US embassy cable - 05SANAA903

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 000903 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KMPI, YM, KMCC, DOMESTIC POLITICS 
SUBJECT: SOSWA MEETS DCM ON THE 2004 HRR 
 
Classified By: DCM Nabeel Khoury for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Amidst heavy ROYG criticism of the 2004 U.S. 
Human Rights Report, Human Rights Minister Amat al-Alim 
al-Soswa delivered a 49-page ROYG response to the report to 
DCM April  Soswa took the opportunity to express her own less 
critical feelings on the report, and share her Ministry's 
strategy for improving human rights in Yemen in 2005. End 
Summary. 
 
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Soswa: "We Don't Have the Whitest Page" 
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2. (C) Minister Soswa delivered a 49-page section-by-section 
response to the 2004 HR Country Report on Yemen to DCM April 
2.  She claimed that several sections of the report were 
flawed due to vague assertions and failure to cite specific 
cases.  She also stated her "disappointment" with what she 
characterized as a lack of coordination between Post and the 
MHR upon the HRR's release, and expressed her willingness to 
be more "positively engaged" during next year's drafting 
period.  (Note: Post worked with HHR officials while drafting 
the Yemen report and delivered a copy to the Ministry.  End 
Note).  DCM promised better coordination and suggested that 
the MHR and Post co-sponsor a 2005 roundtable to jointly 
debate the issue in front of the public.  Soswa agreed it was 
a good idea. 
 
3. (C) Soswa confided that she personally was pleased overall 
with the report.  She told DCM that in her address to the 
ROYG committee tasked with preparing the rebuttal she said, 
"We do not have the whitest page in human rights," and 
referred to the U.S. report as the "best review" of Yemen's 
human rights thus far available.  She added that she advised 
the committee that the purpose of the report is not to 
embarrass Yemen and should be used instead as a tool for 
improving human rights practices. 
 
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Soswa: "Human Rights are Unfortunately Political" 
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4. (C) Soswa denied recent press rumors that the MHR might 
split from the government to become an NGO.  Instead, she 
revealed, she is pushing for the establishment of a national 
body on human rights issues.  Soswa said she believed that 
forming such a body would institutionalize the way in which 
the ROYG deals with human rights abuses, and improve the 
current practice of resolving human rights abuses on a 
case-by-case basis and at the whim of individual ministers. 
Soswa said she would lobby parliamentarians and the Cabinet 
for support.  Both presently reject the idea, she said, 
"discussion of human rights unfortunately quickly became very 
political." 
 
5. (C) Soswa reported that the MHR would release its own 
human rights report this month.  "We will take your report 
and enhance it," she promised.  According to Soswa the ROYG 
report will deal with broad themes and examine both 
governmental and societal abuses.  She described her 
Ministry's role as a "facilitator" with NGOs being the 
primary authors of the report. 
 
6. (C) Soswa pledged her commitment to, "continue to improve 
the status of human rights in Yemen," and that her office 
would stress awareness among security officers, push for a 
women's quota system in Parliament and local councils, and 
better address trafficking in children and women. 
 
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Comment: 
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7. (C) Soswa dutifully delivered the long ROYG rebuttal, but 
then moved quickly to examine next steps to improve human 
rights conditions in Yemen.  Although she criticized sections 
of the report, her personal opinion of its usefulness clearly 
differs from the official ROYG position.  Although striving 
to institutionalize the work of her ministry, as well as aid 
the development of NGOs as human rights shareholders, Soswa 
clearly faces an uphill struggle against her politically more 
influential colleagues in the Cabinet. 
 
8. (C) Since the release of the HRR, Post has witnessed the 
gamut of responses from civil society, the press and the 
ROYG.  Although most reviews have been positive and critiques 
constructive, the ROYG's response has been contradictory and 
defensive.  At first glance, the official rebuttal seems to 
primarily rebut the HRR with vague challenges and/or 
declarations of law.  A closer examination will hopefully 
expose more salient points that Post can use.  In the end, 
despite the ROYG's irritation, it is encouraging to see human 
rights being discussed and debated so openly in Yemen.  End 
Comment. 
Krajeski