PHILIPPINES AMBASSADOR: KUWAIT "WORST" PLACE FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001397 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP, HNL/ISTC, AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2027 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB RP KU TIP SUBJECT: PHILIPPINES AMBASSADOR: KUWAIT "WORST" PLACE FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS; NO TRAFFICKING TO IRAQ REF: KUWAIT 1246 Classified By: CDA Alan Misenheimer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) Summary: Filipino Ambassador Ricardo Endaya told the Charge on September 3 that Kuwait is the "worst" country in the Gulf region for domestic workers. He said the shelter at his embassy houses more runaway domestic workers (200) than any other Filipino Embassy shelter in the world. The Ambassador said he had given up hope on the Kuwaitis improving the situation of domestic workers and would try instead to reduce the number of Filipina domestic workers. Endaya said the only way Kuwait might make changes would be as a result of U.S. pressure. Ambassador Endaya agreed with the State OIG's report that Filipino workers had not been deceived into working in Iraq. He did say that he has received an inordinate number of complaints from Filipino workers about First Kuwaiti, the company building the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and which has been accused of trafficking workers to Iraq. End Summary. ¶2. (C/NF) Ricardo M. Endaya, the Filipino Ambassador to Kuwait, told the Charge on September 3 that Filipina domestic workers in Kuwait face more problems than in any other country in the Gulf. He cited common complaints of long hours, no days off and low wages, all-too-frequent cases of physical abuse and/or sexual assault, and even rare instances of murder. He said the shelter run by the Filipino Embassy, which currently houses approximately 200 domestic workers, is the biggest of its kind at any Filipino Embassy in the world. Endaya called the Kuwaitis "incorrigible," and said the only way to reduce the number of problems was to reduce the number of domestic workers in Kuwait. He said one of his main goals during his tenure in Kuwait is to cut the number of Filipina domestic workers by half (from 60,000). (Note: Endaya's assistant told PolOff separately after the meeting that the Ambassador was considering lobbying Manila to reinstitute a total ban on domestic workers coming to Kuwait. The Philippines imposed such a ban in the mid-1980s but subsequently lifted it. End Note.) ¶3. (C/NF) Endaya said the only hope for any progress in Kuwait was U.S. pressure. He supported the Tier Three TIP ranking and said it had "alarmed" the Ministry of Interior (MOI). Nevertheless, Endaya argued that the USG should not/not emphasize pressure for the GOK to create a government-run shelter, largely based on his impression that it would be run by one of Kuwait's biggest domestic worker employment agencies. (Note: Though the MOI had previously suggested that non-governmental bodies would be involved in the shelter, extensive discussions with GOK officials over the past several months suggest this idea has been dismissed. End Note.) The Ambassador urged the Charge to follow up with the Sri Lankan and Indonesian embassies, whose communities face similar problems. Endaya was pessimistic, however, because the Indians, who have by far the most foreign workers in Kuwait, refused to participate because a confrontation might jeopardize its relationship with the GOK. ¶4. (C/NF) Endaya asked for more information about the allegations of trafficking against First Kuwaiti, the company building the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The charge conveyed the conclusions of the OIG report, which refuted the allegations, and asked whether the Filipino envoy sent to investigate agreed with the OIG report's conclusions (reftel). Endaya said he had accompanied the Filipino envoy to Baghdad, and they had conclusively determined that no Filipinos had been taken to Iraq against their will. He noted that he had been in Baghdad from 2003 - 2005 and that there was a pattern of labor abuses of Filipino workers by companies contracted or sub-contracted by the USG. He said First Kuwaiti was the worst of these companies. ¶5. (C/NF) Endaya noted that the Vice President of the Philippines had heard that First Kuwaiti had won contracts to build seven more U.S. embassies around the world, including a new embassy in Manila. He said that this would create a public relations problem in the Philippines because of First Kuwaiti's reputation for poor treatment of its Filipino workers. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: KUWAIT 00001397 002 OF 002 http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * MISENHEIMER