US embassy cable - 05ALMATY406

UNCLAS ALMATY 000406 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP - J. TOPPING, DRL/PHD - P. DAVIS 
ALSO FOR EUR/CACEN - J. MUDGE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINR, PGOV, PREL, PHUM, SMIG, IO, KZ, POLITICAL 
SUBJECT: GOK INTERAGENCY TIP WORKING GROUP SHOWCASES WORK ON 
NATIONAL PLAN 
 
 
1.  (U) On January 13, the GOK interagency TIP working group 
met in Astana to discuss GOK progress in meeting TIP 
National Plan goals.  Minister of Justice Olnasyn Zhumabekov 
chaired the highly publicized meeting, which included a 
broad range of participation from the GOK, IOM, OSCE, NGOs 
and Astana PolOff. 
 
2.  (SBU) This meeting, the group's sixth since passage of 
the National Plan in February 2004, highlighted the working 
group's draft legislative amendments set to go to the 
Mazhilis in May.  The amendments will affect the criminal, 
administrative, labor, immigration and other codes.  The 
inclusive and transparent legislative drafting process for 
the TIP amendments stands in striking contrast to the 
secrecy surrounding other recent human rights legislation. 
(Comment: Legislation may be drafted at the initiative of 
either the executive or the legislative branch. Although 
agencies sparred in early sessions, the MOJ was able to 
successfully build clear consensus on most issues raised. 
While each member of the working group may have initially 
been a TIP expert within his/her Ministry, the process 
educated every member on the TIP challenges faced across the 
board.  The process of drafting this set of amendments built 
a cadre of TIP experts spread across the GOK, the NGO 
community, and international organizations.  Because each 
part of the GOK affected by the amendments has had an 
opportunity to shape them, there is a reasonable chance that 
commitment to enforcement of these amendments will be high. 
End comment.) 
 
3.  (SBU) Among the initiatives discussed at this session 
was the possibility of the GOK signing two Protocols of the 
2000 Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) 
(CTOC): the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish 
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2001) 
and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, 
Sea and Air (2001) (together, "Palermo Protocols"). The MOJ 
believed that the protocols could be independently signed, 
and ratified concurrently with the CTOC, when the conflict 
with GOK amnesties lapsed.  MFA and MVD representatives 
contended that the Protocols could not be signed as stand 
alone agreements, and could only be signed after Kazakhstan 
ratifies the underlying CTOC. (Comment: While Post will 
continue to encourage the GOK to ratifying the CTOC and the 
Palermo Protocols, Post believes this is more realistically 
a longer term goal, since GOK agencies may have concerns 
about ratification unrelated to TIP. End comment.) 
 
4. (U) The Ministry of Justice confirmed that two TIP- 
related memoranda of understanding were being reviewed. The 
first is between the GOK and a nationwide network of TIP 
shelters.  This agreement, an initiative of the MOJ, would 
exceed the current GOK requirements under the National Plan. 
A second MOU would formally link the GOK and IOM on TIP 
programming and training. 
 
ORDWAY 
 
 
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