OMAN NATIONAL TIP COMMITTEE - SECOND MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUSCAT 000965

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/10/14
TAGS: PREL PHUM KTIP MU
SUBJECT: OMAN NATIONAL TIP COMMITTEE - SECOND MEETING

REF: MUSCAT 955

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Schmierer, Ambassador, Department of State,
Embassy Muscat; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (U) Azzaman, a new Arabic language "tabloid" style paper in Oman
previewed on October 14 the second meeting of the National
Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) planned for the
same day. According to the article, the main topic would be the
review of the draft national plan for fighting TIP. Also slated
for discussion was "increasing concern" about withholding employees
passports and alternative solutions that might be adopted to
address this issue. The article further noted that the
International Labor Organization (ILO) had commended Oman's efforts
to combat TIP and that the State Department had rated Oman as Tier
2 this year, reflecting significant progress in fighting this crime
compared to 2008.




2. (C) Comment: This one of the few public comments about Oman's
Tier 2 ranking since it was released in mid-June. The positive
presentation of the ranking is extremely helpful to our overall
message of recognizing Omani improvement while challenging them to
do more. The committee meeting may reflect the influence of last
week's combined efforts which included an ILO workshop (septel) on
TIP, the USTR/Labor delegation which emphasized both TIP and
passport withholding in a series of meetings (septel),and the
Ambassador's first meeting with the MFA on trafficking (reftel).
End Comment.
Schmierer