Abused, Undercut, and Unheard: Oil Workers in Western Kazakhstan Face Discrimination

For every barrel of oil extracted in Kazakhstan’s oil-rich regions, some of the proceeds go to the companies selling the oil, while some go to the central government in the form of either taxes or contributions to the National Fund. Only a slight margin of the windfalls go to the local government, so while residents expect to reap the benefits of the oil bonanza of the past few decades, local infrastructure, as well as labor conditions are lagging behind.

Leaving aside a long, profound, and entrenched history of bribery and corruption...