US embassy cable - 05AMMAN4574

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, OPRC, KCRM, KWMN, SMIG, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: TIP DEMARCHE DELIVERED 
 
REF: A. A) STATE 98926 
 
     B. B) STATE 100432 
 
Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Poloff delivered the trafficking in persons (TIP) 
demarche to Foreign Ministry Legal Advisor Bishar Khassawneh 
on June 7 (refs A and B) and a suggested work plan for 
improving Jordan's performance on TIP issues. Khassawneh 
engaged poloff in a candid discussion about the challenges 
the GOJ will need to overcome in order to carry out several 
of the suggested improvements. Khassawneh commented that the 
first two suggestions of the work plan -- to ratify the UN 
protocol on trafficking in persons, and to pass 
anti-trafficking legislation -- are closely linked. If Jordan 
were a signatory to the protocol, ratifying it should be 
rather routine, according to Khassawneh. Under Jordanian law, 
once ratification is completed, a domestic law mirroring 
Jordan's commitment to the international convention would be 
drafted and presented to parliament for approval. However, he 
warned that given the parliament's slow pace on such matters, 
and considering the potential domestic sensitivity to this 
issue, it will be difficult, in the near term, to obtain 
anti-trafficking legislation. (NOTE: Khassawneh believes that 
Jordan has, in the last three weeks, become a signatory to 
the TIP protocol. According to the UN website, Jordan is a 
signatory to the UN convention against Transnational 
Organized Crime (TOC), but has not ratified it. The TIP 
protocol is a supplement to the TOC convention; according to 
the UN website, Jordan is not a signatory of the protocol. 
END NOTE.) 
 
2. (C) Commenting on the third suggestion, that Jordan 
provide shelter for abused workers, Khassawneh said it is 
very difficult to appropriate government funds for any 
additional projects due to the GOJ's "dire financial 
situation". All ministries have been told to cut 20% from 
their currently allocated budgets. Next year the situation 
will worsen, he said, with Jordan having to start paying back 
USD 973 million in debt. Financing for any major projects 
related to possible trafficking in Jordan, therefore would 
have to come from external sources. Khassawneh was skeptical 
that the NGO community would be able to secure the funding 
necessary for building projects. 
 
3. (C) Poloff engaged Khassawneh in a discussion about the 
less expensive measures of the work plan, such as waiving 
overstay fines for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) trying to 
escape allegedly abusive employers and return to their home 
countries. This prompted Khassawneh to question the U.S. 
definition of "trafficked persons". Khassawneh was very 
hesitant to include all foreign worker problems under the 
umbrella of TIP; he noted that there could be as many FDWs 
that are actually in abusive situations as there are FDWs 
that have stolen from their employers and are trying to leave 
Jordan under the guise of having been abused. 
 
4. (C) Khassawneh encouraged poloff to meet with Ministry of 
Labor (MOL) contacts, specifically Minister Salem, to further 
determine the areas for real improvement, given a tight 
fiscal belt and a parliament that struggles legislation. 
Poloff has scheduled meetings with MOL officials in the 
coming week to discuss the TIP report and Jordan's work plan. 
HALE