Kazakhstan has announced its candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for 2017-18, explains their Embassy in London

Kazakhstan is a first-time candidate, running a campaign in accordance with the principles of fair and equitable geographical rotation and adequate representation in the Council of all Member States.

Kazakhstan: The “Added Value”

• a stable, progressive and peaceful middle-income country with one of the world’s fastest growing economies, achieving Millenium Development Goals (MDG) and international standards;

• a recognised leader in nuclear security and non-proliferation;

• an honest broker known for its impartiality and independence from any centres of global policy or power, and its balanced approach and neutrality to all international actors, states or entities, giving it greater effectiveness in multilateral diplomacy;

• a significant contributor to food and energy security;

• one of the key players in the Euro-Atlantic and Euro-Asian security communities with a pro-active stance in mediation and confidence-building;

• represents Central Asia and stands ready to address regional concerns within the Security Council;

• committed to cooperation with other international and regional organisations around the world to bring about viable solutions for shared security challenges;

• as the world’s largest land-locked developing country, Kazakhstan fully understands the serious threats faced by other similar geographically disadvantaged states, including countries without access to the sea, those with vast coastlines as well as small island nations threatened by rising sea levels;

• gaining increasing visibility on the world stage with its engagement in and support of multilateral diplomacy, with extensive experience and a fresh perspective on developing solutions to the security issues addressed by the UNSC.

Key Issues:

Security Council

Kazakhstan will be actively engaged across the broad agenda of the Security Council, including non-proliferation, conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.

We support the increasingly diverse mandates of the peacekeeping missions, with a strong focus on peace-building in war-torn countries and their reintegration into regional and international structures.

We support the process of reforming the Council and improving its working methods in order to transform it into a more representative, accountable and transparent body.

The country attaches great importance to the effective use of UN Security Council sanctions, which are one of the most important preventative tools. It supports measures to improve the efficiency of the Council’s sanctions, while reducing their negative humanitarian consequences.

Kazakhstan adheres to the position that the use of force and coercion to promote peace must remain a last resort, in accordance with the provisions of the UN Charter.

Peacekeeping

Kazakhstan is a strong supporter of UN peacekeeping operations. The country maintains the position that peacekeeping operations should be carried out only in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and in strict compliance with international law. Kazakhstan intends to significantly enhance its contribution to the efforts of the Department of Peacekeeping Operation and the Department of Political Affairs. Currently, Kazakh officers participate as military observers in a number of UN peacekeeping missions and Kazakhstan’s peacekeeping battalion, Kazbat, has participated in demining operations in Iraq.

Nuclear Disarmament

Kazakhstan has been at the vanguard of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. One of the first decrees of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan was a historic decision to close the second largest nuclear test site in the world at Semipalatinsk and to voluntarily give up the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal.

At the initiative of Kazakhstan, the General Assembly adopted resolution 64/35, on 2 December 2009, declaring 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. Kazakhstan’s ongoing and active engagement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), and intergovernmental groups of experts and committees demonstrates the country’s outstanding leadership and strong commitment to non-proliferation.

Combating Transnational Threats

Kazakhstan takes seriously its international obligations in the fight against transnational threats. As part of its commitment to implementing UN resolutions, Kazakhstan works closely with the 1540 and Anti-Terrorism Committees of the Security Council, and has joined multilateral efforts to combat terrorism and transnational crime, and the illegal trafficking of drugs, arms and human beings.

Human Rights and the Rule of Law

Kazakhstan is strongly committed to strengthening the rule of law and good governance as demonstrated by its close collaboration with the UN, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe to pursue an ongoing democratic reform process. In 2013, Kazakhstan was elected to the UN Human Rights Council for three years. The country is committed to the protection of civilians from all forms of violence and aggression and the rights of women and children in armed conflicts.  Kazakhstan is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world with 140 nationalities and 17 religious groups, and has built a peaceful and stable society. Kazakhstan has also initiated an ongoing international inter-religious platform, the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, which is held every three years and last gathered in the country’s capital, Astana, in May 2012. On the initiative of Kazakhstan, the UN took the decision to proclaim the international decade for the rapprochement of cultures (2013 to 2022).

Human-centred Sustainable Development

Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the global issues  of energy, food and water security, which have a growing impact on development and stability.

As a country that has achieved MDG 1, we remain committed to fighting poverty. Kazakhstan therefore proposes to transform Almaty, the former capital, into a UN Regional Hub for humanitarian action.

Since development, environmental protection and security are interconnected, Kazakhstan has been promoting the ‘Green Bridge’ Partnership Programme, which was initiated by Kazakhstan at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. In recognition of the growing importance that energy has on our collective security, Kazakhstan has chosen the theme ‘Future Energy’ for Expo 2017 in Astana.

Kazakhstan: Committed to Multilateral Diplomacy

Despite just two decades of independence, Kazakhstan has proven it has the diplomatic will and capability to address and solve some of the most challenging issues on the global security agenda. It has successfully chaired a number of key multilateral bodies: the OSCE in 2010 with the hosting of the Astana Summit in December 2010 – the first in 11 years; the Ministerial Conference of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2011, resulting in the creation of the OIC Institute for Food Security and the OIC Commission on Human Rights; the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building in Asia (CICA, which was initiated by the President of Kazakhstan Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev during the 47th session of GA); and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2010-2011. Kazakhstan is also active in the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan and other regional bodies.