On 2 February 2021, the Instagram page of Alina Askarova, director of the Geneve Business School, hosted an interview with Ayazhan Oiratova, programme coordinator of the Legal Policy Research Centre (LPRC).
The interview was entitled “Sexual harassment in Kazakhstan: the scale of the problem, solutions and other issues”. As part of this discussion, Ayazhan Oyratova answered questions such as:
- What is sexual harassment and why is it important to talk about the presence of such a problem in Kazakhstani society?
- How should the law work and what kind of regulation of sexual harassment is needed?
- How can victims prove that sexual harassment has occurred?
- Who is a potential victim of harassment?
- How can the situation of sexual harassment in Kazakhstan be improved beyond legislation?
- What is the fine line between compliment and harassment?
Cases of sexual harassment were also examined, from which the interviewees will be able to understand the scale of the problem. After all, the victim of such behaviour may suffer serious moral damage and many may have to change jobs.
As one solution to the problem of sexual harassment in the work environment, Ayazhan Oyratova noted the following: “It is necessary to introduce procedures at work. First of all, prioritise educational, medical and public sector institutions. There should be clear rules on how people can communicate with each other, how a colleague can communicate with a colleague or a subordinate can communicate with a supervisor. And also outline how they should interact with people who are users of these services.
The recording of this video interview is available in Russian here.
