THE GROWTH OF IRAQ'S HUMAN RIGHTS MINISTER AND HER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000883

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2019
TAGS: PHUM KJUS IZ
SUBJECT: THE GROWTH OF IRAQ'S HUMAN RIGHTS MINISTER AND HER
MINISTRY

Classified By: PMIN Robert S. Ford for reasons 1.4 (d).


1. (U) Summary: The Ministry of Human Rights has grown
into a stronger and more independent ministry under the
leadership of Minister Wijdan Salim, particularly during the
last year. In her almost three years as minister, Salim has
increased the capacity of her staff, giving them the
resources and training necessary to more effectively address
human rights issues. Her ministry is now involved in a
variety of human rights issues involving other ministries,
including detention operations, women's issue, rights of
minorities, mass graves, Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) issues, and
torture and abuse cases. Through recent public reports and
an active media campaign, Salim has raised the public profile
of the ministry and Iraq's awareness of human rights issues.
However, Salim fears that the GOI may seek to abolish the
ministry after the parliamentary elections in order to
silence its public and often critical of the GOI human rights
advocacy. In addition, a human rights commission may be
established, which could lead to other pressure to eliminate
the ministry. End Summary.

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SALIM'S TWO-YEAR STRUGGLE TO RAISE MOHR PROFILE
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2. (U) When Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Salim began her
tenure in May 2006, two years after the ministry's creation
by CPA Order 60, the Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR) was seen
as an unimportant ministry that was only useful for
publicity. Salim came in eager to shake up the status quo.
She restructured the ministry by eliminating ineffective
departments and removing troublesome staffers and made
training her inexperienced staff a priority. Due to a low
budget and little ministerial experience of effectively
spending a budget, Salim turned to foreign missions for
assistance. The U.S. (Embassy and military),UN, Denmark,
Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany all provided critical
training in general human rights issues and in specific areas
like prison monitoring and mass grave investigations.
According to Salim, these programs were essential to
increasing the capacity and work of the ministry.


3. (C) When Ayad Allawi's Iraqiyya list left the Maliki
government in August 2007, Salim decided to leave the party
and opted to stay with the government. She told Poloff that
this demonstration of loyalty made the Prime Minister an
ally, and that Maliki subsequently supported her as she moved
to assert herself in the cabinet. She used his backing and
support from foreign missions and organizations to raise her
profile within the GOI, and she steadily won the respect of
other ministers. Salim said that the visible support from
the Embassy and MNF-I was critical in creating a powerful and
strong reputation. Salim noted however that since Maliki has
become stronger and is more assertively centralizing his
power, he is less willing to support the MoHR, whose work
often criticizes governmental policies or actions.

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POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN 2008
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4. (U) The MoHR noticeably increased its public profile in
2008 by ramping up reporting and media outreach. Salim told
PolOff early in 2008 that she was willing to confront the
opposition of other ministers who did not want the MoHR to
publicly report on problems within the GOI, particularly with
regards to the security ministries. For example, the cabinet
discouraged Salim from publishing the ministry's first annual
report on detention facilities, which was completed early in
Qreport on detention facilities, which was completed early in
the year, because they did not want to make public its strong
criticisms of the detention system. Salim abided by this
decision for a few months but quietly lobbied her colleagues,
eventually convincing them that the MoHR had a duty to
publicly publish such reports. The report was put on the
ministry's website in the summer.


5. (U) The MoHR published several other first-ever reports
in 2008 on victims of terrorism, minorities, and mass graves.
It also tackled politically sensitive issues such as
investigating and reporting on the abuse by the PM's forces
during the arrest of the "shoe-thrower" Muntather al-Zadi.
The ministry continues to push the GOI to address issues of
concern relating to the country's detention system. For
example, there are currently 277 detainees who are being held
in three detention facilities in Ninewa despite having
release orders. Salim sent letters to the PM, Minister of
Defense, and Minister of Justice raising this problem and
demanding that the release orders be executed. (Comment:
the Ministry of Justice does not control the specific
detention facilities involved in Ninewa. End Comment.)


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6. (U) The MoHR has taken active roles in drawing attention
to or taking corrective action on a variety of issues,
including detention operations, rule of law developments,
women's issues, rights of minorities, mass graves and missing
persons, Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) issues, and torture and
abuse cases. Due to the increased work taken on by the
ministry, Salim said her ministry is now invited to be on
interministerial committees and included in almost all
politically important meetings.


7. (C) Salim believes that as a political independent and a
religious minority (Chaldean Catholic),she has more freedom
to be critical of the government. Although she has received
several offers to join political parties since she left
Iraqiyya in 2007, such as Minister of Interior Bulani's
Constitutional party, she thinks she and the ministry are
stronger if they remain independent. However, Salim
recognizes that without any political party backing, her
tenure as a Minister, and her ministry's influence, is
uncertain. There were several cabinet meetings in 2008 where
ministers questioned the necessity of a MoHR and threatened
to eliminate it.

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THE NEXT NINE MONTHS
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8. (U) Salim (and all other ministers) will resign when a
new government is formed following the parliamentary
elections in late 2009/early 2010. She does not expect to be
asked to continue as Minister. In the next nine months
before, Salim is determined to build her Ministry's capacity
and strengthen its intergovernmental influence. She told her
staff they need to increase the quality of their work for the
rest of the year and ensure that the ministry's reports are
widely publicized. She will work hard to increase the
ministry's public profile in order to try to create a
sustainable human rights culture within the government and
the country. One of her projects related to this goal is the
completion of a national human rights strategy. (Comment:
DRL is funding a program to assist her staff with the
drafting of this plan, and Australia is providing training to
the interministerial drafting team. End Comment.)


9. (C) Salim fears that some might seek to abolish the MoHR
after the national elections. Since the MoHR was created by
a CPA order and does not have its own law, Salim thinks it
will be seen as expendable by the GOI. She told PolOff on
March 29 that most ministers, and even the general
population, do not have an appreciation or respect for human
rights. Although she has been trying to spread a culture of
human rights awareness throughout Iraq, mainly in schools,
she does not think it is widespread yet. Salim believes the
population is still receiving the message of violence and
abuse, generally from Iraqi Security Forces.

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RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
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10. (U) The constitutionally mandated High Commission on
Human Rights law was passed by the Parliament in December but
the Commission has yet to be established. The Parliament did
not provide an allocation for it in the recent budget, and
the international community does not have the funds or
willingness to completely fund the new body. UNAMI will
assist the Parliament to select commissioners, but this
process will likely take several months. Due to these
delays, the commission will not be fully established for
quite some time.


11. (C) Salim has always been apprehensive about the
establishment of the commission because it could lead to the
Qestablishment of the commission because it could lead to the
dissolution of the MoHR. Several Parliamentarians and
ministers have questioned whether it is necessary to have two
human rights bodies and advocated for abolishing the
ministry. Salim believes there is a role for two bodies if
their roles are clearly differentiated. For example, she
sees her ministry as being the lead on shaping human rights
policy or ensuring that GOI policies protect human rights,
continuing to investigate mass graves, playing a role in
improving detention policies, interacting with foreign
governments and international organizations, and providing
training for NGOs. She sees the role of the commission as
monitoring human rights issues, reporting on violations, and
opening investigations. However, she suspects that once the
commission is active and effective, the MoHR could be
dissolved.

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COMMENT
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12. (C) When Minister Salim first came into office in 2006,
she told us that she would focus on issues like child abuse
and spousal abuse. We gently reminded her that Iraq faced
huge problems with extrajudicial killings, persons imprisoned
for years without trial, torture in detention facilities and
persons who simply disappeared after being detained. Over
time she came to focus much more - but not exclusively - on
torture and prisons. Her engagement on such issues has
helped but it will take years to really change mentalities
here. Our training programs with the Iraqi Corrections
Service are one element in the efforts to change those
mentalities. The Human Rights Ministry is another. The
Human Rights Commission has finally been established, but by
UNAMI's estimates, it will take at least two years before it
is a fully independent body that effectively addresses the
problems, investigates human rights violations, and publicly
reports on its findings. At least until this time, the MoHR
likely will be the GOI's lead advocate for human rights.
There is no other reasonable alternative. We should,
therefore, be prepared to speak out in favor of maintaining
the ministry, at least until the commission is functioning.

BUTENIS