EU INCREASING ENGAGEMENT ON GENDER ISSUES,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000222 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR PREL PHUM EUN KWMN SUBJECT: EU INCREASING ENGAGEMENT ON GENDER ISSUES, EMPHASIZING THE DRC REF: A. USEU BRUSSELS 109 ¶B. USEU BRUSSELS 81 BRUSSELS 00000222 001.6 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In meetings with EU and Belgian officials in January, Anita Botti, Deputy Director of the State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues: -- highlighted the need to implement existing UNSCRs on women, peace and security; -- encouraged an EU view of women as change agents who can enhance mediation efforts and post-conflict institutions; -- emphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to combating sexual and gender-based violence, in the DRC and elsewhere; and -- stressed the need to coordinate our efforts. EU officials responded positively. Specifically, they cited EU efforts to "mainstream" gender issues into EU operations by incorporating consideration of gender issues in all phases of EU operations, from planning to execution (REF A). In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the EU is increasing its efforts to employ the EU's police and military reform missions to combat sexual and gender-based violence. However, EU resources in the Congo are limited and participation by U.S. personnel in the EU missions (REF B) would be especially welcome. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In a meeting with EU human rights officials and crisis management planners, Botti described the USG as focused on the implementation of existing UNSCRs rather than extensive consultations on the need for new resolutions. She encouraged the EU to view women not as victims of conflict, but as change agents who can help make mediation efforts and post-conflict institutions more effective. Speaking specifically about combating sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botti said the U.S. is taking a whole of government approach that will address such issues as health care shortfalls, impunity for perpetrators, and security sector reform. ¶3. (SBU) Veronica Cody, Head of Unit for cross-cutting issues in the Crisis Management Planning Directorate, described EU efforts to "mainstream" gender in EU-led crisis management operations (REF A). She said the EU is currently collecting lessons learned in a bid to incorporate gender issues into EU operations from planning to execution. In the DRC, Cody said the EU's strategic assessment in 2009 called for an increased effort to combat sexual and gender-based violence, resulting in changes to the mandates of the EU's police and military reform missions. She warned, however, that with two missions of roughly 50 personnel, the EU does not have the resources to solve the gender-based violence issue alone. In that context, she welcomed the interest of the United States in seconding personnel to the EU's missions (REF B). ¶4. (SBU) Cody said the EU would welcome a readout of the ongoing U.S. assessment on sexual violence in the DRC. The EU is also awaiting the final release of the results of the UN mapping exercise on sexual violence in the eastern Congo, which could lead to further efforts to address impunity in the judicial system. (Comment: Cody began discussing this mapping exercise with USEU last summer. If the U.S. assessment proposes a way forward to address impunity, particularly in the judicial sector, we should encourage the EU to use our assessment as a point of departure for future action, rather than waiting for the UN to release its results -- a release that is clearly delayed by political concerns. End Comment.) The European Commission's Davide Zaru said the fight against impunity is a focus of the Commission's development program in the Congo, which includes police and judicial capacity building and assistance to victims of sexual violence. He called for the UN to coordinate donor programs in this area. ¶5. (SBU) In a separate meeting with EU officials from the Council's Africa desk and from the office administering the EU police reform mission, Botti reemphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to combating sexual and gender-based violence. She also called for improved donor coordination; our participation in EUSEC and EUPOL would be one step towards this coordination. EU officials agreed on the need for a comprehensive approach covering military, police, justice, and penitentiary reform. They added that justice reform needs to take place across the DRC, not just BRUSSELS 00000222 002.4 OF 002 in the east. The EU is creating mobile interdisciplinary teams in the EUPOL mission to address gender-based violence in the context of police and judicial reform. U.S. personnel to staff these teams would be welcome, in particular criminal justice experts and judiciary police trainers. Since EUPOL is focused largely on police reform, few personnel are dedicated to justice and the rule of law. The EU officials said the European Commission has funded prison construction and renovation in countries such as Georgia, but not in the DRC, despite the need. EU officials universally lamented that even with sufficient resources, the Congolese authorities would not necessarily support widespread security sector reform. ¶6. (SBU) Belgian officials Katelijn De Nijs and Veronique Joosten described ongoing work to prepare for the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council, which begins in July. Since the Belgian Presidency will overlap with the tenth anniversary of UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security, Belgium is planning events on 1325 in Geneva, New York and Brussels. The events' themes will be "protection" (Geneva), "participation" (New York),and "prevention" (Brussels). They agreed with Botti that the focus should be on implementation and action, rather than discussion. They commented that the new UN gender architecture remains unknown. ¶7. (SBU) De Nijs and Joosten said Sweden, during its 2009 EU Presidency, had grappled with the issue of training EU troops on sexual violence and gender awareness. The Swedish Presidency developed a training module to distribute to all EU member states for implementation in national training courses. De Nijs said monitoring and punishing UN peacekeepers for violations could be more difficult than EU troops, since increasing the consequences for bad behavior could make some countries less willing to contribute troops to already understaffed UN operations. ¶8. (SBU) Botti also met with the commander of the EU's defense reform mission in the DRC, French General Jean-Paul Michel. Michel welcomed the possibility of U.S. participation in the mission to combat gender-based violence or help with other key Congolese shortcomings such as command-and-control issues. He underlined that EUSEC could be flexible in defining the role for U.S. participants and noted that the mission was currently twenty percent under-strength and needed additional personnel as it took on new missions. ¶9. (SBU) Comment: The EU is clearly aware of the need for a comprehensive, whole of government approach to combat sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With the accession of Belgium to the EU Council Presidency this July, we will have a particularly engaged partner on this subject. However, resources and personnel are lacking. We can help by directing our contribution to the EU security sector reform missions to the rule of law and sexual violence issues. In addition, by sharing the results of our ongoing assessment, we can provide the EU with a point of departure for even greater efforts, which should include additional capacity building programs funded by the European Commission. More broadly, boosting the EU's efforts to improve the FARDC's command-and-control could help the Congolese keep control of its units in the field. End Comment. ¶10. (U) Office of Global Women's Issues Deputy Director Anita Botti cleared this cable. KENNARD .