VZCZCXRO4163
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RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1370/01 3520723
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180723Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9902
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1385
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
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RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1358
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2010
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 1326
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0655
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001370 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL 
AID/W FOR EE/AA (BOB WALLIN) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AID SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN:  NGO ACTIVISTS ADVANCE LEGAL 
ADVOCACY AND SOCIAL REFORM UNDER THE RADAR 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  NGO activists sat down with members of 
the visiting DRL delegation led by DAS Erica Barks-Ruggles in 
the modest ABA/CEELI office in Ashgabat to talk about the 
work they have been doing in cooperation with a variety of 
international and diplomatic partners.  Much of their work 
has been focused on legal advocacy, legal reform and issues 
relating to women and Turkmen youth.  This nascent network of 
civil society leaders formed as a result of one or two 
initial small projects. These projects, in turn, drew in 
additional talented professionals who began their own 
projects, thus expanding the pool of citizen leaders invested 
in social change here.  Although the projects they have 
undertaken have been limited in nature, the potential exists 
for these organizations to form the foundation for an 
expanded social and legal reform agenda, if the host 
government would relax the constraints it imposes upon them. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Four proactive, professional NGO heads shared with 
the DRL delegation some of their ongoing work, some in 
cooperation with ABA/CEELI, that focuses on legal education 
for different demographics, legal assistance and advocacy, 
and social reform on a tactical scale.  Inga Byalkina was a 
former juvenile police officer for 23 years when she moved 
into social work.  For two years she has been running a 
project in coordination with UNICEF and a Kazakh NGO called 
"Street Kids."  The project is producing cartoons that help 
teach kids about the risks associated with AIDS and illicit 
narcotics use.  Children took part in the development of the 
cartoons, which helped to ensure that the message therein 
would be easily understood.  She is also an expert speaker 
and trainer for ABA. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Zoya Pros is an engineer-economist by profession. 
She implemented a project called "My Right" which focuses on 
teaching consumers about how to assess the quality of 
products and services and initiate demands for improvements. 
She has published a brochure on citizens' consumer rights. 
She implemented several other projects jointly with 
Counterpart, the Embassy, and the Ministry of Trade that 
resulted in the publication of a legal guide to consumer and 
business rights.  She has also conducted training jointly 
with UNHCR on the topic of preventing domestic violence for 
refugee Afghan women.  She complained about the difficulty of 
registering her public organization.   She had gotten around 
the registration problem by operating within the framework of 
the U.S. Visitors Program's Alumni network and had 
successfully created a training module and conducted a 
seminar on trafficking of persons for young women.  Currently 
she is working with ABA on a project called "Social Lawyers" 
that provides legal assistance on social welfare issues. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Nabat Babayeva is a lawyer.  She is also an alumni 
of the 2003 U.S. Visitors Program. She became interested in 
NGO activity after becoming involved in Ms. Pros' "My Right" 
project, and also assisted her with the program for Afghan 
refugee women.  She reflected the overall enthusiasm of the 
women when she noted that once she started, "she just could 
not give it up."  Ms. Babayeva then decided to establish her 
own organization, which established a legal assistance center 
called "Hemayat" that provides citizens with help in drafting 
complaint letters to government ministries.  She has provided 
training and seminars in coordination with the ABA, the 
Embassy, and Counterpart.  She has also worked with Bosfor, 
the OSCE Centre and the UN.  Within the framework of the 
""Social Lawyers" program, she worked on Turkmenistan's 
Family, Residence, and Labor Laws, converting them to 
 
ASHGABAT 00001370  002 OF 002 
 
 
easy-to-read materials available to the public.  Having 
become an expert on these laws, she has become a "certified 
trainer of trainers".  She also helped the ABA to adapt their 
Social Advocacy Manual from Russian into Turkmen.  Her work 
resulted in the production of a "Social Lawyer's Manual." 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Kristina Izyumova runs an information resource 
center called "Lachin Ay."  She is involved in a project 
right now that teaches children about civil rights and a 
"Social Lawyers" project, where basic information on 
citizens' rights is compiled.  She is also involved in the 
"Social Lawyers" project. Additionally, Ms. Izyumova and her 
mother have been operating a summer camp for at-risk children 
that teaches civil rights and keeps them from crossing paths 
with law enforcement. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The delegation asked the women to name the three 
most significant ways the U.S. government could facilitate 
their work.  The women said they would like more grants in 
order to fund their ongoing activities, as well as financial 
assistance to pay for their groups' participation in 
international training opportunities and conferences.  They 
also emphasized the importance of the Embassy's advocacy of a 
more standardized NGO and grant registration process.  They 
would value any assistance the U.S. government can provide in 
assisting them with registration of their organizations and 
grants.  They noted that they are waiting to begin many 
projects, due to the slow grant registration process.  They 
also commented that human trafficking is becoming a bigger 
problem and urged assistance for work in that field. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  COMMENT: These NGO leaders are operating on a 
small scale, and largely staying under the radar in avoiding 
negative attention from the government.  In a relatively 
short amount of time, however, they have established a small 
but modest footprint in working for social and societal 
change here.  Each was aware of the risks they were taking, 
but all wanted more support formthe international community 
and more assistance for their efforts.  Each expressed 
skepticism about the scope and pace of change in 
Turkmenistan, but all noted that there are openings now that 
they need to try and take advantage of to expand their work. 
It is also interesting to note that each organization came 
into being after its leader was pulled into the gravitational 
range of another earlier project.  Within the existing cadre 
of unemployed professionals, individuals with leadership 
qualities seem to abound.  Because of this phenomenon, there 
is now a small, entwined network of capable activists who 
could potentially provide a solid foundation for greatly 
expanded public organization activity in Turkmenistan. They 
could, in the future, help to address the country's most 
basic social and societal issues.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
HOAGLAND