Our history
The history of the Public Association “Civic Peace” begins with the International Youth Movement “Next stop”, which was functioning in the country in the late 80s and early 90s. (D. Mamazhanov, K. Kazkenov, R. Kazkenov).
“Next stop” together with international organizations and the international anti-nuclear movement (IAD) “Nevada-Semipalatinsk” (President O. Suleimenov) initiated various mass actions aimed at closing the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, attracting the attention of the world community to the global environmental problem «Арал – боль Планеты» and many other environmental and tolerant events.
In the early 90s, Next Stop activists transformed the movement into the Civic Peace Association in Kazakhstan, which together with IFIAS (Initiative für Frieden, internationalen Ausgleich und Sicherheit, Bonn, Germany) and the emerging Youth UN (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), other international and European organizations and representatives of civil society in Kazakhstan organized a series of humanitarian actions:
delivery of humanitarian cargo to the zones of nuclear-ecological disaster in Kazakhstan in the amount of 20 million DM (1990)
treatment and rest of children from the Semipalatinsk and Aral regions in Europe and the Scandinavian countries.
trainings, seminars, summer youth camps/villages, under the motto “Peace. Youth. Ecology”.
HUMANITARIAN AID FROM GERMANY, 1990
The Civic Peace Association was a partner and co-organizer of the reception and distribution of humanitarian aid from Germany in Kazakhstan.
In total, over 20 million German marks (DM) were supplied to Kazakhstan with medicines and medical equipment. The humanitarian equipment was delivered by 7 planes, including those of the Bundeswehr, to three environmental disaster zones in Kazakhstan: the Aral region, Semipalatinsk region and Zhambyl region.
Arbeiterwolfart (Workers Welfare) is the largest trade union, sponsored by the German side.
On behalf of Kazakhstan, this issue was supervised by N. Nigmatullin (1990) – Chairman of the Committee of Youth Organizations of Kazakhstan.
In the picture at the Almaty airport:
Kazbek Kazkenov – President of the Civic Peace Association
Nurlan Omarov – First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Young Communist League of Kazakhstan
Joachim Kendelbacher – Representative of Arbeiterwohlfahrt
1992
International Youth Congress-Festival “Youth of the Continents along the Silk Road to Civil Peace”. The Congress was held on the territory of the cities of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and more than 100 people from 20 countries of the near and far abroad took part in it. August-September 1992.
1992
A trip of Uyghur activists against nuclear tests in Lob-nore (Лоб-норе) to 12 cities in Germany. The group leader is Ruslan Kazkenov.
1994
Interregional Peacekeeping Conference on the Role of Youth in Nonviolent Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation.
The Congress was held on the territory of Central Asian countries.
300 participants – representatives of international youth organizations in Europe, Scandinavian countries, Africa and the CIS. Among them was a well-known public figure – Johan Galtung.
In August 1994
Discussions were held on the following topics:
- Asian youth are responsible for the 21st century.
- Kazakhstan is a new geopolitical situation.
- Aral – the pain of the Planet.
- Interethnic relations in Asia.
- Global nuclear safety.
- The role of youth in non-violent conflict resolution.
THE MOST IMPORTANT AND LARGE COMPLEXES OF EVENTS ORGANIZED BY THE "CIVIC PEACE" ASSOCIATION IN KAZAKHSTAN
PARTNERS
Council of Europe European Youth Fund (EYF, Strasbourg, France)
Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (HIVOS, Netherlands)
Dutch Organization for International Development and Cooperation (NOVIB, Netherlands)
UNOY - UN Youth (Netherlands)
Peace Initiative (IFIAS, Germany)
UNITED for international promotions (Strasbourg, France)
International Peace Bureau (Belgium)
Civil Service (France)
Forum Against Racism (Switzerland)
International Women's League for Peace and Freedom (Switzerland)
German Trade Union Arbeiterwohlfahrt ("Workers Welfare") and others
During 1995-1999 members of the Civil Peace Association in Kazakhstan actively participated in international events in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS, dedicated to the problems of youth, ecology, culture of peace and tolerance.
In the period from 1999 to 2006, the Civic Peace Association, in cooperation with the Nur Otan People’s Democratic Party, international organizations and NGOs of Kazakhstan, carried out comprehensive programs:
Philosophy of tolerance, ecology and security (Japanese alarm, Semipalatinsk test site – humanity, Chernobyl echo, Aral-pain of the planet, Afghanistan – history)
Calendar of good «добрых дел» (development of the concept of a social model for persons with disabilities.)
Development of the institution of civil society through the formation of a legal culture (public and legal offices, legal clinics, etc.)
Round tables, conferences on globalization, international terrorism and extremism, electoral systems and technologies, the formation of a democratic culture, gender politics. Representatives of the OSCE, the European Union, the European Parliament, UNDP, deputies of the Parliaments of Europe and the CIS countries, representatives of USAID and the US Embassy took part in our events.
The Civic Peace Association, with funding from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US Department of State, conducted a series of workshops on building civil society in Kazakhstan over three years, from 2006 to 2009.
The seminars were jointly organized by the Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville (USA) and the Civic Peace Association in Kazakhstan.
These seminars were held at a very difficult political moment/context/conditions in the history of the development of civil society in the Kazakhstan. 8 seminars were held in all regions of the country: Astana, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Petropavlovsk, Uralsk, Aktau and Shymkent. As a result of these seminars, 8 monographs were published with the publication of reports and speeches of the participants.
In January 2011, thanks to our partner – the Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville in cooperation with the Kenan Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center – a trip of activists from Kazakhstan to Washington, USA took place. Participants from Kazakhstan, led by team leader Ruslan Kazkenov, took part in a workshop on Civil Society in Kazakhstan and Central Asia at the Wilson Center in Washington, USA.
The coordinator from the US side was Professor Charles Ziegler.
Period 2012-2019 – During this period, for various reasons, including lack of funding, the activities of the Association were minimized.