Until recently, problems related to human trafficking have been considered to be a byproduct of a transitional economy and impoverishment of the population, which can be partly solved, if not uprooted entirely, by raising the living standards of people. Economic reality denies this theory. With an inflation rate of only 2.3% and a relatively high per capita income, Kazakhstan is faring much better than other CIS countries. Nevertheless, human trafficking has not abated.

Evidently, a healthier economy should be paired with a comprehensive national strategy which takes social and legal factors into consideration. A round-table conference held in Astana on September 26, 2003, under the aegis of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan was a significant event. Representatives from the OSCE, the European Union, and the Foreign and Interior Ministries of Kazakhstan discussed at great length Kazakhstan’s three-year program for combating human trafficking.

Perhaps the most positive side of the meeting was that Justice Minister Zhakyn Asanov admitted for the first time that Kazakhstan “has turned into a place of origin, destination and transit point for human trafficking”. Actually, these words signaled the readiness of Kazakhstan to cooperate with international bodies. Interestingly, earlier a Justice Ministry spokesman had disclosed that Kazakhstan was removed by the IOM from the list of the countries which are not willing to tackle the problem of human trafficking.

According to Ministry of Justice sources, human trafficking ranks third among the most lucrative illegal businesses, after the trafficking of weapons and drugs. Available figures confirm this report. Transnational criminal gangs involved in human trafficking globally make an income of $80 billion annually. Some reports indicate that up to 7000 women are annually smuggled out of Kazakhstan by criminal groups. The most favored destinations are United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Greece, Israel and South Korea, were women, more often than not, are forced to into prostitution.

The existence of a well organized network of illegally operating “travel agencies” which airlift young women to Gulf countries providing them with forged papers is open secret to anyone. Reportedly, there are more than 70 unlicensed travel agencies in Kazakhstan, not counting illegal ones operating underground. As many employment agencies lure young people with promises of overseas job opportunities. For many, these offers are too great a temptation to resist. It is almost impossible to curb the activities of illegal agencies under the present law.

The Penal Code adopted in 1997 is so inapplicable for its imperfectness that over the last four years only one person was found guilty under Article 128 of the Code and sentenced to prison terms. The problem is that the existing Penal Code leaves many loopholes for human traffickers and makes it impossible to apply the law in some particular cases. In practice, a person can be sent to prison for raping, swindling, and trafficking in underage persons, but not for human trafficking as such. Last year, according the Justice Ministry, 330 cases were brought against criminals involved in organized prostitution, but none of them were qualified as human trafficking.

Flaws in the Penal Code and in criminal statistics help authorities to create a false impression that human trafficking is almost non-existent in Kazakhstan. That illusion fetters numerous human rights activists in the country. Media provides only patchy stories of victims of human traffickers. All this diverts the public from the problem.

Human trafficking and enslavement of socially unprotected people in Kazakhstan takes many-faceted forms. In South Kazakhstan, for example, people toiling in the cotton fields under the scorching sun for a miserable payment are usually Uzbek and Kirghiz illegal migrants. They are entirely dependent on the whims of their masters who provide shelter and food. Although the Interior Ministry reported that the number of illegal migrants has been halved since the beginning of the year, that brings little solace.

Many law experts in Kazakhstan think that Kazakhstan will remain powerless in the face of human trafficking unless it joins relevant international conventions and makes necessary amendments to its law. However, that may be the easiest part of the job. For Kazakhstan at the moment it is far more difficult to synchronize its laws with that of its close neighbors –Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. This relationship reminds of the case of Siamese twins: trying to find common legal basis to curb human trafficking for these countries is painful, creating separate laws for solving the same problem is fatally dangerous.