In Kazakhstan, the Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child of the Republic of Kazakhstan establishes a monitoring group to carry out permanent and independent public monitoring of closed, children's institutions in order to ensure and guarantee the observance of the children’s rights.

Therefore, from May 24-25, 2017, the first training for a monitoring group of representatives of 50 non-governmental organizations from all over Kazakhstan was held in Astana (from the NGO “Sana Sezim” participated – lldar Khaliulin).The group is created with the support of the International Prison Reform and UNICEF.

During the training, the following sessions took place:

• Monitoring of closed institutions for children
• Indicators for monitoring and ensuring the best interests of the child
• International standards as a guide for visiting closed institutions
• Practical work on monitoring of closed institutions for children

The training was attended by international and national experts from Kazakhstan and Great Britain, representatives of public monitoring commissions (Public Monitoring on Prisons).

"The annual report "Voice of the Child" showed the presence of violence against children in closed institutions: 65% of children in conflict with the law noted that they were held in police stations and temporary detention centers along with adults. There are serious risks regarding the joint keeping of children in temporary detention centers together with adults.Modifications of the legislation have to be made to ensure separate detention in all places of detention, including in temporary detention facilities. In addition, the treatment of children during their stay in the temporary detention centers requires more detailed research, and this should be a priority for the new monitoring group of the children's ombudsman. Alternatives to detention in temporary detention centers should be actively developed, such as curfews and reporting requirements", he said.

According to the press service, out of 36,000 convicts, 0.3% are minors. In seven special educational institutions contain children whose behavior is deemed to be deviant (176 children) and in one institution there are children who have not reached the age of criminal responsibility (8 children). About 180 children are kept in special schools. 180 children - this is far from a complete indicator, since every year a large number of children go through records of directory. Until today, there are 8386 children recorded in the internal affairs bodies.