EXPLORING STRATEGIES FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L NIAMEY 000922 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT. FOR G/TIP, ZEITLIN; DRL FOR HARPOLE; AF/W FOR BACHMAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KWMN NG SUBJECT: EXPLORING STRATEGIES FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST TRADITIONAL CASTE-BASED SERVITUDE REF: HARKENRIDER / ZEITLIN E-MAIL OF 7/28 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY BERNADETTE M. ALLEN, AMBASSADOR, REASONS: 1.4 (D) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Ambassador hosted a lunch on Wednesday August 23rd for key anti-slavery contacts: Ilguilas Weila of Timidria, Niger's preeminent anti-slavery NGO; Moustapha Kadi, a civil society activist and author of a recent and comprehensive book on Nigerien caste-based servitude; Aichatou Bety of Catholic Relief Services (CRS),coordinator for the US Department of Labor funded child worker education initiative, which incidentally touches many slave-caste children; and, Khalid Ikhiri, President of Niger's leading human rights NGO, ANDDH. Poloff and A/DCM rounded out the American side. Participants discussed both short and long term tactics in the fight against traditional caste-based servitude in Niger, and suggested points for a Post action plan on the issue. Participants represented diverse viewpoints but united around a few key themes: slavery in all of its forms is susceptible to eradication, but it will take time and an ongoing commitment by the Government of Niger (GON),international partners, and civil society organizations to reach that goal; practical training in literacy, microfinance utilization, legal rights, and marketable job skills are essential components of any response; finally, in the short term, these advocates agreed that the USG can most help the situation by convincing Niger President Tandja and others to acknowledge the problem and adopt a more realistic and forthcoming position with respect to it. END SUMMARY -------------- -------------- AN ANCIENT PROBLEM REQUIRES LONG TERM COMMITMENTS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Poloff noted that the system of caste-based servitude, in its various forms, had developed over centuries, and that its eradication would necessarily be a long-term affair. The contacts agreed, noting that a successful strategy would involve the GON, the civil society, and international partners in a multifaceted effort to sensitize both servile and master-caste populations, and to provide the former with viable economic alternatives appropriate to their situation. Noting that the problems faced by servile caste persons differed considerably from the nomadic, pastoral zone of northern Niger to the sedentary agricultural lands of the southwest, Ilguilas Weila argued that different fundamentals needed to be addressed in each instance. In the northern pastoral zone, servile caste nomadic herders would most profit from a decentralized and relatively informal training program centered on flexible community schools. The schools would impart literacy training, and could also serve as a venue for sensitization on legal rights. In this region, economic independence derives from the ability to obtain flocks of animals and have access to supplementary food stocks. NOTE: Weila's arguments in this regard mirrored those of GON Spokesman Mohammed Ben-Omar, who noted in a recent meeting with the Ambassador and Poloff that many servile-caste Nigeriens had been driven closer to their erstwhile masters during the droughts of the 1980s, when many of their animals died, reducing them to economic dependence (reftel). END NOTE. ¶3. (U) In the south, Weila argued that land reform is the desideratum. Servile caste Nigeriens in that region would never realize their rights as long as the dominant system of land tenure continued to favor nobles. Weila cited the cases of servile-caste families who had worked their land for 120 years, but were still forced to rent it from a "master," and could never hope to purchase or own it. Returning to the north, he noted that Timidria had enjoyed some successes with microcredit programs that aimed to provide servile-caste persons with small animal herds, credit, job training, and access to food stocks. Participants agreed that former slaves could also benefit from cooperative production and marketing of certain craft items like the shoes, leather and metal goods traditionally produced by members of their caste. ¶4. (U) Offering lessons learned from CRS's experience with servile-caste and other marginalized children in the central region of Maradi, Aichatou Bety noted that literacy training through community schools was not only useful in and of itself, it provided an opening to sensitize communities on their legal rights. Noting that both master and slave caste children seek the literacy training, Bety stated that their integration in the classroom provided a great opportunity to break down the tradition of discrimination and introduce subjects like legal equality and the anti-slavery law. She stressed that a sufficiently adroit NGO partner could do this in ways that avoided conflict or negative community reaction; the key was to offer something valuable to both master and slave-caste persons. NOTE: While not primarily oriented toward slave-caste populations, the USDOL child laborer education project touches a large number, especially in CRS's zone of intervention - the nomadic region north of the central city of Maradi. END NOTE -------------- - EXISTING MODELS FOR ANTI-SLAVERY INTERVENTIONS -------------- - ¶5. (U) Building on Mrs. Bety's comments, Poloff noted that other existing donor programs provided workable models for action on slavery. Veterinarians Without Borders had responded to the 2005 Niger food crisis with a pilot program to provide pairs of goats and other livestock to nomadic herders, who then bred them to re- establish stocks diminished by drought. The World Food Program (WFP) and the NGO consortium that runs the DOL project have explored the idea of using WFP resources to support the canteens in the project's community schools. The canteens not only feed the children, they create jobs and incomes for some 800 parents, who staff them. The CARE Maradi Youth Center, supported by Embassy ESF funds and the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Initiative, brings marginalized youth together in an association that imparts job and life-skills training and microcredit, while also teaching youth about issues such as HIV/AIDS, conflict resolution, democracy, and political participation. The concept has recently been extended to Agadez. CRS's literacy and schooling efforts have already brought master and servile caste children together under the same roof for basic education. The same venues could slowly introduce content related to social discrimination and equality. Each of these ongoing projects has proven itself in the Nigerien context. Each could serve as a component of a long-term program leading to the eventual eradication of caste-based servitude and its vestiges. Yet, for any of these solutions to be workable, post would have to be able to provide local NGO and IO partners with sustained financial support. -------------- COMMENT: OUR LONG TERM APPROACH -------------- ¶6. (U) Whether targeting 10,000 or 43,000 slaves - and the target numbers become increasingly elastic when one considers victims of caste-based social discrimination as well as victims of outright slavery - such a program would be considerably larger in scope than either the DOL project (which involves 3,200 children) or the current Maradi and Agadez youth centers (which involve between 300 and 1,000). Post wholeheartedly supports G/TIP's proposed RFA on caste-based servitude. Such a commitment would be a powerful first step that would help us to achieve both our short and long term objectives. However, if the USG wishes to embark on projects designed to put an end to slavery and related practices, we must first understand that this is a very long road, requiring sustained attention. A multi-year commitment will be necessary to ensure that slave-caste persons find the economic means to escape from this age-old social structure once and for all. END COMMENT -------------- OUR SHORT TERM PRIORITY: MOVING THE GON -------------- ¶7. (C) Moving from long term solutions to short-term action plan items, Poloff asked the contacts how the Embassy could best address caste-based servitude over the next six to nine months. The invitees argued that Embassy advocacy on the issue was the most important short-term tactic. They argued that we should raise the level of discussion from the working level to the Presidency. Poloff noted that many working level contacts and even some GON ministers had adopted realistic and forthcoming positions on the slavery issue in our discussions with them. Their receptivity, however, had not always been matched by that of senior leaders, including President Tandja. Ilguilas Weila argued that the GON is a hierarchical entity, and whatever the positions of lower level officials, it would never really move on the issue until Tandja himself publicly acknowledged it. Weila argued that Tandja's reluctance to acknowledge slavery was due to his political obligations to the businessmen and traditional chiefs who together comprise most of the "master class." All participants agreed that Tandja would be a hard sell, but Moustapha Kadi argued that if anyone could succeed, it would be the US Ambassador. High level attention from the diplomatic corps, he argued, might well provide the GON with the incentive it needs to confront the issue. ¶8. (U) Participants also united behind another idea - that of a national tripartite study on slavery. Such a study would involve the U.S. Embassy, the GON, and the Nigerien civil society, and would produce a document acceptable to all. Moustapha Kadi noted that GON Labor Minister Kanda Siptey had stated that her agency was ready to participate in such a study, were funding available. Weila and Kadi noted that, while both of their organizations had produced studies on slavery before, neither had been officially accepted by the GON. Weila cautioned that such a study, if undertaken, should focus only on slavery lest the GON attempt to shift its focus to connected issues like child labor. He also argued that President Tandja must first be induced to adopt a more candid position on the question, otherwise the GON would fail to be a truly effective partner. -------------- -------------- COMMENT: OUR SHORT TERM APPROACH: ADVOCACY AND PARTNERSHIP BUILDING -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Post would ordinarily dismiss the idea of another slavery study as redundant, however, the idea is intriguing for a couple of reasons. A tripartite study could help us to arrive at a clearer estimate of the number of persons involved in traditional caste-based servitude. Current estimates range from 10,000 (Moustapha Kadi),to 43,000 (Anti-Slavery International),to 780,000 (Timidria). In order to properly calibrate our long term interventions, a more exact estimate that all of these actors - and the GON - can agree on would be useful. Secondly, a tripartite study would enable us to test the GON's willingness to engage on this issue. If we could provide the resources for a project the GON has stated that it is willing to pursue, all excuses for inaction would be off. Finally, a cooperative endeavor bringing the GON and civil society activists together to work on a controversial issue under USG auspices could go a long way toward building confidence between two groups that rarely see eye to eye. Eventually, meaningful efforts to eradicate slavery would have to be based on that sort of relationship. If post could facilitate its creation, the effects would be lasting. Based on previous experience, we anticipate that a national study on slavery could be accomplished for less than $200,000. ¶10. (SBU) Ilguilas Weila is right. In order for the GON to be an effective partner in the sort of high-profile, large-scale anti-slavery efforts that we contemplate, President Tandja must adopt a clearer and more realistic view of the problem. A clear statement from the highest levels of the GON should precede any collaborative effort, even the tripartite study. ¶11. (C) The Ambassador agrees with Embassy's anti-slavery contacts that President Tandja will be a hard sell, as his pride will not allow him to accept easily any discussion about slavery (caste-based or otherwise) existing in Niger. Embassy team was given the impression that none of Tandja's cabinet members, even those who have a realistic view of caste-based servitude, would dare risk raising the subject with him (and Embassy tends to agree with that assessment). Our contacts believe that Tandja may more easily engage on the subject with someone he respects. They have suggested that Tandja respects the U.S. Ambassador, not only the position itself, but also her active engagement with Nigeriens at both the governmental and community levels. The same type of engagement may also be possible with a few other foreign ambassadors accredited here. The Ambassador intends to test, over the long term, what sway she has over Tandja as it relates to a number of matters, including caste-based slavery. Given the Ambassador's brief tenure of four months at post, the strategy she expects to take is to engage Tandja on programs that he fully supports (i.e., such as programs that focus on increasing scholarity and literacy for all Nigeriens). Ambassador would then like to pursue with Tandja the proposal of a tripartite study (funds permitting),one from which recommendations would be developed for use as stepping stones to real engagement on this serious subject. ALLEN