BAHRAIN: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000128 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2017 TAGS: KWMN PREL PHUM ELAB KCRM BA HUMRIT SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS DEMARCHE REF: STATE 12471 Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche February 8 regarding Bahrain's efforts to combat trafficking to MFA Assistant Under Secretary for Coordination and Follow Up Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. Shaikh Abdul Aziz stated that following the fall visit of International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Brunson McKinley to Bahrain, the GOB had applied to join IOM as an observer. Concerning legislation to combat trafficking in persons, Shaikh Abdul Aziz thought the draft legislation would move from the Cabinet to the parliament by the Embassy TIP reporting deadline of March 1, but after it is in the hands of the parliament, it will still take time to go through the legislative process. ¶2. (C) In terms of recent action taken by the GOB, Shaikh Abdul Aziz mentioned the opening of the shelter on November 23 and the IOM two-week trafficking training January 7-18 (he spoke to the group of participants at the closing ceremony). He also drew attention to another workshop February 18-20 at which he and Dr. Mohamed Mattar of The Protection Project at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, will speak. (Note: The workshop is funded by MEPI.) Shaikh Abdul Aziz pointed out that events like these increase awareness in the community about trafficking. He also expressed disappointment that the UAE/UNODC-hosted global conference had been canceled, saying that he was to have led a delegation composed of senior officials from several ministries. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ ********************************************* ******** MONROE