Central Asia: Luiza Karimova
- Hayeon Kwak
- Jan 31
- 3 min read
Human trafficking is a serious issue around the world, and the poverty, high unemployment, and few opportunities in the countries of Central Asia create a particularly vulnerable environment for people to be exploited. Push factors induce large-scale migration, both legal and illegal, in Central Asia, much of which involves various forms of human trafficking from forced labor to sexual exploitation. Central Asian countries cooperate to prevent trafficking, and have established a system enforcing regional cooperation. For example, by 2009, the governments of Central Asia established human trafficking as an within the criminal justice system unanimously, raising the stakes for punishment and demanding more attention for human trafficking. Years of action has produced promising progress, and as of 2021, four of the five Central Asian countries are categorized as Tier 2 countries on the TIP Report (where Tier 1 is the most positive, and Tier 3 the most negative).
Luiza Karimova
Luiza Karimova (a pseudonym for privacy and safety) was just 22 years old when she felt trapped. As a single mother of a son, she needed a job to provide for her small family but could find none. Driven to desperation, she left her son with her family and travelled to the neighbouring Osh, Kyrgyzstan from her home in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Without a university degree, Ms. Karimova was quickly turned down from the workplace. When she was promised a waitressing job in Bishkek, she gladly accepted and travelled for the position.
This joy at finally receiving a ‘yes’ in a chorus of ‘no’s at her lowest kept her blinded to the suspicious way her new employers took away her passports and secretly stowed her on a plane with fake documents. Her dreams were crushed when her plane landed in Dubai, and she became one of many women tricked into sex work at a nightclub, forced to earn at least $10,000 per month and keep none of the profits.
She endured 18 months of constant supervision and disparaging, forced sexual labour before she was able to escape. When police raced to arrest sex workers and traffickers as she walked out of the nightclub, she chose not to run, and let herself be arrested. Her deportation sent her back to Osh, Kyrgyzstan with her fake passport, for which she served a year in prison.
Upon her release, the breath of fresh air that should have meant freedom was still turned against her, and she found herself trapped again in the cycle of poverty. Helpless, she returned to the sex industry, working in saunas, until workers of the organization Podruga discovered her, offering work and freedom.
The job liberated her, and she was able to escape sexual exploitation. She grew to trust the people at the organization and has been working as an outreach worker herself, visiting places she used to work herself, where sex trafficking victims may be hidden.
Just like how the Podruga members she met offered her comfort, understanding, and a chance to start again, Ms. Karimova educates women about condoms, HIV, safety, legal aid, and perhaps most importantly, personal connection. When she meets young girls who consider taking job offers in Turkey or Dubai, she tells her own story, hoping they do not make the same mistake she did.
For the past two years, Ms. Karimova has worked to be the figure she needed the most while she was being trafficked– someone who could empathize, listen without judgment, and help. The passion with which she works, and the courage with which Ms. Karimova lives her new life is just one example of how recovery and a new life are possible for anyone.
Written by Hayeon Kwak
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