US embassy cable - 05DOHA991

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000991 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ARPI FOR STHORNE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2010 
TAGS: OPRC, KCRM, KWMN, PHUM, PREL, SMIG, QA 
SUBJECT: QATAR: DELIVERY OF 2005 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
REPORT 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer for reasons 1.4 (A) and (B) 
 
1. (U) DCM delivered advance draft of the 2005 TIP report and 
action plan for Qatar on Thursday, June 2 to Amb. Khalid 
Al-Mansouri, Director of the Americas and European 
Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
2. (C) DCM informed Al-Mansouri that Qatar had been placed on 
Tier 3 based on the lack of significant efforts between March 
2004 and March 2005 to address the TIP issues described in 
the report.  DCM described the reassessment process and 
timeline and reviewed with Al-Mansouri each point of the 60 
day action-plan. 
 
3. (C) Al-Mansouri said he was not surprised but was still 
disappointed at the Tier 3 ranking.  He said that there were 
many significant actions the GOQ has taken that have not been 
recognized, such as the recent passage of a law banning the 
use of children as camel jockeys, the improvement of the 
children's living conditions, and the efforts underway to 
repatriate them.  He noted that Qatar would bear a 
significant financial burden to compensate over 15,000 
Qataris for losses as this practice is brought to an end and 
to fund the development and purchase of camel-jockey robots 
to replace the children. 
 
4. (C) Al-Mansouri expressed concern that the lack of 
recognition of Qatar's efforts was "linked to other issues." 
 (Comment: Without using the words "Al-Jazeera," Al-Mansouri 
was expressing a view held by many in the Qatari leadership 
that the U.S. aims to punish Qatar because of the anti-U.S. 
nature of Al-Jazeera broadcasting.)  DCM assured Al-Mansouri 
that the TIP rating was based only on circumstances in Qatar 
and of actions taken or not taken by the GOQ to address those 
issues.  DCM also noted that last January the Ambassador 
proposed to the GOQ several specific measures to improve the 
conditions of the underage camel jockeys, but no action was 
taken in response.  The important and positive steps taken in 
recent weeks were laudable but came too late to be factored 
into the 2005 report. 
 
5. (C) Al-Mansouri said that he hoped G/TIP's Ambassador 
Miller would make some "good" comments to the press about 
Qatar's recent efforts when the report is released on June 3. 
 He also said that Qatar hoped to work together with the U.S. 
to address the TIP issues and to move Qatar from Tier 3 
during the upcoming reassessment. 
 
Untermeyer 
UNTERMEYER