Almaty, May 29, 2015, the Commission on Human Rights under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration in Kazakhstan will present the Special Report on combating trafficking in persons at the University named after D. Kunayev

The Republic of Kazakhstan leads the efforts in combating human trafficking in the Central Asian region. The important step in the efforts to combat trafficking in persons was the preparation by the Commission on Human Rights under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Special Report devoted to highlighting current issues of combating trafficking in persons, providing comprehensive analysis of the situation with the rights of victims of trafficking in Kazakhstan and ensuring their rights to access special social services. The Special Report has been materialized with the support of IOM’s Development Fund and the IOM Mission in the Republic of Kazakhstan, sub regional office for Central Asia.

The Special Report was approved by a resolution № 32-47.327 of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on December 29, 2014. The Special Report gives a comparative analysis of anti-trafficking national legislation and its implementation and provides conclusions and recommendations to prevent trafficking, protect and assist victims of trafficking, strengthen prosecution and improve interaction between state bodies and civil society in the field of combating human trafficking.

In addition to this Special Report, the Commission on Human Rights with the support of IOM’S Development Fund and the IOM Mission in the Republic of Kazakhstan, sub regional office for Central Asia, has launched in 2013 the Special Report on the migrants’ rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Both Special Reports are of extreme importance as they show the Government’s commitment in addressing migrants’ rights through concrete recommendations.

The presentation of the Special Report will be moderated by the Chair of the Human Rights Commission under the President of Kazakhstan. Welcoming remarks will be given by the Head of Internal Policy Department of the Administration of the President, Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs, the Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IOM Counter-Trafficking Regional Coordinator.

The event will bring together state officials and heads of NGOs from Central Asian countries and ten regions of Kazakhstan, representatives of international agencies, members of the Commission on Human Rights and media. The members of the Commission on Human Rights will provide a brief overview of main findings and recommendations of the Special Report with more focus on the need to enhance efforts to identify victims of trafficking, especially among foreign migrant workers, women and children; to improve the capacities of all actors in the field to identify vulnerable individuals and refer them for assistance, including law enforcement, social services, health-care establishments, labour inspection, migration/border services, and NGOs; to develop and launch national referral mechanism to set up clear roles of each actor in protection victims of trafficking; and to address the issue on granting the status of victims of trafficking and provide foreign victims of trafficking with a period of at least 30 days for recovery and reflection to take an informed decision on cooperating with the relevant authorities.

IOM is implementing the Counter-Trafficking Programme in the Republic of Kazakhstan since 2000. Over the past years, a number of projects have been implemented in close cooperation with the partner state and public organizations. Today the Counter-Trafficking Programme is being implemented in accordance with the new course "Nurly Jol - Path to the Future" as defined by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and supports the social obligations of the state.

The Special Report and its recommendations can be further promoted as a good practice in the region, encouraging further policy dialogue and collaboration between member states of the Almaty Process on coordinated approaches in combatting trafficking in persons.

For any further information and media requests, please contact Ms. Gulnara Issayeva, gissayeva@iom.int, tel.: +7 (727) 2582240/2584907.