Kazakhstan’s Senate adopted two rights-violating laws on December 18, both of them threatening freedom of expression.
The first is a discriminatory draft law banning so-called propaganda of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression, which would make it illegal to publicly support LGBT rights. The clear intention of the bill is to silence all forms of pro-LGBT expression.
The second is a draft law on crime prevention, which introduces the notion of “antisocial behavior,” or behavior that contravenes “generally accepted standards of behavior and morality.”
The bill does not define what “generally accepted standards” are but nevertheless provides for “involving citizens in crime prevention” by registering volunteers as “public assistants,” who will be tasked with rooting it out and reporting it to the police for a monetary reward. The volunteers will also be authorized to use physical force to prevent violations and apprehend offenders.
Without a clear definition in Kazakh law for “generally accepted standards of behavior and morality,” there is significant risk the law would be arbitrarily applied to suppress legitimate forms of expression. Some countries, for example, have deemed that women laughing in public or too loud constitutes immoral or antisocial behavior. Several have categorized public support of LGBT rights or being in a same-sex relationship in similar ways.
Governments have duties to protect everyone’s fundamental rights as defined by international human rights law, including people from marginalized groups. This also includes the right to criticize government policies or form organizations that defend the rights of all people.
Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has spoken of “building a Just Kazakhstan,” a country, he’s proclaimed, “of equal opportunities and progress.” These draft laws are the opposite of that vision, taking Kazakhstan backwards to a time when citizens were encouraged to inform on each other to the police.
These two rights-violating laws will soon land on President Tokayev’s desk for his signature. When they do, he should do the right thing for Kazakhstan and veto them.
