ACRIMONIOUS BEGINNING FOR NEW DUBAI GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DUBAI 000629 SIPDIS SIPDIS G/TIP FOR GPATEL; CA/OCS/ACS FOR GLYNN TAGS: PREL PHUM KCRM ELAB CASC AE SUBJECT: ACRIMONIOUS BEGINNING FOR NEW DUBAI GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED WOMEN'S SHELTER REF: REF ABU DHABI 1687 DUBAI 00000629 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The much-anticipated opening of the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWC) shelter (the first official government-sponsored shelter for abused women and children in the UAE) and its merger with the unofficial City of Hope (CoH) shelter has been marred by acrimonious accusations between the DFWC shelter's executive director Afra Busiti and long-time local trafficking activist, City of Hope founder and DFWC board member Sharla Musabih (a naturalized Emirati born in the US). The escalating tensions between the two have resulted in Musabih being refused access to the DFWC compound to visit her City of Hope clients and Busiti filling criminal charges of "insulting" against Musabih. Musabih has called off the merger between the shelters, though she remains on the board of the DFWC, and is seeking to reactivate the City of Hope facility (which had transferred all its equipment and furniture to the new shelter). ¶2. (C) While in need of immediate aesthetic changes, the DFWC shelter compound has the potential to offer victims of abuse and trafficking a comfortable respite while waiting for their cases to be sorted out by UAEG officials and is a welcome addition in a country lacking legal shelters. However, significant questions remain about the shelter's management philosophy, depth of technical training of its personnel and expertise in dealing with cases of abuse and trafficking. End Summary. ¶3. (C) As reported reftel, in late September and early October, inspired by DFWC's commitment to assist abused and trafficked women, Musabih agreed to merge City of Hope into the newly formed DFWC shelter, moving approximately 50 women and children, and all the CoH's furniture and equipment, from the cramped villa maintained by Musabih into the DFWC's spacious nine building compound. Responding to subsequent concerns expressed by Musabih, Consular Chief, Pol/Econ officer and AmCit Services LES met with Busiti and her staff members during a visit the newly opened shelter on October 29. Pol/Econ officer also spoke separately with Musabih and several of the CoH clients currently resident in the new DFWC shelter. A lovely compound, after the razor wire -------------- ¶4. (U) The new DFWC shelter occupies a compound that formerly housed a drug rehabilitation center. The accommodations are spacious: 2 large dormitories, several stand alone villas and separate dining, laundry, recreation and mosque facilities. There are open lawns and even a swimming pool available for the residents. According to Busiti, the shelter has a 250 to 300 person capacity. ¶5. (C) However, to reach this relaxing abode, one must travel into a remote area, more than 30 kilometers from Dubai city center. Given lack of proximity to downtown and public transportation, it is unlikely that abuse and trafficking victims will be able to reach the shelter on their own. Someone will have to take them there; and Busiti envisions the majority of her cases being delivered to the shelter by the local Dubai police. Busiti further elaborated her belief that being "far from the city is what is needed for the rehabilitation of the ladies." ¶6. (SBU) From the outside, the facility looks like a posh jail; hard to get into and harder to exit. The shelter is situated immediately next door to the Dubai Central Jail and is surrounded by a nine foot fence, topped with razor wire, and guard towers along the perimeter. Entrance into the compounded is through closed gates guarded by police officers. Once verified by the guards against an entry list and allowed inside the compound, the resemblance to a prison is reinforced by the bars gracing the dormitory and out building windows. Busiti acknowledged that the bars needed to come down, but she did not appear concerned about the other security features, insisting they were necessary to "protect" the women inside. When asked whether residents could leave the compound, Busiti unequivocally stated yes, they just need to secure a pass from the shelter administration and sign-up in advance for one of several daily bus trips into city center. Shelter Staff: Depth of experience is thin -------------- ¶7. (C) Busiti does not have experience in social work or health care administration. According to Busiti, her prior experience was running market development for the Dubai World Trade Center, an office tower; according to Musabih, Busiti was also a wedding planner. The DFWC shelter appears to be very lightly staffed, with a deputy director, psychologist and one or two social DUBAI 00000629 002.2 OF 003 workers (one a former volunteer from City of Hope with a Masters degree in Human Rights). Acknowledging the staffing shortfall, Busiti explained that they had solicited resumes from trained mental health and social workers and would begin interviewing for section heads in the next few weeks. Busiti refused to elaborate on the criteria (or how it had been developed) that would be used in selecting shelter staff. (Comment: Musabih noted separately that the shelter is exclusively recruiting Emirati senior staff, hard to come by in Dubai where 15 % or less of the population is Emirati. End Comment) Focus on illegals -------------- ¶8. (C) When discussing actual clients, Busiti appeared much more focused on implementing the UAEG's program to root out "illegals" (individuals in the UAE without a valid visa) than on resolving abuse/trafficking cases and seeking restitution for victims. She proudly declared that the DFWC had already sent three "cases" back to their home countries the previous week and that she anticipated repatriating another 11 in the upcoming week, because the women in question were "illegals who had been malingering" (Note. Busiti meticulously never mentioned the CoH shelter or that the majority of her current cases at the DFWC had been transferred from the CoH. Any time the conversation turned in a direction where CoH or Musabih would logically be mentioned, her tone became cold and aggressive and she turned the conversation. End note.) Merger off - Musabih's tale -------------- ¶9. (C) In separate discussions with Pol/Econ Off, Musabih elaborated on the events surrounding the merger of the two shelters. According to Musabih, after the initial move of all City of Hope cases and equipment to the DFWC shelter, Musabih began to get phone calls from the scared women complaining of maltreatment at the new shelter (being locked in, domestic violence cases being told to go back to abusive husbands, not being allowed to attend church, etc.). Concerned, Musabih twice drove out to the shelter and was refused entry by the guards at the gate. (Note: Musabih is a member of the Board of Directors for the DFWC shelter and it is unusual for a Board member to be refused entry to a facility. End note.) On the second visit, Musabih managed to enter the compound, only to be immediately confronted by Busiti and ordered to leave. As the confrontation escalated, heated words were exchanged, resulting in Busiti pressing criminal charges of "insulting" against Musabih, though Musabih insists the charges are unfounded. (Note: In the UAE, publicly insulting another individual is a prosecutable charge with jail time as a potential outcome if the accused is found guilty. In cases of national vs. non-national, the non-national rarely wins. Ms. Musabih, though a naturalized Emirati through marriage, remains an American citizen. End note.) ¶10. (C) After being refused access to her previous clients, Musabih declared the merger void and defiantly re-opened City of Hope. However the future of the CoH is tenuous at best, as it not legally recognized by the UAEG and could be shut down at any moment. While it has always operated on a shoe-string, it's now without beds, furniture and appliances (the contents of the shelter have not been released back to Musabih). Furthermore, Musabih claims to have received warnings from concerned "friends" that she and the CoH are "under investigation for prostitution and suspicious activities in the house." Finally, the UAEG has confiscated her passport pending resolution of her court case, not unusual given local criminal procedures. The Shelter residents speak -------------- ¶11. (C) Pol/Econ off talked by phone with six of the women at the DFWC shelter (Note: Phone numbers were provided by Musabih and respondents could be biased. End note). Of the six, one indicated that initial problems of transport and entry/exit had been resolved and that "everything is now OK." Another described a clear situation of being in the UAE illegally without any abuse/trafficking circumstances. The other residents' statements raised concerns. A paraplegic woman complained that she was not allowed to leave the shelter with a CoH volunteer, she could only leave when accompanied by a DFWC staff member. A victim of domestic violence claimed the shelter was trying to force her to go back to her alcoholic husband and they had even called her husband and told him to come and pick her and her daughter up. Another woman stated the shelter staff were encouraging her to give her child to her husband's sister and to return to her native country without her baby. DUBAI 00000629 003.2 OF 003 Comment -------------- ¶12. (C) Many of the problems between the two shelters can be attributed back to two very strong-willed individuals with fundamentally different views about who should be in charge of the shelter, how it should be run and its residents treated. While there is a lot of "she said/she said" in this case, it is clear that the merger of the two shelters was poorly handled. Frightened and abused women were prematurely taken to a shelter that too closely resembled a jail and were subsequently denied access to their trusted and known case workers from CoH. In the future, removing the bars, razor wire and guard houses would alleviate some of the women's fear upon first entering the facility. ¶13. (C) Of more concern are the implications by some residents that the DFWC shelter management is trying to expeditiously clear out cases without concern for the women's health and safety. If the shelter is in fact encouraging women to go back to abusive husbands and give up infants - and we only a couple of cases of anecdotal evidence of this - it is not fulfilling its designated role in moving the UAE away from past violations in human rights and trafficking in persons. ¶14. (C) However, the context is important. The very fact of the shelter's existence is a positive step forward for the UAEG and it is premature to judge the shelter, still in its start-up period, based a limited anecdotal criticisms. The UAEG should be encouraged to hire experienced staff with adequate training to work with the residents of the shelter. With changes, the facility has the potential to be a model for the region. Post suggests sending the DFWC senior staff as international visitors to the US to learn from long-established shelters about best practices in handling abuse and trafficking cases. Post will also follow-up with shelter residents on how their cases are being handled. SUTPHIN