Kazakhstan partook in UN Human Rights Council and Conference on Disarmament meetings
A Kazakh delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tleuberdi took part in the high-level segment of the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament, taken place on February 24, 2020, in Geneva, Strategy2050.kz reports with reference to the Kazakh foreign ministry.
The UN Human Rights segment, which was held during the 75th anniversary of the UN, was attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, President of the UN General Assembly Tijani Muhammad-Bande, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, heads of state and ministers from more than 55 countries, as well as the leaders of international organizations.
Speaking at the meeting, the Kazakh foreign minister pointed out that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, continuing the course of First President - Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev, is committed to the full achievement of national and international human rights standards. The Minister informed the participants about the implementation of the provisions of the address of the Head of State regarding the protection of human rights, focusing on the concept of a “hearing state” and the creation of the National Public Trust Board.
As practical steps to implement the address and the UN recommendations, decisions were made to join Kazakhstan in the Second Optional Protocol aimed at abolishing the death penalty, improving legislation on rallies and tightening the sentence for violence against women and children.
The Kazakh foreign minister also marked the success of the humanitarian operations Zhusan and Rusafa on the return to their homeland of more than 600 Kazakh nationals, mostly women and children from Syria and Iraq, and stressed the willingness of Kazakhstan to share its experience in this area.
Speaking about supporting the UN efforts in the field of sustainable development, the minister announced the opening in Almaty of the UN Hub for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals for the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan, which currently has 16 UN agencies with regional, subregional and country status.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament, the Kazakh foreign minister pointed out Kazakhstan's continued commitment to implementing the Elbasy initiative to achieve a nuclear-free world by 2045. He noted the current crisis situation in the field of disarmament and called on delegations to begin substantive work on working out new agreements in the field of nuclear disarmament, stopping the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, preventing an arms race in outer space and providing security guarantees to non-nuclear states.
Noting the importance of the review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons held in April-May of this year in New York, which entered into force 50 years ago, the minister underscored the central role of this Treaty in the international security system. As priority tasks for the next five years, he outlined the need to continue work on expanding cooperation between nuclear-weapon-free zones, including the Central Asian region. In addition, the minister informed the participants of the ratification by Kazakhstan of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on August 29 last year - the day declared by the United Nations International Day against Nuclear Tests.
