VZCZCXRO3950
OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1489/01 2820533
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 090533Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0077
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001489 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/08/2027 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ELAB PHUM KU TIP
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S DOMESTIC WORKER SHELTER OPERATIONAL; GOK 
OFFICIALS PLEDGE MORE PROGRESS IN THE NEAR FUTURE 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1421 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 1070 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Alan Misenheimer for reasons 1.4 (b) a 
nd (d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  Ambassador Mark Lagon, Director of the 
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP), 
visited Kuwait on September 26 to review Kuwait's progress on 
its 60-day action plan and to engage high-level GOK officials 
on combating TIP.  The highlight of the trip was a tour of 
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor's newly-opened 
shelter for domestic workers.  Though some concerns remain, 
the shelter is staffed to provide basic medical, social and 
legal services, and several domestic workers had already been 
referred to the shelter by their embassies.  Ambassador Lagon 
met separately with the Ministers of Interior, Justice, and 
Social Affairs and Labor, and participated in a press 
conference highlighting the opening of the shelter.  GOK 
representatives covered the main areas of G/TIP's 
anti-trafficking action plan for Kuwait and made pledges to 
further improve the effort to combat TIP in four main ways: 
pass the recently-drafted anti-TIP law; provide evidence of 
increased prosecutions and punishments of traffickers; train 
law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges to identify 
TIP victims and prosecute traffickers; and improve the still 
rudimentary shelter.  Officials also provided an update on 
the government's domestic worker awareness-raising program. 
End Summary. 
 
Shelter Up and Running 
---------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Ambassador Mark Lagon, Director of the Office to 
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP), visited 
Kuwait on September 26 to review Kuwait's progress on G/TIP's 
anti-trafficking action plan for Kuwait and to engage 
high-level GOK officials on combating TIP.  The highlight of 
the trip was a tour of Kuwait's new shelter for domestic 
workers, which the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor 
(MOSAL) opened just a few days before Ambassador Lagon's 
arrival (ref A).  A small team of medical professionals, 
social workers, psychological counselors, and security guards 
were in place to offer assistance to the dozen or so domestic 
workers staying at the facility.  Jamal Al-Dossary, 
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Social 
Affairs and Labor (MOSAL), led the tour and assured 
Ambassador Lagon that domestic workers were free to come and 
go as they pleased.  He said the workers could stay as long 
as they needed to, though the GOK would aim to process their 
cases as quickly as possible.  He presented a copy of the 
shelter's by-laws, which laid out shelter-seekers' rights and 
responsibilities.  Though commending the GOK on its flurry of 
activity to open the shelter in time for his visit, 
Ambassador Lagon expressed his hope that the GOK continues to 
work out unresolved issues in the shelter's management, such 
as the protection of bona fide TIP victims from subsequent 
criminal detention resulting from counter-suits filed by 
their sponsors.  He also underscored the need to widely 
publicize the shelter, train police officers on referring 
victims to the facility, and refrain from pushing victims to 
leave the country quickly.  GOK officials allowed the USG 
delegation to speak with several of the domestic workers 
privately.  The workers described physical abuse and lack of 
payment at the hands of their employers, and expressed their 
wish to return to their home countries rather than pursue 
legal proceedings against their employers. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  MOSAL Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid Al Sabah 
said that the shelter would replace shelters run by source 
country embassies and would solve many of the problems 
related to domestic workers and trafficking, including victim 
identification.  He said that he had a 2 million dollar check 
in his pocket for this year's shelter budget, and that the 
GOK would expand the shelter to a capacity of 700 within 
several months providing a full range of social, medical, and 
legal services for domestic workers.  He also noted that 
MOSAL had consulted with the International Labor Organization 
(ILO) to ensure compliance with international norms and that 
MOSAL was working in conjunction with several Kuwaiti NGOs. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The press covered Ambassador Lagon's visit to the 
shelter extensively.  At least a dozen photographers captured 
his arrival at the shelter.  After the tour, Ambassador Lagon 
and Al-Dossary gave a press conference where approximately 25 
journalists from Kuwaiti print and television outlets asked 
questions about the Ambassador's view of the shelter and what 
other steps Kuwait would need to take in order to address its 
trafficking problem.  The major Kuwaitis gave the visit 
prominent coverage.  In subsequent days a number of 
 
KUWAIT 00001489  002 OF 003 
 
 
columnists have written about the shelter, mostly in positive 
terms.  Kuwaiti journalists have resisted the urge to write 
sensationalist articles accusing the U.S. of heavy-handed 
meddling in internal Kuwaiti affairs. 
 
Anti-TIP Law Ready 
------------------ 
 
¶5.  (C)  Dr. Abdullah Al-Ma'touq, Minister of Justice and 
Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, pointed out to 
Ambassador Lagon that the Justice Ministry has sent a draft 
anti-TIP law to the Cabinet (ref B).  Once it gets cabinet 
approval, it can be sent to Parliament for a vote.  The 
Minister did not have a prediction as to how long 
parliamentary approval might take.  Al-Ma'touq noted that 
recent GCC Justice Minister summits had addressed the 
trafficking issue, which has contributed to progress on 
anti-TIP legislation.  He noted that trafficking would be an 
important topic of discussion at the October 23 summit in 
Saudi Arabia. 
 
¶6.   (SBU)  MOSAL Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid also noted 
that a new labor law was almost ready to be presented to 
parliament.  He did not consider it likely that domestic 
workers would be covered in the new law, pointing out that 
the standardized domestic laborer contract laid out workers' 
rights.  However, he did say the GOK was seriously looking 
into the issue of alternatives to the sponsorship system. 
(Note: The ILO undertook a study of the sponsorship system in 
February and presented its plan to the GOK. The ILO 
representative met with Post as part of the study and 
provided a copy of the study in March.  End Note.) 
 
GOK Will Provide More Evidence of Prosecution Efforts 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Assistant Public Prosecutor Mohammad Al-Zo'by, in 
his role as Chairman of the Committee to Study International 
Human Rights Reports, provided updated statistics on various 
TIP-related criminal prosecutions.  As with previous 
statistics, they provided inconclusive evidence as to whether 
traffickers are being punished.  However, Al-Zo'by said his 
office planned to provide more detailed information on 
criminal prosecutions so that it would be easier to discern 
in the 2008 report whether Kuwait is making sufficient 
efforts to prosecute traffickers. 
 
Training Law Enforcement Officials 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Ambassador Lagon stressed in all of his meetings 
the importance of training law enforcement officials in 
victim identification and in the investigation of TIP crimes. 
 Justice Minister Al-Ma'touq welcomed the idea, noting that 
he had increased the Ministry's training budget ten-fold, and 
that he had instituted mandatory training for judges, 
including some training abroad.  Interior Minister Shaykh 
Jaber Al-Mubarak Al Sabah called training to differentiate 
victims from criminals an "idea worth considering."  Al-Zo'by 
also expressed his enthusiasm for more training, and said the 
GOK was willing to send appropriate officials to regional or 
international training. 
 
Awareness Raising 
----------------- 
 
¶9.  (C)  Dr. Adel Al-Falah, the Ministry of Awqaf 
Undersecretary, briefed Ambassador Lagon on Barirah, Kuwait's 
domestic worker awareness program.  He said that the program 
was based on field studies designed to discover the source of 
problems related to domestic workers, and that the project 
would undertake a media campaign and reach out to schools to 
encourage the humane treatment of domestic workers.  Al-Falah 
also noted that the GOK may create a new government 
institution to attend to the affairs of domestic workers. 
(Note: the MOI already has a small department that deals with 
domestic workers.  Al-Falah suggested something bigger.  This 
is the first time Post has heard of such a plan.  End Note.) 
 Barirah project director Saad Al-Hajji told PolOff 
separately that the GOK had made progress on a 
training/orientation center for domestic workers.  According 
to Al-Hajji, all domestic workers arriving in Kuwait would 
have to attend courses to learn about Kuwaiti customs and 
about their rights and responsibilities under Kuwaiti law. 
 
¶10.  (U)  Ambassador Lagon has cleared this message. 
 
********************************************* * 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
KUWAIT 00001489  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
MISENHEIMER