Overview

Large-scale anti-government protests rocked Kazakhstan in January 2022, setting off a cascade of human rights violations by the authorities, including excessive use of force against protesters, arbitrary arrest and detention, and ill-treatment and torture of detainees. Political reforms promised by Kazakhstan’s President Kasym-Jomart Tokaev in recent years have not led to meaningful improvements in the country’s poor human rights record. Free speech and the right to peaceful protest are suppressed.

Source: Human Rights Watch