VZCZCXRO6891
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHKU #3747 2620634
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190634Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6770
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 0095
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0951
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0262
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0351
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0911
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 0080
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA PRIORITY 0533

UNCLAS KUWAIT 003747 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KU TIP
SUBJECT: POST MARKS LAUNCH OF 2006 TIP ESF PROJECT FOR 
RAISING AWARENESS OF FOREIGN WORKERS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 3440 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 3322 
     ¶C. KUWAIT 436 
     ¶D. KUWAIT 262 
     ¶E. 05 KUWAIT 263 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  The Ambassador hosted a reception on September 12 
to mark the launch of Project FALCON (Fostering Awareness of 
Labor Conditions) (ref E).  The project is funded through 
G/TIP ESF funds and is designed to raise awareness among 
foreign workers of their rights and responsibilities while 
working in Kuwait.  The reception brought together GOK 
officials from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of 
Social Affais and Labor, and the Ministry of Awqaf and 
Islamic Affairs, NGO and international organization 
representatives, and representatives of the foreign missions 
of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, the 
Philippines, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany and France.  The press 
was also invited and Kuwait's national news service, KUNA, 
carried a story the following day.  Guests praised the 
project and shared ideas on how to further advance common 
objectives in protecting the rights of foreign workers in 
Kuwait. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  FALCON has two elements: an informational brochure 
and a series of newspaper ads.  The brochure is printed in 
nine languages -- Sinhalese, Malayalam, Telugu, Urdu, 
Bengali, Tagalog, Indonesian, Arabic, and English -- yet is 
small enough to easily fit into a pocket.  The ad campaign 
began on September 11 and will continue through November, 
with ads in all five Arabic dailies, two English dailies, the 
Malayalam and Urdu inserts in one of the English dailies and 
two free, widely-read classified papers.  The content of the 
brochures and ad campaign are nearly identical and came out 
of a regular series of meetings between labor source 
embassies and Post (ref D).  Labor source country embassies 
and religious institutions have volunteered to hand out the 
brochure and will report back to Post on its impact.  So far, 
these institutions have taken 128,500 of the 500,000 copies 
of the brochure.  The Pakistani and Filipino Embassies each 
requested 7,000 additional copies of the brochure one month 
after their original shipment of 7,000.  Post will follow up 
with the others to try to ascertain the rate of actual 
distribution.  Post is also consulting with the GOK to 
facilitate distribution in the airport and other public 
places.  The Filipino Embassy has already distributed the 
brochure in the airport and has promised to cooperate with 
Post in handing the brochure out to workers in places where 
they gather on their days off. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  At Post's first meeting with the source-country 
labor representatives in January, there was near unanimity 
that a project targeting Kuwaitis would be at least as useful 
as one targeting workers.  For this reason, Post has proposed 
additional ESF funding from G/TIP to produce a series of 
public service announcements urging Kuwaitis to respect 
workers' rights (ref C).  Post looks forward to hearing 
whether G/TIP will be able to fund this proposal. 
 
********************************************* * 
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