Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KUWAIT1166
2007-07-24 15:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

GOK APPROVES TIP SHELTER, OUTLAWS PASSPORT

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ELAB KU TIP 
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VZCZCXRO1045
OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1166/01 2051547
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 241547Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9666
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001166 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2027
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KU TIP
SUBJECT: GOK APPROVES TIP SHELTER, OUTLAWS PASSPORT
WITHHOLDING, PROVIDES TIP PROSECUTION EVIDENCE

REF: A. KUWAIT 1099

B. KUWAIT 1094

C. KUWAIT 1070

D. KUWAIT 475

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4(b)
and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001166

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2027
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KU TIP
SUBJECT: GOK APPROVES TIP SHELTER, OUTLAWS PASSPORT
WITHHOLDING, PROVIDES TIP PROSECUTION EVIDENCE

REF: A. KUWAIT 1099

B. KUWAIT 1094

C. KUWAIT 1070

D. KUWAIT 475

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4(b)
and (d).


1. (C/NF) Summary and Comment: Highlighting his personal
commitment to fighting TIP, the Minister of Social Affairs
and Labor made an unexpected personal appearance at PolOff's
July 22 meeting with a ministry official to provide the
Embassy with a copy of a ministerial decree authorizing the
establishment of a shelter for abused workers. This is the
first official directive ever issued by the GOK to establish
a shelter. The minister also provided a working paper
stating that the shelter will offer legal, medical, social,
and psychological services. The minister described this as a
concrete step and not simply a further promise, and said
administrative preparations had already begun. The minister
also delivered a copy of a ministerial decree issued on July
18 prohibiting employers from withholding their workers'
passports. He concluded by describing the ministry's recent
push to provide incoming workers with awareness-raising
materials and plans to improve awareness through cooperation
with civil society groups. Separately, a senior Ministry of
Justice official provided the Embassy on July 21 with
judicial rulings showing evidence of prosecutions for
TIP-related crimes.


2. (C/NF) The minister's action demonstrated the personal
and energetic engagement the GOK is now applying to combat
TIP. The minister has provided a major push in the past
month, including appearing in the media to talk about human
rights and foreign workers. He has clearly invested a great
deal of his personal political capital (he is a leading
member of the royal family) into taking tangible action.
Much of the lack of progress in Kuwait on TIP stems from the
fact that until now no senior official has taken an active
interest in pushing it. Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid's recent

actions are a positive sign. He welcomed a visit by State
Department officials from Washington to discuss progress on
TIP, and Post will continue to encourage his efforts. End
Summary and Comment.

Cabinet Authorizes Work on Shelter
--------------


3. (C/NF) Making a completely unexpected appearance during
Poloff's July 22 meeting with Minister of Social Affairs and
Labor (MOSAL) Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs
Jamal Al-Dossary to discuss TIP, MOSAL minister Shaykh Sabah
Al-Khalid Al-Sabah presented to PolOff on July 22 Cabinet
decree number 652, which states that on July 8 the Cabinet
agreed in principle to establish a shelter for domestic
workers. MOI and MOSAL are charged with "initiating the
necessary measures to establish the shelter and to work on
estimating the total cost in preparation for presenting a
budget to the Cabinet." Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid emphasized
that this decree was the "green light" that those favoring a
shelter had long been waiting for, and that concrete
preparations for the shelter had already begun.


4. (C/NF) The Minister also provided a copy of a working
paper drawn up by MOSAL to govern the operation of the
shelter, to be called "The House of Shelter and Humanitarian
Care." The paper states the shelter will receive people who
have been taken advantage of by others for prostitution or
forced labor, and will provide lodging, food, clothing and
other necessary supplies. The shelter will be run by the
MOI's Domestic Workers Administration (DWA) but will also be
staffed by MOSAL and Ministry of Health officials who will
provide social, psychological, and medical services. Legal
experts will provide legal assistance to those staying there.
Finally, the working paper calls for specifying the internal
workings of the shelter, check-in and check-out procedures,
and the rights and responsibilities of admitees. MOSAL
Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jamal Al-Dossary
said he had already begun intensive working sessions with DWA
director Esam No'mani to draw up these internal guidelines
and expected to have a working draft within a week or two.


5. (C/NF) Comment: Past promises about the shelter have
been verbal. This is the first official, written directive
to establish a shelter. Furthermore, the commitment comes
from the full Cabinet, which means that the executive branch
has given its blessing. A major part of the problem in the
past has been the Municipal Council, a corrupt, inefficient,
and sometimes capricious elected body that has to approve the

KUWAIT 00001166 002 OF 002


allocation of land in Kuwait (see reftel D). The GOK does
not have the power to circumvent the Municipal Council for a
project like the shelter. Shaykh Sabah Al-Khalid suggested
renting two buildings (one for men and one for women) in
which to operate the shelter until something can be worked
out with the Municipal Council. The idea of renting
buildings and the minister's personal commitment to pushing
the shelter forward have broken the years-long logjam and the
project has now taken its first tangible steps towards
fruition. End Comment.

Ministerial Decree Bans Withholding Workers' Passports
-------------- --------------


6. (C/NF) The minister also provided a copy of MOSAL
ministerial decree 152, dated July 18, 2007, which forbids
employers in the private sector from withholding the
passports of their workers. The punishments for violators
are in keeping with other minor infractions of labor law: a
warning for the first offense and fines for every subsequent
offense. The withholding ban will benefit a great number of
low-skilled workers who fall under MOSAL's supervision.

Awareness Efforts Underway, Ministry to Involve NGOs
-------------- --------------


7. (C/NF) The minister also noted that MOSAL employees had
begun distributing informational brochures in seven languages
at the airport medical inspection unit, through which all
incoming workers must pass. The minister said he hoped this
would be the beginning of further awareness raising
activities, and that MOSAL had already begun work to involve
NGOs such as the Social Work Society (headed by the Amir's
US-educated granddaughter Shaykha Bibi Nasser Al-Sabah) in
its efforts.

Prosecutions
--------------


8. (C/NF) Assistant Public Prosecutor and Chairman of the
Committee to Respond to International Human Rights Reports
Mohammad Al-Zo'by requested a meeting on July 21, at which he
presented seven cases that he said proved that Kuwait is
prosecuting TIP-related cases. In a 2005 case, three men
were imprisoned for five years and fined 1000 Dinars (3500
USD) for forcing three women into prostitution. In a 2004
case, a man was sentenced to three years in prison for
detaining their housemaid for 5 months and physically abusing
her. In a 2003 case, a policeman was sentenced to ten years
in prison for raping a woman at a police station, while two
policeman who aided him were given seven years. The
connection to TIP is that foreigners often complain that
police officers do not treat them justly if they file cases.
Post will encourage the MOJ to provide more such evidence.

********************************************* *
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/
********************************************* *

Lenderking