VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHYN #0271 0421407
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY  ADX 2D8431/WSC5070)
R 111407Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANAA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1179
INFO RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 1593
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0421

UNCLAS SANAA 000271 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND DRL JBARGHOUT 
JEDDAH FOR JLIVINGSTON 
 
C O R R E C T E D   C O P Y (ADDED SBU CAPTIONS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KTIP YM
SUBJECT: YEMENIS THINK SAUDI ARABIA COULD DO MORE TO STOP 
SMUGGLING OF CHILDREN 
 
REF: SANAA 00215 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  ROYG officials and independent experts 
repeatedly express frustration with the lack of Saudi 
cooperation on trafficking-in-persons issues, including 
children smuggled to Saudi Arabia for work and Saudi "sex 
tourists" who frequent underage prostitutes in Yemen.  They 
allege that the Saudi government has significantly stalled 
bilateral efforts to combat trafficking.  Without 
higher-level Saudi commitment, it will continue to be 
difficult for impecunious Yemen to fight this cross-border 
problem alone.  END SUMMARY. 
 
THE TIME BOMB 
------------- 
¶2.  (SBU)  "They call us a time bomb," Lamia al-Eryani of the 
Shawthab Foundation for child rights told PolOff on January 
31, "and yet they could be doing much more to help." 
Thousands of Yemeni children travel illegally across the 
porous border to Saudi Arabia each year, where they face 
abuse and harsh living conditions (reftel).  Since 2005, the 
ROYG has viewed child trafficking as a significant social 
problem, and has slowly made efforts to combat it.  But 
according to experts in Yemen, the ROYG has not found a 
similar commitment across the border.  The two nations formed 
a Joint Committee on Child Trafficking in 2005, but while 
Yemeni members included cabinet-level officials, the 
appointed Saudis were low-ranking bureaucrats under the 
Ministry of Education, according to Abdullah al-Khamissy, a 
child trafficking expert at the Higher Council on Motherhood 
and Childhood (HCMC).  When it came time to sign a joint 
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2007, the Saudis 
said they didn't have the authority, and the document was 
never signed.  UNICEF's Chief of Child Protection Judith 
Leveilee told PolOff that the Joint Committee has not met 
since that time.  Khamissy told PolOff on February 8 that the 
Saudis were stalling on appointing higher-level officials to 
work on the issue, and on initiating a joint study on child 
trafficking.  "We don't want money," Khamissy said, although 
with less than $5,000 earmarked for child trafficking 
programs in FY2009, the ROYG faces significant resource 
problems in combating trafficking. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Small steps have been made in Saudi methods of 
incarcerating and deporting Yemeni children.  UNICEF's 
Leveilee said that the Saudis deport hundreds of illegal 
Yemeni migrants every day, among them an unknown number of 
children.  According to Eryani of Shawthab Foundation, Saudi 
authorities used to jail children with adults and even 
beheaded minors illegally in Saudi Arabia.  She said that in 
2008, the Saudis began immediately deporting children to 
Yemen, rather than detaining them in Saudi Arabia. 
 
SEX SELLS 
--------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) An unaddressed problem in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen is 
the sex trade, which often involves underage girls.  Sex 
tourists from the Gulf are an open secret in Yemen, where 
underage prostitutes work out of hotels in major cities 
across the country, according to contacts at Shawthab 
Foundation, local NGO Seyaj and UNICEF.  Ahmed Al-Quraishi of 
SEYAJ, an organization that promotes children's rights, told 
PolOff on February 1 that Saudi men travel to Yemen to 
arrange liaisons with underage prostitutes, sometimes in the 
form of "temporary marriages."  He said he knew of at least 
three cases where Saudi nationals "married" underage Yemeni 
girls, only to force them into prostitution in Saudi Arabia. 
Al-Quraishi said that hotels throughout Yemen cater to these 
sex tourists, and even arrange trips to rural villages for 
similar liaisons. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Yemen has begun to live up to its TIP-related 
responsibilities; a strong partner to the north will be an 
important asset as it continues to do so.  END COMMENT. 
 
SECHE