Democratic Governance

Drawing on the best of global practice, UNDP supports Kazakhstan’s democratic consolidation through providing support to institutional and procedural reform as well as consensus building, fostering dialogue and bringing together key stakeholders. UNDP is working to build the capacity of the central and local election commissions, enhance the capacity of national and local representative bodies. UNDP seeks to increase civic awareness among Kazakhsani citizens and supports the enhancement of interactive collaboration between the state and civil society organizations (CSOs). It increases the effectiveness of public administration by helping the government boost accountability, strengthen human resource management, and improve the delivery of public services. As a close partner to the government and civil society organizations in this work, UNDP is assisting to empower citizens to better realize their rights, while simultaneously strengthening human rights and justice institutions responsible for securing access to information and justice, gender equality and promoting family values and other basic human right.

FOCUS AREAS

The UNDP works to promote democratic governance in Kazakhstan through public administration, electoral and parliamentary support, protection of human rights and strengthening legal and justice sector reform, as well as enhancement of civil society participation in political decision making.

Making democratic institutions more accountable and responsive to citizens. UNDP supports strengthening oversight and legislative capacity of the national Parliament and local representative bodies (Maslikhats) as well as effectiveness and efficiency of parliamentary processes and procedures. In the field of public sector management reform we assist in elaboration of standards for public services delivery, human resource management and functional analysis of positions in civil service. Through its regional projects UNDP promotes multi-agency cooperation to increase effectiveness of drug control and reinforce border management capacity of national partners in all Central Asian Republics.
Protection of human rights and strengthening the rights-based legal and justice sector reforms focusing on enhancement of the operational capacity of the human rights institutions for effective protection of human rights against infringements and violations; anti-corruption and access to justice; promoting the access to information legislation; women political empowerment and equal opportunity.
Expanding people’s opportunities to participate in political decision-making. We support strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations (non-governmental organizations, political parties, academic institutions and mass-media) to ensure stronger public participation in inclusive policy and decision-making as well as greater accountability of executives to the citizens of Kazakhstan;, at building political culture of dialogue and negotiation; at rendering assistance in developing electoral culture among population.

ON-GOING PROJECTS:

The project“Transparency and access to information and justice in Kazakhstan” was launched in 2009 in cooperation with the Supreme Court. The goal of the project is to ex¬pand access to justice in Kazakhstan, in particular for socially vulnerable groups (minors, per¬sons with disabilities, etc.). The project also works to build institutional and staff capacity of courts at three levels by developing a comprehensive information program, a communication strategy and training using innovative technologies. Another priority is providing assistance in elaboration of a draft law on access to information in Kazakhstan and further piloting of the new legislation. The project increases knowledge of citizens on the rights to information and access to justice. It focuses on strengthening the capacity of state structures to disseminate information and use of public information one-stop shops and new technologies.
UNDP provides support to the National Commission for Women Affairs and Family Demographic Policy under the President of Kazakhstan in implementing the gender mainstreaming strategy in Kazakhstan through activities targeting family institution strengthening, eco¬nomic and political empowerment of women and gender policy promotion. The support has resulted in the adoption of two Laws: “On State Guarantees for Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women” and the Law “On Prevention of Domestic Violence”. Within the project the National Commission’s Web portal www.ncgp.kz was launched.
The UNDP project "Enhancement of electoral awareness and inclusive democratic development of the Kazakhstani society“ is aimed at integrating electoral process into a broader democratic agenda through enhancement of electoral participation of underrepresented categories of society and strengthening the capacity of newly formed local electoral bodies. The project intends to utilize new technology based approaches in electoral education and ensure sustainability of the project results through active involvement of the Central Election Commission.
Strengthening border management in Central Asia. Upon gaining their independence five ex-Soviet Central Asian republics experienced a need to guard their new borders, in particular the borders with China, Afghanistan and Iran. Within the UNDP/European Commission’s Border Management Programme for Central Asia (BOMCA) the infrastructure along CA trade routes and transit corridors is strengthened. BOMCA covers the legal and organizational framework, border management at airports, model border man¬agement in four pilot regions and supports training for border guards.

ISSUE of the DAY:

Recognizing the Right of Access to Information is an Important Step towards Democracy

‘The free flow of information and ideas lies at the heart of the very notion of democracy and is crucial to effective respect for human rights. In the absence of respect for the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, it is not possible to exercise the right to vote, human rights abuses take place in secret, and there is no way to expose corrupt, inefficient government. Central to the guarantee in practice of a free flow of information and ideas is the principle that public bodies hold information not for themselves but on behalf of the public’, says Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information.

If you look back at the history, the importance of securing access to information was recognized over 200 years ago in Sweden. To date, the importance of the right to know or right to information is a topic of ongoing debates between scientists, government officials and media. As recently as a decade ago, however, no intergovernmental organization globally recognized the right to information. Over the past few years, having recognized the right to know, government organizations, development banks and other international financial institutions have adopted information disclosure policies.

To date, more than 70 countries including USA, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, and many others adopted a law on the right to information. Globally, the right to information was primarily recognized by a number of international organizations acting solely in the interests of human rights. These are regional human rights systems in America, Europe and Africa including various UN agencies and bodies, regional human rights organizations and a few other international organizations with a mandate to protect human rights, such as the Commonwealth of Nations, Council of Europe, Organization of American States and the African Union.

In 1994, the Conference of the Western Hemisphere on Free Speech launched by the Inter-American Press Association adopted the Chapultepec Declaration recognizing the freedom of information as a fundamental right including access to information held by the state. The Council of Europe launched the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that guarantees freedom of expression and access to information. In 2002, the African Union also adopted the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression clearly validating the right of access to information held by public bodies. During its General Assembly’s first session in 1946, the UN recognized the freedom of information as a fundamental human right by adopting a respective resolution.

The right to information is a fundamental human right in a democratic country. This right may also be a key tool in combating corruption and illegal government actions. The law on access to information reflects the basic idea of statehood, which such State serving the people, and focused on the definition emphasizing that public authorities hold information not for themselves, but for the society.

Effective civic participation in decision-making processes at all levels directly hinges on having access to information. A democratic state, first of all, gives the right to vote and the right of choice to the people, in which case people should have access to information, since the right to know plays a key role. Otherwise, the choices people will make will not be informed.

The concept of democracy includes the notion of accountability and good governance. Once again, access to information must give the public the right to control actions of the leaders the public has elected and the right to participate in making critical government decisions.

Despite being drawn up at a time when no universal support was there, international human rights treaties are highly relevant and visionary. Namely, the notion ‘right to freedom of information’ received a dual meaning, the right to know and the right to freedom of expression, thus recognizing the importance of free circulation of information and ideas in the society.

Despite being a young independent state, Kazakhstan is no exception. In early 2009, the UN Development Programme in Kazakhstan launched the project ‘Transparency and Access to Information and Justice in Kazakhstan’ implemented with the financial support of the British Embassy.

To date, the project has managed to achieve a high level of cooperation with various international organizations acting in the area of access to information such as UNESCO, OSCE Centre in Astana, Article 19, Representative Office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan, etc.

Expert survey of access to information performed under the aegis of the UNDP project demonstrated that a vast majority of respondents believe that the right to receive information in Kazakhstan is secured in part. 70.7% of respondents have said it is impossible to obtain any information on certain issues. Analysis of international and national legislation on access to information showed that the draft Law on Access to Information in the Republic of Kazakhstan will help set up a unified system of legal regulation of citizens’ rights to information and ensure government transparency.

Joint efforts of the UN Development Programme in Kazakhstan, Media Alliance of Kazakhstan, Adil Zos, Internews Kazakhstan, Medialife, Information Initiative, Decenta, ZUBR, Nur Otan Institute of Parliamentary Development, Institute of Legislation of Kazakhstan under the Ministry of Justice and other organizations in Kazakhstan resulted in drafting a separate law on access to information designed to govern social relations arising between public bodies, local self-government, territorial authorities, institutions subordinate to state authorities, local self-governments, individuals and entities in obtaining and disseminating information. The draft law stipulates methods and procedures for obtaining and disseminating public information, sets out the rights and obligations of information users and owners and safeguards the rights of information users to freely receive and disseminate public information.

Implementation of standards and regulations on freedom of information calls for an appropriate law. The law, in its turn, should comply with nine internationally recognized principles of the public’s right to know.

Principle 1 calls for maximum disclosure, scope of information dissemination and involved organizations as well as persons claiming this right. Thus, this principle provides for an obligation of institutions or public bodies to justify the validity of denial of access to information.

Principle 2 is an obligation to publish information. In many respects, effective access to information depends on prompt publication and dissemination of important categories of information by public authorities even in the absence of a specific request to do so.

Principle 3 recognizes promotion of open government. This principle aims to eradicate the government secrecy culture that has been in place for many years globally. In this case, UN standards recognize the need for public bodies to take bilateral actions, i.e. to raise awareness of the public on its right to information and take actions to change this existing government secrecy culture.

Principle 4 requires that exceptions should be clearly and narrowly drawn and subject to strict “harm” and “public interest” tests. Failure to provide information cannot be justified by attempts to protect the government from embarrassment or exposure of wrong-doing. Exceptions must meet the standards of international law with regards to restriction of the freedom of expression.

Principle 5 encourages the establishment of a process to facilitate access to information through prompt, convenient and high-quality processing of requested data.

Principle 6 deals with high fees for provision of information stipulated that minimum costs for access requests should be covered.

Principle 7 is the need for meetings of public bodies to be open to the public. This being said, this principle is not always recognized as a provision of the law on the right to information and is often made into a separate law.

Principle 8 requires that laws inconsistent with the law of maximum disclosure should be repealed or amended, as due to the long-standing government secrecy culture the laws largely prohibited the right to know.

And finally, Principle 9 protects individuals, who release information on wrong-doing. Laws on the right to information should include safeguards to hold public servants that can disclose information in good faith harmless.

In 2010, the project organized a number of regional public hearings in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Karaganda, Almaty and Uralsk devoted to broad discussion of a draft law on access to information and its main provisions. The draft law and its relevance was discussed with the representatives of NGOs, government officials and academics. Based on their recommendations and feedback, as well as review of international experts of Article XIX and OSCE/ODIHR the draft law was further enhanced. This year the working group will finalize the text of the main law on Access to Information and develop the accompanying law in a view of presenting both documents to the Parliament of Kazakhstan.

As a conclusion, we would like to reiterate that the right to information, at its best, can offer important social benefits for people globally. The right to information can be a major component on the way to become a true participatory democracy with an accountable government. Many examples can be provided to illustrate the fact that the right to information was used as a tool to detect corruption at different levels. It is also important to mention that the right to information can play an important role in ensuring an efficient information flow between the government and business community in the country.

Aliya Duganova, Project Manager

"Transparency and Access to Information and Justice in Kazakhstan"