UAE - REACTIONS TO TIP REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002034

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA AND NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2009
TAGS: PHUM KCRM PREF TC
SUBJECT: UAE - REACTIONS TO TIP REPORT

Ref: (A) State 123433, (B) Abu Dhabi 1832

Classified by Richard A. Albright, Charge d'Affaires,
a.i., reasons 1. 5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: UAE Government officials have
responded relatively positively to the annual
Trafficking in Persons report despite the fact that
the UAE was dropped from Tier 1 to Tier 2. The
prevailing sentiment has been that the demotion - a
year after the UAE's unprecedented jump from Tier 3 to
Tier 1 - will encourage government authorities to
tackle the trafficking problem more energetically and
persuade international monitors, including the USG, to
raise the UAE to Tier 1 again. End Summary.


2. (C) Post delivered reftel country narrative and
talking points, as well as the TIP report's
"International Best Practices" chapter highlighting
the UAE's model efforts to eliminate the problem of
underage child camel jockeys, to senior UAEG contacts
on June 13. Recipients at the federal level
included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs Shaykh Hamdan bin Zayed,
Information and Culture Ministry Shaykh Abdullah bin
Zayed, Interior Ministry Under Secretary Shaykh Saif
bin Zayed, and Foreign Ministry Under Secretary
Abdullah Rashid Al-Nuaimi. In Dubai, the Consul
General delivered the report to Dr. Khalifa Saeed,
Chief of the Dubai Ruler's Court, and to Brig. General
Dhahi Khalfan, Dubai Police Commander.


3. (C) Shaykh Abdullah asked the Ambassador before her
departure from post what she thought the UAE could do
to earn Tier 1 status again. The Ambassador said that
it was important for the authorities to distinguish
trafficking victims from people arrested for
immigration violations or prostitution-related
offenses, to establish safe houses for women, and
provide the USG with more data on what it is doing to
battle the trafficking problem. The Ambassador also
encouraged the UAEG to allow the IOM to open an office
in the UAE. Shaykh Abdullah noted that many deported
prostitutes turn around and come back to the UAE. He
wanted to know if the U.S. would criticize the UAE for
putting long-term bans on deported prostitutes. The
Ambassador said the U.S. would not criticize the UAE
for deporting and barring the re-entry of persons who
had violated UAE laws.


4. (C) After some initial grumbling about
"interference in our internal affairs," Brig. Gen.
Dhahi Khalfan told the Consul General in Dubai that he
agreed that it would be a good idea for his staff to
study the report carefully and come up with a plan for
addressing some of the problems raised. "What we
don't want is for you to tell us what we need to do.
Let us come up with a plan," he suggested. He said
the police had recently begun working closely with the
consulates (in Dubai) of countries that were major
sources of trafficked persons. He urged that the U.S.
share any information it had regarding prostitutes who
were being trafficked to Dubai against their will. In
his opinion, nearly all of the prostitutes working in
Dubai had come voluntarily. The Consul General
explained that the U.S. definition of trafficking
includes women who might have come to the UAE
willingly but are now being coerced into staying,
including by having their passports withheld. Khalfan
made it clear that he did agree with that broader
definition of trafficking. "They can go to their
consulate and get a new passport any time they want,"
he said. However, he did not push back when the
Consul General noted that in many cases the women were
too fearful and/or otherwise unable to go to their
consulates.


5. (U) Additionally, we shared the TIP reports with
Issam Azouri, the Embassy's principal contact in the
Shaykh Saif's office; Dr. Lt. Col. Abdullah bin Sahoo,
director of the Abu Dhabi Police Officers' Training
Institute; Dr. Lt. Col. Mohamed Al-Mur, director of
the Dubai Police Human Rights Care Department; and
Noura Al-Suweidi, executive director of the General
Women's Union.


6. (C) Issam Azouri of the Interior Ministry's Office
of the Under Secretary, reacted favorably to the new
report. "This helps us," he told Polchief. "We're
taking this as an incentive." Azouri also was pleased
that the USG recognized the UAE's efforts to combat
trafficking in child camel jockeys by highlighting the
UAE in the "International Best Practices" chapter. He
said the Interior Ministry now has a special committee
charged with reviewing anti-TIP laws, a member of
which took part in an USG-sponsored anti-trafficking
training program. "We hope to have TIP legislation in
place this year," Azouri said. "Each year, we will
hope to make some more progress." The UAE is not
interested in propaganda but in "having a benchmark to
audit what we do," he said, referring to the TIP
report. Polchief said further publicity about the
UAEG's anti-TIP efforts would help as well. Azouri
agreed and said he was aware that the local press was
about to publish one or more articles on TIP soon.
(Note: There has been no mention of the new TIP report
in the UAE to date. End note.)

7. (C) Noura Al-Suweidi, the executive director of the
General Women's Union, told Polchief on June 21 that
she and her organization would be very interested in
taking a more active role in addressing the
trafficking in women problem in the UAE. Al-Suweidi
said she looked forward to reading and commenting on
the TIP report that post provided her. She said she
was aware of the progress that her government had made
on the camel jockeys issue, and showed intense
interest and took extensive notes when Polchief
described the problem of trafficked women.

Comment:
--------------


8. (C) The lack of any strongly negative reaction to
this year's TIP report is encouraging, particularly
when we hear senior UAEG interlocutors say that the
drop from Tier 2 to Tier 1 only strengthens their
resolve to continue battling against the trafficking
problem. The anti-TIP symposium the Abu Dhabi Police
Officers Training Institute conducted for 80 officers
May 24-25 (see ref B) is already one step in the right
direction, and we understand from Lt. Col. Sahoo that
the police officers training institute has begun
planning for a November conference on human rights and
TIP issues. It is also encouraging to hear the
General Women's Union take an interest in the issue of
trafficking in women, as this is not an area that they
had focused on before. We will be working to engage
them further.
ALBRIGHT