Photo: UN Women/Janarbek Amankulov

Violence prevents women from fully participating in society, and has long-lasting consequences and costs for women’s families, communities and countries. High levels of gender-based domestic violence against women and traditional patriarchal norms and stereotypes combine to pose a great obstacle to gender equality in Kazakhstan.

UN Women, in partnership with the Government, is implementing several projects to eliminate discrimination and violence against women and girls in Kazakhstan. These initiatives include collection and analysis of hard data on gender-based violence in Kazakhstan. Credible, evidence-based data on violence against women and girls is critical to designing effective, targeted gender-sensitive policies that assist the Government of Kazakhstan implement the global norms and standards enshrined in its international agreements.

UN Women in Action in Kazakhstan

• Identified legislative barriers and developed ways to identify and prevent domestic violence;
• Continuously challenged gender stereotypes and advocated zero-tolerance for violence against women and girls;
• Focused substantive efforts to further improve Government collection and analysis of gender statistics, including monitoring domestic violence data.
• Provided expert support to help Kazakhstan prepare its national CEDAW report.
• Supports high-level dialogue between state bodies and the international community to support Kazakhstan’s international commitments to eliminate violence against women and girls.

The Central Asian Alliance to End Gender-Based Violence

The Central Asian Alliance to End Gender-Based Violence is a unique platform for regional cooperation, created with the support of UN Women Kazakhstan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan for interaction and experience exchange between civil community, government agencies, and all stakeholders in Central Asia. The Alliance combines resources and efforts to create zero tolerance for discrimination and gender-based violence in the region, strengthens the voices of civil society organizations, and participates in the implementation of programs and projects to combat gender-based violence.

The Central Asian Alliance to End Gender-Based Violence is a result of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan. The official launch took place on June 27, 2023 in Almaty.

The Alliance is open to everyone interested in combating gender-based violence in Central Asia. These are civil society, government agencies, law enforcement agencies, youth movements, activists, business, media and opinion leaders, academia, scientists and researchers.

The goals of the Alliance:

• Elimination of gender-based violence and harmful practices in the Central Asian region; 
• Capacity building of civil society organizations; 
• Promotion of the rights of women and girls, and the engagement of men in projects and programs related to the elimination of gender-based violence;
• Increase the capacity and awareness of law enforcement officials, and promote intersectoral collaboration to share best practices and experiences; 
• Promote inclusive political dialogue, including institutional and legislative changes in Central Asian countries on gender-based violence;
• Involvement of local communities through advocacy in the planning and implementation of measures to eliminate gender-based violence;
• Cooperation with the international community;
• Cooperation in the implementation of commitments made by the countries of the region within the framework of the Generation Equality Forum

E-mail: CA.Alliance@unwomen.org 
Media contacts: Madi Mambetov, Central Asian EGBV Alliance Communications Specialist, +77074546018, madi.mambetov@unwomen.org