BANGLADESH: LOCAL G8 CTAG MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 002378 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR S/CT JOHN SANDAGE/ERIC ROSAND E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2016 TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL BG SUBJECT: BANGLADESH: LOCAL G8 CTAG MEETING REF: STATE 58471 Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Butenis; Reason 1.4(b) ¶1. (SBU) On April 18, Dhaka based G8 countries embassies met at the Russian embassy for the local CTAG meeting chaired by Russia. Represented countries included France, German, UK, Australia, European Commission, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Russia, mostly at the Chief of Mission level. Poloff raised points noted in reftel. ¶2. (C) Over the course of the two hour meeting, the representatives stated their views on the terrorism situation in Bangladesh and stated the actions, if any, they were undertaking to address terrorism. Some candidly explained that while they had many concerns on terrorism and Islamic extremism, few had any cooperative counter terrorism programs with Bangladesh, and few possessed the resources to adequately report on the terrorism situation. Instead, many countries said their primary efforts were development in nature that address underlying conditions that contribute to terrorism such as poverty, disempowerment of women and illiteracy. ¶3. (C) There was not much active discussion about pushing Bangladesh to criminalize and prosecute terrorism, although there was a furtive attempt by the Russian notetaker to state in the minutes that all participants agreed to support Bangladesh implementation of UNSCR 1624 "to prohibit by law incitement to terrorism." Instead, most focused on development oriented issues: the UK delegate said that the UK's programs focused on raising people's awareness that there is an alternative to the Koran, the EU delegate said they sought to target the poor and young to reduce their susceptibility to extremism, the Australian's representative said their programs encouraged the empowerment of women, which counters Shariah law, while the French delegate asked what steps BDG will undertake to implement its commitment to the 12 UN Counter Terrorism conventions. ¶4. (C) When the Russian delegate asked about Bangladesh's planned Anti-Terrorism laws, many delegates were reluctant to advocate stricter law enforcement. Many questioned BDG's current practice of extra-judicial killings of criminals, largely by its infamous Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),seen by BDG as their premier counter terrorism force. Many delegates would agree with the EU delegate who said that the BDG considers the extra-judicial killings as their contribution in the "fight against terrorism." At the same time, he asked, "Is it enough that we only voice concern over these killings?" The political dimension of stricter law enforcement was not lost on some, such as the French delegate who noted that most of those extra-judicially killed by police or RAB were "leftist" criminals, and rarely people aligned with the ruling party or Jamaat Islami. ¶5. (C) Most delegates responded positively to poloff's remarks about the USAID's program engagement of Imams and other leaders-of-influence. Participants noted the idea of empowering local leaders with information and their subsequent use of the information Poloff described US programs including sponsoring local religious leaders travel to the United States to increase their awareness of diversity of religions, and bringing US Muslim leaders to Bangladesh to speak to various groups, particularly women. Many participants noted favorably to US programs that empowered women. BUTENIS