CHARITY OVERSIGHT DIRECTOR DESCRIBES HIS WORK;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 003393

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR TSOU
STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS SKANE, S/CT TKUSHNER, NEA/ARPI
TWILLIAMS, NEA/ELA SSONTY, NEA/IPA GLOGERFO, IO/PSC
BFITZGERALD
NSC FOR JZARATE
TREASURY FOR DGLASER, OFAC DIRECTOR RWERNER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2015
TAGS: EFIN PTER KTFN PINR KU
SUBJECT: CHARITY OVERSIGHT DIRECTOR DESCRIBES HIS WORK;
ASKS FOR MORE USG ASSISTANCE

REF: KUWAIT 1730

Classified By: CDA Matthew Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is an action request, please see para 6.


2. (C) Summary and Comment: Econ Officer met July 27 with
Ministry of Social Affairs Charitable Organizations Oversight
Department Director Nasser Al-Ammer and Undersecretary Adnan
Al-Omar to learn more about the day-to-day operations of the
department. Al-Ammer described the various activities of his
department, including how it regulates charities, coordinates
with other ministries and agencies, follows up on violations,
and recruits employees. He said that significant progress
has been made on oversight of charities over the past few
years, but that more control is still needed. He said that
more training is needed for his employees and he and
Undersecretary Adnan Al-Omar both asked for USG assistance
with training and guidelines. Comment: Econ Officer
scheduled the meeting specifically with Al-Ammer because we
do not believe that Al-Omar has enough day-to-day
understanding of the actual work of this department. When we
arrived at Al-Ammer's office, he told us that we needed to go
see Al-Omar, which we did. It was clear that Al-Ammer does
not feel he can meet with USG and Embassy representatives
without the permission of Al-Omar. After sitting briefly
with Al-Omar, we went back to Al-Ammer's office and continued
our meeting with him, where we learned much more about his
work. End Summary and Comment.

Charity Org Oversight Director Works in Shadow of
Undersecretary
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Econ Officer met July 27 with Ministry of Social
Affairs Charitable Organizations Oversight Department (COOD)
Director Nasser Al-Ammer to learn more about the day-to-day
operations of the department. Upon arriving at Al-Ammer's
office, Al-Ammer said that we needed to go see Adnan Al-Omar,
the Undersecretary (reftel). (Comment: It was clear that
Al-Ammer had asked for permission from Al-Omar to meet with
us and that Al-Omar wanted to be in on the meeting. After
speaking for a short time with Al-Ammer we went up to
Al-Omar's office to meet with both of them. When the meeting
ended with Al-Omar, Al-Ammer brought us back to his office
where we spoke at length about his work. It was clear that
he takes his job very seriously but does not yet have the
political power to make decisions on his own. End Comment.)

Trip to Bosnia Creates "Good Feelings"
--------------


4. (C) Al-Omar said that his Ministry and the COOD had
"strengthened relations" with the charitable organizations by
visiting Bosnia to see some of these organizations in action.
He said that he "feels confident in how the money was being
spent," and that the organizations doing the work locally
were accredited by the Bosnian government. Al-Omar said that
the trip was sponsored by a number of different charities,
including the Social Reform Society (SRS),and that this
specific charity no longer had any "violations of
procedures." He said that a "serious effort" was being made
by the organization and that the Ministry now has a
"cooperative" relationship with the SRS. He said that he
still needed more cooperation from "Islamic Revival", likely
referring to the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS).


5. (C) Reflecting back on his recent discussions with other
USG officials (reftel),Al-Omar said that his concerns about
the charities are primarily "concerns about the political
movements" behind the charities and not the charities
themselves. He explained that he considers himself a
liberal, and does not like the Islamists behind the
charities. He said that he thought a lot of effort had been
made by the charities to comply with the COOD regulations
over the past two years.

USG Assistance Requested
--------------


6. (SBU) Al-Omar wondered "how so much money had been
collected in the U.S." that eventually went to nefarious
purposes, and specifically asked how the U.S. deals with
charity oversight and regulation. He asked for examples of
the material and guidelines that are used and welcomed any
training that could be provided. Econ Officer said that we
would relay this request to the appropriate agencies and let
him know what type of assistance and training could be
provided.

COOD Department Inner Workings
--------------


7. (C) Back with Al-Ammer in his office, we learned more
specific details about his department. There are now eight
officially licensed charities in Kuwait, including new ones
providing help for prisoners, assisting injured workers, and
rehabilitating drug addicts. Al-Ammer said that no societies
or charities were approved from outside Kuwait, that these
were all Kuwaiti organizations. Besides the eight "major
charities," as he described them, he said that there are also
23 "welfare organizations" run by rich Kuwaiti families. All
of the organizations "have accepted to come under the
government umbrella," he explained.


8. (C) Al-Ammer said that his department "was confident in
the procedures being implemented by Kuwaiti charities
overseas," and that no projects would be undertaken without
approval of the COOD. He added that any payments for work to
local organizations had to be approved by the banks in which
the charities held their accounts. He was "confident that no
stage of (any charity) project would be done without
approval" by the GOK, and added that "even mosque
construction (in foreign countries) had to have approval of
the host governments."


9. (C) Al-Ammer did not try to paint a completely rosy
picture of the oversight of charities in Kuwait. He said
that his department "still needs more control" over the
groups, and that more training was needed. He welcomed any
offers of training and materials from the USG. He said that
he has 24 employees in his department and that he is very
particular about the people he hires. He said that the
department considers the positions to be "sensitive" and that
he personally screens all of the new employees. The COOD
also uses a classification system for sensitive documents,
according to Al-Ammer.

Coordination With Other Ministries on Violations
-------------- ---


10. (C) To coordinate actual oversight and enforcement of
rules regarding charities, Al-Ammer explained, there are
regular meetings of a "field inspection department committee"
where any outstanding issues can be raised. This meeting is
attended by his department, as well as the Ministries of
Interior, Information and Commerce. Any commercial
transaction related to charities, including the display and
selling of literature in bookstores, must have approval from
the COOD, according to Al-Ammer. He explained that the COOD
has the authority to write up violations, then the violations
are presented to the relevant ministry for action. A
"follow-up committee" within the COOD makes sure that action
has been taken against the violations, and he added that he
"can go around the ministries" if the appropriate action is
not being taken.


11. (C) In the past few years, Al-Ammer said, the
"community" in Kuwait has become much more cooperative, and
"strangers collecting donations are usually reported." He
said that 23 foreigners were seized during the past Ramadan
(mid-October - mid-November 2004) for unlawful charity
collection, and expected that his department would carry out
a similar campaign this Ramadan (early-October -
early-November 2005). Of the 23 people from last Ramadan,
Al-Ammer said that 2 were from Senegal, 4 or 5 were
Pakistani, 3 or 4 were Iranians, 1 was Lebanese and the rest
were from other countries or Bidoun (stateless Arabs). After
seizing the person, Al-Ammer said, his department would take
the passport and visa and task the Ministry of Social Affairs
with calling in the visa sponsor to explain why they
sponsored this person for a visa. (Note: You cannot have
employment in Kuwait without a visa sponsor.) The person is
usually deported after the investigation of the visa sponsor.
Al-Ammer said that most of the 23 caught last year had
either worked directly for or had been affiliated with one of
the Kuwaiti charities overseas and were usually recommended
by someone to come to Kuwait for work. Al-Ammer said that
the COOD has told the charity organizations not to sponsor
foreigners for visas anymore.

Getting the Word Out During Ramadan
--------------

12. (C) Al-Ammer said that his department will also have
much closer cooperation this coming Ramadan with the Ministry
of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs concerning charity donations,
which are particularly important for Muslims during the holy
month of Ramadan. He said that previously, his department
only had correspondence with the Ministry and the COOD would
ask the Ministry to urge imams (Mosque preachers) to speak
out against unlawful and misdirected charity collections.
This year, he said, the Ministry will send out a message to
all imams telling them that they are responsible for all of
the activities that take place inside their mosques,
including charitable collections. He said that the COOD
would cooperate with the Ministry to remove unlicensed
charity committees from inside the mosques.

The Times They Are a Changing
--------------


13. (C) To illustrate how the perception of charity
collection has changed over the past few years, Al-Ammer
explained how, prior to the establishment of his department
in 2003 and the work it has done over the past few years, "no
one dared to remove the man on the street selling Korans and
collecting donations." Now, he said, the word has gotten out
that this is illegal and the police take the necessary
action. He also said that the COOD has succeeded in
eliminating newspapers ads and billboards asking for
donations and on getting rid of the numerous charity boxes
that were in abundance all over Kuwait. He said that store
owners used to be afraid to tell the charity committees not
to place collection boxes in their stores, but now the store
owners know they have the law on their side.


14. (C) Concerning actions by individuals on behalf of
charities, Al-Ammer said that the COOD maintains a blacklist
of persons based on UN designations and will not grant a visa
to anyone who is designated by the UN as a supporter of
terrorism. He also said that anyone delivering a speech on
behalf of a charity must first get permission from the COOD,
and that any projects outside of Kuwait would be validated by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

No Beard, But Still a Good Muslim
--------------


15. (C) Al-Ammer finished the meeting by describing the
frosty reception that awaited him when he first took charge
of the COOD. He said that "the staff was difficult in the
beginning, because he didn't have a beard," and that they
thought he was going to be the "sword on the neck of the
charities." He said that he told them that he has been
praying since he was six years old and listens to the Koran
in his office (it was playing in the background when we
arrived for our meeting.) He managed to show them that he
prays just like they do, he said, just without the beard.
His goal is to regulate the charities, he explained, not
dissolve them.


16. (C) Comment: We found Al-Ammer to take his job very
seriously and to understand USG concerns regarding the
charities and their operations around the world. While he
was certainly attempting to tell us what we wanted to hear,
we found him to be much more knowledgeable about the
day-to-day operations of the COOD than Undersecretary Al-Omar
and would recommend that any future engagement on this issue
include Al-Ammer.

Bio Data
--------------


17. (SBU) Al-Ammer is about 45 years old and does not speak
English very well. He understands it but prefers to use an
interpreter. He considers himself a devout Muslim.

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