Feedback On June 8, 2021, the ODIHR OSCE organized an online event “Addressing Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia: Challenges and Opportunities”. Experts gave examples of sinophobic statements and actions and responses to them both from government authorities and society in Western Europe and the United States.
The situation in our region was highlighted by Adil Kaukenov, Director of the Center for Chinese Studies (Kazakhstan). He said that in Asian countries there is an insufficiently researched problem of racism (for example, anti-Chinese, anti-Korean sentiments in the countries of post-Soviet Central Asia), mentioning the anti-Dungan pogroms in Southern Kazakhstan in 2020. He stressed that the authorities’ denial of the problems of xenophobia and inter-ethnic tentions, pressure on NGOs and shifting the blame on the victims of the conflict divide society and increase the risk of similar conflicts in the future.
Responding to a question from ADC “Memorial” about the role of OSCE structures in the addressing inter-ethnic conflicts, Senior Legal Adviser of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Elzbieta Kuzborska-Pacha said that the Office of the High Commissioner communicates with the authorities of Kazakhstan on the issue of anti-Dungan pogroms and recommends all governments in the region to adopt national action plans for the prevention of inter-ethnic conflicts, publicly express a clear message on the inadmissibility of such incidents and pay great attention to education in the field of tolerance and acceptance of ethnic and cultural diversity.