DOMESTIC WORKER SHELTER NEARS COMPLETION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 001421

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ELAB KU TIP
SUBJECT: DOMESTIC WORKER SHELTER NEARS COMPLETION

REF: A. STATE 120572

B. KUWAIT 1251

C. KUWAIT 1166

D. KUWAIT 1099


1. (SBU) Summary. On September 18, GOK officials gave
PolOff a tour of the GOK's shelter for potential victims of
trafficking, which is scheduled to open by September 26. The
two-building complex is basic but clean. It has recreation
and kitchen facilities and will be able to house
approximately 50 - 60 female refuge seekers. There are
offices for social workers, psychological counselors, medical
personnel, and GOK administrative agencies, and the GOK says
they will be fully staffed by the time the shelter opens.
The shelter will be a temporary solution until a permanent
700-bed shelter can be established, which a GOK
representative said would take approximately two more months.
While final judgment must be withheld until the actual
opening of the shelter, the progress so far represents
evidence of a concrete GOK effort to address concerns raised
in the TIP report. End Summary.


2. (SBU) GOK officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor (MOSAL) and Ministry of Justice (MOJ) provided
PolOff on September 18 with a tour of a shelter for potential
victims of trafficking, which is set to open by September 26.
The shelter occupies a little-used facility originally
designed to house troubled youths. It consists of two
buildings and a grassy enclosed outdoor recreation area. The
main building has a number of offices, a recreation room with
couches and a television, a kitchen, a dining room, several
bathrooms with showers, and approximately 8 bedrooms each
with a capacity of 6-8 beds (though the beds were not in
place as of PolOff's visit). The second building contains a
large meeting room and offices. The office doors have been
labeled for their respective purposes: social workers,
psychological counselors, medical services, etc. Overall it
is a modest yet clean facility, and final touches, such as
paint and a new floor in the dining room, were being applied
during PolOff's visit.


3. (SBU) Jamal Al-Dossary, Director of Legal Affairs at
MOSAL, and Zakaria Al-Ansari, Director of the International
Relations Department at MOJ, told PolOff that their
ministries have been working intensively with the Ministry of
Interior (MOI) and the Ministry of Health to make
preparations for the shelter. MOSAL is the lead agency in
the shelter effort and Al-Dossary said specialized staff --
nurses, social workers, translators, etc. -- have been
identified and are ready to start work immediately. MOI
officials will also staff the shelter, since those seeking
refuge in the shelter will likely be domestic workers and
since the MOI technically has jurisdiction over domestic
workers. Al-Dossary welcomed PolOff's suggestion that
independent lawyers staff the shelter for several hours a day
to help workers redress and legal grievances.


4. (SBU) The shelter is a temporary facility that will fill
the need for a shelter until a permanent, 700-bed facility
can be opened. Al-Dossary said MOSAL would soon put out a
public tender to obtain a building to house the permanent
facility, which he expects to be ready by the end of
November. He also said that the relevant ministries would
finalize the rules and procedures for the permanent shelter
before it opened. In the interim, MOSAL is working to come
up with a set of governing rules for the temporary shelter.


5. (SBU) MOSAL will have the MFA send a note to source
country embassies informing them of the shelter's existence
and welcoming referrals. It is also considering media
strategies to publicize the existence of the shelter.


6. (SBU) Comment: Apparently in direct response to USG
urging (see refs B, C, and D),the GOK has in recent weeks
put considerable effort into accelerating the actual opening
of an interim shelter. While rules and regulations have not
been finalized, the GOK recognizes that the shelter must
provide a wide range of services so that it is not simply a
detention center where workers will languish. The physical
facilities are basic yet adequate. If the GOK is able to
have the shelter staffed, it will be a tangible achievement
for both the GOK and the USG, as well as evidence of a
genuine Kuwaiti commitment to address the TIP problem. End
Comment.

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