Abstract

This article aims to explore the theoretical background and legislative framework for the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Kazakhstan. The author discusses monistic and dualistic approaches to correlations of international law with national law to clarify the policy of Kazakhstan towards international human rights treaties, in general, and the ICCPR, in particular. Kazakhstan is seen by the researcher as a country that has adopted policy that lies between monism and a moderate dualism. The amendments to the Constitution of March 2017 reflect the country’s position on the issue. In Kazakhstan, expression of consent to be a party to an international treaty usually requires parliamentary approval authorizing the president to ratify an international agreement. By analysing the national law of Kazakhstan, the author has found that the ICCPR is placed above domestic law, but below the Constitution of the State and that the provisions of the ICCPR have supremacy over national legislation, but not over the Constitution of the Republic. This article discusses the problems of incorporation into and applicability of international treaties in domestic law. The researcher doubts that all ICCPR provisions are directly applicable at the domestic level and that this impedes the viability of the instrument. The article raises questions of interpretation of the ICCPR provisions in Kazakhstan and the impact of the ICCPR on the Kazakh judiciary. Studying all these issues is helpful in explaining the legal conditions for implementation of the ICCPR in Kazakhstan as the instrument that will ultimately have an impact on people’s lives. In the case of Kazakhstan, one may observe that implementation of the ICCPR provisions transforms per se the domestic law of Kazakhstan.