Sexual Harassment in the World of Work: International Standards and Challenges of Legal Regulation in the Republic of Kazakhstan

K.K. Sadykova, A.T. Zhakyb-Zhan

2026

Closed access Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.31489/2026l2/97-106
Data confidence 70 medium
How this score is calculated

It is built from checkable properties of the record itself: whether the article has a DOI, how many independent sources confirmed its data, whether the required fields are filled in, and how recent the latest confirmation is. Disagreement between sources and a missing identifier lower it. A value of 80 or above means the record was published without further checking; 60 to 79 means it is published at reduced confidence, with a manual check advisable. A record verified by an editor by hand is never pushed below 90 by a recalculation. This scores our data about the article, not the article itself.

Abstract

This study investigates the prevention of and response to sexual harassment in workplace legislation in the Republic of Kazakhstan, taking into account emerging international standards. The International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted Convention No. 190, which establishes states’ obligations to eliminate this problem. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of international standards on the prevention of sexual harassment (in particular, ILO Convention No. 190) as a distinct area of labour law, and to identify key challenges in implementing relevant legal norms in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The authors employ legal and systematic analysis, comparing the provisions of ILO Convention No. 190 with the Labour and Criminal Codes of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study demonstrates that definitions of sexual harassment, investigation procedures, and protection measures are absent from the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, creating legal uncertainty and an environment of impunity. Based on the international experience (France and Kyrgyzstan), this study recommends a concept of a new clause in the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (LC of RK), which establishes a comprehensive framework for prevention and protection against sexual harassment. This study is dedicated to playing a significant role in the modernization of the LC of RK and becoming a foundation for improving legislation in the domain of protection of employees’ rights and dignity.