Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04KUWAIT346
2004-01-28 15:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S.

Tags:  PHUM PREL PGOV ELAB KWMN KDEM KU 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000346 

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STATE FOR DRL/PHD, DRL/CRA, NEA/ARP, NEA/REA, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2014
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ELAB KWMN KDEM KU
SUBJECT: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S.
RECORD 2003-2004

REF: 03 SECSTATE 333935

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Frank C. Urbancic, reason 1.4(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000346

SIPDIS

STATE FOR DRL/PHD, DRL/CRA, NEA/ARP, NEA/REA, NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2014
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ELAB KWMN KDEM KU
SUBJECT: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: THE U.S.
RECORD 2003-2004

REF: 03 SECSTATE 333935

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Frank C. Urbancic, reason 1.4(d)

1.(U) This is a response to reftel action request. Below is
Embassy Kuwait's report for inclusion in the "Supporting
Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record" 2003-2004
edition. Please note paragraph three request for Department
decision.

2.(U) BEGIN TEXT: Kuwait is a hereditary emirate with a
written constitution and an elected National Assembly. The
Government generally respected the basic human rights of its
citizens in 2003. However, many problems remained. National
Assembly elections held in July 2003 were generally free and
in accordance with Kuwait's electoral laws; however, illegal
tribal primaries and Government and opposition vote-buying
were problems in some districts. Women, who comprise slightly
more than half the citizen population, do not have the right
to vote or seek election to the National Assembly. Some
police and members of the security forces committed human
rights abuses. Some domestic servants and unskilled foreign
laborers faced abuse and worked under conditions that
constituted indentured servitude. The judiciary remained
subject to government influence, and foreign residents faced
pervasive judicial discrimination. The Government placed some
limits on freedoms of speech, assembly, association,
religion, and movement. Some young boys from South Asia were
used as jockeys in camel races. The Government did not meet
the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking in persons,
but made some positive efforts to do so.

The 2003-2004 U.S. human rights and democracy strategy for
Kuwait addresses a wide range of critical issues, including
women's empowerment, worker rights, treatment of domestic
servants, parliamentary strengthening, promotion of civil
society, and trafficking in persons. The Embassy actively
engages with government officials, parliamentarians, NGOs,
women's groups, and others to advance dialogue and debate on

women's political rights, support for basic freedoms, and
equal protection under the law for foreign laborers. In
addition to regular bilateral dialogue with Government
members at all levels on key human rights issues, Embassy
officials frequently attend informal yet influential weekly
evening gatherings in private homes ("diwaniyas") to promote
awareness and understanding of U.S. human rights and
democratic values. The Embassy uses the various programming
tools available to the Public Affairs Section and funding
through the Middle East Partnership Initiative to strengthen
democracy and respect for human rights in Kuwait. U.S.
diplomatic, programming, and advocacy efforts resulted in
some positive changes to Kuwait's overall human rights
situation during the year.

Parliamentary institutional and capacity building is a key
component of the Embassy's strategy to strengthen democracy
and the rule of law in Kuwait. Kuwait's elected National
Assembly is active and assertive, and regularly challenges
Government decisions. However, parliamentarians often lack
access to policy and legal information, and many have limited
knowledge of the U.S. The Embassy will bring a U.S. trade
expert to Kuwait in February 2004 to provide focused training
to parliamentarians on trade liberalization and reform
issues. The Embassy's Public Affairs Section has agreed with
Kuwait's National Assembly to establish a permanent "American
Studies Corner" in the National Assembly's library in 2004 to
provide comprehensive resource information to
parliamentarians on U.S. history, law, political system, and
business environment, including an encyclopedia of U.S. law
and CD-ROM information. The Embassy believes that such
initiatives will strengthen the capacity of Kuwait's
parliament as a democratic institution and encourage broader
understanding of U.S. human rights and democratic values.

Kuwait has a vibrant press and the basic rights of free
speech, press, and assembly are well established and
generally respected by the Government. However, the
Government continued to impose some restrictions on freedom
of speech and of the press in 2003, and journalists practiced
self-censorship. As part of the Embassy's ongoing efforts to
strengthen Kuwait's media and promote more responsible
journalism, the Public Affairs Section sent a young Kuwaiti
female journalist to the U.S. in 2003 on an International
Visitors program for "Young Professional Journalists" and
will send another female journalist to the U.S. in 2004 on an
International Visitors program on "U.S. Media and Political
Campaigns." A visiting speaker will conduct a workshop for
local print media representatives in 2004 on accurate,
ethical, and balanced reporting.

The Embassy actively encourages positive debate on the role
and status of women in Kuwaiti society, and the impact of
women's disenfranchisement on their basic rights and
protections. The Embassy also assists women's rights
activists to develop effective advocacy and political action
strategies. As part of these efforts, the Embassy plans to
send two or three Kuwaiti women activists to Amman, Jordan,
in February 2004 to participate in a workshop hosted by the
Government of Jordan and supported by the Middle East
Partnership Initiative entitled "Women and the Law -- A
Regional Dialogue: Supporting Voices of Change." Participants
will address and discuss challenges facing women in the legal
and judicial system, and aspects of law that directly impact
women in the region.

Apathy and disinterest among many Kuwaiti women are key
factors inhibiting a more vibrant women's rights movement. As
a direct push for full political rights does not appeal to
many women, women's rights activists hope to highlight ways
in which women are economically and legally disadvantaged as
a result of their disenfranchisement, in order to galvanize
broader societal support for political reform. The Embassy
supported these grassroots civil society efforts through
various programs and exchanges during the year. In May 2003,
the Embassy sent an influential Kuwaiti male businessman and
supporter of women's rights to the U.S. to participate in a
"Women as Leaders in the Public and Private Sectors" project
to study American women's experiences in the U.S. political
process. His participation was an integral part of Embassy
efforts to encourage Kuwaiti men to support women's political
rights -- a challenge in Kuwait's patriarchal society. The
Embassy requested an NEA Democracy Small Grant of $34,350 in
late 2003 to sponsor a gender budgeting study to be carried
out by a local NGO. The study will entail a gender-sensitive
analysis of the most recent government budget to highlight
gender inequity in government spending. The Embassy will
assist the NGO and women's rights activists in sharing the
findings of the study with government officials,
parliamentarians, and others to advocate for greater gender
equality. In a related initiative, the Embassy's Public
Affairs Section will bring a U.S. speaker to Kuwait in
February 2004 to provide advocacy and political action
campaign training to another local NGO planning to challenge
an inequitable social allowance law.

The Embassy raises religious freedom issues with the
Government in the context of its overall dialogue and policy
of promoting human rights. The Embassy actively encourages
the Government to address the concerns of religious leaders,
such as overcrowding, lack of worship space, and inadequate
staffing. Embassy officials meet regularly with recognized
Sunni, Shi'a and Christian groups, and representatives of
various unrecognized faiths, to hear their concerns and
monitor progress on religious freedom issues.

Foreign workers, who comprise more than half of Kuwait's
total population, suffered from the lack of a minimum wage in
the private sector, poor working conditions, weak Government
enforcement of some Labor Law provisions, and sometimes abuse
at the hands of their employers. Therefore, the Embassy
focused particular attention on efforts to improve labor
rights and working conditions, and encouraged the Government
to reform its outdated Labor Law to conform more closely to
internationally recognized labor standards. At year's end, a
draft new Labor Law was under parliamentary review and an
influential NGO held a public seminar on the treatment of
foreign laborers, bringing together for the first time
members of the Government, parliament, labor unions, and NGOs
to discuss the status and treatment of foreign workers in
Kuwait. The Embassy maintained a close working relationship
with NGOs and domestic and international labor groups,
especially the International Labor Organization, to monitor
labor conditions and investigate incidents of abuse.

The Embassy and senior State Department officials
consistently urged the Government to strengthen legal and
regulatory measures to combat human trafficking. The
Ambassador hosted a roundtable discussion on trafficking in
May 2003 comprising Embassy officials, labor attaches and
other diplomatic representatives from the major source
country embassies to share ideas and propose strategies to
address continued abuses. Embassy officials worked throughout
the year to encourage the Government to improve protections
for the estimated 500,000 domestic servants who remained
excluded from the Labor Law, strengthen enforcement of
regulations banning the employment of minors as camel
jockeys, and vigorously investigate incidents of human
trafficking. END TEXT

3.(C) We leave it to the Department's discretion whether to
insert into this unclassified report, after the first
sentence of the final paragraph, specific mention of
senior-level demarches on trafficking in persons as follows:
Secretary Powell raised USG trafficking concerns, mainly the

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treatment of female domestic servants and the use of underage
boys as camel jockeys, when he received Kuwait's Minister of
State for Foreign Affairs in Washington in April 2003. During
his visit to Kuwait in January 2004, NEA Assistant Secretary
Burns met with Kuwait's Foreign Minister and stressed the
need for improved efforts to eliminate trafficking.
URBANCIC