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