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Sustainability Governance: Legal, Economic, and Institutional Mechanisms"

No. 2 Thematic Issue (2025): Thematic Issue Sustainability Governance: Legal, Economic, and Institutional Mechanisms, Guest Editors: Karlis Ketners, Vitalii Kotsur

Foreign Persons in Kazakhstan’s Civil Proceedings and the Sustainability of the Civil Justice System

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/riss2025oa21086
Submitted
23 settembre 2025
Published
30-12-2025

Abstract

International organisations and cross-border mobility are driving up civil conflicts involving foreigners in Kazakhstan, challenging the capacity, inclusiveness, and predictability of national civil justice. This article analyses the legal status and procedural rights of foreign citizens and stateless persons in civil actions under Kazakhstani law in the context of sustainable legal growth. The study uses a dialectical approach and normative and comparative legal analysis of the Civil Procedure Code, private international law rules, and relevant international instruments governing court access, judgement recognition and enforcement, and legal assistance. Persistent shortcomings in institutional resilience include fragmented jurisdictional regulations, inconsistent service standards abroad, language and cost constraints, and inadequate digital accessibility for cross-border litigants. Addressing these issues through improved connectivity, recognition procedures, translation and fee-waiver safeguards, e-justice tools, and treaty alignment would improve fairness, efficiency, and non-discrimination. Strengthening foreign people’ procedural status can boost societal trust, investment climate, and the rule of law while complying with international responsibilities. A more resilient and sustainable civil justice system in Kazakhstan can be achieved by embedding principles of accessibility, transparency, equality before the law, and effective remedy into proceedings involving foreign persons. The article proposes incremental legislative and institutional reforms that are timely and necessary.

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