TIP: MINISTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS DISCUSSES ROYG

1. (U) Summary: DCM called on Minister of Human Rights Amat
Alim al-Suswa 6/14 to deliver country narrative and talking
points in reftel on the release of the Trafficking in Persons
(TIP) report. The Minister detailed further actions taken by
the ROYG to combat TIP, including the formation of an
inter-agency ROYG commission. They also discussed President
Saleh's visit to the United States for the G-8 summit and
other meetings, the new U.S. program to train Yemeni police
in riot control and the past and future activities of the
Ministry of Human Rights (MHR). End Summary.



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ROYG Progress on TIP


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2. (C) The Minister thanked DCM for notifying her of Yemen's
place in the TIP report as a special case. She said that
trafficking in persons was a new issue for Yemen that was not
widely understood. She agreed that, although information was
fragmentary on the scope of the problem, actions must be
taken to address the issue. She noted excellent cooperation
with the Embassy, thanking Post for helping the ROYG
understand the problem. She said she was happy that other
ROYG ministries took the previously "not known" issue
seriously when it was raised in detail in the last year,
particularly praising the cooperation of the Ministry of
Interior (MOI). DCM noted the recent signing of a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with MOI for the INL riot control
training program with police, which the Minister welcomed.
DCM also emphasized the importance of MOI in the prevention
and prosecution of traffickers.



3. (C) She said the ROYG formed a commission to fight TIP,
consisting of the Ministries of Human Rights, Interior,
Social Affairs and Labor and other relevant agencies such as
the Prosecutor General. Al-Suswa also praised the rising
interest of parliament in the issue of child trafficking and
shared a copy of a letter in Arabic she wrote responding to a
parliamentary inquiry. Drawing on information gained from
the ongoing UNICEF survey on child trafficking conducted in
cooperation with ROYG ministries, she said the letter
described what is known about the problem thus far and what
the ROYG is doing about it. (Note: Post will translate the
letter and report as necessary.)



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MHR Update


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4. (C) The Minister said June 23 was the one-year anniversary
of the creation of the Ministry of Human Rights. She
provided an English copy of the Ministry's Performance
Report, covering progress from June 2003 to March 2004. She
noted again good relations with ministries important to
resolving human rights abuses, including MOI, Ministry of
Justice and the prosecutor general. She said that with the
support of these ministries, she was able to persuade the
cabinet to vote to have the Ministry of Finance provide the
MHR its full fiscal year monies instead of quarterly to
facilitate the ministry's development. (Comment: This is
highly unusual and a surprising victory in a government where
the Ministry of Finance controls the purse strings. End
comment)



5. (C) In addition, the Minister highlighted several areas of
progress from the Performance Report:

-- a commission established to study Yemeni legislation to
make recommendations to ensure compliance with international
human rights standards;

-- the "almost done" first draft of the first Yemen human
rights report developed by the government in cooperation with
non-government experts, which she said she hoped would be
objective and accurate;

-- the mechanism by which the MHR works with other ministries
to respond to human rights complaints from citizens and
others; and

-- the development of legal assistance mechanisms, including
a hotline to help with requests for help.
HULL