KAZAKHSTAN UPS EFFORTS TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Deputy Justice Minister Ubaidulla Stamkulov told a commission on fighting human trafficking on 13 January that "law-enforcement bodies and the National Security Committee have considerably stepped up their activities against this problem," Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Stamkulov said that 12 criminal cases were opened under the Criminal Code's "human trafficking" statute in 2004, twice as many as in 2003. He also noted that "five channels for trafficking Kazakh citizens abroad for sexual and other exploitation were identified and blocked [in 2004]." DK
