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INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0171
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 0024
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0301
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0174
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0006
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0796
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0069
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0166
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0405
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 1004
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0017
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0023
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0045
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 0009
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 0040
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0054
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 0046

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 MANAMA 000206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, NEA/RA 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN ELAB SMIG KFRD PREF ASEC BA
HUMRIT 
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: SEVENTH ANNUAL TIP REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 202745 
 
MANAMA 00000206  001.2 OF 010 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly.  Not 
for Internet distribution. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Post's response to reftel follows.  Answers are 
keyed to reftel questions. 
 
-------- 
Overview 
-------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) 27A.  Bahrain is a country of destination for men 
primarily as laborers and, to a much lesser extent, domestic 
workers, and women primarily as domestic workers, and to a 
lesser extent as laborers.  There was no evidence that 
trafficking of children to Bahrain occurred during the 
reporting period.  Trafficking does not occur within 
Bahrain's borders and there is no territory outside of GOB 
control.  Numbers of those trafficked are unclear as systems 
for recording and reporting such information are still being 
developed.  The Ministry of Labor stood up an automated 
system in mid-2005 to track employer-reported "runaway" 
workers, providing efficiency and enabling a wider base of 
users access to the information.  The Ministry reported that 
2,979 workers were registered as runaways by their employers 
in calendar year 2006, 700 of whom were domestic workers.  An 
inter-ministerial task force has discussed the establishment 
of a database to record instances of trafficking in a more 
comprehensive way, but work is still in progress.  Sources of 
information on trafficking and government steps to address 
the problem are as follows:  Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social 
Development, Ministry of Interior, Migrant Worker Protection 
Society (MWPS), human rights NGOs, and the embassies of 
source countries.  Although the GOB sources are reliable in 
the information they provide, systems are not yet in place to 
provide extensive numerical and statistical data. 
Information provided by foreign embassy sources is reliable, 
but due to limited resources is often only numbers of 
nationals repatriated and some anecdotal information about 
individual cases.  The two groups most at risk of being 
trafficked are female household domestic workers of various 
nationalities and women who traveled to Bahrain voluntarily 
but are coerced into commercial sexual exploitation. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) 27B.  There was some evidence of an increase in the 
extent of trafficking from the previous period, primarily 
from information given by repatriated Thai women, some of 
whom were reportedly forced into prostitution after their 
arrival.  Repatriations to Thailand more than doubled in 
calendar year 2006, to 385.  Post has witnessed a significant 
amount of political will from the GOB to address trafficking 
issues, embodied most clearly in 2006 in its opening of a 
government shelter for trafficking victims and its efforts to 
pass anti-trafficking legislation.  Primary source countries 
for Bahrain were India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, 
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.  To a 
lesser extent, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Morocco and countries of 
the former Soviet Union were also source countries. 
Trafficking occurred primarily through recruitment agencies 
in source countries and in Bahrain.  Due to new Philippine 
government minimum wage requirements, the press has recently 
 
MANAMA 00000206  002.2 OF 010 
 
 
reported that some recruitment agencies are looking to 
increase recruitment in Vietnam and Eritrea.  Victims 
commonly related anecdotes about agencies in source countries 
charging high administrative fees but describing desirable 
employment and attractive wages in Bahrain.  Upon arrival in 
Bahrain, the reality that faced some new workers was a 
changed contract, workplace and job; long, arduous hours; 
lower salary than promised; and instant debts that had to be 
repaid to the local recruiting agency and sponsor.  The new 
worker did not have much choice but to accept the new terms. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) 27B (cont.) Housing for workers was often 
over-crowded, unsanitary and sometimes without air 
conditioning, an unsafe situation during the extremely hot 
summer months.  Workers could be subject to periods of 
non-payment or partial payment of their salaries.  Domestic 
workers often faced excessive hours, lack of freedom of 
movement outside the home, verbal and physical abuse (and 
occasional cases of rape, although rare), withholding of 
documents such as passports, forced labor in the homes of 
neighbors or relatives of the sponsor, and forced fasting 
during Ramadan, even for non-Muslims.  Domestics reported 
having been locked up in recruitment agency offices while 
they waited for initial deployment or redeployment in cases 
of problems in the initial assignment.  There were occasional 
reports of false documents being used by expat workers, 
usually to increase the apparent age of a young worker 
(rarely under 18, but there were three or four reported cases 
during the period), although it was unclear whether the 
individual or the recruiter was responsible for initiating 
the procurement of false documents.  The press reported 
occasional suicides among expatriate workers; there were four 
in the first two months of 2007, although this was a higher 
rate than is typical.  Participation in the sex tourism 
industry was mostly voluntary, although there were cases of 
forced prostitution. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) 27C.  From post's perspective there are no clear 
limitations on the government's ability to address 
trafficking.  The government cites natural bureaucratic 
delays in the passage of legislation and the realization of 
other initiatives. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) 27D.  The inter-ministerial task force meets 
approximately quarterly to monitor and assess GOB progress on 
different fronts.  Reporting on progress continues to be a 
weakness for the GOB.  The Ministry of Labor reported labor 
statistics on a more regular basis in the press, but few 
other ministries had similar reporting mechanisms.  The head 
of the anti-trafficking task force, MFA Assistant Under 
Secretary for Coordination and Follow-up Shaikh Abdul Aziz 
 
SIPDIS 
Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa participated in anti-trafficking 
training events in which he called attention to the problem 
of trafficking and discussed measures the government is 
taking to address the issue.  He has made similar comments to 
the press.  As the center of anti-trafficking activity, post 
has received regular support from the MFA to collect 
information on government efforts and to identify 
participants for training activities.  The Ministry of 
Justice has also supported efforts to involve prosecutors and 
judges in training activities. 
 
---------- 
 
MANAMA 00000206  003.2 OF 010 
 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) 28A.  The GOB acknowledges at the highest levels 
that trafficking is a problem, and there exists the political 
will to address it.  Senior government officials participated 
in training events about trafficking to draw attention to the 
problem and create momentum to work against it. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) 28B.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the lead 
in anti-trafficking efforts with Shaikh Abdul Aziz as the 
head of the inter-ministerial task force.  Other government 
agencies involved on the task force are as follows:  Ministry 
of Justice, the Attorney General's office (Public 
Prosecution), Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Cabinet 
Affairs, Ministry of Social Development, and the Capital 
Governorate. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) 28C.  Education efforts to date have focused 
primarily on educating new workers.  There were no new 
campaigns initiated during the reporting period. 
Multi-lingual printed information describing a worker's 
rights and providing embassy contact information was given to 
workers arriving at the airport, at health centers where each 
new worker is required to have a physical exam, at embassies, 
and at the Ministry of Labor.  In addition, contact 
information for a trafficking hotline was carried daily in 
the English-language newspaper, the Gulf Daily News.  During 
2006, the trafficking hotline office received 38 calls, 12 of 
which were trafficking related and the others were legal 
inquiries from foreign workers.  GOB officials have voiced 
the need for additional outreach after anti-trafficking 
legislation is passed. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) 28D.  The GOB has jointly conducted 
anti-trafficking workshops and trainings with NGOs who have 
received U.S. funding for their activities.  GOB officials, 
judges, prosecutors, and attorneys have participated in the 
trainings. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) 28E.  There was some official coordination between 
the GOB and civil society.  The GOB requested the director of 
a non-governmental domestic violence center to manage the new 
government shelter.  Through its five-year existence, the 
Migrant Worker Protection Society (MWPS) has developed an 
adequate network to assist victims.  The Ministry of Interior 
occasionally contacted the MWPS when the police identified 
victims who needed assistance.  Embassies also contacted MWPS 
for assistance with victims of abuse.  The MWPS received no 
GOB funding although Bahraini officials, in particular the 
MFA's Shaikh Abdul Aziz, have supported MWPS fundraising 
efforts.  Recently the Royal Society of St. George pledged to 
fund the rent for the MWPS shelter for one year.  The Indian 
Women's Association similarly did so for 2006.  In 2006 MWPS 
assisted 120 workers, almost exclusively female domestic 
workers, and has had 184 cases since it began keeping records 
in April 2005.  According to MWPS representatives, none/none 
of the women whom they have sheltered to date claimed to be 
victims of rape, although many were victims of physical abuse. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) 28F.  There was no apparent system for monitoring 
patterns for evidence of trafficking.  There was no clear 
screening system at Bahrain International Airport, the 
 
MANAMA 00000206  004.2 OF 010 
 
 
primary port of entry for expatriate workers and visitors. 
Bahrain's sole border crossing is the causeway between 
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.  The press carried occasional 
reports of alien smuggling into Saudi Arabia across the 
causeway, but cases were not common. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) 28G.  Per para 8, the inter-ministerial task 
force, led by the MFA's Shaikh Abdul Aziz, coordinates GOB 
action.  The GOB does not have a public corruption task 
force.  Issues of corruption are addressed publicly by 
periodic government audit reports, Members of Parliament in 
the Council of Representatives, and by an NGO, the Bahrain 
Transparency Society. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) 28H.  Member ministries of the anti-trafficking 
task force formulated a national plan of action that includes 
legislation, a shelter, a trafficking database, phone 
hotlines, and outreach, among other items.  NGOs were not 
consulted in the process.  The plan is an internal document 
and has not been made public in its official form. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) 29A.  Bahrain has not yet passed anti-trafficking 
legislation.  Draft legislation has been completed and is 
reportedly being prepared to be sent to parliament by the 
Cabinet.  The draft was circulated to other Gulf Cooperation 
Council (GCC) countries subsequent to their request that 
Bahrain take the lead on drafting model anti-trafficking 
legislation.  Present Bahraini laws are not adequate to cover 
the full scope of trafficking, but cases involving 
trafficking have been prosecuted under forced labor, 
unjustifiable holding of salary, unlawful holding of an 
employee's passport, assault, and forced prostitution. 
USG-funded programs provided expert consultation to the 
Ministry of Justice for the drafting of the proposed 
legislation. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) 29B.  Anyone found guilty of sexual exploitation 
is subject to imprisonment of between two and seven years. 
If the victim is under 18 years of age, the imprisonment 
increases to between three and ten years. 
 
¶17.  (SBU) 29C.  Employers found guilty of imposing forced 
labor on employees are subject to imprisonment of up to ten 
years and/or a fine.  Currently there is no law providing for 
criminal punishment of recruiters in source countries. 
Although it is unlawful to confiscate a worker's passport, it 
is a common practice.  Employers typically return the 
passport when presented with a court order and no punishment 
is pursued.  In the case of withholding wages, employers will 
typically only pay fully after a court ruling against them, 
which is rare because the plaintiff cannot afford 
representation nor endure lengthy court cases.  Most often 
cases are settled out of court for lesser amounts. 
 
¶18.  (SBU) 29D.  Under current law, rape of a female is 
punishable by a sentence of up to ten years in prison, and 
rape of a male can result in imprisonment of up to seven 
years unless the male victim is under 17 years of age, in 
which case the perpetrator can be imprisoned up to ten years. 
 
MANAMA 00000206  005.2 OF 010 
 
 
 Sex trafficking is not covered under current law. 
 
¶19.  (SBU) 29E.  Under current laws, both the activities of 
prostitutes and those soliciting prostitution are 
criminalized.  The activities of handlers of prostitutes, 
such as pimps or brothel owners/operators, are also 
criminalized.  In calendar year 2005, the most recent 
statistics that were available, the courts won 20 
prostitution related cases.  Sentences for individuals who 
"encouraged the practice of prostitution" varied between ten 
days and two years in prison.  Sentences for those who 
"managed an establishment for the practice of prostitution," 
ranged from three months to three years in prison. 
 
¶20.  (SBU) 29F.  Because "trafficking" is not yet addressed 
directly by Bahraini law, there have been no convictions for 
trafficking.  However, the GOB has prosecuted aspects of 
trafficking cases under current laws such as those listed in 
para 15.  The Ministry of Labor employs mediation techniques 
to resolve complaints before they rise to the level of legal 
action.  Reportedly 56% of 3062 labor complaint cases were 
resolved through mediation.  The remaining cases were 
forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's Office for resolution 
through the courts.  See para 17 on confiscation of passports 
and withholding of wages. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) 29G.  Recruitment agencies in Bahrain and in 
source countries were primarily responsible for trafficking 
in Bahrain.  Sponsors of expatriate workers who arbitrarily 
changed terms of worker contracts and confiscated passports 
were also responsible for trafficking.  Based on press 
reports of arrests for prostitution, small crime groups ran 
prostitution rings.  Most often prostitutes worked 
voluntarily, but in some cases there was evidence of forced 
prostitution.  The Ministry of Labor employed labor 
inspectors to focus on recruitment agencies.  During the 
reporting period 64 recruitment agencies were inspected, and 
none were closed for violations.  Two of those which were 
closed in the previous reporting period were allowed to 
reopen after adequately addressing the violations. 
 
¶22.  (SBU) 29H.  The Ministry of Labor employs approximately 
45 labor inspectors who initiate inspections subsequent to a 
worker complaint, following an employer request, and also 
randomly.  Labor inspectors inspect labor sites to find and 
deport illegal workers and punish their sponsors.  Sponsors 
are liable for deportation expenses and fines of up to 1000 
dinars ($2,650) for each illegal worker.  Covert police 
operations were permitted by Bahraini law and were used 
primarily to break prostitution rings. 
 
¶23.  (SBU) 29I.  A module devoted to trafficking was included 
in the eight-week training course on international law given 
to newly appointed public prosecutors.  The GOB has 
encouraged its officials to participate in trafficking 
related programs on how to recognize, investigate, and 
prosecute instances of trafficking.  The USG funded the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) to conduct a 
two-week training course in January 2007 for law enforcement 
officers (shelter staff and Ministry of Labor personnel also 
attended).  The USG also provided funding for  international 
trafficking law expert Dr. Mohamed Mattar from The Protection 
Project at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced 
 
MANAMA 00000206  006.2 OF 010 
 
 
International Studies and Frank Elbers from Human Rights 
Education Associates to conduct a series of workshops in 
February 2007 for government officials, prosecutors, 
attorneys, employers, and civil society groups. 
 
¶24.  (SBU) 29J.  Post is not aware of any cooperative 
international investigations or prosecutions of trafficking 
cases.  Embassies of source countries initially coordinate 
with the Ministry of Labor to look into alleged trafficking 
cases.  In the reporting period the Ministry of Labor formed 
a committee led by the Under Secretary that met quarterly 
with the ambassadors of source countries to raise issues of 
concern.  A task force from this committee led by the 
Director of Labor Relations followed up on individual cases 
with respective labor attaches. 
 
¶25.  (SBU) 29K.  There are no known trafficking-related 
extradition requests filed with the GOB.  Bahrain is party to 
a number of bilateral extradition treaties and some 
multinational arrangements, including the Arab Agreement to 
Combat Trans-Arab Organized Crime and the Arab Agreement to 
Combat Terrorism. 
 
¶26.  (SBU) 29L.  There is no firm evidence of government 
involvement in or tolerance of trafficking.  There are 
occasional reports of prominent members of the Bahraini 
community who received authorization to sponsor more 
expatriate workers than they could reasonably employ.  Some 
reportedly engaged in the illegal practice of "selling" the 
visa to the worker for a fee of up to more than 1000 dinars 
($2650), who was then free to look for  employment secretly 
and illegally on the open market, called "casual labor." 
Employers who hired these workers were subject to fines if 
caught.  However, since they hired these workers for less 
than workers hired through recruitment agencies, some 
accepted the risk.  The Ministry of Labor's system of 
accountability required that if a laborer left his/her 
sponsor, the sponsor was required to report the laborer as a 
"runaway" and to pay a 100 dinar ($265) deposit, refundable 
upon repatriation of the worker.  (According to Ministry of 
Labor figures, there were 2,979 runaways reported in 2006 and 
640 casual laborers were caught and referred to immigration 
authorities for deportation.)  Reportedly, after a "casual" 
worker's two year work permit validity expired, the worker 
would go back to the original sponsor to "renew" his work 
permit by "buying" the visa again from the sponsor for a 
similar sum.  The Ministry of Labor reported that in 2006 
there was one case in which one Bahraini and one expatriate 
were arrested and charged with this kind of illicit activity. 
 
¶27.  (SBU) 29M.  No government officials have been prosecuted 
for involvement in trafficking or trafficking-related 
corruption. 
 
¶28.  (SBU) 29N.  Bahrain does not have an identified child 
sex tourism problem. 
 
¶29.  (SBU) 29O.  Bahrain has signed and ratified ILO 
Conventions 29, 105 and 182, in addition to the Optional 
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  In 
March 2004, the MFA announced Bahrain's accession to the UN 
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the 
Protocols to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in 
 
MANAMA 00000206  007.2 OF 010 
 
 
Persons, especially Women and Children. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Protection and Assistance to Victims 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶30.  (SBU) 30A.  The GOB opened a government shelter for the 
first time in November 2006 to provide shelter, basic medical 
care, psychological, and legal services for female victims of 
trafficking and domestic abuse.  The GOB chose the director 
of a non-government counseling center for victims of domestic 
violence, who is a clinical psychologist by training, to run 
the shelter.  Two separate wings in the shelter accommodate 
the respective victims.  In its current room configuration, 
the shelter can accommodate approximately 80 women and can 
expand in the future if necessary.  The shelter has a 
library, an exercise facility and a dining room for meals. 
Police are instructed not to return an abuse victim to her 
sponsor but to refer the case to the shelter.  According to 
the shelter director, to date the shelter has assisted seven 
women, five of whom were expatriate domestic workers, and the 
remaining two were Bahraini victims of domestic abuse. The 
police referred three of the five cases to the shelter, the 
Public Prosecution referred one case, and MWPS contacted the 
shelter directly in the fifth case.  One of the five women 
showed signs of physical abuse.  The Ministry of Labor 
operates a trafficking hotline during business hours.  The 
budget for the hotline was augmented to expand the service to 
24 hours, but to date longer hours of service have not been 
offered.  The MOL also provided labor dispute mediation 
services and worked with immigration authorities to provide 
temporary residency when necessary until the dispute was 
resolved. 
 
¶31.  (SBU) 30B.  Although it permits NGOs that serve migrant 
workers to operate freely in Bahrain, the GOB does not 
provide funding for services to victims. 
 
¶32.  (SBU) 30C.  Post is not aware of a formal system of 
victim identification.  The director of the shelter consulted 
with law enforcement officials at the Ministry of Interior to 
work through identification and referral protocols.  In most 
cases victims were given temporary shelter by the police 
while the case underwent a preliminary investigation.  In 
cases of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse, the police 
referred the case to the shelter.  In cases where there was 
an indication of misconduct on the part of the expatriate 
worker, the worker was held in detention before being 
deported. 
 
¶33.  (SBU) 30D.  Trafficking victims were not fined or 
imprisoned unless they were guilty of an immigration 
violation or suspected of a crime such as theft or 
prostitution.  Workers who were no longer employed by their 
sponsor, but who pursued work illegally as casual laborers, 
were detained while being processed for deportation. 
According to the Ministry of Labor, attempts were made not to 
detain workers for longer than 48 hours, but detention 
lengths reportedly varied. 
 
¶34.  (SBU) 30E.  Although the GOB may not actively encourage 
workers to pursue legal action against employers,it does not 
discourage the initiation of such leal action.  The GOB 
 
MANAMA 00000206  008.2 OF 010 
 
 
reportedly facilitates contact with lawyers, but NGOs report 
that workers rarely have the resources to hire quality 
attorneys.  Immigration officials often adjust residence 
requirements and sponsorship enabling expatriate victims to 
work for employers other than their sponsors in order to 
support themselves during the legal process.  MWPS 
representatives reported that they no longer encouraged 
victims of abuse to seek restitution through the court system 
due to the length of court cases.  They have experienced 
higher levels of success working in conjunction with 
respective embassy staffs to negotiate with sponsors. 
 
¶35.  (SBU) 30F.  The government shelter is primarily intended 
to care for victims as they prepare to return home to their 
country.  Post was not aware of cases in which victims 
requested to be allowed to work for another sponsor.  The 
MWPS shelter also cared for victims until they are able to 
return home.  The Philippine Embassy has its own shelter and 
a robust program of protecting Philippine victims of abuse; 
the shelter averaged approximately 60 victims seeking refuge 
monthly from an estimated 8,000 Philippine domestic workers 
in Bahrain.  A Philippine Embassy official estimated that 
approximately ten percent of shelter occupants reported 
having been a victim of some type of sexual abuse, including 
sexual harassment.  This same official estimated that nearly 
90 percent of the shelter cases showed some evidence of 
trafficking.  No other embassy had its own shelter.  The 
Philippine Embassy imposed a new minimum monthly wage of 150 
dinars ($400) for all employers hiring Philippine workers and 
approved all contracts before the worker arrived in Bahrain. 
Anecdotal evidence revealed that in spite of the contract, 
some employers paid their workers less than the minimum 
stated in the contract, sometimes as low as $130 (under the 
old minimum of $200 monthly). 
 
¶36.  (SBU) 30G.  The GOB does not regularly provide 
specialized training for government officials, including its 
diplomats in other countries.  U.S. government contractor 
Education Development Center held a series of workshops in 
February 2007 conducted by well-known trafficking law expert 
Dr. Mohamed Mattar for civil society groups, employers, legal 
professionals, union officials and government officials.  As 
a result of the workshops, four civil society groups (MWPS, 
Bahrain Human Rights Society, the General Federation of 
Bahrain Trade Unions, and the Women's Union) decided to 
coordinate their efforts to develop an anti-trafficking 
campaign for public awareness and outreach. 
 
¶37.  (SBU) 30H.  Post is not aware that any Bahraini 
nationals were victims of trafficking during the reporting 
period. 
 
¶38.  (SBU) 30I.  No international NGOs currently work in 
Bahrain.  The GOB has not developed a mechanism by which 
international organizations are able to register to work in 
Bahrain.  During the reporting period, the GOB hosted IOM's 
Director General Brunson McKinley to discuss future 
cooperation. 
 
-------- 
TIP Hero 
-------- 
 
 
MANAMA 00000206  009.2 OF 010 
 
 
¶39.  (SBU) Marietta Dias is the face of the Migrant Worker 
Protection Society (MWPS).  Although she is not in the 
elected leadership of MWPS, Marietta works tirelessly for the 
rights of expatriate workers in Bahrain, especially for 
female domestic workers.  She receives calls for help at all 
hours of the day and night and jumps to assist anyone who 
needs a helping hand.  Marietta, originally from India, has 
lived in Bahrain for more than 20 years and has witnessed the 
difficulties of life for expatriate workers for years.  She 
is the one who journalists contact when reporting on tragic 
stories of abused domestic workers and laborers.  When 
problems arise for expatriate workers, one can be assured 
that Marietta will be out in front talking about the 
injustices they face from people who do not always treat them 
with respect and dignity.  Although she does not have formal 
training in counseling or social work, through her caring 
nature and heartfelt compassion she has given hope to many 
damaged lives. 
 
¶40.  (SBU) When a group of individuals gathered in 2001 to 
discuss the possibilities of forming a group to assist 
migrant workers in need, Marietta was a moving force.  Even 
though the group had nearly no financial backing, they 
committed to do whatever they could, including reaching out 
to well-placed members of Bahraini and expatriate society to 
support their initiative.  Ever since, Marietta has never 
stopped speaking out on behalf of workers, and largely due to 
her efforts, the reputation of MWPS has grown.  Over the 
years financial support from individuals and other NGOs has 
also grown, enabling MWPS to open a three-bedroom apartment 
as a shelter for victims of trafficking in April 2005.  Since 
then MWPS has assisted 184 workers, the vast majority of them 
female domestic workers, and Marietta has been involved with 
nearly every one of them.  She has spent countless hours at 
the offices of law enforcement officials, immigration 
officials, and detention center officials lobbying for 
workers who do not speak English and do not have anyone to 
speak for them, except Marietta.  Marietta personally works 
through their cases until they are ready to return home. 
Marietta is a shining star presenting hope to trafficking 
victims in Bahrain. 
 
-------------- 
Best Practices 
-------------- 
 
¶41.  (SBU) A best practice that the GOB has employed is the 
formation of the interministerial task force.  Because the 
issues related to trafficking overlap the responsibilities of 
several ministries, it is critical that there be staff in 
each of these ministries assigned to coordinate these 
actions, and the GOB has recognized this necessity.  Members 
of the task force have participated in various workshops on 
trafficking and as ministry points of contact serve to spread 
information on trafficking within their respective ministries. 
 
--------------- 
Trafficking POC 
--------------- 
 
¶42.  (SBU) Post POC is Poloff Mike Mussi (office: 973 1724 
2834, fax: 973 1727 3011).  Hours spent on the report are as 
follows:  FS-04 officer, 60 hours; FS-02 officer, 2 hours; 
 
MANAMA 00000206  010.2 OF 010 
 
 
FS-01 officer, 2 hours. 
 
********************************************* ******** 
Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
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********************************************* ******** 
MONROE