PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020

76
PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
Migrants and de facto stateless persons frequently 
face rights violations because of their irregular status: 
including discrimination, and denial of access to basic 
education, social and health services, and decent 
working conditions. In 2014, the share of households 
with children under the age of 16 years, with per capita 
income used for consumption up to 20 thousand 
tenge per month, constituted 14.3%. Child well-being 
rates vary considerably across regions and poverty is 
concentrated heavily among large households with 
small children and single-parent families.
The Government’s policymaking documents repeatedly 
show willingness to adopt good international practice 
in institutional and governance performance, including 
in such areas as accountability, control of corruption, 
transparency and rule of law. Even so, institutional 
and Government performance does not yet fully 
meet international standards. Institutional reform 
is being prioritized by the Government under the 
‘Kazakhstan 2050’ strategy, and some reforms are 
under way. However, as illustrated by international 
assessments conducted by Nazarbayev University 
and the OECD, public services’ effectiveness and 
quality are significantly below OECD standards, and 
remain burdened by excessive bureaucracy and lack 
of transparency. To achieve its vision of standing 
among the top 30 developed countries in the world, 
Kazakhstan’s Government will need to take significant 
strides towards making its public services transparent, 
efficient and responsive, serving the needs of all people.  
Kazakhstan has ratified most of the core UN human 
rights treaties
8
. The Government has adopted several 
relevant policy documents and action plans, including 
the National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2012, 
the Legal Policy Concept Paper 2010-2020, the 
Gender Equality Strategy 2006-2016, the Concept 
on Developing the Juvenile Justice System, and state 
programmes on such issues as fighting corruption and 
transnational organized crime, developing civil society, 
and protecting national heritage. In addition, the 
Government has initiated several follow-up action plans 
to UN human rights mechanism recommendations, and 
has expressed its intention of forming a new Human 
Rights Action Plan. 
Effective implementation of the rule of law requires 
further strengthening, as does the fulfilment of state 
obligations under various human rights mechanisms – 
including recommendations from the UPR, treaty bodies 
and Special Procedures. Areas needing attention include 
the independence of the judiciary and Ombudsman, 
freedom of expression of peaceful assembly, and of 
religion or belief, the fight against torture, and abolition 
of the death penalty. 
Kazakhstan has inherited difficult environmental 
challenges as part of its Soviet legacy; these include 
the irrational use of water, degradation of agricultural 
lands, deprivation of ecosystems, and a significant lack 
of energy efficiency in industries and housing. By 2030, 
the economy is forecast to run short of 14 billion cubic 
metres of water: one-third of the current inflow. The 
absence of a long-term strategy for natural resource 
management (NRM) has contributed to inefficient 
planning and management of protected areas, an 
increase in illegal harvesting and extraction of natural 
resources (e.g., poaching, illegal logging, overgrazing, 
and collection of non-timber production), and inefficient 
land use (resulting in land degradation and salinization). 
Kazakhstan is experiencing substantial problems due to 
its out-dated systems of water supply and sanitation, as 
well as levels of water consumption and water pollution, 
and its need to step up reuse and recycling.
Finding the right balance between ‘brown’ and ‘green’ 
strategies remains a fundamental challenge. While the 
Government is attempting to address this balance in two 
key documents – ‘Kazakhstan 2050’ and the Concept 
for the Transformation of Kazakhstan to a ‘Green’ 
Economy – there remain significant gaps in formulating 
legal and regulatory frameworks, coordination 
and implementation mechanisms, and financial 
instruments. Kazakhstan is prone to natural disasters, 
including floods, earthquakes, storms, landslides and 
slope collapse, epidemics, extreme temperatures, and 
forest fires. However, resilience plans at national and 
local levels are either obsolete or do not exist, and risk 
management requires strengthening at all levels.
In addition, environmental pollution has had a 
devastating impact on health in Kazakhstan: 40,000 
children under the age of 10 are estimated to suffer from 
neurological diseases resulting from lead poisoning
9
. 
Meanwhile, with no integrated waste management, 
most solid municipal waste is placed in uncontrolled 
landfill sites. To address these complex challenges, 
8  Kazakhstan is not party to: the Optional Protocol to the International 
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) 
(signature only, 2010); the 2nd Optional Protocol to the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR-OP2); the International 
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers 
and Members of Their Families (ICRMW); the 3rd Optional Protocol 
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); the Convention 
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (signature only, 
2008) or the Optional Protocol to the CRPD (OP-CRPD, signature 
only, 2008); the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless 
Persons; or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
9  Ministry of Environmental Protection, Concept for the Transition of 
Kazakhstan Towards a ‘Green’ Economy, Astana, 2013