As Reuters report today in the wake of the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s hearing on Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship, Washington urged Kazakhstan to show clear signs of democratic progress before the end of this year ahead of its chairmanship of Europe’s main human rights watchdog in 2010.Richard Boucher, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the region, stressed in his speech that Astana needs to step up its work, and explicitly set the end of 2008 as a deadline for it to show more commitment.

“In Madrid Kazakhstan publicly pledged to pass legislation that would modernize the election law, the media and liberalize the registration of political parties by the end of 2008″, reminded Boucher. Nothing was done so far, but still he specified his positiveness about prospective chairmanship of Kazakhstan. Hope dies last.

Congressman Alcee Hastings who chaired the meeting noted that Astana’s campaign to become the first Central Asian country to lead the OSCE began in 2003 and was controversial. Russia and the CIS countries were supportive, but the U.S. and some EU countries questioned the suitability of Kazakhstan to lead an organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights.

According to Central Asia expert Martha B. Olcott, the U.S. would do well to recognize that they do not have many levers available to freely use in trying to get the Kazakhs to democratize their political system at the pace that West would view as desirable. Partly because of its vast oil reserves, partly because of security concerns in this uneasy region. Indeed, as Dr. Andrea Berg, a Central Asia researcher from Human Rights Watch, said,

Kazakhstan is not a country with frequent or dramatic government crackdown on freedoms and human rights. One finds rather an atmosphere of quiet, subtle repression.