SOUTHERN COMMAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE;

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 002735 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN JASON MACK, WHA/PPC AND DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL MASS XM CS SUBJECT: SOUTHERN COMMAND'S HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE; TRAINING POLICE IN COSTA RICA ¶1. SUMMARY: The U.S. Southern Command, as part of its Human Rights Initiative (HRI),sponsored a human rights conference in Costa Rica for 77 personnel, mainly from the public security force, November 28-December 1. Building on the work of an initial conference in August, this event sought to create a consensus document on implementing the HRI in Costa Rica. Participants developed objectives for human rights training for security officials and guidelines to measure the program's effectiveness, but differed over the need for, and possible function of, a human rights ombudsman within the police force. The conference may help security force personnel better prepare for provocative and potentially violent demonstrations around the first legislature vote on CAFTA, expected in February. This initiative is another example of USG "military" funding in support of a clearly civilian program. We continue to point to initiatives like this to debunk the myth that USG military assistance is "militarizing" Costa Rica. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Southcom and the Costa Rican-based NGO Center for the Study, Training, and Analysis of Human Rights (CECADH) hosted the conference under the auspices of the HRI, a regional program designed to strengthen respect for human rights by the military and security forces of 34 nations in the Western Hemisphere. Held at a resort in the Guanacaste province of northwestern Costa Rica, the conference included 77 Costa Ricans, mostly from the Costa Rican national police force (Fuerza Publica). The conference sought to create a country-specific consensus document to guide implementation of the HRI's goals and parameters which were established at an August 2006 conference of security and human rights leaders in Costa Rica. Poloff and the Embassy,s Southcom TCA (Traditional Commander's Activities) coordinator attended. ¶3. Costa Rica is unique among HRI participants in that it does not have a military, so the goals and methods laid out in the consensus document were adapted for use by the police force, in conjunction with the human rights component alreadybuilt into the curruculum of the national police academy . Discussion at times was lively, fueled by moderators from CECADH and the academy raising (the few) current cases of alleged human rights abuses by Costa Rican security officials. Poloff observed groups of officers in spirited efforts to reach consensus on objectives assigned to their group. The final product was a draft document, eventually to be available to the public (perhaps via a new link on the Ministry of Public Security's web page), explaining how security forces should be trained to respect human rights and how the effectiveness of that training would be measured. ¶4. Some of the most passionate discussions, however, centered on whether the police force should have an internal human rights ombudsman, and if so, where that office should be located and what its authorities should be. (NOTE: Costa Rica already has an independent human rights ombudsman, monitoring these issues nationwide.) While the issue was not resolved and many of the ideas discussed were not practical, the extremely frank conversation served as a healthy venting of numerous institutional concerns. U.S. participants in the discussion suggested that Costa Rica,s relatively strong human rights record and the GOCR,s limited resources were reasons not to create a new and potentially cumbersome entity within the office of the Minister of Public Security, where the ombudsman's objectivity on police violations of human rights might be questioned. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶5. This was an important Southcom-sponsored effort to focus Costa Rican security authorities on how to more effectively implement their human rights doctrine. The timing and topic of the conference were fortuitous. The police need to be prepared for the next round of anti-CAFTA demonstrations which may coincide with the first ratification vote (probably in February). Protestors may deliberately provoke security forces into over-reacting, in hopes of swaying public opinion (and a few key legislators) against CAFTA ratification. The conference also achieved a milestone in that Costa Rican police officers established their own criteria for measuring progress toward their own policy goals. Members of the Embassy,s Law Enforcement Committee will monitor GOCR follow up. In addition, we will continue to point to initiatives such as HRI and this conference to debunk the lingering local myth that USG military assistance is "militarizing" Costa Rica. FRISBIE