UN Authority Figures

UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Executive Board: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan police arrested dozens of anti-government protesters after unrest spilled onto the streets of several major cities, with citizens denouncing political repression in the oil-rich nation. Photo: Kazakhstani soldiers (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Source: Deutsche Welle, February 28, 2021

Mission of the UN Development Programme: "UNDP works in nearly 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion... UNDP focuses on helping countries build and share solutions in three main areas: Sustainable development; Democratic governance and peacebuilding; Climate and disaster resilience." (UN Development Programme website, "Overview")

Term of office: 2022-2024

Kazakhstan's Record on "democratic governance and peacebuilding":
"Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became president after June 2019 elections that were marked, according to an observation mission by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, by election day violations, including ballot stuffing and falsification of vote counts; restrictions on the freedoms of assembly, expression, and association; and "scant respect for democratic standards" overall... Significant human rights issues included: unlawful or arbitrary killing by or on behalf of the government; torture by and on behalf of the government; political prisoners; problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet; interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; restrictions on political participation;... There were several well-publicized reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings or beatings that led to deaths... The constitution and law provide citizens the ability to choose their government in free and fair periodic elections held by secret ballot and based on universal and equal suffrage, but the government severely limited exercise of this right."
(U.S. State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2020, Kazakhstan)

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