Zhakupova Addresses Ethnicity Determination Concerns

Minister of Labor and Social Protection Svetlana Zhakupova has commented on the issue of determining ethnicity based on paternal lineage, Orda.kz reports.

She noted that this had not been considered a problem until recently.

There have been cases where, for example, ethnicity was determined through the father. You in the media, by the way, have covered this issue. There was a situation where a young woman came to apply for Qandas status — and she needed to confirm her ethnicity. But her mother was Kazakh, not her father. 

In the end, the woman decided to apply for a residence permit instead.

Zhakupova intends to resolve the issue of nationality status jointly with the Constitutional Court and other government bodies. The changes will affect Qandas applicants and potentially others as well.

The discussion centers on Article 65 of the Code "On Marriage and Family," which governs how a child's nationality is officially recorded.

The Constitutional Court has already ruled several times that this article is flawed

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