DAMASCUS COMMUNITY SCHOOL FACES CRITICAL SITUATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 002213

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2016
TAGS: AMGT SY
SUBJECT: DAMASCUS COMMUNITY SCHOOL FACES CRITICAL SITUATION


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen Seche for reasons 1.4b/d


1. (U) Summary. Our ongoing discussion with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs regarding residency permits for overseas-hire
teachers at the Damascus Community School (DCS) took an
ominous turn for the worse today, with receipt of a
diplomatic note asserting that DCS must be licensed before
the issue of normalizing the status of its faculty can be
addressed. This is a demand with which we cannot comply and
still expect to have an independent, English-language school
in Damascus able to meet our children,s educational needs,
since licensing in the Syrian context means relinquishing
control of the school,s program, academic and otherwise, to
the Ministry of Education. We have apprised other foreign
missions of this escalation on the part of the SARG, and will
continue to pursue resolution via the three communities the
school serves: diplomats, foreign businesses, and influential
Syrian families. End Summary.


2. (U) For the past several weeks, Post has been trying to
persuade the Syrian government via contact at the MFA to
issue residency visas for overseas-hire faculty. (Note: this
situation affects nearly three dozen teachers whose visas
have already expired or will on June 1.) This situation has
grown increasingly critical as we approach the end of the
school year, and teachers prepare to leave Syria for the
summer, uncertain as to whether they will be able to re-enter
Syria when classes resume in August. Clearly, it will be
very difficult for the school to function in the absence of
the majority of its overseas hire faculty, and the effect of
such an event on families at this mission and all others who
depend on DCS will be extremely negative.


3. (U) We recently have expanded our direct efforts with
the MFA to include the following:

- On May 4, The Charge sent a letter to the chiefs of
diplomatic missions (19 in all) that have children enrolled
in DCS informing them of the situation and requesting their
intervention at senior levels of the MFA. He followed up by
meeting May 7 with representatives of several missions to
identify the most effective way forward.
- Acting on a consensus reached at that meeting, Charge
called on the Russian Ambassador in his capacity as dean of
the diplomatic corps on May 10 to seek his intervention,
which the Ambassador agreed to provide.
- The foreign business community ) especially companies
involved in the energy sector - has been apprised of the
situation. The managing director of Shell in Syria agreed to
raise the issue with the Oil Minister.
- Influential Syrian parents have been recruited to use their
personal ties to senior SARG officials to resolve this
problem.

To date, however, these efforts have been unsuccessful, and
the receipt today of the diplomatic note escalating the
matter to one of licensing DCS in order for it to continue
functioning adds a worrisome dimension that further calls
into question the ability of the school to function.


4. (U) Text of diplomatic note follows:

May 08, 2006

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic
presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States
of America in Damascus and has the honor to refer to the
Embassy,s Diplomatic Note No: 186 dated 03/22/2006,
regarding granting residence permits to the teachers of the
Damascus Community School.

The Ministry has the honor to relay the statement of the
concerned authorities, which says that in order to comply
with the Embassy,s request, the Embassy should, first,
submit a request for license in accordance with the rules of
the Legislative Decree No: 55/2004 and its executive
instructions which organize the basics to establish the
educational foundations related to embassies, since the
mentioned School is not licensed until today.

Considering that the Ministry of Education in the Syrian Arab
Republic has asked the school to provide the Ministry with
the record of the students, especially the Syrian ones, and
was not answered.

When the School is licensed accordingly, then the concerned
authorities may consider to comply with its requests provided
that these requests are attached with a C.V. for each
applicant and residency permit according to the followed
instructions with accurate specifications of their jobs
whether they are students, teachers or administrators.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Arab Republic
avails itself of this opportunity to express to the honorable
Embassy its highest consideration and appreciation.

End Text.


5. (C) Comment. There seems to be little doubt that the
SARG sees this issue as a way to further strike out at the
USG in response to our efforts to impose diplomatic isolation
on Damascus. We believe that the most effective way to
approach this issue is to make it clear to the Syrian
government that this is not/not a purely bilateral issue, and
its clumsy attempt to create discomfort for the U.S. Embassy
here will result in considerable pain to a large segment of
the expatriate community. With this in mind, we will follow
up with chiefs of mission and suggest that they ask their own
foreign ministries to call in the Syrian Ambassador in their
respective capitals to convey their deep concern over this
measure, and, if appropriate, contact the Syrian MFA directly
to forcefully and clearly deliver the same message. End
Comment.


6. (C) We solicit the Department,s views regarding other
possible courses of action that may not have occurred to us.
At the moment, we are reluctant to ask you to call in the
Syrian Ambassador, for fear that our evident discomfort with
these developments will persuade him that pressure on DCS is
an effective way to retaliate against USG policy. However,
if the Department thinks otherwise, please advise. We need
to employ every tool at our disposal to correct this
situation as soon as possible, or face significant staffing
issues at Embassy Damascus as the only suitable in-country
educational option disappears.
SECHE