US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT1258

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, G/TIP, DRL/PHD, DRL/CRA, NEA/REA 
ROME PASS EMBASSY VATICAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, KWMN, PGOV, KCRM, SMIG, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) TIP:  DISCUSSION WITH NUNCIO 
 
REF: A. STATE 59844 (NOTAL) 
     B. KUWAIT 784 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: CDA FRANK URBANCIC; REASON 1.4 (D). 
 
1.  (U) A/DCM met April 13 with Archbishop Giuseppe De 
Andrea, Apostolic Nuncio to Kuwait, Yemen, Bahrain, and Qatar 
and Apostolic Delegate for the Arabian Peninsula, who is 
resident in Kuwait and has served here over four years. 
 
2.  (C) The purpose of the meeting was to brief the Nuncio on 
the Embassy's efforts to combat Trafficking In Persons (TIP), 
as per ref A instructions.  Archbishop De Andrea agreed with 
the Embassy's assessment that the major TIP issue in Kuwait 
is the exploitation of domestic servants, especially females. 
 He noted that many thousands of these are Catholics, mainly 
from the Philippines and India.  He appreciated the Embassy's 
efforts to bring source-country labor attaches together to 
trade notes on protecting their nationals who suffer abuse, 
and to convey solidarity (ref B). 
 
3.  (C) While affirming the need to combat the problem, the 
Nuncio was short on specific ideas.  He said that while there 
is some inter-faith dialogue among Christian denominations in 
Kuwait, there is none with the Islamic establishment here. 
Bahrain and Qatar are both more open:  there have been two 
inter-faith dialogues in the past few years, and another is 
planned for Doha May 26-29, co-sponsored by the Holy See and 
the Qatari Ambassador in Paris, who is also accredited to the 
Vatican. 
 
4.  (SBU) De Andrea noted that his previous position was as 
Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and 
Refugees, in Rome.  He presumed the USG was already in 
contact with this Council, which he thought could be a 
worthwhile interlocutor, as could the International Catholic 
Migration Commission in Geneva. 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT:  We will extend this outreach to other 
Christian denominations, and continue to raise TIP concerns 
in the course of our continual dialogue with different 
segments of Kuwaiti society. 
URBANCIC