US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT350

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, NEA/REA, DRL/HDP, NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, ELAB, PGOV, SOCI, PREL, KU, ID, RP 
SUBJECT: (C) TIP:  KUWAITI EFFORT TO HELP REPATRIATE 
DOMESTICS 
 
 
Classified By: CDA FRANK URBANCIC; REASON:  1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The Kuwaiti Ambassador to Indonesia is 
working with the Kuwait Red Crescent Society and the 
Indonesian Embassy to expedite repatriation of domestic 
servants stranded in Kuwait, and to ensure payment of wages 
owed to them.  He hopes to be able to extend this initiative 
to Filipinas.  In many cases, the only reason for 
repatriation is end of contract, but most claim unpaid wages 
for periods ranging from one to 38 months.  A substantial 
number claim to have been beaten by their employers.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) Charge received a phone call January 28 from 
Mohammed al-Khalaf, Kuwait's Ambassador to Indonesia, who is 
currently in Kuwait.  Khalaf said he was taking initiative to 
work with the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) to try to 
help stranded domestic servants, and invited the Embassy to 
learn more about this initiative.  Polchief therefore met 
with Khalaf and KRCS Chairman Barges al-Barges on January 29. 
 Barges stressed that KRCS is not a governmental entity, but 
is devoted to helping those in need, regardless of 
nationality or religion.  During Ramadhan, KRCS had provided 
meals to some 250 Indonesian and 150 Filipina domestic 
servants who had sought shelter in their respective embassies 
due to problems with their employers. 
 
3.  (C) During the January 29 meeting, Khalaf and Barges 
examined a printout, evidently produced by the Indonesian 
Embassy, listing 216 Indonesian domestics who wished to 
return home.  For 81 of them, no complaint was listed other 
than "end of contract."  Virtually all the others claimed 
their employers owed them back wages, for periods ranging 
from one month to 38 months.  Several also claimed their 
employers had beaten them; only one, as far as Polchief could 
tell, claimed attempted sexual assault.  A quick guesstimate 
by KRCS indicated that at an average monthly wage equivalent 
to about USD100, the claimed back wages would total 
USD135,000 (i.e. average ten months per person).  This was 
far more than they had imagined, and more than the KRCS 
budget could absorb, so they planned to seek payment by the 
employers.  (COMMENT:  the only way to make that square with 
prompt repatriation would be for the women to fly home first, 
and be paid later -- something they may be very reluctant to 
do.  END COMMENT.) 
 
4.  (C) Arrangements were in process with the Kuwaiti Air 
Force to repatriate some 170 of these domestics during the 
second week of February (shortly after Eid al-Adha), at about 
70 passengers per flight.  Khalaf hoped that domestics of 
other nationalities, notably Filipinas, would also be able to 
benefit from this service. 
 
5.  (C) Khalaf (protect) offered his personal opinion as to 
steps needed to gain control of the problem of 
exploited/abused domestics, which he said was a constant 
drain on his time and on Kuwait's bilateral relationship with 
Indonesia: 
 
- tighten control over the recruiting agencies, both in 
Kuwait and source countries; 
 
- promote awareness in the source countries, so that would-be 
domestics know their rights; 
 
- shift responsibility for domestics from the Ministry of 
Interior to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (because 
Interior has "a police mentality, not a humanitarian 
mentality"). 
 
6.  (C) COMMENT:  That a Kuwaiti ambassador has felt the need 
to take such an initiative is both encouraging (a sign of 
growing awareness and responsiveness) and disappointing 
(reflecting the absence of a concerted GOK response).  That 
Amb. Khalaf turned to the US Embassy indicates that our 
publicized concern about trafficking in persons is 
increasingly known and understood in