VZCZCXRO0500
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #0772/01 0701547
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101547Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0159
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 0088
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA PRIORITY 0088
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2010
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 AMMAN 000772 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ELA AND G/TIP PATEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PHUM PREF SMIG JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ANNUAL TIP REPORT 
 
REF: A. STATE 2731 
     ¶B. 07 AMMAN 968 
     ¶C. AMMAN 727 
     ¶D. AMMAN 410 
     ¶E. AMMAN 261 
     ¶F. 07 AMMAN 4166 
     ¶G. 07 AMMAN 3992 
     ¶H. 07 AMMAN 3597 
     ¶I. 07 AMMAN 2757 
     ¶J. 07 AMMAN 2392 
     ¶K. 07 AMMAN 2211 
 
¶1.  (SBU) During the preceding year, the Government of Jordan 
demonstrated its commitment to combating trafficking in 
persons (TIP) and addressing forced labor concerns related to 
the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ)s.  The government 
drafted an anti-TIP law; increased the training for its labor 
inspectorate; and published regular updates on its action 
plan on labor compliance.  As occasional allegations of labor 
violations emerged, the GOJ - led by its labor ministry - 
investigated, took punitive action where necessary, and 
published its findings.  In February 2008, the GOJ launched a 
five-year Better Work Jordan program with the ILO and IFC to 
improve labor compliance. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The following information is based on responses to 
questions contained in reftel A with parenthetical references 
corresponding to reftel A paragraph and subheading. 
 
--------- 
Checklist 
--------- 
 
¶3. (U) (27/A) Jordan is a country of destination for women 
from South Asia and South East Asia, primarily Sri Lanka, 
Indonesia, and the Philippines, for the purpose of labor. 
Eastern European women also enter Jordan for illicit 
purposes, but there is no evidence of coercion, force, or 
fraud.  According to the Ministry of Labor (MoL), there were 
313,495 foreign workers registered in Jordan at the end of 
¶2007.  There are 70,000 foreign domestic workers (FDWs) 
estimated to be working in Jordan.  The MoL counts 
approximately 36,000 migrant workers with valid work permits 
working in the 97 factories of the 13 Qualifying Industrial 
Zones (QIZs). 
 
(SBU) (27/A) The MoL estimates that there are 30,000 
Indonesian FDWs, 25,000 Sri Lankan FDWs, and 15,000 Filipino 
FDWs ) estimates which are generally corroborated by their 
respective embassies, but subject to fluctuation.  In 2007, 
the Philippine Embassy received complaints of non-payment of 
wages, sexual assault and harassment, withholding of 
passports, and other forms of mistreatment from its citizens. 
 The Philippine Embassy,s Employment Center in Amman hosted 
more than 200 runaway workers in squalid conditions.  In 
January 2008, the Sri Lankan Embassy told emboff it housed 92 
runaways.  According to a UNIFEM and Friends of Women,s 
Workers study published in 2007, approximately 100 Sri Lankan 
women and 90 Filipinos run away each month, while 6 to 8 
runaways seek refuge at the Indonesian Embassy each day. 
Diplomats from these countries corroborate the study,s 
findings. 
 
- (U) (27/A) The Ministry of Labor maintains a directorate 
for foreign domestic workers.  This office's mission is to 
control and monitor all FDW issues, including licensing of 
recruiting agencies and investigating reports of abuse.  The 
directorate operates a hotline which received and resolved 
complaints throughout the year. 
 
- (SBU) (27/A) Jordan may also be a destination country for 
men from South Asia and South East Asia for the purposes of 
labor.  These men work primarily in factories within the 
QIZs, and may be subject to abuses such as unpaid wages and 
withholding of passports. 
 
- (SBU) (27/A) To a much lesser degree, Jordan may be a 
transit destination both for trafficked women from South and 
South East Asia, and for men from South and South East Asia. 
The women may transit Jordan en route to other Middle East 
countries, such as Syria, Egypt, or Iraq for the purpose of 
labor exploitation.  No Jordanians appear to be complicit in 
 
AMMAN 00000772  002 OF 010 
 
 
the trafficking of these women.  The women reportedly possess 
valid transit visas, and would only enter Jordan's airports 
due to the routing of flights from the source to the 
destination countries.  The men, on the other hand, may be 
brought to Jordan with the promise of employment within the 
country, only to be trucked overland into Iraq.  In 2005, the 
Ministry of Labor and Ministry of the Interior issued 
instructions to all border crossing authorities prohibiting 
foreign workers from transiting unless their sponsor 
accompanies them.  According to some advocates, Jordanian 
middlemen are operating as sponsors to bypass this 
instruction.  Post cannot assess 
the extent of this practice.  Please see paragraph 35 for 
more information on transit visa regulations. 
 
- (SBU) (27/A) To address what it perceives as an information 
deficit regarding potential trafficking of women FDWs, the 
regional office of UNIFEM conducted a survey of 1,200 FDWs 
and focus groups.  The results will be published in 
March/April 2008, but were not available at the time of this 
report. 
 
¶4. (SBU) (27/B) Trafficking in Jordan is almost exclusively 
for the purpose of labor exploitation, and is primarily 
limited to FDWs and factory workers in the QIZs.  A March 
2007 independent assessment of labor conditions in the QIZs 
concluded, however, that while there do not appear to be 
organized trafficking networks operating between Jordan and 
the home countries of migrant garment workers, there have 
been working conditions which could be considered human 
trafficking, especially when concerning involuntary overtime 
and excessive restrictions on movement. Workers generally 
originate from South and South East Asia.  In 2007, the 
government, led by the Ministry of Labor, acknowledged that 
trafficking was a GOJ concern, formed an inter-ministerial 
anti-TIP committee, improved its inspection regime and 
capacity, developed new means of interagency cooperation, 
participated in several trainings, and investigated several 
allegations of trafficking. 
 
- (SBU) (27/B) Exploitation of FDWs begins with the 
recruiting agencies in source countries, but continues with 
some receiving agencies in Jordan and with some Jordanian 
employers.  When exploitation takes place among QIZ workers, 
factory owners and managers in Jordan generally bear the most 
responsibility.  Both FDWs and QIZ workers sometimes find 
themselves in conditions that include: extended and forced 
working hours, unpaid wages, restrictions on freedom of 
movement including the withholding of passports and residency 
permits, and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and assault. 
Abuses related to wage and working hour issues occur with 
much greater frequency than do physical or sexual abuse. 
 
- (SBU) (27/B) The recruiting agencies (both in the source 
and receiving countries) are often the source of FDW 
troubles.  Some source country agencies exaggerate the FDW,s 
qualifications.  When she arrives in Jordan, the receiving 
agency is faced with the choice of repatriating the FDW - at 
a loss to the company - or hiring her out to Jordanian 
employers who expect a higher caliber worker.  When the 
employer complains and demands that the agency take the FDW 
back, the agency will simply find another unsuspecting 
employer.  JO, a Jordanian monthly magazine, quoted a former 
recruiting agency employer as suggesting that the agencies 
make the greatest profits by shuffling FDWs from household to 
household because they can charge each employer the full cost 
of importing the worker.  Despite June 2006 MOL regulations 
that prohibit the transfer of workers from one sponsor to 
another under any circumstances, the practice reportedly 
continues.  Other MOL regulations require employers to pay 
for work permits in advan 
ce of a worker,s arrival in Jordan, to hire FDWs for a 
minimum of two years without a trial period, and require the 
agencies to repatriate immediately any women who arrive in 
Jordan pregnant or suffering from a contagious disease. 
 
- (SBU) (27/B) Some QIZ workers alleged that owners/managers 
withheld their passports and/or delayed payment of wages. 
During the reporting period, allegations decreased 
substantially from the previous year due to more rigorous MOL 
inspection, which required violators to pay fines when 
appropriate, and publicized the outcomes of their findings in 
 
AMMAN 00000772  003 OF 010 
 
 
regular online reports.  The MoL operates 23 regional offices 
throughout the country.  An independent MOL advisor reported 
to emboffs that based on regular MOL inspections, almost all 
QIZ workers now are in possession of their passports. 
According to this same advisor, the number and severity of 
violations of workers rights and trafficking-related offenses 
decreased substantially during the reporting period. 
 
 - (SBU) (27/B) In August 2007, the MOL started regularizing 
worker registration by issuing temporary worker permits to 
more than 6,000 foreign workers in the QIZs who were out of 
status.  Previous employers often failed to file the 
appropriate documents, or the government failed to process 
the paperwork in a timely manner after transferring workers 
from closed factories, resulting in thousand of dollars in 
overstay fines.  The MOI and MOL worked together and with the 
NCHR to repatriate foreign workers who could not afford to 
pay overstay fines related to their status during the 
process, although some waited three to four months for 
waivers.  In February 2008, the Cabinet officially exempted 
the 6,000 workers from the fines and allowed them three 
months to request new work permits or depart the country. 
 
- (SBU) (27/B) In June 2007, the MOI and MOL instituted a 
system to regularize Egyptian laborers, many of whom were 
living in the country under expired residence or work 
permits.  In collaboration with the Egyptian government, the 
MOL granted more than 12,400 permits to Egyptians in a 
process facilitated by the Egyptian Embassy.  In mid-July, 
after a one-month grace period, the police arrested more than 
3,800 illegal workers (mostly Egyptian), of whom the 
government repatriated more than 1,000, releasing others on 
humanitarian grounds. 
 
 - (SBU) (27/B) In January 2008, the Philippine Overseas 
Labor Employment Agency, citing "the growing number of 
distressed Filipino workers being housed" in their center in 
Amman, temporarily suspended new Filipino workers from 
seeking employment in Jordan.  Despite the agreement to 
repatriate and waive fines in February 2008, the Philippine 
government had not agreed to lift the ban by the time of the 
writing of this report. 
 
¶5. (SBU) (27/C) Interministerial coordination on trafficking 
issues has improved over the past year.  In November 2007, 
The Ministry of Labor initiated a new interministerial 
committee which is composed of representatives of the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ministry of Industry and 
Trade (MOIT), Ministry of Interior (MOI), General 
Intelligence Directorate (GID), and Public Security 
Directorate (PSD).  This committee replaces its predecessor, 
which was chaired by the MFA (ref B).  According to GOJ 
sources, the committee has met twice since its formation. 
 
(SBU) (27/C) The GoJ does not keep readily accessible records 
of court proceedings, making it difficult to obtain 
information on prosecutions related to trafficking. 
Government sources in the labor inspectorate report nearly 
daily coordination between MOL and PSD on inspections of QIZ 
factories.  If human rights violations are alleged, then the 
government-funded National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) is 
alerted and conducts its own investigation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) (27/D) The GoJ faces severe resource constraints on 
its ability to monitor anti-trafficking efforts or to assist 
victims.  Additionally, Jordan's traditional society tends to 
promote a culture of silence and discretion with regard to 
matters of the home.  The most egregious of the abuses which 
some FDWs and QIZ workers suffer - physical and sexual 
assault - are crimes that often go unreported in Jordan (and 
in many other countries).  Factors such as language and 
cultural barriers also hamper the reporting of these crimes. 
 
¶7. (SBU) (27/E) The GOJ does not have a systematic 
methodology of monitoring and reporting on its 
anti-trafficking efforts, although the new anti-trafficking 
task force is expected to improve information sharing between 
government agencies.  The MoL and PSD closely coordinate 
inspections of QIZ factories. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
 
 
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