VZCZCXRO1045
OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1166/01 2051547
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 241547Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9666
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001166 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2027 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KU TIP
SUBJECT: GOK APPROVES TIP SHELTER, OUTLAWS PASSPORT 
WITHHOLDING, PROVIDES TIP PROSECUTION EVIDENCE 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1099 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 1094 
     ¶C. KUWAIT 1070 
     ¶D. KUWAIT 475 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4(b) 
and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C/NF)  Summary and Comment:  Highlighting his personal 
commitment to fighting TIP, the Minister of Social Affairs 
and Labor made an unexpected personal appearance at PolOff's 
July 22 meeting with a ministry official to provide the 
Embassy with a copy of a ministerial decree authorizing the 
establishment of a shelter for abused workers.  This is the 
first official directive ever issued by the GOK to establish 
a shelter.  The minister also provided a working paper 
stating that the shelter will offer legal, medical, social, 
and psychological services.  The minister described this as a 
concrete step and not simply a further promise, and said 
administrative preparations had already begun.  The minister 
also delivered a copy of a ministerial decree issued on July 
18 prohibiting employers from withholding their workers' 
passports.  He concluded by describing the ministry's recent 
push to provide incoming workers with awareness-raising 
materials and plans to improve awareness through cooperation 
with civil society groups.  Separately, a senior Ministry of 
Justice official provided the Embassy on July 21 with 
judicial rulings showing evidence of prosecutions for 
TIP-related crimes. 
 
¶2.  (C/NF)  The minister's action demonstrated the personal 
and energetic engagement the GOK is now applying to combat 
TIP.  The minister has provided a major push in the past 
month, including appearing in the media to talk about human 
rights and foreign workers.  He has clearly invested a great 
deal of his personal political capital (he is a leading 
member of the royal family) into taking tangible action. 
Much of the lack of progress in Kuwait on TIP stems from the 
fact that until now no senior official has taken an active 
interest in pushing it.  Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid's recent 
actions are a positive sign.  He welcomed a visit by State 
Department officials from Washington to discuss progress on 
TIP, and Post will continue to encourage his efforts.  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
Cabinet Authorizes Work on Shelter 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C/NF)  Making a completely unexpected appearance during 
Poloff's July 22 meeting with Minister of Social Affairs and 
Labor (MOSAL) Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs 
Jamal Al-Dossary to discuss TIP, MOSAL minister Shaykh Sabah 
Al-Khalid Al-Sabah presented to PolOff on July 22 Cabinet 
decree number 652, which states that on July 8 the Cabinet 
agreed in principle to establish a shelter for domestic 
workers.  MOI and MOSAL are charged with "initiating the 
necessary measures to establish the shelter and to work on 
estimating the total cost in preparation for presenting a 
budget to the Cabinet."  Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid emphasized 
that this decree was the "green light" that those favoring a 
shelter had long been waiting for, and that concrete 
preparations for the shelter had already begun. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF)  The Minister also provided a copy of a working 
paper drawn up by MOSAL to govern the operation of the 
shelter, to be called "The House of Shelter and Humanitarian 
Care."  The paper states the shelter will receive people who 
have been taken advantage of by others for prostitution or 
forced labor, and will provide lodging, food, clothing and 
other necessary supplies.  The shelter will be run by the 
MOI's Domestic Workers Administration (DWA) but will also be 
staffed by MOSAL and Ministry of Health officials who will 
provide social, psychological, and medical services.  Legal 
experts will provide legal assistance to those staying there. 
 Finally, the working paper calls for specifying the internal 
workings of the shelter, check-in and check-out procedures, 
and the rights and responsibilities of admitees.  MOSAL 
Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jamal Al-Dossary 
said he had already begun intensive working sessions with DWA 
director Esam No'mani to draw up these internal guidelines 
and expected to have a working draft within a week or two. 
 
¶5.  (C/NF)  Comment: Past promises about the shelter have 
been verbal.  This is the first official, written directive 
to establish a shelter.  Furthermore, the commitment comes 
from the full Cabinet, which means that the executive branch 
has given its blessing.  A major part of the problem in the 
past has been the Municipal Council, a corrupt, inefficient, 
and sometimes capricious elected body that has to approve the 
 
KUWAIT 00001166  002 OF 002 
 
 
allocation of land in Kuwait (see reftel D).  The GOK does 
not have the power to circumvent the Municipal Council for a 
project like the shelter.  Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid suggested 
renting two buildings (one for men and one for women) in 
which to operate the shelter until something can be worked 
out with the Municipal Council.  The idea of renting 
buildings and the minister's personal commitment to pushing 
the shelter forward have broken the years-long logjam and the 
project has now taken its first tangible steps towards 
fruition.  End Comment. 
 
Ministerial Decree Bans Withholding Workers' Passports 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶6.  (C/NF)  The minister also provided a copy of MOSAL 
ministerial decree 152, dated July 18, 2007, which forbids 
employers in the private sector from withholding the 
passports of their workers.  The punishments for violators 
are in keeping with other minor infractions of labor law: a 
warning for the first offense and fines for every subsequent 
offense.  The withholding ban will benefit a great number of 
low-skilled workers who fall under MOSAL's supervision. 
 
Awareness Efforts Underway, Ministry to Involve NGOs 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶7.  (C/NF)  The minister also noted that MOSAL employees had 
begun distributing informational brochures in seven languages 
at the airport medical inspection unit, through which all 
incoming workers must pass.  The minister said he hoped this 
would be the beginning of further awareness raising 
activities, and that MOSAL had already begun work to involve 
NGOs such as the Social Work Society (headed by the Amir's 
US-educated granddaughter Shaykha Bibi Nasser Al-Sabah) in 
its efforts. 
 
Prosecutions 
------------ 
 
¶8.  (C/NF)  Assistant Public Prosecutor and Chairman of the 
Committee to Respond to International Human Rights Reports 
Mohammad Al-Zo'by requested a meeting on July 21, at which he 
presented seven cases that he said proved that Kuwait is 
prosecuting TIP-related cases.  In a 2005 case, three men 
were imprisoned for five years and fined 1000 Dinars (3500 
USD) for forcing three women into prostitution.  In a 2004 
case, a man was sentenced to three years in prison for 
detaining their housemaid for 5 months and physically abusing 
her.  In a 2003 case, a policeman was sentenced to ten years 
in prison for raping a woman at a police station, while two 
policeman who aided him were given seven years.  The 
connection to TIP is that foreigners often complain that 
police officers do not treat them justly if they file cases. 
Post will encourage the MOJ to provide more such evidence. 
 
********************************************* * 
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/ 
********************************************* * 
 
Lenderking