| Summary/Abstract |
The year 2020 marked a change in Kazakhstan's approach to Kazakh asylum seekers from China. For the first time, ethnic Kazakhs escaping China's security and ethnic policy apparatus in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR; Xinjiang) were granted a right to a temporary stay in the country. The status was valid for one year only, yet it was a significant improvement as until 2020 similar cases were lost in Kazakh courts. This change was possible due to the international advocacy of local Kazakh human rights activists, the growing international recognition of the Xinjiang issue by the West, and the ambitions of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who has been developing his own style of the presidency with social issues as its centrepiece.
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