Platform for Peace and Humanity publishes interview with Winrock project leader
The Platform for Peace and Humanity, an international civic association specializing in humanitarian and international law, features an interview with Gulnaz Kelekeyeva, Winrock’s project leader for the Kazakhstan Actions Against Trafficking in Children project, in a recent issue of the Platform’s Peace & Security Monitor Central Asia.
The report’s lead piece, authored by Lova Jansson, is headlined: “The New Anti-Human Trafficking Law in Kazakhstan,” and cites efforts by the U.S. Department of State-funded KATCH project to support increased government efforts and collaboration with other stakeholders to reduce human trafficking and support survivors in the country.
“Criminals exploit the human desire to improve one’s lot in life and generate vast profits from the exploitation of victims in myriad ways,” Kelekeyeva says in the article. “Climate change, lack of decent employment and poor educational options have all driven migration over the past decades. For some who can’t access legal ways to work and reside in the destination country, or when moving from rural to urban areas, from poorer suburbs to economically more attractive parts, however, their experience may become one of trafficking.”
The KATCH project, funded by the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, supports systemic changes by strengthening individual and organizational capacities to deliver child-sensitive, trauma-informed support to survivors of child trafficking and children accompanying migrant laborers, and increasing accountability in the child protection system in Kazakhstan.
The adoption of a 2024-2026 National Action Plan at the end of last year, and the signing of the new Law on Action Against Human Trafficking at the beginning of July mark the culmination of a range of efforts in recent years, the Platform’s article states.
“Before the law was adopted, education and health facilities were unaware about the role they play in preventing and combatting trafficking and considered that identification is the prerogative of the law enforcement agencies. These stakeholders stand at the forefront of identifying trafficked or at-risk children and are critical in the referral process”, Kelekeyeva said.
In addition to the KATCH project in Kazakhstan, Winrock implements counter-trafficking projects with local partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Turkmenistan. For more information about Winrock’s Human Rights, Education & Empowerment work around the world, please click here.
To read the full September 2024 issue of The Peace & Security Monitor Central Asia, please click here.
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