Yemen: Ceasefire in the North and Military v. Develop Aid
September 2nd, 2010 by Jason
Brain O’Neill at Always Judged Guilty brings to our attention two recent articles in the Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal on developments in Yemen. The Atlantic article deals with the recent ceasefire between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in the north of the country. As O’Neill points out, “…the divisions are not cut-and-dried. This doesn’t fit the normal Sunni-Shi’ite clash we like to read about.” The WSJ article describes a growing gap between military assistance and civilian development assistance that one U.S. official describes as, “… tend(ing) to encourage a negative perspective in Yemen that all we care about is U.S. security.”O’Neill backs up this concern: “This seems on the face to be exactly what many are warning against- pumping in a flood of money to enhance the security services while leaving the massive underpinning structural issues untouched.” He goes on to define the “frustrating paradox of nation-building policies” as, “you can’t build a well while being shot, and the shooting won’t stop until there’s a well.”
On a more hopeful note, the National Democratic Institute has an article out describing their program to bring Yemeni youth together to teach them conflict resolution techniques. According to NDI, “With almost half of Yemen’s population under age 15 and another one-third aged 15 to 29, a significant percentage of the population is growing acclimated to violence as the primary means to address or resolve conflict.” The program focuses specifically the resolution of tribal conflicts and has already seen some success at the local level.
Posted in Civil Society, Islamist movements, Military, NGOs, Yemen, al-Qaeda | Comment »
Iraq: Shortcomings in Social Service Provision
August 30th, 2010 by Anna
Recent reports have highlighted Iraq’s struggles to provide adequate social services to its citizens. For al-Jazeera yesterday, Victoria Fine profiled the troubled health care system in Iraqi Kurdistan. She describes the obstacles that patients face in getting access to doctors, surgeries, and other state-based medical services, which are officially free in Iraq. To cope, Fine writes, many citizens have turned to “a loose network of NGOs,” including international humanitarian organizations, to access care. In part, the obstacles in accessing medical services stem from a shortage of surgeons and urgent care physicians. Political realities also pose difficulties, according to Fine - a constituent of a particular political party, for example, might “run into problems” by appealing to another party for funding or services.
In a story on Iraq’s recent electricity shortages, Charles Recknagel writes for Radio Free Europe that “the amount [of electricity generated in Iraq] is still woefully inadequate to meet ordinary Iraqis’ needs,” despite improvements in recent years. Historically, electricity shortages have been blamed on the insurgency - the considerable weakening of the insurgency, however, “puts the spotlight for the electricity problems squarely on the government’s ability to deliver a better future.” Ali al-Saffar, an Iraq expert at the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, estimates that Iraq is meeting only 46% of the demand for electricity, and blames “government bureaucracy, corruption, and unwillingness to get things done.” Recknagel concludes that eliminating some of the “bureaucratic entanglements” limiting power supply might “put Iraq more firmly on the free-market course it needs to become economically and politically strong enough to survive as a democracy.”
Posted in Iraq, NGOs, Political Parties | Comment »
Lebanon: Civil Society Speaking out for National Unity
August 11th, 2010 by Jennifer
Over 25 representatives from Lebanese civil society and NGOs attended a series of workshops on national unity and citizenship yesterday. The event– organized by the Makhzoumi Foundation and the Christians of the Orient and the Collective for Training on Development Action (CRTDA) –emphasized the need to form a common definition of Lebanese nationality over and above sectarian divisions; push for amendments to restrictive laws; and enact social reforms. Specifically, the workshops highlighted empowering women, improving education, and increasing access to health care as important steps to achieving a stronger sense of citizenship. According to Reem Zaben, project coordinator at CRTDA, “We need to encourage integration and we have to work together to develop a common concept of the state and of what our rights are within this state.” More workshops are reportedly planned for after Ramadan, while the CRTDA also intends to complete a report by the end of the year analyzing problems in the provision of social services to Lebanese citizens, and explaining the aggravating affect the situation has on sectarianism within the country.
Posted in Lebanon, NGOs | Comment »
Egypt: Khalid Said Case Continues
July 26th, 2010 by Jennifer
Protests over the June 6 death of Khalid Said continued over the weekend, as several groups organized events in advance of the opening of the first trial of the two policemen involved, which is set to begin tomorrow. In Alexandria, about 2,500 Egyptians assembled on the Corniche, including members of the National Association for Change (NAC), Eksab Haqak, Egyptians Against Corruption, and Egyptian Women for Change. The group held banners with the slogans “We Are All Khaled Saeed” and “No to the Emergency Law, No to Torture.” In Cairo, police broke up a protest by black-clad members of the Facebook group “We’re All Khaled Saeed” as well as a demonstration along the Nile Corniche, in which two NAC activists were arrested. Attorney Mohamed Abdel Aziz cited 5 goals to the protests: to force the Egyptian government to sign an anti-torture protocol; to institute mandatory dismissal of any police officers accused of torture; to monitor police stations; to expand the definition of torture in Egyptian law; and to institute more severe penalties for police brutality against citizens.
The protests also came following a new development in the Khalid case, as Ali Qassem, Said’s uncle, alleged last week that nine men joined by Egyptian security forces attacked and threatened one of the witnesses, Tamer el-Sayed Mohamed, trying to coerce him into altering his testimony.
Posted in Egypt, Human Rights, NGOs, Protests | Comment »
Arab Civil Society — Not as Powerful as Thought
July 26th, 2010 by Farid
Rami G. Khouri writes in The Daily Star that foreign scholars and donors have viewed Arab political culture “through the lens of three arenas”: government, the private sector, and NGOs. Khouri argues that civil society, though “flourishing” in the region, has had a limited impact on democracy promotion in the Arab world. He proposes that the assumption that greater civil society will “spur a more democratic culture” in the Middle East “remains unproven,” stating that foreign governments and Arab activists continue to view the issue using “outmoded categories of analysis.” Khouri explains that the division between the private sector, the state, and NGOs is increasingly “blurring” in the Middle East and that while “state services are declining in quality,” services provided by the private sector attract the rich who can afford them, while the poor must rely on the low-quality services of the deteriorating state apparatus. Also, Khouri points out that NGOs in the Middle East are often led by “people whose day jobs are in the government, often in high places” and other social elites who use NGOs as “proxies” for political participation in autocratic Arab states, in which political institutions usually have “limited credibility and impact,” according to Khouri.
Posted in Civil Society, Democracy Promotion, NGOs | Comment »
Arab Youth: On the Path to a Revolution?
July 16th, 2010 by Jennifer
In an interesting piece in The Huffington Post, Daoud Kuttab analyzes the situation of the youth in Arab countries, in light of a recent meeting of civil society leaders from Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Palestine (both West Bank and Gaza), and Jordan, under the umbrella of “Naseej,” a five-year community development initiative launched by Save the Children in 2005 with funding from the Ford Foundation. The Naseej project seeks to engage young people, “who account for 60 per cent of the region’s population,” as “active agents in their own development and that of their communities.” The program uses an innovative concept of “by and for the youth” that Kuttab reports has “proved to be more effective than major multimillion dollar fancy projects.” With the project nearing the end of its funding mandate, Hania Aswad, its director, hopes to turn Naseej into a permanent institution.
Kuttab notes that Arab youth leaders expressed some concerns at the event, including restrictions placed on youth NGOs by Arab governments; the portrayal of youth organizations that receive foreign funding as Western “puppets”; and long-term sustainability and structure issues for youth civil society. Nevertheless, Kuttab commends Naseej for its relative success, arguing that such initiatives could eventually lead to a ground-up youth mobilization across the Arab world: “The energy of today’s young Arab leaders has certainly not reached the critical mass that is required for major change and reform. But it is clear that in a few years, if the present direction continues, with the current passion and commitment, we will witness such a critical mass whose impact will surely be felt throughout the region.”
Posted in Foreign Aid, NGOs | Comment »
Egypt: Human Rights Report Paints Ugly Picture
July 14th, 2010 by Jennifer
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) held a press conference yesterday to announce the completion of a 578-page report on torture, detention, and human rights abuse in Egypt. According to the annual report, in 2009, 12 people were tortured to death by Egyptian police; 63 cases of torture in detention occurred; 530 cases of mistreatment of prisoners were recorded; 113 people were detained arbitrarily; 20 “disappearances” occurred; the police carried out ten cases of “collective punishment” to extract information; 3 civilians were tried before military tribunals; 82 peaceful demonstrations were put down; 190 instances where freedom of expression was repressed or blocked were recorded; and 148 reporters were tried on charges of libel or spreading “rumors.” Other violations in 2009 mentioned in the report include widespread arbitrary arrests; detention of prisoners in inhumane conditions; physical and sexual harassment, and verbal humiliation of detainees. The report also documented 125 cases of death resulting from torture in the period between 2000-2009.
Hafez Abu Saada, an attorney and chairman of the EOHR, blamed the longstanding Emergency Law for the prevalence of human rights violations in Egypt. He also indicated that the report’s conclusion includes a set of demands for constitutional, legislative, and human rights policy reform, while expressing his hope that the report “will have a positive effect on the improvement of democracy and human rights situation [sic] in Egypt,” according to the organization’s website. The report comes at a time of heightened international and U.S. focus on human rights abuses in Egypt, following the death of Khalid Said last month.
Posted in Egypt, Freedom, Human Rights, NGOs, Publications | Comment »
Sec. Clinton: Freedom of Association Critical to Democratization
July 6th, 2010 by Jennifer
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made important remarks on civil society, freedom of association, and democracy promotion at the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Community of Democracies in Poland this weekend. Clinton identified three essential “legs” of the stool supporting a free nation: representative government, a well-functioning market, and civil society, stating that these three pillars “lift and support nations as they reach for higher standards of progress and prosperity.” Calling Poland a “case study” in “how a vibrant civil society can produce progress” in a previously non-democratic nation, Clinton called for progress in the Middle East and in Egypt specifically on the issue of freedom of association. Commenting that in many countries, “the walls are closing in on civic organizations,” she added:
“The Middle East and North Africa are home to a diverse collection of civil society groups. But too many governments in the region still resort to intimidation, questionable legal practices, restrictions on NGO registration, efforts to silence bloggers. I hope we will see progress on this issue, and especially in Egypt, where that country’s vibrant civil society has often been subjected to government pressure in the form of canceled conferences, harassing phone calls, frequent reminders that the government can close organizations down, even detention and long-term imprisonment and exile.”
Clinton suggested that nations in the region that hold elections, but do not accept pluralism, opposition, and other key aspects of a democratic society, cannot be considered true democracies. In light of the challenges posed by repressive states worldwide, Clinton pledged that the United States will work with the Community of Democracies to develop initiatives in support of civil society. In that regard, she proposed that international efforts should include four elements: the Community of Democracies should establish an objective, independent mechanism to monitor repression of NGOs; the UN Human Rights Council should give specific attention to freedom of association as a human right; the Community of Democracies and the U.S. should work with regional and other organizations to take stronger action in defense of freedom of association; and finally, the international bodies involved should coordinate their diplomatic pressures to achieve results. Clinton also announced the creation of a new fund to support the work of NGOs, to which the U.S. intends to contribute $2 million.
Affirming the administration’s commitment to the matter, Clinton concluded, “We will continue raising democracy and human rights issues at the highest levels in our contacts with foreign governments.” President Obama issued parallel statements on the occasion, voicing the United States’ concern about “the spread of restrictions on civil society, the growing use of law to curb rather than enhance freedom, and widespread corruption that is undermining the faith of citizens in their governments,” and calling for enhanced partnership with the Community of Democracies to address these issues.
Posted in Foreign Aid, Freedom, NGOs, US foreign policy, United Nations | Comment »
Scobey: U.S. Working to Fulfill Promises in Obama’s Cairo Speech
July 1st, 2010 by Jennifer
U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey issued remarks yesterday on U.S. democracy promotion in the Middle East and Egypt, reiterating President Obama’s affirmation in his 2009 Cairo address of the U.S.’s commitment to supporting democracy and promote human rights, as well as the its pledge to uphold the principles of freedom of speech, rule of law and justice, transparent and legitimate governance, and freedom of choice throughout the world. Scobey stated, “I am happy to report that we have been hard at work over the past year, both in Egypt and in the region, to make this vision a reality. I think everyone standing here today understands this is no easy task, and it can’t happen overnight, but I do think we are beginning to see results.” Scobey also said that President Obama has made clear that the U.S. does not seek to impose its specific system of government on other countries, but that it expects nations to build democratic, representative institutions according to their own traditions.
Scobey mentioned specific U.S. initiatives in Egypt in support of the goals outlined in the Cairo speech, including increased U.S. funding for post-graduate education; a doubling of the U.S. contribution to science and technology education; and projects to develop entrepreneurship in Egypt, including $455 million in new approved financing to establish 5 private equity investment funds. Scobey also stated, “we are focusing our support to democracy and human rights in Egypt through support to Egyptian civil society that can be the source of social and economic and political innovation that will benefit all of Egypt,” indicating U.S. support for Egyptian NGOs as a potential catalyst for democracy.
The Ambassador’s comments came on the occasion of an Independence Day celebration at the embassy, and against the background of escalating controversy, protests, and public outrage against Egypt’s human rights record following the alleged brutal beating and murder of Khalid Said by police. On that note, Al-Masry Al-Youm today released the second half of an interview with the victim’s uncle, Ali Qassem, who vowed that the family would seek an independent autopsy of Said’s body and work to see justice done on the case. Qassem also argued that the killing was premeditated, saying that police tailed Said for a month before his death, after they suspected him of circulating a video purportedly showing policemen carrying out a drug deal. Qassem thanked Egyptian demonstrators and human rights organizations for their support and encouraged Egyptian youth to keep protesting the Emergency Law, stating, “You can easily be assaulted in the context of the Emergency Law… Keep being active and expressing your solidarity in a peaceful and civilized manner. This is your country, not their country. You own its present and its future.”
Posted in Egypt, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Human Rights, NGOs, Protests, US foreign policy | Comment »
HRW: Egyptian Police Operate Outside of the Law
June 30th, 2010 by Jennifer
Human Rights Watch issued remarks criticizing Egyptian police for beating and arresting protesters at peaceful demonstrations following the death of Khalid Said in Alexandria, stating that “security officials need to learn how to do their jobs without gratuitous violence that amounts to extrajudicial punishment.” The NGO reported that police in Egypt detained approximately 100 protestors during three protests, arrested 55 activists at a demonstration in Cairo, and beat others.
Meanwhile, Nabil Helmi, head of the National Democratic Party’s Commission on Human Rights and a member of the National Human Rights Council, attempted to defend the status of human rights in Egypt. Helmi stated yesterday that a new Anti-Terrorism Law about to be adopted will include greater restrictions on security forces than the Emergency Law. Helmi also argued that the amended Emergency Law represents an improvement over the old version of the law, and repeated the government’s position that its scope is limited, since it can only be applied in terrorism- and drug-related cases.
In an interview today with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Dr. Ayman Fouda– a forensic medicine specialist and former chief medical examiner in Egypt –applauds the government’s decision to perform a second autopsy in the case of Said, but questions the legitimacy of the results, stating, “I think the new report is incomplete and should be reconsidered.” Fouda argues that medical examiners in Egypt should have complete independence in carrying out their work, in order to avoid intimidation and potential inaccuracies in results. Currently, he indicates, the chief medical examiner operates under the authority of the Justice Minister.
The alleged beating and killing of Said at the hands of Egyptian security officers has sparked a protest movement and engendered harsh criticism of human rights violations, both within Egypt and on the international scene.
Posted in Egypt, Human Rights, NGOs, Protests | Comment »
Lebanon: Rights Groups Call For End to Torture
June 29th, 2010 by Jennifer
A group of civil society organizations issued a joint statement on Saturday calling on the government to “demonstrate their firm opposition to torture and other forms of ill-treatment… To condemn these practices unreservedly and to make clear to all members of the security forces that torture and ill-treatment are not tolerated.” The statement received the endorsement of Amnesty International and six domestic NGOs, and was released on the occasion of International Day for the Support of the Victims of Torture. The statement claimed that “in Lebanon, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are still resorted to by state security officers and non-state actors,” despite the country’s ratification of the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) in 2000 and the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention of Torture (OPCAT) in December 2008.
Human Rights groups pointed to the fact that the Lebanese government has yet to establish a National Preventative Mechanism (NPM), an independent body whose creation is required by OPCAT and that has the authority to inspect detention centers without prior notification. They also objected to the State’s failure to produce a report on the situation in the country, an obligation under its CAT commitments.
Posted in Human Rights, Lebanon, NGOs | Comment »
Libya: New Amnesty Report Condemns Human Rights Abuses
June 23rd, 2010 by Jennifer
Amnesty International has released a new report criticizing human rights abuses in Libya, highlighting in particular violations of the rights of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, in light of Libya’s recent decision to expel the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Stating that refugees “live in constant fear,”Amnesty said that migrants in Libya receive no protection from abuse, and reported that many are indefinitely held in crowded detention centers or otherwise forcibly returned to their countries without due consideration of their requests for asylum.
The Amnesty report also describes other human rights violations in Libya, including the harassment and arrest of political activists, unexplained disappearance of dissidents, and continued detention of prisoners past the term of their sentences. On the other hand, the report acknowledges that overall, “The climate of fear and repression that prevailed in Libya for more than three decades is subsiding gradually.”
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director for Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, blamed the continuing problems on Libya’s extensive internal security apparatus. “What is striking in Libya is the omnipresence and the total power that security forces have, especially the internal security agency,” she commented. “There are no accountability, no checks, no oversight. And this really needs to stop.”
Posted in Human Rights, Libya, NGOs | 1 Comment »
Egypt: Shura Council Elections Begin Amid “Non-Positive Atmosphere”
June 1st, 2010 by Josh
Seen by some observers as a bellwether for the prospects of free and fair elections moving forward — particularly the upcoming parliamentary and presidential contests — Egypt’s Shura Council elections kicked off today, with 446 candidates vying for 74 Council seats.
However, early reports are less than positive. The Egyptian Association for Supporting Democratic Development (EASD), a non-profit committed to supporting and developing the process of democratic reform in Egypt, issued a press release [PDF] indicating that its 1,540 election observers were denied accreditation by Egypt’s High Commission for Elections, thereby limiting their access polling places throughout the country. EASD monitors who weren’t expelled by election officials documented cases of ballot-stuffing for candidates from President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. There are also new allegations that security forces set up checkpoints to filter out those voters who weren’t NDP members. Entissar Nessim, head of Egypt’s Supreme Elections Committee, dismissed the allegations of fraud as “trivial incidents” and insisted that the overall electoral process was “normal.”
After condemning the government for corruption and irregularities leading up to the elections, the Muslim Brotherhood withdrew two of its fourteen Council candidates in protest of what it views as electoral manipulation by Mubarak’s regime. The Ghad Party did the same, and a collection of nine human rights organizations accused the Egyptian government of illegally constraining their ability to monitor the polls.
Elsewhere, Sarah Topol puts this current round of elections in the context of the ongoing political infighting over presidential succession, writing in The New Republic that the “[Shura] elections—and those that follow—will determine which of Egypt’s important power brokers have the upper hand in that struggle.” She runs through a series of prominent stakeholders — Hosni and Gamal Mubarak, the military, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other domestic oppositionists — to conclude that Egypt may be on a trajectory of inevitable constitutional change. And if that’s the case, Topol says, Washington’s prioritization of political stability over advancing democracy in the Arab world “may no longer be sustainable.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Muslim Brotherhood, NGOs, Political Parties, US foreign policy | Comment »
Afghanistan: Government Shuts Down NGOs
May 11th, 2010 by Josh
After a “professional and legal investigation,” the Afghan Ministry of Economics announced that it was dissolving 172 foreign and domestic NGOs — some at their own request, some for lack of funds, and others for “misconduct.” The ruling was based upon the assessment of the Filtration and Dissolution Committee, established by President Karzai to monitor the activities of Afghanistan’s 1,500 non-profit organizations. According to Al Arabiya’s report, shutting down ineffective aid groups is seen as a way for the Afghan government to “remove potential thorns.”
Posted in Afghanistan, NGOs | Comment »
Entrepreneurship Summit Explores Mutually Beneficial Partnerships
April 30th, 2010 by Josh
Fulfilling a promise first made in last year’s landmark Cairo address, the Obama administration hosted a two-day Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship earlier this week to “identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.”
President Obama delivered the keynote on Monday, stressing the critical importance of entrepreneurship as a means to:
- Create space “where we can learn from each other; where America can share our experience as a society that empowers the inventor and the innovator.”
- Lift people out of povery by creating opportunity.
- Promote mutually beneficial trade partnerships between the United States and Muslim countries.
- Leverage real, meaningful change “from the bottom up, from the grassroots, starting with the dreams and passions of single individuals serving their communities.”
Expounding upon how these principles will manifest in the form of policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in her closing remarks that the U.S. is launching the Global Entrepreneur Program — an initiative that will help create successful entrepreneurial environments in Muslim-majority countries by enlisting the support of U.S. private sector partners and civil society groups. The initiative’s pilot program will take place in Egypt, coordinated by a “team of Entrepreneurs in Residence from USAID,” the secretary said.
Over at the Washington Note, Ben Katcher calls the summit an “excellent initiative,” one which has “the potential to broaden the United States’ relationships with Muslim-majority countries with which we have traditionally enjoyed narrowly-focused bilateral relations focused primarily on security and energy.”
Yet despite the focus on well-defined areas of particular importance, the “conspicuous absence of youth voices” somewhat marred the event for Nathaniel Whittemore of Change.org. “If … the focus on entrepreneurship is about building the long term capacity of partner countries to thrive economically,” he says, “then it is a huge problem that the event is neglecting the voices of those who are by necessity building that long-term capacity.”
Posted in Egypt, Events, NGOs, US foreign policy | Comment »
POMED Notes: “The Human Rights Situation in Bahrain”
April 27th, 2010 by Josh
Earlier today, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing to explore the human rights situation in Bahrain. Credible human rights NGOs and the State Department have documented violations of Bahraini constitutional protections, and have expressed concern for women’s rights, trafficking, freedom of speech and religion, domestic violence and discrimination against the Shi’a population and foreign workers’ rights. To discuss these issues, the commission – chaired by Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) with Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-MD) in attendance – requested the testimony of five individuals: Joe Stork, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division; Stephen McInerney, Director of Advocacy for the Project of Middle East Democracy; Katie Zoglin, Senior Program Manager of Freedom House’s Middle East and North Africa division; Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle East Affairs for the Congressional Research Service; and Mohammed Alansari of the Bahrain Society for Public Freedom.
For POMED’s notes in PDF, click here. Otherwise, continue reading below.
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Posted in Bahrain, Congressional Hearing Notes (House), Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Elections, Foreign Aid, Human Rights, Journalism, Judiciary, NGOs, Political Parties, Reform, Sectarianism, US foreign policy, Women | Comment »
Sudan: Observers Disagree on How to Frame the Election
April 20th, 2010 by Josh
According to African Union observers on the ground, the just-completed Sudan elections were not only a significant step in the right direction, but also relatively free and fair considering the troubled history of Sudanese politics. Although “it was not a perfect election,” Kunle Adeyemi, chief of the AU’s observer mission in Sudan, reported that “We have not found evidence of fraud… we saw a vote that was very transparent.”
This show of support, albeit carefully qualified, runs counter to a preliminary assessment provided by the Carter Center, whose monitors were dismayed that the “elections will fall short of meeting international standards and Sudan’s obligations for genuine elections.” But these deficiencies may be of temporary consequence should the regime adhere to the remaining components of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. “Sudan’s government must ensure that the democratic opening is expanded and deepened,” it said, referring to both creating space for civil society and following through on next year’s referendum. “Full respect for human rights, democratic principles, and transparency will help to heal the mistrust that has detracted from the electoral process.”
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley echoed the Carter Center’s concerns, telling reporters at his Monday briefing that “This was not a free and fair election. It did not, broadly speaking, meet international standards.” With regard to next year’s referendum, Crowley acknowledged the “value of having millions of people in Sudan exercise their right to vote,” but cautioned that there’s still much work to be done in order to meet the CPA’s “very aggressive and difficult timetable.”
Meanwhile, Sudan state media is reporting that President Omar al-Bashir “scored overwhelming victories” in a sampling of 35 polling places, winning anywhere between 70 - 92 percent of the presidential vote. Gregg Carlstrom links to a National Elections Commission report that puts al-Bashir at “roughly 90 percent.” And earlier today, these lopsided returns prompted two of Sudan’s eastern region opposition parties to concede defeat — though in doing so, they accused the regime of blatant electoral fraud.
UPDATE: The White House just released a statement on the elections as well, saying that despite limited political freedoms and reports of intimidation and voting irregularities, “The people of Sudan are to be commended for their efforts to make Sudan’s first multi-party elections in over two decades peaceful and meaningful.” Like both the Carter Center and Crowley at the State Department, the White House sees the election as an essential step toward fully realizing the vision laid out by the CPA.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, NGOs, Political Parties, Sudan | Comment »
POMED Notes: “FY2011 Appropriations and Middle East Democracy”
April 19th, 2010 by Josh
The Project on Middle East Democracy and the Heinrich Böll Foundation co-hosted an event on Capitol Hill to mark the release of a new publication, The Federal Budget and Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011: Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights in the Middle East. What are the most significant changes in these portions of the budget request, as compared with the appropriations made in previous years? How does the budget impact U.S. efforts to support democracy in the Middle East and North Africa? To answer these questions, Michele Dunne, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, moderated a discussion among three panelists: Stephen McInerney, POMED’s Director of Advocacy and author of the just-released report; Geneive Abdo, fellow and Iran analyst at The Century Foundation; and Scott Carpenter, Keston Family Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Click here for POMED’s notes in PDF, or continue reading below the fold.
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Posted in DC Event Notes, Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Egypt, Elections, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Iraq, Military, NGOs, Palestine, Political Parties, Publications, Reform, Reports, Technology, US foreign policy | 2 Comments »
Sudan: Amidst Election Concerns, Bashir Issues New Threat
March 30th, 2010 by Josh
After threatening to kick out international monitors last week, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) that he would refuse to allow the January 2011 referendum on southern autonomy if the former rebel group does not take part in the upcoming April elections. The SPLM has publicly expressed concern that the elections will not be free and fair, and other opposition groups have already declared their intention to boycott the vote. But Bashir insisted that “We will not accept a delay to the elections not even for one day,” adding that although there are differences, the elections much happen on time.
Meanwhile, the offshoot Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) accused the semi-autonomous South Sudan government, dominated by the mainstream SPLM, of beating seven opposition members. The SPLM-DC is the only party to field a challenger in next month’s regional presidential election.
Reflecting on her recent trip to Sudan, Refugee International’s Jennifer Smith is disheartened at the lack of diligent international preparation in advance of the forthcoming electoral contest as well as next year’s referendum. She calls upon the “international humanitarian community to engage in a robust contingency planning process involving UN agencies, NGOs, donors and the UN peacekeeping mission UNMIS, in case conflict erupts again on a large scale.” But war is not inevitable, she says, and “the international community must still do all it can to help facilitate agreement between the north and south on key outstanding issues related to the full implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.”
Posted in Diplomacy, Elections, NGOs, Political Parties, Sudan | 1 Comment »
Egypt: More Concern Over Proposed NGO Law
March 29th, 2010 by Josh
Last week brought news that the Egyptian government is circulating a new draft NGO law, one which would severely restrict available space for civil society and criminalize the activities of unregistered civic organizations. A coalition of 41 NGOs, headlined by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, has already denounced the legislation as a “fascist” attempt to militarize civil society. And today, Issandr El Amrani has a post up at Foreign Policy delineating the potential consequences of this law for an Egyptian human rights movement that, despite existing repressive regulations, has managed to become the primary outlet for opposition activism.
Amrani fears that if codified into law, the NGO legislation “could decimate independent NGOs and marshall registered ones under the same restrictive state-controlled bureaucracy that political parties and trade unions have suffered.” It may also impact political coalitions such as Mohammad ElBaradei’s emerging National Association for Change, providing regime officials with new legal avenues to further disrupt the already fractured reformist community.
But these draconian provisions have international implications as well; Amrani explains that the U.S. recently reverted to pre-2004 foreign aid procedures that limit U.S. financial support to only those organizations approved by the Egyptian government. Although these constraints have not yet affected the Middle East Partnership Initiative — an important source of U.S. funding for civil society programs — Amrani relays concerns that a new NGO law could effectively disqualify many important civic actors from future foreign aid, which would be particularly damaging in light of the growing perception among reformists that “Washington is sending the messageto [sic] the Egyptian government that its NGO regulations are acceptable.” Referencing POMED’s FY2010 budget analysis to demonstrate a level of skepticism within Egyptian circles about Obama administration priorities, Amrani urges Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resume “support to unregistered NGOs and [state] her opposition to this bill.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Human Rights, NGOs, Political Parties, US foreign policy | Comment »
