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Warsaw, January 2009Opinion-Nr.: REL–KAZ/125/2009(Adv Council on FoRB)www.legislationline.org
Comments on theLaw on Amendments and Additions to someLegislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstanon Issues of Religious Freedom and ReligiousOrganizations
Prepared by the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Councilon Freedom of Religion or Belief 
 
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Aleje Ujazdowskie 19, 00-557Warsaw, Poland tel.: +48 22 520 06 00
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I.Introductory Remarks
1.At the request of the Government of Kazakhstan, the current Comments areintended to provide an analysis of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan“On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republicof Kazakhstan on Issues of Religious Freedom and ReligiousOrganizations” (the “Proposed Religion Law”) at the time of its passage byKazakhstan’s Parliament on 26 November 2008. These Comments are based on a copy of the Proposed Religion Law in the Russian language astransmitted to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) byKazakhstan’s State Committee on Religious Affairs (“Committee onReligious Affairs”) on 25 November 2008. This document is attached asExhibit A. The unofficial English translation done by the ODIHR and reliedupon in preparing these Comments is attached as Exhibit B.2.The background of the current Comments is as follows. On 16 May 2008,the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the OSCEsubmitted a request for comments on an earlier draft of the ProposedReligion Law submitted to the ODIHR (the “Original Draft Law”).3.The task of preparing comments was delegated to the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief (the “AdvisoryCouncil”), a body with representation from a large number of OSCE participating States, and with extensive experience in advising the ODIHR and participating States with regard to law reform initiatives such as thatcontemplated by the Proposed Religion Law (and the Original Draft Law).4.Three weeks after receiving the request for assistance on 16 May 2008,Comments on the Original Draft Law were finalized by the AdvisoryCouncil (OSCE/ODIHR Opinion Nr. REL-KAZ/110/2008 of 10 June 2008)(the “June Advisory Council Comments” or “ACC”). These commentsnoted numerous ways in which the legislation did not comply withKazakhstan’s international human rights commitments.5.After the June Comments were submitted, a meeting was held on 26 June2008 in Astana) (the “June Meeting”) with Mr. Ardak Doszhan, Chairmanof the Religious Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Justice of the3
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