In the last five years, social media of Kazakhstan were filled with dozens, hundreds of scary stories about rapes in public places, atrocities committed by domestic tyrants, paedophiles who hurt children both physically and morally. The social disapproval policy has led to the increase of violence in the country. But statistics show otherwise. In 2022, compared to 2018, the number of sexualised crimes in the country reduced two times – from 1.9 thousand to 980 criminal cases.
Prominent human rights defender, founder of the #NeMolchikz foundation, Dina Smailova, said how this progress could be achieved for such a short time.
– Your movement has worked in Kazakhstan for more than six years. Could you tell us about the situation in 2018 and how it has changed now. Dina Botaevna, may we ask a personal question? Why did you decide to do public work on such a sensitive issue as sexual assault?
– When I was 20 years old, I suffered gang rape. It was back in the 90s. Back then no one was supposed to tell about it, it was a shame. I know that more girls suffered from it. I kept silence, suffered and saw how my sex offenders were building their lives, creating families, succeeding for many years. Over the years, I have learned that no one should keep silence about it. It’s for our sake because the victim of sexual abuse experiences severe psychological trauma, which she cannot recover from for many years. Especially, if the crime was not punished. This is important for other girls, who can suffer from an abuser who remains unpunished.
On July 9, 2016, I made a statement in my account in social media – stop keeping silent about the violence, and called on women to write openly in social media, tell to the media, and, finally, stop being ashamed of what happened. My call became the slogan of the movement “It’s not a shame to be raped, it’s a shame to be a sex offender!”. I repeated it many times in my publications. And I repeated the same phrase one year later, when I was speaking on behalf of Kazakhstan at the 72nd session of the General Assembly of the UN Women. It’s hard to believe but my call got so many responses. It was just a very sensitive topic for the women’s community. This is how our movement #NeMolchiKz started. In the first year of our foundation, we held a large conference with participation of ministries, where we demanded to revise the laws on sexual assault. We were not quiet and we were heard. And we succeeded in it three years later.
For six years, our foundation brought 207 criminal cases to trial, including 63 cases on sex crimes against children. It was a thorough and emotionally hard work to be next to the victim from the beginning, when the crime was committed, to the end of the trial. We provided consultations to some, and comprehensive support to others – we look for apartment, hire lawyers, pay for expert evaluations, treatment. For the first three years, we kept the foundation with our own savings and only in 2019 I asked my followers to support us financially for the first time. We gathered money to help the survivors and accounted for every cent.
– How did you manage to push for the change in laws?
– The first and most important statement of mine was about the article on conciliation of parties in case of sexual assault. Back then, it was normal for Kazakhstan to make an offer to the victim to withdraw her report and to get money in compensation for the rape. And many women agreed. Not because they needed money, but because they were intimidated – ‘either you take the money, or you’ll “get through it” again’. Three years after our petitions, messages, campaigns, conferences, conciliation of parties in criminal cases regarding sexual assault was removed. And this provision was valid for 20 years and it stuck in people’s minds. Back then, it was often heard from men that all women are courtesans and even when they are being raped, they are willing to take money instead. We have achieved that this shameful penalty for rape was cancelled.
Another very important step that helped change the situation is tougher penalties for sexual assaults. Previously, a perpetrator would be sentenced to 2.5-5 years in prison, and would often be released in 9 months on probation. And now punishment is 5 to 8 years in prison for rape and 9 to 12 years for gang rape. Punishment for abuse of children has been toughened seriously – from 20 years to life.
The deadlock was broken when women started telling their terrible stories openly. In 2019, Kazakhstanis shuddered when they learned from our foundation about the woman who was raped by two train conductors in an elite train compartment “Tulpar-Talgo” (the society demanded that the carrier – national company “Kazakhstan Temir Zholy” – should introduce women only carriages and it was done two years later – Editorial office). We all were shocked by the case when a woman was raped in a toilet in the Almaty-based “Medeo” skating rink. It’s not only the history that caused outrage, but also its continuation. The repeat offender who came to the attention of police for assault nine times, and who served in prison for rape twice, was sentenced only to 2.5 years in prison.
And people started wondering: how is it possible? Many did not even think that sexual assault could be punished this way. People started to demand amendments to the law. Many people had to speak out in the media. But it won’t work in Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.
– Why?
– We have the coalition #NEMOLCHI.ASIA, which combines four countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Looking at how our colleagues work and what happens in their countries, say, in Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, I can tell that these topics are overly tabooed there. Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to speak openly about violence. Our republic does not have more gender-based violence than in other countries of the region. The situation is the same everywhere. We just do not keep silent about it. It’s now easier for our women to report to the police because they are supported by the society.
These concepts need to be changed. We all have the right to protection. Of course, everyone will be shocked by the figures at first. But then, believe me, this will pass and the most important thing will happen gradually – the change in public consciousness. I am not saying that we trust law enforcement bodies, but at least women have learned to fight for their rights. And now this fight is quite obvious…
– Back in 2016, Rashida Manjoo, UN special rapporteur, proposed to approve the concept “femicide” in law and toughen punishment of domestic tyrants. Have there been any developments in this matter in Kazakhstan in recent years?
– Not yet. A few years ago our country decriminalised articles on domestic violence. Now these are administrative, not criminal offences. Can you imagine that 84 thousand crimes a year (25 thousand in 2021) are not investigated, do not involve prosecutor’s office? These cases are referred to administrative courts at once. And they often issue warnings to tyrants. They can issue 3-4 warnings. Then they arrest them for three days, then five days. In other words, a woman can be beaten 10 times and only then the perpetrator would be detained for 20 days.
In 2021, a tragedy happened here. A woman based in Pavlodar, mother of three children, Antonida Surova, was killed by her ex-husband. She reported battery eight times to the police. She was issued a protective order, and a criminal case on torment was initiated. She came to our foundation and said, “Dina, how does the law work? If he attacks me outdoors, what will I do? Show him the order? I want to live. I want the police to protect me, instead of starting their work when I am killed.” Now he is in prison. But what’s the use? She left behind three children, while the older daughter eyewitnessed the mother’s murder and now has the psychological trauma for life. We have a lot of such stories.
Editorial comment: On March 9, it became known that the Senate of parliament considered the draft law on toughening punishment for domestic tyrants. Now there’s a separate line saying that if a person “being in financial or other dependence on the abuser” suffer from moderate or severe damage to health, the term of punishment of the perpetrator will be increased. And it will be real now.
This is how we should treat domestic violence. It’s not that we don’t need to help the victims or open crisis centres, but we rather should invest our efforts to the fight against violence. When we start to focus on abusers, work with them, treat their alcoholism by force, put them to prisons, labour colonies, then we’ll see the changes. For example, in South Korea a domestic tyrant is sentenced to one year of penal servitude for beating the wife, works there and sends the money to the family.
– Why do women prefer to go to social activists rather than to police? Is it because of lack of trust?
– I have the impression that in case of trouble, women just don’t know where to go, and she looks for help on social media, browses the internet and finds our foundation. Why do people go us? Because we have instructions on what to do next for every case. Why don’t the police give such instructions? Why don’t they say that you should be examined in the first minutes after the incident? You should not wash yourself, wash your clothes. And what do they do? They accept your report and tell you to go home. And then the case is dropped for lack of evidence. There have been cases when police officers have given such ‘advices’ on purpose and then have visited the abuser and asked for money for dropping the case. We write about everything, tell about abusers openly, call their names. We are persecuted for that. Two criminal cases have been initiated against me, and it’s the ninth civil trial going on.
– How do you feel about public attacks against you, finding dirt on you, criminal cases, criticism?
– At first, I reacted very sensitively. I even had the uterine cancer. I had seven trials then and Denis Krivosheyev (journalist – editor’s note) started to spread hate against me. All of my family was turned inside out. We have faced so many accusations.
After a serious operation, I underwent rehabilitation. Health issues have made me rethink my attitude to the situation. Most of human rights defenders come under attack. This is a normal phenomenon. When I get so much criticism, it means I work well. I have learned the lesson and calmed down. Now I do not react practically. Why should I lose my health, my strength? I just should not stop and keep working.