VZCZCXRO8225
OO RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #0584/01 1531047
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 011047Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6827
INFO RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 8466
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 2195
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 9700
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0667
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 1314

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000584 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DRL FOR KATE BERGLAND, S/CA FOR DON CAMP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2018 
TAGS: KDEM BG
SUBJECT: DAS BARKS-RUGGLES PRESSES BANGLADESH TO BUILD 
DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
------ 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights 
and Labor Erica Barks-Ruggles in a trip to Bangladesh 
emphasized the importance of holding free, fair and credible 
elections this year, of maintaining a free press and of 
building lasting democratic institutions. She also underlined 
USG support for further progress on labor rights. During her 
5/19-5/21 visit, her comments promoting human rights received 
prominent and favorable coverage in print and broadcast 
media. Her visit helped Post efforts to encourage a swift and 
enduring return to democracy in Bangladesh. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
ENCOURAGING FREE, FAIR, CREDIBLE ELECTIONS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) DAS Barks-Ruggles' visit to Bangladesh came on the 
eve of crucial talks between the Caretaker Government and 
political parties to create a positive environment for local 
and national elections scheduled by the end of the year. In 
all her meetings, she stressed the need to ensure free, fair, 
transparent and credible elections. This would require an 
environment that allowed for open campaigning and free media 
-- requiring the lifting of the State of Emergency sooner 
rather than later. In her meetings with political party 
leaders, Barks-Ruggles stressed the importance of returning 
to democratically elected government. This effort, she 
acknowledged, would require compromise and dialogue to avoid 
an impasse over the future role of the two former prime 
ministers who lead the major parties, Sheikh Hasina of the 
Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist 
Party. (Note: Both leaders are in prison on corruption 
charges, and the parties are demanding their release to 
participate in the electoral process. End note.) 
Barks-Ruggles also argued that the winner-take-all politics 
of the past that kept the losing party from playing any 
constructive role in running the country needed to be 
reshaped into a less confrontational mode. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Two of three Election Commission members briefed 
Barks-Ruggles that more than 70 million out of an estimated 
80 million eligible Bangladeshis had been registered to vote; 
this represented a mammoth undertaking that included the 
issuing of photo identification cards. The EC members said 
the registration field work would conclude in late June or 
early July; posting of preliminary election rolls for review 
in areas where registration had been completed and would 
continue on a rolling basis through mid-September. The final 
voter list for the national elections scheduled for the third 
week in December should be ready by the middle of October. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The commissioners said all candidates would have to 
meet stringent requirements to run for office. For example, 
people who had defaulted on bank loans or who were delinquent 
on their phone bill would not qualify. They said that any 
Election Commission ruling on candidate qualification, either 
for or against, could be challenged. On election day, votes 
would be tallied at each polling station in front of party 
agents and then publicly posted at each polling station to 
prevent electoral fraud. The Commissioners also said their 
decision to hold non-partisan local elections before the 
Parliamentary vote was designed to minimize the influence of 
local political party bosses and serve as a "dry run" for 
national elections in December. The Commissioners defended 
their decision to redraw more than 100 Parliamentary 
districts, saying that the old boundaries had created 
disproportionately sized districts and were more reflective 
of fiefdoms of powerful local politicians than of population 
realities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
ENCOURAGING A FREE MEDIA, OPEN SOCIETY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶5. (C) DAS Barks-Ruggles heard leading journalists complain 
about harassment from officials, particularly from the 
military's Directorate General Forces Intelligence (DGFI). 
The journalists explained the chilling effect of frequent 
phone calls reporters had received from DGFI suggesting how 
stories should be played and which stories should not be 
 
DHAKA 00000584  002 OF 002 
 
 
published. In a subsequent meeting, DGFI Director General 
Maj. Gen. Golam Mohammad and Director of Counterterrorism 
Brig. Gen. ATM Amin acknowledged such phone calls; DAS 
Barks-Ruggles urged them to stop the practice immediately. In 
response to DGFI's repeated attempts to manipulate politics, 
Barks-Ruggles noted that military intelligence should stop 
meddling in what was a civilian affair. 
 
¶6. (C) Law Adviser A.F. Hassan Ariff expressed concern during 
his meeting with Barks-Ruggles over draft legislation that 
would make "frivolous" or "annoying" complaints by citizens 
about security forces or the police punishable by a fine 
and/or jail. He said the proposal was "obnoxious" and could 
lead to a sense of impunity among law enforcement officials. 
Barks-Ruggles and the Ambassador subsequently raised concerns 
about this provision with DGFI and with the Foreign Adviser, 
both of whom acknowledged that the provision would undermine 
the purpose of the law. They both pledged to look into the 
matter. Ariff also said that a plan to develop a professional 
prosecutorial service had just begun and gradually would lead 
to the replacement of all politically appointed prosecutors. 
(Note: Through Post's Resident Legal Adviser, the Mission has 
long pushed for such reforms with Law Ministry officals, even 
before the State of Emergency was declared in 2007. End note.) 
 
------------------------ 
ENCOURAGING LABOR RIGHTS 
------------------------ 
 
¶7. (C) Barks-Ruggles encouraged several leading government 
and business officials to improve labor conditions. At a 
meeting hosted by Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, 
officials acknowledged child labor was present in the shrimp 
industry and provided details on how they planned to resolve 
the problem. David Welsh, the country program director for 
the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, said 
that after several months of little activity the pace of 
workers' association elections in the two major Export 
Processing Zones (EPZ) had quickened markedly. Since late 
summer 2007, elections had been held in nearly 100 factories 
in the Chittagong EPZ and in about 40 more in the smaller 
Dhaka EPZ. The vast majority had led to creation of workers' 
associations. In a meeting with Labor and Manpower Adviser 
Anwarul Iqbal, Barks-Ruggles urged him not to implement a 
plan to limit workers' choice of representatives to three 
unions per factory. 
 
--------------------------- 
MEDIA INTEREST IN THE VISIT 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Local media were keenly interested in Barks-Ruggles 
visit, and more than a dozen newspapers and television 
stations attended her on-the-record news conference that 
resulted in several Page One articles. She emphasized the 
importance of lifting State of Emergency restrictions on 
political activity to ensure free, fair and credible 
elections. She also told reporters that the government, 
political parties and civil society had to work hard to build 
institutions necessary for lasting democracy. Media reaction 
to these pro-democracy messages was generally very positive. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
CONCLUSION: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE DELIVERED 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (C) Barks-Ruggles' visit on the eve of dialogue between 
the Caretaker Government and political parties could not have 
come at a better time. In her meetings with government and 
political leaders, she stressed the importance of compromise, 
responsible behavior and rejecting winner-take-all politics. 
Coming two weeks after Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher 
came to Bangladesh with much the same message, Barks-Ruggles' 
visit ensured that Bangladeshis are crystal clear on the 
importance the USG attaches to a timely return to democracy 
via free, fair and credible elections. Barks-Ruggles' visit 
greatly enhanced Post efforts to support democracy, 
development and the denial of space to terrorists in 
Bangladesh. 
 
¶10. (U) DAS Barks-Ruggles has cleared this cable. 
Moriarty