Human Rights in Kazakhstan

Human rights violations in Kazakhstan have been condemned

In a HARDtalk interview on 21 October, Tim Sebastian talks to Erlan Idrissov about the future of his country, the issue of human rights, media restrictions imposed by the government and the harrassment of journalists.

Kazakhstan's Ambassador to London, Erlan Idrissov, has defended his country's human rights record, saying it is not the only country to abuse them.

When Tim Sebastian told asked him about Kazakhstan's attempts to "clean up its appalling human rights record", he said "I don't know what record you are speaking about."

He then said the Kazakh government had made significant improvements in this arena, but that "there are abuses in other countries".

Kazakhstan has been under increasing international pressure because of restrictions on its media.

There is a provision for freedom of speech in its constitution, but there have been numerous reports on journalists being imprisoned, arrested, and threatened, and many opposition news outlets have been attacked or suspended.

The US State Department issued a report in March 2003, saying that the Kazakh government had harassed independent media and, as a consequence, many journalists practice self-censorship.

Mr Idrissov says these reports rely on "dubious sources", that many western journalists use tricks - they go to Kazakhstan, and "one night, they go to a pub, and they buy drinks¿and they produce stories."

HARDtalk can be seen on BBC World at 03:30 GMT, 08:30 GMT, 11:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT, 18:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 03:30 and 23:30