Refugee Law Finally on the Agenda

People in Kazakstan have been lobbying for a refugee law for eight years now, but now it could be on its way at last. NBCentralAsia analysts say the legislation could go through as early as next year, and it’s all down to the authorities trying to brush up their image to help their bid for the OSCE chairmanship.



The adoption of a separate law on refugees was the principal recommendation made in a September 19 report by a working group of non-governmental organisations, NGOs, which monitors Kazak compliance with the United Nations convention on refugees.



Kazakstan ratified the convention in December 1998, but refugees continue to be covered only by the law on migration and a myriad of instructions, rules and regulations – 230 in all, according to the NGO working group.



The eight-year struggle to introduce a law on refugees, with the encouragement of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees UNHCR, has included one failed attempt to get a bill through parliament in 2001.



Experts interviewed by NBCentralAsia say such a law would obviate disputes over cases where the UNHCR acknowledges a foreign national’s right to claim refugee status but the Kazak authorities refuse to grant it.



The main obstacle, the experts say, is the question of political refugees, which the government is reluctant to accept because this could complicate its relationship with neighbouring states.



Kazakstan has 13,000 Chechens who want to obtain refugee status, but the authorities will not recognise them as such, citing a 1993 agreement among former Soviet states, including Russia, not to impose visas on one another. In addition, there are several dozen Chinese Uighurs now living in Kazakstan who are to be deported to their homeland under a 1999 bilateral deal, even though they could be eligible for refugee status.



Despite such setbacks, NBCentralAsia’s experts say there are two factors that may speed up the introduction of a refugee law. First, there is Kazakstan’s aspiration to chair the OSCE in 2009, which will require it to show the West it has made progress on democratic reform. Second, Kazakstan is due to report next year on its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and refugees will be an important topic.



In one recent case that suggests progress towards compliance with international obligations to protect refugees, Kazakstan transferred an Uzbek national to UNHCR custody on August 15, even though Tashkent had requested the individual’s extradition.



NBCentralAsia analysts suggest this case could mark a turning point. By contrast, international human rights groups accused Kazakstan of acting illegally when it handed over Muslim cleric Ruhiddin Fahrutdinov to Uzbekistan only one year ago.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)