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Download the Full Report HUMAN RIGHTS “We Are Not The Enemy” Violations of Workers’ Rights in Kazakhstan WATCH “We Are Not the Enemy” Violations of Workers’ Rights in Kazakhstan Copyright © 2016 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-1-6231-34259 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Human Rights Watch is an international organization with staff in more than 40 countries, and offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Goma, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Tunis, Washington DC, and Zurich. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.hrw.org NOVEMBER 2016 ISBN: 978-1-6231-34259 “We Are Not the Enemy” Violations of Workers’ Rights in Kazakhstan Map .................................................................................................................................... i Summary ........................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 5 To the Government of Kazakhstan ............................................................................................. 5 To the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Protection ................................................................... 7 To National and Foreign Companies Operating in Kazakhstan.................................................... 7 To the EU, EU member states, US, and Kazakhstan’s Other Key International Partners .............. 8 To the International Labour Organization ................................................................................. 8 To the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ............................................ 9 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 10 Surveillance by the Authorities ............................................................................................... 12 I. Background ................................................................................................................... 13 Economy Before Political Reform ............................................................................................. 13 Violence in Zhanaozen, Subsequent Crackdown, Legislative Initiatives ................................... 14 Trade Union Movement Since Independence ........................................................................... 17 II. Restrictions on Freedom of Association and Right to Organize ...................................... 18 Threats and Reprisals Against Worker Rights Activists ............................................................. 18 Dismissals or Threats of Dismissal Apparently Linked to Union Activity ................................... 19 Government Surveillance and Intimidation.............................................................................. 24 Legal Action Against Trade Union Leaders .............................................................................. 26 A Restrictive New Trade Union Law .......................................................................................... 30 Restrictions on Cooperation with Global Trade Unions ............................................................ 43 III. Restrictions on Collective Bargaining and Right to Strike ............................................. 45 New Labor Code ..................................................................................................................... 45 Collective Bargaining .............................................................................................................. 47 Right to Strike ......................................................................................................................... 52 IV. Key Responsibilities of Companies .............................................................................. 60 V. Violations of the Right to Freedom of Assembly ............................................................ 63 VI. Protection and Redress ............................................................................................... 66 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 69 Annex I: Human Rights Watch Letter to Minister of Healthcare and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan .............................................................................................. 70 Threats and Reprisals Against Labor Activists.......................................................................... 71 2014 Trade Union Law ............................................................................................................. 72 2015 Labor Code ..................................................................................................................... 74 Restrictions on the Right to Strike ........................................................................................... 76 Annex 2: Response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .................................................... 78 Annex 3: Human Rights Watch Letter to KazStroyService Group ........................................ 80 Strike and Apparent Retaliatory Dismissals ............................................................................. 81 Corporate Responsibility and Freedom of Association ............................................................ 82 Annex 4: Response from KazStroyService ......................................................................... 84 Map Cities and towns where Human Rights Watch conducted research on labor rights for this report. I HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2016 Summary The government of Kazakhstan fails to guarantee workers’ rights to freedom of association and to fully protect their interests in the workplace. Workers must overcome significant obstacles established in law and in practice to organize in Kazakhstan. Legislative changes in recent years have made it more difficult for workers to freely form unions and bargain collectively, and have introduced criminal sanctions for leading or participating in illegal strikes. Outspoken trade leaders and worker activists face harassment, surveillance, and in some cases dismissal because of their labor activism. This report–based on interviews with over 50 trade union leaders, labor activists, and workers in key industries across Kazakhstan–documents retaliatory company action against workers and state and company harassment of labor rights activists. It identifies key labor rights concerns voiced by workers and activists, and details the restrictive labor and trade union legislation that makes it difficult to independently organize and defend workers’ rights in Kazakhstan. Human Rights Watch also sought the views and perspectives of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Protection, as well as those of companies named in the report. There is limited space for dissent in Kazakhstan, the largest country by land mass in Central Asia with a workforce of approximately 8.9 million people. Kazakh authorities tolerate little public criticism of the government or its record. The government’s hostility towards activists inhibits the defense of workers’ rights in Kazakhstan. While the government of Kazakhstan has long restricted the right to freedom of association and the right to carry out peaceful dissent, in recent years the government has further tightened controls over trade unions and civil society groups. From May to December 2011, thousands of workers employed in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector undertook separate labor strikes at companies operating in the petroleum sector in western Kazakhstan. On December 16, 2011, violent clashes broke out in the central square of Zhanaozen, where one of the strikes had been ongoing for months, with law enforcement officers opening fire on workers and others, killing at least 12 people. 1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2016 In July 2012, following those extended and unresolved labor strikes in western Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbaev, called for better regulations of employer- employee relations. Following his directive, the government adopted a new trade union law in June 2014 and a new Labor Code in November 2015. However, legislators ignored key recommendations by trade unions and the International Labour Organization, which provided technical expert analysis of the bills. Neither law fully complies with international standards on workers’ rights. As Kazakhstan’s economic growth has slowed in recent years due to the significant drop in the global price of crude oil, and the country’s national currency, the tenge, has lost value, the government has grown even more wary of possible unrest. In May 2016, for example, authorities took quick and decisive action against gatherings opposing land code reforms, detaining hundreds of protesters and bringing politically motivated criminal charges against peaceful activists. The current
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