Yevgeniy Zhovtis

Director, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law

Kazakhstan

Mr. Zhovtis is a human rights lawyer and the director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, a member of the OSCE/ODIHR Panel of Experts on Freedom of Assembly and a member of International Bar Association Human Rights Institute Council. He holds a PhD in mining economics but in late 80th-early 90th turned to promoting democracy, rule of law and human rights in Kazakhstan and post-Soviet space. He graduated with honors from the High Law School “Adilet” in 1999 and has been an outspoken critic of human rights violations in Kazakhstan for the past 30 years. He has been the recipient of numerous human rights awards, including the EU and US Democracy and Civil Society Award in 1999, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Human Rights Award in 2007, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee Andrey Sakharov Freedom Award in 2010. He is a member of the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal.