US embassy cable - 04AMMAN4132

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/24/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, ELAB, PREF, KWMN, IZ, JO, KTIP 
SUBJECT: GOJ CONFRONTS POSSIBLE LABOR TRAFFICKING SCAM 
INVOLVING IRAQ 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward Gnehm for reasons 1.5 b and d 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: Post has learned of several dozen third 
country nationals (TCNs) brought to Jordan by apparently 
unscrupulous recruiting agents and sent to Iraq. All have 
needed some assistance in returning to their home countries 
and in at least one case, the workers were physically abused 
in Iraq before being repatriated. USG efforts to urge 
official Jordanian response have born some fruit as border 
procedures at the land crossing have changed for now, but 
this issue will need to be raised at the highest levels to 
ensure prompt investigation and preventive action. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Beginning in late March, a U.S. military staff member 
of the Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Center (HACC) 
based at the Karama border with Iraq noticed an increase in 
the number of non-Arabs stranded and unable to enter (or 
re-enter) Jordan. Citizens of India and Bangladesh, they did 
not have the means to complete their onward travel and were 
stuck in the no-man's land between border posts. All were 
seeking or had sought employment in Iraq, though at least a 
majority had been promised work in Jordan prior to coming to 
the region. The HACC staffer helped to facilitate the entry 
of 12 Indians into Jordan for return to India, and Jordanian 
authorities refused exit into Iraq for at least one group of 
Indians during this time. The HACC staffer was also able to 
engage the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to 
assist a number of Bangladeshis in returning to their home 
country. As of May 19, IOM has had contact with 50 
Bangladeshis at the border, most of whom wished to return 
home and whom IOM was able to assist. (Note: IOM is using 
funds from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and 
Migration-supported TCN assistance program.) 
 
3. (SBU) In early May, three Sri Lankan women attempting to 
enter Jordan from Iraq came to the attention of the HACC. 
Unable to provide proper documentation or entry visa fees, 
they had been refused entry into Jordan. Upon further 
investigation, however, it was discovered that they had 
entered Jordan in January with contracts for domestic work in 
Jordan and were later moved to Iraq, though it is unclear by 
whom. While in Iraq, they faced physical abuse, with strong 
indications of sexual abuse as well. Under Jordanian law, the 
recruiting agency who brought the women to Jordan is 
obligated to return them to their home country, and the 
agency was contacted. However, when the brother of the main 
agent showed up at the border to retrieve the women, they 
responded hysterically and refused to depart with him. 
Jordanian authorities then held the man until his office 
faxed proof that they had purchased tickets for the women's 
return to Sri Lanka. (Note: The HACC has received several 
reports that this agency is involved in most of these illicit 
TCN movements.) The HACC staffer transported the women to the 
Sri Lankan embassy in Amman, where they remained until 
departing Jordan on May 14. 
 
4. (C) This incident appears to have been a turning point in 
Jordanian border authorities' attitudes toward potential 
trafficking. For the past two weeks, Jordanian authorities 
have been proactively seeking proof of actual employment in 
Iraq and evidence of TCNs' ability to return to their home 
countries before allowing them to exit Jordan for Iraq. 
However, this goes beyond their legal mandate and it is not 
clear whether this practice will continue indefinitely. We 
have learned that the police supervisor at the border wrote a 
letter to the Interior Ministry asking that the recruiting 
agency in the Sri Lankan case be investigated. When IOM acted 
to assist the most recent group of Bangladeshis early last 
week, the Jordanian police asked IOM why the recruiting 
agents were not repatriating these workers, rather than IOM. 
 
5. (C) Piecing together information from HACC and IOM (though 
their ability to communicate with many of the travelers has 
been limited by the lack of a common language), most, if not 
all, have been brought to Jordan by labor recruiters. It is 
unclear whether the recruiters are all based in Jordan, but 
none of these travelers were accompanied by agents when 
moving to and through the borders. The fees the travelers 
claim to have paid for their jobs and travel range from 500 
to 2500 USD, a figure IOM identified as typical for global 
trafficking. Their nationalities have been limited to Indian, 
Bangladeshi, and, most recently Somali, in addition to the 
three Sri Lankan women. They have appeared at the border as 
groups. Some were told that they would be simply transiting 
Jordan on the way to Iraq, while others claim they were 
promised positions in Jordan that did not materialize. From 
IOM's perspective, it is still unclear whether there is a 
trafficking element to these movements, but they are 
resistant to being perceived as facilitating trafficking and 
plan to work closely with the GOJ on addressing the 
situation. IOM, UNHCR, and the Embassy have all received 
inquiries from a CBS Radio reporter on this issue, though no 
press reports have yet appeared, to the best of our knowledge. 
 
6. (C) Embassy raised this issue directly with the Legal 
Bureau in the MFA, our primary contact on trafficking in 
persons issues, as well as the Minister's Private Office on 
May 20. They took the matter seriously and promised to 
approach both the Interior and Labor Ministries about it. 
Poloff raised the matter with the Labor Ministry Secretary 
General on May 23, who assured Poloff that any agent found to 
have broken Jordanian law or skirted regulations would be 
shut down. He was confident that labor inspectors could 
uncover any wrongdoing and remarked that, unrelated to the 
incidents described above, he had earlier this month ordered 
the inspectors to review all of the approximately 70 agents 
licensed to recruit domestic workers in Jordan. 
 
7. (C) COMMENT: It remains to be seen whether the events 
described here constitute the whole problem or simply the 
known aspects of it. While we judge the initial Jordanian 
official reaction to be responsive, it is a concern that what 
appears to be extensive labor trafficking was able to 
continue for several months. To ensure prompt and thorough 
GOJ investigation and preventive action, Ambassador intends 
to raise this situation at the highest levels. While we are 
going to be proactive on this issue on our side of the 
border, Department and CPA may wish to consider what can be 
done in conjunction with Iraqi authorities on the other side 
of the border to eliminate potential trafficking. 
 
8. Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site 
through the State Department's SIPRNET home page. 
GNEHM