Kazakhstan

The Republic of Kazakhstan, is the largest country in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world, with a long peculiar history, culture and development. In the 18th century Kazakhs formally joined Russian Empire for protection and economic reasons. The Kazakh khans pursued protection from Dzhungars invasions and took an oath of alliance with Russian Empire that was strategically important for Kazakh people in terms of not only security, but also trading purposes. Later in 1920, Kazakhstan became an autonomous republic of the USSR that until 1925 was called the Kyrgyz Autonomous Province to distinguish Kazakh people from Russia’s Cossacks. In 1925 Kazakhstan became an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, the Kazakh ASSR. During the collectivization period, Soviet citizens were encouraged to cultivate northern parts of the country, and nomadic kazakhs were forced to settle down. Mass immigration took place, where ethnic Ukrainians and Russians were relocated to the fertile steppes of Kazakh lands to cultivate them, which resulted in the natural eviction of Kazakh people from their lands. Forced settlement, imposed agriculture and cattle (with limited pasture land) production plans from Soviet central government depleted the resources and capacity for locals that led to massive death of animals, hence the great famine in 1931 that decimated the third of ethnic Kazakhs population. Further, During the 19th century around 400,000 Russians along with 1,000,000 Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others immigrated to the region up until the first third of the 20th century. This influx of immigrants naturally led to outnumbering the ethnic Kazakhs, especially after the famine, and pushed aside ethnic kazakhs from pastures and fertile lands. Between 1954 to 1956 due to the Virgin and Idle Lands project of USSR brought thousands of Russians and Ukrainians into the rich agricultural lands of northern Kazakhstan. Hence influencing the culture, diversity and local ethnic populations. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, large ethnic minorities left Kazakhstan through different repatriation programs, same with Kazakhs national program that has repatriated about a million ethnic Kazakhs back to Kazakhstan. This dramatic demographic shift has also undermined the previous religious diversity and made the country more than 70 percent Muslim. Kazakhstan's economy is considerably larger than the other four Central Asian countries due to the country's large share of natural resources.

According to Human Rights Watch, the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association remain severely restricted in Kazakhstan. While the transition of power from long-serving first president Nursultan Nazarbayev to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev marked a new chapter in Kazakhstani politics, serious challenges remain. Independent journalists, rights activists and opposition members or supporters are harassed, tortured or imprisoned under vague and politically motivated charges. These issues have gained increased attention following the mass protests in January 2022. During the protests, that started in response to the surge in energy prices, with demands expanding to include economic and political issues, security forces used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities. Additionally, protesters were subject to arbitrary arrests and torture while in detention.

Having ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women as well as having adopted a constitution that guarantees equality before the law and courts together with a nationally coordinated gender equality Action Plan does not offer enough protection for women in Kazakhstan as they continue to face a widespread gender-based discrimination. Kazakhstan's anti-discrimination laws have failed to produce any prosecutions, and Kazakhstani NGOs have long called them insufficient to address gender inequality. The rise of non-consensual bride kidnapping is an increasing problem in Kazakhstan. The majority of young women who are kidnapped against their will, remain in these marriages to avoid the shame and stigma of returning home.

Kazakhstan highly restricts media freedoms. Independent journalists and media outlets face harassment and interference in their work. Kazakhstan's authorities have also been criticized for targeting human rights defenders and journalists with spyware. 

LGBTQ+ people in Kazakhstan live in a climate of fear fueled by harassment, discrimination, and violence. On the rare occasions when LGBTQ+ people report abuse, they often face indifference and hostility. Parliament passed bills that sought to introduce a broad ban on propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation, but final drafts were not made public and the end-stage of the legislative process was non-transparent.

Kazakhstan was the first to put forward the idea of creating the Eurasian Union back in 1994. From the very beginning, Kazakhstan wanted the Eurasian Union to be purely economic, without any political dimension despite its current view as a rather political tool of Russia. Together with Belarus and Russia, Kazakhstan signed a treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union in May, 2014. Today, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are also part of this regional club.