Kazakhstan

When the Kazakh people started organising peaceful protests for democracy and social justice in January 2022, the police and armed forces responded with extreme brutality, killing more than 160 people and arresting more than 8,000 people.

When the Kazakh people started organising peaceful protests for democracy and social justice in January 2022, the police and armed forces responded with extreme brutality, killing more than 160 people and arresting more than 8,000 people.

Kazakh authorities have long been impeding the operation of independent trade unions in the country by simply de-registering and refusing to reregister unions. In January 2021, the authorities de-registered the branch of the Sectoral Fuel and Energy Workers’ Union (SFEWU) in the Kyzylordy region, founding the decision on an alleged de-registration request made by an ex-chairman.

This unlawful de-registration decision had repercussions for the SFEWU itself, as according to the law, a sectoral trade union must have at least nine registered branch unions. In February 2021, the Specialised Inter-District Economic Court of Shymkent suspended the SFEWU’s activities for six months. The decision was upheld by the appellate court and entered into force on 29 April 2021. All activities of the SFEWU had to stop immediately because of the threat of criminal prosecution of the leaders under Article 430 of the Criminal Code.

Four years after the events, there is no progress in investigation of the violent attack on Dimitri Sinyavsky, the Chairman of the Karaganda Regional Branch of the Sectorial Union of Fuel and Energy Workers, which took place on 10 November 2018. Absence of effective investigations and judgements against parties guilty of violent attacks on trade unionists reinforce the climate of insecurity for victims and impunity for perpetrators which are extremely damaging to the exercise of freedom of association rights in Kazakhstan.

16 December 2021 marked the ten-year anniversary of the tragedy in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, where police opened fire on protestors, killing 17 and injuring more than 100 workers. The violence put a stop to a seven-month-long strike, involving more than 3,000 workers demanding a wage increase. This case was subject to extensive review by international bodies, which all expressed concern about the lack of independent, impartial and effective investigation into the human rights violations committed in connection with the protests in Zhanaozen. They called on the government to immediately carry out such an investigation. However, to this date the government of Kazakhstan has not responded to the recommendations, and no prosecution or conviction has been made in the ten years since the events.

In Kazakhstan, the restrictions imposed by the court sentence on the freedom of Larisa Nilolayvna Kharkova, former leader of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (CNTUK), expired on 9 November 2021. However, she was still banned from holding leadership positions in non-governmental and other non-commercial organisations. The term of this sanction imposed by the court on 25 July 2017 expires on 5 October 2022. Kharkova was unable to open a settlement account in any of the Kazakhstan banks, and her personal bank account is still blocked under the conditions imposed in the course of the examination of the criminal case against her.

In a similar way, the former activist of the Sectoral Fuel and Energy Workers’ Union, Amin Eleusinov, who was convicted in 2017 and in May 2018 released early from serving an imprisonment sentence, was still banned from holding leadership positions in non-governmental organisations until 2022.

The former leader of the Sectoral Fuel and Energy Workers’ Union, Nurbek Kushakbayev, who was convicted in 2017 for calling on others to join the alleged illegal strike, has completed his prison sentence. However, he was unable to resume his trade union work.