KAZAKHSTAN RESOLVES TO IMPROVE TIP RESPONSE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001061

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP (HALL),INL/AAE (ALTON),SCA/CEN (OMARA)

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PINT KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN RESOLVES TO IMPROVE TIP RESPONSE

REF: 06 ASTANA 368


1. Summary: On April 3-4, Kazakhstani judges, police officers, and
prosecutors brought together under an INL program to review Spring
2006 Anti-TIP legislation for a second time resolved to propose
further improvements in anti-trafficking laws, including legislation
to cover human exploitation; allow for provision of government
financial assistance to victims; and increase the criminal penalty
for trafficking, operating a trafficking business, or facilitating
trafficking. The group recommended non-legislative approaches as
well, including expanded public outreach to warn of the dangers of
TIP; expanded anti-TIP cooperation between NGOs and domestic law
enforcement, within Kazakhstan's police forces, and between police
forces of source, transit, and destination countries; and continued
dialogue between legislators, police, NGOs, and civil society. If
the thoughts of the mid-level law enforcement, government officials,
and NGO participants are any indication, the government of
Kazakhstan continues to place great emphasis on combating TIP. The
GOK devotes human and financial resources to create the
institutional structures and social attitudes necessary to solve
this problem. Most importantly, the agencies and departments in the
government are constantly seeking to improve efforts through
reaching out to tap the expertise of other nations and organizations
and nurturing Kazakhstani institutions as well. End summary.


2. In early April, INL and IOM implemented a two-day Anti-TIP
Legislation Review Conference at the Karaganda MVD Legal Institute
devoted to the improvement and implementation of anti-trafficking
legislation in Kazakhstan. This was the second review (Reftel) that
aimed to gauge implementation of spring 2006 amendments to
legislation criminalizing TIP. Conference participants discussed
initial outcomes of recent amendments to the anti-trafficking in
person legislation in Kazakhstan. Building on the basis that
trafficking in persons is a crime against human rights stipulated by
the Constitution of Kazakhstan which threatens the safety of the
state and its citizens, participants concluded that the GOK has made
significant efforts over the last year in combating trafficking in
persons, including new legislation, establishing the anti-TIP
center, and the creation and implementation of the national plan to
combat trafficking. They further assessed that the GOK wants to
continue to improve measures and methods of combating trafficking
and other related crimes, and is ready to protect victims of
trafficking. The participants reached the following five
conclusions:

2.1. The GOK should continue to improve legislation to prosecute
traffickers and protect victims of trafficking based on analysis of
actual law enforcement, prosecution, and judicial experience in
cases of trafficking in persons. Based on participants' analysis
and experience, the GOK should develop new or expand existing
legislation to include:

a) combating other human exploitation such as parents or organized
crime gangs forcing children to beg;
b) provision of government assistance (including financial) and
support to victims of trafficking;
c) increase the penalty for human trafficking and for promoting
criminal businesses;
d) contain the development of illegal businesses that support
trafficking in persons, such as provision of commercial sex services
or abetting illegal migration;
e) strengthen control over legal businesses that may support
trafficking in persons, such as those providing mediation services
(including those located abroad),entertainment services, tourist
services, donor assistance services, marriage services, etc.

2.2. Prevent trafficking in persons by improving:
a) detection of TIP crimes, analysis of TIP related information,
understanding of other needs of targeted groups, methods of public
outreach to inform these groups about the risks of human
trafficking, recommendations about how to avoid victimization;
b) prevention of crimes related to trafficking in persons;
c) prevention of victimization of potentially targeted groups,
re-victimization and stigmatization of victims, and intolerance to
the crimes related to trafficking in persons by informing
Kazakhstani citizens and visitors about trafficking in persons.

2.3. Develop cooperation between government agencies in criminal
prosecution against traffickers in all jurisdictions, including the
countries of origin, transit and destination;

2.4. Improve forms and methods of cooperation of government
agencies, including law enforcement agencies and international and
non-governmental organizations providing assistance to victims of
trafficking and facilitating their repatriation and rehabilitation;

2.5. Continue the dialogue on issues related to improvement of
legislation and law enforcement practices on detecting and
investigating cases of trafficking in persons and other related
crimes.


ASTANA 00001061 002 OF 002



3. The conference was hosted by the Karaganda MVD Legal Institute,
the same location where INL collaborated with the GOK to create an
Anti-TIP Center to train mid-level officers to recognize and combat
TIP. The participants included judges, police officers and other
members of the security services, procurators, academicians, and
NGOs. An additional goal of the conference was to encourage
criminal law and law enforcement specialists to develop educational
materials and training programs to be included in the curricula of
law enforcement academies, law institutes and colleges.

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COMMENT
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4. Conversations on the margins of the legislative review session
revealed that while understanding is still lacking on how to
investigate and prosecute a TIP case so the trafficker is
successfully convicted, the desire to improve is great.
Furthermore, as officers and prosecutors get more experience about
what constitutes a proper, legal case against a trafficker,
conviction rates should rise. For the time being, trafficking cases
in Kazakhstan are often prosecuted under other clauses of the
Criminal Code because of the greater likelihood of getting a
conviction. The conviction still puts the criminal behind bars but
artificially reduces the TIP conviction rate. Post believes that
with continued training and more collaboration among law enforcement
agencies, a growing percentage of cases will be prosecuted under TIP
legislation and will result in convictions.

ORDWAY