UAE PROGRESS ON TIP ACTION PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 ABU DHABI 002833

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G, G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA AND NEA/ARPI
STATE ALSO PASS TO USTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2010
TAGS: PHUM ELAB ETRD TC
SUBJECT: UAE PROGRESS ON TIP ACTION PLAN

REF: A. STATE 107921


B. STATE 99833

C. STATE 98157

Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: Since receiving the TIP report and
mini-action plan from us on June 1, the UAE Government has
made steady progress in addressing the suggested steps in the
plan. Ministry of Interior police continue to identify and
rescue underage camel jockeys. Government social workers
working side-by-side with UNICEF officials are providing care
for former camel jockeys in government-run shelters while the
children await humane repatriation to their home countries.
The number of repatriations has risen. The federal Cabinet
approved June 13 the draft camel jockey law that will equip
the UAE courts with the enforcement tools necessary to
prosecute trafficking cases. The law bans child camel
jockeys under age 18, in keeping with ILO standards. The
Ministry of Interior has closed all camel racing areas and
has assigned police patrols to the racetracks to enforce the
ban during this period. And in Dubai, a new emirate-level
labor committee has set up a hotline and website for use by
domestic workers and laborers who want to lodge complaints
about their employers. End Summary.


2. (C) In the three weeks since we delivered the TIP report
and mini-action plan to senior UAEG officials, Embassy Abu
Dhabi and Consulate General Dubai officers have been
proactively raising the trafficking in persons issue with a
broad range of federal and emirate-level official
interlocutors. In our discussions, we continually remind our
contacts that the UAEG has until August 2 to demonstrate that
it is making "significant efforts" to bring the UAE into
compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking in persons, or it will stay at Tier 3. We have
also informed the UAEG that G/TIP reports officer Feleke
Assefa will be returning to the UAE in early July to reassess
the UAEG's efforts, and that we are interested in having him
meet with interlocutors who can provide him with evidence of
action plan progress. Without exception, senior government
contacts continue to tell us that the six steps in the action
plan are "doable" by August 2. Ibrahim Al Abed, adviser to
Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, told Pol
Chief June 12 that the UAE leadership understands that the
USG will reward action, not talk, when it comes to the
trafficking issue.


3. (U) On June 13, the Cabinet approved a camel jockey decree
prohibiting the trafficking, employment, and training of
anyone under the age of 18 in camel activities. Article
Three of the law states that any person who violates the law
will be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison
and/or will be fined a minimum of 50,000 Dirhams ($13,500).
On June 20, the federal Cabinet approved a joint agreement on
the protection of underage camel jockeys that the Ministry of
Interior and UNICEF had signed on May 8. The press reported
that after the UAEG had announced in mid-March that it would
ban the use of children under the age of 16 as camel jockeys,
Stefan Toma, UNICEF's representative for the Gulf area, wrote
a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and MinState for Foreign
Affairs Sheikh Hamdan stating, "The UAE has always been one
of the pioneering states in the Gulf in the field of social
development. We at UNICEF are very pleased to see that the
UAE is taking such an important step on an important regional
issue of child exploitation." Sheikh Hamdan had noted that
violations of the Camel Racing Federation's rules banning the
use of children as jockeys "have harmed the objectives of the
sport, and have been in breach of the legal structure on
which the UAE is based, whether in terms of its domestic
legislation or in terms of its obligation under the terms of
various international conventions and agreements."


4. (C) The following is a review of progress made on each of
the six steps suggested in the mini-action plan to date. We
are continuing to encourage additional progress from our UAEG
interlocutors, particularly on the trafficking of women for
the purposes of sexual exploitation and the trafficking of
domestic workers and laborers:

NATIONAL COORDINATOR
--------------

-- The UAEG has yet to appoint a national coordinator to
oversee implementation of the action plan, although we have
been assured that this will be announced shortly.

IDENTIFICATION AND PROTECTION FOR CAMEL JOCKEYS
-------------- --

-- Immediately after the May 31 grace period expired for
camel farm owners to register the young boys they employed as
camel jockeys, the Ministry of Interior's Anti-Infiltration
Unit began deploying its forces to the camel farms (primarily
in Abu Dhabi emirate). In the first few days, the police
unit was able to locate and "rescue" up to 15 boys per day,
Anti-Infiltration Unit Director Col. Fadl told Pol Chief.

-- With the assistance of UNICEF social workers and
statisticians, the Ministry of Interior has also begun the
task of identifying the boys and providing them with
protective services at the two camel jockey rehabilitation
centers in Abu Dhabi. These services include shelter, food,
clothing, medical and psychological care, and basic
education. Social and medical workers are developing case
files for each child in an attempt to establish family ties,
employment and medical histories, and other information that
will ultimately assist the UAEG repatriate the boys to their
home countries, and to help the local governments and NGOs in
those countries to provide reintegration services to the
boys. NEA PDAS Cheney will tour the Camel Jockey
Rehabilitation Center on her upcoming visit, at the
invitation of the UAEG.

-- Approximately 270 boys who had been working on camel farms
have been taken into the Ministry of Interior's custody and
housed in the two camel jockey shelters, according to Lt.
Col. Najm Sayyar, director of the Ministry of Interior's
Social Support Center in Abu Dhabi. The majority are
Pakistanis. The remainder are Bangladeshis, Sudanese,
Mauritanian, and one Eritrean. Sayyar took issue with the
TIP report's figures of child camel jockeys, telling "Gulf
News" June 9 that the UAEG believes the numbers involved are
"much lower than those cited in the U.S. State Department
report." He challenged those who claimed to have other
figures to reveal their sources so that the Ministry of
Interior can evaluate their accuracy. Sayyar promised
complete documentation on all children involved in camel
racing in the UAE "soon." According to a preliminary survey
by the UAE Ministry of Interior, there are 3,000 child camel
jockeys in the UAE, of which 2,000 are Pakistanis.

-- The Pakistani Ambassador informed us that 100 boys would
be repatriated to Lahore at UAEG expense by the end of this
week, including a batch of 22 on June 21. "Gulf News"
reported the return on June 22. The boys, the majority of
whom were escorted by a parent or guardian, were met by the
Child Protection and Welfare Bureau set up by Pakistan's
Punjab Government, and a UNICEF office representative in
Pakistan. Local authorities will trace the parents of the
children and provide assistance for their rehabilitation,
including free education in schools at the government's
expense. The bureau can accommodate 250 children, said its
chairperson, Dr. Faiza Asghar, who met in early June with UAE
Ministry of Interior and UNICEF officials in Abu Dhabi to
coordinate the repatriation. "Right now we don't know
anything about their families, but we will try our best to
trace them," she told "Gulf News." Senator Tariq Asim Khan,
State Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, also met with UAE
Interior Minister Sheikh Saif in May.

-- The head of the Dubai Human Rights Care Department, Dr.
Col. Mohammed Al Murr, told Acting Consul General and Poloff
June 22 that many of the young camel jockeys who are in the
UAE with their families had started departing voluntarily
after they had heard about the new camel jockey legislation.

-- The Ministry of Interior has closed all camel racing areas
and has assigned police patrols to the racetracks to enforce
the ban during this period. (Note: The official camel racing
season is scheduled to resume in October.)

-- The Ministry of Interior's Social Support Center has
publicized hotline numbers for persons to call who have
information about kidnapped children brought to the UAE.

INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION
--------------

-- The federal Cabinet's approval last week of the draft
camel jockey law means that the UAE courts will soon have the
enforcement tools to commence prosecutions of traffickers.
Pol Chief met with Ministry of Information advisers Ibrahim
Al Abed and Peter Hellyer June 12 to make the point that
having a camel jockey law on the books was important, but
that enforcing the law and prosecuting cases was going to be
even more important in the reassessment of the UAE's Tier 3
status. We have emphasized to the Ministries of Interior,
Information, and Foreign Affairs, and to the Minister of
Supreme Council and GCC Affairs Sheikh Fahim Al Qasimi, that
the USG will expect to see prosecutions as listed in the TIP
action plan regardless of nationality.

-- Minister of Labor Al Kaabi told Ambassador June 21 that
his Ministry currently has 80 labor inspectors, and the
Ministry has requested funding for additional inspectors to
follow up on complaints by workers and to conduct random
checks of labor conditions at work sites.

-- Dubai officers will receive special investigative training
on how to detect leads and follow up trafficking cases.

MECHANISM FOR IDENTIFICATION AND PROTECTION OF VICTIMS
-------------- --------------

-- There has been no progress on developing a mechanism for
the identification and protection of victims to date. Acting
Consul General and Poloff learned June 22 that the Criminal
Investigation Division's prostitution unit will be
transferred to the Dubai Police Human Rights Care Department,
and the unit would add trafficking to its responsibilities.

-- Progress has been made on expanding the availability of
hotlines for foreign workers to report instances of abuse. A
new Dubai labor committee under the supervision of Dubai
Immigration chief, Brig. General Saeed bin Beleilah, is
working on setting up a Dubai-wide labor complaints Website
and hotline, which will include the ability for domestic
workers and laborers to lodge complaints. The Website has
gone live, and in about three weeks the committee will launch
a $540,000 public awareness campaign to let workers know
about this mechanism and introduce the Website and hotline.
The campaign will include television and print ads, as well
as pamphlets and brochures to be distributed at labor camps
and elsewhere. Workers will be able to file a complaint,
arrange an appointment with the Dubai Labor Committee, and
track progress online and through a call center (which is
already up and running inside the Immigration building). The
labor committee is hiring three lawyers to represent
complainants. Laborers and domestic workers will not have to
pay any legal fees. The Website is currently in Arabic and
English, but there are plans to provide the service in other
languages.

-- Labor Minister Al Kaabi told Ambassador June 21 that the
Ministry of Labor had determined that it was more efficient
to have workers use a Website than a hotline when filing a
labor complaint because of the large number of Internet cafes
and other Internet access across the UAE. Complaints can
either be sent to alkaabi@mol.gov.ae or through the
Ministry's Website at www.mol.gov.ae . Website users wishing
to provide feedback and suggestions need to enter their names
and contact information, as well as any comments. There is
also a link on the "Procedures Guide" where users can read
about the steps for filing a complaint. The user completes
the complaint form, attaches a copy of his/her identification
and labor card, and goes to the reception counter at the
Labor Ministry to submit the papers and obtain an
appointment. The person has to be sponsored by the company
he/she is complaining about. Complaints go to the
Administration Department director who forwards the cases to
legal advisors.

ESTABLISHING SHELTERS; FORMAL PROTECTION
--------------

-- The Ministry of Interior is operating two Camel Jockey
Rehabilitation Centers in Abu Dhabi emirate. The first
opened in December 2004 and is located on the Zayed Military
City army base. The second opened in May 2005 and is located
adjacent to a youth correctional facility in the Abu Dhabi
suburb of Al Mafraq. As of June 9, there were 197 boys
living in the centers. The UAEG is providing medical and
mental health care, basic education, food, clothing, and
sports activities. The Ministry of Interior's Social Support
Center social workers, in collaboration with UNICEF workers,
are compiling files on each of the boys documenting their
employment history, medical problems, and to the extent
possible, their family ties. When the children are
repatriated to their home countries, their files will follow
them to ensure follow-up care by local NGOs.

-- The Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC) has set up a
new shelter for destitute Indian women in Dubai and the
Northern Emirates. This is the second shelter in Dubai for
Indian women; the ICWC set up the first one four years ago.
Both shelters are managed in coordination with the Indian
consulate, and house runaway maids and women rescued from
forced prostitution. Dubai Emirate authorities are
coordinating and cooperating with the shelters. For example,
Dubai Immigration assists by waiving the normal fees levied
on travelers without passports or who have overstayed their
visa validity period. The Indian Consul General forwards
information about the women to the Dubai police for use in
investigations.

-- Talks between Dubai Police and Dubai developer Emaar
Properties to build two shelters for trafficking victims have
progressed and the paperwork is now with the head of Dubai
police, Al Murr of the Human Rights Care Department said.

PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
--------------

-- At the Ministry of Information, which will also play a
role in developing a public awareness campaign on the
trafficking issue, Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed has
instructed his staff to comb through the TIP mini-action plan
(ref B) and TIP report to understand what the UAE needs to do
by August 2 to bring itself into compliance with the minimum
standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
Ibrahim Al Abed, Sheikh Abdullah's media adviser and the
director of the Emirates News Agency, called the Embassy June
12 requesting a copy of the TVPA. The UAEG's research on the
TVPA, and on ILO labor standards, particularly the employment
of children under 18 in hazardous work, prompted the decision
by the Cabinet to amend the draft camel jockey law by raising
the minimum age for jockeys from 16 to 18 (ref A).

-- On June 16, semi-official Arabic "Al Ittihad" published an
article about the Cabinet's decision to approve the camel
jockey law. The article explained that the law prohibited
the trafficking, employment, and training of anyone under the
age of 18 in camel activities, and noted that procedures for
bringing underage camel jockeys to the UAE were being
canceled. The report also explained that Article Three of
the law stipulates that any person who violates the law will
be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison and/or
will be fined a minimum of 50,000 Dirhams ($13,500).

-- The two major English dailies "Gulf News" (GN) and
"Khaleej Times" (KT) have published several articles about
the challenges facing domestic workers and laborers, and the
UAEG's role in addressing these challenges:

-- GN June 6: The Ministry of Labor formed a committee to try
to resolve the case of 200 Asian workers who protested
non-payment of wages.

-- KT June 10: Medical doctors call for a law banning
construction work in the summer afternoons, citing incidents
of heat stroke.

-- KT June 11: The number of maids who abscond from their
abusive employers is increasing. Domestic workers are
caught, jailed, and deported, while sponsors are seldom
punished.

-- GN June 11: Account of a Filipino worker who had not been
paid for two months after being promised a substantially
higher wage. The Labor Ministry summoned him to the Ministry
to resolve his case.

-- KT June 16: The Ministry of Labor will inspect and
penalize companies that violate occupational safety rules in
a move to protect laborers from health hazards, such as
working outdoors for long hours during the summer.

-- KT June 19: The Ministry of Labor intervened in the case
of 20 Asian laborers who stopped working to protest their
poor living conditions and non-payment of wages. A Ministry
official told the laborers that the labor camp would be
inspected and back wages paid.
UNICEF Role in Rehabilitating and Repatriating Jockeys
-------------- --------------


5. (U) UNICEF, meanwhile, has been assisting the Ministry of
Interior with the time-consuming process of "mapping" the
camel jockey population. The goal is to learn as much as
possible about the children's families, cultures, and
employment background so that they can be properly
rehabilitated, then repatriated to their home countries,
where they will receive reintegration services from local
NGOs. UNICEF has been providing technical support to
establish a database in the Ministry of Interior's Social
Support Center in Abu Dhabi that will keep a record of all
children who have been properly registered. Each child's
file will follow him to his home country for the follow-up
care.


6. (SBU) UNICEF offices in the three principal source
countries for camel jockeys ) Pakistan, Bangladesh, and
Sudan - are finalizing action plans of their own that include
arrangements with the local governments for sending the boys
home and ensuring the children get reintegrated well with
their families and societies, UNICEF regional representative
June Kunugi told Pol Chief June 12. "Things are starting to
fall in place. It takes a while to coordinate all this," she
added. Under the UNICEF-Ministry of Interior project
agreement signed May 8, the child jockeys will receive aid
for their health, education, job, and other rehabilitation
needs for two years. More than 80 percent of the $2.7
million fund established by the UAEG to help eradicate the
problem of underage camel jockeys is allocated for the
follow-up care in the home countries.


7. (SBU) UNICEF representatives have discussed with the
Ministry of Interior their concern that the repatriation
process not be expedited for the sake of showing better
results to the international community. The welfare of the
children must be the guiding operating principle, Kunugi
said. Kunugi said UNICEF wants to ensure that there is a
full case history and file on each child before he is
repatriated. "We don,t want children going back to their
home countries without the full support they deserve," Kunugi
said. The more than 200 children who were repatriated to
their home countries prior to the MOI-UNICEF project
commencing could potentially benefit from the follow-up care.
Kunugi said the challenge for UNICEF offices, local
governments, and NGOs is to locate the children who have gone
home to the source countries.

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


8. (C) The UAEG is off to a good start in trying to address
each of the steps in the TIP action plan. The leadership
tells us that it is committed to getting results. While
progress is being made to address the trafficking of children
as camel jockeys, we will need to continue encouraging
additional steps on the other forms of human trafficking.
SISON