Granted, the world’s 9th largest country did not make our ‘2012 countries to watch list'; however Kazakhstan would unfailingly make its way onto the reserve list if yours truly had compiled one.
On 16th December 2011 security forces in the western city of Zhanaozen are reported to have opened fire on an unarmed group of demonstrators consisting largely of striking oil workers. The violence left 16 dead and over 100 injured. In addition, buildings and public infrastructure were also said to have been destroyed during the disturbance. It is reported that the protests were led by oil workers in Zhanaozen who had been on strike since May 2011 demanding favourable pay and working conditions. The protests of 16th December coincided with the country’s 20th anniversary of its independence and have been described as the worst civil disturbance in its 20 odd years as an independent nation. The clashes have led observers to conclude that this may be the catalyst for further mass disturbances in the coming weeks, especially with parliamentary and local elections scheduled to take place later this month.
The indiscriminate shooting of unarmed protestors was initially denied by the security forces and instead blamed on criminal gangs and “hooligan elements” until footage of the shooting of the unarmed demonstrators appeared on the internet. As a result, the office of the Prosecutor-General last week opened a criminal inquiry into the use of weapons by police following the disturbance. Some police officers have also been charged for their part in the clashes and are said to face 10 years in prison if convicted for the crime of abuse of office. The official spokesman of the Kazakh Prosecutor-General’s office, Nurdaulet Suindikar, confirmed that criminal cases against officers were launched on charges of “abuse of authority and official powers involving the use of weapons or special equipment.” Government officials have also muted the possibility of inviting the United Nations to investigate the clashes.
The clashes have been seen by observers as a blow to the country’s image as Central Asia’s most stable nation. President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his associates have successfully sold this image of the country to the West in the last decade, whilst at the same time, concealing the darker elements of his regime. Luckily for him, the West has not sought to dig deeper into the glossy image of Kazakhstan which we are being sold. Mr Nazarbayev has ruled the country since its independence in 1991 and has presided over an autocratic regime accused of nepotism, corruption, human tights abuse and autocracy. Mr Nazarbayev is currently serving a 4th term as President having won elections in April 2011 which independent observers panned as fraudulent. The ruling party led by Mr Nazarbayev also holds all the seats in both houses of Parliament in the country.
The government’s spin machine has gone into overdrive in its attempts to play down the clashes as a one-off incident. Nevertheless, no amount of spin can gloss over the huge social inequalities in a country blessed with oil resources. The latest clashes have also led human rights groups to call into question the country’s questionable human rights credentials. Human Rights Watch has called on the government to investigate allegations of torture. The organisation has particularly highlighted the recent death of a political detainee from “injuries sustained in police custody”. The government’s crackdown on independent media, internet coverage, mobile phone coverage and social networking in the western region of the country during the clashes has also led to allegations of censorship being laid at the feet of the government. It is also reported that restrictions were also placed on the few journalists who were allowed access to the scene of the clashes.
As was the case in Yemen, a blind eye has conveniently been turned away from the concerns raised by human rights organisations because the country is of strategic importance to the West. The West has invested heavily in the country’s energy industry and Kazakhstan has assisted immensely in transporting NATO supplies to Afghanistan. Its cooperation with the West appears to be a form of payment in return for buying the silence of Western leaders who, by their actions or lack of, send the erroneous message to despots that the West will not take them to task on human rights standards so long as they happen to be of use to us.
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