US Calls On Kazakhstan To Do More To Fight Human Trafficking - State Dept.

The United States is calling on Kazakhstan to increase efforts to fight human trafficking and resolve the rights of refugees from China's Xinjiang province, US State Department officials said during a virtual press briefing on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2020) The United States is calling on Kazakhstan to increase efforts to fight human trafficking and resolve the rights of refugees from China's Xinjiang province, US State Department officials said during a virtual press briefing on Friday.

"We call on the Kazakh government to do more to fight human trafficking," US Ambassador-at-Large John Cotton Richmond told reporters.

The Kazakh government should pay particular attention to ethnic Kazakhs who have became victims of human trafficking, Richmond said.

The government should amend its laws and reverse the four-year decline in convictions for human trafficking, he added.

Assistant Secretary of State Robert Destro called on Kazakhstan to resolve the legal status of refugees from China's Xinjiang province and allow non-governmental organizations to advocate for the refugees' their rights.

"Central Asian countries should really stand up for these victims," Destro said.