The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
and the Heinrich Böll Foundation
present:
U.S. Military Assistance:
Obstacle or Opportunity for Reform?
Military aid, in the form of grants, training, and weapons sales, plays an important role in U.S. relationships with its non-democratic allies in the Arab world. With billions of dollars flowing to such governments, including in the form of cash transfers, concerns are raised that U.S. transfers support the activities of security forces engaged in repressive actions, including dispersing peaceful protests, intimidating journalists, bullying voters during elections, and torture. Such concerns, when they were raised in the 1970s, led to the enactment of Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits U.S. assistance to governments that engage in consistent gross human rights abuses. At the same time, security assistance offers the U.S. opportunities for influence, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.
How can the U.S. maintain its pursuit of strategic military cooperation with authoritarian allies in the Arab world without undermining principles of human rights and democratic reform? Are existing mechanisms sufficient for monitoring and acting on human rights abuses by U.S. security partners in the Arab world? Are provisions governing U.S. economic and military assistance in need of further updates? To what extent can military aid be used as a bargaining chip by the U.S. to induce action on the part of Arab governments?
How can the U.S. maintain its pursuit of strategic military cooperation with authoritarian allies in the Arab world without undermining principles of human rights and democratic reform? Are existing mechanisms sufficient for monitoring and acting on human rights abuses by U.S. security partners in the Arab world? Are provisions governing U.S. economic and military assistance in need of further updates? To what extent can military aid be used as a bargaining chip by the U.S. to induce action on the part of Arab governments?
Please join us for a luncheon discussion
with presentations from:
Steven Cook, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Emile Hokayem, Non-resident Fellow, Stimson Center
Emile Hokayem, Non-resident Fellow, Stimson Center
Friday, December 11, 2009
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Reid Ballroom at Heldref Publications
1319 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Please RSVP here or by email to: rsvp@pomed.org
Lunch will be served.
http://pomed.org/us-military-assistance-obstacle-or-opportunity-for-reform/