Manfred Nowak Acknowledges Kazakhstan Progress on Human Rights

No systematic torture - Situation better than in other CIS states

VIENNA, February 9 - The Austrian UNO Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak,
acknowledges Kazakhstan's progress on adhering to human rights. The Central
European country was "very well prepared" for the current Chairmanship of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation In Europe (OSCE). This also meant
that the human rights situation should be improved, said Nowak at a meeting
with the APA [Austrian News Agency] on Tuesday. He would be submitting a
report on Kazakhstan in March to the UNO Human Rights Committee in Genf.

Justice, the Public Prosecution Service and the administration of prisons
had made "huge progress" in Kazakhstan. The situation for critical
Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and journalists was better than in White
Russia or even the Russian Federation, Nowak continued. He referred to the
dangerous situation into which, for example, opponents of the holder of power
Ramsan Kadyrov had fallen in the Czech Republic. "Opponents of Kadyrov live
at risk, even abroad — as the case of Umar Israilov, murdered in Vienna,
showed. No cases where journalists were killed have been reported to me in
Kazakhstan."

Nowak understands the decision to entrust Kazakhstan with the
Chairmanship of the OSCE. "This is the correct decision if we want to see a
successor state of the Soviet Union in this function. I do not believe that
countries like Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Moldau or the
Ukraine would be better suited."

Kazakhstan was at the centre of the Gulag in Soviet times, Nowak
explained. The criminal law was still "very punitive" today, not embracing
resocialisation preferring to "lock prisoners away." The more sever the
sentence, the more restricted the opportunities and visiting rights of the
prisoner would be. "This is counter-productive," criticised the UNO experts.
Kazakhstan was, however, interested in becoming known as a state with
European standards, and overcoming the inherited problems of Soviet times.

Nowak would not be drawn on the case of the former Kazakhstan Ambassador
in Austria, Rakhat Aliyev, but he gave his basic views on the question of
extradition to countries against which there had been accusations of torture.
In his investigation he came to the conclusion that there were still cases of
torture in Kazakhstan. The torture in Kazakhstan was however "neither
systematic nor extensive." In virtually all countries of the world there were
frequently suggestions of torture, even in Austria there had been a case of
that kind, Nowak noted.

In connection with the principle of international law known as
non-refoulement people should not be extradited to countries in which there
was systematic torture, explained the leader of the Boltzmann Institute for
Human Rights in Vienna. If an assessment of the human rights situation in
certain countries were to conclude that there was no systematic torture "then
I should look closely at each individual case." In this case the person who
was to be extradited must substantiate the fact that he was threatened with
torture.

J. Wills of Middle East Communications, +96594008806