KENYA STATE OF PLAY - WOMEN'S JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT

UNCLAS NAIROBI 003386 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E, INL/AEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PGOV PHUM SOCI KE SUBJECT: KENYA STATE OF PLAY - WOMEN'S JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE (WJEI) Sensitive-but-unclassified. Not for release outside USG channels. Ref: A) Meyers-Ranneberger e-mail dated 8-16-07, B) Nairobi 3279, C) State 112598, D) State 90007 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: At an August 21 meeting with the DCM, Kenya's primary interlocutors on the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative said they are receptive to moving forward with the program. At the same time, they want to ensure it meets their priorities, including help in developing a forensics capability, and that it does not duplicate or conflict with existing programs that address awareness raising and victim care and support. End summary. ¶2. (U) As follow up to ref B and in response to ref C, DCM and Econ/C met August 21 with Dorothy Angote, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Kenyan Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MOJCA). The PS was joined by Dr. Gichira Kibara, Director of Legal Affairs at the Ministry. ¶3. (SBU) The purpose of this meeting was to engage at a senior level with the designated Government of Kenya (GOK) lead ministry - the MOJCA - in a discussion on how to proceed to design and implement the proposed Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) in Kenya. The DCM outlined the history of the Initiative and the rationale for the selection of Kenya, and proposed that the next steps be to form a joint U.S.-GOK design team and to sign an LOA that would release funds necessary to assign an ICITIP technical expert to Nairobi to assist with the design and implementation of the law enforcement component. Responding to Kibara's April 2007 request for a read-out of the January 2006 USG assessment team's conclusions, DCM reviewed USG thinking. Stressing that it was still at the conceptual stage and open to refinement and comments from the Kenya side, she summarized the three-pillared approach that focuses on strengthening the legal system, raising awareness, and caring for/supporting victims. The DCM handed over a non-paper that summarized the conclusions of the January 2006 USG assessment team, drawing on information provided by Washington in para 3 of ref D. She also presented the draft Letter of Agreement on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (LOA) and urged Angote and Kibara to review these documents with a view to quickly establishing a joint design team for WJEI and signing the LOA. ¶4. (SBU) Angote and Kibara agreed to review the documents, saying they would need to cross-check the draft U.S. proposal against the Ministry's own proposal, first provided to the USG in December, ¶2005. (Note: Kibara provided a copy of that proposal. We will scan and e-mail it to relevant Washington offices. End note). Collectively, Angote and Kibara made the following salient points: -- The broad principles and components identified for WJEI are "okay". Implementation details, however, still remain unclear to the GOK in terms of how each of the three program components will be implemented, who will control the disbursal of funds and which government and non-governmental entities will be involved on both sides. To provide some idea of how one program component - awareness raising - was being designed and implemented in the three other WJEI candidate countries in Africa, the DCM handed over a copy of the July 2007 RFA circulated by USAID/Washington. -- Kenya's "main area of interest" remains assistance in developing a DNA forensics capability for the police. Kenya needs a police forensics lab "yesterday," said a vehement Angote. Training without the equipment to put it into practice is a waste. Having a modern forensics capability -- including the capacity to test for DNA in the case of rape -- is a critical tool in prosecuting gender-based and all other forms of crime. -- The Ministry will also have to assess whether WJEI, in whatever final form, is coordinated properly with other ongoing programs being conducted to implement the Sexual Offenses Act (e.g., education/awareness raising, victim care, and legal reform). Kenya wants "value addition" through harmonization of different-but-similar programs. ¶5. (SBU) Addressing these points, the DCM emphasized the need to establish a joint program design team soonest so that the details of WJEI implementation can be developed to the mutual satisfaction of both sides and so the program can move forward. Angote and Kibara took this on board and said they would study the U.S. proposal and respond shortly. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Kenya's December 2005 proposal touches on five broad objectives, three of which appear to dovetail neatly with the three pillars of the WJEI program. We believe the rub will be the absence in the U.S. proposal of anything addressing a key element in the Kenyan one: forensic labs and other crime investigation/prosecution tools. In this light, Mission Nairobi's Counter-Terrorism Working Group will be meeting later this week to consider the option presented in ref A to offer technical assistance to the GOK in assessing its forensic needs and capabilities. Ranneberger