Tag: Nursultan Nazarbayev

Having human rights in Kazakhstan depends on state permission – report

September 5, 2018 Kazakhstan Children, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Proselytism, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Women

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan tries to make the “exercising of human rights conditional on state permission”, says the Oslo-based news service Forum 18. “[Kazakhstan] systematically violates intertwined fundamental rights – such as the freedoms of religion or belief, of expression and of assembly” when it has international obligations to respect and defend these, . . . Read More

Kazakhstan’s new restrictions to ‘flagrantly’ violate religious rights

December 1, 2017 Kazakhstan Azerbaijan, Censorship, Central Asia, Children, Education, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Religion Law, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

At the facility of one of the presbyterian Churches in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is set to pass a new set of restrictions on freedom of religion or belief that violate international human rights obligations, according to regional news service Forum 18. The proposed amendments to Kazakhstan’s religion law are currently with the Prime Minister and are expected to be signed into law . . . Read More

Kazakhstan proposes further restrictions on religion

October 11, 2017 Kazakhstan Censorship, Central Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Religion Law

Kazakhstan has drafted amendments to its religion laws that will further tighten restrictions on religious freedoms, reports regional news agency Forum 18. The changes focus on the religious freedom of children and parents and could reach parliament for ratification as early as December. The latest October draft states that one . . . Read More

Kazakhstan deports missionary for conducting baptisms

August 14, 2017 Kazakhstan Almaty, Baptism, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan has ordered the expulsion of a Canadian citizen for conducting “illegal missionary activity” by holding baptisms in hot springs near the country’s commercial capital, Almaty. Hae Taik Kim, a Canadian citizen who leads a church in New York, was also fined 226,900 Tenge (US$680) – about two months’ average . . . Read More

Kazakhstan: closure of Jehovah’s Witnesses operation is sign of creeping religious intolerance

July 18, 2017 Kazakhstan Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia, Soviet Union

Kazakhstan’s decision to suspend operations at the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is a symptom of the country’s growing intolerance towards religious rights, and particularly Christianity, writes Casey Michel in The Diplomat. Jehovah’s Witnesses, who had operated in Kazakhstan for 25 years with 18,000 followers, reacted by expressing concern that . . . Read More

Turkmenistan: No change soon for religious minorities after Consitution amended

September 14, 2016 Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Saparmurat Niyazov, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan has approved a constitutional amendment that will allow its President to rule for as long as he likes. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ruled Turkmenistan since 2006. His predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, died while still in office at the age of 66 – he was President for 21 years, during which time . . . Read More

Kazakhstan church raids a ‘backward step’

May 24, 2016 Kazakhstan Almaty, Astana, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Pentecostals, Protestants

A policeman is filmed during the Good Friday raid on New Life church in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Photo: Maxim Maximov / YouTube

Recent raids on Christians’ homes and churches in Kazakhstan are a “backward step”, following the positive strides made by the Kazakhstan President in recent years, according to a religious freedom expert in the country. Kevin White, research fellow and country director at the Almaty-based Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, says . . . Read More

Central Asia in the spotlight as Azerbaijan hosts European Games

June 13, 2015 Ashgabat, Azerbaijan, Baku, Caucasus, Central Asia, Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, London, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Saparmurat Niyazov, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

In a somewhat geographically and culturally challenging development, the first ever European Games begins today (13 June) in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is more usually identified as a Central Asian country, but the European Union considers it to be in what it calls its “European Neighbourhood” – what others . . . Read More

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