Marat Dauletbayev
Marat Dauletbayev is the Chairman of the human rights organisation ‘Baikonur for Civil Rights’. The organisation was founded in 2009 with a focus on working with social and economic rights and rights of disadvantaged communities in Baikonur.
Human rights defenders in Kazakhstan are particularly active on legal and penal reform, social rights, freedom of expression, and ethnic minorities’ rights as well as democratisation. Unlike other central Asian countries, instances of direct targeting of critical media and influential NGOs are limited. Repression against human rights defenders often takes the form of economic and legislative obstacles, which are effective in hindering their work and more difficult to challenge.
In recent years the government further tightened control over independent media, NGOs and civil society, and initiated politically motivated lawsuits against its critics. Lawsuits have been brought in particular against media workers reporting on human rights issues.
