Prostitution in Kazakhstan is itself legal, but acts facilitating prostitution, such as operating a brothel or prostitution ring, are illegal. Prostitution is a serious problem. NGOs reported that criminal prostitution rings often included local law enforcement officials.
Estimates of the number of prostitutes in Kazakhstan vary from 4, [3] and Sex workers often face harassment, extortion, arbitrary arrest, rape and violence from the police. HIV testing is mandatory for male sex workers, however in practice female sex workers are also forced to have the test. Any sex worker who continues to offer services after a positive test could be prosecuted for the deliberate spreading of an infection.
After independence, Kazakhstan abolished the laws banning prostitution in January Related activities are still a criminal offence: [4]. In , a group of disabled people in Karaganda asked the country's parliament for legalisation to subsidise commercial sex for the disabled. They were unsuccessful. Kazakhstan passed a law designed to combat trafficking in persons on July 4, On January 1, , Kazakhstan introduced an administrative offence, article "Attaching in public places," which includes, among other things, prostitutes soliciting potential clients in public.
Prostitutes quietly standing on the spot were not affected. The asked that prostitution be legislated and regulated. They argued that regulation would provide better working conditions and security for the sex-workers and that taxes on prostitution would contribute to the Kazakhstani government coffers. Prostitution of minors is a problem in Kazakhstan.
In Almaty , it is estimated the a third of prostitutes are underage. Law enforcement agencies are trying to break up the gangs behind this.
