KUWAITI NGO SAYS IT WILL BREAK THE IMPASSE OVER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002569

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2016
TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU TIP
SUBJECT: KUWAITI NGO SAYS IT WILL BREAK THE IMPASSE OVER
IMPLEMENTING STANDARDIZED DOMESTIC LABOR CONTRACTS

REF: A. KUWAIT 2395

B. KUWAIT 2147

C. KUWAIT 1041

D. KUWAIT 921

E. KUWAIT 724

F. KUWAIT 436

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


1. (C) Summary: Social Work Society Chairman Faisal
Al-Masoud called Poloff to say that the GOK had decided it
could not implement the standard domestic worker contract it
promised as part of an effort to improve the lot of domestic
workers because of popular opposition. Al-Masoud claims he
has coordinated with senior officials in the Ministry of
Interior (MOI) to mount an awareness campaign that will
remove this opposition and pave the way for the
implementation of the contract. Al-Masoud also spoke with
the head of the Immigration Department at the MOI about the
work of the Domestic Workers Administration and promised to
try to find a way to improve its effectiveness. The SWS has
demonstrated a commitment to human rights issues -- for
instance, by completing a comprehensive study on the plight
of domestic workers -- but Post remains wary as to whether
its ties to the government may affect its work. End Summary.

NGO Chairman: GOK Will not Implement Contract
--------------


2. (C) Faisal Al-Masoud, Chairman of the Social Work
Society (SWS),called Poloff on June 25 to report on his
discussions with senior officials in the Ministry of Interior
about the implementation of a standardized domestic labor
contract. The contract should help the situation of domestic
laborers by stipulating minimum standards for salary and
other work conditions. It was supposed to be implemented in
the fall of 2005 but has been repeatedly delayed. In March,
MOI Immigration chief Abdullah Al-Ruwaih told Poloff (and the
press) that implementation of the contract would be delayed
until August while Kuwaiti embassies abroad made the
necessary administrative preparations. (Note: Doubt was
cast on this explanation in a May 23 meeting with Kuwait's
Ambassador to Indonesia (ref B). End Note.) In a June 19
meeting (ref A) between the Charge and the MOI's Assistant
Undersecretary, Shaykh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah, Al-Ruwaih
contradicted himself by saying the reason for the delay was
that an information campaign was necessary before
implementation could take place. Since many Kuwaitis leave
the country during the summer, Al-Ruwaih said the contract
could be implemented after they got back, perhaps in
September or October.


3. (C) Al-Masoud said he had met Al-Ruwaih on June 21.
Al-Ruwaih complained to Al-Masoud about the interference of
Poloff and the American Embassy in internal Kuwaiti affairs.
More importantly, he told Al-Masoud that the GOK had studied
the issue and determined that implementing such a contract
would produce an unacceptably harsh confrontation with
Kuwaiti society. Al-Masoud, whose NGO has taken a
substantial interest in the issue of foreign workers, then
worked out a deal to try to implement the contract.
Al-Masoud will prepare an information campaign in July. He
will begin informally spreading the word in August; he will
try to reach men through diwaniyas and women through informal
networks and meetings. The official campaign will begin
September 1, and will be designed to take the initial brunt
of any backlash. The MOI would then begin its own
information campaign on September 25. Al-Masoud told Poloff
in confidentiality that he had also spoken to Nasser
Al-Othman, Undersecretary at the MOI, on June 24. Al-Othman
reportedly expressed his support for the plan, although he
insisted that his support not be made public at this stage.


4. (C) Comment: While it is not a positive sign that the
head of Immigration -- the department which has
responsibility for domestic workers -- appears to have been
less than truthful about the contract, it is instructive to
see the difficulty Kuwait faces because of societal
attitudes. Hence, Post requests a determination on its
request for funding for Project RESPECT (ref F). The
conversation with Al-Masoud does suggest that the GOK is
looking for a way to deal with the problem, however. Since
Al-Masoud is a new contact for Post, it is difficult to judge
whether his approach is workable. End Comment.

Domestic Workers Administration
--------------


5. (C) After the June 19 meeting with Shaykh Ahmad, Poloff

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spoke with Al-Ruwaih and Domestic Workers Administration head
Esam Nomani about giving the DWA more authority in order to
increase its effectiveness. Specifically, Poloff suggested
that it needed to hire more staff in order to handle more
cases, and more importantly, needed to penalize those who
violate their employees' rights in order to deter further
abuses. Al-Ruwaih said these were good ideas and asked
Nomani to look into them. In his conversation with
Al-Masoud, Al-Ruwaih noted these requests from the U.S.
Embassy and complained that the authority to impose such
punishments could only come with a new law. Al-Masoud
claimed he would figure out a way the DWA could impose
punishments until such a law could be passed.

SWS' Closeness to the Regime: Positive or Negative?
-------------- --------------


6. (C) The Social Work Society was founded by Faisal
Al-Masoud, a human rights activist, and Shaykha Bibi Nasser
Al-Sabah, the Amir's granddaughter. It seems to have a real
commitment to improving the lot of foreign workers,
especially household workers. Poloff made his second trip to
SWS headquarters on June 11, where Al-Masoud and an Egyptian
professor named Abdulrauf Al-Gardawi presented an advance
look into an extensive study that SWS has just completed on
domestic labor in Kuwait. The study is due to be officially
released soon. Al-Masoud said it was the first truly
independent study of the domestic labor industry. They
analyzed the responses to questionnaires of 1002 domestic
workers and 596 employers of domestic workers and made
recommendations for improving the situation of the workers.
The study is professionally done and even includes footnotes
on social science research methodology.


7. (C) SWS does, however, have ties to the government and
the Al-Sabah family. And it seemed to be a rather suspicious
coincidence that Al-Masoud met with Al-Ruwaih only two days
after Post's meeting. Similarly, SWS paid the DWA a visit
not long after Post had done so (ref C). When Poloff asked
Kholoud Al-Feeli, a board member of the Kuwait Human Rights
Society (HRS),her views on the SWS, she dismissed it as a
pet project of the royal family. Perhaps Al-Feeli knows
something specific, but petty jealously could also be behind
her statement. She acknowledged that one of her fellow HRS
board members, and one of the most prominent human rights
advocates in Kuwait, former oil minister Ali Al-Baghli,
serves on the board of directors of SWS. Al-Masoud claims to
know many people in the upper echelons of Kuwaiti society and
the royal family, producing a newspaper clipping showing him
meeting the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor in May to
prove it. Al-Feeli may be correct in insinuating that the
closeness of SWS to the regime may impede its likeliness to
produce real change. On the other hand, it may also give it
the ability to effect change. Furthermore, the royal family
in Kuwait is not monolithic, so the mere presence of someone
like Bibi Nasser Al-Sabah does not necessarily mean the
organization is a tool of the government. Post is remaining
cautious about the independence of SWS in the meantime.

Bio Note
--------------


8. (C) Shaykha Bibi Nasser Al-Sabah is in her late 20s or
early 30s. Her father, Shaykh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad
Al-Sabah, is the son of the Amir and currently serves as
Minister for Amiri Diwan affairs. Shaykha Bibi spent
approximately six years in New York during her late teens and
early twenties. She speaks fluent American English. She told
Poloff that she found it difficult to readjust to the social
rigidity of Kuwaiti society after having been in the U.S. for
her formative years.

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Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:
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