VZCZCXRO2929
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHTRO #0422/01 1220916
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 020916Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2195
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 2510

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000422 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/2/2017 
TAGS: PGOV KSOCI KWMN KISL LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA ENACTS, THEN RETRACTS,  BAN ON WOMEN TRAVELING ABROAD 
WITHOUT MALE ESCORT 
 
TRIPOLI 00000422  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Ethan Goldrich, CDA, Embassy Tripoli, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY. (C) In late February 2007, Libyans started talking 
about a new law that prohibited women under the age of 40 
traveling abroad unless escorted by their husband, father or 
brother, although there was conflicting information about the 
source of the "law" or the scope of implementation.  After a 
couple weeks, the government clarified that it was a regulation, 
not a law.  After another short time, there was an announcement 
that the regulation was retracted.   As a case study of Libyan 
governance, the ban demonstrated the shifting character of power 
structures and the way that citizens adapt to ambiguities and 
change.  It also revealed the level of misinformation and 
misunderstanding that prevails in Libya at any time. SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C)   In late February, Libyans started talking about a new 
law that prohibited women under the age of 40 traveling abroad 
unless escorted by their husband, father or brother.  Emboffs 
starting collecting information from friends and colleagues, but 
there was no consistent pattern among interlocutors' 
experiences.  Some women reported they traveled through airport 
immigration with no problems, while other women reported that 
they were turned away at airport immigration and told they could 
not leave under a "new law."  Some people said there was a law, 
some people said there was a regulation, and some people said 
government officials were acting on their own authority to 
impose personal beliefs.  March 10, the Jamahiriya News Agency 
released information that the Secretariat of the General 
People's Committee (GPC) reported in its website that its 
decision banning Libyan women under the age of 40 from traveling 
abroad unless they are escorted by a close relative was a 
regulatory measure.  "This measure aims at drafting the 
necessary regulations to avoid some negativity accompanied 
unnecessary Libyan girls travel who fell victims of criminal 
networks abroad," the GPC said.  According to the Libyan press, 
"the GPC explained that the new procedure wasn't an obstacle to 
the travel of Libyan women who, recognized from all over the 
world, were leaders in judicial, legal and political 
professions."  In yet more twisted logic, the Libyan rationale 
continued,  "it doesn't affect freedom existing in the 
legislations."  "It is like the control of Libyan officials to 
travel abroad or foreign nationals to enter Libya," the GPC 
elaborated.   It is true that all Libyan officials, male or 
female, must have written approval to travel abroad.  Embassy 
cooperative programming has faced long delays or cancellations 
as working level officials wait to get written approval from the 
Foreign Minister-equivalent for their participation in bilateral 
export control, scientific engagement or other activities. 
 
¶3. (C)  P/E Chief sent out emails to a broad range of women 
asking for their experiences and got back only two brief 
responses, one from a woman who just returned from an uneventful 
trip overseas, and another from a friend who said she had been 
asked to show authorization papers from her husband when trying 
to depart Libya via Tripoli International Airport.  One contact 
wouldn't even respond to an email soliciting information on 
whether or not the press clip might be accurate.  She knew that 
all emails were monitored and so showed up unannounced, without 
even phoning for an appointment, to try and put the prohibition 
in context.   She was apologetic in tone, saying, "you must 
understand, we can't control these things."   She then tried to 
rationalize that since Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries 
had these restrictions and even more stringent laws about 
women's conduct in place for a long time, therefore the Libyan 
law was a natural and appropriate progression. Her response to 
the "two wrongs don't make a right" comeback was that she agreed 
personally that the law was wrong, but in Libya, no one had the 
power to initiate any change.  She said she would comply with 
the regulation, as she chose to wear hijab, because she believed 
that it made her safer and in closer compliance with Islam as 
she interpreted the religion. 
 
¶4.  (C)  In context of the Jamahiriya or "state of the masses" 
governance in Libya, in theory this law could not have been 
introduced without the participation of all women through their 
basic people's congresses, general people's committees and the 
General People's Congress.  Most Libyans, when asked about the 
unexpected law, admitted that direct democracy did not really 
exist in Libya and the law had not been proposed, debated, or 
legislated by the General People's Congress.   One Libyan said, 
"you have to understand, if any woman goes to a basic people's 
committee meeting she gets a bad reputation; women are not 
supposed to play an active role here."  This analysis was from a 
highly educated, U.S. passport holder who has lived in America 
for a number of years and now works for a western company in 
Libya.    She said, "women here do the best they can within 
constraints, they don't have any choice except to accept what 
 
TRIPOLI 00000422  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
happens to them,"   Asked about the potential for civil society 
action, engagement in the political process, intercessions to 
influential policy makers, or advocacy through husbands, fathers 
and brothers, she said, "none of that will happen in Libya, but 
if outside countries forced Libya to change the law, women would 
be very grateful." 
 
¶5.  (C)  Another contact took great pleasure in noting that 
Aisha Qadhafi, the "Leader's" daughter, traveled frequently 
outside Libya without a male family member when she was still 
single.   A local lawyer said she heard of a group of Libyan 
business women traveling to a conference in Italy that were 
denied exit at passport control by Libyan officials.  Asked on 
what authority they were denied permission to travel, the 
officials said they didn't have any specific citations, but they 
had "heard" it was no longer permissible for women to travel 
alone.   As the rumor mill churned, there was endless 
speculation about why the regulation was enacted. Some people 
claimed that a prominent family's female relative had been 
assaulted at a Cairo nightclub, some claimed a group of Libyan 
women had engaged in "scandalous" behavior outside Libya that 
was embarassing to the regime and therefore more controls were 
put in place. 
 
¶6.  (C)  As the prohibition continued to be a topic of local 
conversation, and the international press started printing 
stories, the origin and scope of the law/regulation became even 
more vague.   Ahmed Fituri, the Secretary of American Affairs at 
the General People's Committee for Foreign Liaison and 
International Cooperation, when asked about the law said, "don't 
worry, this won't last, it will go away."   Even senior Libyan 
government officials couldn't hold up the fig leaf of direct 
democracy, admitting that there was a disconnect somewhere and 
it would be fixed.  Women who agreed that the "law" was wrong 
did not organize any bold actions to seek repeal.    Rather than 
engaging directly to affect a change to the law, women used 
personal connections to avoid implementation.   The word went 
out that the "law" was repealed, though the process was unclear. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Embassy sponsored a reception at the end of March to 
celebrate International Women's Day and asked contacts what had 
happened to the "regulatory measure."   It seems that a small 
group of women with legal practices or other professional 
positions had gathered in a local hotel conference room to plan 
how to lobby with senior Libyan officials through personal 
connections.   They planned to use the international press to 
draw further attention to the disconnect between the Libyan 
theory of direct democracy and government practices.   That 
information, conveyed directly to regime insiders through 
personal connections was enough to make the ban "go away," as 
Fituri predicted. 
 
¶8.  (C)  COMMENT.   Governance here truly is a Jamahiriya, or 
"state of the masses."  It just depends on who among the masses 
has the ear of the leader (Qadhafi) or other key officials at 
any one time.  As a case study, this example of governance 
revealed the level of misinformation and misunderstanding that 
prevails in Libya at anytime.   It also demonstrates the 
shifting character of power structures and the way citizens 
adapt to ambiguities and change.  People rely heavily on 
word-of-mouth for information; not even officials implementing 
the law or regulation seemed to have an authoritative source. 
At first, it was not even clear if the ban was a law or a 
regulation.  Libyans are used to working the system, and women 
managed to find the right pressure points to achieve their 
objectives.  As a start-up Embassy, our staff are also engaged 
in finding the right points of contact to implement our mission 
objectives.  The level of misinformation and misunderstanding of 
issues presents another level of challenge as we pursue our 
transformational diplomacy agenda.   END COMMENT. 
GOLDRICH