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  • If You Are A Minority

    IF YOU ARE A MINORITY
    By Yelena Jetpyspayeva, exclusively for Gazeta.kz

    Gazeta.KZ, Kazakhstan
    Nov 30 2006

    You are lucky if you are a majority. If you are a minority your life
    is a struggle. Against majority.

    Any society was made according to the principle "by a majority for a
    majority". It is about private moral traditions, accepted and declared
    by a majority. About voting system. About fashion figured on mass. Even
    the market lives according the demand/supply rule formed by a majority.

    But what about a minority? Any kind. Red-haired are always teased.

    Adopted are not treated like "own". Physically handicapped are
    discriminated. Not mentioned about national, sexual, religious and
    other "not met standards".

    Representatives of any kind minorities in any country in any time
    had difficulties. They were struggling and defending their rights.

    Sometimes paying the very high price - their life. Even formally the
    highest law of any country - the Constitution - and international law
    propositions - Charter on Human Rights - read that any representative
    of human beings is born with equal rights.

    In practice this is needed to be proven. Not every time successfully.

    Which in this case should be guarantied by a state. But would the every
    state support rights of the minority on which not many things depend?

    In voting system the parliamentarians, who should protect our freedoms,
    take part only the majority who finally takes the decision.

    And the minority... Let's re-read the beginning of the article.

    And an illusory idea of human rights starts to appear only if the
    state makes step over the developing country to higher level.

    The image of the country and more advanced form of the partnership
    on the world stage begin to play a role. Now it is necessary to enter
    another "club", for VIP-persons. For instance, OSCE.

    Suddenly the minority and its rights begin to matter.

    Gold membership

    Kazakhstan has high-flown declared: We propose ourselves for OSCE
    Presidency 2009! Let's support us!

    We are young state from which you have something to learn already.

    Our economy grows with confidence. More then 100 nationalities live
    here in peace. Democratic reforms (not talking about its quality)
    are being made however the progress will appear after you support us.

    The process has been activated. Kazakhstan wants very much to hold
    the presidency. That is why the sufficient political capacities are
    enabled on the achievement of this aim. Although the achievement seems
    to be hard. Trying to get the world support Kazakhstani publicity
    became a witness that international opinions were divided.

    It happens because different political interests are involved in the
    game. Western countries as Germany with energy and other interests
    are not against the idea of supporting Kazakhstan. The head of the
    German Foreign Affairs Ministry Frank-Walter Steinmeyer meeting the
    Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kasymzhomart Tokayev even
    underlined that "the presidency of Kazakhstan will help the country to
    discover the potential of this international organization and give the
    additional impulse to the democratization processes in the country".

    However the Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan declared
    that this country is "strongly objects the Kazakhstan request for
    OSCE Presidency in 2009 because the republic is neutral to the
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".

    Analyzing the events happening around the OSCE Presidency, you start
    unwittingly understand that candidates evaluation mostly goes not
    right way. Votes for and against are distributed accordingly narrow
    political aims of the certain country.

    As more chances to convince the opponent to support you have, as more
    to get a gold membership.

    To OSCE, to OSCE!

    While the high politicians agree upon necessities, OSCE representatives
    solve the things using their measurements. Make round tables,
    meetings, hearings.

    As in every international organization there are certain rules and
    criteria to apply that the system for which the organization exists
    could work.

    On a recent OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw
    which took place from 2 till 13 of October, 2006, different opinions
    about Kazakhstan and its possible Presidency were heard.

    The main themes were: freedom of speech, information and fee Mass
    Media, torture prevention, human rights protection and fight against
    terrorism, democratic elections, democracy on regional and local
    levels, national remedial institutions, freedom of movement, meetings,
    associations, thoughts, conscience, religion and beliefs.

    On many of these topics we do not have very optimistic achievements.

    This was discussed by invited government and civil society
    representatives among which were Marzhan Aspandiyarova (Public
    committee "Protect your home"), Sergey Duvanov (independent
    journalist), Evgeny Zhovtis (Kazakhstani International Bureau on
    Human Rights and the Rule of Law ), Daniyar Kanafin (national expert
    of ODIHR OSCE), Rashid Nugmanov (International Freedom Net), Irina
    Petrushova ("Republic" newspaper), Gavinda Svami (Society of Krishna
    Perception), Ryspek Sarsenbayuly (Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly Foundation),
    Zhemis Turmagambetova (Human Rights Charter), Sergey Utkin (indeperdent
    lawyer), Ninel Fokina (Almaty Helsinki Committee), etc.

    Mainly the situation with civil and political rights violation in
    Kazakhstan was discussed. But also different evaluations to the
    famous social and political figure of Altynbek Sarsenbayuly and his
    assistants' assassination were given.

    As a result, together with the last and previous events in the field
    of democracy and human rights, we have to admit that possible election
    of Kazakhstan for OSCE Presidency could not get the positive solution.

    But from the other side, participants however agree with the idea
    of the Presidency hold by the country, counting it as important
    and necessary step towards the further development, especially in
    democratization as well as the integration of the country into world
    community spheres.

    Fair play

    It is time to stop playing hide-and-seek. It is time for fair play.

    Holding only intergovernmental negotiations are not enough. If decided
    to hold the OSCE Presidency 2009, it is not so much time left for
    the reforms country needs to carry out from inside.

    Political agreements and high level meetings when Kazakhstan declares
    high aims and intentions to achieve is one side of the coin.

    But when it is "supported" by such things as became traditional
    elections legislation violation which the international observers
    declare all the time.

    Or when the media and information law is changed in a way opposite
    to democratic.

    When the press is writing about the tragic struggle between people
    living in Shanyrak district of Almaty with a police to protect their
    houses from the local administration and court decision.

    Not mentioning the right-wheel cars ban on the eve of the WTO
    accession which leads to the car drivers' demonstrations all over
    Kazakhstan. The police block the streets and International Media
    reports how the guardians made people keep silence.

    Or the last but not least issue - destruction of the houses where the
    representatives of "Society of Krishna Perception" live and demand
    "to reject their religious belief and make in this case possible
    the legalization of property as it happened before with the reps of
    other religious confessions" (as it is said in the document signed
    by two laborists and one liberal democrat on the eve of the Nursultan
    Nazarbayev's visit to the UK, reported by Newsru.com).

    These events became rather political then business and remind not
    the democratic state where everyone has a freedom of speech.

    This political behaviour of different power levels in Kazakhstan
    shadowed the aim which the country declared saying "We need the
    OSCE Presidency".

    In Europe, where the human and minority rights are highly respected,
    where from recent time it is prohibited to call gypsies other then
    Roma, where the EU authorities create and finance different programmes
    to support national, religious, other types of minorities, these
    backstage games were not understood at all.

    And besides that OSCE itself gives the republic a chance to follow
    the democratic reforms and make the small voice of minorities heard.

    The conference on the education problems faced by ethnic minorities
    in Central Asia were opened on 28th of November, 2006, in Tashkent,
    Uzbekistan. The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Rolf
    Ekeus, welcomed the decision by four Central Asian States to launch
    a regular inter-state dialogue and assist each other on issues of
    social integration and national minority education.

    "Future co-operation in this area can, I believe, help develop
    practical measures to strengthen and carry forward the modernization
    process of education in Central Asia and foster the sort of
    co-operation across the region that will further promote social
    integration within Central Asia's multi-ethnic nations," - Mr Ekeus
    said, speaking at the conference.

    He also mentioned that formalized co-operation would help ensure the
    respect for the educational rights of persons belonging to national
    minorities, promote good neighbourly relations and decrease the costs
    of education reform.

    Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agreed to
    establish four working groups on the issues of curriculum and textbook
    development, language teaching, teacher training, in-service training,
    as well as distance learning and IT.

    They also announced the working groups would meet regularly to discuss
    on-going and prospective inter-state co-operation and mutual assistance
    in these four areas. A first working group meeting is scheduled to
    take place early 2007.

    Perhaps, this will be the real start of the way not only to help the
    minorities with their rights, at least in Kazakhstan, but also to
    succeed with holding the OSCE Presidency making real steps forward.

    http://eng.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=84071
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