OSCE - THE HUMAN DIMENSION UNDER THE KAZAKHSTAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000027

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2020
TAGS: OSCE PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: OSCE - THE HUMAN DIMENSION UNDER THE KAZAKHSTAN
CHAIRMANSHIP: INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Classified By: CDA Carol Fuller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Kazakhstan Chairmanship-in-Office (CiO)
has narrowly defined its priorities within the Human
Dimension (HD) of the OSCE for 2010 as Tolerance and
Non-Discrimination, Gender Equality, and Combating
Trafficking in Human Beings, bypassing more contentious and
fundamental issues such as Freedom of the Media and Freedom
of Assembly and Association. The U.S. and like-minded
participating States have begun to join forces in an attempt
to channel the OSCE's energy into these fundamental freedoms
and other priorities in human rights, democracy and rule of
law. Conversely, the Russian Federation (RF) and Belarus,
along with Turkmenistan, have fully endorsed the CiO's
priorities, and have threatened to insert their themes into
the HD agenda should attempts be made to change them. We
likewise expect the other Central Asian participating States
to be largely supportive of the CiO in the HD, and perhaps as
a result, to become more involved in the process. We will
push, in concert with like-minded delegations, for more
emphasis to be placed on basic human rights and will seek
ways to lead other participating States in this endeavor.
End Summary.

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Human Dimension Priorities
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2. (C) During a videotaped address to the Permanent Council
January 14, President Nazarbayev outlined the "Motto of
Kazakhstan's Chairmanship" as "the Four T's" - Trust,
Tradition, Transparency and Tolerance. Within the HD, the
"T" having the most potential impact is "Tolerance." It has
become clear that the Kazakhstan CiO will center much of its
activity in the HD in 2010 on tolerance, namely on
"strengthening of intercultural and intercivilizational
dialogue." This is also evidenced by their plans to host a
high-level OSCE conference on tolerance in June. This is an
area in which the Kazakhstan Government believes it has
proven successes and with which other participating States
will have few criticisms. This, however, displaces effort in
other areas in which the government has made little or no
progress, such as fundamental freedoms and human rights,
including freedom of the media. In his subsequent address to
the Permanent Council, Foreign Minister Saudabayev echoed
Nazarbayev's priorities, and added that the CiO would also
address the rule of law, particularly the independence of the
judiciary, and election monitoring.


3. (C) In a non-paper distributed to delegations on January
15, the Kazakhstan CiO provided its three thematic priorities
for the HD - Tolerance and Non-discrimination, Gender
Equality, and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Once
again, while the topics deserve attention by participating
States, the Chairmanship apparently chose non-confrontational
topics and deliberately steered away from fundamental
freedoms and human rights.

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HD Agenda
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4. (SBU) Kazakhstani Ambassador Abdrakhmanov formally
presented the CiO's HD agenda at a well-attended inaugural
meeting of the Human Dimension (HD) Committee on January 22.
The HD agenda proposed by Kazakhstan is a true reflection of
their stated priorities. "Promotion of gender balance and
participation of women in political and public life" was
chosen for the first Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting
(SHDM) (March 11-12),the HD Seminar (April 26-28) is to be
on "Intolerance against migrants during the financial crisis:
challenges and countermeasures", the second SHDM (July
15-16) is to be on "Combating trafficking in human beings
with a particular focus on trafficking in children," and the
three special days at the HDIM (September 27-October 8) are
to focus on "Self-regulation of the media: ethical
principles and norms," "Strengthening the Independence of the
Judicial System and Public Access to Justice," and "Freedom
of Religion and Conscience." Finally, the proposal for the
third SHDM (November 4-5) is to focus on "Integration of
national minorities through education." In addition,
Kazakhstan will hold a high-level tolerance conference in
Astana (June 29-30),a conference on the 20th Anniversary of
the Copenhagen Document (June 10-11) and a seminar on
electronic voting (Sept 16-17). As ambitious as it may seem,
the HD agenda is devoted primarily to tolerance, gender and
trafficking issues, clearly lacking attention to issues that
might hit Kazakhstan and its thematic supporters too close to
home: freedom of the media, freedom of assembly and

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association, democracy and human rights.

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Canada, EU and Western Europe
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5. (SBU) The delegations of the U.S., EU, Canada, and Norway
agreed in advance to urge the CiO to move the Seminar topic
of "Intolerance against Migrants" to the high-level tolerance
conference and to replace the event with one covering an
in-depth discussion on means to strengthen the implementation
of OSCE HD commitments - a topic relevant to ongoing Corfu
Process discussions. They also agreed to note that a HDIM
Special Day covering "Self-regulation of the Media" at the
HDIM would be inappropriate and that the subject could be
better led by the RFoM in side events or with seminars
directed toward members of the media. As such, they agreed
to suggest that the topic of the event be expanded to cover
"Freedom of the Media" or "Freedom of Expression." The U.S.,
with general support from the other delegations, most notably
Norway, urged the CiO to supplant the SHDM on "Trafficking"
with one addressing a fundamental freedom, such as "Freedom
of Assembly and Association." (Comment: This recommendation
has the support of the OSCE Office of the Special
Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking
Humans. End Comment.)


6. (C) To respond to U.S., EU, Canada, and Norway concerns,
the Kazakhstanis called an informal meeting on January 29 to
discuss possible compromises on the HD agenda. HD Officers
from Spain/EU, U.S., Germany, France, Turkey, and Portugal
attended. (Note: The RF refuses to attend informal meetings
on principle and was not present.) The CiO representative
initially appealed that the agenda be accepted by all
delegations as provided, but the delegations remained
steadfast in supporting their recommendations provided at the
HD Committee meeting. After much discussion and solid
arguments, the Kazakh representative offered a possible
compromise: replace the SHDM on "Integration of National
Minorities" with one on "Freedom of the Media;" move the
"National Minorities" topic to a Special Day; replace either
the Special Day topic of "Strengthening the Independence of
the Judicial System" or "Freedom of Religion and Conscience"
with the topic of "Freedom of Movement." Although none of
the delegations were able to respond definitively, the
Kazakhstanis noted they would work with the RF, Belarus,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan on the proposed compromise prior
to the next Committee meeting.

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Russian Federation and Belarus
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7. (C) During the HD Committee Meeting January 22, the
Russian Federation (RF) and Belarus delegations, along with
Turkmenistan, noted that they were prepared to accept the CiO
proposal for the HD agenda as submitted, since it was
"already a compromise." The RF noted that none of their
priorities had been included in the Kazakhstani agenda, but
if other delegations were intent on "opening the package,"
the RF would have to insist on the inclusion of their
priority themes, such as "Freedom of Movement, "Combating
Neo-fascism," "Protection of National minorities," and
"Intercultural Dialogue." On the sidelines, the RF
delegation noted that their "red lines" for subjects to be
included in the agenda were, "human rights defenders, freedom
of association, and additional verification mechanisms."


8. (C) The RF and Belarus have strongly supported the
Kazakhstani Chairmanship and therefore have reason to see
them succeed. While it is too early to see how this new
atmosphere will affect their participation in the HD, we
anticipate that they may be less confrontational with the
Chair and other delegations than in previous years.

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Central Asian Neighbors
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9. (C) In the HD, we do not anticipate major changes from
what we have seen in recent years among Kazakhstan's Central
Asian neighbors, during which their active participation has
been next to nil. However, some of the Central Asian States
may see Kazakhstan's CiO as an opportunity not to be missed
in terms of scaling back some HD commitments and moving the
focus away from basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.
They would like greater focus on less controversial issues to
include trafficking in persons, Roma and Sinti issues,
freedom of movement, minority education, etc. Perhaps the

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most likely area we would see this is in efforts by
Turkmenistan to enlist Kazakh support for their goal of
preventing two NGOs they call "terrorist" from attending the
HDIM. They made this point during the HD Committee meeting,
responding with their priority should the "package" of events
be opened. We should not be surprised to see them continue
to make a strong push for this with support from the RF and
likely other
participating States - both within and beyond Central Asia.
Similarly, with Kazakhstan as CiO, it is possible that one or
more Central Asian states, prodded by the RF, might drag
their feet on reaching agreement on appointing a new
Representative on Freedom of the Media to replace Miklos
Harazsti, whose term ends in March.

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U.S. Priorities
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10. (C) We will continue to push for more attention to be
placed on fundamental freedoms, human rights, democracy, and
the rule of law in the HD under Kazakhstan's Chairmanship.
The U.S. delegation will engage actively and continue to look
for ways to lead, both by example and in action. In concert
with like-minded delegations, we will strive to maintain and
enhance the OSCE's work on promoting democratic norms and
values, and attempt to respond effectively to Central Asian
and RF/Belarus resistance to OSCE work on fundamental
freedoms and democratization, particularly related to
elections observation. With hoped-for support by the
Kazakhstan CiO, we will look for opportunities for the OSCE
to become active in the HD area outside of the OSCE region,
particularly in Afghanistan.

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COMMENT
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11. (C) There has been a noticeable change in atmospherics
during the early portion of this year's HD "basket" under the
Kazakhstan CiO. Like-minded delegations have thus far become
more proactive in including the U.S. in their efforts to
influence the Kazakh Chair. The RF and Belarus remain polar
opposites to us, but may prove to be less confrontational due
to their ardent support of the Chair. The Chair has found
itself in the middle and it is endeavoring to please all
sides. We believe these early movements could prove
advantageous should the U.S. wish to pursue a more ambitious
agenda on fundamental freedoms and human rights, democracy
and the rule of law leading up to the informal Ministerial on
the Corfu Process in June/July and a likely Summit later in
the year.
FULLER