CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS CALL ON U/S DOBRIANSKY FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 000420

SIPDIS

PLEASE PASS TO MCA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KMCA KMPI YM DEMOCRATIC REFORM HUMAN RIGHTS
SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS CALL ON U/S DOBRIANSKY FOR
MORE US SUPPORT


1. Summary: On February 24, Undersecretary for Global
Affairs Paula Dobriansky, explored at a roundtable with
Yemeni NGOs areas where the U.S. can support Yemen's nascent
civil society. Representatives from forty NGOs raised
concerns over human rights abuses, women's access to
political and economic power, and declining press freedom in
Yemen. U/S applauded the diversity and experience of Yemen's
NGOs and encouraged them to continue sharing their ideas with
the U.S. mission in Sanaa. Highlighting the development
opportunities available to Yemen through the MCC process, U/S
stressed that to qualify for increased funding, Yemen must
take concrete action to fight crime and corruption.
Acknowledging concerns over the imprisonment of opposition
journalist Khaiwani, U/S said she hoped to see forward
movement on freedom of the press in Yemen. End summary.


2. Presidential Counselor, Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Karim
al-Iryani, co-chaired the Civil Society Roundtable in his
role as Chairman of Cultural Bridges Forum, an organization
designed to enhance dialogue between donors and Yemeni civil
society organizations. Iryani launched the forum by
encouraging broader cooperation among NGOs on areas of common
interest. In her opening remarks, U/S said that Yemen was
her only stop on this visit, and that she came to Sanaa
especially to "to explore where Yemen is going in the area of
democracy." She elicited views from Yemen NGO and civil
society leaders on press freedom, human rights and women's
political participation. Stressing she was here to listen,
U/S asked the NGO representatives to share their strategies
to influence the ROYG, as well as for their views on how
best to combat Yemen,s pervasive corruption.

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Call For True Multi-Party Rule
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3. Yemen Institute for Democratic Development Director Ahmed
Sufi outlined the brief history of Yemen,s civil society,
noting that in 1994 there were only a handful of NGOs
operating in Yemen. Sufi described his latest project to
expand democratic education in schools, and requested that
the USG make democratic education and economic development
central to its activities in Yemen. Political Development
Forum, Chief Ali Saif Hasan, repeated visiting World Bank
President James Wolfenson's warnings about the need for
political reform saying, "we cannot rely on one-party
government to face the challenges ahead." Hasan asked for
USG assistance in publishing an annual report on transparency
and accountability to "overcome the exaggeration" by the ROYG
of Yemen's democratic progress.

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Human Rights and Security
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4. Mohammed Ala'o, prominent human rights attorney and
President of the National organization for Defending Rights
and Freedoms (HOOD) pointed to several post-9/11 human rights
abuses in Yemen including "thousands of arrests." He claimed
that dozens of Yemenis remain in prison without access to
lawyers and due process. Describing incidents of torture,
Ala'o criticized the lack of judicial independence in Yemen,
specifically that President Saleh is head of the Supreme
Judicial Council. Ala'o closed by complaining that Abu
Ghraib tarnished the image of the U.S. as the leading
supporter for human rights. Calling the Abu Gharib incident
an egregious abuse of human rights, U/S stressed that there
was a process in the U.S. to bring the violators to justice.
U/S asked that participants share information with the
mission in order to enhance the U.S. understanding of the
situation in Yemen.

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MCC: Transparency and Accountability
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5. Turning to Yemen's threshold status in the Millennium
Challenge Account, U/S stressed that Yemen has an opportunity
to dramatically increase USG development assistance, but
accessing MCA funds would require serious progress in
combating corruption. U/S encouraged NGOs to work with the
U.S. Embassy on transparency and accountably issues.

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Expanding Women's Participation Across Yemeni Society
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6. Citing the 2003 Arab Human Development Report, U/S said
expanding the role for women in politics and the economy is
critical for development. She pointed to U.S. support for
democratic institutions through the National Democratic
Institute (NDI),specifically their work to engage women in
the political process.


7. Dr. Bilqis Abu Osbu, Al-Jazeera Women's Rights Center
Director, asserted that the political role of women is
declining in Yemen as demonstrated by the drop in female held
seats from two in 1997 to one in 2001. After protracted
discussion, women's groups have agreed to seek quotas,
explained Osbu, who also announced that the GPC ruling party
endorsed a 20 percent quota for women in Parliament and
promised legal changes to codify women's rights (Note:
Post,s understanding is that the GPC has endorsed 10 percent
quota. End note).


8. Social Organization for Family Development Chief, Basma
al-Qubati, referred to the ROYG's plan to be a developed
country in 2025 and yet, she said, the role of human rights
and NGOs is neglected by government planners. Qubati asked
that an NGO and Civil Society empowerment strategy be
developed to unite and organize their efforts. Dr. Qaderi,
from the Yemen's Women Union, said that her organization
focused on the eradication of illiteracy to allow women
multiple opportunities for economic and political expression.
U/S replied that the U.S. could partner in many areas such
as literacy, micro-finance, and political involvement of
women.

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Press Freedom -- Still a Concern
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9. Female Media Forum President and journalist, Rahma
al-Hujera, thanked "terrorism" for bringing U.S. and
international attention to the issue of reform, particularly
in the areas of women, democracy and development. Noting
that the mission of her organization is to highlight gender
disparity in the media, Hujera raised declining freedom of
speech in Yemen, citing the recent string of journalist
prosecutions and newspaper closures. U/S affirmed that the
U.S. was indeed concerned about deteriorating press freedoms
in Yemen and that she had raised the case of imprisoned
opposition journalist Khaiwani in her meetings with ROYG
officials. Characterizing the issue, "as something we would
like to see movement on," U/S said Yemen has taken a number
of positive steps in democratization, but that a regression
in press freedom would hurt the country's image
internationally.


10. Comment: Yemen's civil society participants demonstrated
a true willingness to discuss difficult issues openly and
honestly. Many clearly enjoyed the opportunity to speak and
exchange ideas with a high-level USG official. The true test
for Yemen civil society, however, will be whether or not they
can move to the next step, from open and honest discussion to
mobilizing to influence ROYG decision-making and become a
partner of the government in reform. While Yemen's NGOs are
diverse and active, most still lack the capacity and
capability to affect change. End comment.


11. Under Secretary Dobriansky did not have an opportunity to
clear on this message.
Krajeski