EMBASSY SEEKS MORE BAHRAINI ACTION ON TIP

UNCLAS MANAMA 000251 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP,INL/G/TIP, NEA/RA, AND DRL/IL CAIRO FOR STEVE BONDY LONDON FOR ETHAN GOLDRICH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KCRM ELAB BA SUBJECT: EMBASSY SEEKS MORE BAHRAINI ACTION ON TIP REF: A. 03 MANAMA 2798 ¶B. 03 MANAMA 3015 ¶1. (U) On February 22, POL/ECON Chief asked MFA Assistant Undersecretary for Coordination and Follow-up Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa if he could provide an update on anti-TIP activities since ref A. Shaikh Abdul Aziz is the overall coordinator of TIP-related work with the USG. P/E Chief reminded him that the new USG TIP legislation requires more precise reporting to support TIP tier rankings and inquired if the GOB had any statistical data on TIP prevention, investigations and prosecution that could be included in Post's report. P/E Chief noted that Post's draft is due on March 1. ¶2. (U) P/E Chief suggested to Shaikh Abdul Aziz that it would be especially helpful to have current information on two high profile cases recently featured in the press. In particular, P/E Chief mentioned the case of a Bangladeshi worker in a pending labor case that was forcibly repatriated and the case of Anita Verma (see reftel B). Shaikh Abdul Aziz said he would raise these two cases in a meeting that he had already scheduled with Deputy Attorney General Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa to follow up on 200 worker abuse cases that Bahrain Centre for Human Rights activist Selma Bala has submitted for action. P/E Chief added that we would like to mention Bahrain's ratification of the UN Convention on Transnational Crime in the report. ¶3. (U) Shaikh Abdul Aziz had no information for P/E Chief and admitted that MFA had homework to do. He tentatively scheduled a meeting with A/DCM and PolOFF on March 3 to provide an update on anti-TIP activities. Since the TIP report is due on March 1, P/E Chief said that we would write the report based on the information in hand and submit it by the deadline. However, the report would state that an update would be produced after the meeting with Shaikh Abdul Aziz. FORD