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