Human Rights

Since achieving independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked hard to improve the country’s record on human rights. Government established the Presidential Commission on Human Rights – which is tasked with investigating alleged violations of human rights, and is empowered to investigate when violations of human and civil rights are suspected.

Measures promoting human rights include:

• Inclusive citizenship laws based on residency, rather than birth.
• Progressive language regulations that do not discriminate against the use of any language.
• As a secular state, Kazakhstan has passed measures preserving religious freedom and guaranteeing pluralism.
• To increase and encourage transparency, Kazakhstan guarantees the press access to government information, and 80 percent of the media is private ownership.
• A moratorium on the death penalty has been in place since 2003.