LIBERIA: 1200 DELEGATES ATTEND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MONROVIA 000218 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID KPAO LI SUBJECT: LIBERIA: 1200 DELEGATES ATTEND INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S COLLOQUIUM REF: MONROVIA 215 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: President Sirleaf and President of Finland Tarja Halonen convened the successful "International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security" March 7-8 at the Samuel K. Doe Stadium in Monrovia. The resulting "Monrovia Declaration" calls for the development of national action plans on how to promote women's rights, for greater participation of women in the policy making process, and for women's economic empowerment in the new global economy. More than 400 international delegates were present including the Presidents of Senegal and Rwanda and senior government officials from Spain, the European Commission, Mozambique, Canada, and France. Secretary Clinton's video remarks were warmly received. Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Karen Stewart led the U.S. delegation. (Cable on her bilateral meetings sent septel). A two-day follow-on National colloquium was held on March 9-10, at which the Liberia National Action Plan on United Nations Resolution 1325 was launched. More information about the Colloquium is available on its website at: http://womenscolloquium.org/col.html END SUMMARY. SEVERAL VIPS CONVERGE ON MONROVIA -------------- ¶2. (U) President Sirleaf and President of Finland Tarja Halonen convened the "International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security" March 7-9. More than 1200 people attended, including 400 official international delegates. Present were President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Prime Minister of Mozambique Luisa Dias Diogo, First Vice President of Spain Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega Sanz, Governor General of Canada Michaelle Jean, Vice President of the European Commission Margot Wallstrom, and Vice President of The Gambia Aja Dr. Isatou Njie Saidy. All gave remarks as honored guests at the opening session. The UN SRSG introduced a video message from Deputy Secretary General Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro. Dr. Aisha Moamar Ghadafi read a message from her father, Chairman of the African Union Colonel Mummar Al Ghadafi. The German Ambassador read a message from Chancellor Angela Merkel. All speakers stressed the need for women's rights to be strengthened and for women voices to be heard in the policy making process. SECRETARY CLINTON'S REMARKS AND OP-ED WARMLY RECEIVED -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Karen Stewart introduced Secretary Clinton's video message during the opening ceremony of the Colloquium. Both the Secretary's video message and subsequent op-ed were warmly received. Her call for greater participation of women in tackling global issues was applauded. RADIO: UNMIL Radio, operated by the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), aired a news story from the Secretary's remarks which it broadcast in its daily news bulletin from March 6 through 8. UNMIL Radio covers the entire Liberian territory. Star Radio (covers all of Liberian territory) and TRUTH FM (covers one third of Liberian territory) ran news stories from the Secretary's comments in their respective news bulletins. PRINT: Secretary Clinton made the headlines of two leading Liberian dailies. The Inquirer, (circulation-more than 2,000) ran a front page article, Hillary Clinton Warns Against Exclusion of Women, in its March 9, 2009 edition while The Renaissance, (1,500 copies) also on March 9, 2009 ran a front page article, Hillary Clinton on Women Empowerment-Stresses Fair Wages, Access to Credit Equity. PANELS TACKLE IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR WOMEN -------------- ¶4. (U) The Colloquium itself had break out sessions developed around empowering women, supporting the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1325, contributing to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal #3 on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and demonstrating a gender dimension of climate change. The resulting "Monrovia Declaration," signed on International Women's Day March 8, calls for the development of inclusive national action plans on to promote women's rights, for greater participation of women in the policy making process, and for women's economic empowerment in the new global economy. The Declaration specifically refers to UN Security Council resolutions 1325 and 1820 and stresses the importance of giving women equal participation and full involvement in peace and security matters and condemns sexual violence sexual violence against civilians in times of conflict. The delegates intend to present the "Monrovia Declaration" and the other recommendations that came out of the Colloquium in New York to the UN General Assembly this fall and in Copenhagen at the International Conference on Climate Change this December. ANGIE BROOKS INTERNATIONAL CENTER -------------- MONROVIA 00000218 002 OF 003 ¶5. (U) President Sirleaf and President Halonen broke the grounds for the "Angie Brooks International Center" at the Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia as part of the International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment. Angie Brooks was an outstanding Liberian diplomat who served as Africa's first woman President of the UN General Assembly. The Center will seek to promote women's empowerment in international affairs and the development process. It will ultimately be partnered with similar centers in six different countries, including Jordan, Canada, the United States (Georgetown University's Center on Women in International Security), Egypt, and Iceland. In her remarks to the assembly, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield applauded the establishment of a center which will train and empower women for leadership and support the implementation of actions emerging from the Colloquium. RESOLUTION ON DARFUR -------------- ¶6. (U) Former Irish President Mary Robinson circulated a resolution on Darfur among the governments present at the Colloquium. The resolution called for Sudanese President Bashir to allow the international NGOs to resume their work to improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur. The US delegation supported the resolution. TRADE FAIR -------------- ¶7. (U) A large outdoor trade fair was set up to showcase how women entrepreneurs contribute to Liberia's development and how NGOs help to improve the lives of less fortunate women. Women's groups from each of Liberia's fifteen counties sold traditional handicrafts from their regions and musical dance troops demonstrated customary dances from each of Liberia's sixteen tribes. National and international NGOs and GOL agencies had booths to exhibit their activities for women as well. The GOL's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's and the National Elections Commission's booths were both highly frequented. Women entrepreneurs supported by USAID-funded programs sold coffee, cocoa, country cloth and processed food products. SECURITY -------------- ¶8. (U) There were no security incidents at the Samuel K. Doe Stadium or at any of the venues where high-level officials were located. There was, however, a demonstration in the Monrovia suburb of Paynesville by ex-Armed Forces of Liberia soldiers who argue the GOL owes them more money for their retirement. The leader of the Forum for the Establishment of a War Crimes Court for Liberia, Mulbah Morlu, was also at the Paynesville City Hall allegedly attempting to stage a demonstration without a valid permit. The crowd threw rocks at the police and they responded by firing shots into the air. In the end, 23 people, including Morlu, were arrested. They were released on bail pending trail on March 8. Some of the detainees allege they were beaten during their arrest. [COMMENT: Morlu was also detained during President Bush's February 2008 visit in order to keep him from staging demonstration then. END COMMENT.] LIBERIAN WOMEN'S NATIONAL COLLOQUIUM -------------- ¶9. (U) On the heels of the International Colloquium, the Ministry of Gender and Development held its own event for Liberian women March 9-10 to help them "become better empowered through the implementation of the outcomes of the Colloquium," particularly Liberia's National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield spoke on Panel 4, "Leadership and Empowerment," which considered the importance of leadership at the community level and how Liberia women could foster leadership in young girls. She noted that ingredients needed for women's leadership include confidence, finance, education, voice for advocacy, mentoring, and know-how. The panel included national women leaders such as Medina Wesseh, Director General of the Cabinet, but also less credentialed women. Kebeh Monger, President of the National Rural Women's Programme, told the audience that while she was not educated like the rest of the panelists, she wanted to share what women's leadership meant to her. She went on to give a moving speech on how good leaders always listen and never lie. In this way, the outcomes of the Liberian Women's National Colloquium will hopefully inspire grassroots discussion that could empower women at the local level, long after the glitz of the International Colloquium has faded. EVENTS SURROUNDING THE COLLOQUIUM -------------- ¶10. (U) The Institute for Inclusive Security held a roundtable discussion "Changing the Face of Security: Promoting Women's Inclusion in Security Sector Reform" at the U.S. Embassy on March 6. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and former Ambassador Swanee Hunt led the discussion. Attending the roundtable were women leaders from the Liberian Government, civil society, UNMIL and donor organizations. The roundtable discussed ways forward in recruiting, training and retaining women in the security sector. They discussed ways to attract qualified candidates, provide training to women MONROVIA 00000218 003 OF 003 officers to ensure they are able to compete, and provide sufficient incentives to ensure that women do not leave the services. The also noted the links between education and the security sector and concluded that the GOL needs to create courses at the secondary level to teach civics and ethics, and institutions of higher learning need to create curricula to teach criminal justice. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (SBU) President Sirleaf envisioned this Colloquium shortly after her 2006 inauguration, not only as a way for women leaders to discuss cross-cutting gender issues, but also as a way to showcase to the rest of the world that Liberia is back and ready to be an international player again. This successful forum may lead to new funding for Liberia from the donor governments and NGOs present at the Colloquium who are already very active here. ¶12. (SBU) Overall, donors were pleasantly surprised at how well the Colloquium was run once the event started. In the more than two years of planning, there had been complaints of GOL disorganization, and unready hotel rooms and venues, but in typical Liberian fashion, the GOL pulled it off in the end. THOMAS-GREENFIELD