VZCZCXRO6898
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHDO #0548/01 2451240
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021240Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9363
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0150
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 0232
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0392

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000548 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KTIP IN NE QA
SUBJECT: SOLIDARITY CENTER HEAD HITS THE GROUND RUNNING 
 
REF: A. DOHA 211 
     ¶B. DOHA 236 
 
Classified By: Charge d'affaires Mirembe L. Nantongo for reasons 1.4 (b 
 and d). 
 
---------------- 
(SBU) KEY POINTS 
---------------- 
 
-- At a recent meeting with Poloff Caudill, Solidarity 
Center representative Boyko Atanasov reported that the 
National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) had been very 
helpful in assisting with his work in Qatar. 
 
-- Atanasov said that (so far) the NHRC had lived up to its 
commitments under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it 
signed with the Solidarity Center earlier this year (Ref 
A).  The NHRC had assisted him with securing his work 
permit and housing, and had given him a work space in the 
NHRC offices. 
 
-- Through Atanasov's efforts, a senior Qatari in the NHRC 
Legal Division went to the U.S. for consultations this 
summer, and an aide from the Office of the NHRC Chairman 
held meetings the Indian state of Kerala, one of the main 
sources of expatriate labor in Qatar. 
 
-- Atanasov also reported that the NHRC had published a 
labor rights booklet in English and in Arabic as a 
follow-up to the anti-TIP media campaign it conducted in 
March (Ref B), and that the Solidarity Center was 
partnering with it to provide translations in the languages 
of the main labor-sending countries. 
 
 
------------ 
(C) COMMENTS 
------------ 
 
-- Agreeing to partner with a foreign labor organization 
such as the Solidarity Center was a major step for the GOQ, 
particularly since it tends to view the rights of 
expatriate workers more as a national security than a human 
rights issue.  It is encouraging that the NHRC, which 
considers itself an independent non-governmental 
organization but is controlled by the GOQ, is cooperating 
with Atanasov and the Solidarity Center. 
 
-- While this growing partnership is a good sign, it must 
be stressed that the Solidarity Center's work focuses 
primarily on the conditions in the labor sending countries 
that lead to trafficking in persons (TIP) in Qatar.  Aside 
from the labor rights booklet, this partnership has not yet 
addressed the issue of Qatar's responsibility to combat TIP 
within its own borders. 
 
End Key Points and Comments. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) At an August 20 meeting with Poloff Caudill, 
Solidarity Center representative Boyko Atanasov reported 
that the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) had been 
very helpful in assisting with his work in Qatar.  He said 
that NHRC staff had assisted him in acquiring the necessary 
work permits allowing him to establish residency in Qatar, 
and had provided assistance in his search for housing.  (He 
was previously occupying office space in the NHRC offices 
in Doha.) 
 
¶2. (SBU) Atanasov also reported success in opening channels 
of communications between officials at the NHRC and labor 
activists, both in the main labor-sending countries and in 
the U.S.  He noted that an official from the NHRC Legal 
Division traveled to the U.S. for consultations, which 
included meetings with Solidarity Center representatives 
and with the president of the Sri Lankan trade unions 
association.  Atanasov had also accompanied a senior aide 
to the NHRC Chairman to the Indian state of Kerala, where 
they met with labor and government leaders both from India 
and Nepal (Note: The Indian expatriate population in Qatar 
is the largest, numbering approximately 500,000; the 
Nepalese population is the second largest at approximately 
300,000.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Atanasov noted that when the NHRC conducted its 
anti-TIP media campaign in March, it had pledged to publish 
a labor rights brochure in the languages of the major 
labor-sending countries.  So far, he said, the brochure had 
been published and distributed only in English and Arabic. 
 
DOHA 00000548  002 OF 002 
 
 
The Solidarity Center therefore plans to pay for translating 
the materials into Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and other languages 
common to laborers in Qatar.  The brochures would then be 
published and distributed to them with the cooperation of 
the NHRC and the GOQ. 
Nantongo