ICC NOTE: If a new law passes during the congressional proceedings on November 24 judges in Kazakhstan will face disciplinary actions for speaking of their faith outside the court room. A draft Code of Judges’ Ethics has the likelihood of passing the central Asian countries congress as Kazakhstan has been placing increased restrictions upon religious freedom. Like Russia and other nations in the region, national security is used as the primary reason for the new laws. With the rise of radical Islamic terrorism rather than target specific pockets of extremism, Kazakhstan and its neighbors encompass of faiths both violent and peaceful. 

10/21/2016 Kazakhstan (Forum 18) – Judges could be deprived of many of their rights to freedom of religion or belief if the draft Code of Judges’ Ethics is adopted in November in its current form, Forum 18 notes. Judges could face disciplinary action for talking about their faith with others away from the court, being among the legal founders of a religious organisation, attending a religious conference as a private individual, or giving “provide support in any form” to a religious organisation.

The Code of Judges’ Ethics would apply to all of Kazakhstan’s estimated 2,660 judges. The Code is likely to be adopted at the much-delayed Seventh Congress of Judges. This is now scheduled to be held in the capital Astana on 24 November, Madiyar Balken, a Supreme Court Judge and secretary of the Union of Judges, told Forum 18 from Astana on 18 October.

Judge Balken justified the proposed restrictions, insisting that judges “shouldn’t be very active in their religious conduct” (see below).

Aina Shormanbayeva, an Almaty-based lawyer who heads the International Legal Initiative non-governmental organisation, is among several legal specialists concerned by these proposed restrictions. She told Forum 18 that she believes these restrictions – if adopted – would violate judges’ human rights. She argues that they need to be reworked (see below).

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