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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000223 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SA
SUBJECT: U.N.'S OHCHR SPREAD THINLY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 
 
REF: STATE 02023 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) On January 20, poloff met with the Office of the 
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) 
Resident Representative for Southern Africa David Johnson, in 
response to Department tasker (reftel) to assess the nature 
and scope of OHCHR's activities.  Covering 14 countries with 
two professional staff, the office is mainly focused on 
technical support to national human rights commissions, 
alongside continual observer missions to Zimbabwe, and with 
no activity in South Africa itself.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
Two Officers, 14 Countries 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) OHCHR's Pretoria office is small, with only two 
professionals covering 14 countries of the Southern African 
Development Community (SADC), except the Congo and including 
Indian Ocean nations.  A longtime U.N. veteran, its senior 
officer and Regional Representative David Johnson himself 
launched this regional headquarters in 2000, the first of 
OHCHR's regional operations worldwide.  With the Angola 
office closed last year, there are now no country offices in 
the region, and all are managed directly from Pretoria by 
Johnson and his colleague.  Their budget is on the order of 
$665,000 a year, but Johnson said he may seek earmarks for 
further funding to double his professional staff to four. 
 
------------------------------- 
Capacity Building, and Zimbabwe 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Johnson's focus is more programmatic than on policy 
reporting, mainly providing technical assistance to build 
institutional capacity within regional states.  The office 
was established without a contractual monitoring mandate 
(stipulating unlimited free movement; and unfettered access 
to information, facilities, and officials) from the host 
South African government (SAG), and hence its reporting role 
is mainly a very broad one, of generally staying abreast of 
country issues.  Not only would the SAG never sign on to a 
formal monitoring arrangement, acknowledged Johnson, but 
there was no need, since the SAG itself had an independent 
inspectorate on rights issues.  The exception on reporting is 
Zimbabwe, which is the one priority reporting focus for OHCHR 
in the region.  Alongside Zimbabwe, the office's other main 
area of work is a 'grab bag' of initiatives promoting 
national human rights commissions in member states. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Zimbabwe: Observation, and Indirect Appeals 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Zimbabwe is the OHCHR's main concern in the region, 
where it does conduct continual monitoring since, in 
Johnson's words, the country is "a case of life or death." 
Johnson and his colleagues make frequent visits to Zimbabwe 
to meet with public defenders, civil society groups, and 
other counterparts on ongoing human rights abuses there. 
Visits are transparently declared and allowed by the GOZ. 
The regional office does not publicize or disseminate its 
findings directly, but rather feeds information through the 
conduits of U.N. topical rapporteurs and special mandate 
holders, who can then launch appeals to the GOZ.  In 2008, 
three or four public statements were made in this way, while 
the High Commissioner in Geneva made two in the last year, 
with a third pending soon.  (Note: on the rights monitoring 
front, Johnson personally felt Swaziland merited attention 
Qfront, Johnson personally felt Swaziland merited attention 
second only to that on Zimbabwe, but he said that country was 
not in practice a major focus area.  End Note.) 
 
---------------------------- 
Regional Assistance Projects 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Apart from Zimbabwean emergency, the office's main 
focus is on institutional capacity building.  Its main 
counterparts in the 14 countries (Angola, Botswana, Comoros, 
Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, 
 
PRETORIA 00000223  002 OF 003 
 
 
South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) are 
governments, civil society organizations, as well as regional 
institutions such as SADC and SADC-affiliated groups (e.g. 
police commissioners, law reform commissions, or chief 
justices).  OHCHR gravitates to receptive countries where it 
can form suitable partnerships.  Training and workshops are 
conducted, for example, in various countries where the UN 
Development Program (UNDP) has active support in its 
governance work.  Relationships have been forged by the 
practical problem of overdue treaty body reports, driven by 
member states' interests in training and assistance to catch 
up on reporting obligations. 
 
¶6.  (U) Technical assistance is mainly in support to human 
rights commissions, or aiding in their establishment.  In 
this respect Johnson listed Mauritius, Zambia, Lesotho, and 
Botswana, and "to some extent in Namibia."  OHCHR was 
"reengaging" in Malawi.  In the Comoros, OHCHR was assisting 
in the consolidation of democracy after secessionist threats 
of recent years with what Johnson called the "normal menu" of 
establishing a human rights commission and retraining 
security forces.  The two OHCHR officers participate in 
workshops run by UNDP, and by other partners, such as in a 
recent collaboration in Mozambique with the U.K.'s Department 
for International Development (DFID). 
 
------------------------------------- 
¶S. Africa: Office HQ, But No Projects 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) The Pretoria office does almost no work locally in 
South Africa, given that country's comparatively advanced 
development in rights legislative frameworks, governmental 
watchdogs and institutions, and a vibrant civil society which 
Johnson rates as "world class -- so we really have little to 
add here."  The most recent initiatives in South Africa date 
back to post-apartheid South Africa of the 1995-2000 period, 
when OHCHR provided human rights training to the South 
African Police Service (SAPS) and to prisons, and assisted 
the Department of Home Affairs (DFA) with assistance in 
treaty reporting. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  OHCHR interfaces occasionally with the South 
African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), but as a 
full-fledged partner, not in a developmental capacity. 
Johnson mused that the SAHRC operates in a tough environment, 
i.e. too often predicated on political loyalty, but it 
cleverly manages to push its mandate in indirect ways -- such 
as arranging panels on controversial subjects, or holding 
hearings on sensitive topics, rather than making a big noise 
itself.  Current SAHRC commissioners' terms will end next 
September, opening the way for possible new approaches. 
 
-------------------- 
Avoiding Controversy 
-------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU)  Johnson commented on OHCHR's own prickly and 
potentially precarious relationship with South Africa.  After 
leaving on a high note in 2000, he said, he was disappointed 
this year to observe the SAG's "pathetic" response to 
xenophobic violence and the ensuing displacement of foreign 
migrants.  Still, he said, he was unwilling to antagonize the 
office's host country, or jeopardize the office's presence, 
and so "you won't see any statements coming from here." 
 
¶10. (SBU)  Without the protection of a monitoring contract, 
officers could be PNG'ed by a dispute with South Africa or 
any other disgruntled neighbor state exerting pressure to 
Qany other disgruntled neighbor state exerting pressure to 
evict the office from Pretoria.  A cautionary incident 
occurred when OHCHR internal plans intended for only a donor 
audience were published in January 2008 for the February 
session of the Human Rights Council, provoking strong 
objections from SADC members.  Johnson felt the election of 
South African native Navi Pilay, however, would enable UNHCHR 
to advocate more strongly without prompting accusations of 
western interference in African affairs. 
 
------------------------- 
More Information Promised 
------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) COMMENT.  This cable was held back past the January 
30 due date, awaiting more detailed program information from 
the OHCHR office, which Johnson planned to prepare for a 
 
PRETORIA 00000223  003 OF 003 
 
 
high-level visit and promised to share with Post.  Should 
that  materialize, Post will forward by email. End Comment. 
 
LA LIME