The information requested is not yet available. Once it is I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House. Kazakhstan's human rights record since independence is mixed. The Foreign Secretary pressed President Nazarbaev, during the latter's visit to Britain last November, for Kazakh accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and abolition of the death penalty.
Serious problems remain.
The UK, with its EU partners, has recently issued demarches to the Kazakh Government expressing concern about proposed amendments to the Law on the Mass Media and to the Law on Religion, which threaten to restrict media and religious freedoms. Progress towards democratisation and human rights norms is regularly discussed at high-level PCA meetings between the EU and Kazakhstan. The PCA also provides for co-operation and technical assistance to aid progress in these areas. To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the taking over by the EU of continuing WEU deployments. From 1 June, the European Union will assume direct responsibility for advice, training and institution building activities of the Albanian police.