CZECH NGO, PEOPLE IN NEED, LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001198

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2015
TAGS: CU EAID IZ PREL
SUBJECT: CZECH NGO, PEOPLE IN NEED, LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM
FOR IRAQ, CONTINUES PRO-DEMOCRACY WORK IN CUBA AND
ELSEWHERE.

REF: A. PRAGUE 832

B. PRAGUE 814

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Mark Canning for reasons 1.4
(a) (b).

1.(U) Simon Panek, the Director of the Czech NGO, People In
Need (PIN),briefed Embassy officials 8/11 on a new
initiative for Iraq, the establishment of a center to promote
democracy in the Middle East, and explained the
non-governmental organization's ongoing ties with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2.(U) PIN has been in Iraq for years, though primarily
providing humanitarian assistance. In 2004, PIN pulled all of
its expats out of Iraq and relocated many of them in Jordan.
This month, PIN began a new program in Jordan, based on the
Czech experience in the transition from a totalitarian regime
to democracy. An Institute has been set up in Amman, with the
working title, The Democracy and Transition Center for the
Middle East. In this month's initial program, Iraqi
journalists will receive training from August 4 to August 26.
Jan Urban, former dissident, human rights activist, one-time
chairman of the Civic Forum and still practicing journalist,
will lead the training. Panek says he can see the program
growing to include journalists from Palestine and Syria one
day. Panek believes the center could also be used to train
NGO leaders.

3.(U) Panek expects the center to need USD500,000 per year in
its early stages. The Center has received an initial
allocation of funds from the National Endowment for Democracy
in the US, and 15 million Czech Crowns (USD 650,000) from an
office within the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That
office, called the Section for Cooperation on Transitions
(Reftel A),was conceived last year by three Czechs: Deputy
Foreign Minister Petr Kolar, who is expected to be the next
Ambassador to the US; Tomas Pojar, then Director of PIN, now
scheduled to succeed Kolar as Deputy FM; and Simon Panek. The
office is run by Gabriela Dlouha, who along with Kolar, once
worked for former President, Vaclav Havel. The MFA's Section
for Cooperation on Transitions is itself very active in Iraq,
Cuba, Belarus and elsewhere, and also supports PIN activities
in each of these places. The MFA's support for democracy in
these countries is largely the result of the personal ties
between Kolar, Pojar, and Panek, but also due to the support
given by FM Svoboda and former President Havel.


4. (C) PIN is the secretariat for the International Committee
for Democracy in Cuba. PIN uses volunteers, mostly non-Czech
Europeans, to smuggle digital cameras and laptops into Cuba,
where they are given to journalists and others documenting
conditions there. In May, PIN organized a trip for Senator
Karel Scwarzenberg and other parliamentarians. Three editing
decks were smuggled in on that trip, which ended one-day
early when the parliamentarians were detained by Cuban
officials (Reftel B) PIN also works with other European
states to get cash to the families of political prisoners in
Cuba.

5.(U) Finally on North Korea, Panek said PIN made some
initial efforts to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea,
but was told that North Korea only provides entry to
humanitarian projects worth at least half a million Euros and
he wasn't able to provide that much assistance .

6.(U) COMMENT: This message doesn't give a thorough
description of all of PIN's activities, only developments in
certain countries over the last few months. In addition to
the places mentioned above, PIN is active in Belarus, Burma,
the Balkans, and is considering projects in Zambia. PIN is
led by dedicated individuals with excellent ties to the
current leadership at the MFA, and among other politicians,
such as Senator Schwarzenberg, who is 67 (current term
2004-2010),and Vice President of the Senate Petr Pithart,
who is expected to retire when his term runs out next year.
The Czech Republic will have parliamentary elections next
year and there is no guarantee the next government will make
the promotion of human rights, or the toppling of dictatorial
regimes, such a high priority. Panek agrees that a victory by
a left-of-center coalition between the Social Democrats and
the Communists, an outcome that can't be ruled out at this
stage, would make it much more difficult, if not impossible,
to continue government-funded programs against regimes in
Cuba and Belarus.
MUNTER