Kazakhstan is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. There is also a large domestic trafficking problem. Women and girls from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and rural areas in Kazakhstan, as well as Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine, are subjected to sex trafficking in Kazakhstan.
The relative economic prosperity in the government capital Astana, the financial capital Almaty, and the western oil cities Aktau and Atyrau, has attracted large numbers of Kazakhstanis from rural villages, some of whom become victims of labor trafficking as construction workers and domestic servants, or victims of sexual exploitation in brothels. Sex trafficking occurs in small hotels in big cities and resort areas, and in rented apartments and multi-business establishments such as a single facility that operates as a restaurant, hotel, and gas station.
In most cases of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation, traffickers targeted young girls and women aged 15 to 35, primarily from rural areas, luring them with comparatively lucrative employment as waitresses, models, or nannies in large cities. Kazakhstani men, women, and children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Russia and South Korea.
Kazakhstani men, women, and children as well as men and children from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, and the Philippines are subjected to conditions of forced labor in domestic service, construction, agriculture, private households, and small businesses in Kazakhstan, reportedly being subjected to physical violence, resulting in injuries such as broken limbs. Investigations revealed children of migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan work up to 75 hours per week in cotton fields in the Almaty province.
Some children are forced to beg and others may be coerced into criminal behavior or pornography. Small organized criminal groups, in some cases led by former convicts, facilitated trafficking in Kazakhstan. Traffickers included women formerly in prostitution, career criminals, independent business people, taxi drivers, sauna owners or administrators, and farm owners. Many victims indicated that they were lured through fraud and deceit, sometimes by friends or acquaintances.
