US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT5185

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 005185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA, NEA/PPD, G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KU 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT SEEKS FUNDING FOR TWO POTENTIAL TIP 
INITIATIVES 
 
 
1. The GOK is taking positive steps to improve the TIP 
situation in Kuwait. However, some GOK officials and other 
local groups lack awareness of TIP issues and the capacity to 
implement needed legal, institutional, and other changes to 
increase protections for trafficking victims.  The TIP issue 
in Kuwait mainly involves the exploitation of domestic 
servants and other laborers, many of whom work under 
conditions of indentured servitude.  Many suffer from 
physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their employers.  In 
order to assist the GOK in improving the TIP situation in 
Kuwait, specifically the welfare of domestic servants and 
other laborers, post proposes the following draft initiatives 
that could tap into the TIP fund currently available: 
 
Police Awareness and Sensitivity Training Project (US$50,000) 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
2. Domestic servants fall under the purview of the Ministry 
of Interior rather than the Ministry of Social Affairs and 
Labor.  Therefore, they do not enjoy the protections normally 
accorded to other laborers in the private sector under the 
Labor Law.  Runaway or abused domestics are often treated as 
criminals and are detained, jailed, or deported rather than 
offered counseling or other assistance as victims of 
trafficking.  Although there is a small conciliation center 
attached to a local police station where runaway domestics 
can file complaints against abusive or exploitative 
employers, police officials in Kuwait lack the basic skills 
and awareness necessary to handle trafficking cases 
effectively.  Most runaway or abused domestics turn to their 
source country embassies for conciliation or other assistance 
rather than to police authorities. Often, police officials do 
not speak English and lack the sensivitity necessary to deal 
with abuse cases and women's issues in general.  Most 
trafficking and abuse cases are settled via informal 
mediation between the trafficked individual's source country 
embassy, employer, and GOK officials.  Police officials in 
Kuwait are often from tribal Bedouin or bidoon families that 
tend to be less well educated than other members of Kuwaiti 
society and less familiar with international human rights 
issues.  Domestic violence in general and abuse of domestic 
servants in particular are often regarded socially and 
culturally as private family matters rather than as human 
rights problems that warrant police or other intervention. A 
USG-funded initiative, carried out in collaboration with a 
local civic group or well-respected local training institute, 
to train police officers in a few key districts that suffer 
most from the trafficking and abuse problem, could help 
improve victim assistance in Kuwait. 
 
3. Training would focus on increasing police awareness of, 
and sensitivity towards, the trafficking problem, improving 
police coordination and dialogue with source country 
embassies and labor groups, and strengthening police 
investigative capabilities to find, identify, and prosecute 
potential trafficking rings or fraudulent employment 
recruitment agencies. To help ensure the sustainability of 
this intervention, training would be provided to a few 
leading members of each police force in a few high-prevalence 
districts who would then serve as trainers for other police 
officials on an ongoing basis.  To enhance local legitimacy, 
a trafficking expert or experts from another Gulf or Arab 
country that has had strong experience in dealing 
successfully with similar labor exploitation problems would 
conduct the training rather than a U.S. or Western 
trafficking consultant (i.e., perhaps a trafficking expert in 
labor exploitation from the UAE). Funding would cover the 
honorarium costs of the trainer(s), airfare, lodging, meals, 
incidental expenses, instructional materials and resources, 
equipment and supplies.  Training would be provided over a 
two-week period to ensure that trainers have adequate time to 
work with police officials, that they reach several police 
stations in a number of high-prevalence districts, and tailor 
the training to local needs and conditions. 
 
Awareness Visit By U.S. Trafficking Consultant (US$25,000) 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
4. This initiative would fund one or two U.S. trafficking 
experts (with a focus on labor exploitation problems rather 
than sex trafficking) to travel to Kuwait to consult with GOK 
officials of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, National Assembly (Human Rights Defense Committee, 
Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee) and other potential 
groups on promoting awareness of USG TIP concerns and 
identifying ways to tighten protections against trafficking 
based on lessons learned and best practices derived from 
other countries' experiences in the region.  Consultation 
could take the form of seminars or focus groups on key topics 
such as legal reform, strengthening law enforcement and 
monitoring of abusive or exploitative employers and labor 
recruitment agencies, improving the capacity of border 
monitoring for patterns of trafficking, and other areas.  In 
the course of the seminars, the consultant(s) would gain a 
fuller appreciation of what the GOK is already doing in the 
area of trafficking and improving the treatment of domestic 
servants.  The visit would be discreet and unpublicized, 
taking into account local sensitivities towards outwardly 
USG-funded human rights initiatives in the country.  It would 
help ensure that the GOK and other local stakeholders fully 
understand USG TIP concerns while helping us more fully 
understand GOK efforts currently underway to combat the 
trafficking problem.  Funding would support the travel to 
Kuwait of one or two U.S.-based experts (ideally fluent in 
Arabic) for a period of one week, salary costs, lodging, 
meals, incidental expenses, cost of informational materials, 
equipment and supplies.  Funding would also cover immediate 
post-trip analysis, recommendations, and follow-up. 
5. Other potential TIP-related initiatives that post is 
studying and that would not necessarily involve any USG 
funding might include an information technology initiative to 
create and implement a sponsor-employee information database 
network that would connect police stations, Ministry of 
Interior, and other GOK offices responsible for monitoring 
trafficking and abuse cases. The database would serve as a 
clearinghouse of information on sponsors and domestics to 
assist police and law enforcement authorities in preventing 
abusive employers from sponsoring additional employees, and 
to keep track of trafficking cases, legislation, visa, 
immigration, wage and other critical information. 
 
6. Another possible initiative, again depending on GOK 
interest and ownership, might be an educational awareness 
campaign on the trafficking problem carried out through local 
advertisements on the radio and in print media.  The 
advertisements would be tailored to the Kuwaiti context, 
developed ideally by cooperation between local civic groups, 
source country embassies, and GOK officials from the Ministry 
of Interior and the Ministry of Information, and focused on 
increasing broad public awareness of the rights and treatment 
of domestic servants and other foreign laborers in Kuwait. 
Radio advertisements could be broadcast in several languages 
on major local stations, such as Radio Sawa and stations that 
tailor their broadcasting to third country nationals.  This 
would be a relatively low cost initiative that could reach a 
sizeable audience. 
 
7. COMMENT: Post would like to secure available funding for 
these kinds of TIP initiatives in Kuwait to help assist the 
GOK in meeting TIP standards and to raise broader public 
awareness of the TIP problem.  Post believes the GOK has 
taken some positive steps recently to improve the overall TIP 
situation in Kuwait, including a proposed new law to more 
closely regulate the hiring of domestic servants and 
functioning of local labor recruitment agencies.  The 
situation of domestic servants is a key agenda item for the 
National Assembly's Human Rights Defense Committee, and it is 
actively studying the issue.  These proposed TIP initiatives 
would come at an opportune time and help leverage efforts 
already underway by the GOK. 
URBANCIC