POST INFORMS GOK OF TIP RANKING; OFFICIALS LOOK

UNCLAS KUWAIT 002113 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU TIP SUBJECT: POST INFORMS GOK OF TIP RANKING; OFFICIALS LOOK FORWARD TO MORE PROGRESS REF: STATE 85464 ¶1. (SBU) Poloff met with representatives of three Kuwaiti Ministries on June 5 to inform them of Kuwait's rise from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watchlist: Saud Al-Saeedi, who handles human rights issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Legal Department, Zakaria Al-Ansari, Assistant Director of the International Relations Depart at the Ministry of Justice; and Dr. Salih Al-Shaykh, Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. All expressed satisfaction with the recognition of Kuwait's efforts and confirmed that they understood that much more work needs to be done. Specifically, Al-Ansari pledged to help elucidate the TIP prosecution statistics his office provided this year. Al-Shaykh, who will participate in the August TIP International Visitors Program, agreed to use his position to put pressure on the inter-ministerial committee on expatriate labor affairs to make progress on a shelter for domestic workers. Saeedi said he would coordinate with the Minister of Interior and Kuwaiti embassies in labor-sending countries to make sure that the standardized domestic labor contracts are enforced. ¶2. (U) Since the report was released around 9pm local time, very few newspapers covered it. The Arabic daily Al-Qabas had an article titled "U.S. State Department: Kuwait is One of the Best Countries in the World in Protecting Foreign and Migrant Workers." The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) had an English article entitled "Report cites Kuwait for Best Practices in Migrant Worker Protection Efforts." Both reports attributed the praise given to the Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices (KUDLO) in the "International Best Practices" section of the report to the State of Kuwait itself. ********************************************* * 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/ ********************************************* * TUELLER