If you or someone you know has been taken

• You have the right to say no, also after you have been taken to a house, also if a scarf has been put on your head, also if relatives ask you to stay.
• Taking a person against her will is a crime under the Criminal Code. A «yes» given under pressure is not a yes.
• If you can, call someone you trust or our help line. Tell them where you are, or the name of the village and the family.
• Your family can ask the police to come with them to bring you home. Our lawyers can go with them.
• After you are home you can see a doctor and talk to a counsellor free of charge at the St. Luka Mission or at a polyclinic.

For parents

If your daughter has been taken and says she does not want to stay, she needs to hear from you that she can come home and that she will not be shamed. That one sentence is often what decides it.

Our lawyers

Legal help is free. Lawyers of the Legal Defense Guild work with us in Talas, Kyzyl-Adyr and Nurzhan. Ask for them through the help line.

Page updated: Monday, 7 September 2026. This page is written by Ak Jooluk, a member of Köpürö, and hosted free of charge on kopuro.org.