Kazakhstan

17 million people
8,260 USD GNI (PPP)
Internet:
Not Free
Press:
Not Free
Not Free

Population and GNI data source

News & Updates

FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Kazakhstan Holds Citizens Hostage in Pursuit of Regime Opponent

March 12, 2018

The state’s abusive tactics in the case of an exiled oligarch can also be used against politicians, activists, and journalists.
FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Will Trump Encourage Repression in Kazakhstan?

January 15, 2018

A White House visit by a Central Asian ruler presents an opportunity for renewed U.S. leadership on democracy and human rights.
Press Releases

Kazakhstan: Government Retaliates against Civil Society Groups

June 21, 2017

Freedom House issued the following statement in response to an Almaty appellate court’s decision to uphold a large fine against the International Legal Initiative. 
Press Releases

Kazakhstan: Authorities Arrest Editor of Last Independent Newspaper

February 13, 2017

Mamay was arrested February 10 on charges of using his position at the Tribuna newspaper to launder money allegedly embezzled from BTA Bank by business tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Pages

Experts

Robert Herman

Senior Advisor for Policy

Dr. Herman is senior advisor for policy at Freedom House.

Issues: 
Civil Society
Regions: 
Sub-Saharan Africa

Signature Reports

Freedom in the World

Freedom on the Net

Freedom of the Press

Nations in Transit

Countries at the Crossroads

Special Reports

Promise and Reversal: The Post-Soviet Landscape Twenty Years On

“Promise and Reversal: The Post-Soviet Landscape Twenty Years On,” marks the 20th anniversary of the failed Soviet coup of August 19, 1991. The retrospective essay examines the changes in the political rights and civil liberties in the former Soviet Union over the last two decades, as well as includes graphs and rankings that illustrate the region's performance in the annual Freedom House publications Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press. The report  concludes that there is a serious and disturbing failure to embrace democratic institutions in most of the post-Soviet region.

The Perpetual Battle: Corruption in the Former Soviet Union and the New EU Members

This article provides an overview of a number of key issues related to corruption that confront the countries of the former Soviet Union and the new members of the European Union. Findings from Nations in Transit, Freedom House's annual assessment of democratic development in the region, suggest that despite the passage of two decades since the collapse of the Soviet system, the non-Baltic former Soviet Union remains mired in institutionalized graft. Meanwhile, the new EU member states face their own persistent challenges as they struggle to combat political corruption.

Muzzling the Media: The Return of Censorship in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Only a decade and a half since the end of the Cold War, freedom of the press for millions of people across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has come nearly full circle. The media landscape across most of today’s CIS in some aspects differs from that of the Soviet era, but in important ways is imposing a no less repressive news media environment. Gone is all encompassing ideological state media control. Russia – and most of the countries on its periphery – today features modern methods of information control that effectively shuts off the majority of people in these lands from news and information of political consequence.

Programs

Europe and Eurasia programs

Freedom House works in Eurasia to protect professional and citizen journalists, to bolster activist capacity, and to support LGBTI rights activists.

Issues: 
Civil Society, Freedom of Expression, Human Rights, LGBTI Rights
Regions: 
Eurasia

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, Freedom House enhances the capacity of local civil society groups to rapidly respond to human rights violations and to provide advocates with the skills to defend the right to freedom of assembly.

Issues: 
Civil Society, Human Rights
Regions: 
Eurasia