VZCZCXRO6433
OO RUEHDE
DE RUEHKU #1345/01 1081215
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 181215Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4021
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1201
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3058

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARPI, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2016 
TAGS: PHUM ELAB ZP TIP
SUBJECT: KUWAIT PASSES ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW 
 
REF: KUWAIT 1096 
 
Classified By: DCM Matt Tueller for reason 1.4 (b and d) 
 
¶1.  (U)  Kuwait's National Assembly passed, and Amir Shaykh 
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah signed, a law giving the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime the full force of law in Kuwait.  Kuwait signed the 
Convention on December 12, 2000 but this action now gives it 
the force of law .  The law (number 5 of 2006) also made two 
supplemental UN protocols official Kuwaiti law: the Protocol 
to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, 
Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the 
Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air, and Sea.  The law was 
officially published on April 4. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Zakariya Al-Ansari, the Assistant Director of the 
International Relations Department at the Ministry of 
Justice, told PolOff in an April 17 meeting that the law will 
be in full effect 30 days after GOK ratification is presented 
to the UN.  He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had 
either already done that or would do so within a matter of 
days.  Al-Ansari noted that he had met with the Public 
Prosecutor's office to make sure it was aware of the new law. 
 Post will follow up with the Public Prosecutor's office to 
see how it plans to incorporate this new law into its 
activities. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Al-Ansari acknowledged that the Government needs 
to issue an accompanying law to specify punishments and other 
implementation details of the new law.  As a first step 
toward this goal, Al-Ansari referred to a recent meeting of a 
special experts' committee of the GCC held to discuss a draft 
law on Trafficking in Persons.  The meeting seems to have 
come at the behest of Bahrain.  It produced a progressive 
draft anti-trafficking law, with a definition of trafficking 
very similar to the U.S. definition.  Embassy Manama provided 
an English translation of Bahrain's draft TIP law, which is 
clearly the source of the GCC draft law, though there are 
differences.  The law will be reviewed by each country and is 
scheduled for ratification at the meeting of the GCC 
Ministers of Justice in November. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The law defines trafficking as: "The use, 
recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receiving of a 
person with the purpose of exploitation through compulsion, 
threat, fraud, deception, kidnapping, or through misuse of 
official position, or any other illegal means whether they be 
direct or indirect, or the exploitation of a person in any 
way, such as prostitution or sexual violation, labor, forced 
servitude, indentured servitude or similar practices, 
slavery, or organ removal."  The law goes on to give special 
protection to minors and those not able to make decisions for 
themselves.  It intensifies punishments for: the organizers 
of criminal groups involved in TIP; those who traffic 
children, women, and the disabled; those who use official 
positions to participate in trafficking; those who use 
weapons or threaten to use them in trafficking; traffickers 
of a family member or other person over whom they have some 
legal authority; traffickers of multiple victims; traffickers 
who are part of criminal groups; international traffickers. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The law would punish those with direct or indirect 
knowledge of trafficking crimes who do not inform the 
authorities, though immediate family members are excepted 
from this provision.  It provides amnesty to those who might 
be convicted under this law, but give evidence that leads to 
the prevention of the trafficking crime or the apprehension 
of trafficking criminals.  It punishes all those involved in 
trafficking, even those with indirect roles.  The law 
stipulates that the state must inform victims of their legal 
rights and provide a range of victim services such as 
shelter, security protection, medical and psychological 
attention, etc.  It also allows the victim to stay in the 
destination country while investigations are being carried 
out.  Finally, it mandates the forming of a national anti-TIP 
committee to: prevent TIP; protect victims; prepare awareness 
campaigns and provide economic and social programs to prevent 
TIP; and to coordinate with international bodies in providing 
TIP-related information and statistics. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Comment:  Al-Ansari's deputy, Ahmad Al-Dhafeeri, 
noted (before Al-Ansari arrived) that such GCC laws are not 
binding.  Nevertheless, Kuwait's involvement in the drafting 
of the law and its signing of Law 5 of 2006 are significant 
components of Kuwait's approach to the trafficking issue. 
They provide a clear statement of the GOK commitment.  The 
local UN representative commented that perhaps the main goal 
of the proposed Migrant Labor conference this fall is to 
 
KUWAIT 00001345  002 OF 002 
 
 
produce a statement that could be used to pressure Kuwait 
(reftel) and its neighbors to take steps to ensure full 
implementation of the law.  End Comment. 
 
********************************************* * 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
LEBARON