PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
and Anti-Corruption, the National Commission for 
Women’s Affairs and Family and Demographic Policy, 
local akimats and other local institutions, national and 
international civil society organizations (including 
community groups and youth non-Government 
organizations), and state and non-state media, 
journalists and political activists.
Outcome 2.2: 
Judicial and legal systems and 
public institutions are fair, accountable and 
accessible to all 
The PFD will focus on strengthening access to justice, 
legal aid and bar associations, and on contributing to 
the state’s implementation of recommendations by 
UN human rights mechanisms, including the national 
UPR Action Plan. Law enforcement and judicial reforms 
will be supported via child and women’s rights policies 
and practices. Goals include enhanced protection of 
child victims, and of victims of sexual and gender-
based violence – including domestic violence, and of 
witnesses to crime. More effective responses are to be 
fostered towards violations committed by human rights 
institutions, the non-Government sector and the media. 
Special assistance will be given to the development of 
new instruments, strategies, policies and programmes 
for crime prevention and criminal justice reform, 
including prison system reform.
To promote and implement the concept of responsive 
public institutions, the UNCT will work with select bodies 
in the spheres of health, education and social protection, 
to make decision-making and administrative processes 
more transparent and user-friendly. The UNCT also aims 
to promote public assess to Government institutions 
and to encourage public institutions to improve 
efficiency by reducing bureaucracy. The team will work 
to establish an effective system of oversight and checks 
and balances, within sub-national and national public 
institutions. 
The UNCT will work with the Government to support 
risk management and forecasting efforts, to prevent 
corruption and other threats to the effective functioning 
of the civil service. The focus will be on preventive rather 
than punitive measures, while bridging gaps between 
rights holders and duty bearers, to develop capacity on 
both sides. 
The intent is to strengthen a platform of qualified 
and sustainable national human resources, to 
endure beyond the period of the PFD cycle. Capacity 
development is a long-term process. A systematic, 
results-based approach will be used to measure 
positive change in capacity. Regarding the SDGs, 
Goal 5 is the main focus (Achieve gender equality 
and empower all women and girls) alongside Goal 10 
(Reduce inequality within and between countries) and 
Goal 16 (Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for 
sustainable development, providing access to justice 
for all, and building effective, inclusive and accountable 
institutions, at all levels). 
United Nations agencies committed to supporting 
this Outcome include the OHCHR, UNDP, UNFPA, 
UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN Women, and IOM (as a 
partner organization). National partners will include 
the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court, 
the Ministry of Justice, the Council of Justice, the 
Ministry of the Interior, judicial training institutions, 
the National Commission for Women’s Affairs and 
Family and Demographic Policy, local justice systems 
and courts, the National Human Rights Centre 
(office of the Ombudsman), the Commission on 
Human Rights (under the President), and civil society 
organizations. 

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
2.4.  PILLAR 3: ENHANCED 
INTERNATIONAL AND 
REGIONAL CO-OPERATION
Outcome 3.1: 
The Government, together 
with partners, promotes the achievement 
of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 
in the region and leads in promoting and 
implementing United Nations principles, 
standards and Conventions
‘KAZAKHSTAN 2050’ GOALS:
• 
A country that is open to the rest of the world and 
ready to work with its neighbours to contribute to 
solving global challenges
Outcome 3.1: 
The Government, together 
with partners, promotes the achievement 
of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 
in the region and leads in promoting and 
implementing United Nations principles, 
standards and Conventions
Kazakhstan has long pursued an approach of multi-
vector diplomacy and has found some useful niches as 
a mid-sized power, especially with regard to nuclear 
disarmament, opposition to nuclear proliferation, 
and nuclear safety. The Eurasian Economic Union, 
established by Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and 
Belarus in 2014, and with extended membership likely 
for ECIS countries in 2015 and beyond, is important 
in supporting ‘good neighbourliness’: furthering trade 
and economic activities, and promoting regional 
security. At the same time, Kazakhstan is broadening 
its diplomatic reach, with more active participation in 
some international organizations, and representation 
on all continents. It is well-placed to support the 
promotion of all the SDGs. United Nations agencies, in 
co-operation with national and regional organizations, 
will promote Kazakhstan’s active participation in global 
SDG initiatives and will strive for specific commitments 
to be made by the Government to fulfil the SDGs.
Kazakhstan’s location presents opportunities as 
well as challenges. As a landlocked nation, it must 
interact with at least some of its neighbours for transit 
purposes; geopolitically and culturally, it is vulnerable 
to competing regional visions, including issues of 
water scarcity and potential instability. The Russian 
Federation, China and the United States are vying for 
closer relations with Kazakhstan, while economic ties 
with the European Union, Japan, Turkey, the Republic 
of Korea and Iran remain significant. Kazakhstan enjoys 
strong diplomatic and economic co-operation with 
the Central Asian countries of the Kyrgyz Republic, 
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as 
playing a prominent role in supporting Afghanistan.
Important challenges remain with regard to such 
short-term issues as accession to the World Trade 
Organization, and the creation of a Common Economic 
Space as an extension of the Customs Union, as well 
as regional co-operation regarding transport and trade 
facilitation. Energy and water issues, and security, are 
also to the fore.
The United Nations system will support the 
implementation of regional initiatives vital for building 
bridges between the countries of the region. This 
includes support for such partnerships as the Central Asia 
Regional Economic Co-operation Programme (CAREC) 
and such regional organizations as the Conference 
on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in 
Asia (CICA), the Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE), the Shanghai Co-operation 
Organization (SCO), and the Collective Security Treaty 
Organization (CSTO). The UNCT will focus on helping 
establish and strengthen the national development 
assistance agency, KAZAID, and will assist in setting up 
instruments relating to international disaster response 
and climate change adaptation (as noted in Section I). 
The United Nations Special Programme for the 
Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) was established 
in 1998, by the presidents of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz 
Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. 
It will continue addressing crucial issues of regional 
co-operation, taking advantage of international legal 
instruments, norms, standards and recommendations 
for which the two Regional Commissions are custodians. 
At the same time, it combines technical assistance and 
capacity building by in-house UN experts with high-
level, cross-sectoral, inter-ministerial policy discussions 
and regular policy/business/research dialogue. Because 
all of Kazakhstan’s major partner countries in Central 
Asia are members of United Nations regional economic 
commissions, SPECA will continue providing a neutral 
forum for the discussion of complex strategic issues 
of intra- and inter-regional co-operation, including 
between these two commissions and the International 
Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS)
10
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10  The United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of 
Central Asia (SPECA), accessible at http://www.unece.org/speca/
welcome.html