Recently, International Social Justice Day was celebrated. Do Kazakhstanis believe in it, and should we ever expect its realization? Specialists of various profiles shared their thoughts on this matter.

According to the UN, 80% of the world’s population lacks access to adequate social protection. Interestingly, World Social Justice Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2007 at the initiative of our neighbor — Kyrgyzstan.

Every year, especially on this day, materials on the topic of social justice appear. But here is an interesting fact that was revealed through experience, in the process of communication with different people.

When it comes to questions of social justice, very few people can answer offhand. Few random people know what social justice is in principle. Sit students down to write an essay on this topic, and they will probably think and write something. But, asking students on the street or people of other ages and professions, you catch them off guard.

Unfortunately, a sad fact emerges here: almost no one believes in social justice! At least, speaking of the present time. But many also look into the future with distrust.

However, the opinions of experts often diverge significantly.

Saparbay Zhubayev, PhD in Economics from the Kazakh University of Technology and Business:

«Social protection is an important element of social justice. This is the provision of support to people who cannot earn enough money on their own. If we were to assess Kazakhstan’s level in this matter on a five-point scale, I would give us a four minus. This is compared to other developed, wealthy countries, especially those in Northern Europe — Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway…

In these countries, 70-80% of the collected budget, from working people, natural resources, companies, is allocated for social programs. And we barely manage to reach half of that. At the same time, we have large expenses for maintaining the managerial apparatus, courts, prosecutor’s offices. They take almost 50%.

There is a direction such as the maintenance of quasi-state enterprises. Usually, in other countries, these enterprises pay taxes, but in our country, on the contrary, our resources taken from the people, from the budget, from national, pension funds go to them. And our government gets richer, while the part that needs it remains poor and gets even poorer. Today, the situation is such that the rich are getting richer even more, and the poor continue to get poorer.»

Ramazan Sattaruly Salykzhanov, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University:

— It is obvious that absolute justice does not exist. Just as absolute equality does not exist. Equality and justice are always interconnected. But this should not give reason for the authorities, social institutions, to avoid the issue of establishing social justice and fair relations. In our case, we should strive to ensure a decent life for all citizens, regardless of nationality, social background, religion, and political beliefs.

In my opinion, in our country, attempts to approach the ideal are not fully realized. On a five-point scale, you can assess this attempt at a two. But I would give, probably, two and a half to three. At the same time, every citizen of Kazakhstan is entitled to expect social justice, fair remuneration for work, and a fair assessment of their public activities.

Gulzhamal Jundybayeva, Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies:

— Social justice is not limited to economic inequality. This understanding includes differences between gender and cultural groups. Social justice is defined by legal norms guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens, as well as a civilized field that takes into account the value system of various cultural groups and individuals.

In my view, it is necessary to increase citizens’ trust in the state, so that every person can be sure that their rights are protected. An example can be the adoption of a law on the status of teachers, which regulates the rights of both teachers and students. Increasing teachers’ salaries and adopting laws contribute to strengthening this trust.

However, there are social issues in some cultural groups that are not regulated by authorized bodies due to the secular nature of the state. For example, women who fall into destructive religious movements are sometimes left to their own devices, their problems are resolved through crisis centers, but men who leave these families bear no legal responsibility.

Another example concerns medical care for children. When parents do not consent to necessary procedures due to religious beliefs, such as blood transfusion. This sometimes leads to tragic consequences. This problem has a cultural context, and it is difficult to solve it only within the normative legal field, so additions to legislation on religious activities and associations, the law on health, and other normative legal documents are necessary.

To solve the problems of social inequality, it is important to shape the concept of «social justice» in a legal and civilized context through discussions of various formats. This also includes increasing the legal and scientific-cultural literacy of society and forming common values for all cultural groups and individuals. Involving scientific and expert communities in these discussions is also extremely important.

Scientists and specialists from the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science and Religious Studies have created their own pool of scientific and expert community. This pool actively works on projects such as «Information-ideological influence on mass consciousness in Kazakhstan: risks and opportunities,» «Kazakhstani society in the conditions of digital transformation: prospects and risks,» and «Architecture of Islamic tolerance in Kazakhstan: experience of communication and interfaith dialogue.» This signifies a significant contribution to understanding the sociocultural dynamics in the country and proposing prospective approaches to social problems.

— How can we increase citizens’ trust when, on the one hand, equal rights are enshrined in the Constitution, but many citizens feel infringed upon in the legal field and believe that equal rights do not exist? And how can this be regulated? How to combat corruption in the legal system?

— Yes, it is necessary to actively combat corruption. Currently, work is underway to prevent it and reduce corruption risks. For example, a digital family card has been introduced, which consolidates information from various government structures and allows obtaining 10 types of benefits through a digital platform without personal presence. Also, digitization of state institutions is underway. All this reduces corruption risks. In addition, funds withdrawn from Kazakhstan are being returned, and the «Qazaqstan Khalkyna» (For the People of Kazakhstan) fund has been created. Within the framework of the «Just Kazakhstan» program, transformation of legal and political systems is being carried out. Audits of legal and regulatory documents are being conducted, and new additions to laws are being introduced to solve a variety of problems.

The question is whether citizens are informed about this card and other measures taken to address their needs?

I think it is necessary to explain to citizens so that they regulate acute issues in the legal field without resorting to extreme measures. For example, disputes with developers are a major social problem. Because of unresolved issues, people block roads. But this is not a solution, as someone may need urgent medical help at that moment. It is necessary to increase the education and literacy of the population.

And to conduct a dialogue, as a result of which problems and requests will be resolved. This will prevent citizens from resorting to extreme measures and feeling infringed upon. It is also necessary to ensure sufficient resources, including financial and personnel, for the effective resolution of problems. Society’s requests are heard, and various programs have been introduced for this, but addressing society’s requests is not a one-day job.

Arman Kudabay, journalist, lecturer at al-Farabi Kazakh National University:

— The concept of social justice implies ensuring equal access to social goods and opportunities, which the state is capable of and should provide to each of its citizens. For example, this includes providing jobs, means of livelihood, equal opportunities for career advancement, support for those who want to start their own business, unrestricted access to healthcare and education services. Here, we can, of course, also include care for those whose physical and age-related abilities for all this are limited. «Social goods» are the resources that the state can allocate to such programs. Unfortunately, in our society, there is still a stable opinion that social justice means only «taking and distributing equally.»

Remember the wisdom of the ancients? «If you give a man a fish, he will be fed for a day. But if you teach him to fish, he will be fed for a lifetime.» Worldwide, we have long moved away from a simple distribution system in favor of support programs that help a person stand on their own feet. Social justice is not about money, but about equal opportunities. No matter how much money you give a person, if their abilities are limited, it will not help them much.

Want an example? Access to educational grants and loans is unlikely to fundamentally change anything if there are «elite,» expensive universities, «only for their own»… Unfortunately, we have a long way to go to equality in this regard. Perhaps we have played too much into the hands of the «elites,» «wild capitalism,» and «survival of the fittest,» which only irritates those who do not have access to these goods.

Another point: the distribution system breeds social dependency, and this is also not a secret to anyone. Moreover, this phenomenon affects not only the most disadvantaged layers. It is somewhat understandable when banks are asked to «forgive» debts for the purchase of necessary goods and items, but when demands include closing loans for expensive cars, elite apartments, education for offspring abroad, vacations abroad, agree, this is clearly going too far.

Perhaps we should also remember that, in the end, all these purchases are «covered» by us, ordinary taxpayers, most of us not belonging to the wealthy class… I am not a big expert in this field, but probably there are other methods and means involving lowering interest rates (by the way, we have one of the highest in the world), introducing credit holidays for those in need, etc. God knows what else!

How to ensure equal access to all these goods? Of course, it is necessary to vigorously and uncompromisingly combat any forms of favoritism, cronyism, essentially manifestations of corruption. And not only at the top. Are there equal rights in kindergartens, secondary, vocational and higher education, in the business sphere, the army and police, in the healthcare system, and the civil service? At first glance, it may seem that all these things are not related…

Rasul Rysmambetov, financier:

— There is room for improvement in Kazakhstan in terms of social security, economic rights of people, and protection of socially vulnerable groups of the population. Despite the fact that a very large amount of social support is allocated in our country. Some even talk about parasitism, but I disagree with this. I just think that those who are helped and those who need real help are different people.

I think that every country has its own assessments of social justice. It is necessary to determine it, understand it from a financial point of view, from a political, from an infrastructural point of view, and then slowly start to improve the situation. Some work is already being done, but I think some things are done wrong, so these issues can be reviewed.

Author: Natalya Boyko, APN