VZCZCXRO9750
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1251/01 2261344
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141344Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9759
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0968
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0572

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001251 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ELAB BG RP KU TIP
SUBJECT: KUWAIT TIP ACTION PLAN REVIEW 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1166 
     ¶B. STATE 79566 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: During the past sixty days, the GOK has made 
progress on G/TIP's Short-Term Action Plan (Ref B).  The 
Government of Kuwait (GOK) has drafted anti-TIP legislation, 
criminalized the withholding of passports, provided concrete 
examples of TIP criminal prosecution, authorized the 
establishment of a victim shelter, improved overseas visa 
issuance procedures, developed methods for identifying TIP 
victims, and begun a campaign to raise public awareness of 
this important issue.  However, due to the country's annual 
throttle-back during the torrid summer season, a 
corresponding parliamentary recess and the impending month of 
Ramadan, the GOK has not yet passed the new anti-TIP 
legislation and existing initiatives are likely to advance 
slowly in the short term.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Since the release of the 2007 Trafficking in Persons 
Report in June, the GOK has implemented a number of the 
recommendations outlined in G/TIP's Short-Term Action Plan. 
On June 20, the Ministry of Justice completed draft 
legislation specifically addressing TIP-related offenses. 
This new legislation is comprehensive in scope, and its 
definition of TIP conforms to international standards.  It 
imposes punishments ranging from 15 years imprisonment to the 
death penalty for TIP offenses.  It clearly addresses 
contractual fraud, which will now become a TIP crime under 
Kuwaiti law.  It also outlines punishments for those who abet 
and harbor TIP perpetrators and authorizes the confiscation 
of property involved in TIP crimes.  The bill grants 
jurisdiction over TIP cases to the Attorney General and the 
Kuwaiti courts and provides them with authority to remand TIP 
victims to medical and social institutions, including a 
victim shelter.  The National Assembly's Human Rights 
Committee will review this legislation when it reconvenes in 
late October, but Parliamentary approval may take an 
additional three to four months. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On July 21, the Kuwait Committee to Respond to 
International Human Rights Reports presented Post with 
examples of criminal prosecutions for seven TIP-related 
offenses (Ref A).  These cases involved physical and/or 
sexual abuse of expatriate workers and each resulted in a 
conviction with a fine and/or a jail term.  In 2005, the GOK 
imprisoned three men for five years and fined them each 1000 
dinars (US 3500) for forcing three women into prostitution. 
In 2004, the GOK sentenced a man to three years in prison for 
detaining his housemaid for 5 months and physically abusing 
her.  In 2003, the GOK sentenced a police officer to ten 
years in prison for rape, and it sentenced his two 
accomplices to seven years each in prison. 
 
¶4. (U) The Kuwait Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor 
(MOSAL), and in particular its minister, Shaykh Sabah 
Al-Khalid Al Sabah, has taken the lead in coordinating 
Kuwait's anti-TIP efforts.  On July 18, MOSAL instituted 
decree 152, criminalizing the withholding of employee 
passports (Ref A).  This decree institutes punishments 
comparable to other minor infractions of Kuwaiti labor law; 
specifically, a warning for the first offense and monetary 
fines for subsequent offenses.  MOSAL Minister Al Sabah was 
instrumental in obtaining Cabinet support for a victim 
shelter, which the GOK authorized via Cabinet decree number 
562 (Ref A).  The GOK has identified a location for the 
shelter in Kuwait City and the Ministry of Finance Department 
of Government Property has allocated funds for its 
establishment.  According to MOSAL and the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MFA), the shelter will house MOSAL social 
workers and a medical unit and will provide psychological 
services.  Legal experts will also offer assistance to TIP 
victims.  Furthermore, MOSAL produced 12,000 informational 
brochures about expatriate worker rights and local labor 
conditions and distributed them to recruitment agencies, 
Kuwaiti overseas missions and the Kuwait City International 
Airport (KCIA).  Lastly, MOSAL Minister Al Sabah has 
personally appeared in the media to discuss the importance of 
human rights and the appropriate treatment of foreign workers. 
 
¶5. (U) During a meeting on August 8, Saud Al-Saeedi, Second 
Secretary with the MFA's Legal Department, said that Kuwait 
 
SIPDIS 
now requires its overseas missions to issue visas directly to 
incoming domestic workers.  Domestic workers are required to 
appear at the Kuwaiti Embassy, read and sign their labor 
contract and personally accept delivery of their employment 
visas.  The GOK implemented this procedure to remove the 
middle man from the visa issuance process, which has 
sometimes led to steep recruitment fees and heavy financial 
 
KUWAIT 00001251  002 OF 003 
 
 
debt for foreign workers prior to arriving in Kuwait. 
Al-Saeedi also detailed the GOK's existing procedures for 
identifying TIP victims, particularly those subject to 
commercial sexual exploitation.  He said that police officers 
currently receive training in identifying victims of sexual 
exploitation.  He added that the Ministry of Interior houses 
a department which deals with prostitution cases, and members 
of this department have received specialized training in 
identifying victims of sexual exploitation.  Note: These 
cases are especially sensitive for Kuwaitis, since the 
Kuwaiti sponsors are ultimately responsible for the legal 
status of their employees and can incur heavy financial 
penalties for any illegal activities in which their domestics 
engage.  End Note. 
 
¶6. (U) In addition, the Kuwait Ministry of Islamic Affairs 
has taken a keen interest in TIP and has implemented several 
anti-TIP initiatives.  It has created The National Project 
for Domestic Employee Awareness (the Barirah program), which 
seeks to reinforce the Islamic values of tolerance and 
moderation among Kuwaiti sponsors while at the same time 
educating domestic helpers about Kuwaiti values and their 
legal rights in Kuwait.  Thus far the Barirah program has 
produced brochures for distribution at KCIA, domestic labor 
agencies, mosques and co-operative societies.  These 
brochures are printed in Arabic and English, and they include 
a hotline and a website for further information.  Barirah 
eventually plans to print the brochure in seven languages. 
Barirah's medium-term objectives include the establishment of 
a domestic labor training center, awareness raising via 
television programs and magazines, the creation of a social 
security fund for foreign workers, and the addition of 
domestic labor awareness education in school curricula.  Its 
most ambitious objective is to host a Domestic Labor 
Conference in Kuwait in January 2008, which plans to invite 
government agencies, diplomats, labor organizations, 
sociologists, human resource specialists, lawyers and 
journalists. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Post would also like to take this opportunity to 
address recent media reports concerning Filipino laborers 
allegedly trafficked to Iraq.  The media in both Kuwait and 
the Philippines have highlighted lurid allegations that the 
First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Company in 2006 
illegally trafficked Filipino workers to Iraq to work on 
constructing the New Embassy Compound (NEC) for the U.S. 
government.  However, an April 2007 report by the Department 
of State's Office of the Inspector General found no evidence 
to support such charges.  It stated that third country 
national (TCN) employees working on the NEC had unrestricted 
access to their passports, signed valid labor contracts, and 
were receiving timely compensation.  It found acceptable 
living conditions and no instances of mistreatment among the 
TCN population.  A separate assessment by the Multi-National 
Force - Iraq Inspector General in December 2006 arrived at 
exactly the same conclusions - there is no evidence of TIP 
among the NEC expatriate labor force.  Furthermore, on August 
12 First Kuwaiti ran a large, front page declaration in the 
Kuwait Times refuting the trafficking allegations. 
 
¶8. (U) Post also notes that Kuwait's efforts during the past 
60 days have occurred during a time when most government 
agencies are severely understaffed.  The months of July and 
August bring extreme heat to Kuwait, and many Kuwaitis 
vacation overseas during this time.  Parliament recesses and 
many ministries nearly cease to function.  However, Kuwait 
has received our TIP report with serious concern and has 
taken important, concrete steps despite the inopportune 
timing.  More broadly, legislative and institutional change 
tends to occur very slowly in Kuwait, often taking several 
years; however, the Kuwaitis' accomplishments cited above 
have taken place within the space of only a few months.  This 
rapid pace confirms that the GOK is taking meaningful action 
in response to the Short-Term Action Plan recommendations, 
and that it is taking the TIP report seriously.  The 
Department should note, however, that the impending holy 
month of Ramadan will likely delay many of the initiatives 
enumerated above in the short term.  Comment: Post has found 
its GOK counterparts to be accessible and reasonably 
responsive to its requests for TIP-related information during 
this 60-day evaluation period.  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/ 
 
KUWAIT 00001251  003 OF 003 
 
 
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MISENHEIMER