VZCZCXRO7682
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHDO #0675/01 2650759
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210759Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8237
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000675 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KTIP QA
SUBJECT: FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY 
TRUMPS LABOR RIGHTS 
 
--------------- 
(SBU) KEY POINTS 
---------------- 
 
--  Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, the Chairman of Qatar's 
Advisory Council, told Ambassador September 8 that Qataris 
view the rights of foreign workers in Qatar through the prism 
of national security. 
 
-- Qataris consider the overwhelming presence of foreigners 
in the country (88 per cent of the country's estimated 1.7 
million population) a great social and political threat, he 
said. 
 
-- For this reason, exit permits for foreign laborers would 
continue to be obligatory,  Likewise, the draft labor 
sponsorship law will include no provision forbidding 
employers from confiscating and holding workers' passports, 
al-Khulaifi predicted.  He was unmoved by Qatar's Tier 3 TIP 
ranking; Qatar's national security was of greater concern. 
 
-- The Ambassador pointed out that not only did the victims 
of human trafficking in Qatar suffer, but the international 
reputation of Qatar suffers as well, given Qatar's Tier 3 
ranking. 
 
------------- 
(SBU) COMMENT 
------------- 
 
-- That's al-Khulaifi's view, but his view is not dispositive. 
 
-- The MFA's Minister of State for International Cooperation 
and Conferences, Dr. Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, is 
arguing for a system where contracts between sponsors and 
employees would govern their relationships, not an inflexible 
sponsorship law. 
 
-- The Ambassador and Al-Attiyah agreed on the formation of 
an informal working group to improve information sharing for 
the Human Rights and TIP reports.  With more information 
sharing, the Qataris will have a better view on what 
additional actions they should take, and the Embassy, having 
more information, will be in a better position to advise them. 
 
-- David Caudill, Embassy's Human Rights Officer, will take 
the lead in information sharing arrangement with 
representatives of the National Human Rights Committee and 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 
END KEY POINTS AND COMMENT 
 
¶1. (U) On September 8, the Ambassador paid a courtesy call on 
Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi, Chairman of Qatar's 
Advisory Council (Note:  The Advisory Council is a 
consultative body cosisting of 35 members appointed by the 
Amir.  Itdebates the merits of proposals under consideratio 
by the Amir and makes recommendations to him befre he takes 
final action.  End Note). Ambassadorinquired about the 
pending draft law on labor spnsorship before the Advisory 
Council.  Human rigts contacts in Qatar had expectedthe 
law, once finalized, to ease some of the more troubling 
restrictions of the current sponsorship system, especially 
the exit permits required of workers leaving Qatar to ensure 
that they have secured prior approval from their employers. 
It was also hoped that the new law would prevent employers 
from retaining the passports of foreign workers present in 
Qatar. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Chairman advised the Ambassador that the draft 
law is currently before a special committee of the council 
empaneled to study the issue and make recommendations to the 
full body.  He expected the committee to make its 
recommendations to the Council when the Advisory Council 
convenes in October.  The Council will then either accept 
those recommendations in full or make further changes and 
then forward the report of its deliberations with its 
recommendations to the Amir. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Pressed on the specifics of the draft law, Al 
Khulaifi stated that the exit permit system would remain 
unchanged and that sponsors would continue to be allowed to 
retain workers' passports.   He stressed that the Qatari 
leadership views the issue of labor rights as one of national 
security, adding that the country would not allow itself to 
be victimized by those who would commit crimes (Comment: 
presumably to include instigating labor unrest) and then flee 
the country.  The Chairman said that the exit permit system 
allows the authorities to verify that the workers have clean 
criminal records when they leave the country.  He cited the 
 
DOHA 00000675  002 OF 002 
 
 
examples of other Gulf countries who expanded the rights of 
laborers and then saw crime rates increase as a path Qatar 
did not wish to follow. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Ambassador responded that Qatar's international 
reputation suffers because of its labor rights and human 
trafficking record.  Al Khulaifi said that he and the 
country's leaders were aware of that fact, but that Qataris 
are a minority of 200,000 in a nation of 1.7 million and 
cannot allow themselves to be overwhelmed.  He believed that 
the current system provides sufficient protection for workers 
in cases of abuse and in disputes with employers over wages 
and living conditions and hoped international observers would 
take note of this. 
LeBaron