Project
Kazakhstan Actions Against Trafficking in Children (KATCH)
Funder: U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Project Timeline: April 1, 2023 - March 31, 2026
Country: Kazakhstan
Program Areas: Human Rights, Education and Empowerment and Countering Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
Contact: Gulnaz Kelekeyeva, Gulnaz.Kelekeyeva@winrock.org
As a transit and destination location for migrants from the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan ─ Central Asia’s largest country ─ faces increased domestic and international migration, exacerbated by economic turmoil from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For example, thousands of undocumented Uzbekistani migrants transit into Kazakhstan each day via informal border crossings for seasonal labor. These individuals and their accompanying children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking in persons due to their irregular immigration status. To address these challenges, the three-year Kazakhstan Actions Against Trafficking in Children (KATCH) project creates systemic change by strengthening individual and organizational capacities to deliver child-sensitive, trauma-informed support to survivors of child trafficking and children accompanying migrant laborers, as well as to increase accountability within the child protection system in southern Kazakhstan.
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Contact: Gulnaz Kelekeyeva, Gulnaz.Kelekeyeva@winrock.org
Project Leader Gulnaz Kelekeyeva has 20+ years of experience working on child protection, safe migration, counter-trafficking and children’s rights programming, including with the United Nations and nonprofit organizations.