US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI122

C O N F I D E N T I A L DJIBOUTI 000122 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF, AF/E, AF/RSA, AND DRL; DRL FOR MICHEAL ORONA 
AND SANDRA MURPHY; STATE ALSO PASS MCC. 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREL, DJ 
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI'S HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT--TOOL FOR 
IMPROVEMENT AND DEEPER DEMOCRACY ENGAGEMENT 
 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Erinn C. Reed for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Pol/Econ met February 5 with the Director of Bilateral 
Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Ali 
Hassan, and the Americas Desk Officer, Mohamed Omar Djama, at 
their request to discuss the 2004 Annual Country Report for 
Djibouti on Human Rights. Hassan stated that Djibouti wanted 
a closer cooperation with Embassy officials on Human Rights. 
He also commented that this request was at the behest of 
Djibouti's Ambassador to Washington, Robleh Olhaye. Hassan's 
main mission in the meeting was to share with Pol/Econ the 
accomplishments and efforts made by the Government to improve 
its human rights record and its chances of meeting Millennium 
Challenge criteria. Although Hassan did not present a laundry 
list of accomplishments, those he mentioned have already been 
included in Post's report for 2004. Hassan also inquired as 
to whether an advance copy of the report would be available. 
 
2. (C) Pol/Econ stated that she was unable to share the 2004 
report, as it has not been released, but expected publication 
worldwide in late February or early March based on the 
previous year's timetable. Pol/Econ instead offered copies of 
the 2003 report, in both French and English. She told Hassan 
that Djibouti's report had stayed relatively the same from 
2003 to 2004. She mentioned areas in which no progress had 
been made, specifically labor and impunity of government 
officials. She also noted the positive steps that were listed 
in the report, such as the ratification of several 
International Labor Organization conventions on child labor. 
Pol/Econ also commented that many of Djibouti's advancements 
in Human Rights were not accompanied by enforcement of new, 
or existing laws. As an example, she used Djibouti's 
ratification of the Maputo Protocol on Female Genital 
Mutilation (FGM) on 29 January 2005 during a regional 
conference on FGM hosted by Djibouti (report septel). She 
noted that Djibouti has an existing law criminalizing FGM, 
but countered that in conversations with Djiboutians, not 
many know it is illegal. She also noted that it is not 
enforced. Pol/Econ said that the FGM conference and 
ratification of the Maputo Protocol were steps in the right 
direction, but real change in the human rights situation 
would mandate publicizing and enforcing the Protocol. 
 
3. (C) Hassan commented that he did not believe that the 
United States published these reports annually merely to 
condemn each country without giving feedback on the positive 
efforts. Hassan added that Djibouti would like to know how to 
use the report to improve its record. It also wants to focus, 
he said, on development of democracy and good governance. He 
continued that Embassy projects with emphasis on human rights 
have been good, but asked if it might not be better to focus 
assistance more directly on government-to-government aid. 
Hassan pointed out that many negative areas in the human 
rights report are directly affected by insufficient 
resources. He suggested a series of meetings to go over the 
report and to develop strategies to improve the human rights 
situation. Pol/Econ responded that she would be happy to 
discuss aspects of the 2003 report at any time, as well as 
the 2004 report once published. 
 
4. (C) Ambassador's Comment: Post believes that the meeting 
with Hassan offers a prime opportunity for the Embassy to 
further assist Djibouti intensively in development of its 
human rights, as well as good governance programs. We are 
beginning with a Country-Team focal group meeting to identify 
areas of special challenge and reviewing how we might tailor 
programs to areas which have for many years been negative in 
Djibouti's human rights record. Post also feels that with 
specific challenge areas in mind, it can productively engage 
Djibouti in an open bilateral discussion of the report that 
may yield positive results in Djibouti's quest to meet MCA 
standards. We note that while projects through Democracy and 
Human Rights Funding (DHRF) have been beneficial and have had 
a positive impact on Djiboutian society, they remain small 
scale. With the window now wide open by President Bush and 
Dr. Rice, and evidence of Djiboutian readiness to improve its 
human rights record, the time seems ripe to consider a deeper 
commitment at the resource level. We will follow up with 
programming proposals across agency lines at Post. End 
Comment. 
RAGSDALE