Earlier today, Liberal International Human Rights Committee Chair, Astrid Thors, welcomed the second Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Azekhan Kazhegeldin, and Eurasia Regional Director at International Republican Institute (IRI), Stephen B. Nix, for an important discussion on Kazakhstan’s future and how the international community and civil society can support democracy in the region.
Panellists shared expert insights into the region. Kazhegeldin expressed that the disruption came as no surprise; with over ninety percent of the Kazakh population living on five dollars a day in a resource-abundant nation, government corruption and a lack of prospects for political reform pushed an untenable situation to the brink. A democratic solution would also need to consider the economic situation.
With the uprisings, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev witnessed great demand for democracy and political and economic reform. To support Tokayev’s power to make necessary reforms, Kazagheldin said that Western powers should support calls for economic sanctions against Nazarbayev’s inner circle and the freezing of stolen assets abroad.
Eurasia Regional Director at the IRI, Stephen B. Nix, expressed that while the civil disruption came as no surprise, the violence of the crackdown did. Equally surprising was the recrimination of the Nazarbayev network, damaging his brand.
Nix highlighted that the deployment of Collective Security Treaty Organization troops in Kazakhstan was uncharacteristic of its charter as it was used to ward off an internal ‘threat’.
This may set a precedent for the deployment of troops in similar situations in its member countries such as Belarus and could represent a threat to democracy in the region.
Kazakhstan is increasingly engaged with China and Russia, highlighting the need for greater visibility from Western powers in the strategically important region.
So, what to do?
“Young people are our future and we have to work with them,” Kazegheldin concluded. “We must help a new generation of Kazakh citizens to establish a future and normal, free political life.”
He also called for transparent investigations into abuses and recent events in Kazakhstan, with participation from foreign experts.
Referencing the Ukraine Revolution of Dignity, “where citizens see reform and change, improvements in their lives, is at the local level,” Nix added. Reforms must start from the local level, and national governments should share power with local governments.
This webinar would not have been possible without the assistance of our Cooperating Organisation, the Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC)
