Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law

KIBHR’s stated objectives are:

• promoting respect for civil and political rights ^[3] and freedoms;
• development of civil society through education, collection and dissemination of information;
• conducting advocacy ;
• analysis of legislation and its reduction to international standards, etc.

The highest governing body of KIBHR is the General Meeting of its members . The highest executive body is the KIBH Council. The highest official is the director of KIBHK - Yevgeny Zhovtis .

Along with the head office, located in the city of Almaty , there is a city branch of KIBHR in the capital of Kazakhstan - Astana , as well as regional branches in the cities of Aktau , Aktobe , Karaganda , Kostanay , Pavlodar , Uralsk ( WKO ), Ust-Kamenogorsk ( WKO ) and Shymkent ( SKO ). In the city of Taldykorgan there is a representative of KIBHR in Almaty region. Until August 2016, there was a KIBHR representative office in Zhambyl region in Taraz .

KIBHR Centers

The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law consists of four centers with their own tasks and goals ^[4] :

• Human Rights Center (HRC) - consists of KIBHR lawyers who analyze national legislation ^[5] in the field of human rights (including the child ^[6] ) and provide free legal advice to citizens (mainly the poor). As part of the human rights center are:
  • a volunteer center where law students work;
  • public reception in which citizens are received with appeals about violations of their rights and freedoms;
• Information and Monitoring Center (IMC) - consists of a group that monitors the observance of human rights in Kazakhstan and disseminates information in Kazakhstan and foreign media and on the Internet. Employees of the IMC carry out an electronic monitoring of the “Situation with human rights in Kazakhstan” monitoring and edit the KIBHR website.
• Educational Center (OC) - consists of KIBHR employees who conduct human rights education through various trainings, lectures, seminars and distribution of human rights teaching materials.
• Volunteer Center (VC) - consists of volunteers who provide free advice to citizens on legal issues. This center is responsible for conducting the annual Human Rights Schools.

Collaboration with other organizations

In order to achieve its statutory goals, KIBHR participates in coalitions and alliances with other organizations. In particular:

• Coalition of NGOs of Kazakhstan against torture ^[7]
• Coalition of NGOs "20-shy bap" ^[8]
• NGO coalition for writing alternative reports to the UN convention bodies (reporting on UPR, ICCPR, CAT, CRC, etc.) ^[9]
• Coalition of NGOs of Kazakhstan on monitoring the implementation of the National Action Plan for Human Rights for 2013-2019. ^{[10] [11]}
• The working group of Kazakhstan NGOs "On the Protection of the Rights of Children" ^[12]

KIBHR is also a member of large international associations:

• From December 3, 2011 - member of the civil platform "Civil Solidarity"; ^[13]
• Since April 2013 a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). ^[14]

KIBHR membership

KIBHR has a fixed membership. A member of a public association can be anyone who shares the goals of the organization and is engaged in human rights activities.

The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) was founded in the summer of 1993 by a joint decision of a group of Kazakh human rights defenders and civil society activists with the support of the American non-governmental organization Union of Councils dealing with fascism, racism, and xenophobia , anti-Semitism and other manifestations of ethnic intolerance in the former Soviet Union.

On February 8, 1995, the organization was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the status of an international public association.

On March 4, 1997, the organization was reregistered and transformed into an institution - the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR), which was founded by ten individuals - nine citizens of Kazakhstan and one citizen of the United States.

On 4 November 1999, a fire broke out in the office of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, which resulted in the office of the director of the bureau Evgeny Zhovtis completely burned out, most of the working documents of the director of the bureau and his deputy Zhemis Turmagambetova, as well as the main part of the KIBHR documentation were destroyed. database on human rights violations in the Republic of Kazakhstan, on external and interregional contacts of the Bureau, on monitoring and the human rights network of the Republic of Kazakhstan. KIBHR staff suspect that it was a deliberate arson. ^{[15] [16]}

On April 30, 2002, in connection with the adoption of the new tax legislation, the organization was reregistered and from that moment is a non-profit organization in the organizational and legal form of the republican public association, initiated by the creation of which were 11 citizens of Kazakhstan - the former founders and employees of KIBHR.

On August 15, 2005, the KIBHR office was hacked and looted, as a result of which 10 computer processors and 5 LCD monitors were stolen, and hard drives were removed in the remaining computers. Thus, KIBHCHSZ lost almost all the electronic information accumulated over the past few years, and the work of the organization was paralyzed. This event occurred on the eve of the 2005 presidential election . ^{[17] [18]}

On September 3, 2009, by the decision of the Balkhash District Court of the Almaty Region, Yevgeny Zhovtis, director of KIBHR, was sentenced to four years in prison with a sentence being served in a penal colony. ^[nineteen]

On February 1, 2012 by the court number 2 of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk, he was released as a result of the amnesty. ^[20]

April 20, 2012 and. KIBHR Director Roza Akylbekova officially replaced Yevgeny Zhovtis as KIBHR Director. ^[21]

Over the entire period of its activity KIBHR (at the beginning of 2015 ) was:

• over 130 projects implemented to promote human rights and freedoms in Kazakhstan;
• more than 100 conferences, seminars , round tables , trainings for government officials and representatives of civil society were held;
• released dozens of titles of educational and human rights literature;
• Primary legal assistance was provided to about 60,000 Kazakhstani citizens, foreigners , stateless persons and refugees , victims of torture and inhuman treatment ^[22] .

KIBHR has made some contribution to a number of systemic changes in the field of human rights in Kazakhstan, in particular:

• on cancellation of exit visas ;
• on reforming the penitentiary system of Kazakhstan;
• to combat discrimination and inequality; ^[23]
• on the actual abolition of the death penalty in the country;
• on the development of the juvenile justice system;
• on the introduction of a jury trial ;
• on reforming criminal, criminal executive legislation and law enforcement practice;
• on the accession of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the main international instruments in the field of human rights;
• to combat torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment and punishment and to resolve a number of other issues related to the exercise of political rights and civil liberties in Kazakhstan.

Over the entire period of its existence, KIBHR in one way or another supported and continue to support:

• United Nations (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM, United Nations Foundation for the Victims of Torture, etc.);
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE Center in Almaty, OSCE Center in Astana);
• European Union (European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, European Commission);
• The governments of the USA , Great Britain , Germany , the Netherlands , Switzerland , Norway , Finland , Canada;
• International Organization for Migration ;
• Non-governmental organizations and foundations (Open Society Institute, Soros-Kazakhstan Foundation, National Endowment for Democracy (USA), Humanist Institute for Cooperation Development with other HIVOS countries (Netherlands), MacArthur Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Germany), Counterpart Consortium (USA), Americal Legal Consortium (USA), Union of Soviets, International Prison Reform, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (United Kingdom), Freedom House, Eurasia Foundation, Bank Watch Network, National Democratic and tute (USA), Dutch Helsinki Committee, Norwegian Helsinki Committee et al.

The activities of KIBHCHS are recognized at the international level by awarding the organization, its director Yevgeny Zhovtis and her staff various awards, including: ^[24]

• 1998 - International Prize of the United States and the European Union for the development of democracy and civil society; ^[25]
• 1999 - award of the International League of Human Rights; ^[26]
• 2004 - European Union Prize for the Development of Democracy and Civil Society;
• 2005 - recognition award of the International Helsinki Federation; ^[27]
• 2007 - Prize of the Fund. Friedrich Ebert (Germany) in the field of human rights; ^[28]
• 2010 - the prize to them. Andrei Sakharov of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee; ^[29]
• 2013 - the medal of the Ombudsman of Poland "For merits in the protection of human rights". ^[thirty]

• Human rights in Kazakhstan
• Zhovtis, Evgeny Aleksandrovich
• Akylbekova, Rosa Maksatbekovna
• Pullman, Maria Mikhailovna
• Turmagambetova, Zhemis Utegenovna
• Duvanov, Sergey Vladimirovich
• Sviridov, Andrei Maratovich

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