KUWAIT PASSES ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001345 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARPI, INL/HSTC, AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2016 TAGS: PHUM ELAB ZP TIP SUBJECT: KUWAIT PASSES ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW REF: KUWAIT 1096 Classified By: DCM Matt Tueller for reason 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (U) Kuwait's National Assembly passed, and Amir Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah signed, a law giving the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime the full force of law in Kuwait. Kuwait signed the Convention on December 12, 2000 but this action now gives it the force of law . The law (number 5 of 2006) also made two supplemental UN protocols official Kuwaiti law: the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air, and Sea. The law was officially published on April 4. ¶2. (SBU) Zakariya Al-Ansari, the Assistant Director of the International Relations Department at the Ministry of Justice, told PolOff in an April 17 meeting that the law will be in full effect 30 days after GOK ratification is presented to the UN. He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had either already done that or would do so within a matter of days. Al-Ansari noted that he had met with the Public Prosecutor's office to make sure it was aware of the new law. Post will follow up with the Public Prosecutor's office to see how it plans to incorporate this new law into its activities. ¶3. (SBU) Al-Ansari acknowledged that the Government needs to issue an accompanying law to specify punishments and other implementation details of the new law. As a first step toward this goal, Al-Ansari referred to a recent meeting of a special experts' committee of the GCC held to discuss a draft law on Trafficking in Persons. The meeting seems to have come at the behest of Bahrain. It produced a progressive draft anti-trafficking law, with a definition of trafficking very similar to the U.S. definition. Embassy Manama provided an English translation of Bahrain's draft TIP law, which is clearly the source of the GCC draft law, though there are differences. The law will be reviewed by each country and is scheduled for ratification at the meeting of the GCC Ministers of Justice in November. ¶4. (SBU) The law defines trafficking as: "The use, recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receiving of a person with the purpose of exploitation through compulsion, threat, fraud, deception, kidnapping, or through misuse of official position, or any other illegal means whether they be direct or indirect, or the exploitation of a person in any way, such as prostitution or sexual violation, labor, forced servitude, indentured servitude or similar practices, slavery, or organ removal." The law goes on to give special protection to minors and those not able to make decisions for themselves. It intensifies punishments for: the organizers of criminal groups involved in TIP; those who traffic children, women, and the disabled; those who use official positions to participate in trafficking; those who use weapons or threaten to use them in trafficking; traffickers of a family member or other person over whom they have some legal authority; traffickers of multiple victims; traffickers who are part of criminal groups; international traffickers. ¶5. (SBU) The law would punish those with direct or indirect knowledge of trafficking crimes who do not inform the authorities, though immediate family members are excepted from this provision. It provides amnesty to those who might be convicted under this law, but give evidence that leads to the prevention of the trafficking crime or the apprehension of trafficking criminals. It punishes all those involved in trafficking, even those with indirect roles. The law stipulates that the state must inform victims of their legal rights and provide a range of victim services such as shelter, security protection, medical and psychological attention, etc. It also allows the victim to stay in the destination country while investigations are being carried out. Finally, it mandates the forming of a national anti-TIP committee to: prevent TIP; protect victims; prepare awareness campaigns and provide economic and social programs to prevent TIP; and to coordinate with international bodies in providing TIP-related information and statistics. ¶4. (C) Comment: Al-Ansari's deputy, Ahmad Al-Dhafeeri, noted (before Al-Ansari arrived) that such GCC laws are not binding. Nevertheless, Kuwait's involvement in the drafting of the law and its signing of Law 5 of 2006 are significant components of Kuwait's approach to the trafficking issue. They provide a clear statement of the GOK commitment. The local UN representative commented that perhaps the main goal of the proposed Migrant Labor conference this fall is to KUWAIT 00001345 002 OF 002 produce a statement that could be used to pressure Kuwait (reftel) and its neighbors to take steps to ensure full implementation of the law. End Comment. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LEBARON