Civil Society Success: Finally Hitting the Target at the

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 000007 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM KMPI GE PREL PGOV YM SUBJECT: Civil Society Success: Finally Hitting the Target at the BMENA Parallel Civil Society Event Ref: a) 07 Sanaa 2313 b) 07 Tunis 109 Sensitive But Unclassified. Handle accordingly. -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) This year's BMENA Parallel Civil Society Forum (PCSF - ref a) - an annual event that prepares civil society participation in the annual Forum for the Future ministerial meeting - was a significant improvement over its predecessors. Last year's parallel forum in Jordan was particularly weak: bad organization, lack of focus, a rival civil-society event that opposed the whole BMENA process, and no concrete results or conclusions. Following last year's experience, ref b laid out a number of recommendations to improve these events, including early engagement and support for the local organizer, better selection of participants and moderators, and a focus on concrete results. Many of these recommendations were implemented, with MEPI support, and resulted in a professional, focused event that clearly advanced civil society's role and agenda within the BMENA process. Most of the credit goes to the Yemeni organizer, the Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC) and the ROYG for its full support of the civil society event. Both were engaged, organized and willing to accept outside help/advice. The signal achievements of the event were: -- the adoption of a "State of Democracy Report," assessing democratic reforms in the region, which is slated to be updated annually; -- creation of a steering committee of prominent civil society figures to act as an interface with the G8 regarding BMENA follow-up; and -- establishment of a rotating organizing committee, made up of the previous, current and upcoming organizers of the PCSF, to ensure continuity and quality. End Summary. -------------- Picking up the Pieces -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The 2006 third PCSF in Amman revealed the shortcomings of holding an annual civil- society event without a structure in place to ensure continuity, advance planning and quality control. Although the event was attended by 350 civil society representatives (a majority from Jordan),many leading figures were missing, Islamists appeared heavily represented and few participants seemed aware of the purpose of the event. Sessions were poorly organized and poorly managed and, for the most part, drifted off topic and devolved into lamentations/complaints about either governments in the region or regional hot-button issues. The third PCSF produced no concrete conclusions or other positive results to speak of. Because of this poor showing by the official PCSF, public attention shifted to a rival anti-BMENA, anti-US gathering, "The Anti-hegemony Conference" held one day later, which focused much of its time on Iraq and Palestine. This rival conference was no better organized or concrete in its results, but the very existence of the two events highlighted how easily civil society can become fragmented and ineffective. -------------- Laying the groundwork for improvement -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Following last year's negative experience, we laid out in ref B a number of recommendations to improve these events. Many of these recommendations were implemented, with MEPI support, and resulted in a professional, focused event that clearly advanced civil society's role and agenda within the BMENA process. The most important reason was the early selection of the Yemeni Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC) as the organizer, with the full support of the ROYG. HRITC held several meetings with key regional civil society reps to strategize for the PCSF, including a May 2-3 gathering in Amman funded by MEPI and attended by then-NEA DAS Carpenter. ¶4. (SBU) NEA/PI remained in close contact with HRITC behind the scenes and provided significant funding for its organizing activities. HRITC established a strong coalition of 28 Yemeni civil society TUNIS 00000007 002 OF 002 organizations and included them in preparations, which headed off any possibility of a "rival" civil society event. Participant selection for the PCSF was the other key ingredient, as the turnout included an overall higher caliber of civil society representatives, including a large number of prominent figures from across the region. Septel reports on a group of MEPI alumni who prepared in advance for the PCSF and made a significant contribution to the proceedings. -------------- Night and Day -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The fourth PCSF in Sana'a was professional and focused. Thematic panel discussions, interactive working groups and plenary sessions made the gathering more interesting and efficient. Participants seemed pleased with the agenda, which focused on concrete reform topics, and spent their time debating the way ahead rather than complaining about extraneous issues. Recommendations were practical and led to the development of work plans to present to foreign ministers of the region and the G8 during the upcoming Forum for the Future. Working groups selected their own delegates to the represent them at that ministerial meeting. -------------- Concrete Results -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The Sanaa PCSF produced significant accomplishments on both the administrative and substantive front. It agreed to a new institutional structure for communication, follow up and organizing events. This includes a steering committee that will be the civil society interface with the G8 presidency on follow-up to civil society recommendations. (Comment: The Steering Committee is a welcome innovation, although we expect that selection of its membership could be treacherous. End comment.) There also will be an organizing committee -- made up of the previous, current and upcoming PCSF's organizers -- to oversee preparation of future PCSFs. ¶7. (SBU) Substantively, the PCSF produced a potentially landmark document as an answer to previous recommendations to monitor reform progress. The concise "State of Democracy" Report assesses democratic reforms in the region over the past three years. This report helps to benchmark reform progress on two key topics: freedom of association and organization, and the legal environment of NGOs. Given the large number of reform issues, participants stressed the need to produce an annual report on a small number of critical reform areas as a means to change the dynamic of interaction between governments and civil society at the Forum for the Future. In past years, civil society presented its recommendations; governments took note, but felt no pressure to take further action on the recommendations. It is hoped that an annual report will expose governments who are not supporting real reform. Participants recognized that maintaining a set of reform indicators will be very challenging. Nonetheless, they felt it important to be able to effectively benchmark progress and ensure continuity throughout the Forum for the Future process. -------------- Comment: Back on Track - For Now -------------- ¶8. (SBU) All involved in supporting the PCSF rightly should be pleased with the results. The new institutional structures agreed to should make future events easier, but it will be important to ensure they receive adequate attention and support from the new Japanese G8 Presidency and the host of the next Forum for the Future. As with this year, early selection of the next organizer and early consultations with key players will be the prerequisites for building on this year's success. GODEC