The Regional Court of the town of Shymkent scheduled to examine the appeal against the conviction of the KNPRK President Larisa on September 27, 2017. The International Trade Union Confederation, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), the non-governmental International Legal Initiative Foundation, and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law sent their observers to attend the court hearing. However, the judge rescheduled the hearing which made the attendance of international trade union observers impossible, and on September 29 passed a decision upholding the conviction. According to her sentence, Larisa Kharkova faces confiscation of property, four years of restricted freedom of movement, 100 hours of compulsory community service monthly, and a five-year ban to hold any positions in non-governmental organisations.
So, the pressure on the democratic trade unions of Kazakhstan continues. The Intermediate Report of the NGOs’ coalition produced within the framework of the Universal Regular Review monitoring Kazakhstan’s implementation of the UN Human Rights Council points out that Kazakhstan disregarded the Recommendation No 176 “Amend or repeal certain provisions of the Law on Trade Unions that excessively restrict the freedom of association with the view of giving workers the opportunity to form and join independent trade unions”.
International trade unions continue their online campaign to support the trade union leaders in Kazakhstan. To date, over 6,000 signatures have been collected yet this is not enough to make a serious impact on the situation.
We ask you again to send out a letter to your affiliates and post the campaign banners on your information resources: https://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=3508
In Solidarity,
Markhaba Khalmurzayeva
