On March 12, 2007 the Pavlodar Committee for Monitoring Penal Reform and Human Rights, with the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kazakhstan, organized in Almaty a Round table with Government officials, NGOs and international experts on:
“Abolition of Death Penalty, UN World Moratorium and Accession to the International Criminal Court: The Republic of Kazakhstan toward Adopting the Highest International Standards”.
The event was realized in partnership with the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Rome-based Hands Off Cain and the Central Asian branch of Penal Reform International, as well as with the Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law. Participants were NGOs leaders from different regions of Kazakhstan, government officials (from the Presidential Commission on Human Rights, the Ministry of Justice, the Constitutional Council, the Majilis, and the Ombudsman Office) and international experts.
The opening session was moderated by Antonio Stango, member of the Board of Hands Off Cain (Italy), one of the coordinators of the global parliamentary campaign for moratorium at the United Nations General Assembly and co-founder of No Peace Without Justice. Tanja Beyer, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Almaty, confirmed the full support of her government to the initiatives for the abolition of death penalty and the introduction of a world moratorium, also in the frame of the current German Presidency of the EU. Saginbek Tursunov, President of the Commission of Human Rights under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, foresaw a change in the legislation in order to fully abolish the death penalty. Bruno Antonio Pasquino, Ambassador of Italy in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, illustrated the current initiative of the Italian Government for a world moratorium on death penalty, quoting as a positive example the recent signature of a Declaration on this issue, addressed to the President of the UN General Assembly, by Kyrgyzstan and expressing the hope that Kazakhstan would subscribe it soon. Brigitte Dufour, Vice Executive Director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (Austria), explained the project on abolition of death penalty in Central Asia enacted by the organization she represented with the support of the European Commission, and stressed the importance of working also for a further humanization of the prisons conditions. Elena Levchenko, Project Manager for the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) at the European Commission’s Delegation to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, expressed the Delegation’s appreciation for the project jointly realized by the organizers of the round table and by the other participant NGOs. Svetlana Kovlyagina, Chairperson of the Pavlodar Committee for Monitoring Penal Reform and Human Rights, welcomed the foreign and Kazakhstani colleagues on behalf of the group that had initiated the project and invited them to continue the already fruitful collaboration on the issue.
The first session, devoted to the topic “Abolition of death penalty and resolution for moratorium at the UN General Assembly”, was moderated by Zhemys Turmagambetova, Director of Charta for Human Rights (Kazakhstan). Marco Perduca, Member of the Board of Hands Off Cain, special advisor to the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (Italy), spoke about the efforts to involve governments and civil society in the international campaign to have a Resolution for a universal moratorium on death penalty approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations. He also stressed the fact that, basing on Hands Off Cain’s analysis, such a Resolution would be certainly approved by a large majority of UN member states. Madina Zharbussynova, Ambassador-at-large, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, explained the collaboration of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the United Nations, expressed her certainty that her country would eventually abolish the death penalty and said that the issue of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court would be examined under the profile of related changes in the Constitution. Alexander Topolya, Senior Expert of the National centre on human rights (Ombudsman office) analyzed the perspectives for the Republic of Kazakhstan to join a resolution of the UN General Assembly on world moratorium and expressed the appreciation of his office for this initiative, which had been presented by the Italian Ambassador to the Ombudsman. Nikolay Belorukov, member of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, gave his point of view on the eventual abolition of the death penalty in his country. He underlined that the proposal by the Minister of Internal Affairs of introducing the death penalty for crimes connected with traffic of narcotics did not get support in the society, and said that, after the introduction of moratorium, the level of criminality did not increase in Kazakhstan. The Constitutional Council gave a favourable opinion to the President of the Republic about supporting the Declaration for a UN-proclaimed world moratorium. Svetlana Kovlyagina, Chairperson of the Pavlodar Committee for Monitoring Penal Reform and Human Rights, spoke about the application of the moratorium and the introduction of life-term imprisonment in Kazakhstan. She also reported about the activities of her committee in monitoring prisons conditions, engaging law enforcement agencies in a constructive dialogue and training police and penitentiary officers on human rights and prevention of torture. Bakhytzhan Sadybekov, vice-chairman of the Committee for the system of implementation of the penalties of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, gave a speech on the issue “From the moratorium of death penalty to its full abolition”. At the following discussion took part, among else, the MP Kulyash Agatayeva, secretary of the Committee for the Reform of Justice of the Majilis (Chamber of Deputies). She expressed support for the proposed signature by Kazakhstan of the Declaration for a UN-proclaimed world moratorium on death penalty, and said she would promote a parliamentary hearing on the abolition.
The second session, on the topic “Abolition of death penalty, II Optional Protocol and International Criminal Court”, was moderated by Svetlana Kovlyagina. Zhemys Turmagambetova, Director of Charta for Human Rights (Almaty), spoke on the topic “Kazakhstan from the moratorium on death penalty toward the adoption of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR”. She mentioned, among else, the working commission, including different branches of the state powers and NGOs, which would discuss the possibility and implications of such adoption. Yevgeniy Zhovtis, Director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, illustrated the constitutional law problems of his country in joining the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For instance, Constitution should be amended in order to reduce immunity of high level state officials and to insert the ICC among the jurisdictions listed in Art. 75. Zhovtis suggested studying, in particular, the experience of France in modifying its constitution aiming to harmonizing it with the ICC requirements. Antonio Stango focused his intervention on the exclusion of death penalty in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as the highest standard of respect for the life, thus linking the issues of abolition of death penalty and accession to the ICC. He also underlined the positive role Kazakhstan would play as, eventually, one of the co-sponsors of an upcoming Resolution on World Moratorium at the UN General Assembly. Gulnara Kaliakbarova, Director for Central Asia of Penal Reform International, devoted her intervention to the abolition of death penalty in the framework of the humanization of the penal system. She remarked that the campaign for abolition is a strategic priority for her organization. As for prisons conditions, she noticed a considerable improvement in Kazakhstan compared with other countries in the region. A discussion among the participants concluded the session.
The third session, devoted to “The civil society as a key factor to support the government’s steps to achieve the highest international standards in human rights”, was moderated by Gulnara Kaliakbarova. Lyubov Rubezhanskaya, Chairperson of the Public Foundation Ray of Hope (Kokshetau), gave a Power Point presentation about planning a national advocacy campaign, including identification of the target persons and institutions, and illustrated the activities of her group in the territory of Astana province. Yuliya Vassilyeva, Project coordinator of the campaign in Kazakhstan and coordinator of the initiatives in Central Asia of Hands Off Cain, gave several examples and ideas about ways to supporting the Resolution for a world moratorium at the UN General Assembly. She underlined that in Kazakhstan the moratorium favored a constructive debate and forced to create juridical and technical ways and mechanisms that are necessary for the definitive abolition. Rezeda Glushenko, Director of the Southern Kazakhstan branch of the Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (Shymkent), spoke about the mobilization of the civil society for international human rights. A discussion followed.
The forth and final session, devoted to “Planning a national public awareness campaign: Coordination and practical steps”, was moderated by Lyubov Rubezhanskaya. Mikhail Tyunin, Director of the NGO «Information Initiative» (Almaty), spoke about “The importance of an information campaign in the world moratorium on death penalty and underlined the importance of networking among international and national NGOS. Lyubov Rubezhanskaya read a draft resolution/petition prepared by a group of participants and received several comments and amendments. The conclusive document is published on this web site.
Results and follow-ups
1. As an additional activity, representatives of Hands Off Cain who took part in the round table met in Astana with other representatives of the state institutions to advocate for the abolition of death penalty and for the UN moratorium. A delegation composed by Yuliya Vassilyeva and Antonio Stango went to Astana and met with Zhukenov Abdrashid, chairperson of the criminal section of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kairat Tastemir, chairman of the Committee for the system of implementation of the penalties of the Ministry of Justice, Svetlana Bychkova, member of the Constitutional Council, and Murat Tashibayev, Director of the International organizations department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2. Later on, the Republic of Kazakhstan officially signed the Declaration of Association, addressed to the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in favor of a world moratorium on death penalty.
3. The participants started the collection of signatures to the final document of the round table and to the international appeal for a UN moratorium, to be spread also in other Central Asian countries through a network of NGOs and human rights defenders.
4. Some of the participants decided to maintain and update the web site in Russian and in English
http://centralasianodeathpenalty.blogspot.com/ specifically devoted to the advocacy campaign for the abolition of death penalty in Central Asia.
5. On May 21, the President of Kazakhstan signed several amendments to the Constitution, including one that NGOs consider a result of the mobilization against death penalty. In fact, the amended Article 15 of the Constitution limited to two cases the crimes for which the law may establish the death penalty: Terrorist acts resulting in the death of persons, and crimes committed during war time.
6. The meeting and the related activities obtained a wide media coverage in different languages, including Russian, Kazakh, English and Italian, on TV channels, newspapers, and Internet. 24 media representatives attended the event. The following web sites reported:
http://www.31.kz/31channel/index.php?uin=1103077401&chapter=1173705937&day=12&month=03&year=2007http://www.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=88049http://eng.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=88072http://www.kub.kz/downloads/respublika/REP_230307_03.pdfhttp://www.kub.kz/downloads/respublika/REP_230307_04.pdfhttp://www.vof.kg/kz/news/?news=704http://www.handsoffcain.info/archivio_news/200703.php?iddocumento=9309970&mover=2http://www.npwj.org/2007/03/12/kazakhstan_hands_cain_npwj_round_table_death_penalty_moratorium_and_icc http://www.nessunotocchicaino.it/archivio_news/200703.php?iddocumento=9309954&mover=2