Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DOHA675
2008-09-21 07:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY

Tags:  ELAB PHUM KTIP QA 
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VZCZCXRO7682
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHDO #0675/01 2650759
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210759Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8237
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000675 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KTIP QA
SUBJECT: FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY
TRUMPS LABOR RIGHTS

---------------
(SBU) KEY POINTS
----------------

-- Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, the Chairman of Qatar's
Advisory Council, told Ambassador September 8 that Qataris
view the rights of foreign workers in Qatar through the prism
of national security.

-- Qataris consider the overwhelming presence of foreigners
in the country (88 per cent of the country's estimated 1.7
million population) a great social and political threat, he
said.

-- For this reason, exit permits for foreign laborers would
continue to be obligatory, Likewise, the draft labor
sponsorship law will include no provision forbidding
employers from confiscating and holding workers' passports,
al-Khulaifi predicted. He was unmoved by Qatar's Tier 3 TIP
ranking; Qatar's national security was of greater concern.

-- The Ambassador pointed out that not only did the victims
of human trafficking in Qatar suffer, but the international
reputation of Qatar suffers as well, given Qatar's Tier 3
ranking.

-------------
(SBU) COMMENT
-------------

-- That's al-Khulaifi's view, but his view is not dispositive.

-- The MFA's Minister of State for International Cooperation
and Conferences, Dr. Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, is
arguing for a system where contracts between sponsors and
employees would govern their relationships, not an inflexible
sponsorship law.

-- The Ambassador and Al-Attiyah agreed on the formation of
an informal working group to improve information sharing for
the Human Rights and TIP reports. With more information
sharing, the Qataris will have a better view on what
additional actions they should take, and the Embassy, having
more information, will be in a better position to advise them.

-- David Caudill, Embassy's Human Rights Officer, will take
the lead in information sharing arrangement with
representatives of the National Human Rights Committee and
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


END KEY POINTS AND COMMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000675

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KTIP QA
SUBJECT: FOR ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY
TRUMPS LABOR RIGHTS

--------------
(SBU) KEY POINTS
--------------

-- Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al-Khulaifi, the Chairman of Qatar's
Advisory Council, told Ambassador September 8 that Qataris
view the rights of foreign workers in Qatar through the prism
of national security.

-- Qataris consider the overwhelming presence of foreigners
in the country (88 per cent of the country's estimated 1.7
million population) a great social and political threat, he
said.

-- For this reason, exit permits for foreign laborers would
continue to be obligatory, Likewise, the draft labor
sponsorship law will include no provision forbidding
employers from confiscating and holding workers' passports,
al-Khulaifi predicted. He was unmoved by Qatar's Tier 3 TIP
ranking; Qatar's national security was of greater concern.

-- The Ambassador pointed out that not only did the victims
of human trafficking in Qatar suffer, but the international
reputation of Qatar suffers as well, given Qatar's Tier 3
ranking.

--------------
(SBU) COMMENT
--------------

-- That's al-Khulaifi's view, but his view is not dispositive.

-- The MFA's Minister of State for International Cooperation
and Conferences, Dr. Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, is
arguing for a system where contracts between sponsors and
employees would govern their relationships, not an inflexible
sponsorship law.

-- The Ambassador and Al-Attiyah agreed on the formation of
an informal working group to improve information sharing for
the Human Rights and TIP reports. With more information
sharing, the Qataris will have a better view on what
additional actions they should take, and the Embassy, having
more information, will be in a better position to advise them.

-- David Caudill, Embassy's Human Rights Officer, will take
the lead in information sharing arrangement with
representatives of the National Human Rights Committee and
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


END KEY POINTS AND COMMENT


1. (U) On September 8, the Ambassador paid a courtesy call on
Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi, Chairman of Qatar's
Advisory Council (Note: The Advisory Council is a
consultative body cosisting of 35 members appointed by the
Amir. Itdebates the merits of proposals under consideratio
by the Amir and makes recommendations to him befre he takes
final action. End Note). Ambassadorinquired about the
pending draft law on labor spnsorship before the Advisory
Council. Human rigts contacts in Qatar had expectedthe
law, once finalized, to ease some of the more troubling
restrictions of the current sponsorship system, especially
the exit permits required of workers leaving Qatar to ensure
that they have secured prior approval from their employers.
It was also hoped that the new law would prevent employers
from retaining the passports of foreign workers present in
Qatar.


2. (SBU) The Chairman advised the Ambassador that the draft
law is currently before a special committee of the council
empaneled to study the issue and make recommendations to the
full body. He expected the committee to make its
recommendations to the Council when the Advisory Council
convenes in October. The Council will then either accept
those recommendations in full or make further changes and
then forward the report of its deliberations with its
recommendations to the Amir.


3. (SBU) Pressed on the specifics of the draft law, Al
Khulaifi stated that the exit permit system would remain
unchanged and that sponsors would continue to be allowed to
retain workers' passports. He stressed that the Qatari
leadership views the issue of labor rights as one of national
security, adding that the country would not allow itself to
be victimized by those who would commit crimes (Comment:
presumably to include instigating labor unrest) and then flee
the country. The Chairman said that the exit permit system
allows the authorities to verify that the workers have clean
criminal records when they leave the country. He cited the

DOHA 00000675 002 OF 002


examples of other Gulf countries who expanded the rights of
laborers and then saw crime rates increase as a path Qatar
did not wish to follow.


4. (SBU) The Ambassador responded that Qatar's international
reputation suffers because of its labor rights and human
trafficking record. Al Khulaifi said that he and the
country's leaders were aware of that fact, but that Qataris
are a minority of 200,000 in a nation of 1.7 million and
cannot allow themselves to be overwhelmed. He believed that
the current system provides sufficient protection for workers
in cases of abuse and in disputes with employers over wages
and living conditions and hoped international observers would
take note of this.
LeBaron