VZCZCXRO7763
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHDBU #1086/01 2010501
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200501Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0681
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1479
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2009
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 1242
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2192
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2161
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2203
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2492

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ICRC TI
SUBJECT: RED CROSS REDUCES MISSION; TAJIK GOVT PROHIBITS FULL PRISON 
ACCESS 
 
REF: A) 06 DUSHANBE 227;  B) 07 DUSHANBE 500;  C) 06 DUSHANBE 208 
 
¶1.  (U)  SUMMARY:  International Committee of the Red Cross will 
recall its international director and reduce the organization's 
status from mission to office in fall 2007.  The decision is a 
result of the Tajik government's failure to cooperate with 
International Committee of the Red Cross and allow its staff 
full, uninhibited access to the penitentiary system.  The Red 
Cross characterizes Tajikistan's stance on prison access as 
similar to Sudan, Belarus, and North Korea.  END SUMMARY. 
 
THE LONG ROAD TO PRISON ACCESS 
 
¶2.  (U)  For the past three years the International Committee of 
the Red Cross has struggled to gain full access to the Tajik 
penitentiary system to monitor the well-being of prisoners and 
possibly provide humanitarian aid and institutional reform 
assistance.   From January to September 2004, the Red Cross was 
granted controlled access to the prisons, however, without 
warning the visits abruptly stopped.  Ministry of Justice 
officials explained to PolOff (REFTEL A) that visits ended 
because they had not seen any tangible assistance from the Red 
Cross.  (Note: The Red Cross program requires that its staff 
have unconditional, unlimited access to prison facilities so 
that they can conduct extensive assessment and monitoring 
exercises according to standards of International Humanitarian 
Law.  End note.)  Since then, the Red Cross has tried to meet 
with the Ministry of Justice to restart visits.  The ministry's 
line has always been that the Red Cross is free to examine its 
prisons, but they must call ahead to arrange a meeting time and 
would be accompanied by a ministry official. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Beginning in 2007, the Principals' Group, an assembly 
of chiefs of diplomatic missions and international 
organizations, attempted to serve as a conduit between the Red 
Cross and the Tajik government.  The group lobbied the Ministry 
of Justice and the president's office to establish a working 
group comprised of government officials and international 
missions to tackle prison reform.  The working group's aim would 
not only be to gain access for the Red Cross and other 
organizations, but also to revive the government's Penal Reform 
Plan 2004-2008 and implement a program of humanitarian 
assistance to prisons and detainees. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Speaking on behalf of the Principals' Group were the 
United Nations Tajikistan Office for Peacebuilding 
Representative and the Ambassador of the United Kingdom. 
Unfortunately their efforts resulted in no forward movement by 
the Ministry of Justice.  After several attempts to convene the 
working group, the Tajik officials finally agreed to meet.  At 
the first and only meeting, two Deputy Ministers of Justice, one 
official from the Ministry of Interior, one from the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs, and one from the President's Office attended. 
However, none of the Tajik government officials were in a 
position to make any decisions, rendering the meeting 
unproductive. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  After nearly three years of empty talks with the 
government, the Red Cross made the decision to reduce its 
mission.  The Principals' Group, disappointed in the Tajik 
government's lack of cooperation, plans to issue a strongly 
worded letter to the Ministry of Justice expressing its 
disappointment that the government's lack of cooperation has 
forced the Red Cross to reduce its presence.  The letter also 
points out that Tajikistan has harmed its international 
reputation by not allowing the Red Cross to carry out 
humanitarian aid. 
 
 
MOVING OUT, MOVING ON 
 
¶6.  (U)  The current Head of Mission, Alma Ahmadipour, expects 
to depart Tajikistan at the end of September.  On July 17 
Ahmadipour notified staff of the reduction.  Ahmadipour 
explained to PolOff at a meeting on July 18 that the 
International Committee of the Red Cross could not justify 
financing support staff and equipment given that it is not able 
to carry out one of its priority assistance programs. 
Ahmadipour mentions that maintaining international staff is 
expensive and she should not be in country if she cannot do her 
job.  The International Committee of the Red Cross in Tashkent, 
Uzbekistan will oversee the Tajikistan office. 
 
¶7.  (U)  The office will continue to employ approximately eight 
 
DUSHANBE 00001086  002 OF 002 
 
 
staff who will run basic and standard International Committee of 
the Red Cross programs such as assisting in reestablishing 
family links, providing technical and financial assistance to 
the Tajik Red Crescent Society and training volunteers to 
disseminate information about International Humanitarian Law 
standards, the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, and its 
functions during emergency situations.  The organization will 
also continue providing assistance to an orthopedic center and 
its affiliated long-term patient rehabilitation facility. 
 
¶8.  (U)  The Red Cross will sustain a minimal presence in 
Tajikistan without permanent international staff unless an 
emergency requires the organization's assistance.  If the 
government decides that it will genuinely cooperate with the Red 
Cross and allow it access to the penitentiary system according 
to Red Cross standards, Ahmadipour says that the organization 
will willingly re-start a program. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Although the Red Cross has informed the 
Tajik government about its commitment to neutrality and 
confidentiality, the government's refusal to allow Red Cross 
 
SIPDIS 
access to the penitentiary system is probably based on two 
concerns.  First, the government may fear that the Red Cross 
would publicly expose poor prison conditions.  Media reports 
tell of high rates of tuberculosis in prisons and anecdotal 
stories from Embassy sources describe worse conditions (REFTEL 
B).  Secondly, the Deputy Minister of Justice Izatullo Sharipov 
who is also the head of the penitentiary system does not want 
the Red Cross to gain access and his influence trumps the 
Minister of Justice.  Sharipov is rumored to be extremely 
corrupt and heavily involved in narcotics trafficking.  As long 
as he remains in charge of the penitentiary system, the Red 
Cross is unlikely to gain access (REFTEL C).  END COMMENT. 
JACOBSON