 5.
With the notable exception of Kyrgyzstan, which is a member of the Venice Commission but does not have the same level of cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly.
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