KAZAKHSTAN: TIP REPORT GARNERS LITTLE ATTENTION BUT

UNCLAS ASTANA 001666

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

SCA/CEN FOR O'MARA, G/TIP FOR HALL, INL/AAE FOR ALTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KCRIM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: TIP REPORT GARNERS LITTLE ATTENTION BUT
STIMULATES NEW THINKING

REF: STATE 78797


1. (SBU) Summary: On June 12, drawing on points provided in reftel,
Charge delivered the TIP report demarche announcing Kazakhstan's
Tier II Watch List ranking to Ministry of Justice Office Director
Azimova, receiving a muted response in return. Charge provided a
copy of the Kazakhstan TIP report and handed over a copy of the
points as a non-paper. The release of the TIP report generated no
notice in local press nor a public government response. Azimova
said the new Deputy Minister of Justice would be focusing more
attention on victim assistance and not rely solely on law
enforcement as the solution. End summary.


2. (SBU) On June 12, Charge delivered reftel demarche to Ms. Elvira
Abilkhasimovna Azimova, Director of the Department of International
Law of the Ministry of Justic, highlighting that Kazakhstan should
not only detect and investigate trafficking crimes but also protect
citizens by ensuring courts and judges convict and imprison guilty
traffickers. Furthermore, Charge stressed the necessity of
Kazakhstan improving provision of assistance to victims of
trafficking.


3. (SBU) Charge informed Azimova that the embassy was prepared to
redouble its efforts to collaborate with the government of
Kazakhstan in order improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
legal proceedings. He said that the embassy identified $200,000 to
devote to additional training for judges and prosecutors with the
goal of improving the conviction and sentencing to prison of
traffickers. Finally Charge said that cooperation and coordination
on improving Kazakhstan's provision of assistance to TIP victims
would remain an embassy priority. (Note: The funds in question are
INL funds that were to be used for the initial year of a
computer-base training program for police, now a lower priority.
End note.)


4. (SBU) Although not pleased with the news of the downgrade of
Kazakhstan to Tier II Watchlist, Azimova responded neutrally and
focused on the future. She said that the GOK intended to move
beyond the previous law enforcement-centered approach to combating
TIP and wanted to improve the government's provision of assistance
to TIP victims with a focus on social rehabilitation. She noted
that the Vice Minister of Justice, Dulat Kustavletov had been in his
current position less than half a year and was interested in new
thinking and new directions in how to solve the TIP problem.


5. (SBU) Azimova expressed thanks for grants the U.S. had provided
for law enforcement training and said she looked forward to future
cooperation with the embassy on victim assistance. She remarked
that it was important to study the experience of other countries in
order to more effectively provide victim assistance in Kazakhstan.
Finally, Azimova expressed interest in information that the U.S.
might provide on how Kazakhstan could improve its TIP ranking.


6. (SBU) Azimova reported that having analyzed Kazakhstani
legislation and internal policies and in order to complete the GOK
anti-TIP legislation improvement plan, the government decided to
ratify the UN Convention on Organized Crime and two additional
protocols to this Convention: Protocol 2 on trafficking in persons
and Protocol 3 on illegal migration. The government had also
decided to ratify the additional Convention on Slavery and
Discrimination. Azimova said the draft law to ratify these
documents was in the GOK interagency approval process. Beyond this,
she reported that the next document that the government will
consider for possible ratification is the International Convention
for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.


7. (SBU) Responding to a request for specific steps that
U.S.-Kazakhstani cooperation could take to improve convictions or
victim assistance, Azimova responded that understanding how other
countries in Central Asia or elsewhere reported TIP statistical data
and how it was analyzed to prepare TIP reports would be very useful.
Post suggested that Azimova and others involved in TIP in the
government read the TIP reports for relevant countries when they are
released in Washington on June 12 and then discuss any specific
questions with relevant officers in the embassy. Azimova noted that
changes in several articles of the criminal code resulting from the
2006 amendments make it difficult to compare statistics about TIP
year-on-year.

ORDWAY