“Yuzhnui Kazakhstan”, # 35 (18,419), 16/03/2008
N. Khaikina

   Today, as there was a millennium ago, there is a thriving trade in human beings. These victims are adults and children, men and women.
   This slavery begins with trusting people who have been promised “paradise on earth” abroad. These “living goods” are ordered through travel agencies, training firms, and various other agencies. Just last year, the Legal Center for Women’s Initiatives “Sana Sezim” closed two travel agencies that had been sending South Kazakhstan citizens abroad. The staff at “Sana Sezim” said that the main issue associated with this problem is people’s legal illiteracy. The past two years “Sana Sezim” has implemented the project “Stop human trafficking”. During this time they held several seminars and trainings. At their Shymkent office they operated a telephone hotline which provided free legal consultations.
   The project has finished, but that does not mean that “Sana Sezim” will not continue to work with potential and real victims of human trafficking. The center’s president, H. Abysheva, stated that it will continue. It is now under negotiations with international organizations also working in the same direction.