Kazakhstan from the Moratorium on Death Penalty Toward the Adoption of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR

Coordination meeting on May 29 of NGOs "Kazakhstan from the Moratorium on Death Penalty Toward the Adoption of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR" took place in Almaty. About 30 NGOs leaders from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan participated at the discussion, as well as experts from Italy, Austria, United Kingdom, Norway, and from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In order to develop our campaign, we used the methodology "Developing Creative Tactics and Strategies". We followed it step by step:

Step One: Identify the Problem.

Kazakhstan enforces since January 1^st 2004 a moratorium on death penalty, but didn’t abolish it yet. Prisoners sentenced to death and currently serving a life term sentence live in inhuman conditions. While Kazakhstan ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in November 2005, it has not signed the two Optional Protocols – the second one calling for the abolition of death penalty.

Step Two: Identify your Target(s). Who are the key actors involved in creating or prolonging the problem?

Primarily the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of Justice, the two branches of the parliament, the Ombudsman and the Presidential Commission for Human Rights, can deal with the issue.

Step Three: Identify your Goal. What impact do you want to have on the problem? How could the key actors or targets help you work toward achieving your stated goal?

We want to convince the key actors to: a) operate for the abolition of death penalty in the country by modifying the pertinent articles of both the Constitution and the Criminal Code; b) further humanize the prison conditions, particularly for those serving life term sentences; c) play a positive role in the international arena, by supporting the resolution for a world moratorium on death penalty that the Italian government will present to the UN General Assembly.

Step Four: Identify your Allies and Opponents. Who are your allies and potential allies – individuals, organizations, institutions – in your own country or internationally? Why do they or would they have an interest in supporting your effort? Who are your opponents and potential opponents? Why do they oppose your efforts or why might they perceive your efforts as contrary to their interests? Who are your current passive allies and opponents? Most people will fall into these categories.

Allies in Kazakhstan: Kazakh International Bureau of Human Rights and the Rule of Law; "Legal Initiative", public association of lawyers; "Committee for Monitoring Penal Reform and Human Rights"; Public Foundation "Ray of Hope"; Public Foundation "Interlegal"; European Commission’s Delegation to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan; Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany; British Embassy; Dutch Embassy; Freedom House Kazakhstan Human Rights Support Program; several media.

Allies abroad:International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights; Hands Off Cain; Norwegian Helsinki Committee; Penal Reform International (also with its Kazakhstani branch); Transnational Radical Party (with NGO consultative status at the ECOSOC); Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; OSCE; international media.

Opponents:Part of the public opinion (according to some polls, it may be the majority of the country’s population); some members of the parliament and government officials. While most of the public may be passive opponents, officials may actively oppose the proposed reform as they think the public would not like it.

Step Five: Identify your Resources What concrete resources do you have already in place? Think about people, other organizations, networks, finances, and social, political or legal conditions.

All the partnering NGOs have staff and volunteers ready to work for the campaign. The European Commission and the German Embassy would provide most of the necessary funding.

Step Six: Identify Your Strategy What steps are needed to maximize your impact on your target?

The coordination meeting should be perfectly prepared, including among else distributing proper materials (analysis of the legal and practical situation, of the pros and contras, of the allies and opponents, etc); we should get an excellent media coverage; we should be able to present our proposals to government officials in a very constructive way.

Step Seven: Identify your Tactics When choosing tactics consider both what is within your capacity and what your priorities are. Take time to review the key actors, constituencies, allies and opponents, as well as your and your opponent’s strengths, weaknesses and resources.

We did all this and we prepared three Power Point presentations that summarized the results of our research and indicated our goals.

Step Eight: Evaluate One Tactic Does this tactic make the best use of your resources? How can you generate additional resources? Who else can you work with? What tactics would you need to use to convince others to work with you or contribute resources?

Our tactic included direct contacts with a number of NGOs and human rights defenders, intense relations with media and approaching government officials. As for generating additional resources, we planned to prepare a very effective package of documentation on our activities that would be helpful in getting further support by donors, such as the Embassies of several EU countries in Kazakhstan.

Step Nine: Adapting Tactics Was it successful? Why or why not? How would it help me achieve my goals? Would it have the intended effect on my target? Has this tactic already been used on my target? What resources would I need? What resources do I already have? How can I get those resources that I don’t have?

It looks like all we did was quite successful. We saw a growing public awareness on the issue, we established positive contacts with government officials, and we created an active network. However, we consider this only a beginning, and the prosecution of our initiative should take into consideration the need for extending our networking and advocacy capacities. Due to the peculiarities of the Kazakhstani society, we would hardly manage to get monetary resources from others than international donors, but we’ll be working to obtain more volunteers involved. We should devote a particular attention to creating opportunities for debates in the universities.

At the coordination meeting, we discussed among else the need for a worldwide moratorium of executions. Experts from the Rome-based international NGO Hands Off Cain are campaign for a moratorium proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, which would give all retentionist states the time they need to raise public awareness and to make changes in their laws to establish a new human right: not to be killed following a judicial measure or legal sentence.

The next step of the campaign is the International Helsinki Federation’s appeal "Call for Central Asia to be a death penalty-free zone", started as a follow-up of our meeting.

We also created a web site of the campaign in Russian: http://centralasianodeathpenalty.blogspot.com/ – which did not require any money for the registration and is very useful.

Further information is reported, in English, on the web site of the International Helsinki Federation: www.ihf-hr.org