How Human Rights Abuses are Fueling the AIDS Epidemic in Kazakhstan
June 29, 2003

Human rights abuse against injection drug users and sex workers in Kazakhstan is fueling one of the fastest growing AIDS epidemics in the world, Human Rights Watch said in this new report.The 54-page report, “Fanning the Flames: How Human Rights Abuses are Fueling the AIDS Epidemic in Kazakhstan,” documents instances of violent police brutality, lack of due process, harassment and stigmatization that drive drug users and sex workers underground and impede their access to life-saving HIV prevention services.Routine and sometimes violent harassment of injection drug users and sex workers by the police adds to their already marginal status in Kazakhstan. Drug users may be arrested for possession of very tiny amounts of narcotics, police find it easy to pin false charges on them, and they are convenient targets when arrest quotas need to be filled.

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ISBN: D1504
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