US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT5561

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 KUWAIT 005561 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA, NEA/FO, DRL/PHD, G/TIP 
DEPT FOR INL, PRM, G/IWI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, KWMN, SOCI, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) MAID IN KUWAIT: DOMESTIC SERVANTS FACE 
PERVASIVE ABUSE, EXPLOITATION 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 01759 
     B. KUWAIT 01772 
     C. KUWAIT 01927 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires John Moran, reason 1.4(b,d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: The estimated half-million or so domestic 
servants in Kuwait lack a well-developed system to protect 
their rights, monitor working conditions, and resolve labor 
disputes.  Source country embassies have filled the void and 
assist runaway domestics on an ad hoc basis, navigating 
through a complex web of police officials, deportation center 
authorities, employers, labor recruitment agencies, and 
others to resolve disputes. Resolution of labor problems 
often takes months and most runaway or abused domestics are 
deported.  Domestic servants remain a marginalized group 
without the rights and protections accorded to other private 
sector laborers.  Discrimination, harassment, and abuse, 
sometimes at the hands of police and other authorities 
charged with protecting workers, are pervasive problems.  Lax 
monitoring and oversight of local labor recruitment agencies 
that hire domestics and illegal visa trading are exacerbating 
conditions for domestic servants and contributing to 
near-slavery conditions for many.  So long as domestics 
remain outside the jurisdiction of the Labor Law and governed 
by an antiquated sponsorship system that severely restricts 
personal freedoms, prospects for significant improvements are 
bleak.  Although the GOK has taken some positive steps 
recently to improve conditions for foreign workers, domestic 
servants remain largely untouched by most of these efforts. 
That said, there are encouraging signs of high-level 
attention, including creation this year of a union of 
domestic labor agencies and draft legislation to tighten lax 
controls. Post will ensure relevant GOK authorities grasp the 
reality of this situation and continue to press for 
improvement. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) Much of the information in this message comes from 
source country embassies, which are sensitive about the risk 
of repercussions if the GOK were to perceive them as 
disparaging Kuwait. We ask all users of this information to 
respect that sensitivity. 
 
Outdated Labor Law, Lack of Protections 
--------------------------------------- 
 
3. (C) The GOK has amended the Labor Law (Law No. 38) only 
slightly since its initial implementation in 1964, despite a 
dramatic increase in the foreign labor population over the 
last three decades.  There are an estimated 1.1 million 
foreign laborers in Kuwait today, comprising over 60% of the 
total population. The Kuwait Ministry of Planning estimates 
that the foreign population of Kuwait rose nearly 6% in 2002, 
the first rise in 12 years.  Non-Kuwaitis make up over 80% of 
the labor force and Asians constitute the single largest 
category of foreign workers.  Various liberal groups and ILO 
representatives have been advocating for labor law reform 
since as early as 1975 to grant greater protections for 
foreign workers.  The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor 
recently proposed a series of amendments to the Labor Law 
dealing with the private sector. Domestic servants, however, 
are not considered private sector workers and are 
specifically excluded from the Labor Law.  They thus lack the 
rights and protections accorded to other foreign workers. 
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor officials told us 
recently that there are no GOK initiatives underway to amend 
the Labor Law to include domestic servants. 
 
Ill-Equipped, Poorly Trained Police 
----------------------------------- 
 
4. (C) Domestic servants fall under the purview of the 
Ministry of Interior. Therefore, runaway or abused domestics 
are often treated as criminals under the law and are 
detained, jailed, and/or deported, particularly if found 
guilty of other violations of local law, such as illegal 
entry or employment without a valid residency permit.  There 
is no standard, institutionalized procedure for handling 
domestic runaway or abuse cases.  Local police have 
tremendous discretion in dealing with runaway domestics and 
there is very little oversight of their activities.  In 
general, the GOK mandates that when there is a complaint by 
an employer about a domestic, the domestic, the employer, 
and, if possible, a representative from the local employment 
agency that recruited the domestic seek the assistance of 
local police.  Typically, an employer files an absconding 
case with the police against the domestic as it is a criminal 
offense for a domestic to run away while under the employer's 
sponsorship.  If the local police cannot solve the issue, the 
case is often referred to one of two police stations in the 
Dasma and Da'iya neighborhoods. We are told they operate de 
facto "conciliation centers" for runaway domestics and are 
responsible for investigating runaway cases.  The Dasma 
police station has a detention facility where domestics are 
sometimes detained while cases are investigated.  Although, 
by law, domestics have the right to file complaints with the 
police against abusive or exploitative employers, very few 
are able to do so in practice due to lack of Arabic language 
skills, fear, widespread intimidation and harassment by 
police, lack of legal support, and the connections ("wasta") 
of employers.  (Note: A Sri Lankan Embassy official told 
Poloff recently that the de facto "conciliation center" 
within the Dasma police station was "fantastic" in mediating 
labor disputes involving Sri Lankan domestics in the past but 
that it closed over a year ago and no longer provides 
mediation assistance. GOK authorities, however, have 
repeatedly told us that the Dasma "conciliation center" is 
still operational. We are trying to clarify that situation. 
End Note). 
 
Abuse of Police Authority 
------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Most police officials lack the basic skills, 
awareness, and sensitivity necessary to handle runaway cases 
effectively.  The treatment of domestic servants is often 
regarded socially and culturally as a private family matter 
rather than as a human rights issue that warrants police or 
other intervention.  Source country embassies report 
widespread police harassment of and discrimination against 
domestic servants.  Philippine Embassy contacts told Poloff 
recently that police sexual harassment of runaway domestics 
is widespread and that it is not uncommon for police 
officials to seek sexual favors from runaway domestics in 
exchange for police assistance.  There also appears to be 
very little oversight or accountability of police actions. 
(Note: The Philippine Embassy Labor Attache privately 
confirmed local press reports that three police officers 
raped a runaway Filipina maid recently while she was in 
police custody at a local police station. The maid is now 
living in the embassy shelter, along with roughly 130 other 
runaway domestics. The Philippine Embassy intends to file a 
criminal case against the officers. The Public Prosecutor is 
reportedly interrogating the suspects and they have been 
detained pending further investigation. End Note).  As 
evidence of the widespread distrust of local police 
authorities, most runaway or abused domestics turn to their 
host country embassies for assistance rather than to police. 
That the major host country embassies (i.e., Philippines, Sri 
Lanka, Bangladesh) operate shelters on their premises and 
that these shelters harbor a combined average of about 1,000 
domestics at any given time demonstrate the weakness of the 
current GOK "system" to resolve domestic labor problems. 
 
Side-Stepping a Broken System 
----------------------------- 
 
6. (C) Host country embassy sources have told Poloff that, if 
the de facto GOK-prescribed system of police mediation is 
followed to resolve employer-domestic disputes, it would take 
months and involve considerable hardship for domestics, some 
of whom have been either physically or sexually abused and 
want to return home as soon as possible. Philippine and Sri 
Lankan Embassy sources estimate that roughly 60% of all 
runaway domestics living in their shelters want to return 
home rather than change employers.  Kuwaiti law requires that 
runaway domestics, against whom an absconding (or other 
criminal) complaint has been filed and a travel ban imposed, 
be detained and prohibited from further employment until 
their cases are resolved. Resolution usually means 
deportation. (Note: Credible source country embassy, NGO, and 
other sources told us recently that resolution of runaway 
cases is usually complicated by employer unwillingess to 
release the domestic's passport, cancel the domestic's 
residency permit, pay any unpaid salary, and furnish an 
airline ticket.  It is also complicated by the prevalence of 
illegal visa trading, a practice whereby domestics who 
entered the country under the sponsorship of one employer are 
"sold" by that employer for a fee (350-500KD, i.e. 
$1,050-$1700 is not uncommon) to another employer (who may or 
may not bother to change the domestic's visa and residency 
status to reflect the change, putting the domestic at risk of 
arrest or deportation if caught without proper documentation. 
At the same time, it certainly can happen that an employee 
abuses an employer's trust; sorting out those cases from the 
false charges proffered by abusive employers is not easy. In 
practice, Kuwaiti officials tend to give the benefit of the 
doubt to the employer. End Note.) 
 
7. (C) Also complicating resolution is another reportedly 
common practice whereby Kuwaiti individuals extort money from 
domestics eager to remain in the country by "sponsoring" them 
in name only (i.e., renewing their visas and residency 
permits) in exchange for a hefty fee. (Note: One Indian 
domestic told Poloff recently that she paid a Kuwaiti man 
400KD or $1300 every year in exchange for residency under his 
sponsorship so she could work, illegally, for other families. 
She became heavily indebted and could barely earn enough 
money to pay for rent and food. End Note).  Source country 
embassies are under pressure from their host governments to 
resolve labor disputes quickly, and their embassy shelters 
lack the capacity and resources to harbor runaway domestics 
for extended periods of time. The Philippine Embassy shelter, 
for example, is staffed by a live-in social worker, welfare 
officer, and full-time case workers but depends heavily on 
volunteers to help with the day-to-day management of the 
facility. The Sri Lankan Embassy houses an average of 500 
runaway domestics (all female) at any given time in a 
make-shift basement shelter intended for only 100 domestics. 
 
8. (C) Given the above complications, some source country 
embassies actively try to work around the system, to deport 
runaway or abused domestics as quickly as possible by 
bypassing local police altogether.  The Philippine Embassy 
Labor Attache told Poloff recently, for example, that his 
office actively attempts to negotiate informal arrangements 
directly with officials of Talha Deportation Center (the main 
deportation processing facility) to accept Philippine 
domestics for immediate deportation, even if they lack 
passports or have unresolved residency, visa, or other legal 
issues.  According to the contact, such unofficial 
case-by-case arrangements have "worked well" in most cases 
over the past year but depend on the continued cooperation of 
individual officials. (Note: He told Poloff privately that 
"cooperation" of police and other officials is sometimes 
obtained through unofficial gifts of alcohol. End Note.) Sri 
Lankan embassy officials, likewise, attempt to work directly 
with Central Prison and deportation center authorities to 
fingerprint, process, and deport their runaways as quickly as 
possible. Even with these informal "fast-track" arrangements, 
most domestics still wait an average of two to three months 
for deportation and end up forfeiting some of their earned 
pay. 
 
Weak Monitoring of Labor Recruitment Agencies 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
9. (C) The problems facing domestic servants in Kuwait often 
stem from the methods by which they are recruited, both in 
their home country and locally. Typically, a labor 
recruitment agency in the domestic's home country enters into 
an agreement with a Kuwaiti employment agency to recruit the 
domestic.  The source country embassy in Kuwait often acts as 
intermediary between the two agencies and, in at least the 
case of the Philippine and Sri Lankan embassies, requires the 
two parties to sign a formal, standardized contract 
guaranteeing protections for the domestic. Typical contract 
protections include an 8-hour workday, 1 day of rest per 
week, 1 month of paid leave per year, and provision of a 
return airline ticket upon termination of the contract by 
either party. In practice, however, such contracts are 
routinely violated and rarely enforced.  Many labor 
recruitment agencies are unlicensed, unmonitored, or 
unregulated by authorities.  Host country embassy and GOK 
sources informed us recently that it is common practice in 
Kuwait for local labor recruitment agencies to take the 
equivalent of a domestic's first three months' salary as 
commission to cover the costs incurred in bringing the 
domestic to Kuwait.  As a result, domestics are often 
encouraged, if not coerced, by some local recruitment 
agencies to remain with their employers without salary for at 
least three months to allow the agencies to recoup their 
costs. If they decide to leave their employer (due to abuse 
or poor working conditions) and the local labor recruitment 
agency places them with another, they may be forced to work 
without remuneration for an extended period in conditions 
amounting to indentured servitude. The more the domestic 
changes employers, the more indebted the domestic may become 
to such agencies or to the employers themselves and thus more 
vulnerable to exploitation.  So-called "table agents," 
unofficial, unlicensed sub-contractors that work with 
licensed labor recruitment agencies are reportedly 
particularly exploitative of domestic workers. 
 
Some Positive GOK Steps 
----------------------- 
 
10. (C) Recognizing the problems posed by unregulated and 
unmonitored labor recruitment agencies, the GOK licensed a 
new union in April, the Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor 
Offices, charged with monitoring the activities of 
recruitment agencies and raising awareness among employers of 
the treatment of domestics.  Head union officials told Poloff 
recently that only 29 local labor recruitment agencies (out 
of an estimated 400 in the country) are members of the union 
but that they account for approximately 60% of all domestic 
servants. The union has proposed a new draft law to regulate 
the importation, training, and hiring of domestic servants. 
The union has also proposed eliminating the three-month 
"probationary" period widely imposed by recruitment agencies 
during which domestics are not paid, extending the 
recruitment agency responsibility period for domestics to two 
years from the current three months, and limiting the number 
of times domestics can transfer employers to prevent their 
exploitation.  A delegation of union members recently visited 
Indonesia to hold talks with Indonesian labor ministry 
officials on regulating the recruitment and hiring of 
Indonesian domestics. 
 
11. (C) The union facility includes a waiting room for newly 
arrived domestics, lounge for walk-in employers where they 
can review applications and profiles of available domestics 
seeking work, legal department, and conciliation rooms for 
resolving labor disputes. The union developed a video (in 
several TCN languages) and informational brochures on the 
treatment and duties of domestics. (Note: When Poloff visited 
recently, a few newly arrived Asian female domestics were 
sitting on rugs laid out on the floor of the waiting room. 
Union officials told Poloff that the domestics had slept 
there for a few nights because their employers had yet to 
pick them up. The room had no beds or any other visible 
facilities, but union officials said that they wanted to 
obtain a permit to build a hostel adjacent to the union to 
house new arrivals. End Note).  The union claims it maintains 
a file on every domestic recruited through any of its member 
agencies and actively blacklists delinquent or abusive 
employers, recruitment agencies, and "problem" domestics. 
(Note: The blacklist is controlled and maintained entirely by 
the union and is not an official GOK list. It is not clear 
what degree of oversight the GOK exercises, if any, over the 
union in this regard. End Note). The union is now seeking a 
GOK license to build a shelter for runaway domestics, where 
they would be housed for a maximum of 10 days and then 
deported, according to union officials. 
 
12. (C) An influential member of the Kuwait Democratic Forum 
(KDF), a liberal political bloc, and former Assistant 
Undersecretary for Labor Affairs proposed last year the 
creation of a tripartite organization, the Public Authority 
for Expatriate Labor, comprising members of the Kuwait 
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), GOK (Ministry of 
Social Affairs and Labor, Ministry of Interior), and Kuwait 
Trade Union Federation (KTUF). He told Poloff recently that 
the organization would be charged with managing labor policy 
for all expatriate workers including domestic servants, 
hearing labor complaints, developing and monitoring health, 
safety, and occupational standards for foreign workers, and 
liaising directly with local and overseas labor recruitment 
agencies.  He said, however, that the GOK has not yet 
responded to the proposal. 
 
13. (C) The National Assembly's Human Rights Defense 
Committee includes the treatment of domestic servants as a 
major agenda item for the first time, following general 
elections in July.  The Minister of Social Affairs and Labor 
has publicly stated that his Ministry is actively studying 
ways to reform the local sponsorship system governing the 
entry and employment of all expatriate workers.  The current 
sponsorship system severely restricts the freedom of movement 
of foreign workers and gives employers tremendous leverage 
over employees, often leading to near-slavery conditions. Sri 
Lankan and Philippine Embassy sources tell us that 90% of all 
employers of runaway domestics refuse to return their 
passports or civil identification cards (though withholding 
these documents is illegal).  Without these documents, 
runaway domestics cannot leave the country or obtain medical 
treatment as local hospitals will not admit them without 
proper documentation. They added that this is a severe 
problem for physically and sexually abused domestics who 
require immediate and often complex medical attention. 
 
14. (C) COMMENT: The GOK has taken some positive steps 
recently to improve conditions for foreign workers other than 
domestics. Notable among these is a new law implemented 
recently requiring private sector employers to deposit the 
salaries of their workers in local bank accounts to help 
ensure that workers are paid in full and in a timely, 
transparent manner.  A series of amendments to the outdated 
Labor Law proposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and 
Labor should help further improve working conditions for 
foreign private sector laborers, if adopted and implemented. 
Unfortunately, however, domestic servants do not benefit from 
these initiatives as they remain excluded from the Labor Law. 
 Local newspapers carry stories almost daily about the 
physical or sexual abuse of maids, domestics allegedly 
committing "suicide," or police detaining runaways. 
Alarmingly, police officials appear to be complicit in abuse 
in some cases.  Several foreign governments with large 
populations of expatriate workers in Kuwait, including 
Indonesia and the Philippines, have raised the issue of the 
treatment of their domestics with Kuwaiti authorities at the 
highest levels.  The GOK has not yet established a government 
shelter for runaway domestics, as it was considering several 
months ago. Post will continue to press Kuwaiti authorities 
about human rights and TIP issues at all levels, and will 
report more extensively on labor recruitment agencies and 
other issues in septels. END COMMENT. 
 
MORAN