QATAR: DELIVERY OF 2005 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000991 SIPDIS NEA/ARPI FOR STHORNE E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2010 TAGS: OPRC KCRM KWMN PHUM PREL SMIG QA SUBJECT: QATAR: DELIVERY OF 2005 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer for reasons 1.4 (A) and (B) ¶1. (U) DCM delivered advance draft of the 2005 TIP report and action plan for Qatar on Thursday, June 2 to Amb. Khalid Al-Mansouri, Director of the Americas and European Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ¶2. (C) DCM informed Al-Mansouri that Qatar had been placed on Tier 3 based on the lack of significant efforts between March 2004 and March 2005 to address the TIP issues described in the report. DCM described the reassessment process and timeline and reviewed with Al-Mansouri each point of the 60 day action-plan. ¶3. (C) Al-Mansouri said he was not surprised but was still disappointed at the Tier 3 ranking. He said that there were many significant actions the GOQ has taken that have not been recognized, such as the recent passage of a law banning the use of children as camel jockeys, the improvement of the children's living conditions, and the efforts underway to repatriate them. He noted that Qatar would bear a significant financial burden to compensate over 15,000 Qataris for losses as this practice is brought to an end and to fund the development and purchase of camel-jockey robots to replace the children. ¶4. (C) Al-Mansouri expressed concern that the lack of recognition of Qatar's efforts was "linked to other issues." (Comment: Without using the words "Al-Jazeera," Al-Mansouri was expressing a view held by many in the Qatari leadership that the U.S. aims to punish Qatar because of the anti-U.S. nature of Al-Jazeera broadcasting.) DCM assured Al-Mansouri that the TIP rating was based only on circumstances in Qatar and of actions taken or not taken by the GOQ to address those issues. DCM also noted that last January the Ambassador proposed to the GOQ several specific measures to improve the conditions of the underage camel jockeys, but no action was taken in response. The important and positive steps taken in recent weeks were laudable but came too late to be factored into the 2005 report. ¶5. (C) Al-Mansouri said that he hoped G/TIP's Ambassador Miller would make some "good" comments to the press about Qatar's recent efforts when the report is released on June 3. He also said that Qatar hoped to work together with the U.S. to address the TIP issues and to move Qatar from Tier 3 during the upcoming reassessment. Untermeyer UNTERMEYER