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Summary: General overview of Kazakhstan's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights
Status of the CRC in national law
Article 4(3) of the Constitution of Kazakhstan provides that ratified international treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, take priority over national laws. In addition, provisions of ratified treaties are considered directly enforceable so long as they do not require further implementing legislation to be applied, and Article 76 of the Constitution further empowers courts to decide cases on the basis of international treaties. Hence, the CRC may in principle be raised in domestic courts, although it is not clear whether this has happened in practice.
Constitution:
Section II of the Constitution of Kazakhstan provides for a number of rights that apply regardless of age, but only three that make specific reference to the rights of children:
- Art. 27(1): requires the State to protect marriage, the family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood
- Art. 27(2): asserts a right and responsibility of parents to care of their children
- Art. 27(3): requires able-bodied children of age to take care of their disabled parents
Legislation:
Kazakhstan does not have a comprehensive Children's Act, though it did enact a Children's Rights Act in 2002. Legislation of particular relevance to children can be found throughout various Codes and Acts including, but by no means limited to:
- Act No. 345-II, The Children's Rights Act of 8 August 2002
- Act No. 591, on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, Child Neglect and Homelessness of 9 July 2004
- Act No. 167, The Criminal Code of 16 July 1997
- Act No. 206, The Code of Criminal Procedure of 13 December 1997
- The Civil Code of 27 December 1994
- Act No. 251, The Labour Act of 15 May 2007
- Act No. 565 on Human Reproductive Rights and Guarantees for their Realisation of 16 June 2004
- Act No. 430 on the Health-Care System of 4 June 2003
- The Marriage and Family Act 1998
- The Education Act 1999
Legal Research:
The Parliament of Kazakhstan maintains an official website that offers databases of legislation in Kazakh and Russian (http://www.parlam.kz/) and the Constitution in Kazakh, Russian and English (http://www.parlam.kz/en/constitution). The website of the Supreme Court publishes legislation in Russian and Kazakh as well as limited resources in English (http://supcourt.kz/eng/), and the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database provides access to a selection of legislation in a variety of languages (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=KAZ). In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Kazakhstan (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Kazakhstan1.htm), and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/kz/) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/kazakhstan.php) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources.
Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases from national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Case Law Research
The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan publishes its decisions in English (http://www.constcouncil.kz/eng/resheniya/), and the website of the Supreme Court (http://supcourt.kz/rus/) provides information on current cases in Russian and Kazakh and limited case law resources. The World Law Guide provides access to the websites of the regional and district courts (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/courts/nofr/oeur/lxctkaz.htm).
Compliance with the CRC
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has welcomed Kazakhstan's efforts to harmonise national legislation with the CRC, but in its 2007 Concluding Observations, the Committee highlighted a number of areas that fell short of the Convention's principles and provisions. Of particular concern was the State's lack of progress with regards to legislation on child labour and sexual exploitation. The Committee also noted the State's limited success in effectively implementing legislation.
In depth analysis
The Committee noted serious and pervasive flaws in Kazakhstan's justice system in its 2007 Concluding Observations. Specifically, the Committee expressed concern at the lack of specialised judges and juvenile courts, the slow pace of criminal justice reform, and the low quality of facilities for the detention of children. As such, the Committee recommended that the State address these concerns through comprehensive measures, including legal reform, as well as by establishing a system of socio-educational measures to provide an alternative to deprivation of liberty for children. The Committee expressed serious concern that children in alternative care could be detained in prison-like conditions and urged the State to ensure that no child is so treated.
The inadequacy of enforcement and implementation measures was also a significant feature in the Concluding Observations. With regards to the law on child labour, sexual exploitation and trafficking, the Committee urged the State to take steps to implement monitoring mechanisms and complaints procedures and to ensure that perpetrators of related crimes against children are prosecuted and punished. Similarly, while noting that legislation had been passed to prohibit corporal punishment in schools, the penal system and alternative care, the Committee expressed concern that this prohibition had not prevented the widespread practice of corporal punishment and that the ban did not extend to foster care, military schools, kinship care or the workplace.
The Committee also highlighted adoption and the treatment of refugee children as areas of national law in need of legislation to establish comprehensive legal frameworks.
Current legal reform projects
At the time of the Kazakhstan's 2007 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Government indicated that it intended to amend the Criminal Code and Procedural Criminal Code. Some of these amendments have since been instituted.