VI. Recommendations

To the Government of Kazakhstan

Regarding freedom of thought, conscience, and religion

• Encourage a climate of tolerance and mutual respect for differing tendencies of thought, conscience, and religion by desisting from accusatory statements about minority confessions.
• Bring the draft law on "On freedom of religion and religious associations" into conformity with the Kazakh constitution and international human rights standards.
• Ensure the draft law "On freedom of religion and religious associations" fully protects religious freedom, permits individuals to practice their faith, and does not stigmatize religious minorities.

·Ensure equality between religious communities regardless of their religious identity, size, or duration of activities in Kazakhstan.

·Ensure that the draft law complies with the "Guidelines for Review of Legislation Pertaining to Religion or Belief" prepared by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in consultation with the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe.

·Make public the ODHIR's review of the draft law "On freedom of religion and religious associations."

Regarding freedom of expression

• Comply with Kazakhstan's commitments to the OSCE's standards on media freedom by fostering, not stifling, independent media.
• Amend the media law in order to simplify the registration process for media.
• Place a moratorium on criminal libel cases and review the relevant articles in the Criminal Code with a view toward abolishing criminal libel.
• Establish a cap on defamation awards and acknowledge that in defamation cases ample consideration should be given for opinion and critical reporting on persons and matters that are of public interest, such as the performance of public officials.
• Adopt measures to protect the physical safety of journalists, including prompt and thorough investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for acts of violence and intimidation against journalists, including when such perpetrators are public officials.
• End the government's monopoly on nationwide television and radio broadcasting.

Regarding freedom of assembly

• Review the legislation on freedom of peaceful assembly and ensure the laws and regulations on demonstrations are in conformity with Kazakhstan's international human rights obligations on freedom of assembly.
• Ensure that the Human Rights Commission under the President sends the draft law on freedom of assembly drafted by a group of NGOs for review to the ODIHR and the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, and include this draft in a review of the legislation on freedom of assembly.
• Incorporate practices exemplified in the OSCE/ODIHR Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Guidelines in the legislation on freedom of assembly.
• Abolish legal provisions that permit unnecessary restrictions on locations where demonstrations can take place.
• Train staff of law enforcement agencies to cooperate with organizers and participants of public assemblies.

To the OSCE

The Permanent Council, the outgoing Finnish Chairmanship and the 2009 Greek Chairmanship, individual participating states, the ODIHR, the Representative on Freedom of the Media, and the OSCE Centre in Almaty should continue sustained engagement with Kazakhstan to ensure it meets its obligations with respect to all OSCE commitments, including freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly.

• The Permanent Council, the Chairmanship, and the ODHIR should urge the government to consider new legislation on public assemblies, and to request an ODIHR expert review of this legislation
• The Permanent Council should urge the Kazakh government to comply with the call made by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media for the abolition of criminal defamation laws in Kazakhstan.

To the European Union

·Work together with other OSCE participating states to ensure the OSCE and Kazakhstan carry out recommendations made in this report.

• Urge the Kazakh government to revoke those elements of domestic law that contradict or are applied contrary to international law and infringe the basic rights of Kazakh citizens.
• Use Kazakhstan's upcoming OSCE chairmanship and Foreign Minister Tazhin's pledges to push for concrete progress in human rights and make such progress a core objective of EU engagement with Astana, including but not exclusively in the framework of the human rights dialogue.
• Increase technical assistance to the Kazakh authorities on the drafting and effective implementation of legislation including reform of the media law, the religion law and the law on freedom of assembly. Make these reforms an integral part of the EU Rule of Law Initiative in the framework of the EU Central Asia strategy.

To the United States

• Maintain a principled stand on Kazakhstan's human rights performance, and redouble efforts to ensure that the government fulfills its promises to improve that performance.