The media and civil society community in Kazakhstan secured a significant victory in early 2019: the government dropped discriminatory and stigmatizing provisions against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community from the draft bylaws under a newly adopted access to information-related law in Kazakhstan. This was due in large part to advocacy efforts of the USAID-funded Access to Information Program.

In January 2019, the Law “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” which deals with information disseminated by media, came into effect in Kazakhstan. Though the law did not reference any specific group, the draft bylaws that were developed to implement this law contained discriminatory language against LGBT groups. USAID’s Access to Information Program in partnership with human rights defenders and civil society organizations launched a campaign to exclude the discriminatory language and requirements from the draft bylaws. This coalition argued that the bylaws were in violation of Kazakhstan’s international obligations as a country that has ratified key international treaties and conventions on human rights and freedoms. The coalition members sent appeals to the Government of Kazakhstan, as well as international organizations and embassies.

In response to the appeals, three UN Special Rapporteurs and an independent expert sent an official letter to the Government of Kazakhstan expressing their concern over the discriminatory provisions, urging officials to remove them from the draft bylaws.

When the adopted access to information-related bylaws were finally published and made official, all discriminatory language against the LGBT community had been removed and the bylaws are now fully compliant with Kazakhstan’s international obligations to prevent discrimination.

USAID’s Access to Information Program was implemented by Internews and supported efforts to improve the legal and policy environment for media in Central Asia. The program ended in September 2019.

"In January 2019 the bylaws of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” entered into force, which did not contain the provisions that discriminate against the LGBT community in the final version. This happened thanks to the coordinated advocacy efforts of Internews experts, activists and human rights defenders from the Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Kazakhstan transgender initiative Alma-TQ, the Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative Feminita, Amnesty International and the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan. This lawmakers' second attempt to pass the discriminatory provisions violating the right to freedom of expression of LGBT people in Kazakhstan demonstrates that such attempt is not a one-off campaign but rather a persistently relevant issue in legislator's agenda. Legislative initiatives like this require a consistent and well concerted response from across the civil society on a systemic basis, especially when their adoption process goes in a concealed way "under the rug." Aigerim Kamidola, Legal Advocacy Officer, Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative "Feminita"