KUWAIT'S TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000811

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, G-ACBLANK, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2019
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV KTIP KU
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT

REF: A. STATE 81476

B. KUWAIT686

C. KUWAIT608

D. KUWAIT788

E. KUWAIT761

Classified By: CDA Tom Williams for reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (U) Summary. As requested (ref A),Post provides below
additional information for the Department's reassessment of
Kuwait's Tier 3 ranking in the 2009 Trafficking in Persons
(TIP) Report. Though significant efforts to counter
widespread abuse are ongoing, the GOK has not progressed
substantially in four key areas: (1) enacting anti-TIP
legislation (although we are told prospects are good once the
parliament reconvenes in the Fall),(2) establishing a
permanent shelter for domestic workers (this 700-bed unit is
delayed owing to administrative issues),(3) providing
training to law enforcement, attorneys and judges on
investigating and prosecuting TIP cases, and (4) providing
evidence of increased prosecutions. During the sixty-day
review period, progress on major anti-TIP initiatives has
been hampered by a crop of new ministers still coming to
terms with their portfolios. However, responding to
Ambassador's urging in her calls on the new ministers, the
GOK -- and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL)
in particular -- is trying to make progress on measures to
combat TIP. End summary.

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New Ministers / New Portfolios
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2. (U) Following the May 2009 election, new ministers were
appointed to three of the four ministries key to TIP:
Justice, Social Affairs and Labor, and Awqaf/Islamic Affairs.
Their "newness" notwithstanding, the Ambassador, in her
initial calls on these ministers, pressed the importance of
the GOK's sustaining of earlier anti-TIP progress (refs B and
C).

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MOSAL Minister Takes Proactive Anti-TIP Measures
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3. (C) On August 9, following his meeting with the
Ambassador, Kuwait's Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
(MOSAL) Minister Mohammed Al-Afasi issued a ministerial
resolution (ref D) which immediately granted any foreign
worker who has been with the same employer for three years
the right to change jobs without the requirement to first
secure the current employer or sponsor's permission (which
was often withheld or granted only after payment of some form
of agreed compensation to the sponsor). This reform is a
positive and welcome development allowing employees more
mobility in the workplace. On August 13, however, a MOSAL
statement may have complicated implementation of this new
directive by requiring that employees first obtain a
quittance, or "clearing of accounts," prior to changing
sponsors. How this new requirement will be enforced is not
yet clear, but it could have a substantial impact on just how
freely workers with three years of service will be able to
change sponsors.

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Legislative Efforts on TIP; the 700-Bed Shelter
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4. (C) The Parliament has made progress toward passing the
draft anti-trafficking law, which was easily passed by the
Legislative Committee on June 21. A Ministry of Justice
contact expects the bill to appear on the National Assembly's
agenda soon after it reconvenes in October (ref E),and
anticipates passage during the next legislative term.
Concerning the 700-bed shelter for domestic workers,
according to MOSAL Assistant Undersecretary Jamal Al-Dosari
it is unlikely the shelter will be completed before 2011 due
to the dilapidated condition of the old school grounds
selected as the shelter's site.

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Revised Labor Law and Alternatives to the Sponsorship System
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5. (C) MOSAL continues efforts to introduce a revised labor
law, which will soon come before the National Assembly for
approval. Provisions of this labor bill call for increasing
foreign workers' annual leave from fourteen days to thirty
and increasing the amount of time required for notices of
termination from one month to three. However, the labor law

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does not cover domestic workers, a TIP vulnerability. MOSAL
has consulted with the International Labor Organization (ILO)
on alternatives to the sponsorship system and is doing its
own studies of alternatives. While MOSAL Minister Al-Afasi
is showing commendable leadership in speaking publicly of
even more drastic changes (such as abolishing sponsorship
altogether),an outright end to sponsorship appears yet to be
a considerable distance away, both because of the need to
build an administrative framework that could support a
self-sponsorship structure, and also because of the vested
interest of some Kuwaiti employers in keeping the current
lucrative system in place.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
visit Kuwait's Classified Website at:

http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Kuwa it
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WILLIAMS