Kazakhstan
Harassment: Crime and Punishment
"He blocked the door"
I was going home from the theatre in a taxi. Usually, I went home with a friend and her mother on the bus, but this time, they went to another place and stopped a taxi for me. We arrived safely. We talked about my theatre, about his family. When we arrived at our destination, the driver turned around to take the money and saw my face (I had very problem skin with acne breakouts on it). Then, it all began:

"You have many breakouts," the driver said.

"I know," I replied.

"Do you know how to get rid of them? I can advise a method," he said.

"Yes, go ahead," I said.

"You know, when a woman and a man sleep together, and a man cums inside a woman, they exchange their hormones and it helps the skin," the driver said.

I tried to get out, pulled the handle, but nothing happened. He blocked the door.

"If you want, I can help you with that," the driver suggested.

"No, thanks, there is no need," I refused.

"Come on, you will get better right away," the driver said.

He released me only after I wrote down his phone number. I deleted it immediately. Only now, I realize that if I told my parents about this and saved his number, we could address the police.
This is one of hundreds of stories told anonymously in a survey during the Central Asia Taxi Safety Information Campaign.
How is harassment in public spaces punished in Kazakhstan?
The women are subjected to harassment in a taxi every day. However, since it is difficult to prove, women prefer not to address the police, and if they do, they cannot bring the abuser to justice due to lack of evidence.

Ayazhan Oiratova
Personal photo
"Even if a passenger addresses the police, the harassment in a taxi is considered under the Article "Disorderly Conduct" by a long stretch, since, according to Klavdia Esenzhulova, only a fixed-route shared taxi is considered a public place. Now, there is no clear legal definition of public places, therefore such statements are not registered. In addition, the victims usually have no proof of harassment. People take taxi to get to their destination, and not to prepare for harassment and for filming it," notes Ayazhan Oiratova, Program Coordinator at the Legal Policy Research Center NGO.
According to the Code of Administrative Offenses, humiliating harassment is classified as "disorderly conduct" under Article 434, which entails a fine of up to 5 Monthly Calculation Indexes ($32.26) or 10 days of arrest. However, this article also includes the desecration of residential premises and obscene language in public places. According to human rights lawyer Khalida Azhigulova, such completely different in their consequences offenses should not be united into the same category, for example, relieving oneself in the entrance of an apartment building cannot be compared to sexual harassment of a person.

Khalida Azhigulova
Photo: express-k.kz/news
"Sexual harassment is not just hooliganism, but a deliberate violation of the sexual freedom of the victim, it is a psychological abuse which causes psychological trauma of the victim," Azhigulova said.
The problem is that the current legislation does not protect adult victims of sexual harassment if:
  • 1
    they were not subjected to violence
  • 2
    they were not dependent on the abuser, were not his subordinates
  • 3
    they were not blackmailed
  • 4
    there were no threats
That is, if someone regularly suggest a woman to have sexual intimacy with a smile, stalks her, annoys her with calls and messages, tries to touch intimate parts of the body, constantly starts unpleasant vulgar conversations, touches her in public transport, there are practically no effective legal methods of punishing this abuser.

According to human rights lawyer Khalida Azhigulova, on the one hand, sexual harassment is a form of sexual violence, a violation of the human right to the inviolability of personal dignity, and a type of discrimination. On the other hand, the Kazakh state authorities have long ignored this problem, and there is no adequate punishment for sexual harassment in the public space or workplace. In practice, anyone can experience sexual harassment: men and women, adults and children; at work, school, university, hospital; in the civil service and in private companies; on the street, in a taxi, on a train, on public transport.


Zhangeldy Suleimanov
Photo: otyrar.kz
"Today, there is no liability for harassment, although, probably, sexual harassment happens every second in the public space or workplace."
The lawyer Zhangeldy Suleimanov notes that in 2006, a draft law on equal rights and opportunities for men and women was developed, which included Article 14: «Sexual harassment is actions, behaviour of a sexual nature that humiliates another person». This implied gestures, words, touching the body of another person in a sexual way. However, unfortunately, the draft law included this norm, but the Law «On State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women» does not contain it.

«The Law was adopted; it works, but does not include anything about sexual harassment. I do not know the reason for this. Most likely, the Parliament was not ready to introduce such a norm into our Kazakh life. In Western legislation, a slightly different concept is provided, it is broader: it means any behaviour that may bring inconvenience. If a person does not like how someone looked or addressed her/him, not mentioning the touching, this is punished rather harshly. We were moving in a right direction, but still, there is no article. Today, there is no liability for harassment, although, probably, sexual harassment happens every second in the public space or workplace,» Suleimanov said.
There is no specific Article for sexual harassment in Kazakhstan in either the Code of Administrative Offenses or the Penal Code, and the police does not have effective methods to investigate and prosecute sexual harassment. Thus, it is almost impossible to bring the abuser to justice. As a result, abusers enjoy impunity, and citizens remain vulnerable to this type of sexual violence.
In February 2020, the Members of the Mazhilis of the Parliament initiated a bill on the introduction of criminal punishment for sexual harassment in Kazakhstan. Previously, human rights activists repeatedly drew the attention of Members of Parliament and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to sexual harassment, which is often a pre-stage of a rape.

According to Khalida Azhigulova, the working group's discussions on the bill should have begun in the spring of 2020. Due to the pandemic, the working group postponed this discussion. The leader of the «NeMolchi.kz» Fund [«Do Not Be Silent» - Tr.] Dina Tansari does not understand what the lawmakers are afraid of and why the law on sexual harassment was not adopted yet. In her opinion, this is caused by the fact that harassment cases would be very difficult to prove in courts, since a number of criminal cases would have to be opened. The law is now structured in such a way that it is necessary to start a pre-trial investigation if the statement is made and respond to all statements. There will be many such statements, and it raises a question of how to prove them. If a woman provides incontrovertible evidence – video, audio – it is possible. However, even with such evidence, it still will be very difficult to prove.

Dina Tansari
Photo: lubimec.kz
«I believe in only one unquestionable truth: unpunished harassment will end in rape. Unpunished rape will end in murder, because any criminal who commits a crime and remains unpunished will commit it for a second, third or a fourth time. If during the first crime he/she was inexperienced, left some traces, then during the second crime, he/she will think everything over, and make the third crime not punishable at all, while the latest crime will be the cruellest. The criminal will think over how to commit a crime so that he is not brought to criminal responsibility. This is the law enforcement agencies' fault, because they leave a huge number of crimes unpunished,» says the leader of the «NeMolchi.kz» Fund Dina Tansari.
Program Coordinator at the Legal Policy Research Center Ayazhan Oiratova notes that during the consideration of the liability introduction for harassment in a taxi, it is necessary to determine which actions are considered as harassment in general and sort them according to their severity. If this step is skipped during the adoption of the amendments to the Penal Code, it will be difficult for law enforcement agencies to collect evidence afterwards, and for the court to make decisions on such cases. These are corruption risks. Moreover, the criminal articles implying liability for harm to health, threats, illegal imprisonment, for harassment in public places (petty hooliganism) and for rape, as well as the articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses must be considered.

«This means that liability for harassment without serious consequences should not be too harsh. Therefore, considering the harassment consequences, I believe that they do not pose a great public danger, and can be considered a criminal offense. Accordingly, the following types of punishments can be applied: fines, correctional labour, community service and arrest. It should also be mandatory to provide for an additional type of punishment – deprivation of the right to hold a certain position or engage in certain activities, and to create a special register of offenders, since the criminal offenses are not included in the criminal record,» Ayazhan Oiratova said.

The lawyer Zhangeldy Suleimanov also holds similar opinion noting the need to sort the types of harassment.

«We have to understand what harassment means. If a taxi driver touches a passenger against her will, then this is no longer considered harassment in the legal meaning of the word, it is a violence, or an attempt to rape, or acts of a sexual nature. There is a criminal responsibility for this. If a taxi driver is just telling jokes with sexual connotations, he cannot be punished for this. No one will consider such statements. If a taxi driver starts touching a passenger, this is an encroachment on sexual inviolability, criminal liability is provided for this,» says the lawyer.


How do the taxi services ensure safety for the passengers?
The leader of the «NeMolchi.kz» Fund Dina Tansari notes that many rapes happen in a taxi.

«We often come across the cases of violence in a taxi. Especially in InDriver Company: we had several cases with them when the taxi drivers from InDriver raped women. Another case happened when the delivery was ordered. The taxi driver took advantage of the fact that the woman was home alone and raped her,» Tansari says.

The InDriver's press service, as well as the taxi service «4th region» ignored CABAR.asia request and did not provide answers to questions about security in the taxi service.
Responding to CABAR.asia request about security in the taxi service, the Yandex.Taxi press service noted that a 24/7 online support service is available in the Yandex Go application, which allows quickly contacting the support service that will promptly provide assistance. In addition, during the taxi ride, you can send trusted persons your route, and they will track your movement in real time.

«In the Security section, you can add trusted contacts from your phone. If you click on the button «Contact me», these people will receive an SMS with geolocation and information about the ride. In the same section, you can contact the emergency services in case of an unforeseen situation,» the Yandex.Taxi press service replied to CABAR.asia.

In addition, the press service noted that the rating system and feedback from users influence the quality control of the services. After finishing the ride, the application suggests the user to rate it on a scale of one to five. Thus, a rating is created, and the system regulates itself: the better it is, the more orders the driver receives, and vice versa. Drivers below the acceptable rating are automatically disconnected from receiving orders. If users file serious complaints about inappropriate behaviour, drivers are restricted from accessing the service orders.

Nevertheless, according to the survey results, it became clear that the drivers of licensed taxi services, including Yandex.Taxi, also harass the passengers.

On November 16, the Kazakh media reported an attack on a woman in Almaty by a taxi driver who worked via the Yandex Go taxi search application.

Almaty resident Kuralay Galiyeva posted a story about the attack in a Facebook group. She noted that the incident took place three weeks ago, and the attacking taxi driver does not admit his guilt, and refuses to come to the police for investigation:

«I want to tell you that this person is dangerous. He did not take me to the destination. Out of stupidity and naivety, I paid him in cash immediately. However, he did not drive there and thought that he could attack and cut me after my requests. Unfortunately, I am unable to take any action at the moment and I do not understand what to do,» the victim writes.
The press service of the Almaty police department reported that this case was registered in the unified register of pre-trial investigation under Article 107 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan («Intentional Infliction of Average-Gravity Harm to Health»). All necessary examinations were appointed; a procedural decision will be made based on their results.

Yandex Go support service stated that the driver was blocked in the application:

«The support service stays in touch with the user. The driver was blocked in the service, but we should note that according to the system, he drove the woman to the destination indicated in the application. According to the passenger, no one had weapons in the car. It is obvious that the law enforcement agencies should investigate the circumstances of this incident,» as Zakon.kz cited the company's statement.

According to the master-level psychologist Zarina Shteyer, taxi drivers allow themselves to violate personal boundaries, because they know that they will remain unpunished for a couple of inappropriate words or comments.


How to solve the problem of harassment in taxis?


Zarina Shteyer
Personal photo
«The problem of our society is that conscious people do not need any law, they have their own rules, moral values, they know what is bad and do not allow themselves to commit it. Nevertheless, there are a lot of people with inadequate social responsibility, whose behaviour can be regulated only by law, and that is not even a fact,» says Zarina Shteyer.
Ayazhan Oiratova believes that every official taxi service should have codes on countering sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and violence against customers. Such internal policy should be available to all passengers, and it should provide full instruction for drivers. In case of violation, the passengers should be able to call the hotline. Operators must take measures to bring a driver to justice, and in case of false statement, take measures against a passenger.

Ayazhan Oiratova
Personal photo
«In addition, it is necessary to encourage the installation of video cameras in taxis. The codes and policies will not work without video cameras, because the passenger's statement would contradict the driver's statement. This would be unprovable. Such an offer may be unpopular, since official taxi services would bear additional costs. This could increase the price for taxi rides. To prevent this from happening, the state could offer tax holidays to such companies so that they quickly install the cameras and create the policies. It will be more difficult with Yandex.Taxi. They definitely need a hotline, the support service does not respond quickly,» says Ayazhan Oiratova.
It should be noted that not everyone uses the official taxi services. Therefore, according to the expert, it is important to conduct a large-scale media campaign aimed at the importance of using an official taxi services. The state should be intolerant to unofficial taxis, and at the same time, monitor the tariffs. No one wants large transnational corporations to dump prices, because if local companies go bankrupt, it will become even more difficult for governments and civil society to implement the policies we are discussing.

If most people who were harassed use official taxi services and do not report harassment, it is most likely due to ignorance or neglect of these companies. Therefore, it is important to inform people; this can be done by stickers inside the car, as they do abroad. The state, in turn, needs to set requirements for official taxi services so that they do not hire drivers who were prosecuted in the past for rape or similar crimes. In Kazakhstan, people often quit «by their decision,» although there might have been a scandal and the employer had the legal right to fire an employee under the Labour Code. However, if the employee was not guilty, he can restore his/her rights in court. If not, the employer could be required to register the abuser who harassed the clients in the register of taxi service companies. It is not forever, of course. A person should have the right to improve.
According to the leader of the "NeMolchi.kz" Fund Dina Tansari, countering violence against women and children should be the national idea. Until all authorities begin to propagandize that they do not tolerate it, until every akim in every village, district, region begins to condemn the rapists and abusers publicly, this will never stop here.

Psychologist Zarina Shteyer has a similar opinion. She believes that while such situations are not regulated in any way by legislation and people are ashamed to talk about it, the situation will not change.

«In the post-Soviet space, the leading emotion is shame, along with fear. People are ashamed to share their weaknesses, because the society will condemn them: «She was not dressed properly», «She did not talk properly», «It is her own fault,»»- concludes Shteyer.
Our team:
Authors:
Zulfiya Raisova,
Nazigul Zhusupova,
Mazhab Jum'a,
Irina Matvienko

Editor:
Natalia Lee

Idea:

Zulfiya Raisova,
Dastan Akkozha
Collection of the stories:
Ismail Karypov,
Farangis Davronova,
Vera Sukhina,
Anastasia Cherepanova,
Dastan Akkozha,
Kirill Fleyman,
Moldir Alban
Illustrations:
Nasiba Karimova


Layout and design:

Karina Tolmacheva
The longread was created as part of the Central Asia Taxi Safety Information Campaign