HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL PRESENTS REPORT TO MUBARAK;

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 004781

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2015
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM EG
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL PRESENTS REPORT TO MUBARAK;
HINTS AT INTEREST IN ELECTION MONITORING

REF: A. CAIRO 4170


B. CAIRO 2876

Classified By: ECPO Counselor John Desrocher for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: On June 21, National Council for Human
Rights (NCHR) president Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali met with
President Mubarak to formally present the Council,s first
annual report, which had been publicly released in mid-April
(ref B). Following the meeting, Boutros Ghali announced that
the Council is willing to form a "solidarity" committee on
the presidential elections. Separately, Hafez Abou Se'ada,
Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization of Human

SIPDIS
Rights (EOHR) and chairman of NCHR,s Complaints Commission,
has outlined an ambitious plan by a group of 19 NGOs to
monitor this fall's presidential and parliamentary elections.
End summary.


2. (SBU) NCHR President Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former
U.N. Secretary General, delivered the Council's first annual
report to President Mubarak during a June 21 meeting;
however, the President,s office has not yet offered an
official reaction. (Note: The NCHR, a quasi-independent body
operationalized by the GOE in 2004, had transmitted the
report to the GOE in April, but the GOE to date has not
commented on the report. End note.)


3. (C) Following the meeting, Boutros-Ghali announced that
the Council is willing to form a "solidarity" committee on
the elections. Media critics characterized the comment as
"vague," wondering if the proposed committee would show
"solidarity" with the GOE or the opposition. According to
EOHR SG Hafez Abou Se'ada, who is also chair of NCHR's
Complaints Commission, there is an ongoing struggle within
the Council on this issue, with pro-GOE members in favor of
only accepting complaints (rather than monitoring or
observing the polls) and the more independent members calling
for the full monitoring of the electoral process.


4. (C) Separately, Abou Se'ada recently announced the
formation of an "Elections Observatory" coalition, a group of
19 NGOs working together to monitor all stages of the
electoral process. The Observatory,s goals, according to
its charter, are to: "provide an independent, unbiased and
objective assessment of the elections; encourage
participation in order to build the voter trust in the
election process; ensure the integrity of the election
process; and contribute to rectifying and developing the
election process in the future based on the lessons learned."
According to Hafez, the agreement struck between all 19 NGOs
has been for each organization to consolidate separate
reports on the electoral process into one report to be
prepared by a consultative body of public figures and a
general secretariat. (Note: An EOHR staffer working on the
"Elections Observatory" coalition project told Poloff on June
22 that the coalition was "fragile" and that the 19 NGOs
differed among themselves on key issues such as accepting
foreign funding or working with international monitors. This
contact also reported that the coalition NGOs had yet to
agree on common monitoring procedures, principles, or
methodologies. End note.)


5. (SBU) Comment: We are encouraged by the evolving
domestic interest in monitoring, observing, or otherwise
assessing the upcoming elections. In addition to the
"Elections Observatory" coalition and the NCHR, which is a
quasi-governmental body, we are aware of at least two other
coalitions of civil society groups preparing to conduct
monitoring activities (ref A). We will continue to track all
of these efforts. End comment.


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