YEMENIS THINK SAUDI ARABIA COULD DO MORE TO STOP

UNCLAS SANAA 000271

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AMACDONALD AND DRL JBARGHOUT
JEDDAH FOR JLIVINGSTON

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADDED SBU CAPTIONS)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI KTIP YM
SUBJECT: YEMENIS THINK SAUDI ARABIA COULD DO MORE TO STOP
SMUGGLING OF CHILDREN

REF: SANAA 00215


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. ROYG officials and independent experts
repeatedly express frustration with the lack of Saudi
cooperation on trafficking-in-persons issues, including
children smuggled to Saudi Arabia for work and Saudi "sex
tourists" who frequent underage prostitutes in Yemen. They
allege that the Saudi government has significantly stalled
bilateral efforts to combat trafficking. Without
higher-level Saudi commitment, it will continue to be
difficult for impecunious Yemen to fight this cross-border
problem alone. END SUMMARY.

THE TIME BOMB
--------------

2. (SBU) "They call us a time bomb," Lamia al-Eryani of the
Shawthab Foundation for child rights told PolOff on January
31, "and yet they could be doing much more to help."
Thousands of Yemeni children travel illegally across the
porous border to Saudi Arabia each year, where they face
abuse and harsh living conditions (reftel). Since 2005, the
ROYG has viewed child trafficking as a significant social
problem, and has slowly made efforts to combat it. But
according to experts in Yemen, the ROYG has not found a
similar commitment across the border. The two nations formed
a Joint Committee on Child Trafficking in 2005, but while
Yemeni members included cabinet-level officials, the
appointed Saudis were low-ranking bureaucrats under the
Ministry of Education, according to Abdullah al-Khamissy, a
child trafficking expert at the Higher Council on Motherhood
and Childhood (HCMC). When it came time to sign a joint
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2007, the Saudis
said they didn't have the authority, and the document was
never signed. UNICEF's Chief of Child Protection Judith
Leveilee told PolOff that the Joint Committee has not met
since that time. Khamissy told PolOff on February 8 that the
Saudis were stalling on appointing higher-level officials to
work on the issue, and on initiating a joint study on child
trafficking. "We don't want money," Khamissy said, although
with less than $5,000 earmarked for child trafficking
programs in FY2009, the ROYG faces significant resource
problems in combating trafficking.


3. (SBU) Small steps have been made in Saudi methods of
incarcerating and deporting Yemeni children. UNICEF's
Leveilee said that the Saudis deport hundreds of illegal
Yemeni migrants every day, among them an unknown number of
children. According to Eryani of Shawthab Foundation, Saudi
authorities used to jail children with adults and even
beheaded minors illegally in Saudi Arabia. She said that in
2008, the Saudis began immediately deporting children to
Yemen, rather than detaining them in Saudi Arabia.

SEX SELLS
--------------


4. (SBU) An unaddressed problem in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen is
the sex trade, which often involves underage girls. Sex
tourists from the Gulf are an open secret in Yemen, where
underage prostitutes work out of hotels in major cities
across the country, according to contacts at Shawthab
Foundation, local NGO Seyaj and UNICEF. Ahmed Al-Quraishi of
SEYAJ, an organization that promotes children's rights, told
PolOff on February 1 that Saudi men travel to Yemen to
arrange liaisons with underage prostitutes, sometimes in the
form of "temporary marriages." He said he knew of at least
three cases where Saudi nationals "married" underage Yemeni
girls, only to force them into prostitution in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Quraishi said that hotels throughout Yemen cater to these
sex tourists, and even arrange trips to rural villages for
similar liaisons.

COMMENT
--------------


5. (SBU) Yemen has begun to live up to its TIP-related
responsibilities; a strong partner to the north will be an
important asset as it continues to do so. END COMMENT.

SECHE