US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1198

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001198 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2015 
TAGS: CU, EAID, IZ, PREL 
SUBJECT: CZECH NGO, PEOPLE IN NEED, LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM 
FOR IRAQ, CONTINUES PRO-DEMOCRACY WORK IN CUBA AND 
ELSEWHERE. 
 
REF: A. PRAGUE 832 
     B. PRAGUE 814 
 
Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Mark Canning for reasons 1.4 
(a) (b). 
 
 1.(U)  Simon Panek, the Director of the Czech NGO, People In 
Need (PIN), briefed Embassy officials 8/11 on a new 
initiative for Iraq, the establishment of a center to promote 
democracy in the Middle East, and explained the 
non-governmental organization's ongoing ties with the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
2.(U)  PIN has been in Iraq for years, though primarily 
providing humanitarian assistance. In 2004, PIN pulled all of 
its expats out of Iraq and relocated many of them in Jordan. 
  This month, PIN began a new program in Jordan, based on the 
Czech experience in the transition from a totalitarian regime 
to democracy. An Institute has been set up in Amman, with the 
working title, The Democracy and Transition Center for the 
Middle East. In this month's initial program, Iraqi 
journalists will receive training from August 4 to August 26. 
Jan Urban, former dissident, human rights activist, one-time 
chairman of the Civic Forum and still practicing journalist, 
will lead the training. Panek says he can see the program 
growing to include journalists from Palestine and Syria one 
day. Panek believes the center could also be used to train 
NGO leaders. 
 
3.(U) Panek expects the center to need USD500,000 per year in 
its early stages. The Center has received an initial 
allocation of funds from the National Endowment for Democracy 
in the US, and 15 million Czech Crowns (USD 650,000) from an 
office within the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That 
office, called the Section for Cooperation on Transitions 
(Reftel A), was conceived last year by three Czechs: Deputy 
Foreign Minister Petr Kolar, who is expected to be the next 
Ambassador to the US;  Tomas Pojar, then Director of PIN, now 
scheduled to succeed Kolar as Deputy FM; and Simon Panek. The 
office is run by Gabriela Dlouha, who along with Kolar, once 
worked for former President, Vaclav Havel. The MFA's Section 
for Cooperation on Transitions is itself very active in Iraq, 
Cuba, Belarus and elsewhere, and also supports PIN activities 
in each of these places.  The MFA's support for democracy in 
these countries is largely the result of the personal ties 
between Kolar, Pojar, and Panek, but also due to the support 
given by FM Svoboda and former President Havel. 
 
4. (C) PIN is the secretariat for the International Committee 
for Democracy in Cuba. PIN uses volunteers, mostly non-Czech 
Europeans, to smuggle digital cameras and laptops into Cuba, 
where they are given to journalists and others documenting 
conditions there. In May, PIN organized a trip for Senator 
Karel Scwarzenberg and other parliamentarians. Three editing 
decks were smuggled in on that trip, which ended one-day 
early when the parliamentarians were detained by Cuban 
officials (Reftel B) PIN also works with other European 
states to get cash to the families of political prisoners in 
Cuba. 
 
5.(U) Finally on North Korea, Panek said PIN made some 
initial efforts to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea, 
but was told that North Korea only provides entry to 
humanitarian projects worth at least half a million Euros and 
he wasn't able to provide that much assistance . 
 
6.(U) COMMENT: This message doesn't give a thorough 
description of all of PIN's activities, only developments in 
certain countries over the last few months. In addition to 
the places mentioned above, PIN is active in Belarus, Burma, 
the Balkans, and is considering projects in Zambia. PIN is 
led by dedicated individuals with excellent ties to the 
current leadership at the MFA, and among other politicians, 
such as Senator Schwarzenberg, who is 67 (current term 
2004-2010), and Vice President of the Senate Petr Pithart, 
who is expected to retire when his term runs out next year. 
The Czech Republic will have parliamentary elections next 
year and there is no guarantee the next government will make 
the promotion of human rights, or the toppling of dictatorial 
regimes, such a high priority. Panek agrees that a victory by 
a left-of-center coalition between the Social Democrats and 
the Communists, an outcome that can't be ruled out at this 
stage,  would make it much more difficult, if not impossible, 
to continue government-funded programs against regimes in 
Cuba and Belarus. 
MUNTER