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.

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COMMENT
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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