TURKMENISTAN: NGO ACTIVISTS ADVANCE LEGAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001370

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
AID/W FOR EE/AA (BOB WALLIN)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL AID SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: NGO ACTIVISTS ADVANCE LEGAL
ADVOCACY AND SOCIAL REFORM UNDER THE RADAR


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public internet.


2. (SBU) SUMMARY: NGO activists sat down with members of
the visiting DRL delegation led by DAS Erica Barks-Ruggles in
the modest ABA/CEELI office in Ashgabat to talk about the
work they have been doing in cooperation with a variety of
international and diplomatic partners. Much of their work
has been focused on legal advocacy, legal reform and issues
relating to women and Turkmen youth. This nascent network of
civil society leaders formed as a result of one or two
initial small projects. These projects, in turn, drew in
additional talented professionals who began their own
projects, thus expanding the pool of citizen leaders invested
in social change here. Although the projects they have
undertaken have been limited in nature, the potential exists
for these organizations to form the foundation for an
expanded social and legal reform agenda, if the host
government would relax the constraints it imposes upon them.
END SUMMARY.


3. (SBU) Four proactive, professional NGO heads shared with
the DRL delegation some of their ongoing work, some in
cooperation with ABA/CEELI, that focuses on legal education
for different demographics, legal assistance and advocacy,
and social reform on a tactical scale. Inga Byalkina was a
former juvenile police officer for 23 years when she moved
into social work. For two years she has been running a
project in coordination with UNICEF and a Kazakh NGO called
"Street Kids." The project is producing cartoons that help
teach kids about the risks associated with AIDS and illicit
narcotics use. Children took part in the development of the
cartoons, which helped to ensure that the message therein
would be easily understood. She is also an expert speaker
and trainer for ABA.


4. (SBU) Zoya Pros is an engineer-economist by profession.
She implemented a project called "My Right" which focuses on
teaching consumers about how to assess the quality of
products and services and initiate demands for improvements.
She has published a brochure on citizens' consumer rights.
She implemented several other projects jointly with
Counterpart, the Embassy, and the Ministry of Trade that
resulted in the publication of a legal guide to consumer and
business rights. She has also conducted training jointly
with UNHCR on the topic of preventing domestic violence for
refugee Afghan women. She complained about the difficulty of
registering her public organization. She had gotten around
the registration problem by operating within the framework of
the U.S. Visitors Program's Alumni network and had
successfully created a training module and conducted a
seminar on trafficking of persons for young women. Currently
she is working with ABA on a project called "Social Lawyers"
that provides legal assistance on social welfare issues.


5. (SBU) Nabat Babayeva is a lawyer. She is also an alumni
of the 2003 U.S. Visitors Program. She became interested in
NGO activity after becoming involved in Ms. Pros' "My Right"
project, and also assisted her with the program for Afghan
refugee women. She reflected the overall enthusiasm of the
women when she noted that once she started, "she just could
not give it up." Ms. Babayeva then decided to establish her
own organization, which established a legal assistance center
called "Hemayat" that provides citizens with help in drafting
complaint letters to government ministries. She has provided
training and seminars in coordination with the ABA, the
Embassy, and Counterpart. She has also worked with Bosfor,
the OSCE Centre and the UN. Within the framework of the
""Social Lawyers" program, she worked on Turkmenistan's
Family, Residence, and Labor Laws, converting them to

ASHGABAT 00001370 002 OF 002


easy-to-read materials available to the public. Having
become an expert on these laws, she has become a "certified
trainer of trainers". She also helped the ABA to adapt their
Social Advocacy Manual from Russian into Turkmen. Her work
resulted in the production of a "Social Lawyer's Manual."


6. (SBU) Kristina Izyumova runs an information resource
center called "Lachin Ay." She is involved in a project
right now that teaches children about civil rights and a
"Social Lawyers" project, where basic information on
citizens' rights is compiled. She is also involved in the
"Social Lawyers" project. Additionally, Ms. Izyumova and her
mother have been operating a summer camp for at-risk children
that teaches civil rights and keeps them from crossing paths
with law enforcement.


7. (SBU) The delegation asked the women to name the three
most significant ways the U.S. government could facilitate
their work. The women said they would like more grants in
order to fund their ongoing activities, as well as financial
assistance to pay for their groups' participation in
international training opportunities and conferences. They
also emphasized the importance of the Embassy's advocacy of a
more standardized NGO and grant registration process. They
would value any assistance the U.S. government can provide in
assisting them with registration of their organizations and
grants. They noted that they are waiting to begin many
projects, due to the slow grant registration process. They
also commented that human trafficking is becoming a bigger
problem and urged assistance for work in that field.


8. (SBU) COMMENT: These NGO leaders are operating on a
small scale, and largely staying under the radar in avoiding
negative attention from the government. In a relatively
short amount of time, however, they have established a small
but modest footprint in working for social and societal
change here. Each was aware of the risks they were taking,
but all wanted more support formthe international community
and more assistance for their efforts. Each expressed
skepticism about the scope and pace of change in
Turkmenistan, but all noted that there are openings now that
they need to try and take advantage of to expand their work.
It is also interesting to note that each organization came
into being after its leader was pulled into the gravitational
range of another earlier project. Within the existing cadre
of unemployed professionals, individuals with leadership
qualities seem to abound. Because of this phenomenon, there
is now a small, entwined network of capable activists who
could potentially provide a solid foundation for greatly
expanded public organization activity in Turkmenistan. They
could, in the future, help to address the country's most
basic social and societal issues. END COMMENT.


HOAGLAND