Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DUBAI236
2008-06-22 12:09:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Dubai
Cable title:  

G8-BMENA SUBMINISTERIAL READOUT

Tags:  KMPI KDEM PGOV PREL AE 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 9232
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 DUBAI 000236 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMPI KDEM PGOV PREL AE
SUBJECT: G8-BMENA SUBMINISTERIAL READOUT

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 DUBAI 000236

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMPI KDEM PGOV PREL AE
SUBJECT: G8-BMENA SUBMINISTERIAL READOUT

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1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor David Kramer led the U.S. delegation to
the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) subministerial
meeting in Dubai on June 9, 2008. NEA DAS Kent Patton and DRL
DAS Erica Barks-Ruggles were part of the delegation. The event
included 24 civil society activists and focused on themes of
political reform, sustainable development, and a review of
G8-BMENA initiatives. The success of this second subministerial
should institutionalize a structure that began in Berlin in 2007
and allows for more in-depth discussions among civil society
groups and G8 and BMENA governments on critical issues of
reform. End Summary



--------------

POLITICAL REFORM SESSION

--------------




2. (SBU) In the first civil society thematic intervention,
Mohammed Al Mekhlafi of the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights
provided an overview of freedom of expression in the region.
While most states have constitutions that protect freedom of
expression, they nonetheless restrict this freedom in their
laws. Examples include the Emergency Law in Egypt, complicated
press licensing procedures, controls both before and after
publication, restriction on access to information, and unclear
regulations that can lead to criminal prosecution. Mekhlafi
noted that Yemen does not restrict publication by political
parties. Government commentator Raouf Saad of Egypt responded
that civil society had adopted the "usual list of remarks on
difficulties they meet" and that he hoped for a partnership with
civil society, not complaints from them. He said that freedom
of expression is a basic right that cannot be given or taken
away, and that it is a good yardstick of reform. National
legislation is a starting point for partnerships between
governments and NGOs. Saad cited statistics on the expansion of
press outlets in Egypt since 1982.




3. (SBU) Mekhlafi's presentation on the legal environment for
civil society recommended abolishment of (a) licensing
requirements for journals, (b) administrative controls over the
press, and (c) criminalization of NGO formation. Civil society
should have the right to foreign funding but also must have

transparent finances. Government commentator Yousuf Amrani of
Morocco said governments need to deepen their partnerships with
NGOs and create the necessary legal environment. Noting that
NGOs have helped consolidate reforms in Morocco, he called on
all countries to ratify the relevant international agreements
and agreed that NGOs must be transparent.




4. (SBU) Lamis Nasser of the Women's Forum for Human Rights
(Jordan) spoke on public participation and women's empowerment,
citing awareness, capability, and knowledge as the three goals
for women's participation. She noted some recent advances,
including political rights for women in Kuwait and municipal
elections in Jordan in which women won seats. However, social
norms and civil status laws enhance discrimination against
women. Nasser noted that a proposed gender institute had been
supported by some governments at the 2007 BMENA subministerial
in Berlin, and that a feasibility study is underway and will be
presented to governments at this year's Forum for the Future
Ministerial. Commentator Wadouda Badran of the Arab Women
Organization cited poverty and cultural norms as challenges for
women and described the activities of her organization, which is
affiliated with the Arab League.




5. (SBU) During the discussion session, A/S Kramer applauded
the courageous and determined work by both civil society and
governments on reform efforts in the Middle East. The role
played by indigenous civil society actors is critical, and this
sector needs to have a protected, legal space in which to

DUBAI 00000236 002.2 OF 005


operate and prosper. He welcomed the comments made by the
speakers on freedom of expression, noting that freedom of
expression and opinion is a right that is still denied in too
many places. A/S Kramer welcomed the comments by Lamis Nasser
on women's empowerment, citing that equality for women is a key
foreign policy priority for the United States. He recognized
the work being done by both governments and civil society to
empower and promote opportunities for women, and applauded the
work being done by our NGO partners on the gender institute
study. He noted that the BMENA region would greatly benefit
from such projects, and noted that the U.S. delegation looked
forward to reading the assessment study at this year's Forum
Ministerial.




6. (SBU) Abdullah Al Darazi of the Bahrain Society for Human
Rights said that problems lie in the implementation of laws
applying to civil society and noted that Bahrain had amended
laws to stop the imprisonment of journalists. Saad Eddin
Ibrahim of the Ibn Khaldun Center in Egypt agreed that the laws
on freedom of expression are good. Citing Egypt as an example,
he said that the problem is "freedom after expression." He said
an Egyptian girl had been detained for calling for a peaceful
strike, that bloggers have been harassed, and that he was in
exile for expressing his views. He noted that the percentage of
parliamentary seats held by women in the Arab region is the
lowest in the world, and asked that the subministerial recommend
to the Forum that the gender institute be established. Amal
Basha of Sisters Arab Forum (Yemen) warned of a draft Yemeni law
that would criminalize journalists who expose corruption, and
Rana Ghanem of the Social and Democratic Forum (Yemen) discussed
a journalist who had been under arrest for six years. Ebtisam
Al Kitbi of UAE University said that her country's legal
environment is very restricted; for example, civil society
activists cannot attend events abroad without permission from
the Ministry of Social Affairs. Reza Eslami of Shadid Beheshti
University (Iran) called on governments to ease restrictions on
academic freedom and stop filtering blogs and other websites.
UAE civil society activist Reem Obeidat said that simply
counting the number of media outlets does not give an accurate
reflection of freedom of expression as many news outlets are
state owned or influenced. She also said that NGO licensing
leads to monitoring. Bakhtiar Amin of the International
Alliance for Justice (Iraq) suggested a center on pluralism and
called on oil-producing countries to create a fund to fight
poverty and promote education.




7. (SBU) Syrian delegate Rustom Al Zuabi said he was
disappointed that civil society did not highlight more positive
aspects of reform. He noted the number of women in the Syrian
government and complained about "the suffering of people in the
Golan Heights and Palestinian territories." He said that the
Israeli occupation is not an excuse for lagging in reforms, but
that it leads Arab countries to allocate more funds to defense.
The Kuwaiti and Emirati delegates cited legal reforms that civil
society did not mention, and Sheikh Walad Bu Asriya of
Mauritania praised the good press and NGO laws in his country.
Mauritania has over 1000 NGOs, most led by women, he said.



--------------

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SESSION

--------------




8. (SBU) The first portion of the Sustainable Development
session focused on education reform. Hoda Chalak of the Civil
Society Initiative (Lebanon) said that education should be free
and compulsory and should train minds in a scientific way.
Youth unemployment contributes to violence and migration among
youth. Mohzen Marzouk of the Arab Democracy Foundation called
for curriculum to enhance democracy and nationalism.
Specialized organizations should participate in the Forum, and
foreign ministers should communicate with other ministers in
their government to strengthen collaboration on reform. Egypt's

DUBAI 00000236 003.2 OF 005


Raouf Saad said the Forum should deliver real products and cited
as an example an Egyptian program that links education to the
labor market. German BMENA coordinator Renate Schimkoreit noted
the example in East Germany of unemployment leading to
right-wing radicalization. Amrani of Morocco outlined three
goals: literacy, curriculum reform leading to openness toward
other cultures, and education for economic growth.




9. (SBU) The second portion of the session was devoted to
cooperation among governments, civil society, and the private
sector. Jihad Moheidat gave a presentation on the Abu Dhabi
Future Energy Company. The UK Ambassador to the UAE said that
climate change will lead to more competition for resources in
the region. He and the representative of the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization discussed the food crisis, which Ziad
Abdusamad of the Arab Network for NGOs (Lebanon) said was the
result of three decades of failed agriculture policy. Russian
BMENA coordinator Gennady Tarasov said that regional governments
would have to increase their food production. Mohamed Yuser
Barnia of the Arab Monetary Fund and Ali Al Kaaby of the UAE Red
Crescent Society outlined government responses to the crisis.
Canadian government representative Jim Stone said that NGOs are
necessary to deliver humanitarian aid, that governments have a
role in bringing G8 and BMENA NGOs together, and that
governments need to abide by their own laws when dealing with
NGOs. The Palestinian representative spoke about the peace
process and said that while a detained Yemeni journalist is a
problem, what about 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel?
Mauritania described a new initiative to support
professionalism in civil society organizations.



--------------

REVIEW OF G8-BMENA INITIATIVES

--------------




10. (SBU) Session moderator Mensur Akgun of the Turkish
Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) said that a civil
society meeting in Istanbul on May 10 had made several
recommendations for G8 and BMENA governments: funds should be
earmarked to sustain civil society participation in BMENA
activities, political parties should be included,
recommendations from the Sana'a parallel civil society forum
should be presented to the 2008 Forum for the Future, the G8
should prepare a stocktaking report on reform, and civil society
should be included in preparations for the Forum. Ezzedine Al
Asbahy of the Human Rights Information and Training Center
(HRITC, Yemen) echoed the call for taking stock of what has been
achieved under BMENA and what the vision for the future should
be, including a practical plan and timetable. He called for a
secretariat to maintain continuity and build partnerships with
civil society and the private sector and for an annual
evaluation of democracy in the region. Saad Eddin Ibrahim said
that according to various indicators, the region is going
backward in terms of peace and development. He raised the issue
of continuity, given G8 government changes, and called for a
gender institute, a center on the management of diversity, and a
council for human security.




11. (SBU) Foundation for the Future Executive President Nabila
Hamza said that her organization was a response to an appeal
from civil society for a mechanism to support their efforts.
After focusing on developing its board and staff, the Foundation
has now issued 24 grants worth $6.6 million to support civil
society institutions. The Foundation will focus next on
additional grants it is currently considering, expanding
existing grants, and moving into new countries. She thanked
donors for their contributions and asked for funding from more
Arab countries and international organizations. Hamza offered
the Foundation's assistance to coordinate civil society's
efforts under BMENA and to mobilize even more groups.



DUBAI 00000236 004.2 OF 005




12. (SBU) Niccolo Figa-Talamanca presented the set of
principles entitled "Toward a More Effective Partnership Between
G8-BMENA and Civil Society," which had originally been
circulated at the first BMENA subministerial in Berlin in
October 2007. He noted that it was a joint government-civil
society product developed through the Democracy Assistance
Dialogue (DAD),with constructive input from governments and
civil society. The document does not create new principles, but
consolidates language from various pre-existing documents in a
way that makes it easier to assess progress against certain
standards. He noted that the DAD wants to send this document to
the Ministerial and asked for any additional comments by the end
of July.




13. (SBU) In his main intervention, A/S Kramer applauded the
DAD civil society and the governments of Yemen, Italy, and
Turkey for their continued focus on advancing and regularizing
dialogue between civil society and governments. Citing a recent
article in Foreign Affairs by Secretary Rice, he stated that the
U.S. "recognizes that democratic state building is now an urgent
component of our national interest, and that in the broader
Middle East, we recognize that freedom and democracy are the
only ideas that can, over time, lead to just and lasting
stability." A/S Kramer said that the initiatives launched under
BMENA are valuable tools to build support for reform at
governmental and grass-roots levels, and that the United States
will continue to work with our partners to expand liberty and
build strong institutions. He thanked Niccolo Figa-Talamanca
and other DAD partners for their comments on the NGO principles,
and commended the DAD for taking on this initiative. While
expressing the U.S. endorsement of these principles, he hoped
that with this latest initiative the integral work in promoting
freedom, democracy, and human rights reform in the BMENA region
will continue and that all ministers will offer their support
for the principles at this year's Forum. He applauded the
leadership of UAE and Japan in their roles as co-hosts for this
year's Forum in Abu Dhabi, and noted that Secretary Rice looks
forward to attending this year's ministerial. A/S Kramer
reassured those assembled that no matter which candidate wins
our upcoming presidential elections, the United States will stay
firmly committed to BMENA. [Note: A/S Kramer's full remarks
can be found on the DRL intranet website.]




14. (SBU) Italian BMENA coordinator Antonella Uneddu noted the
blossoming of activities and said that the guiding principles
can represent an important contribution. Italy is committed to
the 2009 Forum for the Future and will coordinate closely with
Japan and the UAE. Bahraini Assistant Under Secretary Shaikh
Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa voiced concern about momentum
lost after the 2007 Forum was cancelled, and noted that the
BMENA Entrepreneurship Center in Bahrain was funded only by the
U.S. and UK. Bahrain has suspended its center due to lack of G8
commitment. He noted Bahrain's efforts on women's empowerment
but said that Bahrain had not been as successful as hoped. His
deputy Dhafer Alumran later said that "we're more excited, the
more constructive criticism we hear" from civil society. He
called on the G8 to establish a small electronic BMENA
secretariat and said that the guiding principles are worthwhile
because governments and civil society must commit themselves
together. He asked the Foundation to provide more detailed
information to donors at the Forum.




15. (SBU) In a forceful intervention, Amal Basha of Sisters
Arab Forum said that NGOs had been excited about the prospect of
partnership with governments and they took seriously their
responsibility to be a voice for the region's civil society.
The NGOs are not present to embarrass anyone or to adorn the
meetings, but to present real concerns that governments should
take seriously. If governments only want civil society as
symbolic partners, it is not worth civil society's
participation, and she ironically commended those Arab
governments that do not participate in BMENA because at least
they are honest in rejecting democratic change.



DUBAI 00000236 005.2 OF 005




16. (SBU) Yemeni MFA representative Mohy Al-Dhabbi commended
civil society's seriousness and objectivity, but said that
positive developments must also be recognized. Amrani of
Morocco supported the principles as a roadmap for future work.
He called for more than dialogue, but rather projects that deal
with economic and educational development in addition to
political reform. He noted that the public is watching
governments' actions.



--------------

COMMENT

--------------




17. (SBU) The BMENA subministerial was successful in bringing
together governments and civil society in a mostly constructive
atmosphere free of personal attacks. Although some governments
took umbrage at the deficiencies pointed out by civil society
presenters in the political reform session, most of the
discussion focused on the need for concrete achievements to
maintain momentum and show civil society organizations and the
general public that BMENA remains relevant and is achieving
results. The public support of the guiding principles by
several G8 and BMENA governments is an important step toward
endorsement by foreign ministers at the Forum in October, one of
our main goals for this year. Addressing a commonly heard
concern, the U.S. delegation stressed both in plenary session
and in side conversations that U.S. support for BMENA will
almost certainly continue after the new Administration takes
office. The success of this second subministerial should
institutionalize a structure that began in Berlin in 2007 and
allows for more in-depth discussions among civil society groups
and G8 and BMENA governments on critical issues of reform.
SUTPHIN