Cablegate: Eu Increasing Engagement On Gender Issues,

VZCZCXRO0879
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHBS #0222/01 0561228
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251228Z FEB 10 ZDK
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE//SOCAFRICA JOC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000222

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MARR PREL PHUM EUN KWMN
SUBJECT: EU INCREASING ENGAGEMENT ON GENDER ISSUES,
EMPHASIZING THE DRC

REF: A. USEU BRUSSELS 109
B. USEU BRUSSELS 81

BRUSSELS 00000222 001.6 OF 002

1. (SBU) Summary: In meetings with EU and Belgian
officials in January, Anita Botti, Deputy Director of the
State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues:
-- highlighted the need to implement existing UNSCRs on
women, peace and security;
-- encouraged an EU view of women as change agents who can
enhance mediation efforts and post-conflict institutions;
-- emphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to
combating sexual and gender-based violence, in the DRC and
elsewhere; and
-- stressed the need to coordinate our efforts.

EU officials responded positively. Specifically, they cited
EU efforts to "mainstream" gender issues into EU operations
by incorporating consideration of gender issues in all phases
of EU operations, from planning to execution (REF A). In
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the EU is increasing
its efforts to employ the EU's police and military reform
missions to combat sexual and gender-based violence.
However, EU resources in the Congo are limited and
participation by U.S. personnel in the EU missions (REF B)
would be especially welcome. End Summary.

2. (SBU) In a meeting with EU human rights officials and
crisis management planners, Botti described the USG as
focused on the implementation of existing UNSCRs rather than
extensive consultations on the need for new resolutions. She
encouraged the EU to view women not as victims of conflict,
but as change agents who can help make mediation efforts and
post-conflict institutions more effective. Speaking
specifically about combating sexual and gender-based violence
in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Botti said the U.S. is taking a whole of government
approach that will address such issues as health care
shortfalls, impunity for perpetrators, and security sector
reform.

3. (SBU) Veronica Cody, Head of Unit for cross-cutting
issues in the Crisis Management Planning Directorate,
described EU efforts to "mainstream" gender in EU-led crisis
management operations (REF A). She said the EU is currently
collecting lessons learned in a bid to incorporate gender
issues into EU operations from planning to execution. In the
DRC, Cody said the EU's strategic assessment in 2009 called
for an increased effort to combat sexual and gender-based
violence, resulting in changes to the mandates of the EU's
police and military reform missions. She warned, however,
that with two missions of roughly 50 personnel, the EU does
not have the resources to solve the gender-based violence
issue alone. In that context, she welcomed the interest of
the United States in seconding personnel to the EU's missions
(REF B).

4. (SBU) Cody said the EU would welcome a readout of the
ongoing U.S. assessment on sexual violence in the DRC. The
EU is also awaiting the final release of the results of the
UN mapping exercise on sexual violence in the eastern Congo,
which could lead to further efforts to address impunity in
the judicial system. (Comment: Cody began discussing this
mapping exercise with USEU last summer. If the U.S.
assessment proposes a way forward to address impunity,
particularly in the judicial sector, we should encourage the
EU to use our assessment as a point of departure for future
action, rather than waiting for the UN to release its results
-- a release that is clearly delayed by political concerns.
End Comment.) The European Commission's Davide Zaru said the
fight against impunity is a focus of the Commission's
development program in the Congo, which includes police and
judicial capacity building and assistance to victims of
sexual violence. He called for the UN to coordinate donor
programs in this area.

5. (SBU) In a separate meeting with EU officials from the
Council's Africa desk and from the office administering the
EU police reform mission, Botti reemphasized the importance
of a comprehensive approach to combating sexual and
gender-based violence. She also called for improved donor
coordination; our participation in EUSEC and EUPOL would be
one step towards this coordination. EU officials agreed on
the need for a comprehensive approach covering military,
police, justice, and penitentiary reform. They added that
justice reform needs to take place across the DRC, not just

BRUSSELS 00000222 002.4 OF 002

in the east. The EU is creating mobile interdisciplinary
teams in the EUPOL mission to address gender-based violence
in the context of police and judicial reform. U.S. personnel
to staff these teams would be welcome, in particular criminal
justice experts and judiciary police trainers. Since EUPOL
is focused largely on police reform, few personnel are
dedicated to justice and the rule of law. The EU officials
said the European Commission has funded prison construction
and renovation in countries such as Georgia, but not in the
DRC, despite the need. EU officials universally lamented
that even with sufficient resources, the Congolese
authorities would not necessarily support widespread security
sector reform.

6. (SBU) Belgian officials Katelijn De Nijs and Veronique
Joosten described ongoing work to prepare for the Belgian
Presidency of the EU Council, which begins in July. Since
the Belgian Presidency will overlap with the tenth
anniversary of UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security,
Belgium is planning events on 1325 in Geneva, New York and
Brussels. The events' themes will be "protection" (Geneva),
"participation" (New York), and "prevention" (Brussels).
They agreed with Botti that the focus should be on
implementation and action, rather than discussion. They
commented that the new UN gender architecture remains
unknown.

7. (SBU) De Nijs and Joosten said Sweden, during its 2009
EU Presidency, had grappled with the issue of training EU
troops on sexual violence and gender awareness. The Swedish
Presidency developed a training module to distribute to all
EU member states for implementation in national training
courses. De Nijs said monitoring and punishing UN
peacekeepers for violations could be more difficult than EU
troops, since increasing the consequences for bad behavior
could make some countries less willing to contribute troops
to already understaffed UN operations.

8. (SBU) Botti also met with the commander of the EU's
defense reform mission in the DRC, French General Jean-Paul
Michel. Michel welcomed the possibility of U.S.
participation in the mission to combat gender-based violence
or help with other key Congolese shortcomings such as
command-and-control issues. He underlined that EUSEC could be
flexible in defining the role for U.S. participants and noted
that the mission was currently twenty percent under-strength
and needed additional personnel as it took on new missions.

9. (SBU) Comment: The EU is clearly aware of the need for
a comprehensive, whole of government approach to combat
sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic
of Congo. With the accession of Belgium to the EU Council
Presidency this July, we will have a particularly engaged
partner on this subject. However, resources and personnel
are lacking. We can help by directing our contribution to
the EU security sector reform missions to the rule of law and
sexual violence issues. In addition, by sharing the results
of our ongoing assessment, we can provide the EU with a point
of departure for even greater efforts, which should include
additional capacity building programs funded
by the European Commission. More broadly, boosting the EU's
efforts to improve the FARDC's command-and-control could help
the Congolese keep control of its units in the field. End
Comment.

10. (U) Office of Global Women's Issues Deputy Director
Anita Botti cleared this cable.

KENNARD
.

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