UN and Kazakhstan: 30 years of partnership
The Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the UN in New York was established on June 5, 1992. Kazakhstan has Ever since been actively involved in the work of the UN and its specialized bodies. Kazakhstan is home to 27 UN agencies.
«Kazakhstan has always been and will continue to be a reliable partner for the UN and, in general, the international community, committed to the implementation of a consistent and predictable foreign policy, a supporter of global initiatives aimed at ensuring sustainable peace and security,» said Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, at the opening of a thematic exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan's membership in the UN in March.
Kazakhstan’s accession to the UN
The first Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN (1992-99) was Akmaral Arystanbekova. Recalling that period, she says it was filled with a «breathtaking dynamism.»
«By virtue of fate, I was entrusted by First President Nursultan Nazarbayev to prepare Kazakhstan’s accession to the UN, create the foundation for our cooperation with this major international organization and represent our country in it for eight years. On December 20, 1991, I arrived in New York, where the UN is headquartered, and assumed the post of Senior Counsellor to the Permanent Mission of the USSR (later the Russian Federation) to the UN and the Representative of Kazakhstan,» she said in one of her interviews.
«Those unforgettable days of late December 1991 were filled with the breathtaking dynamism of a truly dramatic moment of geopolitical shift on the world stage, caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the emergence of new independent states on the global political map,» she said.
On December 31, 1991, the application of Kazakhstan for admission to the UN was handed to the Secretary General of the organization and on January 3, 1992, the Secretary-General passed on the application to the Security Council and forwarded it to all the member states.
On January 23, the Security Council recommended the admission of Kazakhstan to the General Assembly for membership in the UN.
On March 2, 1992, Kazakhstan was unanimously admitted as a member of the UN at the 46th UN General Assembly, which marked the international recognition of the state sovereignty and independence of Kazakhstan.
«From the first days of its membership in the UN, Kazakhstan took an active stance in addressing the most pressing international problems and issues on the agenda of the organization. The voluntary renunciation of the world’s fourth most powerful nuclear arsenal, which we inherited, and the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site were highly praised at the UN as a real contribution of the newly independent state to disarmament, strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime and ending nuclear testing on the planet,» said Arystanbekova.
Kazakhstan’s initiatives at the UN
One of the first international initiatives of Kazakhstan was to convene the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), put forward at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly in 1992. From just a mere idea, CICA has evolved into an international organization, the process that was launched at the sixth CICA summit in Astana on October 12-13.
CICA is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation toward promoting peace, security, and stability in Asia. It builds on the concept that there is a close link between peace, security, and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world, which can be achieved through dialogue and cooperation leading to a common indivisible area of security in Asia, where all states co-exist peacefully, and their people live in peace, freedom, and prosperity. Now, CICA has 28 member states accounting for nearly 90 percent of the territory and population of Asia, and the procedures to accept Kuwait as a new member began at the sixth summit.
The date of closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on the territory of Kazakhstan - August 29 - was also proclaimed by the UN General Assembly, in December 2009, as the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
Kazakhstan is a also co-founder of the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in Central Asia. At the initiative of Kazakhstan, the UN General Assembly resolution, titled The Universal Declaration on Achieving a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, was adopted in 2015 and co-sponsored by 35 countries.
Since 2017, Kazakhstan has hosted 17 rounds of the Astana Process on Syria aimed at facilitating UN efforts to resolve the conflict. Kazakhstan was also one of the first to repatriate its citizens, primarily children and women, from conflict zones in the Middle East.
Stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan is also an important priority of Kazakhstan’s work at the UN. Humanitarian assistance is regularly provided to the Afghan population, while national and international programs are being implemented to train Afghan youth, including women, in the educational institutions of Kazakhstan.
In August 2021, after the Taliban took control over Kabul, international personnel of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), as well as UN agencies, funds, and programs relocated to a temporary office in Almaty. Meeting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on June 2, 2022, former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and head of UNAMA Deborah Lyons expressed gratitude for the support Kazakhstan provided to the UNAMA.
Kazakhstan also participates in UN peacekeeping activities by sending peacekeepers and military observers to various UN missions and provides peacekeeping courses recognized by the UN.
The culmination of Kazakhstan’s activities in the UN was in fact the country’s election to the UN Security Council in 2017-2018 as a non-permanent member. Nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament were its top priority.
To strengthen the system of control over biological risks and threats and promote the use of biological developments exclusively for peaceful purposes, President Tokayev proposed to create an International Agency for Biological Safety at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2020.
At the UN General Assembly session this September, Tokayev also reiterated the firm commitment to UN Charter and fundamental principles. The President noted this system of values, embodied in the UN, remains a «beacon of hope for millions of people in different parts of our planet.»
«Some 77 years ago, the founding members placed within the UN Charter the principles and norms of international law that have successfully guided us ever since. There is nothing more important now than to return to the foundational principles that lie at the root of this universal organization. In particular, we must rethink the linkages between three primordial principles: the sovereign equality of states, the territorial integrity of states, and peaceful coexistence between states,» he said, addressing the General Assembly session.
UN activities in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s membership in the UN has become a «source of inspiration» for others, according to Michaela Friberg-Storey, UN Resident Coordinator for Kazakhstan.
«Over the past 30 years, the UN has implemented more than 400 projects at the national, regional and local levels in a variety of areas. These include reducing inequalities, modernizing institutions, diversifying the economy, managing natural resources, and supporting the most vulnerable - children, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees,» she said in an interview with UN News.
Over the past 30 years, the UN has supported more than 1 million people in biodiversity conservation and land management projects. «For example, Kazakh farmers and enterprises from 16 regions of the country received support aimed at improving pastoralism, organic and irrigated farming, soil fertility and crop diversification, improvement of water-saving technologies and subsidizing of distant pasture cattle breeding,» she said.
In terms of the environment, the UN is also working to revive the Aral Sea. UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in May 2021 on the Aral Sea region declaring it a zone of ecological innovations and technologies and committing to promote more significant research and scientific efforts to recover the region and improve its environment.
«To date, a UN team in Kazakhstan has worked to improve the lives and protect the health of more than 74,000 people living in the Aral Sea region. The environment in the region has been improved by reducing harmful pollutants in the air, soil and water, as well as by improving vegetation cover and switching to organic farming. Water protection and reforestation activities covered more than 70,000 hectares, including the dried bottom of the Aral Sea,» said Friberg-Storey.
Preventing violence against women and children remains priority as well.
«We are striving to take a regional approach in combating domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and we are also conducting a regional program on combating violence. Domestic violence, violence against girls and children, and violence in the community should be of concern to us all. Much of the work that we do here is to support the aspirations of the government and civil society. We know that if women are empowered, it will create a society with less domestic violence,» said Michaela Friberg-Storey in her interview.
2021 was also the year when Kazakhstan and the UN embarked on their new Development Cooperation Framework. It has three thematic areas — Human Development and Equal Participation, Effective Institutions, Human Rights and Gender Equality, and Inclusive Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability.
October 24 - UN Day
On October 24, celebrated as UN Day worldwide, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for renewed hope and conviction in global solidarity in his message.
«Today, our organization is being tested like never before. But the United Nations was made for moments like this,» he said. «Now, more than ever, we need to bring to life the values and principles of the UN Charter in every corner of the world.»
The day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter, the founding document of the organization.
To mark the occasion, the postage stamp of the Commemorative and Anniversary Dates series in honor of the 30th anniversary of membership of Kazakhstan in the UN has been put into circulation. The stamp was issued by Kazpost and the UN Office in Kazakhstan and the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dombra was chosen as the basis for the stamp, underlining the significance of the instrument for the history and culture of Kazakhstan. Dombra is also included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
«We applaud Kazakhstan's actions in sustainable development over these thirty years. The issuance of the jubilee postage stamp is a symbol of the increased public awareness of a significant milestone in the history of Kazakhstan's foreign policy and commitment to the goals of sustainable development,» reads the UN statement. The postage stamp is issued in 10,000 pieces and its nominal value is 700 tenge.
Indeed, one can barely think of any other global organization with the UN's legitimacy, convening power and normative impact. No other global organization, at this moment, gives hope to so many people for a better world and can deliver the future we want.
Written by Assel Satubaldina