News of Internews Kazakhstan for 2003

The International Foundation for Protection of Speech “Adil Soz” and Internews-Kazakhstan, a Kazakh non-governmental organization, declare about their withdrawal from the Mazhilis’ working group on the law “On Mass Media” and state that they are no longer involved in drafting the law, thus taking no responsibility on the final result.

Adoption of the new media law is scheduled for the time when Kazakhstan is going to ratify two important international human rights treaties, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The media law shall be in compliance with these documents.

In connection with the finishing of the media law, Adil Soz and Internews-Kazakhstan would like to note that at this stage, thanks to the efforts of public journalism organization as well as some mazhilismen (deputies of the Lower Chamber of Kazakh Parliament), a certain progress in liberating the governmental bill has been achieved. Success has been made in bringing rights of mass media in terms of defamation and depiction a person to the same level other persons enjoy before the law. The authors of the draft law also agreed to eliminate the notion and status of the founder and owner of a media outlet, realizing that those were in conflict with the entire complex of economic legislation.

Meantime, all the other principal proposals, which Adil Soz and Internews-Kazakhstan had put forward, were turned down. Those provisions refer to continuing total State control over the media via mechanisms of registration, licensing, and accreditation of mass media, responsibility of journalists and the media and irresponsibility of the public servants as well as principles of access to information. As before, the issue of defining a clear social status of mass media as a public institution protected and encouraged by State in its task to exercise constitutional rights of citizens to receive and impart information and to defend freedom of speech, remained unsolved.

Ultimately, the Lower house of Parliament will receive a document, in many respects contradictory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and substantially narrowing the legal framework of freedom of expression and media business in Kazakhstan. The law is designed to accomplish a three-faceted task to regulate freedom of speech, receipt and dissemination of information, and the media activity, although these matters cannot be solved in just one law. That is why we think the law is stained with ideological colors.

In view of the above, the Foundation “Adil Soz” and Internews-Kazakhstan consider their further participation in the activity of the working group of Mazhilis unacceptable and hopeless and declare about their withdrawal.

We call on the parliamentarians to reject the proposed media bill as it is conceptually flawed. The work on improving information legislation has to be started by working out the concept and by public discussion. It is necessary to develop separate statutes on the right of citizens to freedom of expression, the right of citizens to receive and impart information, and finally a law on mass media, whose main purpose is to prescribe a legal mechanism of founding and functioning of mass media.

Tamara Kaleyeva, President of the International Foundation for Protection of Speech “Adil Soz”