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A Special Report on the rights of refugees, stateless persons launched in Kazakhstan

On June 21 ,2012 in the context of celebrations of World Refugee Day, Kazakhstan's Commission on Human Rights, under the President of the Republic, presented a Special Report "On the situation concerning the rights of oralmans, stateless persons and refugees in the Republic of Kazakhstan".

The Special Report provides a comprehensive overview of the rights of oralmans, stateless persons, asylum-seekers and refugees, and also describes present policies of Kazakhstan toward those groups. In addition, a thorough assessment of the prevailing social and economic conditions is presented by the Report, along with specific recommendations designed to improve the situation of the target groups in accordance with generally accepted international human rights standards. The Report also draws much needed attention to areas including the necessity for improvement of the overall legal and administrative framework governing asylum, accession by the Republic of Kazakhstan to the two international Conventions on statelessness, and concrete joint actions to ameliorate the difficult circumstances presently faced by oralmans, stateless persons, asylum-seekers and refugees.

It is hoped that this report will serve as a basis for further cooperative work, bringing together governmental bodies, NGOs and the international community to develop a Joint Plan of Action.

The Commission on Human Rights gave a special attention to recommendations relating to the improvement of the legal status of refugees. During presentation of the Report, a representative of the Commission on Human Rights drew attention to the possibility of extending the status accorded to refugees from one year to a longer period. Particular focus was given to legislative improvements necessary to allow access by refugees to employment and social assistance from the State.
In relation to stateless persons, the Commission on Human Rights recommended ratification of the international conventions on statelessness: the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness.
The Special Report of the Commission on Human Rights was presented in addition to its regular annual report. "This is the first time we included a Special report on the rights of oralmans, stateless persons and refugees in the Republic of Kazakhstan into the Human Rights report, and I hope that it will become a tradition", said Mr. Voronov, member of the Commission on Human Rights and one of the main contributors to the Report.

The work on the Special Report spanned half of a year and drew upon contributions by all relevant parties, including governmental authorities, NGOs and international organizations.

"We express gratitude to the Regional Representation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Central Asia, the state authorities and non-governmental human rights organizations of the Republic for great support in the development and publication of this very important document", said Mr. Kuanysh Sultanov, Chairman of the Human Rights Commission.

"It is my sincere hope that this report and its broad-ranging recommendations will set the reference for Kazakhstan's social and migratory policies, and complement existing efforts of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in strengthening its legal, administrative and social practices", said Mr. Saber Azam, UNHCR Regional Representative/ Regional Coordinator for Central Asia.

To download the report, please follow the link: http://unhcr.kz/eng/resources/publicationsandreports/1870/