QATAR'S DEPORTATION DETENTION CENTER - NO APPARENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 001053 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, DRL/ILCSR, PRM, NEA/ARP LABOR FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL ELAB KWMN SMIG QA SUBJECT: QATAR'S DEPORTATION DETENTION CENTER - NO APPARENT CHANGE REF: A. DOHA 151 ¶B. DOHA 76 ¶1. (U) Summary. A visit to the Qatar Deportation Detention Center (DDC) 30 October revealed little to no improvement over the previous year. What appear to be obvious trafficking-in-persons (TIP) victims continue to be administratively apprehended, detained and deported. End Summary. -------------- Delays, Delays, Delays -------------- ¶2. (U) P/E Chief, Poloff, and Pol Specialist and Assistant paid a follow-up visit to the Qatar DDC October 30. Emboffs last visited the DDC November 19, 2006 (see reftels). The Embassy's request via diplomatic note to revisit the DDC and the Central Police Detention Center (CPDC) had been pending by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since March 2007. Access to the CPDC has not yet been approved and an additional request to visit the Central Prison has been pending since July 2006. -------------- A Meeting but No Site Visit -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The DDC is headed by LtCol Sheikh Mohamed Jassim Al-Thani, Director of the Search and Follow-up Department, a section of the Ministry of Interior's (MOI's) General Directorate of Borders, Passports and Expatriate Affairs. Also at the meeting was LtCol Abdulla Saqer Al-Mohannadi, Director of the Human Rights Office at the MOI. The specific reason for visiting the DDC was to conduct a site visit of the detention facilities in order to talk to some of the inmates and observe living conditions. The visit started with an office call and when Emboffs asked whether it was time to begin the site visit, both officials balked and LtCol Al-Thani said, "For security reasons, you need specific permission for that." We were not allowed to visit the detention facilities during this trip. -------------- No Apparent Change in Operations -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Very little has changed in the rhetoric from nearly a year ago, even though officials as high as the Heir Apparent had called for substantial reform. Instead, the number of detainees has risen from 1,200 to 1,600 in already overcrowded facilities. LtCol Al-Thani noted that most of the detainees had run away from their sponsors. Although LtCol Al-Thani several times explained that the DDC was not a shelter, he noted that Embassies of labor-supplying countries regularly bring laborers and domestic workers to the DDC because they have no where else to stay. He proudly exclaimed, "Most people want to come here." He also said that the DDC will only accept individuals that have a current immigration charge against them. (Comment: It is regular practice for sponsors to submit their workers' passports to the Criminal Investigation Division when their workers run away, or when they want to absolve responsibility for the worker, which result in immigration charges.) -------------- It's Trafficking, but It's "Their" Fault -------------- ¶5. (SBU) LtCol Al-Thani described conditions that many of the inmates had endured prior to their arrival at the DDC. He noted that a large percentage of them had acquired substantial debts in their home countries obtaining work visas for Qatar. He added that many of them did not receive salary or benefits on time, if at all. He also described visa selling, whereby an agent in the sending country would obtain multiple work visas for a non-existent company in Qatar and would sell them to aspiring workers. When the worker arrived, the sponsor would sell his/her services to another employer. LtCol Al-Thani observed that many of the foreign workers receive exaggerated promises in their home countries regarding wages and benefits, but find different contract terms upon arrival. He said all contracts are signed in Qatar and placed all blame for these practices on the labor-sending countries. DOHA 00001053 002 OF 003 ¶6. (SBU) Poloff told LtCol Al-Thani that according to international norms, the practices described could be considered forms of forced labor and TIP. Surely there must be complicit parties in Qatar. While LtCol Al-Thani appeared to agree, he avoided answering when directly asked whether the Department coordinates such cases with the Qatar National TIP Coordinator and the TIP shelter. He made a point of noting that he could do nothing about practices that occur overseas. -------------- Prostitution Cases? -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Poloff asked whether there has been an increase in the deportation of women and men suspected of prostitution and soliciting prostitution. LtCol Al-Thani noted that prostitution-related cases are not handled by his department; the Preventive Security Department handles such cases. He provided no additional information. (Comment: Those suspected of prostitution-related activities are often apprehended and summarily deported by the Preventive Security Department of the MOI, apparently in separate channels from the cases at the DDC.) The Preventive Security Department also handles cases of abuse and criminal charges apart from the Search and Follow-up Department. -------------- Detained for Our and Their Protection -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Asked about the number of stateless "bidoon" that were being housed in the center, LtCol Al-Thani replied that there was currently only one, Jaber Sattem Salim Al-Marri (see reftel B for details). Jaber had been stripped of his Qatari citizenship in 1997 along with the rest of his family. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1999 for possession of drugs and was released in October 2006 during a Ramadan amnesty granted by the Amir. Although his other family members had already regained their Qatari citizenship, he received an immediate deportation order and was brought to the DDC, where he has remained for more than a year. When asked under what charges he was being held, LtCol Al-Thani replied, "Well, you wouldn't want a convicted drug offender on the street, would you? We detain people so they won't go out and commit crimes." ¶9. (SBU) Pol Assistant asked about cases of domestic maids being held without charges in the center. LtCol Al-Thani responded, "We can't let those women loose on the street; something could happen to them." In other words, they were holding them in detention for their own safety and protection. -------------- Immigration Court in Session? -------------- ¶10. (SBU) LtCol Al-Thani noted that an immigration court, a court of first instance, convenes three times per week at the DDC to handle cases within 48 hours of detention. He said that the court handles 100 cases within the two-hour sitting and that every detainee is held under a court order. (Comment: During our previous visit, even though the court was operating, many detainees we talked to said they had never seen a judge since their arrival.) The court only deals with immigration law; labor or criminal violations must be refered to the labor and criminal courts. LtCol Al-Thani noted that his department helps to expedite outside court cases. Rather than waiting between three months and four years for a court decision, the time is supposedly reduced to as short as one month through the department. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Very little has changed in the Department's attitude toward arbitrary and indefinite detention of expatriate laborers and domestic workers. The GOQ continues to fine, detain, and deport TIP victims for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as running away from their sponsors or immigration violations, without offering adequate protection for the victims or prosecution of the purpetrators. Both officials appeared shocked when we "unexpectedly" asked for our tour of the facilities but quickly responded that we needed special permission. They DOHA 00001053 003 OF 003 obviously did not want us to see behind the tall, barbed-wired walls of the DDC without the time to prepare for such a visit. RATNEY