Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

Kazakhstan

Members

The Crisis Center «Zabota»

The Crisis Center «Zabota» was founded in 1999 to stem the issues of household and sexual violence against women and girls. Since 2003, the organisation— through trainings, artistic work, and theatrical methods—has been actively working with adolescents and youth, to raise awareness on health and prevention of sexual violence and exploitation, as well as the issues of online sexual exploitation.

Sana Sezim

Sana Sezim, the Legal Center for Women’s Initiatives, is an NGO founded in 2001. They work on four main areas: access to justice for women, trafficking of women and children, labour migration and running a volunteer club. Sana Sezim conducts awareness-raising events and provides legal assistance and psychological support to victims of trafficking. Sana Sezim has lawyers based across 11 cities in Kazakhstan, one in each region of the country. The organisation also operates a hotline for victims of trafficking, which was established in March 2007.

Facts

An Action Plan for the Prevention, Control and Combating of Crimes connected with Trafficking in Human Beings (2015-2017) was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The plan provides special measures for the prevention and investigation of cases of child exploitation.

On 1 January 2015, the Kazakh Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offence were amended to strengthen the liability for sexual exploitation of children. The amendments provided also an increasing liability for not or improperly fulfilling parental responsibilities.

From 2010 to 2015, reported incidents of sexual violence against minors in Kazakhstan have doubled.

Resources

ECPAT International
Kazakhstan – Country Monitoring Report

Year: 2013

ECPAT International
Regional Overview: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Year: 2014

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News from Kazakhstan

Indicators

Age of Consent

Partial

Age of sexual consent is 16 years. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exception.

Analysis of country legislation on age of sexual consent, 2024

Extraterritoriality & Extradition

Partial

Kazakhstani legislation provides for active extraterritoriality over offenses committed outside the Kazakhstani territory, but does not provide for passive extraterritoriality. Double criminality is generally required for proceeding with active extraterritorial jurisdiction over offenses committed outside the Kazakhstani territory by Kazakhstan nationals and residents.

Extraditable offences are those punishable by imprisonment for a term not less than one year. When extradition is requested to serve a sentence, the unexpired term should be of not less than six months. There is no specific provision on the extradition of SEC related offences. Some SEC related offences are punishable under the Kazakhstani Criminal Code without setting a minimum term (i.e. Article 123 of the Criminal Code) and therefore could be not considered as extraditable offences. Double criminality is required for extradition. Extradition is permitted if the offence is punishable by at least one year of imprisonment under Kazakhstani laws.

Constitution, Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1995 (status as of 2023), 2014 (status as of 2023), 2014 (status as of 2023)

CSAM Definition

Not Yet Assessed

Background Check Required

Not Yet Assessed

National Commitments

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Child Advocacy Centers

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SEC Police Unit

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Protection Standards Travel and Tourism

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Public SEC Case Data

Not Yet Assessed