CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR FAILURE TO FULFILL OBLIGATIONS TO PAY FUNDS FOR KEEPING CHILDREN IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The protection of the interests of the family and the child in the Republic of Kazakhstan is proclaimed at the constitutional level and enshrined in the provision of Article 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to this provision of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, marriage and family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood are under the protection of the state. Caring for and raising children is a natural right and responsibility of parents. At the same time, a huge number of violations of the rights of minor children is associated precisely with the process of executing judicial acts on the recovery of alimony, determining their amount, as well as the issues of bringing debtors to criminal liability for evading alimony payments. As of the 1st quarter of 2021 alone, the alimony debt amounted to more than 12 billion tenges, of which about 5 billion tenges are not repaid at all. Article 139 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan establishes criminal liability for failure to fulfill obligations to pay funds for the maintenance of children. At the same time, the issues of bringing debtors to criminal liability under this article remain problematic. The reasons for this situation are the insufficient effectiveness of the current legislation, the lack of legal mechanisms for regulating the issues of bringing debtors to justice. This is facilitated by such factors as the partial repayment by the debtor of the amount owed on alimony obligations, the lack of legislative consolidation of the concept of «evasion», etc.