SCENESETTER FOR THE FIRST LADY'S VISIT TO KUWAIT

UNCLAS KUWAIT 001529

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHITE HOUSE, OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KPAO KDEM KMPI SCUL SOCI KU
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR THE FIRST LADY'S VISIT TO KUWAIT


1. (U) Embassy Kuwait warmly welcomes your visit, which presents a
terrific opportunity to reaffirm the strong U.S. friendship with
Kuwait; to recognize the strides Kuwait has made in women's
activism; and to highlight some of the contributions we have made in
women's issues and in the field of education. We have requested a
meeting for you with Amir Shaykh Sabah Al Sabah and with prominent
figures in democratization and women's empowerment. You will also
have a chance to meet with some of our Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI) partners, as well as our close contacts in the
fields of education and health care.

Democratization and Women's Empowerment
--------------


2. (U) Kuwait's Parliament granted women the right to vote and run
for elected office in 2005. Women took advantage of their new
rights in 2006 and ran for office in national and local elections.
While women did not win any seats, almost 60 percent of eligible
women voted, and women candidates and voters succeeded in forcing
candidates to focus on issues that matter most to women, such as
education, health care, and women's personal status law. Even
candidates who had voted against women's political rights held
special campaign events to talk to women voters. The Islamic
Constitutional Movement (the political wing of Kuwait's Muslim
Brotherhood) went as far as setting up a women's committee to handle
its strategy of political outreach to women.
Some women activists were disheartened with the lack of success for
female candidates, and have begun to advocate a quota to ensure
women's representation in parliament.


3. (U) Women have continued their activism since the elections:
-- Journalist Aisha Al-Reshaid received a Middle East Partnership
Initiative (MEPI) grant to train women to run effective electoral
campaigns.
-- Dr. Rola Dashti received USG funding to carry out polling to
illuminate which voters are ready to vote for female
parliamentarians, and which issues women should focus on to win the
maximum numbers of votes.
-- Dr. Fatima Al-Abdali's newly-established Women in Network (WIN)
will reach out to women in tribal areas to encourage them to vote
and to choose candidates who support women's issues.


4. (U) Parliament's Women's Affairs Committee has proposed a bill
that offers women generous incentives for taking leave to take care
of children and ailing family members. Some liberals have
criticized the bill because they think it is designed to discourage
women from getting involved in public life. Encouraging and
allowing women to take leadership positions in Kuwaiti society and
redressing inequalities in Kuwaiti personal status law remain the
primary challenges for Kuwaiti women.


5. (U) In January, we joined forces with the Government of Kuwait
to co-host a three-day Conference of Women Leaders in Science,
Technology and Engineering in Kuwait. The conference brought
together more than 270 scientists, entrepreneurs, science
administrators and graduate students from 20 Muslim-majority
countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Under Secretary
Dobriansky co-hosted the conference and led a delegation of
distinguished scientists and business leaders from the United
States. Conference workshops focused on professional development,
grant writing, publishing, and development of a research program,
which helped equip these women with tools to start and sustain
successful projects and businesses.

MEPI


6. (U) MEPI is active in Kuwait. Current projects include:
-- improving the professionalism of journalists;
-- empowering students to organize on issues that matter to them;
-- increasing women's involvement in the political system;
-- developing the political organizational skills of political
groups;
-- activating parent-teacher councils;
-- training civil society groups to make public service
announcements.

Educational System


7. (U) Schooling is compulsory for all children ages 6 to 14
(elementary and intermediate levels),and all stages of state
education, including higher education, are free for Kuwaiti
citizens. Students in all Kuwaiti schools study English beginning
in the second grade. Kuwaiti public schools are segregated by sex
beginning in the first grade. Women are granted the same rights to
education as men. The Kuwaiti government ensures that each new
school contains a library and has expanded the collection of books
in existing school libraries from 230,000 (before the Iraqi
invasion) to more than 3 million today. The government has also
launched a project to connect every government school and library in

Kuwait to the internet. In 2006, the government introduced a human
rights and civics curriculum for the first time. Although private
schools were established primarily for expatriate children, many
wealthy and influential Kuwaitis send their children to them,
including the American School of Kuwait, for their Western
educational curricula. Kuwait University and the Public Authority
for Applied Education and Training are the main Arabic-language
institutions of higher education. The American University of Kuwait
and the Gulf University of Science and Technology conduct classes in
English and follow American curricula.


8. (U) Despite Kuwait's large budget surpluses in recent years, the
educational system remains a source of some controversy. Many
citizens complain of overcrowding in the public schools and some
schools were late in opening this fall due to organizational
problems. Liberal Education Minister Dr. Nouriya, the only current
female minister, has come under fire recently from Islamist MPs for
mismanagement. Liberals insist, with reason, that the Islamists'
accusations stem from their personal antagonism to the liberal
minister.


9. (U) We enjoy good relations with the major universities in
Kuwait. The American NGO AMIDEAST is active in Kuwait, both in the
area of student counseling for those wishing to study at an American
university, and in teaching English as a Foreign Language to less
advantaged Kuwaiti youth at the high school level through the
USG-funded microscholarship program, ACCESS.

Health Care
--------------


10. (U) Kuwait has one of the most modern health care
infrastructures in the region, but mismanagement is a problem, and
the health care system is not nearly as effective as it should be
for a country with Kuwait's wealth. More than 80% of all health
services are provided by the public sector, mainly by the Ministry
of Health. Kuwaiti citizens receive medical services at government
clinics and hospitals free of charge. Public healthcare is
maintained by a network of primary and secondary health centers and
specialized hospitals and research institutions. Tertiary health
care is provided through a number of national specialized hospitals
and clinics working in areas such as obstetrics, pulmonary ailments,
psychiatry, neurosurgery, burns, allergies, cancer diagnosis and
treatment, hearing impairments, transplants, and physical therapy.
Kuwaitis suffer from a high rate of diabetes, and the Dasman
Diabetes Center was recently established for research and
treatment.

Breast Cancer
--------------


11. (U) Breast cancer in Kuwait has not received the same degree of
attention as it has in the West. According to Kuwait's leading
breast cancer specialist, Dr. Nouralhuda Karmani, the focus has been
on treatment and late treatment. Dr. Karmani is trying to set up a
specialized breast cancer treatment center in Kuwait that will focus
on awareness and prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and psychological
support. She expressed optimism that the center will open its doors
in the near future. The NGO community has also been active to some
degree. For the past five years, the Women's Social and Cultural
Society has run informational campaigns to raise breast-cancer
awareness. This year the campaign received support from a number of
private companies and included lectures in schools, the distribution
of brochures in public places, and awareness messages sent by SMS
text messages.

Equate Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign
--------------


12. (U) Equate Petrochemical Company, a highly successful
petrochemical joint venture between U.S.-based Dow Chemical and
Kuwait-owned Petrochemical Industries Company, organized a
successful breast cancer awareness campaign in May. The campaign
organized seminars at more than 17 schools and provided more than
4,000 high school students with training and information on
detecting and fighting breast cancer. As part of the campaign a
seven-member team of specialized doctors provided free examinations
to hundreds of women in shopping malls and trained them to perform
self-exams to diagnose the disease in its early stages. The program
served as an excellent example of the leadership that American
companies can provide in terms of corporate social responsibility,
which is a relatively new concept for most Kuwaiti companies.


MISENHEIMER