Provisions and principles of Kazakhstan’s new Constitution will serve as benchmark for other countries — Erlan Karin
New approaches and provisions in the text of Kazakhstan’s new Constitution represent innovations that may serve as an example and a benchmark for other countries, State Counselor of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Erlan Karin, said at the 9th session of the Constitutional Commission, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The State Counselor noted that fundamentally new areas such as digitalization and digital technologies have been developing in recent years. Many countries are taking such innovations into account and are working to establish mechanisms for incorporating them into their constitutional and legal systems.
“Our country is among the first to introduce a provision on the protection of digital data into the Basic Law. Article 21, paragraph 1 states: ‘The right to privacy, personal and family secrecy is guaranteed, including the protection of personal data from unlawful collection, processing, storage and use through digital technologies,’” he explained.
Likewise, paragraph 2 of the same article states that the confidentiality of banking transactions, personal deposits and savings, correspondence, telephone conversations, postal messages and other forms of communication—including those transmitted via digital technologies—is protected by law.
In addition, for the first time, the Constitution’s preamble and several articles define science and innovation as a strategic area of state activity.
The constitutional adoption of the well-known Miranda right represents a significant innovation for the region’s legal system, strengthening the legal protection of citizens and introducing new standards for law enforcement. This provision reflects a shift in Kazakhstan’s criminal policy from a punitive approach toward a more humanistic one.
The introduction of a unicameral parliament, the institution of a vice president, the People’s Council as the highest consultative body, as well as the Constitutional Court—compared with the political systems of many countries—constitutes an important political innovation. The initiative to implement the constitutional changes proposed by the president exclusively through a nationwide referendum is also a significant decision for the region.
Women’s rights, children’s rights, environmental protection, volunteerism, parental responsibility and other new requirements, values and standards that have emerged through the process of social development are also enshrined in the new Constitution.
“Thus, through the new Constitution, Kazakhstan is creating a constitutional model that meets modern requirements and attracts attention on the international stage. In other words, copying the constitutions of other countries is not our path. On the contrary, in the future, with the help of the new Constitution, Kazakhstan will become an independent example and a point of reference for other states,” Erlan Karin noted.
As Qazinform News Agency reported earlier, Kazakh citizens are proactively engaged in shaping the new Constitution.
