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Elections | Human Rights Council Pledging Event 2021

This week in an online event, 10 candidate States publicly spoke to an audience of around 200 people on their pledges as incoming Human Rights Council members for 2022 – 2024. They also faced questions on pressing human rights issues from both States and civil society organisations.

Kazakhstan: Briefing Paper on the situation of human rights defenders

(Geneva) - Kazakhstan is scheduled to be reviewed at the 20th session of the Universal Periodic Review in October 2014. Freedom of expression and assembly are severely restricted in Kazakhstan, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently expressing concern that the space for civil society and public criticism is shrinking rather than expanding, both in law and in practice. Internet freedoms have been severely curtailed in recent years, with a 2010 law enabling the blocking of domestic and foreign websites and the restriction of personal blogs and chat rooms.