As the UN prepares to review Kazakhstan’s human rights record for the third time this year, the situation for human rights defenders ought to be under the spotlight.
Despite barriers to their free expression and assembly, as well as significant risk of “administrative or other reprisals”, rights defenders and their protection tallied just one mention in Kazakhstan’s mandatory national report last cycle. Other states, such as the Czech Republic and Japan, attempted to highlight this conspicuous silence in their recommendations. But Kazakhstan’s response consistently comprised either denial or dismissal.
Just a year and a half after this last review, environmental activist Max Bokayev was first subjected to the beginning of an ongoing series of human rights violations. His case epitomises some of the significant risks that activists in Kazakhstan face.
