SOLIDARITY CENTER HEAD HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000548

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KTIP IN NE QA
SUBJECT: SOLIDARITY CENTER HEAD HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

REF: A. DOHA 211

B. DOHA 236

Classified By: Charge d'affaires Mirembe L. Nantongo for reasons 1.4 (b
and d).

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

-- At a recent meeting with Poloff Caudill, Solidarity
Center representative Boyko Atanasov reported that the
National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) had been very
helpful in assisting with his work in Qatar.

-- Atanasov said that (so far) the NHRC had lived up to its
commitments under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it
signed with the Solidarity Center earlier this year (Ref
A). The NHRC had assisted him with securing his work
permit and housing, and had given him a work space in the
NHRC offices.

-- Through Atanasov's efforts, a senior Qatari in the NHRC
Legal Division went to the U.S. for consultations this
summer, and an aide from the Office of the NHRC Chairman
held meetings the Indian state of Kerala, one of the main
sources of expatriate labor in Qatar.

-- Atanasov also reported that the NHRC had published a
labor rights booklet in English and in Arabic as a
follow-up to the anti-TIP media campaign it conducted in
March (Ref B),and that the Solidarity Center was
partnering with it to provide translations in the languages
of the main labor-sending countries.


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(C) COMMENTS
--------------

-- Agreeing to partner with a foreign labor organization
such as the Solidarity Center was a major step for the GOQ,
particularly since it tends to view the rights of
expatriate workers more as a national security than a human
rights issue. It is encouraging that the NHRC, which
considers itself an independent non-governmental
organization but is controlled by the GOQ, is cooperating
with Atanasov and the Solidarity Center.

-- While this growing partnership is a good sign, it must
be stressed that the Solidarity Center's work focuses
primarily on the conditions in the labor sending countries
that lead to trafficking in persons (TIP) in Qatar. Aside
from the labor rights booklet, this partnership has not yet
addressed the issue of Qatar's responsibility to combat TIP
within its own borders.

End Key Points and Comments.



1. (SBU) At an August 20 meeting with Poloff Caudill,
Solidarity Center representative Boyko Atanasov reported
that the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) had been
very helpful in assisting with his work in Qatar. He said
that NHRC staff had assisted him in acquiring the necessary
work permits allowing him to establish residency in Qatar,
and had provided assistance in his search for housing. (He
was previously occupying office space in the NHRC offices
in Doha.)


2. (SBU) Atanasov also reported success in opening channels
of communications between officials at the NHRC and labor
activists, both in the main labor-sending countries and in
the U.S. He noted that an official from the NHRC Legal
Division traveled to the U.S. for consultations, which
included meetings with Solidarity Center representatives
and with the president of the Sri Lankan trade unions
association. Atanasov had also accompanied a senior aide
to the NHRC Chairman to the Indian state of Kerala, where
they met with labor and government leaders both from India
and Nepal (Note: The Indian expatriate population in Qatar
is the largest, numbering approximately 500,000; the
Nepalese population is the second largest at approximately
300,000.)


3. (SBU) Atanasov noted that when the NHRC conducted its
anti-TIP media campaign in March, it had pledged to publish
a labor rights brochure in the languages of the major
labor-sending countries. So far, he said, the brochure had
been published and distributed only in English and Arabic.

DOHA 00000548 002 OF 002


The Solidarity Center therefore plans to pay for translating
the materials into Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and other languages
common to laborers in Qatar. The brochures would then be
published and distributed to them with the cooperation of
the NHRC and the GOQ.
Nantongo