Global Report Notes Improvement in Effectiveness of Fight against Trafficking in Persons in Kazakhstan

Nur-Sultan, 3 July 2021 – Kazakhstan was upgraded from the Special Watch List to the Tier 2 category of countries in the Trafficking in Persons Report, which indicates an improvement in the situation in this area of ensuring human rights.

Authors of the report published annually by the U.S. Department of State stress that “the Government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity”. These efforts included investigating more trafficking cases and identifying more victims, increasing the number of trafficking convictions for the first time in five years and achieving the first convictions for forced labor crimes in three years.

In general, the report contains a positive evaluation of the situation with trafficking in persons in Kazakhstan and genuinely positive trends in this area.

Previously, in his “Kazakhstan in New Reality: Time for Action” State of the Nation Address of 1 September 2020 President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev underlined the importance of improving the national legislation in the field of combatting trafficking in persons and assigned the law enforcement agencies to upgrade procedures for investigating such crimes.  Concrete steps in this direction  are featured in the Plan of Priority Actions in Human Rights adopted by the Government of Kazakhstan in line with the Presidential Decree of 9 June 2021.

The improvement in the country's position in the new report is an outcome of the successful implementation of political reforms initiated by Kazakhstan’s President in line with the concept of a "Listening State", including those concerning the protection of human rights in general and combating trafficking in persons in particular as well as constructive cooperation with the United States to eliminate this common problem for the two countries.

The Kazakh side intends to develop further constructive cooperation with international partners in improving national mechanisms for the protection of human rights, including on combating trafficking in persons.