Will nationality be determined differently? Proposal submitted to parliament

Tengrinews.kz – The Constitutional Court has proposed that Parliament consider amendments to a number of laws, including one related to determining a child’s nationality in Kazakhstan.

According to the Chair of the Constitutional Court, Elvira Azimova, several draft laws initiated by members of Parliament already include a package of legislative proposals based on the legal positions and conclusions of the Constitutional Court.

"We also propose that the following issues be considered as part of the legislative agenda: amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, the Code on Marriage and Family, and other related laws, taking into account legal positions. The proposed changes concern the procedure for replacing jurors during trials, the determination and indication of a child's nationality, improvements to the adoption system, and the enforcement of alimony obligations," Azimova said during a joint session of Parliament’s chambers.

The press service of the Constitutional Court clarified to a Tengrinews.kz correspondent that the issue of determining a child’s nationality does not involve allowing people to choose any nationality at will. However, it will be possible to define a child’s nationality not solely based on the parents’ nationality.

“The point is that when determining a child’s nationality, the court must take into account situations where the child has no parents, or the parents have no documents or have lost them. These nuances are not addressed in the current law,” the Constitutional Court explained.

In April, it was reported that in Kazakhstan, a child's nationality could be determined not only based on the parents' nationality if such information is unavailable. This reconsideration of the norm was prompted by a specific case in which a child’s mother, who had no documents, had died, and there was no information about the father. In that case, the Constitutional Court allowed for the child's nationality to be determined without relying solely on the nationality of the parents.

Today, the Constitutional Court clarified that choosing nationality based on the parents’ ethnicity is, of course, the primary method. However, this is not always possible due to various life circumstances—such as unknown parentage, lack of information about the parents’ nationality, adoption, or upbringing by others, among other factors.

“Article 65 of the Code on Marriage and Family does not take such situations into account and therefore does not fully comply with the principles enshrined in the Constitution,” the statement reads.