UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 000356

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM SNAR AU FR XE MA DJ SU MR UN
SUBJECT: ARAB NATIONS CREATE REGIONAL NETWORK TO FACILITATE
JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) SUMMARY: At a high-level conference of judicial and
prosecutorial authorities from 22 Arab states, held in Doha
on April 27 and 28, participants agreed to create a new
liaison organization to help facilitate mutual legal
assistance and extradition among their countries. The
Government of Qatar offered to host a secretariat for this
new network, which is inspired by the European experience
with EUROJUST. During a press conference held on the first
day of the conference, the French Minister of Justice and
Qatari Attorney General announced a bilateral exchange of
judicial authorities and a joint training program for Qatari
judges. The State/INL observer to the conference met on the
margins with the Minister of Justice of Jordan, who is
seeking help with his desire to reorganize the powers of
Jordan's new anticorruption commission. He also met with the
Qatari Attorney General to discuss bilateral cooperation in
the planning for two premier international anticorruption
events that Qatar will host in late 2009. END SUMMARY


2. (U) Embassy Amman -see paragraph 7.

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HIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCE
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3. (U) The Government of Qatar (GOQ) and the Government of
France co-sponsored the Second Regional Conference on Justice
(Second Conference), held in Doha on April 27-28.
Representatives attended from 22 Arab states and territories,
including 15 Ministers of Justice and 20 Prosecutors General
from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Yemen,
Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Authority, Iraq, Egypt,
Sudan, Somalia, Comoros, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco,
Mauritania, Djibouti and Libya. Participants included
experts from the UN Development Program-POGAR, UN Office of
Drugs and Crime and Arab League. John Brandolino, Senior
Advisor at UNVIE for State/INL, and Jeffrey Cole, DOJ
Regional Attache located in Cairo, attended as guests of
Qatari Attorney General Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri.

4. (U) The Second Conference was a follow-up to a similar
conference in 2004 that sought to discuss basic and common
principles found in French and Arab legal systems.
Organizers accomplished their goal of establishing an
organization that will help facilitate mutual legal
assistance and extradition among the participant countries.
This organization is inspired by the European's experience
with EUROJUST. The event included a presentation by Jose
Luis Lopes da Motan, President of EUROJUST, on the workings
of that particular body. Qatar has offered to host a
secretariat for this new Arab organization.

SIPDIS


5. (U) Qatari Attorney General Al Marri and French Minister
of Justice Rachida Dati, following their opening statements,
held a joint press conference to announce a formal program
for judicial exchanges between the two countries. They will
begin this cooperation with the respective placement of
long-term resident judges within each other's country. They
also announced that they will co-sponsor a judicial training
center for Qatari judges that will involve French trainers.


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6. (U) Three panel sessions over the two-day conference
discussed the structures and experiences of judicial and
prosecutorial authorities in various participant countries,
and focused specifically on the concept of separation of
powers, relationship between judicial authorities and the
police and the use of specialized authorities. Participants
recognized that the existing tools for judicial cooperation
among these countries, which included the Riyadh Convention,
were outdated and could use upgrading.


7. (SBU) The State/INL rep was approached on the margins by
Jordan Minister of Justice Aiman Odeh and Ammar Al-Husseini,
Director for International Cooperation at the Ministry, who
is seeking advice on his desire to disengage prosecutorial
powers from Jordan's relatively new national anticorruption
commission. The commission was apparently created with the
expectation that it would prosecute, as well as investigate,
corruption cases. He is now finding it difficult to develop
prosecutorial functions within the commission which are
wholly separate from the regular judicial/prosecutorial
authorities in that country. He thinks it would be best to
keep the prosecutorial functions consolidated and subject to
existing ethics and other standards and controls. The
Minister is concerned, however, that any move to extract
prosecutorial functions from the commission might violate the
UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) (Comment: It does
not. UNCAC discusses creation of anticorruption commissions
that are independent and have proper resources, but leaves it
to individual countries to determine which powers it will
give to such commissions. End comment) and that such a move
will be perceived badly by the international community. The
State/INL rep promised to provide information on other
anticorruption commissions and to follow up with Al Husseini,
who has worked with State/INL rep in the past on UN-related
anti-crime issues in Vienna.


8. (U) The State/INL rep also met on the margins with
Attorney General Al Marri to discuss preparations for the
UNCAC Third Conference of States Parties (COSP) and the Sixth
Global Forum on Fighting Corruption (GF VI), which the GOQ
has agreed to host in November or December of 2009. Attorney
General Al Marri assured Brandolino that the GOQ agreed with
the USG positions shared with Attorney General Al Marri on
April 10 visit to Doha by State/INL Director David Luna. He
agreed that GF VI should be the final Global Forum and with
our vision on how these two events should be structured. He
pledged to work closely with the USG as they prepare for
these two major international anticorruption events.


9. (SBU) In a separate meeting with Dr. P.F. Rau, a
Yale-educated Indian advisor to Attorney General Al Marri on
international affairs, Rau provided insights into the
operations of the AG's office. He expressed confidence that
AG Al Mari would find the necessary resources to make these
anticorruption events a success. He advised the USG to be a
visible but patient partner, and promised to help serve as a
liaison between the USG and Attorney General Al Marri.


10. (U) COMMENT: Qatar and the participant countries must now
translate the conclusions of the conference into a process
that will help strengthen judicial cooperation on a practical
level. France's representatives are pleased with its
coordinating role in this effort, which they hope will
strengthen bilateral and regional judicial cooperation and
cast the French system and EUROJUST as examples worthy of

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regional attention.


11. The GOQ's sponsorship of the Second Conference and their
plans to host the UNCAC COSP and GF VI in 2009 is evidence of
their, and particularly Attorney General Al Marri's, interest
in creating a role for Qatar in the international justice
scene. State/INL will work closely over the next eighteen
months with Embassy Doha and Attorney General Al Marri to
prepare for COSP and GF VI, and ensure that their substance
and process for these events coincides with our vision for
the two events. END COMMENT
RATNEY