Today, International Partnership for Human Rights joined an open letter, concerning the draft Law on Peaceful Assemblies which was passed by parliament on 23 March and is currently before the senate. The draft Law as it stands falls short of international human rights standards in several important respects, which have already been highlighted by prominent Kazakhstani human rights experts and by civil society.
We are calling on the President of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Jomart Tokaev 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.
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.
Signatories:
- Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director, Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Officer
- Brigitte Dufour, Director, International Partnership for Human Rights
- Ana Furtuna, Eurasia Program Director, Civil Rights Defenders
- Hugh Williamson, Director, Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch
- Bjørn Engesland, Secretary General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee
- Maran Turner, Executive Director, Freedom Now
- Ilya Nuzov, Head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk, FIDH
Read the open letter here.