Many governments’ policies toward migrants worldwide expose them to human rights abuses including labor exploitation, inadequate access to health care, and prolonged detention in poor, overcrowded conditions.

Foreign ministers gathering for the annual Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Athens on December 1 and 2 should use the meeting to urge Kazakhstan to address pressing human rights concerns before it takes over the chairmanship of the organization in January.

We are writing in advance of the upcoming OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens (December 1-2, 2009), which we believe provides a crucial opportunity to address directly Kazakhstan’s stalled reforms and press for concrete improvements in light of its pending OSCE chairmanship.

The decision of a Kazakh court today to uphold the harsh verdict imposed on Kazakhstan’s leading human rights defender is a terrible miscarriage of justice.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France should use his upcoming state visit to Kazakhstan to convey a clear message that it needs to undertake serious human rights reforms.

I am writing to express concern about the trial of Evgenii Zhovtis and to urge that you ensure that he be given a fair hearing when his appeal is heard on October 20.