Open Dialog report: Harassment of civil society and media in Kazakhstan

We, hereby, call on the international community, including on the diplomatic missions of the EU member states and the US and Canada present in Kazakhstan, to use this information to address the Kazakh authorities at any occasion and to raise concerns expressed by the Open Dialog Foundation in the publication and other international organisations and media in their everyday work on Kazakhstan.

We would also particularly like to draw your attention to the difficult situation of the media in Kazakhstan. Libel trials and huge financial fines for journalist continue to discourage independent information sharing. Please, see one of the latest cases, of Nakanune.kz's reporting website, whose domain name owner was found guilty of libel and whom the court ordered to pay an exorbitant fine of $107,000. The case has been described more in detail by Joanna Lillis in her article: Kazakhstan: Libel Trial Rekindles Fears of Media Muzzling, here. 

Our report looks into the following spheres, identifying problems characteristic for the Kazakh civil society and proposing concrete recommendations:

1. Legislative measures, as the Kazakh legislation, including certain recently introduced reforms, limits the space for the genuine development of independent and active civil society;

2. Particularities of political and public environment, which is often a restriction in Kazakhstan, rather than an encouragement to develop strong non-governmental organisations;

3. Free flow of information is being restricted in Kazakhstan as state authorities impede free functioning of independent media and, therefore, block the exchange of information and the development of an informed and engaged society;

4. Long-term support and resources allocated to non-governmental sector in Kazakhstan tend to prioritise organisations that are either fully pro-governmental or don't work on topics that could be seen as politically sensitive;

5. Space for dialogue and collaboration between the authorities and independent NGOs is non existent. The state authorities are not interested in any exchange with such organisations, they disregard their stance or actively fight against it through various oppressive and restrictive means;

6. Final recommendations for the creation of a favourable environment for civil society in post-soviet countries with low levels of democracy.

For a broader overview of the current situation in Kazakhstan, including that of the civil society and political opposition, we invite you to view a brief documentary prepared by Al Jazeera, Kazakhstan's Hard Sell, which can be accessed via YouTube, here.