On July 22, just days before the Russian-Georgia conflict, US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher spoke before the OSCE Helsinki Commission regarding Kazakhstan's democratic and human rights progress before their scheduled 2010 OSCE Chairmanship. Before we get into how the US views their progress so far, it's never a bad idea to go over official US policy in Central Asia and Kazakhstan specifically.
Boucher stated; ‘We support the development of fully sovereign, stable democratic nations, integrated in to the world economy and cooperating wit one another…to advance regional security and stability. We do not view Kazakhstan or any other Central Asian nation as a part of any external state's special sphere of influence (Georgia anyone?), and our relations are not based on competition with any other power.” It is interesting, but not surprising, to hear the contrast of China/Russia's rhetoric toward the CA, basically ‘foreign entities should leave these nations alone,’ to the US's 'these nations should be allowed to work with anyone they want.’ Each side is just trying to promote their own interests, but the US/EU include a democratic/human rights element, which is needless to say very important and as we saw in Georgia, potentially destabilizing and dangerous. Boucher went on to describe the US three main goals in their 'strategic relationship’ with Kazakhstan: 1. Advance democratic and market economic reforms 2. Fight terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and the proliferation of WMDs 3. Foster the development of CA's significant energy resources, supporting US companies.
OSCE Chairmanship Reforms
Boucher emphasized that the decision to grant Kazak the Chairmanship was ‘not one the US made quickly or easily’ and that the process was moved to 2010 to give the state enough time to implement democratic and liberal reforms regarding election laws, media rights, political party liberalization, and Kazak's concrete support of the OSCE's Human Dimension and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. So how are they doing so far? Overall, the US asserts that progress has been ‘uneven and slow’, but that the US/OSCE were putting the pressure on.
Election Law – The OSCE's Central Election Commission has been working with Kazak political parties, including the opposition, to make changes to the law and expects draft legislation to be ready by the end of this year.
Media Law – The government committed to reform their media law, especially regarding reducing criminal liability for defamation in the media and liberalizing registration procedures for all media outlets, and created a working group that has now begun work on new media legislation.
Political Parties – Opposition parties and NGO's have put forth many recommended proposals to liberalize the nation's laws and registration barriers, but the government has not yet engaged with the OSCE on legislation.
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights – Unfortunately Kazakhstan has not yet begun to play a ‘proactive’ role in this OSCE Committee.
Boucher mentioned that the US was also pushing for overdue religious freedom reforms. Alas, not much progress seems to have been made (Anyone have evidence to the contrary?), but the fact that the US/EU/OSCE and NGOs are working with the Kazak government on these issues should make a difference, if only a small one. In light of the Georgian-Russian conflict, should the West be more careful in pushing reforms in Kazakhstan? The opposite? What measures or levers could the OSCE pull to get more progress in Kazakhstan regarding these reforms? If major progress is not shown, should the Chairmanship be revoked? What consequences would that have? Where is Kazakhstan heading toward as a nation/government? Toward the West? East? The answers to most of these are murky. In fact, just as Kazakhstan is moving toward ever so slightly democratic reforms, its government is extending its reach over its increasingly powerful energy sector, buying up companies and pushing around foreign investors in ways that remind one of Gazprom. What do these actions portend?
