KUWAIT SEEKS FUNDING FOR TWO POTENTIAL TIP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 005185

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA, NEA/PPD, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KU
SUBJECT: KUWAIT SEEKS FUNDING FOR TWO POTENTIAL TIP
INITIATIVES



1. The GOK is taking positive steps to improve the TIP
situation in Kuwait. However, some GOK officials and other
local groups lack awareness of TIP issues and the capacity to
implement needed legal, institutional, and other changes to
increase protections for trafficking victims. The TIP issue
in Kuwait mainly involves the exploitation of domestic
servants and other laborers, many of whom work under
conditions of indentured servitude. Many suffer from
physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their employers. In
order to assist the GOK in improving the TIP situation in
Kuwait, specifically the welfare of domestic servants and
other laborers, post proposes the following draft initiatives
that could tap into the TIP fund currently available:

Police Awareness and Sensitivity Training Project (US$50,000)
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2. Domestic servants fall under the purview of the Ministry
of Interior rather than the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor. Therefore, they do not enjoy the protections normally
accorded to other laborers in the private sector under the
Labor Law. Runaway or abused domestics are often treated as
criminals and are detained, jailed, or deported rather than
offered counseling or other assistance as victims of
trafficking. Although there is a small conciliation center
attached to a local police station where runaway domestics
can file complaints against abusive or exploitative
employers, police officials in Kuwait lack the basic skills
and awareness necessary to handle trafficking cases
effectively. Most runaway or abused domestics turn to their
source country embassies for conciliation or other assistance
rather than to police authorities. Often, police officials do
not speak English and lack the sensivitity necessary to deal
with abuse cases and women's issues in general. Most
trafficking and abuse cases are settled via informal
mediation between the trafficked individual's source country
embassy, employer, and GOK officials. Police officials in
Kuwait are often from tribal Bedouin or bidoon families that
tend to be less well educated than other members of Kuwaiti
society and less familiar with international human rights
issues. Domestic violence in general and abuse of domestic
servants in particular are often regarded socially and
culturally as private family matters rather than as human
rights problems that warrant police or other intervention. A
USG-funded initiative, carried out in collaboration with a
local civic group or well-respected local training institute,
to train police officers in a few key districts that suffer
most from the trafficking and abuse problem, could help
improve victim assistance in Kuwait.


3. Training would focus on increasing police awareness of,
and sensitivity towards, the trafficking problem, improving
police coordination and dialogue with source country
embassies and labor groups, and strengthening police
investigative capabilities to find, identify, and prosecute
potential trafficking rings or fraudulent employment
recruitment agencies. To help ensure the sustainability of
this intervention, training would be provided to a few
leading members of each police force in a few high-prevalence
districts who would then serve as trainers for other police
officials on an ongoing basis. To enhance local legitimacy,
a trafficking expert or experts from another Gulf or Arab
country that has had strong experience in dealing
successfully with similar labor exploitation problems would
conduct the training rather than a U.S. or Western
trafficking consultant (i.e., perhaps a trafficking expert in
labor exploitation from the UAE). Funding would cover the
honorarium costs of the trainer(s),airfare, lodging, meals,
incidental expenses, instructional materials and resources,
equipment and supplies. Training would be provided over a
two-week period to ensure that trainers have adequate time to
work with police officials, that they reach several police
stations in a number of high-prevalence districts, and tailor
the training to local needs and conditions.

Awareness Visit By U.S. Trafficking Consultant (US$25,000)
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4. This initiative would fund one or two U.S. trafficking
experts (with a focus on labor exploitation problems rather
than sex trafficking) to travel to Kuwait to consult with GOK
officials of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, National Assembly (Human Rights Defense Committee,
Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee) and other potential
groups on promoting awareness of USG TIP concerns and
identifying ways to tighten protections against trafficking
based on lessons learned and best practices derived from
other countries' experiences in the region. Consultation
could take the form of seminars or focus groups on key topics
such as legal reform, strengthening law enforcement and
monitoring of abusive or exploitative employers and labor
recruitment agencies, improving the capacity of border
monitoring for patterns of trafficking, and other areas. In
the course of the seminars, the consultant(s) would gain a
fuller appreciation of what the GOK is already doing in the
area of trafficking and improving the treatment of domestic
servants. The visit would be discreet and unpublicized,
taking into account local sensitivities towards outwardly
USG-funded human rights initiatives in the country. It would
help ensure that the GOK and other local stakeholders fully
understand USG TIP concerns while helping us more fully
understand GOK efforts currently underway to combat the
trafficking problem. Funding would support the travel to
Kuwait of one or two U.S.-based experts (ideally fluent in
Arabic) for a period of one week, salary costs, lodging,
meals, incidental expenses, cost of informational materials,
equipment and supplies. Funding would also cover immediate
post-trip analysis, recommendations, and follow-up.

5. Other potential TIP-related initiatives that post is
studying and that would not necessarily involve any USG
funding might include an information technology initiative to
create and implement a sponsor-employee information database
network that would connect police stations, Ministry of
Interior, and other GOK offices responsible for monitoring
trafficking and abuse cases. The database would serve as a
clearinghouse of information on sponsors and domestics to
assist police and law enforcement authorities in preventing
abusive employers from sponsoring additional employees, and
to keep track of trafficking cases, legislation, visa,
immigration, wage and other critical information.


6. Another possible initiative, again depending on GOK
interest and ownership, might be an educational awareness
campaign on the trafficking problem carried out through local
advertisements on the radio and in print media. The
advertisements would be tailored to the Kuwaiti context,
developed ideally by cooperation between local civic groups,
source country embassies, and GOK officials from the Ministry
of Interior and the Ministry of Information, and focused on
increasing broad public awareness of the rights and treatment
of domestic servants and other foreign laborers in Kuwait.
Radio advertisements could be broadcast in several languages
on major local stations, such as Radio Sawa and stations that
tailor their broadcasting to third country nationals. This
would be a relatively low cost initiative that could reach a
sizeable audience.


7. COMMENT: Post would like to secure available funding for
these kinds of TIP initiatives in Kuwait to help assist the
GOK in meeting TIP standards and to raise broader public
awareness of the TIP problem. Post believes the GOK has
taken some positive steps recently to improve the overall TIP
situation in Kuwait, including a proposed new law to more
closely regulate the hiring of domestic servants and
functioning of local labor recruitment agencies. The
situation of domestic servants is a key agenda item for the
National Assembly's Human Rights Defense Committee, and it is
actively studying the issue. These proposed TIP initiatives
would come at an opportune time and help leverage efforts
already underway by the GOK.
URBANCIC