US embassy cable - 04SANAA1475

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 001475 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KCRM, ELAB, ASEC, KFRD, PHUM, SMIG, YM, TRAFFICKING PERSONS, HUMAN RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: TIP: MINISTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS DISCUSSES ROYG 
PROGRESS 
 
REF: SECSTATE 123297 
 
Classified By: DCM Alan G. Misenheimer for Reasons 1.5 (b,d) 
 
1. (U) Summary: DCM called on Minister of Human Rights Amat 
Alim al-Suswa 6/14 to deliver country narrative and talking 
points in reftel on the release of the Trafficking in Persons 
(TIP) report.  The Minister detailed further actions taken by 
the ROYG to combat TIP, including the formation of an 
inter-agency ROYG commission.  They also discussed President 
Saleh's visit to the United States for the G-8 summit and 
other meetings, the new U.S. program to train Yemeni police 
in riot control and the past and future activities of the 
Ministry of Human Rights (MHR).  End Summary. 
 
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ROYG Progress on TIP 
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2. (C) The Minister thanked DCM for notifying her of Yemen's 
place in the TIP report as a special case.  She said that 
trafficking in persons was a new issue for Yemen that was not 
widely understood.  She agreed that, although information was 
fragmentary on the scope of the problem, actions must be 
taken to address the issue.  She noted excellent cooperation 
with the Embassy, thanking Post for helping the ROYG 
understand the problem.  She said she was happy that other 
ROYG ministries took the previously "not known" issue 
seriously when it was raised in detail in the last year, 
particularly praising the cooperation of the Ministry of 
Interior (MOI).  DCM noted the recent signing of a Memorandum 
of Understanding (MOU) with MOI for the INL riot control 
training program with police, which the Minister welcomed. 
DCM also emphasized the importance of MOI in the prevention 
and prosecution of traffickers. 
 
3. (C) She said the ROYG formed a commission to fight TIP, 
consisting of the Ministries of Human Rights, Interior, 
Social Affairs and Labor and other relevant agencies such as 
the Prosecutor General.  Al-Suswa also praised the rising 
interest of parliament in the issue of child trafficking and 
shared a copy of a letter in Arabic she wrote responding to a 
parliamentary inquiry.  Drawing on information gained from 
the ongoing UNICEF survey on child trafficking conducted in 
cooperation with ROYG ministries, she said the letter 
described what is known about the problem thus far and what 
the ROYG is doing about it. (Note: Post will translate the 
letter and report as necessary.) 
 
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MHR Update 
---------- 
 
4. (C) The Minister said June 23 was the one-year anniversary 
of the creation of the Ministry of Human Rights.  She 
provided an English copy of the Ministry's Performance 
Report, covering progress from June 2003 to March 2004.  She 
noted again good relations with ministries important to 
resolving human rights abuses, including MOI, Ministry of 
Justice and the prosecutor general.  She said that with the 
support of these ministries, she was able to persuade the 
cabinet to vote to have the Ministry of Finance provide the 
MHR its full fiscal year monies instead of quarterly to 
facilitate the ministry's development.  (Comment:  This is 
highly unusual and a surprising victory in a government where 
the Ministry of Finance controls the purse strings.  End 
comment) 
 
5. (C) In addition, the Minister highlighted several areas of 
progress from the Performance Report: 
 
-- a commission established to study Yemeni legislation to 
make recommendations to ensure compliance with international 
human rights standards; 
 
-- the "almost done" first draft of the first Yemen human 
rights report developed by the government in cooperation with 
non-government experts, which she said she hoped would be 
objective and accurate; 
 
-- the mechanism by which the MHR works with other ministries 
to respond to human rights complaints from citizens and 
others; and 
 
--  the development of legal assistance mechanisms, including 
a hotline to help with requests for help. 
HULL