Prevention of Human Trafficking Crime: A View from Kazakhstan and Central Asian Countries

The main goal of the current study was to develop evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of human trafficking. To eradicate human trafficking, it is more important to prevent the crime itself rather than dealing with its consequences. To achieve this goal, a retrospective analysis of the fight against human trafficking needs to be conducted in order to provide an overview of human rights violations and the use of technology by criminals to commit human trafficking offences. There is also a need to form proposals aiming to bring the legislation and law enforcement practices ofKazakhstan in the field of protecting human rights and combating human trafficking in line with international standards. This article presents the idea of a strategy in the Central Asian region to combat human trafficking, taking into account criminal prosecution, effective punishment, proper law enforcement, victim protection and prevention. This article also attempts to identify the efforts of the state systems of the Central Asian states, to analyze their effectiveness in eradicating human trafficking. The review of the current state of human trafficking problems was carried out on the basis of traditional general scientific and special legal methods, including: analytical for collecting, summarizing and processing scientific information on the state of human trafficking; abstract-logical to identify and systematize the motivational factors of human trafficking; analogies and comparisons to determine the effectiveness of anti-trafficking measures, analysis of foreign experience in combating forced labor and human trafficking. Generalizations, proposals and results contained in the study are aimed at improving the work on the prevention of human trafficking. The proposals and recommendations formulated and substantiated in the work can be used in research work in the further development of the problems of combating human trafficking; in the educational process; when developing scientific recommendations; in the practical activities of state bodies to prevent and combat human trafficking. Keywords: forced labor, human trafficking, exploitation of a person, victim of human trafficking, illegal migration.