Image from Pixabay.com.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a law that bans the promotion of LGBT and pedophilia in the media, telecommunications networks, and online platforms, the Akorda press service reported.
The provision is contained in amendments on archival affairs and restrictions on the dissemination of unlawful content. The amendments were approved on December 18 by the Senate, the upper chamber of parliament.
“In order to protect children from information harmful to their health and development, the law introduces restrictions on the placement, in public spaces and through mass media, telecommunications networks, and online platforms, of information that promotes pedophilia and non-traditional sexual orientation,” the Senate Committee on Social and Cultural Development and Science said in its conclusion.
The document introduces changes and additions to the Labor Code and to 12 other laws. Earlier, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Yevgeny Kochetov said that distributing unlawful content—under the adopted law, this includes the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations—may result in a fine of about $140. For repeat violations, the fine may be doubled or replaced with administrative arrest for up to 10 days.
Kochetov also уточнил that “promotion” is understood as “a positive portrayal.”
A number of civil society organizations spoke out against the law. In turn, the European Union’s Special Representative for Central Asia, Eduards Stiprais, said that adoption of the document poses “reputational risks” for Kazakhstan. Speaking in the Senate on December 18, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Justice Botagoz Zhaksekova said the new ban does not violate international law and applies only to public promotion of LGBT.
