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RUEAWJL/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC 0066

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000045 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/AAE, G/TIP, SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB SMIG SOCI KCRM KTIP UZ KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  MEDIA REPORTS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASES 
 
REF: A) 09 ASTANA 0368 
 B) 09 ASTANA 1977 
 
ASTANA 00000045  001.3 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  The following is a summary of local media reports of human 
trafficking cases in Kazakhstan May-August 2009. 
 
SEXUAL EXPLOTATION 
 
¶2.  May 6, "Interfax," "Zakon.kz":  Two women were arrested in 
Petropavlovsk for pimping and trafficking in persons.  The 
North-Kazakhstan Oblast Department of Interior reported that police 
and two local citizens went undercover to investigate the women who 
recruited young women to work as prostitutes in Astana, Kokshetau, 
and Borovoye.  The women were sold for approximately $450, but 
police negotiated the price to $200 during the undercover operation. 
 The two women were arrested at an internal checkpoint while 
attempting to leave Petropavlovsk.  Both women were found to have 
previously worked as prostitutes. 
 
¶3.  July 01, "Interfax":  A 33-year-old woman reported to the Aktobe 
Department of Interior that a man who hired her for a construction 
job forced her to work as a prostitute.  She and two other women, a 
39-year-old and a 32-year-old, were taken to an apartment near 
railway station, which they thought they would be repairing, and 
sold for $170 each.  The women were held in the apartment and 
beaten.  Police arrested a 44-year-old and released another suspect, 
who signed a statement pledging to stay in Aktobe.  The criminal 
case is ongoing. 
 
¶4.  August 11, "Yuridicheskaya Gazeta":  An Uzbek woman using the 
name Dalila was arrested in Ust-Kamenogorsk while trying to traffic 
seven women to the United Arab Emirates.  She had promised the young 
women jobs as dancers and models in the UAE and had told them that 
they would have the opportunity to marry rich sheiks or bankers. 
Women who had worked previously as prostitutes were promised 
exclusive clients, such as Jean Claude Van Damme, oil executives, or 
other well-known millionaires.  During the investigation, police 
found that Dalila had attempted previously to recruit women in 
Ust-Kamenogorsk under the name of Nelli. 
 
LABOR TRAFFICKING 
 
¶5.  May 26, "Vremya," "Zakon.kz":  A 63-year-old man arrived at a 
shelter in Almaty after working for various people for only food and 
water for more than 10 years.  He said he did not blame anyone, 
because "every rich man in the village should have a farm-hand."  He 
further stated that he had no choice because he had neither 
documents nor a home.  After a divorce, he lost his home and often 
slept in the street.  He was offered work in a village near Almaty, 
where he was provided "all that I dreamed of -- food, a bed, and 
alcohol."  However, his life worsened when he was sent to work on 
another farm where he was locked in the house doing heavy work. 
When he got sick, he was thrown out.  President of the Association 
against Trafficking in Persons in Central Asia (ATIPCA) Yekaterina 
Badikova commented that though the man called himself a farm-hand, 
he was actually a slave.  In this particular case, trafficking would 
be difficult to prove, she said. 
 
¶6.  August 25, "Kazakhstan Today," "Interfax":  Two managers of a 
local company in Almaty lured 26 Uzbeks with well-paying jobs, 
locked them in the basement of an Almaty house, and forced them to 
perform landscaping and street cleaning.  Following repeated escape 
attempts, four of the workers filed a complaint with the police. 
The managers, who do not dispute the accusations, are charged with 
illegal deprivation of freedom for the purpose of exploitation. 
 
ORPHANAGE DOCTOR CONVICTED OF TRAFFICKING 
 
¶7.  May 14, "Interfax," May 18, "Azzattyk Radio":  The senior doctor 
of an Atyrau orphanage, Zhanibek Koshaliyev, was found guilty of 
trafficking in babies and sentenced to seven years in prison. 
Prosecutors found the sentence too lenient and are appealing. 
Koshalitev sold newborn boys for $4,000-$5,000 and girls for 
$2,000-$3,000 (reftels A, B). 
 
ASTANA 00000045  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶8.  June 4, "Zhas Alash":  An editorial asked why only the doctor -- 
not his lawyer nor the government officials who prepared or 
notarized the adoption documents -- was prosecuted.  A criminal case 
was initiated against the woman who filed the original complaint 
against the trafficker. 
 
POLICE ANTI-TRAFFICKING OPERATION 
 
¶9.  June 15, "Zakon.kz," "kz-today":  During a June 8-12 nationwide 
anti-trafficking operation, police uncovered six cases of human 
trafficking, one case of trafficking in minors, two cases of illegal 
deprivation of freedom for the purpose of exploitation, and four 
cases of forced prostitution.  Police arrested 52 pimps and 
registered 393 prostitutes. 
 
¶10.  During the operation, members of a criminal group, which sold 
young women and moved them between Karaganda and Astana, were 
arrested.  One of the members was arrested in Astana as he was 
negotiating the sale of a woman for $300.  The criminal case is 
ongoing. 
 
¶11.  Members of a criminal group from East-Kazakhstan and Dzhambyl 
Oblasts were arrested for trafficking two women from Shymkent and 
two women from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  The women were forced to work 
as prostitutes in saunas and hotels in Almaty. 
 
¶12.  Transport police from the South-East Oblast Department of 
Interior arrested a farmer accused of transporting five people to 
his farm for the purpose of labor exploitation. 
 
UKRANIAN WOMAN SAVED FROM SLAVERY -- A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING 
 
¶13.  June 23, "Express-K":  A 42-year-old Ukrainian woman was held 
for more than 14 years in the Szhetskyi Rayon of Kazakhstan.  Soon 
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the woman left Ukraine to 
look for a job.  She lost her passport and found herself unemployed 
and homeless.  To make money, she occasionally repaired and cleaned 
apartments.  She arrived in Karaganda where a woman offered her a 
job in a village.  When she arrived in the village, she was force to 
live in a barracks with dozens of men.  She performed household 
chores and took care of cattle, receiving very little food and 
clothing.  Often abused, she was never able to escape.  A 
newly-arrived worker named Yermek escaped and reported to the 
police, which was running an anti-trafficking operation at the time. 
 After her release from the farm, Yermek proposed to her, and they 
were married. 
 
ILLEGAL MIGRATION 
 
¶14.  May 27, "Interfax":  28 Uzbeks working on municipal 
improvements were arrested in Ust-Kamengogorsk.  According to the 
police, they entered the city May 18 on visitor visas and had not 
registered with the local authorities in order to work in 
Kazakhstan. 
 
¶15.  July 9, "Interfax":  During Operation Migrant in the 
Akmolinskaya Oblast, police arrested 10 Chinese citizens for 
violations of the migration law.  The Kokshemelinvest company 
employed them to instal equipment.  A total of 214 foreign citizens 
were arrested during the operation. 
 
¶16.  July 14, "Interfax":  More than 1,800 illegal migrants, a vast 
majority of whom were from the CIS, were deported during Operation 
Migrant, July 8-12.  During the operation, migration police 
identified over 15,600 illegal residents in Kazakhstan.  Over 300 
employers were charged with violations of labor regulations, and 
4,843 Kazakhstanis faced administrative actions. 
 
¶17.  August 24, "Interfax":  During the four-day Operation 
Law-and-Order, police in Almaty identified nearly 1,000 foreign 
citizens who violated Kazakhstani migration law.  Of the 998 
identified, 952 were from the CIS.  A total of 243 migrants were 
deported. 
 
ASTANA 00000045  003.3 OF 003 
 
 
 
KAZAKHSTAN-CHINA GAS PIPELINE:  FOREIGN EMPLOYMENT VIOLATIONS 
 
¶18.  May 4, "Interfax":  Prosecutors in the Dzhambyl Oblast 
uncovered numerous violations of labor regulations in the 
construction of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline.  Authorized 
offices supplied certifications with fake qualifications, service 
records, and organizations for Chinese workers and then issued work 
permits.   The company Dou Knisk was found to have received work 
permits for 240 Chinese citizens with fraudulent documents.  A total 
of 1,692 such work permits were received by 17 companies involved in 
the construction of the pipeline.  Dou Knisk allegedly refused to 
hire 83 local workers on dubious grounds, paid foreign workers less 
than the legal wage and made them work weekends and holidays.  70 
Chinese workers lived in rural schools in the Shuisckyi Rayon, for 
which the construction companies had received local-government 
permits to renovate into dormitories.  The General Prosecutor's 
office ordered the recall of all permits, eviction of the workers, 
and firing of officials. 
 
HOAGLAND