"Saltanat Light" Campaign in Kazakhstan Combats Domestic Violence

May. 27, 2025

The murder trial of Kazakhstan’s former government minister, who killed his wife Saltanat Nukenova, gained global attention. Saltanat’s name became a symbol of the fight against domestic violence. Soon after, Parliament passed the Law criminalizing domestic abuse. People called it ‘Saltanat’s Law’. 

But as public focus faded, the violence continued… In 2024 alone, police received more than 100,000 reports of family abuse across Kazakhstan. Yet people do not realize how often domestic violence happened in a country. Even after the ‘Saltanat’s Law’ criminalised abuse, public engagement was low, and many women lacked awareness of their rights or access to legal help.

To bring the issue back into the light, ‘Saltanat Light’ was created: a restored neon sign from once iconic women’s clothing store named ‘Saltanat’, brought back by Citix, DOOH company. Each time a domestic violence case is reported, the sign blinks, reflecting domestic violence statistics in real time. So do 100+ public digital screens across the country. Each screen leads to a Telegram bot developed with the UN, helping women understand and use the Saltanat’s Law.

An AI-driven engine processes a vast stream of data - news, NGO-channels, social media, inputs from crisis centers and user-submitted stories collected via a Telegram bot and interactive Citix street devices. To ensure clarity and credibility, the system leverages a localized language neural network. Using a custom Node.js prompt, the AI filters and verifies each incident before sending validated data to Citix’s AdTech platform, which activates the neon sign and updates a live Saltanat Light widget across digital screens. 

As a result, reach - 22.3 million (75% of Kazakhstan’s population), 522 000 reactions, 400% increase in criminal cases initiated under the Saltanat Law.