VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #3209/01 2111358
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301358Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9673

UNCLAS AMMAN 003209 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KMPI KPAO SCUL PGOV XF JO
SUBJECT: ADVANCING THE FREEDOM AGENDA IN JORDAN 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 2985 
 
     ¶B. AMMAN 2908 
     ¶C. STATE 88465 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Embassy Amman consistently advances the 
freedom agenda in Jordan through: frequent interaction with 
and support of civil society; engagement with the media; and 
a multitude of USAID, MEPI and Embassy-sponsored programming. 
 Civil society leaders, democracy promoters and human rights 
advocates regularly attend Embassy functions and frequently 
contribute to Embassy reporting.  The Ambassador and other 
Embassy officers take advantage of the mission's close 
contact with Jordanian government officials to promote reform 
and engage the media and Jordanian public to promulgate the 
vision presented in the President's June 5 Prague speech. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) This year, the Ambassador broke tradition and hosted a 
unique Independence Day celebration on July 4 at his 
residence.  Eschewing the Embassy's regular list of host 
government, diplomatic and business leaders, the Embassy 
invited 800 young Jordanian leaders representing the reform 
agenda: civil society figures, student leaders, youth 
movements, and NGOs.  During his public address the 
Ambassador remarked that "Jordan . . . is becoming more open, 
with more voices participating in political, economic and 
cultural life.  Among the most important new voices in Jordan 
are the voices of its youth." 
 
¶3. (U) The Ambassador published an op-ed entitled 
"Celebrating Freedom Throughout the World" in three of the 
four largest Jordanian newspapers on July 4 and 5 - drawing 
heavily from the President's Prague speech and emphasizing 
the fundamental elements shared by democracies and the 
universality of all peoples' yearning for freedom. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ambassador met with representatives of civil society 
on July 3 at his residence to discuss the freedom agenda and 
assess their views on progress and impediments to reform in 
Jordan (ref b).  Activists reported their concerns about the 
pace of reform and the Ambassador underscored Post's 
commitment to frequent, regular contacts with activists to 
keep appraised of developments to civil society. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Human rights activists and civil society leaders are 
frequent guests at Embassy functions - the Ambassador's June 
5 reception for the outgoing and incoming political 
counselors being a recent example.  Additionally, the 
political section hosted a luncheon on June 20 and will host 
a follow-on lunch August 12 to further explore human rights 
issues with leading Jordanian activists.  Post's human rights 
officer meets monthly with counterparts from European 
embassies interested in human rights promotion. 
 
¶6. (U) As part of PA-organized and USAID-funded legislative 
strengthening program, the Ambassador received 12 Jordanian 
parliamentarians for tea on February 19 following their 
two-week November visit to the U.S., and used the opportunity 
to highlight the importance of legislative checks on the 
executive branch.  In his remarks, he encouraged the MPs to 
become more involved in their own budgeting processes. 
 
¶7.  (U) Over the course of the past year, the Ambassador 
delivered a number of public remarks to an array of civil 
society groups promoting the freedom agenda.  For example, on 
February 20, the Ambassador delivered the opening address to 
the International Republican Institute-organized regional 
Women's Democracy Network meeting held in Amman.  On February 
6, he spoke with Jordanian civil society organizations at the 
MEPI-funded Private/Public Partnership Conference at the Dead 
Sea.  On May 15, the Ambassador participated in a panel 
during the International Women's Forum's annual meeting in 
Amman, where he trumpeted USG support for democracy 
programming and reform efforts in Jordan to an audience of 
over 500 global women leaders.  The Ambassador also regularly 
meets with university students, and hosts media roundtables 
with local journalists, providing the opportunity to promote 
the Freedom Agenda through open dialogue. 
 
¶8. (U) On June 29, acting PolCouns met with Human Rights 
Watch during their annual meeting held in Amman, engaging 
this well-respected international NGO on the pace of reform 
in Jordan. 
 
¶9. (U) USAID's Democracy and Governance program supports a 
number of Freedom Agenda components.  For instance, 
sub-grants under its rule of law project funded the Adalah 
Center for Human Rights to train judges and journalists on 
balanced media coverage of court proceedings; the Noor Al 
Hussein Foundation introduces students to human rights and 
rule of law issues; and the Al Hayat Center for Civil Society 
Development targets Jordanian universities to enhance 
awareness of and respect for human rights and the rule of law. 
 
¶10. (U) In May and June, Freedom House, a USAID implementing 
partner: 
 
-- collaborated with the Jordanian National Commission for 
Women to conduct workshops in Amman, Aqaba and Irbid, 
attended by 111 members of civil society, that resulted in a 
consensus on the need for advocacy on five specific laws 
affecting women. 
 
-- issued sub-grants to three civil society organizations to 
education young and rural Jordanians on participation in 
civil society and parliamentary affairs. 
 
-- signed an agreement with a community-based organization in 
the northern Badia region to develop a legal literacy program 
that employs a rights-based approach to women's rights and 
targets women in rural communities. 
 
¶11. (U) Through its media implementer IREX, USAID has 
supported the following outreach activities to empower 
Jordanian civil society, universities and media organizations: 
 
-- convened a meeting of ten editors and media professors 
from public and private universities to discuss strategies to 
upgrade journalism criteria to reflect practical skills; 
 
-- sent two academics to the University of Pennsylvania 
Annenberg School of Communications to prepare papers on media 
law and community media in Jordan that will be used in law 
courses to build a knowledge base on the principles of 
international media law and help NGOs advocate for 
establishing community broadcasters in Jordan; 
 
-- delivered a two-week course on media law and policy that 
was attended by 150 Jordanian students, journalists and 
professionals; and 
 
-- collaborated with UNESCO to sponsor a symposium on press 
freedom in Jordan on World Press Freedom Day that was 
attended by approximately 80 persons and widely publicized. 
 
¶12. (U) USAID's legislative strengthening implementer, the 
State University of New York (SUNY), supported a 
parliamentary staff fellowship for Amjad Al-Fayez, who 
returned to be named head of the Civil Society Organizations 
Unit in the Lower House of the Jordanian Parliament. 
 
¶13. (U) A coalition of USAID implementers (SUNY and NDI), 
local NGO partners, and the Jordanian Parliament's 
Directorate of External Relations produced the first-ever 
Parliamentary-Civil Society Networking Fair on May 28. 
During the event, a dozen legislators mingled with 50 
representatives of civic groups and the Deputy Speaker of 
Parliament, Dr. Nayef al-Fayyez, to address a diverse group 
of rights-focused organizations, political parties, think 
tanks, study groups, and NGOs. 
 
MEPI Programming 
---------------- 
 
¶14. (U) Jordan remains a welcoming environment and therefore 
frequently hosts regional MEPI meetings, conferences, 
projects.  Recently Jordan hosted a Young Minds for Action 
meeting July 19-21 at the Dead Sea to explore women's issues, 
youth, and technology; the American Bar Association/Arab 
Women's Legal Network held its third general meeting in Amman 
June 13-15; the Foundation for Civil Society Law Reform in 
the Gulf region organized its regional conference June 18-19; 
and MEPI and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sponsored 
an intellectual property workshop in Amman on June 13. 
 
¶15. (U) In its July edition, Jordan Business published a 
two-page feature article on the Department-sponsored regional 
Women Business Leaders' Summit held in Amman in February. 
The magazine prominently featured an interview on the 
valuable partnership between Jumana Twal, founder of a highly 
successful Jordanian public relations firm, and her Madison 
Avenue counterpart. 
 
Elections Support 
----------------- 
 
¶16. (U) USAID and MEPI support significant elections 
programming in gearing up for this year's municipal and 
parliamentary elections.  NDI partnered with Al Hayat Center 
for Civil Society Development to organize youth civic 
education camps for over 600 participants, to bring them 
together for direct discussions with candidates.  IRI has 
worked with local partner NGOs outside of Amman to train over 
600 potential male and female candidates for the upcoming 
municipal and parliamentary elections.  MEPI supported the 
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' mentoring program 
for seven female Jordanian candidates to participate in 
municipal and parliamentary elections. 
 
¶17. (SBU) The Ambassador personally engaged the Ministers of 
Interior and Municipal Affairs on July 3 to secure  access 
for Embassy officers planned visits to polling centers 
through Jordan during the July 31 municipal elections (ref 
a). 
 
Foundation for the Future 
------------------------- 
 
¶18.  (SBU) Amman currently houses the Foundation for the 
Future, a product of the partnership between the G-8, BMENA, 
and the Forum for the Future.  On July 18, Francesco Rosa, 
the Chief Operating Officer of the Foundation, told Emboff 
that he expects a Chief Financial Officer to start work soon 
and plans to hire two program officers by the end of 2007. 
Rosa reported that the Foundation's acting executive 
president and chairman of the board Anwar Ibrahim will visit 
Amman on August 2 to meet Jordanian Foreign Minister 
Al-Khatib.  Additionally, Rosa is drafting an MOU between the 
Foundation and Jordan's MFA to resolve outstanding financial 
issues and define the Foundation's tax-exempt status.  To 
date, the Foundation has awarded five grants and expects to 
announce additional grants following its November board 
meeting in Paris.  On average, it receives one to two grant 
applications per week. 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
Hale