The case of Fatima Dzhandosova, Asia Tulesova and Assel Nurgazieva v. the Republic of Kazakhstan. Views of the UN Human Rights Committee dated July 7, 2023. Communication No. 3051/2017.
In 2017, the author was assisted in preparing a complaint. Subsequently, the complaint was communicated to Kazakhstan.
The authors claimed that, in violation of article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the State party had violated their right to participate in public affairs, vote and be elected. In their opinion, minor discrepancies in their declarations of assets and liabilities cannot be considered objective and justified reasons for depriving them of the right to stand for election. Even if there were errors in their declarations, the reason for these errors was the information provided in official bank statements and pension funds, and the election commissions were obliged to provide them with the opportunity to correct them. The Committee found a violation of article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Committee's legal position: article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes and protects the right of every citizen to participate in public affairs, to vote and be elected, and to be admitted to public service. Regardless of the type of constitution or form of government, the exercise of these rights by citizens may be suspended or revoked only for objective and justified reasons established by law (paragraph 7.4 of the Considerations)
The Committee's assessment of the factual circumstances of the case: it was established that the decisions on the registration of the authors were overturned by their respective election commissions on the grounds that they had provided false information in their declarations of assets and liabilities that they had previously submitted to their local tax authorities (paragraph 7.2 of the Considerations).
As could be seen from the text of the Considerations, ".... the author of message No. 2914/2016 incorrectly indicated her assets in several bank accounts, with the largest discrepancy being 41.9 US dollars. A similar error in the declaration of assets and liabilities of the author of message No. 3051/2017 amounted to an amount equivalent to approximately 55 US dollars in the form of pension savings. Finally, the local tax authorities were able to identify a discrepancy of about $19 in the declaration of assets and liabilities of the author of communication No. 3040/2017, which was subsequently taken into account.... by the District Court" (paragraph 7.2 of the Considerations).
The UN Human Rights Committee concluded that the decisions of the election commissions to cancel the registration of the authors as candidates in local elections without giving them the opportunity to challenge the conclusion that their declarations of assets and liabilities were unreliable or to clarify them, even if they were based on the provisions of domestic legislation, combined with the subsequent lack of access. Their effective judicial review was carried out under unfair procedures and led to unjustified restrictions on the authors' rights., provided for in article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (paragraph 7.5 of the Views).
The Committee's conclusions: The facts presented indicated a violation of article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.