VZCZCXRO5793
PP RUEHBC RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHDE #6398/01 3600537
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 260537Z DEC 05
FM AMCONSUL DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7477
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0359
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 1159
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUBAI 006398 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/26/2015 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR SOCI IR
SUBJECT: NGO CLIMATE IN IRAN 
 
REF: DUBAI 5089 
 
DUBAI 00006398  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jason L. Davis, Consul General, Dubai, UAE. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: In a December 10 meeting in Dubai, Open Society 
Institute (OSI) representatives described the group's current 
projects in Iran, where they operate with an annual OFAC 
license.  They also discussed UNDP's work in Iran, and the 
current NGO climate, including DRL's classified grants to NGOs 
for Iran projects.  End summary 
 
¶2. (C) Open Society Institute (OSI) representatives met with 
PolEconchief December 10 to discuss their ongoing activities in 
Iran.  In addition to an Amcit director, OSI's Iran-based 
contractor and a regional official from Jordan were present. 
 
Fighting Drug Addiction 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) OSI viewed as an achievement that for the first time, the 
Government of Iran had approved acceptance of a direct grant 
from OSI to an Iranian entity, the National Center for Addiction 
Studies (NCAS), located at Tehran University (Reftel).  The 
grant is used for monitoring incidence of addiction, including 
the likelihood of different forms of addiction and exposure to 
harm, such as AIDS.  Until now, there has been no documentation 
of the geographic spread of these problems.  OSI also provided a 
grant via an Asian entity to Persepolis, an NGO drop-in center 
for addicts. 
 
¶4. (C) To date, OSI has not seen any change from the new 
administration in GOI policies on fighting drugs and 
addiction.  OSI is considering organizing a tour of high-level 
Iranian officials to see addiction programs in other countries. 
 
Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) In September, OSI helped organize a workshop for 74 
libraries from around Iran, including the National Library, to 
work towards a national consortium of libraries.  This was a 
project that had already begun domestically, but now OSI is 
helping them link up with its international project, EIFL.  A 
national coordinator has been appointed, and they are planning 
regional workshop. 
 
Women 
----- 
 
¶6. (C) OSI gave a grant to Independent Researchers on Women's 
Issues, a group that recently put out a report on various 
women's issues as a follow-up to the Beijing Conference.  OSI 
mentioned Iran has regular exchanges on women's issues with 
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries. 
 
Other Projects 
-------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Other projects in Iran include: 
 
- Clinical Legal Education:  to encourage law students to do 
community pro bono work. 
 
- OSI Justice Initiative:  to encourage legal reform, 
particularly related to human rights.  OSI reported that the 
Institute for International Cooperation and Development has 
expressed interest in the project, perhaps under the UNDP 
umbrella. 
 
- Penal Reform:  OSI has a project proposal with Penal Reform 
International, which has reportedly been working in Iran many 
years. 
 
- Cultural:  OSI is supporting traveling international art 
exhibitions and a group in Iran called House of Artists. 
 
UNDP in Iran 
------------ 
 
¶8. (C) OSI commented that UNDP has indicated that its past 
approach to the Iranian government was not the right one, 
because they let the GOI have too much control over programs and 
over the writing of the UNDP country report.  UNDP was working 
on framework MOUs with Iran, including on human rights, civil 
society and NGOs, and decentralization.  The human rights' MOU 
was signed, and the civil society 
one was close to being signed.  The goal is to bring together 
15-20 NGOs to agree on broad principles on which to base 
projects. 
 
DUBAI 00006398  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
Current NGO Climate 
------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) OSI said it is harder to work in Iran since Ahmadinejad 
took office in August.  People in the NGO community are scared; 
there is a cultural tightening, which sounded mostly like 
self-censorship out of fear of not knowing where the new red 
lines are.  At the same time, however, they noted some NGOs 
planned to keep working until they hit new red lines.  To date, 
OSI's experience has been that while the new government 
officials are more ideological, their projects are not, and 
programs with international components so far have not suffered. 
 OSI also claimed the GOI puts a lot of money into those NGOs 
that support it, known as GONGOs - Government Organized NGOs. 
 
OFAC License 
------------ 
 
¶10. (C) OSI, which operates in Iran on the basis of an annual 
OFAC license, repeated its longstanding push for a blanket OFAC 
license for NGOs operating with non-USG funds in Iran.  They 
suggested a set of criteria could be established to guide what 
kind of Iranian NGOs could be partners, to exclude GONGOs. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (C) OSI is opposed in general to USG funding for NGO 
activity in Iran, citing worries that foreign contacts will 
become more dangerous for Iranian NGOs.  They also asserted that 
Iranian activists are wary of being used unwittingly for USG 
aims.  Other than one Iranian NGO worker we heard of who was 
seeking assistance for a project but expressed fear of being in 
direct contact with the USG, we have not heard anything else to 
substantiate these fears.  We will continue to follow closely 
GOI treatment of Iranian NGOs and report back anything we hear 
from Iranian civil society activists on these issues. 
BURNS