Grantee profile

International Legal Initiative Kazakhstan

Established in 2010, the International Legal Initiative, known as ILI Public Foundation (ILI) is an NGO based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. ILI promotes active citizenship, democracy and Human Rights through civic education, research, advocacy and litigation to achieve legislative and constitutional reform. The group is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and collaborates regularly with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in its research. ILI conducts local training for civic activists and lawyers and is engaged on a wide range of Human Rights themes including: the defence of civic rights and freedoms, trafficking, torture, labour rights, land rights, refugee rights and the rights of undocumented persons. ILI provides direct legal assistance to ethnic Kazakhs and Uyghurs imprisoned in internment camps in Xinjiang province China (which borders Kazakhstan in the South East) who seek refuge in the country. ILI also monitors criminal justice and electoral laws. In its advocacy efforts for justice and accountability, the group has successfully used numerous UN mechanisms including The Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and The Committee Against Torture (CAT).