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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANAA 000110 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV PREL KDEM KMPI YM HUMAN RIGHTS
SUBJECT: YEMEN: SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY 
REPORT 2005 
 
REF: SECSTATE 226655 
 
 ¶1. (U) Paragraph 2 contains Post's input for the 2005-2006 
edition of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" as 
requested in reftel.  This submission will also be sent via 
e-mail on the classified side as a clean copy word document. 
 
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¶2. (U) Begin Text: 
 
Yemen is a republic with an active elected legislature. 
Although Constitutional power is purportedly shared between 
the elected President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and the 301-seat 
House of Representatives, power lies squarely with the 
executive branch.  An appointed 111-member Shura Council 
advises the President on policy but has no legislative 
authority.  Against the backdrop of a sporadic insurgency in 
the north of the country, Yemen's human rights record 
remained varied in 2005.  While there were some improvements 
in prisoners' rights and a substantial decrease of torture in 
prisons, there was a substantial increase in limits on 
freedom of the press.  Security forces continued to 
arbitrarily arrest and detain persons. The Government in many 
cases failed to hold members of the security forces 
accountable for abuses.  Despite constitutional constraints, 
security officers routinely monitored citizens' activities, 
searched their homes, detained citizens for questioning and 
mistreated detainees. Prolonged pretrial detention, judicial 
corruption, and executive interference were rampant and 
undermined due process. Discrimination against women and 
child labor remained problems.  The Government, at times, 
limited freedom of assembly and, as a result of tensions in 
the north, imposed some restrictions on freedom of religion. 
 
The 2005 U.S. human rights and democracy strategy for Yemen 
addressed the need for the Government to strengthen its human 
rights record, continue to enact democratic reforms, and 
improve the administration of justice.  The U.S. also pushed 
to increase the strength of civil society, give women a 
greater voice in their government, and further the process of 
democratic development.  To achieve this, the United States 
aggressively advocated reform and continued or undertook 
several long-term projects in 2005.  The U.S. also played a 
key role in uniting the international donor community for the 
purpose of pressing the Government to implement long-delayed 
democratic reform commitments.  Finally, high-level visits 
during the year underscored the United States' commitment to 
institutionalizing respect for human rights and democracy in 
Yemen and the region. 
 
In Fiscal Year 2005, the United States provided $1.1 million 
in International Military Education and Training assistance 
for the Yemeni military, part of which addresses awareness of 
international norms of human rights and fosters greater 
respect for the principle of civilian control of the military 
and the rule of law. In the past year, the program had 26 
participants.  In compliance with the Leahy amendment, U.S. 
officials worked closely with the Ministries of Defense and 
Interior to vet units for U.S. training. The Defense 
Department Counter-Terrorism Fellowship funds a training 
program for Yemeni military officers on the importance of 
respecting human rights.  The project is available to 
Ministry of Interior and Defense civilians and security 
forces.  The project, which has been highly successful, 
trained three participants in 2005. 
 
The United States continued supporting actions aimed at 
strengthening Yemen's political parties, improving election 
administration, and fostering fair elections.  Throughout the 
year, U.S. embassy officials, in close cooperation with an 
international-donor working group, met with government and 
political party officials to press for necessary electoral 
reform.  Furthermore, U.S. support helped expand the capacity 
of the Supreme Commission for Electoral Reform (SCER).  With 
this support the U.S. government hopes that the commission 
will be able to effectively and fairly regulate the 2006 
Yemeni presidential and local council elections.  To help 
foster even-handed elections, the U.S. also funded work that 
resulted in reports that were presented to the Government on 
requisite Yemeni Electoral and Political Party law reforms. 
Though the government failed to act on the reports, they were 
widely discussed by major political parties and civil society 
at policy roundtables. 
 
During the year, a string of legal, psychological, and in 
many cases, physical attacks against journalists critical of 
the Government marred Yemen's reputation as a bastion of free 
press in the Middle East.  To help counter this, the United 
States strongly pressed government, journalist and civil 
society leaders on the need for a free and professional 
press.  In July, the United States sponsored two legal 
experts who worked with government officials and over 40 
journalists for one week, culminating in a well-attended 
workshop organized in cooperation with other international 
donors.  The workshop concluded with recommendations, 
presented to the Government and civil society, on how to 
protect press freedoms, some of which were seemingly 
threatened by a proposed press law released by the government 
earlier in the year. 
Many times throughout the year, embassy officials met with 
members of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate as well as the 
victims of harassment.  In October, the Ambassador expressed 
U.S. concern over the deterioration in freedom of speech to a 
local newspaper.  His comments provoked a heated debate in 
the press and among civil society.  While 
government-controlled papers billed the comments as 
"interference" in Yemen's internal affairs, independent and 
opposition press praised them.  Civil society leaders also 
publicly thanked the U.S. for being the first mission to 
openly raise the issue. 
 
To achieve the necessary reform in rule of law, human rights 
and political freedom, the United States more actively 
engaged non-governmental organizations in 2005 with the hope 
that civil society organizations would take a lead in reform 
of their country's political and social institutions. 
Through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the 
Administration's primary mechanism to support a forward 
strategy for freedom in the Middle East, and public diplomacy 
efforts, the United States supported several Yemeni NGO 
projects in 2005.  One very successful project taught 
children about democracy, the importance of participation in 
government, and freedom of speech.  Another project helped a 
local NGO teach its counterpart organizations how to 
establish a coalition network.  The United States' support 
for NGOs reached the highest levels when in February, the 
Undersecretary for Global Affairs, responsible for U.S. human 
rights and democratic efforts, visited Yemen.  During her 
visit, the Undersecretary met with government officials and 
held a roundtable discussion with Yemeni NGOs to explore ways 
the U.S. can support Yemen's civil society. 
 
In Yemen, the judicial system coexists with traditional means 
of dispute resolution such as tribal mediation.  Where the 
court system is involved, there are numerous problems 
including excessive executive branch tampering, corruption, 
inefficiency of court administration, and the failure of 
authorities to enforce rulings.  In January 2005, an American 
Bar Association delegation, in conjunction with the Middle 
East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), visited Yemen for two 
weeks to conduct an extensive assessment of Yemen's judiciary 
in order to initiate programming, due to begin in 2006, to 
galvanize legal reform.  Furthermore, the embassy sponsored a 
project entitled, "Qualifying Young Lawyers in Human Rights" 
to introduce 160 Islamic law students and law faculty to 
human rights law. 
 
Bound by tradition, Yemeni women are politically and socially 
marginalized.  With limited access to education, health care, 
and judicial redress, women have experienced minimal 
political representation in parliament and local councils. 
Although yet to be officially enacted, a female candidate 
quota has made some headway after the President and country's 
ruling party committed to enacting a fifteen percent quota 
before the 2006 local council elections.  Part of this 
momentum was thanks to a U.S.-sponsored program aimed at 
increasing women's political participation.  This same 
program helped establish a SCER women's unit to propagate 
female electoral participation and taught women from Yemen's 
four largest political parties how to run campaigns and lobby 
for reform. 
 
U.S. support for women's rights also took center stage in 
Yemen when a visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State 
(DAS) addressed the opening session of a regional women's 
conference to underscore the United States' support for 
promoting women's rights.  During his speech, the DAS 
announced a substantial grant, awarded in September 2005 by 
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to a 
program that will be run by the Ministry of Human Rights and 
UNDP in 2006.  This program will help Yemeni women take a 
more visible role in lobbying for reform, run for elections, 
gain access to justice, and assist women prisoners. 
 
In 2005, USAID, in conjunction with MEPI, continued to expand 
programming in strengthening democratic institutions, 
decentralizing authority, and election assistance.  One 
program strengthened core skills of Parliamentarians 
including constituent outreach and executive oversight 
functions.  The program also established a Parliamentary 
Resource Center that helped Members of Parliament learn about 
their mandated function and author more responsive 
legislation.  During the year, this resulted in Parliament 
taking some steps towards becoming a more present force in 
government.  Another supported program works to bring 
democratic government closer to the people by improving the 
capacity of constitutionally mandated local councils. 
Through the International Visitor (IV) Program, administered 
through the US Embassy's Public Diplomacy office, the United 
States sent over 10 participants to the U.S. to participate 
in exchange programs on issues such "Promoting Rule of Law 
and Justice," "Human Rights Advocacy and Awareness," "Role of 
the Media", and "State and Local Governments."  Also, 
throughout the year the U.S. embassy donated many 
publications on human rights and democracy issues to Yemeni 
universities, NGOs, schools, and civil society institutions. 
 
Comprehensive reform in human rights and democratic 
development is a choice that ultimately lies with the 
Yemenis.  The U.S., through its different agencies and 
embassy in Yemen, will continue to work with willing actors 
in political parties, civil society, and the government to 
foster respect for human rights, freedom of speech, equality 
and rule of law in a country with great potential. 
 
(End Text) 
 
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¶3. (U) Addendum: 
 
Support for Reform Minded Yemeni Parliamentarians 
$800K (MEPI) 
 
Support to UNDP Local Council Decentralization Program 
$1.59 mil ($1.2 mil MEPI and $390K USAID ESF funding) 
 
Political Parties and Women's Participation 
$695,000 (MEPI) 
 
Elections Support Program to NDI and IFES 
$1.2 mil (MEPI) 
 
Support to the MHR/UNDP Human Rights Program 
$452,000 (USAID) 
 
Conflict Mitigation Program 
$300,000 (MEPI) 
 
Yemeni Consensus Building Program 
$420,610 (MEPI) 
 
Democracy Assistance Dialogue Assistance 
$200,000 (MEPI) 
 
Yemen Adult Life Skills program for literacy 
$2 mil (MEPI) 
 
Middle East Legal Initiative (Yemen component) 
$215,000 (MEPI) 
 
Renovation of the Zenab Girl's School 
$256,000 (DoD) 
 
¶4. Note: Programs that support literacy and/or renovation of 
educational facilities are also considered to be human rights 
projects because they concentrate on women and girls (as 
mandated by USAID) and help alleviate poverty, thus promoting 
equality and democracy.   End Note. 
Krajeski