YEMEN: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANAA 000110

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV PREL KDEM KMPI YM HUMAN RIGHTS
SUBJECT: YEMEN: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
REPORT 2005

REF: SECSTATE 226655


1. (U) Paragraph 2 contains Post's input for the 2005-2006
edition of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" as
requested in reftel. This submission will also be sent via
e-mail on the classified side as a clean copy word document.

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2. (U) Begin Text:

Yemen is a republic with an active elected legislature.
Although Constitutional power is purportedly shared between
the elected President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the 301-seat
House of Representatives, power lies squarely with the
executive branch. An appointed 111-member Shura Council
advises the President on policy but has no legislative
authority. Against the backdrop of a sporadic insurgency in
the north of the country, Yemen's human rights record
remained varied in 2005. While there were some improvements
in prisoners' rights and a substantial decrease of torture in
prisons, there was a substantial increase in limits on
freedom of the press. Security forces continued to
arbitrarily arrest and detain persons. The Government in many
cases failed to hold members of the security forces
accountable for abuses. Despite constitutional constraints,
security officers routinely monitored citizens' activities,
searched their homes, detained citizens for questioning and
mistreated detainees. Prolonged pretrial detention, judicial
corruption, and executive interference were rampant and
undermined due process. Discrimination against women and
child labor remained problems. The Government, at times,
limited freedom of assembly and, as a result of tensions in
the north, imposed some restrictions on freedom of religion.

The 2005 U.S. human rights and democracy strategy for Yemen
addressed the need for the Government to strengthen its human
rights record, continue to enact democratic reforms, and
improve the administration of justice. The U.S. also pushed
to increase the strength of civil society, give women a
greater voice in their government, and further the process of
democratic development. To achieve this, the United States
aggressively advocated reform and continued or undertook
several long-term projects in 2005. The U.S. also played a
key role in uniting the international donor community for the
purpose of pressing the Government to implement long-delayed
democratic reform commitments. Finally, high-level visits
during the year underscored the United States' commitment to
institutionalizing respect for human rights and democracy in
Yemen and the region.

In Fiscal Year 2005, the United States provided $1.1 million
in International Military Education and Training assistance
for the Yemeni military, part of which addresses awareness of
international norms of human rights and fosters greater
respect for the principle of civilian control of the military
and the rule of law. In the past year, the program had 26
participants. In compliance with the Leahy amendment, U.S.
officials worked closely with the Ministries of Defense and
Interior to vet units for U.S. training. The Defense
Department Counter-Terrorism Fellowship funds a training
program for Yemeni military officers on the importance of
respecting human rights. The project is available to
Ministry of Interior and Defense civilians and security
forces. The project, which has been highly successful,
trained three participants in 2005.

The United States continued supporting actions aimed at
strengthening Yemen's political parties, improving election
administration, and fostering fair elections. Throughout the
year, U.S. embassy officials, in close cooperation with an
international-donor working group, met with government and
political party officials to press for necessary electoral
reform. Furthermore, U.S. support helped expand the capacity
of the Supreme Commission for Electoral Reform (SCER). With
this support the U.S. government hopes that the commission
will be able to effectively and fairly regulate the 2006
Yemeni presidential and local council elections. To help
foster even-handed elections, the U.S. also funded work that
resulted in reports that were presented to the Government on
requisite Yemeni Electoral and Political Party law reforms.
Though the government failed to act on the reports, they were
widely discussed by major political parties and civil society
at policy roundtables.

During the year, a string of legal, psychological, and in
many cases, physical attacks against journalists critical of
the Government marred Yemen's reputation as a bastion of free
press in the Middle East. To help counter this, the United
States strongly pressed government, journalist and civil
society leaders on the need for a free and professional
press. In July, the United States sponsored two legal
experts who worked with government officials and over 40
journalists for one week, culminating in a well-attended
workshop organized in cooperation with other international
donors. The workshop concluded with recommendations,
presented to the Government and civil society, on how to
protect press freedoms, some of which were seemingly
threatened by a proposed press law released by the government
earlier in the year.
Many times throughout the year, embassy officials met with
members of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate as well as the
victims of harassment. In October, the Ambassador expressed
U.S. concern over the deterioration in freedom of speech to a
local newspaper. His comments provoked a heated debate in
the press and among civil society. While
government-controlled papers billed the comments as
"interference" in Yemen's internal affairs, independent and
opposition press praised them. Civil society leaders also
publicly thanked the U.S. for being the first mission to
openly raise the issue.

To achieve the necessary reform in rule of law, human rights
and political freedom, the United States more actively
engaged non-governmental organizations in 2005 with the hope
that civil society organizations would take a lead in reform
of their country's political and social institutions.
Through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI),the
Administration's primary mechanism to support a forward
strategy for freedom in the Middle East, and public diplomacy
efforts, the United States supported several Yemeni NGO
projects in 2005. One very successful project taught
children about democracy, the importance of participation in
government, and freedom of speech. Another project helped a
local NGO teach its counterpart organizations how to
establish a coalition network. The United States' support
for NGOs reached the highest levels when in February, the
Undersecretary for Global Affairs, responsible for U.S. human
rights and democratic efforts, visited Yemen. During her
visit, the Undersecretary met with government officials and
held a roundtable discussion with Yemeni NGOs to explore ways
the U.S. can support Yemen's civil society.

In Yemen, the judicial system coexists with traditional means
of dispute resolution such as tribal mediation. Where the
court system is involved, there are numerous problems
including excessive executive branch tampering, corruption,
inefficiency of court administration, and the failure of
authorities to enforce rulings. In January 2005, an American
Bar Association delegation, in conjunction with the Middle
East Partnership Initiative (MEPI),visited Yemen for two
weeks to conduct an extensive assessment of Yemen's judiciary
in order to initiate programming, due to begin in 2006, to
galvanize legal reform. Furthermore, the embassy sponsored a
project entitled, "Qualifying Young Lawyers in Human Rights"
to introduce 160 Islamic law students and law faculty to
human rights law.

Bound by tradition, Yemeni women are politically and socially
marginalized. With limited access to education, health care,
and judicial redress, women have experienced minimal
political representation in parliament and local councils.
Although yet to be officially enacted, a female candidate
quota has made some headway after the President and country's
ruling party committed to enacting a fifteen percent quota
before the 2006 local council elections. Part of this
momentum was thanks to a U.S.-sponsored program aimed at
increasing women's political participation. This same
program helped establish a SCER women's unit to propagate
female electoral participation and taught women from Yemen's
four largest political parties how to run campaigns and lobby
for reform.

U.S. support for women's rights also took center stage in
Yemen when a visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
(DAS) addressed the opening session of a regional women's
conference to underscore the United States' support for
promoting women's rights. During his speech, the DAS
announced a substantial grant, awarded in September 2005 by
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),to a
program that will be run by the Ministry of Human Rights and
UNDP in 2006. This program will help Yemeni women take a
more visible role in lobbying for reform, run for elections,
gain access to justice, and assist women prisoners.

In 2005, USAID, in conjunction with MEPI, continued to expand
programming in strengthening democratic institutions,
decentralizing authority, and election assistance. One
program strengthened core skills of Parliamentarians
including constituent outreach and executive oversight
functions. The program also established a Parliamentary
Resource Center that helped Members of Parliament learn about
their mandated function and author more responsive
legislation. During the year, this resulted in Parliament
taking some steps towards becoming a more present force in
government. Another supported program works to bring
democratic government closer to the people by improving the
capacity of constitutionally mandated local councils.
Through the International Visitor (IV) Program, administered
through the US Embassy's Public Diplomacy office, the United
States sent over 10 participants to the U.S. to participate
in exchange programs on issues such "Promoting Rule of Law
and Justice," "Human Rights Advocacy and Awareness," "Role of
the Media", and "State and Local Governments." Also,
throughout the year the U.S. embassy donated many
publications on human rights and democracy issues to Yemeni
universities, NGOs, schools, and civil society institutions.

Comprehensive reform in human rights and democratic
development is a choice that ultimately lies with the
Yemenis. The U.S., through its different agencies and
embassy in Yemen, will continue to work with willing actors
in political parties, civil society, and the government to
foster respect for human rights, freedom of speech, equality
and rule of law in a country with great potential.

(End Text)

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3. (U) Addendum:

Support for Reform Minded Yemeni Parliamentarians
$800K (MEPI)

Support to UNDP Local Council Decentralization Program
$1.59 mil ($1.2 mil MEPI and $390K USAID ESF funding)

Political Parties and Women's Participation
$695,000 (MEPI)

Elections Support Program to NDI and IFES
$1.2 mil (MEPI)

Support to the MHR/UNDP Human Rights Program
$452,000 (USAID)

Conflict Mitigation Program
$300,000 (MEPI)

Yemeni Consensus Building Program
$420,610 (MEPI)

Democracy Assistance Dialogue Assistance
$200,000 (MEPI)

Yemen Adult Life Skills program for literacy
$2 mil (MEPI)

Middle East Legal Initiative (Yemen component)
$215,000 (MEPI)

Renovation of the Zenab Girl's School
$256,000 (DoD)


4. Note: Programs that support literacy and/or renovation of
educational facilities are also considered to be human rights
projects because they concentrate on women and girls (as
mandated by USAID) and help alleviate poverty, thus promoting
equality and democracy. End Note.
Krajeski