Kazakhstan's Chairmanship of the OSCE: Challenges and opportunities in the human dimension

Abstract

AbstractKazakhstan's 2010 chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has potentially far reaching consequences for Europe's premier international human rights organization and for democratization and human rights in Kazakhstan and other OSCE participating States. Some have argued that Kazakhstan's chairmanship will help tamp down dissatisfaction among some participating states that the organization devotes too much attention to human rights and democracy in the countries of the CIS and the Balkans. Others worry how a Kazakhstani Chairman would react in case of events such as the violence in Andijon in 2005 or the Russian attack on Georgia in 2008. Another significant question is whether the upcoming chairmanship will spur reform in Kazakhstan. To date, unfortunately, the Government of Kazakhstan has failed to deliver the real reforms in promised at the 2007 OSCE Ministerial.