Kazakhstan bans bride kidnaps, forced marriages

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women's rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

"These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents," it added.


Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

"Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated," the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women's rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

"Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified," Tokayev said last year.