UNDEF: CLUB DE MADRID PROMOTES ARAB DEMOCRATIC

UNCLAS MADRID 000634

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

IO/RHS FOR RACHEL LEATHAM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID KDEM KPAO PGOV PREL UN NGO OIIP
SUBJECT: UNDEF: CLUB DE MADRID PROMOTES ARAB DEMOCRATIC
DIALOGUE

REF: STATE 19781


1. (U) SUMMARY: The Spain-based NGO Club de Madrid is using
UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) funding to help fund a project
aimed at promoting freedom of association in several key Arab
nations, the "Dialogue on Democratic Values in the Arab
World." The Club de Madrid is pleased with its relationship
and interactions with UNDEF and has been amazed with the
ability of the fund to vet and approve 125 grants in its
first year. The Club de Madrid has already completed one
UNDEF-funded leadership visit to Morocco and will complete
the second, to Jordan, before the end of April. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Poloff met with Milburn Line, Program Officer at the
Club de Madrid, to discuss the Club's UNDEF-funded project,
"Dialogue on Democratic Values in the Arab World", on March

30. The Club de Madrid is a five-year-old governance NGO
whose members (currently 66 strong) are former heads of state
or heads of government of democratic nations, by invitation
only. Notable members include former President Bill Clinton,
former Prime Minister Kim Campbell (Canada),former President
Felipe Gonzalez (Spain) and former President Mary Robinson
(Ireland). While founded in 2002, the Club has really only
had operational capacity for the past three years. Line said
that the high profile of the Club's members makes it a great
tool for emphasizing multilateral consensus on important
issues such as the need for increased freedoms in the Arab
world.

//PROJECT OVERVIEW//


3. (U) Line told Poloff that the dialogue project is
primarily funded by the European Commission (EC) and that
UNDEF funding accounts for 20 percent of the total project
budget. The two-year project identified six target nations
in the Arab world to which Club members would travel for
discussions with high-ranking government officials, civil
society leaders and other stakeholders in an effort to
promote freedom of association in these nations. The Club is
using the 2007 UNDEF funding for programs in two target
nations, Morocco and Jordan, while the EC funding will pay
for work in Bahrain in 2007 and in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and
Tunisia in 2008. Line said the plan was to build momentum in
more moderate nations in 2007 before tackling the tougher
states in 2008. The Club contracts with local partners in
each of the target nations for assistance with logistics,
programming and contacts, but it principally capitalizes on
the political cachet of its members and its connections in
the Madrid diplomatic corps to gain audiences with
high-ranking officials.


4. (U) The goal of the project is to establish the dialogue
on freedom of association within each target nation and then
attempt to parlay these initial dialogues with the key
nations into a future joint dialogue among these countries,
which could be subsequently expanded to include other
interested Arab nations. The Club counts on its fairly
high-profile membership to provide the necessary access for
serious dialogue at the decision-making level of these
governments.

//MARCH 1 PROJECT LAUNCH//


5. (U) The Club de Madrid only officially launched the
dialogue project with a kickoff planning meeting February
14-15 in Cairo, so Line said it was a little early for
concrete results. Former Prime Minister of Sudan Sadig Al
Mahdi led the meeting, along with local partners, the Bahrain
Centre for National Studies, the Center for Strategic Studies
at the University of Jordan, and Moroccan NGO Maroc 2020. Al
Mahdi then announced the project by writing a column in As
Sharq Al Awsat, the most widely read daily newspaper in the
Arab world, that discussed the lack of freedom of association
in the Arab world.

//TRIP TO MOROCCO//


6. (U) Three other former heads of government, Abdul-Kareem
Al-Eryani (Yemen),Felipe Gonzalez (Spain),and Petre Roman
(Romania) led the Club's first survey mission to Morocco
March 13-16, 2007. With the assistance of Maroc 2020, they
met a large variety of government and civil society including
ministers and female Members of Parliament. The mission
focused on learning about recent democratic reforms in
Morocco as well as identifying remaining challenges. The
Club plans to return to Morocco in June 2007 to continue work.

//JORDAN TRIP IN APRIL//


7. (U) Line said that the next country the Club will survey
is Jordan, April 16-19, and they expect to be received by the
Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice. That delegation
will be led by Al Mahdi, Kjell Magne Bondevik (Norway),and
Valdis Birkaus (Latvia).

//PLEASED WITH UNDEF//


8. (SBU) Line noted that UNDEF funding is only just now
coming through, but he added that compared with requesting
funds from the European Community, the UNDEF process was
simple. He also praised the web-based proposal mechanism,
saying that it was easy to use. He offered that the Club had
applied for funding from DRL for this project as well but had
not heard back in the end. He further offered that perhaps
this was just as well, as U.S.-funded projects have tended to
arouse greater suspicions in the Arab world than UN and
European endeavors.

//ON SCHEDULE, ON BUDGET//


9. (U) Line told Poloff that the Club's project remained on
schedule and on budget to address all six target nations
within the two-year timeframe and to complete UNDEF-funded
work in Morocco and Jordan within the first year.

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Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/
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Aguirre